E-mail receved 06/06/2011 - The 100th Post!!

Don't worry I'm not (eating too much fast food). My former companion and other zone members were huge fans of eating out as a zone, even when I don't have any more msf. Fortunately we're not doing it too much anymore so you won't see any more of them. Although I am planning on buying a new back pack today. The one I bought last April is wearing out in the bottom and I want a lighter one for the super hot summer on the bike.

 

I find it interesting that you really don't like teaching and speaking in front of groups and I really like giving talks and teaching and things like that. I guess we're all given different gifts that God gives us to help His children in different ways.

 

Still crazy that Katelyn's graduating and crazier that Jason Hensley bought a house with his WIFE! It'll be so weird seeing all the changes that have happened. Life comes at you fast sometimes and I bet it comes twice as fast when you've been out of it for a while. I'm not going to lie, I really enjoy being a missionary. It's pretty care-free and you enjoy the Spirit 24/7. It's really a blessing to have this time to draw nigh unto the Lord and participate in this great work. The most happy and fulfilling times have definitely been out here serving the Lord.

 

This last week we were able to do a lot of finding and inviting and we've seen incredible success. We're definitely working, finding, teaching and baptizing! There will be another baptism this Sunday with an incredible investigator that we've been working with for some time now. He was found by a few missionaries a few months ago, through a member. Since he's met with the missionaries he's gone through some intense cancer treatment and it's really gotten him down. From the time we first met him to now there's been a total change in his countenance. When we first saw him he was very very quiet and reserved and really just worked everyday, came home and kept to himself. Now that the Spirit has really worked on him and he's changed completely. He's super friendly and outgoing, he testifies to his friends and family about the Book of Mormon and the prophets, he wakes up early in the morning and instead of going and having a morning coffee and cigarette he warms up with a hot chocolate and the Book of Mormon. He enjoys and is edified by the Spirit DAILY and he tells us about it! He's truly been converted by the Spirit.

 

He's going to be a great member and missionary to his fairly large family. He's already setting a great example of nobility and obedience to them.

 

I love this work! I love it's redeeming and life-changing power! It's incredible what the Lord can do when we give Him our all and in return we receive His all. I know as we devote our time and attention and even just give room for Him in our lives we lay up for ourselves a great treasure which cannot be taken from us, now and in the eternities.

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 05/31/2011

Sounds like everythings doing well back home. I'm looking at this email now so i can't really remember what was on the other one other than everyone's sad about school ending but hey what else is new.

 

Our week was incredible! My new companion is awesome. He's part of the first batch of a new era of missionaries. They've reformed the training that they are giving at the MTC to focus more on following the Spirit while teaching. We've been trained and briefed on it out here but this is the first batch of missionaries to receive the new training. They trounce out all of us. I've never see a more reverent and Spirit driven, new group of missionaries come out before.

 

My companion is Elder Smith. He's from Kansas City, Kansas and he's actually has a relation to Joseph's Smith's line! (Even if it is super distant it's pretty cool!) He's really dedicated and puts a lot of himself in to his work. The coolest part of the week was definitely that Elder Smith was able to have his first baptism his first week. He baptized one of the investigators we'd been working with for most of last transfer and it was a really awesome experience.

 

It was a father and his daughter who were baptized and it was just an amazing moment, as it always is, to see them entering in to sacred covenants with their Father.

 

We're excited for many more baptisms this transfer and excited to grow with each other and towards our Savior!

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 05/23/2011 - Transfers again - Newbie to Train

Can't think of anything else that would be noteworthy of sending. I'm pretty good over here. I'm excited to get that Ensign! I've been reading a few of the talks from the apartment copy that we have and it bugs me that I can't mark things up. I love Elder Oaks talk on desire and how righteous our desires must be in order to become the people that God needs us to be.

 

That's great that Katelyn's starting to get all the scholarships that she deserves. I have faith that she'll get the same scholarship that I did. We really didn't get much word until the summer I don't think but maybe we did. That was so long ago.

