Hello family,
So today is a P-day obviously. We are going to the temple again today which kind of stinks because it is back to back P-days, but that is alright because last time was super cool. I am looking forward to going again this time. I don't think I will really listen to the translator much.
THANKS so much for the package! It was a much needed pick me up and here is why. Let's get to my actual week.
The day right after I last messaged you was absolutely horrible. I came down with a fever Wednesday night and stayed in bed all day Thursday without going to class. I felt so bad for my companion but we did a switch halfway through the day so that he could at least get to some classes. I visited the enfermeria twice that day and both times was diagnosed wrong. The second time actually helped though, because they gave me a huge bottle of like this Gatorade type stuff so it helped me get hydrated. The next morning I woke up feeling better so of course I thought it was just a one day thing. That day I went to all my normal classes, did my studying, and even played a district vs district ultimate frisbee game but then that night I got a fever again. I have been getting like 2 or 3 fevers every day since and Ibuprophen has been my savior. Yesterday I visited the doctor again because I'm still not better and I'm getting my blood tested at 9 am, which is why I'm writing so early.
As for the spiritual stuff this week I memorized all of D&C 4 in Spanish. In Sunday we had a great devotional about the life of Joseph Smith and the Restoration. Yesterday we had Cook speak to us from Provo. He talked about 4 types of love as a missionary:
1. Love for your companion
2. Love for the people
3. Love for your mission president
and most importantly
4. Love for the Savior.
Wow, I almost forgot I was in an earthquake this week! That is probably something I should mention. The earthquake wasn't here in Mexico City. The epicenter was actually like 60 miles from here, which is a place called Puebla. I did, however, feel it. I was actually in the doctor's office yesterday when it happened and everything was shaking but it wasn't violent at all. The ground just shifted like two or three times, then you felt a little wobbly. Also, the drill wasn't helpful for me, because I have already had a drill and another earthquake while I have been here, so I knew exactly what to do. Pretty much you walk outside and stand in a green circle. It is simple, you just have to be paying attention to the alarm when it goes off.
Grandma Murray asked a question that nobody has asked yet so I'll answer that. The ratio of Latinos to Americans here is pretty stark. There are probably around 500 Americans and 200 Latinos. I am already getting sick of the MTC and want to be in the field. I am starting to feel like a veteran here because it is my 4th week. It's crazy. Thanks for the prayers, thanks for all the support, and thanks for that package. I love you all! Keep doing the good work back home and keep me posted. Mom, keep up the good work with the job applying and the strange house jobs. Also tell Jacob and Gabe if I don't have an email from them when I get back on later tonight I'm gonna be really upset.
Love,
Dave (Elder Murray)
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
September 13th - Hola! Second P-day
What is up family?
It hasn't been too long since my last pday because it was only on Friday but some cool things are still happening here at the CCM. Today I think I'm going to draft my first large letter right now, for like a half an hour, because we are going to the temple here in Mexico City at around 10 am our time, which is 9 for you guys. I see that Dad and Uncle Rico are starting to mix in some Spanish words in their letters which is pretty great. I have been learning a ton here at the CCM. I can understand a lot of stuff in Spanish but it is still so hard to understand Latinos. They speak muy rapido.
Alright, let's see what has happened this week. On Saturday we got two new fake investigators to teach. We have a guy named Yahir who is stubborn and won't respond to about anything we say. He is just there because his wife wants him to be, he won't pray, he won't get baptised and he won't really listen to the things we have to say because he thinks they aren't necessary. This is good practice because we will probably encounter people like this in el campo. On Sunday we had sacrament meeting. You do sacrament meeting with your branch in the CCM, so our branch is 14 people all together. The rest of Sunday consisted of the theme of el plan de salvacion. So we had a priesthood meeting on that, then a couple of devotionals about the same thing. My favorite part of Sunday was a devotional that Holland gave in 2011 to missionaries about their purpose and love for the Savior.
On Monday we got back into the regular swing of things and learned about some language and ways to teach and pretty much just bonded as a district. Everyone in my district gets all kinds of packages and letters every day through some website thing that you can send stuff directly here to the CCM with. This week the language things we have been learning are pretty repetitive. We have leaned Tener Que, Querer, Necessitar, and Deber which all mean you should or you have to or you need to do something so not super duper helpful but it still teaches you about grammar and flow in Espanol. This week during gym time we played a lot of ultimate frisbee which is very fun but it rains a lot here so its sorta muddy and that isn't always the best thing when you dive for a bad pass and cover half your body in mud! Looks like we are doing laundry today, not like I wouldn't have done it anyway.
