SWEET is the work! again! did i say that before? its still sweet! ok!

ppina/american po ako

Ahhhhhh where do I even start!!! this week has been so full of wonderful things and progress and miracles and I feel happier than if I just ate a whole pack of Oreos straight! YA! THAT happy!!! lets break it down folks:


This week was awesome because we had the best family home evening.  I don't know if I've told you about the B family but if I've never written its a shame-- cause they are one of the best most favoritest people of my whole mission. its too long to tell you their whole story.  To keep it short--there's Sis Jane (the wife) and Tatay and her 20 something old son (recent convert). and Sister Jane has been our focus for soooo long and she always comes to church but says its not the time yet to be baptized, shes waiting for an answer to her prayers and a sign. there is so much more to the story I wish I could write. anyways, that's where we were last Monday. we invited them to fhe which was awesome by the way- the son of the members played us the VIOLIN!!! I haven't heard that since 11 months!! it was so beautiful even though it was just a little hymn. ah man I miss music like that.  Ok coming back to the them later.

Us at FHE with the B family at the E home

Next- we had a mission tour!! Elder and Sister Pajaro came!! They are the coolest people ever!!! And guess what their daughter is serving in Mesa Arizona mission!!! So if you EVER see a Sister Pajaro please, pull over and give her a hug and buy her some ice cream and show her my picture of me with her parents and tell her how awesome they are and how awesome her country is. She comes home January just like me so we will never prob cross paths...sayang. But ya, the Pajaros are such powerful speakers and such genuine people!! It was so good to hear from them and I wish we could just do it all over again.

us and the pajaros

The night before we had a grand total of 8 SISTERS in our apt- so crazy. so stressful when everyone is trying to shower and get as pretty as they can and find their take out order of mac-do, all the while I'm trying to clean up after their every move and GOOD THING because right after mish tour the Pajaros and President and Sister Reeder came to our house and checked our apartment. GULP.  I hope we didn't embarrass them too bad. The Pajaros are pretty down to earth and so I don't think they were too judgmental of our bahay :)



Naga zone at mission tour

And so lots of other things happened this week but I'm just going to return to the story about Sis Jane cause its the best.  Ok, so we went to visit them one evening and her face was very frowny and she opened up and told us all her concerns, like why is it that everyone on testimony meeting can stand up and say " I know this church is true" but she can't, or hasn't felt that surety yet, and her other problem is about what will happen to all the other people who don't become Mormons, what's going to happen, etc etc plan of salvation stuff.  The next couple of days after that lesson I could not get her our of my mind- I studied and studied and flipped those pages, prayed, flipped some more, pondered, etc. I got many pages of notes. Its like, I wasn't just reading my scriptures but I NEEDED them.  As I was thinking about her and reading scrips to help I got this picture in my mind of her being sealed to her family in the temple, saw a slight view of her potential and what all can be hers. I blinked. This is not just a lesson, not just answering a concern, this is salvation! this is a real soul of our Heavenly Father! She is a real person and she needs what we have.  I flipped again all with this vision in my head.

Wuv my friends

So here comes the lesson- I had prayed and thought a lot about what to share and got the feeling that we needed to watch the Mormon message by Elder Bednar about discerning light.  We had a member present Sis G- a convert also to the church, her age, who was ready to share her experiences. Before the lesson they were all chatting chatting about nursing and school in stuff in Bicol and me and Sis J were not really picking up anything they were saying. But as soon as we said the opening prayer, I understood everything. Everything that came out of Sis G's mouth, her testimony and comments in pure Bicol, I understood. WHAT THE!!! the gift of Tongues is SOOO REALL!!! it really is exclusively for the Lord's purposes. Its not for chatting about whatever, but when its time to work out some salvation, it comes. I said such a prayer of gratitude for that.

ok so we are in the lesson- watch the video, talk about it. She expresses her feelings, we talk some, listen, listen. we share some scriptures, listen some more. At one point I found myself testifying about how much she needs baptism, how many signs are before her already and how much that God loves her and wants her to return back home. I don't really remember all that I said or how I said it, but I do remember how powerful I felt and how much that the Spirit was doing the talking, I was just opening my mouth. After I stopped talking there was silence, everyone just stared. Even Sis J just didn't know what to do but stared. I felt in that moment the Spirit confirm all of my words to her.  Later as I reflected on the lesson when we came home I read that line in my fathers blessing before I came here, "as you look at the people as your brothers and sisters and speak with the Spirit, they will recognize that you speak the truth and that you are there to bring them home." I know they all knew that we were speaking the truth and could not deny it. After that we extended a baptismal date, things were said, and she ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!! AHHH!!!!! we could NOT contain our joy!!!!

We also offered to fast with her, so Saturday night we came over again and knelt in prayer. She asked to know the way she needs to go. We fasted until Sunday- I felt the Spirit so strong all day. Later Sister G our member present said that we have something different, she said she has worked with a lot of other missionaries (is an RM herself and has lots of RM kids) and said that when she went with us to Sister Jane she felt something different. she said Sister J and I have a different spirit. AAAAND to put icing on the cake of this week- we went out to greet people coming to church and TWO INVESTIGATORS came we weren't really expecting!!! And they loved church! The brother and his wife came- brother J told us that he is really searching for the truth and he really wants to know what is right. That is another miracle story of how we found him and how I got the prompting and stopped in my tracks to knock on his door.  But anyways, isn't this the beeeessstttt work ever!? so many miracles!!