 

That's great to hear that Stephanie Stringfellow got married but sad I guess to hear that it's not well accepted by the family. I hope everything goes well with them. Stephanie always seemed like a good girl so I can't imagine her making a terrible choice in a husband. I hope that he's a member of the church and if he's not I hope she as well as all of us are doing our best to fellowship them and help them continue to see that Christ welcomes all to come and partake of his salvation. (2 Ne. 26:25,27)

 

We had an amazing week this week. Elder Archibald performed his first baptism! It was a great service and the Spirit was really felt strong there. It's just such a beautiful moment when a child of God makes sacred covenants with their Father and then the Father enters into a covenant to always be with them as they are worthy of Him.

 

We're looking forward to another baptism this Sunday and we're so excited at how much this man has come in His search for the truth. He's one of those amazing investigators who started with very little knowledge about the church and just thirsted after. Watching him really search and ponder and pray over the passages we would give him was truly a delight and a privelage to see how the Lord blesses and prepares His elect to hear and hearken unto His voice. It's an inspiration to see the value of the scriptures made alive in one's life.

 

Transfers are tomorrow and sadly Elder Archibald is being transferred. We've had a great transfer together and we've had a lot of fun but he's needed elsewhere and the Lord has great plans for him in another part of His vineyard. Elder Archibald was definitely a man of intense faith and zeal to do the works of righteousness. I have faith that the Lord will make of him a mighty servant.

 

For the new transfer I'll be training again! I'm so excited to train for a third time! It's such a great opportunity and privelage to have a missionary who's just fresh and not knowing what to expect from the missionary experience and he has the most faith of any missionary in the mission. I'm so excited to help this missionary to get aquainted with the work and especially to learn from his faith and testimony of the Savior and His divinity. It always brings back the zeal and excitement that all new missionaries have leaving the spiritual landmark of the missionary training center.

 

The work continues to progress in a monumental way. President Henry B. Eyring presided at a wonderful stake conference for the East Brunswick Stake yesterday and bore testimony of the powerful that has been accomplished here in the New England states and called for a renewed sense of purpose for the work being done today. Their words continue to inspire us to be better and as Elder Holland so beautifully put it, "...to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." May we all with zeal approach the people in our individual areas and testify of the restored Gospel and of the church which we hold dear. Ours is the greatest testament to the truth.

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 05/16/2011

I'm not sure if it's something in the air or the commission that was given by President Monson to start acting and getting to the temple to make those sacred covenants. It's wonderful to see that there are so many hearkening to the words of our beloved prophet and they will surely reap the blessing thereby. We've recently received the General Conference edition of the ensign and it's been an incredible privilege to pour over it's pages and to apply the instruction and doctrine that's been bestowed on us. It's a great and amazing responsibility.

 

I'm not going to lie it was very hard to concentrate for the rest of the email after I read that Andrea's not doing so well. I hope they're able to figure out everything so that she can get better. She's got so much potential. I would be lying if I said I wasn't still interested in her. I realize that I haven't actually told you guys a lot about my major doubts about the church for a long time and my eventual conversion but she actually played a pretty big role as far as just being a huge example of what the Gospel should be like in someone's life. I really have a lot to thank her and also Jaron for because of the great things they helped me, maybe not intentionally, to do that led up to my conversion. So she'll always have a really special place in my heart. I've met a lot of girls on and off the mission but none so far that have matched her inside and out. I'm just worried about if I'm quite the man she'd ever consider or if she's changed at all. If anything I'm sure the standard has been raised and it helps me to have an increased desire to make myself more and more like the Savior. In the end it's what he wants for His children that matters and all will work out as it should. (; Don't ever let anything get in the way of your dreams Bro! Our fraternal bond is stronger than the cords of death so don't worry about it.

 

We had an amazing week this week! We weren't able to get as much work done in our area week but it was all for a reason. I was called to attend a leadership conference for two day as well and we were trained just on what the mission needed to get down and apply for us to be successful. The Spirit was felt and we all received revelation that guided us as to what we needed for our areas, districts and zones and we've seen miracles from it.

