E-mail received 9/27/2010

Man! It's going to be pretty tough to get that letter from Brittany. Last week at the mission activity Elder Elliott gave me a letter from Grandma that they received and they probably got hers within a couple days so I don't know when I'll be able to get it. I'll probably call them today and get them to get it to their zone leaders so that I can pick it up at zone leader council.

 

That's so sad about Bro. Walker. Especially that the Alzheimer's was getting to him so bad. He was a very kind and loving man. I remember home teaching him. He had such a spirit of service and loved going to the temple. He'll be dearly missed. It sounds like I'll be coming home to a totally different place!

 

Oh, Katelyn's a big old captain! Make sure she doesn't get too bossy. Katelyn can get pretty power crazy some times.

 

That's awesome that Maleah's getting ready to receive her patriarchal blessing. I know mine's been a real blessing to me out here in the mission field. I read it as often as I need it. It really provides concrete and powerful direction for the rest of our lives and throughout eternity. It's amazing to think of the immensity of our Heavenly Father's knowledge and that he shares with us a small precious part of it so that we can find security and guidance throughout our lives. I hope our patriarch is still patriarch Pringel. I have such a testimony of the power and love of that man.

 

I am loving Jersey City and I love my companion as well. We're not as tight knit as Elder Elliott and I were but we're still getting used to each other's quirks and what makes each other tick and wot not. It's a real learning experience being a zone leader and having all kinds of different responsibilities. I really miss being a district leader because it was really hands on and I had much more control over what got done and what was accomplished. Whereas when I am a zone leader I really have to learn how to work through the district leaders. It's very different and will take a lot of getting used to but I pray that God will help me to do it.

 

I do get to see her a lot because she's in my ward now. We do a lot of corresponding work and I'll see her usually about three times a week but this week was a little crazy and I saw her almost every day. It's a big struggle for me actually because it's been tough to stay focused but Heavenly Father's been helping me out a lot. It's really a conscious effort to garnish my thoughts so that I stay on topic and on guard and I'm really relying on thinking about you guys and about the work that's really been helping out. I'm really just hoping it only lasts for this transfer and I or she gets moved out but we can only hope I guess. Kind of weird but we'll see.

 

We had an interesting week this week. We worked with as much time as we had. We had the great mission activity on Monday and then leadership trainings Wednesday through Friday all day so we didn't have much time to work. What we've experienced though, and apparently it's shown in the work of the other leaders as well, is that while we were all down as far as quantity in numbers, overall quality sky rocketed. Tons of investigators, who were kind of just sitting there, started progressing and everyone began reporting miracles and baptisms. The Lord has really given us a lot of inspired direction through our leaders.

 

What the training mainly focused on is what the investigators needs. Helping us to understand and find those needs so that we can address them. Often we find, at the base of a misunderstanding, is a lack of communication and knowledge on both parties. Listening and asking inspired questions are vital to an active growing unit so that both may grow and be edified. Often times, teachers, in any setting, will neglect the opportunity to learn from their students and miss out not only on growing vistas of understanding but pass by doorways to breakthroughs in their teaching and the students fundamental understanding. Learning these has really helped us missionaries to tune in to the Spirit and make it an integral part of us and our investigators. 

 

We had great miracles in setting people with really solid dates for baptism and we have very high hopes for the upcoming month in those regards. 

 

It is pretty weird that I am coming up on my 11 month mark and then only a month away from my year and my birthday. I've been having odd dreams about after the mission, like just sitting in my bedroom or taking something out of the fridge. Odd I know but those are things that I really actually miss. We don't really have any down time and so it's really the little things that you used to do at home that you grow ever fond of. You really don't know what you've got till it's gone.

 

We're excited to apply all the things that we've learned this week in the upcoming week so that we can see not only the great spirit that enters in but see in ever flow with the time that we'll be able to give to it. I know that as we give the Lord our time he pays us back double what we sacrifice for it. Make sure the girls are reading their scriptures and Dad's behaving himself.

 

-Elder Guinto 

E-mail received 9/21/2010 - Jersey City

WHAT?! Maleah's signing up for driving school?! That's crazy! Man so much is going on.

 

It's kind of funny how you're going through the same though process that I did when I got my wisdom teeth pulled out. It took about two to three weeks for the food sticking to die down. Sorry. It'll be a while.

