Word Vom. (July 15, 2013)

FIRST OFF. WHOA THANK YOU ALL FOR THE BIRTHDAY WISHES!!!!
Ashley(x3????), Don Vito, Ma Bev, Grandma, MOM, Molly Jane, MARKELL, JOSS, Erica, Jenny Moon, JESS EVENSON, Jayci, ALYSSA, Maddie Kerr, TAWN!?!? who texted Sister Heaps my favorite dinner so on Thursday night I was accosted by Ritz Chicken and frog eye salad AND FUNFETTI CAKE FOR MY BIRTHDAY!?!?! #tears
Not to mention all of the emails!?!?
Seriously MADE.MY.DAY. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! Gahhh i feel so blassed to have such amazing family and friends! I just sat there opening everything being like WHAT THE WHY AM I SO LUCKY! Like literally, all so, so so nice.

Ok enough about me, wait no never enough about me, this is my email.

Well before that happens, there is an asian woman sitting right next to me at the library watching this Asian soap opera WOW SO MANY COLORS. so distracting....ahhh....can't stop....hello kitty shirts.....avoiding my eyes......kind of....

So this week has just been so.much.trauma. I developed this TERRIBLE acid reflex disease where I begin to say something terrible and in my mind I'm yelling stop stop stop but my mouth just keeps going. If it were a cartoon there would be little cute font-ed words flying out of my mouth and my hands would be flailing around trying to round them all up and scoop them back in.  The best way to explain this is to just a give a few examples:

My Mind: 

-Less Active we just helped move in, husband died, wow thats so tragic....but at the same time....I don't really know any of your family....or you for that matter....but still super sad....oh wow you are now planning the funeral, and you have asked me to pray....phobia of public prayers PHOBIA OF PUBLIC PRAYERS! 

"Yes of COURSE I will!! I love to pray, seriously love it, sure, yeah, name is spelled M-u-r-r-A-y" noooooooo

-Transfers....at the transfer bus....don't know my new companions name....random girl walking up....we are chatting....yeah the lady who took us here TOTALLY CRAZY, our Ward a LITTLE bit crazy....can't believe President even trusts me to be a trainer....just kidding...but not really.......

"Whats your name? Oh....so YOU're my new companion.....just disregard everything I just said....." #crap

-New Sister in the other ward giving ride home to...oh you came with a bike...wow....yeah we have been driving around with this stupid bike rack on our car for 5 months, never even TOUCHED a bike....literally have NO idea how this thing even works?? Let alone how to hook on a bike???? 

"Oh yeah, we do this all the time, just strap this random strap that came off of a backpack on there, and that will totally hold!" 

Pulling over now. bike now dragging on freeway. 

"Yeah reaaally sorry about that! Thought that 1" material strap would definitely hold against 75mph winds blowing against your wheel that basically became a wind-turbine.. "

-Half the zone being transferred....it's like yearbook day but for a missionary....oh you want me to sign your Signing Journal? Crap...i hate yearbook day...too much pressure to write something BOMB, like you are being IMMORTALIZED IN THIS PERSONS JOURNAL, and you expect me to write something personal,thoughtful,humurous,memorable in 3 minutes!?!?!?!

"Yeah I TOTALLY will write something" 

Crap......20 minutes later STILL have the journal....page is blank..............

"...H.A.G.S." #wentthere

-Toni and Lydia!!! VERY Less active, girlfriend not a member...have a baby named JORDYN that they named after me...love them been working with them for 100 years...never come to church, team up with new couple the Matthews and Heaps...SO GREAT, CAME TO CHURCH!?!?! Mind is now exploded with so much joy as they walked in the door- STAYED FOR ALL THREE HOURS!?!?!? Everyone in the Ward staring at us the whole time because we haven't had an investigator to church in like a month? Watching our every move because now it's like some sort of competition because ELDERS JUST GOT PUT IN TO OUR WARD TO DOUBLE COVER IT?? And its like a popularity contest because they are so charming and 18-year-old infants?? Better be like ROCKSTAR missionary so the Ward stays on our side....keep all the rules perfectly.....

"Oh Lydia..the bathroom is over there--sure I'll hold your baby while you go, and tickle her when she starts crying.............................." 
like 300 rules now broken. 

-Randy....its been 3 years since he began investigating...TIME TO LAY DOWN THE LAW....you need to be baptized...but how will i phrase this? It has to be GOOD like so perfect, Preach My Gospel like WORD FOR WORD RECITED, by the book, eloquently phrased...only have one chance to plant this...spirit is so strong, Brother Day has set it up perfectly for you, so much time and effort put in to teaching Randy..don't want to mess this up--

"I already know you want to be baptized so we'll skip all that, WHEN can we set the date?" 

what.the.

AUGUST 3RD YA'LL

Sometimes my terrible word throw up pays off!!
Pray for him. ......and for me. 

