Mission life is a great life! (Week двадцять п'ять)

Well, this week was what you call a normal missionary week. We didn't have any conferences or exchanges to plan and do, just were able to focus on bringing other people and ourselves  closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Lemme tell you though, there is nothing better than this though, just focusing on your area. It does make for a shorter email though because nobody wants to hear what I ate for lunch on Tuesday, (Chicken boats) so I'll just share some of the more interesting things that happened. And I'll start with a funny story just to keep you all interested. So there is a member here who likes to meet with us and discuss different topics of the gospel and he is for sure one of my favorite members of this branch. On Thursday, we met with him to discuss commandments and I had the opportunity to say the opening prayer. I noticed that he was starting to get a little bit sick, so I made sure to say in my prayer that we could all have good health this week. Literally right after my prayer, he says to me, "you know what, Elder, it's a good thing that the Lord listens to the intents of your heart and not what you say because you just asked the Lord to bless us to be sick throughout the week." That just made me crack up, and to be quite honest, sick and healthy aren't even that similar in Ukrainian. Really was just a dumb mistake haha. Such a good moment. I hope that some of you get a kick out of that one, just showing you that my language is improving every day but not even close to perfect! 

Now, on to the highlight of the week. Elder Hill and I have some amazing people that we work with here in L'viv and I'd like to talk about one that we have been working with for two weeks now. His name is Oleksi, and on Sunday, we set a baptismal date with him! Oleksi is an amazing younger man who is a huge testimony to me that the Lord prepares people for the gospel. In the two weeks that we have taught him, he has already read all of first Nephi, most of second Nephi, all of the teachings of Joseph Smith, and most of the teachings of John Taylor. He loves talking to us and learning more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Lord prepares people for the gospel and, as long as we actively seek for people and constantly share our testimony, we will find the elect. God loves his children and wants to give everyone to opportunity to hear the Gospel and accept its teachings. 

All in all, such a good week, so grateful for this opportunity to serve here in Ukraine. On Thursday, we had a good english practice where we taught the beginner class, and on Friday, we had a good "English Club." Many people came and we had the opportunity to talk to people about the gospel. Anyhow, have a great week and I'll get back to you next week on how it goes! 

Старійшина McGrath

Ether 12:6 Read and ponder this verse!! Faith is vital, gotta have it!  

Cool Church in L'viv

Another one, but this time with Elder Hill! 

Pic of center and the opera house

Posing like a statue in center

Conferences out the Wazoo (Week двадцять чотири)

Wow, what an amazing week, probably one of the craziest and most busy, but also one of the most rewarding. I learned so much, and I'm so grateful for all that happened so let's get to sharing some of it. Let's hit the highlights in chronological order, so first of all, Thursday we had exchanges! The AP's this transfer are doing something called a "road show" where basically they go to every city and have an exchange with all the Elders in the city. I'd say that this is one of the perks of having a small mission, and on Thursday, it was our opportunity to learn from the APs. The exchange went very well, we had some very good lessons, contacted some, ate some good food, and had an hour long training session prepared by Elder Christensen. The training session was probably my favorite part of the exchange because he focused on exactly what I needed in order to become the best missionary that I can be. One thing that really stood out to me were the importance of goals and setting incremental goals in order to achieve the bigger, better goals that helps us come closer to our Heavenly Father. All in all, a really good day!!

Now let's jump towards Saturday and Sunday. This weekend, we had two conferences, a district conference on Sunday, and a zone conference on a Monday. One reason that both the conferences were so close to one another was that we had a General Authority come. President Martino came this week and joined us for both the conferences. And on Saturday, something amazing happened. President Martino, President and Sister Rizley all wanted to join us for lessons with our investigators. So we all had thirty minutes to teach one of our progressing investigators with probably some of the best members present that you could probably get haha. The lesson with our investigator went super duper well, we taught about baptism and he accepted a soft baptismal date. The best part was that he came to conference the next day! He hadn't been to church before this, but with the help of President Martino and his testimony, he came and stayed for the entire conference, it was quite amazing!! 

