Wow! What an amazing week

Hola mi familia!!!! Wow! Talk about a fantastic week! Heavenly Father is so awesome and I am eternally grateful for His blessings! I have gotten to see a lot of blessings that happened this week!

First off, transfers end tomorrow. Elder Freitag and I are STAYING together! This will be our THIRD transfer together! We are going to be the only English speaking companionship that is going to cover two stakes. It is going to be SOOO busy but awesome! We have a lot of work that is going on and we can't afford to waste time and that is why I am so grateful to have a car. Elder Freitag and I will have to do a lot of splits because we are picking up investigators left and right! It is so amazing to see how the work is progressing. 

Elder Freitag and I wanted to stay together and keep both stakes soo bad. We even called President Hiers and requested that we stay together. He asked if we can handle covering two stakes one more transfer. We were ecstatic to hear that! I am so pumped to keep working hard with Elder Freitag! 

This past week, I was able to receive a testimony of how we can gain blessings after much tribulation. D&C 58:2-4. For the past few weeks, Elder Freitag and I went through some difficult times when some of our investigators that seemed to be progressing started to drop us or fall off completely off the radar. It was extremely difficult because we came to love these investigators and were rejoicing in their progression but that screeched to a halt when they dropped us spontaneously. It was crazy. 

So, I want to do something different this time. I want to share the biggest, most awesomest (I know that isn't a word but it doesn't matter. :) ) news at the end. So, here are the big news: So first things first, we had a great lesson with Rica. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon. She is still shooting for December 13th for her baptism. A lesson fell through so that was a little difficult but things are going super well! Please pray for her. 

Guess what!!! Facebook finally got useful for us now!! Elder Freitag and I found MahRyan on Facebook now! We both requested to be her friend and she accepted our friend request! We are planning on stopping by tomorrow night with the WML and hopefully, things will go back to the way it was because she has expressed a huge desire to be baptized! She even went to the Bishop on her own and requested to be baptized. Please pray for her also. She really needs your prayers. Also, pray for her mother, Brandy, and that her heart will be softened by the Spirit and all concerns, pertaining to meeting with us, will be resolved. 

We will be eating with the Wilson family! Remember that Pentecostal family from Missouri I told you about a couple weeks ago? It is a nonmember family of five. They are really good friends with a member of the bishopric. We will be eating with them soon and I am so pumped. It will be so amazing!

So, we met with a family. They are living with the Gaines. It is a nonmember family of 5. They have a 10 years old boy, 8 years old boy and a 4 years old girl. They are a family that practice Paganism. It is the oldest, recorded religion ever to be practiced. It is really cool hearing about how they practice it. One of the kids named Draco (yes, Draco. The exact same spelling as the kid from Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy!) started asking us questions about the Church. We answered them all. We asked the mother where he got all of these questions and she said that he has a lot of LDS friends and the next thing she said is that her kids have complete religious freedom. To sum it up: she said that the kids are free to choose their beliefs. It is really cool. 

After that, we asked Draco what he thinks about the Church. He told us that he loves the Church. He also said that he wants to become LDS. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is a cool kid and we are going to start teaching him tomorrow night. We will commit him to a baptismal date tomorrow. It will be awesome! 

Cherry is doing awesome! We had her meet with Becky Mitchell. She goes to China every single year and is a super strong member of the Church. She told Cherry about the Church in China. She even mentioned that you have to be a member of the Church in order to go to the Church. She also mentioned that you can meet with the missionaries in Hong Kong. It's a good thing that she lives in Wuhan, which isn't that far from Hong Kong. I was really nervous because I couldn't read her face and see how she is taking everything because Becky was talking about baptism a lot. When we invited her, she almost dropped us because she doesn't want to be baptized. At the end, she took everything super well. She even invited Becky to teach at her university (she is a visiting professor at USU) and was so happy! We gave her a language study edition of the Book of Mormon (it has three different columns: one in Chinese. one in Chinese (but it shows how you pronounce the words) and the last column is in English. She was so ecstatic to get that Book of Mormon. You can really tell that she is becoming converted! I love it so much!