SERIOUSLY LOVE YOU ALL, 

Love Sister Murrrayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

"The Land of Ahs" (July 9, 2013)

YEAH THAT IS OUR MISSION PRESIDENTS NEW THING. like he is the Wizard of Ahs (get it not Oz) HOW MUCH DO I LOVE THIS MAN RIGHT NOW. 

Ok let me start off by saying that if you could make NO parallels out of last weeks analogy.........thats ok i didn't really either. 

There is seriously SO much i want to say with no.time. 

Ok- real talk. 

I had a little pity party for myself the last few weeks. Invited loads of people, no one came, it was fun there were treats -- NOW ITS OVER. 

So back to the grind. Wizard of Ahs really helped me snap out of it by simply the fact that he told us in our meeting on Saturday (which had to be CONFERENCED- #fml SO FAR AWAY FROM MISSION HOME NOW) that we need to find JOY and smile about something every day and to JOKE WITH OUR INVESTIGATORS (worshipping him.) 

Ok let me start with this great lil thang. Like seriously WHY DO PEOPLE NOT WEAR PANTS. to answer the DOOR. WHY!?!? Why. why. Like annoyance #1 = when someone answers the door NOT wearing pants and is all shocked that there are actually people standing there!?!? LIKE HELLO??? we rang the doorbell?? AND THEN KNOCKED!?!? Like no it was not the wind. AND IN WHAT SITUATION WOULD IT EVER BE OK TO COME TO THE DOOR WITHOUT PANTS!?!? Like their like "oh...wasn't expecting YOU here...." Oh IM SORRY sir that you were expecting the UPS man?? Because then your no-pants-ness would be TOTALLY COOL!?!? #no. 

Enough about that. The fact that it happens enough I have to have my own section on this tells you something (first thing being that we have been tracting like ALL.THE.DAY.LONG. #loveit) 

Ok I also am losing my hearing at a rapidly intensifying rate - and also my eyesight!?!?! And also my knees like crack every time we have to pray now!?!? IM LIKE WHAT THE HECK AM I OLD!?!?!?!?!?!?!? 

But it creates problems because my lack of hearing I just agree to things like alllll the time even if I have NO idea what they just said. 

"Oh I work at..asd fa...........asdfa dgfhd..." 

"Oh yeah thats great, i LOVE that place! Totes know."........................#itsabar

fail. 

Ok there is also this terrible awful PLAGUE thing called RED DOTTING!?! like just keep in the back of your mind my clean as a whistle traffic violation record as I tell you about ULTIMATE DEATH RULE: if you get ONE ticket- no matter WHAT THE HECK IT IS FOR- you are red dotted FOR LIFE which means you cant ever drive again on the mish. So imagine my HORROR when I see those red and blues flashing in my rearview mirror. *horror.* 

Panicing, failing, sweating, puking.

BUT alas, forgot to turn our headlights on. #SOMANYPRAYERS

OH YEAH - transfers this week. Sister Christenot is being transferred!!! So we kind of were saying bye's ish/using it to our advantage to basically black mail people into visiting with us? I mean like whatever works works.........

Anyway NANG sweet little asian child who is actually a grown 70 year old woman. "I make you dinner! ....fish soup.......marijuana in chicken curry for spice....in Berma! All the young kids....when i was teaching school.....bad.......but I blend up p so no side effects!" 

.................................................................

I'm sorry, WHAT ARE WE EATING!?? like what.is."p". 

Ok other thing- Lawrence hates America!?!? like NO one celebrates 4th of July here. IML IKE HELLO!?!?! WHERE IS THE FREEDOM FESTIVAL!?!? But they have tons of fireworks. And the white handbook says holidays are the best time to tract- so we did. LIES. True you find loads of people at home - FALSE THEY ACTUALLY ENJOY RANDOM STRANGERS SHOWING UP ON A FAMILY HOLIDAY. So we went to the park where there were like loads of people waiting for fireworks and just street contacted? (like my WORST NIGHTMARE!?!?) 

"hey, you're pretty great! You know what else is great? America! Heres a flag......speaking of great things.....so is Jesus............*Book of Mormon*.....yeah....fireworks....awesome......bye."

Just like TONS of success with that one. 

... 

...... 

.. 

But we had a ward "breakfast" party that morning where the kids did a bike parade--had them all lined up all cute......ready seT OK LINE GONE CHAOS. Just a blob of children going EVERY direction possible........child skateboarding....... does NOT know how to skateboard........injuries....................................pogo-stick.....................blob of children coming back........pogo-stick bringin up the rear.........WAIT POGO-STICK!?!?!?!? um yes. Best. 

My next favorite thing = this new family we have bonded with (replacing the Miles who moved to Idaho RIP) the youngest one has like ADD x1 million so they bought him a DRUM SET TO RELEASE HIS ENERGY ON!? like what on earth they were thinking I will never know, BUT he gave the prayer at the end of our lesson and he started crying, we thought it was because his mom kind of joked about how funny it was....."No! (tiny whisper voice) I'm crying because it was so beautiful." Like this little 6 year-old boy brought himself to tears from the beauty of his own prayer. O.M.G. LIKE YES OF COURSE I WILL BABYSIT YOUR KIDS FOREVER. so funny. (kidding. we cant babysit. white handbook.) 

