August 27th - The Fruit of Our Labors

Querido Familia,

This week has been really, really great. I have yet to receive the pants, but I stand awaiting their arrival. If you were to buy me more pants, please try and get the same kind but in a different color. I am not a "one outfit fits all" sort of missionary.

Tuesday this week was good. The week was just all around exciting, but Tuesday was a pretty regular day. We visited people and did our best to do the Lord's work.

Wednesday was totally crazy. We had a very special Zone Conference where a member of the Seventy came named Elder Whiting and taught us. It was super spiritual and pumped us all up. He pretty much said that we are in the last days that there are only two promises that have not been fulfilled, which are the Gathering of Israel and the Second coming. He talked about how President Nelson had just deputized the Youth and that the most important thing we can do right now is to gather Israel. He gave us training's on the Holy Spirit and the power of the Book of Mormon as a tool in our work. It was really cool.

Thursday we gave a little lady a blessing for a pain she was having in her back and talked with the missionaries in our Zone about how we could apply Elder Whitings teachings in our work. The rest of the day we visited people and helped out were we could. We ended up having a lot of lessons with members and less actives that day.

Friday we also worked. We had our apartment checked that morning and we passed - we just have to get our manager to get us a new air filter and we have to clean our toilet better... oops. 

Saturday was the reason for the title of the email. We finally had the annual vineyard trip. So we all woke up at 4:30 in the morning and drove all the way up to Madera and picked grapes. It was super fun for like the first two hours then started to get boring. Our hands were caked with dried grape juice and dirt and it was starting to get hot. We finished all 3 of our rows and we had a super great harvest. There was just TONS! of grapes everywhere I will attach some pictures.

Sunday was a good day. The girls all spoke about what they learned from girls camp and how they got closer together as a youth. Then for the third hour we help the Primary out with Singing time which was pretty fun. We sang some good songs with the kids and played a game where they role a dice to see what they will do for the song.

One of the nights we visited the doctor and he told us a lot about different health things like how all the guys that want to get super jacked have problems and then end up having heart attacks or dying at like age 35. So we decided we didn't want to mess ourselves up by trying to lift lots of weight and instead do what he suggested, which is more cardio and more reps. I also talked to him about getting an appointment with the dermatologist which I need to follow up with him about. I don't know what it is but something about the weather here makes me very dry and my whole body has eczema including my head, neck, back, arms, armpits, lower back, knees, calves, and even feet. But yeah I am hating it. I hope this guy can help me out. I love you all so much and thank you for your help and support as I serve in the mission field.

Love,

Elder Dave Murray

August 20 - Very Sweaty

Dearest Family,

This week has been pretty great! 

First off I wanted to say that I have been really pretty bad with my money this month and would like to say sorry, I will do better in the future.  As for the package with drinks, Yes! I received it and I have been using some of the Propel ones for the electrolytes. I am super excited to hear that my pants are on the way, I have been making due with the other ones I have but it will be nice to have a good pair that fits me that isn't super beat up. Part of the reason I have been so bad with money is that everything is starting to not work or get old on me. I need a new watch because water can get into the one I have a ruin it and I probably need some new shoes pretty soon. One black pair has holes in them, the brown pair is super thin and beat up on top, and the other black pair is still pretty good. I will keep searching the Ross for a new pair that isn't more than like $15. I also have been buying things to work out lately which hasn't helped, as well as I lose a pair of socks almost every Preparation day it seems like. But seriously, I am just fine. I really just need to be smarter about eating out and not eating as much during the day and things will be fine with money. The weather has still been pretty much in the 100's hence the title very sweaty and we got seriously cut on miles this month...thanks Modesto...so we have been doing some biking, I can't really complain exercise is my major stress relief. Sorry that was a very long business part of the email, but I will get to the week.

I honestly can't remember a lot of the week this week and what we did on what day, so I think I will just write about what happened.

We had an exchange this week with Elder Pasikala the Hawaiian one in my video and Elder Yancey his companion. I went with Elder Yancey and they decided that it was a good idea for me to work my area so I ended up leading and having to teach at least two lessons entirely alone which was pretty lame...it really helps to have a companion that can speak at least a little bit of Spanish.

We have had some pretty good dinners this week. Last night we had carne asada which is like one of the typical things you get from Mexicans, but it was super good this time and I liked it. We also had some really good lasagna earlier in the week and some homemade hamburgers which I am sure Mom knows are like one of my favorites. We got to talking about this thing called Moronga which is pretty much like blood sausage that my companion ate in Mexico City and hated, so people in the ward like to comment about Moronga now to him.

This week our ward did youth conference which was super cool because we got to help with two parts of it. The first thing we did was help set up an obstacle course at our bishop's house for them which included running through tires, logs, a balance beam, different size hurdles, a army crawl, and a mountain of hay you had to climb at the end. It was fun but scratched up my legs pretty good. They are very sensitive right now from all the dry skin and the hot, hot weather. I had to buy this special shampoo this week for like 8 dollars that my doctor said might help my skin...I hope it does cause it was a rip in the shorts. Anyways, the other part that we did to help with youth conference was we taught a class on social media and how you could use it to share the gospel which was pretty fun for us. We recited our Missionary Purpose for them and ended up making a purpose for the youth to say as well. I bought candy for that which was another reason for the squandering of my money. I figured that was a good reason though.

After teaching the class, we helped a family move part of a house that belonged to one of their relatives and then ended up going to eat tacos at the bishop's house that they had for the youth. Sadly, we missed all the youth because the move had taken us so long but it was worth it to help out a member and make her day.

This week I have done a lot of thinking on gospel topics. I wrote three pages one night about what the Savior means to me and His big role in my decision to serve a mission. I wrote all that before I found out that a Seventy is coming this upcoming week and wanted us to write a 1 page testimony about the Book of Mormon so I did that as well. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for both of these things and really look forward to sharing my testimony of them with the people that I contact every day. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I know He loves me. A lot of the time, the mission has been really hard. I have gone almost 9 months now teaching the Gospel and not had a single baptism which, as a missionary, makes you question if you are doing things right, if you are really a good teacher or if you did the right thing by serving a mission. I have grown a lot because of this and have to remind myself that missionary work is not about the number of baptisms that you have or the ordinances that you perform but about the way that you touch people and the little things you do every day that make someone smile or give someone a hope for something better. Despite my unsuccessful numbers, I have touched lots of people as a missionary and planted many seeds that I hope will one day grow and the best part is that I am not done yet!!! I can continue helping those I pass by in the streets every day. I love you so much family and I thank you for all of the support you have offered me in my missionary service!

Love,

Elder Murray

August 13th - Haircuts!

Dearest Family,

This week has been a good week. We have had some good times. I don't have any business, just want to thank you all for writing me and for the support. I love that some of you are sending me letters now. I always love Mondays because I get to hear from all of you.

Tuesday this week I had a doctor's appointment because the mission doctor wanted me to get my ankle x-rayed since it had been 2 weeks and was still swollen. I had that done and luckily, I just sprained it so we are all good. Other than that we had a pretty normal day.

Wednesday was a good day as well. We got some work done and tried to find some new people. We had to set up appointments for a "Rescue" night we were having with the ward so we visited a bunch of people to try and set appointments for that. 

Thursday we had interviews with President Mackay which was great. I really love my mission president. He is a wonderful man who is full of love and always makes me smile. That night we had that "Rescue" night that I was talking about and we visited some members from the ward to give them a message that our bishop had given in a meeting a few weeks back. 

Friday we had a sports night with the Elders quorum. It was pretty fun. We played soccer and we got closer together as a quorum. Other than that we did a lot of service during the day to try and help a family in our ward out with their yard and also to clean up an apartment. 

Saturday we had to go get an oil change and then we went to the bike shop to see how much it would cost to try and get my bike fixed. One of the spokes broke on my back wheel so it wobbles now. Luckily I don't use it much. That night I gave my companion a haircut and he gave me one. It was the first time for both of us and they actually turned out pretty good.

Sunday was a great day. We had church and some of the boys spoke about scout camp. We visited someone that we are working with that night and talked with him about obedience. 

I love you all. Thanks for the emails and support, and good luck this week as you strive to live the gospel daily!

Love,

Elder Murray

August 8th - Ti-red

Dear Family,

This week was a pretty good week here in the wonderful land of Visalia. I still have yet to receive an email from Andrew, Stino, Jenna or Ryan Damour which is sort of disheartening but that is okay. Thank you Mom, Dad and Grandma for never missing a week! It really brightens my spirits to get emails from you and I look forward to more letters from Mom and anyone else who wants to send some. 

Tuesday, we did some service for the doctor here and we helped him build a fence and a gate. It took longer than we thought because we kept having to go get more wood and then afterward we went and had a pizza buffet.

Wednesday was a good day. We had a temple trip which is always a totally awesome experience and a stress reliever. Afterward we went to Chick Fil A which is expensive and it's like the prices just always keep going up. The rest of the day was a good day and we tried to find people. 

Thursday, we had an exchange with the District leader who is a really big Hawaiian Elder who is totally awesome and we did some contacting with not very much luck. He was excited to hear me speak Spanish because he said he had never gone on an exchange with a Spanish elder. 

Friday was just a regular day. We did work and tried to visit people. I really like it here in Visalia. It is a good-sized city and there is a lot of work to do and a whole bunch of members here to support us.

Saturday was another regular day and we did our best to talk to everyone and teach those that we could. We are motivating ourselves to reach goals right now so we went to get a shake at the end of the night after a lesson.

Sunday was really cool. We had church and it was good. The girls had just come back from girls camp so you can imagine what kind of testimony meeting we had. Then after church we had a big pot luck with a lot of food and a whole ton of members. It was fun.

Thanks for all your support! I love my mission and keep you all in my prayers. 

Love,

Elder Murray