jakemcgrathmission: Living life large in L'viv (week Дев'ятий)

Well, Brothers and Sisters, I have arrived.

I now sit in the L'viv chapel, which is pink and is in a perfect location, writing my first long email to all you people back in the states or in Saudi Arabia. Both of which, are probably a little bit warmer than here. haha. Coming from Saudi Arabia did not prepare me for this. The plane ride to Ukraine was pretty long because we couldn't watch any movies or listen to any music. I was able to sleep a lot though which was nice. I also studied the scriptures and the language that I need to learn as quickly as possible, Ukrainian. Eventually, we did get here though and the first people we saw after we walked out of baggage claim was President and Sister Rizley. They're such good people and great examples. After a quick picture, we were then transported to the Rizleys apartment where we were staying for the night. There we did some paperwork and had our first meal in Ukraine. Sister Rizley prepared some amazing soup and then we had some ice cream. If I may say, It was quite nice to have some homemade cooking for once, after nine weeks of MTC food. Oh also, that night we found out which city we were going to be serving in. My first area is...L'viv!!! The main city, can't wait to go out and teach the people of this wonderful area!

The next few days were synthesis or training. That morning we met our trainers and my trainer is named Elder Baxter and he is from Payson, Utah. He is such an amazing Elder, has been out for about a year, and knows the language really well and has already helped me out a ton. He did track and field in high school and can play the piano really well. I know that we're going to get along real well and am super glad that he is my trainer. Can't wait to serve in the city of L'viv with him. Anyway, synthesis went really well and I learned a lot of important stuff on how to be an effective missionary and basically how to live as one here in Ukraine, quite a good experience. At one point though, on our first day of synthesis, we actually went out and did some street contacting. That was sooooooooooo nerve racking, was so scared to go talk to people about the gospel in Ukrainian on the street. But we went out and did it haha, Elder Baxter did most of the talking, but I was able to say a few things and help out a bit. The language is quite difficult, but I know with time and a lot of practice, I can get it down. Also, after contacting that night, we went out to eat at a restaurant named Love and L'viv. There I got my first taste of borscht. If you don't know what that is, it's basically beet soup with a bunch of veggies. It doesn't really sound good, or look good, or even smell that good, buttttt it tastes really good haha. Honestly, and I'm not just saying that to try and convince myself that it was good, it really was quite good, would recommend that to anyone.

Another cool thing we did this week and that we do every week here in this mission was an English practice. Every Thursday night for just about an hour, we teach English to anyone that wants to learn, we don't teach them the gospel, just focus on serving them and helping them learn the language. I thought it was so much fun because I was able to talk to a lot of them and understand them as well because they were trying to speak in English. I love the people of Ukraine and hope I can serve them all the time throughout these next two years. After English class though, we invite people to stay and listen to a spiritual thought, and many people do. From this, we are able to find a lot of new investigators and teach a lot more lessons. This week, we were able to teach a few lessons. We taught an investigator the plan of salvation, it's so much different in the mission field and I love it so much. Even though the investigator didn't seem to interested in what we were teaching him, you could feel the spirit in the room and I was so grateful for that experience. We also taught a few less active lessons and I feel like those went real well. We taught about the atonement and shared a story from Alma about that. Lessons are amazing, and even though I don't know the language, I can understand a lot of it and chime in every once in a while when it's my turn to teach. Quite a learning experience and I can't wait to continue to teach.

One last thing I want to talk about in this email real quick was yesterday, Sunday. I was asked to give a 7-10 minute talk on Thursday and on Sunday, I gave it! haha My first week in Ukraine and I gave a full on talk in Ukrainian. A little bit difficult to prepare and I'm pretty sure I had some pretty bad grammar but I felt like it went really well. I talked about Christlike attributes and focused on faith. An opportunity I'll always remember. Anyhow, the people in this branch are quite amazing. I talked to a lot of them using my broken Ukrainian but could already feel the love that I had for them. Can't wait to see what the future holds over the next few transfers here in Ukraine. Love it so very much. Mission life is the best life!! Can't wait for a new week.

Старійшина McGrath

1 Nephi 3:7 -- I will go and do the things the Lord commands. I'm here in Ukraine and I know that he will prepare a path for me to help the people!! Feast upon the words on God every day!!!