We teach this lesson to families with little kids as dinner messages about the "warm fuzzy people and the cold pricklies" (like doing good deeds...) and im like wait. we need candy. Or else no one will respect us. So closest thing......sour gummy worms......"So here are your WORMfuzzies...."*warmfuzzies* ....crickets..... but we get a good kick out of it. 

But we always end with like "ok what is a warm fuzzy thing you can do?" 

(ADD child's little brother bolting away) "wait!" "IM GOING TO PEE FOR A WARM FUZZY" (potty training) seriously the best thing.ever. 

Also. Someone invented this thing called "im laying on the floor lifeless but it counts as exercise because I'm 'stretching'" 

seriously so dumb. 

BUT YEAH OK BIG DEAL I'VE DONE IT! and I EAT PAPA MURPHY'S PIZZA!....and I LIKE IT. 

#who.am.i.

Found this GOLDEN JEWEL OF A MAN in our ward who goes on team-ups with us and will somehow suck up random people to teach lessons to!?!? Brother Katschke. Saint. So we had a lesson with Chad.....from Salvation Army who loves to beat box.....going no where fast because he just wanted to talk about his portfolio of ideas that were going to save the world. "Ok Chad, we are walking away now!" 

"Have you heard me beatbox?--" 

"Chad...walking away....got to go...." 

"Ok, ok ok *running in front of us* let me just beat box as your walk by"...............so yeah we have theme-song music now as we walk around. Seriously the best moments of my life. 

Lastly, just ran in to Tom. Another man from Salvation. With a gallon size jug of VADKA. "This is just water...." 

Ok Tom *dodging hugs.....somehow face planted into a sweaty arm which resulted in a hug...* 

"This....................is not water." 

I know Tom, I know.

PEACE N BLESSINS YA'LL 

hope Lake Powell totally SUCKED. 

jk.

but actually yeah i hope it did. 

:) 

LOVE YOU 

Love, Sister Murray 

(yeah big deal President Bell told us to write one sentence telling him how we were. SORRY THIS IS A NOVEL) 

shououts: 

MOM MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGES!!! amaze. AND your 4th package!! LOVED MY OUTFIT. seriously so many compliments on how patriotic i was. BEST. 

SMASH! BIRTHDAY PACKAGE!?!?! saving it for thursday LOVE LOVE YOU AND YOUR 4th of july letter AMAZE. 

GRACE YOUR POSTCARDS HOW ARE YOU A HUMAN FROM EUROPE!?!? love!!! 

Aunt Holly and Grandma!! saving your card for my birthday as well!! LOVE YOU 

LOMcFAD!?!?!?!? dying. LOVE YOU. 

KELSEY YOUR INVITATION!!!!!!!!!!!!as dlkfjas;ldgkj as

died. 

so pretty. SO CLASSY. your HAIR. loved loved loved. 

whoa. KWM. (July 1, 2013)

First day in the Kansas Wichita Mission. kaBlam. 

Sometimes you just feel like you are on top of the world. Here you are, cruisin' around in your shiny red car, wind is blowing in your hair, and you're like "whoa, we are AWESOME." Everything is going right, the car is in perfect working condition, the sun is shining, jolly little music is playing, you're just da THANG. People have waved you down, honking, flagging you over, saying "Hey! Pull over! There's something MORE" and you're like "Wha? You crazy?? DO YOU SEE HOW COOL I LOOK??" 

-Rumbling in the background- Whats that? A giant tractor that basically could eat you? And there's like a million more COOLER people riding in it, laughing at the top of their lungs, with even BETTER music than yours, and an even cooler color red?? 

You suddenly look back down, and realize you DIDN'T have it as good as you thought. Looking around you see all of these people laughing at you, feel on top of your head, and you're velvet tasseled hat is falling off, everything slows down and you have this out of body experience...and there you are. 

Driving, this tiny little red car.

In a parade.  

Yes.

You are one of those Shriners parade people. 

Driving around. 

No.  

YES. 

SOMETIMES you feel on top of the world, best mission in the world, best mission PRESIDENTS, who obviously have the BEST way of doing everything, and you have gobs of people in your teaching pool, and you think that reading the Bible once in a while fills your Spiritual needs, and the fact that you even THINK about going to Church is basically the same thing as attending, and that one comment that someone made to you 43 years ago is TOTALLY worth throwing everything else you have learned about being happy away, and everything is great. 

And then you realize your legs are CRAMPED and your actually not going faster than maybe 5 mph.......and you have a velvet little hat, and people are going MUCH faster than you, and they LOOK even cooler than you, and they have better problem solving skills, and they have more time to talk to one another, and they have PURPOSE in the life they are living, and they're being STRETCHED to fit their enormous car they are driving, thus improving their driving abilities and their quality of LIFE, and you look back down and realize, this comically tiny little car you thought you were driving that is actually remote controlled, is just actually not that great. And someone leans down and whispers in your ear "Let it go, hands off the wheel, trust me." And your will dissolves into the Whisperers will, and you suddenly feel peace. And your perspective is broadened. 

