September 12, 2011

Hey everyone!!!

      Thanks for all the emails and everything. Today was an aweosome Pday  we went to the castle it had the coolest view and we were reminded about how many more buildings we still have to go to and knock doors, and about how amazing the beach looks that we can´t go to. The water is so blue here. One day, one day. Hey happy birthday to matt, Logan and Dad. Hope you all had a good one. Dad yours is still coming up but I hope you have a good one. I sent a letter today for you all.

    Well the weather has been cooling down here but it is still super hot out. The people here only come outside after like five when the sun is going down. Or they are all at the beach. It is amazing how many people go to the beach almost everyday. I think I would too If I had a beach that close.

     So we are working really hard to get our investigators to understand that they need to be baptized. We have a bunch that are at the point where they could be baptized right now but they just won´t accept our invitation. It is definitely frustrating but when we look at it from their perspective it is understandable, Two random kids in a shirt and tie that come to their house and tell them they need to be baptized again. Yeah I would be a bit freaked out too. Well everything is still running smooth, pray for victor to stop drinking and pray for the Black people to be home when they tell us they will be. I love you all and know that the church is true no matter where you are in the world.

Love you all.

Elder McGarry

September 5, 2011

wow! that is so awesome that he is going on a mission. i knew he had the potential to shape up. i was worried about Jackson during Jr. high and high school. wondering where he was going to go in life. that makes me super happy. do you think you could get me his address?

well everything is going great here in alicante. we have this man named Victor that has been having  a lot of trouble with alcohol and smoking and the other day we went to his house and he opened the door and we could just see this huge change in him, we knew that something new had happened. So we went inside and he told us that he was done with smoking and drinking and we could tell that he hadn´t had any of that stuff for a while. he has a strong testimony of everything already and it is just so awesome to see his life change. now we are teaching his wife who just got back from ecuador, she doesn´t smoke drink or anything so i think she will just be a matter of time.

    Today we are going to play basketball. i play a lot of soccer and i think i am better at soccer now than i am at basketball. so i thought it would be a good idea to go play some today. everything is going good with the work here. although we are running out of people to teach so this week we are going to work on finding new investigators. we have a lot now but they aren´t really going anywhere so we want to get some fresh people started.

    i don´t think there is anything else that i need in the package so just put whatever in there. i am happy to recieve anything. thanks for all you do mom. oh and while Torie is at college i was wondering if you could maybe call her every now and then or something.

Love you mom

Elder McGarry

August 29, 2011

Well hello my dear family,

This week has been crazy, good, but crazy. We had 4 investigators come to church, it was so good to see them there. We had a guy named victor that we have been teaching for a while now. He has a lot of problems with smoking and drinking. We are trying to figure out a way to help him with these problems, its difficult because he needs to decide to stop doing them. He spends too much money on alcohol and smokes so he is always complaining about the bills that he has to pay that he doesn´t have any money for. So what we tell him is that he needs to use the money he would use for his beer and cigarros to pay for the bills. It just amazes me how many problems there are from breaking the word of wisdom. Not only health, but money is a big loss from it too. I can´t believe how many people here smoke, probably 1 out of 100,000 don´t smoke, and that is me and the other missionaries. If any one in the family ever decides to try a smoke or a drink, I will slap them. Keep that in mind, you will be Mitch slapped and it won´t feel good. So anyways I have seen a lot of change in the life of victor, he is wanting to know about Christ, the only problem he has is the word of wisdom, So pray for him that he will have the desire to stop drinking and smoking.

Also, we have a baptism set for the 17^th of September, we are hoping that all is going to work out. Juan Carlos decided that he wants to be baptized on the first of October, so we are going to try and make it a little bit sooner for him. All is going well in Alicante. Me and elder forrest are trying to focus on getting new investigators. So we are working with faith and asking the lord to put people in our path day to day. I am already half way through the transfer which is absolutely crazy to think about. So all in all everything is going smooth. Thanks for all the emails and support. I love you all.

