"As now we serve..."‏

Hello!

Things are going well! We are trying to try to try to baptize this 10 year old in a re-activating family named Dustin. We're cutting it close right now but just trying to get things done and find people prepared for baptism. I often have found myself in ruts on my mission, as I suppose can be normal in life from time to time. There have been times when I have caught myself going through more motions and less purpose. Specifically I am referring to the power of prayer and problems while tracting. To often I find myself talking to Elder Hancock just about "fun and good stuff" while we are walking down a street trying to find souls to bring unto Christ. "Fun and good stuff" aren't bad things but they can be distractions if we're not careful. In general conference, in April (I think) there was a talk given about a herd of cattle not going where they were supposed too. After searching for the lost cattle, they were found standing under the shade of a large tree. While "shade" is not at all evil, it can certainly be a distraction from getting to where we need to be. Great story! I just need to remove some distractions and just talking about "stuff" and start exercising some serious faith here! Anyway! Time is ticking! Elder Hancock as agreed to work all day on my last P-day! Hurray! We'll email and stuff for his family's benefit and let him get some groceries but then we are off to work! I am grateful to have made it this far, and gratefully it is just the top of the first peak so that I can see the next and continue climbing, no stopping! LOVE YA!


Mom, thank you so much for this email. You can be grateful and rest assured that all that I needed from this email was the powerful re-assurance that I am loved. Not that I doubted but that I needed to be reminded. I already do have some plans for when I come home. I'm going to get on lds distribution and order a box of 40 Book of Mormons! Exciting! I will write my testimony in a good number of them, and figure out what needs to be done to teach Chris and get him baptized, and then continue to go out with the missionaries as often as possible and supply them with Book of Mormons! Then I will repeat. I think 40 Book of Mormons, every month, or every other month will keep my missionary minded and excited to help the Elders! That concludes my plans for when I return everything else, well I'm not to concerned. I'm not mad about coming home, I am sad, but will do as I must and make missionary work the primary focus of my life as I serve in all other capacities I may be called too. I am excited. My motto for life is this.. "Once a missionary, always a missionary!" The only reason things would not turn out how I would like in regards to my focus on missionary work would be if I had chosen to forget what the Lord has done for me here. If I turn away from daily personal study, and give no focus or attention to my callings and responsibilities.. If I return home a "boy" like you said those other guys had. Sadly when I read that I was able to think of a few missionaries in this mission who I could easily see saying such immature things... But anyway, thank you for this wonderful email mom! I love ya!

Oh and when I saw those pictures I remembered something President McConkie once told us, he said, including himself: "We truly do not understand the fullness of the things that we are doing right now."... It was cool to hear him say that because of course he knows exactly what he is doing and is called to do at this time, but he was saying that there is something more happening to us that we cannot yet see.. When I looked at those pictures, it was clearer than anything; we are a celestial family. Anyway, I love you mom!

Much to do!‏

I love being a missionary! Emailing is kind of fun cause it helps me review my mission and myself. I do love the work! We are at the final four weeks of the transfer so I have been pondering on something to have myself work harder and harder as well as help the district. So tomorrow at our District Development meeting we will be starting the Elgin District Final Four! Basically it is to encourage personal accountability to the work and a constant, daily, measure of our attitude and effort put forth for the work, to help us have fun and work harder! So I'm going to work on that now for a quick second before we head out! Anyway love you all!

Love the gospel

Wow! This has to be one of the best emails I have ever received! I have been around so many members.. truly a mission prepares a missionary to become the best member they know how. I wish all members would do the missionary work you guys did! It is the most pleasing and satisfying feeling to do missionary work. Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, "The most important thing for an adult non-member of the church is baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." When we had our leadership meeting in the previous weeks and President Mark McConkie spoke he quoted that over and over and said, "The most important thing for an adult non-member of the church is baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. -There is nothing more important, not marriage, not family, not careers, not education; there is no more important thing in their lives to do right now than to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!" POWERFUL! Before he told us this 'quote' he said, "I am going to quote a scripture that you have never heard, now listen carefully..."

