Sweet is the work!

This week was so good. So so so so so good.

It was so full, I am so sleep deprived but I'm happy and go go go theres more to do I can't stop! We had 2 exchanges this week and actually in the moment right now I am on an exchange and have another one at the end of this week in Laganoy and we are going to Naga for the new trainee workshop thing. I feel like I'm being pulled in a bazillion different directions I'm about to pop! but I love it and its good and such a sweet experience. Sorry this email is going to be a little scatter brained!

So we taught a recent convert at night then ended up walking a 48 min power walk home in the dark cause there were no trycees or buses. We sang hymns and walked so so fast to not let ourselves get freaked out.  Came home and dived on the tile as steam came out of us for going so fast.

We went to follow up on this guy I met, Sis A hadn't met him before.  Brother D has like, no legs, they are like toothpicks bent and he crawls around on his hands in flip flops. Anyways I was chill with it, tao-poed the door, but I forgot to warn Sis A.  He comes crawling out at full speed from his dark hut and Sis A screamed and jumped cause she thought he was the guy in the grudge HHHaaaaa hahaha oh I cried later it was so funny. He's got long hair and short hair and the whole thing was pretty creepy I guess if you didn't know him.  He's a sweet soul though :)

We went to Pili, missed all the busses and got there on the last one super late, planned with sisters S and E then crashed on the floor, it was super hot. We got Pili milk delivered to us by my batch elder R!! havent seen him since training! He's a DL now and so did the honors of bringing us the Pili milk. My first cow milk since July 2014!!! whoo hoo!!!

On our exchanges we taught this family who has a monkey pet guy tied up to their tree. He loves me! check out the pics! His hands are so weird like little elf hands in gloves.  These pics are the photo series of our relationship. Timid at first, then he attacked me so I squeezed him. He likes my hair. haha!

We met this lady who we oymed and it turns out she's from Mercedes! Sis E and I were both trained there! We greeted her like our very best sister and got to teach her a lesson. Love Mercedes!! That night I ended up talking with the sisters until past 12...crashed again cause there once again were no more busses going home. We just slept exactly as we were in our clothes and left first thing in the morning. The bus we took had all the curtains closed and was playing a movie, we got so so sick.  Sis A and I threw up when we got off at Goa and staggered all the way home so dizzy. We got home and shot off to work, but it all caught up with us that night. Teach teach teach and then when we were teaching I totally fell asleep. It was actually the prayer, then I just never opened my eyes. It was ok, it was a sweet recent convert and she didn't get offended. We pretty much zombied out the rest of the day and died again on the tile when we got home. whoooowww its so tiring but so goood!!! don't worry I'm doing great!

Our next exchanges that week was in none other than magical Goa 2b, my old area :) it is the SWEETEST THING to go back!!! Oh my goodness! i worked with sis p in the morning, I love her so so much! We were walking by Panday street and you'll never believe who was sitting out on a bench. jun! baby jun!! Do you remember him and all my emails?? I practically ran to him!! He said "sister we miss you so much! I can still remember when you sang hymns for us!" my eyes got teary :) awhh we touched his heart! We talked for a while, he's still reading the Book of Mormon when he has time and sis pads scheduled an appointment with him again. Ooh i hope this is the time for him!! yay! God really has a time frame for everyone, he may not have gotten baptized in my time but its not about that. Life is a long time and there are lots and lots of days, I just hope sometime in all of those days some missionaries can be there for him.

In the afternoon I walked the ever long way to my beloved area Bahay!!! oh it was the best!! I worked with Sis K <3 <3 <3 I love that girl so so much I wish I could tell you all about her here. She's a very gifted amazing person! Shes from New Zealand. We worked there in Bahay and I got to see all my loves there. I saw the crazy Daco kids, they still run out and yell "siiiiiiissssssstttttttteeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" haha :) We got to teach Sister B, that one was kinda sad cause her brother just shot himself and she was pretty hysterical. We were teaching her plan of salvation and she would burst out in screams and tears every now and then. We spent most of our time there just bearing with her and comforting her. oof. I was glad to be there because I already know her and it just felt like I was coming to comfort a friend.

cramming in the trycee! there's always room for more!!

After that we went to the back to find sweet old Tatay Lorenzo!! The one I found--MY SEED!!! My companion and I back then were the first to find him, I taught him the first lesson and then I got tranferred, I come back, and he's a glowing baptized soul!!! His granddaughter too was taught, recently baptized as well. In her baptism and confirmation in the blessing it said she would also serve a mission and baptize many souls. Sooooo incredible to have been a part of that chain, a tiny tiny link connecting it all together!  I could cry I was so happy to see them again.

It was way late and dark, but I couldn't leave without saying bye to Jay Frank and Francia. we walked up the hill to their house, they were sleeping, but i just called for them to come out anyways. They peeped out the window looked, then yelled "SISTER!!!!" and jumped off the floor and ran and we hugged. They are so amazing!! Both of them gave a Book of Mormon to their friend with their testimony written in it last week. They still go to church every week and are doing great!! Future missionaries din!! I was so happy to see them I could fly!! I love Bahay!! We came home and Sis K and I talked again until 12 in our evaluations. I wish I could just tell you everything!

The main thing that happened this week that i really want to say I can't here, it's too sacred. I just... I will tell you in person. I can say that I was reading my father's blessing I got before I came, and every single thing has been fulfilled as of this week :) Heavenly Father is so real! Sis P and I stayed up past 12 again this week last night talking about the incredible thing that's happened to us and crying from feeling the Spirit so strong. I am so grateful to be here with Sister A, P, and K and miracles are literally happening. Sorry thats so vague but I don't want to share it here like this. It has been an amazing week!!

Love you all so so so very much! Family, Heavenly Father loves us so much! We are blessed beyond we can ever comprehend!! I am so grateful for you mom and dad and hannah and abby and matthew and olivia and love you more than I can say.

mahal na mahal kita,
sis mcgrath

a day in my shoes is dirty!! yay!!

My life is an online restaurant game

Haha I'll get to that title later.  It is I, checking in for another week! How's the homeland doing? Its been busy as ever here. How do I begin?

