Til We Meet Again.

Family,

 

I feel like I´ve done this more that a hundred times -- like maybe even 104 times.  Oh wait...  I still find it hard to believe that I am finishing this two year quest.  I´m excited to see you all in the forthcoming weeks.

 

I´ve learned so much from these last two years; not just learned stuff such as doctrine or things of the world, but more importantly I´ve learned more about myself.  Now it´s time to put in practice the things that I´ve learned.  It´s time to step up to the plate.

 

This Sunday was a bittersweet day.  I wasn't quite prepared for what ended up happening.  The bishopric had assigned me a talk last week for this week.  So I had it prepared and ready to go.  A few weeks ago, I told the sister that plays the piano at Church that she played, ¨Til We Meet Again,¨ a little too early.  We joked that my companion could sing a solo for my last week.  My companion, however, didn´t like the idea and it was put to an end.  So you can imagine my curiosity when the program announced that there would be a musical number.  Hmm... Five brothers and sisters assembled for the number.  Before the second chord was even played, I already knew.  ¨Til We Meet Again,¨ has now taken on a whole new meaning.  Not only did I have to follow that act, but it got worse.  As I prepared to go up on the stand for my talk, the bishop announced that this was my last week as a missionary and that they enjoyed the time that I had been here in their ward.  On top of that it was cold.  I credit the shaky voice and legs to the cold weather, of course.  I will miss this ward and its members terribly.

 

Fittingly, I read Jacob 5 this morning.  Verses 70 to 75 have a new meaning to me now.

 

For the last time,

 

Elder McMurray

 

PS 2 Timothy 4:7

¨Don´t Cry for me Argentina, the Truth is, I Never [Will Leave You]¨

Family!

 

It was fun talking to all of you last night!  It sounds like everyone is doing great as usual.  G´ma Mc was the lucky one to get the calling card cutting off in mid conversation. :)  It still hasn´t fully hit me that I´m going to be seeing you guys soon.  I´ve spent my entire life preparing for a mission.  But I don´t an entire life´s preparation could prepare me for what is going to happen in less than two weeks.  I feel very blessed to still have at least one more week as a full-time missionary.

 

Best News of the Week:  Javier´s baptism!  It was a very sweet baptismal service.  I consider myself very blessed for having taken part in the teaching process as well as the program on Saturday.  I was privileged enough to perform the ordinance.  Sunday was equally as amazing.  Javier, along with his uncle Coco, that got baptized two weeks ago, both received the priesthood.  We had no idea, but the bishop asked them both before hand if they could get short testimonies in Sacrament Meeting.  Two of the sweetest testimonies that I´ve ever heard were given.  Their future is looking bright.  My only complaint is that I won´t be here to watch them grow even more.

 

Saturday morning, we were able to participate in a Stake Service Project, ¨Mormon Helping Hands.¨ (Manos Mormonas Que Ayudan.)  We cleaned four blocks and then painted the curbs.  When you come to pick me up, I´ll make sure to point out my handiwork.

 

...Oh, I almost forgot!  I got bitten by a dog for the first time in forever this last week.  Let me tell ya, that was the most ferocious lap dog I´ve ever seen.  It got me on the sneak attack -- no barking until after the bite.

 

This week, I have been reading the end of 2 Nephi, one of the most enjoyable parts of the Book of Mormon in my opinion.  It´s amazing reading about a book (the Book of Mormon) that will come forth in the last days.  Then, chapter 31 just hits a grand slam with the Doctrine of Christ.  Feel free to look over 2 Nephi 31 this week.  It will help you answer questions that your friends have.

 

From the elder that only has ten days to live,

 

Elder McMurray

Happy Worker´s Day!

Family,

 

Is it May already?  I´ve officially been in the mission for three different Mays now.   Crazy how time flies!  Fortunately, there´s still a little time left!  Let´s see if I can go out with a bang.  I had a Zone Leader tell me that this last transfer would be like my last 800m in a cross country race.  A true test to see what you are made of.  I like to picture in my head something comparable to Roger Banister´s last 100m when he broke the 4 minute mile mark (3:59.4), or when Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby by 27 lengths.  It's time to see if my training will strong until the end.

