The Hands that Helped (Week сорок)

Well to be honest, this was a very nice week. Unlike most of my weeks over these past two+ transfers, we had no travel, exchanges, or conferences. So that mean't that we could fully focus on our own working area and really building that up to be the best that it truly can be. Overall, this week was really successful, we found new investigators, had some of our investigators come to church, and even had an opportunity to go out and do some service. Let's talk about that first. This week, along with many other branches in this part of the country, had something called helping hands (hence the title of the email.) We went out and helped paint some playgrounds at an orphanage and it was quite fun. We had all the missionaries, plus a few of the members that had time to come out and help us, go out and basically paint for a few hours, see some really cute orphans, and sing some american songs that different members of our branch requested haha. That day I found out that one of our members really likes Bon Jovi and no members, or even missionaries for that matter, like country music, so it was only me when it came time to singing and good old song. Anyway, after going out and painting the orphanage, we head out to the train station because one of the members in our branch invited us to go out to his house in the villages and help in his big garden that he has. So as we're going to to bus station, we're calling the member trying to figure out exactly how to get there, but he's not picking up! I had been there one, so I vaguely remember how to get there, but I didn't remember which bus we needed to take to get out there. Once we got to the train station, and after calling a good amount of times, we had to choose, do we take a bus or do we just not go and reschedule for another day? We chose the first one. After carefully examining each bus based on the times it left, and where it was headed, I chose one that I thought for sure could have been the one that we needed. We get on and start driving. And we keep driving. Finally, we're reaching the end of the bus ride and I realize...yeah this isn't the right bus. In short, our plans got wrecked and we took the same bus all the way back to the bus station and got to the church a short after that. Good lesson to learn haha, maybe think a bit more before making an impulsive decision. All in all, it was quite the experience both on the learning and having fun side. 

The rest of the week went very well. We had a good amount of people at each of our activities, and had a really good church service. One member, who was giving a talk and teaching third hour, read the President Nelson talk about ministry during sacrament meeting and then we ended up watching the same talk during priesthood. I know that talk pretty well now haha pretty interesting. He does make a very good point though that serving others is very important as we can help not only others but ourselves as well. As we serve others, I know that we can receive so many blessings and we can for sure come closer to Christ. We also had a good zone skype call where Elder Shuley and I announced our zone goals for this upcoming transfer. We talked about how we can better improve as a zone and what we did well this past transfer. It went really well, now I just hope that everyone puts a focus on these goals over these next weeks. Finally, P-day this past week was very good. We ended up going to the Rivne zoo which was very fun, there are lots of interesting animals and just got to explore and cool park. All in all it was a great week and excited for the next one. Have a great week everyone and talk to you soon!

Старійшина McGrath

Mosiah 2:17 Read and ponder these words. Basically, the topic of this email is service, always be serving others!

Selfie with Elder Wonson

Zoomed in Selfie

With my Camels, reminded me of Saudi! 

At the zoo

Some comphy antlers

Just me and a lion

Track that we run at

Selfie after a good run

1 in a million

Helping hands

Selfie at zoopark

Oh how the transfers have turned...(Week Тридцять дев'ять)

First of all, if you don't really understand the title of this email, it's a quote from the Office, I encourage all of you to watch and enjoy that show. But what you can also tell from this average title is that transfers have come and gone. It was pretty sad to say goodbye to Elder Lukach, I know that he'll do great things down in Chernivtsi, but now I'm officially with Elder Shuley. Elder Shuley is an awesome elder from all the way out in Kentucky. He's been out on his mission for 20 months now, so he's pretty experienced, and I'm pumped to work with him over these next few months. Another interesting fact about Elder Shuley is that he likes to run and is planning on joining the BYU cross country team after his mission, so that means that he needs to train. The worst part about this is that we don't really have a track next to our apartment, so I get the wonderful opportunity of following him around running until I feel like dying four to five times a week. Hopefully I get in pretty good shape by the time that I finish serving with him and I don't feel like dying every time I try to run with him. It should be some good transfers though, super pumped!

