This week went by so fast I'm going to do my best to try and remember. In the area I'm it is really hard to find people and so at the moment we only have a few investigators. (We had to drop one yesterday, really sad.) But it's definitely been a test of faith and I'm learning more day by day how to trust in the Lord.
One investigator that is progressing pretty well is a kid named Hugo. He's a 17 year old joven (youth) who's really cool and accepting the gospel really well. But this week we weren't able to get a hold of him until Saturday. And we didn't teach him but we helped him with his house and invited him to church as per usual. We went by to go pick him up and he wasn't at his house and Elder Barrera and I were so bummed. We walked to church wondering what we were going to do and whether we would drop him or not. We get to church and start to greet people at the door and we see Hugo come walking in!!!! I was so so so so sooooooo happy to see him I literally leaped for joy! He stayed for all 3 hours and told me he had a great experience. (It also helped he knew a lot of people already.) I hope he keeps progressing.
We also have this sister name Guadalupe who's very nice but also very shy and timid. Sometimes it's hard to explain things to her because she won't understand you unless you talk really simply to her. Our first and second lesson were a little difficult because she couldn't remember anything, but this last lesson was really good. She answered most of the questions we asked her in the way we wanted. She loves reading the Book of Mormon and has come to church twice, so we are hoping she can be ready to be baptized the Sunday before Elder Barrera leaves for home. (After this transfer)
Oh yeah, yesterday in church I gave my first talk in Spanish. :) The topic was family history which is not a topic I teach about a lot, but it went well and I learned a lot. :)
Many of you have been asking how my Spanish is coming along and to be honest I couldn't tell you. Hahahaha. Some days I feel the language comes easy and other day it frustrates the living heck out of me. I am starting to mix the two languages up though. Haha and sometimes I feel like I can't speak English or Spanish very well. Hahaha
This morning our house got flooded and that was a mess and a lot of my stuff got wet. Hahaha but that's the life of a missionary. Elder Barrera and I are praying for miracles this week because we need them! I'll let you know what is to follow.
The church is true! Christ lives! And the Book of Mormon is the truest book on the face of the earth! I love each and every one of you that reads this email! Thank you for your prayers and support!
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Posa Rica Successes and Struggles
Mis queridos amigos, admiradores, y familia! perdóname por favor que no les escribí la semana pasada no tuve bastante tiempo. (My dear friends, fans, and family! Please forgive me for not writing last week I didn't have enough time.)
Life here in Posa Rica is nothing like how it was in Tlapacoyan in fact its the exact opposite. In Tlapacoyan there were so many humble and poor people. They were more willing to listen and be taught so we had a lot of investigators and perspective investigators. Even a half functioning ward and so forth. But the area in Posa Rica I'm staying in is very fancy and the people are well off middle class people. Which is making it hard for us to find people.
The ward is very functioning and active and full of people who love to feed us. Hahah. So all the weight I lost in Tlapacoyan is coming back. The area is also not as big and so we don't walk nearly as much because a lot of things are close by. My new companions name is Elder Barrera and he's super smart and also finishes his mission at the end of this transfer. We work well together and I've learned a lot from him. He was born in Mexico but went to high school in the US and so he knows Spanish and English perfectly. Which is a good and bad thing. At times I get used to talking to him in English and that effects my Spanish. But I use him to translate a lot. I'm out of time but I love you and I will send some cool pictures of us at some ruins close by! We went today and it was super cool!
Love you!
Life here in Posa Rica is nothing like how it was in Tlapacoyan in fact its the exact opposite. In Tlapacoyan there were so many humble and poor people. They were more willing to listen and be taught so we had a lot of investigators and perspective investigators. Even a half functioning ward and so forth. But the area in Posa Rica I'm staying in is very fancy and the people are well off middle class people. Which is making it hard for us to find people.
The ward is very functioning and active and full of people who love to feed us. Hahah. So all the weight I lost in Tlapacoyan is coming back. The area is also not as big and so we don't walk nearly as much because a lot of things are close by. My new companions name is Elder Barrera and he's super smart and also finishes his mission at the end of this transfer. We work well together and I've learned a lot from him. He was born in Mexico but went to high school in the US and so he knows Spanish and English perfectly. Which is a good and bad thing. At times I get used to talking to him in English and that effects my Spanish. But I use him to translate a lot. I'm out of time but I love you and I will send some cool pictures of us at some ruins close by! We went today and it was super cool!
