Tormenta in the Neighborhood.

Family!

It sounds like life ceases to slow down.  At first, I figured my time
in the mission would cause time to slow down and eventually stop.
Quite the opposite; time is speeding up!  Thanks for all of the
spiritual insights and updates on your lives!

Well, this week was a little bit on the.. uh ..warm side. (figuratively
speaking)  The weather changed quickly, Tuesday night.  Almost
hurricane force winds and rain came at exactly 7:22pm local time.  We
even had a little hail.  After being in a house with no power for
almost an hour, a break came in the rain.  So we made a dash for
another house.  I´ve been all over this area, many times.  But it´s an
eery feeling when you walk through it in complete darkness and fallen
trees/bamboo all around.  We were lucky, though.  Seven policemen died
on the other side of the river, in Paraguay.  What made it even worse
was that our phone died.  For those of you that have served missions,
you´ll understand the feeling that we felt.  No phone (aka no
communication) on the night that we find out about transfers.  What
impeccable timing.  With a little bit of luck(and a miracle) only our
street got power back right away.  We didn´t receive ´the call´ until
10pm.  The results.... I´m still here!  But Elder White left. :( Those
were two great transfers with him.

Wednesday morning, I went the bus terminal to drop off Elder White and
pick up my new companion, Elder Nish. Quick stats of Elder Nish: he´s
been out for almost 11 months, he´s from Provo, Utah, and best of all
-- he´s left handed.  That makes six left handed companions!  The
South Paws are still winning (6 to 4).  Did I ever mention that
President Heyman is left handed?  It´s just a left handed kind of
mission.

This week was very comfortable weather.  70s all week.  But, it´s
starting to get a little toasty again.  Anybody want to send me the
weekly weather reports for Posadas, Misiones?  Thanks.  Oh, slightly
random but also very important... I embraced my Southern roots this
week by making fried chicken.  Those wings came out very tasty.

Mosiah 16 is an amazing chapter.  It basically gives us a reason to
life.  I see the information found in that chapter as a sort of
¨spiritual batteries.¨  It just keeps going and going...

Con Amor,

Elder McMurray

ps 16 months in the mission, already??  Yikes.

pss Think you could hook me up with some more Lawrys salt in the next
3 or 4 months?

UNA SOLA ALMA.

To answer a few questions...

Current Companion: Elder White, of Ogden, Utah. (...but this week is transfers week. I´ll keep you updated on the ¨who¨ and the ¨where.¨)  The weather:  Argentine. This last week started off amazing -- 70s, overcast, and lots of wind. Friday began the heat wave.   It´s got to be at least 100ºF...at least. With humidity. Fun. I´m excited to be going into ¨Spring¨ this week.  Investigators:  This week we found several people that look like they have some serious interest. (*more on that later.)  Is the Work harder here?  Not necessarily.  The only thing tricky is getting people to come to Church.  The Church Building is neither in our area nor in the branch boundaries.  But other than that, the Work is rolling along quite nicely.  Any other questions?

This last week, we had a changing of the guards, so to speak.  We received a new Branch Mission leader.  Mario Urizar is a very spunky guy that plays basketball and literally knows EVERYONE this side of Posadas.  I mention basketball because he´s actually pretty legit.  He´s been to the States a few times to play.  Anyways...  He´s a guy with tons of ideas and a very ¨let´s do it¨ attitude.  (Austin, you might have some serious competition.)  He came up with what is now, as of this week, our Branch Mission theme, ¨Una Sola Alma.¨ (Just One Soul)  Instead of trying to concentrate on all of the people that could be at Church but aren´t, under prayerful inspiration, think of one person you could bring to Church this week. (whether they be less-active or a non-member.)  We have high hopes for the results.  We are really pushing to become a ward.  Right now, we are at the point of breaching 100 in Sacrament Meeting.  Missionary work can be so fun!  Especially, when it´s an entire congregation effort.

This week was a testimony builder (like usual.)  There´s something that can´t quite beat simple truths.  At times, we get all worked up on how we are going to be able to share our beliefs with others that aren´t of our faith.  We have feelings of inadequacy or doubt. This is rather silly.  Testifying of the simple truths can be astronomically more powerful than any deep doctrine topic.  More often than not, we as missionaries talk and share our beliefs in the Restoration.  This week we had an extremely powerful lesson with a lady named Dilma.  I´ve shared the same message thousands of times thus far in my life and in the mission.  But the feelings that I felt, that my companion felt, and that she felt were undeniable.  Without  even commenting on Joseph Smith and the First Vision for more than a few moments, she said that it was true.  That it actually happened.  But all we did was tell her about something that we´ve told literally thousands before.  That´s how amazing the Spirit is.  If we teach without it, we might as well not teach at all.  Do something different.  Don´t be afraid to talk about a simple truth this week, with a friend or co-worker.  You can do it. Remember... Una Sola Alma.

Love you bunches and oats,

Elder McMurray

TACOS

It´s crazy to believe that one percent of my mission has come and gone since I last wrote you.  It was a good one percent, at that.  A few of the highlights include; buying 10 packs of Skittles for $20 pesos. (They are normally $9 pesos a piece.  I saved $70 pesos.  Lets see your Food City Value Card do that.)  Cooking Tacos with members while using imported Taco Seasoning from the States.  And participating in the Buenos Aires Temple Re-Dedication.

