Missing Persons, Priesthood Blessings, Blindness and Hope

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. 

Soccer, sunsets, success and stuff

What's up family and friends! First off I just want to start by saying how much I love and miss you all!!  Thank you for all of your letters and updates you rock, please keep it up it makes my week hearing from you! This week really seemed to fly by. Elder Sperry found ourselves saying, "wait how is it already Sunday again?" And I think that's because we were so lost in the work. 

I heard once that oxen have an insane amount of stamina and drive, that's why pioneers used them to get across the plains, and that's why farmers used them to plow their fields. When an Ox really wants to get work done it puts its head down, its nose in the dirt and just hauls. They can go for hours like this without ever needing a break. Elder Sperry and I had that "Ox Mentality" this week. We just put our noses in the dirt, and went to work. As a result of our hard work we progressed a ton of investigators towards baptism. 

Paulina Juárez, made huge leaps and bounds towards her goal of being baptized on the 23rd of October. She was faced with unreal amounts of opposition and adversity this week, but she powerfully testified each time of the truthfulness of this message to those around her who tried to take her away from this truth. She brought her Book of Mormon to school and defended it when a classmate told her it was of the devil. She stood up to her moms friend who told her that "Mormon's aren't Christian", relying with, " Um actually their real name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and it's the same church that Jesus started". It was so fun watching the excitement in her eyes as she really understood the importance of the Restoration and watching her grow on this journey.

We also got Antonio Alfaro, to come mutual and church this Sunday. He told us how much fun he had after and was really active in all of the lessons. His mom really wants to come to church too but she got scheduled to work on Sunday when it was supposed to be her day off. She's even started inviting her family to attend and as a result we have had awesome lessons with her parents. Her mom Esperanza is really interested in the Book of Mormon and fell in love with the Plan of Salvation. Pretty soon her whole family will be baptized and attending church together, I cannot wait.

We also had some pretty crazy changes in our zone, lots of people got switched around and missionaries got moved to different areas even though it wasn't transfer week and it was kinda hectic. The other group of Elders in our district got moved and their area got closed which was super sad. We would always give them rides to meetings and on P-Day we would email with them and go shopping. Now it's gonna be so lonely. 

Hmmm what else happened... oh yeah! On Saturday we played soccer with a bunch of investigators, members from our branch, and less actives and it was really successful. We had a ton of people come and their were even some semi-pro soccer players that came and played with us. I scored once so that was pretty cool. 

Over all, I love missionary work. There is nothing more exciting than helping others come to a knowledge of the truthfulness of this message. Elder Sperry and I found an awesome scripture in our companionship study this week that we really applied to our work and it had been a driving factor in our success. 

It's Moroni 8:16-17 and we recite it before we leave each day:

"Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear. And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love"

Love you tons!! Email me!

Elder Murphy

These aren't blind people glasses, I swear!

Last of the Harris Park Elders before their area got closed.

Weekly Selfie

Transfer down, donuts, and another baptism

Hey y'all!! How've you been?? I sure do miss you all! If you have a chance, you should email and let me know how you're doing! I love hearing from you all and no story or event is too boring so let me know what's up in your life! You can also email any questions you have about missionary work and I'd love to answer them!!

Anyways, I love being a missionary. It is the single best decision I've ever made and I love being here in Kansas. Each week I get to meet more and more of God's children and help them come closer to him. We worked hard and had one of our most successful weeks so far. As we have been working diligently, the lord had blessed us with more and more of his precious children.

This week, on Tuesday new missionaries came in from the Missionary Training Centers. That means I've been here in the mission field an entire transfer already!! (A transfer is a period of 6 weeks that missionaries are in their assigned area. The mission president can move people to different cities and change their companion according to the missions needs.) Transfers are a really exciting time in the mission field because you get to meet new missionaries that come from the MTC and from other areas of the mission. I got the opportunity to actually go out with the new missionaries that came from the MTC and got teach with them. It brought back a lot of memories from when I went out on my first day and I tried to make it as fun of an experience as I could. 

I was able to put all of the things that I've learned from Elder Sperry into practice with Elder Marchant(the new missionary I went out with). We had tons of success. Elder Marchant was very eager and excited to teach so that's what we did. 