Love you!
Monday, June 8, 2015
My first transfer
Mi querido amigos y familia, que bonita es la vida! (My beloved friends and family. How lovely is the life!)
I finally made through my first transfer wooo! Elder Lopez and I worked like dogs this week and it definitely paid off. We had 6 of our 8 investigators at church last week! For those of you who don't know an investigator (in Mexico) has to come to church at least 5 times before they can be baptized. So when one of them or more comes it's such an amazing feeling because they're one step closer to baptism.
This last week was also the last week of the transfer and I thought I would stay here in Tlapacoyan, but that turned out to not be the case hahaha. Our president is a very inspired man and when the phone call came I thought I had nothing to worry about. But I am leaving tomorrow for Posa Rica, which is known very well as the hottest place in the mission and it's the beginning of summer. Yeah. But I know it's for a reason or at least I hope. Hahaha. I was actually kinda bummed when I found out because I really like Tlapacoyan. And last transfer we only had one baptism but we have 6 solid dates for this month, (including 1 this Thursday.) All investigators I had prayed, fasted, and worked so diligently for. But that's part of the job I guess and I know there's more work to be done in Posa Rica.
I went on divisions this week with Elder Nielsen again, and we got rained on pretty hard but we made the best of it and found 2 more investigators! Woo!
I love everyone of you all so much and I think about you all the time. Have fun this summer for me. Hahahah.
For all my family in Texas, I miss y'all a lot and wish I could be with you this week! I'll visit as soon as I get back :) Have fun and hook em horns.
God be with you until I write next week! I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life and the happiness it brings. I am so extremely grateful for my Savior and Redeemer and the sacrifice He made for us. He lives and guides this church. This is His work. His glory. And I'm so blessed to be apart of it.
I finally made through my first transfer wooo! Elder Lopez and I worked like dogs this week and it definitely paid off. We had 6 of our 8 investigators at church last week! For those of you who don't know an investigator (in Mexico) has to come to church at least 5 times before they can be baptized. So when one of them or more comes it's such an amazing feeling because they're one step closer to baptism.
This last week was also the last week of the transfer and I thought I would stay here in Tlapacoyan, but that turned out to not be the case hahaha. Our president is a very inspired man and when the phone call came I thought I had nothing to worry about. But I am leaving tomorrow for Posa Rica, which is known very well as the hottest place in the mission and it's the beginning of summer. Yeah. But I know it's for a reason or at least I hope. Hahaha. I was actually kinda bummed when I found out because I really like Tlapacoyan. And last transfer we only had one baptism but we have 6 solid dates for this month, (including 1 this Thursday.) All investigators I had prayed, fasted, and worked so diligently for. But that's part of the job I guess and I know there's more work to be done in Posa Rica.
I went on divisions this week with Elder Nielsen again, and we got rained on pretty hard but we made the best of it and found 2 more investigators! Woo!
I love everyone of you all so much and I think about you all the time. Have fun this summer for me. Hahahah.
For all my family in Texas, I miss y'all a lot and wish I could be with you this week! I'll visit as soon as I get back :) Have fun and hook em horns.
God be with you until I write next week! I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life and the happiness it brings. I am so extremely grateful for my Savior and Redeemer and the sacrifice He made for us. He lives and guides this church. This is His work. His glory. And I'm so blessed to be apart of it.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Conference, Rain and Blessings
Hi everyone! Yes I'm still alive and doing well. Hah. Sorry it's been 2 weeks since I last wrote. Lulz. The anticipation must have been killing you guys. So here's what's been going down; these last 2 weeks my companion and I have been traveling to Xalapa a lot because we had a bunch of mission conferences. Two weeks ago we were visited by three general authorities, all in in one week: Elder Pino and Elder Piper of the seventy and Elder Christiansen of the presidency of the seventy. So yeah, that was a good week. Haha.
My companion and I recieved a bunch of personal revelation on how to help our area, how to be effective missionaries and how to rely on the spirit and it was soooooooo good. Also at these conferences I got to see all the missionaries from my old generation from my short MTC experience in October. Including my old companion Elder Wright! I caught up with all of them and they told me about their areas and how they're doing. It was so great because they were all surprisingly excited to see me! It was a grand occasion. We had a bunch of good food like pizza (which is starting to become a delicacy to me now because I hadn't had in a while) and tacos del pastor.
