Hey guys! I loved the emails that I have received today! I cannot
believe that President Christensen mentioned me in his talk during
District Conference. Thank you, President Christensen!
Tremonton is indeed getting TOO cold! I started wearing my thermals
and it feels like a blanket! I love it! I also bought gloves, scarf and
basketball shoes (all at Ross! I'm learning from you, Mom! :D) The
gloves and the scarf are just AWESOME! I still can't believe that I'm
wearing a scarf, gloves and thermals along with my proselyting clothes
in NOVEMBER! Northern Utah's weather is just crazy, like today. For our
pday activity, a bunch of Elders and I got to go down (10 minutes past
Huntsville) and play PAINTBALL! It was SO much fun! I felt like I was in
Call of Duty. ;) During paintball, it started to SNOW like crazy! The
visibility was cut so short and by the end of the paintball activity, it
was sunny with NO clouds in sight! How crazy is that!?!?!
Day 1 (Tuesday) - Since it was Elder
Scott's LAST real p-day (he went on the departing missionary trip to SLC
temple today), I decided to let Elder Scott do what he wanted to do. He
wanted to play POKER! He has a lot of poker chips so we just used that.
It was weird at first because it was missionaries playing poker. That
never happens. It was a blast! We had a lot of laughs and it was a great
pday activity.
After pday, we got to go see Faith Reece, who just
recently moved in from the South Stake and she was a convert who is
attending seminary (and LOVES it) but she does not attend church. We
invited her to have missionary discussions at a member's house and she
accepted. That night, we talked about the Restoration, tying Church,
Prayer, Reading the Scriptures (CPR) in the lesson. The 10 years old
girl was there and when we were talking about how the Gospel blesses us.
She raised her hand and said, "A lot of people look at me funny because
I have a glass eye but I know Jesus Christ loves me." Holy crap! The
Spirit was SO strong when she said that. I loved teaching that lesson
because it's true. Heavenly Father does know us by name and He loves us
very much. He watches over us and He cares for us. He truly wants us to
be happy. He has given us the Gospel so we can achieve happiness in our
lives. I have seen that so many times in my life, even though I didn't
recognize it at the moment but I have been working on recognizing more
blessings in my life. I love the Gospel!
Day 2 (Wednesday) - We got to go to District Meeting
and Elder Scott (he's the District Leader) taught us on how to use
Facebook more efficiently for proselyting! I have learned so much about
how to utilize the power of Facebook more efficiently!
We got to see Robert Hall and Lori Larsen (they both
are engaged and living together). Elder Scott and I have taught them
everything now and Robert said that he wants to get baptized. :D BUT the
downside is that he and Lori (she's a less-active) are not keeping the
Law of Chastity so for the remainder of the lesson, we talked about the
Law of Chastity and the blessings we are promised when we keep them. It
was pretty awkward. Two young missionaries (early 20s) telling adults
(well into their 40s) what NOT to do when they are not in the bounds of
marriage.
We got to go to the Bothwell ward Halloween party!
It was awesome because we got to see a lot of our investigators there so
it was a blast. We were able to set up a lot of appointments so it was a
success. :D
We got to see the Eglis. Jaxson Egli got baptized
on October 12 and we are still working with Kiley (14 years old girl)
and Becky (the mother) Egli to get them to partake of the next
ordinance, which, in this case, is baptism. They are SO close but they
said that they have personal issues that is needed to be worked out
before they can get baptized. We were fine with it because we now know
that they respect that ordinance and they have to desire to be READY
(which is extremely important for true conversion) for that ordinance.
We got to teach them about Faith and the Holy Ghost and how they both
are linked with an object lesson. It was a blast!
Day 3 (Thursday, Halloween) - Since it was
Halloween, it was a really slow day. We only got to see one person and
that is Kevin! We actually brought a fellowshipper for the first time so
half of it was them getting to know each other. Kevin (missionaries
have been teaching him for SIX months and he only kept ONE out of
HUNDREDS of commitments) again said that he is too busy for reading the
Book of Mormon! The fellowshippers then started to talk about
commitments and why, as missionaries, we extend them. Kevin then
realized that he needs to start keeping those commitments we extend so
that he can have that relationship he wants with God. It was a
remarkable lesson. Not once before I heard him say that! It was
incredible! Fellowshippers do help immensely in lessons.
Since it was Halloween, we had to be back in our
apartments by 6pm for legal reasons. We just scrubbed our house spotless
and I love the house being so clean! It's awesome! :D
Day 4 (Friday) - We got to follow up on some of the 100+ referrals we
have. We prayed for help and guidance and this name popped out. We knew
that we need to visit him. When we dropped by his house, he was not
excited to see us. He opened the door and before he could say anything,
we both greeted him by introducing ourselves then he said that he was
not interested and went on saying that his dad was the bishop of the
ward and he received revelation from God that the church is not true and
that he should stop going to church and so he did. We just told him
that we just want to be friends. We went on saying why we just want to
be friends, not the one who condemns the person to Hell if they don't
follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ (some LDS missionaries do that
sometimes!). He was really impressed so he asked us for our number and
wanted us to come back for dinner! :D This is one of the best feelings a
missionary could feel. We DO get paid in blessings (and we also have a
great retirement plan. ;)).
Since Elder Scott is the DL, he had to go to Garland
to do a baptismal interview. I went to Garland with his companion and
contacted some of his referrals. The craziest thing happened. As we
finished doing a spiritual thought with one of the referrals (now
investigator :D), the father asked me where I was from. I replied with,
"I'm originally from Arizona but I moved to Saudi Arabia last year."
Then he went on saying that he remembers me from Krazy Sub a couple
years ago when he was down in Mesa with his family. What the?
We got to see the Misrasi (formerly Nessen. the
mother got divorced then got married to a different guy) family and it
was just the parents (we are currently teaching their 13 and 10 years
old sons) that were there. We talked about trials and how the Savior can
help us overcome those trials we undergo in our lives. It was an
AWESOME lesson!
Day 5 (Saturday) - Elder Scott and I got to go to
the Stake baptisms! It was incredible! I love every single second of it!
I love seeing the 8 years old make the covenant they need to make with
Heavenly Father!
After that, we got to help the Murdocks (a family in
the Stake)! We loaded up the trailer with all of their belongings
which, to my surprise, wasn't very much! We got to have a conversation
with the Murdocks and it was a great conversation! They are a great
family and I am really sad that they are leaving Tremonton!
Since last Sunday is Stake Conference, we got to go
to Stake Priesthood and Adult session! It was really good because they
mostly talked about hastening the work of salvation! I think a lot of
people took a lot of stuff out of it and hopefully have a desire to help
the missionaries because missionary work would never be possible
without members! Members are that critical to to the work! :)
Day 6 (Sunday) - It was Multi - Stake Conference
weekend and Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
spoke! The President of the Seventy also spoke. It was a REMARKABLE
conference. Elder L. Tom Perry bore his testimony so powerful and the
Spirit was SO strong in the room! I loved listening to him! :)
After going to a bunch of meetings, we got to go
down to Brigham City for the musical fireside held by missionaries in
the Utah Ogden mission! It was SO good! I got to see a lot of
missionaries that I got to meet there and it was really cool! The music
was incredible and I loved it! We invited all of our investigators and
people that we are teaching and the Glover family came! We got to sit
next to them and it was an incredible musical fireside!
I love being a missionary! I love being able to
serve for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jesus Christ
do lead this church and through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can
overcome many trials and obstacles in our lives!I love you all and hope you all stay safe! Don't
forget to do CPR (church, prayer, and read the scriptures)! It will
definitely help you! Love, Elder McGrath
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