.....And you're like "DANG! I look even COOLER now, I'm driving a freaking TRACTOR!!!!" 

That's my week. 

In a story. 

And all of our investigators weeks.

In a story. 

And all of the Less Actives we have been working with, weeks. 

In a story. 

And even the members on the roll who had been pegged as "moved" who ACTUALLY STILL LIVE THERE, weeks.

In a story. 

And that's my story.

MUCH LOVE 

koko

Love, 

Sister Murray 

SHOUTOUTS: 

Um, JASON AND BRANDON WARDROP!?!?!? I'm adopting you as my new FAMILY!?!?! Thats right, Wardrop brothers (not you DALLIN), you win in the "my favorite people of the week" category. Both your letters, SO CLASSIC. Writing you back. Today. 

peace n blessins ya'll. 

I'm from the city in the mid-west best city in the whole wide world. Hey. (June 24, 2013)

WHOA. 

NUMBER 1= THAT CONFERENCE LAST NIGHT. 

Literally if you didn't watch it, 1,000 deaths upon your soul, REPENT, pull it up online AND WATCH THE WHOLE.THING. 

Seriously wow, can't even BEGIN of how awesome. CHANGED MY LIFE. 

Also we got a WARD MISSION LEADER HOORAH! I forgot to tell you. It's Brother Heaps and he is KILLIN IT! Seriously, he takes it so seriously its like rocking our world biggest difference! 1,000 prayers of thanks for that one. 

ok. 

yeah, that "special zone conference" last week? It really was so amazing, and so special I won't go in to too much detail but know that I somehow left loving President and Sister Keyes even MORE than before?? And I also accidentally made an oath of giving them my first born child as payment for everything they've done for me..........so...........sorry Mom. 

But no seriously I will say I have never felt the Spirit so strong than during that day, and I also have never seen so many missionaries all crying at once, me included, like ROLLING DOWN TEARS, Sister Keyes got up to speak and just grabbed both boxes of kleenex on either side of the pulipt and put them in front of her. As the bus is pulling away they sat outside both just tears pouring down their cheeks waving goodbye, oh my gosh HEART BREAKING. 

It really was emotional but...................

I'm in the Kansas Wichita Mission!!! 

and i feel good about it????????????????????

i know. 

But anyway NEW MISSION HOME ADDRESSS: 

7011 E 13th Street N

Wichita, KS

67206-1219

i still live in Eudora........but thats the new mission home address kapeesh?

Nitty Gritty? 

We actually had a really tough week. Clare dropped us mid air-literally. We walk in with her brother........turn around and walk back out with her as she's closing the door "I dont want to meet anymore." Lots of un-returned calls later we finally came to terms with it, ROUGH. 

Then like 1 million more investigators fell through? 

So lots of tracting..........? Which rendered no success. 

Troy (Recent convert) going through SO much started questioning everything?? 

Literally sat back and watched our area unravel. 

THEN jewel of the world we FINALLY got in contact with Alex (the young guy who loves a good argument about aliens?) had seriously the BEST lesson with him, resulting in him committing HIMSELF to read the Book of Mormon in 30 days?? He just sat there, TRYING to fight back tears, with the most honest cry for help ever "i just need to know what is the truth"

AH WOW. 

THEN next day we have that AMAZING CONFERENCE, and today as I'm emailing President my last email to him I'm just thinking, "wow. this week actually sucked. it really did. BUT i look back and i can see how much I have GROWN. Grew so much closer as a companionship, so much closer to the Ward, so much closer to my Heavenly Father" and I'm like wow, we really went through the refiners fire. That stuff is REAL. #preach 

Sorry so short some tracting highlights? 

-Got a HQ referral Huzzah! Oh wait.............the dorms again.........this is not a real adress......wait your last name is Huang? Ok yeah, we will go through every.single.mail.box looking for you. And you don't exist. #FAIL 

#stillhavehope 

-Going through tracking down people from the Ward "Hi! does Lauren live here? Oh she doesnt? Whats that? She DIED??? and she is a HIM? Oh...Lauren.....a man.......who died.........sorry for your loss yeah we are missionaries....leaving...now.....bye..........

-Pretty much hit up every Lemonade stand ever this weekend looking for investigators? Actually not a great idea? Because they are all children. And their parents are insta-creeped. NOTED. 

LOVE YOU LOTS

LAME email i know, next week I will repent. 

Love, 

Sister Murray 

SHOUTOUTS 

GRANDMA- loved BOTH of your letters!!! Thank you so much for the article about the MTC- how crazy is that? LOVE YOU 

CHAYLA- wow indebted to you. literally. LOVED your letter couldn't stop smiling literally laughing the whole time. LOVE. 