This week my companion and I went to Xalapa only once for a conference for new missionaries and trainers and that was super helpful as well. I love my mission president so much and whenever I talk to him I always feel motivated to baptize all of Mexico. He taught me how to more effectively use the Book of Mormon in our lessons with investigators, and how to rely on the Spirit, and to bring it with you wherever you go.
This week, as some of you tech savy people may know, it rained a LOT! On Wednesday my companion and I were working hard (as the usual) and we had to walk to our investigators house. By the time we got there we were sweating like crazy because the sun was beating on us the whole two mile walk. We taught the lesson and it went great, but half way through the lesson it just starts pouring rain. I guess it wasn't a lot for the locals, but for a California boy, born and raised, who only sees 5 days of rain a year, it was a lot and hard. We finished our lesson and it's like the sky is falling. It's so hard and my companion and I had no other option, but to walk the two mile walk back to the house. (We were leaving for Xalapa that day and had to go or we would miss our bus). I take ten steps outside and I'm already soaking wet. So I just had one of those "it is what its is might as well enjoy it" moments. There's a lot of hills here in Tlapacoyan, so water was rushing down the streets like a river, carrying all the dirt and trash on the streets. (It was nasty.) But yeah over all it was a nice refreshing walk. We were completely soaked though.
On Saturday I went on divisions with Elder Nielsen! (He's the Elder I told you guys about, who was in the the ccm with me.) He has as much time on the mission as I do and his Spanish is not very good. I knew I had to step up and lead the way, so I told Elder Nielsen (because he was just as unsure as I was) that if we have faith and the Spirit, the Lord will help us with the rest! And boy were we blessed. The Lord helped me that day more than any other day and I truly felt like a tool in the Lords' hand. My Spanish was the best I've ever felt its ever been. I understood everything (which usually never happens), and Elder Nielsen and I together gave powerful testimony. Talk about greenie power hahaha. We extended an invitation to one my ancient investigators to be baptized and he accepted and came to church this week! He's someone that my companion, Elder Lopez and I have been working with for a while and we almost dropped him. But I felt the prompting to extend the invitation and share my testimony and it paid off. Such an awesome day!
I want to bear my testimony that I know Christ lives. He's my Savior and my love and faith grows for him more each day. I know He has a plan for me and this is made evident more and more each day. I know why I'm here at the time. I'm here. I no longer doubt why my knee got hurt. I know we have a prophet on the earth today who through direct revelation from God leads and directs this church. This gospel brings me so much joy in my life and that's why I'm here sharing the happiness I have with the people here in Mexico.
Love you guys! Talk to you next week!
My companion and I recieved a bunch of personal revelation on how to help our area, how to be effective missionaries and how to rely on the spirit and it was soooooooo good. Also at these conferences I got to see all the missionaries from my old generation from my short MTC experience in October. Including my old companion Elder Wright! I caught up with all of them and they told me about their areas and how they're doing. It was so great because they were all surprisingly excited to see me! It was a grand occasion. We had a bunch of good food like pizza (which is starting to become a delicacy to me now because I hadn't had in a while) and tacos del pastor.
This week my companion and I went to Xalapa only once for a conference for new missionaries and trainers and that was super helpful as well. I love my mission president so much and whenever I talk to him I always feel motivated to baptize all of Mexico. He taught me how to more effectively use the Book of Mormon in our lessons with investigators, and how to rely on the Spirit, and to bring it with you wherever you go.
This week, as some of you tech savy people may know, it rained a LOT! On Wednesday my companion and I were working hard (as the usual) and we had to walk to our investigators house. By the time we got there we were sweating like crazy because the sun was beating on us the whole two mile walk. We taught the lesson and it went great, but half way through the lesson it just starts pouring rain. I guess it wasn't a lot for the locals, but for a California boy, born and raised, who only sees 5 days of rain a year, it was a lot and hard. We finished our lesson and it's like the sky is falling. It's so hard and my companion and I had no other option, but to walk the two mile walk back to the house. (We were leaving for Xalapa that day and had to go or we would miss our bus). I take ten steps outside and I'm already soaking wet. So I just had one of those "it is what its is might as well enjoy it" moments. There's a lot of hills here in Tlapacoyan, so water was rushing down the streets like a river, carrying all the dirt and trash on the streets. (It was nasty.) But yeah over all it was a nice refreshing walk. We were completely soaked though.