So, the best news for last! We got to meet with the Goble family last Saturday. It is a really cool family! The parents are awesome and they have 5 kids. Cole is the oldest and he got baptized when he was 8 years old. Then comes Grace (11 years old), Charles (9 years old), Isabella (8 years old) and Mack (4 years old). They are so awesome! We found out in the first lesson that the mother is a recent convert and that she got baptized right after Cole was born. They were active for about 9 years and got sealed in the temple and everything. Then, all of the sudden, a few years ago, they fell less-active. The ward started to work with them and to try to help them. Years passed by, countless missionaries stopped by to start trying to teach them. No success. Elder Freitag and I were the first missionaries to teach everyone else except the mother. It was awesome.

Last Saturday, we invited Grace, Charles and Isabella to be baptized on December 13 but they wanted to be baptized on December 29 because they have family coming up to Logan on that day. Grace and Charles will be a convert baptism while Isabella will be a 8 years old family. Our main focus for that family is to get the kids baptized and the family BACK on the road to the Temple and help them stay active. Last Saturday, we invited them to come to Church and they all committed to come.

The next day, the ENTIRE family came. Luckily, we were able to speak in that ward so we can kinda control how well sacrament meeting goes. It is always nerve-wracking when a speaker talks about some deep doctrine thing and the investigator leaves church very confused. 

I was crazy nervous to give that talk because I wanted to do a really good job. I prayed a lot during the sacrament so I can have some help. Miracles happened. I never spoke so well and I could see that everybody could understand me. I was going to speak on missionary work but since the Goble family was there, I talked about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It went really well. 

Later that day, we had a meeting with the Stake President, we were sooooooooooooooooo excited to share the news with him. He was absolutely thrilled about hearing the kids accept the baptismal date. When we told him that the entire family, including the father, went to church, he was stunned. He couldn't believe it. He even said, "Pete even went to church?!?" He was really happy about that! 

Last night, we had an awesome lesson with the Goble family. We taught the Restoration and we committed the kids to read the Book of Mormon. I am glad to report that they are doing well. The parents are going to meet with the Bishop to sort out all of the baptism details like who is going to baptize them. There are three Goble families in the stake. Yes, three! They all are less active so the Bishop and the Stake President are a little concerned about "offending" them. Please pray for them. The names are as follows: Peter, Alexis, Cole, Grace, Charles, Isabella, and Mack Goble. ALSO, pray for Deserae and Marlowe Goble. Marlowe Goble is a cousin of Peter and Alexis's kids. She met with missionaries twice and backed out of the baptism right before it happened. Sad.. But, we are going to try to have Marlowe get baptized with Grace, Isabella, and Charles. It will be a grand day for the Goble family. Please pray for them all. It would be much appreciated! 

Man, it was a great week. I love being a missionary so much. I love seeing the blessings that comes from doing hard work in the Lord's vineyard. I am thankful for Jesus Christ and what He did for each one of us. I know that He truly loves each one of us, no matter what we have done in the past. I know that we all have a loving Heavenly Father, who loves each one of us so much! I love love love love being a missionary! I love serving Him with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. He helps each one of us, day and night. I am so grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father! 

I love you all so much. Have a great week. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Remember and be thankful for Him!!!! Love, Elder McGrath

Speedball with my zone!!!

Week full of miracles

Hola mi familia! What a wonderful week! I absolutely love being a missionary. I love seeing the work hasten, no matter where I go. The prophecy in D&C 88:73 is become true. I am so grateful to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading around the globe. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is HIS church. He leads the Church through revelations. Amos 3:7. We all need to become stronger covenant-making and covenant-keeping people. Build your foundation on Jesus Christ. There are soooo many scriptures in the Bible AND the Book of Mormon that talks about building your foundation on Jesus Christ. It is awesome. I love the Gospel so much.

Now on to what happened this week. Man, where should I start..

So, I forgot to include this part in last week's letter. Last Monday (not yesterday), a guy named Ben Smith called us and told us that he is from the Provo MTC and he will be coming with us out on splits from 9AM - 9PM. Well, that happened last Saturday! Apparently, there is only 8 companionships out of 125 companionships that is having a guy from the Provo MTC tag along and observe on how they find and teach. 

