January 29th - Round Two Bike Crash

Family,

What is up?

This week was awesome! I started it all out with Zone Conference on Tuesday, which was my first zone conference of the mission and it was great! Just to give you a little spiritual insight: all of us start out like little tiny Charlie Brown Christmas trees. Our faith might seem small sometimes and over the years we might look and see that it really doesn't seem like it has grown much. If we continue to nurture it and persevere to the end, then our faith can and will grow into a beautiful pine tree. We just have to protect it from lawn mowing teenagers and set up rocks around it to guard it. So the other thing that happened at zone conference is a lot of things got changed up. The last mission president here in the California Fresno Mission was extremely strict and had a lot of extra rules put in place, things like you always have to part your hair, you can't wear floral or penguin ties, and you cannot purchase caffeinated sodas or have them in your apartment if a member gives one to you. There are a couple others too, but basically President Mackay got rid of like all of them during this zone conference. This mission is in a reform and the new president wants us to exercise our agency more and decide what we think a representative of Jesus Christ would do. He related the last president's rules to the law of Moses which made sense, thanks to Mom!

After the Zone Conference, we had an exchange with one of the elders I like most in the mission, Elder Passey. That night was great. We worked on this song the whole night and had a blast. The next day we had a great day in the morning. We studied like always, then ended our exchanges. Then we rode to the church for Mormon.org time.

That is when it happened. Now the last time I crashed my bike, it was not bad at all. The only thing I had to show for it was ripped pants, but no physical damage. This one was different. I didn't break anything, don't worry! I was riding really fast down Sunset and then I turned around and saw that my companions had stopped to talk to someone I hadn't seen. Well, in order for me to look back, I only had one hand on the handles. I pulled the break next to my hand and I pulled it hard. The break ended up being the front break, so my bike stopped but I didn't. I went over the handle bars! My hand is mega scraped and I bruised my thigh really bad. Also, my head hit pretty good Thank goodness for helmets. I am mostly recovered now. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We went on another exchange with Elder Theurer, who is another awesome elder, but mostly we just talked to everyone we could.

One of the families we have been teaching came to church this week, which was cool. We had a regional broadcast this Sunday which was pretty cool, and the only apostle I have ever met spoke, but I had to listen to the whole thing in Spanish which is hard because I can understand most things, but I have to concentrate really hard and my head starts to hurt. Like really hurt. Today was rough because our cards didn't refill like we thought they would so we had about no
money for groceries. The Lord had a hand in our life though, because we found a $20 in the road the other night and we were able to get most of what we needed with that. To answer your inquiry, it wasn't the middle of the night when I crashed my bike the first time. It gets dark here around 5:30 when we are in dinner, so we do ride our bikes in the dark. I love you all so much and I am so happy to be serving a mission here in Madera. It really is the life. You get to rely on the Lord so much and I love teaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Good luck this week!

Love,
Elder Murray

January 22nd - The Bike Incident

Hello Family!

This week was pretty good but wasn't my best. First, business though. I seem to have lost the cord that connects into my camera. It is supposed to be a USB on the other end so I was hoping that you could get me a new one. it is a sony camera. The next thing is yes, I have received the Greenie package. Most of it is actually gone already. There are a lot of opportunities to wear sweaters here in the winter because it isn't always cold enough for my big coat so if anyone wants to send me anything I want food and sweaters.

Now for my week.This week started off pretty regular. Tuesday we just studied and tried to teach as many lessons as we could. The next day, which was Wednesday, was Trainer Trainee which is the meeting that you can see on the California Fresno Mission blog. There was some great classes and we played a fun game where we had to make a square out of a rope with blind folds on. I was pretty much the leader, so that was kinda cool. 

After the meeting we went to In-n-Out for lunch, which has been like the third time I have been there but I still love it. It is kinda sad though, because I can't really afford to eat out so it's pretty rare and when I do it's bitter sweet. On Thursday we had another regular mission day, so we studied and taught people. The next day was Friday and we went to the area called Fig Garden which is much richer than Madera. We talked to this guy in the park that was flying a drone and that was pretty cool. Also I saw and talked to the first punjavi that I have talked to in the mission. 

The next day, which was Saturday, I crashed on my bike, this is quite a story so here we go. I was leading for the first time. I am really bad with directions and still have no idea where I am going in Madera, but I went on this sidewalk and it was the middle of the night so I went to go down the sidewalk in one of the flat places and didn't see that it was blocked off with a wire and a sign. I hit the sign head-on with my leg and it ripped my pants in a huge line. Also, when I hit the sign it hit my knee and snapped up into my chin so that is cut now. It really wasn't that bad though so don't worry. I always wear shorts under my pants so it wasn't even showing anything underneath. 