Last Monday we had an FHE at sister E's house, a sister who speaks pure Bicol and we always leave a little lost...anyways the whole time I've been here I don't think she's made direct eye contact with me for very long and I always wonder if she even cares that we visit or if she's just annoyed. Nevertheless I've been diligently insisting that we go every week, I do'nt care if she loves me back but I sure love her! So at the end of the fhe she had the chance to say a few words, and through the Bicol I got out that she was grateful for us for coming so persistently every week and not giving up, and that her husband isn't there to help out so she's grateful for us. Then she pointed to me and thanked "that one" (she can't say my name hehe) for always coming in her house. Does my English make sense!? Basta its so not important that she doesn't even know my name, just important that she feels an extension of Christ's love through us.


Speaking of Christlike love, one of our sweet little investigators K has been an investigator for 3 years now, promises every single week that she'll come to church and then never does. We've tried everything we can possibly think of but always a no show. Last week we visited her 30 mins before church just to remind her and share a message of encouragement, then after promising, she still didn't come. We went back on Tuesday to check up. I was filled with so much love for her and got teary eyed for how much God loves her and wants her as part of his fold. I know that that extra patience and charity doesn't come directly from me.

A very diligent RS sister worked with us Sister L, but it was more like she dragged us. That woman is a RACEHORSE! Seriously she jetted across our whole area and we were left trotting behind her panting for breath. She wiped us out! It was awesome! we visited a Sister J that day who we hadn't been to in 2 weeks. She has been reading the book of mormon, is on page 65 and loves it. She's been praying to know if its true but doesn't know yet. She told us "sister, it seems as if ever since you've given me this book so many trials have come into my life" and told us of all the things that have happened. uh..... whatcha gunna say to that..sorry? Anyways we did our best to assure her to keep going and searching and that Satan knows what goodness lies ahead.

One morning this week in our hot hot morning work I felt the monotony of it all.  It felt as if I was on repeat, go, oym, lesson one overview, blah blah blah it felt very repetitious and luckily I snapped out of it by the afternoon and got my head back in the game.

My favorite picture in my mind from this week is that of Mateo, that dirty bummed naked kid always running around Bagumbayan. this week when we crossed the tree bridge we found him squeezing 2 ducklings in both fists. He was running around screaming and the ducks were too. I told him to come here for a pic but then he just squeezed them even harder oh my gosh kids are hilarious.

One day this week we got hard core punted walked down this entire long path of houses on both sides, all of which we had oym-ed and were told we could come back and teach another time. well when the time comes everyone hid...as in everyone! Haha hiding is so super funny here cause there's no where to really go, I mean the house is made of nothing, so they just walk around to the back of it, or hide behind a see through curtain. Iiiiiiiinnnnna kooooooooooo. I just want to take 4 steps and break the news to them that we can totally see them. Instead we approached these 2 guys skinning a caribou hide, it was pretty sick. they had the skin and were shaving and chopping it, the dirt was all bloody and there was parts everywhere. they were boiling some liquid stuff that I don't even know...it smelled pretty bad. (Imagine Larry's goat slaughter day x100) turns out they didn't care a bit about what we had to say. We just stood and watched them for a while. Too bad they didn't want to hear, as we walked away I mentally thought "well darn their hide" HA OH THE PUN

So yes, this week has been a little like running an online retaurant game. not that I even have any experience (hello! just open a real restaurant right?) Its been crazy trying to schedule in all the exchanges and dodge events and things going on in everyones areas, then trying to incorporate the pili sisters right after i got it all set, which made everything get scattered all over again. then one of my sisters went home :( :( :( I still don't know exactly what happened but that's been really rough on everything. Of course that upset evverything all over again cause no one knew she was going home early....anyways details details I'll spare you.  Then trying to hit every investigator, recent convert and as many less actives as we can, and oym everyone on top of that, its been ssssssttttttrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeetcccchinggggggggg!!

I laid down to bed late one night this week and the first thought in my mind was "what are you doing! so selfish!" I really love serving and never thinking about myself but it does also feel like I'm cooking 20 dishes at the same time trying to deliver them all to everyone and split my limited time to everyone before they black out and before the games over. whoow just gotta keep going keep going keep going! carry on carry on carry on! This week we've got 2 exchanges and hopefully my eyes will still open by next Monday so I can tell you about the happenings.

Sunday we had stake choir at psu gymnasium cause we dont fit all in the chapel, we were part of the choir and then we totally crashed and burned. As in it was so embarrassing. The soundtrack totally messed up and we kept singing and then it skipped and we stopped and stood there for the whole duration of the song faces red looking all around.....we didn't even finish the song and just sat down HAHAHAHA oh my goodness it was so funny!!!!!!!! haha! good times!!

Love you all and have a happy busy week!
Love SIS MCGRATH

Ang aking bunso!

Welp in honor of halloween I've pulled an Elizabeth (all the people/stories i know these days are scriptural) and given birth yet again in my old age! Oh the joys of training never get old!! My next (and last) aki is named sister A!!! welcome to Naga mission sis A!!

She is 22, from Pangasinan pero marunog sya na magbisaya so that's fun because she and my lovely kabahay Sis P can speak their language together. Sis K and I just say "forbidden language" haha ohhh my I would bet my life savings that the Tower of Babel was in the ppines. All 15 dollars of it :D

Sis P and I cleaned the house so dang good before they came....like it was the cleanest I've ever seen it. It shined like the top of the Chrysler building for sure! We bought ice cream and counted down the hours until they cammmeeee!!

We went to Naga on a crowded bus with all the other trainers and I got all choked up because I love the mountains and fields and being sweaty crammed in that bus more than anything else. We got there, went through once again the powerpoint and things to do workshop that I could probably give better than the AP's by now (just saying...) and then we met them!!!!!!!!! Sis A is so sweet! I am so happy to be her trainer and so glad she's here. Sis P is training the lovely Sis K from New Zealand!! Yayyy theres a foreigner in the house!!! Oh life is so fun!! She's super cool, because I think its just in New Zelanders blood to be cool. She cracks me up and has a great attitude about this whole new culture thing.

We got all paired up, I smooth-talked the elders into driving us home to Goa, and we were off!!! Oh wait we pit stopped sandali para remove my stitches by Sis Hoops. Ouuuuuchhhhh!! She clipped them out and gave them to me to keep for remembrance. (I accidentally lost them drats) The foot is ok people!! I'm going to live!! I will walk again! Haha I have been walking. Everything is healing up well and so you can stop praying for the healing of my foot and direct all prayers to our area/investigators once again.

