9 February 2015 -- Wichita West -- Spanish Branch

Hey everyone!! How are you all doing?

Wow! This transfer has just flown by! I can't believe there's only one week left in it! Time really does fly by when you're constantly busy and constantly working. And the Lord has truly blessed us with miracles from our efforts here in the Kansas Wichita Mission.

On Saturday, Ever, Elida, and Clarissa were baptized! They were so excited and are definitely ready to continue growing in the Gospel. Their dad came, which is fantastic! He said he really felt the Spirit and felt really great about everything that happened! These kids really have grown such strong faith and such a strong testimony of and in Christ and it's amazing and a true miracle to see them grow so much, even in just a few weeks.

Alejandro came to church yesterday and we were able to put him back on date for the 28th of this month! He said he really just doesn't want to jump into things, especially being continually bombarded with life. But he's definitely excited to continue to move forward and progress and grow. We had a lesson with him, Araceli, and Danny and it was great! The Spirit has grown so much stronger in their home and in their lives. It's amazing to hear about the miracles, blessings, and changes that they are seeing as they grow closer to Jesus Christ. We watched a video with them called Missionary work and the Atonement. I would highly recommend for everyone to look it up! It really talks about why being a missionary is so hard, and it gives me a new excitement to continue pressing forward and work even harder!

Elder Malo and I got hit with a lot of duties as counselors of the branch presidency. It took up a lot of time, but as we continued to work diligently, the Lord blessed us with miracles. Just remember that when things are getting tough, as they surely will frequently, know that something, a miracle, is right around the corner. Because we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith. When we persevere through our trials and learn to grow from them, we receive a witness and our faith is strengthened.

We had a zone training on Saturday and one of the trainings was on the power of the Sacrament. The Sacrament is a gift. A gift given to us that we can be clean each and every week. The Atonement is for everyone individually. the Lord is just waiting for us to take it in, internalize it, and then make it count. He wants us to come and change and become more like Him. The Sacrament renews, refines, and then perfects us. However dim our days may seem, know that the Savior of the Lord, Jesus Christ, has felt every bit of it and is by our side every step of the way. Brad Wilcox gave a talk called The Atonement: After all we can do. He gives the analogy of life as a mountain and his talk is centered on the scripture that says, "for it is by grace we are saved after all we can do." It's not like we climb as far up the mountain as we can and then the Savior comes and helps push us up the rest of the way. He is there with us every step of the climb, helping and encouraging us.

I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that only through Him can we return to live with our Father in Heaven. He loves us all perfectly and is always reaching out to help and support us no matter what we do. All we have to do is take His hand.

I love you all and I am full of gratitude for all of the emails you send me! Thank you for all that you do and have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Murphy

Elder Murphy, Elida Treviza, Clarissa Treviza, Ever Treviza, Elder Malo

Elder Murphy & Elder Malo

Today we received a text from a woman in Kansas. She sent this picture of Ben and his trainer at the church this morning. It's so amazing to be able to get this picture today. I feel so extremely blessed and loved.

Elder Murphy and Elder Malo

2 February 2015 - Wichita West - Spanish Branch

Buenos dias everyone!!

Time sure does fly by doesn't it? I hope everyone's week was fantastic! It was definitely a rollercoaster of a week here for us for sure, but we continued to be diligent and miracles happened!

Alejandro kind of dropped out of contact for a few days. He felt like he was being bombarded with life, which I feel like we all can be at times, which is understandable. But the other day, he texted us and said he wants to meet up again and asked for chapters in the Book of Mormon to read so he could catch up! He's definitely excited to learn more and progress towards his baptism!

Ever, Elida, and Clarissa continue to be super excited about their baptism. So excited, in fact, that we moved their baptism up to this coming weekend! They're reading every night and are even taking notes! They're so diligent and it's so amazing to see the light of Christ grow in their eyes as they continue to learn more. Ever bore his testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday and at first, he wasn't too serious about it, but once he started talking, I could tell it was from the heart and he was being sincere. Araceli and Danny also bore their testimonies yesterday, and they brought in such a strong Spirit into the meeting. It is amazing to see how much their testimony of the Savior and His gospel have grown in just a few weeks. They are definitely kingdom builders.

Speaking of bearing testimonies, Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave a talk called "Witnesses of Christ" and it talks about how we should always bear testimony of Christ. Because of Him and through Him, all things are possible. Someone shared a quote about faith with me this wee by President Boyd K. Packer, and it says:

 "Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room for it... There are two kinds of faith. One of them functions ordinarily in the life of every soul. It is the of faith born by experience; it gives us certainty that a new day will dawn, that spring will come, that growth will take place. It is the kind of faith that relates us with confidence to that which is scheduled to happen... There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things...It comes by gradual growth. It is a marvelous, even a transcendent, power, a power as real and as invisible as electricity. Directed and channeled, it has great effect...In a world filled with skepticism and doubt, the expression 'seeing is believing promotes the attitude, 'you show me, and I will believe.' We want all of the proof and all of the evidence first. It seems hard to take things on faith. When will we learn that in spiritual things it works the other way about--that believing is seeing? Spiritual belief precedes spiritual knowledge. When we believe in things that are not seen but are nevertheless true, then we have faith."

My testimony and faith in Jesus Christ has grown exponentially on my mission so far, and there's so much more to grow. We don't receive a witness until after the trial of our faith, for sure. So when things are getting hard, and you're at the point of breaking, and it seems like there's no way you can get through this, that is when you press forward with steadfastness in Christ. That is when you're almost about to turn the corner and receive the witness of your faith. Don't give up. Persevere.