 

My testimony of following our appointed leaders continues to wax strong as it is tried and tested. The Lord calls His servants for His purposes and reasons and it's not for us to decided why such an ordination has taken place. It is for us to know only that it has and that it is done under divine sanction for the benefit of God's children. We must humble ourselves so that we don't get in the way of the Lord's hand in our lives and we must be still to know that He is indeed our God.

 

My companion is amazing! Elder Archibald this week had a revelatory experience in church and he's just been on fire ever since. He was sitting in church with our investigator and he's really been trying hard lately to clear his mind of the normally carnal things which have crowded it. As he's been putting in this astoundingly sincere effort he's been seeing the Lord help him to make his weaknesses into strengths. It all culminated in his partaking of the Sacrament. He said that as the bread and water touched his lips he just felt pure love flow freely over his body as he was bathed in the saving power of the Atonement through that sacred ordinance. He really felt the Holy Ghost cleansing and forgiving him for his sins. Since then he's felt the Spirit to a measure he's never experience and it's been edifying to both of us. I'm so thankful for such a wonderful companion and I hope that we can all strive to magnify Christ's sacrifice in our lives by partaking of the sacrament worthily.

 

My heart swells with joy for this work because there's going to be a baptism tomorrow! I'm so excited that another one of God's blessed children is going to be able to partake in His salvation and my hope that all can have this gift blossoms. I love this work and I love my Savior. My joy is really that it never ends.

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 05/09/2011 Bike Failure!

Cool. I actually forgot my planner so I'm not going to be able to write it down just yet so if you could remind me that you sent it to me in your letter next week that would definitely be appreciated.

We had quite the week this week. It started off a little rocky but we were able to come through with testimonies strengthened and renewed purpose.

We had an excellent zone meeting and the Book of Mormon challenge is well underway. We're now on page 120 in the Book of Mormon already and it's amazing what revelation can come even when we're reading at quite an accelerated pace. I found great power in the lamentations of Nephi when he grieves at his weaknesses in Nephi chapter 4. He yearns to be a greater man and overcome the temptations and weaknesses that beset each of us. He goes on to wonder why he must droop in sin and knows that in the Lord he will be able to overcome the dreadful effects of the fall and serve the Lord with great strength and vigor.

We've seen it as we've born our trials this week. On Monday we were given new bikes by our awesome neighbors but they had been out in the rain a little and we couldn't clean them as well as we probably should have. The bikes are really fast but Elder Archibalds gears jammed up at the wrong time and he went head over handlebars going pretty fast. He scraped up his arm pretty bad and that was the end of the new bikes for this week. We're going to see if we can get them cleaned today.

The injury slowed us down quite a bit and put a fair sour damper on morale but we were able to work through things and teach many people.

One awesome experience we had after we contacted a young mother and her daughter on the street. We set up a return appointment because she seemed keenly interested in obtaining a copy of the Book of Mormon. We returned the next day to find her with her mother and brother. She was happy to see us and so did her family but her brother had some papers prepared for us. He was ready to do some bashing. We wouldn't answer any of his internet generated questions because the Spirit told us he was only there to try and confound us and not out of a sincere desire to learn but we simply bore testimony of what we knew to be true and how we obtained that answer. It was awesome to see the contrasting difference in their eyes as his sister was listening and asking real questions to understand and he trying to break us to satisfy some underlying need for vindication of his own. In the end she ended up being the one to tell his that she felt that we would be saved even on the basis of his belief and we left with our testimonies and a card that will lead them to the answers they both seek. Both their hearts effected by the Spirit they felt.

There are great opportunities given to us that sometimes may seem very unfavorable but with the Spirit as our guide they can become some of the most rewarding walks we undergo. When given lemons just add water and sugar and you will be refreshed.

I hope each of us will treasure the scriptures this week because they are the sweet sugars we need to feed our often starving souls and drink from the fount of every blessing: the love of our Savior. In this we can experience joy in the journey now, in any circumstance or trial.