So all was well until the tire popped......it smelled like a burnt vacuum x 1000 and it was raining lightly and super dark. Elder S and J and i were fixing it while the sisters waited on the side. We accidentally stripped the last bolt on the tire and try as we might there was no way it was coming off. I was holding flashlights and trying to keep the stress levels down. After 45 mins or so no one was catching on to my humming "Did You Think to Pray" so I just shoved my foot in the middle of their "fixing" and demanded we pray. Haha they folded their arms like lightning and I said a prayer for us. Later a man came driving by who was a member, called his buddy with the hammer who came on a motor, jammed his hammer until we got it outta there and fixed talaga. WHOO HOO! I didn't even bat an eye my patience has been expanded incredibly. Like I bet I could even wait in a line at the dmv and not get high blood pressure!

These past few days have been great! Life is bright as ever living through the eyes of sis A! We did practice teaching with the "how to begin teaching" and she got so excited. What! Every lesson is a nice good lesson, know what I mean? when we went out to work the first time she was flying saying "this is it! this is it!!" All of that pumping up from the MTC sure sets them off soaring! We soared right into our first lesson with Nanay L, were sold banana chips and asked crazy questions and all that fun. Haha the actual mission life! The bad thing is these past few days we got roped into choir practice. :( I just wanna work! Next week I'm putting my foot down (the good foot) and saying no more for us its off to save some souls! There's too much work to do! I'm excited for this week, a full week of work! Let's go!!

Love you as always family!! You are my best thing! I'll email you again next week when I surface from the rice fields once again! mwa mwa love you! ingat ka lagi!

Mahal kita!
SIS MCGRATH

Nothing phases me anymore. bring it on!

alright for starters: MY FOOT IS FINE AND FUNCTIONING :D :D i still have full control of all 5 toes and all things are in their proper order, i've just got a cool scar-in-the-forming that they say is healing up quite nicely. no need to worry i am doing just fine promise x100. thanks for all the prayers though that i'm sure were said over my health! they have manifested themselves in forms of dinner appointments! this week was awesome and we got fed lots and lots. keep up the prayers ;)

next item of business: hey so the zone leaders called this morning with my FATE in their hands....all of us kabahay wiped off the soap from our hands and gathered around the phone to hear our destinies....sis b is leaving me! she's transferring outta here and so this area is all up to me now. aaaand i'm still a lone ranger stl, my companion will not be an stl. also i'm getting one extra companionship of sisters to watch over and exchange with. and just as Heavenly Father does, has thrown me another curve ball. for my last 2 transfers of my mission as stl i will also be TRAINING my THIRD AKI :D :D :D yep, i am destined to be a trainer for life!!

My goodness. seriously it's like He always gives me more than i think i am capable of, more than i think i can carry on my shoulders, but as the past has proven i know that i can,  i know i can do this and make it through. sis p (my kabahay) is also training too so there will be 2 new sisters in the house. so many sisters to watch over my my!! she's there in the spirit world, enjoying her last meals at the mtc and about to come through the chute and land in her first area here with me :)

Ironically, i'm not freaking out. this has for sure been the ultimate load/challenge that's come my way as far as responsibilities go on my mission, but I have got so much trust in the Lord that not even a drop of fear or doubt can squeeze its way into me :) i'm just calm, calm cause I know that prayers are unlimited and I can make it through any challenge with prayer, the Spirit, and my scriptures.

This week was challenging as well, this time in the form of companionship relations. whoow. I will spare you the drama and details. nobody needs to know anyways and i'm sure sis b wouldn't want me to spill to the whole world, and i've got respect for her and wont go talking behind her back. i feel like this week was like an exam, a real life exam of every single christlike attribute. hmm you think you've got patience? BAM! charity? BAM? humility? BAM BAM take it take it take it. I've taken a lot of blows this week but all in all feel like I've made it through the whole mess of it being as Jesus would. I only cried like 2 times in the CR! whoo woo!

We had a big talk in comp inventory and it was so good. Seriously theres no problem that talking it out cant solve. anyways at the end of it all, sis b said how grateful she was for me for being Christlike and said that when she looks at herself she says she feels so far, like its impossible for her to get there. what a blessing the truth is that people can change, personalities can change and we can always improve. ironic that the first week of the transfer it was her patting my back telling me that my worst can improve and now its the other way around. I really really love sis b and am truly sad she is leaving me, right after we got so close :( but i think its God's way of saying you got over that hurdle sige (go ahead) lets jump the next one.

We had a csp this week digging and chopping stuff at Nanay Loma's house. I worked like a dog and my back kills as well as my cracked bloody hands from blisters. But it was so fun and nothing like sweating head to toe! I love to work. It rained a downpour about 1/2 through, so by the end i was an entire soaking mess of sweat/rain/buko juice cause its quite hard to get the hole on the coconut exactly lined up with your mouth. AHHHH LOVE IT!

Yayyy!! this is sister gain!!!

this is right outside sis gain's cottage thats like a

 DREAM!! seriously!! its a huge huge fish pond 

loaded with tilapia and lily pads and the most 

beautiful garden i've ever seen. you can imagine 

our delight when we stumbled upon it :)

OOhhhh ok heres the coolest!!! update on sister gain!!!! YAY!! she is the coolest! the most goldeny goldenest investigator i've ever had!! i feel like she wears a halo of light and angels sing behind her when we see her!! after the csp i was so flipping tired and in my studies my eyes were heavy, but the Spirit hit me hard and told me to straighten up and think about Gain and get to work. I sure did, prayed right then and there to have my words be guided and help me know what to say and how to bring up baptism in the lesson. we taught her about the Book of Mormon, she loved it! I felt like i was just talking to a best friend or sister, just sitting there on the floor and telling her everything i know to be true about that book and challenging her to read it. And then the Spirit guided me, helped me connect every sentence to sentence all the way until baptism, my words were given to me in the exact moment, extended the bap date, and she accepted!!! Dec 19!!!! i am SO excited!!! she also came to church AGAIN yesterday!!! we thought she didn't and sadly came upstairs 5 mins after it started only to see her sitting already! she had been there like 30 mins in advance! oh she is the best. sister gain is aweeeeessooooommmeeeeee!!!!


