Merry Christmas

Hello everyone, Thank you for all of the emails that you have sent me. It was so awesome to see how the fam is doing! :) We had some pretty big miracles happen this past week and seriously, I love miracles. Those miracles make up my mission! I love being a missionary so much because I get to witness miracles every single day. Those miracles really strengthen my testimony of the Gospel! 

Yesterday, we had a pretty big activity happen in the Logan East stake. In honor of the Christmas season, the East stake put on a grand event that exhibited hundreds of Christmas créches, a live nativity and a bunch of background music that played Christmas hymns. There was a ton of nonmembers there and it was amazing because we were able to talk to everyone. We should've filled the baptismal font! ;)

The Goble family are super solid. The baptism is definitely going to happen on the 29th and I am super stoked for it! Four baptisms and it will be very exciting! :) The Goble family are doing very well. They are doing everything they need to. On the 28th, they will be cooking us some delicious steak. I am super excited for that. I haven't had a good steak in a while! Also, another really cool thing is that Brother Goble is preparing himself to baptize the kids and he is going through his final interview on the 28th so the Bishop can determine if he is ready to baptize the kids. I think he is ready. :) It will be an exciting day!!!

A few days ago, we had an amazing, super inspired lesson with Draco! Draco's mother told us that she can see that Draco really cares about learning more about the gospel. She sees that Draco is putting forth the effort that she wants to see, all because Draco has been going to church, reading the Book of Mormon and praying every single day. Remember, it is always the small things that matter! That day, we talked about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and man, the Spirit was super super super strong! At the end of the super amazing lesson, the Spirit told us that the time was right for us to invite him again for baptism. We invited him to be baptized and he told us that he really wants to be baptized. The mother asked him if he wants to be baptized in January or February. He chose February 7th as his baptism date. He is soooooooooooooo solid! It is unbelievable! Guess what, February 7th is my 18th month mark. It will be a pretty special day! I am so stoked! 

Last Sunday, we had a huge miracle happen. It is with the Wilson family!! We saw Brother Andersen and we started talking about the Wilson family. He is trying super hard to find a time but he is not able to yet. We told him that we can give it a shot. Right after that conversation, we went to his house and knocked on his door. Joe (the father) answered and was really happy to see us. He immediately invited us in and we started talking for a bit. We talked about setting up an appointment and we set one up for TONIGHT(Tuesday) AT 6pm!!!! The coolest thing is that the entire family seems super open about meeting with us. I cannot wait to meet with them tonight and teach them simple truths about Jesus Christ and invite them to follow Him through baptism!

So, last Saturday, one set of the senior missionaries got us into singing a bunch of Christmas songs during the feeding of homeless/poor people because of the Christmas season. I was pretty shocked when they wanted me to be in it. Who would want a deaf guy in the choir? The whole event was amazing. We sang a bunch of songs and we finally were able to get into contact with this lady named Erica. Erica is a nonmember 40 years old woman whose best friend got baptized in the Cache stake (the Zone Leader's area). Erica is very interested in the Church right now because she needs a lot of hope in her life. She went through some difficult times in her life and she desperately needs the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will change lives. Erica saw that in her friend's life. She wants that for herself. We found a family that wants to feed us tomorrow and we asked them if we can bring a friend that is pretty much broke along with us. They were more than happy. It was amazing to see how Christmas brings out the best in people. Jesus Christ is awesome! He is literally the central figure in all of human history. Without Him, we would be nothing. We would never become like Him. 

We had a few pretty sick lessons with Aaron Marez! Last Sunday, he fed us dinner! We had some great discussions about the Church and Jehovah's Witness (JW). He told us that the Gospel makes sense in him. We were able to clarify the meaning of 144,000 people mentioned in Revelations 14:1-5. Apparently, the JWs believe that the 144,000 are the "anointed one". Blasphemy. Jesus Christ IS the Anointed One. One of the greatest privileges of being part of God's church is that we have a living Prophet who are able to interpret the word of God and clarify doctrine. Without prophets, we would be lost and confused about certain doctrines. This would always lead to building of other churches. That is exactly what happened during the Great Apostasy. Nicene Creed was created in ~325 AD, almost 300 hundred years after Jesus Christ died. Without living prophets and apostles, error crept into doctrine and before they knew it, original truths were corrupted. Therefore, we need a living Prophet today. I am so grateful for Thomas S. Monson. I know he is a living Prophet of God and that he does receive revelation from Jesus Christ for behalf of the church. For those who are wondering about the 144,000 people, read D&C 77:11. Joseph Smith clarifies the meaning. It's actually really cool! 

 We had an amazing lesson with Cherry last Sunday! It had been a while since we met with her and we followed up on her Book of Mormon reading. She said that she read a little bit every day and now, she is in 3 Nephi! What the?! She is doing super well and she is loving the Book of Mormon! So, that day, we were teaching the first principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, faith. The entire lesson shifted from faith, acting on our faith, then prayers, receiving answers to prayers and the Book of Mormon promise. She was asking so many questions. I can see a huge desire in her! It is amazing to see how much the Gospel is blessing her life! She also wants to make some authentic Chinese food for us this Saturday! I am actually looking forward to that. A Chinese native making real Chinese food, no Panda Express. Haha. 

This past week has been absolutely amazing and I am so grateful for the opportunities to serve the Lord. I love the Gospel and I love being able to share it with everyone I come into contact with. I love you all! Merry Christmas and have a blast in Singapore!!! Love you all!!!!!! Love, Elder McGrath

Christmas tree --> presents were from the Murphys, Goble family, Evertsen families and others. A lot of people that we are helping are giving us presents. It's crazy awesome! :) I hope you like the Christmas tree I made! ;)

Surprise party for Elder Coronado!