Week full of miracles

Hola mi familia! What a wonderful week! I absolutely love being a missionary. I love seeing the work hasten, no matter where I go. The prophecy in D&C 88:73 is become true. I am so grateful to see how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading around the globe. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is HIS church. He leads the Church through revelations. Amos 3:7. We all need to become stronger covenant-making and covenant-keeping people. Build your foundation on Jesus Christ. There are soooo many scriptures in the Bible AND the Book of Mormon that talks about building your foundation on Jesus Christ. It is awesome. I love the Gospel so much.

Now on to what happened this week. Man, where should I start..

So, I forgot to include this part in last week's letter. Last Monday (not yesterday), a guy named Ben Smith called us and told us that he is from the Provo MTC and he will be coming with us out on splits from 9AM - 9PM. Well, that happened last Saturday! Apparently, there is only 8 companionships out of 125 companionships that is having a guy from the Provo MTC tag along and observe on how they find and teach. 

Needless to say, last Saturday went super well. We had a lot of miracles happen on that day. It was meant to happen. I was super nervous for that day because I wanted everything to be perfect. I wanted to have each door contact be perfect and every lesson taught to be absolutely perfect. Elder Freitag and I planned that day out super well. We talked about what we will follow up on, what we will teach and what commitments will we extend. But needless to say, we weren't perfect but we tried our best. That is what matters the most! :) 

The first miracle I want to mention is the Gaines family. The mother is a struggling semi-active member and the husband is completely less-active. The husband went to prison for a month and we had that lesson. It was a wonderful lesson. The husband's heart is now soft and he wants to make a change in his life. We committed them to make a goal to get sealed in the Temple. They are (well, should) meet with the Bishop tonight. We will see how that goes. Also, right after that lesson, the parents of the two kids (who were present in the lesson but we have never seen them before. I concluded that the Gaines are babysitting) came home. The Gaines introduced us to them and told us that they moved into the house. The 10 years old kid wants to learn more about the church. The mother told us that she is Pagan (what is that? I have never heard of that religion up to that point) but she is willing to let the kids practice on what they believe. We committed the boy to meet with us on Saturday. He wants to learn more. I am excited! 

Also, Ben Smith took us out for lunch and we went to Olive Garden. While eating, we got a call and it was a number that wasn't saved in our phone. We were thinking about answering it later but I just figured, "Hey, let's get this over with so I don't have to worry about calling that person back." I just answered it. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello, this is the LDS missionaries. Elder McGrath speaking. How can I help you?

Person: This is Sister Goble from the Lundstrom Park 3rd ward (Logan East stake) and I have a problem. 

(During that time, I remembered who she was. She was on the part-member list)

Me: Oh, hello, Sister Goble! What can I do to help you?

Sis Goble: Well, I have two kids who are 12 and 10 who never got baptized and umm... we need some help with getting them baptized. 

Me: *pauses for a moment* wait a second, can you repeat that again? (I just wanted to make sure I heard it right and she repeats it again) Oh, yes! We can definitely help you with getting them baptized. When can we come over and teach them so they can get prepared to get baptized? 

We set up a lesson with them on Thursday. Amazing right! WHAT A MIRACLE! I have never gotten nor heard of anyone getting this kind of a call. I am so stoked. I love the blessings that the Lord blesses me with. I am so thankful for those blessings. 

Also, we found out that the Goble kids who are not baptized also have a cousin who almost got baptized (backed out of the baptism 30 minutes before the baptism) who happens to live in the same STAKE but different ward! We hope to invite the Goble kids to invite their cousin to the lesson so she can get baptized with her cousins. It will be a great baptismal service! I am so pumped to see that and make it a reality! :) 

Another miracle, we had a sick lesson with Cherry and Frank Lui last Sunday! We taught Gospel Principles in her ward at that day too. At the lesson, I asked if she had any questions about what we talked about in Gospel Principles. She was like, "Yeah. I wrote it down.". She then proceeded to pull out a notepad that had a lot of writings on it. But the coolest thing was that she didn't have any questions about Gospel Principles. Everything made sense to her. She had questions about the Restoration pamphlet and Book of Mormon we gave her. We only taught the first 1/2 of the lesson before we had to leave. On her own, she read the entire pamphlet, including the list of terms and she has read a little bit of the Book of Mormon. After hearing some of the questions, we helped her connect the dots. About why we needed a restoration, why we need a prophet. She even asked how old was Jesus Christ died? (which is 33 years old by the way). It was an amazing lesson and she is progressing really well. She is prepared! They are so awesome!

We had an awesome lesson with Aaron Marez yesterday. He is motivated and has a huge desire to overcome the challenges that is holding him back from baptism. We taught him a little bit about studying the scriptures because he expressed a huge concern that he isn't getting anything out of the scriptures. We showed him the footnotes and other various scripture studying activities that will help him. He seems excited about everything. And another thing, his MMA fight is coming up in three weeks. After that, he will have a lot more free time, which means that his progression will happen more rapidly! :)

The work is hastening and I absolutely love working hard. I love seeing all of the miracles that make all of the hard times worth it. Those blessings only come through obedience and hard work. I am so grateful for the things that I am learning on my mission. I am so grateful that I have decided to serve a mission. I love being a missionary! If you are thinking about serving a mission, SERVE A MISSION! You will not regret it, I promise! I love being a missionary so much!

I love you all so much! You are the greatest family anyone could have and I am lucky to call you my family! Love you and stay strong! Have an awesome week! :) Love, Elder McGrath

A couple of my favorite pictures!