-Elder Guinto

Mother's Day Phone Call

Elder Guinto called home for his annual Mother's Day call yesterday.  It was great to get to talk to him for an hour.  Some of the highlights were his release date, which is November 9th.  Which means he will be coming home in exactly 6 months from now!  He plans on getting a job right away and working through the holidays before heading off to BYU in January.  He hopes to get a job at the MTC and go to school through Winter, Spring/Summer, Fall and Winter before coming home again to hopefully work the summer.  He is leaning towards physical therapy or something related, but still unsure what he wants to do.  Hopefully everything works out like he has planned.

Most of the rest of the conversation was just catching up with everyone.  He would love to get letters, so if you get a chance write him at the address on this blog.

E-mail received 05/02/2011

I guess I should have made a list. I really feel there were only a few things that I can remember wanting to discuss but I'll definitely remember those ones.

 

I met Derek yesterday actually. I got up to bear my testimony and he recognized my name right away. He talked to me after the meeting and asked me if I was Filipino and if I knew a Katelyn Guinto. It was one of those crazy moments that you get on the mission. Similar to when I met Aunt Kelly's aunt!

 

I'm really glad that Maleah's testimony keeps growing and growing and she's seeing what a great blessing the Gospel can be to her lives. She has so much glowing potential that can be realized with the teachings of Christ as her foundation. She seems to be growing up into a noble young woman. Keep it up!!

 

I'll probably be calling about 9:00 PM East Coast time. I can't remember how that converts over on the West Coast but that's probably when I'll be calling. Elder Archibald is doing his at 8 so hopefully he'll be off by then. We only have one phone now. Have as many people there as possible!! It's my last call home so we better make it count!

 

I did get the package. Thank you so much! Elder Archibald and I will enjoy the treats for some time. I was a little sad that there was no video but I didn't send you one either. I'll be sending you a card today but there aren't many pictures on them. There's not much time to take pictures when you're biking everywhere. I need to get better at it though.

 

We had a great week this week! We found a lot of new people to teach! One is a family of seven who are actually our neighbors! They're Catholic but haven't gone to church for many years. The father really doesn't like it because of what he calls "the racket." He doesn't like the passing of the plate while he's just trying to worship God and all the corruption and things that go on in his church. He likes what we teach and he really wants to see how it's going to bless his family!

 

We also met with another Catholic lady when a member decided that he wanted to take us to go see her. She's been so prepared by seeing the righteous examples of the members of the church. She's already attended church before and seen how nice and friendly the members are. We're finding more and more how important it is that members reach out to the nonmembers who come to activities and sacrament meeting, even just to people that they don't know, every expression of kindness can mean a great deal to someone who doesn't get any. Her heart has been truly touched by the Spirit she feels around the Saints of God.

 

I learned a lot about prayer this week. I've seen my prayers of late have been becoming a little mundane and just "going through the motion-ey" and I was trying to see how I could get out of that rut. We visited one of our investigators who's pretty sinful individual and we decided to talk to him about prayer. We put some church music on while we talked to him and you could feel the Spirit enter in as we heard the beautiful praises to God. We taught him how sacred it is that we as mere mortals are given the opportunity to communicate with the supreme being of our universe and gain answers and direction from Him. Just as I bore testimony about the power of prayer and it's effect it can have on our lives I felt the Holy Ghost testify to him about what we were teaching and I felt it testify to me about the things that I could change to make my prayers more meaningful. It has made a big difference to me this week to make that prayer, whenever I do, so much more that just saying words to get things. I've been praying for others and praying for the Lord's will and it's brought me great comfort and peace.

 

I'm excited for the upcoming week because we're going to be solidifying all the baptismal dates that we've set for May and the zone is beginning a new Book of Mormon challenge. Read the whole Book of Mormon in the month of May and highlight any referrences to covenants and baptism! I'm so excited to have this great new focus on the Book of Mormon which will help me understand it's role to me as a child of God and as a teacher to the hearts of His people. Any one whole feels impressed should join me and the zone in this challenge and they will gain a greater understanding of how the Book of Mormon helps us to make and keep covenants with our Heavenly Father.

 

I hope everyone has a great week and talk to you on Sunday!

 

-Elder Guinto