Needless to say, last Saturday went super well. We had a lot of miracles happen on that day. It was meant to happen. I was super nervous for that day because I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted to have each door contact be perfect and every lesson taught to be absolutely perfect. Elder Freitag and I planned that day out super well. We talked about what we will follow up on, what we will teach and what commitments will we extend. But needless to say, we weren't perfect but we tried our best. That is what matters the most! :) 

The first miracle I want to mention is the Gaines family. The mother is a struggling semi-active member and the husband is completely less-active. The husband went to prison for a month and we had that lesson. It was a wonderful lesson. The husband's heart is now soft and he wants to make a change in his life. We committed them to make a goal to get sealed in the Temple. They are (well, should) meet with the Bishop tonight. We will see how that goes. Also, right after that lesson, the parents of the two kids (who were present in the lesson but we have never seen them before. I concluded that the Gaines are babysitting) came home. The Gaines introduced us to them and told us that they moved into the house. The 10 years old kid wants to learn more about the church. The mother told us that she is Pagan (what is that? I have never heard of that religion up to that point) but she is willing to let the kids practice on what they believe. We committed the boy to meet with us on Saturday. He wants to learn more. I am excited! 

Also, Ben Smith took us out for lunch and we went to Olive Garden. While eating, we got a call and it was a number that wasn't saved in our phone. We were thinking about answering it later but I just figured, "Hey, let's get this over with so I don't have to worry about calling that person back." I just answered it. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello, this is the LDS missionaries. Elder McGrath speaking. How can I help you?

Person: This is Sister Goble from the Lundstrom Park 3rd ward (Logan East stake) and I have a problem. 

(During that time, I remembered who she was. She was on the part-member list)

Me: Oh, hello, Sister Goble! What can I do to help you?

Sis Goble: Well, I have two kids who are 12 and 10 who never got baptized and umm... we need some help with getting them baptized. 

Me: *pauses for a moment* wait a second, can you repeat that again? (I just wanted to make sure I heard it right and she repeats it again) Oh, yes! We can definitely help you with getting them baptized. When can we come over and teach them so they can get prepared to get baptized? 

We set up a lesson with them on Thursday. Amazing right! WHAT A MIRACLE! I have never gotten nor heard of anyone getting this kind of a call. I am so stoked. I love the blessings that the Lord blesses me with. I am so thankful for those blessings. 

Also, we found out that the Goble kids who are not baptized also have a cousin who almost got baptized (backed out of the baptism 30 minutes before the baptism) who happens to live in the same STAKE but different ward! We hope to invite the Goble kids to invite their cousin to the lesson so she can get baptized with her cousins. It will be a great baptismal service! I am so pumped to see that and make it a reality! :) 

Another miracle, we had a sick lesson with Cherry and Frank Lui last Sunday! We taught Gospel Principles in her ward at that day too. At the lesson, I asked if she had any questions about what we talked about in Gospel Principles. She was like, "Yeah. I wrote it down.". She then proceeded to pull out a notepad that had a lot of writings on it. But the coolest thing was that she didn't have any questions about Gospel Principles. Everything made sense to her. She had questions about the Restoration pamphlet and Book of Mormon we gave her. We only taught the first 1/2 of the lesson before we had to leave. On her own, she read the entire pamphlet, including the list of terms and she has read a little bit of the Book of Mormon. After hearing some of the questions, we helped her connect the dots. About why we needed a restoration, why we need a prophet. She even asked how old was Jesus Christ died? (which is 33 years old by the way). It was an amazing lesson and she is progressing really well. She is prepared! They are so awesome!

We had an awesome lesson with Aaron Marez yesterday. He is motivated and has a huge desire to overcome the challenges that is holding him back from baptism. We taught him a little bit about studying the scriptures because he expressed a huge concern that he isn't getting anything out of the scriptures. We showed him the footnotes and other various scripture studying activities that will help him. He seems excited about everything. And another thing, his MMA fight is coming up in three weeks. After that, he will have a lot more free time, which means that his progression will happen more rapidly! :)

The work is hastening and I absolutely love working hard. I love seeing all of the miracles that make all of the hard times worth it. Those blessings only come through obedience and hard work. I am so grateful for the things that I am learning on my mission. I am so grateful that I have decided to serve a mission. I love being a missionary! If you are thinking about serving a mission, SERVE A MISSION! You will not regret it, I promise! I love being a missionary so much!

