"That's Twelve Thousand Mangos, Papi"

Family,

Winter is has made her last big entrance before Spring comes.  Friday morning, we left the apartment with short sleeves and humidity, as usual.  By 5pm, it was overcast, very windy, and the temperature was dropping.  My 15 month-aversary was celebrated by lots of rain and jackets and gloves weather, Saturday.  Since Friday, it has been cold and overcast ..and I am lovin' this! (said in your best Kronk voice).  I haven't felt this cold in a long time.  I'm in heaven.  Random but cool...  I met a guy that played pro soccer in Malaga, Spain.  He's only 20-something, but came back because he blew out his knee. 

This week, was a productive, learning kind of week.  The highlight unquestionably goes to Stake Conference.  Because we were part of the men's choir, we were able to take part of the Priesthood Leadership Meeting, which was presided over by Elder Ricardo Gimenez, of Chile.  He gave a great talk on how we must be involved in the lives of other at Church.  He issued the challenge to set a goal to read the Book of Mormon every day this week. And when those seven days are up, set the goal again. And again, and again.  Sunday, we were privileged to hear from the Paraguay Temple President and his wife, The Wagners, President Heyman, and Elder Gimenez.  President Heyman made a great point about the urgency that must be put into missionary work.  He made the point that if somebody doesn't receive the Gospel, those that have died before us suffer too.  It's not that we are helping only people receive sacred ordinance, but also those on the other side of the veil.  -- That definitely changes your perspective a little bit.. 

 

Elder Gimenez gave a talk that I hope I shall never forget.  He talked about how we must put Christ in the center of our lives.  He told a story about "The Perfect Day."  A family scripture study and prayer, breakfast, dropping the kids off at school with the windows down, etc. A very day dreamy scene. Hopefully you get the picture.  All of a sudden, he ran into the back of another car.  He  had been to occupied by other things and not payed attention to the task at hand.  We must be dedicated in our pursuit.  He shared 2 Nephi 5 in a way I'd never thought of before.  Nephi and his people separated themselves from the Lamanites and were blessed.  Just like Nephi, we must set ourselves away from the things of the world, and we too, will be blessed.  This is an invitation for everyone.  We must put Christ at the center of our lives.  Oh, and fittingly, we (the Choir) sang "If the Savior Stood Beside Me."

I love you all,

Elder McMurray

ps We get to see the Buenos Aires Temple Dedication!  It's in September... Don't worry, I've got a handkerchief. :)

Super Tenor.

Family,

You all are still living life at very fast pace for already being in school...  Atlanta? On a school week?  Did you try the soda from Argentina?  It´s definitely different than the soda from the US.  I´m super jealous that you all got to go to the temple.  It truly is the House of the Lord.  Thanks for the Fried Rice stuff, Mom and Michelle!  I´ll have to try something this week and let you know how it goes.  Caroline!  Happy Birthday, this week!  I remember when you were born! ) and I´m sure mom remembers, too)  She had an 18 minute entrance, if I recall.. :)

This week was just another week at the plow. (¨Any man, having put his hand to the plow and looked back, is not fit for the Kingdom of God.¨ -- Thanks you, Bible and John Tanner.)  

 

Highlights: Going to the Placita, eating a real, Argentina Asado,  and singing in the choir.

What is the Placita you might ask?  It´s only one of the largest open markets in all of northern Argentina.  Thousands of vendors go over the boarder to Paraguay (where everything is dirt cheap in a So-So economy) and bring back merchandise to sell.  I bought an ¨adidas¨ watch, sombrero, and a River jersey and socks.  All for less than  40 bucks. Not too bad.

 

The Asado was delish.  Need I say more?  I am in love with how they do the chicken. mmhmm.

Singing in the Choir.  What has gotten into me..  I never would have done this before.  We will be preforming on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend.  Can you say excited for Stake Conference?  I sure am.  The choir is being directed by a musically gifted couple.   After choir practice, I succumbed to a test.  A test to see if I am a bass, baritone, or tenor.  After doing a series of tests with this Sister on the piano, it was determined that I am a super tenor (still trying to decide if  ¨Super¨ as in, Awesome or just really high.. I hope both).  All I´ve got to say is... watch out Freddy Mercury.