One thing I have learned from Sister McConkie recently is that in order to spread the gospel, members don't even have to be friends, or even 'protect' relationships. In my own pondering this past week I came to realize this important truth: As a missionary you meet many people, it is no coincidence that I or Elder Hancock speak with anyone. This is because Heavenly Father is perfectly aware of the things taking place in the lives of every single individual in Elgin. When we knock on the door of someone Heavenly Father knew perfectly that day that his servants would knock on the door of this particular son or daughter. He wants more than anything (Moses 1:39 of course) to teach every single one of his children on earth the gospel through his chosen servants. So when his children hear the truth it is because they are suppose to! One day, as they stand before the Lord he may be able to say to them.. On August 3rd, 2010, Elder Hancock and Elder McMurry introduced you to the truth for the very first time at your home on your doorstep during your life on earth, they were my servants and were meant to tell you about my gospel that very specific day (as important as the event of baptism, is the event of being first introduced to the gospel). Likewise the Lord placed those 4 individuals in your path on absolute necessity of their first introduction to the Lord's truth and gospel!

Isn't that exciting! Now, this is Elder McMurry doctrine, but it seems right. If eternity is all about the truth, the gospel, the only way of ordained divine existence, than naturally, angels must attend the children of God when they receive their very first introduction to the truth and to what their existence is meant to be about, divinity and eternal progression! It is a marvelous, miraculous and recorded event, when God's children are offered and presented with the light of life, and the full truth of Jesus Christ!

Oh boy! Isn't the gospel so refreshing! YUP! You're right it is the epitome of refreshment! It is repentance and the power of Christ unto salvation! It means more to me than anything to me now as a missionary..Anyway! What would be coolest, is that if you have their addresses, go to Mormon.org and refer the missionaries over there, the simplest way that seems non-intrusive would be to just have the missionaries "knock into them".. but that's if we're a little fearful, the best way is to have the missionaries stop by and to specifically use your names! These are a little rough but I'll try and remember.. this is rate of baptisms that Elder Holland (I think) discovered...

"Baptisms per.."

1/1000=1 baptism out of 1000 missionary contacts
1/400=baptism from 400 media referrals
4/80=baptisms from using the name of a member among 80 individuals who know them
6/8=baptisms for those taught in the home of member

Awesome huh! If all members would invite and teach their friends in their homes! Woohoo! The second coming might just come quicker! Anyway! You just got me re-excited about missionary work for the day! I love you and appreciate this super uplifting email! You and dad rock! So my suggestion: send the elders or sisters to their homes WITH the book of Mormon that contains your testimonies, and that will help them see that, "The most important thing for an adult non-member of the church is baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

LOVE YA!

Hello with pics...

Hey everyone. I can't think of much to write. We are going to be working harder than ever. Our goal is to feel dead at the end of each week but then to keep going the next! Our goal is to baptize! I love my mission. I have experienced so much and it has all changed my heart. I love being apart of the Lord's work in this way. Welp I really can't think of a whole lot to say.. I explained to Elder Hancock that this past transfer, his first, I have showed him a lot, and how to do missionary work and that this transfer I would show him how to be a leader now that he knows how to do the work in some ways. He is great! He has changed so much since his first week! He never complains and is always ready to go to work when I am! It's wonderful that we can make sacrifices and work together! Sorry this email is short..! I love ya!

Another Week!

Well, things must move forward I suppose! We had interviews this past week, it was an important interview for me to have with president. I know in most all of my emails and journal entries I only mention the most positive and uplifting things, things that will for the most part bless my family and others somewhere down the road. I say that to make the point that missionary life is often pretty tough, rewarding and worthwhile, but also tough. I have had some tough times in the past couple of weeks and so it was important for me to sit and receive council from President McConkie. I love him, and sustain him and he gave me some instruction on what I need to be doing so I have had some time to ponder on that. We often have difficulties because of others, life, and unfortunately most often ourselves. I have had difficulties because of my own shortcomings which have caused me great difficulty in recognizing my potential to be and become a better missionary! So with that said, I am ready to improve and become the best that I can be! I am grateful for the Atonement and for the restoration that helps us understand the very need of it!