ELDER McGARRY

August 22, 2011

Hello!

Well i have some super good news!!! I now have one baptism on my record!!! We are trying to figure out how to download the pictures to a computer here, if not I will have them printed and sent out to you. Everything went well with the baptism. Her name is Sandra and She was baptized by her husband Santiago. It was awesome. We have three more dates of baptisms, a girl named lina ( the daughter of Sandra) is on the 3^rd of September and a black couple ( Jennifer and Christopher) are on the 17^th of September, happy birthday dad, if those two work out then it will be your birthday present.

That was about the only thing that happened this week. We are just cruising around Alicante trying to find new people to talk to and teach. I did spend one day with another elder in Elche, Elder Hamilton, Elche is definatley a lot cleaner of a city but I feel more like I belong in Alicante right now. It is super hot and where ever we go the topic of the discussions are always started by the frase ( Que Calor!) so then we just talk about how much I sweat and then we teach a lesson and leave. Pretty routine. I am hoping for some rain sometime soon but I haven’t seen a cloud yet so I don´t think it is coming very soon. Well I love you all and thanks for the emails.

Love Elder McGarry

August 22, 2011

Hello!

Well i have some super good news!!! I now have one baptism on my record!!! We are trying to figure out how to download the pictures to a computer here, if not I will have them printed and sent out to you. Everything went well with the baptism. Her name is Sandra and She was baptized by her husband Santiago. It was awesome. We have three more dates of baptisms, a girl named lina ( the daughter of Sandra) is on the 3^rd of September and a black couple ( Jennifer and Christopher) are on the 17^th of September, happy birthday dad, if those two work out then it will be your birthday present.

That was about the only thing that happened this week. We are just cruising around Alicante trying to find new people to talk to and teach. I did spend one day with another elder in Elche, Elder Hamilton, Elche is definatley a lot cleaner of a city but I feel more like I belong in Alicante right now. It is super hot and where ever we go the topic of the discussions are always started by the frase ( Que Calor!) so then we just talk about how much I sweat and then we teach a lesson and leave. Pretty routine. I am hoping for some rain sometime soon but I haven’t seen a cloud yet so I don´t think it is coming very soon. Well I love you all and thanks for the emails.

Love Elder McGarry

August 15, 2011

Hey

Life is so great on the mission. I have some good news for this Saturday, so we were at this house eating on Sunday, in this family the only member is the dad, he is married and has 2 daughters, one is 16 the other 4. so while we were eating, the wife of this man just flat out says ¨I want to get baptized this Saturday!¨ I about jumped out of my seat. Wow! So we are setting up an interview to make sure that she is ready. But that was just an awesome experience!

I am starting to understand Spanish a lot more. There are still a lot of people that everything they say just goes straight over my head. But other than that everything is going great with the language.

Today we went to an activity with the ward up in the mountains about an Hour from here. It is called Castalla if any of you want to look it up. It is muy bonita so I took a lot of pics. I am going to send a card home soon so you can be updated on pictures. Me and elder forrest have been working hard and the lord is blessing us with people. One good thing I learned this week is the importance of service. We were helping this lady and her ten year old son with a giant grocery bag, then we got stuck in the elevator at their apartment and then we taught them a lesson, all because we helped them with their groceries.

I learned another thing also, if you and your companion are always doing the right thing the lord will protect you. We were going to church and some one threw an egg at us and it seriously missed us by inches. So cool! Miracles happen all the time. Sometimes it takes me a few days to realize them but they are happening everywhere.

The church is true and I know the book of mormon brings the truth of our church. If you read the book of mormon, you will know without a doubt that the church is true. Moroni says it better than I do. But I am seeing this book change the lives of people here in Spain. My mission is going by fast. I can´t believe that I have almost been out 4 months. Wow

Well I love you all

Love

Elder McGarry

August 8, 2011

Hey everyone, so all our baptisms have failed us, but that is okay. We are working hard and trying to find new people to teach. We have two more dates for baptisms one is on the 20^th of this month and the other is on the 3^rd of September and they seem to be going a lot more smoothly than the other ones that we had.

So this week has been really awesome, I had my first Zone Conference, Pres. Clegg is so awesome. I left that conference feeling like I could do anything. It was an awesome experience. The work here in Alicante is going smooth and there is a lot of help from the members here. We just had another transfer and me and elder forrest are still together so we have at least another 6 weeks here in Alicante. That was good news because elder forrest knows Alicante a lot better than I do. It is pretty crazy how they do transfers they just call you tell you where you are going and then 3 days later you are gone to that place wherever you are going. It is almost like getting your mission call over again because every place we can go here is so different than the other. I love it here in Alicante and I am not ready to leave yet apparently me and elder forrest have some unfisished work we need to get done.

Mom I got your package and my asthma is fine. I was wondering if in your next package you could send me a three ring binder. Just a small one. I need to organize my papers here but they don´t have three ring binders. They have four ring binders. They are just trying to one up America. But that is okay we have Dr. Pepper and Reeses on them .

I really do love spain this place is filled with people from all over the world and I am just feeling my testimony increasing every day. I love the people we are teaching and just want to help them change their lives for the better.

Well I love you all

Hasta la proximo lunes

Elder McGarry

August 1, 2011

So this week we met this family of 6 people and we have been teaching them the gospel and English and it has just been a good experience. One of the daughters came to church yesterday and it was a good experience for her. We have been teaching this man named Juan Carlos too that has come to church the last two times I just hope that he gets an answer from reading the scriptures that our message is true.

     Everything is going good. My companion is awesome and is teaching me everyuthing that I need to know. I cant believe that it is already Monday!!! Wow the weeks here just go by way too fast I can´t hardly remember what I did last week. That is why I have a journal right? So each day here just gets hotter and hotter. I think I am sweating by the gallons now. I am having fun learning about this culture and meeting all sorts of people. I think I have met someone from every country in south America except for Paraguay and Brazil, to be honest south Americans are a million times easier to understand than Spaniards. Spaniards talk way to fast for me right now but Spanish is coming, little by little. I have learned that that is how the lord works, little by little. When we are trying to learn something the lord will make it so we learn it we just have to be patient and do our part. If we do all we can the lord will bless us to be able to do things that we cant even imagine. I never thought I would be learning and speaking Spanish to people from all over the world. This is such an experience, it is fun and I can see my testimony growing each day as I work in the lords vineyard.

July 25, 2011

Hola Madre,

 

So this week has been a very awesome week. We set two more baptism dates for the 6 and the 20^th of august. Unfortunately the ones for the 31^st aren´t going to happen but we are still going to work with them and help them find the truth for themselves. I feel like the lord is contantly helping us with his work. He knows how to do it the best and I just need to always listen. It is hard to listen with all these motos zooming around everywhere. I think everyone and their dog have a moto. And all the cars here are like squished down to an abnormal size. It somewhat reminds me of whoville. Anyways we have been working with this man named Juan Carlos and he came to church with us yesterday. It was so cool showing him everything in the chapel and teaching him the importance of the sacrament. It was funny because at one point of the sacrament meeting the person giving the talk asked a question and Juan Carlos Yells out “ No” ! he is awesome. And we have another man named luis that we are teaching, yes another luis. He is from Ecuador and is the only one that reads the chapters that we give him to read. We just need to find a way to get him to church. He comes to all the activities during the week with his daughter and he just has this strong desire to learn more about Christ. It is awesome to see him grow each week. I am starting to find my way around Alicante without having to ask my companion where we are every ten second. So I think I will be okay if he happens to get transferred next week. This city really is like a maze, and randomly there will me a soccer field.

Every Saturday we play fútbol at the church with all sorts of people. I look like a regular white kid trying to keep up with all these natives, or in other words I am terrible at soccer. I seriously wonder how some major league soccer team hasn´t picked any of these kids up. People here play soccer from the time they can walk. I get beat by seven year olds. It is definitely a humbling experience.