I love you all so much! You are the greatest family anyone could have and I am lucky to call you my family! Love you and stay strong! Have an awesome week! :) Love, Elder McGrath

A couple of my favorite pictures!

Logan is amazing

Hola mi familia!! Without realizing it, I hit my 15 months mark last week.

Logan is amazing, seriously... Logan is absolutely amazing. I am loving my time here. I am loving my mission so much. I have grown and changed so much in my short 15 months. I cannot wait to see what the next 9 months will be like. I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for me. It will be exciting. I love being a missionary.

This past week has been awesome! We finally got back in contact with Paul Warren!! I hope we don't lose him again. We have a lesson set up for this Thursday. I am excited to start teaching him towards baptism, and then, eventually, the Temple. It will be great! MahRyan, on the other hand, is still difficult. We have her Sunday School teachers, the Burtons, working with her and trying to get things back in the way it was going before. The Burtons are really good friends with her. Please keep praying for her! :)

Awesome news, we found out that the Wilson's (the nonmember family of 5 from Missouri) family friends are now back in town and will be inviting them to meet with us and learn more about the LDS church in the next ward activity, which is this week!!!! Honestly, I am so pumped to start teaching them. It will be so awesome! The Murphy family are so cool. Elder and Sister Murphy are the Senior Couple missionaries for the Logan East stake (they are retired so they "went" on a mission for their home stake). They have a great relationship with the Wilson family. I am looking forward to seeing the great miracles that will come from teaching this family. I cannot wait to get them on the road to the Temple and see them sealed for all time and eternity! It will be awesome!

Last Sunday, Elder Freitag and I went to the Chinese Group sacrament meeting and a HUGE miracle happened just after it finished. We went and talked to the Ward Mission Leader's wife and she told us that after us coming to the English class for two straight weeks, there was a girl named Amanda that got really curious about what we do. The WML's wife told her that we are representatives of the Church. She also told her that we teach about Jesus Christ and how He can help us. She also told her that we invite people to come unto Christ through baptism!! We are meeting with her this Thursday! I am so pumped!

Another miracle happened at the Chinese group too. We talked to a potential investigator that came to church after talking to the WML's wife and the Group Leader (kinda like the Bishop) came with us to talk to her. They started speaking in Chinese and said a bunch of things that sounded like gibberish. All of the sudden, they both start smiling and he said in English that he had to get going. He also told us that he pretty much invited her to baptism and she accepted. It turns out that Rica (the potential investigator) had been going to church on and off and never met with missionaries. We told Rica that we, as missionaries, help people prepare to get baptized. She wants to meet with us and we set up a lesson for this Thursday!

What a miracle!!!!!!! I love the blessings that comes from doing the Lord's work This is one of the reasons why I love my mission so much! The work here in Logan is going awesome. I am loving it! Most of our less-actives are progressing back to re-activation.

We finally set up a lesson for Aaron Marez tomorrow. It turns out that he has been super busy in the past two weeks. I am so excited to finally continue to teach Aaron Marez. He reminds me a lot like Robert Hall from Tremonton. Like Robert Hall, Aaron Marez has something that is holding him back from being baptized. Like Robert Hall, he has a huge desire to be baptized. Like Robert Hall, he is keeping most of his commitments. Because of the experience I had with Robert Hall, I can help Aaron Marez and I am looking forward to the lesson. It will be marvelous! :)  

Cherry and Frank Lui are doing so awesome. We taught them the first half of the Restoration and she is taking it all in very well. She and Frank are learning a lot and they are reading the Book of Mormon. They are attending church every single week. They are progressing slowly but at least, it is still progression. They have a strong interest in the Gospel. They are so awesome! 

Thank you for all you do for us. I really appreciate the wonderful emails that you all send me. They are so awesome! You are awesome too! :) Stay strong and safe. Helaman 5:12. We can build that strong foundations by attending Church, praying and reading the scriptures. I love you all and have an awesome week! :) Love, Elder McGrath

A great week

Familia! What a great week this has been! I love my mission so much.

