June 19 - In the Trenches

Family and Friends,

Well, as my parents party it up in Hawaii, normal life goes on for the rest of us. This week was one of my most normal weeks in all of my mission. Not that many weird things, no trips to Campinas, just good old missionary work. 

My companion is going home next week, and let me tell you, nearly at the end of my mission, sending home a companion is hard work. It's not easy to not get trunky and think a lot about home when your companion is going home in a week. I'm alright though. It still hasn't clicked for me that I'll be home in 2 months. It just seems like I'll go to another area and keep working. It's weird. 

I recieved some questions from my extended family this week, so I'll answer them. 

What are the beaches like in Brazil?

I have never seen a beach here in Brazil. My mission area doesn't include any beaches, although the beaches of Santos and Rio de Janeiro are a quick 4 hours away by car. But, as I am a missionary, I stay in my area. All of the missionaries from the northeast of Brazil tell me that they have some really, really sweet beaches there, some of the best in the world. But I will have to wait a while to go there.

Are there homeless people in Brazil?

Yes, there are homeless people in my area. Less than in Colônia, my last area, but there are always some hanging around. And they are really, really aggressive in asking you for money too. 

Do you have strange fruits?

There are a ton of fruits here that you don't see in the U.S. I'll give a quick list: (portuguese names because I don't always know the english translations) 

graviola, goiaba, jaca, carambola, acerola, jabuticaba, groselha, and so on.

What is you favorite memory of Uncle Rico?

One of my favorite memories of Uncle Rico, (among the many) would be that time that we went ice skating, and he suplexed me with a Ramses mask on in the middle of the lobby. It was one of the weirder experiences in my life, but it sure was funny, and memorable. 

What moment stands out to you this week?

My most stand out memory this week was when we to the favela this week, as is our custom, to teach about the Gospel. While there, one of the evangelical churches on the road got called upon for a drug seize, and was invaded by the police and their canine unit. One huge police man, holding an M4, stopped us and asked us if we were missionaries, and we said yes, and showed him the Bible and the Book of Mormon that we carry, and he believed us. We decided to move to another neighborhood before things got tense. 

What are your goals for the week?

Our goal this week is to baptize two young men that we are teaching. I would also like to find a family to teach. 

What do you admire most about your Dad and Grandpas? (In honor of Father's Day.)

I really admire my dad's dedication. It's one of that things that we most need in life. When Dad says that he'll do something, he does it. That's a great quality to have. 

As for Grandpa Murray, I will never forget the sweet Santa Claus appearences at every Christmas that I spent at the Murray household. Santa Claus is real! He lives in Bountiful.

And for Grandpa Gentry, it was always fun to watch him talk with all of the people. And as he talks with everybody, he's a good example for missionaries, as we also need to talk with everybody.

Thanks for the support!

One more chance to sacrifice all I have!

Elder Murray

Elder Murray

June 12 - Another Week at the Park

Family and Friends,

Good week to all of you. Thank you for all the emails and support. You guys rock! I'm excited about your sweet trek week. I'm glad that you guys had some very spiritual experiences and some epic stories to tell. My trek experience was quite a bit different. I walked a lot more and saw less stuff. It seems like we had less devotionals too. I actually don't remember all that much of trek. I just remember the Martin's cove hike, the dances that didn't have any girls present, and the guacamole burger. And eating a lot of dust. And pushing the cart. I was a baller pushing the cart. 

This week we've started working with the ward directory. We go visit all of the members that we have on the list, and because of the large number of inactive members and part-member families, and the number of people who moved but weren't updated, we find a bunch of people to teach. I've done this in every other area, so I'll do it here too!

I recieved a few questions this week, so let's go.

What is your favorite restaurant in your new area?

I actually haven't eaten in hardly any restaurants this transfer because cash is tight and I'm trying to eat healthier. We have a Burger King in our area, which is rare and cool, but I haven't actually been there yet. We also have a member in our area who is the owner of a small restaurant. We go there every so often. Other than that, it's just brown rice and various other things at home. I've learned to cook decently well. 

Do you ever go shopping?

We actually have a mall in our area. I haven't done a whole lot of shopping though, because missionaries don't usually have a whole lot of money. I do plan on buying some shirts that aren't extremely huge, and a suit to go home in, because after two years of constant wear and tear, your stuff gets really beat up. I'll look for some budget options. 

