March 26th - No Longer a Trainee!

Dear Family,

This week sounded like a blast for all of you guys and I'm so excited that it was so great. First of all, business. I received the Easter package from Mom and Dad so that was super sweet. I was pumped because there was a super plushy duck stuffed animal in there and my companion and I now match. He was given a duck stuffed animal in the MTC and the missionaries love to abuse it. He wore a Mexican hat this week too, because I got a tiny one. Now for the week.

On Tuesday we had a good day. We talked to a lot of people, and taught an English class which was super cool as always. Things are pretty routine day-to-day, but there are always experiences that are super crazy every day.

On Wednesday we did some service in the vineyard again.We went with our good friends Lucio and Ramon, who are two of the coolest members ever. They are brothers here in the Madera 3rd Ward. Right after that, they took us to lunch and we at some tortas de tripa which are cow intestine sandwiches. It wasn't super great, kinda chewy. Lucio posted a video on facebook if you want to try and find "Missionaries eat cow intestines for the first time" by someone named Lucio Vasquez.

Then Thursday it was raining and we were sad because we had planned to go far away and it isn't easy to ride bikes far away in the rain. We were sitting there and then we received a phone call. We ended up teaching a really cool lady who wants to change, and she came to church this Sunday!

On Friday, the Vasquez family invited us to the vineyard again so we went and worked again. Then when we came back we had to weekly plan, which was boring as always.

Saturday was just a regular day until the night came, the Young Women were having a fundraiser auction for camps and things so we went to support and there was a really good turn out. We made some food for people, ran an auction for a whole bunch of Mexicans, and wore some sombreros. The whole thing was a blast! This was where I bought the tiny hat that my duck wore. A nice sister in our ward gave us five bucks to buy auction items from the girls.

Sunday was cool. We had the lady come to church and her name is Jerusalen which is Jerusalem in Spanish so that is pretty cool. Her daughter is supposed to have an evil spirit in her from what she was saying, but we really couldn't tell when she came to church. 

One of the best part of my week was reading that talk that Mom sent me on grace. It really is amazing and fantastic just how much Jesus Christ did for us, and what he asks is simple, All He wants us to do is our best and that is what I plan on doing. If you haven't read that talk ask Mom for it (David wanted me to insert the talk name here, but I can't remember it! :) I love you all and I urge you to continue doing the Lord's work in Highlands Ranch!

Love,

Elder Murray

March 19th - Transfers!

Beloved Family,

First things first, I totally sent an email last week and it shows up in my sent mail and everything so I don't know why you didn't get it.  I really love my mission and the past 5 weeks (we had a short transfer) have literally flown by. The work is really hard here, but I am having a great time with my companion every day. We love what we do and we stay optimistic because we know that no matter what we do out here, as long as we are working our very best this mission will be worth it. I don't think I need the camera cord anymore, because I am getting a smart phone soon and I can probably just take pictures on that. 

Okay, now for my week. Last Monday we had a district meeting and it was pretty cool. We talked about diligence in missionary work and it was really cool.

Tuesday was pretty sweet. We had the temple trip that morning and it was my first here in the mission. I had a really great time and we went to lunch afterward which was way cool.

Wednesday we didn't really have all that much happen other than missionary coordination meeting which was interesting and not super useful as always. Our ward mission leader is a pretty funny guy but he is also sorta strange.

Thursday we hit my companion's year mark so we did some celebrating, and it was pretty great cause he got an ice cream cake that we ate. 

Friday I had an exchange with Elder Shaff my district leader and it was pretty interesting. We talked to an 80 year old woman that cannot read and only uses her smart phone to call people. What a "living under your potential moment." At least she isn't using it for anything bad. 

Saturday we had a pretty regular day except that we had to weekly plan which always takes a little while and it is sorta boring but it is something that you really need to do every week.

On Sunday one of our investigators actually came to church it was a mom and her two kids! It would have been more exciting except that it still really doesn't change much. The dad and mom are holding them back and the speaker at church was super boring. They also missed sacrament.

This week I studied 3 Nephi during studies and learned a lot more about when Jesus Christ came here to the Americas.  The most important thing I learned is that this gospel is really quite simple - we just need to focus on the basic teachings of Jesus Christ. 

Love,

Elder Murray

March 12th - Life Cereal and Ghetto Dinner

Dear Family,

Staring with the business, a super big thanks to the Skidmores for sending me the Life cereal. It has been super tasty and I did a word search on the back of one of the boxes. I forget if I mentioned this in a past email but thanks to Sister Folkman for the awesome card. I really enjoyed looking at the program from our stake conference and it is so so awesome that we have 88 missionaries in our stake. Awesome! 