It is the greatest feeling to be used as an instrument in God's hands.  There's no other way or other thing that makes you feel this sort of happy.  I am amazed at the love that He has for everyone of his children, and the plan He has for them. It is so incredible to see how things work out, how He gathers his children one by one.  I promise He truly knows us!!  He really, honestly does. this is his WORK and his GLORY to bring to pass the immorality and eternal life of man. God- the creator of everything and one who has all wisdom told us that He does nothing else with all his time and power, than to work out salvation for us.  Nothing else.  ALL of his work and time is for us. he has no other purpose than our eternal happiness.  All he is pleading is for us to choose Him, to chose His way. He sent his son Jesus Christ who taught us how to return to Him.  All we have to do is follow Him and we will be happy.  ITS THAT SIMPLE!  Ah I can write a million more words but the time is far spent and there is little remaining.  Ah. It is just such a good thing to be a missionary and by far the best thing I've ever done.  I love this.

misshies

I've realized that how ever much I think I can and want to save the whole world, I can't. Christ is the Savior of the world, not me. I cannot steal his role or take his place, I cant fix all the problems. I've realized how humbling it is to step down and instead of being the hero, just trying to introduce people to the hero. I'm just His representative, I'm a weak girl who doesn't really know much, cant solve world hunger, cant even provide for the roofs that people ask us for as we walk by their shack homes. There are soooo many problems wayyy out of my hands and reach. BUT I do know that the Savior knows, he is not called the Savior for nothing. As His servant I love him and try my hardest to be his hands here on earth. 


I love you all! Happy Father's day dad!!  Hope you all give dad extra hugs for me :) Have a good time at the reunion! Eat lots of Mexican food for me :) Ah man ok actually I'm super mad I'm missing out on that- please lets do it all again soon. Ok that is all I have to say.  Goodbye!


LOVE Sis Mcg

HIKING MT ISAROG!!! Man this hike was the most intense
thing ever. Imagine hard core indiana jones jungle style.
the falls were soooooo beautiful though! Worth it.

Another great week!

sunday trycee selfie with my aki 

motha/daughta foreva!!

Another great week! We kicked off the great week with the arrival of my package!!!! :O:O:O!!!!! so excited!!! i opened it and was greeted by wonderful beautiful fresh clothes with no holes and the mac and cheese and plan of salvation charts and all of the american goodness na ipinadala mo sa akin. it was SO great mom- THANK YOU to the one millionth degree. It made my life!

in zee tryceee GO NAGA!!

this week we had exchanges- sis j's first and our first time being split! AH! i did NOT like that. She went to work in the stl's area and i lead our area here with sis d. Sis d is so sweet, as in SO sweet. Its like i was walking and working with a baby lamb all day :) she's so kind and encouraging to me and all day kept sticky notes of wonderful things i did or said and then recited them to me at the end of the day. See what i mean? she is sooooo kinddddd. anyways she really made me feel good about myself and feel that hey i'm actually doing a pretty great job with this area and training and everything. awh i love sis d. I juiced all the advice out of her i could- she goes home at the end of this transfer. i love getting advice and hearing about all the lessons and things missionaries have learned. it was a good day, but at the end i missed my aki! in the morning we went to their area to pick her up (i tried to just go in basketball shorts cause i was so eager but she made me change. humpf..) i ran in and

us and Mama Reeder

 my aki- you'd think it had been years we hadn't seen each other. i love sis j!!!!!

The next day was the new trainees/trainers workshop.  We got to eat in the mish home! Sis Reeder ordered kfc (rice and a fried chicken) and I got to sit by president :D hee hee.

Haha ok two funny stories about things people said this week. numba one. we oymed this guy and introduced ourselves and church name and said we were more known as mormons. he said "oh ya...there are tons of minions here". whhhhatt he honestly thought we were called "minions". me and sis j stared and tried not to burst out in laughter in front of this guy...then reintroduced "MORMONS po" haha HA haha. minions. Ok story numba two: this one sweet 15 year old girl we've been teaching has been terribly mistaken also about the name of our church- multiple times in the lesson she dropped the name "aklat ni mormons" in the place of just "mormons" or something.  HA i don't want to laugh at these sweet innocent mistakes but its seriously so funny.

On Sunday the area presidency spoke through broadcast to us. it was awesome! this little girl on Sunday came up to me and made me come close to her and with the most sincere eyes asked me if I live where Elsa lives. I told her yes and she said she wanted to go there. I told her she needs a jacket first, she said she had one, then I told her to hop in my bag lets go and she really looked at my bag, then at herself, then tried to fit in. HA! ohhh so cute!! so funny. another kid that day told his mom he wanted a picture with the barbie. oh my gosh. So i had to pose with him as they took pics. peeeeeooooppppleee i'm just white ok!? all of this just reconfirms my conviction that the idea of becoming a Disney princess is the WORST occupation in this UNIVERSE. never. ever.

We came home from church and the two sisters that slept in the naga hotel (our apartment) were packing up their stuff to go back to their area, but were lingering like they wanted lunch. ehhhh. I told them we were just going to eat sardines, they lingered until they saw we were serious then left.  But MAN! have you ever tried spanish sardines mixed in spaghetti? oh my gosh its so good!! It's like 19.99 at olive garden good! I'm in love with it. Thats actually too bad they went home, it was delish.

mtc kasama reunion :) sis falcon is training too 

Thats the week this week- next week we have mission tour and a visiting authority is coming to speak to all of us mishies! yay! then he's probably coming to check our apartment cause we're the closest ones here. great. needless to say things are going to get whipped into shape and bleached and scrubbed the next couple of days. anywyaayaayysss..s..s.s.s......

I LOVE YOU family you are the best. the best of the best. i am so grateful to be your daughter <3 Love SIS MCG

trainers/trainees

Amazing

LOVE. my aki! 