This week had many ups, as well as its downs.  It amazing how much the mission can prepare you for future life.  What do you do when you have difficulties?  Do you sit around and pout?  Do you wait for someone else to change things?  DO you have initiative?  When it comes down to it, WE are the ones that have to account for US at the final day of judgement.  Will WE be able to say that WE´ve done all that we could?  Give it your all.

I love you all lots,

Elder McMurray

 

Barco

Family,
 
The whole ¨Mc¨ in McMurray is a real pronunciation getter. I´ve met a grand total of one other person that has a ¨Mc¨ name.  There is a brother, here in Posadas (but not in my area), whose name is McKenzie.  He is a wood worker extraordinaire.  He can do a little bit of everything.  He specializes in boats.  A month ago he made a hand-crafted, four foot long, boat.  They´re talking Pirate-Style.  He even goes as far as tying the knots on the pulley systems.  So...  I did the only natural thing and asked him to make me one.  (More of a,
¨Elder, I want to make you a boat.  I´ve got boats in Hawaii, Utah, Mexico, El Salvador, Chile, Arizona, etc. but I don´t have one in Virginia.¨)  He doesn´t just make your standard boat.  He makes a replica model of a boat that existed in the area(so Utah is a little tricky...haha).  I can´t remember the name off of the top of my head, but he did one that landed in Virginia in 1765.  These boats are usually a foot of two long.  Well...  Mine happened to be a little bit more on the 2 foot long category.  He gave it to me at Church.  Have you ever walked through half of a city/take a bus with a two foot long, replica modeled boat under your arm?  It turns a few heads, I can assure you.  Long story short, I thought it would fit in my suitcase.  Nope.  I´m out of ideas.  We are considering dismantling it (breaking a few parts) and when I get back to the States, I can
work wonders with wood glue.  Any suggestions?

So this week I went to Young Men´s (Mutual) for the first time in more than two years.  We took some 12 year old twins, that we are teaching (The Espindola Family).  We messed around with ironing designs (with
this cool inky paper) onto t-shirts.  The highlight was the Young Women´s activity.  ..they were learning how to cook.  They were generous enough to share a really tasty tart.  It brought back sweet memories of all of those years in Youth.  Those years are so key to the rest of somebody´s life.  For those of you that are in Youth, take advantage of it, you´ll be glad you did further on in life.

Are you looking for Christ, or are you looking for the doctrine of Christ?  There´s a big difference.  I´ll let you think about it.  One story from the bible that I read this week might help. It´s in 1 Samuel.  In chapter 4 see that Eli, a Church leader at the time, had two sons.  They carried the Ark of the Covenant and were killed by the Philistines.  You might wonder how someone that is doing something like that could be killed.  If you read in earlier chapters, you find that they did just about everything BUT follow the commandments of God.  So what are you looking for?  Just Christ? ..or his doctrine, as well.

Love you all!

Elder McMurray

Winter is getting Spicy.

Family,

This week was a up and down kind of week.  And the weather definitely showed that.  I have no idea what temperatures are like, exactly, but I´d have to go with 80ish and HIGH humidity.  I thought it was ¨winter.¨  Funny thing is, people are saying that this year was colder than years past.  All I´ve got to say to that is that I´m glad I wasn´t here in years past.

Well I guess I can talk a little about Argentina, but more specifically Misiones.  Lately, my animal count has been going up.  We found a strange florescent lizard in the apartment this week.  That goes nicely with the monkey I saw two weeks ago and the anaconda that some kids we know, saw.  Misiones definitely has a flair to it!  Have I told you guys about Chiperos? Well, they are people that sell Chipa (a type of cheesy bread that very popular in the region.)  They are famous for there yellow jackets.  They go EVERYWHERE yelling, ¨Chipa! Chipa, chipa, chipa!¨  They stand at stoplights and attempt to sell.  The get on buses and walk up and down to see if there are any takers. Needless to say, I have to refrain from succumbing to the  deliciousness quite often.  Other Argentina Attraction: I met a great grandma the other day, she´s 52.  The great great grandma is in her 70s!  Crazy! And to be quite honest, that´s not that uncommon.

