diff --git a/lib/event_emitter.rb b/lib/event_emitter.rb
index d55837b4e24a59d12af8b2ac921780b6db90fff9..96b1e277d139b341a96e57851bed894f3423d363 100644
--- a/lib/event_emitter.rb
+++ b/lib/event_emitter.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ module EventEmitter
 	)
 		jid_to_owner(owner_jid) { |(tel, *)|
 			MessageEvent::In.new(
-				owner: tel, from: from, to: [tel], body: body.to_s,
+				owner: tel, from: from, to: [tel], body: body,
 				endstream_id: endstream_id, media_urls: media_urls
 			).emit(REDIS)
 		}.catch do |e|
diff --git a/lib/incoming_mms.rb b/lib/incoming_mms.rb
index 77d4b05b94f2a3a0059f7e23761f6139f9285993..23f60328d8d8971e7a6a747e13f252210b83c349 100644
--- a/lib/incoming_mms.rb
+++ b/lib/incoming_mms.rb
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class IncomingMMS
 
 	# MMS text parts are separate fetched .txt files; join with paragraph breaks
 	def body_text
-		@txt.empty? ? "" : @txt.join("\n\n")
+		@txt.empty? ? nil : @txt.join("\n\n")
 	end
 
 	def media_urls
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class IncomingMMS
 	def to_stanza
 		Blather::Stanza::Message.new(
 			addresses ? unproxied_to.domain : unproxied_to,
-			@txt.empty? ? nil : @txt.join("\n\n")
+			body_text
 		).tap do |m|
 			oobs.each { |oob| m << oob }
 			m << addresses if addresses