My last day was yesterday which was Tuesday. We do normal stuff all morning like teach our investigators and language study and power of prayer stuff then towards the end we have a devotional because all of the new missionaries come in on Tuesday. We also get pizza. The devotional last night was from an area presidency member and they had a translator. I sang in the choir this week and I have already asked Hermana Pugmeyer if I can audition to be a special musical number so I hope I can get to do that.
It hasn't been too long since my last pday because it was only on Friday but some cool things are still happening here at the CCM. Today I think I'm going to draft my first large letter right now, for like a half an hour, because we are going to the temple here in Mexico City at around 10 am our time, which is 9 for you guys. I see that Dad and Uncle Rico are starting to mix in some Spanish words in their letters which is pretty great. I have been learning a ton here at the CCM. I can understand a lot of stuff in Spanish but it is still so hard to understand Latinos. They speak muy rapido.
Alright, let's see what has happened this week. On Saturday we got two new fake investigators to teach. We have a guy named Yahir who is stubborn and won't respond to about anything we say. He is just there because his wife wants him to be, he won't pray, he won't get baptised and he won't really listen to the things we have to say because he thinks they aren't necessary. This is good practice because we will probably encounter people like this in el campo. On Sunday we had sacrament meeting. You do sacrament meeting with your branch in the CCM, so our branch is 14 people all together. The rest of Sunday consisted of the theme of el plan de salvacion. So we had a priesthood meeting on that, then a couple of devotionals about the same thing. My favorite part of Sunday was a devotional that Holland gave in 2011 to missionaries about their purpose and love for the Savior.
On Monday we got back into the regular swing of things and learned about some language and ways to teach and pretty much just bonded as a district. Everyone in my district gets all kinds of packages and letters every day through some website thing that you can send stuff directly here to the CCM with. This week the language things we have been learning are pretty repetitive. We have leaned Tener Que, Querer, Necessitar, and Deber which all mean you should or you have to or you need to do something so not super duper helpful but it still teaches you about grammar and flow in Espanol. This week during gym time we played a lot of ultimate frisbee which is very fun but it rains a lot here so its sorta muddy and that isn't always the best thing when you dive for a bad pass and cover half your body in mud! Looks like we are doing laundry today, not like I wouldn't have done it anyway.
My last day was yesterday which was Tuesday. We do normal stuff all morning like teach our investigators and language study and power of prayer stuff then towards the end we have a devotional because all of the new missionaries come in on Tuesday. We also get pizza. The devotional last night was from an area presidency member and they had a translator. I sang in the choir this week and I have already asked Hermana Pugmeyer if I can audition to be a special musical number so I hope I can get to do that.
As for you guys it sounds like your week has been pretty good other then Jacob's idiot coach.Who does he think he is? Jacob is a beast. The hike sounds like it was pretty fun. Too bad we couldn't have taken some more "senior pics," Sucks that BYU lost, but I figured that they would. One of the guys in our district works for ESPN and so he gets all the sports stats every week. They have a lot of cereal here at the CCM so I could eat Fruit Loops every day if I wanted. Sadly their isn't any Cinnamon Life. Keep up the good work back home. I love you all.
As for a little spiritual thought, I will share with you this. When I first left on the mission I don't think I really knew what I was in for. I didn't know for certain why I was here or why I sacrificed so much. Now that I have been here for a while, I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that the church is true. I can tell you that I know the only way to receive true happiness in this life and in eternity is through our Savior Jesus Christ. When He rose on the third day He came to his apostles and asked Peter if he loved Him three times, and three times Peter replied that he did. When you ask me why I am serving it is this, Jesus Christ told Peter that if he loved Him then he was to feed His sheep. That is what I am here to do, because I love my Savior and this gospel. I will do what He asks of me and that is to feed His sheep.
