hey team family!, its your captain, captain cool.. it was way good talking to everyone on Christmas! i hope all is still well! not much to report on today, except for today turned out to be p-day after all.. so our planning yesterday is KIND of void.. but umm.. scotty's baptism this last weekend went off awesomely! the word continues and we are hoping for some baptisms next weekend... possibly one this weekend.. but we'll see!.. scotty is going to be living with the member who helped make it all happen, Phil buonforte, they are awesome scotty is going to have an awesome life with crazy fellowship in Utah, he is also hoping to go to byu at some point as far as i know... someone will have to let me know if bryce ever gets the opportunity to teach new member lessons or anything like that to scotty, cause that would be awesome! his last name is daughrity.. hmmm cant think of much else to write! i know it was a short email but i love and miss everyone and hope all is well!
p.s. brother newkirk is way awesome, and such a strong convert, that was my first baptism.
-elder mcmurry
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Calling Home...
woohoo! hey mom and dad, i will be calling home on Christmas day, probably sometime between 10am-1pm my time.. i don't know when my comp is planning on calling so i will call in that time frame! and that is based on my time or.. Columbia south Carolina time.. so i dont know what time it will be there.. but we can talk for a whole hour so.. woohoo!
mom thank you so much for your email, i love and miss you and dad a lot! tell becca yes i have done the baptizing before and it was awesome, also i don't need anything at all.. if she insists, i would take 1 tie.. and tell sarah thanks 100 million for her letter too.. and ben too.. and i hope to see more pics of the family and i love you all and merry Christmas and talk to you in a few days!
oh and i did get sams package and sarahs too and i love the ties, they rock.. also if anyone shipped something to me from ups or fedex or something i will hopefully get it tomorrow! but those go to the mission office before they get to me and i can only get them at meetings.. (so postal service is best sometimes).. but with transfers hopefully i will get them tomorrow!
mom thank you so much for your email, i love and miss you and dad a lot! tell becca yes i have done the baptizing before and it was awesome, also i don't need anything at all.. if she insists, i would take 1 tie.. and tell sarah thanks 100 million for her letter too.. and ben too.. and i hope to see more pics of the family and i love you all and merry Christmas and talk to you in a few days!
oh and i did get sams package and sarahs too and i love the ties, they rock.. also if anyone shipped something to me from ups or fedex or something i will hopefully get it tomorrow! but those go to the mission office before they get to me and i can only get them at meetings.. (so postal service is best sometimes).. but with transfers hopefully i will get them tomorrow!
Happy Christmas!
hey all! thanks so much for your emails, it really made the day.. it was awesome to read stuff and I'm so glad everyone is doing so well, with the exception of dads horrible injuries! i hope they heal soon, so i can beat you at tennis when i get back in 2 years! well, i don't have much to report on.. or i guess i kind of do. We had an unexpected baptism on Saturday of a way awesome 13 year old girl, or wait maybe i already told you about that? anyway that was way cool! she is an awesome person. we met her through a cool member family in the ward.. and with that same family we have another baptism this weekend! with a friend of the families, named scotty! it was a sweet "conversion" story.. he had heard bits and parts of the gospel and stuff from this family all his life pretty much i guess, but never was actually taught.. well we finally got to go by on Sunday and teach for awhile (4 hours!) in the beginning, he said he didn't understand why we needed the book of Mormon and told us he was going to read the bible all the way through at first then the book of Mormon (that wasn't the coolest thing to hear, but he was so open, so he said it in a good way with the right intent, because he wanted to learn more about the church and eventually he has been planning on joining at some point).. well we went ahead with teaching and it was different then normal but when we got to the most important part of the lesson, sharing Joseph Smith's first vision (this is the MOST important part of every restoration lesson(first lesson), it invites the Spirit EVERYTIME!) and when we shared it with him he was clearly being touched by it.. and afterward.. said he had NEVER felt the spirit like that before.. and said it was "crazy" and "he would never forget it".. as my comp Elder Jones said "it was like he had a farrari in his front yard right in front of him and he never knew it was there until the cover was taken off.." that described his face perfectly! he looked at his best buddy in the member family with a face that was like "man! how come you never told your church was true!".. it was an awesome change and we taught and all types of stuff forever.. then we left with the plan that as soon as he moves to Utah this week he would get baptized once he was up there.. but after we left we made some calls to see what we could do (becuase he has never attended an actual sacrament meeting, ordinarily you don't baptize them).. and we got the ok, and they pushed their trip to Utah date back, and then we taught some other lessons and he is going to get baptized this Saturday! woohoo! it was way cool, i never heard someone express how powerful the spirit was to them and knew it was the spirit like this before.. not only that but the expression on his face just made me think "YEEAAH! HE KNOWS ITS TRUE!".. so that was awesome.. but that's all that..
now transfers.. i am staying in Sumter.. which I'm OK with, but i wouldn't be upset if i left next transfer.. Elder Jones is going Zone Leader in a different area and, my new Comp is taking his place, Elder Burrows, will be the new district leader and yup that's pretty much it!..
but now to answer some questions.. the weather is awesome.. some days its perfect some days its hot, other days its way cold.. so basically Texas weather.. or at least ALMOST Texas weather.. i miss you all so much.. i cant really remember the other questions.. sorry, these computers are way slow!! but i love you a lot and will talk to you on Christmas day!
now transfers.. i am staying in Sumter.. which I'm OK with, but i wouldn't be upset if i left next transfer.. Elder Jones is going Zone Leader in a different area and, my new Comp is taking his place, Elder Burrows, will be the new district leader and yup that's pretty much it!..
but now to answer some questions.. the weather is awesome.. some days its perfect some days its hot, other days its way cold.. so basically Texas weather.. or at least ALMOST Texas weather.. i miss you all so much.. i cant really remember the other questions.. sorry, these computers are way slow!! but i love you a lot and will talk to you on Christmas day!
Woohoo!
woohoo! hey mom and dad, i will be calling home on christmas day, probably sometime between 10am-1pm my time.. i dont know when my comp is planning on calling so i will call in that time frame! and that is based on my time or.. columbia south carolina time.. so i dont know what time it will be there.. but we can talk for a whole hour so.. woohoo!
mom thank you so much for your email, i love and miss you and dad a lot! tell becca yes i have done the baptizing before and it was awesome, also i dont need anything at all.. if she insists, i would take 1 tie.. and tell sarah thanks 100 million for her letter too.. and ben too.. and i hope to see more pics of the family (and rach..) and i love you all and merry christmas and talk to you in a few days!
oh and i did get sams package and sarahs too and i love the ties, they rock.. also if anyone shipped something to me from ups or fedex or something i will hopefully get it tomorrow! but those go to the mission office before they get to me and i can only get them at mettings.. (so postal service is best sometimes).. but with transfers hopefully i will get them tomorrow!.. ... anyway i have to go like crazy!
mom thank you so much for your email, i love and miss you and dad a lot! tell becca yes i have done the baptizing before and it was awesome, also i dont need anything at all.. if she insists, i would take 1 tie.. and tell sarah thanks 100 million for her letter too.. and ben too.. and i hope to see more pics of the family (and rach..) and i love you all and merry christmas and talk to you in a few days!
oh and i did get sams package and sarahs too and i love the ties, they rock.. also if anyone shipped something to me from ups or fedex or something i will hopefully get it tomorrow! but those go to the mission office before they get to me and i can only get them at mettings.. (so postal service is best sometimes).. but with transfers hopefully i will get them tomorrow!.. ... anyway i have to go like crazy!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Heya!
Well this last week was pretty slow again.. and this morning has been a little rough.. i messed up a load of all my whites when it turned out i washed AND dried them with a pen in one of my shirt pockets.. so that was cool.. but Elder Cram, in the district had a good idea about washing them all with bleach, so I think that helped a bit.. but anyway! life moves on! We are really hoping for 2 baptisms this weekend, one is a cool 12 year old girl that is friends with a family in the ward, she wants to be baptized too, but we gave her time to decide when, and we are hoping she says this weekend sounds good! that and Richard, we are hoping to see him and get him married or something and just shoot for his baptism this weekend too..Oh and tell G-mom and Pop i said thanks for the letter, and the tree ornament! I can't really think of what else to write about.. This Wednesday I will find out about Christmas calls, and this Saturday I will find out about transfers.. transfers happen on the 23rd, it's kinda funny.. Oh! If I had to ask for one thing for Christmas it would be a sweet missionary eating thing, cause I don't eat well and I have totally gained some weight.. really it would just be nice to have an idea of simple things to buy and take 2 seconds to prepare and eat and are healthy and fit within a "$30" a week budget or something.. but actually I think I can just use common sense.. so scratch that. But no.. I'm not like fat fat, I actually probably weigh now what I "should".. Oh heres a cool story! I may have told it before but maybe not? A member in my ward, taught and baptized(while he was on his mission) the man who plays as Jesus, in the movie Testaments!.. cool huh! Yup anyway.. I think I'm pretty good on warm clothes and everything else! But anyway! Love yall!
