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