Logan is so amazing

Hey guys, It was a great week to be a missionary in Logan. The fall season here is so so amazing. I love how much the leaves are changing color. It is finally cooling down and it is awesome. Elder Freitag and I are getting along so well and we are working super hard. We have been seeing a lot of amazing things happen. I love it! :) 

First things first, I want to make a shout-out to my most awesome brother, Jake McGrath. He is getting ordained as a Priest. Congratulate him through Facebook!!!! 

Well, this past week has been so amazing. Jeffrey R. Holland (yes, the Elder Holland from the Quorum of the Twelve!!!!) came to our mission! We had all of the missionaries from the entire mission come together in Logan (in the Aztec building) and it was so awesome. I have learned SO SO SO much from listening to Bishop Davies, the Area 70 for Utah North area, AND Elder Holland. Elder Holland was so amazing. He talked so much about converting ourselves. These are the things I have learned from him:

- What does your mission mean to you? Do you want to remember it for 53 years and 364 days? Jeffrey R. Holland told us that he counts every day and the day that he spoke was when he was about to hit his 54th year after returning from his mission. Isn't that incredible?

- "Once a shepherd, always a shepherd. We don't have time to worry about our shepherds. The sheep are enough" 

- If you  have served right, you will never be the same you were before. This is as close to REAL LIFE as you can be. 

- My favorite one: Why is the work hard?

   + "Why is this so hard? ... I am convinced that life is hard because Salvation is not a cheap experience!! Salvation was NEVER easy! Why would we believe, we would we think that life would be easy when it was never, EVER easy for Him?!"

That last one struck a chord in me. Life is hard for everyone but the Gospel provides much strength we need in this life. 

Nikki Jackson is doing so amazing! He s on date for September 27th and he is so solid! We taught him the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom and he is accepting everything. He has been saying a lot that everything makes perfect sense to him. He is definitely going to get baptized! 

We are also working with Nikki's father, Ron, and his step-mother, Lyndsay. They are planning on being sealed in the Logan temple on November 1st, 2014! They are struggling a little bit so please keep them in your prayers. We have been going over there every couple days to help the family out in any way we can. 

Nikki really likes hanging out with us. When Elder Freitag, Nikki and I played basketball together last Saturday, Nikki was talking about what he wanted in his future and he said that he is considering about a mission, even though he is only 15 years old. We are going to take him out on splits in the next couple weeks so he can get a taste of what we do all day. It will be so awesome. 

Paul Warren was doing SO AMAZING! We had two lessons with him last weekend and last Saturday night, we had an awesome friend of Paul there with us and we asked him about church and he said that he is planning on going. Sunday morning, as Elder Freitag and I were heading to his ward so we can go through church with him, we got a text from Paul's friend saying that he can't get in touch with Paul (his friend was going to give him a ride) and we started worrying. He wasn't answering our phone calls or text. We even snuck into Aggie Village (you need a pass to get into it) and went to his dorm and knocked on it. He wasn't there. To this moment, we are still trying to get into contact with him. Like, he dropped off grid. Because he wasn't able to go to church, he can't get baptized on September 27th. :( Please keep Paul Warren in your  prayers.

We have found some new investigators last week and we are teaching a lot of families and working our butts off. We are trying to get into contact with all of our potentials but we are so so so busy with all of the lessons we have so it is difficult to contact them. 

I love the feeling of working so hard. I love feeling super exhausted. I love being a missionary so much. I love being the Lord's servant. I love serving the Lord with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS! 

I love you all and have an awesome week. Stay strong. Please keep Nikki Jackson, Ron Jackson, Lyndsay Jackson, PAUL WARREN(!!), Cherry Lui, Aaron Marez, Dan Hall, Derek, Biegelows, Miya Autry, CJ Pink, Gay Burge, and Chad Whitcome in your prayers. They need your prayers. 

Thank you all for everything you have done for me! You are awesome! I love you all! Love, Elder McGrath

I love Logan

Hey guys, Thank you so much for the emails. It was so awesome reading about things that is happening back at home. It is so cool. I want to make a big shout out to my dad! He was just called to be a first counselor in the Branch Presidency in the Dhahran branch in Saudi Arabia!!! CONGRATULATIONS!