-Elder McMurry
-Elder McMurry
Monday, December 8, 2008
Slowby!
Hey all.. this last week went by PRETTY slow and it was a rough week.. not much really happened, but we did meet some cool people, and actually had one of our longer investigators come to church for the first time which was so awesome! This month Elder Jones and I are hoping for at LEAST one baptism! We think we can do it, so long as it is according to the will of the Lord, and we have an awesome guy in mind.. which awesome guy actually let me sit in the driver seat of his 18-wheeler and actually start the engine.. that was pretty awesome.. he is a way good guy! Truckers are actually cool so be nice to them! The work continues always though, whether slowly or swiftly, so that's good.. I don't have a lot to report on.. umm the weather is getting cold cold apparently it wasn't like this at all last year either, so I hear. Those pictures of the kids were awesome, Zach is getting so big! I love and miss you all!
thank you for your emails! oh and please tell g-mom and pop i said
THANKS for the peanut brittle, it is AWESOME!
I got to watch most of the Christmas, First Presidency message last night and it was pretty cool.. it really hit me when President Eyring bore his testimony and said that "this IS the ONLY true Church of Jesus Christ!"... I thought about that and felt overwhelmingly blessed.. how cool a statement!? Not only that but I have been called by our Savior, to teach and share that message with others.. that the exact same church that our Savior, Jesus Christ established(the one spoken of in the Bible), has been brought back to the earth again; that after Christ was killed and His called apostles as well.. that our Savior Jesus Christ, did in 1820, restore His church again on the earth and that it is not a church organized by man, or men.. it is not a church organized by a prophet, it is THE church organized by Him who created it in the first place, our Savior Jesus Christ! What an exciting message to share with the world! The book of Ephesians in the Bible, talks all about how and why Christ established His church.. saying it was for the "perfecting of the saints" and that it was founded upon, "apostles and prophets.. Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone" (these are in Ephesians chapter 2, and chapter 4).. now im not at all saying or attempting to say that our church is the only church with truth (as all christian churches have, at the very least some of them maybe even just a particle of truth), however being a church made or organized by man or men, it simply can not be perfect, and something which is imperfect could never "perfect the saints".. That is why it is such a blessing to know that Christ's PERFECT church has been restored(brought back after the death of the apostles)! Now not one of the members of the Church is perfect, not even the prophet, but that is what makes the message so awesome, the church is not led by a prophet, but by our Savior, Jesus Christ who speaks through His Prophet Thomas S. Monson(Amos 3:7 in the Bible)! But anyway I love you all and miss you all.. I hope I didn't sound TOO preachy I just love the message I get to share everyday!
thank you for your emails! oh and please tell g-mom and pop i said
THANKS for the peanut brittle, it is AWESOME!
I got to watch most of the Christmas, First Presidency message last night and it was pretty cool.. it really hit me when President Eyring bore his testimony and said that "this IS the ONLY true Church of Jesus Christ!"... I thought about that and felt overwhelmingly blessed.. how cool a statement!? Not only that but I have been called by our Savior, to teach and share that message with others.. that the exact same church that our Savior, Jesus Christ established(the one spoken of in the Bible), has been brought back to the earth again; that after Christ was killed and His called apostles as well.. that our Savior Jesus Christ, did in 1820, restore His church again on the earth and that it is not a church organized by man, or men.. it is not a church organized by a prophet, it is THE church organized by Him who created it in the first place, our Savior Jesus Christ! What an exciting message to share with the world! The book of Ephesians in the Bible, talks all about how and why Christ established His church.. saying it was for the "perfecting of the saints" and that it was founded upon, "apostles and prophets.. Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone" (these are in Ephesians chapter 2, and chapter 4).. now im not at all saying or attempting to say that our church is the only church with truth (as all christian churches have, at the very least some of them maybe even just a particle of truth), however being a church made or organized by man or men, it simply can not be perfect, and something which is imperfect could never "perfect the saints".. That is why it is such a blessing to know that Christ's PERFECT church has been restored(brought back after the death of the apostles)! Now not one of the members of the Church is perfect, not even the prophet, but that is what makes the message so awesome, the church is not led by a prophet, but by our Savior, Jesus Christ who speaks through His Prophet Thomas S. Monson(Amos 3:7 in the Bible)! But anyway I love you all and miss you all.. I hope I didn't sound TOO preachy I just love the message I get to share everyday!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Space Jam
hey all! last week was awesome, im glad everyone had a good thanksgiving, sister dargan, fed the district and she made loads of amazing food so that was way cool, then another family in the ward fed us some leftovers for dinner so taht was awesome too! i hope everyone is doing so way good! i really love the work.. its stressful quite often, but i love it! woohoo! saturday went awesome! all 3 baptisms took place and it was a blessing and awesome experiences as always.. its so true that "there are no homesick missionaries when they are standing in the baptismal font"! I got to baptize both Sister Smith, and Sister Isaac, Elder Jones baptized Brother Smith, and I got to confirm Brother Smith! The gospel really is so awesome! The weather here is up and down a lot.. so cold some days, and randomly almost hot other days, but mostly just cold and its been that way more than half of the month of november probably.. Elder Jones and I really like working together, we are different but get along well and have a good time too, we are hoping to get 10 baptisms this next month, that is our goal! The work here is awesome, but it really does require sacrifice and we do try to be always busy! I wish i had a way cool story to share.. hmm.. last night we did knock this one house and began to teach this guy who said he was interested, but for some reason at one point in the first lesson he said, something like "hold on, i'll be right back" and went into his house.. so we were like ok. and then maybe 5 minutes or so passed and he never came back out.. it was confusing so we left.. anything exciting?.. hmm, also last night Elder Jones was riding without his bike light on, and totally rode into a huge puddle, it was pretty funny. today it is cold and windy! I dont know anything about the christmas call yet but of course i will let you know! how is asher? he looked cool in the pictures.. like hes a baby or something. we have interviews this wednesday which is cool, its always awesome to see and hear from president mcconkie.. we have met some cool people in the last week or so, that we are really hoping to get setup on a baptismal calander.. Brother Newkirk (my first baptism) is still way cool! He is just an amazing guy who let the gospel work in his life! After he was baptized, he didnt have a job and stuff and really needed one to support his family, so we invited him to fast one sunday, and we fasted with him and then the next week he got a job! so that was pretty awesome.. ummm i dont know what much else to say... oh christmas.. no candy please! i have SOOO much and i am getting "chubby" and im sure my teeth are getting ready to fall out! Not that im not grateful for the candy.. cause we all know i cant live without insane amounts of sugar, i just think my stomach and my teeth could use a break! oh and thanks everyone again for the music.. and really you dont need to send me anything for christmas but of course anything is welcome! the south is cool.. one pretty funny thing here is that people have a tough time saying words with "str-" in them.. so here's pretty much everything ive heard with that.. scraight(straight), screet(street), screppe(streppe throut, scrength(strength) and exapmles like.. scrawberries or something but pretty much anything with an "str" at the beginning turns into a word with an "scr".. but nothing really new or cool unfortunatley.. the coolest thing was those 3 baptisms! ANYWHOO! I love and miss everyone or at least some of you.. kidding. hope everyone is doing well and i have one question, does the startrek movie still look cool? you guys may have to wait for me to get home before seeing that one! love ya! thanks for your emails and pictures of the fam and everything!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Pictures
ok i have no time to really write today sorry!! today is not p-day by the way becuase we have thanksgiving as our pday.. i love and miss everyone! things are going way good! we have 3 baptisms this weekend hurrah! also let me know about my debit and credit card stuff.. umm thanks so much for the bday stuff! holy cow mom that was the most exciting thing ever and i felt so guilty! you dont need to spend so much money on me! i love you all! and tyler thanks aton for your email that meant alot.. like it just shows how cool i am when you think about it!
Some pictures from MTC.
ok i dont remember all of them that i just added so ill try to explain a few.. im sure you can tell which ones are of the mtc...
the picture with the elder holding me, he was in my MTC district, and he also happens to be the great grandson of lorenzo snow.. sweet huh?
another picture with me standing infront of the temple, that was my first official day in the mission field, i bet dax would think the tie was cool (he gave me it..)
i know i look goofy in most of these but whatever..
also there is a picture of my MTC companion and I standing infront of the fountain at the provo temple.. and another one is of 3 of my best buddies from the MTC in our district there, and then the deer that we hit.. i know its kinda gross and weird that there is a picture of that.. but hey! its a memory! i cant remember the rest i just added though.. ill write a short letter in just a minute!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
"A bike a bike, we already have a bike, and we need no more bike!"
