Californian in Kansas: When It Rains It Pours

When it rains.....it pours. And this week was an awesome manifestation of this common phrase that took on an extra special meaning. Not only did it rain literally...A LOT but the lord also rained in blessings, and man did it pour. We were where we needed to be, when we needed to be there, and the lord blessed us with tons of new investigators(27). We made it a special point to ask EVERYONE for referrals this week and it led to so many prepared people for us to teach.

We went on exchanges for the first time so I took over the area for a day and went out with Elder Chlarson (an English speaking missionary). It was so much fun, Elder Chlarson leaves next Monday, so he had so much experience and wisdom to share with me. It was also super crazy because I had to teach all the lessons by myself IN SPANISH. It was super nerve wracking at first, but by the end of the day I didn't even have any worries and I was teaching and talking with everyone with ease. The next day when my companion came back, I made all of us lunch (don't worry I'll include pictures) and we talked about our experiences with the exchange.

On Thursday it rained.. And rained... And rained some more. We had crazy flooding towards the end of the day and some crazy lightning (video to be included). As a California boy, I definitely felt out of place because It rained more in 24 hours than it has in California in the past like 10 years. At around 8pm, we really needed to go see one of our investigators, so we went to his house in the pouring rain and were soaking wet as soon as we got out of our car. We had to stand in his door way the whole time, but it was one of the most powerful times I've testified before. There was thunder and lightning flashing in the windows, and the house was rattling the whole time. We were driving back to our apartment after and somehow took a wrong turn onto and VERY flooded street. The water was so high, that our car headlights were underwater , I don't know how we didn't kill our car, in fact it was kind of a miracle. We said a huge prayer of gratitude after though!

Sunday (9/11) was the craziest day ever. We came back from church to eat lunch and study 12 Week when missionaries from another church knocked on our door. We opened it and started talking with the them, and ended up teaching them, and giving them a Book of Mormon. As we were leaving our apartment to go teach, there was a Bus (yes an actual bus) full of these missionaries for the other church. I somehow felt prompted to go talk to the bus driver, and then out of no where he invited us onto the bus to share what we believe to the pastors. Elder Sperry and I were super nervous but also super excited. We got on the bus and powerfully testified of Christ and of the Book of Mormon, and it's an experience that I will never forget. We left with our heads high and took off to find some less active families that we had never met. The first family that we searched for did not answer their door so we walked around the corner to find the other. We were looking for the Gonzalez family and when we got to the trailer number that we thought was theirs, there was a sign that said "Davis Family". We were confused and stopped in front of the driveway to make sure we had the right address.

All of the sudden the girl who was mowing the lawn walks up to us, introduces herself and says,"wait here I'm gonna got get my mom". She disappeared and came back with her mother a minute later. The mom was super happy to see us even though she attends a Pentecostal church. We started to teach the restoration lesson and then a few more of her daughters came out, then a few of the neighbors. We taught one of the best restoration lessons we had ever given and it was really interactive with all of the people. At the end we invited them all to be baptized on October 8 and they they all accepted. The mother said that she felt that we were the answers to her prayers and that she had been waiting for us for a long time. She then proceeded to invite herself to church and was super excited for her whole family to come.

All of this came from stopping to check where we were. And apparently we were exactly where God needed us to be. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. From teaching a bus full of Preachers, to being the answer to a Mother's prayer. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us and I'm so grateful that I was able to an instrument in his hands.

Elder Murphy