The first street we tried was all Asian people so we quickly left and tried the next street over. We ended up finding a baptist family that wasn't interested, but really wanted us to bless their home for them. We did and then they gave a few referrals of where some Hispanic families lived. As we kept working we made our way to Ash street, where apparently all of Mexico has immigrated to . . . we were in heaven. I was surprised how much Spanish I was able to speak, and how comfortable I was talking with all of the people we met. I jokingly asked Elder Marchant how long he thought I'd been out in the mission field and laughed my tail off when he said, "7 months?". We ended up teaching 11 lessons, found 6 new investigators and 3 of them accepted Baptismal dates all in the span of about 2 hours. Unreal.

The next day, Elder Sperry and I found Carmen and her Family. They are an extremely friendly family that have phones AND cars (very rare among Mexican families in Kansas). We originally found Carmen at first, but then her son Antonio  and daughter Esperanza came back from school and we were able to meet them too. They are the most sincere family ever. They all really wanted to learn more and strengthen their faith in Christ and immediately accepted baptismal dates. Antonio even came to mutual that night and had a super fun time. As the week went on they even introduced us to their grandparents that live next door. They grandparents were just as nice, but not as eager to accept our message. They did however invite us back because they did want to learn more about it, so hopefully we can help progress all of the them.

On Saturday, we had another Baptism! Michel from a few weeks ago, got baptized and is now the newest member of the Kellogg branch! It was a big struggle to get people to come to his baptism though, we were running around like chickens with our heads chopped off to get members there. Finally out of some miracle, we had a good turn out, and Michel felt the love of the branch at his baptism. Missionary work rocks!!!

But hey, don't think that missionary work is all that easy, we faced a ton of rejection this week too. Sometimes we won't even say anything and people will yell at us and swear at us for just walking down the street. At times, it really does get hard. I'll be the first one to admit that it's not fun when a drunk man yells at you for an hour and you can't leave because you're afraid he'll get violent. It's not fun to have doors slammed in your face, or have things thrown at you while biking to your next appointment. But that doesn't mean I love it any less. When times like that come, I remind myself of all of the rejection that our Savior felt when he walked the earth. I think of the atonement, and how he suffered for every single person that would ever live. INCLUDING THOSE WHO NAILED HIM TO THE CROSS. He atoned for all. Every guard that spit in his face. Every drunk that yelled for him to be crucified. Every person that laughed at him as he carried his cross up the hill. He atoned for me, and he atoned for you. His love was perfect and his sacrifice was infinite, and it carries me in this work. I bear my testimony to you of his atoning sacrifice, and of his divinity. This is his work and everyday I feel so blessed to have his name over my heart. I know that he lives, he guides this church today, and I challenge each and every one of you to use the atonement more fully in your life. You will see miracles and change like never before. 

I love you all and hope you are doing well! Email me this week and I'll do my best to respond!!

Elder Murphy

We got krispy kreme this week and it was everything I remembered and so much more

Elder Gonzalez left this week for his actual mission in California, he was in our mission while he waited for some paperwork to come through.

Michel got baptized!!! Woohooo!!!!

Weekly Selfie with Elder Sperry

Corn, Puppies, Baptisms and more

I don't really remember what happened this week to be completely honest. Elder Sperry and I were walking to an investigators house this Sunday and kinda freaked out that the week was already over. 

This week we were going to an appointment with our new investigators Pedro and Karina. They are the sweetest people ever and are so full of love. Anyways, so we start walking down the street, and there is mariachi music playing and there is a bunch of people gathered around his house. Elder Sperry and I got super scared because everyone was drinking and we hadn't seen Pedro yet. When we found him he was just chilling on his porch with a Pepsi and he told us that they were making fun of him for not drinking, but he wanted to keep the word of wisdom so he just went to go do his own thing. We were talking for a while and then he offered us some Helotas (Mexican corn on the cob) that was a huge blessing because we hadn't eaten all day and it was like 8 at night. He then proceeded to take some corn and throw it into a fire and that's how he heated it up! It was super yummy and he gave us this super good queso fresco  that had just gotten there that day from Mexico. We were sitting there and I just turned to Elder Sperry and said, "Dude we're in Mexico right now" it was pretty awesome. 

