May 19 Week 41 - Onward to Eastvale; Elder Yueng and Elder Murray companions and zone leaders; Temple Tuesday and Cafe Rio, Henry's Grandmother Died, Jia Jia, Sharpay and Frank,

Well it finally happened. I have been transferred to Eastvale.  I am e-mailing you from the computer lab of our apartment community.  Eastvale is a pretty new city, and it doesn't have a lot of apartments.  So they work really hard to put us into home shares.  Right now they can't find a home share so we are in a really fancy apartment place called Homecoming.  It is like a hotel.  I wish I had some pictures, but you guys can look it up probably.  It is really nice.  I can't believe missionaries live here.  President told me it is the most expensive apartment in the mission, but it is all they can find for now.  

This week was interesting.  On Tuesday we went to the temple.  It is always nice to go there.  I really like the feeling there.  I still don't understand it at all, but I know I do  feel good when I go.  After the temple  we hit up Cafe Rio again!  So good.  One of the many pros of serving down here.

Wednesday was pretty good.  We met with Sharpay and Frank after English class.  She is still really worried about making a commitment, we committed her to reading and praying about it.  She couldn't come to church yesterday which was really a bummer.  Frank couldn't either.  He is doing ok, but is struggling to recognize the spirit.

Thursday was good. We met with Henry again.  His grandmother died this week.  He told us that he believes in our message a little more now.  Slowly but surely.  Keep him in your prayers.  Thursday was also really hot... 104...

Friday was also good. There is a RM who is from Tonga named Joe Ipola that comes to help out at English class.  He has a girl friend named Jia Jia who is from China.  He said that he has tried to share the gospel with her, but she isn't interested.  He brought her to English class this week.  She enjoyed the message about the spirit at the end of class, and they came to church on Sunday!  She has a lot of potential.  I really hope we can help her and Joe.

Saturday we got transfer calls!  All 4 Chinese Elders are in Eastvale.  Elder Yeung and I are together and we are going to be Zone Leaders.  (I didn't see the Zone Leader part coming,  I am excited)   Saturday we also helped a family move.  They had 4 inside dogs. It was a really hairy move.  We also met with this family and committed them to come to church, we even had a ride set up.  But no luck.  

Sunday was awesome we had 8 non members at church!  Two of them were these 2 people we just OYMed on the street.  They really liked the gospel principles class.  That is pretty much all for this week.  

Today I have been moving and packing and unpacking so I haven't had time to write a letter.  If I don't get to it I am sorry.  I love you all!

-Elder Murray 

May 11 - Week 40 - Mother's Day call, Hiro trip to Vegas, Tian and Sabbath, Exchange with Elder Yeung, Christopher, Apple roommate with Shell, Exchange with Elder Lunt, Irene, Su gets priesthood,

Nice to talk to you again!  It was so fun to talk to you guys yesterday.  I am always worried I will get super sad and down after calling, but the past two times I walk away feeling really happy and satisfied.  Here is a quick rundown of this week.

Tuesday we had a good lesson with Hiro to make sure he was ready to be interviewed the next day.  He understands everything now, and was fully prepared.  Also on Tuesday we met with a girl named Apple.  We had contacted her in a parking lot right after conference, and hadn't heard from her.  Then Shell moved into a new apt. and just so happens Apple is her room mate.  Cool huh?  So we had a lesson with them.  Apple doesn't really have a lot of interest right now, but we will keep trying.

Wednesday Elder Heaton and I taught a lesson to Tian.  Right now we really want her to come to church, but she has work.  We tried to see if she could change the time or ask for Sundays off, but she said it will have to wait until fall when she gets a different job.  After that lesson we exchanged with the other Chinese Elders.  Elder Yeung (pronounced like young) and I stayed in Riverside, and the other 2 went to Eastvale.  Elder Yeung and I went and did some service in our proselyting clothes for an old Taiwanese couple.  We planted a small tree and weeded their garden.  It was a lot of fun.  Then after Elder Yeung translated for Hiro's baptismal interview.  He passed!  Then right after he told us he would postpone his baptism till next week, because he was going to Vegas... bummer....

Thursday Elder Yeung and I were together still and we taught Hiro.  We taught about the importance of keeping commandments and committed him to living them this weekend as he went to Sin City.  We are going to follow up  with him  tonight.  After that we exchanged back.  At night we had a lesson with Su.  After meeting with Su, Christopher randomly showed up.  We had tried getting in contact with him, but with no luck all week.  It was so cool he just came to the institute.  It was nice to talk to him.  He said he couldn't come to church again since he was in San Diego.  We tried to get in contact with the bishop/missionaries there, but no response... frustrating.

