Week 2 MTC

Hey Everyone,

Ha ha ha ha. Yes it has been 2 weeks and I haven't broken anything! I did a lot of praying this week to make sure it didn't happen again. :) Proof prayer always works!  This week was a very long and stress filled one but I've grown so much.  I'm really thankful to my Heavenly Father for putting all these tasks in my life to help me learn and grow so much quicker!

There were so many things I wanted to tell you guys last time but wasn't able to because I ran out of time. The language is coming along so great! We share our dorms with native speakers who barely speak any English and it helps.  It's great practice to speak to them and get used to the rhythm and speed of how they talk.

Our district and I are really trying to use Spanish where ever we can to learn the language quicker and it's really helping.  I can honestly say that our Heavenly Father blesses when we are serving him and teaching his children. The gift of tongues has been such an obvious blessing in my life right now as well as for the others in my district. When we teach the spirit really does guide our thoughts and helps us say what we need to say and what the investigator needs to hear. Such a good thing to be apart of.

One of the cool things about the Mexico City MTC is we are surrounded by mountains and so at times it feels like we are at the bottom of a very large cereal bowl.  All up and down these mountains there are these Mexican house structures. (They are kind of structures, not really houses at all.)  And at night the houses light up the side of the mountains. It makes everything look super pretty.  I'll send pictures.

Last week my district as well as other districts got to see the Mexico City temple. It is one of the coolest temples I've ever seen.  We couldn't go in unfortunately because they're remodeling but we went inside the visitor center for a while and learned a ton about the growth of the church in Mexico. Super interesting! One of the sister missionaries there could speak 5 languages. Like whaaattt? (Spanish, French, Russian, Galic, and English.)

Sunday was such a spiritual day.  I love Sundays in the MTC.  We had the opportunity to fast because General Conference is next weekend.  It was great!  We got to watch an MTC devotional called The Character of Christ by David A Bednar.  I saw part of it in Provo and have raved about to everyone in the MTC as well as some of the leadership.  I guess it worked because they showed it.  It's honestly the best talk I've ever heard and I encourage everyone to read it or watch it if you can find it.  It talks about how selfless Christ is and how we better ourselves by being like him. 

Sort of a funny thing that happened this week is my companion and I locked ourselves out of our room. Ha ha. You need a key to get into our dorm and to get into the room we share.  While we we getting ready in the morning the door to our room shut while our keys were inside.  We were in our underwear. SOOOOOOOOO yeaah.  I had to borrow some clothes from our native roommates and walk across the campus in street clothes to reception for another key. Needless to say we were late for breakfast.

As I mentioned earlier a lot goes on outside the walls of the MTC.  Fireworks, cannons, and even some gun shots. But in the MTC I feel completely safe.  It really feels like we are in the world but not of it.  But they really do blow cannons and stuff everyday, because every day they celebrate a Saint. Every day is a party in Mexico. Ha Ha Ha Ha.

I love all of you so much and thanks for all the love!  I pray for you everyday!  God works milagros (miracles) and its through simple people like you and me. :)

Here's some cool pictures of me wielding some lights sabers! No Mom and Dad it wasn't while we were studying. Ha Ha.

Week 1 MTC

My first week in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) was super amazing of course, but also the same as my last first week. Dejavú! But it was very successful none the less. The very first thing I noticed about Mexico on the flight in was the pollution. When we landed I was super scared about how I would get through customs. The people in customs didn't speak a lot of English but with the little Spanish I knew at the time I was able to get through. There were 26 missionaries on the flight with me but another missionary and I were the only ones that had our tags. We represented.

From the airport to the CCM (MTC) I got to see the life of Mexico through the window of a bus. It's just what I imagined it would be. Trash everywhere, rubble structures and crazy drivers. But all people I saw on the way were just so beautiful and radiated with humility and love to me. It made me extremely happy that I actually shed a tear or two and the missionary next to me got super worried and asked if I was ok. I reassured him I was. 

