Baptisms

Dear Dad, 

Wayne Rooney returning to Everton is an interesting move. I hope he has success at Goodison Park. It would be a nice story if he finished out his career with the club where he made a name for himself, as long as he has success. As for the Astros, I'm disappointed that I'm missing out on the action. I really enjoyed going to one of their games last year with my friend Son. We will have to go to a game when I get back. Hopefully they keep the success up until then, but even if they don't,  I would still want to go. 

I feel like I'm struggling with Spanish -- not so much understanding it, but speaking it. I can't roll my rr's and I just have trouble remembering all the conjugations. At first it was like,  "I've only been out 5 months or 6 months so the mistakes are understandable," but I have 8 months now,  almost 9. I can't really make anymore mistakes, at least I shouldn't make them anymore. I'm determined to work harder at it, though. 

My companion got called to be district leader (we didn't end of having changes so we are still companions in the same area). He went to a special meeting for leaders in the mission. There, our mission president talked a little bit from a doctrinal perspective. He apparently taught that every single person in the world has the ability to become exalted, to become like our Heavenly Parents.  I forget that, sometimes.

Mom wanted me to talk a little bit about the pictures I sent over the last couple of weeks. In the picture where I have a container of ice cream on my head I'm with Elder Gutierrez. He was never my companion, but we served in the same ward together for four and a half months and he is a good friend. In the photos of the man's baptism, I'm with Elder Palomino, my former companion. In the other baptism photo, I'm with Elder Carrasco, my current companion. In the photo where I'm wearing a suit, I'm attending a zone conference. In the foto where I'm not wearing a suit but I'm with a group of missionaries, I'm with my district. In the photo where I'm in KFC? That was a Preparation Day activity we had as a district. I think there was also a foto of me with Elder Manuyama, my second companion. 

I know that is not a lot of detail, but I don't have that much time to go into more depth. These pictures are of this past weekend. We had three baptisms. The couple is Jhonathan and Fiorela, a couple we helped get married. The youth is the granddaughter of a active member who is living with her grandmother. Her grandfather baptized her. 

I hope you have an excellent week. I love you and miss you. 

Love,
Elder McMurray 

Dad's Note:

One of the unusual things about LDS missionary service these days is that lots of missionaries' parents keep blogs, so occasionally, photos of your child show up on someone else's site.  Below are some photos I came across online, taken by a sister missionary serving in Elder McMurray's zone.  His presence in these photos is fleeting, but when it's been nine months since you've seen your kid fate-to-face, you take what you can get: