Baptism in Smithfield

Hello everyone, It has been a great and productive week. We had some great things happen this past week. Smithfield is an amazing area and I am loving my time here. We are seeing great things happening. A lot of members are telling Elder Cook and I that the ward members are getting excited because they are seeing some results happening. Those results came from hard work. Even when things aren't the way they should, hard work can still bring results. That goes for all aspects of life.  

We also have something super amazing that will be happening tonight and that is the lesson with Jackson! He is the 11 years old unbaptized boy and he wants to meet with us. Hopefully, we can help him with his desire to be baptized! :) I am soooooo stoked for the lesson tonight with Jackson! :) 

So, we were able to meet with Lindsay Meinders and she is a stud. She went through a lot of difficult times in her life. She went to jail for a year or so and she just got out. She told us that she wants to go through the repentance process and become close to God. It is crazy how one experience can help people realize that they need God in their life. We ALL need God in our life. I cannot imagine life without God or Jesus Christ. There will be no purpose in life. It would be difficult to obtain true happiness. I testify that true happiness comes from following the principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Anyways, during that lesson, we were able to talk about the Atonement and man, the Spirit was POWERFUL! Lindsay was sobbing and I was trying my hardest not to. The Spirit is amazing and I love how the Spirit touches people's hearts. Lindsay committed to read the scriptures, pray and attend church weekly so that is awesome! I could see her progressing so that's wonderful! :) 

Brindley is a STUD! She is super smart and we were able to meet with her last night. We went over the baptismal interview questions and dang, she knew them all. She is super ready to be baptized. Now, she is preparing to be baptized on Saturday, the 31st! Her official interview is tomorrow and she is super stoked to ace the interview. 

Brindley is only 9 years old but she is probably the most prepared 9 years old person that I have ever met on my mission. I am glad to be one of the missionaries to help her get to the water to follow the example of Jesus Christ. 

Great things are happening this week so it is amazing! I am loving my time as a missionary. I love being to help everyone I know become closer to Jesus Christ. He is the way. He is the light. He is the hope. All those who follow Him will find peace and happiness (John 8:12!). I love the Gospel so much! God lives! Jesus lives!

Love you all and stay strong! You can do hard things. :) Love, Elder McGrath

This picture is before Brindley's baptism!

Brindley's baptism

Miracles in Smithfield

Dear Family, It has been a crazy week! A lot great things happened so that was awesome! I honestly love being a missionary. I love being able to see all of the miracles I witness every day!

Brindley is doing so amazing! She is only 9 years old and she is super smart! We taught the Plan of Salvation and she was asking a lot of questions, which is super good! She has a strong understanding of the Plan of Salvation so that was cool!! Brindley and her entire family came to church last Sunday! That alone was a huge miracle! Last Sunday, Elder Cook and I were greeting people and time was coming to the end. Sacrament meeting was about to start and we were getting super nervous because she needs to come to church. During the opening song, Brindley and her entire family showed up!!!! What a miracle!!! I love those small miracles. They make up all of the joyful moments on my mission. Those moments is what I will remember. The Lord always blesses those who serve Him and others! Mosiah 2:17.

We also had another big miracle happen. Last Monday morning, we received a call from one of the Ward Mission Leaders. This specific Ward Mission Leader's ward is the slowest ward in terms of missionarywork. Everyone in the ward is established and lived there for many, many years. The inactives and nonmembers has been contacted numerous times.

So, the Ward Mission Leader calls us and told us that he wants to meetwith us as soon as possible. He also mentioned that he has some great news, which got us to look forward to the meeting. That night, we went to the church building and met with him. He handed us two sheets of paper. They contained information of people that wants to meet with us!! One of them was Lindsay Meinders. She was born and raised in Smithfield all of her life. She has a 3 years old son named Sam! Probably one of my favorite kids that I met on my mission. We were visiting Lindsay for the first time and we saw sooo many Nerf guns, which is always cool. During the conversation we were having with Lindsay, Sam handed me a Nerf gun. Later on, I cocked it and shot it at the ground. All of the sudden, Sam yelps, "Ow!". Everybody looked at me because they thought I shot Sam on purpose. My companion shot me a huge, mean glare and Sam goes, "Just kidding..". What?! That kid is going places! Of course.. It is all because his name is Sam! ;)

Lindsay is a super cool lady and she went through some difficult times in her life. Because of that, she is very receptive to the Gospel! I was really impressed with her desire to change. It was a testimony builder that the Atonement is real and it is for everyone. Everybody CAN change!

