Hey everyone! Hope everyone had a great spring break and an even better Easter!
Wow! Crazy to think that 6 months ago this week I left for my mission the first time! Looking back I feel it was a long time. Especially when I think about how much has happened. I learn more and more each day not to dwell in the past in what could have happened but look hopefully to the future for what will :)
This week seemed like it took forever but it was eventful and full of fun none the less! I have became an official residence of Mexico as of last Wednesday!! Woooooo! I as well as some other missionaries serving in Mexico, took a bus trip to the consulate in Mexico City to retrieve our visas. We almost didn't make it because no one told us we about it until 5 minutes before the bus left! So my companion and I had to chow down our breakfast and book it over there and we made it just fine.
Every time I go outside the walls of the MTC I'm amazed by how awfully yet impressively people drive. So fast and so close, but I have yet to see an accident. It's about an hour bus ride to the consulate so I got to see a bunch of the city and it made me want to leave to the field already! These weeks in the MTC don't seem to go by fast enough.
At the consulate a lot of missionaries couldn't understand what the workers were telling them so I helped translate a lot. And it was good practice for me. After we got our visas all the missionaries ate at this little taco stand on the side of the street. I could just tell right from the start that was a bad place to eat because street food here will just tear up your insides . . . but man if those weren't the best tacos I had ever eaten in my life!!! It was like a circus of spices and flavors in your mouth as well as when it came out. Ha ha ha ha ha ha yeah I definitely paid for it later but totally worth it.
Since we had to go to the consulate on Wednesday we missed our progressing investigator lesson that morning so we had to make it up the next day. Along with our other investigator we had that day and we were starting TRC. Which is where we teach actual volunteers instead of teachers playing the role of the investigator. So it worked out that we would be teaching 3 lessons. Which is probably nothing compared to the missionaries in the field, but to us in the MTC it is 3 times more than the usual. Lulz.
Our first lesson was with Miguel, who we had taught earlier that week and flopped really hard with. It was the worst teaching experience of my life. I was so grateful he wasn't a real investigator. So we had to redeem ourselves and this time we did so good! We taught him how to pray and answered all his questions and I could feel Heavenly Father communicating through me. Such an awesome experience.
Later we had a lesson with Daniel. Our main goal was to earn his trust and be a friend to him. And we did just that! So we were 2 for 2! And then later that day we met Gloria. Gloria is 76 and has been a member for 33 years and has to be the sweetest lady I've ever met! She shared her conversion story with us, and how much she loves this church and the spirit was just so strong! She had such a beautiful soul and glowed with the light of Christ and I can't wait to meet more people like her on my mission.
This whole week our entire district was just looking forward to conference and we were not disappointed. I loved how most of the conference was based on family. Even though as a missionary starting a family isn't anywhere on my radar yet, I focused on how those messages would help the people I would teach. My favorite session by far was the Sunday morning session. There was just a triple whammy of speakers back to back that I just loved. Elder Brent Nielsen's talk on the prodigal son was definitely one I could relate to and was so good. Then my man Elder Holland knocked it out of the park with his talk on the Savior. Like holy cow! And Elder Uchtdorf's talk on grace was one of the best I've heard! I recommend everyone go back and take a look at those three. I know I will!
Yesterday as I was thinking about what to write you guys I realized I really didn't have a funny story to tell you guys like last week. I thought oh well that's just how it'll be. I definitely spoke too soon. Yesterday after we had another successful lesson outside with Miguel, our teacher was giving us feedback on how our lesson went. While he's talking there's this crazy bird over us just making the craziest noises. Mind you all the birds in Mexico are cray cray. And in my mind I'm thinking, "that is crazy. If only I had a shotgun." Now I don't know if this bird could read my mind or something, but out of nowhere he just takes his revenge on me and poops right on the back of my neck! LOL at my life. Anyways I learned 2 very important things that day:
1. God really does have a sense of humor
2. Fresh bird poop is extremely warm.
That's all for this week everyone. I hope all is well and that everyone is doing good and healthy! I pray for you all the time!
I want to close with my testimony:
I know that we have a loving Father who is aware of us, loves us, and has a plan for all of us. I know that it's only through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ that we are able to return back to Him. His love and atonement is infinite. I feel it every day. If you haven't seen the church's video, He is Risen on youtube you need to watch it. I love my Savior so much and I try to be more like Him everyday. I love sharing His gospel with those around me and bringing them closer to Christ. He lives. I know He does. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and its words truly do have the power to change lives. I've seen it. I love you all and God loves you too!
Until next week!
P.S. Don't be afraid to email me :)
(Or you can write a letter to him. Use this post to help.)
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
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.)
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
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
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
Friday, March 20, 2015
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
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
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
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!
Sunday, March 8, 2015
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
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
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