This past Saturday, I was able to attend the Logan, Utah Temple with the Jackson family for their endowment and sealing. Oh, man.. It was an incredible experience. Elder Freitag and I were there as well as the first two missionaries that taught them. We were talking to those first two missionaries and they told us about how Brother Jackson was not interested at all and he would always fall asleep in the lessons. They would go over there every single day at 6pm. They did this for two months and they told us that in one lesson, he completely changed. His desire changed. His mentality changed. He wants to get back active but didn't really put the effort into it. The Lord helped him. The Holy Ghost converted Brother Jackson and that alone changed his life. 

They could not believe that he got re-activated and now, sealed to his family for all time and eternity. It is incredible about how far he has came. I am so grateful to be a part of it. The Jackson family is so amazing.

The biggest thing that I will take away from this amazing experience is seeing the family get sealed in the sealing room. The Spirit was SO strong. Brother and Sister Jackson was so happy. You can see the light bursting from their eyes and it was incredible. After they got sealed, they sat back down and they were so delighted. All of the sudden, their three old son, Aaron, ran up to them. It was so adorable and all three of them sat down on the altar and Aaron got sealed to them. Nikki Jackson was not able to get sealed because of his biological mother (who is Jehovah's Witness). She didn't grant permission. 

While Brother, Sister and Aaron Jackson were on the altar, the Spirit was much more stronger. The Spirit was bouncing off the walls and it was incredible. I will never forget this experience. It was incredible. I cannot wait for my turn to be able to get sealed to my future wife in the Temple. I know that families can be together forever, even after we die. 

Last night, we had an incredible lesson with the Jackson family. We read Alma 29:9-10 with them. We specifically asked Brother Jackson about this scripture and what it meant to them. After that, Brother Jackson told us his entire story about his conversion and how the Temple is the closest he has got to Heaven. He will be attending the Temple every Saturday morning to do the work for the dead. 

After that, we talked a lot about how there is a lot of people out there that don't have this privilege of being able to have the blessings of the Gospel in their lives. This is the reason why we are commanded by Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19-20) to bring His Gospel to all those around us. At the end of the lesson, he committed to bearing his testimony about the temple and missionary work, also committed to start doing Family History and talk to his friends about the Gospel. 

This is my favorite part about missionary work. Seeing other people become converted unto the Lord. That is what makes all the hard times worth it. This is why I love my mission so much. I have taught many many people and some of them became converted. It is amazing to see them change for the better and lead better lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. 

The Hillcrest 2nd ward is very concerned about MahRyan and what happened to her. We told them what happened and a lot of people are trying to help her out. The Bishop assigned her Sunday School teachers (they are really good friends with MahRyan) to visit her. Please pray for her that she will be able to start meeting with us and meet her baptismal goal of November 22nd.

So, last Sunday, the Utah Ogden Mission had the Musical Fireside that they held at the Logan Tabernacle. We invited so many people to come and we had our Senior Couple Missionaries (senior couples that is assigned to serve alongside full-time missionaries in the stake they reside in) invited so many people. I am SO happy to report that there was a BIG turnout at the musical fireside. The tabernacle was completely packed. Elder and Sister Murphy (of the Logan East stake) had a NONMEMBER family of 5 come with them. Elder and Sister Murphy said that they should be ready to be taught by next week. I am so PUMPED to start teaching them and help them get on the road to the Temple. 

And guess what, Cherry and Frank Lui came to the fireside. Before that, we had a sick lesson with them. We talked about the last half of the Plan of Salvation and she said that "this all makes sense. I can see a purpose in my life now!"! :D She and Frank is progressing quite well. They are attending Church every single week and they are feeling the Spirit. 

I truly love my mission so much. I love being a missionary in the Utah Ogden Mission. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and what He has done for each one of us. I know that He is our Savior and Redeemer. With His Atonement, we can become clean and prepare to return to live with our loving Father in Heaven and our family for all eternity. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the happiness that it brings by obedience to the principles and ordinances of the Gospel. 

I love you all and have a wonderful week. Stay strong and close to the Lord. :) Love, Elder McGrath