May 9th - Mother's Day Call

We got to talk to Ben yesterday - hooray! It was really good to see him. Unfortunately the connection kinda stunk, so we could only hear the first three words of every sentence. I was pretty bummed out, but I have come to really enjoy his letters, so I will be fine. Plus it was great to see him laugh with his brothers and dad, since he could see and hear us perfectly well. He still got to write us for p-day this week, so here is his letter:

Allo Family and Friends!

It was great to talk to those of you in my direct family yesterday. I miss you and love you, but I´m all good here in Brazil. Weird that Bishop Cutler isn´t Bishop any more. Things always change when you´re gone for a while. 

Another transfer has passed me by, and I have stayed here in Valinhos! Also, today breaks the 8 month mark on my mission! I´m officially 1/3rd of the way done. It´s a weird thought, because the time does pass pretty quickly here. You get in the routine and the time melts away. I´m really happy that I have this marvelous opportunity to serve as a missionary. It´s an experience that´s really unlike any other.

As for Mom´s questions this week, the weirdest thing I have eaten in a while I ate last night. It´s a soup thing called mokoto, where they throw in all the bad parts of a pig, like the fat, the ears, the nose, the head, and especially the joints. It was really nasty. Thankfully it was optional. My companion and I laugh a lot about the antics of the new guy, Elder Azevedo, our epic Uno battles on p-day, and the really random answers that we get from people on the road when we teach. We have a lot of fun actually. When you´re a missionary and you talk about such serious subjects like salvation all time you find every little thing really funny. 

This week we will go to a meeting with 4 general authorities of the Church. It should be fun. I´ve been really feeling a lot of love for the Bible this week. My knowledge of the Bible has grown exponentially during my mission, and it really is incredible. The teachings of our Savior are so flexible and perfect that they fit in every situation you can imagine. I encourage all of you to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John again. I especially like Matthew 10, which hold´s Christ´s instruction for the apostles. It´s fantastic.

I didn´t write a lot today, but I´m kinda burned out. I´ll write more next week. Have a great week! I love you all. I will succeed!

Elder Murray