It's been another week but feels like years since I've written. Something about training really makes me learn a million things in a short time, and so I feel like a more wise and better soul than I was last Monday. Crazy, right?

This week has been good. As in really, really good. Nothing specific that makes it so good but I feel so wonderful! I feel whole inside, I wish I could describe it better. Something about serving and giving and pondering the scriptures and going about applying it cleanses you, man. This week I've felt extra cleansed inside. I just feel so much I'm becoming such a better person than the one I was when I started this whole thing- I can't believe the change especially when I thought i didn't need that much changing in the first place.  How wrooong I was :) So much progress and work and learning and I feel so great to have the chance to rebuild myself.  Missions are awesome.

So last monday Sis M and her kasama slept over because there was mlc the next day, so it was great to see her again! party party with my old kasama! I even bought her a chocolate cake and candles and sat her down in her favorite swivel chair and we celebrated her bday that we missed. awww love her :)

This week I've been waking up so excited. so excited just to go OUT and do WORK! like, i wake up and i say "YESS!!" and am so eager to read my scriptures and study and then go work. i don't even stress or worry about getting punted or if all our plans fall through, i am just so happy to go out and talk to everyone! And with our investigators its so fun to see the progress, to go out and add another chapter to their story, help them, all of it. ya, i dont know, I'm just loving every day so much!

last p day

This week i cooked- I made this deLISH tilapia thing cooked in coconut milk and it was beautiful and I got a round of applause from my ppinas :) I'm so ppina now its awesome!! then in studies we read the line in the white handbook about missionaries must return home to their country at the end of their missions without delay, and the taste of that coconut was still fresh and it brought tears to my eyes. It's still far away i know, but man. I am going to miss. this. place. I wiped away the tear and continued on enjoying the day i have and living in the moment and eating all the buko :)

Our comp studies with me and aki j are SO good! Like, i know its 2 hours and all but we always are like "what the times up?" at the end from talking about the gospel and reading scriptures and preach my gospel and everything. She is so smart and i love the way her mind works, she opens my mind to lots of things i haven't thought of before :) I love our studies and LOVE sister j. She is such a blessing and i am honored to get to be her first companion :) 

me and my aki!

I called a rooftop dinner together due to some bonding that needed to happen in our house- and so we ate "nachos" on the rooftop together as kabahay :) it was fun! did i mention we have a roof top? anyways, mission accomplished, full bellies and happy faces for all :)

Story time- this week we went looking for this oym guy and got super lost, were wandering in all of these skinny roads trying to find his little hut but it was so confusing- finally we found him but he told us he was busy and shut the door. Blast it all, dude we just spent like an hour trying to find you! So we walked back rejected and it was a blazin' heat and the word was looking dreary.

BUT alas! here's where the tender mercy comes in! We were walking by this house and the door was open and all of a sudden I walked like a magnet to it. we talked to the lady inside, she just got back from picking up her girl from school and looked hot and tired and busy. i was about to say "ok we will just come back another day" and opened my mouth to say that but what came out was "do you have 10 minutes right now?" what the? I totally was not going to say that but, there it was. She sort of hesitated and let us in. we started teaching her and she was not really paying attention, then her daughter came in. We started talking to her too and asking her questions, she was super awesome and telling us about her life and God and stuff. Sister J was talking and said that Jesus was our brother and for some reason when she said that it was like lightning in my brain- all of the sudden a perfect plan of where to take the conversation and how was in my head. I started saying the things, it lead perfectly to extending a baptismal date, and BAM she accepted!! as in! we met her like 20 mins ago and she agreed to be baptized! We left the lesson on cloud 9, were hugging and so happy :) All i can say is that right there was the Spirit. There's no other explanation! My companionship with sister J, her words for sparking the Spirit, and then the companionship of the Spirit to lay out in my mind what to do is so amazing to be a part of. I think I've felt the Spirit more strongly and clearly these past few weeks in training, its such a tender mercy of the Lord. I love sister j and I love the Lord and I love the work and i love the area and i just am so full of loooovveeee! 

this is what all my days look like

This week I taught my first Islamic lady on my whole mission. Ya, it was very interesting. this whole time I've been trained to work with Catholic background, so it was weird to have to go back back and explain Jesus Christ. It was pretty hurtful the things she was saying about Him, and I know thats her beliefs and all but it was shocking to hear. It was a different feeling for sure in the lesson as we bore testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ to someone who doesn't believe in him.  I know He is the Savior of the world and that He lives. How interesting that that belief can be so far off from what she was saying.

This week in zone training it was about the Atonement. We had a great discussion, then split into groups and had to share about what the Atonement means to us. The Spirit was so strong and I learned a lot. I had a powerful experience where I was corrected from my former thoughts of a missionary and filled with the love that Jesus Christ has for that person. I have no right to judge, I am just as much of a sinner as the person next to me, and we all need the atonement. I cried, was corrected, and felt the overwhelming gravity of the sacrifice Jesus made for each and every one. It was a good day and i needed it.

