May 10th - It's the GOAT

 Hello family and friends, 

Monday was p-day and I got my laundry and grocery shopping done as usual. I like to shop at Costco and Fred Meyers for food. 

Tuesday I got to do some fun service with the elders in Carnation. I worked on a fence and was stabbed by it. Luckily it wasn't too serious. I also got to hold a baby goat! My dad will be jealous. We pulled some rocks out of a field as well. We did some more service on a trail for four hours with some YSA sister missionaries. An old guy named Glenn from the parks department taught us how to tell between an invasive species of blackberries and native species of blackberries. We tore out the invasive species because they are really bad. They have really thorny branches. 

Friday we drove one of the others elders to urgent care because he got in a bike accident. He was fine but Sister Beardall was worried. She always gives us caramels when we sees the missionaries. Then we had interviews with the mission president. We got fed by some members this week! The Wyman's had us over for Mexican lasagna. We also played frisbee with the youth from three wards and the parents too. It was pretty hot that day and I don't like the heat. The rest of the week was pretty regular. I hope you guys are all doing well. 

Love,

Jacob

May 3 - Lots of Service

 This week was a regular week with not much special going on. We did get to do a lot of service. We helped the elders in another ward by moving an investigator, also known as a friend. We moved sheetrock and did various other jobs in the yard for some other people. And for one lady - we moved 20 yards of mulch! It was crazy because this lady had mulch all over her front and back yard. She ordered too much and we had to make a pile of it at the end. 

We had exchanges with our district leaders. We were still in the same area but it was good to get to know another elder. I got to go to a community farmer's market and bought a crow nut. It was a fried croissant glazed like a donut. We try to do some teaching but it seems like everyone here has crazy schedules so it's hard to make appointments. We end up just stopping by at what we hope will be a good time for them and pray for the best!

I can't really work out here in Duvall because I have to use weights around my apartment and my companion doesn't work out. I'm on the second floor so it's hard to not disturb the neighbors. The weather has been clear and pretty nice lately with just a little rain. Everything is green but then it always it - it's just greener than usual. 

There are some elders in another ward that live on a like airbnb thing on a farm and they have goats there. I saw a horse tracting and of course took a picture for my mom. 

April 19th - Transfer to Duvall

Jacob didn't write again this week because he was just transferred to a new area. The city is called to Duvall. It's more well-off than his last area and while it's less agricultural, it still has some pretty good  land around it. He has a new companion who just transferred from Africa. He caught COVID and has been quarantined this last week but is now better and gets to go out again.

April 12th - First baptism!

Jacob got his first baptism this week! This trio has been teaching this man and his wife and they were super excited to bring a family the gospel of the Lord. 

Jacob hasn't been writing many letters lately because we get to talk on Facebook messenger every Monday. Here are some pictures he sent.

 

April 4th - Easter Sunday

We got to talk to Jacob today on Facebook messenger because it's Easter! It was fun because David was here with his fiancé Elaine and it was also conference weekend. We got some great pictures from him. 

March 15th - Putting on the Green

 We didn't get a letter from Jacob this week but here is a fun pic! Apparently Jacob found this *fine* green sweater at Ross and decided it was a perfect match for his St. Patrick's Day shake!

March 8th - Pictures

Hey everyone!!

This week was actually a pretty long one and it it felt way too long but we get through things and we learn and grow and there will probably be hard weeks in the future that'll I'll have to get through as well.  We were supposed to get a car today and they let us know last night that were gonna have to wait an entire week to get it, which kinda makes me mad cause they got our hopes up and ruined it.

We get a trainee tomorrow which will be weird tryna fit 3 people in our tiny apartment which is also gonna be kinda rough. People were just generally rude to us this week and they would go out of their way to try and annoy or avoid us. On a bright side the weather was great and we got to do a ton of service this week and finished a chicken coop and moved chickens and pheasant. It was fun stuff and I got to use more power tools. Also pressure washers as well. We biked a little bit which was pretty fun but it still took way too long to get to places which isn't ideal right now. I wish I had more cool experiences this week but sadly nothing really happened it was just a grind with little to no reward. Guess I just gotta put my head down and keep working. I love you all and hope you all are staying safe as I am in the field. Congrats to Dave that's another good thing I found out about this week. Also we got to visit a guy who was 92 and has a 3d printer and he made us some stuff on it so that was neat. Even though the world is tuff the members have been super great to us. Don't forget to reach out both both both missionaries and let them know you appreciate them and what they do. It helps a hard week get better. Anyways love you all a lot hope you have an amazing week and I'll talk to you next week.

