Happy X-Mas (week шість)

Wednesday: Oh what a day, p-days are great days!! This morning we did laundry, got some breakfast, and did some emailing. The highlight of the day was for sure the temple. We did another endowment session and the spirit was so strong, love the temple, wish I could go every day. Anyhow, tonight's class with Brother Huth was definitely interesting. First of all, we did a bit of role play where he pretended to be a less active member named Sasha. And he included that he liked magic!! So you know what that meant for me, I did a coolio magic trick on it. There was a bit of a language barrier but the trick went pretty well. He doesn't know how I did it. The lesson though went very well, we taught about the power of the Book of Mormon and how the Holy Ghost can know help you know truths. Then later, we had 1 on 1 interviews with him where he actually spoke ENGLISH!! He never speaks English and he sounds a bit different that when he speaks Ukranian. The interview went great and I'm so grateful for my teachers, they're the best!! Hope you all had a good day!!

Thursday: Another day, another dollar. Nothing better than a day at the MTC. Today we had another TRC session. This time we taught two lessons, both of them about Chapter six of Preach my Gospel, Christlike Attributes. A very important subject. We should always be working on becoming more like Christ and one of the best ways to do that is focus on Christ's attributes. I encourage you guys to take the next nine weeks and pick an attribute of the week and focus on it. Read scriptures, ponder, and pray about it. I can promise you that you will see blessings in your life from that, you will come closer to Christ. We all do that as a district, and it's one of my favorite parts of the MTC. Anyway, the rest of my day was splendid, we had two lessons today, one with each of our teachers. We focused on grammar and worked on our weekly plan. Such a good day, love teaching TRC's, can't wait for tomorrow.

Friday: MTC is quite the place. Today was great day full of learning and growing. This morning we taught the sisters in our class and taught them about the restoration. I thought that the lesson went great and we invited them to pray about what we taught them and to read 3 Nephi chapter 11. Such a good chapter, I recommend you guys read it again!! Anyway, we had quite an adventure today. One of my comps has an ear problem so today we went to go see a specialist OUTSIDE of the MTC. Crazy, right? I left the MTC for the first time in over a month haha. It was nice to go and talk to some people that weren't missionaries. Made me sosososo excited to head out to the great city of L'viv. Anyhow, the rest of my day was great. In our class tonight, we learned more grammar and talked about our plans and goals. The MTC is sososososo nice and I've learned so much but I can't wait to leave in LESS than four weeks!!!!!

Saturday: Good day here at the MTC, another normal day, but quite fun and full of learning. The highlight of today was teaching Katya. We taught her about the law of tithing, fasting, and obeying the law of the land!! Our final three commandments that we had to go over with her before baptism. So nice to have finished teaching her everything, and only one week till her "baptism" haha. Even though this is a fake investigator, I'm so pumped for her baptism!!! Anyhow the rest of my day was great, this morning with Brother Huth we talked about grammar and the language is getting more and more confusingggggggg. But also more and more funnnnn as long as I work hard I know I can learn the language and help the people of Ukraine. Mission life is the lifeee, can't wait for good ol' Sunday tomorrow, best day of the week. Love you all

Sunday: Bestest day of the week for sureeeee. Today was great for multiple reasons. First of all, sacrament meeting. Today, Elder Wonson and I had the opportunity to bless the sacrament today in Ukrainian--that was quite an experience. Was able to do it on my first try and pronounced pretty much every word correctly haha. Also, my comps and I were called to be the sacrament coordinators, which basically means we set up and take down the sacrament. Also, we assign people to bless and pass it. It's nice to have another responsibility. Now, I've got two assignments!!! Sweeettt, anyway the rest of the day was great. Tonight, we watched a talk by Elder McCalister named, "Consecrated Missionary." Such a good talk, made me want to go out and preach to the whole stinking world!!!  Such a good day brothers and sisters!!!!!!

Monday: Quite a solid day it truly was. Got a great story for you all that you might get somewhat of a kick out of. Anyway, so we taught our investigator Katya today about baptisimal covenants as her baptism is like 5 days and at the very end of our lesson I decided to say something. I wanted to say your baptisimal day is going to be perfect. But instead, I said, Цей день буде воскресіння. Which translates to, this day will be resurrection. hahahah not one of my finest moments in the Ukranian language. Our investigator was so confused and chuckled for a bit of time haha. It's sometimes good to lighten up the lesson, right?! haha anyhow the rest of the day was good. We had a lesson with Brother Huth where we did some more grammar and read a chapter from the Book of Mormon, love the MTC. Can't wait for good ol' tomorrow!!