This week we also got to teach an Iglesia missionary. That was interesing too, one of our OYMs that we went to follow back on was in the moment being taught by this iglesia missionary. Not wanting to intrude or anything rude we offered to come back another day, but they both invited us in and asked us to share. They were respectful to us which im grateful for :) We sat across from them and boldly declared our beliefs and bore testimony to them. Even though we are just kids, I felt like more than myself as we taught with the Spirit. It doesn't matter who you are, how old or educated or poor or helpless, we proclaim the truth and do not apologize. We have an appointment to go back next week, hopefully it continues well!

us at a homecoming of the gamil's missionary daughter in our ward

I've felt the Spirit this week so much, I have such a testimony that God will fill our mouths with things to say if we put ourself in a place to be used and then open them. So many times things come out of my mouth that I didn't think of to say before, or ideas come to my head as we listen and speak. God is speaking to his children through us, through me. He can't go about speaking to all of us face to face, but He can send missionaries who will do exactly that for Him. I know God is real, He is aware of us, and that He is in this work. There's no denying it! I am so honored to be the Lord's instrument and truly cherish this mission.

I love you all so so much and am so grateful for your prayers! continue! I feel the strength and love you send my way and also pray for you every day. I am so grateful for you mom and dad, and for being the people you are. I love you so much!

LOVE SIS MCGRATH

naga ZONE rocks

Work

Hello all!
Its been another week in Naga, another week as a nanay, another week of hard work! as i flipped through my journal this morning trying to milk something worthwhile to type from my week all i got was lots of words about the people we are teaching and all of the problems and joys and ups and downs that go with them. I wish i could introduce you to everyone so you could actually know what we do all week but i think its impossible. Pretty much this week can be summarized by resolving concerns, listening, speaking, reading scriptures, resolving more concerns, asking questions, being asked questions, listening some more, following the Spirit, more concerns etc etc etc. its TIRING!! man it is exhausting when you're doing your best and trying to give your all to everyone. Its good of course, very hard, and very rewarding and disappointing.

I feel like everyone we teach or meet is like a big ball of tangled up string. We come in and see what we've got to work with, then try to start to untangle the mess. Pull a string here, pull a side there, try going in a loop, in and out. Working through their lives and stories and fears and faith and trying to help them. Sometimes when we leave it feels like we didn't make any progress on the knot but seems more messy. Other times its visible the difference that one scripture or words prompted by the Spirit can make, and we feel that they are better than when we found them. But little by little we change the world! Ah mission life.


Things have been good this week with Aki J! Sister J is so great, she is a great teacher and listener and partner. She's light years ahead of me than my first weeks in the field. (ok tagalog is a big step up...but even with that said she's still super more awesome than me) it really helps theres no language/culture adjustment, we can just get right down to work and work some miracles! Its been so cool to be a trainer, I feel like I'm being re-trained myself.  Like, ya sure lets just go read lesson 1 over and over for a week and practice teaching it. Its going back to basics and its probably helping me just as much as its helping her. Another blessing about training is that in our companionship and area we get to reap the rewards of a fresh 100% full of faith greenie. Man! i know numbers aren't important but our numbers this week were killer! so crazy, the last weeks of last transfer our area was dying and I really questioned the Lord's idea to have someone trained here. But thanks to our faith, we have been able to teach and find and do great work. She's really refreshed my faith too! Its crazy what a positive mindset can do to your surroundings. Anyways, I hope she's learning as much as i am, i still feel pretty unqualified to train her but i know that the Lord will make up the rest of what I can't do, and that He qualifies the weak and the willing.

Hm what else.  As a missionary here in Naga 3rd, and especially as a trainer i feel like all eyes are on me.  In the ward, mission, and what the Lord expects of me. I feel very pressured to do my best work all the time. Which is great! But still pressure. Anyways, I have been trying to go the extra mile in everything to work our best. No regrets. So ya, thats about all I've got to report on this week, its been busy! due to that I've got only one picture to send you, personal low I know. This week i will try to take one at least every day. Sorryyyy please forgive. I love you all so so much and thank you for the prayers and support, keep it coming! i need it!

Mahal na MAHAL kita!!!
Sister McGrath

Unto us a child is born, unto us an AKI is given!!!!

dinner appointment at a rich rich rich home

Yes its true!!! I'm a mother of my very own AKI!!! (ps aki means kid or child in bicol. i will be referring to her as my aki for the rest of my life, so we better all get on board here and learn this word.) Ok, so yes! her name is sister j and she is soooooo great!! oh my goodness i love her so much!! but alas, lets start at the beginning.

So last day of transfer we had a dinner appointment at a member with a huuuge mansion and it was delish. The departing missionaries were all in the mission home, pretty close to our lesson dinner appt and so we went by after work and got to see them aLL! i saw my nanay!! sis ril!! we hugged through the bars and talked all about life and the wondrous awe that she was going to have a grandchild in the mission. so funny the timing, right as my nanay goes home I become one myself. we talked to sis reeder and the other elders and sisters, shed some tears, and then went to bed with all the nerves that come before transfer day.

saying goodbye at transfer point to sis m!!

The next day was transfer day, sis m was all packed to go and we went to the chapel, SM, the usual. sis m got transferred to Daet (my first zone!) and became a sister training leader!! i bet her 500 pesos she would be an stl, so good thing she did. she cried cause she was so scared and nervous but i told her stl is nothing to worry about, it's lots of fun. (HA like i know :)) HEY so the final update on her- she got so healthy when i was her kasama, due to my expertise in oatmeal and exercise :) pat on the back!! we hugged and said goodbye, ah i miss her! she was a great kasama.

saying goodbye to sis c!

Then i got my temporary kasama for the rest of that day until we went to new trainers training at 10:30 the next day. sis n is also training and so we just stressed about our akis and talked about training the whole time we worked. then the day was finally here! time to meet the akis!! we went to the mish home, separated from them to get our "training." Turns out the training to become a trainer is just a power point about the rules and stuff and things to teach them. When it was over i was like "thats IT?" thats all the training i get? but then i quickly realized that oh ya, i've been being trained this whole mission. i got this. So then before i exploded of excitement and nerves, they filed in!!! all of their cute little faces!!! 

