E-mail received 10/31/2011 - 9 days to go!

That definitely is a very strange dream. Tell Dad that I'll be home soon enough. The less he thinks about it the easier it'll be with waiting. I'm planning on sending the last box the Monday before I leave. There's a lot of stuff that I'll need right up till then but will be much easier to send rather than pack (Books and other reference materials). So I'll be sending stuff next monday.

 

One last request, that I don't know if you remembered. If it would be plausible I would like to take advantage of flying in to Seattle and going to the temple. If it would be possible that would be amazing. I also know that Maleah was planning on coming so I don't know if it will be but if you could figure something out that we could do that I would love to!!

 

The classes sound fine, especially the doing them in the morning (You know I'm a morning person! ) I have no idea what humanities entails and I'll do my best to have a good attitude towards American Heritage. I'll probably end up really liking it. I've decided to as of now go for the medical field. Either physical therapy or pediatrics. (I'll definitely have a funny story to tell you for the one on pediatrics when I see you next.)

 

I'm actually really excited to have a busy first week. If you see any job openings it would be great if you could grab applications for me. I want to work as soon as I can!! I do not want to be the missionary who comes home and just sits for a month!

 

We definitely had an awesome week this week! We were led every step of the way by the Spirit. It guided our footsteps and gave us the words that we should speak to those whom we met. There were a lot of appointments that cancelled but every one opened a new door. We were led to find 9 new investigators this week and every one is awesome. One family comes from Camaroon in Central Africa. They are devout members of their own faith but they wanted to know our unique message of Christ. They are intrigued by the Book of Mormon and seeing if it really is a true testament of Jesus Christ. Their humble Spirit is astounding.

 

I had the privelage of giving a baptismal interview for a young lady who was getting baptized in another companionship's area and it was great to see her diligent, spiritual preparation for the covenant she was about to make. She had a little bit of the grunge type of look with the dark hair covering most of her face. When she came out of the water you could see a change in her face. I don't know if it was just that her wet hair now no longer covered her face but you could sense her beaming smile that filled the room. It was a great service.

 

I really don't think it's quite hit me that I'm actually coming home. I'm still working and trying my hardest just like I have on any other week of my mission. I have come to peace with the fact that it will eventually end but it still seems just too far away to be of any importance. I think the most paramount thing to me isn't that my mission is about to end but that I'll be able to take the skills and experiences that God has given me in to a new mission field. Mission work is something that I'll never be released from and I will continue to do it as long as God gives me a testimony to bear. I guess, in my head, not much is really changing with the change of scenery. Nothing can stop the work from progressing. Elders may go home, others are transferred, others stay for months, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent until it has penetrated every continent, visited every chlime, swept every country and sounded in every ear until the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done. It's never done and I will never stop serving.

 

I'm excited to see you all next week and I hope that our meeting will be like that of Alma and the sons of Mosiah. That when we meet we will still be brethren in the Lord and we will rejoice over our wonderous legacy that our Lord has left over all our works. (Alma 17:2-3)

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 10/25/2011 - 14 days!

Wow, i'm definitely excited to be able to see everyone! You know I like things informal. I don't think we have to have a big meet and greet thing but I would definitely want to go to the chili cook off! I don't have much experience making chili so you may have to give me some pointers! Sister Dicou made me the brownies today and they were like yummy! They were an interesting color though.

 

That would be cool if Ate Mercie and Louie came. I haven't seen them in forever! I should probably know this but are they members of the church? Just curious. Don't really have many dinner requests. You already know everything I like. The only thing I do really want is to sleep in my old bed when I get back. I've really been missing a bed that's the right size and I really want to sleep in the queen sleigh bed. Unless you guys don't have it anymore. In that case, no big deal.

 

I'm more than willing to sing with the Samoan sister. My voice definitely isn't what it used to be so I'll be excited to start working on developing my voice again.

 

So I definitely have to include this in the email. There's a guy sitting next to me while I'm emailing right now and he just came out and challenged the church. He seems like a really dark kind of person and definitely talked like he felt like he knew what he was talking about and seemed pretty "wise in the ways of the world." It's so apparent though, from the exchange that we had, that the truth in one is so absent. He's listening to his loud rock music and you can tell that there is a disturbing spirit that makes his soul restless and uncomfortable. Truly his wisdom has become foolishness as he hearkens not to the counsels of God. I felt the Spirit burning strongly within my breast as I bore my testimony to him in a simple, quite library of the truthfulness and infalibility of the church. He shrugged his shoulders and told me that my help is coming from false prophets and truly he doesn't understand what he's saying. I pray that he can one day learn and be open to the glorious truths that are available to him. 

 

We're experiencing miracles with helping people to set dates for baptism and prepare themselves to find the wonderful joys that obedience to the Gospel can bring. It seems that opposition seems to be peaking but we're seeing many others push through it and progress!

 

One boy is really growing and you can see his interest and passion increase. He's really going to be a great young man and after he has the Holy Ghost guiding him he'll work many mighty miracles!

 

Can't wait to see everyone and I hope that we all remain consistent in our scripture study!

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 10/17/2011-24 days!

They haven't given me the itinerary yet but we're not getting mail for another two weeks so that's probably why. This is one of the disadvantages from living at the south western corner of the mission. I'm really excited to see everyone and really happy that I'll be able to see Candace and her new baby son! From the way things sound it sounds like she's been doing really well and that brings peace to my heart.

 

Good to hear that you're finally going to be settling in to a nicer schedule. You've always got so much to do and never enough hours in the day to do them. Remember to take some time for relaxing every once and a while. Even missionaries get preparation days! Hopefully you and Maleah can go on a nice outing or something together and you can both destress a little bit from the weekly cares.