SMASH- um. wait. are you even a HUMAN. seriously HOOOOOOOW. Your turn-around rate is like -.08??? You can have the rights to my second unborn child. LOVE you. 

SO GOOD TO TALK TO YOU YESTERDAY!!! (June 18, 2013)

Seriously made my DAY being able to Skype you yesterday for Fathers day!!!!

.................................................

JK.

JK.

JK.

Ok that joke = NOT funny with the District Leader....like whoa. No sense of humor KILLING ME. He called us last night for our weekly report and he's like

"anything exciting this week?"

"yeah SO crazy, today when we were skyping our families for Fathers day....."

--"WHAT"

"just kidding." laughing......

.........silence......

"oh not funny" <--addressing the awkward............

.................STILL SILENCE.

"ohhhk....well anyway our week..........awkward awkward no recovering ..... ok yup keeping the rules......k bye."

 

So yeah. People here are just like COMEDY HOUR ALL.THE.TIME.

no but actually that may be one of the best moments on the mish. SO.AWKWARD.FUNNY. and those are the best kind. (Retarded Tingles for myself if you will, Seth Michael Johnson)

 

OK I actually do NOT have a lot of time (and not just because I am lazy) but ACTUALLY because SLEEPOVER PARTYYYYYYYYYYYY

but really. I wish i was kidding. NOT.

Zone Conference this month = ROAD TRIP?????? is this even legal!?!?! no idea. But we are straight like polygamist van-ing WITH PRESIDENT driving down to Wichita (like 3 hours away) staying the night frolicking around and then on the way back going to the Temple!?!?!? SO.AWESOME.WANT.TO.DIE.

But actually I'm pretty sure they are trying to soften the blow of the MISSION SPLITTING ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!! thats right, on.my.birthday. RIP

So yeah, we sing I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go....................like a lot.

 

But nothing for sure yet........................................#prettysureiminWichita <---OMG WHAAAAT if that was on my call letter. #wouldnthavecome JK but maybe not.............? haha no but really i am SO excited for whatever BUT the one thing is THE KEYES = (misison presidents) i seriously love them with all of my heart I would pretty much sell my soul for them both and maybe even get my eyes gouged out and tongue cut off if it meant that I could just spend a full day with them. He seriously is the most amazing man on the earth. FUTURE PROPHET, not kidding.

But President Bell looks nice. He'll be great. Right? right. 

 

SPEAKING of things that are awesome..................heres a list full of awesome.

-Manush (Iranian man volunteer at Salvation) kidnapped me, barely had time to grab my companion as he drags us to his car...(i realize that sounds SO creepy...but it wasnt... yet.) Asking me the whole way there "do you have a wall? at your house?? do you have a wall??" YES manush we do. *fumbling around in car* 

World slows down...imagine like movie scene slow mo with epic music in the background...maybe a harp playing even.....pulling something out of bag.....its a giant frame.......what could possibly be inSIDE OF IT OH MY GOSH THAT IS A PICTURE OF MY FACE. blown.up. framed. of me and him.

blown up.

huge.

did i mention it is BLOWN UP HUGE!?!?

Yes. It twas.

So I happen to have like 5 pictures of us together so i finally printed them off and gave them to him (he asked me like 1 million times)...yeah he took that picture and got it BLOWN UP like 450%x original.

His face. so priceless. so happy. BEST THING I WILL EVER RECEIVE EVER. I neeeeed to take a picture and send it like words can't describe. awesome.

 

-Tracting the dorms....expecting college kids, cause its the dorms. Normal. WAIT. you are a man???? AND YOU ARENT WEARING PANTS!?!? like so scarred couldn't finish sentences....didn't know where to look....your names Jerry?? Ok um...I forgot everything I was going to say to you JERRY- here's a mormon.orgcard.....thats all bye. #wut. awesome.

 

-Clare...reading the scriptures.....has some sort of east coast sounding accent.....we think........."And then spank Jesus......"

*lost it*

"What! Was that wrong? Ok i'll start over.......and then spank...."

SPAKE. Spake. spake.

tears.

awesome.

 

-A man sits on the corner by the Church and sells a special kind of onion. That isn't even the awesome part!!

He is some sort of President for the Shriner's people....? Ok. Yes. Are you the people with the little velvet hats? And you drive those tiny cars around in parades? Ok yeah Shriners selling Vadalia Onions....whats that? You save millions of childrens LIVES becasue your foundation is so AWESOME?? And I only knew about the tiny cars and hats?? Correct.........so yeah tell me about driving those little cars around parades.

awesome.

no recovery.

awesome.

 

-Sis Bittinger. Less active. Samoan. Communication barrier. always. Just agree and nod head.

"You used have long hair? CUT OFF??? You know that is source of womens POWER!?!? ...*unrecognizable words*... only way you get husband! No chance you.

But very blue eyes! maybe....mumble mumble mumble."

(me) "Totally!" - wait what???!

awesome.

 

-****ULTIMATE AWESOME*********

Ok OF COURSE I save this for last and I have no time.

