July 6, 2015 - #AMERICA

I LOVE AMERICA!!!!

Seriously I think one of the biggest things that I have come to love most on my mission is AMERICA!!! Seriously so much pride for America, Hna. Guerrero and I talk about America all the time and how much we love her!!! Actually I think I will name my first born America! Hahaha jokes but for real we literally are so blessed to live in the United States, I get reminded of that blessing each and everyday as we walk the streets and talk to the people here.

I am not going to lie, right now its been pretty hard, we are working super hard but aren't seeing much success. Some days we spend the whole days walking the streets and just talking to people, because our appointments seem to be falling through a ton! Hahaha funny how that happens! but we aren't loosing our excitement for the work. We know the Lord is trying our faith and we know that we need to keep working harder and harder each and everyday to see these blessings that he is waiting to give us. I honestly am so grateful for my companion, this cycle has been super crazy for the both of us but we literally are learning SOOO much and she is literally one of my best friends. She helps me so much and makes it so much easier on the hard days. I know the Lord gives me the companions that I truly need and I am so grateful for all these experiences that we are having together. We may not see the fruits of our labor in this specific time but I KNOW that we are planting so many seeds and that one day these people will remember the two white girls that gave them a card or talked to them for 5 minutes and will feel the love that our Savior has for them and when it's their time the Lord will provide the way for them to become part of his church.

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for the atonement and the love that I can feel from him. I have the strongest testimony of my Savior, I know he lives, I know he loves me, I know he cares about me and my dumb problems, and I know he is ALWAYS just waiting for me with open hands just waiting for me to humble myself and come to HIM!! He is my best friend and what I am learning the most here is to trust in him and his plans that he has for me, because even though i may not know why HE DOES and HE knows what is best for me!

I hope you all have a fantastic week and that you remember how much you mean to our loving Father in heaven and our Savior and older brother Jesus Christ!! 

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!

Hermana Murray

 

4th of July attire 

Yo, Hermana Guerrero, Hermana Gomez, and Hermana Rosado! They are so bomb and live right by us and i love them sooooo much!!! 

June 29, 2015 - Back to 2

Good afternoon from Amecameca,

This week has been one for the books, super sad but our fellow companion Hna. Sanchez returned home this week due to health issues and so now Hna. Guerrero and I are just taking on Ameca! its pretty funny because Hna. Guerrero and I always joked that one day we would be companions and everyone just laughed at us.....and look what happened! Haha but its definitely been a crazy cycle! hahaha 

But we are super excited to be working here in the Huehuecalco ward together, we know the Lord has so much planned for us and we have a lot of seeds to plant!

Thank you all for your prayers regarding my shoulder, it is already feeling better and I know your prayers and fasting have helped me more than I know! I am so grateful for the love I feel from all of my friends and family! I know I am extremely blessed!! Please know I pray for you all each and everyday and hope we all can continue doing the things the Lord would have us do each and everyday!! LOVE YOU ALL! have a fantastic week!!

Love,
Hermana Murray

 Literally always DYING laughing together!! Hna. Sanchez snapped this gem....both of us trying so hard not to pee!! hahahahaha

 Hna. Sanchy and I with our favorite pal grandpa, aka Sensei. He is the best!! We love him!!

Our Gordashians came and visited us!! SO fun!

June 22 - Treo in Amecameca!

My dear family and friends,

This week has been a crazy one! Jonathans baptism on Saturday was a success! The water was super cold.....oops! Haha the boiler at the church isnt the greatest! It was so cold he was like gasping as he came up out of the water! Hahahaha it was pretty funny! But he said he felt the spirit and feels great! He received the espiritu santo yesterday, and the priesthood! He is super great! 

Hna. Sanchez and I welcomed a new companion into our area, so now we are in a treo....and it is Hna. Guerrero! Its pretty crazy! 3 americans strolling the streets of Mexico! Dream come true! Haha but really we have a lot of fun together! We sure do get a lot of whistles and hollers in the street! hahah its pretty funny. But its definitely weird working in treo rather than just 2! We are still working everything out! haha but we are having a blast. 

Sorry this email is so short, but just know that I am doing well and that Mexico is a hoot! I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be serving the Lord. I really am shown each and everyday how lucky i am to have the gospel and to be privileged to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I am amazed how much I am learning each and everyday about the gospel and seeing my own testimony grow. I am grateful for my loving Heavenly Father who is always at my side helping me and showing me the way. I hope you all have an incredible week! 