There are 6 sisters in their batch, and immediately i knew who was mine :) ever since the first time i saw their pictures in the office weeks and weeks ago i immediately knew she was going to be my aki. Even before i got called to be a trainer i looked at her pic and knew that i would be her trainer. I know, weird right? So i saw her and we all shook hands, then the games began and everyone got paired up. Sure enough i was right!! sister j is my aki!!!! she is so cool! She's from the ppines, in Quezon city.  She is 20 yrs old, oldest of 3 kids, short term missioned here in the ppines before, and is just awesome. Also she is so stylish- like all her bags  shirts and skirts and shoes and everything, its like the cutest thing i've ever seen. its like she walked out of an anthropologie advertisement cute.

me and my aki!!!

 she's soo dang pretty! But best part, on top of all her cute-ness, she's like, the sweetest nicest thing!! she is so smart and willing to learn and help me and is kind and everything. She's like, the perfect child! She is very good at social skills too, has no problem talking to whoever we see and very easily gets along with them. She's so great, I'm learning so much from her.

Oh ya, also sister L (the other sisters in our apt) is training a sister S! She's from Bisias and its sort of hard for her to tagalog or english, but thing is she's only short term and her real mission is in Australia Sydney something. She's nice too and we have a happy ole time in the apartment. The new ones are lucky they are both there together! its good, they have a friend who is going through all the same stuff.

So the differences about training- we have 2 hours comp study instead of one, so that's different. But so far we've filled the time just fine with all of the things to read and learn in the manuals and from talking and telling stories. We are great great friends--I love her so much!

Other things that are hard, ummmm leading everything. Oh goodness. when did i become the one totally in charge here? all of a sudden I'm leading all the lessons, where we go, planning, everything. It's lots of pressure and i definitely feel very inadequate. I told sister j, "sis I feel very very unqualified to train you, like i don't know what i'm doing" and she says "I know you are SO qualified! you can do this!" ahaaa sweet innocence. If only she knew how much i DONT know and how i feel. but she's totally trusting and follows everything i do, even down to the laundry soap i buy. now i see why its so important that your trainer is good, the trainee will be their shadow and will end up just like the trainer. In that case, i am sort of glad she's with me because I know that we will be exactly obedient, work as hard as we can and then do more, and everything we need to do to have the Spirit and trust the Lord in his work. its only been how many days of training but I feel a different spirit in our work. I feel so much more reliant on Heavenly Father because of my weaknesses in this calling, and in return I feel His guidance more. It's so neat, I can probably write more about that next week. but ya, its good. its a lot of pressure, but its a good pressure. i really, really, like being a nanany :)

so thats about it for the week so far, its been a week of firsts! lots of explaining and showing and teaching. she is so good though, she's so magaling and is going to be such a great sister!! I'm so grateful for her addition here in Naga mission :) 

i love you all thank you so much for the prayers! keep them coming my way! Love you!

Nanay McGrath

BUNTIS NA AKO!!!!!!!

i killed these guys all on my own. yay!

This morning was transfer announcements, GUESS WHAT. I'M TRAINING!!!!!!! AHHH!!!!!!! i'm going to have an aki!!! i'm going to be a mama!! i cant believe it man. tuesday is transfer point and then i guess we will meet them wed or something? sis m is transferring, and sister l is training too, so in our house we will have 2 training sisters in the same house. the new ones are super lucky they can be with each other! but yes, all the incoming batch are ppino, so my aki is definitley a ppina sister! yay!

i'm so excited and nervous and feeling like i cant do it at the same time. its so much pressure to be a trainer, like, i've got to teach her everything of how to be a missionary! eek!! i feel like i'm still in my training myself!! its definitely going to be an adventure, and going to be very very hard. i hope she's nice. i hope she's willing to learn. i hope everything is fine. whoow pray for this new mama extra hard this week, especially for my aki! the first week is so hard man. and its the middle of summer. and our area is so rough. and I'M her trainer. oof i feel bad for her already. extra prayers, please :) aww i'm so sad to have sis m leave! she is so awesome, i love her so much! she is such a great sister, golden!! i'm going to miss her and all her mannerisms and cracking up all the time. i've got to go to Samoa someday for reunion :)

why does life have to end like this.

I'm running low on time, so heres some highlights real quick. we realized our area extends to the across the street area of this one street, and so got to go explore it out this week. it's behind this huge massive trash mountain that is sooo tall, and there are people swarming it like ants all day and night. they pick out stuff and sort it and are just always there. the first "house" we went to we talked to these 2 ladies holding babies, and were literally standing in trash. there was a thick blanket of black flies on everything in their home including us, the floor was sorted trash piles and it reeked. kids ran up from all homes around and stuck to me like a magnet, poking at my white skin and calling out things to me. when we go there i feel like i'm finally back in the ppines, coming back from a weird dream of a "rich ppines" that is naga.