And now, things are about to get shaken up again, people leaving and new sisters coming and transformation all over again here in Goa zone. I feel like an old dog once again...hardly flinching an ear at people at the door. Whatever happens happens and I know I can do all things with the Lord's help. What an amazing testimony that has grown within me, I feel unshakable. Bring it on, there's nothing I can't do with the Lord on my side. All I've got to do is take it one hour at a time, live from prayer to prayer. Is there any other way to make it through life? My heart swells with gratitude for how hard this mission has been. I am so grateful for the challenges that have come and the ones yet to come. I know that its only a opportunity to grow stronger and gain a firmer testimony that wasn't there before. How grateful I am to be broken and re-built again.


I love you so much family! i hope your halloween was fun! here its "day of the dead", araw ng mga patay, and people go party at the cemetery by their dead. this whole week i've been oym-ing people asking them questions like where do they think they are, do they believe in eternal life, etc. and bearing testimony that death isn't the end. how cool it is to bear testimony to a tricee driver you just met seconds ago that he can see his mother again and that families can be together forever! I love to oym!!! speaking of which we had 192 oyms these past 6 weeks! whoo hoo!!!


Love, your lovely 10 toed daughter
Sister McGrath

NAITAK ANG AKING PAA WHAT THE HECK! but im still living the dream!

Ohhhhhhhhhhkayyyyyeeee. I'm fine. Don't worry. Imagine me sitting all well and fine in a computer shop healthy and happy as can be, cause thats what I am. I am totally fine now :D ok but last tuesday it was not all fine fine. haha you'll never believe what I did to myself! I hacked my foot with a machete! ya! hacked my form of transportion!  it was awesome! Ok stooooorrrryyyy timeeee:

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning, oh wait it actually was a downpour. So it was raining so dang hard but we had a service project at Sister Shirley's house clearing out weeds and grass so she can plant stuff. Our whole district was there helping out doo de doo, I was just going at it with my hands. I was ripping and tearing stuff and trying to suck in the tears cause it was so thorny and my hands were getting cut up.....but Shirley needs to plant some camoteng kahoy I've got to do this! haha it killed. So then I thought it would be more effective for everyone if I just used one of the itaks (machetes) and so I did. All was going well, my hands were thanking me, and I was chopping very nice. thunk thunk thunk THUNK I totally hit my foot right where my toe grows. I look down and didn't even recognize the scene cause there was blood gushing out everywhere into the grass around me. I just looked down and didn't even freak out, say anything, or move. I just looked at it and thought "Darn. thats my foot I guess..." (I swear the mission has stolen every ounce of reaction from me...nothing phases me anymore.) Good thing my fellow missionaries were more concerned than I was, Sis B held my toe to my foot as I hobbled to sit down. Thank goodness our astig na zone leader brought a first aid kit that morning...not planning to but he had a prompting to. I had my foot right there on Shirley's table and the elders poured cleansing stuff on it and wrapped it up. masaKIT INA KO!!!!! I can't believe I survived. I can totally give birth now. HAHA JOKE.

Anyways so I just kinda chilled there until we made our way home after the csp where I called Sis Reeder and said "oh ya...my food kinda got chopped", which rushed me to Naga asap to get sewn up. It was quite splendid I got to look at my city once again. We went to good ol Mother Setton, I hobbled in there on a bloody stub (over dramatic) and was at once looked at and helped by the most beautiful gay man who looks like a woman ever. He/she was so kind. I just laid down right there, someone came and double injected me in my arms (IHUIFHUIJCEIODJSHIR) and at the same time I was getting anesthesia in my foot in multiple places so the beautiful man could sew me up. I just screamed silently and grabbed my hair. It killed. Anyways I hobbled outta there on one foot, stitches in and antibiotics to last forever! WHOOHOOO I'M A SURVIVOR!!! it hurt soooooooo baaaaadddddddd mommmmyyyyyyyyy. i'm ok.

The next day I demanded that we work, even though I wasn't supposed to walk on it, TOO BAD FOLKS there are people to visit and gospel to share.  I oym-ed like crazy. we went on splits with the ward missionaries to cover the day we lost on Tuesday from being in the hospital. I just sorta hobbled around, took some pills. kept going. All week I've been changing the gauze and stuff, there's no time to think about it. Sis Hoops offered to take out the stitches when I go in for mlc tomorrow.....I don't think she's very gentle......I mean she wears glasses so how well can we even trust her to see straight (NO OFFENSE to all my four-eyes out there.just saying).

So lets talk people. Ok meet john carl, the sweetest kid i've ever met. He is about 12 years old but is so thin and malnourished you'd think he's 7. And skinny for a 7 year old. His mom isn't there and his dad is at work before he wakes up till after he goes to bed. He washes all his clothes, cooks, cleans, everything in his little hut and is so diligent in reading the Book of Mormon. He would be baptized by now but his dad (less active) says he will get sick if he goes out of the house to church. I sense an iceberg there....anyways to make our lessons more interesting I brought my Book of Mormon stories in Tagalog book with pictures for our Book of Mormon reading. He was so excited and could hardly keep the flashlight on the picture we were on cause he kept going from next to next. We just sat on our boulder and read with sweet little john carl. At the end I couldn't help but give him my book he just loved it so much, and he was so sweet about it. I cried once again in his closing prayer as he thanked God for food and for not leaving him. </3

We have the coolest new investigator! Sister Gain beautiful beautiful! we found her because her gma wants her to be taught to have better friends, she transfered schools because of bad influences. We went to visit her (wait is this the one I told you? did I already tell you about her cottage and fish pond and stuff?) and she is totally receptive and so willing to learn. we had 3 sisters work with us and it was perfect cause she had immediate friends. the best part is she CAME TO CHURCH YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA she totally came. Inside. Ya. I could scream I was so happy. her fellowshippers did such a good job of escorting her around all day and I was so so happy.