Hasta Luego,

Hermana Murray

June 15 - Amecameca!

Hello dear family and friends,

Its been a great week here in my new area in Amecameca. My area is called Huehuecalco, and we have a small part of Amecameca and then 3 pueblos, which are like little colonies in the middle of nowhere! hahah and my new companion is from a place called Springville, Utah! Hahah Hermana Sanchez and I are companions! We worked in the same ward in San Buena for 2 cycles! She is awesome and we get along great....always laughing! Literally never thought for a second that we would ever be companions! But here we are! haha

My first week here in Huehuecalco was good. It is WAY different than San Buena. San Buena is like the city and here is flat out country! It is quite the change, but its been a good change! We walk a ton!! Like a ton! hahah By the end of the day we are seriously so tired, which is good! But we actually have a baptism this Saturday! His name is Jonatan and he is about 20 years old and he really is a golden investigator. So ready for the gospel. What a great way to enter into a new area! Super excited about that! The members here have been so nice and really made the adjustment easy! I definitely  miss San Buena, but I am really excited to work with Hna. Sanchez here and for the experiences and people that I will meet here!.

Something funny....this past weekend was Stake Conference and a member of the Seventy spoke to us. But on Satuday they had asked Hna. Sanchez to share an inspiring experience from her mission. When we got there they were saying how we need to sit on the stand. So we go up there and then they announce that I am going to be speaking too. I about died, so I hurried and started preparing something. We were so confused!! But whatever I would do it. So when the time came Hna. Sanchez stood up and started walking to the stand and President Crickmore motions no, and points to  me so I was like oh shoot I guess I am going first, so she sits back down and I start walking up and he motions no and gets up and comes over and says no you both need to stand up there together and Hna. Sanchez will talk.....just remember that this is in the middle of conference so everyone is just staring at us. Hahaha so then we were like okay.....so we walk to the pulpit and I stand by her side while she talks and I just keep smiling and nodding my head! Hahahahahahah it was terrible!!!! How awkward right?? We were dying laughing after and all the members were asking us what happened! Hahahahah so funny!!!

I hope you all have a fantastic week and that you are all doing well! I am so grateful for my loving Savior who helps me everyday to keep going in this work. I testify that he can help each and everyone of us achieve the goals that we search for and he can help us become the people that we desire to be! 

Love you all!!

Con amor,

Hermana Murray

Hermana Guerro, yo, Hermana Sanchez, Hermano Israel Rivera Barron

June 8, 2015 - It's Been Real San Buena!

Que tal familia y mis amigos,

Well transfers are here and.....I will be leaving San Buena, I am actually really sad! I really wanted to stay one more cycle here. I will be shedding many tears tonight as we say bye to my friends here. There are so many people here that I really have come to love and feel like they are part of my family. It will be really hard saying bye to Clara and her family! Her Juanito 5 years old, will be super tough! He keeps telling his parents that he is going to go to the United States with Murray, but not to worry he will come back and visit them once a year! Hahaha how cute is he! He literally kills me! I love her kids so much! It will be really hard saying bye to them! Also the Barron family aka the Gordashians! haha Ahhh these girls have become like sisters to me and I will miss them so much! Hna Blanco will be leaving too, they will actually be putting Elders in our área now. Hna Guerrero and I were super sad too because we thought that we wouldnt be seeing each other....but we are both being transfered to Ameca Meca in the same Zone! so that is one good thing! hahaha We will die when we get separated!

But my last week here in San Buena was great! We went to the temple visitor center with Clara and her kids and it was such an amazing experience! It gave her the peace and comfort that she needed. And her kids loved it! We found a new investigator this week and she literally is amazing! Her name is Maricarmen and when we went and visited her and told us that she has been praying for a sign from God to know if he is listening to her prayers and then we contacted her in the street!! She told us she knows God sent us to her and that she really wants to learn more and that it really caught her attention that 2 Young girls were teaching the word of God to the people here! She is awesome and will totally progress with the new missionaries! Yesterday were regional elections for Mexico and so we didnt work for safety precautions! So we had a lot of time to study and get some things done which was nice!

