Week 9 - Good News and Bad News - Still in the MTC, $5, Adopted Beto Burrito, Match His Message

Well the good news is I'm still here. But that's also the bad news, I'm still here. We should have left for Hong Kong at 3:30 AM today, but on Tuesday, we got an email saying that the brethren would like to wait until after October 1st, the China celebration, to make a decision. So that means we are stuck here an extra week. On Friday we got flight plans again for the 7th that I hope we get to use. It's not a huge deal, just kind of a bummer. One of our awesome Cantonese teachers was planning on quitting right after we left, so his last day is Tuesday. We have to find another teacher for the rest of the week to fill in. We've had to say goodbye to a lot of good friends last night who are all leaving this morning. We wish we could be leaving with them. Oh well, I'd rather be in the MTC than in the Hong Kong airport during a protest. We had a couple from our Branch Presidency return from Hong Kong the other day from an extended stay. They said it was totally fine and safe during the day, but after 8:00PM or any weekend day, it's pretty much a mess. He said that in the evening, the police will stop buses and trains and search all the young people, especially if they are wearing a gas mask or something. So if we do get there soon, we'll have to listen to our mission president's instructions very carefully. I'm not worried though, I'm sure the brethren have a good grasp of the situation and are receiving revelation right now about what to do with us. We are definitely in the Lord's hands. Also I officially won the bet with Elder Yee. I'm the proud owner of a slightly wrinkled but very valuable five dollar bill. We got a funny picture of him passing it along looking all sad and me all happy. Really we were all a bit sad, but we had been expecting this for a while, so it was just kind of a confirmation.

Other than all that excitement from the week, not much else happened. On Monday night, I got a package from home full of all of the instant ramen in our house, all the legit stuff I collected in Taiwan. Noodles around here are the most valuable thing you can have. People are desperate for any kind of different food that they just go ape for ramen. I had way too much of it, so the whole night, I was like ramen Santa, handing out bowls and packets to everyone looking down. It honestly sounds ridiculous, but it really did make people's day. I gave the really good stuff to the Elders in the district, I got to be a hero for the night. We ate the good stuff from Taiwan together and it was amazing. We felt like Sam and Frodo, having forgotten the taste of food and water. It tasted so good and made a lot of people very happy. Best package ever.

The devotional speaker from Tuesday was Elder Kearon from the Seventy. He's a Brit, so Elder Mead was very pleased to hear him speak. He also gave a totally amazing talk, really good stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the next apostles. He and his wife talked about not worrying about the things that are out of our control. Even things like the language have to come with time. What we can focus on right now is matching His message. If we show in our behavior and on our faces how much we love the Gospel each and every day, that's what's going to drive people our way and that's how they'll be converted. It was super uplifting, it really made me worry a lot less about the field which I needed. 

On Friday morning, I just randomly found a fresh, uneaten Beto's bacon and egg burrito just lying down on the sidewalk on the way to the field. Who would just leave it there? Certainly not my older brother Parker and his wife, they know how much I love burritos and would never just leave them lying around somewhere for just anyone to pick them up. That would just be ridiculous. I decided to adopt the poor thing by putting it in my jacket to take back into the MTC. It was delicious.

Sunday was a bittersweet day. It was sweet because we had a really good fast and testimony meeting with all of the departing Mandarin elders who we have made really good friends with, and bitter because we had to say goodbye to them too. I also had to say goodbye to Elder Duke. It was such a blessing to be in the MTC at the same time and to work so closely together at service and things, but it's going to be hard not to have that. He'll kill it in New York. He's probably one of the most dedicated missionaries I know. 

Overall, it was a pretty decent week. A lot of not fun things combined with a few really fun things made it pretty darn okay. The trick is to focus on the really fun things and not the other way around. I'm going to head into this next bonus week trying my best to make the best of it. Anyways, that's it for me. See you all in a bit!

-Elder Murray