Man, where to start... This past week has been so awesome. My companion, Elder Freitag, is so awesome. I am so glad that I am finally finished with Elder Reinhart and get a hard-working companion. It feels so good to finally work my hardest now. It feels so good not having to argue about going out and contacting people. Elder Freitag is so awesome and he is such a good missionary. He teaches really well and he is hilarious. 

My area is so awesome. I love the members here and the Logan Central stake had Stake Conference last weekend. The Stake President, President Horsely, is a STUD! He is so missionary minded and he gave some incredible talks in Stake Conference. The main theme of his talks was about treasuring up the word of God because it will protect us against temptations and evils of the world. He talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how it was meant for us. I have gained a ton of revelation and I cannot wait to start sharing my revelations to my investigators. It is AWESOME! :)

My area is also huge! Elder Freitag and I cover the Logan East stake, Logan Central stake, ASL branch (that pretty much covers the entire mission alone) and the Chinese group (kinda of like a Chinese branch but too small to be a branch). 

So, Logan Central and Logan East stake is pretty much like a family stake of USU. We teach some USU students and they are studs. I have met a ton of USU students, walked around campus and talking to everyone. USU is an awesome place and a lot of people are really chill here. Did you know that USU has the largest LDS population outside of church schools. This alone explains why there is 6 YSA stakes and 10 missionaries covering all 6 YSA stakes and 2 Married Students Stake. My companion and I cover the family stakes. So if the student or the person that we are teaching has a spouse and/or a kid that wants to go to the residential ward, they are under our jurisdiction. Also, since we cover the Chinese group, we are responsible for teaching ALL of the Chinese students, regardless of marital status. We have like 7 potential investigators for the Chinese group and I am hoping that they will pan out. 

Last Wednesday, about two hours after arriving into Logan, my companion and I got a text from a guy named Paul Warren. He wants to meet with us and he told us that he has a wife and two kids (ages 1 and 3. and they both live down in Ogden). We set up an appointment that night and since he lives in the Logan East stake, we had to bike almost 3 miles with 1 mile that is uphill to get to the appointment. But, man, it was WORTH it. As we were talking to Paul, he is a GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR! He was accepting everything we say and when we talked about baptism, he talked about how he was forced baptism in the Christian church and he didn't like that. He wanted to make that choice to be baptized. We then talked about the importance of baptism by immersion and following the example of Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:29-30. 2 Nephi 31:5). He loved everything we say. He kept saying that he needs to start following Jesus Christ and get his life back in order. He is definitely a golden investigator. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted! He is on date for SEPTEMBER 27!! It was so awesome!!!

Also, we taught Paul again a couple days later and the lesson went super well. We taught the first half of the Restoration (we teach lessons in half so we can teach twice as much and hit the Standard of Excellence more often). At the end, I asked him to see if he remembers his baptism date and he does!! He also told us that he has been thinking about baptism all the time. He is so excited to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God. 

So, in our first couple days in the Logan East stake, we already picked up a super solid baptism date. The Logan East stake has been struggling really bad for the past couple years. They only had like 9 baptisms in those two years. 

We have another super solid potential in the Logan East stake. Her name is Cherry Lui and she is from China. She has been going to church for the past month and developed a big desire to meet with the missionaries. We are going to start meeting with her and hopefully, put her AND her 9 years old son on baptism date! It will be awesome!!

Also, we are currently teaching a Jehovah Witness named Nikki Jackson. He is a guy by the way. He has been meeting with the missionaries for a few months now and a couple weeks ago, he accepted a baptismal date of September 27th and he CHOSE that date for himself. January 27th is his birthday so he chose the 27th of September (September is closer than January so that's why he chose it). He is a super solid investigators with a baptismal date. 

So of as right now, we have two investigators with a date and a ton of potentials! We have a guy named Aaron Marez. He is a MMA fighter and he calls himself a Mormon even though he isn't baptized. We are going to start meeting with him this Friday. He has met with missionaries a bunch of times in the past year and the two only things holding him back from being baptized is the Law of Chastity (he is living with his fiance) and court payments (roughly 2k dollars). He is getting married on SEPTEMBER 27th so the Law of Chastity issue will not be a problem anymore. Also, the WML of that ward told us that if he sees Aaron Marez have a big desire to be baptized, he will pay the court fees for Aaron so he can get baptized. The WML is a CEO of the trampoline company called Propel Trampolines. He is a stud! 