 

How's dad? I haven't heard from him in a while and I always worry about him.

 

Bah! What's with all this guy stuff?! Where'd the little freshman sister in high school that I had go? You know, the one that didn't get involved in this kind of stuff?! Oh wait, I do have one! What happens when she starts dating? AHH!! I'm sure you're definitely feeling as I do: They just grow up so FAST!! I know Katelyn will make right choices though. I just worry about peer pressure, and boy pressure, and school pressure, and self pressure and having it all pile up. I worry she's getting involved in too much stuff. But she'll learn from it and it seems to be giving a great learning experience for her. I can definitely see just from the emails that I've gotten from her in the past few weeks that she's growing and becoming more mature. She'll do alright.

 

Thanks for the recipe. I actually asked for it because one of the sister missionaries in the district wants to bake me my favorite baked good for my last district meeting and when I said tiramesu she asked for something more affordable.

 

$100 will probably be perfect. I had to use some funds to buy groceries this week because I'm waiting on a big reimbursement which should come in a few days so you'll see a charge from Shoprite for $21.32. I'm also trying to get a rugby ball but I can't find one so we'll probably have to do with the football that we have.

 

We had a very interesting week this week. Everything seemed to go wrong and then every time it went wrong everything seemed to go just right!! Lots of our investigators in the past week decided that they better talk to their former pastor about their meeting with us and subsequently were convinced to sever all contact with us without talking with us about it. Others it just didn't see to work out that we could visit them.

 

These opened up greater opportunities though and we found 7 new investigators with amazing potential!! Each one has been prepared in their own way and are actively seeking for the gospel. One came from all of our appointments cancelling in a day and we met her just standing outside her house watering flowers. We offered to help and she asked who we were. When we told her she told us about how she had left the Catholic church and really hadn't found what she was looking for yet and she immediately told us she wanted to set up a time when we could come and visit her! We've had a lot of big miracles just like this one that have led to tremendous experiences with finding.

 

I'm loving the Lord and all the things that He's doing in our lives and in others and I'm growing each day from these experiences. He continues to shape me and support me to fit the burdens placed upon us, which at once become lighter and lighter as we trust in Him!

 

I hope we all are seeking to put more of our trust in God and then acting with all diligence to see the hand of God pushing us forward!

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 10/03/2011

I didn't get much news from Katelyn other than she definitely got a major boost from conference. I think she paid  lot more attention to it being away from home. I think watching it with friends can be a big help as well. (Sorry if the "A" on this keyboard isn't working very well.") She said she's still working on the time management but the great talk from Elder Ardern was perfect for that I thought.

 

Haven't gotten the package yet but we get mail this Friday so it should be included with that shipment. As far as classes go it would be nice just to get as many of my general education out as possible. I think I would like to start out with the Book of Mormon class first and then move on to marriage and family later. I think Dad would probably prefer that one! I feel confident that I could take on a lot more than the average freshman just because of the rigorous study habits I've developed on my mission but I'll leave it up to you to decide what would probably be the wise choice of how much to take on my first semester. I hope that there's a few math classes open. I don't know how ready I'd be up for calculus right off the bat but a trig class might be fun. Sorry I'm not of much help. I really have no idea what I want to be. There's a lot of things I would like to do but people keep telling me they're not very probable careers. Truth be told I really don't think about it either. But we'll see.

 

It's sad to hear about Bradley making some pretty poor choices but I can't help but feel this could be a great opportunity to show him more support than he's ever gotten. I'm glad that he chose to own up to his mistake and at least marry the girl. Hopefully they'll both be able to grow. The best thing I think we could do for him would be to pray for him and have an added increase of love and support to invite him and his new wife to walk in the right path as a companionship. The deeds been done and there's little productivity to be done in striving to undo it so if we embrace them and seek to help them act to refine themselves I really could see them progressing. All of their happiness, of course, will be based on their own choices.

 

Conference was amazing!! We spent the whole week preparing ourselves and others to hear the wonderful messages of our beloved prophet and the apostles. Dad would've been the only one to hear this talk but W. Christopher Waddell gave a talk that was definitely given just to me. It talked about being all that you can be and retaining the blessings enjoyed on a mission. It helped me to see what I needed to be doing and focusing on at this critical junction of my life and especially to appreciate what blessings God has given me with serving a mission. The Spirit spoke directly to my heart. My testimony that God truly does speak to living prophets today was strengthened as I saw a humble general authority, with no knowledge of me or my heart's desire or situation, speak as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost and revealed to me the mind of the Lord, the will of the Lord, the voice of the Lord and the power of God unto my own salvation.

 

Others in our area definitely received answers this week too and we're so excited to yield the fruits of the seeds sewn by the hand of the Lord through the words of our wonderful prophet. My companion and I were wonderfully blessed this week to meet many of our goals. We realized that the Lord can only really work with honesty. We have to set goals with Him which are in harmony with His call to us to find, teach and baptize but they must also be in line with our hopes, desires, and what effort we are able to muster. An unreasonable goal will not be achieved by a companionship without the commitment to achieve it. As we set daily goals we always considered three things. Is this goal really what we WILL get at the end of the day? Are we really committed to this goal? Is this really what the Lord wants us to accomplish? As we set goals in line with His will we achieved them! It was as simple as that.

 

I definitely know that when we seek the Lord first all falls as it should. If a man has it in his heart to follow God in all things there will be no frustration, anxiety or dilemma because he can be sure that God will guide him and support him in all things.

 

I hope we all hearken to His voice and act on the revelation that we've all received this past weekend. It is our guiding star for the next six months!

 

-Elder Guinto