Ok so so much more. So much. but i guess i'll just write one more. Yesterday we fasted for nanay merenia and brother gary to be strong and good examples to the rest of their family that aren't members and fasted for their hearts to be softened. Included in my fast was also the question of what I need to be doing better or where am I lacking. In the 3rd hour of church sort of half listening through a Bicol lesson on the temple I got teary and felt the spirit. I had this thought "you are living your dream". BAM! the Spirit strikes again! I reflected on that sentence in my brain, I am living my dream. I am living in it. Yes, I really am. This is the dream I've had when I imagined myself as a missionary, and the dream that I will have to reflect on for the rest of forever. I know that time is going to be gone before I know it cause i don't even have time to think straight, and so the prompting to soak it all in, live the dream, came to me. I'm going to slow down, notice all the little good, and try and enjoy every last bit of this thing called a mission that is going to turn into just memories soon. I don't want it to end, I don't want to wake up, so I'm just going to keep dreaming the next 3 months and giving it my all. This week I hit 15 months....maybe the hardest 15 months put together I've ever experienced, and its ironic that I have this much love for something this hard. Ironic that I call it a dream when at times it is so hard and dark like a nightmare. I can't even total up the growth I've made these past 15 months and am just so humbled and grateful to be where I am.

Thanks for the prayers, I am fine once again don't worry about my foot its in good working order! Fine as can be. It's week 6, idk if sis b is getting transferred or not or whats happening to my sisters. Anyways family I love you so so much and you are always in my prayers.

LOVE SIS MCGRATH

the winds and the waves shall obey thy will..............

Dang it I have spent all my time emailing President. There's been a lot to report! This week was so busy- we had 2 exchanges and have been traveling and guiding and listening and helping and the lack of sleep is ever so evident on my face!!! eeeeeeehhhh!!!!

This week has also had a way of sending all the trials it could at one time....that's so funny how that happens, its never just one challenge at a time but usually multiple punches. I don't have time to update you on all of them, but this week has brought me to my knees more than ever. Every single day this week i have said a teary prayer pleading to give me the strength to open my eyes and make it though the next hour. It is such a miracle when I hit the cot way after I should have been sleeping and just close my eyes and thank the Lord that I survived the day. After some mild problems with the comp, the ward, and other missionaries, I can say I'm making my way through slowly but surely!

This week I split with 4 sisters, it was the best!! I can't write everything ahh it kills me! Sis P is the sweetest thing and so positive and brave! she is amazing! Sis N is incredible as well and I just wish I could have her parents tune in and see the incredible things their daughter does every day. They would be so proud. Sis P is the sweetest purest heart and has incredible patience. And finally Sis H- this is her 2nd transfer in the mish and she has been having the hardest time imaginable. In our evaluation after exchanges, we ended up staying and talking for more than an hour and went to bed way past 12. As she told me everything thats going on and all of the hard things she's going through, she broke down and cried. For more than an hour she cried and I just stayed by her side with and arm around her and listened. She said that last week she was about to give up, as in totally quit and go home, but then at our zone conference (president shared to us "becoming a consecrated missionary" talk by tad r callister, its a life changer and i highly highly recommend it to all missionaries) she felt like that isn't what God wanted. As she cried the Spirit was so strong in me and I felt lifted beyond myself. I told her lots and lots of things that I know didn't come from me directly, I felt such a strong love for her and told her how much Heavenly Father needs her here. Lots more was said, tears were shed from both of us, and I said a very fervent prayer for her at the end of our talk. At the end she said thank you, "I feel like I just got to talk to my mom". Her comment struck me and the gratitude and love I had for her filled my whole soul and took away every ache and weary pain in my poor tired self. This week was so tiring but I'd hands down do it all again just to hear those words and have the Spirit speak through me again. keep my sisters in your prayers!!!

After feeling like I've been whipped around all over the place this week and been through a crazy storm, I remember what a strong feeling of peace I had when I woke up on Sunday morning. Actually this week it has been a literal crazy storm, its been raining so hard and so windy (i even broke out the cardigan people :O) and on Saturday night after mine and Sis H's long talk I said what felt like an even longer prayer. There are so many things i need to pray for!  I need so much help and others to too! I prayed it out on sore knees and also thanked Heavenly Father for Jesus Christ. As I prayed I thought about His atonement, and the chance I had to partake of the sacrament the next day. My eyes swelled with tears all over again for gratitude and love for my Savior. I can't explain it all well enough in a dinky email.

When I woke up on Sunday morning I just laid there and it was calm. It had stopped raining like it had been all night, and it was quiet. I was the first one up, and I just had peace spoken deep to my bones. I felt that what I was doing was good, and it was enough, and I imagined Jesus smiling down on me. I know its so simple, but that picture in my head and feeling I can't describe. It was a very peter-like moment hearing "wherefore didst thou doubt?" I felt lifted up, back on the boat, and filled with peace. I know that God gives me strength to do this work and that I need it every hour of every day. I know He loves His children, I know He loves Sis P and Sis H and Sis N and Sis P and Sis B and me. I know He loves me. I am so grateful that I can use the atonement every day, and even though the days are so hard, they string together to make the most beautiful thing I could ever obtain.

That's all I can write this week, I wish I could have another hour to pour out even more to you. Thank you for your prayers, please continue to pray for me and for all the other missionaries because so many are struggling and having such a hard time.

Love SIS MCGRATH

I CAN'T I JUST CAN'T. This is the son of that monster Sis N and 

I burned....I call him Montoya Jr because of his never-ending 

revenge towards the murderers of his father...ahem ahem US. 

The Best Busy Life Ever!

.........and the whale breeches for air once again!!!!

WHOOW. the days are so. exhausting. its putting me through the wringer. (i wish we had a "wringer" instead of our hands...that would really be useful) i honestly dont know what my body is still running on but its gotta be prayers and love cause no amount of rice could even keep me going! its the best feeling in all the WORLD!!!! ohhhh i love love love working. GO GO GO!!!!

alright let me break you down a beat- this week we were going to teach and got punted but this other lady was just looking like she wanted to be oym-ed (ha ha everyone looks like they want to be oymed in my eyes) and we ended up getting to talk to her on her floor. she told us right up front that she does NOT want to be baptized and will not leave her church, again and again. ok, got it. then she opened up to us about all of her problems in life and most of them coming from her marriage....so sad :( she has the most rotten relationship with her husband it made me feel so bad for this poor lady :( after about an hour of letting everything go to us, the ball was in our court. uhhhh. how does one even begin to respond? i've got no professional training in counseling or anything....i was really wishing the section "the gospel blesses families" section in PMG was more than one wimpy paragraph. but alas, thats not my job, i don't have to fix everything. even though she couldn't leave her church and wasn't interested, she's still a child of God going through a hard time. The Spirit told me to share a verse and we did our best to lift and comfort her. life deals such a hard lot to so many it makes me cry almost every other night if i think about it :(

shes serving in cauaian mission!! she used to work with 

us in goa 2 and now she just got her mish call!