 

Sounds like everyone seems to be doing great. Still weird that Candace has a baby. No I haven't gotten a letter from Brittany. We got mail yesterday and I got a letter from another missionary and grandma. Also I got a letter from Miranda last week.

 

I'm glad Brandon seems to be moving now. Not as good as going on a mission but sometimes we take different paths towards our destination. At least he's going somewhere better than where he was going.

 

It's crazy how fast times flies isn't it?

 

Well I didn't tell you all of those things last week because I didn't know. We have our preparation day on Monday and transfer conference is always on Tuesday. I got transferred to Jersey City! It's right across the Hudson from Manhattan and we can see it from our area. It's a wonderful area chalk full of humble and prepared people. I'm finally in the ghetto! My companion's name is Elder Roper from Delta, Utah. He came out the transfer before me and so we're a pretty young zone leader companionship. We haven't even been out for a year!

 

To explain my role as a zone leader better, a leader is no different than any other missionary. We work in our area like other missionaries, we proselyte like other missionaries and we teach like other missionaries. We simply stand in place of the mission president and the assistants as their representatives in our areas. So if problems come up anywhere we get to solve them or if we can't we can pass them off to the assistants. We also supervise the training of the missionaries done by trainers and district leaders. We also keep track of the numbers and goals for the zone and set new goals for improvement. We also have to set the highest example of standards and conduct for the missionaries so that they can have good role models to look after and to help everyone strive to be more Christ-like missionaries.

 

It's really quite fun actually. I feel a little less stress than when I was a district leader actually, with the exception being that instead of being held accountable to the zone leaders I'm held accountable by President Bahr! Yikes! But if I'm doing what I'm supposed to there's nothing to worry about so it's alright.

 

It's really interesting because I'm one of the youngest in the zone, with the exception of the brand new missionaries. It's really different.

 

I'm living with Elder De La Cruz again, which is super fun, and his companion Elder Yates, from Montana. They're really great missionaries to live with.

 

The Jersey City ward is great. We're back to a two companionship ward. It's Elder Roper and I and then also Sister Black and her trainee, Sister Cope. I was very surprised when I walked in on Sunday because we had worked all week and everyone that I've seen/taught has been from Haiti and speaks Haitian Creole. In the ward there's a ton of Caucasian people! I was very surprised after not seeing a single one for a week! There's a great spirit about these members though because they truly have to strive, much harder than most, to be out of the world that they're in. We're having a lot of success in this area in that we were able to set two more baptismal dates on to the added two that were here when I got here. Them members are real supportive and I love it here already.

 

Yesterday we had an amazing all mission activity, which is why I wasn't able to write yesterday. We went all the way to Highlands, NJ. It took us almost three hours to get there, mainly because I rode with Sister Black and she missed a couple exits several times and no one really knew where we were going because Highlands is in the former Cherryhill mission. It was so worth it though. It's right on the ocean and it was so great to finally see the Ocean again! We went on a mission Hike in a forest near there and I forgot how good nature smelt. As we were driving to the location it was awesome to just roll down the window and just enjoy the smell and atmosphere of the trees and the water. (Strange I know but when you've been in the city for a week you'll understand.) We relaxed, enjoyed ourselves, and really just had a great time. It felt weird to undwind but it felt good too. Long drive back again, but we knew whereish we were going this time.

 

This week we're going to be having some intense leadership training just like we had a couple months ago. It's going to be great to be feeling the Spirit and applying what we learn to our individual areas.

 

I hope you guys have a great week and make sure everyone is reading their scriptures!

E-mail received 9/13/2010

Alrighty, business first. I did get the box with the flip flops and they're awesome! They're super comfy and work great. Also I'll send the box as soon as possible but we won't have time today. We've got a lot of things to do because I'm getting transferred and Elder Elliott wants to get a gps so that he's not totally lost when I leave.

 

That stinks about the wisdom teeth. I wonder why God gave us extra teeth. But there's probably some humbling or growing experience that we're meant to gain from it that we might be able to use in the future so go for it with the intention of gaining something from it rather than just losing a tooth and a lot of money! Then I think your focus will turn from the bad to the blessing. Hopefully that will cushion the spirit.

