A Beautiful Day

Hey everybody!

So I will try to send more pictures for Dad, I just need to figure out how I can send more in one email haha Its great to hear that the Larkin's are back, Jordan better write me and also sweet that Ernie is now a Ward Mission Leader! That Work of Salvation broadcast was amazing and there is a lot to learn from it :) So to answer your question mom, being a zone leader is sweet because to get to serve all the missionaries a bunch. Here in Des Moines, we give the elders in our zone and bunch of rides b/c they don't have as many miles as we do so its great! I have come to understand better the saying of President Monson that it doesn't matter how many leadership positions you hold, but how many people you help! That is so true and that is something that we will be held accountable for so I love helping all these wonderful people in Des Moines.

Saturday was a beautiful day (hence the subject title) because we were blessed to have 8 people be baptized into the Des Moines Ward! I will attach a picture but it was totally awesome! Saydee and Rebecca were two of them and we had the chance to teach them a lot and it was so good to see them baptized! Saydee raised up his hands when he came up out of the water ahah it was like he had just won a boxing match or something but it was really cool to see how happy he was because he had been "born again". He talked about how good he felt knowing it was a fresh start and that he can not worry about anything that had happened in the past, but look towards the future with a lot of faith and hope!! Super sweet :) The other people in the picture is the Quayee family, also from Liberia,Africa! They are beautiful and it was such a sweet baptismal service!

Its sweet that there is a bunch of new art work in the chapel because we just talked about getting some more in our Stakecenter here so we can have better church tours for people who are interested. Last night, we began organizing plans to have a huge chapel presentation/church tour for anyone in Des Moines who wants to come. It will be 3 wards combining to make it happen and we will handing out fliers and getting it in the newspaper and everything for August 23rd and 24th(Friday and Saturday night). We hope that anybody who wants to see it will come, and also, that the members will invite their interested friends and neighbors! We, the missionaries, will guide the tour and teach while we do it ;) the Spirit is strong inside our chapels!

So the picture Dad got last night was from our investigators Jose and Maria! He thought he would be funny by adding the Valentines heart thing around it haha please pray for them b/c they are struggling making it to Church on Sundays and finding time to meet with us. They know its right and true, but they are going through a rough spell right now. but Elder Spackman is getting transferred on Thursday but I will stay here in Des Moines with the zone and get a new companion on Thursday as well at Transfer Meeting! The time is just flying by and I cant believe its almost August! We are excited with all the changes taking place right now with missionary work. We will be getting some sort of tablet soon (ipad?) to use for teaching and as an area book and we will be much more involved in doing Family History Work on computers at the Church. Also, we just found out about a new missionary dress & appearance thing, so that is awesome and it looks like we will be trying to eliminate the use of backpacks, which I agree with because it kinda makes you look immature and like a kid haha (who wears a suit with a backpack ;)) so its awesome and exciting!!!

I love all of you and hope that you all stay positive and "always look on the bright side of life" (Monty Python shout out!) Love you!

Elder McGinn

ps we totally laid some cement for this less active guy, Orlando (see picture) and it was pretty sweet! They said I was a natural so I guess the "home-improvement" blood from my dad does flow through me..a little bit haha and let me know if this way of sending pictures through Word works better!!!