The second sheet of paper that he handed to us was the Hyer family. It is a very weird situation. It is probably the one that everyone never hears about. So, it is with this lady named Kelly and she has a son named Jackson, who is 11 years old and never got baptized. Kelly and Jackson lives with Kelly's father and stepmother. Sounds normal? It does but wait for it. Kelly is the surrogate mother of his father's new child. Since Kelly's stepmother will die due to complications of pregnancy, Kelly volunteered to be the surrogate mother. All in all, Kelly is the surrogate mother of her sibling.

Anyways, we were able to set up an appointment with the family because they seemed to be pretty interested. So, that was awesome! The next appointment we have with them is Tuesday evening! We are so stoked to start teaching them!

To be honest, I would have to say that these three miracles happened through obedience to the principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the Mission Rules. D&C 130:20-21. It was a huge testimony builder to realize that. I also have been thinking a lot about the past year and a half of my mission. I would have to admit that all of my strongest recent converts was a blessing because of my obedience. I would have never found the Cefalo family, Loftus family, Hall family, Mica Glover, Goble family, Cherry, Wilson family and the Jackson family.

The same principles apply to real life. God is with us in everything we do, as long as it is the right thing. Romans 8:31. God loves us and will always love us, even when we make mistakes. God is always willing to pour blessings upon us that will brighten our day and give us that strength we need to go through a difficult trial and come out stronger. He isn't going to take away trials because He knows the benefits of the trials we go through. He sees things that we don't see. Because of that, instead of taking it away, He would give us more strength to get through the trial. Seek Him out and He will bless you! I know that God lives and He knows each and every single one of us. He loves you!

If life is awesome, pray. If life is hard, pray. If you are happy, pray. If you are sad, pray. Alma 37:36-37.

I love you all so so so much! You are so awesome! Keep up the great work over in KSA! Good luck with the new king! Who is the new Crown Prince? Love you!!!! Love, Elder McGrath

Smithfield South rocks

Hola mi familia! It was a great week! I am so happy to serve the Lord. He has greatly blessed me with so many awesome things this past week. I am so grateful for everything! :) 

Last Tuesday night (my last night in my last area), we had two big miracles happen and it was amazing. I am so stunned and still is by those two miracles. The first one is Draco's mother, Krista. She is a Pagan and had a bunch of spiritual experiences with the Pagan religion so we were just teaching her son, Draco, and she was there to support her son. We kept asking her if she has ever felt the Spirit while in the lesson or at church. She kept saying that she keeps hearing about this special feeling but she never felt it. She was confused about that. 

I wanted to go say goodbye to Draco but he was in bed because he was sick. So, we just sat down and talked with Krista. She told us of all of her health problems and I wanted to give her a blessing so I asked her if she would like to have a blessing. She said no but I was adamant because I had a feeling that she really wanted one but was afraid to get one. She finally succumbed and said yes.

As I was giving her the blessing, I never felt the Spirit so strong while giving her a blessing. As I concluded, I saw her face and she was sobbing. She kept saying, "I know now. I know what you mean. I felt it. I have no idea why I am crying." In my mind, I was literally screaming "YES!" at the top of my lungs! Elder Freitag and I was able to testify to her that it was the Holy Ghost and God told her that the blessing was true. She said after that, "I know."! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The Holy Ghost is awesome. ALWAYS listen to it. The Lord is the Good Shepherd and knows His sheep. He will tell us through the Holy Ghost how to help those around us if they are in need of help. I have seen that countless times. I know, by the experience with Krista, the Lord told me that she needed the blessing so she can feel "the thing everybody talks about". I love the Gospel! It is all true. 100% true.

That night, we had another miracle happen!! While doing nightly planning, we got a text from MahRyan and she told us that she wants to start taking the lessons again so she can get baptized! Her mom finally gave her permission! Elder Freitag and I jumped for joy! It was amazing! We were able to get the lesson set up for the next night and guess what! Elder Freitag's son invited her to be baptized and she is now getting baptized on the 24th of January!!!!!!!! How exciting is that! Miracles! I love miracles! :) 

Now, moving on Smithfield South! It is a good area and has a lot of potential. It is a little slow due to the missionary that I replaced. He didn't do a very good job.  lder Cook is awesome and is fired up about the work. He wants to change the area now. He had a difficult companion in the area last transfer and didn't do very much as a result. A lot of people don't know him so it is like we are white-washing the area. 

So far, we have visited a ton of Bishops, Ward Mission Leaders, and Relief Society Presidents and we got a ton of referrals to work off. The members here are pretty excited to have us two here in Smithfield so they are willing to help us out with anything. It is exciting! 

We are working with a 11 years old named Brynlee and she is working towards January 31st as her baptismal date. She is coming along really well. She hasn't been taught much so we really have to make sure that she gets taught everything she needs so she can be ready for her baptism. So far, she is very solid for her baptism It is kinda hard to pick up the slack that the previous missionary slacked off with but the Lord called me here for a reason and I am willing to work super hard to find out what that is.