This week there were a ton of processions, like when everyone has candles and stuff and marches behind these saints they hoist up. we were walking down to go teach a new family investigator, but oops, there they go. we just stood on the side of the road and watched as they all marched by. oops there goes our whole teaching pool. nooooo. this week we walked by this road and found one of our old old less actives sitting on the front pew of a catholic church, worshiping and all. she used to be a sunday school teacher and was one of the first converts here in naga. nooooo. on Sunday we went to teach our baptismal date lady but she was leaving home to go to church at the basilica, and said she doesn't want to be baptized. her drunk husband says no and she doesn't really have a desire anyways. noooooo. lots of little things like that happened this week. its hard.

aww sis cruz is transfering and sis mauai too!! 

huu uuu going to miss them!!! love them!

we sat and taught a lesson to a poor family, their shack is behind this mansion its so messed up, but as we said the closing prayer my Book of Mormon was open on my lap and i read a line from it and it was like, eerie how strongly i felt how it was written for our day. Like i felt someone was watching me, like all the prophets truly knew what our day was going to be like and wrote it all accordingly. i've felt my testimony of the Book of Mormon grow this week a lot, it truly is without a doubt true. i love that book, i know that its true. i cherish my time i read it every morning and can't imagine how anyone can have any peace of mind without spending some time in that book everyday.

uh awkward elder sister pics.
this is so awkward huh?

Sister Reeder called us over and we helped her sort through those gifts you sent for xmas and decide what to do with them and all. Sister Reeder was so grateful for them and loved all the things! we are going to give them out all next Christmas, i'm super excited. afterwards she was going out and gave us a ride to our next "appointment" haha she's so cute! she is such an awesome driver and strong lady for being able to exist here. She totally held her own on those streets with the jeeps and tryces and everything! we told her to just take us to the trash mountain cause we were going to go tract there. She asked how much this ride would have cost us if she didn't give us a ride, I said we would have just walked. She got that motherly look on her face like "you poor thing!" and then we thanked her tons, hopped out, and disappeared into the maze of shacks. haha later we talked to her and she said "you sisters do such hard things! I mean, I know that, but i don't think i really KNOW that." she is so sweet i love sister reeder! she's kind of right, same goes for you family, like, you know i'm out here "serving in the ppines" but really there is no way for you to know what that really means. i wish i was better at writing or explaining or taking you on a mental journey with me here, but i think its just impossible.

Sorry this week was short! hopefully the awesome experience of last week will still be fresh in your minds and you can live off of that some more, i sure have been :) super anxious for whats going to happen from now until next monday ehheeeeeeee!!! wish me luck being a nanay!!! i love you so much and am so grateful for your prayers and love and support and all :)

Love sis mcgrath

Naga zone

READ THIS!

Alright- stay tuned. i've got a miracle to write here. its sooo cool. mom- its the story that i was going to tell you on skype but i started crying cause its just that awesome of a miracle and too long of a story. hopefully i can type it justice, ill try my best.

but first of all, SKYPE!!! AHH! it was SO incredibly good to see your faces and hear your voices! this skype was so much better than the last one- pure happy and joy and afterwards. i was feeling on missionary fire. Man i love you guys so much. i feel like my love has tripled since i've been out here across the world- i'm so sorry and regret not saying i love you more. i LOVE you!!! Haha its funny- sometimes i do things or say things or am just a certain way and i remind myself so much of you mom. its really like i'm a little 2.0 version. I'm so grateful i have such wonderful and perfect parents to look up to, you guys are my heroes. So good to see all the kids too- man i miss them! i'm not leaving your sides when i come home! 24/7!

This week the gardeners left :''( we stopped by after work and i dropped of a card i wrote for them- they were watching animal planet in their pjs when we came by at 8:10 or so...man i cant wait to be just like them when i grow up they are so cool. Such an amazing couple, also hey i was invited to stop by their home off the I-15 as i head up to idaho :) :) yippee!

We met a man this week who is a tour guide for bicol region. his english is super good, we talked to him and his wife. they are catholic and very strong- they are very cool. like every morning when they wake up they look at the trees and the leaves and pray and thank God for his creations. anyways the man said that his first impressions of mormons is the word "cleanliness". he said here, and also in the states (he worked as a sea man before) in every single chapel he's seen is so "spick and span" in his own words. then he said "and cleanliness is next to godliness, so i guess mormons are pretty godly". Haha. So to all you volunteers cleaning churches Saturday morning- keep up the good work! you are helping my missionary work way out here in bicol!

me and my nanay!!!!

As far as the eats this week- oh man i am in love with anything cooked in coconut milk. Sis cruz is such a good cook and loves to put coconut milk in everything. it's like, the best taste i've ever put on my taste buds. haha so when we walk i play this game with sis m called "who am i" and do impressions of people in our district. i asked them to do an impression of me and they all said first thing "AHH this is SO GOOD!!!! MMM!!!" i guess i do say that at...only...every meal...haha i find so much joy in food. like when gustav is talking on the tv at the beginning of ratatouille i get emotional almost about the way he talks about food and cooking- i just want to cry and say amen or something. ok woah im off topic.

This week we were called to the mish home to get some ointment and it was mlc time and i got to see my nanay!! sis ril! awhh last time i could see her!! she says she's so proud of me and so happy she could train me. aw she's the best i love my nanay :) she goes home next week! craziness!

This week we had interviews with president. it was so good- i talked to president about some things on my mind and some struggles and he has such great advice- he is so wise. i got teary eyed in my interview. He's so wonderful i wish we could personally interview every week. Hey elder merrill was there for interviews too- i don't know if you already told me this but i guess his mom was a sister missionary in grandma and grandpa's mission? at the time of president and sister mcgrath in st louis?? what the? so cool! small world man.

at interviews president had just released an elder coming home living in our mission boundaries. he brought him up to the front to interrupt our meeting and said this elder had something to say. the poor guy-- he was bawling like a baby! he introduced himself to us "i'm elder something....i mean.....brother" and then burst out into tears. he told us he just took off his name tag 5 mins ago and felt like something was missing from him :( he bore his testimony and told us all to cherish our name tags and this time we have. it freaked us all out a little but--i clutched on to my name tag a little tighter. shudder.

this kid named taba on his bday- we bought

him chocolate and he was so happy!