The next day was Sunday which was pretty terrible because none of our investigators showed up to church that is pretty much all I have to report for that day. Today we are gonna have a movie day and after I email I'm going
to Panda Express. There is an elder here from the Philippians who also says he will treat you to Panda if you do stuff funny, but we aren't going with him.

So other than that, we had some great dinners this week because three of them were birthday dinners. I think my stomach gets bigger every week I spend here in Madera which isn't good for my monthly budget. Have a great week family and friends! I can't wait to hear from you again next week.

Love,
Elder Murray

January 15th - Taco Bell and Bird Poop

Dear Familia,

Hello everyone, Elder Murray here. This week has been pretty awesome but I'm not sure I have much to say. Time is flying here but I also feel like I have been here forever so it is strange. This week on Tuesday I  had my first interviews with President Mackay, which was pretty good but I find myself getting pretty overwhelmed with all of the things they tell us to work on and to do here. I have been reading "Our Search for Happiness" every morning and I really love it, it is so interesting. As for my companions, they are both awesome and I am so glad I am in a trio for the time being because it makes the work so much easier. We don't have to worry about what houses we go into because there are three of us and we can make companion chains around corners so one of us can see a person all the time.

Wednesday was my first exchange here in the mission which was actually pretty weird because Elder Jones is the district leader so he switched with an English missionary who couldn't help at all in the lessons. That night we had my first Mission Coordination Meeting with the Ward Mission leader in our ward named Hermano Parra. He is a pretty cool guy but I can't really communicate with any of the Mexicans because they speak super fast and also I sort of panic every time one of them speaks to me. I really can understand most of the things they say but only when all I have to do is listen. I have for sure felt the help from the
Spirit in lessons because my words seem to get across to the investigators even though I am not good at speaking. Thursday the only really important thing I remember doing is Mormon.org time which was fun because we get to check out all the Mormon Messages. Friday was a pretty good day because Elder Jones went on an exchange with the zone leaders so we all went to their apartment and we played a game called zombie which was cool. The next day we all had exit interviews with the zone leaders and I finally cried for the first time during that. I think I was just very tired that day and feeling overwhelmed from all of the studying but I really am having a great time out here.

The next day was church which was great because one of our investigator families came and they seemed to like it a lot even though the word of wisdom and the second coming were taught which are both pretty confusing. This morning we spent most of our time at the Dirty Bird laundry mat but we got to shop at Walmart again and ate some lunch at Taco Bell. As long as I have Taco Bell I will be okay.

Alright, now for some funny stuff that happened this week and some cool stuff about the mission life. I don't know whether I have told you about this before but we have a dog that roams around our apartment that we heard some kids calling Martha-Shay so now we all call the dog Martha-Shay. Elder Jones gave it two corn dogs this week, which we were a little frustrated at because we like to eat those a lot and we can't really afford to waste corn dogs, haha. So this week we bought dog treats for a dollar at Walmart. That leads into my next thing which is that Elder Jones’ full name is Austin Jones which I think is hilarious
because I went from one Austin Jones to another. The last thing is that somehow I think that poop is attracted to me here in Fresno. In the short time I have been here I have had 3 poop incidents but the last one is by far the strangest. Somehow a bird pooped inside of my pocket! You might wonder how I found out this happened so here it is. I was riding my bike like normal and reached into my pocket because it was cold and felt a squishy thing so I pulled my hand out and smelled it and it was the worst thing ever haha. I love you all and wish you best of luck this week.

Love,
Elder Murray

January 8th - First Week Down

Hello Family!

To start from the beginning of the week, both of my flights left on time and I got here to Fresno safely. The assistants to the President picked me up at the airport and we went straight to the mission home where all the other new missionaries had already been taken. I had a small dinner that night because I was so nervous and was not very hungry. Right after that, we were taken back to the assistants' house and that is where we got all of the sheets and blankets I will be using for the next two years. We woke up that morning and all got ready, then we went to the church where I had to do all the office stuff because all the other new missionaries had already done. Then we all got to meet our trainer or in my case trainers. I am in a companionship with three, so my trainers are Elder Lilly and Elder Jones and they are both pretty awesome. When the whole training meeting was done, I got to go get my bike and I took all of my stuff back to the apartment.