The next day we went for our scheduled appointment but they weren't there, however there was the cutest puppy ever on their porch so that was a plus. Sometimes when your investigators cancel on you they leave puppies to play with.

Hmm what else. Oh yeah!! We had another baptism and I got to baptize Samantha. She's the sweetest little girl who just got here from Mexico 3 weeks ago. She loves to read and kinda reminds me of a Mexican version of my little sister Megan which was an extra tender mercy because it's Megan's 10th birthday on Friday (10/7) and I miss her so much! 

Also we had General Conference this weekend. I LOVE CONFERENCE!! I took so many notes and I've already been looking back at them. My favorite talks were by Elder Christofferson and by Elder Bednar I highly recommend everyone go back and listen/read them this week and tell me what you learned. 

Sorry that this letter was so short and that I don't have too many pictures this week. Just know I love you all and that I'm working so hard that I don't even know what day it is sometimes. I promise I'll do better next week!! 

Elder Murphy

Weekly selfie with Elder Sperry

The puppy we found on Pedro and Karina's porch.

Samantha and Elena's baptism (featuring Brother Rains)

KWM!!! Best mission in the world!

Sickness, Healing and Mosquitos

Wait how is already Monday again? I swear time flies out in the mission field. This week felt like it flew by, but looking back sooooo much happened. 

We started the week by giving a blessing to a recent convert. She has been having this crazy pain in her arm and she couldn't even extend it all. We gave her a priesthood blessing, and almost immediately she said the pain went away. She was able to move it and extend it just fine, it truly was a miracle. 

We also bought these chocolate chip granola bars and I was supper excited because we finally had snacks in the car to eat between appointments. I ate 2 and then a few hours later, had hives all over my arms and we were really confused where they came from. The next day they had gone down a lot, and I was trying to figure out what could have caused them and remembered the bars. My companion and I decided to test it to make sure it really was the granola bars, so I ate another. Sure enough the hives came back. So no more snacks for me.... Elder Sperry was really happy because we bought a huge box of them and so he gets the rest. 

Also, while I'm on the subject, I've been having super bad head aches when I get out of the car, and when I stand up from sitting down, it's like a throbbing pain, it goes away after a few seconds, but it sucks major and I don't know why it's happening. So if someone could like google it and get back to me that would be really cool! 

We found to young mother this week who had been praying with her family for months to find a church, and she told us it's all she's been able to think about. She told us how she had made some mistakes in her life, and with the birth of her son, she knew it was time to start over and build a life focused around Christ. Within the first few minutes of speaking to her, she asked us, "So what do i have to do to be baptized?". She immediately accepted the 15th of October as a baptismal date and we set up to church tour for the next day. When she got to the chapel she kinda stopped and looked at us and then said, "I've been in a lot of churches and i've never felt like I feel right now. Is that the Holy Spirit?" We quickly testified that it was and she had the biggest smile on her face. we know that Heavenly Father has been preparing her for this gospel, and we can not wait for her to be baptized. She is so elect and plans on finishing the Book of Mormon within a week! This gospel really does change lives. 

Just a few houses down from hers, we met Pedro and his Girlfriend. Pedro saw us in his neighborhood hood the day before and asked us why we didn't stop at his house. We explained how the day before we had another appointment across town and didn't get to his house, that's why we came back. He was happy that we did and we continued to teach the first lesson to him. He loved it and immediately accepted a baptismal date. We gave him a Book of Mormon and the address to the church and he said he'd come on Sunday. We came back the next day and he said he loved the Book of Mormon, in his words, "es perfecto". He asked us if we could have member stop by his house and show him how to get to church, and he'd follow them so we set that up. But then Sunday came and he didn't show up. The member said he went there, but Pedro had told him he had a flat tire and was gonna fix it then come late. 

After church, we went to his house kinda bummed he didn't show, half expecting that he'd been lying about the flat tire. But when we walked up to his house he was a actually fixing his tire! He proceeded to show us a huge nail that he had pulled out. He invited us in and we taught a lesson. We invited him and his girlfriend to live the Law of Chastity (prohibits sexual relations outside of marriage) and right then he turned to his girlfriend and said casually,"hey wanna get married?" To which she responded, "yeah it's probably about time". Long story short, they are the most golden investigators ever and we love them and they're gonna get married. Missionary work is fun.