Tuesday: Oh what a day, had some cool experiences. First of all, you know how we do TRC's with like returned missionaries, well for the last three weeks we do something different. Instead of just talking to returned missionaries, we do online TRC's where we can speak with members that live over in Ukraine, that was quite the experience. The guy we taught was from eastern Ukraine and was such a great guy. Besides the fact that he spoke so fast and I didn't understand so much, I felt like the lesson went fantastic. We taught about prophets and how we can receive revelation from listening to what they say, we invited him to write questions down and try to find answers as he watches general conference this weekend. Such a fun time, getting to know native Ukrainians made me want to head out so much moreeeeeeeeeeee. Nine weeks is a looooong stinking time haha. Anyhow, the rest of the day was good--this morning we had a lesson with Sister Grey where we went over grammar and talked about how important our work is as missionaries in Ukraine. There are around 68 thou missionaries throughout the world and only 36 are called to western Ukraine. That's insane, we need to be consecrated missionaries because if we don't do our part, who is? There are only 35 other missionaries. We need to put our whole trust in the Lord and he will bless us more than we can ever imagine. Such a great day, learned a lot and lovedd it. PDAY is TOMORROW!! sweeeettt

Старійшина McGrath

Alsooooo, our district has decided to celebrate every holiday before we leave cause we're not going to be able to soooo I got a bunch of pics with all our different color coordinations!! haha totally helping to unify the districtttt, which is very important!!!

Ether 1: 13 read, ponder and pray about ittt, be of good cheer!! God is with us and will bless us for our good doings!

First off, the weekly selfie!!

It snowed this weekkkk!!!! Too cold outside for my Saudi body haha

Merry Christmas :)

Happy halloween yupppp haha

Mother's day, love ma mama 

The day of Fathers, love him too

Halfway point at the MTC!! (Week п'ять)

Wednesday: P-days are quite the days. In the morning, we did laundry, got some food, did some emails, and got a haircut. Haircuts here are nice because they're freee!! haha who doesn't like free things. Anyway, the highlight of all pdays are the temple. Me and my comps did another endowment session. Love the temple so very much, go always guys haha. The rest of my day was good too, did some language study in the afternoon where I memorized James 1:5. That's quite nice, love learning the language, it gets hard, but worth it at the same time haha. Tonight's class was with brother Huth where we did some grammar and then talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Always an interesting topic. Anyhow, good day, can't wait for a new week!!

Thursday: Oh Thursdays are actually such fun days and I'll tell you why, TRC's. They're honestly one of the funnest things that we do here at the MTC. Today, we had two lessons and we taught about Prophets. We each shared our favorite prophet and I shared a few verses and my testimony about Captain Moroni. Love that guy, such a baller haha. We invited them to really watch General Conference and listen to all the prophets have to say. The lessons went great and we learned a lot! Anyhow, the rest of my day was great, we had a couple of classes. In the morning, we had Brother Huth teach us where he introduced another case to us. This grammar thing is getting more and more complicated. Also, more and more fun haha. Tonight, with Sister Grey, besides the TRC we focused a lot on our weekly planning. Very important to plan out your week as a missionary so you can focus more of your time on serving the Lord and being the best missionary you can be. PCL went real well today, was able to get a lot of studying down. Right now I'm reading in 2nd Nephi and Nephi is such a great example unto us. Each time he bears his testimony makes me want to be like him more. I love the scriptures and I encourage all you guys to read them every day. You will see the benefits, everyone around you, including yourself, will be blessed. I can guarantee you that!!! Anyway, hope you all had a good day, love you all!!

Friday: Friday funday, right? haha today was such a good day. We taught two lessons today, one in the morning and one in the evening. This morning we taught Katya about the ten commandments and the importance of attending church every week. I thought that the lesson went real well and we got her to commit to going to church every week. Real niceee lesson. Then tonight we actually had the opportunity to teach the sisters tonight as they acted as investigators. We taught them about Jesus Christ and his atonement. Such a good topic and I could really feel the spirit in it. We showed them the prince of peace video and that video is the best. So very grateful for the gift of the atonement. The chance we have to turn our guilt and sadness into joy and peace is amazzzzing!!! I encourage you guys to repent daily and you'll feel the blessings and joys of it. You'll love it!! Anyhow, such a good day. It was super cold today and rained but other than that great!! Mission life is a good life.

Saturday: Such a good day. Not too exciting of  day though. The highlight was the lesson that we taught tonight to Katya, which I thought went real well. We taught about about the importance of repentance and partaking of the sacrament every week. We were able to testify so much of it and could feel the spirit so strong. So grateful for the gift of the spirit that we have to help us teach and testify to our investigators. Katya is making great strides and is definitly ready for baptism. Can't wait to continue to teach her. Anyhow, the rest of the day was good, in the morning we had a lesson with Brother Huth where we went outside and talked about our purpose as a missionary. Such a good discussion and I was so grateful that I had a sweater because I'm from Saudi and 60 degrees is cold to me haha. Such a good day, can't wait for Sunday, best day of the week!!