I love you all and I greatly appreciate every single one of your emails and thoughts and words of encouragement. Thank you so much! Have an amazing week! 

Love,

Elder Murphy

Kia Kaha

26 January 2015 - Wichita West - Spanish Branch

Hola everyone!

The past two weeks have just flown by! Lots of work and lots and lots of miracles! The Lord truly is in every detail of this work!

First of all, baptism!! Yesterday, Araceli and Danny were baptized! I hadn't explained a whole lot about their progress in the last email, but they became more and more excited to be baptized each day leading up to it. I definitely saw the changes from the first time I met them up until yesterday. There was such a different feeling in their home. And I am so excited to continue to teach them and also learn from them!

Last week, we were able to get a lot of new investigators! I know that absolutely none of it would have been possible without the Lord. Right now, we're teaching Ever, Elida, and Clarissa, who are three kids that are super excited to learn about the Gospel. And their dad is so open and willing to let us teach them. There's a true light in their eyes.

Alejandro (Danny's brother) sat in on one of our lessons with Araceli and Danny and became super interested in the Book of Mormon and learning more about Jesus Christ. He is progressing quickly, and already there is a change in him. He is reading the Book of Mormon each day and says he has felt a greater capacity to resist the increased temptations that he is beginning to face. There are so many tender mercies of the Lord in our everyday lives that help us change to receive the enabling power of the Atonement of Christ.

I've really been focusing on prayer the past couple of weeks. A lot of what I've learned is that we need to pray as an agent. When we ask for something from Heavenly Father, we should promise something that we are going to do to bring it to pass. Prayer is powerful!

Sorry it's a tad short this week! I know this gospel is true and I know Jesus Christ lives and he loves each and every one of you perfectly!

Love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Murphy

Kia Kaha

Elder Murphy, Presidente Cerceres, Araceli Flores, Danny Flores, Elder Malo, President & Sister Bell

Pics from Wichita

A picture from Elder Sudekum today, a senior couple in his district. 

Elder Murphy at District Meeting.

Elder Murphy doing the "no man can serve two masters" demonstration during district meeting. The way it works is that two extension cords are put on the floor in the shape of a "V" and the person starts out at the point and spreads himself out until he falls, showing that a person can only serve one Master.

12 January 2015 - Wichita West - Spanish Branch

Week 7

Hey everyone!!

I promise, I didn't forget to email last week. It just so happens that my P Day at the MTC was the day I left for Kansas. It's all good though! I'm here and miracles have for sure been happening!!

My last week in the Mexico City CCM seemed to drag, but just flew by!! Everything seemed to cram together in the last few days and by the end of it, I was just super ready to get out and work! For our last Sunday devotional, we watched one given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland a couple of years ago at the Provo MTC. And, in his Elder Holland way, taught us all a very important lesson. At the end of John, Peter and the other apostles don't really know what to do after Christ died. They're kind of just lost. So, they go back to doing the only thing they really know how to do: fish! So one day, they're fishing, without a whole lot of luck, and a man appears on the shore. He tells them to cast their net on the other side of the boat and they can't pull the net back up for the amount of fish they get. They know it's Christ. They got to shore as quickly as they could. Christ then asks Peter three times if he loves Him and in response to each, he says, yes of course. And Christ tells him to feed His sheep. The message Elder Holland got across to us is that we can't go back. We can't go back to our old ways. We have to love Christ with everything we have and them follow Him to the end. We aren't called to be disciples of Christ for just a couple of years or something. This is for time and eternity, and it really put being on a mission and being a disciple of Christ into perspective for me.

On Tuesday, we left, and, well that was a different experience. Mexico City is just pure chaos to say the least. We ended up getting to Kansas at about 5 and met up with President and Sister Bell, and the Assistants to the President. We went to the mission home and had a little orientation. We talked a lot about developing a vision for our mission, that is who we want and need to become at the end of our mission for the rest of our lives. It was really a spiritually uplifting experience.

The next day, Wednesday, I met my first companion! His name's Elder Malo and is super hard working and super cool! We're serving in the Wichita West area in the Spanish Branch and we haven't stopped working since I got here. I love it!! President Bell told us and I've already seen that this is a mission of miracles. Miracles really do happen if we work as the Lord would have us work.

We were walking my first day and Elder Malo asked me which home was ready. I was pretty lost (kind of felt like Elder Calhoun from The Best Two Years, literally, every aspect) and I didn't know the area at all. So I picked one that I felt stood out to me. Jacklyn opened the door and was extremely receptive to the Gospel and has already increased her faith. Miracles do really happen!

I've learned a lot in my first few days that we need to fear God more than man. He has a plan and we just need to have the faith that if we are exactly obedient, miracles will happen and you will see His hand in your everyday life. There are so many examples of God-fearing people in the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. I strive everyday the be more and more exactly obedient and really work until I can't work anymore.

That's about all the time I have for this week! I know this Gospel is true with everything that I have. God has a plan for each and every one of us and He wants the best for us. Prayer is amazing. Our Heavenly Father answers every single one in His own way.

I love you all and I love hearing from all of you! Have an absolutely fantastic week!

Para siempre Dios este con vos.

Love,

Elder Murphy

Kia Kaha

6 January 2015

Week 6

Leaving Mexico City for Kansas - no email.