On Saturday I went on divisions with Elder Nielsen! (He's the Elder I told you guys about, who was in the the ccm with me.) He has as much time on the mission as I do and his Spanish is not very good. I knew I had to step up and lead the way, so I told Elder Nielsen (because he was just as unsure as I was) that if we have faith and the Spirit, the Lord will help us with the rest! And boy were we blessed. The Lord helped me that day more than any other day and I truly felt like a tool in the Lords' hand. My Spanish was the best I've ever felt its ever been. I understood everything (which usually never happens), and Elder Nielsen and I together gave powerful testimony. Talk about greenie power hahaha. We extended an invitation to one my ancient investigators to be baptized and he accepted and came to church this week! He's someone that my companion, Elder Lopez and I have been working with for a while and we almost dropped him. But I felt the prompting to extend the invitation and share my testimony and it paid off. Such an awesome day!
I want to bear my testimony that I know Christ lives. He's my Savior and my love and faith grows for him more each day. I know He has a plan for me and this is made evident more and more each day. I know why I'm here at the time. I'm here. I no longer doubt why my knee got hurt. I know we have a prophet on the earth today who through direct revelation from God leads and directs this church. This gospel brings me so much joy in my life and that's why I'm here sharing the happiness I have with the people here in Mexico.
Love you guys! Talk to you next week!
I held an iguana. Too bad my companion is not the best at taking pictures.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Hola!
Hey everyone around the world, where ever you may be!
Crazy busy week. This week but full of immense blessings! This will be a short email because I don't have much time, but I'll try my best. My companion and I have been working like crazy trying to reactivate and energize the ward here in Tlapacoyan to come back to church. We have a long list of in-active members and we try to visit at least one of them a week. We've yielded some success and it's been coming along slowly. They always invite us in with welcoming arms and offer us water (which we always accept.) And we share a message with them.
Our mission president has challenged us to teach about the law of the tithe with the members and investigators and share with them the blessings that come from being a full tithe payer. The people here in Mexico are so humble. Sometimes they have little to no money to barely eat each week. But they still give their tithes to the Lord.
I challenge each of you to keep the law of the tithe and help to edify the Lord's kingdom. The Lord will bless you in all things spiritually and temporal even so much that you will have no room to receive all the blessings He gives. (Malachi 3: 8-10) The Lord has given you all you have, in you all have in your life He only asks you give some back.
This week my companion (the district leader) had a leadership meeting out of town and I had to work a whole day with a male member. Hahaha. Me a gringo, in a land I don't know, talking with people in a language I can barely speak. So I prayed all day and and a little into the night for the Lord's help the day before and I was blessed immensely! I lead in lessons, contacted people and taught by the spirit all day and I grew a lot as a result. It was awesome! And just what I needed to to continue growing as a missionary.
Adios, until next week.
Crazy busy week. This week but full of immense blessings! This will be a short email because I don't have much time, but I'll try my best. My companion and I have been working like crazy trying to reactivate and energize the ward here in Tlapacoyan to come back to church. We have a long list of in-active members and we try to visit at least one of them a week. We've yielded some success and it's been coming along slowly. They always invite us in with welcoming arms and offer us water (which we always accept.) And we share a message with them.
Our mission president has challenged us to teach about the law of the tithe with the members and investigators and share with them the blessings that come from being a full tithe payer. The people here in Mexico are so humble. Sometimes they have little to no money to barely eat each week. But they still give their tithes to the Lord.
I challenge each of you to keep the law of the tithe and help to edify the Lord's kingdom. The Lord will bless you in all things spiritually and temporal even so much that you will have no room to receive all the blessings He gives. (Malachi 3: 8-10) The Lord has given you all you have, in you all have in your life He only asks you give some back.
This week my companion (the district leader) had a leadership meeting out of town and I had to work a whole day with a male member. Hahaha. Me a gringo, in a land I don't know, talking with people in a language I can barely speak. So I prayed all day and and a little into the night for the Lord's help the day before and I was blessed immensely! I lead in lessons, contacted people and taught by the spirit all day and I grew a lot as a result. It was awesome! And just what I needed to to continue growing as a missionary.
Adios, until next week.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Greenie Week
I finally made it to Xalapa!
I'm in a tiny pueblo called Tlapacoyan, (about 3 hours from Xalapa) and if you look it up its basically in the middle of a jungle. The cash crop here is bananas so you see a banana tree pretty much everywhere you go. Mexico is definitely a trip, sometimes I think I might have gotten a little culture shock but that's ok.