MY FIRST EXCHANGES!!!!! oh ya!!!!! so so much good!! i love exchanges!! so since i'm the only STL and there are 2 sisters in a companionship, i split with the senior in the morning and the junior in the afternoon/night work then have a separate evaluation with each of them afterwards. my first was with sister b, the sweetest sister ever in the batch right before me. she's kiribati!!! i love kiribati missionaries!!!! we had such a good time. we went to the market and bought and fried fish for lunch like true ppinas. #marunog.

In the afternoon i worked with sister moreno who is a visa waiter, truly heading to san diego california!!! home of the district!!! and you'll never believe.......as we were sitting on the stools teaching someone the travel agency called her and she had to excuse herself (ok the weirdest feeling in the world is to teach alone....like...it is so not meant to be... it was the awkwardest feeling as i finished the lesson alone and kept on teaching with no comp......don't try it!!!!) anyways she is leaving THIS TUESDAY for cali! this was her last exchange in the ppines!!! and the coolest part of it was that she is the great great granddaughter of MY first stls i exchanged with sis rosenberg!! (sis rosenberg trained sis prestosa who trained sis baird who trained sis moreno who i exchanged with. guess i'm old in the mission huh? exchanging with the great granddaughter of my first stl)

The best part by far was evaluations afterwards. i got to tell sis m how amazing she is and what a wonderful impact she is going to make in cali. and i told her all about the wonders of target and told her to enjoy it for me. i so want to go find her and visit her when i get home! when i talked with sis b, i could just tell she was about to erupt. she did, and we just sat on the bedside and she cried and cried. she is feeling so inadequate, and with the sudden news of sis m leaving she's got the whole area in her hands and has only been there 4 weeks, and i'm sure lots of other discouraging thoughts. she cried and i just gave her tissues and told her its all going to be fine and gave her my testimony that she can do it and she is needed and all other things that the Spirit told me to say. oh i love talking to sisters and i love being able to help them in a very real way! missionary work isn't just about lifting those outside but even those right by your side!

look at this animal i found. hinawakan ko sya :D

this week has been so so busy, we have been working so hard! guess what we reached 40 oyms! not just lame oyms, every one was real legit and consisted of us teaching a gospel principle and asking an inspired question etc etc! i love to oym! even when i don't and i'm not in the mood i swallow my pride and jump again "Hi i'm sister mcgrath from the church of.............." and start again. i don't want any opportunities pass me by.

HAAAALELUIAAAAA

look at this palayan. feast your eyes.

this week i had such a beautiful testimony that this is MY mission, that i am called here, now, for a reason. we were just walking and exploring trying to find a referral, and we were climbing over rocks and crossing a bamboo bridge skinnier than my arm and there were rice terraces and blue sky and mountains so clear right before us. there were ducks and dogs and my feet hit nothing but damp dirt the good Lord made all day. we passed by tiny homes and kids and people yell out stuff at me but i don't even care, it doesn't even hit me that they are talking to me when they say american or white person or whatever.....i don't know what you guys are looking at i'm ppina. i just felt like i belonged there in that scene so much and feel like this place is what i've always dreamed my mission would be. there's nothing to hold me back, i can just be fearless and soar and approach anyone and sit down and tell them our purpose and that God has a plan for them and all of these other wonderful truths. AHH I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!! life is the sweetest thing, it's so simple and so beautiful. and there is so much work to do! so much gospel that needs hearing! every ear! its the best work in all the world and i treasure this time so much. i love this place.

love it here.

General Conference was so amazing. i'm not going to give you my comprehensive chicken scratches on it though....you know how missionaries are....we need it more than air.....i was on the edge of my seat all conference and eating it up! too bad some elders were missing out dozing off behind us.....too bad. i had 3 questions before and all of them were answered perfectly. its just so amazing! i can't wait for the liahona!

I love you all so much and am so grateful for the prayers and love! keep it comin please i need the strength to keep me going from day to day until there are no more days in this mission!

Love SIS MCGRATH

did i tell you the green is a different hue here?

coming up for air!

WHOOW and i EMERGE from the rice fields again for another report! WHoow! coming up for air!!! this area is so insanely busy and i am so so grateful to have my back and feet aching :) its such a good life. alright this week seems like an eternity long so lets hash this thing up:

MISSION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: ooh ya baby. I'm playing with the big boys now! I get my own spot in the mlc and it's awesome :D except for the fact that i was LATE once AGAIN.....I'm eternally destined to be late when I'm the chorister and when president is present!  This is the 4th time I have been chorister AND been late and had to have an emergency replacement all while president was there....why. Seriously I CANT be on time when I'm chorister. It's amazing president has any ounce of trust in me and doesn't think that I'm just late for every appointment and study ever. I promise its only when I'm chorister..... anyways mlc turns out to just be a lot of graphs and charts and numbers and elders talking lows and highs and goals......but the discussion was cool and the talk by president about having the courage to correct other missionaries was sweet. can't wait for the next one!

TEACH IT TEACH IT TEACH IT REAL GOOD: yep its go go go teach teach teach. I still don't know quite how to summarize my days in my journal let alone here...basta we are just teaching and working out things like MARRIAGE cause no one in the world thinks it's a good use of money to get legally married to the father of your children when there's holes in your roof and all other sorts of hadlangs (blocks? barriers? whats hadlang in english?!) from baptism. I'm just so happy to teach! yipeeee!!! we got to teach 10 lessons in one day!!! no way!!! I just can't wait to go outside every morning.

DREAMS: my dreams have been vivid as ever. one morning i woke up 6:25, saw i had 5 more mins and went back to bed only to tell everyone in my dream "babasahin nyo po ba ang aklat ni mormon? ipagdarasal nyo sya para malaman kung totoo ang lahat na bla blah blahhhhhh" just committing them to read the book of mormon and pray about it and inviting them to church and every other commitment......until when I rolled over at 6:30 I started my prayer asking to help them keep their commitments and read and ....wait these aren't even real investigators......I apologized and started my prayer over again. haha its just 24/7 FOLKS even my dreams I cant stop. Its been like that all week, teaching committing helping LAHAT in my dreams.