Sunday: Heyyyyy guys, such a quality day. This morning, I had a meeting because I'm the district leader where we talked about our districts and what we could to do to improve them. Then we had our normal schedule of meetings where we have sacrament, district, and priesthood meetings. All so good, I actually had the opportunity to give the closing prayer in Ukrainian in sacrament meeting. I thought it went real well, no big mess ups haha. Anyhow, the rest of the day was great. We had a temple walk this afternoon which was quite an experience. We walked to the temple and sang hymns in all our different languages. The spirit was so strong and am so grateful for that and how song can bring us closer to our Heavenly Father. Tonight, we had the opportunity to hear a talk from the Provo Temple president, President Livingstone where he talked about the great work that we're doing and the importance of the temple. This day was so awesome, so focused on the temple and really strengthened my testimony. The temple is ssoososos important to our salvation, we do so many important things in there, go to the templeee!! haha Can't wait for tomorrow!! Mission life is nicee

Monday: Another great day!! We had the opportunity to teach Katya again. It was a pretty good lesson, we taught her the Law of Chasity. Not my favorite subject to teach but it's also a pretty important subject to teach before baptism. We pretty much read through the pamplet, answered any questions that she had, and bore our testimony a lot on the blessings that we can receive from living the word of wisdom. All these commandments that we've been teaching have helped me realize that the Lord gives us commandments because he loves us and wants to protect us. I know that as we keep the commandments, we will be blessed and be a lot more happy!! Anyhow, the rest of my day was great. We had a district meeting, where we talked about our christlike attribute of the week, patience. That went really well and we had a great discussion about how it helps us come unto Christ. Tonight class was real good as well. We focused more on grammar, on how the Book of Mormon is so important to conversion. Such a good day and can't wait for tomorrow!!

Tuesday: Oh man oh man oh man, such a good day, maybe one of the best days yet, for many reasons. First of all, our lesson this morning went so very well. We decided to not teach anything new because we had taught her so many commandments recently. So we just asked her how she was doing with everything we taught her and her baptisimal date coming up. We also showed her the video by Elder Bednar called recognizing the spirit. Such a good video and we just discussed how her life has changed after she started taking the lessons and how the spirit will help her receive revelation and learn of truths. Such a great lesson, the spirit was so strong there. Anyhow, the other amazing thing that happened was tonight's devotional!!! ELDER COOK CAMEEE!!! The apostle, Elder Cook, such a great experience. TWO apostles in three weeks, he had so many words of wisdom. He mainly focused on our purpose as missionaries and how our calls are specifically for us. The spirit directs the  decision making and I am so grateful for my call to serve the people of Ukraine. I can't wait to head out to the field. I'm so grateful for modern day prophets and I know that they are true and when we listen to their promptings we will see the light of Christ in our lives. So grateful for this gospel. Love this lifee   

Старійшина McGrath

1 Nephi 19:9 One of my new favorite scriptures!!! So amazing, read it and feast upon the words. Love is amazing and Jesus Christ is the perfect example of Love.

Ukrainian Flag reppinggg

District In front of the temple!!

Elders in front of the temple!!

L'viv group with Sister Clark (Branch President's wife)

Weekly selfie with the Albanians and Georgians

Long email with bad grammar but дуже хороший тиждень (Week чотири)

Wednesday: P-day, who doesn't like those days?? haha my day was real nice, got so much done. In the morning I was able to do my laundry, eat some food, go to the store, and write some nice emails haha. Again, thanks for all the nice emails, love you all. The highlight of my day was going to the temple. We did another endowment session today and we had the chance to go through with some of the names that we did initiatories for last week. I love the temple and am so grateful that I can go every week. The spirit is so strong there and the peace that I can feel when I enter the building is like no other. Anyhow, we had a class with Brother Huth where we continued talking about grammar and introduced cases. We also talked about the importance of plans in helping us learn languages. The language is not easy but I know I can get it down, through the gifts of the spirit and our Heavenly Father anything is possible. I'm so grateful to be a missionary, and can't wait for tomorrow.

Thursday: Oh, who doesn't love the MTC? haha today was another good day. Just one of those normal ones though where we have two classes, one in the morning and one in the evening. This morning, Brother Huth was our teacher and we studied more grammar. We're learning about cases and they're kinda confusing but hopefully I'll get them down soon, I've got faith in that haha. Anyhow, after our first class we had lunch and exercise time where I played basketball like usual. Then we had PCL (Personal, Comp, and language study.) Went real well, prepared for a few lessons, one of them being another TRCtonight. I love TRC's, they're so much fun. It's pretty much home teaching so half the time is the lesson but the other half is just getting to know the member. We taught about the power of the Book of Mormon tonight using President Monson's latest conference talk. I thought it went real well and can tell my Ukrainian is coming along a bit haha. Anyhow, the rest of my day was good, tonight during class with Sister Grey we learned how to write in cursive, pretty wacko but I'll get used to it. Just another day at the MTC, loving itttttt