What do you eat for breakfast?

For breakfast I eat eggs. And whatever other random food we got from a member. But the base is really hard boiled eggs. 

What do you and your companion laugh about?

My companion is a really funny guy, so it's not hard for us to find stuff to laugh about. It's a lot of situational and mission humor, and it's in another language, so it's basically impossible for me to translate for you guys. I spend the whole day laughing though. 

Tell us about your new apartment.

My new apartment is in a small building, I'm on the second floor up. It suffers from some really bad planning, so it's impossible to clean the bathroom floor efficiently, and the kitchen has a bunch of unusable space. When I got here, we didn't have light bulbs in about half the house, so I went and switched them out. As for furniture, we have the usual missionary stuff. Beds, metal clothes hangers, and tables, and some chairs. That's about it. It's honestly pretty nice. We've got wood flooring too! That's a plus. 

Well, that's a little bit about my area and my current work strategy. I live next to the dam here in Jundiaí, and it's a really beautiful area. Lots of trees and the like. I'm happy and working hard.

Have a great week!

One more chance to offer all I have!

Elder Murray

June 5 - The Cycle Continues

Family and Friends,

One more week is in the books here in Jundiaí. I'm pretty excited to hear about your trek stories next week and to hear about your epic bowling adventures. I still don't know why you guys decided on bowling as your summer hobby, but it's as good as any and it's pretty cheap, so it's a good one. 

Honestly, my week was rather vanilla and unexciting, with the few different moments being bad experiences that I'd prefer not to recount. One of the only different things that happened this week was that we went and had an exchange with the Assistants this week. We stayed the night in Campinas and it was a rare opportunity for me to room with some Americans for a night, and a not so rare opportunity to teach English. And yes, I've taught English in all of my areas up until now, and I will start teaching it again here in Parque da Represa next week. 

I'm going to ask you guys to send in some questions, because I'm really out of ideas. The week was just super normal. I hope you guys all have a great week! I know the Church is true, and I've seen, more than ever before, that Jesus Christ is our Savior and He loves us. 

One more chance to offer all I have!

Elder Murray

May 29th - The Flu Exists in Brazil Too!

Family and Friends,

1 more week down here on the other side of the globe! It's good to hear that you guys are all enjoying life, and that summer has started up. That means that I'm really getting close to the end of things here. Crazy thought. As I am killing my companion again, it's hard not to get trunky, but I'm doing a pretty good job of it. I'm still focused, and I'm not in any hurry for things to end here. I'm going to make the best out of all my time that I have left!

As the title suggests, yes, I got sick this week. Two times. The story goes like this. Two weeks ago it rained a lot. From proselyting in the rain, I got a bit of a chill which weakened my immune system, and I got an obnoxious cold at the start of this week. It was weird in that, when I sneezed, it was actually painful. And all of the other guys in the house got it. But I got better, and on Thursday, I was actually pretty well again. then we went to zone conference, and everyone got the flu vaccine. And I don't know if you guys remember, but I have a weird problem with the flu vaccine that every single time I take it, I get the flu. This time didn't fail, and I got sick, again. It sucked. Today was the first day that I woke up well in a long time.

I've been knocking a lot of doors these days because my companion really likes knocking doors for some reason, but it´s worked out pretty well. We've found a lot of cool people to teach. I'm also working on some other, alternative plans to find people. I will be teaching English for the 3rd time on my mission, and we will be doing a ward barbecue as well. 

Overall, life is good, the Church is true, and I keep moving forward. It's good to be a missionary, even when sickness messes things up. Have a great week!

Elder Murray

May 22nd - Last Area, Let's Go!

Family and Friends,

Congrats on the graduation Dave! You made it! High school is over. Welcome to life's next round, mission. It starts with mission prep right now and then actual mission afterwards. Go for it! Congrats to Jake on the Eagle too, and on the grandparents for getting home safely after being snowed on at the end of May. Weird stuff. I also liked Dave's epic fast. That's some good self-discipline. You're going to need that. 

I'm going to be honest, for one of the first times on my mission, I got really trunky reading email this week. Sometimes it feels like everyone's progressing back home and I'm stuck in a time lock out here. But then I remember that I'm serving the Lord and that it will pay off big dividends when I get back home, and for the rest of my life, and I get happy again.

