sammission: Utah is crazy!

Hola mi familia! I am very glad that everything is going super well in Saudi Arabia and hearing about the new company and the house. Blessings... :)

Everything is going wonderful over here in Utah. A lot of great things are happening! I am so happy about that. Even though Smithfield is a difficult area to work in, we are seeing success here. The Lord will never give us a trial that we cannot overcome, He gives us something that we can overcome. We will always have success if we do our very best and do all that we can. The Lord will ALWAYS take care of the rest. He always does. I have seen it countless times on my mission.

Last week, we broke the record for numbers in this area. YAY!!!!!!!!! Last night, during the meeting with the Stake President in the South Stake, as usual, we shared our numbers with him and he was surprised by how high they were. I was a little confused at first because I would get higher numbers in Clinton, Central Logan, and Tremonton. But for that area, it was super good. My companion and I were shouting for joy in the car after the meeting. A lot of good things are happening! Hard work brings blessings.

Shy is doing so good. She is almost done with the Book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. She has been going to church consistently and she has such a huge desire to be baptized. She is a little nervous about talking to her family about getting baptized. We talked about trusting in the fact that the Lord will help us when we need Him but we need to trust in Him, which is pretty much about faith. We talked about the story found in Daniel 3 and she loved it. She is doing super good. It is very exciting to see how everything is going with her. She is going back to Hawaii in a couple weeks and gets back in the end of June. I hope that everything will go well.

Sawyer is doing awesome. He is very motivated and has a big desire to be baptized. He absorbs everything that we teach him so that is always amazing. We originally had him scheduled to be baptized on this upcoming Saturday but that will not happen. He texted us last night and told us that he prayed about his baptismal date and he had a feeling that he should be baptized on the 23rd of May (the Saturday after getting back from his vacation in California). He is doing very well. He is reading the Book of Mormon, praying and attending church. I love to see my investigators progress towards baptism. It is an amazing thing to see how far they have progressed.

Vivianne is doing awesome! She is definitely going to get baptized on this upcoming Saturday. She is very excited for her baptism. Vivianne's mother was telling us that she is very, very excited! It is a great thing to hear. Vivianne and her family are doing very well. We were able to eat dinner with them a few days ago and have a great lesson afterwards. They are so awesome! I really enjoy teaching them.

Elder Ankney and I also started teaching a family in one of the family wards we cover. They just moved here from California a month ago. It is the McGrath family! No joke! And no, we are not related. Most of their extended family is from Wisconsin so I am pretty sure that we are not related by blood. Still, it is cool to start teaching a family that shares the same last name as I. So, the McGrath family is a part-member family. Every one is a member except the father and the 8 years old daughter. They want us to teach all of the discussions to the daughter and we are hoping to help both the father and the daughter to get baptized. We will see what happens. I am very excited to start teaching this family!

The less active people that we are teaching are progressing slowly but still, they are progressing so I am happy with that. Smithfield is going super awesome right now! I am highly enjoying my time here and loving my time as a missionary! I love every second of it!

I love all of you guys so much! Have a wonderful week and enjoy spring in Saudi Arabia. Love you all!! Love, Elder McGrath