What is going on party people!!! Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and
remembered everything that they were grateful for. Everything up here is going
super awesome but enough about that, it is STORY TIME!!!!!! Time to talk about
my first exchange.
For
those of you who don't know what an exchange is it is basically when you swap
your companion with someone else's companion for a day. Anyways let us just
jump right into this. So I had the exchange with one of the zone leaders and
his name is Elder Lemon and he is super awesome, very spiritual and also laid
back. We made the exchange Wednesday night and exchanged back on Friday at our
district meeting. So let me tell you about my Thanksgiving Day on Thursday and
explain the madness that took place.
So
the first thing we had to do was at 8:30 in the morning the Ripley's family
asked us if we could help them with moving out of their house. We went over
there and helped move things around like dressers and couches and a freezer.
There was one point when Elder Lemon and I were carrying a dresser down the
stairs and I all the sudden it felt like I was carrying the whole thing by
myself. So I was like "Umm Elder Lemon?" because I wanted to know
what he was doing so I wouldn't DIE! All I see is him peek around the corner of
the dresser with both hands in the air and just says to me "I don't know
what to do." So then I yelled at him, "Well you better do something before
I just sit here and drop this thing!!!" I couldn't believe it, what a guy
am I right?! Around 11:30 we left and got lunch at Kettles with the Cepeda
family. Once again I would like to say how they are a gift sent from heaven.
After we ate we had a meeting with a less active member named Scott and that
went really well. We were able to talk and he showed me his hot wheels
collection and you already know how much I love them hot wheels! After we got
done with that it was around 2:30 and we decided to try and drop by to see some people
but nothing came out of that because most of them were not home. Then around
4:00 we get a call from Bro Dunning saying that the Ripleys needed another
trailer and we needed to help him get it and load the rest of the stuff. THIS
IS WHERE THE STORY GETS WILD!
So
Bro Dunning lives about 40 minutes away so we got up there and changed back
into our service clothes and we were off to go get the trailer. The trailer is
an open trailer so we were hoping it wasn't going to rain but we brought tarps
so we would be fine either way right....WRONG! We arrived at the Ripleys
at 6:00 and just started putting the rest of the stuff they had onto the
trailer and of course it started to rain. Now we had to put a tarp over
everything. We got everything on and got a tarp over it and tied down and we
were off once again. We driving down the highway when all the sudden THE TARP
WENT FLYING OFF THE TRAILER!! We pulled over real fast and we were chasing a
tarp down the highway. We finally got the tarp and found out that the rope that
we used to tie down the tarp snapped so that is why it flew off. We came to the
agreement that there was no point of trying to put the tarp back on so
everything was going to get wet. We arrived at the new house in Markdale at
7:00. The driveway that they had was all covered in snow and was long and had
an incline. Bro Ripley was driving a U-Haul truck and when he parked on the
driveway he had to park on the incline part because the rest of his family was
already up there and had cars parked there. So we come pulling in behind him
and he puts the U-Haul in park and jumps out and the thing starts SLIDING DOWN
THE DRIVEWAY!!! Luckily it stopped before it hit us but we had to reverse and
get out of the way. However, in doing that he backed the trailer up right into
a ditch! So now we have a U-Haul stuck on the driveway and a trailer in a
ditch. It took a lot of tow straps and pushing and pulling on vehicles but we
finally got both of them unstuck. So we got all the cars out of the way at the
top so we could get the U-Haul up there. We got a running start with that thing
and drove her up there. When it got to the top of the driveway the truck went
sliding off to the left and into their yard. So the U-Haul got stuck again!!
Around this time it was like 8:45 and Elder Lemon and I realized that we
weren't going to make it home by curfew because our car was all the way at Bro
Dunning's house which is an hour and a half away. So we made a call to the
mission president to let him know that we were going to be late getting home. He was
very nice and understood that things happen that are out of our control and
just told us to try and avoid it in the future. So from 8:45 to about 10:15 we
were getting that U-Haul unstuck and other things that got stuck in the process
of trying to move that U-Haul. We got everything taken care of and we were off
back to Bro Dunning's house to get our car. We decided to stop and get some
Subway on the way back because we were all starving and Bro Dunning paid for
all of it because he felt bad for us. He is honestly such an amazing guy. He is
so funny and is always willing to give service. By the time we got done at
Subway and dropped the trailer off and were back at Brother Dunning's house it
was around midnight and his house is about 40 minutes away from our house so we
didn't get home until 12:40. So for my first exchange that was with a zone
leader and we were around 4 hours past curfew. Elder Lemon said it was one of
the funnest exchanges he has ever been on and for it being my first one I
wouldn't want it to be any different.
Friday
we exchanged back and just did the regular stuff like spreading the gospel and
talking with everyone.
Saturday
at 8:30 in the morning we had to go do more service at the Cepeda's. We had to
clean out the bottom of the barn where all the sheep were so that was basically
shoveling poop and hay for about an hour and a half. But then we went out and
had to cut down some trees so they could have firewood for that week. I was out
there with a chainsaw just slicing down these trees and I have decided that I
am the modern day Paul Bunyan. Then we went out spreading the gospel more and
had dinner with them that night.
I
am so grateful to be out here on a mission, and to be able to have all of these
experiences and meet so many great people. I am so thankful for all of you and
your continual support that you show me while I am out here. I can't tell you
how much it means to me to read all of your emails and listen to your stories.
Alright
I think that is all I got to say so email me back and tell me about your
Thanksgiving experiences and what you are grateful for.
And
like a wise pig and meerkat once said Hakuna Matata!
--
Elder Murray
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