Two awesome baptisms

Hey guys! Thank you so much for the emails that you have sent me. It was a joy reading them! It is so nice to hear about the things happening at home. I want to make a shout-out to my Dad who will be working in SAUDI ARAMCO! Woot woot! He is a stud because Saudi Aramco is a very prestigious company and very difficult to get into but my awesome Dad did it. 

So this week was absolutely amazing. Many miracles happened. :) Ethan and Gage Cefalo got baptized! :D It was an amazing baptismal service. I was able to give a talk on the Holy Ghost, be a witness and do a missionary presentation. It was so much fun. I love being able to teach everyone at once about the Holy Ghost as well as the Restoration. I love being a missionary. When Ethan got baptized and when he came up, out of the water, he flashed two thumbs up and he had a huge smile on his face. It was so wide. It was so awesome. Ethan is so funny. He makes me laugh a lot. haha.

So, an awesome thing happened. Last Sunday, when we went over to teach Lesson 5 to them about Priesthood and temples. They told us that they already set an appointment up to talk to the bishop. Gage (who is age 12) is getting the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday and Brother and Sister Cefalo is meeting with the bishop this Sunday to see what they need to do to get sealed to each other in the temple. We are also taking Gage and Kaitlyn (older sister but she went LA but she is active now. :) ) to do baptisms for the dead in a few weeks. I AM SO EXCITED! I love it when I see a family progress and they will soon be an eternal family. I love the gospel. I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And I love temples so much. Through temples, families can be together forever. 

So, Elder Simbeck and I had a sick lesson with the Detar family. We taught the Plan of Salvation and that answered ALL of the twins' questions. I was able to utilize the Stay Posi training I received from the AP's (point out their progression. ask positive questions. help them see the growth in them) and it went amazing. I reinvited them to be baptized and they said yes. I set a date for June 21st and they said yes. BUT the mother said, "Hold on.." then she went on explaining that the twin girls barely know anything about the gospel. After she finished, I pulled out my scriptures and turned to Acts 2, the part where the Peter and the apostles are talking to the people and one of them asked, "What shall I do" and Peter responds by saying, "Repent ye and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Then, the people got baptized the same day. See, they started out not knowing very much but they had faith and they got baptized the SAME day. They were able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I then compared that to John 14:26 with how the Holy Ghost can help us learn because "he teaches us all things and bring all things to remembrance." After that, I went on explaining about how we can help them gain that basic understanding of the gospel before baptism and then, when they have the gift of the Holy Ghost, they will learn even more. I reinvited them again. They said yes and the mother again shot it down, using a different excuse this time. The girls really want to be baptized but the mother is holding them back and I HATE when that happens. That is a common problem in the Utah Ogden mission. Please pray for the Detar family (Jennifer, Renae and Erika. Jennifer is the mother.)! But it was a great lesson. I really enjoyed teaching that lesson. 

A really cool thing my companion and I learned about in Companionship Study this week was about Helaman 5:12. I also got to thinking about the rock of our Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ. I also read, 3 Nephi 11:39-40 and I also read 3 Nephi 18:12-13. This was during Personal Study over the span of three days. It talks about the doctrine of Christ being our rock, not just Jesus Christ. If  you want more information, read this. It was just something cool that my companion and I have learned in the past week during comp study.

I love you and stay strong! Have a wonderful week! :) Love, Elder McGrath

A great week

Hey guys! Thank you so much for the emails that you have sent me. It was a joy reading them! It is so nice to hear about the things happening at home. This week was pretty good! 

Last Wednesday, I was able to do exchanges with Elder Zarse. Yes, my trainer. It was really weird at first being back together again, even though it was only for a day. It was really cool. He improved a lot as being a missionary and he said the same thing about me. It was amazing. We talked to so many people and we got some return appointments so that is always good.

The Cefalos are doing absolutely amazing. Gage and Ethan are getting baptized this Saturday at 12pm. It will be a huge baptismal service. Sister Cefalo invited 50+ people to come and she told us that the majority of that will be coming. I am so excited. I will be giving a talk on the Holy Ghost and a missionary presentation after the baptism. It will be amazing. I am so excited. Gage and Ethan are so excited too. Last time we were there, they were bouncing off the walls. It was awesome! :)