Friday: Oh, what a day, the MTC life is nice. This morning we had another lesson with Katya and we taught more into depth about the plan of salvation. I thought the lesson went great and at the end we invited her to be baptized again. And this time, instead of saying I don't know, she said she needs to talk to her dad before she can because she wants her father to support her in her decision. That made me so happy when she said that and I'll tell you guys right now why so. So when so talks to her father, he might get interested or at least want to hear about the gospel, that'd be AMAZING!!!! haha We'd have two investigators, and one that we found on our own. I just love to teach the gospel. The joy that we get from repenting daily, knowing of the plan of salvation, and having a purpose is something that I'm so excited to spread with the people of Ukraine. I invite all you guys to spread the joy that we feel and bring people closer to our Heavenly Father because that's what it's all about.  Anyhow, the rest of my day was good, tonight we had another lesson with Brother Huth where we focused more on grammar and planning for the week. So grateful for this opportunity to serve a mission, my testimony has grown so much over these past few weeks. Can't wait to see what the future holds!

Saturday: Never a real bad at the MTC. Today though was quite a humbling one haha. So this morning in our first lesson with Brother Huth, we found out that we were going to be teaching a lesson tonight. We were going to be teaching the sisters as a group lesson and they were going to be teaching  God is our loving Heavenly Father and how important prayer truly is. We felt good about it so we prepared and practiced the lesson. But as we were practicing, I started to think that we got this and I didn't focus on the lesson as much as I should've. So when we went into our lesson thinking that it would go very well and they'd take our invitations and run with them. haha Anyway, the lesson didn't go as well as it should've. The questions that the sisters asked we weren't able to answer clearly and with authority. All in all, the lesson wasn't bad but the lesson could have easily been taught much better if me and my comps had humbled ourselves and focused more on the prep part of the process. Anyway, the MTC is a great place to learn things like this and I'm so grateful for this opportunity. As I learn these things, I make sure to write them down and pray, and work towards improving them because as I do this, I know that I can be a better person. The Lord wants to help us, help us come unto Christ, but we have to do our part, humbly come before the Lord with a sincere heart and real intent, and if we do this, I know the Lord will bless us beyond our wildest dreams. I'm so grateful to have such a loving and caring Heavenly Father. Anyhow, the rest of my day was good, we covered a lot of grammar in class today and talked about conversion. That was very interesting, conversion is an amazing process!!! A real nice day, full of learning and improving!! Can't wait for Sunday!!

Sunday: Nothing better than a good old Sunday. In the morning we had another good sacrament meeting, district meeting, and priesthood. The big topic today was on the plan of salvation. So grateful for the plan and joy that we can get from it when we take advantage of the atonement and repent every day. I'm so grateful for all that Christ did for us, through him, our guilt can become peace, we can have clean slates and start again. There is no such thing as the end. Anyway, I got some good news for you guys, today I was called to be the district leader of my good old district F. So grateful for this opportunity and I hope that I can serve my district with all my heart and strength and help make our the district the best haha. Tonight we had a devotional where Chad Lewis spoke. If you don't know who that is, and I didn't either haha, he was a professional football player where he played for BYU then the Eagles. He was so awesome, bore such a powerful testimony, and is a great example of hard work and serving the Lord with all we have. Anyhow, the film we watched tonightwas by Elder Bednar, entitled, "Recognizing the Spirit." The talk was so nice and I encourage you guys to try and watch it. The spirit will always be with us and will help us all the time if we are worthy of it. Anyway, great day today, can't wait for a new week!!

Monday: Ok, got such a great experience to share with you guys today. This morning, we taught Katya again and we decided that instead of teaching her new content, we would see where she is testimony wise, and what her desire was. As we did this we found out that she wants to learn more and she feels good about what we have taught her. After that, we decided to show her the Mormon message, "Prince of Peace," in Ukrainian. That video is so powerful, you all should watch it, it's only like two and a half minutes but the spirit is so strong in it. Anyway, after the video we asked how she felt about it and I bet some of you guys can't guess what she said. She said, "I want to be baptized," but she said it in Ukrainian haha. I was sososososoosososo happy when she said that, over the moon, out of this world. We didn't have to ask her if she would commit to be baptized, like when we asked her before, she had the desire to be. Which is the most important thing in an investigator, desire is the key for conversion, without it, nobody will read and pray and progress. So grateful for Katya and her desire to serve. Even if she isn't a real investigator, this feels like it is and I'm so happy for Katya and her choice. Anyhow, the rest of my day was good, I had two classes, one with each teacher. In the morning, we went on a mural walk with Sister Grey and pondered and discussed them. The murals are the best and I'm so glad that I get to see them almost every day. My class tonight with Brother Huth was also super nice, we focused a lot more on the language and grammar. It got pretty confusing tonight haha. Anyway, such a good day, love the mission.