The first highlight of the week that I want to talk about is both of the holidays that Ukraine had this week. Ukraine has holidays pretty much every week so it was no surprise that they had a couple this week. The first one was wishiwanka day. Basically, it was a day to celebrate wishiwankas and everyone was wearing one which was super cool to see. A wishiwanka is basically a shirt that has been hand-stitched, and usually had a pattern down the middle and consists of a few colors. They look super cool and I really want to buy one, or maybe even more on my mission. Today, not a ton of people wear wishiwankas, but some time ago, it was a super common thing to wear. I bet if you look them up, you can find some good pictures of them. Anyway, the second holiday was for sure the bigger one of the two. On Saturday, our district went out to center to do a finding activity where we wrote questions on a chalk board and then talked to people about the Book of Mormon and about our basic beliefs in hopes of finding people that are interested in finding out more about what we believe. When we went out we noticed that all the streets were closed and there were a ton of people in Center. It turns out that today was European day in Ukraine where they celebrate the fact that they want to be part of the European Union and that Ukraine is a European country. So what ended up happening was that there was a concert in Ukraine where they sang many different songs, including the national anthem, and other common Ukrainian songs. There was also a huge parade, with a marching band, and they all brought different European flags including the European Union one, and at one point, they let off a bunch of balloons, which held a Ukraine and European Union flag as well. It was a super cool thing to watch, the only problem is that people wanted to watch the concert and all the festivities, instead of talking to us about religion. So our finding activity really got wrecked, we ended up changing it to a English finding activity where we wrote happy European day on the chalkboard and gave out a bunch of English cards. That was pretty successful. All in all, it was just cool to be there, there were some dirt bikes doing some doughnuts as well, so that was quite the experience. 

So that was pretty much the week. We had some lessons, with different investigators and members. We actually have a traveling patriarch in town and he'll be giving patriarchal blessings to different members over the next few days. So we've been working with the members, helping them prepare for the day. With all this happening, it just makes me glad for modern day revelation and the priesthood power that we had to receive that revelation for the church, and even each of us individually. All in all, a great week! We went and played some billiards for P-day, that was pretty fun. Have a great week everyone and talk to you later! 

Старійшина McGrath

2 Nephi 32: 3 Read and ponder these words. We need to feast upon the words of Christ. They're literally the word of God!

At the Train station 

Selfie with Elder Cook (left) and Elder Shuley (right) 

Dirt-bike riders at the parade

Another picture of the parade 

Playing some pool on P-day

A Wild Week of Weekly Weeks (Week Тридцять вісім)

Oh man oh man, where to start, another really good week on the mission, stayed busy and had a good time. Let's start with some of the highlights. This past week was Mother's day so I had the chance to Skype home which was pretty grand. My family isn't half bad and it was good to talk to them for an hour, they're for sure my favorite family that I've got. Jumping into the rest of the week, we had game night on Tuesday and it went super duper well, we had a good amount of people show up and we played a very fun game of fear factor. Basically, we bought a bunch of different foods from the grocery store such as candy, ketchup, fish, mayonnaise, fruit, juice, milk, yogurt, olives, and other interesting things that would not sound that good together. Then we had people pick out of a bowl, three of those ingredients, and then we would blend them up and you would have to drink it. It honestly was super stinking gross, I couldn't even get past the first round of Twix, tomato paste, coke, and marshmallows. Some people on the other hand, really enjoyed it, they ate some of the grossest combinations that you could even imagine and didn't even make a sour face. I guess that my body wasn't built for these kind of things haha. But all in all, many people showed up and we had a great time and had some good conversations with people after the activity. 