So this week we had President clegg come visit us and me and my companion made them a spaghetti lunch. It tasted good but we used up all of our supplies that we bought that week. Its okay though because the members feed us everyday. I finally had some paella outside of the MTC. It was really good it had chicken, rice and some sort of beans in it. But it was good. We get to taste a lot of different foods because ¾ of the ward in from different south American countries. But no matter what you will always find rice or some sort of potatoes on your plate. Oh and they make really good French fries. Yesterday at a members house, her name is Amalia, she mad this heaping mound of fries for us and with the seven people at the table we didn’t finish the fries. That was how many there were for us to eat.

This would be a good place for madi to live because everyone here listens to Michael Jackson. I hear at least five of his songs every day. I wonder why they like him so much. Logan would like this place to because too because they light fireworks off every 5 minutes. i always have to check my body to make sure i haven´t been shot. I had my first icecream the other day and time stopped completely. The ice cream here Is from heaven. I think we need to teach more lessons in the ice cream shops then people might realize that there really is a god. I will even pay for their ice cream if it helps their testimonies grow.

Any ways thanks for all the emails and support you give me

Love you all

Elder McGarry

July 18, 2011

Hey mom!

So this week  we have been working super hard and we taught a solid 29 lessons our goal for the mission is 20 a week so we did pretty good. We have 3 baptisms set up so far, two for the 31st of july and the other for the 6th of August. I hope all works out. We are teaching two men named luis and a lady named lucia. So i get all the names mixed up. We are teaching a lot more people than that but they are the ones with baptismal dates. So basically spanish is coming for me but whenever we are in a lesson and someone says something to me in spanish it goes right past my head and i say ¿Cómo? About 30 times and then my companion just translates it for me. But i am making progress! I am able to say enough to teach the lessons i just need to expand my vocabulary to other words other than gospel oriented words. There is a man in my ward named Elias Aldrade and aparently he served his mission with uncle scott. It is a small world. I thought going to spain that there would be no connections with anything in my life before my mission. I thought that was cool.

The food here is good. Different but good. We went to a members house the other day and they gave us a mound of chicken alfredo. they didn´t know that that stuff is worshipped by any missionaries who are from america and living off of 140$ a month. Wow it was good. But they like green olives here. It would be a good place for Jaicey to live, if she still likes those. And they like to put tuna fish in everything. Not a big fan of tuna fish, but when i am hungry i will even eat a bug! Yes i ate some nasty looking bug from a columbian man in my ward named jaime. It actually didn´t taste too bad and you weren´t supposed to swallow it. Just the fact that there was a bug in my mouth was kind of disgusting.

It is pretty funny before we lift the mtc. Our president there gave us some advice and it was to go to the apartment buildings and ask for all the south americans in the building. And i now understand why. All of our investigators are south american and we have one from negeria and two from the dominican republic. There are a lot of people from ecuador and columbia and argentina.

In our Piso ( apartment) we have four missionaries that are doing the work here in Alicante. And yes it is a huge city for the four of us, i hear there are around 300,000 people here. Crazy but we are always busy with something and everything is going good. My companion is awesome and has taught me everything that i need to know. And last but not least i am sick of seeing Harry Potter posters everywhere. I think it is a test from heavenly father that the last movie of my favorite series decided to come out when i am on my mission. I will survive, don´t worry i am staying focused. Love you all

ELDER MCGARRY

July 11, 2011

hey mom!

 yeah the man doctor cook knows is in elche i beleive. so yeah everything is going good here we have two baptismal dates and hopefully they go through. Today we are just hanging out and cleaning the apartment and stuff. i am glad that that blog is getting updated. the mission president and his wife are amazing!