I´ll start with the Tacos...

If you´ve ever known an Argentine, you know that I´m not exaggerating when I say that they have a zero tolerance towards foods that are hot.  If it´s hotter than salt, then it´s too hot.  We often find ourselves on this topic with people, here.  A few claim to be a fan of the Hot, but when push comes to shove, they flake out.  Marcelo Sanabria, a returned missionary, has been wanting to do Tacos with his family for some time, now.  On his mission, he grew to love Tacos.  So we brought along a ¨mild¨ package of seasoning.  Not even close to hot, right?  Well... long story short, Marcelo loved them.  His wife?  Not so much.  She was downing a full glass of juice BEFORE and AFTER every taco.  And these we small tacos (in terms of the wrap).  You would have thought that was eating a jalapeno pepper while drinking Tabasco sauce, by the looks of it.  Needless to say, the tacos were successfully tasty.  It kind of does the same effect as the Children´s Book, ¨If you give a Mouse a Cookie.¨ ¨If you give an Argentine Something Hot.¨ ...You´ll have to give them a glass of milk.

The Buenos Aires Temple Re-dedication was nothing short of inspiring.  Elder Christofferson, who served his mission in Argentina, directed the service.  Elder Ballard, spoke of his grandfather, Marvin J. Ballard.  In 1925, Elder Marvin J. Ballard dedicated South America to the peaching of the Gospel.  He did that, ironically, in Buenos Aires.  The first Church meeting held in South America was with several German immigrants.  It was held in German.  (Who ever knew!)  When the former Elder Ballard dedicated South America, he said that it would start as an acorn and grow into an Oak Tree.  More than 80 years later, there are now more than 3 million members of the Church and a temple in every South American country.  Elder Henry B. Erying was the final speaker.  He talked about the blessings of the temple.  He said that the pathway to Eternal Life begins with repentance. (That reminded me of a talk given by Elder Richard Heaten in the MTC... ¨I want to be in the Repentance Hall of Fame.¨)  Overall, the Dedication was amazing.  It makes me have an ever increasing desire to have my life centered on that goal: The Temple.  I´m so grateful for the blessing of temples in my life.  The temple blesses the family.  Fortunately, my family kind of rocks.

*For those of you interested, the Temple President is from Resistencia and his second counselor is from... Posadas!  Way to represent.

I really can´t say anything more spiritual than the temple.  Do everything you can to be eligible to partake of the blessings of the temple.  This is eternal life in the balance, after all.

I love you all,

Elder McMurray

Esfuerzo Combinado

Family,

It appears that another week has come to pass.  It sounds like BYU football has come to pass, as well.  I was excited to hear about the 30-6 triumph.  Let´s hope that this is a good omen for the rest of the season.  Oh, mom I asked President Heyman, and he said I could vote online.  Do you think you could get everything set up for me?  I really have no idea how it works..  So it was the Blue Demon Invite this week, huh?  Congrats Matthew, Dan, and Spencer!  Dad, you are quite right, I remember the course better than the back of my hand.  I still occasionally wake up in cold sweats, thinking about what I could have done differently in old races.  For the most part, I think of C-burg as challenging, but satisfying course.  Tazwell, Hidden Valley, and Carroll County on the other hand...

Oh, so to answer your question Matthew, Argentina isn´t known for its ties (like Russia).  The real treasure is Alpargatas. (TOMS.) I can get them for 20 pesos.  That´s like 4 or 5 bucks.  I have plans of bringing lots home, no worries.

This week, on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of craziness, was about a 8.967.  Tuesday, we had our every-other-transfer Zone Conference.  I had flashbacks of my first Zone Conference in the mission, where I attended the very same chapel that I did a year ago.  We learned some incredible stuff, as usual.  It had a strong emphasis on the Vision that President Hinckley, in relation to the growth of the Church.  With 3 things we can double the number of those that are baptized, each year.  A combined effort (member, missionary, and the Spirit), Knowing our duty as a member, and sincere prayers.  Unfortunately, since ´99, we haven´t doubled.  One thing that I learned this week is that prophets can make prophecies, but if we do not do what they say, the result WILL NOT happen. If you have doubts on that, just ask somebody that ¨listened¨ to Noah...  As missionary, I am constantly learning of my duty as a missionary AND member.  If you really want to witness miracles in your lives, please follow the counsel of President Hinckley.  You´ll be impressed.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent in divisions.  I spent my time outside of my area with Elder Paz.  I just can´t get away from the Chilenos.  Every corner I turn, there´s another Chileno elder.  I guess there are pretty cool, Po...  Anyways, we also spent much of our time, Thursday, painting their bishop´s apartment.  He left this week for Resistencia.  That apartment is now a beautiful shade of white.  I´m glad my family isn´t the only one that goes ´crazy´ when it comes to painting the house... :)

Do you guess have any questions about anything?  It´ll give me something more to write about.

Cariño,

Elder McMurray

Centro de Conocimiento  Center of Knowledge.  A really cool museum that´s in my area

Me, Elders White, Barrientos, Paz, and President Heyman.  Red Ties!

Me