Tuesday: Good day, good day. In the morning, we had another lesson with Katya, the first one post committing her to baptism. We decided to teach her about the Word of Wisdom and how important it is. The best part of the lesson was when she said that drinking tea was not as important as following the Lord and doing as He says. So she said that she would live by the Word of Wisdom. I love progressive investigators. haha Anyway, the rest of my day was real good too. We had class in the morning with Sister Grey where we went over more grammar. Then tonight we had a devotional where a member of the presidency of the seventy spoke, Patrick Kearon. He spoke on choice and our missions. It was an amazing talk, and the discussion we had as a district was even more amazing. Just love my district so very much haha. We have a choice in everything, we need to choose to be happy, diligent, faithful, and many more things. Choosing these things will bring blessing into your life, I know that to be true. This was a great week, love you all!!

Старійшина McGrath

Moroni 7: 40-48 Read itttttttt. hope is vital to our conversion

Pic with the good ol Ukraine flag

Utah isn't half bad haha

L'viv selfieeeeee

Elder Wonson selfieee

friendskisss

Старійшина Oaks!!!!! (Week три)

Wednesday: P-day number two of many. What a great day it was, was able to get a lot of stuff done including laundry and had one of my ties sewed to make it look nice and normal again. Also, I got to write mails. So grateful for all the mail and love that you guys have given me, nothing helps me more than a nice email haha. After email time, I had the opportunity to go to the temple and do initiatories. Sister Olsen, a sister who is going to L'viv, had some family names for me and my comps to do and we were very grateful that she gave us the opportunity to do it. The temple is an amazing place and I encourage each and everyone of you to go to the temple often, even if it's just to be on its grounds you'll feel Gods love in your life. Anyhow, after that I studied some basic core and I gotta tell you guys something. I FINISHED IT TODAY!!!! haha so happy that I was able to do that, now onto the next task of helping me learn the greatest language, Ukrainian. Hope you all had a great day, mine was real solid. Brother Huth's lesson tonight was great, learned about goals and worked on the language. Nothing better than that, mission life is a great one.

Thursday: Today was quite the day. We had two lessons, one with each of our teachers. We talked more about goals in the morning because they're so important and then the second lesson in the evening. The second lesson is the plan of salvation and Sister Grey role played how she would teach it as if we were all the investigator. That was quite interesting and the spirit there was so strong, so grateful for my teachers, they're the best. Tonight, we did a new thing called a TRC, I'm not sure exactly what it stands for but it's basically home teaching. It was super fun to meet other returned missionaries from my mission and talk to them and teach them a lesson in Ukrainian. Anyway, the day was real solid, played some basketball during workout time and read about Jesus Christ and his atonement during personal study today. Loving the lifeeee

Friday: What a dayski. This morning we taught our second lesson to Katya and I've got a good story for you guys. So as I was bearing my testimony during the lesson today, my notebook was on my knee and all the sudden it started to slip so as I was talking I started to reach for it with my hand, and instead of grabbing it, I pretty much pushed it into the ground. haha It made such a lound sound and everyone started to crack up including Katya, our investigator. But other than that, I thought the lesson went really well. We taught about prophets, Jesus Christ, and some of the Book of Mormon, it's always good to introduce the Book early in the teaching process because of how vital it is to conversion. If someone wants to be converted unto the Lord, they need to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Anyhow, the rest of my day was great. We had a lesson with Brother Huth tonight, where we started on some grammar, I can now conjugate in the present tense!! haha We also talked about the gift of tongues and how important it is and how important it is to be diligent with your language. Anyway, the day was great, we had papa John's pizza for dinner and had a great personal, companion and language study. Can't wait to head out to Ukraine!!!

Saturday: Wowzers, almost another whole week gone. It's pretty crazy how quick the weeks go by at the MTC. Tomorrow is my favorite day of the week at the MTC, Sunday. But it's also fast Sunday, so we'll see how that goes haha. Anyway, my day was real good today, we taught Katya again tonight. We finished up teaching her about the restoration and at the end of the lesson, we actually got her to pray, woohoo, so happy!! The spirit was so strong in the lesson. Other than that my day was good, we had another class in the morning with Brother Huth where we went over the second lesson, the plan of salvation. Lemme just tell you guys something, I'm so grateful for the plan, I know why I'm here and where I'm going. I know that through Jesus Christ, I can be forgiven of my sins and live a guilt free happy life. Also, if you guys have the opportunity, read 2 Nephi 4, really good chapter. We had a discussion about that in my evening class, so grateful for my teachers. Can't wait for Sunday!!