 

I'm really glad that school seems to be going well for the girls. Especially for Maleah. Just stay positive! We all need to show an added measure of love so that we can always know no matter what we have close eternal friends in the place where it matters most: the home. The very blocks upon which the kingdom of God are built and where the foundation of any nation, kindred, tongue or people will stand strong or crumble in devastation. As Bishop Bruce might put it, it is the "Big Red Block" to the rest of eternity and we must do all that we can to foritify it's integrity and purpose, there is no greater thing we can do than support our support to everything we do.

 

That's a great way to spend your anniversary! Happy 21 years! That's crazy that my birthday is coming up already! I'm going to be your super old 20 year old son! It's really amazing the work that we do in God's holy temples. That even in death Lolo and Lola can, in full knowledge, accept the saving ordinances of salvation and be sealed together for time and for all eternity. How wondrous are the works of the Lord! We had a really cool experience this last Saturday in that we were able to see an investigator family that we've been teaching take a great step in getting married for this life so that their family can take the next step in preparing for eternity. They're planning on getting baptized this Saturday and Elder Elliott and I are so happy and excited for them! They've really had an amazing journey to the Gospel.

 

Hey speaking of Kelsie Alexander, how is she? I haven't heard anything from anyone my age. Is she married yet? I wouldn't doubt it. Everyone's going to be married by the time I get home! Even Katelyn probably! That would be super weird.

 

Well we had another blessed week in Emerson! Not as good as we've had in the past but still a productive week. We have three baptisms scheduled for this Saturday and we're very excited. Too bad I'm not going to be here for them because I'm getting transferred! I also got called to be a zone leader. What's that mean? MORE PAPER WORK!! YAAYY!! Just kidding. I'm actually pretty excited to be able to fulfill this responsibility because I'll have another zone leader as a companion and I'm going to be able to learn a lot from his knowledge and experience. I've learned a ton about obedience and fundamental hard work while I've been with an excited, bright eyed, new missionary and now I can learn and refine what I've learned through someone with hardened experience. I'm expecting and excited to see miracles in the next transfer.

 

In review of this area, it's definitely been my favorite. I've been blessed to see many miracles and success in the Lord's work in my time in Emerson but, yesterday evening, I received a really powerful, spiritual confirmation that my work in this area has concluded. I love the people here and will miss them greatly. It's hard to leave such a great area behind but I feel faith as I do so knowing they are in good hands: God's.

 

I encourage you all to excercise your faith in putting your trust in God by doing what he says. Joseph Smith adopted an inspirational phrase, in his life, chiming, "When the Lord commands, DO IT!" Christ himself said, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself." Truly the way to know, as Christ said, is to do. As we do and God rewards us it builds our faith. May your faith ever receive an increase and the power of God be ever present in each of your lives.

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 9/8/2010

Man sounds like you guys have been having an eventful week!

 

When I read that Chelsea was engaged I was blown away! But then I read that she was just kidding and I calmed down. Wow I guess I wasn't as ready for that one as I had expected. That would be super soon though.

 

Katelyn would look funny with green feet and things growing out of it and then I come home and my sister is a double amputee who walks around on two wooden legs like Shaemus. I remember Merl now. It's just been a super long time. I hit ten months a couple days ago apparently. It still feels like I just got here!

 

I can't wait to see that video and all the pictures! It's kind of weird but I really haven't thought about home much this transfer. We've been doing a lot of great work and I've been working really hard at making sure that Elder Elliott is trained really well so I've been too busy to think about it.

 

As far as pants go I wear about a 32" waist would probably be best. I just bought three pairs of pants from goodwill (3 pairs for $11 yeah!) and then somethings else for like $10, I can't remember what or from where right now, must have been important. All my pants that I have are black so if you still decide to buy me one I would like maybe a dark brown pair would be really nice.

 

I've decided to hold on to the clothes because it's going to cost so much to send them and now that they're all nice and packed up in boxes their not as much of a hassle.

 

We had another wonderful week in Emerson. We committed a great family to baptism and to getting married! Being a missionary and a wedding planner is hard work but we're pulling it off somehow! They're an amazing family who all are ready and willing to serve the Lord no matter what it takes. They're getting married this Saturday and then their getting baptized the week after that. It's all going really fast for them but their really great. Their actually going to Seattle next Monday for like a honeymoon I guess so that'll be really cool as well.