this week we were oym-ing a lady, then there was this other lady hacking at the grass with a machete. we asked her if she wanted help with her work there, and she popped up and grabbed us and said "YES sister! i DO need help! so bad! come, come. quick follow me!" we had no idea man- we just started following this random lady down the road and through a maze of sewer and shack homes and kids and dirty feet. we reached her "home", she told us to look up at the roof. its one of the leaf roofs, and is full with holes. she says when it rains the whole thing floods. she says she has 8 kids and no husband, can hardly afford rice, and she's super scared for rainy season because they are going to flood out. she asked us if we can do something...uhh...we didn't really know but we promised her to do what we can. Pres says we can talk to bishop and we can get her a new roof. We got her info and told her we would try to help. i went to shake hands but she grabbed me into a sweaty hug and gave me a big kiss on the cheek, then did the same to sis m. she said thank you thank you so much and thanks for asking if she needed help in the first place.

Taba's baby brother

OK lets talk miracles!! this is the biggest crazy miracle ever- like i'm petitioning it be written in Preach My Gospel 2...it sounds like one of those stories that happens to missionaries you don't know and its almost fictional, but MAN this is REAL and really happened this week. ok its so cool. SO we will start with the morning i woke up Tuesday morning. i rolled over all groggy and stuff from waking up early- but instead of shooting straight into a half brained prayer- i sat for a minute. i cleared my mind like a white board like sis reeder says- erased the whole thing. then i prayed, i prayed good and real and hard. i asked Heavenly Father "please, let us have a miracle today". I don't know why i asked for that, but just felt like i should. In my personal study i read a line from the chapter finding people "He will lead you to them or they will be lead to you". It hit me so hard for some reason, it seemed to be the only line on the page. i read it over and over again and pondered if this was really true. in my prayer, closing my studies, i asked to find someone, or have them find us today. AH i'm getting teary typing this, mom this is when you asked me in skype if i feel like God answers my prayers. HE. DOES.

Ok so we went out to work, planning to go to this area, but the tricey driver stopped at the corner, sort of far from where we were planning to go. but neither of us corrected him, we just got out and said we will walk the rest. We started going down this road, saw a woman coming towards us. We said "Hi" as we passed. about 5 seconds later after she passed us she yelled "Mormons??" we stopped in our tracks, turned around, and said yes. she came up to us and said "i'm a mormon too". she told us she was baptized in 1970, has been less active since 1983 because she's been working in saudi. i eagerly asked her where she lives and when we can come visit with her- she walked us to her home and set an appointment and was so eager for us to return. she said as we were parting "I think God is calling me back." At our appointment a couple days later she eagerly sat us down and told us her whole life story. its very long and i don't think i can type it all. she's been to lots of countries working as a nurse, married a Singapore man and had 2 kids, then they are separated now. she is living with a different man now. she was trained in Egypt in the art of egyptian massage and worked in a mansion for a famous prince or something. she is very smart- her English is perfect and so deep. she has such an interesting life and history, remembers everything. she told us down to the date she was baptized here in Naga, pulled out her certificate. she remembered the american elders who taught her first. she said all this time that she's been turned away from God, he has never stopped blessing her. She says that even though she has not been turned to him He has been so merciful, blessed her with food and money and everything. she got emotional as she realized that, that God has never stopped reaching out his hand. She said that in all her travels or even just here in Naga, whenever she sees members or sees a church building, theres a part of her inside saying "i'm a part of that, I'M a member there" but she's never voiced it out loud till we walked by. she said when we walked by and said hi and she saw our name tags, there was something forcing her to yell out "Mormons!".

I got teary as i told her that morning i had prayed to find her and told her what a miracle it was we crossed paths. She agreed it was a miracle. She said all this time she's been away from the church, deep down she's known its true. she never has forgotten her testimony. She told us in the most broken way "sisters, my life, so many things have happened to me, i've done so many things. I feel like everything has piled up higher and higher like a tall fence and i feel there is no way i can jump over." she started crying. I felt my heart bursting, like electricity i felt we needed to read 3 Nephi 9:13-15. I looked over at sis m and her book was open to exactly the same page, even though we hadn't talked or even exchanged glances, that's both where we were prompted to turn. we read it with sister and she started crying.

 13 O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

 14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

 15 Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.

We bore powerful testimony that it is true, God's hands are outstretched still. there is no expiration date on the church, and that no sin is too big or burden to heavy to ban her from the doors. she looked up and in the most honest and sincere way said "really?" I was taken back, did she really not know that? did she really think that God will not forgive her or accept her back into His arms? this quesiton led us to testify even stronger about the atonement, about repentance, and Jesus Christ. i told her that on her own she cannot jump over the fence, or ever make it without Christ. she was so touched. i felt so much love for this lady, and such love for her. i felt overflowing inside with mercy and just wanted to hug her. she told us more about her feelings and thoughts and things, but we ended the lesson promising her that we will do all we can to help her back. WHAT A MIRACLE!!!! is there any way that i can deny that God hears my prayers?! that He is perfectly true to his words? He knows EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of his children. NONE are lost to him! this lady- through the years has been down many roads and through many things, but God is extending his mercy and love to her and begging His daughter to return. the very fact that somehow, i can play a part in being the Savior's hands makes me feel so overwhelmed with gratitude and love.