(hey so i bought a bike with my credit card, the actual bike was $330 after helmet and lock it was $400 something.. i hope thats ok, i tried to use my debit card but it was declined? either way i will make the bike last my mission promise!.. i wont worry about a gps till the end of transfers in case i move to a new area or something, as for now i will just use elder jones gps!) +also happy birthday tyler!
ahoy! thank you all for your awesome letters/emails and packages! i have SOO much candy now holy cow! and thank you so much sarah and shane and ben for the music it is awesome! oh the subject is just becuase i got a bike, (2 nephi 29).. just to let you know i am aware that i have two packages, but they are with the zone leaders right now and they will give them to me on thursday, but otherthan that i dont know who those are from.. i got a packletter from sarah, package from ben, package from becca, and a package from sam.. but the other two packages are with the zone leaders (they forgot to give them to me last time i saw them).. hmmm so whats happening latley.. by the way againt thanks a million for the awesome emails, i have been feeling bad for making such a big deal about it last week, but the more detailed the emails the more satisfied i am heh.. and holy cow that picture of zack! he looks way bigger! he has already grown aton in the past 2.5 months! i hear teebors home! aww man i miss him mucho! tell him to write me, and forward this to him! umm so we have like 4 baptisms set for the 29th this month hopefully those will work out! at least 3 of them deffenently will! it is so awesome when you find those people whom Heavenly Father has prepared to hear the word! The gospel is awesome and so perfect.. there is not one flaw in it!
Well i told you i bought a bike, so elder jones and i have gone some days just biking, it can be tough but it is so awesome how the world changes when you are spreading the gospel on a bike.. its seriously a different experiance.. the other day it was cold and rainy while we were biking but the experiance was so awesome.. it actually felt way good with all this wind and rain and the sun shining through the clouds with a bright orange glow and huge rainbows.. so cool.. and then to go see an investigator whos house is nice and warm, but totally humble becuase the living conditions in sumter are really poor.. but yeah i have seen some beautiful things spreading the gospel on a bike.. you truley get a different and unique perspective of the world and all things have their beauty when you aproch everything from a gospel perspective.. as i beleive Joseph Smith taught,the "eyes of [my] understanding" have been opened from time to time.. to actually see physical things with spiritual eyes is an amazing blessing and exerpiance!.. I know the message we share is perfect and true.. there is no denying it.. everyone must find out for themselves however.. no opionion of man matters, only the opinion of God.. and I know that He has restored His gospel through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Prophet Joseph Smith.. people say it is hard to believe a prophet could possibly be on the earth today, but the truth of the matter is, that there was NEVER a time on the earth when it was easy to beleive there was a prophet on the earth. If people really believe noah could possible be a prophet they would have gotten on the ark... but in fact they thought he was a joke.. they thought.. how could noah possibly be a prophet? and they perished in unbelief in the flood..
Our Heavenly Father is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; just as the scriptures teach, He has always called prophets to be His "mouthpeice" why would He stop calling prophets today, if He is a perfect and unchangeable God why would He change?.. My testimony is that He has never stopped calling prophets on the earth and that He has indeed called one again on the earth today. That the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is the exact same church we read of in the Bible, the same Church our Savior Jesus Christ established. And I know these things to be true and bare this humble testimony, in the name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
-Elder McMurry
ahoy! thank you all for your awesome letters/emails and packages! i have SOO much candy now holy cow! and thank you so much sarah and shane and ben for the music it is awesome! oh the subject is just becuase i got a bike, (2 nephi 29).. just to let you know i am aware that i have two packages, but they are with the zone leaders right now and they will give them to me on thursday, but otherthan that i dont know who those are from.. i got a packletter from sarah, package from ben, package from becca, and a package from sam.. but the other two packages are with the zone leaders (they forgot to give them to me last time i saw them).. hmmm so whats happening latley.. by the way againt thanks a million for the awesome emails, i have been feeling bad for making such a big deal about it last week, but the more detailed the emails the more satisfied i am heh.. and holy cow that picture of zack! he looks way bigger! he has already grown aton in the past 2.5 months! i hear teebors home! aww man i miss him mucho! tell him to write me, and forward this to him! umm so we have like 4 baptisms set for the 29th this month hopefully those will work out! at least 3 of them deffenently will! it is so awesome when you find those people whom Heavenly Father has prepared to hear the word! The gospel is awesome and so perfect.. there is not one flaw in it!
Well i told you i bought a bike, so elder jones and i have gone some days just biking, it can be tough but it is so awesome how the world changes when you are spreading the gospel on a bike.. its seriously a different experiance.. the other day it was cold and rainy while we were biking but the experiance was so awesome.. it actually felt way good with all this wind and rain and the sun shining through the clouds with a bright orange glow and huge rainbows.. so cool.. and then to go see an investigator whos house is nice and warm, but totally humble becuase the living conditions in sumter are really poor.. but yeah i have seen some beautiful things spreading the gospel on a bike.. you truley get a different and unique perspective of the world and all things have their beauty when you aproch everything from a gospel perspective.. as i beleive Joseph Smith taught,the "eyes of [my] understanding" have been opened from time to time.. to actually see physical things with spiritual eyes is an amazing blessing and exerpiance!.. I know the message we share is perfect and true.. there is no denying it.. everyone must find out for themselves however.. no opionion of man matters, only the opinion of God.. and I know that He has restored His gospel through our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Prophet Joseph Smith.. people say it is hard to believe a prophet could possibly be on the earth today, but the truth of the matter is, that there was NEVER a time on the earth when it was easy to beleive there was a prophet on the earth. If people really believe noah could possible be a prophet they would have gotten on the ark... but in fact they thought he was a joke.. they thought.. how could noah possibly be a prophet? and they perished in unbelief in the flood..
Our Heavenly Father is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; just as the scriptures teach, He has always called prophets to be His "mouthpeice" why would He stop calling prophets today, if He is a perfect and unchangeable God why would He change?.. My testimony is that He has never stopped calling prophets on the earth and that He has indeed called one again on the earth today. That the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is the exact same church we read of in the Bible, the same Church our Savior Jesus Christ established. And I know these things to be true and bare this humble testimony, in the name of my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
-Elder McMurry
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Sumptown II
Woohoo! Transfers just came up and everyone in my district (the 4 of us here in sumter) are all staying! yay!! I like it here and we got some good baptisms set for this month! And we just baptized sister Dargan last night! hurrah! her husband did it, but elder Jones and I taught her! Thanks all for your letters and emails! How are G-mom and Pop? What are their latest adventures? Whats Tyler doing? Working somewhere? Schooling it up? hows zack? where are some pictures from you guys! (i know i dont have anyroom to speak.. but i am mailing off some cds of ALL my pictures tomorrow!) how funny are kathryn and hannah being? how is asher!? how is sams schooling going? do you guys use wii fit? how is becca? how is matthew? how is lacy? not sick anymore i hope? is allen getting way bigger? did that best buy open up? how is the weather? still way hot? is there any questions you guys have for me? .. ok so chew on those questions for a week and let me know next monday!
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> so time really flys here! its crazy i feel like maybe just a month ago i was at home.. but im coming up on 3 months i think.. errr it was 2 months ago today i entered the mtc huh? cooool. i am certianly loveing it! "if i am honest", as bear gryls would say, the only thing that is really the most difficult is getting along with my compy now and then.. im just glad hes not my eternal companion.. hes a great guy but we are pretty good at having countless misunderstandings.. but we are good buddies.. but.. wheew.. i heard something from some older members a few weeks ago and it sounds like the Temple president is no longer the one that G-mom and Pop knew, if they are intrested i just wanted to share that, but i could be wrong!
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> Elder jones and i have met some way cool people this last week, we were so busy teaching!.. im not sure if i mentioned it but we are teaching this older couple, Will Smith, and his wife, and hes probably the fresh prince of Sumter, they rock! we met them becuase of a media referal from the mtc, but that referal was for someone else who doesnt even look that promising; its awesome how the Lord works.. becuase Will smith and his wife live right down the street, and we would have never met them without that media referal..
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> no really cool stories this week aside from the fact that Sister Dargan got baptized! she is really cool! so did you guys here about sumter on the news at all about that halloween thing? im curious! also i dont mean to sound mean but please feel free to ask me about my experiances in my emails.. like Brother Newkirks baptism or the deer incident or anything that i mention in an email you can always say something about it.. i want to hear every possible thing you can think of! and send me multiple emails if you want all throughout the week! if nothing is "going on" please just "talk to me" its getting depressing to get emails that dont even acknowledge my emails heh..but i love you guys still, and i know you are busy too, but there is nothing wrong with me getting awesome letters from the fam.. nothing will prevent me from focusing on the work.. but anywho! i love you all and the work is so awesome! life isnt suddenly perfect when you are a missionary and it is a whole new world of trials and struggles and a crazy amount of mixed feelings, but at the same time, it makes life just that much easier and enjoyable.. the next 2 years will surly be a process in the refiners fire.. every single day! love yall! (sorry if i was rude i just want you to know that i love you guys and emails and letters are important to me!)
