Elder Murray New York New York
6/22/2016-07/11/2018
1-2 thug shots/salvation... at the same time! 3-5 clean up crew (trying to get the Samsung to take a pic with the motion sensor... it finally worked!) 6-8 Manhattan and subways for days and the Manhattan Temple Matts Current Bishop... Look familiar? So, it all started with Zone Conference! Good times! We learned a lot and the main thing I took from Zone Conference was how to do a door approach for a less active pmf and less active prospective elder, and help them remember their spiritual experiences. It was really cool! We all real played (another way of saying role played) these door approaches with other missionaries and it was a really cool experience! Then on Wednesday Elder Lusk and I got invited to go to the temple with President which was so dang cool! We got up at 4:15AM headed over to the mission home. It was awesome! So, in the celestial room we got to talk to president and it was sweet! He said something that I really liked. He said "this is the real world everything outside these doors is fake" and if you think about it it's true! I had never really thought about it that way. It's sweet! So, president drove us there but he said he had to get ourselves back to our area. Good thing I know Manhattan! We hopped on the subway on 72nd street and headed up to our area! All the way there we subway contacted people. We got like 4 people's contact information handed out all our books of Mormon (which we only had three on us unfortunately) but I miss subway contacting sooooo much! We contacted literally everyone on the subway until there were no more people on the subway... then we just took a couple of pics because there was only one stop left. It was fun to try and help Elder Lusk too see that joy comes when you share the Gospel even if it's as awkward as ever! It's so awesome to get to meet so many different people and get to know their stories!
Then we had Reynaldo's baptism on Saturday! And my goodness. Such an incredible experience. I have never seen him smile so big! (The pictures do not do this sentence justice... apparently Hispanics don't smile for pictures 😅) We had Brother Call who is one of his fellowshippers baptize him and that was cool too! Reynaldo ended up forgetting his towel and tie so Brother Call gave him his tie and they shared a towel after... some good bonding time for those two hahaha. Oh and the baptismal suits! So there is no such thing as a big enough jumpsuit anywhere... We wasted too much time looking for one and ended up with a large that we thought would be big enough 😞 the baptism went quite smoothly though and it was great to see ward members there! Reynaldo invited his mom and he came! She had some concerns but they were resolved and she had a really good experience! also got one of our investigators Joe there! It was awesome! Joe is studying to be a Catholic priest but each time he meets with us his doubts about his church keep coming up which is really cool! Sorta sad too but cool! We had a less active give a talk about baptism at the baptism and man it was great! He has just been coming back to church and he is preparing to get married in the temple so it was really cool to get him to give a talk! Reynaldo got confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints on Sunday and man that was cool! He came to church in his white shirt and tie and he was looking dang fresh! He set up his own appointment with bishop to get the Aaronic priesthood and he will be getting that next Sunday and wow. Words can't describe how amazing this work is. It has again been so amazing for me to watch Elder Lusk change. He has changed so much. He has been an incredible teacher for Reynaldo and I have seen Elder Lusk's countenance change as his attitude towards the work change. It's amazing. So yeah that's pretty much our week! I love you all so much! Is there anything I can do for any of ya'll?
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My study area Recent converts the Rodriguez REYNALDO! Mission prep Oh, my goodness. We almost killed someone this week. Like I am scarred for life. I will be forever anxious while visiting nursing homes... Sooooo yeah! We've been asked to take this old lady the sacrament each Sunday so we do and she is awesome! It's sister Lazo. The one I always have laugh attacks with. She is great and wise and all but one day we go to give her the sacrament and I must have filled the tiny cup of water up too much and she choked on it and turned purple and started seizing and oh my goodness. Luckily everything went well and she's not dead and she probably forgot that happened but umm I seriously get so freaked out when we go there. It's sketchy! It was ironic to because Elder Wadsworth before we left was like "oh you're going to give someone the bread of LIFE?" and then she almost died! Ahhhh.
But things get better!!! Reynaldo is getting baptized on Saturday! The zone leaders interviewed him on Saturday and he's good to go! We are so excited for him and on Sunday we talked about pioneers and everything and he said he felt the spirit so strong he was trying not to cry! The spirit is real! The Gospel is true! God loves us all as his children! Oh, and I took pictures this week! Good thing I am sooooo the opposite of photogenic 📸😬 ELDER LUSK IS KILLIN IT! Awwww yeah haha. His attitude has changed like crazy and I can actually SEE a difference in his countenance, I can hear the difference in his speech, he is as optimistic as ever and boy it is awesome! He's on top of stuff and he is a straight up powerhouse. I am sick. As sick as a sick dog. For the first time in 8 months!!! 😖 ruined my streak. It socks! I'll get better though. I think it's because I ran out of smoothie supplies and so I've just been eating cereal for breakfast. Thank heavens it's like 60 degrees outside we are going to start running again once I get better!!! So, we found out that our ward mission leader works in the empire state building which is pretty dang cool! On the 56th floor or something like that and has a corner office. We are going to make him let us go there someday. It'll be pretty dang cool! We've been teaching members about spiritual gifts and stuff because it’s really captivating lesson and gets everyone super involved. We found out that one of the members has the craziest gift of discernment or prophecy or one thing because he can look at you and tell you your exact feelings for the day. It's insane. Our ward mission leader Brother Daines is a pretty monotone zero feeling kind of guy and when we went over there for dinner this week we shared the message about spiritual gifts and developing them to help others and endure to the end and he actually complimented us on the message we shared so it was so cool! The Daines have 6 kids and they have triplets and they all still live at home except