Last week, appointment fell through, Sister Christenot felt like we should go visit a Less Active family, go, not home, BUMMER. Wait, this man just passed us lets follow him home....in a non-creepy way......knock a few around his house.....walking away in his garage....go and sit down.

Garage turned lounge. "You preachin??? come on in!" <---automatic love him.

His name is Rich, moved from Kansas City last year from the HOOD <--automatic love him.x2

Recovering alcoholic, sober for 14 months, SITTING DOWN TO TAKE HIS FIRST DRINK!? (passed us on the way home from store)

OMG. as;ldj as;kghas l;kfj

Basically yelled at him that it was a sign we were sent from God to him! Got his number to come back.

awesome.

NEXT WEEK: come back, roomate is there. Rich made us dinner? Getting to know roomate Scott, "yeah I'm a bad Mormon." WAIT WHAT YOU ARE MORMON!?! "Yeah grew up LDS...." -non-chalant freak out.-

Scott asks all these questions about heaven how he left the Church because he doesn't think its fair there are "levels of heaven" everyone created equal........working on come back for that......

Continuing lesson....Scott is now contributing to Lesson1???

Scott WHAT is your last name?

"Kessler" --SCOTT KESSLER= SEARCHING FOR HIM FOR 3 MONTHS RS PRESIDENT GAVE US LIST OF PEOPLE TO FIND. Never found him.

REPEAT HE IS ROOMATES WITH MIRACLE MAN RICH WE FOUND TRACTING!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

awesome.

Wrapping up....(Rich) "Yeah, I never used to say 'awesome' because it sounds so whiteish I usually use-(whole list of amazing hoodrat words I am secretly writing down in my planner as he is rattling them off)-but now it just fits so perfect."

AWESOMExmillion.

 

So yeah, everything is "awesome" on the mission. Like I literally find myself saying that SO.MUCH. because awkward conversation filler? "Thats awesome!"

I used to live in Utah.... Thats awesome!

Yeah, we have some friends we want to introduce you to that we will come to lessons with and help convert! (never happens but if it DID) Thats awesome!

We just got back from a trip to KC and ate way good bbq......thats awesome!

(Investigators girlfriend we are working to take lessons) My daughter just got put in jail for the second time this year because she broke probation and I dont know if I should bail her out.........."thats awesome!"

ABORT ABORT NOT AWESOME OMG NO NO NO.

awesome.

 

LOVE YOU ALL

Peace n Blessins ya'll!

Love,

Sister Murray

 

SHOUTOUTS!

Judy Brummer!!! loved your letter!! LOVE YOU ALL

Smash Pack = LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED the pics and LOVED those cute quotes!! all up in my room. obsessed. THANK YOU

SUMSIONS= DOUBLE THE MISH POWER!?!?! CHLOE OMG WE WILL BE SO CLOSE I WILL SHOUT TO YOU EVERY TIME WE DRIVE TOWARDS IOWA....or any direction for that matter because i dont know which direction iowa is.....SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!! CONGRATS!!!!!

last but not least, MOM THAT BAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ULTIMATE AWESOME!!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!! We were freaking out it is like MADE for a missionary, the pockets on the outside fit the pamphlets like a GLOVE!!! AHH THANK YOU!! and thank you Boo and Jo if you helped pick it out!!! ultimate.

"These are my Confessions..." (June 10, 2013)

Juuuust when i thought I said all i could say....

Seriously. Usher. So good right now. but ONLY IN MY MIND. and only for a second. #Babylon 

Ok. 

Confession #1 every time i say "ahh i have NO time i'm like FREAKING out! like my whole life is just a RUSHHHHHHH I dont even have time to BREATHE let alone let my fingers fly relentlessly at this keyboard!!!!! aa;sldkg j" 

-Thats all a lie.- 

OOPS!

We have 2 hours to email (Thanks First Presidency and their thoughtfulness towards allowing us to talk to frenzzzz!) And so usually that translates into = "I'm so lazy. Don't want to put the thought into this email. Let me just spend the rest of the time watching Mormon Messages. Done." 

Confession #2 I Bible Bashed this week. 

THIS is actually a terrible/wonderful/bitter/sweet/painful/amazing story. (yeah, thats right, ALL of those adjectives.) 

Ok so the Members we live with, youngest daughter named Addie, 17, wants to go on a mission/planning on it. So we took her on like "day in the life" of us? Yeah WE ARE SO COOL..........

Ok so very first lesson EVER. in the history of her life. ever. prepped her for 30 minutes before at the Church, so nervous, role played the lesson like 70 times, got it DOWN, ready to go. 

Show up- CLARES HOUSE! We're like yeah, lets just ease her in, Clare is so nice? Her "sweet" friend Rose who told us she may have felt the Spirit but thought it was an alien entering her body and wanted to learn more? yeah she was there. 

WHAM! 