Also, something really cool: the Branch Mission Leader of the Cache Valley ASL branch picked up a new investigator last week. Since I am not proficient in gospel sign language and my companion knows absolutely no sign language, the mission president gave the Branch Mission Leader (he isn't deaf but he served an ASL mission in LA, California) permission to teach him without us but we have to teach one lesson. It will be very difficult to translate what we say so we are going to teach the easiest lesson with him and have them do the rest of the work. We decided that would be the best path to go. BUT, convert baptisms has to go through the missionaries. My companion and I are responsible for getting our District Leader to do an interview with the investigator (there will be a translator there).

So, we will be having a baptism in Logan East and Central stake, and a really good possibility in the ASL branch and the Chinese group. 

We are picking up a ton of new investigators and they will be getting on date shortly. I love inviting people to make the baptismal covenant with our Father in Heaven! I love seeing people enter the waters of baptism. I love Logan so much. I love the gospel so much. I love serving with my amazing companion, Elder Freitag (he is from Erfurt, Germany). 

I love you all and have an amazing week. Stay strong and you can do hard things! :) Love, Elder McGrath

We are so so so busy
Blue are lessons
Red are meetings
Purple is calls that we have to make and planning
We are working on unreported lessons after we finish our emails. :)

Transfers

Hey guys, It was a great week in North Ogden! I have some crazy news to share with you all since this week is transfer week!

I have been released from my District Leader role and will be going up to Logan to serve with ELDER FREITAG (pronounced: fry-taug. the g isn't silent). Guess what, he is from GERMANY! He is going to be my third companion that is from Germany! My MTC companion, my trainer and my next companion is from Germany! 

Elder Freitag is kinda of an introvert and he needs some help with confidence so I am companions with him. Also, I will be training him on being a senior companion so I am junior companion right now. Elder Freitag will be senior companion and President Hiers wants me to make sure that he knows what to do as a senior companion AND I have to "train" him as a DL. President Hiers wants me to pass on my knowledge and skills as a DL to him. I am excited for that challenge! 

The coolest thing is that when I came into Clinton to serve in the Clinton West stake, that is when Elder Freitag also came into Clinton to serve in the Clinton North. We both came into Clinton and left Clinton, all at the same time. I was his District Leader for three months and it was awesome. He is a really good Elder and we both are going to tear up the area in Logan! It is going to be sick! I am so excited!

ALSO, I have another challenge too! I will be serving in the Logan Central stake and I just found out this morning from Elder Freitag that we will be opening up an area that was dead for months, the Logan East stake. President Hiers also has assigned us to work in the ASL branch. So, I will be working in TWO STAKES and ONE BRANCH! There will be a TON of people to teach and I will not have time to "waste" on those who are going to take a while to get baptized. It is going to be SICK!

The Logan East stake is SO HUGE! It is going to be so CRAZY! I am so pumped up and excited to take on this challenge! Here is the boundaries for Logan Central stake.

I am really sad to leave North Ogden, even though I only spent six weeks here. I have grown to love a lot of people and I am really sad to leave BUT I am excited for the next challenge. I am going to work so hard and bring all of the people I can to Christ! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior! "He is the greatest being to be born on this earth - the perfect example - and all religious things should be done in His name. He is Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the Creator, the Savior, the God of the whole earth, the Captain of our salvation, the Bright and Morning star. He is in all things, above all things, through all things and round about all things. He is Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last; his name is ABOVE every name and is the ONLY name under heaven by which we can be saved." - BD definition of Christ. Page 633 of BD. I have just finished memorizing the BD definition of Christ and every time, I recite the definition of Christ, it brings me much peace that I need in situations where I am stressed. I know that He lives!

I love you all and have an awesome week!! Love, Elder McGrath

Hola

Hey guys, Thank you for all of the emails that you have sent. It was so good reading about the things that is going on back at home. I can't believe that Jake and Maddie are in Dhahran High School. It is so crazy. I remember asking Jake and Maddie if they wanted to attend DHS but they said that they will never go there. It is crazy how life changes. 

