Elder Murray New York New York
6/22/2016-07/11/2018
Well hey y'all! This week was full of splits! It was awesome! I will not go too much into detail because of the lack of time I have buuuut to go into the good stuff. After having my interview with President Smith, Elder Norton had his interview. I was just sitting there all alone in the dimly lit chapel pondering about how to be a better missionary by balancing all responsibilities we have and everything we have going on in the area. It's all awesome! But I knelt down and prayed in the isle of the pews and I as I prayed it was just a really sincere prayer and wow. My mind just completely cleared and stayed that way for at least 2-3 minutes. Just complete peace of mind. I had never felt that before. Absolutely nothing but peace and then that same hymn just flowed into my mind. "Fear not I am with thee oh be not dismayed" it was pretty awesome. I know God is there and loves us. He is aware of our every need! I love you all!
Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Elder Murray
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1. Minigolf with roommates the other set of assistants and William
2. Soccer with the other assistants and William. William commentating haha 3. Elder Peña ironing my shirt because I forgot to and didn't want to take it off to iron it. Role Play Picture Things to know about:
-P-day change: we will have p-days on Monday from now on. So this week was awesome. It was transfer week and we welcomed 4 New missionaries to the mission! It was so awesome to see them here and ready to serve! When they first arrive we go to the mission home and we have a little testimony meeting they are just simple testimonies. We always start with singing hymn 26. Joseph Smith's first prayer. You can feel their little testimonies. Then my favorite part is the testimony meeting at the end of the night. Its all the missionaries that are returning home the next day. At the beginning we sing the same song hymn 26. It's different though. The spirit comes with greater force. There was something said that stood out to me. One of the elders that was going home said "this is not the end, it is the beginning of something greater" I thought to myself how could anything be greater than serving a mission? But then I realized that really is just preparation for life! Living to doctrine of Christ brings joy. I know that. They all bring such a powerful spirit! Some of my closest friends went home today. Elder Peterson, Elder Aurich, and Elder Smith! I'll miss them but we have already planned some things together so we'll be good. They're awesome. They all had such a huge impact on my spiritual development. Just to finish up with a verse from a song that invited the spirit to teach me this week. Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed, For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous, Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake! I know that the Savior is called the Savior because he truly saves us by strengthening us, and helping us get up again, and again, and again. He's touched my life and I'll never forsake the experiences I've had. Never. I love you all! 2 Nephi 33:6 Elder Murray This week was another one for the books. We got to go on a bunch more splits and work on some transfers with President Smith! Other than that we've been trying to find some more people to teach!
This week I have been studying meekness and sheesh I love it! Elder Bednar gave a really great talk on it last general conference here are a few of my favorite excerpts. Meekness is... ...righteous responsiveness, willing submissiveness, and strong self-restraint. ...strong, not weak; active, not passive; courageous, not timid; restrained, not excessive; modest, not self-aggrandizing; and gracious, not brash. A meek person is not easily provoked, pretentious, or overbearing and readily acknowledges the accomplishments of others. ...a particular spiritual receptivity to learning both from the Holy Ghost and from people who may seem less capable, experienced, or educated, who may not hold important positions, or who otherwise may not appear to have much to contribute. ...the principal protection from the prideful blindness that often arises from prominence, position, power, wealth, and adulation. ...an attribute developed through desire, the righteous exercise of moral agency, and striving always to retain a remission of our sins. Thus, meek is what we become as disciples of the Master and not just something we do. I love studying by topic. I just get so much more out of my studies! This principle really applies to becoming a better missionary because when you are meek all of the sudden nothing is about you! That's why strong self-restraint is highlighted. It's all about the savior and who you are working with! Not you. You become happier and more effective as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ because you are becoming more like him and acting like him! It's awesome. So for the subject line... We started to talking to this lady and she was like "how can I join your church?" Both of us were pinching ourselves to see if we were dreaming or something haha but we snapped back into it real quick and said "hey all you gotta do is have the desire to learn, have faith, that will lead you to pray and ask God to know if it's true and he'll tell you and then you'll actually want to make changes in your life that bring it in closer harmony with Christ's teachings. Then we continue to be your guides and answer any questions you have, you will come to church and then be baptized! When could we come to your home and teach you more?" So we set a date to come back and it will be awesome! Thomas is doing well, and So are the Maravilla's. They are slowly but surely progressing. Thanks for the prayers for them! I love you all! Elder Murray Blast from the past. We were both pretty chunk. That was 18 months ago. Another great week! We had some cools experiences! My favorite this week had to have been when we went over to the Maravilla family's home. We taught them more about the plan of salvation. Apparently there was a recent incident in our area where a moher killed her child and it really bothered one of our investigators. He told us that he couldn't believe that God would let such a thing happen. So we helped him understand more about the plan of salvation. At the end of the lesson we invited his daughter to pray becuase she has been having some cool experiences with prayer. This family used to pray to their deceased mother and we explained to them that she didn't have the power to answer their prayers but God did. One day the daughter was getting pretty mad as she thought about how her mother left her and she said it just hurt. She prayed and asked God for help and she said that she just started realizing all the good that came from what had happened. Her dad had since remarried and now She has 3 awesome siblings, is happy, has a great job, and she said her mood totally changed! It was awesome! So she said the closing prayer and during it she was tearing up and at the end she was fanning her face with her hands and kept saying "sheesh! It's so hot in here! It's so hot!" We taught her that it was the spirit! Being a missionary is the best!
This week was pretty intense. We usually have a little correlation with President before meetings like zone conferences and MLC so we can make an agenda for the meeting but for this MLC President was unable to meet up! So we planned out the meeting and gave him the agenda the night before and it went pretty well! I have a testimony that in any class or meeting in church we can receive revelation as we all participate and get involved. When the facilitator asks questions raise your hand and answer them! Not only will you be taught but everyone in the class will be taught! Even the facilitator! It's awesome how it all works out. We had a nifty member lesson this week too! We invited everyone who served a mission to recite the first vision in their mission language. It was pretty spiritual. Memories were brought back and they loved it! One in Spanish one in English and on in Japanese. 2 Nephi 19:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. This is the scripture of the week. As I read this the spirit taught me again that Jesus Christ is my savior. He's yours too! He was born for us, He was crucified for us, and he rose again for us. He did all of this so we can return home and experience everlasting happiness with our families. How awesome it is to go out and share this with the people of New York every day! I love you all! Elder Murray Pics will come later hopefully! |
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
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Current and Last Area Monticello
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