IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL...A NORMAL WEEK!!??

HEY EVERYONE!!!!

Hope everyone is doing well and that life hasn't been too crazy for you! Things have been pretty good over here nothing too crazy, so that's good to have a break from the hustle and bustle of things. But let me just get right down to it!!!

Last week on Monday was pretty fun! The Zone got together and had a little BBQ with some hot dogs and other pretty tasty things. You already know that ya boy was in charge of the grill because I am the grill king!! I had a really good time socializing with other missionaries and playing some soccer. Even though I suck at soccer I was still tearing up the field and scoring shots that game. I guess I might have a career in soccer after all...probably not but hey a man can dream.

On Wednesday we went on splits with the young men to take them out teaching with us. That was really fun. A kid named Zach and I went out to West Lorne to visit some people while my companion did some service with some of the other young men. Zach and I had a super awesome dinner at a member’s house. They made ribs and potatoes!! So basically like my two favorite things to eat, so you already know that I was just shoving my face full of food because I wasn't missing out on that!! Then we went over to another member’s house and talked to them for a little bit and they gave me the best dang lemon meringue pie in my whole life!! They were super awesome people. The guy that lives there reminds me of Goofy. Literally talks like him and everything, he is hilarious!! I was laughing the entire time that I was there.

Thursday was kind of a more gloomy day because we attended a funeral service of a member who recently passed away of a heart attack. He was a super amazing guy who showed love to everyone that he met and he always found a way to put a smile on your face. He truly was living the gospel of Jesus Christ and was always just beaming with joy and happiness. It comforts me to know that he is in a better place now touching the lives of even more people.

Friday kind of sucked too because every appointment that we had cancelled on us so we had to improvise and find other things to do. It was kind of frustrating but I was able to get a game of darts in against Bill and guess what!? I LOST AGAIN!!!! This time by 3 points!! Oh I was heartbroken but I am improving a lot and one of these days I am going to beat him and claim my rightful place as dart king!!!

Saturday we went to a member’s house for a BBQ and he made some freaking delicious burgers for us so I was super grateful for that. After that we went and played basketball with the young men so I did the regular thing just snapping ankles left and right and dropping the 3's on them like I usually do. Just gotta remind people sometimes that I am the best that is and ever was when it comes to playing basketball. 😃

Other than that I can't think of anything else that happened this week so yeah!! I love and miss you all and wish the best for you in the upcoming week!!!​​

--

Elder Murray

coleton.murray@myldsmail.net

LOTS AND LOTS OF SERVICE!!!

HOLA MI FAMILIA!!!!

So glad I get to talk to you guys again and hear from you and about all of your awesome experiences!!!

Not a whole lot happened this week except for a ton of service. Like I am talking 14 hours of it throughout the week but anyways let us just talk about what I did!!!

On Tuesday last week we helped paint a kitchen for a member. She decided that she wanted it to be sunshine yellow, not my color of choice but hey it’s not my kitchen so I don't have a problem with it. We were over there for 5 hours painting that kitchen because we had to prime it first, put on two coats of the sunshine yellow and wait for things to dry in between. Also I got paint all over my Hawaiian shirt!!! But it is getting washed today so hopefully that takes care of the problem because I really love that shirt!!

On Wednesday we went over to a guy's to help him move some stuff around and put together some furniture that he had so that he could have some place to sit in his living room. It took about two hours to figure all of that out. But he was glad that we got all of that stuff taken care of for him and I am glad that I got to help.

On Friday we went to a lady's house to help load wood in her trailer and take it over to her friends place because her friend’s house only gets heat through a stove so she has to have some wood on hand in case the temperatures drop on us! She was super nice though! She is an old English lady and she is just adorable! She kept coming up to me and pinching my cheeks and telling me how much I reminded her of her grandson. It was super funny and I am glad that I got to meet her.

On Saturday we went over to a member’s house to help pull some fallen trees and logs out of his ditch. So we were walking around in his ditch hooking chains to the trees and then hooking it to his truck so that we could yank them out of there!! I had so much fun doing it! He was so grateful for our help that he took us to Costco for lunch and we got some pountine!! It was freaking delicious, I love that guy so much.

Also on Saturday there were some other members who wanted to redo their floor in the bathroom and asked if we could come and pull out the toilet and rip up the old floor. I had a lot of fun doing that because I just love causing destruction!!

Finally, on Monday we were back over at that guy's house where we helped put furniture together and he asked me to trim his yard for him. This doesn't seem like too big of a deal until you see the size of the yard he has!!! His yard is huge!! I was trimming for 2 hours straight before we had to take off and go to another appointment. I still didn't even finish the trimming!!! And it was crazy because after I did that I had the perma shakes in my arms!! My arms were constantly shaking so I couldn’t even drink anything without it getting all over me!! About 2 hours later my arms finally calmed down and I could be a human again.

I think that was about it for the week. I love you all so much and I appreciate all of the love and support you show me while I am out here. 

Talk to you next week!!!

--

Elder Murray

coleton.murray@myldsmail.net

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Well hello there all of you beautiful people. Fancy seeing you here again!

This week was super fun and fantastic but I don't have a lot of time to talk about it so let’s just jump right to it!!

