Miracle week here in Rivne (Week тридцять один)

Honestly, this was such a great week with a lot of great things that happened and I hope that I can cover a good amount of them with you in this semi-long email home. First of all, we had exchanges with the Elders from Khmelnitski (pretty hard city to pronounce), that went very successful. We did a finding activity outside, thankfully it's starting to warm up again, that went very well and I met some people that I think could be really interested in the gospel and could be amazing kingdom builders. I had the opportunity to serve with Elder Corey for a day and he is a great missionary, I learned a lot from him and I sure hope that he learned a thing or two from me. 

Other than that, this week was just full of miracles. One of them includes one of our investigators who is only 12 years old, but has a strong desire to be baptized. The only problem is that her mother has never given us permission to baptize her and has always been somewhat against this idea of baptizing her. Although this past week, on Monday we did some service for her, and then had a great discussion with both of them about baptism and the benefits and blessings of that. Instead of being completely against it and saying no right away, she said that she wanted to think about it more and we encouraged her to pray about it and see if she gets an answer from God. Anyway, the coolest part of this story is that both our investigator AND her mom came to Church on Sunday, the first time she has done that in such a long time and she told us that she is a lot more open to allowing baptism. Sooooo close, I'm so excited and I think that this week we could get this baptismal date and help this young lady take this first step and be baptized. 

Another super cool miracle was how many people we had at church this week. This transfer, as a district, we set a goal to have at least 40 forty people at sacrament meeting once during this transfer, something that we knew could happen. But the first three weeks didn't look super good, on average we were having around 25 people but guess how many people showed up yesterday!? Exactly forty!! I was super excited and we had a good amount of investigators and less actives that were able to make it this week which made is super awesome. I had the opportunity to teach the gospel principles class this week as well which went pretty good. We had over ten people in the class, which was a lot more than usual, so we had a really good discussion. All in all, these are some of the miracles that happened here in RIvne, super grateful for all of these and can only thank God for them

Anyway, to finish off this letter, our activies here in Rivne are going a lot better than when I first got here. At english practice, we are having more than thirty people show up and game night is starting to get big as well. We have found a few new investigators from these activites and that makes it all worth it. Also, tomorrow for game night, I am going to teach everyone how to play golf and we're going to play a little mini-golf here in Rivne, hopefully that goes well! Haha anyways, have great week and stay warm (it's finally starting to warm up here!)

Старійшина McGrath

Mosiah 18: 8-9 Read and ponder these words! Lift one another up!!

Dinner on Exchanges: Celentano

Pic with Elder Corey 

View from our apartment

Pic of the river here 

Selfie with Elder Lukach

Really cool part of the city

Nothing better than Rivne!! (Week тридцять)

Well, this was quite the week, nothing better than a pretty normal week where you can just focus on the work in your city and help people come unto Christ. The biggest highlight of the week was exchanges this week. The Elders in Lutsk, another city in the Volynska zone, came to Rivne to go on some exchanges this week. That was quite the party and I had the opportunity to serve with Elder Galmeister for a day. Elder Galmeister has been serving for a little over a year now and is quite the amazing missionary. He knows the language really well and has a great desire to work. Anyway, during my last exchange with Elder Cluff, all but one of our lessons fell through, so again I tried to fill the day as best as possible hoping that people would actually meet with us and they did, we had quite the successful day, full of teaching, finding, and eating some good food. Probably the best part of the day was our finding activity in center. We went out, brought a bunch of copies of The Book of Mormon and did something called a book stand. Where you have these copies, some in different languages to spark some interest, and then you have some great conversations about the Book and where it came from, and how this Book can help them. We had some really great conversations from this activity and there were some really interested people who wanted to learn more. One of them, actually met with us an hour before Church started and then stayed for Church, so I'm super happy about that and I hope he reads the Book of Mormon and receives that witness that it is truly the word of God. All in all, the exchange with Elder Galmeister was a big success and I learned a lot from him.