Remember Ruben from last week?  I fill you in a little more about him.  He´s a man that can do, fix, or paint anything.  He even has business cards that say so.  He´s pretty much certified at a plane technician. He´ll be going to Buenos Aires this week for a training course.  Anyways, the guy accepts everything that we teach him.  The elders found him about a month before I got here.  After talking about temples and later on in the week watching a video about the Great Apostosy, he asked what all he needed to do to get married in the temple.  We told him that first he needs to be baptized. So his response was, ¨What all do I need to do so that I can baptized?¨ Music to a missionary´s ears? :)  Anyways, we´ve been working on his diivorce for months with him now..(he actually started 6 years ago, trying to get it to pass through)  Divorce is very hard to get accepted, here.  That´s why the majority of the people just live together.  Ruben made a smart move by selling a car to the Head Judge in charge.  He´s thinking it should take about a month more.  Please
pray for him.

So... I´m doing something I´ve never done before..  I´m going to sing in the Stake Choir at the end of this month.  Crazy right?  I´ll be singing in a men´s choir (like 10 of us) -- we will be singing, ¨Ye Elder of Israel.¨  Also, I´ll be in the main Choir, as well.  The Mission does weird things to you, I guess...

I´ve decided that Ruth wins the Woman of the Bible award, for the week (other than Mary, of course.).  Her dedication to her mother-in-law is unreal.  Are we that dedicated to doing what is right?

I love you all. A lot.

Elder McMurray

¨I want to fly like an Aguila.¨

Familia Mía!

So this week I made Nineys, Mom.  They turned out very tasty with Dulce de Leche.  I also got to showcase my imported syrup.  Oh, how I´ve missed thee, Syrup.  I still haven´t tried your recipe thingy, Michelle.  If I have time this week, I´ll give it a whirl.  Thanks for sending me some stuff.  Sister Heyman must have heard my cries, as well.  She sent all of the mission a list of recipes.  All made with stuff you can find here.  Sister Heyman is the best.

So...  This week has been fairly standard.  It´s weird that I hit 14 months this week.  If anything, I feel like I´ve been reflecting on the mission and life, among others, this week.  Time just can´t be stopped.  I´m finally starting to accept that.  But it also gives me even more desire to make the most of every moment. Would I be proud of what I just did?  Would others be happy with what I am doing?  Can I say that I´ve done everything possible?  (..those are questions that you can ask yourself at any point in your life..)

This Sunday, we had the great privilege of having an Area Seventy in our branch.  Elder Aguila is from Buenos Aires.  We had the opportunity to hear him speak.  He gave a great talk about becoming more like Christ in our lives.  My favorite part was when he read a journal entry of his grandfather, a convert to the Church.  I think I liked it some much was because, it signified the hard work of missionaries, years ago.  The vast majority of members are converts. (Side note: the first Mormon Missionaries that came to South America landed in Buenos Aires, 81 years ago.)  Later, after all of the meetings had ended, we were talking to Ruben, a truly inspirational investigator.  Elder Aguila came up and started talking to Ruben. He said he recognized him from somewhere.  He then found out that he wasn´t a member.  Which he proceeded to say, ¨Maybe we knew each other in the premortal life.¨ :)  It was a priceless moment that I don´t think Ruben or I shall forget.

If you want to better understand the doctrine of the Gospel, study about the Atonement.  It is the most basic principle of our Doctrine, yet least understood.

I love you all,

Elder McMurray

 

I´m Legal.

It sounds like things are rollin´. I can´t believe you guys went to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert! Freebird live?? What better way to embrace your Sourthern Roots? I´m extremely jealous. Ironically, we talked
about Lynyrd Skynyrd this morning. My companion started singing, "I´m Leaving on a Jetplane," by John Denver. That led into a conversation of famous people dying in plane crashes. A little random, I know.

Cody got his call! California! Congrats!

This week was definitely a Montaña Rusa kind of week.(if you´re picking up what I´m saying..) So I´ll just dive right in...

We spent a big chunk of Tuesday going to Downtown. Sister Parker has been sick all week, so we went to check up on her. For the record: Sister Missionaries have it made. Their apartment was extremely nice.  I also found out that they get a higher bugdet for rent then us Elders get. Mission Presidents definitely play favorites, when it comes to the Sisters.