There is also a 14 years old boy named Eddie and he has met with missionaries before and really wants to be baptized. The parents were divorced and the biological parents are in a huge fight about letting Eddie be baptized so the Bishop of the ward is working with them to resolve everything and get the boy baptized. When we visited him last week, he told us that it is almost resolved and it is looking like Eddie will be baptized in February. We requested to start teaching him so we can make sure that he is ready to be baptized because he might be a little rusty on his knowledge. I am excited about that! :) 

Sorry about this letter. It isn't very long because there isn't much going on in Smithfield but I expect to see great things and miracles to unfold this week. I am SO pumped to work super hard this week and witness a lot of miracles. :) 

I am LOVING my mission so much! I am so glad that I chose to serve. :) I love you all and have a wonderful week. Stay strong. You can do hard things. Love, Elder McGrath

Having some fun with the ice sword

Trip down to Ogden for the Mission Leadership Training

Letter from Sister Murphy

Hello Sister McGrath,

You have probably heard that your son was transferred to another area.  We knew we'd be losing at least one of our Elders and we were sad.  They have been a great companionship and we have been very spoiled to have them through 3 transfers already.  They were the only young missionaries we'd served with since our call and we knew we had the BEST! Elder McGrath is serving in the Smithfield South zone and has a special challenge ahead of him.  There have been a group of struggling Elders assigned there and they have lost the support and confidence of members and leaders in that area. 

Elder McGrath will have to rebuild many bridges.  I know he will do a great job; everyone loves Elder McGrath who has the opportunity of knowing him.  He is a humble servant of our Savior.  I was ALWAYS most impressed with how he lives totally without guile and desires only the best for those around him and loves everyone unconditionally.  No wonder he's such an outstanding missionary!  He sincerely joyed with those who excelled and were given leadership responsibilities and never did he resent them or covet assignments for himself other than what he was called to.  I admired his many selfless characteristics and came to love him dearly.  We are thankful that he is only about 15 minutes away from us and we told him repeatedly if he needs us for anything we'd be honored to help him.  Please reiterate that to him for us.  It has been our great pleasure to know and work with your son.  We wish the best to you and your family.

Sincerely,

Sister Murphy  

Transfers

Hola mi familia! Wow, talk about an awesome week! I love being a missionary and seeing all kinds of miracles unfold before my very own eyes. All of these little miracles greatly strengthens my testimony of the Gospel. I am so grateful to be alive during a dispensation and to be able to witness for myself the reality of the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

As you may see, I have titled my email, "Transfers!". Yes, it's true. That time has come and tomorrow is transfers. Last Saturday, I got a call from the Assistants and they told me that President Hiers has assigned me to become a District Leader once again. This will be my fourth transfer as a District Leader! I have been called to serve in the SMITHFIELD SOUTH stake. I am replacing a difficult/disobedient/trunky missionary (I came out to the field with him) and will be with Elder Cook! He is a Spanish speaking missionary but he is from somewhere in the States. He has only been out 4 1/2 months (6 months including MTC time). Also, the Zone that I will be going to has a big reputation in the mission as a "non-producing" zone. For the month of December, they only baptized 6. It was the lowest baptizing zone in the entire mission. When I saw the new roster, my eyes were wide-open. There will be a lot of new faces in the zone. A former AP is going to be a ZL in the zone. In my district, I have Elder Simbeck! I also have a couple of amazing missionaries! One of them served 7 1/2 months as a Zone Leader in the top area in the mission, the Ogden Omicron stake. He is white-washing, training in an area in my district. I will be having an amazing district! I am highly looking forward to the next transfer. 

So, I heard that I will be facing a big challenge in my next area. Smithfield South averages ONE lesson with a member present A WEEK! I will be covering a family stake (10 wards) and a YSA stake (7 wards). I am looking forward to conquering the next challenge. There is a reason why I am going there and I am looking forward to finding out why I am going there. It will be exciting!

My companion, Elder Freitag, will be staying the area and will be TRAINING! President Hiers (pH) was so pleased with the area and told us earlier in the transfer that one of us would train. Since I have already trained a missionary, pH is letting Elder Freitag train. Guess what, there is a missionary from Germany coming in, Elder Freitag is praying that he would be able to train him. This area is doing soooo well! I am very pleased with the area and the members. Hard work does pay off! :) 

I loved serving with Elder Freitag. He is an excellent missionary and has taught me many things that I can apply in my mission and in my future. We spent four and half months (three transfers) together and every single second of it was a blast. Elder Freitag is my favorite companion that I had so far. He is a great man and a great missionary. He is super humble and willing to listen. I loved serving with him! 