This week in North Ogden was a little crazy awesome! :D Elder Reinhart and I have been doing a lot of service for the potential investigators as well as less-actives. I am becoming pretty good at weeding. haha. some people here just let their weeds grow super tall and it becomes crazy difficult to pull out the big ones and the small ones that intertwines with the flowers/garden. It is a good challenge that will help me in the future. :) 

I got to see the Cefalo family this last Friday! Elder Reinhart and I were able to go to the Ogden Temple open house with them. Elder Simbeck was there too! It was SO cool to see some of my previous companions at the Ogden temple open house. The Cefalo family is doing really good. They are still planning on being sealed in the SLC temple in February. They want me to go. I AM SO PUMPED! The sad news is that they are moving south, closer to SLC. They won't be in the mission anymore but I know I will see them eventually. They even made some of their mac and cheese and brought it to North Ogden. I know.. They are so awesome!

Elder Reinhart and I were able to take the Bowden family (was a PM family and Liz (the NM) was baptized right before I came into the area) to the temple yesterday morning and it was awesome. They are moving in the right direction. They are doing family history and making plans to get sealed in the temple. They are doing very well, which makes me happy!

Elder Reinhart and I also took a solid potential investigator named Cassie Fessler and her NM friend, Abby to the Open House yesterday afternoon. Yes, I went to the open house TWICE yesterday. It was so awesome! Cassie and Abby were stunned by how beautiful the temple was yesterday. They kept saying, "oh my gosh.." in every room. It was getting really funny. I think that the open house really helped them a lot and I am hoping to be able to get into the house and start teaching them. haha. It will be amazing!

I have a crazy funny story that happened a few days ago. We were knocking on a potential investigator's door and a six years old kid answered the door. He saw us and immediately turned around to start walking up the stairs. He shouted, "Daaaaaaaad.. The probation officers are here..". Elder Reinhart and I were laughing so hard. The potential, Anthony, didn't come out for like two minutes. When we first saw him, he had a really scared look on his face but when he realized who we really were, he started making a very nervous laugh. It was funny!

So, a miracle happened this past Sunday. A little background first, Elder Reinhart and I knocked on this one super small log cabin that is secluded (I have no idea how we found it) and this big, fat guy answered. He wasn't wearing a shirt. He had a bunch of tattoos all over. We started talking to him and it turned out that he served in the Military. He has been all over the Middle East and he has been in Saudi Arabia. I was able to connect with him on that and it was really good. It turns out that he is a less active and he has a brother in the bishopric. We then talked about how church really helps us deal with hard times. I was able to invite him to church and guess what?! Two weeks later, he came. We were greeting everyone at the door to the chapel and this same exact guy came up to us and asked us if we remembered him. We didn't, we were getting really confused and then he started to describe his house. We quickly realized and man, it was awesome seeing him. We are planning to stop by the house today and see how church went for him. 

I want to share something with you all. Matthew (my eldest cousin) wrote this part in his email to me and I thought I would include it. He served in the Denmark Copenhagen mission. He said: "It really is cool to go back and see people you met earlier, and realize that you had an eternal impact on their lives.  I would certainly say that that’s part of what got me through the hard times in Denmark – knowing that even if we dropped them, we’d hopefully impacted the lives of our investigators in a positive manner forever. " 

That part is SO true and fitting. No matter who we talk to, it will always impact them in one way or another. The same thing goes for members too. David O. McKay said that every member a missionary. All of the members, including you, ARE missionaries! You can invite your friend to meet with the missionaries or other various church activities. If they turn it down, don't be sad. Inviting is success and that is what is important. It is important that you take that first step and invite. The Lord will see that you are doing your part as a member missionary and will put prepared people to hear the gospel in your path. I have seen this happen countless times on my mission and I am forever grateful for that. Don't be afraid. Be bold for the fold! Remember D&C 100:5-6!

I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know that Jesus Christ restored his church through Joseph Smith and we are all part of the one true church of Christ today. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He loves each one of us. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I know that Heavenly Father knows each one of us personally. Jeremiah 1:5. We are all his children and He desires that each one of us is to be happy. That is why He sent his own begotten son. John 3:16. I know that by following God and Jesus Christ, we can find that pure happiness that all of us are seeking. The more effort we make in following the gospel, the more happiness the gospel brings into our lives. I know this to be true because of the confirmation from the Holy Ghost. Moroni 10:4-5. Galatians 5:22-23. I love the Gospel with all of my heart. It is the biggest source of my happiness. I know it can be yours. If you have any question, ask the missionaries! ;) 

I love you all so much and have an awesome week! Stay strong and close to the Gospel! Love, Elder McGrath

Panorama view of Central Ogden and North Ogden. It was taken on the overpass on the mountain to get to Huntsville. I was going on exchanges with one of the Huntsville elders.

