Its'a me'a!‏

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!