Thanksgiving at the Mission Home

Thanksgiving is Joyce's favorite holiday. This is because of her love for her family and the opportunity to be with one another, both to share in a wonderful meal and to literally give thanks to God for all our blessings. But what to do when one's family is at the opposite side of the country?


We invited our "senior couple missionaries" to join us at the Mission Home for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. In addition our son Blake and his wonderful wife Tianna flew out from Salt Lake City to spend the long weekend with us. And as frosting on this festive cake, we invited six of our young full-time missionaries to join us. In all we had 24 for dinner.

This large group made us a bit nervous because we had purchased just one large and one small turkey. This was a potluck dinner with the different couples assigned to bring various dishes. But we never planned on 24! We didn't know if the "luck" part of potluck would carry the day. Unbeknownst to me, Joyce had offered a private prayer for the gift of "loaves and fishes". When it came time to see if there were any leftovers to give to the young full-time missionaries, we were stunned with the bags and bags of hot, fresh leftovers. Where did it all come from? Ah -- the wonderful blessings of being on a mission!

More Weekly Letters

This week I was struck by the optimism and faith found in the following email. It is indicative of the wonderful attitude of missionaries who give their all to this important work:

"Dear President Murray,

How's the view from the top President Murray? Here in Wilmington City, on the front lines, things are rolling along nicely. We are preparing a man named Miguel for baptism this Sunday. He is the Dad of the family -- our miracle, part-member family that was found by pure, spiritual guidance, and he is humble man. He wants the best for his kids and his family. I am so grateful that God led us to a man who is willing to keep commitments.

When we first began to teach this family, it was overwhelming. There were so many grudges between him and his wife that I thought a marriage counselor wouldn't know where to start. But we're not even marriage counselors, we're missionaries. So we applied the Gospel to their problem. We committed them to have family prayer, scripture study, and Family Home Evening. We taught forgiveness and repentance. And most importantly, God blessed them in understanding and in softening their hearts. Their relationship is improving greatly.

I have an analogy for the Gospel that I'm thinking about patenting. All problems in life are like one giant piñata. As we study our scriptures each day, say our prayers, and come to church, we are taking big ol' swings at the piñata with a stick. Even though we have blindfolds on (we have no idea how to address the problem) the stick beats it down. Then we enjoy the candy.

It's not perfected yet, but someday that analogy will be in the Ensign (our worldwide Church magazine).

Elder ________ "

Family Wedding in Washington DC

On November 16, 2007 our son Alex was married to Whitney Neilson in the Washington DC Temple. The temple is located outside of our mission area, but Joyce and I received special permission to attend the wedding. (Yahoo!) It was a wonderful day with family and friends from the West Coast who flew to Washington DC for the wedding. All of our children and their spouses were able to join us.

Whitney is the daughter of Larry and Kristen Neilson of Sammamish, Washington. Larry used to work for me at Microsoft many years ago. He ran the company's Real Estate and Development department. He and I have been friends for many years -- and now our kids are married to each other!

LDS Temple weddings are very simple and very sacred. The couple being married makes promises or covenants with God and, in return, the marriage becomes an eternal relationship. Unlike "until death do us part", an LDS temple marriage is "for time and all eternity". It is for this reason that Mormons strive to be faithful in their marriages and place a very high priority on family life. In addition to going to church together every Sunday, Mormon families try to spend time together on Monday nights for "Family Night". Mormons tend to live "old fashioned lives" in that we teach traditional values to our children such as honesty, integrity, repentance, charity and forgiveness.


Joyce and Jessica

Blake and Tianna

Nick and Karin

Mikey and Peter

Alex and Whitney

Weekly Letters from Our Missionaries

Missionaries are required to send a brief letter each week to their mission president that provides an update on how they are doing and who they are teaching. Each week I receive 120 letters. About 100 arrive via email every Monday and the rest are delivered by the mailman later in the week. Those using email go to libraries where they get access to public computers. They can send email to their families and to me -- but no Internet browsing is permitted.

To get a flavor of life for a Philadelphia missionary, here's one of this week's letters:

"Dear President,
How is it going President, good I hope. Our area is really good. We were instruments in one Confirmation this past Sunday. And we met a big time drug dealer that just got out of jail and sold his 2 guns, 1 pound of weed and his bullet proof vest and now wants to come to church.

I will have my first privilege to baptize a new member this Sunday. I will be doing it in Spanish which has me pretty nervous but all is good. Thanks for all you do. Love Elder ___________"

There are many people desiring to change their lives -- they just don't know how to do it. And the currents of life easily capture them and carry them downstream. Our missionaries offer a message of hope, change, redemption, forgiveness and victory. It's remarkable what God can do with young men and women who give themselves so fully to this work. Drug dealers, single mothers, widowers and many regular folks literally feel something deep down inside when the missionaries come into their homes and share our message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This feeling becomes the catalyst for change. This weekend we expect about 30 people to "come unto Christ" by being baptized and joining the Church.

Dallin H.Oaks, an Apostle from our church has said: “In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something” (Nov.2000). “The gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to change…The purpose of the gospel is to transform common creatures into celestial citizens, and that requires change” (Nov. 2003).