November is almost over...what?

Hey guys! I loved your letters as usual! I cannot believe that November is almost over. I'm almost to my four month mark! What? I still remember the day I entered the MTC really well. It felt like it was YESTERDAY! What?! How crazy is that?!Tremonton is a wonderful place to be in. I am so glad to be serving here. It's a great day to be a missionary in the Utah Ogden mission.

Day 1 (Nov. 19, Tuesday) - Elder Vickers and I got to go to the Logan temple and it was so awesome! I love feeling the peace that comes with being inside the temple! I love going to the temple!

After that, we got to go bowling because in Tremonton, missionaries can bowl for free. :D I played 4 games against Elder Vickers and won three out of four games! I let him win a game out of pity. haha.

One of the WML gave us a challenge and that is to visit to the Nelson family. He wouldn't tell us their background because he told us it would blind us when we contact us. We got to go knock on their door and the father answered the door. I smiled and extended my hand and said, "My name is Elder McGrath. What is your name?". He then slammed the door. I was stunned. What is wrong with this guy?

When we returned to the WML's house and reported on the situation, he said that he knew that it was going to happen. He then told us that both parents were returned missionaries and that they know exactly what we are trying to do. They were an active family then an unfortunate situation involving one of the boys in the family and other kids in the church. The other kids in the church didn't really like one of the Nelson boys so they tried to kill him. Yes, they almost killed him. The bishop of the ward didn't really do anything so they got mad and withdrew their records from the church. Since the father works overnight at home doing customer support for a tech company, the family decided to become nocturnal so they can feel like family. So the WML told us to go knock on a door without any background info and it turns out that they have so much hatred for the church and is a nocturnal family. There are weird people out there. haha.

Day 2 (Nov 20, Wednesday) - I got to go on exchanges with Elder Ford (He is from Sydney, Australia and he is the DL. He came out at the same time as Caitlin which was pretty cool! He has the coolest accent ever.).

Ford and I got to go see Robert Hall (we taught him everything and he still lives with his fiance because his divorce papers with his "ex-wife" wouldn't go through) and we were talking about trials and challenges that we have in our lives and we started talking about Jesus Christ and how He helps us. After a little bit, Robert said that because of his commitment to follow Jesus Christ, he has seen so many blessings and the biggest thing is that the divorce is moving along now! It was SO awesome hearing that. We then talked about fasting and how it can "accelerate" the rate of blessings. He committed to fast for the purpose of his divorce going through so he can marry his GF that he lives with so he can get BAPTIZED! We don't have a date set up with him because we have NO idea when the divorce is going to happen so..

We got to see Kevin today and we talked about baptism and how it helps bring us closer to Jesus Christ and how the gift of the Holy Ghost can help us endure challenges and trials in our lives. We got to set up a baptismal date for Kevin to be baptized on December 14th! I'm so excited!

We got to go see the Glover family because we needed to find a fabulous home teacher that will make sure they keep doing the right things. We went with the WML and after the lesson, he has a great idea of who would be a great home teacher!It has been a great day!

Day 3 (Nov 21, Thursday) - Elder Ford and I knocked on almost all of the doors in one of the apartment complexes in the area and it was freakin cold outside. I was so glad that I wore my thermals and had my gloves with me! It was a great day to meet all of the people and I got to see how to be better at door to door contacting and having TTIs (teach, testify and invite. it's one of the key indicators that we have to report to the Mission President).

After that, we exchanged back to our transfer companion and Elder Vickers and I got to go to Savior of the World. It was held by the Tremonton West stake (the stake that I currently cover) and it is basically a musical about the birth of Jesus Christ! It was INCREDIBLE! The Spirit was SO strong in there! I loved every single second of it! :) Not many things really happened on that day! :(

Day 4 (Nov 22, Friday) - Elder Vickers and I got to go to Zone Conference in Brigham City today and we got to be interviewed by the Mission President. When we sat down, he then asked me how long I was in Tremonton, how well things are going, questions like those. After all of that, he then told me that after this transfer, I might be transferring down to OGDEN to be in an area that covers the English speaking stake as well as a DEAF ASL branch. It was so crazy to hear that. It will be nice to be close to the mission office and be able to get missionary supplies easier. I might be able to go to some of the basketball games for Weber State as long as it's on Tuesday days, which might not happen :(.