On Sunday, we had our district conference, which was split up into two different parts. One where it was like any other conference with a bunch of amazing talks, and the second where we split up into groups, men, women, and YSAs. And guess what, Elder Hill and I along with a few more missionaries had the opportunity to lead the discussion with the YSAs. It went pretty good, the most crazy part though was that we expected maybe 20-30 people in the class but there ended up being over 50!! That was quite an awesome surprise, we did some good scripture reading and had a real fun object lesson about the atonement and coming to Christ. All in all, on Sunday with language informant at night, we were at the church from seven (shoveling snow for the first time in my life) to seven thirty at night. A full 12 hours there, doing amazing things. Learned so much and stayed super busy!

Finally, on Monday we had our Carpathian Zone conference. President Martino pretty much led the whole thing though. He went and answered some of our questions and helped us to become better missionaries. President Martino just has such a strong spirit and you can feel it when he just walks in the room, makes me want to become a better person and a better missionary. Honestly one of the best weeks of my life, wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, the mission life is for sure the best life. I love you all and hope you all have a wicked week.

Старійшина McGrath

Moroni 10: 32  Read and Ponder it, Moroni's last words to us, this is what he things is most important!!

Had to opportunity to go out to dinner with my comps trainer!

Cool pic of the chapel!

Picture of the program from District Conference

Pic of the original 3 from the MTC

The greatest district in L'viv!!

Went to a cool museum today!!

Speak Your Language ALL DAY (Week двадцять три)

Well, it's been such a good week this week. Stayed busy, taught some good lessons, had a great english practice, and a very successful game night. Let's get started. Today, I think I'm going to start with our finding activity this week. A finding activity is when we go out as a district to a busy area and do an activity to talk to people about what we believe and see if they are interested. This week, we did something very different, something that was super fun and interesting. We played contacting bingo. Basically, each companionship got a bingo board which had a bunch of different things written on it about contacting. Some of them included things like give a five minute lesson, give out a Book of Mormon, receive a harsh reject, talk to a dog-owner, and contact a JW. Haha. Some were more serious and others were more just for fun, but all in all, the activity was very successful and everyone enjoyed it. We had to get five in a row, and then text each other the time that we go it, and the companionship that finished last had to buy something for everyone else. We ended up finishing in second place, so I'm just grateful that we don't have to buy everyone else something haha. 

Anyway, the rest of the week was great as well. On Thursday, we ended up going back to that same member that we chopped wood for two weeks in a row and we chopped some more wood. This time, we had to cut the wood into smaller pieces because last time, we cut a few of the pieces a little too big. That was a fun activity. I always forget to take pictures as well, maybe we'll do it one more time. But yeah, service is always a great, and I always look to forward to the opportunity to do some. Afterwards, we shared a short spiritual thought about the sacrament. Hopefully she comes to Church on Sunday! 

Also, on friday, we had our game night. For game night this week, we ended doing a paper airplane night. Not many people here in Ukraine have built paper airplanes, so it was fun to show them how and tune into my inner childhood of building some and throwing them all over the place. We ended doing a few competitions such as a longest throw and most accurate one as well. In short, a very successful activity with both investigators and members there.

Finally, as you can tell by the title, Elder Hill and I have been trying to SYL as much as we can. It's been somewhat hard, but it has already paid off so much. I'm starting to speak a little bit better, dropping words into cases a lot more often, and I learning new words left and right. Elder Hill is already basically fluent so now he's just helping me learn the language and that's amazing. I have learned so much this transfer already! Anyhow, got a really fun week coming up. We have district conference and then a zone conference. Plus, President Martino of the 70 is coming this weekend! So excited, I know the Church is true and am so grateful to serve a mission in this awesome city and country!

Старійшина McGrath

Helaman 5:12 Read it and ponder it! The Lord is our rock, put all of our trust in him!!

Picture from our game night! 

All the paper airplanes

Selfie in front of a cool Cathedral

Seflie of us at the bowling alley

Our district activity!!

Our cool staircase to our apartment. Heard that it's over 100 years old! 