I am so grateful for all the experiences that I have had here in San Buena. My testitmony has grown more than I can even express. I love this góspel so much and know that it is true with all of my heart. I am so grateful for the knowledge that families are eternal and that this plan of happiness that we have can truly make us the happiest here. I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week!!

Love,
Hna. Murray

Hna Guerrero and I with the Gordashians! hahaha

June 1, 2015 - The Final Countdown!

Familia y Amigos!!!!

It sounds like everyone had a great week! Congrats to Parker for graduating high school!!! That is so awesome!! I can't believe he is graduated!! Baby Peaker!!!! AND he recieved the Melchezidek Priesthood yesterday! How amazing!! And going through the temple this week! I wish so badly I could be there but am so excited for Peaker and these amazing experiences he is having!

Well it's the last week of this cycle and its pretty certain that Hna Blanco and I will have cambios. Its really sad, and will be so weird not being companions! These past 4 months have gone by so fast especially this last cycle!

This week was great! We actually found a new investigator...well he actually contacted us in the Street! hahaha his name is Alejandro and he is really awesome! He came up to us in the Street and asked if we could teach him more about our church and he told us he really wants to change some things in his life......WHAT!!! That never happens! hahah So we have had a couple lessons with him and he came to church yesterday and accepted a baptism date for July 11th! We are really excited about him and know he will progress!

Verónica hasnt had her baby yet, we went and visited her and she literally is about to pop! She should have her this week! But we have to wait a little bit until we can visit her again! So we have a visit planned in a couple weeks! She is still super interested and loves learning and says she continues to read and pray! BOOM!!!

Silvia and Asunción are doing fantastic! They couldnt come to church this week because Asunción hasnt been feeling well, but we have a visit with them tomorrow!

I am so grateful for my Savior and his atoning sacrifice and all He has done for me personally! I pray that we can each continue to draw closer to Him and our Heavenly Father everyday and feel there love! I hope you all have an incredible week! Know i am constantly praying for you all and sending my love!!

Con amor,

Hermana Murray

We did sack races at the Ward campout! it was super fun! 4 of the 6 missionaries in our Ward!

May 25, 2015 - Crazy Fun Week!!

Hello dear family and friends! I hope you all had a fantastic week and a great Holiday weekend!! We had another great week here in San Buenaventura, we had a lot of fun activities that we got to do!!

Something funny this week......oh I remember something. So we went and visited one of our old investigators to check up on her and see how she is doing, she is pretty old. Well she told us she is going to a Christian church now and really likes it (bummer), but I said the opening prayer to our lesson and after we said amen she just starts clapping and applauding my prayer. It was so funny! I was trying so hard not to laugh!

So first Teotihuacan last week was so fun!!! The pyramids are HUGE!!! and so cool!! They have a ton of history of the church and there are so many things that connect them to the church! I will have to explain more another time because I dont have much time! But it was so fun! And freak it's so tiring climbing all the way to the top!! Hno Israel Rivera took us in his car with his daughter Fe, and Hna Jazmine. Fe is so bomb! I love her so much! Her and her cousins are the Kardashians mexican style, they call themself the Gordashians (Gordo in spanish is fat) so basically they call themselves the fat Kardashians! They literally KILL me! So funny!! I bought a bunch of souveniors.

This week was great! Our investigator Veronica had her baby so she didn't get to visit her and she wasn't able to go to church yesterday. But we have an apt with her tomorrow! Cant wait to see her little babe!!! We have 2 new investigators Silvia and her mother in law Asuncion. They are both great! Asuncion is really hard of hearing so it will be a challenge teaching her...well we will basically be yelling at her, but they are both so interested and they CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!! MIRACLE!! 

This week we also had an activity with the ward! It was so awesome! We went to this church owned camp ground! It was so fun, they have obstacle courses and basketball courts and soccer fields and volleyball, it really is so nice and way cool! So that was so fun to go with the ward! I am glad we got to go!!

And today we had a sports day with our whole mission! We played basketball and volleyball and soccer and my zone WON the whole thing!! Each zone had their own jerseys! Our jerseys are from the team in Paris, but they are red white and blue so Hna Guerrero and I just kept chanting USA USA USA!!! hahahah It was super funny!

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

 Our zone that won today with our jerseys!!! I balled it up pretty hard! A lot of people asked if I played College ball.....I was like no....I actually got cut my Senior year! hahaha But it was so fun to play!!

Hna Guerrero and I with the Prezzzz!