     Spanish is going good and i am already forgetting how to speak english. anyways i am doing good and my companion is teaching me everything. he is from provo and went to timpveiw high school. he is awesome. but we are just trying to work our hardest and bring people to christ. there are a lot of people here that don´t even give us the chance to talk to them. but everhting is good

i love you mom and happy birthday on wednesday!!
 Love Elder MCGarry

July 7, 2011

 Hey mom, 

 

My p days are on mondays and i have been doing great. it is hot as heck and i have lost about 8 pounds. wow. i feel much lighter. my companions name is Elder Forrest. the first thing i thought of wheen i met him was forrest gump. just the name. there is nothing wrong with him. he is a good trainer and helps me to use my spanish and gives me opportunites to speak in lessons. i am glad you had a good fourth of july. nothing happened here. they do light off fireworks about every other day. these spaniards are crazy partiers. 

My address to my apartment is 

        

      Plaza Actozano Nº 3 1-D

      03010 Alicante Spain

 

So yes i am in alicante which is about as far east as you can go in my mission. google earth the address and you will be able to see it. there are about a million apartments and it stinks not being able to see any open land. i think i would rather be in some small village but i think the lord put me here so i can figure out how to use a map. this place is like a maze. i still haven´t figured out how to get to the grocery store. but everything is going great. i have met a bunch of new people. president Clegg is awesome and make sure you and Torie look up the Blog because i think there are some pictures of me on there. 

   Kilee: The earth quake is a joke right? so there are no monos here (monkeys) but there is a billion pigeons and wild cats everywhere. i could get you one of those if you want. i will give all the Elders that i trust with my cousin your phone number and then you can decide if they are attractive or not. that is awesome that your friend knows elder brown, i have no idea where he is right now. but everything is going great and spanish is definately hard to understand. 

Love you all 

Elder McGarry

P.S. whatever else you would like to put in the package sounds good to me. just make sure it wont melt.

June 22, 2011

Hey mom,

My spanish is coming great. i still have a lot to work on but it is fun to learn. they kind of back us with all the grammar and then we jsut learn the rest i the field. i did get your package the other day. it was great!! thanks. i really like the smell of american deodrant. have Jaicey write me when she gets back from her EFY. that is cool that she got a car. tell carson that i am sorry that he got out of the playoffs. that stinks but tell him that i never won a championship and that he made it farther than i ever did. i sent joey an email and he emailed me back so that was good. but it was before he went into the MTC. it was good to hear from him. thanks for giving me coltons address. thats crazy that he has been in the feild for 3 weeks!!! well i leave on tuesday morning at five. which is about 9 at monday night in utah. we go on a bullet train so im pretty excited. its like going on the hogwarts express. thats sad that andrew has pneumonia. tell him hi for me when you see him next. he is a funny kid.

well i love you and miss you and the famimily.

Love Elder McGarry

June 24, 2011

June 16, 2011

Hey mom

thanks for the letter the other day and for the email. so my scripture is Helaman 12:5. thought i would hurry and say that real quick. also will you send me some ryan shupe cds we can listen to music hereand i am craving ryan shupe music. so today we got to plant flowers in the temple garden. it was pretty cool. i didnt get to take pictures. actually i forgot to take picures. but it was fun to play in the dirt for a minute. thanks for all you do. and for all the support you give me. im glad everybody is doing great. will you tel jaicey to give me zanes address so i can do a background check real quick. i just need to find out more about him so that she doesnt run around with the wrong sort. does she have a car yet? anyways i love you mom. have a great week and tell jon happy fathers day for me.

Love

Elder McGarry

June 9, 2011

hi mom, i am glad that everyone is doing fine. thanks for all the updates. that is awesome that carson got a double hit in his game. tell him to smack one over the fence for me.

so my adress is

 

Elder McGarry

Centro de Capacitación misional

Calle del templo, 2, planta 4

28030 MADRID

ESPAÑA

 

i havent sent colton a letter yet because i don´t know his address. but when you send him a letter let him know my address so he can mail me. thanks for all the packages and stuff you have sent me over the time in the MTC. Spain is so much fun. on P´-days we get to go out into the city and do all sorts of stuff. today we are going to the real madrid stadium just to take pictures and see all the stuff. it is going to be awesome. i will sendmy SD card again in another week or so. i just need to fill it up with pictures.. i dont want to send an empty one. also i will send a scripture to you for my plaque. some time later tonight. also on saturdays we go into this giant park and talk to people about the gospel. its fun and scary at the same time. a lot of people don´t beleive in god it is sad. well i need to go to lunch. i love you.