 

Our one baptismal date for this upcoming Sunday was super solid and ready to get baptized but his dad convinced him to hold off on it. He's still going to get baptized though and we're setting another date with him.

 

We have an amazing 5 people who are committed to being baptized on a specific date right now and even more people who we're looking forward to setting. The fields of Emerson are white! And we're harvesting.

 

We actually found an amazing woman from the Philippines who lives right across the street from the chapel, yesterday, and she's so excited to read from the Book of Mormon. She's had a lot of contact from the church and just seeing their bright examples of love and humility really opened up her doors to us. She let us right in and really shared how God has really pointed her in this direction and we're planning on extending the invitation to be baptized the next time that we see her. It really goes to show how great an effect we can have on the salvation of others just based off the things that we do. I've really been striving hard to become a more celestial person. Even when it comes to the little things like crude words. Elder Elliott and I have pretty much limited our vocabulary to things that are good (which is an area we can get creative in) and things that are "not good" (which we use for basically everything that doesn't fit in the first category. This way we're not using the same mouth that the Spirit speaks through to put down anyone or to use "terrestrial language." While it may not be immediately horrible words that we use they may not be good words either. I've really felt the Spirit come in when I refrain from those words and use my tongue for the uplifting and edifying of others at all times. Really becoming a bright servant of the Lord through words.

 

We're really excited for the things happening this week and if things work out as planned we should be having baptisms every week for the next month! I love the work!

 

-Elder Guinto

E-mail received 8/30/2010

Wow sounds pretty eventful to me. Yes I did get the garments. They actually sent them separately and I got the tops just a few days ago but they got here safe and sound.

 

Well it's a funny story about the hand thing. So, Elder Coffin is one of those elders who's always full of ideas. Some of them brilliant, and others extremely stupid. He can also be very convincing in getting others to go along with his ideas. I still have warts on my hands and they've actually spread a little despite my efforts to be rid of them and so he proposed that we burn them out. He said he'd done it with another elder and that it had worked. Unfortunately we weren't blessed with the proper tools at that time and so we resorted to an electric stove and the backside of a spoon. What made it really bad is because he decided after the first couple singes that it was going to slow so he'd use the big end of the spoon to hopefully cover more area faster and that resulted in searing the whole knuckle. So that didn't end up very well. But it's all better now with the exception of the scar. I think I will just be patient and get it removed when I get home. I have resolved that burning it doesn't work and neither does freezing it or cutting it off or putting that weird solution on it. I'm sure the doctors will have a more effective method.

 

That's crazy that Jason is back from his mission already! It's crazy to think that this week I'll be hitting my ten months. It really does just breeze by. Pretty soon I'll be at eighteen months and on my way to the final stretch.

 

I hope you send me some of Kt's pictures. That would be cool. It's crazy to think that she's a senior in high school already! They grow up so fast!

 

Funny that you guys had lumpia this week because I had lumpia at a members house this week as well! They didn't have the yummy sweet chili sauce though. That I really missed. Thankfully this is the last week of the tight budget and then we should be alright. I'm surprised that I was able to make it all work out but really goes to show what you can do with careful planning.

 

It's still crazy that Shon's already getting married and even crazier that Candace had a baby! It'll be weird with two new people in the family and while I'll always be loyal and have that loving memory of Aunt Kelly, there's always love to go around. Make sure Dad remembers that no matter who she is, she is a daughter of God who deserves to be happy too and he can either be part of making her feel welcome and loved or be part of making her feel lonely and unaccepted by people she doesn't even know yet. I ran across a cool scripture in chapter 3 of Malachi this morning that says that the Lord, in the last days, will separate the righteous from the evil, those who follow God and those who serve the Devil. It really is that black and white almost when we think about the decisions before us. We can be a force for good and a force for evil. And all things are given to us which are expedient to man to make that choice. Choose wisely.

 

We had a pretty good week this week. Not as amazing as last week but still quite good. We've been able to maintain good work with the members which has really resulted in great progress in our investigators with baptismal dates. We set another one with the brother of one of the members. We saw him on the street and taught him an introduction to the Book of Mormon and the spirit was strong enough that he agreed to be baptized at the end of September right then and there! It was really cool.