As for a little spiritual thought, I will share with you this. When I first left on the mission I don't think I really knew what I was in for. I didn't know for certain why I was here or why I sacrificed so much. Now that I have been here for a while, I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that the church is true. I can tell you that I know the only way to receive true happiness in this life and in eternity is through our Savior Jesus Christ. When He rose on the third day He came to his apostles and asked Peter if he loved Him three times, and three times Peter replied that he did. When you ask me why I am serving it is this, Jesus Christ told Peter that if he loved Him then he was to feed His sheep. That is what I am here to do, because I love my Savior and this gospel. I will do what He asks of me and that is to feed His sheep.
Love,
Elder Murray (Dave)
Friday, September 8, 2017
September 8th - At long last!
David emailed us as soon as he reached the MTC to let us know he had arrived safely. He told us his p-day would be on Wednesday, but when the day came, he had to go get his visa. So he was finally able to write today. Hooray!
Hello family,
It feels like I have been here at the MTC for years but it has only been ten days. As I said in my previous tiny letter, the schedule here is pretty messed up for new missionaries so I haven't had a single p-day until today. I only have 1 hour so I will try and write as much as I can.
Let's start out with the trip here. I got on my flight at Denver to Dallas and I put my bag above my head so I didn't have it the entire flight but that's okay since I mostly slept. The people in front of me were watching a bad rated movie so that kind of sucked to start the mission out, but such is the world. The next flight I had was boarding at 1:45 and I got off my plane at 2:00 so that was real close! I ran through the Dallas airport to get there on time. So you know how you said I would probably have missionaries on the plane with me? I didn't. I went through the whole flight alone next to some Spanish swim team and when I arrived at the airport I went through immigration alone and got my bags. As I exited the airport I found a Spanish man holding a Spanish sign that I only knew was Mormon because of the little Moroni. He spoke no English. Another sister was supposed to arrive the same time as me so we waited...and waited for 2 hours to no avail! The sister never showed so I drove the crazy, crazy streets of Mexico City alone in a bus with only a Spanish driver who the only word he said to me in English the whole time was "water" and pointing upwards because the rain was absolutely dumping. I got to the MTC and ate some cold pizza that I microwaved which, btw, was the only thing I ate that whole day other than breakfast and that jerky. Eventually I got taken to my house and met my companion at around 10 at night.
My companion is a little guy named Elder Cranford. He is from Utah and he plays the saxophone and he is a total nerd. I love the guy though.
Hello family,
It feels like I have been here at the MTC for years but it has only been ten days. As I said in my previous tiny letter, the schedule here is pretty messed up for new missionaries so I haven't had a single p-day until today. I only have 1 hour so I will try and write as much as I can.
Let's start out with the trip here. I got on my flight at Denver to Dallas and I put my bag above my head so I didn't have it the entire flight but that's okay since I mostly slept. The people in front of me were watching a bad rated movie so that kind of sucked to start the mission out, but such is the world. The next flight I had was boarding at 1:45 and I got off my plane at 2:00 so that was real close! I ran through the Dallas airport to get there on time. So you know how you said I would probably have missionaries on the plane with me? I didn't. I went through the whole flight alone next to some Spanish swim team and when I arrived at the airport I went through immigration alone and got my bags. As I exited the airport I found a Spanish man holding a Spanish sign that I only knew was Mormon because of the little Moroni. He spoke no English. Another sister was supposed to arrive the same time as me so we waited...and waited for 2 hours to no avail! The sister never showed so I drove the crazy, crazy streets of Mexico City alone in a bus with only a Spanish driver who the only word he said to me in English the whole time was "water" and pointing upwards because the rain was absolutely dumping. I got to the MTC and ate some cold pizza that I microwaved which, btw, was the only thing I ate that whole day other than breakfast and that jerky. Eventually I got taken to my house and met my companion at around 10 at night.
My companion is a little guy named Elder Cranford. He is from Utah and he plays the saxophone and he is a total nerd. I love the guy though.