 

Luckily, I don´t think it will be that hard to finish.  This Saturday, the 11th, we have the baptism of Javier!  Javier has been a dream.  He has no problems with anything, and he readily accepts everything that we have to offer him.  Keep him in your prayers this week.  The following weekend (my last) we have another baptism.  Nely Esquivel.  I´ll write more about her next week.  But keep her in your prayers as well.  She´s getting married on Tuesday, the 14th, and we want everything to go well there.

 

Wednesday, the 1st, was Worker´s Day.  It was celebrated by no one working. (Not sure where the science behind that one is...)  It´s also a tradition to eat Locro on this day.  I think I talked about it last year, but what it is is a soup.  It´s made with a corn starch base, if I´m not mistaken.  It often contains a little bit of everything....veggies, weird parts of a cow, etc.  Well, I´ve already had experience with it.  But it was Elder Deniston´s first time.  Let´s just say that it is an acquired taste.  Final result:  I thought it was pretty good, my companion wasn´t too big on it.  But it´s like the locals say, ¨Cuando hay hambre, no hay pan duro.¨

 

This week, we did divisions with our Zone Leaders.  I stayed here in my area, as Elder Deniston only has three weeks.  Elder Bowhill, our new Zone Leader, came to Güiraldes.  Elder Bowhill is from Uruguay. (His last name is Scottish.)  He had small contract playing minor league soccer before the mission.  He also spent 5 months at the beginning of his mission in Uruguay for Visa problems.  He served in the other mission, but he said that you would like your mission a lot, Emily.  He says, ¨That Uruguay is MUCH prettier than Argentina.¨ ...We´ll have to see about that.  From what I´m hearing, your mission area is very comparable to my mission.  Anyways, let it be known that I beat a semi pro soccer player in a very competitive game of ping pong.

 

This Sunday, we were blessed to have nearly a hundred people in Church.  I've never attended a Sacrament Meeting in the mission that exceeded 100.  As a missionary, I felt particularly blessed, seeing as 15 of those were less active members or new members that we are helping.  It made me think even more about the importance of renewing baptismal covenants.  It´s vital.  We can´t live without it.  Think of somebody this week that hasn´t come to Church lately.  Think of a way to help them come and renew that covenant again.  And if they haven´t made that covenant yet, think of a way that they can listen to the missionaries. ;)

 

Don´t cry for me Argentina,

 

Elder McMurray

PICTURE .. COCO

His baptism!

 

I found a poem on a wall.. ;)

The ¨Key¨ to Success.

Family,

 

It sounds like you all are alive and kickin´.  It´s always fun hearing from you guys.  I´ve been one lucky missionary.  Even after 100 weeks in the mission I still receive lots of emails and letters.  I must admit, I feel a little spoiled when I hear other missionaries talking about the 2 or 3 emails that they got.  Keep the emails coming!

 

So I´ll just put your mind to rest...  Yes, Coco got baptized on Saturday!  Cornelio Martin Gomez is the newest member of the Güiraldes Ward.  After his baptism I asked him if he was nervous.  He responded with a, ¨No, I had already decided that it was what I needed to do.¨  Well there you have it.  A man with a testimony.  His future is truly looking bright, in the Church.

Javier, his nephew, is on fire.  We conveniently have 12-14 members between the ages of 18 and 25.  Seeing as he is 19, he´s fitting in quite nicely.  He´s getting excited for his baptism on the 11th of May.  Keep him in your prayers.

Other random note... Do you remember Raul, that got baptized like two months ago?  Well, he passed the sacrament for the first time Sunday.  I think I almost cried.  I love seeing progression.

