Christmas in Utah!

Hey guys, Thanks again for your emails and I love reading them! It has been a great week in the Utah Ogden mission! Tremonton has been pretty warm this week! It was in the high 20s and low 30s, which is awesome. Single digits isn't that fun ;)

My companion is Elder Kyle Barnes and he is from Page, Arizona. He was born in Japan! His dad was in the Air Force (he is a cop now in Page, AZ) so he lived in Mexico, Germany, Japan and Page! It was really cool! He has been out 20 months so he has 3 transfers left. Tremonton might be his last area. When we first got to the area from the transfer point (where we drop off our comp and pick up our new comp), he was really surprised of how "country" Tremonton was. He served in West Haven, central Ogden, Pleasant View and Plain City so I can kinda see why he was surprised. haha

I left my journal back at the apartment and I really can't do the day by day thing I usually do because a lot happens in a week and I can't remember them all but I do remember some things so I'll do them.

A few days ago, Elder Barnes and I got to visit the Misrasi family and they had their cousins over for Christmas. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the youngest girl (six years old) is a genius. She answered the majority of our questions and nailed the definition of hard words like repentance, baptism etc. She understands everything! It was crazy! The 2 oldest boys committed to baptism in January so I'm looking forward to that!

Robert Hall is finally getting divorced after Christmas and he is going to finally marry Lori! This all means... he can finally get baptized! We set a date for February 8th because he is getting married on February 1st. 

Kevin is .... still Kevin. He still makes commitments but he never keeps them. I already invested so much time with him and I don't want to drop him but I will have to soon. :( Elder Barnes and I will be dropping BoMs on him (it's a way we can make the person have a desire to read the Book of Mormon. We share a few scriptures and testify in a way that's hard to put on paper. It's highly effective! we are going to try this out with him and see how that goes! :D).

Christmas is two syllables: Christ-mas. In Spanish, mas means more. Christmas, obviously, means more Christ. How true is that statement! Christmas time is a time of reflection of our Savior. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, has done so much and He asks us to follow His commandments. He is the light of the world. When we have Him in our lives, we can be truly happy in ways unimaginable. I have seen so many people who seems so depressed. They seemed so lost and confused. When they make the choice to attend Church, to read the scriptures, and to pray, they bring that light and because of their choices, they find that happiness. 

Sorry for the short letter. I will try to bring my journal next time so you can have more detail of the Utah Ogden mission (best mission ever!). Thank you for everything you have done for me! MERRY CHRISTMAS and don't forget the real meaning of Christmas! I love you all! Love, Elder McGrath