Sits down, whips out some paper and before we can even BEGIN she is writing down, "Oh-Murray? Yeah changed your mind once. Ok keeping an annoying tally of every time you 'change your mind' but really that is me just wrapping up words and blowing them around confusing everyone in the room, ok yes Murray? yeah thats FIVE times you've changed your mind." 

................................

Ok im like YEAH this is not happening. Sister Christenot is crying because Rose won't let us help each other she like singles you out and refuses to listen to what you are saying anyway. 

Needless to say she was hung up on the Polygamy thing and how that doesn't agree with the Bible that says to take one wife. 

"FOR SOME REASON" I was at a loss for words. First time maybe in my whole life this has happened. Ever. The Spirit literally was confounding me because I realized later I didn't need to argue. (so...many....comebacks....) 

Ok so over here on the good ole' Bible Belt she is flinging verses with no references at us right and left and I do not know the Bible as well as I should and apparently none of us do because I'm pretty sure half of the stuff she said wasn't even in the Bible!?!? But i didnt want to challenge it in case it was! So i FINALLY am feeling SO good I'm like: 

"Ok yeah ROSE check out Amos 3:7 and let that blow your mind about how the Prophet is inspired of God and yes he revealed thats what we should do"

 

-in my mind tiny little Grinch-baby-snicker feeling so good like I just WWF'd her brain- 

And yet, the glory didn't come. I felt worse, on the verge of tears. I could feel the Spirit run away, and all of a sudden my adrenaline was PUMPING like fight or flight mode I'm almost shaking, and that is NOT how you want to be feeling in a lesson. 

And then she just said "oh, what Bible? Then i don't believe in that Bible either." 

ok.

So I laid my weapons down, let her tally us 1 to 1,000,000 and just tried to apologize. 

Clare finally spoke up and was like Rose stop, just be quiet

(me trying to apologize to her) "well Im not allowed to talk this isn't fair she can talk"

(trying to apologize THROUGH Clare to Rose) "well wow, now you are talking about me behind my back? that is rude, you know that is called cornering" 

-a little peek into the life of a game called YOU CAN'T WIN- 

Finally just said a closing prayer, and tears came flooding because for the first time I truly felt SORRY for her! Her husband hasn't come home for like 9 months, she had just had surgery and he came home but refused to see her and was yelling at her on the phone for leaving the house in such a mess when we first walked in-- all of this came flooding back in that moment and i felt the love God had for her, despite how incredibly rude she was to us. I couldn't believe it, but it was such a better feeling than to fight. A switch flipped when we said Amen and she was SO confused when i was just trying to giver her tips on using crutches on our way out....but she said thank you. 

....And then told me the dye in the colors red and black cause cancer. 

-look down, I'm wearing red skirt black shirt.- 

Touche Rose, touche. 

As we were leaving Addie said "I should have told her all of those stories in the Bible where they practiced polygamy" and it wasn't until THAT moment that I realized i had JUST read an entire chapter in a book about how to respond to the polygamy issue for another investigator who had asked the question in a much more civilized manner and realized, God really did not want me to argue today becuase i hadn't remembered one.single.thing. 

MIRACLES 

Ok, that was a really long confession. 

Confession #3 I'm pretty sure I have converted about 900 people to other Churches because 90% of the time they ask where our Church is....they are automatically thinking of the wrong one. Gaurunteed. (There are 13, 13, different Churches within a 1 mile radius of our building.) 

Confession #4 I pretty much gauge our success in our Ward by how many people sign up for meals. 

Theeen we visited a Less Active who told us to come back in a few days, showed up, at 3:45....and she had dinner for us on the table??......um INCEPTION DINNER CALENDAR!?!? 

Ya, I'd say we're successful. 

Confession #5 yesterday at Church sweet Sister Mannering was teaching Relief Society (the one who was converted by the 9 year old) and seriously her shirt was like so.ironed. like SO.CRISP. I was so distracted by it-at one point 14 min into the lesson when I missed my que to read something because I was staring at her cuffs that were just SUSPENDED in mid air slightly turned back (not rolled) because they were so crisp and wrinkle-free- yea i'm like k seriously enough about the shirt. COULDNT STOP. 

COULD be because I've sunk so low in the "i hate to iron" phase that heating up my flat iron and rubbing it on my shirt while it is on my body is me really putting in an effort. #DownyWrinkleSpray erryday. 

LOVE YOU ALL, 

WOW remind me to tell you about the MIRACLE this week about the straight HOODRAT we met named Rich who changed my life. -teaser- 

Love, 

Sister Murray 

SHOUTOUTS 

Ma BEV! loveddd your letter! Sending you one back today!! 

ALYSSA!?!?!? yeah. THAT BLEW MY MIND!!!! love love love love love love your package! AH THANK YOU 

Sister Reeves! (mom tell her thank you) 

Erica Tanner - yes. LOVED all of your kid ideas, they are GOLDEN thank you! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAGE BABE!!!!! I'm sending you a lil sum'n sum'n!! love you!!! 