Elder Simbeck and me

Cefalo family, Elder Simbeck and I

A week full of tender mercies

Hey guys, Thank you all for the emails. It was really awesome being able to read them all and to see what is happening back at home. I can't believe that Caitlin has finished her mission. She is a fantastic missionary, probably the best Spanish speaking Hermana to ever serve in the NY NY South mission. I want to give a shout out to my awesome brother, Jake McGrath for his sweet sixteenth birthday! I can't believe how old he is getting. He is OLD! 

So, this week has been a tough week but it was awesome though! We got to see a lot of miracles happen! 

Last Saturday, I was able to go back down to Clinton to see a baptism. Erika and Renae Detar GOT BAPTIZED! They wanted me to speak at their baptism and I was able to do it. It was absolutely amazing. It was a joy to see the two girls, Erika and Renae, to be baptized and to see them progress after months of teaching them. The coolest thing that happened at the baptism was that the girls were SO happy to be baptized. They were crying tears of joy and it was so awesome. It was one of my FAVORITE baptismal services I have ever had a part in. What a blessing! 

I also got to see the Cefalo family on the same day and they are doing so awesome! The craziest thing is going to happen to them: they are moving to LEHI!!!! Crazy! They are moving down to Lehi because of the father's job. It seems like I was there at the right time and knocked their door at the right time. This whole experience strengthened my testimony that the Lord does prepare people just for us. I also know that the Lord prepares people for members too. It's not just for missionaries but also for members alike. I would have never found Robert Hall (from the good ol' Tremonton days) if it wasn't for Brother Skinner (who is the WML of that ward) who stepped up and spoke to Robert. That changed Robert and his family's life forever and for the better. 

D&C 100: 5-6 - Read it, learn it, live it, love it! :)

Also, last night, we had a small miracle. The two missionaries in Huntsville needed me to go over to Huntsville and help them out with some lessons. It was so much fun! Huntsville is absolutely gorgeous and when we were driving back to North Ogden that night (the Huntsville elders usually sleep over at our place in North Ogden so they can come to Zone Sports in the morning), was so awesome! At our view on top of the pass, we can see most of Ogden and man, Ogden is beautiful! How lucky I am to be able to serve in the Utah Ogden mission! I love being a missionary. It's a great day to be a missionary in the Utah Ogden mission!

So about that miracle, I took one of the Huntsville elders (the other 2 missionaries stayed back at the house) and we went to McDonalds. We all were starving and we wanted to get some food. My companion, Elder Reinhart, and the other Huntsville elder wanted the candy, Starburst so we stopped by 7/11 on the way to McDonalds. In that store, we had a huge miracle! It was absolutely amazing! We bought the Starburst and then the lady (who was working) came up to us and told us that she wants to buy us drinks. The Huntsville elder and I grabbed some gatorade and we started talking to her. It turns out that she has a kid on a mission in Kentucky. After talking for a little bit, I asked if there was anyone that we could stop by. She referred us to her coworker. Her coworker, Alivia, is a nonmember and she wants to go to the Ogden Utah Temple open house and we were able to get her number and we will be calling her tonight. Hopefully, everything will work out. I left the store so happy. By doing service for others (buying candy for other people), we got to witness a miracle unfold before us. This experience also strengthened my testimony of the scripture, Mosiah 2:17. When we are serving our friends, family, co-workers, other people, we are also serving Heavenly Father. :) 

Also, we had two families who were LA but now, they are re-activated, that wants to do Family History!! We found a guy who is serving a mission as a Family History missionary and he is willing to help teach those two families and us to do Family History. I am excited about that. Through Family History and temples, the saving ordinances can be done for those people who have passed on to the Spirit World. It is amazing. Family History and doing temple work IS missionary work. Missionary work is not just proselyting but doing all you can to bring others closer to Jesus Christ. Family History does that. Temple work does that. Everyone can do missionary work, regardless of circumstances. Guess what, the work is hastening (D&C 88:73)!! I can see that in ALL aspects of missionary work. We can do Family History at home. There are numerous temples being built so everyone can do temple work! It is amazing to see how the work is hastening.