Fear factor though did continue, on Thursday, we had exchanges with some Elders in Lutsk, in the city of Lutsk, so Elder Lukach and I had to take a bus up there. When Elder Baxter and I were waiting for Elder Lukach and Elder Cook to come, (because we had exchanges with the other elders in Rivne the day before) Elder Baxter and I noticed a girl who was standing a few yards away from us. She was repping the Ukrainian Olympic gear and had a cool Olympic bag. Elder Baxter and I wanted to go up and talk to her and see if she was an Olympic athlete or not, because she was super built and looked like she could have been, but we were a bit afraid haha. After much time deciding whether or not we would, Elder Lukach and Cook showed up and we didn't have time to talk to her now, but, she was on the same bus as us to Lutsk. Soooo, once we got on the bus, Elder Lukach was sitting close to her and ended up asking if she was an Olympic athlete. It turns out that she is an Olympic boxer named Tetyana Kob, CRAZY, we just sat on the same bus as an Olympic athlete. The worst part about this story is that three minutes after we found this info out, Elder Baxter called us and said that we had both sets of keys and they couldn't get into their apartment, soooo, we had to quickly jump off the bus and run back to the bus station. I was a little bit sad, I just missed the chance to talk to an Olympic athlete for a while and maybe even get a pic with here. Anyhow, on to the exchange in Lutsk. Lutsk is a very nice city, it's like Rivne, except a bit more beautiful and it has a super nice center and walking street which are perfect to do some finding activities. I ended up serving with Elder Frehner for a day and it was super grand. Elder Frehner has been out for about a year and a half now and is a super good and super funny missionary. He's always positive and is cracking jokes and what not, super nice to serve with for a day and they exchange was very successful as well. We learned a lot from one another and set some goals on how we can improve as missionaries. 

The rest of the week was busy as well. On Wednesday, Elder Baxter and I on exchanges, went out to a members house and helped in their garden. There were a couple of firsts in this experience. We ended up planting some grapes and that was the first time that I've ever done that and we also used a well to get some water for the plants and that was the first time I had ever used a well in my life. Wells are super fun and we're going out to the member to help some more this week and I hope that I can use a well again. Also, on the same day, we had a branch picnic, where we basically grilled a bunch of meat, talked, and played some sports. In Ukrainian you would call this a Shashlik party, it was super fun and we even had some less-active members show up, so that was good to hear. Finally, the last thing that I want to mention, is that we had transfer calls this past week and I found out that I'm getting a new companion. I'm staying in Rivne as ZL, but my new companion is Elder Shuley. Elder Shuley is a super awesome missionary who has been out for 20 months now. I can't wait to work with him and learn a lot as well. Anyway, that basically wraps up the week, talk to you soon! Also, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all those wonderful mothers that do so much work for us haha. 

Старійшина McGrath

Lamentations 3:22-23 Read and ponder these words. God is always there and we need to love him as he loves us!

Shashik party

Fear Factor 

Selfie with Elder Baxter and the member we helped

Selfie on a bridge 

Super candid picture

Our finding activity board (Why do you pray?) 

Center in Lutsk

Really cool military museum 

Another pic of center in Lutsk

The Great McDonald's Analogy (Week тридцять сім)

Well, as expected, another great week on the mission. Let's jump into it. For the third week in a row, Elder Lukach and I traveled to the great city of L'viv. This time, we were in L'viv to do another one of our monthly MLC's where we discuss our mission needs and create action items that are meant to help each and every missionary. This MLC went very well and we created three actions items that each missionary can apply and help them going forward. During this MLC, like every one, President Rizley will lead a segment, usually on how we can better magnify our assignments as leaders. Near the end of his segment, he gave an analogy that is somewhat funny, but is also very very true. He compared missionary life and missionary work, to a McDonald's fry scooper. He said that they were complete opposites and they work against one another. To quote him directly, "The McDonald's fry scooper is the enemy to an LDS mission. Here's why. When a worker at McDonald's uses this wonderfully crafted scooper, he/she has no decision on how much they can put in a container. The device is crafted where no decision making is necessary, just based on the size they put around the same exact amount of fries. This works really well for business, but not as well for missionary life and life in general. In life we have free-agency, we can choose what we want to do, when we want to, and how we can go through life. Just one thing I'd advise, turn to the Lord for help! Anyway, that was a great part of MLC and just a great analogy, hope you enjoyed it!