Love Elder MCGarry

June 1, 2011

Hola madre,

i am in spain safely thanks for the phone call.

How is every thing since i talked to you? Tomorrow i get to email for a few hours so i will let you know what is going on tomorrow.

<love ya,

<elder McGarry

May 24

Hello mother. how is everything going for you?

Im glad everyone is having a good time with their sports! how is carsons swing coming along? remember Tories a great softball player if they need any help. thanks for all of the care packages. they are making me fat. i haven't really gained that much weight because i work out at the gym everyday but they sure feed us a lot here. thanks for the letters and stuff. how is Jon doing? i dont hear from him that much. i got laurens graduation. that is awesome!!!! hey will you send me Derek Pypers address so i can shoot him a letter. Thanks for all you do for me mom. you are the best mom and im definately having qa good time out here. i love you so much.

Elder McGarry

May 9

Hey mom i don't have much time on the computer left but i will write everyone a letter. just know i love you and that you mean a lot to me. sorry i wasn't able to call on mothers day. you are the best mom. and i love receiving your packages. i have like thirty minutes on the computer and about 7 left  it is pretty crazy how much time we don't have here. i wish we could have some nap time of all the sitting i do all day i am surprised that i am still so tired. its an amazing spirit here. as much as i miss home and family and torie, i know that this is where i need to be. there is like a feeling that i just know im suposed to be here. and i feel comfortable here. the spanish will get better but i feel good with the language. i will send a letter to every one. i love you guys. thanks for everything.

love Elder McGarry

1st email

Hey mom!!! and family

thanks for all the packages you have sent me over the last few days it was very needed for me to get through my first week. i really needed those basketball shoes for sure. im greatful for all the support that the family gives to me and i am greatful to finally be on my mission. the time is already going by fast. i can't believe that it is already my first p-day. spanish is going great and i am learning fast. i still struggle at times but it is picking up. all my clothes are being washed right now so that will be nice to have some fresh clothes to wear. i am glad to be here.

      so every thing is going well we met our branch presidency on sunday and im not so sure how i feel about the president. he kind of scares me but of course he is a nice man. and he looks like donald trump. one of his counselors looks exactly like mr. smee on the movie Hook!!! just without the beard. the district that i am in is great and im getting along well with my companions. Elder brown went to Bingam high school but he doesn't know any of our cousins. and Elder Roberts is from Arizona. the food here makes me sick but it tastes good. i like the unlimited beverages! there are two kids in my district that are going to the washington Everett mission, i thought maybe you could tell britton odle that. we have about 6 hours of class every day so it is somewhat boring. but we learn a lot. i feel like i have learned more this week than in all of my school years. Today for P-day we get to go to the temple so it will be nice to get out of this place for a while. and then we have some sort of a devotional tonight with the branch presidency. i have seen a lot of people that i know, Casey Christensen is here along with Justin Keck( Matt Kecks cousin) and about 7 other kids i know. my companion Elder Brown Played basketball for UVU and he is super good. he is fun to play with. and they have vending machines here that are full of ice cream treats. i think i'm going to get one when i am done writing. they told me to recommend dear elder to you but i like the way you send stuff. its great. will you send me nannies email so that i can email her next time? im going to send her a letter but i want to email. i can only email family for 30 minutes which is nowhere near enough time.

      That cake you sent me was amazing! i haven't eaten very much of it yet but it sure was good! tell carson thanks for the letter. and tell him he has a letter on the way to him. i love all of you and hope you are doing well. i'm very grateful for the family i have been blessed with and cant wait to see you in 2!!!

 

ELDER MCGARRY

 

P.S. do you think that you could call and check on my visa for me? Muchas Gracias Mama