 

I also got to go teach in the Spanish area again. I'm really looking forward to a time when I don't have to convene as many companion exchanges. While it's really great to have the opportunity to teach and learn from many different elders throughout a transfer, it makes me leave my area on a consistent basis, which I really don't like to do. I definitely get a lot of variety but lack the consistent focus that I can put to my area. It's hard but I still enjoy it.

 

Our area's really starting to pick up as Elder Elliott and I have been getting more and more consistent. It's really getting to be a great time to work in Emerson. Unfortunately I don't have too much to update you on because most of the things that went on in our area I wasn't there for but we're continuing to experience a lot of success in bringing a lot of people closer to Christ.

 

-Elder Guinto

Latest Pictures Now Ready for viewing

Kyle sent us his latest pictures.  You can view them at Mission Pictures Summer 2010

E-mail received 8/23/2010

Dear Mother,

 

Woa, never heard of a ganglian cyst. But it doesn't sound like too much fun. Tell Maleah that high school is nothing to worry about. She's pretty, fun, sociable and smart. She'll fit right in with the right people and it'll be great.

 

It's good that Katelyn is not overdoing it her senior year, although I don't know if it's wise not to take ANY math. But it's her choice and she'll do fine no matter what she does. Also I have no idea who Merl is. Sorry.

 

That's crazy that all these people are getting married! I'm missing all the action! But there's really a lot of action that we're seeing out here. Tell Becky and Chelsea that I said hi back. That'll be really cool to get a letter from President Turner. I've always looked up to him a lot. Also tell David I said hi! I was thinking the other day about him and how he probably only speaks tagalog now. It was funny because we had a new missionary training this week and all the Portuguese missionaries were there so I sat with them at the lunch that we had. All of us were speaking in Portuguese and then I turned to my companion and said something and he totally didn't understand me and I realized that he couldn't understand anything that we were saying.

 

I'm glad the baptism went well. It's such an amazing experience to attend when there's a convert baptism. The spirit is so strong and you can just see and feel the change that is taking place in the life of another person. It's truly something to live for.

 

Well we had a real blessed week this week. Elder Elliott and I really worked hard and smart. We were running around constantly and we really had no time to breathe between all the service that we did and all the appointments that we had but we really were blessed with a great week. We set two more baptismal dates with people so we have three people that have committed to preparing themselves to be baptized on a scheduled day. One of them we found this week.

 

It was an interesting story actually. Elder Coffin and I ran out of miles last month so we were walking down the street and a guy stopped to talk to us because he'd met with the Elders before. Turns out that his daughter and his ex-wife are members of the church and he was actually almost baptized when he lived in New York. We didn't talk long because he had a place to go but we were able to give him the church address and when sacrament meeting started. Two weeks later, he's in church! I wasn't in church that day because my responsibilities took me to another ward but when he came to church yesterday we met with him afterwards and set him with a baptismal date! He's really one of the most humbled, spiritual, prepared to receive the Gospel individuals that I've met on my mission so far. He's getting baptized September 19 so we're excited to teach him the rest.

 

We also found a new family this week, which was quite a miracle. We received a text with a referral to the family from a member who lives in Toronto, Canada. We went and visited the referral right away but their daughter Maria was the only one home so she told us to come back in an hour or so. We went and did a little finding and getting in contact with some potentials, hoping that there might be an opportunity to make it back there some time that night because we actually had an appointment with someone else at the time we were told to return. The appointment cancelled and when we came back to meet with them I found out it was actually someone that I'd met about five weeks ago! We didn't teach her because I thought she only spoke Spanish because when she greeted us at the door and I realized she spoke Spanish I just started into speaking Spanish and that was the sum of it. We were going to give her as a referral to the Spanish Elders in West New York because they cover our area in Spanish (Kindof) but she said that she needed like a month for things to settle down. On top of that after we start talking with them, in walk the Mitchells, the senior missionaries who work in our ward who had been trying to get us there but we couldn't because of the appointment. Anyway we had a great lesson and they came to church this week! We're planning on setting them with a baptismal date on Tuesday.

 

It's a really exciting time for working in Emerson! Elder Elliott and I have a lot of faith and we're experiencing miracle after miracle here! The wheel's really getting some momentum here and we plan to use it!

 

I hope you all have a great week and continue to build your faith that God is preparing people for you to meet and talk to about the Gospel so that it can touch their lives and result in the salvation of many souls!

 

-Elder Guinto