-Elder McMurry
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> so time really flys here! its crazy i feel like maybe just a month ago i was at home.. but im coming up on 3 months i think.. errr it was 2 months ago today i entered the mtc huh? cooool. i am certianly loveing it! "if i am honest", as bear gryls would say, the only thing that is really the most difficult is getting along with my compy now and then.. im just glad hes not my eternal companion.. hes a great guy but we are pretty good at having countless misunderstandings.. but we are good buddies.. but.. wheew.. i heard something from some older members a few weeks ago and it sounds like the Temple president is no longer the one that G-mom and Pop knew, if they are intrested i just wanted to share that, but i could be wrong!
>
> Elder jones and i have met some way cool people this last week, we were so busy teaching!.. im not sure if i mentioned it but we are teaching this older couple, Will Smith, and his wife, and hes probably the fresh prince of Sumter, they rock! we met them becuase of a media referal from the mtc, but that referal was for someone else who doesnt even look that promising; its awesome how the Lord works.. becuase Will smith and his wife live right down the street, and we would have never met them without that media referal..
>
> no really cool stories this week aside from the fact that Sister Dargan got baptized! she is really cool! so did you guys here about sumter on the news at all about that halloween thing? im curious! also i dont mean to sound mean but please feel free to ask me about my experiances in my emails.. like Brother Newkirks baptism or the deer incident or anything that i mention in an email you can always say something about it.. i want to hear every possible thing you can think of! and send me multiple emails if you want all throughout the week! if nothing is "going on" please just "talk to me" its getting depressing to get emails that dont even acknowledge my emails heh..but i love you guys still, and i know you are busy too, but there is nothing wrong with me getting awesome letters from the fam.. nothing will prevent me from focusing on the work.. but anywho! i love you all and the work is so awesome! life isnt suddenly perfect when you are a missionary and it is a whole new world of trials and struggles and a crazy amount of mixed feelings, but at the same time, it makes life just that much easier and enjoyable.. the next 2 years will surly be a process in the refiners fire.. every single day! love yall! (sorry if i was rude i just want you to know that i love you guys and emails and letters are important to me!)
-Elder McMurry
Monday, November 3, 2008
Birfday in 9 days!
Hey hey! To begin with I’m fine. I'm not sure if you guys heard or not but supposedly Sumter (the city I’m serving in) made national news about a shooting on Halloween. A father with his sons went downtown to Columbia I think and did all this fun organized Halloween stuff and on their way home decided to knock on some houses in Sumter. They came to one house because the light was on and when they knocked a man opened the door and shot at them with an ak-47 killing one of his kids. Also there was a gang war or whatever and something like 9 people died. Not only that but a member’s granddaughter went to the hospital because she was in a car accident where another car broadsided her so Halloween night in Sumter is mega dangerous. It’s a good thing that missionaries do not go out on Halloween night! But we did get permission to go to the ward trunk or treat and it was the best one I have ever been too! There were TONS of people there considering Sumter only has 1 ward of like 150ish people. They had like hot dogs and nachos and pumpkin carving contest, pie eating contest and all kinds of stuff like that! We were there because we were expecting an investigator family of 6 to come but they didn’t. We’ll be teaching them some more this week, they are a way cool family but never make it to church. So I really hope I don’t leave this coming transfer and I hope elder Jones and I stay together for at least one more transfer but if not it will all be good.
We had to drop Hezekiah, he was totally not progressing. Missionaries have been teaching him since like June and really nothing good is coming out of it at all. Brother Newkirk is way awesome! (The guy I baptized last weekend) we have him setup on the "family mission plan" which is where the families help us find people to teach and his family is slowly coming along we love them, they rock. He has two daughters and two sons, and they are just way awesome and really down to earth, normal people.
Oh! How did Kathryn’s birthday go? Tell her I said happy birthday and thanks Sarah for the actual letter! That was way cool! I know everyone is busy but honestly the emails are stinking. I would like people to write me a real letter? Hate to be rude, but WRITE ME PEOPLE!
I’ve only been on my mission for what.. 5 weeks now and baptized someone who was 300lbs! The baptism took 3 times before it was correct, but that wasn’t really my fault or anything.
Ok ok, I’ll cut you guys some slack especially because mom has been recovering from her surgery. I need letters! I just want to hear from everyone. Letters are only supposed to be on a shortage around the 1 year mark so let’s get writing people!
In other news, elder Jones and I have a baptism coming up this weekend for a way cool lady! I think I probably talked about her before, Sister Dargan, she is married to a member and they are way cool! We also met this awesome guy on Saturday night named Will Smith, err William Smith. We met him just by knocking and shared the message of the restoration with him and invited him to church and he said "yeah ill come just get me a ride" so that was cool that doesn’t happen TOO often. Then when he got to church on Sunday he only had way cool things to say like "so when is my baptism this month?; is the baptism in the temples; I’m going to bring my wife and kids after next week; I’ve been married to my wife for 40 years, and that’s the only way to do it, you go through rough times but you stick together!" That last comment he brought up was after we talked about "Eternal Marriage" in gospel principles.
Anyway... did I tell you I went on exchanges again? I biked all day long with Elder Cram, it was way cool and a total blast biking is fun, but tough. Also the senior missionaries Elder and Sister Hixon, who live in our apartment complex, made breakfast for the 4 elders today "for my birthday" because next Tuesday is the end of their mission! They are way awesome!
But anyway! I'm doing well and the work is progressing! Being a missionary is awesome, it really gets me thinking about the future a lot, and the type of things I want to do and who I want to be... I’m stoked. Time flies by WAY fast when you are busy a week seriously seems like a day... it’s crazy. I could easily say it feels like I’ve only been out a week now... and it looks like I’m coming up on like 3 months now... I know that’s NOTHING, but it’s crazy at the same time.
I love and miss you all! Take care and recover quickly mom! Oh yeah and how weird is it that in 9 days I won’t be a 'teenager' anymore. Crazy and sort of depressing, but not. I think that’s probably why you have to be 21 to drink, because they want you to be depressed for a year and then the next year you can drink those depressions away.. That’s probably not true but I wouldn’t put it past the world to do something like that.
Oh yeah, let me know who’s the new president next week?
Anyway! Until next week!
Loveth yours!
We had to drop Hezekiah, he was totally not progressing. Missionaries have been teaching him since like June and really nothing good is coming out of it at all. Brother Newkirk is way awesome! (The guy I baptized last weekend) we have him setup on the "family mission plan" which is where the families help us find people to teach and his family is slowly coming along we love them, they rock. He has two daughters and two sons, and they are just way awesome and really down to earth, normal people.
Oh! How did Kathryn’s birthday go? Tell her I said happy birthday and thanks Sarah for the actual letter! That was way cool! I know everyone is busy but honestly the emails are stinking. I would like people to write me a real letter? Hate to be rude, but WRITE ME PEOPLE!
I’ve only been on my mission for what.. 5 weeks now and baptized someone who was 300lbs! The baptism took 3 times before it was correct, but that wasn’t really my fault or anything.
Ok ok, I’ll cut you guys some slack especially because mom has been recovering from her surgery. I need letters! I just want to hear from everyone. Letters are only supposed to be on a shortage around the 1 year mark so let’s get writing people!
In other news, elder Jones and I have a baptism coming up this weekend for a way cool lady! I think I probably talked about her before, Sister Dargan, she is married to a member and they are way cool! We also met this awesome guy on Saturday night named Will Smith, err William Smith. We met him just by knocking and shared the message of the restoration with him and invited him to church and he said "yeah ill come just get me a ride" so that was cool that doesn’t happen TOO often. Then when he got to church on Sunday he only had way cool things to say like "so when is my baptism this month?; is the baptism in the temples; I’m going to bring my wife and kids after next week; I’ve been married to my wife for 40 years, and that’s the only way to do it, you go through rough times but you stick together!" That last comment he brought up was after we talked about "Eternal Marriage" in gospel principles.
Anyway... did I tell you I went on exchanges again? I biked all day long with Elder Cram, it was way cool and a total blast biking is fun, but tough. Also the senior missionaries Elder and Sister Hixon, who live in our apartment complex, made breakfast for the 4 elders today "for my birthday" because next Tuesday is the end of their mission! They are way awesome!
But anyway! I'm doing well and the work is progressing! Being a missionary is awesome, it really gets me thinking about the future a lot, and the type of things I want to do and who I want to be... I’m stoked. Time flies by WAY fast when you are busy a week seriously seems like a day... it’s crazy. I could easily say it feels like I’ve only been out a week now... and it looks like I’m coming up on like 3 months now... I know that’s NOTHING, but it’s crazy at the same time.
I love and miss you all! Take care and recover quickly mom! Oh yeah and how weird is it that in 9 days I won’t be a 'teenager' anymore. Crazy and sort of depressing, but not. I think that’s probably why you have to be 21 to drink, because they want you to be depressed for a year and then the next year you can drink those depressions away.. That’s probably not true but I wouldn’t put it past the world to do something like that.