their oldest. So, it's crazy they're all in high school. We've been taking the boys out with us on exchanges! It's great! So yeah! That pretty much my week! I love you all! Keep Reynaldo in your prayers! Elder Murray So, this week has been so sweet! As of now Reynaldo is getting baptized on the 25th! He has come to church the past 4 weeks, met with our bishop twice, everyone in the ward loves him and we have had more success with having fellowshippers here than ever before! It is so dang cool! I have officially vowed to always be 100% optimistic because it makes every single little to big thing 100% bearable and doable! It is so awesome! We get sooooo much more work done when Elder Lusk and I are both optimistic! Church yesterday was the most inspired meeting ever. Every single talk, lesson, prayer, and song all applied directly to him and how he can improve his attitude and change his desires! A few nights ago, he told me he has made a decision. HE SAID HE IS STAYING! Thank the heavens! Thank you all for your prayers and support and advice man it's awesome how prayer really changes things! Elder Lusk really likes baseball and the NY Yankees. I was thinking about things that could help him and I tried making an analogy for him that would help him out with his thoughts so the spirit gave me this idea:
So it's like you're in a baseball game, right? And Satan's the pitcher. He is going to pitch this fastball of bad thoughts at you and it's gonna be coming at you at 100mph. Well you're either gonna let it the ball hit you and sulk in all the negativity and homesickness that comes with that fastball OR you're gonna ACT, pick up your bat, be an agent for change, and bat that fastball of negativity and homesickness out of the park!!! I love the spirit in my life and the guidance it provides. Elder Lusk and I got to go on another split with the assistants to the president. It was sweet! It was a cool learning experience and Elder Krzymowski really taught me how to better follow the spirit and listen for answers. ELDER TABOR IS THE NEW AP! I'm so stoked for that man. He continues to be an amazing example of love and charity to me. He has made such a positive influence on me as a missionary and it's great he is in my zone now! Haha he came to our area on the split with Elder Lusk and helped him out a lot. The morning we had to unsplit was the morning it decided to snow a heaping foot of snow. It was straight crazy. Seriously cherry fresh pow pow bro brah. When we unsplit though, Elder Tabor does not like snow and as he walked out to the car he slipped and ate it soo hard! It was hilarious! I felt bad for him but it was pretty funny! Other than that, we have a new missionary in our district! His name is Elder Visaya and he's from Canada. Elder Norton will be training him. He is a super cool guy! Oh oh and we had a district leader training meeting which was awesome! I'm trying to be able to really have the spirit more present in my district meetings. And this training meeting helped a ton! It was great too! I got to see Elder Brown, and Elder Geppelt! Elder Geppelt is doing so much better now and has changed so much for the better! I love the enabling power of the atonement and how it can truly change anyone that wants to change! Oh, and the scripture for the week is D&C 98:1-3 but really the whole section is great! I love you all! Elder Murray Matt checking out his cars brother in New York (; So this week has been awesome! Other than the fact of course that my trainee is really contemplating going home. I've been studying to be able to help him lately and man I've found some good stuff and was told about some good stuff to study. Elder Lusk is the first missionary ever in his family. So he's got nobody to lead by example. He is going to be that pioneer of his family! Ahh how can I help him realize that? I love Elder Lusk. We are totally hanging out when we get home. But man how to help him.
I got to go on splits with the zone leader this week and it was a crazy cool experience! The zone leaders are Spanish missionaries so I got to go to the Spanish program area which was sweet! Such good food. Had no idea what was going on most the time but at the end of each lesson I got to bear my testimony and Elder Frei would translate it for the investigators or members. He said every time I bore my testimony it would be spot on with what he taught. It was cool! I can understand kinda what is going on but not too much. Spanish is cool! Not the class in high school though ew. So that was cool! A funny experience... Elder Frei invited this family to baptism and they all said yes!... except for the 11 year old boy... they had formally all been Catholics but now are investigating our church. The boy was like, "I'm a Catholic, and always will be a Catholic." It was just funny because neither of us expected that from an 11 year old kid! Reynaldo is such a boss. His baptismal date is for the 25th of this month and we are so excited for him! The coolest thing is the ward is doing an amazing girl job at fellowshipping him! He has come to church 3 times in a row and is killin it. He committed to love the law of tithing, the word of wisdom, he is on chapter 18 of the Book of 1st Nephi. He has never read a book in his life and he says he is so captivated! It's awesome! Lots of teaching with a member present and let me tell you. It works wonderfully! Oh and we've been working with this less active member and we've been trying to get referrals from him, he has so many friends! Then the next week we went over there he had a friend! His name is David Flores and he already LOVES the book of Mormon! It's so cool. We are meeting with him again on Tuesday. He was supposed to come to church on Sunday but his ride which was with the less active slept in and David literally got mad at him haha. So we are going to baptize David and reactivate a less active! Oh yeah! Haha missionary work is the best. My good ol friend Elder Norton from the MTC is in my district and is training! I'm stoked for him and Elder Lusk to go on splits with the new trainee. But yeah! That was pretty much my week! Oh and I gave a training in zone meeting which was cool. The talk in the March 2000 ensign called Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence is one to read in Family Home Evening. It's so good! *president smith ALWAYS says this and it's hilarious. The first thing he says when he stands up to talk to missionaries is "grateful to be here!" |
MissionariesElder Murray called to serve in the New York New York North Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 6/22/2016 through 6/22/2018 Write to Matt
Elder Matthew Murray New York New York North Mission 700 White Plains Rd Ste 315 Scarsdale, NY 10583 Archives
July 2018
Current and Last Area Monticello
6th Area New Rochelle
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