A Wonderful Week of Weeks (Week двадцять два)

Wow, this was an amazing, but also very crazy. So lets start with the big news of the week, on Friday, we received a text from the AP's saying that we all had a mandatory Skype call at 2:00 and we had to adjust our schedules. So we all do that and show up for this super important Skype call. So after we said the opening prayer, President Rizley jumped right into it. He received a letter from the area authority that he pretty much read to us. Basically, the L'viv mission is a goner. The area authorities and more higher up people, decided to combine the Ukraine L'viv mission, and the Ukraine Kiev mission. That was some massive news that President wanted to tell us himself. So this change will take place sometime this spring, no exact date is set, but President Rizley finishes his calling in mid-june so I'd think that we'd officially combine then. That was some MASSIVEEE news that has some amazing pros and cons. One pro is that we might be able to go visit the TEMPLE in Kiev sometime since it'll be in our mission. That'd be wonderful, for sure have missed the temple and everything inside of it. The spirit is so strong there and I can't wait to go again. One more a con thing is that our mission will be A LOT bigger, so many more missionaries. I enjoy having a small mission and having the opportunity to get to know everyone, but this will be an experience. Nevertheless, I'm super excited and sure that the Kiev mission will be amazing, and the mission for me. Can't wait!!

Anyway, about the rest of my week, Elder Hill and I had the opportunity to go to Ivano-Frankisk this week to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. That was quite an experience, first time on a train here in Ukraine and lemme tell you, Ivano is such a beautiful city, will for sure attach some photos. I ended up going on an exchange with Elder Fuller and he is an amazing, dedicated missionary. I learned so very much from him and I hope I have the opportunity to serve with him again sometime. One cool thing that happened was that we set a goal of getting five IPs (basically contact info) throughout the day, and we did it!! Literally at the last moment too, we had worked hard all day, and right at the end of our activity we got the last IP! Just shows you that when you make a goal with the spirit in mind, and work hard at something, the Lord will help you!! Really good exchange all in all, met some cool people, ate some great Georgian food, and had some amazing experiences. 

Well, the rest of the week was good, taught some good lessons, had more finding activities, and stayed busy. I'm very grateful for this opportunity I have to serve a mission and I wouldn't trade it for the world! Have a great week all!

Старійшина McGrath

1 Nephi 19:23, liken the scriptures unto ourselves like Nephi did and you'll learn so much more! Scriptures are amazing!

t's getting pretty dang cold here haha

On my first train ride in Ukraine with Elder Hill!!

Cool pic of Ivano, super nice city

Another cool pic

With Elder Fuller on exchanges

On the way home on the train

Massive Jenga set at game night!!

We went skiing as a district for P-day, super fun!!

I saw an Arizona license plate at this cool diner we went to!!

Officially not a greenie anymore!! (Week двадцять один)

Well, my training has officially ended and I am not a greenie anymore. Now, I've got a new comp and I can just put 100% focus on the mission and helping people come unto Christ. Anyway, this week was quite the adventure. On Wednesday, transfers officially happened and Elder Hill moved into the apartment and became my comp. Elder Hill has been serving for 16 months now and is awesome. He's very good with the language and has been teaching me a lot. He likes to work hard and is a great example to me of a faithful servant of the Lord. I hope to learn a lot from him over these next few weeks. Another thing is that new missionaries came in on Wednesday and since I'm serving in L'viv right now, I was able to meet all three of them. They are awesome people and I know that they will be good missionaries as well. 

Anyway, let's jump into the week. This week we taught a good amount of lessons, contacted for a little bit, and had this finding activity as a district in center. For this finding activity, we had cards, and on each side it had a picture of a prophet, one from the Bible and one from the Book of Mormon. And on the Bible prophet side, it said, Ви знаєте історію цього пророка? Which translates to, do you know the story of this prophet? So then we'd talk about the story of Paul or David and Goliath for a minute. Then, we'd turn the card over and showed a Book of Mormon prophet that had a similar story to one in the Bible, and ask them if they this prophet. Many people gave different answers and this was a great opportunity to introduce the Book of Mormon and talk about what it is and how prophets play a role in the Book of Mormon. It was  a really good finding activity and it was very successful activity. I was able to bear testimony on prophets and the Book of Mormon multiple times, and I just want to say that the Book is true and prophets really do lead us today through modern day revelation. We can learn a lot from both of them and I encourage you to study the Book of Mormon and the teachings of the prophets.