Love Elder Murray

March 1st - It's me

 Hey everyone!!

This week was actually a pretty long one and it it felt way too long but we get through things and we learn and grow and there will probably be hard weeks in the future that'll I'll have to get through as well.

We were supposed to get a car today and they let us know last night that were gonna have to wait an entire week to get it, which kinda makes me mad cause they got our hopes up and ruined it. We get a trainee tomorrow which will be weird tryna fit 3 people in our tiny apartment which is also gonna be kinda rough. People were just generally rude to us this week and they would go out of their way to try and annoy or avoid us. On a bright side the weather was great and we got to do a ton of service this week and finished a chicken coop and moved chickens and pheasant. It was fun stuff and I got to use more power tools. Also pressure washers as well. We biked a little bit which was pretty fun but it still took way too long to get to places which isn't ideal right now. I wish I had more cool experiences this week but sadly nothing really happened it was just a grind with little to no reward. Guess I just gotta put my head down and keep working. I love you all and hope you all are staying safe as I am in the field. Congrats to Dave that's another good thing I found out about this week. Also we got to visit a guy who was 92 and has a 3d printer and he made us some stuff on it so that was neat. Even though the world is tuff the members have been super great to us. Don't forget to reach out both both both missionaries and let them know you appreciate them and what they do. It helps a hard week get better. Anyways love you all a lot hope you have an amazing week and I'll talk to you next week.

Love Elder Murray

February 22nd - Long Week

 Hey everyone!

This week in Enumclaw, Washington was a long one. The beginning of the week felt super quick. We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was really good. It was on obedience, specifically doing the small things. Little choices lead to big decisions and that's one of the big takeaways I got. We got some massive burritos from a place called pitas burritos which is apparently the number one burrito by vote in the state of Washington. It was super dank.

The rest of the week was pretty slow not gonna lie, we walked forever. Never stopped pretty much. But we met some great members and we have progressed with some of our friends and found some new ones too. So the work is slowly starting to pick up around here. Which is really good that stuff is getting done. We had a lesson with our best friends and we put them on date to he baptized. So hopefully that'll work out well in a couple of weeks. This upcoming week is the last of the transfer but me and my comp are pretty positive well get to stay. The members here feed us really unique meals, like curry and French dip and even chili dogs. It's much appreciated to get something that's out of the ordinary and I'm sure the brothers can back me up on that. I didn't realize it but there are so many families with a ton of land out here and it's one of my favorite things ever. I love looking out at it and the views some of our members have are just incredible. We've been helping our friends build a chicken coop, but the thing is absurdly big, like a hotel room but for chickens. I will send a video or two if the progress but it's done now. There moving in a rooster and like 15 chickens this week which is funny. Anyways I hope y'all have a great safe week and I'm always praying for ya!!

Love ya. 

Elder Murray 

February 15th - Hey Y'all

 Everyone, 

This week was a long one I'm not gonna lie. It was a very spiritual and very good week but I'm fully exhausted. We had a ton of member contacts this week and we started to set them up every night to try and get some members involved in the work, as well as get to know them and build their trust. We got to teach a lesson at a member's house to a couple we're teaching and it was so cool. It was only supposed to be an hour but it ended up being 3 and we had some super intense and serious questions and concerns come up that we were able to talk through. There still coming to church and we're going back to teach them again which is incredible.

We had multiple member meals in one day we got 3 dinners and 4 desserts which was totally unplanned but man, it was the fullest I've ever been and the most I've eaten in a night my entire mission probably. It was really great. It's still cloudy and rainy but the weather is getting substantially better and I'm really hoping that I'll be able to be around for spring time cause I've heard its incredible out here. We did service a couple times this week. We helped a lady cut and pack a fallen tree from the storm. It was a lot of work but a good time. We also got to clean out and de moss a lady in our ward's roof, and she offered us some grocery money but my comp wouldn't take it, which kinda made me mad but I'm sure there's a reason he felt we shouldn't.