Anyhow, the rest of the week went really well too. Had some great lessons, found some new investigators to teach and just focused on the work. Another fun part of the week was on Sunday. I had the opportunity to give a talk and I had no assigned topic but I had to speak for twenty minutes. Which thinking back on it now, it isn't the longest time, but I don't think I've ever given a talk for that long, even in English, so I was a little bit nervous for that. So I prepped for it, translated it all, and got up there and gave the talk for 20 minutes! I didn't really even need to translate all of it because most of the time I didn't even look at it, I knew where I wanted to go and I just talked. My grammar wasn't that good, but everyone understood, which is the most important part. One thing I found out after that was kind of funny, is that when I'm speaking, and a little bit nervous, I'll start to swing my shoulders and it looked kind of funny. So, gotta work on that one before my next talk haha, gotta avoid the shoulder swing. Well, I hope you all have a great week and I know that as we remember Christ throughout the week, we'll see miracles. Talk to you sooon!!

Старійшина McGrath

Helaman 3: 35 Read and ponder these words!! Humility is key and we all need to develop this along with the rest of the Christlike attributes

Selfie with Elder Galmeister

Street here in Rivne

Selfie with my comp, Elder Lukach

Another street here in Rivne

Helping in Primary!! haha always fun

Busy week full of MIRACLES (Week Двадцять дев'ять)

Wow, this was such a great week that was full of interesting things that you might want to hear about, so let's jump into it. First of all, this week, we had MLC. This is basically where all the leaders come together in L'viv to discuss the mission and create action items, or smart goals in order to help the mission improve in our weaker areas. MLC was quite the experience for me, we all came prepared with a topic to discuss, such as contacting or planning, and shared our thoughts and through revelation and discussion, we created an action list that hopefully all missionaries apply because I know that this list is inspired and will help the mission improve and become even better. Honestly, this was such a great experience and I learned so much from it from all the other members, including President Rizley, and the Holy Ghost. After this MLC, I pondered what went well and what I could have done better, and then created a plan of what I wanted to focus on and how I could actually do it and accomplish it. So hopefully, I can do an even better job next time!

Another awesome thing that happened this week was exchanges with the other elders here in Rivne. I had the opportunity to serve with Elder Cluff for a day. The interesting thing is that he came out two transfers after me so this companionship that we had did not know the Ukrainian language very well, but we pushed forward and actually had quite a successful day. We had planned on five lessons for the day, which is quite a lot, but only one person showed up, so that made things quite interesting. Good thing that we have always been told to have backup plans, so that was helpful. All in all, it was a great day and Elder Cluff is going to be a great missionary, grateful for the opportunity to serve with him for a day!

Finally, as a zone we decided to do a fast, to focus on finding new investigators and setting baptismal dates with them and lemme tell you, I saw miracles from the fast!!! My testimony on fasting has grown immensely this week and I know that through diligent fasting and praying, you will see miracles. Some of the miracles include having investigators that struggle with making it to church make it, receiving a toooon of IP's, and Elder Lukach and I actually set a soft baptismal date with a former investigator, so that was super awesome. Honestly, I could go on and on about this fast and the miracles, but I'll leave it to that. The weather is finally warming up, the food is great, and I'm grateful to be a Ukraine L'viv missionary. Have a great week all!

Старійшина McGrath

1 Nephi 1:20 Read and ponder it!! Tender mercies are all around us, just look for them!!

Street here in Rivne

The soccer team in Rivne showed up to our finding activity!!  

Center here in Rivne

Our district at the bowling alley (Me, Elder Lukach, Baxter, and Cluff)

With the I love Rivne sign, classic tourist

Meet Oleksiy: The Newest Member in Western Ukraine (Week двадцять вісім)

Well, as you can tell by the title of my email, we had a baptism here in the Ukraine, L'viv mission. The baptism took place on Saturday and was actually in the L'viv area, and guess what, I WAS THERE. Let's start from the beginning of this great story, from how we met Oleksiy, to his baptism this past week. Six weeks ago, yesterday, we met Oleksiy. I was just starting my service with Elder Hill in L'viv and we had set up a lesson with an investigator. This investigator didn't end up showing up, kind of bummed about that, but that is why you have backup plans. Our backup plan for that lesson was to call older potential investigators or former ones. So Elder Hill and I sat down in the Church and started to all people before our next activity. We ended up getting to a contact with the name, "IP 06.07 Oleksiy," so we decided to call him, and guess what, he wanted to meet!! A potential investigator that was found in June finally wanted to meet since he had more time!! 