REALITY: then I wake up from my dreams and make it real. This week I was so inspired by our mlc and other stuff I read in the scriptures that I've been on OYM FIRE!!! open yo' mouth!!!! Seriously I've just been raising my voice above trycee motors to try and pipe out that their family can be together forever and can we come share and going up to groups of people and stopping nanays on the street and just telling the WORLD that they need this. Whatever to what anyone thinks of me, at least I know Jesus is smiling!

Also I guess in the reality section is the part of my life where I met the most terrible spider straight from impernio. But I wasn't even the one who screamed the loudest! And instead came up with the best plan ever to burn it with flames hotter than the ones from hell where he came. Me and Sis Nelson doused it in bleach then lit it on fire. Pictures ensued. I am just really so proud of myself for overcoming my fear and for slaying the beast. Here I attached a picture: isn't this the BIGGEST THING YOUVE EVER SEEN!?!?! HE EVEN HAS RED EYE PROBLEMS WITH FLASH HE'S THAT BIG!!!!  can't get over that we breathe the same air.

ITS HEAVEN!!!!: Ok this was by far the sweetest part of my week. Oh I could just cry all over again! We went to church yesterday and ward 2 was getting out and we were just starting....I got to see all of my wardiesss!!!!! all of my beloved ward 2!!!!! It was seriously the greatest thing!!! One sister would come out followed by another and another and all of these familiar faces and I just hugged them all! ESPECIALLY the youth!!!! I saw sister loleth!!! I saw francia!!! I saw these people I've walked and sacrificed for there at church!!! I saw soon to be Sister Baer who was using my bag I gave her from my first area and she ran up and told me she gets her mission call next week!!! I saw so so many faces!!! But the best of all : dun dun dun duuuuuN!!!!!! Sister Mayan comes out and exclaims "sisteeerrrr!!!' as she comes to me holding her son.  She runs up and tells me that she and her husband are getting SEALED IN THE TEMPLE this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My eyes swelled with tears and I couldn't take it anymore--i just let it flow!! I hugged sister and told her how excited and happy I was for her!! I remember challenging her to make the temple a goal and gave her a picture of the manila temple, I remember it seemed so far away back then and so much that they needed to do before.....and now here they were! She and her husband and they were doing it!!! I taught this lady once or twice a week and just love her so much. Their oldest daughter walked out from their house and drowned in this huge canal when she was 3 yrs old :( I just remember sister telling us through tears how badly she wanted to be sealed as a family, to her baby girl and to her two other babies here on earth and her husband. The tears just kept flowing, Sister Mayan was crying too. We were just so happy!!!! This has GOT to be what heaven feels like!!! I asked about how her sister in law was doing that lives near by and that we also challenged to go to the temple and pay tithing and stuff... sad news, she's not doing good :( hasn't been to church in a long time and her husband has word of wisdom problems again :( that brought fresh tears all over again, these ones now of sorrow :( it hurts! its gotta hurt so bad when we get to heaven someday and realize that some aren't there. But it is still so joyful to see the ones who will be. Oh it is just the sweetest experience to go back...someday I hope I can come back again over mountain or plain or sea and fly here to see all my people again!

Ok thats a summary of the week- more stuff I left out I wish I could just copy and paste my memories here!!! If only it was that easy!! basta! have a great week to you all and I'm so grateful for your prayers and love and support. I love you!!

mahal kita,
sis mcgrath

I'm home!!!

on the rooftop in the mission home! they are
moving mission homes this saturday! bye bye!

I'M BACK. I'm back in Goa!!! its been the weirdest week of my life, its like going back to a dream!

awkward bishop photos

When we pulled in last Monday night I eeked and was jumping in my seat cause I saw the toron lady and la purisima street and the smelly fish port and ukay ukays and nanays and tatays and graceland NOT SM style and its was pretty much a flood of memories. Especially when I walked into my apartment AHH its good to be home! I feel like I'm coming home after a 6 month trip working in a big city OH WAIT thats exactly what happened. I'm bacccckkkK!!! But it was all so bittersweet because everyone in my head that I match up to this place in my memories is GONE :( all my mission-berry friends are gone from this time in the mish! I'm the oldest one and the lone ranger! I almost cried when I realized that Sis Coons actually wasn't out washing clothes, or Sis Marzan wasn't just upstairs....its like there are all new people who have been living in the tomb of my memories. All week I've been feeling like that dinosaur in the best seller children's book "all my friends are dead" available at a local bookstore near you. deep sigh.

So ya. But this time around Goa, I've got to sit in the stl's chair. it feels so unnatural, I should just be upstairs at my safe little desk, but no, I'm at the bottom with 3 area books and reporting to do and sisters to take care of and a bunch of other things that I've only seen my legendary kabahays do. yiiiiikkkekeeeeekekeekesssss!

goodbye to vallenciano family :( :(

This week has been more than a little overwhelming. Everyone who's walked this area has been an amazing awesome legendary stl, and I've got some big shoes to fill! There are so many backstories and people and records and I can hardly keep everyone straight in my little pee wee brain! Ironically I feel like I'm back to square one, back to training all over again. My companion (Sis B, super nice and funny, has the coolest re-activation story that I'll spill someday over coffee HA gotchaaa) I've just felt dragged around by her all week, to this person to this family, oh here's the backstory, dragged around to all these people I don't know but have heard about, not understanding everything cause PSYCH I'm in deep Bicol again, getting referred to in the third person ("does she speak Bicol? where's she from" HI YES i'm HERE people just talk to me, ha?) Not getting any eye contact from anyone in lessons cause its all on sis b, fumbling over words in Tagalog and feeling like a dunce running out of things to say or messing up, having sis b re-teach everything i just said but like a million times better, blah blah blah i could go on and on. At the end of the whole week like that i just plopped down in my chair and wanted to yell "ARE YOU SERIOUS???!!" does it NEVER END??  Does this feeling never go
away?!?! oh cruel irony.  Even with 14 months under my belt i'm still feeling like i'm 14 days in the empty sea.

goodbyeeee sis manoaaaaa!!! farewelL!!!!!