Oh yeah, let me know who’s the new president next week?
Anyway! Until next week!
Loveth yours!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Having a blast!
hey guys! hope everyone is doing way good, im still having a blast of course.. but yeah i wont lie there are alot of difficult times probably everyday really.. but the good out weighs the bad! I got to baptize David Newkirk on saturday! woohoo! it was awesome.. Brother Newkirk is a life time convert.. and we know that as he prepares to get the aaronic priesthood (next week?) that he will be a tool in our Heavenly Father's hands to baptize his family! but taht was way cool, especially cause hes probably about 300 pounds and im probably about 112-115.. yeah i gained 5-8 pounds at the MTC and in the field i would say maybe another 5-8 pounds or just the same.. i dont know.. food is good here still havnt really had any southern food though.. we are teaching an awesome part member family.. i cant remember if i brought this up before but its the Dargan family just an older couple who have been married for about 3 months, they both had families in the past. Anyway the Husband is a member and served his mission in.. Ecquador? i dont know somewhere where he spoke spanish, and they both work at a hosptial thats how they met.. anyway they feed elder jones and i like crazy! like we dont even expect it (we know better now) but they feed us every single appointment we have! they are good people and his wife is coming along nicely, and she has quit smoking and stuff.. she has a baptism date setup for next weekend! the work has really been up and down alot latley.. sometimes we have awesome investigators but the next.. we dont.. to many people we meet just fall through.. we always commit to baptism on the first lesson (thats how the church does missionary work.. at least here and thats what they taught at the MTC).. since ive been out, here in sumter, we have probably commited like 20+ people who said "yeah, i will prepare to be baptized.." and yet.. they all fell through.. so there are deffinently some really depressing things in missionary work, especially when you know they felt the spirit and KNOW the message we share is true.. so about those pictures.. yeah sorry i changed my mind about it at walmart, elder jones said i should wait till i had more pictures, but today when we head out im going to try to email them from walmart if the camera thing works like that. i got a letter from dax, let him know i said thanks, that was way cool of him, but i probably wont get time to write him back yet!.. so to answer anyquestions lets see.. sumter is super gehetto, not REALLY in the country, and yet you only ahve to drive about 10-15 miles and you get right into the country.. that is of course where we hit that deer.. there are some "random" really nice and "rich" areas here.. the gehetto places are tough becuase the people ALWAYS listen pretty much and yet they ALMOST never seem to progress.. what else.... the weather has BEEN way cold but the last week it warmed up for some reason.. umm one of my least favorite things right now is getting up at 6:30 and then exercising pretty much right away.. its tough.. but really not THAT bad.. what i really enjoy is teaching the lessons and contacting people, that is fun! right now i really have mixed feelings everyday mostly like.. "we already have to do this?...; right now?; again?" but those are just like background feelings, not really thoughts.. and i cant wait to get out of that.. i think alot of it has to do with being "the new missionary" and the junior companion.. if i cant send the picutres today i will send them next week for reall! whats the status of sarahs baby? is anyone taking care of you guys while you're sick? is math dating someone.. oooooo! to answer bens question, i dont have any motab music at all.. so any would be welcome.. also any ties.. but i dont mean to beg or anything at all! i miss everyone and hope all are doing well.. how is asher? oh a recipe for no bake cookies would be awesome! and lets see.. umm a story...
yesterday we were contacting at the parking lot at walmart (sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.. and walmart is a good place to find alot of people in the parking lots, also just to let you know sunday is just like every other day regarding missionary work.)
but anyway one guy i came up to looked at me and asked me if i was a Jehova Witness, (we get that alot here, i think ive seen two of their churches here) and I said "nope im from the chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints".. and he was like.. "okay, okay." (in a nice old man type of way) then he said.. "let me ask you this, who is Jesus Christ, who do you believe he is?" so i told him "Well we beleieve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Son of our Heavenly Father.." and he says, "okay well what about the [three of them or the trinity] what about that?".. and I told him just how it was, "We beleieve that our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all three sepereat beings.. then he looked at me KIND OF suprised and said "alright! you are doing really good [young man]!".. and then he just started walking away.. and I asked him if i could at least leave him with a card and he said no.. heh so that was kind of weird.. and boring i know.. but no one here in sumter really has a southern accent at all just so you know.. but anyway thats about it! oh and at the baptism with David, well lets just say "3rd times a charm".
yesterday we were contacting at the parking lot at walmart (sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.. and walmart is a good place to find alot of people in the parking lots, also just to let you know sunday is just like every other day regarding missionary work.)
but anyway one guy i came up to looked at me and asked me if i was a Jehova Witness, (we get that alot here, i think ive seen two of their churches here) and I said "nope im from the chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints".. and he was like.. "okay, okay." (in a nice old man type of way) then he said.. "let me ask you this, who is Jesus Christ, who do you believe he is?" so i told him "Well we beleieve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Son of our Heavenly Father.." and he says, "okay well what about the [three of them or the trinity] what about that?".. and I told him just how it was, "We beleieve that our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all three sepereat beings.. then he looked at me KIND OF suprised and said "alright! you are doing really good [young man]!".. and then he just started walking away.. and I asked him if i could at least leave him with a card and he said no.. heh so that was kind of weird.. and boring i know.. but no one here in sumter really has a southern accent at all just so you know.. but anyway thats about it! oh and at the baptism with David, well lets just say "3rd times a charm".
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Heeey!!
hey all! let me start off with a cool story and then another cool story! so=
! last week, last p-day i had zone conference and elder johnson of the 70=
instructed us (im pretty sure i mentioned this last monday) so it was a =
way cool thing to have him speak to us 20 missionaries in the zone, also =
what was cool about that is that elder johnson is responsible for like 13=
0,000 members and yet the Lord asked him to come to south carolina and ta=
lk with and instruct us (he spoke with other zones as well not just ours =
but it was an individual zone meeting for each zone).. ok so elder johnso=
n and his wife are AWESOME! and they are british so they have cool accent=
s! But heres the awesome part! during zone conference he was teaching som=
ething about our duty in the gospel and it reminded me of a scripture i h=
ad memorized before my mission.. so elder johnson said does anyone have a=
ny comments? and i was like.. hmm yeah i do! and i recited Mosiah 2:36 fr=
om memory and he seemed to like it.. but now the even cooler part.. (and =
i dont mean to brag but it is cool!).. yesterday at stake conference when=
i saw president and sister mcconkie they told me that when they had left=
with elder johnson after the meeting that elder johnson was talking abou=
t me in the car! and he said "that missionary must be really smart or som=
ething!".. how cool is that? president and sister mcconkie and elder john=
son of the 70 were talking about my comment! heh.. ok anyway.. the fact o=
f the matter was that i quoted and recited from memory an "obscure" scrip=
ture, but i have always loved that scripture... ok now the next story..!
last thursday elder jones and i were headed out to a part member couple to =
teach the members wife about the word of wisdom.. it was around 8 at nigh=
t and we have to travel out in the country to get to them... i was kinda =
just sitting back in a daze listening to church music and all the sudden =
we hear a bang and elder jones is like "HOLY COW!" and im just kind of li=
ke.. umm ok so whats going on.. and he said "we just hit a deer elder!"..=
. soo we pulled over and yeah we totally did, the driver side of the car =
was all dented up and there was hair from the deer all over the side of t=
he car (which is now taped to my journal... heh.) we walked over to see t=
he deer and it was sad, we think we hit the deer into on coming traffic a=
nd another car then hit it.. so it was gross and we took pictures for the=
memory.. heh but anyway that left us without a car for the next day and =
then on saturday we got a new one!
so those are my two really cool stories! now.. the missionary work.. we sor=
t of "lost" alot of our good investigators.. they just didnt keep commitm=
ents and choose to continue to find out for them selves.. so we are havin=
g not the coolest time, but thats alright we will find those who are prep=
ared to hear the word this week! David (cant remember if i mentioned him)=
is an awesoem investigator! we love him and he is getting baptized this =
weekend! woohoo! and that part member couple, she is set to get baptized =
on november the 8th! we hope that goes well.. we introduced president mcc=
onkie to the two investigators at stake conference yesterday and he had a=
lot to say to them! it was awesome! the tough thing for David is that his=
family doesnt really agree with anything he is doing.. but president mcc=
onkie said he would have the oppertunity to baptize his wife.. so we are =
really hoping for that! other than that ummm.. i still need to buy a bike=
sometime, i will probably buy one next transfer which is nov 12thish.. j=
ust to let you know.. so thats way cool that Sarah and Shane are having a=
nother girl! and also that asher is doing well, good luck to Sam on his m=
idterms! thanks Becca and Matt and Ben and Sarah and everyone else for th=
eir letters!
umm not much else to say this week.. but i love and miss everyone! feel fre=
e to send me snail mail and pictures if you feel like it!.. i love you al=
l!