I love the gospel so much. I love The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints so much. I know that the Church is the same church that Jesus Christ had here on Earth. I know that the Priesthood was brought back (restored) to Earth so that we can have those saving ordinances we need in order to have eternal life. What a great time to be alive! 

I love you all and stay strong. You can do hard things. I also want to share a quote from my most amazing mother, "some of the best things in life are the things we have to work the hardest for". Have an awesome week!!! Love, Elder McGrath

Erika and Renae's baptism!

North Ogden logo

My apartment. It is the nicest apartment in the entire mission! I am super lucky! :D

Sister Cefalo calls me her adoptive son.. haha

A crazy week in North Ogden

Hey everyone, It was great to read all of your emails. I am glad to hear how everything is going on back at home. 

So quick thing I need to tell you before I forget:

I will be going to the Ogden, Utah open house with the CEFALOS from Clinton!!!! We will be going with them on August 22nd at 7pm. Sister Cefalo messaged me on Facebook asking me to come with them. They really miss me and having me over to eat their mac and cheese which consists of FOUR POUNDS of cheese. I know cheese is horrible for you but man, that mac and cheese is so delicious. 

What a week. This week consisted of frustrating moments, exciting moments, happy moments, disappointing moments, and overall, it was a great week to be a missionary in the Utah Ogden mission. 

Last Wednesday, I was able to go on exchanges with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Folkman. He is from Baltimore, Maryland and he has been out 20 months. He is a super sick missionary and we worked HARD during the exchanges. We literally talked to so many people. It was amazing. We were also able to take the Bowden family to the Ogden Utah Temple open house and the Bowden family LOVED it. Sister Bowden was telling me about the Celestial Room and how peaceful it was. Brother Bowden also made a comment while we were talking about the Celestial Room. A little background before I go into the comment: The Ogden Utah temple open house tour is like a long line. You're constantly walking but again, you can see everything in the temple. Brother Bowden remarked that in the Celestial Room, you can hear talking when people are on the stairs to approach the Celestial Room but once they step into the Celestial Room, they are immediately quiet. It's like that moment when the Prophet walks into Conference Center, everyone quiets and stands up. It is amazing. The Spirit is so strong in the temple. What a great opportunity we all have to have temples. To perform saving ordinances for those who have passed on without knowledge of the restored gospel. Because of temples, families can be together forever. I love temples so much. I highly urge you all to take advantage of the opportunity we have and do family history. We can find people in our families that needs those saving ordinances to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). 

So a few days ago, Elder Reinhart and I ate dinner with this awesome family and they gave us a referral for this hispanic family who is from California. The mother is a single mother due to divorce and the Catholic church kinda "damned" her for getting divorced. She is lonely because she lost his husband and the Church turned its back on her. :( Heavenly Father would never turn His back on us because He loves us! John 3:16! 

So we we went over and knocked on her door. We started to talk to her and her name is Ester Duran. She is really cool. She has a daughter with Downs Syndrome who turns two in October. I was able to bear my testimony about Jesus Christ and how He knows EXACTLY what we go through because He went through it Himself (Alma 7:11-12). As some of you may not know, Elder Reinhart grew up Catholic and was baptized into the LDS church at age 11. He was able to relate experiences to Ester and talk about how meeting with the missionaries will change her life as it did to him. Ester also commented that she really connects with both of us and she wants us to come back and teach her! :D What a MIRACLE! 

Heavenly Father always has His hand in everything we do. Sometimes, we may not notice it and think that Heavenly Father isn't real but He is real. He is our Father in Heaven. He is always there for us. He gives us trials for a reason (Hebrews 12) and it is to help us grow to become the person He knows we can become. 

I want to give a shout out to my most amazing older sister, Hermana Caitlin McGrath. She is on her last week on her mission in New York New York South, Spanish speaking. She will be going home on August 19. She served a honorable mission and she has brought many souls unto Christ. She is and always will be an amazing missionary and friend to all. She is a great example of her desire to serve the Lord. Congratulations, Hermana McGrath, you have done an amazing job on your mission. 