I promise and bear witness with my whole soul that God loves you. i KNOW it, i feel it, i promise you. Jesus Christ is the Savior. He "loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men to him...and he saith come unto me all ye ends of the earth, for all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden" (2 Nephi 26:24-25,28). to any of you reading who may be feeling like this lady, that life has piled up too high for you to jump over the fence on your own, i testify to you that the atonement of Jesus Christ is real. you don't have to suffer forever, you don't have to feel that way. Jesus has already paid everything just for you to come back to Him. No sin is too deep, no time too long, nothing impossible to extend out of the reach of Christ.

I know this church is true, that God is a loving, merciful being. He is our Father and he knows every one of us. I know sometimes it seems like a long road to return unto him, but it's the only journey that will be worth your time.

Isn't that just an amazing experience!? AH i am so overwhelmed by it. i love being the Savior's hands. i love doing this work. even though it's hot, even though its hard, sometimes it feels like i'm doing nothing but wearing the soles of my shoes thinner. but times like that? stories like that? it is ALL WORTH IT.

I love my Savior Jesus Christ, He is the Savior of the world. I love you so much family, keep praying for miracles because they are real and have not stopped. the Church is true and the light of the gospel is the best feeling in all the world.

i love you all, till next week, 

sister mcgrath 

kabahay pics

i'm meeeelttiiiingggggg!

after it is so hot it downpours. I really am soaking wet every day from 

sweat or from rain!

Hello! Its been another week in the land of Naga. I would say that its been hot, its been hard, its been full of being rejected, but that would make me sound like a broken record ;) just imagine me saying all those things week after week and there- you've got yourself a picture of my life! yippee!

This week a naughty naughty bad bad happened. I lost my planner. which is code for I lost my BRAIN! Ahhh!!! It was so terrible! so karumal dumal! I don't know where i lost it, we were walking from 2-5, didn't sit down anywhere in anyones homes or on any triceys or anything thanks to their hard hearts, so it's truly a mystery where it went, how it left my hand and ran away somewhere. I truly mourned. It was soo cool I had this chile pepper key chain on it :'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''( and not only that, but inside was sticky note upon sticky note of people to find and less actives and referrals and notes and just EVERYTHING man!!! We retraced all our steps but no luck. I hoped that some good samaritan would find it and read our OYM material in it and see our number and call, but due to some circumstances we had to change our number this week, so even if someone did call we didn't get it. Anyways, I got a new one and have started fresh, but its still a tender wound. Oh that chilie pepper was so cool.

Hm so this week we reached 81 oyms- 81 times we opened our mouths and asked people to learn more, shared quick gospel truths, stuff like that. One of my techniques this week has been to approach ANYONE and EVERYONE who says hi to us. Which is quite a lot due to my skintone. As soon as anyone, any group of men, drunk or smoking or not, yells out "HEY GIRL!" or anything else degrading BOOM I am there in 2 seconds. It feels about the same feeling I would imagine walking right up to the face of a growling lion. I can't begin to say how many times I have been called out at and called terrible things, but I am DONE with that. Somehow I get the courage to walk right up to them and introduce myself very boldly that I am a representative of Jesus Christ and we bring a message of truth and good news and invite them to hear more. Seriously, no fear. It doesn't matter who you are, i WILL talk to you. we not only OYMed only drunk men and perverts but lots of other souls too. I'm getting to be quite the conversation starter haha :) I am courageous and I am not afraid of you. We've got some good prospects to go back to and teach this next week because of all our open our mouths- yippee!

Aw so sad, the Gardeners are leaving this week! the sweetest senior couple :( They were there at Christmas time at the party and were so comforting and angels to me. I'm going to miss them! They truly are 2 of the most consecrated to the Lord and genuine souls. I hope I can be like them when I grow up.

This week one of the days for language study I hooked up the "Together forever" dvd produced by the church decades ago and we watched it in Tagalog. Oh its so cheesy. We ate cookie dough and the rest of the cookies we made with Sis Hoopes. good times.

After this week of very very few lessons, more than one 0's in our key indicators, we had a wonderful blessing from the Lord! Last night we met these people and got 2 new investigators!!! it was so cool! we went to teach one of our investigators, Gloria. Her daughter and son in law and their 3 kids were there because it was Sunday night. we started talking to them and we got to teach l1:-1-2. we had such a cool discussion, we asked them how they knew that there was a God, and they said that their oldest daughter, 6 years old, fell in this filthy canal and drowned. They ran after her and fished her out but she was dead. The mom said she was praying so so hard for her to come back, the dad held his daughter in his arms. Brother said that nothing happened until he looked up at heaven and cried out to God to save her. And then, she came back to life! Now they really believe in prayer and that God is watching. We talked about families and their importance. It was such a different feeling to say these things to an ACTUAL family, husband and wife and kids. we shared the truths about eternal families, and about temples. We gave them a pic of the Manila temple. I bore testimony to them that because of the blessings of temple sealings, even if their daughter had died that night they still would be able to be together in the next life. We bore powerful testimony and I really felt the truth of all we were saying fill the room. it was so wonderful! They told us to come back next Sunday, they don't live in our area but they are coming back to their lola Gloria's house so we can teach again. such a blessing!!! such a wonderful end to the week! I gladly would go through all the pain and hard and walking for hours on end in the streets with no luck just to meet them all over again. Missionary work is the work of God, he has a way to gather all of his sheep.

Thats about it for the week, I'm going to leave it here. I'm SO EXCITED for mothers day!!! i want to jump up and down!!! I get to see all your faces and hear your voices!!!! yay you're not just a dream but reaL!!!! so excited. Its going to make my year. I love you all so much and am so grateful for you, I truly have the best family and have been blessed to be born the luckiest girl in the world.

Love you all, 

TILL SATURDAY!!!!!

Sis McG

I love these ppinos, yes its raining, and yes they will go have fun in it