-elder mcmurry
! last week, last p-day i had zone conference and elder johnson of the 70=
instructed us (im pretty sure i mentioned this last monday) so it was a =
way cool thing to have him speak to us 20 missionaries in the zone, also =
what was cool about that is that elder johnson is responsible for like 13=
0,000 members and yet the Lord asked him to come to south carolina and ta=
lk with and instruct us (he spoke with other zones as well not just ours =
but it was an individual zone meeting for each zone).. ok so elder johnso=
n and his wife are AWESOME! and they are british so they have cool accent=
s! But heres the awesome part! during zone conference he was teaching som=
ething about our duty in the gospel and it reminded me of a scripture i h=
ad memorized before my mission.. so elder johnson said does anyone have a=
ny comments? and i was like.. hmm yeah i do! and i recited Mosiah 2:36 fr=
om memory and he seemed to like it.. but now the even cooler part.. (and =
i dont mean to brag but it is cool!).. yesterday at stake conference when=
i saw president and sister mcconkie they told me that when they had left=
with elder johnson after the meeting that elder johnson was talking abou=
t me in the car! and he said "that missionary must be really smart or som=
ething!".. how cool is that? president and sister mcconkie and elder john=
son of the 70 were talking about my comment! heh.. ok anyway.. the fact o=
f the matter was that i quoted and recited from memory an "obscure" scrip=
ture, but i have always loved that scripture... ok now the next story..!
last thursday elder jones and i were headed out to a part member couple to =
teach the members wife about the word of wisdom.. it was around 8 at nigh=
t and we have to travel out in the country to get to them... i was kinda =
just sitting back in a daze listening to church music and all the sudden =
we hear a bang and elder jones is like "HOLY COW!" and im just kind of li=
ke.. umm ok so whats going on.. and he said "we just hit a deer elder!"..=
. soo we pulled over and yeah we totally did, the driver side of the car =
was all dented up and there was hair from the deer all over the side of t=
he car (which is now taped to my journal... heh.) we walked over to see t=
he deer and it was sad, we think we hit the deer into on coming traffic a=
nd another car then hit it.. so it was gross and we took pictures for the=
memory.. heh but anyway that left us without a car for the next day and =
then on saturday we got a new one!
so those are my two really cool stories! now.. the missionary work.. we sor=
t of "lost" alot of our good investigators.. they just didnt keep commitm=
ents and choose to continue to find out for them selves.. so we are havin=
g not the coolest time, but thats alright we will find those who are prep=
ared to hear the word this week! David (cant remember if i mentioned him)=
is an awesoem investigator! we love him and he is getting baptized this =
weekend! woohoo! and that part member couple, she is set to get baptized =
on november the 8th! we hope that goes well.. we introduced president mcc=
onkie to the two investigators at stake conference yesterday and he had a=
lot to say to them! it was awesome! the tough thing for David is that his=
family doesnt really agree with anything he is doing.. but president mcc=
onkie said he would have the oppertunity to baptize his wife.. so we are =
really hoping for that! other than that ummm.. i still need to buy a bike=
sometime, i will probably buy one next transfer which is nov 12thish.. j=
ust to let you know.. so thats way cool that Sarah and Shane are having a=
nother girl! and also that asher is doing well, good luck to Sam on his m=
idterms! thanks Becca and Matt and Ben and Sarah and everyone else for th=
eir letters!
umm not much else to say this week.. but i love and miss everyone! feel fre=
e to send me snail mail and pictures if you feel like it!.. i love you al=
l!
-elder mcmurry
Monday, October 13, 2008
Family, and friends.. and trends?
hey all! well im still having a blast its impossible to avoid having a good time while on a mission! so i don't have a ton of time right now cause yeah we have zone conference today.. and honestly i only got to read some of my emails i had to skip a few so i could write but i will read them! so, some cool things.. we have this investigator named david and he rocks i love him, elder jones, my companion, was teaching him with his comp before i came in, but since i've been here the Lord has been been able to use me in helping him gain a strong testimony.. or at least a stronger one.. david is definitely prepared, he is set to be baptized this weekend so well see what happens.. something really cool happened the other night.. after we had helped him rake some leaves we talked a little bit and before we left.. (it was late at night and we were outside) i felt prompted to promise him that he would receive an answer that night after praying and tell hing the Lord how he felt about things in his life.. and well the next day he told us that he had a vision, a vision of himself floating above the world.. and being the type of guy he is, he interpreted it to mean that he would rise above his problems. and it was awesome to hear.. it was so cool to think that the Lord wanted him to have this promise and used me to deliver it! Hes i think in his late 30s and has a wife and 2 or 5 kids or something, its kind of confusing, but hes was cool! that's really the highlight of the mission right now! ive met some awesome people in parking lots and stuff too.. its crazy how nice people are, but sometimes just to be nice.. and that stinks.. umm matt, that's sweet about the jet engine do it. also i did the cinnamon challenge.. and yeah its totally impossible to swallow a spoonful of Cinnamon! there is a video of it, but its on my elder jones camera so we'll have to figure that out another time.. also sorry no pictures yet.. i will try to try to get them next week! now! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! i hope it went way good! and you had some cool key lime cake or something! i really miss everyone! so dad are you 50 now? or 49? sarah thanks for the email! i hope you and the baby are doing way good.. love you guys!! tell jon match i said that his mission call is way cool and im excited for him, also tell him that when he gets to the MTC to do his very best to be different from all of the rowdy missionaries.. if there is one word of advice i could give to all future missionaries it would be this.. DONT BE A ROWDY MISSIONARY AT THE MTC!.. they are annoying and dont seem to follow all of the rules.. and there are many of them..mom thanks for your email like always! i was thinking the other day about the 2000 stripling warriors, how they learned from their mothers.. and i have learned so much from you and am so grateful for the impact that you and dad have had on my life! im sorry this letter is not as long as the last one, but i really wish it could be, but they kind of stole our p-day from us today so we could just hear from a general 70.. i guess thats important.. (kidding).. i did shake his hand last night at a special investigator fireside last night.. that was awesome, he and his wife are British, they are way cool, he gave an amazing talk and of course so did president mcconkie!.. oh and elder jones and i had to give talks in church yesterday.. they went really well we got a lot of compliments! so that was cool... well we have at least 2 scheduled baptisms for this coming weekend.. hopefully we will get them both! one of them has schizophrenia (not david, the other one).. oh and also.. like i said how there are only 4 missionaries in my district, the other two missionaries baptized a cool lady just on saturday and stuff, and she has 12 fingers.. yup.. 6 on each hand,.. it was really weird to shake her hand.. i bet rachel would think that was funny.. and weird and kind of cool, shes cool like that.. whelp! i love you guys so way much and am still of course so excited to be here.. my hardest thing to do right now is to just randomly contact people.. so really to knock doors.. its actually tough to do, but once its done its easy heh.. we also go to parking lots some times and just contact random people.. we have to get 20 contacts per companionship a day.. so 10 for me and 10 for elder jones.. its effective.. we meet way cool people.. and we meet kinda rude people and whatnot.. oh i wanted to tell g-mom and pop thanks so much for their letters! and also thanks to everyone else.. its really awesome... but hey guess what if you are feeling like it.. you can mail me actual letters too! i still havnt gotten any, but thats fine.. and as far as packages go all i can say is.. candy is really awesome, ties are really awesome, and pictures are really awesome.. the mail here is fine as far as i know.. just use the address on blog to the mission home!.. oh man i still have "some" time i wish i knew of some cool stuff i could write.. oh! if you are not in my family get my family to mail me your addresses!! so then i can write you an actual letter! cause i can only write family on the email stuff.. and yes its ok to get emails from family and friends but i can only email back to family.. but i can write actual letters to you if i have your address! oh and again to you guys at the UPS store.. wooo! whats up! i hope you guys are doing way stinking awesome, i know these letters might be confusing and uninteresting but, to bad.. read them anyway! Maybe ill ship you guys a package someday.. gum for all the gum i ate of peters, and suckers so max can quit smoking.. heh.. miss you guys! anyway all is well in south carolina... its a confusing state.. the weather is weird, but really nice.. and sumter (the city/area im in) is really really poor.. peoples houses are almost third wold.. its crazy and really sad.. people have it super super rough here! Well my testimony of our Savior's gospel is increasing day by day and I am always learning! I had a cool thought come to me in church yesterday as we were talking about families being the central unit for learning and this was my thought.. "Who we become later in life, is who we learned to be earlier in youth.." i thought that was kinda cool, and really its pretty stinking true.. we learn by example and.. yup! i had another way cool thought that came to me at the MTC one night while I was praying.. it went something like this.. "Our ability to teach is dead without the Spirit, which Spirit bares witness of the truth of all things, and carries the message we share to those whom will hear.." now thats not exact but i have my exact thought written down in my journal.. you have to write down your thoughts and feelings, i wrote it down right after i prayed, and yup, just as the Prophet President Monson taught.. "knowledge carefully recorded, is knowledge ready in time of need".. and also thats not exact either, but hey maybe you get my point! ANYWAY! I love you all and really do miss you all so much! I am so stoked for the rest of my mission and for the rest of my future! I want to teach, i know that more than ever that what i want to do with my time and my life is to teach.. i stinking fall in love with everyone i meet and i want them to have and know what I KNOW to be true.. but i can only share my testimony.. to find out the truthfulness of the gospel you must find out for yourself.. through prayer, scripture study, and honestly a weird one, attending church.. im starting to see how necessary church attendance is now that i'm here especially for those who truly want to know for THEMSELVES! anyway enough of that.. well there can never be enough of that honestly.. but thats good for right now.. i love you all.. have a way awesome week and remember who you are and who you WANT to be.. and be it.. remember.. "If you plan to be better later, you will never be.. If you plan to be better NOW, you will begin to be, and in that very moment, you will become!" heh i love these quotes! but truth of the matter is that the credit doesnt go to me, but to the Lord, who helped me to see what i already knew! AGAIN! i love you guys! fairly well! -elder andrew mcmurry!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
THE CHURCH OF
JESUS CHRIST
OF LATTER- DAY SAINTS
SOUTH CAROLINA COLUMBIA MISSION 1345 GARNER LANE SUITE 307 COLUMBIA SC 29210-8362
Phone 803-798-8855
Brother and Sister Kelly McMurry 1001 Stoneport Lane
Allen, TX 75002
Dear Brother and Sister McMurry,
2 October 2008
Sister McConkie and I were so pleased to welcome your son, Elder Andrew McMurry to the South Carolina Columbia Mission and want to thank you for all you have done to prepare him for the wonderful experience of missionary work. We promise you that as the spirit of missionary work settles upon him, his experience here will be a highlight of his life. Proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ as a missionary is a special privilege reserved only for a select few. Elder McMurry has been recommended as one worthy of such experience by his priesthood leaders and we are honored to have him serve in our mission.
