Of Distractions and Interrogations

Hey, Dad.

It's turned cold recently, but it shouldn't last for very long.  Some green is starting to turn up. The vegan kick is tough, especially if you haven't done it in awhile [We are attempting to eliminate most of the meat and dairy products in our lives.  It isn't easy].  

  

[I shared this experience in my email to Elder McMurray:

Yesterday, I visited Memorial Ward.  It had been a long week, and I’m in the middle of reading a really good book about the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.  I thought, “I’m going to take the sacrament, and sit back, turn on my Kindle, and spend an hour enjoying my book.”  The man who offered the opening prayer forced me to change that plan.  He started his prayer, “Heavenly Father, we have come to worship Thee.” 

Those words really struck me: “we have come to worship Thee.”  That hour was not about relaxing, or daydreaming, or reading a Kindle book, or checking emails, or making silly faces at the little kid staring at me from the next pew.  It was about worshipping our Heavenly Father.  For the first time in a long time, sacrament meeting was a haven for me, a “house of learning…a house of God.”]

That's a wonderful experience; distractions breed heartache, but recognize and distinguish opportunities from distractions (sometimes it's difficult to distinguish them,) act on the opportunities, and the Spirit will be even stronger.  I say hello to both Mohammed and Elder Graff.

I love and pray for you, Dad.

Love,

Elder McMurray

Thank you, Mom, for that wonderful scripture; I've heard it at least once out here and it's a good one [Mom had shared Philippians 4:15 in a previous email[.  We had a good week this past week; we dropped an investigator (or rather, an interrogator) who was desperately trying to get us involved in an argument with him regarding the Church.

The Sisters and Elder Quayle and I were there; we bore testimony, we tried to answer his questions (or rather, avoid his traps) and we finally dropped him.  Guess what his response was: he politely said, "I knew that we would get to this point." 

We shook his hand and wished him the best.  As far as we know, he's been engaged in this pattern with missionaries since the 1960s.  

Fortunately, we've received a few more referrals and made contact with a former investigator so we're hopeful for the future, and rather than being overcome with devastation at dropping someone, I felt a great burden lifted off of our shoulders; we had been seeing him on and off for a few months; we bore testimony, we taught him, we told him to read and pray with earnest intent, we went on a tour of the Trail Center with him, and at every turn, every visit, he tried to get us to argue and bash regarding the truthfulness of the Church and the Gospel.  I wish him the best and I hope that his heart is softened.

It's turned colder this week, but I'm okay.  I'm sorry that there haven't been pics in a while; I'll try to get some new ones for next week.  Have a wonderful day and I'm so grateful to you for your love and continued prayers.  I send you mine in return, for all of you.

Love,

Elder McMurray