Honestly I feel like a ton of things happened this week, so far it's been the longest of my mission. Everyday I felt as if Elder Sperry and I had some huge problem we had to fix or trail of faith we had to conquer.
After the Harrison Park Elders left last week our district seemed to take a big hit. I feel as if that was the tipping point on a series of terrible events. Ok let's see.... first, the Harrison Park Sister had to take on the whole area themselves, and then they both got sick with strep throat. Then their investigators daughter went missing for 4 days, and they didn't know if she was kidnapped or ran away or what. She went on a walk with the dog and never came back. But after a powerful priesthood blessing that we gave her mom, she came back. Priesthood power is so real. She home safe and sound. THEN Hermana Williams (Sister Missionary in our branch) went blind in her right eye. Like she legitimately lost her vision in her right eye. Doctors don't know how it happened and they say that she could be blind for the rest of her life. She went from having perfect vision one day to waking up blind in her right eye. She can't drive anymore and we had to pick up a lot of their investigators and we barely had time to do anything. The doctors are testing for everything, including West Nile Virus, tumors, her spine, her nerves. CRAZY.
That being said I feel like we had a very productive we and we made huge strides with the Arrombo/Alfaro family. We have been teaching 3 generations within the same family and they all love the message we share with them, we can tell that they love the spirit they feel when we come, and that they can notice a difference with what they feel. The grandmother Esperanza told us how she had been taking lessons from the missionaries years and years ago in Mexico, but they moved borre they were baptized. She explained how when she first met missionaries "it was like being home". It was so sweet as this tender old Mexican lady shared her testimony to us of the plan of salvation lesson we had just shared with her. She knew it was true. She felt gods love for her as we explained it, and she found great comfort in the fact that all will have a chance to accept the fullness of the gospel. She then explained how her mother in law was in the hospital and has never accepted Christ as her savior. She later passed away on Saturday, but they didn't seem sad. She told us," I know where she is. She's learning about her savior and she'll accept him I know it."
We are also teaching her grandchildren; Antonio, Esperanza, and Esmeralda. They are all reading the Book of Mormon together every night and sometimes try to read ahead faster than each other. Super elect kids, with fantastic parent and ever grandparent support. Something that we don't find very often. We also progressed a less active family back to church this week! They even signed up to feed us and we will be having family home evening for the second week in a row with them. We could tell how much they missed the gospel in their lives and how they really kindled that desire to come back to church each week.
Overall it was a very crazy week. But the craziest weeks help me feel closest to the savior. When we have a 1000things to do, I know that he's right there beside me helping me. Because it felt like such a hard week I decided to study Elder Uchdorfs "The Infinite power of Hope" talk. I found a quote that really hit me with power:
The adversary uses despair to bind hearts and minds in suffocating darkness. Despair drains from us all that is vibrant and joyful and leaves behind the empty remnants of what life was meant to be. Despair kills ambition, advances sickness, pollutes the soul, and deadens the heart. Despair can seem like a staircase that leads only and forever downward.
Hope, on the other hand, is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances. It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear.
Rely on the power of the atonement, rely on the power of hope. It's infinite. It's there. It will cast off your devils, it will help you fight your battles, it will lift you up when you're down. I invite you all to study how you can increase your hope though out this week. Email me with any cool miracles you see as a result! I love you all so much!! You rock!
Elder Murphy
Zone Yoga
It was Elder Sperry's birthday on Sunday. His mom sent him this shirt and a new ipad case. I made him pancakes to celebrate.
Weekly Selfie
We played giant chess at a local park on P-day. I'm a big fan.
PS I won.
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