Elder Murray-Campinas Brazil: July 25th

Hello Family and Friends,

And welcome to one more fantastic week on the mission. Back home, sounds like you guys really enjoyed youth conference, finding a sweet Poke Gym when Dave stopped to use the bushes on the drive, and the Murray family reunion is once again in swing. I bet you guys are really partying it up. Here in Brazil, I sure am! Even as you guys are in Zion there in Utah, I´m in Zion Geraldo here.

This week we were visited by the senior missionary couple that pertains to our mission here in Campinas, and, exactly as they did in Valinhos, I have been commanded to wash the walls. And otherwise git rid of all the grime of years and years and years of missionaries in the past. This time I´m a little bit better practiced though, and the apartment is a lot smaller, so we were able to burn through the job quick and get back to work. It was really pretty disgusting though. When there´s so much grease on the tile that it turns into a paste when you try to get it off, it´s a really fun time. I'll probably get transferred and have to do this again.

Some views of Ben's apartment. I guess this is his walk in closet, as in, you walk in the room and there is the closet.

I'm guessing this is his laundry room?! Please tell me he's never slept on that mattress . . .

Tile everywhere!

I learned a few new recipes this week, but I still have to write them up coherently. Don´t worry though, Ben´s Horrible Mission Cookbook will not die with one recipe alone!

I was sitting in the bus station the other day when I had a marvelous experience with the gift of tongues. Although I have studied 4 years of Spanish, even with Cohen´s best efforts it was still really hard for me to understand spoken Spanish. But two days ago I was sitting on a bench and the guy next to me asked what time it was. I told him the time, and we started to talk we talked for quite a bit about the Gospel, the Church, and our dedication to helping the poor, uneducated, and afflicted receive help. It was only as I left to catch the bus that I realized he had been talking in Spanish the whole time. I´m not sure exactly how I understood everything that he said, especially as he used some pretty big words, but it´s really a strong demonstration for me of the gift of tongues. For some reason, the Lord worked through me that day.

I know that the Church is true, and that this really is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I thank you all for all your support and remembering me back home. Have a great week! I will succeed!

Elder Murray - see more pictures below!