At first, when I saw the apartment I was a little skeptical, but I have grown to love it. If you send packages, they all go to the mission home here. Our mission seems pretty strict on a lot of things so far. The rest of this week was good as well.

I am a missionary in the Madera 3rd Ward along with 6 other missionaries assigned to that ward. Yeah I know, we have a ton. Madera is pretty much a little slice of Mexico. Of course we are on bikes, which seems irregular, because our mission has the biggest fleet of cars out of any other mission in the States. Crazy right? Yes, my ward is Spanish and the majority of the people we talk to speak Spanish, but the whole thing is very hard because all of the kids speak English so you find yourself switching between languages a lot. I don't always street contact in Spanish though. Some people here speak English, after all we are still in the States. 

The schedule of a missionary is really tough and I find myself looking forward to nights and those few hours I get to actually sleep. My name tag fell off of my suit in the airport, so I only have one name tag to use and that is sort of hard. The weather is really nice here and it only gets sort of cold during the nights. I do a whole bunch of studying the first half of the day and then we street contact and go around to investigators houses during the night. Our dinners are pretty strict. They always go from 5-6 and we have to report to our zone leaders if we are a minute past 6 getting out of dinner or a minute past 9:30 getting home. Every single day we have a 7:55AM prayer and the missionaries here are very serious about having consecrated obedience. My Spanish gets better every day and I hope that the hard part of the mission goes by quick.

I really haven't been too sad about leaving home so don't worry Mom. This is just the next step of my life and I am trying my very best to take it in stride. For a funny tale from the week, there is a mom that has three boys, two of them are twins, but she is less active so the missionaries visit there to teach a lot and the boys make up a nickname for every new missionary. My nickname is Elder Mermaid which I thought was pretty funny. Seriously almost all of the Mexicans comment on my height here. They either say, oh mas grande or muy alto.

One of the things I have learned about the California Fresno mission is that there is something called the Fresno 40 which means I am supposed to gain about 40 pounds here on the mission because that is just what happens when you eat at Mexican families houses every night.

I love you all and I hope you aren't too worried about me or sad to see me go. I will return in two short years. Remember that you can do all things through Christ and that whenever you feel down He knows exactly what you are feeling.

Love,
Elder Murray

January 4th - Going Back to Cali

We received a note from David's mission president letting us know he got there safely.

We are pleased to let you know that Elder Murray has arrived in the California Fresno Mission and is even now hard at work serving the Lord with his new companion.  Attached are photos of his arrival at the Fresno airport and with his new companion.  As a point of information, we maintain a mission blog at californiafresnomission.blogspot.com where you can periodically check for new mission related photos and other materials.

We are grateful to be serving with Elder Murray and give you our unwavering commitment that we will watch over and care for him with love and all diligence while he is here.  We express gratitude for your love and support of your son in this great work.

With gratitude, 

President and Sister Mackay

California Fresno Mission

David with President and Sister Mackay.

David with some elders. Two companions? We don't know.

​ 

January 3rd, 2018 - One Small Setback, One Giant Comeback!

Things have been pretty crazy for the last couple of months for Elder Murray. In the end of September, I got a call from David at the CTM. He was coming home. He came home the next day, very sick and very sad. It was hard for him and has not been an easy three months. He was diagnosed with mononucleosis, then a severe ear infection, and then a sinus infection. He ran a fever for 6 weeks straight. It then took David several weeks more to gain back his energy. He worked hard at scripture study and was always in bed by 10:30, even on weekends. With few friends in town, it was a bit lonely for him, he felt bad about missing out on his mission. After he recovered more, he ended up working at Target and eventually worked up to 40 hours a week. 

It was tough being in the CTM and dealing with such a harsh illness, so his memories of mission life weren't the best. But David wanted to serve the Lord and follow the commandment to serve a mission, so despite his fears he pressed forward. 

Things were uncertain for a while as to when he would return, and we didn't know if he would be home for Christmas or not. In the end, it all worked out, and David was told he would leave January 3rd. David is a brave young man, and we are very proud of him. It took courage to go back to the mission field after being at home again, but we are so happy for him and his good choices. 

Tuesday night he was set apart and David became Elder Murray again. Wednesday morning we left for the airport. There was a mix up with his flight, but the Lord was with us, and we noticed it in time. We were able to get his luggage off the wrong flight and get the Church Travel office to reschedule him correctly. So even though it was hectic, everything worked out. We waved good-bye to our David for another 23 months. We will miss him, but we know he is where the Lord wants him to be.