As you can see from the included picture, Elder McMurry arrived to the mission home on 9/29/2008. We have spent several wonderful hours together discussing missionary work in our mission with him and believe he has all the potential in the world to be a most marvelous and dedicated servant of the Lord. Through prayerful consideration I have assigned your son to begin his missionary service in Sumter with one of my outstanding missionary trainers -- Elder Mitchell Jones.
The next few months will be a great transition time as Elder McMurry adjusts to the rigors of missionary life and service. I urge you to join us as we pray for his success and happiness during this training period. I would also ask that you limit your correspondence to one letter or e-mail each week. This will help our missionary leave the cares and interest of home at home and fully devote his attention to the work of the Lord. I have also asked that he communicate with you faithfully each week sharing with you his successes and growth as well. Our mission policy is to allow each missionary to call home twice each year, once at Christmas and again on Mother's day.
We consider it a great blessing to be called to work with you son and pledge to you our unqualified love, care, and support to him as we serve together in this great cause.
Sincerely,
Stephen L. McConkie, President South Carolina Columbia Mission
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
What's Sumter?!
woohoo! okay, so i know its been forever since ive written but ill try and fit in as much as possible! ok so today is my first p-day in the field, p-days are mondays now so i couldn't write last week because i entered the field on monday. i am serving in sumter, and it is totally awesome, i love this place its way cool and i have a really awesome companion too, elder jones.. hes a cool guy we get along pretty well, hes an awesome teacher/example/missionary.. so sorry but i forgot to bring my camera but hopefully next week i can send home a lot of pictures! there are only 4 elders here in sumter and me and elder jones are car elders, the other two are bikes. there are something like only 6 biking areas in the whole mission the rest is car, so that's pretty cool. i really love it here it is such a blast everyday! i hope everyone is doing well, and bec, im way glad you got me those pictures in that album thing, its been awesome to look at now and then. mom and dad, just for your information i have only gotten like i think 2 letters from you (which is totally fine) im just saying if i haven't responded to any letters i only got two, or three if i include your email mom!.. and ben i think it should be just fine for you guys to email me.. my actual address in the field will not change at all so it should be that one on the blog on like garner or something. and to all my friends and stuff, i can only write actuall letters to you so if you want me to write you give me your street address... hmm what else to say? so its honestly a little weird to see white people here.. umm no bugs in the apartment which is awesome, my mtc companion says that he is battling roaches in his apartment so, looks like i was lucky on that one! being here is such an awesome blast! i love it! general conference was different being a missionary because we have investigators there too so watching it was different because you're are listening to it like an investigator too kind of? we have 2 really awesome investigators right now, hezikiah, and david.. both are awesome and man i hope they get baptized soon! the weather here is awesome.. not bad at all so far. the first day or two i was here it was so insanely humid you could see it sometimes and like always feel it but its been awesome the last few days, and the mornings are cold. its mostly hot during the day but it just feels awesome at the same time. being here is seriously like being in another country. sumter at least, seems to not be a very "rich" place.. lots of old houses and really really ghetto to be honest.. super ghetto. but the people in sumter are way cool. which is cool but a lot not cool all the time.. people are just nice, which actually is a problem. when we teach and they "listen" sometimes they are just being nice and give "southern yeses" where they pretty much just say yes but dont really mean it.. we were suppose to have 7 investigators come to conference yesterday, but only had 4.. but hey thats alright! david who is awesome stayed for every session, that was awesome he walked to church on his own and we didnt really need to call and remind him at all he just went... hes a good guy, he loves the spirit he feels when at church and just feels comfortable around everyone at church.. it just seems normal to him.. so thats cool, we have a baptism date set for nov 18th. hopefully he'll make it! hezikaih is set to be baptized sometime next month too i think, he needs to get married though so that can happen. sumter is just full of crazy nice people.. oh so something kind of cool: on my first day here while tracting with elder jones, we walked over a bridge and there was totally an alligator just chilling in the water under the bridge.. that was cool.. yeah, im totally loving it here and slowly getting the hang of things, but its all good, ill learn! so my favorite place in sumter right now is Harmony Court.. it is also just a nice looking little "apartment" place with small houses and wide open grassy areas.. whenever im there i feel like im in a totally different country! we are the only white people there pretty much and there are just tons of little black kids running around and playing all the time, its so fun to talk to them and play around with them, they are so cool! all the people in harmony court are amazing, but sometimes just to nice, and not serious enough about the gospel.. its sad when people have a testimony but just dont follow through with anything! anyway.. umm what esle.. President McConkie.. what an awesome guy! hes like 6'7 or something so stinking tall! hes a great and awesome guy! he used the song his dad wrote "I believe in Christ", and wrote his own addition to it called "Because He Believes in me" its kind of just a poem or something, but maybe he will turn it into a song one day its cool. Basically i love it here.. i am very very slowly seeing the beauty of south carolina.. but im not exactly sure what everyone was talking about before i came here.. heh.. its not that beautiful to me.. YET! but it is totally growing on me! I really cant think of much else to write! umm.. the work of the Lord is awesome.. missionary work rules! i dont have my mission address with me but it should be on my blog thingy, send all other mail other than email there! i havnt bought a bike yet and probably wont until next transfer (6 weeks).. i love and miss you all! if any of you are preparing for a mission get so stoked now.. it will blow your mind its so fun and worthwhile! im glad asher is doing fine! let me know about sarahs baby! mom and dad did you beat wii fit yet.. you guys better be playing that everyday! i hope you got my actual mail a few weeks ago when i sent it with pictures.. i think you should have at least 2 letters from me.. possibly 3.. im not sure, but yeah.. oh and by the way i saw adam stavast and derrek seria and the smoot (sp?) boy at the mtc that was kind of cool.. let me know when john match gets his call and anyone else too.. ask me any questions if you want and ill trying to answer them! thanks ben, jess, and kathryn and everyone else who wrote me! by the way kathryns coloring was awesome. sorry this is long im trying to think of more stuff to write about.. but that seems like about it for now! until next week, I love you guys!.. also if anyone wrote me there is a possibility i didn't get it and it may have gotten to MTC right when i left.. so i dont know what to tell you if that happened.. love you all!
elder andrew mcmurry
thedrew@myldsmail.net
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Referal Center at the MTC
Highlights of Andrew's last letter. Before leaving the MTC. He should be in South Carolina now.
Data and Mombo,
Hey guys, I know this letter is short but I don't have the much time. I hope you got my email but if not my email is; thedrew@ldsmail.net.
You HAVE to get the "Joseph Smith, The Prophet of the Restoration" movie!! We only have the 20 minute one but this one will blow your mind! I'm pretty confident you guys haven't seen it. I never have till Sunday night. It would be an awesome FHE for you guys. It's about 1 hour 30 minutes. I wanted to cry so bad, everyone was in tears...a room full of like 2000ish or 1800 actually missionaries...there were TONS of tears..it is an amazing video you guys would love.
Anyway, got stuff to start doing soon. Love you guys. Have a great week!!! Write you soon.