I love being to missionary, and I know I am here in the Kansas Wichita mission for a reason. I love the people, I love teaching them how to get closer to Christ, and I love having his name over my heart every single day. The work is hastening and the fields truly are white.

Elder Murphy

Funny story of the week: 

We were teaching a guy on his porch and there were tons of mosquitoes, I had already sprayed bug spray on myself so I thought I'd be good. I go to explain something and right as I inhaled, a mosquito was flying by, and well.... I inhaled it. Right to the back of my throat. It kinda of really hurt and I was coughing like crazy, and no one knew why.  I think the guy felt bad for me and he opened up a bit more so that's good I guess.

Michel - one of our more solid investigators

Kansas!!!!

Elder Sperry and I

Awesome quote for the week, have patience!! Everything will work out I promise!

Week In the Heart Land

Another great week in the heartland! Each day I seem to love my mission more and more. We had a pretty tough week but even though it wasn't as successful as we had hoped, my testimony of missionary work has grown immensely. 

I'm serving in a branch, and we are the 1st and 2nd counselors in the elders quorum, we do the sacrament, have done music, taught primary, taught the youth class, all while trying to manage our investigators at church. I also had to give a talk this week in sacrament so church it's kinda crazy. But the branch is growing so fast, when I first got here, we had 26 people in sacrament meeting. This week we had 73! We are working our tails off and We are gonna turn into a ward. #ProjectKelloggWard 

It seemed like everyday this week we faced some sort of really harsh rejection from someone. We were sworn at, yelled at and had doors slammed in our faces. But each time that would happen, the lord would turn around and bless us with a huge miracle. A couple weeks ago, we received a Media Referral and tried to contact them right away. We met the mans wife, who had no idea her husband requested to learn about our church, he wasn't home but she was really nice anyways. We tried to return everyday for 2 weeks and no one answered the door, so we never got in touch with "Miguel". We eventually gave up and decided it wasn't a good use of our time to head to his house. Fast forward to this week, we went to go find a potential in our area book that was taught 3 years ago but seemed really promising because his mother was a member. When we got there, it turned out that they had moved in April. We had driven quite a while and decided to make the best of it and knock on a few doors before heading to the next appointment. We knock on the next door neighbor and guess who answers.... MIGUEL! Of course we didn't know this because we had never met him, but he immediately invited us in and we taught him an amazing first lesson. At the end we were getting contact information for him and then that's when it clicked that he was the same Miguel that we could never get ahold of. It turns out that he was visiting his parents house that day and we happened to knock on their door when he was there!! Super huge miracle, it wasn't even his house and he said he doesn't visit very often. 

Our week was full of amazing miracles like Miguel, where the Lord put people in our path that he had been preparing to hear the gospel. It took some initial rejection, but when we mustered up the courage and talked to everyone in our path, that's when the lord would bless us. I know that this is the lords work, that he guides us each and everyday to those whom he has prepared. It's the best choice I've ever made to serve a mission and I love helping everyone we meet come closer to Christ. Elder Sperry and I had made it a point to never miss an opportunity to share the Gospel and I even taught someone random person a lesson over the phone after she misdialed a number and called us. She really wanted to grow her relationship with Christ and was very open to having missionaries come teach her.

 I know that Christ is hastening his work on the earth and missionary work is the best way to be apart of that. I really loved the scripture I found this week in personal study that says, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). Christ is our light and with him anything is possible. Christ is my savior, redeemer, light, example, teacher, guide, and my best friend.  I testify of that and know that if we put our faith in him we can overcome all trials and be strengthened though his love. 

Elder Murphy

Braum's has this special deal where you can get five burgers for less than $5.... I was very happy. (Yes I did eat them all.)

I made this cool wall of pictures from a stack of about 100 Ensign magazines. They are organized by rows.

There was a chicken in this lady's flower pot and we didn't see it until after we knocked and it scared us so bad. It was super funny.

Kansas Sunset

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

Our trash bag broke when Elder Sperry was taking it out

The lighting on the way to an investigator

The calm after the storm

Derby Zone

Missionaries have too. Don't worry.

Lunch I cooked for the missionaries. Chicken, corn and potatoes