(Fast) Sunday: The first of two fast Sundays at the MTC, what a day. Today, we had choir practice right before dinner and halfway through practice, I could barely sing haha, I was so thirsty. So when 5:15 came rolling around, it was a modern miracle, haha I made it, I was real hungry. But in all honesty, I really enjoyed fast Sunday. It helps me focus on what's important. We had testimony meeting in the morning followed by priesthood meeting where me and my comps had the opportunity to teach about the creation, fall, and agency. I thought it went real well all in all. Then we had a nice devotional in place of lunch about a missionaries purpose. Loved every talk from that, we need to not just make every day a checklist, strive to come unto Christ every single day. After that, we had personal and comp study where we planned our lesson for Katya tomorrow, hopefully it goes real well!! Anyhow, the film we watched tonight was called Legacy, I thought it was a  good movie. It was about the pioneers journey out west. It was a real solid day, can't wait for a new week to start!!

Monday: Oh my goodness, what a day, what a day, might have been one of my favorite days I've had so far at the MTC for many reasons. First of all, we had a another lesson with Katya today, and I thought it was one of our best lessons yet. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the end we actually invited her to commit to baptism!! The spirit was so strong there. She said she wasn't sure about it but she said that she'd pray about it. Hopefully we'll be able to get her to commit to baptism soon!! Anyway, the rest of my day was great, we had another district meeting today where we discussed diligence. Ok, now I gotta tell you another reason as to why my day was so grand. Every Monday night, we have food catered to the MTC and guess what it was tonight?!?! Chic Fil A!!!! My literal favorite restaurant, I got a sandwich with some amazing sauce on it. It made my week, best food ever. Anyway, was a real nice day, had two lessons per usual today one with each teacher. Tonight we talked a lot about the spirit and how important it is. Lemme just tell you guys something, the spirit is vital in conversion. Not only our investigators, but our own personal conversion. We need to be in tune with the spirit at all times, our lives are much more amazing with the spirit. Anyhow, loving the mission life, 'tis great!

Tuesday: Ok guys lemme tell you something. I said yesterday was the best day yet, but today was even better for sosososososoo many reasons. The highlight of the day was our devotional tonight. Can you guess who spoke? If not, lemme tell you guys. ELDER OAKS!!!!!!! I'll repeat that, The Elder Oaks, one of the senior apostles!!! His talk was so great, talked about our mission purpose, the importance of the resurrection, and the power of the book of Mormon. I love hearing apostles, their testimonies are so powerful and they push me towards being more converted unto Christ. I'm so grateful for our savior and everything he does for us, I know that if we try our hardest, constantly repent of our shortcomings, and develop Christlike attributes, we can someday return to live with our Heavenly Father and have eternal life. The spirit tonight was so strong, there was no denying the church tonight. The rest of my day was also great, at lunch, I had chic fil a again!!! When I went to the leftover line, there was some leftover sandwiches, not as good as the day of, but still amazing! haha Finally, we taught Katya again this morning and talked about the plan of salvation. It went so well, could feel the spirit there and can see her taking strides. Anyhow, real good day, nothing better than days like this!! Люблю українську

Love,

Старійшина McGrath

Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 read it and feast upon the words. Ask your self, 'Am I fully converted?' We need to strive everyday to be more and more converted unto our Heavenly Father. I know that as we do that we will receive everlasting blessings!!

The best district ever. (Missionaries going to Ukraine, Estonia, and Latvia in our district)

Everyone's favorite pointing to the mission pic

L'viv crowd pictureee

Got the mission shirts!!!!!

Weeking selfie featuring a sister training leader, Sister Johnson. She's going to Russia on her mission!!

Базовим ядром є життя (Week Два)

Wonderful Wednesday: Ahhh, the first of many P-days. It consisted of laundry, writing emails, eating, and playing some basketball haha. Plus, we went and did a session at the temple as a zone, the temple was beautiful and the spirit is like no other there. Love the temple so so much. But I want to share an experience with you guys. So tonight we had another lesson with Yura, our investigator, and we had this nice lesson on the Priesthood prepared. So we went in there, expecting to teach about that but as we asked our first question which was about the Book of Mormon, he mentioned desire and prayer. So for the whole lesson, we talked about that, we had to adapt to the situation. Seven days into learning the language and we had to change our whole lesson plan, and we actually did. We talked about faith and prayer, it went amazing!! The gift of tongues is real, we were able to teach by the spirit, even with how little we know of the language. What a great experience that I'll remember for a long time. Anyway, the rest of my day was awesome, loving the mission!!!

Thursday: Guess what, our investigator, Yura the guy I talked about for a bit last week, he actually became our teacher haha. He's a great teacher and had a lot of great advice for all of us. Anyway, I got something funny to tell all of you guys. So every week we have a room inspection and today was ours. I'll just type somewhat of what was written, "tidy everything, the room smells gnarly." haha They're not wrong, our room was a disaster. To be fair, everyone participated in this mess but one of my comps doesn't really know how to keep things anyway clean so it turned into a disaster. But we spent half an hour cleaning it up and using half of my febreze so now it's as clean as a whistle that's been coated in febreze. Anyway, the rest of my day was solid, we had class in the morning with Sister Grey and had some nice MTC food!!