I hope all is well and I love you all. Stay strong and YOU can do HARD things! Love, Elder McGrath

My new socks. Super comfortable too. :)

This was after Zone Study. We were doing a zone blitz in one of the Sister's area which was struggling. I was with Elder Folkman and he left his iPad on the top of the car and he sped off while it was still on. He later realized that he doesn't have his iPad so we went around looking for it. We found it after a half hour and the funny thing is that the case is perfectly fine but the iPad was folded in half. hahaha. President Hiers said it was the most bizarre damaged iPad he has ever seen on his mission. it was hilarious! Since Elder Folkman is a ZL, he got a new iPad 2 days later. haha

Hello all

Hey guys, Sorry about the late response. I was super busy for the past couple days and this was the first actual chance I was able to sit down for a few minutes and type this out.

The past week has been absolutely crazy. The people in North Ogden are pretty cool and Elder Reinhart and I were able to talk to a lot of people in the past week. We had seen some miracles happen this past week and I am super grateful for everything the Lord has done for me.

The Ogden Utah temple open house started last FRIDAY! The temple is so beautiful inside. The details inside are remarkable. I highly urge you all to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities we have with temples to do baptisms for the dead and other saving ordinances.

Elder Reinhart and I were able to take THREE families through the open house. We took Sabrina Young (who got baptized before I got here) last Friday, Nyman family (Less Active family we are teaching) on last Monday, and we were also able to take the Bowden family (RC wife, LA husband. They were the one who supported John and Ashley but had to kick them out due to stupid stuff) through yesterday! I love being able to go to the Open House and every single time I walk through it, my testimony strengthens because the Spirit is SO powerful there. I know that families can be together forever. I know that the temple is the House of the Lord! It is an amazing blessing we all have.

This last Sunday, Elder Reinhart were able to witness a miracle unfold! We went to three different sacrament meetings and bore our testimonies and then after that, we went out and started to contact our referral. Our very first house we were going to, we got stopped by a car. They asked us for a flyer for the Ogden Utah Open House and we were able to give him one. We were talking and all of the sudden, they had to get going. At this very moment, a 15 years old boy named Jose walked past us in church clothes. I shouted out, "Hey" to him. He turned around and we started talking. It turns out that he lives in the very same house that we were about to knock on. He grew up Catholic and he loves the LDS church. He was coming back from church and he told us that he goes to church every single week, goes to YM mutual/encampments, scouts and other various church activities. It was crazy how he is so receptive. We set up a return appointment so we can start teaching him. 

The next night, it was about 9pm and we were walking back to our house. We passed by this house where there was this family with two boys playing basketball outside. We passed it because we were trying to get home before curfew. The family's father called out and asked us to come talk to him. 

It turns out that Jose wants to have lessons at that member's home. The father's son was best friends with Jose so they would be perfect friendshippers! It was absolutely amazing. The father went on a mission to the most southern mission in Argentina 25 years ago and he is super chill! It was awesome! 

The day after that amazing night, we had our first lesson with Jose. We were able to talk about why we were teaching him, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. I started to talk about baptism because I love inviting people to follow the Savior through baptism! I found out that he has never told his parents about meeting with missionaries. He cannot be baptized without parental consent. I invited him to be baptized and he accepted. I told him that he has to ask his parents first before we set a date to be baptized. It was really disappointing, having to say that but man, he is SOLID! Jose is a super chill kid and it's awesome!

I had a miracle happen yesterday but that will be in next week's letter.. :) 

One year ago today, I made the decision to embark on the greatest journey of my life. From doors being slammed in my face to amazing, inspired lessons. From being able to testify to others about the Savior. I was able to witness many investigators that I have taught follow the example of Jesus Christ by entering the waters of baptism. I was able to witness a family become sealed for all time and eternity. Some of my Recent Converts were able to progress in the Gospel. For the past year, I was able to represent Jesus Christ with all of my heart, mind, might. The journey will always be the one to cherish. I love my Savior. I love being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I love my mission. I love the gospel. I am looking forward to experiencing what the next year will bring.

I love you all and stay strong! You can do hard things! :) Love, Elder McGrath

View from the top part of my stake. It includes all of Ogden, Riverdale, Roy, Clinton, Clearfield, Syracuse.. There is a little ridge and after that ridge is Salt Lake City!!