Elder Simbeck and I had a miracle happened this week. We were walking down the street and we saw this family unloading their groceries out of the car. We instantly went over to help out and after we helped out, we started talking to them. It turned out that they are active members so we asked them if they know anyone that we can share our message with. They gave us this referral for the Mitchell family. It turns out that they have two kids (10 yrs old and a 8 yrs old) and they both are not baptized. Brother Mitchell really wants his kids to be baptized and requested for missionaries to drop by. We went over and contacted them. It turned out that the previous missionaries before Elder Kelley and I, never visited them. Not even once.. They were really happy when we stopped by and we scheduled an appointment for later this week. I can't wait to teach them. It will be amazing. :)

There was this less active guy named Nate Loftus. Elder Kelley baptized his 13 yrs old son and when I came into the area, we kept in touch (gave spiritual thoughts and comfort when he needed it.) and gave priesthood blessings when we needed to. When he got the Melchizedek Priesthood, I gave him my blessings card (all the information about giving a blessing and how to do it.) and he was so grateful for it. Last Thursday night, as we were planning for Friday, he called us and requested for our presence with him when he was going to the Logan temple for his endowments AND his sealing (he got sealed to his wife!). It was AMAZING! I can now say, I was able to bring people to the waters of baptism, do baptisms for the dead (Robert Hall from Tremonton West), endowments (Nate Loftus), and sealing (Nate Loftus). I never was able to see a sealing before but after witnessing it, it was so amazing. I love the temple and the special spirit you feel inside. The temple is truly the holy house of the Lord. 

The Detar family is doing absolutely amazing, even though the lesson fell through because they got home late from their trip to Washington. They thought that they were going to be home from their trip early afternoon (we had the lesson at 7pm that evening) but problems ensued and we had to reschedule. But we dropped by earlier that week and we got to share a video, Because of Him and we offered to say a prayer before we leave and we were able to! It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong. 

I love the gospel. I know that the gospel is perfect and with logic, it all makes sense. Every time I learn a new thing about the gospel, it always makes sense. I love being able to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary. I have learned so much on my mission and it was glorious! :) Love, Elder McGrath

This was on a P-day. There is a Hill Aerospace museum and it was really sick. It was awesome! :)

A great week in Clinton

Hey guys! Thank you so much for the emails that you have sent me. It was a joy reading them! It is so nice to hear about the things happening at home. The weather has been going wonderful. I am loving how perfect it is. What a great week to be a missionary in the Utah Ogden mission!!!! 

Last Wednesday, I was able to give my very first District Meeting as a DL and it was AWESOME! Everything went super great. The Zone Leader said that I did a really good job. I was able to train the missionaries in my District on utilizing scriptures that shows scarcity, confidence, and urgency and why it is important to do that. When we show our investigators how important this whole process is, they always keep the commitments and end up getting baptized (James 4:17). 

After DM, the Zone Leaders wanted to do an exchange so Elder Pitcher came with me to my area and we worked hard. Elder Pitcher is from the Calgary area in Canada and he came out with Elder Kelley. We had a super sick lesson together with the Detar family. The Detar family consists of a single mom, Jennifer (her husband committed suicide and she is a LA.), and two twin daughters, who are not members. Elder Pitcher, and I, along with the fellowshipper, were able to teach them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were super interested and kept asking so many questions. The Plan of Salvation lesson would answer of their questions so that's what Elder Simbeck and I will be sharing this week. I'm looking forward to it. 

Heather Butler, a woman who was projected to get baptized this Saturday, didn't come to church this past Sunday and because of that, we have to push back the baptism...... Grrr... To help her get to church, Elder Simbeck and I have an appointment with her tonight and we have some scriptures, that shows scarcity and urgency, that we are planning on sharing with her. Hopefully, that will solidify her a lot more!

The Cefalos are doing awesome! We finished teaching them everything and we are now planning on the baptism and I can't wait. May 24th is also going to be Ethan's 9th birthday so they are having a barbecue afterwards and we got invited. It is going to be so awesome! 

Elder Simbeck and I was able to give a talk in the 21st ward last Sunday and we were able to speak on the subject of missionary work. I wanted to mess around with Elder Simbeck. I told him that the 21st ward gets the most church attendance of all of the Northern Utah ward. It is the BIGGEST ward too. I also told him that the Stake President as well as the first counselor of the Stake presidency would be there too (That's their home ward so that part is true.). Elder Simbeck, being as gullible he is, believed me and started going into panic mode. It was hilarious and when we got on the seats behind the pulpit, he realized that I was joking. Haha, it was hilarious. Elder Simbeck gives the funniest reactions ever! Elder Simbeck is such a great guy and it is a joy being companions with him. He has taught me so many things and he is such a hard worker. What a great guy!