Friday: Hey fellas, learned so much Ukrainian today. I wanna talk to you guys about a thing called basic core, not common core, I've called it that a few times haha. But basic core is this packet of tasks that we have to accomplish. For this part of the basic core, we have 10 days to memorize with mastery in Ukrainian, 250-300 words, 40-60 phrases, have some basic sentence structure, and memorize 3 different scriptures not including the missionary purpose. It may seem like a lot, and it truly is, got some pressure to finish it on time so we can keep our schedule, but lemme tell you something. Over the past few days, I've come to know that the gift of tongues is real and with God, anything is possible. I've learned so much Ukrainian the past few days and I can assure you I couldn't have done it myself. Only through our Heavenly Father can I be a successful missionary and I'm learning to put my whole trust in him. I'm just so grateful for everything that he has helped me with this past week and a half. Anyway, my day was great today, we had two lessons, one with each of my teachers, and I ended up passing off a lot of my phrases and the missionary purpose. Today was one of the first days my comps and I studied in the new buildings, they're so nice, so many nice murals. Hopefully I'll be able to send a few pics of them sometime. Anyway, loving the mission and my comps, nothing better than serving the lord.

Saturday: Oh the MTC, nothing better than that. Today was quite busy. We studied a lot of Ukrainian and got a lot done. The MTC can get stressful but even through all that you have to realize why you're out here. A missionary is serving the Lord with everything he has and bringing joy to not only their life, but other people's lives as well. Today, we had lessons from both our teachers and the best part was when we had the opportunity to practice teaching the first lesson in Ukrainian, it was difficult but very helpful. Anyway, the day was great, the food wasn't, but the rest of it was. Love being a missionary.

Sunday: Sunday funday right? haha Sundays truly are the best at the MTC. So we sang in many different languages again today at sacrament meeting. The faster songs are so hard to keep up in Ukrainian, but I'm getting better every week haha. After a wonderful sacrament meeting, we had our district meeting which is pretty much sunday school, and then a preisthood session. My companionship gets to teach priesthood next week, woohoo haha. (in english thankfully haha) After that we had personal study time and then got to go on a mural walk with our districts. I got some good pics that I'll hopefully attach to this email. The murals are so amazing and I'm so glad that they're available for viewing now. Tonight, during film time, we watched the new Meet the Mormons, it's actually quite awesome. You all should watch it, the stories are inspirational. Anyway, just a fully spiritual day. Oh, and also I did choir today, if you know how terrible of a singer I am, that should make you chuckle. Anyway, loving the mission lifeeee.

Monday: I'd have to say, mondays are much better at the MTC. Today was the last day to work on the basic core packet that I mentioned earlier, and I got pretty close to finishing it. I finished all the phrases, all I had left to do was a couple of passages. The baptisimal interview and Moroni 10:4. Even though I didn't finish in ten days, I'm still proud of how much I did. To be quite honest, this was one of the most difficult things I've done. Over the last ten days, my Ukrainian and testimony have grown immensely and I've forever grateful for that. Hopefully I can finish it over the next few days. Anyways, the rest of my day was great, we have a lesson tomorrow with a new investigator and we prepared and role played our lesson. Fingers crossed it goes well. Can't wait for it, hope you guys all had a good day!! Mission life is the best life.

Tuesday: In short, today was a great day. In the morning we taught our new investigator, Katya, who actually turned out to be our original teacher, sister Grey. That was kinda funny, but anyway the lesson went pretty good. We mainly talked about our loving Heavenly Father and prayer. Hopefully she prays before our next lesson haha. The rest of our day was pretty great. Tonight we had a devotional where first of all, I sang in the choir. Quite fun. But our speaker tonight was W. Christopher Waddell of the presiding bishopric. He gave a very powerful talk about the importance of the Book of Mormon. I encourage you guys to read the Book of Mormon daily, and if you don't already have a testimony of the book, pray for one. Finally, one thing I forgot to mention in my last email was who my roommates are. Elder Wright is from England and Elder Aston is from Colorado. They're both going to Latvia on their mission. Along with my comps, that's everyone in our room!! гарного тижня

старійшина McGrath

Jacob 4:6 Read it and enjoy the feasting of words that you get from it. Faith can move mountains and this scripture is now one of my favorites!!

Weekly selfie in front of the new building with Elder Swasey

View from the neuvo building

A mural of Paul, I think haha

My roommates and me with Nephi (Left to right: Elders Wonson, Aston, Wright, McGrath, and Swasey)

The bestest district

The L'viv crowd with our 2nd teacher Брат Huth

Hello and хороший день (Week Один)

Hey hey hey guys, first things first, I'm glad to tell you that I'm alive. Loving the mission life. Today,  we got our comps, I've actually got the opportunity to have two, in a triple threat haha. Elder Wonson from the country of Texas and Elder Swasey from who knows where. Both really great guys and they're both serving in L'viv! Can't wait to get to know them during the next 9 weeks. We first had an orientation where there were a few talks given and we sang some songs that filled the room with the spirit. After that, we went to class where our teacher only spoke Ukrainian, I understand nothing. I"m so so confused, but I know I'll learn it. After class I met with our zone and met our zone leaders, we have a massive zone about like 85 people or so. Proud to be a part of the one and only Eastern European zone. Anyways, I had an awesome first day, mission life is the best life. Love you all!!!