So we set up a meeting and finally met!! Our first lesson was awesome, he had done some research beforehand, luckily no anti-Mormon stuff, and after answering some of his questions, we had a great discussion about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We invited him to church and to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. And guess what, he followed through on all of those commitments, he came to church on Sunday and said that he had read almost ten chapters in the Book of Mormon in the span of a few days. He is SOOO golden haha!! Then after a good Pan of Salvation lesson, we decided to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and give him a baptismal date on the 3rd of March, and guess what, he accepted it!! Honestly, Oleksiy is an amazing man that I love so very much and has helped me understand many concepts. First of all, he has helped me understand that the Lord truly does prepare people for the gospel. This is the Lords work and we are lucky to be a part of it, all we did was give Oleksiy the chance to hear the gospel and he took it and ran with it. 

After that lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we started teaching him the commandments. I remember one lesson, before we starting teaching him about tithing, we talked about his scripture reading and he shared his experience on how he found out that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God. God answers prayers, I 100% know that now. Anyway, transfer calls came along in mid-February and I found out that I was being transferred here to Rivne. Was very excited to come here to Rivne for this new adventure, but was also super sad to leave Oleksiy and all of L'viv. It was at that point that I realized that I would probably miss his baptism because I would not be in L'viv. But time went on, Oleksiy kept progressing and Elder Bradford came in and took my place in L'viv. When I got to Rivne, I did find out that I would have exchanges with the AP's on March 2, the day before his baptism!! What!!! After getting permission, we were able to stay for Oleksiy's baptism this past weekend. 

Exchanges were great this past week, and I learned so very much from the AP's, but the highlight of the week and my mission so far was the baptism of Oleksiy. Elder Hill ended up performing the ordinance of baptism and a member from the branch in L'viv, gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost, both of them deserved to do that for all they did to serve Oleksiy and help prep him for baptism. All in all, really great week and really great new member of the L'viv branch. I'm soooooo soooo grateful for this opportunity that I had to serve and teach Oleksiy, he will be an amazing member of this branch. In fact, he has already made plans to go to do baptisms for the dead, next month! AWESOME!! 

Anyway, hope that you all have a great week and enjoying this little miracle story about one of my favorite people here in Ukraine. And remember, always rely on our loving Savior, Jesus Christ

Старійшина McGrath

Alma 26: 7-8 Read and ponder these amazing words!!

Pic of the Ukrainian countryside on our way to L'viv

Pic of the Ukrainian countryside on our way to L'viv

Selfie on exchanges with Elder Abraham

Baptism pic (Elders Bradford, Hill, Oleksiy, Me)

Street in Rivne

Selfie with another Elder Here, Elder Cluff

Some of my favorite L'viv members and investigators

Yura - Investigator

Maxim - Member 

Misha - Member

Oleksy - He will be a member next Saturday when he gets baptized

Brother Stankovich - Member

Pavlo - Investigator

A little city named Rivne (week двадцять сім)

Well, I officially made it through my first transfer to another city. Rivne is quite an interesting city. It is a big industrial city and transportation hub so it doesn't have that unique, old charm that L'viv did. It's still super pretty, don't get me wrong, just not as pretty as L'viv. If you're ever thinking of where to go on your next vacation, I highly recommend L'viv, one of my favorite cities in Europe for sure. Anyway, my comp here is Elder Lukach, he's an amazing Elder that has served for about a year now. He's from Kiev and knows English, Russian, and Ukrainian so that is pretty awesome, he'll help me a lot over this next transfer with the language and everything in general. He enjoys boxing and MMA so I might even learn some moves as well over these next few weeks. In addition to moving to a new city, having this assignment as a zone leader is going to help me so much. I've already learned so much about leadership and how to be a good person in general and I know that as I continue with this position and with other assignments throughout my mission, I know that I will progress and make steps towards coming unto Christ. One cool experience that I had this past week happened the day before I headed out to Rivne. 

On Wednesday, President Rizley invited Elder Hill and I, along with a couple of other missionaries, to meet with him and discuss leadership and how to be a good leader. I learned so much in that meeting and I just wanted to share one really interesting thing that he said. He said that everyone on this Earth has the purpose of coming unto Christ and becoming more like him and leaders just do that more publicly. WOW! That quote just really stood out to me, everyone has the same goal, just because someone is a leader doesn't mean that you're better than anyone else, they just have the opportunity to serve others and help others come closer. Developing Christlike attributes is very important and is one thing that I really want to focus on over this next transfer!