The rest of the week went really well too. On Friday, before English practice, we did a finding activity to help us get more people at our practice. Some things that we have done to do that is make massive chalk drawings saying free English and what not, just to get people's attention and interest in learning some of the English language. Another activity that we have done is "interviews with Americans" where people can just sit down and talk to us about English and who we are, then we give them a card and invite them to English practice. Really, we're just trying to get creative and find people in many different ways, if you have any ideas, feel free to shoot them over to us!! 

Anyway, to finish off I want to talk about some habit that I've developed on my mission, at least to my own knowledge. This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to bear my testimony and it went really well. I went up and shared how I know this Church is true and we are lead by people who really can receive revelation to help us in these days. But afterwards, one member came up to me and said that I need to stop being so shy. Apparently, whenever I'm speaking or sharing my testimony, I like to shake my shoulders. haha I've never noticed it or anything but everyone else does. So every time I do that, the members and other missionaries make fun of me for it, super duper funny! Anyway, that was my week. Today we went out to the tunnel of love, super pretty and super greeen!!! Have a great week and talk to you later

Старійшина McGrath

1 Nephi 1:1 read and ponder these verses. Look at the footnotes and you can further understand that our trials are only here to help us!

Group pic in the Tunnel of Love 

MLC squaddd

At one of our English activities outside in center  

Selfie in the Tunnel.

On a hammock 

Opera house in L'viv

 Sunflowers on the way to tunnel of love

At the tunnel of love

Mighty Miracles in Rivne (Week тридцять шість)

Oh my goodness, it was a super busy but super good week. Let's get started so I can try to write everything that happened over this past week. Let's start with the basics. This past week, we had two exchanges, one with the Assistants and the other one was with the Elders from Lutsk. Both of the exchanges went very, very well and I learned a lot. 

Now, let's get to the Miracle of the week that starting during my first exchange with Elder Marstchenko from Lutsk. Elder Marstchenko is a great Elder who has served for over a year and a half now so he's a pretty grand elder who helped me a lot with the language and missionary work in general. He's from North Carolina and is going to UNC after the mission to study pharmacy so he's a pretty genius guy as well. Anyway, we had a finding activity out in center and I approached this young 18 year old and I do the normal, (in Ukrainian) "hello, excuse me, how are you doing, can you answer a few questions." But after a few seconds, I realized that he's not from Ukraine. It turns out that he is from Ecuador and is here as a student at the local university, BUT the best part is that he is a member of the Church already and has been searching for the church here in Rivne and hasn't been able to find it. So, I write down his number and we talked about how we wanted to meet on Saturday. On Saturday, we met in center and walked back to the church with him to show him where it is and to have a lesson. The craziest and best part of this story is that he brought his three friends that are also from Ecuador and at the church, we were able to sit down and have a wonderful restoration lesson in which they were interested to learn more! Super crazy!! Plus, they all came to church on Sunday!! Wowzers, what a miracle. A member finally finds the LDS church here in Rivne and is bringing his friends now to church to give them the opportunity and chance to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how that can bless their lives. Hopefully, we can meet again and have another lesson and talk to them more!! Super cool miracle

The rest of my week was good, as I said, we had exchanges with the Assistants, so that meant that we left Rivne and headed to L'viv for a day and a half. I had the chance to serve with Elder Hill!! If you remember, I served with Elder Hill in my last transfer in L'viv and now he's AP, so it was super fun to get back together for another and hit the grind. There, we had another finding activity, had a couple of lessons, and even had their weekly game night where we went out and played some volleyball and floor ball, both of which were super fun. All in all, it was a very successful exchange, in which I learned a lot more about leadership and how to better serve the people in my zone. 

