Elder Murray New York New York
6/22/2016-07/11/2018
Oh and we go work out at a members garage. Super sweet. We are gonna get huge! This is the Poughkeepsie zone. Love it. Walkers Brother Davis Happy birthday balloons. Thanks mom they came in handy! Can you send me more? My companions birthday is also soon Ahhh this sisters had a baptism and I got to perform the ordinance! Bianca 13 and Ava 10, I had to baptize ava 3 times... felt bad... BUT third times the charm! She was a trooper! Love my companions Brother Markle. A retired FBI agent. Sweet stories! So I left Elder Newbold in New Paltz. Sort of sad. Great people though! I'll miss them! I am happy to be here in West Point though! It is awesome! I've already met someone who knows Ben Westman and Ethan Gleue (graduates of West Point in my home ward for those of you who dont know). And if Ethan ever gets the chance to read this, I still have that yellow pin with the helmet on it you gave me from winning in the basketball game dynamite. I look up to both of you Ethan and Ben. Thank you for your example to me!
So yeah! This is awesome. Our area is tiny and my new companion is great. We apparently get fed every night and yeah! OH and we have an enormous black berry Bush right outside our townhouse! Oh they are delicious. So yesterday we set a baptismal date last night with our invesdtogator named Shon. Super cool guy. I have such a testimony of energetic teaching. It gets everyone so excited! So we will continue working with him! 2 Nephi 27:23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith. God is a God of miracles! I love you all!
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Well, this week has been a good one! It's Elder Newbolds birthday on the 22nd so a member from across the river in Poughkeepsie took us to dinner last night. Dang it was good. He took us to the Culinary Institute of America. The CIA is a top class school for bakers and chefs. I ordered dill-cured salmon that came with caviar I was expanding my horizons... the cured salmon was good. The caviar was basically eating those bright red fish bait salmon eggs. But hey I tried them. Then I ordered barbacoa lamb. That was dang good. Elder Newbold got roasted venison loin.
so the sub title has a little backstory to its pretty funny. Brother crumb has been trained by Brother weed who is a member of the branch presidency. Whenever brother weed says "who's the man?" Brother Krom says "I'm the man!" Brother Krom is a member of our branch. He is pretty old and he is completely blind. He can play the piano like a boss. It is incredible. he's probably not hundred percent there. But he's a funny guy. the split with the AP was pretty fun I was able to learn more about planning and efficiency as well as planning with the help with the spirit. Times running out but I read 2 Nephi 27:23 this past week in my studies and its awesome! Read it! I love you all! Elder Murray Prey Mantis. Flacco and I. Straight unity😉 The sisters in our district are the best! They made us Apple crisp Omelets for dayyys Bishops Storehouse P day soccer This week was great! We had the bishops store house, had an awesome district meeting with a lot of really cool role plays, amazing sacrament meeting, interviews with President, soccer, splits with the Zone leaders, haircuts, budgeting our money (it's actually way fun haha), and teaching lessons!
Bishops store house was great! It's always amazing to see all the people come and help fill orders for those in need. I got to see elder Tatafu and he is doing great! He is such a funny guy. Brother Smith was there(he's the one who took is to the NYC temple) he said he's going to take us to lunch next week! Brother Rizzo was talking to us and he is this awesome brother in our branch and he was telling us about how much he disliked the winter darkness. He said it made him want to rip his hair out. Well he's bald so I just had to comment that he needed to stop! His hair hadn't grown back yet from last winter! He's a funny guy. District meeting was great this week! We did some role plays on how to help our investigators overcome their personal road blocks and boy did we learn a lot! Sacrament meeting was so awesome. I challenge all of you to make this a habit. On Saturday pray to feel the spirit of the Lord at church. This week the meeting was focused on family. Brother Rizzo gave a talk and it was great. he went on to say that we had found a book a Mormon the past at bishops storehouse and we gave it to him and it ended up being his daughters. His daughter is less active and we gave him the Book of Mormon that was signed by his daughter. He went on to say that he had given his daughter the Book of Mormon that we had found and when he gave it to her she started to cry and she is now going back to church. It was such a cool experience! Small and simple! Love you all! Elder Murray 1. Special sacrament! 2. Make a friend tonite 3. The Hunters! 4-6 filming a role play. Well trying... He was so distracted love him 😂 The special sacrament meeting was awesome! It was so cool! President Smith got the mission on a conference call a couple nights before the "special sacrament meeting" and he was encouraging us to prepare to be taught from on high and everything because getting the whole mission together for sacrament meeting is a big deal! Then at the end of the call President Smith was just like "elders and Sisters, I want you all to prepare to be taught by a prophet of God." Big pause... "elders and sisters President Uchtdorf is coming to our mission." Oh man it was the most exciting thing ever haha! So cool! The picture is pretty bad but I'm on the top right peeking over someone's head. Some of the missionaries got to shake his hand but I didn't 😒 that's ok though. He didn't have time to shake everyone's hand. Sister Hunter barely missed him too! I got to see part of the Hunter family in NY! It was so cool! I was just so in shocked that I couldn't remember her name, I didn't even tell them that President Uchtdorf was there or anything! Yikes! But that was great! Go OLY 8TH!