I'm super excited to be here even though every day is tiring and I don't always get along with my comp  I miss everyone from home and I find random little things will remind me of all y'all and I miss it but know there's nothing better I could be doing right now. I hope you all have a safe week and stay healthy, I'll keep you in my prayers and hope for some fun stories next week. Also thank you to everyone who does email me it means a ton to hear from you even if it's something simple.

Love you all!!

Elder Murray 

February 8th - Snow!

 Hey!

This week has been a crazy one! We've been doing a ton of walking and a ton of stuff with our members. They're all really awesome and have been super kind to us. Especially all the old couples, which is awesome. We were fed many times this week and it was all amazing food, from a really Mexican soup from a family we helped set up a drive by birthday, to just homemade cheesecake. It was really awesome actually. The story of the drive by birthday was funny because the big tent thing that we had to set up was broken so we ended up tying it to a fence and a bush. I'll send pics lol.

This week the wind has been crazy every day like 30- 50 mph gusts and it didn't help that it snowed on Friday night into Saturday. It left like huge 5 foot drifts everywhere because of the wind. Also sooo many trees were knocked over and broken cause the wind, will send pics for that too.

We went out and shoveled a bunch for people and met a family that had five acres, and it was really pretty in the snow. Funny enough that couple was also sealed by President Nelson.

We lost power for about 12 to 13 hours and it was a cold morning. We put all our food out on our back porch, and bundled up a bunch. It was a hard day on Saturday as you can tell. But it was a really cool experience even though I thought I was gonna get away from the snow for a couple years. Anyways, I miss you all and keep you in my prayers every day. I hope you are all doing well and hope that you are staying safe.

Love,

Elder Murray 

February 1st - Week 20 or sum

 Hello everyone!! 

This week I got my comp and I moved into the Enumclaw ward finally!! The first part of the week was pretty much the same as last. I was sleeping on the couch and I was living out of my suitcase, but on Saturday my new comp flew in from Utah. His name is Elder Saunders and he's a really cool guy from South Salt Lake in Utah. He's actually gonna be playing basketball for BYU when he returns home. He's a transfer ahead of me so well most likely be going home at the same time. We are in a biking area with no bikes so we've been walking, which hasn't too bad, just really, really cold cause it gets windy up here and its not like a dry cold like in Colorado. It's more humid so it's actually very different. So far the ward members have been very kind to us and we have loved the ward. We have already met with quite a few of them but the ward is seriously big, and there are members everywhere its really awesome. It's a very country type town, lots of farms outside the normal neighborhoods, and it reminds me a lot of Roxborough, which I might have already told you.

We have been teaching a really awesome couple who started coming to church because of one of our ward members. They seem really interested though so its gonna be fun to continue to meet with them on their 4+ acres of land. There's a lot of places like that in the area, so its gonna be fun for me. It's really nice having a bed again and my own area with my own comp. I'm excited to see what I can do for the people of this town. Hope you all have a great week. I love ya and miss ya tons but I know I'm doing the right thing out here. Bye bye for now!!

Elder Murray 

January 25th - Enumclaw!

 Hey Everyone! 

This has been my first week in Enumclaw Washington! My new zone and area. It's been very good so far! I love all the people we've met and the scenery as well. It reminds me a lot of Roxborough, even though there are more animals and more spaced out houses here. It's just very country, and I love it.

My companion will be Elder Saunders but he's home for medical reasons and will be back hopefully soon. My current comps are Elder Hyatt and Elder Elmore. They are awesome guys and we've been working really hard but having a really good time. The apartment is pretty good but I'm sleeping on the couch cause we don't have a 3rd bed. Which also means I'm living out of my suitcases. Which is alright cause it's just temporary. We've been teaching a few including a girl who has plans to go on her mission as soon as she can after she's gets baptized, which is pretty incredible if you ask me. We're still waking up early to lift, but now we lift at a barn so that's super dope. Everyone around here uses wood stoves for heat it's really crazy and old school. So far people have been fairly nice, every once in a while they threaten to sick the dogs on us but that's just apart of the work. No new rule changes or much beyond just the normal masks and such. I'm really excited for this area. I'm genuinely enjoying it here. I hope that I'm able to make some meaningful changes to our area cause its been pretty neglected that's for sure. It'll be a fun time. Hopefully I'll get a bike sooner than later as well for the area. I hope you all are staying state and having some good times. I love and miss you all.