Okay, so Tuesday was my second zone conference and it was all about technology. I cannot believe that we are getting phones! Here I was thinking I was never gonna see one again and now I'm only almost 3 months out and I am getting a phone in April. I cannot wait to use such an awesome tool to do the Lord's work. 

Wednesday was a pretty cool day. We had an exchange with our district leader and we did some good work. That morning was really cool. I got to work in the Lord's vineyard (literally)! The Isaiah chapters have a new meaning to me now that I have actually really pruned trees. This picture is of one of the many vineyards here in Madera. This is the one we worked at today.

Thursday was pretty normal. We taught another english class which is super cool because it is starting to pick up and we have a pretty regular attendance now. Here is a picture of me and Joshua at English class. He is crazy!

Friday was cool. We had to weekly plan again. It always seems like we just barely did it, which is crazy.

Saturday was interesting. It was kind of gloomy out so it didn't feel like a Saturday, then one of the sisters that went home last transfer came back with her parents and we saw her, which was just sorta weird to be honest. 

Then came Sunday and we were let down again by all of the people that promised us that they would go to church. I am started to get used to it now, so it doesn't hurt as bad but it still stinks because you love these people so much and you know what they can become but they just don't keep commitments. 

Today we went to Fresno to play ultimate frisbee and we got to see Elder Jones again which was so weird and so awesome at the same time. Then we came back and played basketball. I finally lost for the first time on my mission so far. Before we came back from Fresno, we went to Chick Fil A with a bunch of missionaries which was cool. 

This week I am going to have my first temple trip and I am pretty pumped so I will let you know how it went when I write next time. This week I was reading in the beginning of Helaman about Samuel the Lamanite and some other cool stuff. Don't be prideful and remember to be humble. Elder Lilly likes to say a lot "and he is humble too" so keep that in mind. Here is a picture of a baptism we took an investigator to.

Here we are eating dinner on the porch of our ghetto apartment.

Love,

Elder Murray
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March 5th - Fastest Week Ever

Dear Family,

First of all, I cannot believe that another week has already flown by and I am writing to you again. I would like to start this email by saying sorry that I am always so negative in my emails. So far we really haven't had a ton of progression and some of the time things get hard. This week will most likely be negative again, but I will try and fill you in on some good highlights. Also, today I have to write this email kind of late. Currently it is 4:10 and we have a dinner at 5:00 so this will most likely be short.

First day was Monday, and it was pretty great. We had a movie night and the investigator we were focusing on for baptism came. She was an 11-year old. I say was, because we are no longer focusing on her. We will get to that story later. 

The next day was Tuesday and it wasn't really super full of fun, we just did work like normal. There was one thing that was pretty crazy though. We showed up to teach a recent convert and the family he rents with ended up telling us that he had been taken by the ICE or the Immigration people. Right now he is being held in Bakersfield, and it is super sad.

Then Wednesday passed by, and not much happened other than I ate a pretty hot pepper and my face was on fire for a little while but then everything was good again. So we okay.

Thursday it rained a ton and we had a lot of member team-ups. BTW, has anyone taken up my challenge to be a better member missionary?

Friday was more rain and then we did weekly planning which is pretty boring.

Saturday, there was a Baptism for a little girl in Madera 2nd Ward so we got the investigator we were really focusing on there, and I got to see my friend Elder Passey again so that was great.

Sunday, the family that we focused on all week and had needed to come to church didn't come. We really are just trying to get permission from the dad to baptize his two kids, who are both totally ready so we have been trying all week and we had a big talk with him that night. He basically told us he wants his kids to study more in the catholic church and he wants to know for himself our church is true. This is upsetting because missionaries have worked with this girl since May of last year and she has read the entire Book of Mormon and basically her dad is holding her back because, again, he is catholic.

I forget which day it was but we did go back to "Catholic 'till death" guy with some cupcakes a member had made for the family home evening movie night we planned. He didn't accept them but he was nice and basically told us he no longer had an interest in what we had to say. He didn't yell, so that was a good to close a dead end.

I love you so much family, and I am so blessed to have such a great support system. Keep up the good work back home, and good luck with the poo business.

Love,

Elder Murray

(Check out the Will of God Mormon message. We shared it with a ton of people this week and it helped people a lot. I think Dad would find it helpful right now.  It is in Spanish too, if you want Dad. It's called la Voluntad de dios)