Finally, this past weekend, President Rizley, his wife, the Hawkins, and other leaders of the local area came to Rivne because we had our Branch conference this weekend, and let me tell you, it was quite the hectic one. On Saturday, we just had lessons and it was a normal day. But Sunday, it was super busy with church, and meetings, and different investigators coming and going. Probably the best part about this weekend is the fact that we had 64 people at church, which is probably double the average that we usually have. Now, there were a lot of leaders there, but we had a good amount of investigators, and less active members. All in all, it was a great weekend, and President Rizley taught us a lot and everything went smoothly. Really, really good week! Talk to you lateerrrr

Старійшина McGrath

Read and ponder the latest talk by Elder Uchtdorf about Jesus Christ and beholding the man! It was super good and we can learn a lot from it.

With a statue in a cello named Dubna

Tunnel at at castle in Dubna  

Torture chamber in the castle - super cool haha 

Selfie with a cannon

National Ukrainian symbol in candy 

Pic of the castle  

Pic of a fort in Dubna as well

Selfie with Elder Martschenko

Park in L'viv 

Selfie with Elder Hill

I'm almost Native Now (week Тридцять п'ять)

Wowzers, another great week in the wonder country of Ukraine has come to a close, super quick if I may add. This week was like none other, super busy and ended up doing some more service. Let's get started with mission conference.  On Thursday, all the missionaries in the Ukraine, L'viv Mission gathered together in L'viv for another great mission conference led by President Rizley. President Rizley is amazing and taught me so much about the gospel and how I can become not only a better missionary, but a better person in general. One of the main focuses of this past mission conference was the temple and the ceremonies performed inside of it. One thing that many people will say to bag on the church is that the endowment ceremony has changed over time, and what I learned is that they're right. Honestly, over time the ceremony has, but you have to realize the difference between the endowment ceremony and the endowment. We still make the same covenants and do the same ordinances that Moses and everyone else has when they received their endowment, but the way that we do that for sure has changed over time, due to factors like advancements in technology. When the endowment was revealed to Joseph Smith, they acted out this ceremony, now we watch a video. Honestly, I'll leave it at that, but I invite you to study that a little bit more because there are some great verses that back this up and I don't want to blab on about this and put you all to sleep, so we'll talk about other things. All in all though, the conference was a blessing and it was really nice to see all the other missionaries as well.

Now let's get to the reason of the title of this email. This past week, we had the chance to go out and do some service for two members of the branch here in Rivne. The first member, we traveled out by bus for around an hour to this little farming village and we helped them plant some potatoes. Now we didn't plant around 30 potatoes like last time in just a small garden, we went out to their field for potatoes and we ended up planting around 700 pounds of potatoes. They had their horses coming back and forth creating the divots for us to plant the cut potatoes and it was such a party. My back hurt pretty bad afterwards, but it was some super fun service. Now, to even add to my argument that I'm almost Ukrainian, is the fact that we ate some delicious food there afterwards, and I had the chance to try one of their native cultural dishes that they prepared for us. This dish is called holadetz. It's basically salted, unflavored jello, with meat fat in the inside. haha to be quite honest, not my favorite, but I ate it without making a sour face which is very very good, had such a weird texture. Well, that was a fun saturday full of service and planted a toooon of potatoes!

Finally, we had exchanges with K-town this past week and it went pretty great. I had the chance to serve with Elder Shuley who is from Kentucky, and has been serving for a year and a half. He's a really great Elder and we set some pretty steep goals, but luckily, we were able to reach them!! Really good day and week! have a great week and talk to you soon

Старійшина McGrath

2 Nephi 32:3 Read and ponder these words. Always FEAST on the words on christ. What does that mean?

View from high castle in L'viv 

Another pic from there 

Classic mission pic 

Fab five from the MTC 

Selfie with Elder Shuley

Out in the fields planting 

Good pic of the horses

District picture in the village

                               View of the village