My companion/trainer is Elder Lopez and he's from Monterey, Mexico. He's been out for 21 months and leaves home basically after I'm done training. He doesn't speak hardly any English and yeah it's sometimes difficult to communicate. Hahahahah. But I learn a lot of Spanish cada dia (every day). I thought I had a good handle on the language, but I didn't calculate on all the slang that Mexicans speak. Lulz. It's like learning a 3rd language! So I speak super proper and sometimes they don't understand me, but it's no biggie.
The work here is hard, there's only one ward in the whole town and it's suffering. They have so many inactive members and our goal this week is to invite every one of them back to church. The closest town to us is Martinez de la Torre and its about 40 miles away. Our area is the whole town and it used to be covered by 3 sets of missionaries. Now it's just me and my companion. Hahahah. I guess the last sets of missionaries lost the trust of the ward, so they took them out and put us in. So another goal of ours is to gain the trust of the ward back. The closest town to us is Martinez de la Torre and it's away, so it's us against the world. I actually thought I was the only gringo (white person) for miles, but then I saw one on Sunday. It was quite a relief. Because we're basically covering 3 areas we walk a lot! I am getting in shape. Hahah. We also have more investigators than all the other missionaries combined. We're working muy duro! (very hard.)
This week was actually kind of rough, I got super homesick and it stunk. The first couple of days all I could think about was home, and it was really distracting. But as I started working and filling all my time in the Lord's field I didn't have time to think about home, which is good. There is great news however; we had a baptism on Saturday!! Yayayaya my first baptism! His name is Orlando and he's a tiny little fella. Only 9 years old and a rascal but he's super funny. (Yah I'm the whitest person ever.) (The picture he sent didn't come through. I assume it is of him and his new friend. When he sends it, I will try to update this post.)
I love you all so much and miss you a ton! Thank you for your prayers and love! I want you to know that this work is hard, but the Lord is on our side and always helping us. I see his hand at work everyday! I can't wait to call you guys this Sunday!
Until then,
Elder Murphy
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Let the field work begin
Hey everyone!
I made it safe and sound to Xalapa and I must say it's much prettier than Mexico City. It also smells better too. We took something like a greyhound bus here and it was about a 4 hour trip. We had about an hour wait at the bus station before we left and we took that time as an opportunity to practice our Spanish and teach people about the Book of Mormon. Elder Nielsen, Elder Noble, and I taught this lady about the Book of Mormon this morning and it was awesome! She believes the words that are in it are true but for some reason only thought that the Bible is the only words of scripture she needs ... Weird. But we also handed out 2 pass along cards!! Yaaaayyyy!
I made it safe and sound to Xalapa and I must say it's much prettier than Mexico City. It also smells better too. We took something like a greyhound bus here and it was about a 4 hour trip. We had about an hour wait at the bus station before we left and we took that time as an opportunity to practice our Spanish and teach people about the Book of Mormon. Elder Nielsen, Elder Noble, and I taught this lady about the Book of Mormon this morning and it was awesome! She believes the words that are in it are true but for some reason only thought that the Bible is the only words of scripture she needs ... Weird. But we also handed out 2 pass along cards!! Yaaaayyyy!
Any ways this week was super spiritual and uplifting and just a great way to end my time in the MTC. My companion and I sang a duet for the entire MTC before a devotional and it went super well! We do have video footage, but I'm not sure how I'll be able to send it. I'll look into it more. We sang "n mas cerca dios de ti" (Nearer my god to thee.) Elder Noble has such an amazing voice, he really did all the work. Haha.
Also this week our district decided to eat a whole carton of fruit loops (about 4 1/2 bags) in one sitting. (I don't know why we just did.) And we destroyed! Although the fruit loops did destroy us later the next day, hahaha.
This week we found out that one of the Hermanas (sisters - girl missionary) in our district, Hermana Bryan, would be leaving home from the MTC the same time we left for the field. She has severe pain in her joints and at times it got so bad that she couldn't even walk. So she had to leave until she received further treatment. She, knowing I had returned to my mission from injury also, wondered how she could do the same when she received better treatment. I told her everything I did to get back and much more as the spirit directed and it was a great spiritual experience.
I love you guys so much, but this all the time I got and I have to go. I love you all!!
I love you guys so much, but this all the time I got and I have to go. I love you all!!
CCM District 14 A
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