"Why did Sally fall off the swing? Because she had no arms. Knock Knock, Who's there? Not Sally!" (June 3, 2013)

ROFL. yeah that joke just raced to my #1 spot. Especially because a little 13 year old told me it. (Gager she is right up your alley!) 

OHHHHHK. 

PS parents apparently you died on your cruise? or you are gallivanting having to much fun you FORGOT ABOUT ME!? #forgiven 

Perseverance: to persevere. (theme of the week) 

So Tuesday we had Exchange$ (can't ever write exchange$ without $ thanks Anne Collins) 

and yeah wow $$$$$$$ 

Miracles happen on exchange$. 

Randy: randomly tells us about this letter a previous missionary who was working with him wrote him like months ago he found. She talked about this story he had told her about his 5th grade class (retired elementary school teacher) they had to present a word of the month in an all school assembly and they chose the word "perseverance". He was so proud of his class they put together this huge production, wrote the whole script themselves etc. everyone loved it. Anyway the missionary compared that to his life and just talked about "persevering" and how he just needs to keep doing what he is doing and the rest will come! 

We're like ok cool story thank you moving on. 

.....awesome lesson............blowing minds with our awesomeness blah blah........ inspired jewels flowing out of my mouth etc. (or something similar....) 

THEN this scripture just EXPLODED out of the page that was perfect for Randy. Alma 32:16...we read it

"Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubborness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe."

.....he laughs because it is SUPER bold and SO exactly written for him it was almost freaky. 

THEN is finger just slams down on the page...I'm like what? look down, pointing at some sort of footnote...slow motion my eyes go to the page.......TG: PERSEVERANCE

ASDFLKJE 28476 2P5IJ DKLGJASL;FJK ASLKJ!@$#$^@$%@$%@#56

yeah. 

LITERALLY had a miniature heart attack and maybe showed him a little TOO much excitement over that and forced him to believe that was a sign!?? But seriously. It was. What are the odds of that. I even looked up Perseverance in the tg and oh, there is ONE scripture reference, that verse not even being one of them!?!?!? Yeah. 

So I decided to persevere when I found out I'm in Lawrence for ANOTHER 6 weeks. 

Decided to persevere when my COMP got called to be the new Sister Leader!?!? (miniature mind explosion) 

Persevere when there was an EXODUS from our ward?? INCLUDING the Miles (heart...breaking...millions of pieces. favorite family with the awesome kids that tell stories about ted bundy and all talk at the same time.) which adds to the SERIOUS lack of men in our Ward......and leaves us Ward Mission Leader-less for the 17th week in a row............................

Persevere when Clare called us crying because she had just read 2 Nephi 4 and it SPOKE to her and she couldn't stop crying for 2 days......(not actually hard to persevere through that) 

Persevere when Clare got so emotional during Church (day after 2 Nephi experience) that she tried to BOLT literally bolt. And here I am sitting in the pew literally wrestling a grown woman to stay sitting in her seat becuase the "Spirit of God" hymn was like overpowering us at that moment? ...............................and then persevere while we drove all the way to Independence (one.whole.hour.) going 65 miles per hour on a 75 (which techincally means 80) freeway because Clare is terrified of driving and she was gripping the steering wheel so hard she burst a blood vessel....so naturally I find myself feeding her mini-wheats to calm her down. YEAH it was Fast Sunday. Running low on snack options.

Persevere during Presidents Devotional where our Recent Convert WINSTON took like half the time because he got everyone going on comedy hour?? (yeah oops FORGOT to prep him and tell him it was just a quick testimony of your conversion not a sermon given Comedy Central? but whatev everyone LOVED it you can't not love this man. He is so solid. The one who baptized Troy.) 

Persevered when we were tracting and this guy is trying to tell us how he went to SLC to the "main Mormon service" 

Oh, the Conference Center? -no-

...the Tabernacel? -no-

Temple Square?....--hm no the MAIN thing-

Salt Lake Temple? -no like the main main thing- OMG

BYU? Visitors Center? MTC? Provo Temple? Draper Temple? Every other Temple in Utah? Church Building in Salt Lake? Stake Conference? Sacrament Meeting? THIS IS THE PLACE MONUMENT?? -no.-

......Tabernacle? "yeah that's it, giant organ? went there." 

#saidthat9times #persevere 

Lastly persevered through TALAPIA. Like HOW MANY PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH ACTUALLY EAT FISH FOR REAL. apparently 1,576,396. 

Yo yo ma. 

Peace n Blessins. 

-Sister Murray 

SHOUTOUTS: 

CHELS!! you live. so glad. made my day. PHYSICIANS DESK REFERENCE? so classic. DIED. 

STRING! love love love you!!! So glad you are alive as well!! Ensign = perfect! 

Samuel DAVID Rosen!!! yes yes yes yes yes yes seriosuly could not stop smiling reading your letter! haha thank you! seriously made my day! 

MITZI- you cease to amaze me. Those quotes LITERALLY are so perfect for every.single.one.of our investigators! can't wait to give them out this week THANK YOU!

PICTURE: I KNOW. #tendermercy