Thursday, we ate with the Urizar Family. This was our first lunch with them. I´ve been kind of excited to get to know them. Brother Urizar is a basketball player. He played on a club team that won their league for the entire country of Argentina.  It´s fairytale story, too. All other clubs have indoor faciliites and better sponsoring. His team, practices on a local playground court.  If you could just see the court that they play on, you would find a court in the Bronx much more welcoming. He is the one Argentine that thinks Mate is against the Word of Wisdom. Unfortunately, I don´t think we will be eating with them for a few weeks. His wife is due next week.

Friday was spent in Rezzy. We left for Resistencia at 2am, for a nice, five hour ride. This was to complete the second half of my VISA paper work. I´m going to be legal! Other than seeing a bunch of
mission friends, the highlight has got to go to McDonalds. Yep, that´s right. M.C.D.O.N.A.L.D.S. There is a grand total of 1 McDonalds in the entire mission boardaries. ..And I got to go. I got excited and got the Big Mac meal with a McFlurry. The total rang up to $37 pesos. McDonalds is like the ¨Nice Restaurant.¨ You can get a normal, supreme hamburger off the street for $8 pesos. We made it
back to Posadas at Midnight. Fun. The rest of the week was spent catching up on everything. It´s
amazing how much things change when you miss just one day.

Well, as missionaries, we do a lot of studying about the Sabbath Day.  When you actually do a study on it, it´s quite amazing just how much you come up with. Why is the Sabbath so important? What should we do on this day? Why is it on Sunday? What will we gain by obeying the Sabbath Day? If you want to do a good study this week, give it a shot.

¨Me encanta¨,

Elder McFlurry

When the Weather Outside is Frightful.

This week has actually been fairly cold, here.  When we got into a taxi, one day this week (mid-day), the temperature was 8.5 ºC.  Mornings and nights are particularly crispy (¨Crispy¨ is the best way to describe it...I mean, it´s not like it´s going to snow any time soon here.)  So I´ve spent most of my days with sweaters and jackets -- I love sweaters. (Okay, so maybe the NERD is coming out just a little strong these days.)  But if someone could send me a good pancake recipe, it would be appreciated.

This week has a few highlights:

I cut my companion´s hair today.  He had been rocking the comb-over look, that was making his slight, male pattern baldness become evident. So... I worked my magic and now he´s got a very stylish, new ¨do.¨  Plus, it doesn´t look like he´s balding anymore.  I know, I should probably open up a shop when I get back... I´ll look into it.

Wait for it, wait for it... A baptism!  Juliana Itati Montiel is the newest member of the Villa Cabello Branch.  Have I talked about Juliana?  She´s a nine year old girl that truly has the gift of Charity.  I´ve never met a little girl so nice.  She even lets (makes) you win in Paper, Rock, Scissors.  She honestly picks up information faster than my companion can do five girl push-ups (I think that would be considered fast...).  But her baptism wasn´t all that easy.  We had to jump through a few loops to make it happen; including finding her mom in the hospital and breaking her out for a few hours (PS I love American health facilities.  This hospital also includes a psych hospital, and a special wing for Leprosy...yep, Leprosy.)  In terms of the baptismal service, it was rather calm, but sweet.  I ended up giving a talk and playing the hymns for the service.

Remember this family that we found last week?  The one that the mom is a member?  Well, they ALL came to Church this week!  All six of them.  I played prelude for Sacrament Meeting as well as gave a talk due to an absence, so I wasn´t able to sit by them.  (Don´t worry, they didn´t take the water because the had their Mate with them. :) )  After the meeting, the dad told me my talk was spectacular. (I´m glad he liked it, it was on missionary work.)  All in all, they all really liked it and the Branch members made them feel like family.  It just reaffirms my testimony that this Church was truly organized for the family.  I´m so grateful for the family I have.  They rock.

This week I´ve read a bit in Matthew, in the New Testament.  It´s amazing how fast Christ´s mortal ministry can be told.  If you need a quick and exciting read, grab a New Testament and read one of the Gospels.  It´ll keep you on your toes, for sure.

From the Deep South,

Elder McMurray