It's been a long long week and all felt like a bad dream especially when I realize WAIT I'm the stl here? im the one who's supposed to be a leader? I'm hoping this is as bad as it gets and its just gonna get better from here. Actually I know its going to get better, because David Archuleta told me in a song. But even if he didn't, I know that its just my first week and I'm being a baby and things are gonna be fine soon :) I've just gotta keep reminding myself that they didn't call another ppina here, they called a sister mcgrath. I know a ppina could prob ace this better than I could but that's not what President Monson wanted, he wanted Sis Mcgrath to serve here. I've just gotta trust that I can do it and stop comparing myself!

But- silver linings! OH IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK!!!! I wish I could describe the beauty of this place. I will take loads of pics next week. I've MISSED THIS. The rice fields are never ending, Mt Isarog and all the other baby mountains are blue and the clouds are low and the color green is just a different shade over here. My feet are filthy dirty by the end of the day, there are bugs hitting my face, I walk on more dirt than pavement AH its a dream!! The grass and weeds we walk through are waist high sometimes and my feet and legs get itchy and I just want to kiss the ground cause SM is not in sight and there are more bugs than people. (exaggeration). I feel all the materialism of Naga leaking out with every step! Its awesome! another awesome thing is that I got to see people that I've visited once or twice on exchanges, but now its my area, anyways its been so sweet to come back and it feels like I'm seeing old friends.  Especially with the ward! I saw my Bishop and his two counselors and that sweet sweet tatay that I love that I spent mahal na araw with (remember the one who gave a tour of his garden?) and now there are ysa on missions and people I remember and its just fun fun fun.

Sis Reeder texted and gave me an update on Naga 3rd. I called and we talked- Sis Jane is back! She is home from Manila and Sis reeder invited her to come with her to women's conference this week! And tatay Betito received a calling in the elders quorum presidency!! YAY!!! Sis Reeder said that the members said they were going to miss me and that they were grateful for my hard work. Awh, I will miss you Naga 3rd! sad to say goodbye when thats been my home ward for 6 months.

That's all there is, there isn't...anymore!

LOVE YOU or MAHAL KITA or PADANGAT KITA blehhh langauge is the worst right!?

inyong minamahal na aki,

sis mcgrath

that one week where my life got hit by penafrancia + surprise transfers

Its been insane. Did I mention in my last email that penafrancia was coming?? well SHE CAME ALL RIGHT!!! ooooh I wish I could type it all out and find the way to fully explain the insanity of the wonderful festival of penafrancia, but I think theres no way. You just gotta experience it.

To give a quick summary for the newbees it goes like this. Millions of people from everywhere flock the streets of Naga, every street is lined with jeeps crowded with people. People come to the gigantic basilica right smack in my area and they have this procession thing with "Ina" or the mother Mary, that looks like this little gold triangle thing. Ina floats down the dirty river that backs up to our apartment and goes back to the basilica until next year, which for some reason gives everyone in the world an excuse to get wasted and drink all day and night FOR DAYS. Pretty much this whole week we had hardly any lessons, cause if you go outside a few of the following will happen to you:

A) you will be stared at/ hollered at/ given even more attention than usual (its possible) due to all the fresh faces not used to seeing you around

B) you will dodge drunk men wobbling around

C) you will have to cut your way through the middle of them sitting and drinking and laughing the most abrasive pirate sounding laughs BAHAHAHA

D) you will get called hermana. ya idk.

E) you will get called in to come and eat (this ones not so bad, eh?)

F) if you even try to approach and try to teach you will be started at with a look that says "what in the world its penafrancia are you serious. chill out and have something to drink"

G) you will see a plenitude of gay men dressed in spandexy things with lots of lipstick strutting around

F) you will run into tons of baton girls and band kids and girl scouts who think you're a walking barbie just cause your white

G) people with flags and headbands that say viva la virgin will yell in your face with their rancid breath "VIVAAAAAA"

And thhhhatt folks was our week. We seriously just walked and dodged people all week. Sigh. Whatcha gunna do? I wish I could have taken pictures without looking like a total dweeb. Just google it and look at all that fun and picture my white face sandwiched in the middle. VIVA LA VIRGEN PEOPLE!! kinda sad, all our investigators drank and drank and drank. They say God understands cause its penafrancia time. oh Babylon oh Babylon..............

And then it came. I'm really bidding farewell. SURPRISE OUT OF THE BLUE they called yesterday and it's happening. After 5 whopping transfers as a Naga 3rd sister I am finally done. The only problem is that I'm only HALFWAY done with training sister M!!! I'm leaving my aki!!!  I've been drawing maps in the area book like crazy and leaving sticky notes everywhere like a mom's notes for a babysitter. (Ok go visit sis maria from 1-3 on tuesdays and thursdays but not any later or she'll get mad, don't forget to text this person first, make sure you always remind brother about the word of wisdom and ask how he's doing, always drop by this one sister at 6:30 every thursday just to see if she's there, etc etc) man.  It's hard to leave all my hard work and effort into the hands of another. But I have to remember it wasn't really me who had a grip in the first place, Heavenly Father is in charge talaga and it doesn't matter how many schedules or short cuts or things I've got figured out here, what needs to happen will happen.

So then comes the question- where in the world am I going? you'll never believe it......I am RETURNING to GOA!!!! RETURNING TO WHERE I CAME!! and I will probably end there so that means I will have a grand slam total of 3 areas on my mission. So I will be going back home, back to my same apartment, will shop at the same prime with the bag guy who calls me "M-C-Grath M-C-Grath", will be lookin' out the same windows, dodging the same spiders  (I mean I guess it's their children spiders...they've multiplied since then I guess). The only catch is that this time I'm in the other ward....Goa 1st ward...and they think I know how to be an STL. I will be the only STL sister there, my companion Sis B has just finished her training and I'm her follow-up too. I've got to somehow figure out this whole sister training leader thing with no one to lead or train ME. Its so weird, I'm going to be in the same place as all my kabahay's were in Goa. The cool stl's downstairs, following up on all their people, etc. It's like the freakiest reverse/progression of my life. So ya.  At the moment, feeling very unqualified and like its all a big joke because I still feel like I don't even know what to say or how to fix things myself let alone train other sisters and go on exchanges with them...alone.......I guess stl really means shocked, terrified, and lonely. Help me out will ya with some prayers this week :D

So thats my crazy week. I've got to go catch the bus to Goa soon, email you next week! mahal na mahal kita! PRAY FO' ME PLEAZ

Love Sister McGrath

viva la virgin.