Anyway, some highlights from the week. On Friday, Elder Lukach and I had the opportunity to teach one of the members here in this branch at his work. He works at this old military factory as a guard, so that was probably one of the coolest places that I'll have a lesson on my mission. After our lesson, he showed us around the military factory and we went into some of the old rooms and honestly, I wish I had taken some pictures but it wouldn't have done it justice, it was honestly just a really cool experience that you need to see with your own eyes. Another cool thing that we did this past week was on P-Day actually. We went and did another quest room and this time it was Pirates of the Caribbean themed and we did it. We had five minutes to spare but we did get out of the room, really fun and escape rooms are just super fun. 

Finally, I just want to say that the investigator that I talked about last week that had a baptismal date, passed his interview this week and will be baptized very soon!!! So exciting, keep praying for him!! All in all a very good week, even had a really good english practice this week where we had the most people come to English practice in a very long time! Have a great week all!

Старійшина McGrath

Matthew 21:21 Read and ponder the words! Again about faith but it's super important to always have faith!!

Escape room pic

Had some good chicken burgers with CHIC FIL A SAUCE!

A cool sign is Rivne  

Inside a marshutka 

Our wonderful church building here in Rivne

Another adventure awaits! (Week двадцять шість)

Well as you can tell from the perfectly alliterated title of this email, another adventure awaits. On thursday we received transfer call and I have been transferred out of L'viv. I will be heading to Rivne, a smaller city in North-West Ukraine. Also, when President Rizley called me, he said that I would be a zone leader in Rivne as well. I will have the opportunity to serve as a zone leader over the Volynska zone.To be honest, this might have been one of the last things that I was expecting, considering that I'm only going into my fourth transfer and have never even been a district leader, so my heart was kind of pounding when I received that call. For a while, I was a bit nervous, but as time went on it started to sink in and I became more and more excited for this. Now, I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity that President Rizley has given me and I will strive my hardest to serve the people in my zone to the best of my abilities. I also know that God will help me in this adventure, and as I put my full trust in him, I'll do better and more that I could even imagine. In addition, another perk of receiving this call in L'viv is that I have three former zone leaders here. Both the AP's and my companion, Elder Hill, has served as a zone leader at one point. So last night and this morning, we actually spent some time together and I did a bit of a q and a session with them and lemme tell they're some wise Elders haha. I hope I can apply a lot of what they told me!

In other news, the week was really great. On Saturday, our branch had a primary activity and all the missionaries had the opportunity to be a part of that. The topic of this activity was following the prophet and it was super successful. All the missionaries actually were assigned a prophet and were given something to do. Some of these prophets include Moses, Noah, Nephi, and President Nelson. I ended playing the part of Jesus Christ. So I got to dress up as Jesus Christ for a few hours, that was quite the experience. I've got some good pictures that I'll send. My only speaking part of this activity was at the end where I had the opportunity to say, "come unto me. I will make you fishers of men." The only problem was that I really didn't know how to say fishers, so that morning I was saying it over and over because I didn't want to mess up in the actual performance. I probably said it over a hundred times and guess what, I didn't mess up!! haha I said that line pretty well and all the little kids came unto me and I got to shake their hands. Such a great activity and the kids really loved it!

Finally, on thursday, we had the opportunity to do some exchanges. I ended up going on an exchange with Elder Swasey, and if you read my emails from the MTC, you'd know that he was one of my companions there. So it was super fun to do an exchange with him and see how much we have grown over these last six months. And I can tell you that we have, our languages have gotten far better than at the MTC where we couldn't even string two sentences together haha. We ended up contacting a lot, and had a lesson. Learned a lot and am excited to do a bunch of exchanges over the next transfer. Thank you all for everything you do and I hope you enjoyed this letter. Have a great week!

Старійшина McGrath

Proverbs 3:5-6 read and ponder these words. Put your full trust in the Lord and he WILL raise you up!

Snowman for a finding activity

Inside an old church

St. George's cathedral 

Selfie in front of it!

Everyone in costumes for the primary activity!! Best district ever!