The biggest news this week is that Sister Hale and I have a new addition to our companionship. Sister Chappell will be serving with us in a trio! Sister Chappell is such a determined sister, and we love her! You can read her testimony and hear a bit of her story on her Mormon.org profile here: http://mormon.org/me/B94R/Jamie It literally is a miracle that she is here. She was born with Spina Bifeda and has had many medical problems throughout her life. She entered the MTC with Sister Hale January 2013, and also went home for medical reasons. She came back, but was sent home again. She came back a second time on the plane with me in November 2013. She was actually sitting by me when we landed in Jacksonville. She said as soon as she met me she knew I would have to be companions with Sister Hale sometimes, but who would have guessed the three of us would be in a trio?
Our names still go together quite nicely. People used to remember Sister Hale and Sister Murray by saying, "Hale Murray!" (like Hail Mary) and now you just "Hale Murray in the Chappell!" You gotta love servin' in the South! Haha!
Other than adjusting to life in a trio it was a pretty slow week. We did have a lesson with our gator, Michelle. We had a lot of appointments fall through, and we tried to visit a lot of less active members and someone must have warned them we were coming because most of them were conveniently not home.
Last night we were able to watch the CES Broadcast with Linda K. Burton. I would STRONGLY suggest ya'll look it up and watch/read it. https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/ces-devotionals Also, Sister Hale's past companion, Sister Jensen, is singing in the choir! Sister Hale about cried when she saw her!
She talked all about how the spirit speaks to us, and what we need to to do recognize his promptings. She taught that sometimes we are given the trust to choose a path. Then if what we have chosen is not right God will warn us to turn around. It immediately made me think of my GPS. I started driving a couple of weeks ago. (scary right? Tell your friends in Jacksonville to stay off the roads!) I wouldn't say I'm a bad driver, but I would say I'm used to Logan back roads, not Jacksonville Freeways, so the GPS is my great friend! He tells me when I need to turn and warns me when I should prepare for a turn in my path. And when I take a wrong turn he tells me I've made a mistake and shows me the road back. The other night I was driving us home from Dunn Ave and I think I took about three wrong turns. It was a little bit ridiculous, but we eventually made it home! I know that if we are worthy to have the Holy Ghost he will guide us so we can stay on the right course back to our heavenly home. I am grateful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. When I was set apart as a missionary I was told that I would be prompted to go certain places and to stay away from certain places, and that has already happened many times. I know that it can be the same for each of you!
Finally, I just want to say again how grateful I am to be in the Jax YSA Branch! Yesterday marked four years since the branch was organized. It was fun to hear about the rough start the branch had and to look at it now and see how far it's come. Now we just need to make this Branch into a Ward!!! We love these YSA's!!!
I love ya'll!!!
Sister Murray