Welp! We are still working with a wonderful investigator, Nicole Hasty. It is such a tough situation because she just lost her 2 year old daughter about 3-4 weeks ago. She also chooses to not understand a lot of things we teach her. He husband is a less-active member and is trying to help but he also has some difficulties to overcome. We have an awesome appointment tonight with a lady named Sara. We met her yesterday while she was pushing her son in a stroller. She also had a small chicken on the stroller and man I had to talk to her! So we went up and I said... "What you got there?"... funny huh? and She explained it was a chicken. It was I guess really a "chick" or whatever. But anyway we had a great conversation for a few minutes and she was very humble and asked us to come by tonight! We are excited to see her and put her and her husband on a baptismal date! Oh I forgot the other part of the story at the beginning about interviews.. Well during Interviews, Sister McConkie was training on member work and she looked at me and said, "Elder McMurry, were you here when Elder Johnson of the Seventy came?" I tried to motion to here that I didn't want Elder Hancock to know.. I bet she was really confused. Anyway.. I didn't really respond and then she said, "That would have been October 2008, yeah you were there.." Elder Hancock looked over towards me for a second and man.. I felt pretty bummed! Well the next night I told him that I go home next transfer.. He knew I went home soon, but not that soon. Anyway! So much for that! Well. I love you all! Thank you for all your prayers! I think you'll only get something like 8 more emails before I return.. I'm not mad about coming home, I am a little sad, but I will move forward with everything the Lord expects of me! LOVE YA!

"Declaration of Dependence"

This is me at our recent leadership meeting! Everyone signed a "Declaration of Dependence" on the Lord it was a neat meeting!

Too Fast!

I think the way I feel right now is probably going to be how we all feel when were about to move on to the next life.. maybe. Not quite ready, and it all just goes by so fast! Anyway, things are going well! We just finished our 4 day meetings last Friday! That was a really neat experience. Elder Hancock and I wanted to work as much as possible whenever we got back from the meetings even though we only had about 3 hours to finally work in our area. Well each night we arrived back in Elgin we took a 10-15 minute dinner and just went straight to work. That Wednesday I tried my best to apply what I had learned at the meetings and found out through prayer where the Lord wanted us to go that night. I had other plans, but had to follow the spirit instead. As I was riding my bike, for some reason this was an important moment for me as I thought to myself, "Man if I was riding my bike in the other direction towards my plans, I would feel guilty and unsure.." I thought this because I knew through prayer that I was not suppose to follow my plans, but the Lords instead. So we continued on that night acting in faith that these plans, (though they seemed so much less effective) would yield some type of fruit. We were simply being submissive to the spirit. Well we talked with one lead that we had which was cool because that was the first thing we did. Than we continued to follow the plans the Lord had given us, and ended up teaching 3 lessons in a row! The final lesson was a family of 3, they each became new investigators and accepted our baptismal invitation! It was an awesome experience! It wasn't until we returned home and kneeled in prayer that we realized what had happened. We had chosen to follow the Lord instead of ourselves. Even the night before on Tuesday we had a similar experience and found 2 other investigators who are simply awesome! So even though we lost between 16-20 hours of proselyting time, we still had a wonderful week! Elder Hancock doesn't know when I go home, I hope to surprise him at the end of next transfer at the transfer meeting itself. Hopefully he will see from that, that even in my last two transfers I worked hard, and rarely spoke about anything other than the work at hand. That I was never a "trunky" missionary. Well! I love you all! Thank you for your emails and letters! I'll leave you with a cool quote from Elder Ericson! "The Lord will pay as much attention to your prayers as you do."

Thank you so much for being the best parents in the world! I love you both and think about you often! Thank you for the package, I got it this morning! It really meant a lot to me! Well, time is moving forward, way way to fast. We have a baptism scheduled for the 31st! How great is that! A physical birth, and a spiritual birth! That will be cool! Don't forget to send pics of Matt and Jamie and the Baby! Thank you for your awesome emails and letters of love and encouragement, truly, even as a missionary you still need those things sometimes! I love ya!