Anyhow, for game night this week, we actually had one of the investigators here come and teach us how to do calligraphy. He's super cool and is such a good artist. We actually did calligraphy on rocks and wrote like one of our favorite scriptures or quotes. I ended up doing Jacob 6:12, my family scripture that is quite short and powerful. I'll attach a picture of it today, but let me tell you beforehand, I am not an artist. So this rock with the scripture in Ukrainian is my best effort haha, other people's calligraphy was a lot more cooler. But hey, effort is the most important part. Also, for English practice this week was super fun. Elder Hill and I taught together for the first time and we taught the intermediate class all about body parts. Then we played a fun game of simon says, they're not the best at it, but it was quite fun to do. All in all, we had a really fun week and had some successful activities.

Finally, I'd like to share a quick story with all of you about something that happened to me this week that was quite funny. So Elder Hill and I are walking to all lessons super far away and we're taking this dark, sketchy path. So we're walking and then all the sudden, Boom!! We fall through into this puddle and struggle to get out. Our shoes are wet and that was not good, so we finally end up getting to this apartment where the less-active family lives, and I look down and my pants are superrr dirty. Like the bottom third of my pants had a ton of dirt on it, so that was kind of awkward for that lesson. Had to explain that to them, but the lesson went well. That was a funny story, I hope at least one of you gets a kick out of it. I guess growing up in Saudi didn't prepare me to avoid puddles that are frozen over. Best part of the story though, the less active family went to church the next day! Anyhow, I hope you all have a great week and keep up the good work!! Always remember the Savior!

Старійшина McGrath

Mosiah 14 Read it and ponder it. Such a powerful chapter about the atonement!!

Everyone working hard on their rocks!

Selfie with the rock 

Selfie with Elder Hill in front of the Opera House

Cool picture of an awesome Church 

We did an escape room today for P-Day, supperrr fun!! 

Merry Christmas, Part II (Week двадцять)

Hey ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, how was your week? My week was great and as you can tell by the title of my email, it was Christmas part two here in L'viv. Some Ukrainians use the Julian calendar, (I think) so that is why they celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January. So, Merry Christmas! Also, it's pretty different going from zero Christmases in Saudi to two in Ukraine, but hey, I'm not complaining. Let's get started on the week, this was a pretty interesting one. First of all, on Friday, it was transfer calls, and I received my first call! I'm getting a new comp, but staying in L'viv for another transfer. My new comp is named Elder Hill and he's been on his mission as long as my current comp, Elder Baxter, has been out. He's a really nice person and I'm excited to get to know him over the next few weeks that I get to serve with him. Anyway, another different thing that happened this week was that the Ternopil Elders moved to L'viv. Right now, the Ternopil area is a little bit different as we haven't gotten permission to preach there, so we just teach English. They used to live in Kmelnitski and take a train three times a week to Ternopil, but they stopped renting one of the apartments there, so they actually moved in with the AP's and they just go to Ternopil from here. It's pretty crazy now, we have ten people in our district, which is basically a third of our mission. Plus, one of the Ternopil elders is Elder Swasey, one of my good old MTC comps, always good to see him.

Anyhow, one big thing we did this week as a district was go to center and have another big activity. Since Christmas is on the 7th of January, we decided to take advantage of the situation and have another big activity about Light the World and what the true meaning of Christmas is. This activity, like the first one, was SUPER successful. There weren't as many people in center this time, but there were enough. Since there were ten of us at the activity, we were able to talk to more people and we actually ended up getting more numbers than last time. Such a good activity and night, one of the best experiences yet on my mission. One thing that I've learned from both of these big activity's in center is that if we do our part and work diligently to put in our part of the experience, the Lord will do his part. He has prepared people for us to share the gospel with, and I know that that night, we found some of those people that were ready to hear the gospel and learn more about our beliefs. Really just a wonderful experience, and I'm so grateful for all that God did to help us make this one of the best activities this mission has seen!!

