New Letter!!!

Hola mi familia y amigos!!!

The most exciting thing that went down this week was the confirmation of Omar! He received the Gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. He is so happy! He has been a fantastic person to teach and I have seen so much growth in him through the Atonement of Jesus Christ! We also found out in our president's email:

"We are thrilled to announce that Brother & Sister Dirk & Laurie Jergensen, from San Diego, CA have been called as the new mission president and his wife for our mission. Please add them to your daily prayers. They will be a blessing to you and the work. In addition there will be changes to the makeup of our mission with the consolidation of the Peoria Illinois Mission, our mission and the St. Louis Mission. We have not received any details and so anything else would be just speculation. Please don't let this be a distraction, we will update you as we receive details." Lots of changes taking place for our mission! It's all very exciting. I will miss the Talbots so much; they are the most down to earth, humble servants of the Lord. Great examples for me! I look forward to meeting our new mission president and his wife this summer; especially since they are from California! Wahoo!

I actually ran into a sister missionary I knew from home; she is in my district now. She is the niece of my trainer, Dave Warner. Crazy! Our district now has two sets of sisters and then one set of Elders. We outnumber for once! The sisters are serving in Vermillian. We also are sharing a car with the Elders in Sioux City so every other week we wont have a car! So we are depending on rides from members but also will be borrowing the zone leaders' bikes! Thatll be fun in the freezing cold...but Im not going to lie the exercise part is thrilling. Some of our favorite missionaries, Elder Jones and Elder Webster got transferred...we will miss them but will see them sometime down the road again! Elder Casey Jones will be going to ASU after his mission in May. He will be one of my first friends there!

Hermana McGuire has been giving me singing lessons and teaching me how to read music. :) Thats a plus; she is really into music and plays the trumpet. We are doing a special musical number with the zone leaders on Thursday at Zone Conference; so I have been practicing. I dont want President Talbot to cry from my horrible singing!

Sounds like many exciting things are happening at home! My baby brother, Bobby, is here! Congrats Dad and Heidi. Allyson is getting married! Im so excited! I also found out that I get my number at ASU. #14! I will be rocking it. :) Good times.

Our families in the ward are doing great. We have been working way hard at finding new investigators! We tracted a bunch and found lots. I love Sioux City...so many Spanish speaking people, its great! I love the work and am looking forward to helping more of God's children come unto Christ! I love you all, have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Murphy

Letter!!

Hello World,

We are staying here in Sioux City for one more transfer..until the end of March. I am so happy because things are going well here for us and we want to help strengthen the Spanish converts and investigators! This week has been a real winner. Omar was baptized last night! It was so great…all our recent converts came to support him and the Spanish families in the ward. Hermana McGuire call them our “peeps” because there isn’t a lot of us Spanish speaking members in the ward but we are growing and getting stronger! Omar was very happy last night; he called us and said thank you. We are so excited for him! He is going to be a strong member. We are working on getting him fellowshippers because there aren’t single adults his age in the church. He is actually thinking about moving to Utah or Arizona. Haha.

We has fast/testimony meeting on Sunday. I bore my testimony in Spanish (wahoo!) and gave my thanks to Heavenly Father for letting me be a representative of Jesus Christ. I appreciate the opportunities I have every day to share the Plan of Salvation and how we can live with our families forever. I am thankful for the restoration of the Gospel and for Temple work! We have a great responsibility to share our testimonies and knowledge with those who haven’t received our message. How great is our calling!

I know that Heavenly Father is involved in this work and is touching the hearts of our investigators. We had some intense lessons this week; with Delmar and Carlos. Amanda straight up told her husband Carlos, we are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, not Joseph Smith. He has had doubts about whether or not we worship Joseph Smith. I think he gets it now. We only worship God and Jesus Christ! He will come around, he felt the Spirit strongly at his wife and kids baptism. Delmar is Melissa’s boyfriend (Melissa’s kids were baptized in November). Delmar is having trouble accepting the Book of Mormon and we had a 2 hour lesson yesterday with Brother Rillings. He is going to pray about the truthfulness of it. That is really all we can do to know that it really is scripture. That’s how I know, through the testimony of the Holy Ghost!

I love all of you, and I love life. I love our Heavenly Father, and all of His children. I look forward to bringing more souls unto Christ, only possible with the help of Heavenly Father and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Love you.

-Hermana Murphy

Hello from Caitlyn!!!

Why hello!!!

Things are going well here in good old Iowa and Nebraska. We cross the state border probably 10 times a day. We are so blessed here! I love being a Spanish speaking missionary..even though they don’t always understand what we are saying they can feel the love of the Lord through our Spirit and smile! This week we contacted a lot of people and only one English speaking person accepted a Jesus Christ pass along card and about 50 Spanish speaking people accepted cards. Come on white people! J I love the Spanish culture and the love and warmth of the people. I can be myself and show all the love I want!