Ok, let's move on to the fun stuff now! Erika is doing AMAZING! We had a super sick lesson with her a few days ago. We knew that she has a problem with the Word of Wisdom so we taught the lesson. At the end of the lesson, we asked if there is anything that is holding her back from keeping the commandment. She told us that she struggles with smoking and drinking coffee. We committed her to quit those two. We even made a calendar of how many cigarettes she can smoke a day. It will gradually reduce the number of one pack down to ZIP, a week before her baptism. As far as we know, she is still on for her baptism. I love teaching Erika. She is super humble and willing to do anything it takes to change her life around and she knows that Jesus Christ is the way. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real! 

The Goble family is doing awesome, as usual. We got to sit with them in sacrament and the father, Peter, didn't show up with the family. We were nervous because we wanted the entire family to be there. We asked the mother if he is coming. She replied by saying, "Yeah, he is coming but he will be a little late because he is fixing a suit button for Charlie.". Oh, yeah! It was so amazing to see the father change throughout the whole time and see him keep coming to church AFTER the baptismal service. Elder Freitag and I were a little nervous at first because Peter was the reason why the kids never got baptized when they were 8 years old. He struggled a lot with some of the doctrine. 

Last night, we had an amazing lesson with the Goble family. We taught the Restoration and after we shared the video, I was able to testify of the reality of the First Vision and compared it to Moses (God appeared to him. Exodus 20). It was amazing to feel the power of the Spirit. I truly love that family and I loved every single second of teaching them. They are a great family and hopefully, they will keep on going strong! (2 Nephi 31:16, Luke 4:16. Jesus Christ went to church every single Sabbath! Follow His example and keep the Sabbath day holy!) 

As usual, Cherry is doing amazing. For the past two lessons, we focused a lot on prayer and how to listen to the Holy Ghost. The most recent lesson we had, we followed up on her prayers and how she was doing. She told us that she has been praying more often and we asked her if she noticed any difference. She then told us that she felt more peace and happiness in the house. It was amazing that she was able to notice a difference. The Gospel does truly bless families AND individuals. The Gospel IS for everybody. We need to share it with the people that we know. WILL YOU share the gospel with one of your friends this week? You better say YES! :) 

Cherry is doing so awesome. So, is Draco. He has been reading his scriptures and praying. We weren't able to have a lesson with him the past week because the two appointments we had with him fell through but it's all good. He is progressing and that is what matters! 

A huge miracle happened last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MahRyan told us that she wants to start taking the discussions again. She was able to resolve the whole thing with her mother and her mother finally gave her permission to be baptized! We were able to set up a lesson with her tomorrow night. Unfortunately, I will not be there. I will be Smithfield at the time. Elder Freitag and his son (trainee) will resume teaching her. I told Elder Freitag to have his son invite MahRyan to be baptized. It will be awesome. It will be a great first day for the son because inviting someone to be baptized is scary. If you do it on your first day, it help tremendously with your confidence. I am very excited for Elder Freitag and his son. They will have a few baptisms coming up! (Draco, Erika, MahRyan, and possibly a couple other. There is a couple of kids that told us that they want to be baptized. We are just trying to get a hold of the parents so we can schedule a lesson).  

Another huge miracle happened a few days ago, Robert Hall, one of my recent converts from Tremonton is getting sealed to his wife on Valentines Day! Robert Hall got baptized on February 8th, 2014, three days after I got transferred down to Clinton. They invited me to come watch them. I am so stoked for this. SO STOKED! I literally cannot contain my excitement for the family. They have two boys (one is 8, the other is 6) and they both will be sealed to their parents. I am so happy. The Gospel does change lives! 

Aside from these big miracles, we found some new people to teach, we taught a bunch of lessons and got to know many new people. I love being a missionary. I love sharing the good news that Christ brings. I love, love, love the Gospel with all of my heart. I am so grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father. He seeks to make us happy because we are HIS children! That is why He gave us the Gospel. In order to get the full happiness that the Gospel brings, we have FOLLOW the Gospel. It is simple. Read the scriptures, pray, go to church, keep the commandments (ALL of them), listen to the apostles and prophets speak in General Conference and other ways that we can follow the Gospel. 

I love you all so much and stay strong. You can do hard things! Love you! Have a wonderful week! Love, Elder McGrath

The Hooton family, Elder Freitag and I 

 the Chinese Group that I cover. It is smaller than a branch. Some of the members were still on vacation. It averages between 15 - 25 people attending

Me, Frank, Cherry, Elder Freitag

 Wilson family, I, Elder Freitag

One of the less active families that I was teaching. I wanted to do something different. We were on splits at that time so that is why Elder Freitag wasn't in the picture

picture of the Cache Valley Central Zone. Elder Freitag was late for the picture and because I had no room by me, he went to the other side. haha