Elder Murray 

January 18th - No Email from Elder Murray

 Now that we get the very great joy of talking to our missionaries every week, we don't always get letters from them! Jacob has a phone on mission and is allowed to use Facebook Messenger. He does a video call each week in the late evening of his prep day. He calls late so he can talk to Paul as well and we prop him up while we eat dinner, so it's a lot of fun. He continues in the Kent area and thinks he will transferred soon!

January 11th - Biking Sucks

 Hello!!

This week has been really crazy and has gone by super duper fast. The first couple days went pretty quick. Tuesday and Wednesday we had full day exchanges and I went to the other missionaries' areas each day. I first went with the Russian speaking Elder Herron and we grinded. We tracted like the entire day, we found some good russian people as well as some english people for our and surrounding areas. The next day I went to my old ward with Elder Kirkham and we tracted for like another 8 hours, and he showed me some tech stuff because he's a mission tech specialist, which is pretty cool. We got to find some nice people out in the country and we met a guy with like 6 dogs. It was nuts cause they were huge dogs too, like easily over 100 lbs. Kinda scary.

The next day was zone conference with President and that was super spiritual as always. I helped give a training to our and one other zone, and in front of President Beardall. So it was pretty spooky but I was able to do a pretty good job, I didn’t stutter at all! Then on Friday we had to start our car fast, which means we used too many miles last month so they revoked our car privilege for 5 days, so we've been on bikes since then. It ends tomorrow so that's nice at least. It's been really hard on the legs cause we've been biking something like 20 miles a day. My legs are getting used to it, which is good at least. I've just been super tired lol.

We're still teaching a lot but productivity has gone down since biking. We talk to less people now. We reactivated a family this week which was super awesome. I'm excited to hear from all of you and i hope you have an amazing week, as it is the last week of my 3rd transfer. Love you all!

Elder Jacob C Murray

January 4th - Challenge

 Everyone!!

This week was a true grind. We knocked so many doors, talked to so many people and taught a whole bunch of lessons. We invited 3 people to be baptized in February and they all said yes!!! That's super exciting I hope it ends up working out. We woke up at 5:15 every day this week to go workout and it feels pretty awesome. Yeah I'd take a nap in the car every once in a while but it was totally worth it. We had a ton of people give us food this week. Three pizzas, chicken and rice, teriyaki beef, some great soup and a bunch of treats (that's my favorite part).

I have started memorizing a scripture every week. I think this is awesome cause it helps me apply it more to my life when I spend the time to find an important one and them to memorize it. So I invite you all to do the same this week, find a scripture and memorize it. I'm expecting to hear them next week!! We met some awesome people this week as we got to help out with the food bank.  They are awesome, we really just helped sort food and move boxes but got to know a lot of the other workers there. What a good opportunity to spread some love. Besides that nothing too crazy happened. We saw some cool fog and it rained a lot lol. We got some Wendy's and we got some McDonalds. We can't do too much with the other elders because of covid rules so it's really just been a lot of work and a lot of effort to bring others to Christ. Which has been working. Our zone has been doing awesome things as well. Hopefully you all had great weeks and I look forward to talking and emailing individually and sorry I didn't have too much exciting stuff this week. I'm praying for you all and I love you and miss you all. Thank you for your support as well. Have a great week!!  Memorize sum stuff.

Elder Murray 

2021

 Happy New Year!! 

This week has been a good one and there's a bunch of reasons why!! Well I guess I should get the bad out of the way. It rained every day this week like the whole day. We saw a car get in a wreck with the siding of a road, we saw some crazy people, and even got yelled at! And that's pretty much it to be honest. But it's all normal stuff.