Love ya'll,
Elder McMurry
Friday, September 26, 2008
thedrew@myldsmail.net
Hey hey I don't have a ton of time but this is my mission email now! Anywho so mom, I did get one of your letters and today I got the dear elder one. .. Anywho I love you and I'm glad you and dad are having fun and stuff now that I'm gone..ha.. umm I don't know what to tell you but I can write faster now so maybe I can include more stuff.... umm mtc is awesome i leave on September 29th and ill try and send a normal letter tomorrow.. everything good! umm i hope Asher and Lacey are doing well.. are Bec and Tyler moving in to Tyler house? hows Sara's baby.. when will we know if its a boy or girl? miss you guys but I'm totally digging it here! I really like the rc and yesterday i actually called the white house.. it was funny.. the rc is "referral center" and you call people to confirm delivers or send free stuff from the church.. and anyway someone put a fake one on there that I was suppose to call and it said George bush and had like the actual white house address and stuff so i totally called it and I was honestly afraid especially when some lady answered and said "who do I have?" so I hung up.. but its all good cause it was not a legit thing to be in the referral center anyway but it turned out that it was the real white house number... so yeah I totally called the white house yesterday! cool.. well you can forward this to everyone back home if you want, I'm having a blast and I think you guys are cool, but I'm cool too.. anyway that's all.. peace out! I don't know when my p-day is next week but ill try to write as soon as possible next week! and you should get some pictures tomorrow, but they kind of stink.. anyway bye all.also you can send it to Tebor, and Bruce and Kevin and stuff if you want.. it doesn't matter, I cant say that I would have the time to really read theirs if I got them anyway, so yeah it doesnt matter.. drew out. -elder mcmurry.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Ahoy!
Ahoy!
Yo Family! So guess what? I haven’t gotten any letters! Ahem!! Just playing, it’s all good. Well I’m having a blast every day is so awesome and I love my district. There are 10 of us. All of them are just wonderful guys. It’s crazy how many rowdy missionaries there are on this floor in our building who don’t exactly follow the rules…but I haven’t been perfect either
So in classes we are just working on the 1st lesson and might start the second one tonight. It’s our districts p-day, by the way it’s on Tuesdays for us and we went to the Provo temple this morning. It was awesome and super beautiful!! Ok so I’m doing awesome and loving every minute of it…there’s so much I want to share! I will share one cool thing with you though…Elder Winegar, my companion, told me something really cool in our companionship study yesterday, he said, “So on the day we entered the MTC, I saw you taking pictures in the lobby with your family and thought ‘I hope/think he will be my companion’ and later when I was coming to the room ..before I opened the door, I thought okay he’s going to be behind the door and when I opened the door you were there.” Cool story huh?
I can’t imagine not being here in this district. I love it so much. So I may have gotten Elder Vresk sick, he’s in the room with me and Elder Robinson and Elder Winegar. So there’s 4 of us..it’s awesome. Elder Winegar is a different person than me but that’s all I’ll say, he’s a good Elder and we get along fine.
Oh, so just so you know, I can only write on p-days and the last letter I wrote was because we were told to and only to write family. Anyway, I’m loving it here and hope all is well and that Lacey and Asher are Healthy!
I’ll try to have pictures next week. Anyway not a lot of time and have letters to write. I’m keeping busy and just trying to try to be my best.
Love you mom and dad. Play Wii fit everyday and lose some weight.
Let me know if you have any questions. Also, Brother Bott taught an amazing lesson on Sunday that probably blew my districts minds!! (He just taught the 10 of us) it was stuff about the gospel I never knew and imagined) Love you! Sorry about the handwriting!
Love Elder McMurry
Yo Family! So guess what? I haven’t gotten any letters! Ahem!! Just playing, it’s all good. Well I’m having a blast every day is so awesome and I love my district. There are 10 of us. All of them are just wonderful guys. It’s crazy how many rowdy missionaries there are on this floor in our building who don’t exactly follow the rules…but I haven’t been perfect either
So in classes we are just working on the 1st lesson and might start the second one tonight. It’s our districts p-day, by the way it’s on Tuesdays for us and we went to the Provo temple this morning. It was awesome and super beautiful!! Ok so I’m doing awesome and loving every minute of it…there’s so much I want to share! I will share one cool thing with you though…Elder Winegar, my companion, told me something really cool in our companionship study yesterday, he said, “So on the day we entered the MTC, I saw you taking pictures in the lobby with your family and thought ‘I hope/think he will be my companion’ and later when I was coming to the room ..before I opened the door, I thought okay he’s going to be behind the door and when I opened the door you were there.” Cool story huh?
I can’t imagine not being here in this district. I love it so much. So I may have gotten Elder Vresk sick, he’s in the room with me and Elder Robinson and Elder Winegar. So there’s 4 of us..it’s awesome. Elder Winegar is a different person than me but that’s all I’ll say, he’s a good Elder and we get along fine.
Oh, so just so you know, I can only write on p-days and the last letter I wrote was because we were told to and only to write family. Anyway, I’m loving it here and hope all is well and that Lacey and Asher are Healthy!
I’ll try to have pictures next week. Anyway not a lot of time and have letters to write. I’m keeping busy and just trying to try to be my best.
Love you mom and dad. Play Wii fit everyday and lose some weight.
Let me know if you have any questions. Also, Brother Bott taught an amazing lesson on Sunday that probably blew my districts minds!! (He just taught the 10 of us) it was stuff about the gospel I never knew and imagined) Love you! Sorry about the handwriting!
Love Elder McMurry
Monday, September 15, 2008
MTC
Hey ma and pa and anyone else....so I'm here if you didn't know. Everything is going awesome and I'm so glad to be here. But holy cow there are so many rowdy missionaries on our floor it's very frustrating. The halls, as I write, are so loud with Elders just talking, laughing and it's annoying. I'm glad I'm only here for 3 weeks.
Sooo..my companion is Elder Winegar. He's a good guy, maybe a little shy, but a good guy. seeing him do stuff we are suppose to helps me do what I need to do too. He's skinny probably just like and inch taller than me too. In our room are also Elder Uresk and Elder Robinson both going to the same mission so there are 4 of us. I don't really know Elder Robinson but he seems possibly a tad slow to do the stuff he needs to and Elder Uresk is cool. He's the senior companion right now for that companioship so I hope things go well.
Umm...Everything is awesome and I totally enjoy it. I can only write once a week but today they told us to write our family. I'm kid of sick throat doesn't hurt anymore but nose is alway runny and my ears are totally stopped up.
The cafeteria ia huge and the food is actually really good. So far it looks like Elder Winegar is a slow eater, but hopefully not as slow as tonight. I should just live with it and of course I will, it's not that big of a deal.
On something kind of cook is that Brother Bott is one of my teachers, a member of the Branck Presidency and I'm pretty sure this is Randy Bott. He's cool.
Anyway, I'm dang tired and need to do some more stuff before bed at 10:30. Hope all is well!!
Love, Elder McMurry
Sooo..my companion is Elder Winegar. He's a good guy, maybe a little shy, but a good guy. seeing him do stuff we are suppose to helps me do what I need to do too. He's skinny probably just like and inch taller than me too. In our room are also Elder Uresk and Elder Robinson both going to the same mission so there are 4 of us. I don't really know Elder Robinson but he seems possibly a tad slow to do the stuff he needs to and Elder Uresk is cool. He's the senior companion right now for that companioship so I hope things go well.
Umm...Everything is awesome and I totally enjoy it. I can only write once a week but today they told us to write our family. I'm kid of sick throat doesn't hurt anymore but nose is alway runny and my ears are totally stopped up.
The cafeteria ia huge and the food is actually really good. So far it looks like Elder Winegar is a slow eater, but hopefully not as slow as tonight. I should just live with it and of course I will, it's not that big of a deal.
On something kind of cook is that Brother Bott is one of my teachers, a member of the Branck Presidency and I'm pretty sure this is Randy Bott. He's cool.
Anyway, I'm dang tired and need to do some more stuff before bed at 10:30. Hope all is well!!
Love, Elder McMurry
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
MTC Address
No, I'm not Andrew . . . I'm Ben . . . . his brother. He had a good send off at the MTC. Here is his mailing address.
Elder McMurry
MTC Mailbox #149
SC-COLU 1110
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604
Elder McMurry
MTC Mailbox #149
SC-COLU 1110
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604
Friday, September 5, 2008
Main n' stuff
in the mtc:
Elder Andrew Spencer McMurry
South Carolina Columbia Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604
in the field until i get my first assignment address:
Elder Andrew Spencer McMurry
South Carolina Columbia Mission
1345 Garner Ln, Ste 307
Columbia, SC 29210-8362
Elder Andrew Spencer McMurry
South Carolina Columbia Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604
in the field until i get my first assignment address:
Elder Andrew Spencer McMurry
South Carolina Columbia Mission
1345 Garner Ln, Ste 307
Columbia, SC 29210-8362
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