On Monday last week we had dinner at a member's house and after we ate we stayed to play some Pictionary with them. You should already that I am the reincarnated Picasso in the flesh so I was  determined to destroy everyone in this game. That was until it was my turn and I found out the thing I had to draw. I needed to draw a DERMATOLOGIST!!! How does one go about drawing something like that!! Pretty much what I did was draw an arm and then a doctor inspecting it. But of course nobody had any idea what it was so I was just left picking up the pieces of the shattered remains of my dreams of ever becoming an artist. I didn't end up winning the game like I had planned but that is okay sometimes God just has better things planned for me I guess.

Also this week there was this thing at the church called the Appreciation of the Arts. This is where people from St. Thomas can come and show off their art work. Let me tell you that there was some pretty amazing stuff that people had made. Even some members of the ward had their own stuff being showcased. Sadly I forgot to take pictures of anything that was there during the week but you will have to take my word for it that it was absolutely amazing.

On Friday we went to the Bishop's place to have dinner and guess what...HE LIVES ON A FARM!!! That's right the farm life just follows me wherever I go because that is what I was born to do. The only thing that he has on his farm is goats, but I am perfectly fine with that because goats are freaking hilarious. I was able to take care of their goats for a little bit and hopefully I will be able to go back so I can do some more farming!!

Last of all, I was able to talk to my family yesterday for Mother’s Day and it was truly amazing. I was so happy to see their faces again and be able to talk and joke around with them. They are truly amazing people who have influenced me a lot in my life and I will forever be truly grateful for that. I am so thankful for my mom and the continual love and support that she shows me while I am out here. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I truly love her.

That is all I got for this week. I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Love and miss ya

-Farmer Murray

coleton.murray@myldsmail.net

I CAN'T GET AWAY FROM IT!!!

HOWDY Y'ALL!!!!!

So glad I get to talk to all of you again and hear about all the amazing things you are doing!!!

Well, let us jump right into it!!

On Monday last week after I got done emailing we went over to London to play some sports. So I am doing the usual, balling it up and wrecking some lives just like I always do. I jumped up to get a rebound and when I came back down I landed on my ankle wrong and it made a sound like somebody cracking their knuckles after they just got done knitting for 5 hours.  Let’s just say I went to the ground really fast and I was in some pretty bad pain. We ended up going to the hospital to get some X-rays because that is what the Mission Nurse wanted me to do. We sat in that hospital for like 4 hours to be told that there wasn't anything broken but that I had sprained it pretty bad. I was on crutches for a couple of days but now I am walking around pretty well. SO THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!!!

Now to explain the title of this email. During the week a member asked us if we could do some service for them sometime. As always I was happy to help with anything that they needed and asked what the service was. They said they wanted us to mow their lawn. MOW THEIR LAWN!!! Are you kidding me! I thought I was going to get away from all of that but now it has followed me all the way to Canada! There is no escaping it...It's my destiny. I am a……….... lawn mower. DANG IT!! It’s not that I don't have anything against mowing a lawn it’s just that I was doing that all of the time back at home. Oh well, I should have known that you can't escape destiny. I now know why I was truly sent out here and that is to mow all the lawns in Canada. (Just Kidding!!)

That's about all I got for this week. Hope all of you are doing great and that you are enjoying everything that you are doing. I will talk to you all next week. BYYYYYYYYYEEEEEE!!!!!

--

Elder Murray

coleton.murray@myldsmail.net

NEW AREA, NEW ME!!!!!! KINDA

WHAT'S POPPIN EVERYONE!!!!????

So glad I get to talk to all of you again and hear about what you have been up to!!

Things for me have been going pretty well. St. Thomas is a cool little spot with a population of about 36,000 people. So still not huge but bigger than my last area so we are taking one step at a time!! My companion is super awesome and hard working. His name is Elder Shaffer and he has been out for 20 months. He actually goes home one month early for school so I might be around to see him head home! There are about 100 active members here and they are super awesome! They are all so welcoming and so funny too. This morning I actually went and played a game of darts with the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric and he WAXED ME!!! Like destroyed my hopes and dreams of ever becoming a professional dart player. Oh well, all I got to do is train harder than ever and one day I will be a dart champion!!

On Wednesday we had district meeting and it was pretty good. The district that I am in is super good! It is us, the Zone Leaders, and two sets of sister missionaries. The two sets of sisters are actually training two new missionaries that just came into the mission. Hopefully all will go well with them and they enjoy serving the Lord. After that we had an investigator named Alex take us out to lunch at this place called Moxies. Let me tell you something, it is the fanciest place I have ever been in!!! I felt so out of place, considering that the fanciest place I have been in is the Cheese Cake Factory!! But the meal was super good and delicious and I appreciate him taking us out to eat.

On Thursday we did service for another one of our investigators named Johnathan. And this guy is LOADED!!! His house was ginormous and just filled with expensive furniture and cars!! He runs his own furniture company and does something with international shipping. He wants us to come back tomorrow so we can help him with some things and then he wants to take us out for dinner.

Friday there was a family history night at the church where people could come and just get their party on with some food and activities that they had set up. It was pretty fun. They had this quiz about Canadian history that you could take to see how many you could get right. So you already know that ya boi got a nice and solid 1 out of 10. Just like back in school. Sometimes you just can't break old habits.

Sunday was super awesome because I got to meet a lot of the members there. The second counselor of the bishopric was conducting and he is super hilarious!! He is from the Mason church so he still "preaches to the choir" for lack of a better term. It definitely makes things a lot more fun and interesting.

I can already tell that I am going to have a blast in this area and a lot of work is going to be done. That's all I got for this week, I love and miss you all and hope you have a fantastic week!!

--

Elder Murray

coleton.murray@myldsmail.net