Last Thursday, the mission had a mission-wide Day of Service. Elder Simbeck and I were able to go to one of the parks located in Syracuse and help plant sod. That included landscaping the dirt and making sure it is flat enough for the sod. The entire Clinton and Clearfield zone participated in that and it was a blast. It was cool seeing some of the missionaries that was in my old zone and ones that I knew pretty well. 

As most of you may know, this past Sunday was Mother's Day and I was able to skype home to my family. That was awesome. I am so glad that everything is going well with them! :) I love you all and I hope you all had a wonderful week! Don't forget to stay strong in the Gospel (2 Nephi 31:21, John 14:18, Helaman 5:12). Love, Elder McGrath

My zone leader. He is awesome! 

What an amazing week

Hey guys! Thank you so much for the emails that you have sent me. It was a joy reading them! It is so nice to hear about the things happening at home. The weather has been going wonderful. I am loving how perfect it is. What a great week to be a missionary in the Utah Ogden mission!!!! I want to make a shout out to my most awesome MOM because she is one great momma!  Happy Mothers Day!

My companion, Elder Simbeck, is from Arlington, Washington (a hour north of Seattle). He is 21 years old and he is a really cool guy. We have a lot of fun together. We joke around a lot and we get along just amazing. I am so happy that he is my companion. We have a lot of fun! So, we had an amazing week this week! :D

Elder Simbeck and I were able to have two lessons with the Cefalo family and it was amazing. The first lesson we had is the 10 commandments and we taught with the hand signs. They were able to TEACH their friend who showed up late to the lesson. It was amazing. After that lesson, we were able to solidify Gage and Ethan Cefalo for baptism. They really want to be baptized and they are SO SOLID! In fact, the family is having a family barbeque in celebration for Gage and Ethan's baptism. May 24 is going to be an amazing day! :) 

Elder Simbeck and I were also able to go see the Detar family. They have two daughters who are twins and is 15 years old. They accepted a baptismal date from Elder Kelley and I but it fell through because the mother didn't want them to deal with extra things right now. We later found out that the father committed suicide and it really hurt the daughters. That lesson, we were able to go and share Mountains to Climb with the family. We talked about the Atonement and we can have the strength from Jesus Christ to overcome trials. It was a very spiritual lessons; in fact, it was one of the MOST spiritual lessons I have ever been in. The fellowshipper shared this amazing story about his trials in his life and I was able to talk about my deafness and how Jesus Christ helped me get past trials. The mother started crying and it was an amazing lesson. 

Elder Simbeck and I were able to teach the Stop Smoking program to Shauna King. Shauna King is a single woman and she lives alone. We have a fellowshipper who comes with us so we can go inside. The morning of the day when the lesson is going to happen, I texted the fellowshipper, making sure that he still knows about the lesson. He confirmed and guess what?! He never showed up. We called/texted him and we had to teach her on the doorsteps and it was a very interesting lesson. The fellowshipper called us later that day and apologized. It was a cool experience and I can't complain. Now, I can say that I taught someone how to stop smoking on a doorstep. :D 

Hahahaha, I am just dying of laughter thinking of this story. So last Saturday, I told Elder Simbeck about a balot (22 day old baby duck) and told him that if James Wales offers one, he has to take the offer (I was playing a prank on him). I told him that James would get really offended and get mad at us. I was joking about that. James is a very chill, laid-back guy. I also told him that the balot is very expensive. About 10 bucks per egg. It is only a dollar. He got so scared and guess what?! JAMES OFFERED HIM ONE and knowing about the whole deal ! But we were out of time so we had to leave. Elder Simbeck was so happy about that but I told James that we can come back after the lesson. As we walked out, I was trying so hard to not laugh. Elder Simbeck was FREAKING OUT! I wish I have recorded it. I told him that it's easy. Just eat the whole thing and down it with water. Later that day, we came back and he was dying of nervousness. He got the balot and proceeded to eat the whole thing and trying to not throw up. It was HILARIOUS! After that, James told him that he was a man for eating the whole thing and told him that Elder Kelley and I only took one bite. Elder Simbeck gave the FUNNIEST reaction!! The entire family and I was laughing SO hard. After sharing a spiritual thought, we left and Elder Simbeck told me that he is happy because he can now tell his future kids that he ate something super disgusting. It was one of the funniest times I had on my mission!

It was a fantastic week and I love being a missionary. Tomorrow, I hit my NINTH month mark and it feels like it has been a short time. I can't wait to see what the next 15 months will bring. I love working so hard and seeing so many miracles to happen. I love all of you and don't forget to stay strong! God loves you! Love, Elder McGrath