 

Last night, as we got back to the apartment at 9:30pm, we realized that we were missing something.  As companions, my duty is the cellphone.  For my companion, it´s the keys.  You probably know where this is going...  I´ll paint the picture..  There we were, tired after a long week that involved lots of walking.  By Sunday night, the brain is already thinking about its Preparation Day on Monday.  How nice it´s going to be, taking a breather and maybe even taking a nap.  And just as you are about to walk into your apartment (with air conditioning waiting for you), you hear a question, ¨Do you have the keys?¨ Your heart sinks.  As was the case with my heart.  The keys were nowhere to be found.  After a few failed attempts at locating the keys, we called a taxi to go stay at some other elders´ apartment.  Only one problem... Three beds, four missionaries.  You can do the math.  I was the lucky one.  How many of you can claim that you slept on the floor last night?  :)

No worries, we were blessed to find the keys at a house that we had visited yesterday.  Home Sweet Home!

 

My spiritual thought is going to be on prayer.  Yesterday, I heard one of the most beautiful, heartfelt prayers that I´ve ever heard in my life.  It came from a woman that we had barely met, just 20 minutes before.  She told us about how she doesn´t have contact with her family and that she´s worried for her son.  She feels alone, at times. It´s been years since she had given a prayer.  But by her sincerity it was as if she was speaking face to face with our Heavenly Father.  When the prayer ended, there were tears rolling down her face.  It strengthened my testimony to know that we have the blessing of speaking with a Father that wants to know everything that happens in our life.  We are never alone.  The experience has pushed me to be even more sincere in my prayers.  Feel free to do the same.

 

Hasta la proxima,

 

Elder McMurray

PICS

They are putting cement on our dirt road!

 

Represent America.

 

My comp.

 

The colors are changing!

Fourth Quarter.

Family!

 

Dad, I´ll see what I can do on your souvenir requests.  I´ll make sure to get back to you on that one.  It sounds like the brothers are representing the family nicely this soccer season.  Keep up the good work.  I´m excited to play you guys...I´m pretty sure that I´ve gotten better since I left two years ago.  Be prepared.

 

Fall is officially here, it looks like.  The colors are changing on most of the trees, now.  The weather has been very nice lately.  I think that just as the ¨cold weather¨ gets here I´ll be heading home for summer.  Isn´t that awesome?

 

This week we had interviews with President Heyman.  I´ve truly come to love him and his wife.  The interview made me laugh a little though...  When I walked into his office, instead of the usual, ¨his desk separating us¨ interview, it was us sitting in two chairs, side by side, with only a small table separating us.  I had flashbacks of all of those interviews that I´ve had in our front living room.  I think all McMurray children know what I´m talking about. :)  The interview was a great time to ask him many questions.  He gives great counsel and I respect it a lot.  I left from the interview inspired and even more determined to finish this next month strong.

 

Sunday, we had Ward Conference.  We were not only blessed by great talks, but also by having several investigators attending with us.  Do you remember Coco?  Well, he´s getting baptized this weekend, the 27th.  Keep him in your prayers.  His nephew, Javier, should be shortly following him.  Back to the Conference... The Stake Counselor gave a great talk based on Alma 47.  Lehonti was tempted and went down only HALF WAY on the mountain.  For his decision, he lost his life.  In life, we might not let our standards down ALL of the way.  But that´s not the point.  We must keep them up at all times.  If not, we will inevitably pay for the consequences.

 

Another highlight of the week came on a late, fourth quarter hail mary.  Saturday evening, we went by the house of a lady named Noelia.  I first met her about a month ago.  The first time we entered her house, it was rather difficult and the lesson didn´t go that well.  They weren´t that interested.  We didn´t schedule a follow-up appointment.  For one reason or another we didn´t go by again.  But after several weeks, we decided to give it one more try.  Looking back at it now, we were probably following the impressions of the Spirit.  How else can you explain the fact that we arrived at the exact moment that she needed help most?  She was going through a very hard time and, unknowingly, we arrived at the very climax of it all.  She paid very close attention this time.  She asked questions.  She committed to coming to Church the next day.  She said she doesn´t believe in coincidence.  Long story short, she came to Church yesterday with her two little toddlers.  I believe several prayers were answered.

 

Until Next Week,

 

Elder McMurray