Friday we exchanged again.  This time with the office Elder's since they are in my district.  I went with a guy named Elder Lunt to our area.  He was really cool.  His family owns a time share in Hawaii so week talked about that, and he is an apple/mac lover so I was able to talk a little about that with him because of Parker.  It was a slow day we walked around a lot.  I think I got him sun burned, but I took him to uncle chuangs bakery to make up for it.  Whops.  We did get a really cool new investigator that day.  His name is Frank.  He has only been here one month.  He is really receptive and came to church yesterday!  He is a really cool guy!

Saturday we met with Irene.  We committed her to living the Word of Wisdom.  It is one of her biggest hold ups to getting baptized.  I really am praying that she keeps it and is able to feel the spirit more strongly and increase here testimony.  We also met with Su and his friend named Lion (a girl.)   She is really nice but is really not willing to come to church.

Sunday!  Su got the priesthood and Shell and he both got temple recommends for this Saturday when they go to do baptisms.  I am really excited for them!  Then I got to talk to you guys.  Afterwards Elder Heaton refused to go out.  So I called all the people giving talks next to get outlines so that we can prepare for translation better.

Today is good.  I did get to go on a run really quick with a Spanish Elder who got told by his family he needed to loose weight.  We didn't go far, but it was nice.

ILY have a great week!

-Elder Murray 

April 28 and May 5 - Weeks 38 and 39 Tian, Hiro, Yi Ting, Sharpay, Grateful, Coconut Ice Cream Bar

Highlights of April 28th week:

New investigator named Tian.  She has been here for 9 years.  She is really cool.  I hope she progresses well.

Hiro is doing good so far.  He might have to go back to Japan soon which would be a bummer.  But he is living all the commandments and he came to church this week!

Friday had a training on being a good DL.  I went on exchanges with the ZL.  He was cool.  It is nice to have a car.

May 5th week- The more and more time I spend here in Riverside the more and more I like it.  There are a ton of people from all over here.  We went to a Mexican grocery store today where all the signs were in Spanish.  I bought a really good coconut ice cream bar.  Everywhere I go I can find a Chinese person to talk to, and there is always a pretty good Chinese place to eat.  There are also a lot of people from India and the middle-east here.  Last P-day we ate at an India market place that was really good.  The weather here is pretty nice (it got pretty hot this week, but it wasn't so bad.)  Not to mention all the cool people I've met here.  The missionaries here are awesome, I am really grateful I was called to this mission.  

Well this week on Tuesday we met with Hiro!  (On date for this weekend) we went over the questions with him.  He got really caught up on Thomas S. Monson out of all things.  He said believed everything and was willing to keeping the commandments. He even believed that Joseph Smith is a prophet, but wasn't sure about President Monson.  Well after talking with him for a while and watching a talk from conference we helped him resolve that concern.  Everything was good.

Wednesday we met with Tian (last week's new investigator) again.  She hadn't been reading or praying, and she works on Sundays so she can't come to church.  It is a real bummer because she is one of the most humble/ really searching for an answer investigators I've seen.  Keep her in your prayers.

Thursday we met with another investigator named Yi Ting.  Her English name is Eating because it sounds like here Chinese name.  No joke.  She is nice, but she is mostly interested in practicing English, so we invited her to English class.

Friday was really hot. In the morning we had ZDM.  We had a big discussion on setting our Zone goal.  It was silly.  We met with a guy named Ricky after.  He was also just an "English Leech" as Elder Heaton calls them.  It is hard to figure out who is really interested, and who just wants so practice their English on you.  Friday Eating came to English class with Hiro.  They have become pretty good friends.

Saturday was really hot again, and we only had 2 appointments.  We spent a lot of time biking around and trying to find potential investigators.  That day there was a huge party/concert on campus.  You could hear the music all day long.  

Sunday was a bummer.  Hiro was all set to come to church and then just cancelled to go to LA.  However, Shell brought her friend Sharpay for the 3rd week in a row.  She is really hesitant when we bring up baptism, but we will keep working with her.  

Notable Quotable:

Chinese Mistake:  So one investigator asked me at church if I had the priesthood.  I said "Yes I already have it."  Well it turns out the way I said it is a phrase women say to mean that they are pregnant....

ILY can't wait to talk to you with week!

DeX