My companion's name is Elder Noble and he is from Mesa, Arizona. He is all that and a bag of chips. We get along super well and he has a million dollar smile which really helps in our lessons. He's our district leader cause he slays with the spirit. He loves singing which is perfect because I also love to sing. So we sing and harmonize with each other wherever we go. We´re working on a companionship duet so we can spiritually blow the minds of the missionaries here. We teach together well and our companionship studies are super powerful. He's having a little bit of a hard time with the language but that's ok because I help out a lot.

The Mexico City MTC is established in an old high school built by the church that was turned into a missionary training center just a couple of years ago. It is a 90 acres campus surrounded by a stone wall 9 ft tall, with an even higher metal fence on top of it.  We are told it is electric, but I don't think it is. I think we´re pretty safe. Inside there are several classroom halls named after LDS prophets that we have our studies in. There are houses that some of the missionaries and workers live in but my district and I were lucky enough to get the dorms. Just kidding, the dorms are not the business. They're basically small study rooms with beds in them, but its all good. My companion and I (the gringos) share the dorm room with 2 companionships of native speakers. It has been both a challenge and a blessing. At first communicating was difficult, but within a day I could understand them perfectly.

A typical day here at the MTC consists of a lot of sitting in a classroom and studying. We wake up early and bathe and prepare for our day. Then we go to our classroom and study for 30 minutes. Then we go to breakfast.  After breakfast we have language and teaching lessons from our teacher hermano (brother) silva. He's awesome. I love that guy. Hahaha.  He's so funny. But he's also super serious and spiritual when he needs to be. We have lessons for 3 hours then we have lunch. Afterwards we prepare our lessons for the mock investigators we teach and we teach them later that afternoon. We then eat dinner and have more language study till we go to bed. We are awake doing things for 18 hours a day, so each day feels like an eternity. Hahaha. But they're starting to go by faster.

Everywhere around campus there are these purple trees that look so beautiful right now. I wish I could send a picture but I can't run.

 Mexico is a little sketch. They shoot off cannons everyday and it's kind of scary. Sirens are going off all the time but we are save here. It's like we are outside of the world.

The gift of tongues is such a real blessing and I'm learning so much. I love it here.

I'm out of time, got to go. Sorry I couldn't write more. I'll tell you guys more next week.

Peace and love,

Elder Murphy

Write Elder Murphy

Want to write Elder Murphy in a quick and painless way?  Check out the free service by DearElder.com.  Write your letters before midnight Sunday (MST) and they will be printed and mailed to Elder Murphy for free using the church pouch system.  Click here for a brief explanation of how the pouch system works. Click here to get started.

You can send him a digital copy of your letter as well if you input his email in the second box. His email is michael.murphy@myldsmail.net .

If you prefer not to use Dear Elder, you can send a letter directly to the pouch address.  Click here to read instructions. The pouch address is:

Elder Michael Murphy
Mexico MTC
P. O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130

Arrived Safely

Elder Murphy arrived in Mexico City and made it safely to the MTC. He will study and train for six weeks before heading to Xallapa in late April. An excerpt from his email:

"They're letting us send you an email to let you know that I made it ok to the MTC! From what I've seen, Mexico City is pretty dope. It's just like downtown Fresno except it looks like that everywhere. Hahahaha! I already love it here! My P-day is Tuesday. Talk to you then! Gotta go. Love you!"

On His Way

Elder Murphy is on his way to the Mexico MTC today. He left Fresno, bright and early to head to Utah with a connecting flight to Mexico City. We will keep the blog updated with new information as it comes.

The whole group minus Sister Stuart.

Goodbye Hugs!

Headed to Mexico

Elder Murphy was given the go ahead to return to his missionary work.

He will be attending the Mexico Missionary Training Center on March 18, 2015.

Pouch Mailing Address:
Mexico MTC
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150