We got to go see Kevin and as we came into the house, he was cooking up some CAKE for us. Too bad, it was chocolate. ;) After a couple minutes, Kevin went to the fridge and pulled out TWO 2-liter Mountain Dew Voltage (which is one of my favorite sodas. Merinda is the BEST!) and just gave it to us. He was like, "You can have this. I got it for 77 cents at Ridleys (the top grocery store in Tremonton, in my opinion).". It was so awesome! I downed one of the 2-liter that night! Big mistake! I probably gained so much weight from that night! I felt like crap but I slept just fine! ;) Because Elder Vickers hates soda, he gave me his 2-liter and I just gave it to the Spanish Elders. 

Day 5 (Nov 23, Saturday) - We got to go see TWO showings of the Savior of the World production! It was so awesome!

We got to see Jessica Espinoza (the manly female) and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ (again!) but this time, we used the teabag object lesson. She FINALLY understood it and we invited her to be baptized on December 14 and she ACCEPTED! :D

Elder Vickers and I invited a lot of people to come to Savior of the World and we only had one Part-Member family (Robert) come. I even reserved seats for one of my investigators. It was a fantastic seat, right up front and center! Kevin, the name of the investigator, texted me about fifteen minutes earlier saying that he cannot go. I told Elder Vickers to come with me and we'll go talk to Kevin. He was reluctant because he wanted to stay and keep greeting the members that come. Having no idea how I did it, I managed to convince Elder Vickers to come with me. In a race against time, we headed over to Kevin's house and knocked on his door and he went on saying that he can't do it. He feels alone. I kept saying that I will be with him the entire time (Kevin is one of my favorite investigators) but he says that he can't do it. It was heartbreaking so Elder Vickers and I headed back to the Stake Center (where Savior of the World is being held) and we got to see Elder Bengston and Elder Jones (Garland elders) walking and we came up to them to say hi. They had TWO investigators with them so I said, "Would you like amazing seats?". They were overjoyed to have really good seats despite being 5 minutes before. It was usually packed within 25 minutes before the musical begins. It was a blessing to have 4 seats reserved for us and Kevin + his son and it didn't work out for us so we gave those seats to the Garland elders. I have yet to know the results but it was extremely disappointing because I yearned for Kevin to be there and he couldn't. I had a feeling after SotW to head over to Kevin's house. We went over and shared a spiritual thought. When I was looking for a great video to share with Kevin, "Origin" came up in my mind. Boom, it was perfect! After the spiritual thought, he kept on saying how perfect was that video and how he could relate to it. After that, we just challenged him to pray and ask God to see if the gospel is true. It was a great lesson!

^ Sorry for the weird text, I sent that to my mission president and I didn't want to type it all over again. I love copy and paste! :) Watch "Origin"! It's AMAZING! You can find it easily! :) Youtube has it. Gospel Library has it (under Videos > Mormon Messages for Youth > Origin).

Day 6 (Nov 24, Sunday) - It was a very slow day! :( BUT we got to see Kevin for the zillionth time this past week! He loves the missionaries! :D He even told me that when I get transferred out, he would be so sad! I didn't have the heart to tell him that I will be moving down to Ogden on December 18. Not very much happened last Sunday! :/

Day 7 (Nov 25, Monday) - It was a good day! We got to go see Jessica with WML of the Tremonton 7th ward and the WML helped so much with the lesson. He talked about the Holy Ghost and how it testifies to you. We just help others recognize that! She was agreeing with everything so it was a great lesson!

Since Jessica is a manly female, we have to get the First Presidency approval to have her be baptized on December 14. We got the ball rolling by calling the mission president and telling him of the situation. I hope everything works out! :)

After that, we got to go see the Misrasi family! They are awesome! We got to do CPR with the object lesson with 3 butter knives and cups of the same size. I'm sure you guys can find this one online. If not, shoot me a message on Facebook and I'll type out the object lesson and possible include some pics. The Misrasi loves our object lessons! Brother Misrasi astounds his co-workers with the object lessons! It was so awesome hearing that from him!

I love being a missionary! It has brought so many blessings in my life and I'm glad that I made the decision to serve. I know that Heavenly Father loves you so much because you are His child. He cares for you. He rejoices when you are happy. He knows you so well. He loves you so much, the capacity of His love towards you is beyond your wildest imagination. I love you all! Love, Elder McGrath

Soda given to us by Kevin