The next two days at the MTC were the absolute suck and I found myself wondering if I had made the right choice by coming here at all. Think of all of the stressful things you have done, and combine them into one day of absolute expectations. After a while I have finally started to get into a rhythm. Specifically my days go like this I wake up at 6:30 cada dia, and then get showered and go to breakfast around 7:15. Following that I go to classes with my morning teacher Hermano Gomez and I learn everything from the gift of tongues to the life of Christ. Usually we have a session of TALL in the morning which is a language program we use to learn phrases and grammar and words and things. After Tall and my morning classes, I go to lunch. The food here is pretty good depending on the day. In the lunch room I say a lot of gracias and disgulpe, which are hello and excuse me. After lunch we go to a class with our afternoon teacher. Her name is Hermana Leyva. She was also our first "investigator." That is what we do after the beginning of our afternoon classes - we usually teach a lesson to "frida" our teacher. This Saturday though, we get two new investigators but they are both going to be our teachers too. Mostly what has gotten me through the CCM so far is getting close with my district and trying to do the Lord's work. After we teach our investigator we get to go to dinner and then we have planning and study after. That is pretty much my basic schedule with a whole lot of study times and other things like devotionals worked in. Usually after lunch we get to have an hour of gym time, which is pretty much my saving grace. I have had a whole lot of experiences here that have been super spiritual and a whole lot of experiences that I have totally hated every minute of. For my lessons, the first one was rough since we have to teach in Spanish but I am getting slowly better. I can pretty much say most of the things I want in a prayer in Spanish now. I can bear my testimony, share an experience, get to know someone, and say eat dirt (comme tierra) which is something the Latinos taught me that they said was a greeting, to mess with new missionaries.
There are houses here, like 50 of them, and they are kind of like dorm rooms. There is a little lobby place too, and a laundry room and a kitchen that is locked. As for how big, it is semi-big. There is enough room for the 50 casas and 6 long class buildings, and the reception place, the Thomas S. Monson building, and a church building sorta thing. I think there are two of those. Also there are 3 outdoor basketball courts, one indoor full court, and several volleyball nets around the campus. This place used to be a mexican high school, I am pretty sure. Also, you have the tienda, the post office, a ton of computer labs, and a gym. It is really nice. All of the other kids in my district are American. My district is one of the best ones here. I love all the other elders and our hermanas are okay. We have a guy that was working for ESPN before the mission in our district
As for a spiritual experience for you guys, one of the days this first week was really, really tough and I found myself wanting to go home really bad. I prayed to know why I was feeling the way I did and I opened my scriptures to John chapter 1, which talks about sharing the things that you know to be true but it also talks about using the Atonement and I realized I needed to be praying for forgiveness every day. This experience brought me closer to Christ and taught me the reason why I am here, which is because my Savior came to the earth and died for me and because of it my life is so much better and I want others to have the same opportunity to use the Atonement and come closer to Christ just like I have these first few weeks.
Love,
Dave
August 29th - He's off and away!
This morning we drove David to the Denver International Airport to head to the Mexico MTC where he will learn Spanish for his California Fresno Mission, Spanish speaking.
David was pretty nervous the night before, but quite a few friends showed up to say good-bye, and that helped a ton! We had a Brazilian night, where his older brother Ben who just returned from his mission to Brazil, made churassco, veche, rice, and a strange herbal drink called chimarrao. David chatted with his visitors while his brothers lit off his fireworks. He had already been set apart as a missionary so he couldn't! It was a fun night and a good distraction.
David seemed pretty calm on the way to the airport. We took our pictures and had our last hugs, then just as we were about to leave each other, a man walked up and introduced himself as Bishop Someone (I can't remember his name!) and asked if David had been set apart. I said he had, and so he said he would be David's companion until he got on the plane. He walked off with David toward security and that was that. We thought it was a sweet tender mercy of the Lord. David didn't have to worry and walk alone or wait for his plane alone. Bless that bishop!
David was pretty nervous the night before, but quite a few friends showed up to say good-bye, and that helped a ton! We had a Brazilian night, where his older brother Ben who just returned from his mission to Brazil, made churassco, veche, rice, and a strange herbal drink called chimarrao. David chatted with his visitors while his brothers lit off his fireworks. He had already been set apart as a missionary so he couldn't! It was a fun night and a good distraction.
David seemed pretty calm on the way to the airport. We took our pictures and had our last hugs, then just as we were about to leave each other, a man walked up and introduced himself as Bishop Someone (I can't remember his name!) and asked if David had been set apart. I said he had, and so he said he would be David's companion until he got on the plane. He walked off with David toward security and that was that. We thought it was a sweet tender mercy of the Lord. David didn't have to worry and walk alone or wait for his plane alone. Bless that bishop!
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