We had our friend Lisa come to church this week for the second time which is really exciting. We are gonna try and put her on date this week because she is super solid. It makes me really happy because I was actually a part of finding her, since we helped her move in. Also we put another one of our friends, Jason on date too for February. It's been a great experience and we've been focusing a lot on faith since we had MLC this week and talked about how it can improve our work. Now for some fun stuff, I saw a door that had a crappy little branch taped to it and it reminded me of mom's sweet home decor.(Pic will be sent)

Then on Wednesday we helped a member move and they gave us 25 bucks for some food. So naturally we bought 150 nuggets from Burger King and I ate 50 in one sitting. Felt like a champ. On a bad note, I'm now 225 lol. Gotta watch those calories.  On new years eve we had to be in by 7 PM because of safety. We bought some cookie dough and mountain dew and celebrated at about 9 pm lol. We went to bed before 10 and woke up at 4:30am on new year's day to workout before MLC which was at 8:30 an hour away. So a pretty crazy time but sadly no pictures. I will try and get some more because I don't have all that much to send. We went on a all day exchange with the APs and the one I went with is committed to BYU for football so I'll be cheering for him when I get back which is super funny. He's a nice guy. Anyways that was my good week and I'm glad to be able to serve for all of 2021. I'm hoping for some good success this year and have some goals to help make that happen. I love you all and look forward to hearing all about your experiences this year. Thank you for your support and love I can feel it every day.

Love,

Elder Jacob Murray 

Week 14 - The Week Between

 Hey hey hey,

Everyone, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas cause it was a very spiritual one for me. First I'd like to thank everyone for the gifts and cards. I appreciated it a lot. It was nice to open something on Christmas. Anyways being able to focus on Christ this week has been really awesome. I have studied and pondered many Christlike attributes this week and how I can change myself to become more like Christ. We caroled and gave cookies to a lot of people and those who were lonely this Christmas time, which made me feel great. Its gonna be something I'll remember for a long time because it was so different from any other experience I've had on Christmas. We did a devo thing with our and another zone for Christmas on Tuesday. It was a bunch of musical numbers performed by missionaries. I didn't do anything but I really enjoyed listening.

We also had a good church service the week before as well, and we heard some awesome numbers. Yesterday we had a friend come to church and she really enjoyed it and will probably be coming back so that's kinda awesome!! Besides that it was slow for work. A lot of people weren't home or not receptive cause it was so close to Christmas. We have been able to tract again and that has been real awesome I'm getting way better at talking to random people which makes me happy because it means I'm growing in some way at least lol. Anyways I love you all and hope you are having a great holiday season and hope you stay safe this week.

Elder Murray 

Week 13 - Christmas!!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

This coming week will be Christmas and I couldn't be more excited. It's gonna be my first one away from home really and I think its gonna be an awesome experience as a missionary. Plus I love presents as always. This last week has been a really good time. It's the first week of my third transfer and we have been teaching a ton of lessons. My new companions are Elder Hogue from Canada and Elder Taylor from Saratoga Springs Utah.

They are great guys and really good elders. They are awesome at contacting and teaching and that's all we've really been doing this week. We've taught over 20 lessons easy. Some people have been more interested than others but were making progress. and who knows what'll happen, I don't know, I hope I get some baptism soon. I know it's obviously not a terrible thing if I don't, but I've been working soooooo hard. We wake up at 5:15 now for the gym and it's been hard but I think I'm getting used to it. I've been trying this transfer so far to focus on obedience because I know that through it and following the rules with exactness will bring blessings. I know I'm not perfect but that is what repentance is for.

Besides that, we haven't seen much crazy stuff. We saw a couple get in a fight and drove past a drug bust and a couple crazy wrecks. Oh and always the homeless who just kinda chill on the streets doing drugs. But that's all for now. I decorated the apartment for Christmas last night and will send some pictures because I think it's pretty cool. We hung up some lights and set up a little tree we got. I'm excited for the Christmas thing we do as a zone on Tuesday. It'll be interesting for sure. I miss you guys a ton and look forward to your contact every week. I can feel your love and I'm keeping you all in my prayers as well. Love you all and merry Christmas!!!

Elder Jacob C Murray