Thursday: Day two!! Today, we had our first day of real classes where I still haven't heard a single word of English, only Ukrainian. But lemme tell you, I've learned a few words and can introduce myself. Besides class the highlight of my day was meeting my branch presidency and meeting all the new people. There are 47 new missionaries that came in on Wednesday in our zone, that's insane. That's more people than in my whole mission. We have five of us heading off to L'viv, It's a fun group of people, my comps and two sisters.

Friday: It's my birthday, first of three on my mission, what a lucky guy haha But it was a great day, full of learning the language and teaching our first lesson. You read that right, three days into the mtc and we're teaching lessons in Ukrainian, absolutely insane haha!!!! But I thought we did pretty well considering how much we actually know of Ukrainian. We taught about the love of Christ and prayer. The volunteer investigator, Yura, accepted our challenge to pray!!! haha The spirit was there and I'm glad there's a thing called  the gift of tongues, very necessary tonight. The rest of the day was very nice too, we had a district meeting which at one point they sang happy birthday to me, that was quite an experience. I'm also the senior comp in my trio of missionaries so that's fun, getting to lead the companionship. The church is true fellas and remember to pray!! Always a good thing. Also, thanks for birthday gifts, my roommates sure enjoy the food. haha

Saturday: Another solid day at the good old mtc. Loving every minute of it, but can't wait out to head out to Ukraine and teach real investigators. The highlight of today was being able to teach Yura again. We totally killed it guys, so much better than yesterday, so proud of my comps, really could feel the spirit in the room. Other than that, we had two lessons with sister grey, which in we learned a lot of Ukrainian. Can't believe how far I've come in only four days, it's actually crazy, gift of tongues is sure realski. Mission life is the best life, and since elder Wonson is from texas, I'll say this. Love Y'all.

Sunday: Everyone says wait until Sundays, they're the best day. They were right, it did not disappoint. First of all, funny story. So we were on our way to sacrament meeting and me and elders Swasey and Wonson decided to walk ahead because everyone else in our zone was doing the mall crawl. So we headed to the classroom that it said on the paper but when we got there, we realized it wasn't the right classroom. So me and my comps went searching for like 20 minutes until we see some of our ZL's running towards us and they eventually took us to sacrament meeting. Sacrament meetings at the MTC are crazy. If you've ever wondered what the tower of Babel sounded like, come visit my branch. We had ten different languages singing at the same time, it was pretty wild haha. Anyway the rest of the day was pretty great too. We had this time where we could watch films, and we watched a talk by Elder Bednar named Characters of Christ. If you haven't seen it, I'd recommend it, so amazing. Best talk I've ever heard. Instead of just having a testimony, we need to also be fully converted to the Lord. We need to be able to turn outward instead of inward, developing Christlike attributes and helping everyone in need. The MTC is getting more and more amazing, can't wait for tomorrow.

Monday: Oh, the MTC, now that a new week has started, we're more on our normal schedule that we'll be on for the next 8 weeks. It usually consists of two three hour classes with Sister Grey, our teacher that from Utah that went to L'viv, and a four hour block where we do personal, comp, and language study. Other than that, we have food times and exercise time where I go and play some basketball with some tall elders haha. Today we also had our third lesson with Yura, it went quite well. We talked about the apostasy and the restoration. At the end of our lesson, I asked Yura to say a prayer during our discussion about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and he did it! I was so happy, our "volunteer" investigator prayed for the first time in front of us. Anyway, I can't believe how much Ukrainian I know after five days, I can say a prayer and bear my testimony, crazy!! Love the gift of tongues.

Tuesday: Another day another dollar at the MTC, today in class we learned how to do the baptismal invitation, it was quite difficult, haha not even close to memorizing it. Anyway, every Tuesday night we have a devotional instead of another class and today we Elder Weatherford Clayton of the 70 come and teach us about el libro de mormon. It was great, and during the devotional we sang armies of Helaman and instead of saying we will be missionaries we said ARE NOW missionaries, so cool. Anyways, first week in the books, one for the ages, first of many great weeks. Поговорю з тобою пізніше

Love, 

Старійшина McGrath

Deuteronomy 31: 6. Read it and feast upon the words. I testify that the Lord will always be with us and if we're obedient and heed his teachings, we will be blessed forever and ever. Heavenly Father loves us very much and will do anything to help and bless us, we just need to do our part!! Love you guys.

Me and my comps!!!!

Everyone going to L'viv + Sister Grey our teacher

My crazy name tag

Our usual workspace

My weekly selfie