Week 19: January 25, 2016

Good afternoon y'all,

          This week has been an interesting and fun week.  To start
off it was so cold, yes I said it cold in Florida. It was 38 degress
but with the wind chill and humidity it was about 20.  Talk about
cold, so I had a long sleeve shirt on, 2 sweaters, a scarf, and my
north face.  And still was cold.  It was not the best experience to go
through but it isn't as cold today and should be a little warmer this
next week.  But I never thought it would be cold in Florida, like in
the morning there was ice on some of the cars, it was crazy!!!!  Oh my
but today it's back to the 60s but the wind still makes it a little
cold.

          One last thing, so Elder Bangerter and I are getting along
really well.  We had a hard spell last week that lasted 2 days but
then we were able to talk it out and all is well.  He really is
awesome and really helping me grow.  We have started doing pranks.  I
have been scaring him by hiding and then popping out and screaming.
He got me back by pretending to sleep talk and sleep walk.  It was
pretty funny and he totally got me.  Ahhhh it is fun, but life at the
beach is still great.

          So here's a fun thing, so remember how we had a baptism
planned for February 6th.  Not anymore......its this Saturday!!!!!!
I'm so excited, his name it C*** and he's doing great.  He really
loves the church and is keeping the commandments and doing everything
he needs to do to be baptized.  It is really a great miracle that we
even met him.  So this might take a little bit to explain but here we
go.  So about  a month ago we  were going through a list of former
investigators.  So people that used to meet with missionaries but
don't any more.  So C*** hasn't met with missionaries in about 2 years
but we went to his house and knocked on his door.  His mom came out
and said, "oh Mormons, come back another day, C*** not here."  So we
decided to go back the next week.  That following Sunday a man we didn't
know came to church so we went to introduce himself.  He said his name
was C*** and that he hadn't come to church in a while.  He asked us if
we would like to come to his house later that week.  So we went over
and had a great first lesson with him.  At the end of the lesson we
invited him to be baptized.  He accepted and now we are here with him
entering the waters of baptism this Saturday.

But that was the week, some great miracles and a lot of cold days.  I
hope y'all have a great week and I'll talk to y'all next week!

Elder Guinup

Week 18: January 18, 2016

Good afternoon y'all,

          This past week has been interesting, really fun and amazing
experiences.  First off I hit my 4 month mark this last Saturday.  I
still can't believe I left beautiful Washington state 4months ago.
It's so weird to me just thinking about it, it doesn't feel like I
left home that long ago.  Another thing that was interesting from this
last week is I can't remember what I did.  I can barely remember what
I did yesterday.  So hat has made life interesting and hard but it is
still a ton of fun out here.  The weather is staying relatively cool
but we have had two crazy rain storms.  It just started pouring and it
was so wet and rainy.  But it was so fun to go out in it and get
soaked, the interesting thing is the drains always seem to be broken
because the roads are always flooded when it rains but it's fun to
ride a bike in.

        Here's one interesting thing we have two investigators who
have a baptismal date for February 6th.  One of those was supposed to
be baptized this Saturday but he needs more time to prepare for it.
But we were meeting with him this last week and he was trying to fix
the tv and was really stressed out so he asked us to say a prayer with
him.  So we started a prayer and in the middle of the prayer we heard
a loud clicking, it was a extension cord short circuiting.  So in the
middle of the prayer he yells "oh no!!!!" Flips the chair and finds
the extension cord that was starting to spark and make a little flame.
So he yelled "emergency, we have a code 4 evacuate the building".
Luckily he stopped the little flame from getting big, but it was an
interesting and funny experience.  I have learned that weird and funny
things happen on your mission.

        But that's about it for the week, I wish I could remember
more.  But do know this everything I experience out here is
strengthening my testimony.  The more things I go through gives me a
sure knowledge that this gospel is true.  There is nothing that can
prove it to be true or false.  But we have our own testimonies that
prove to us at this gospel is true.  I know that God has again called
a prophet to he earth and that he has been called to lead all of God's
children on the right path.  I am grateful for this gospel and the
many wonderful blessings that come as I keep the commandments that God
has put on this earth.

I hope y'all have a great week!!!!

Elder Guinup

Week 17: January 11, 2016

Good morning y'all,

       I don't have much to report on this week, I got sadly got a bad
nasal infection so I was stuck in the apartment for a couple days.  It
wasn't fun and I didn't want to stay inside but I had to to get
better.  I'm doing a lot better now, the doctors took care of me and
got me some antibiotics pretty quick.

      But this week good things happened as well.  It is not hot
anymore!  It is actually pretty cold now, to the point to where it
bites you down to the bone.  I found that high humidity makes hot and
cold not too fun.  But I like the cold a lot better than the heat.

      There is one thing from this week I will share one awesome
experience from this week.  We had gotten a referral this week from a
member of the church.  A referral is when someone gives us and name of
someone to go visit and try to teach.  So when we went to go visit
this family we were just going to knock on the door and try to share a
quick message with them.  When we knocked on the door they just let us
in, they had never met either of us before and didn't know we were
coming.  But what the were prepared for was to receive this message of
the restored gospel.  It was amazing to see how God had truly prepared
them over their lives.  They had so many experiences over their lives
that have led them to he point to have the desire to learn more about
this gospel.  I say this a lot but I am truly blessed to be part of
these people's lives as they come closer to Christ.  This gospel has
bless my life so much and I can see those blessings in the lives of
the people we are teaching.  This is truly a great and marvelous work.

I hope y'all have a good week,

Elder Guinup

Week 16: January 4, 2016

Good Morning y'all!

      I hope y'all had a great new year!  Time has just blown past me,
not just out here on my mission but this whole year has just zipped
by.  I hope this year won't fly by as quick.  But I am excited to
start he year off and am trying to start off running and keep the work
going strong.  Also it is finally getting cold here, I am so happy!
It isn't blazing hot but it isn't too cold either.  It is just the
perfect temperature.

     This last week though has been a little hard as we had a good
amount of appointments cancel on us last minute and other random
things pop up.  So we have spent a lot of the week doing door to door
and trying to find new people to talk to.  But sadly that too has been
a little slow.  Besides it not being as good I haven't been
disappointed which has been great.  I have actually loved all the hard
experiences, it has really helped shape me to the missionary I need to
be.

     But besides the hard days and the slow work we still had some
great experiences. One experience was with an investigator that is
progressing towards baptism.  We had a lesson with him this last week
and he had just had 2 beers but was still coherent. So he kept asking
what God wants him to do and how to do it. We were talking about his
baptismal date and he wanted to know if this is the path that he wants
him on. We invited him to say a kneeling prayer with us, the spirit
was so strong durring the prayer, after waiting for an answer after
the prayer we asked how he felt. He said he couldn't feel the spirit
because he was drunk, he said he didn't like that and wanted to stop
right there. We tought him the word of wisdom and invited him to live
it. He said he would stop drinking alcohol, coffee and tea. He said
the smoking will take a little longer but he is slowing down on that
as well. He was truly prepared to receive this gospel now and it is
amazing to see him grow.

    Well that is it for this week, I hope y'all have a great week and
I'll talk to y'all later,

Elder Guinup