Speaking of being happy, I'm really happy with the way that transfers turned out. I left Colônia, in one of the two stakes in Jundiaí, and went to the other stake, Jundiaí Represa! I really love this city, so I was happy to go from one side to the other. My companion is also a good friend of mine, Elder Tavares. You guys have already seen him a few times, as I have served in 4 zones with him, he's this missionary with whom I most did divisions, and he's from the same stake as that guy I trained, Elder Oliveira. And he trained a guy from our stake, Elder Langlois. So it all fit perfectly together, and now I'll be the guy to send him home, as it's his last transfer. Weirdly symmetrical. 

As I only have 2 more transfers left, it's very likely that this will be my last area. I'll be giving it my all to see if I can make a difference here before I go home! Have a great week!

One more chance to offer all I have!

Elder Murray

May 15th - Sprint to the End

We got to talk to Ben on Mother's Day. What a joy! He talked a lot about his life on the mission. He is a Zone Leader, and his mission was the most baptizing zone in the whole mission, despite being half the size of most of the other zones. He bore his testimony of the gospel, and it was really wonderful to hear. He has grown as a person on his mission, and his testimony has grown as well. We love him and we are so proud of him!

Family and Friends,

I really enjoyed my Skype with you of my more immediate family yesterday. It was great to see you all again, and everything worked out well so that we could talk quite a bit, one with another. As I just talked to you all yesterday, I'm really without a whole lot of ideas for stuff to put into my letter this week, so expect this letter to be a little bit smaller.

Although we haven't received the transfer yet, it's looking like I will be leaving Colônia to go to another area to end my mission. I have no idea where I will be going, but I'm sure it will be a cool place, and there will be people there for me to share the gospel. You don't need too much to be happy as a missionary. As long as you've got a house, people to teach, and food, life is good! Next week I'll have the information about my new area and my new companion. Stay tuned!

This week we saw some awesome miracles with people receiving answers about the Book of Mormon. One of our investigators asked in prayer if the Book was true, and he heard a voice. Although he didn't understand it, he felt his hair stand on end, and he knew that it had come from God. Another investigator was having a disagreement with her family, and a scripture she had read came to her mind and calmed here down and gave her a solution to the problem. The Book of Mormon is true! It works!

Thanks for all the love and support! Have a great week!

One more chance to offer all I have!

Elder Murray

May 8th - In a Tropical Country, Everyday's a Holiday

May 1st - We didn't get a letter from Ben last week. This week we find out why!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Lamentably, I was unable to send you guys an email last week. Brazilians love partying, holidays, partying, eating barbecue, partying, time off work, and partying. As such, they have a ton of random holidays here. Last Monday was "Worker´s Day," and nobody went to work. Everything was closed. Everything. We almost didn't even find anywhere to eat lunch. Luckily though, the mall was open. We tried to get some other missionaries together to play soccer, but they were all being lame, so my companion and I went to the Botanical Gardens here in Jundiaí. Sometimes you have to do some touristy things on P-day, and I thought Mom would approve, so I went. I saw some monkeys, and some flowers, and I mocked a statue, Dad-style. It was a good time. I'll send pictures as soon as I can.

This week we had to spend a lot of time in Campinas because my companion had some problems with his visa, and he needed to go to the capital, São Paulo to get it fixed. I stayed in Campinas with the mission secretaries while he went and got that sorted out. Combine this with the holiday, and this was a really weird week overall. We still got some work done.

Last week we were able to baptize a man named Isaias (Isaiah in Portuguese, power name). He was one of the best investigators I have ever had. Really smart, understood everything really quickly, went to church on his own, and even made us tapioca one night. Over all, he's a really cool guy. I'm sure he'll be bishop some day. 

You asked me what kinds of questions the members ask me at meals. I have a ton. I've heard just about everything (Are there dogs in the US?), but I'll just send you the more common ones. 

Examples:

Do you guys eat rice and beans in the US?

Is American BBQ really hot dogs and hamburguers?

What do you think about Trump as a President?

What kind of food do you eat every day there?

Why do you only eat McDonalds in your country? 

And so on. They all love to ask about American dietary habits and then call Americans fat. LOL.

Thanks for the dedication and patience, and your many prayers. I know that the Church is true, for I have seen evidence after evidence here as a missionary. I'm grateful for the chance to be a missionary. This will be the last week of the transfer, so next week I'll have news! 

Have a great week!

One more chance to offer all I have!

Elder Murray