Well, other than that, the week was great. On Friday, we went on splits with the Ternopil elders because we had a couple of lessons planned. Elder Swasey and I were actually together and we taught a great lesson about enduring to the end and the importance of Church. Also, it was Elder Baxter's birthday this week so we went out celebrate and eat at this amazing restaurant that was a little bit expensive but also very worth it! Most of our investigators are doing pretty good. One of my favorite investigators, who has a real big desire to follow Christ, is actually on a school break and will be back real soon, can't wait to continue to meet with him and talk more about the greatest message that anyone can hear. I really am enjoying my time here in L'viv and I know that my testimony has grown so much. I'm so grateful that I have this opportunity and I encourage all of you to think about a mission. The mission life is the best life! Anyway, have a great week and thanks for everything!

Старійшина McGrath

Alma 26: 36-37 Read and ponder those verses. They are quite amazing and our Heavenly Father is the very best. Let us all put our trust in him and we will reap the benefits! 

At Center on Christmas day, super busy!

A cool Christmas concert

An interesting church 

Selfie with the Ternopil Elders (Me, Elder Hill, Swasey, and Baxter) 

A nice area in Center on a cold winter day

It is a new year. (Week дев'ятнадцять)

Wow, what a week. Probably the quickest week of my life, stayed super busy and had a holiday to celebrate. Let's get started so I can write everything that I'm thinking of. First of all, Thursday was my very first mission conference, and let me tell you, that was quite the experience. Because I live in L'viv, we had some work to do to help prepare the Church for that, so that took up some of Wednesday, but that was also the day that most missionaries started showing up. By the end of the day, we had all 32 missionaries in L'viv. We ended up having two other companionships stay at our smaller apartment so that was quite the experience, we had to create a shower schedule and everything to ensure that everyone got to conference on time. But eventually, the time had come and mission conference officially started. I learned so very much from this conference, mission conferences are the very best. We had many different segments, including a language one, one about the Book of Mormon, another about faith, and finally one about our goals for 2018. Really grateful for this experience that I had and I can't wait for our next one! Anyhow, after conference, as a mission, we actually went out and sang Christmas carols in front of the opera house for a few hours. That was super interesting, because we got a big crowd, and people would sometimes come and join us in singing, even though they didn't have the best voices, or could read some of the English songs that we sang, they were for sure welcome. After singing Christmas carols for a little bit, we actually went inside the opera house and watched this Christmas Carol Opera thingy. The opera house is so beautiful, so ornate. The concert that we watched was very good as well, at some points, they tried to sing some songs in English and that was pretty cool to hear. Their accents aren't the best, but they do know the words, so that's a plus. So that was the day, Thursday was jam-packed full of fun and lots of learning. Can't wait until next conference!

Anyhow, outside of mission conference, on Saturday, the branch president asked us to deliver some food to something out in the villages. That was a fun trip out, it's about an hour away, so we hopped on a small bus and headed out there. The people we gave it to were grateful for it, and I'm happy for that opportunity I had to serve those people. Another interesting thing that happened was on Saturday night. One of our investigators who is in university right now called us up and said that he wanted to meet because he was going home for a few months during his school break. Luckily, we were close to the church and were able to meet. He ended up buying us some chocolate and a book, such a nice guy, and can't wait to talk to him sometime soon!

The last thing that I want to talk about is New Year's this year. Our mission president has a rule that we have to stay inside all of New Year's because apparently Ukrainians love New Years and go pretty crazy around this time of the year. So for our protection, we've been guided to stay inside and let me tell you, it was a very cool and weird day. Everyday as missionary, you have your day planned full of stuff and you really don't have much free time, so on New Years day, where we couldn't really do too much, it was quite different. We ended up playing a few games on monopoly, cooking some delicious food, and just simply relaxing. Really an interesting day, but now I'm ready to face a whole new year, can't wait for 2018, gonna be my best year yet!! Anyway, I hope you all had a great year and keep up the good work!!

Petro, one of my investigators, brought me a Christmas gift

Старійшина McGrath

3 Nephi 27 Read and ponder it!! For mission conference we were asked to study it in advance and then we talked about it during a segment. This chapter is amazing and you can get so much out of it!

A cool nativity scene in center

Set up for mission conference

The inside of the opera house!!

Elder Aslanyan and I!! He's such a good missionary

A cool view of me and the opera house 

Picture of our MTC group back together again!

 A good game of monopoly!!