We've had some awesome success this week! We found 3 new investigators and they are solid! Their names are Theophilus, Chris, and Manny! There were some less active members that said they were moving to Kingston a while back and we drove by their house on the way to an appt and there was a kid out of the front porch. I had the impression to stop and then I second guessed it and then I voiced the impression I had received to my companion and he said, "I thought they moved?" But we stopped just encase and met the nonmember son! It's so important to voice the impressions you receive to your companion! Then you have that extra support. It's going to be weird being a college student and not living with someone 24/7 haha. So, their nonmember son is totally all for being baptized and he even said he wants to be a missionary! His name is Manny and he's 17 going on 18! The blessings are flowing! Theophilus is a great guy. He accepted an invitation to be baptized and came to church last week! I'll keep you posted on him! The priesthood is such a blessing. I know that the authority to use His priesthood has been restored by the prophet Joseph Smith. I had the opportunity to give a sister in our ward a blessing of comfort and counsel. She just recently had a divorce. Her second one. So, she asked for a blessing after we helped her burn some stuff in her backyard and the spirit is so powerful! Wow such incredible experiences. I will never forget! These are the experiences that make you truly want to live worthy of the blessing and gift of serving others in my life. A member of the Branch keeps giving us boxes of frozen meat and it's great we have steak and pork every other night that we don’t get fed by members! Mom, that's probably not healthy huh... we will probably slow down but it's good stuff. That's pretty much my week! I hope y'alls week has been fantastic and hopefully this email sends! Oh and one more thing! In my studies I was reading a really good talk. It's called "Look Ahead and Believe" by Elder Dube. In it he quotes President Packer. President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, once attended an ox pulling contest, where he drew out an analogy. He said of the experience: “A wooden sledge was weighted with cement blocks: ten thousand pounds [4,535 kg]—five tons. … The object was for the oxen to move the sledge three feet [91 cm]. … I noticed a well-matched pair of very large, brindled, blue-gray animals … [the] big blue oxen of seasons past.” In speaking about the result of the contest, he said: “Teams were eliminated one by one. … The big blue oxen didn’t even place! A small, nondescript pair of animals, not very well matched for size, moved the sledge all three times.” He was then given an explanation to the surprising outcome: “The big blues were larger and stronger and better matched for size than the other team. But the little oxen had better teamwork and coordination. They hit the yoke together. Both animals jerked forward at exactly the same time and the force moved the load” (“Equally Yoked Together,” address delivered at regional representatives’ seminar, Apr. 3, 1975; in Teaching Seminary: Preservice Readings [2004], 30). I loved this! We have to work as a team to get things done the most effective and efficient way! In companionship, in a marriage, in our church callings, and all! This is how we can tap into our define potential. Rely on the savior, keep the commandments, and work together. Here are a few things that President Uchtdorf said: -Having an eternal perspective is key -Have an unspoken testimony. Meaning share the gospel everywhere you go every second of every day and when necessary use words. -Treasure your temple recommend -He carries a mini for strength of youth. Focus on the basics! -He also said God has given us brains, use them! Use common sense. (He said this in the most loving way ever. Nobody was offended.) -Faith is strength and power. -He stressed temperance and charity -Every day is a new day! What small and simple thing will you do today to be better than you were yesterday? -He closed his talk with this: Trust in the Lord. Keep the commandments. Trust in the Lord. Keep the commandments. I want to duplicate his invitation and extend it to you all! Trust in the Lord. Keep the commandments. Trust in the Lord. Keep the commandments. God lives. Christ lives. They love us and want us to be happy and return to them and receive immortality and eternal life. I love you all! Elder Matthew Murray |
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
6th Area New Rochelle
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