The Spanish part of the ward is really getting stronger. So strong we are going to start having sacrament, Relief Society and Priesthood classes in Spanish! We are so excited about this! Our members will be able to hear the word of God in their own native language rather than in English with missionaries translating to their best ability. We are so thankful for Heavenly Father’s hand in this work and try to show our gratitude everyday. We have been humbled and know we couldn’t do it without Him! Our recent converts are thriving. Amanda and Celia LOVE church and love to participate. I know their testimonies will continue to grow and grow. They are very happy…on Sunday Celia was smiling and I was like why are you smiling and she said Im happy! I thought that was cute. The Phillips family came to church, which made me so excited. I love them so much and Sonya said she really felt good at church. They haven’t been able to go since their baptism because of living conditions and being in Macy. They will be back next Sunday! Omar is nervous and excited for his baptism on February 9. He is finally letting the Atonement affect his life and forgive himself of his faults. We all have faults! Heavenly Father gives us weaknesses so that through Christ we can be made strong. Omar has been a great investigator and will make a strong member…he thinks deeply about life and knows that the baptismal commitment he is about to make is a huge promise to God as well as a step closer to living with God after this life. He is ready!

Other news: I got the flu this week! Lame! Amanda was so cute and worried… she bought me medicine at the store and a cute monkey stuffed animal that makes kiss noises! I am feeling better now! I also got two letters from Krisia! Her wedding photos are beautiful!! I put them on my wall in my room. All my girlfriends looked good and Krisia looked like an angel. Missionaries here thought we were sisters! Hehe Congrats Krisia and Kyle…hope you got my wedding card in the mail. So I now have a Koran..we have made friends with many Muslims here and exchanged a Book of Mormon for a Koran. Religion really does intrigue me. Hermana McGuire and I were excited when we made the trade.

Well I love everyone! We are working on making more baptismal dates this week and helping our investigators progress. Please pray that Heavenly Father will guide us to His children that are ready and willing to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ into their life!

Love
Hermana Murphy

Last week's letter:)

January 18, 2010 I have googly eyes
Hola!

Wow- today has been crazy! I woke up crying, thinking my favorite investigator, Amanda, was going to get deported to Guatamala...she got pulled over last night and was in jail over the night. Luckily she got released and just has to pay a fine and cant drive anymore. They didnt say anything about her being an illegal immigrant...thank goodness...so her wedding and baptism are on for this Saturday! We are planning it all and itll be great! We have been teaching Amanda’s fiance, Carlos, as well...he really likes the teachings- just needs more time. Ariana and Andrew have been loving their lessons and are way excited for their baptism Saturday.

We had a baptism Saturday night, Ruben was baptized. He is a great guy! He is thirteen and we have been teaching his mom and him. His mom didnt feel ready to get baptized...but he was really excited and felt prepared. After he was baptized, we asked him, “how do you feel?” and he said, “ the best I have ever felt!” That was so cool! His brother was recently baptized in California as well and they are really close. Like Jilly and me! We are working with a lot of investigators and are so blessed! Celia and her family are really loving church. I am so proud of our ward and how welcoming everyone has been to our investigators. The Spanish women have really united together and supported eachother along this journey! They tend to fight over us Hermanas, all wanting their individual time with us. It’s really funny. Hermana Florez, Baraza and the Briseno family have been great member presents. Hermana Baraza actually started teaching our Wednesday night classes and she is doing a great job! Her and her family have been less-active but we are trying to pave a way for them to make their way back! We are going to eat at their house this week, Im excited about that! We have been getting so many meals lately! The Florez family have us over twice a week, the Brisenos and ofcourse Amanda. Amanda had all the missionaries over and she taught me how to make Gorditos It was funny because she burnt the chili, and we are started coughing. Im going to me a great mexican cook when I come home! Bompy is excited for me to help with family dinners. :) Thatll be great!

Other news...Omar is doing pretty good. He is having some trouble accepting the Atonement in his life and forgiving himself of past things. We are trying to help him keep the Word of Wisdom. We cant believe how much he has changed already! Without us telling himhe cut his hair, took off his black nail polish and he took out his ear piercing...totally the Spirit directing him! Way cool. We are going to keep being there for him and supporting him. We might have the Elders give him a blessing to help him with his temptations of drugs and alcohol.

Last pday we totally went sledding! It was so much fun! I am growing a love for the snow. I will definately be hitting up tahoe! The weather here has totally warmed up. This week has been good. I know the Lord is involved in this work! I love when neat things happen that show me over and over that He is with us every step of the way. For example, we found a new investigator at Walmart so we go to her house to teach her, we wrote down the wrong apartment number but Esperanza and her family were ready to learn. Also last night we were tracting and knocked a door where a family really needed our message of the Plan of Salvation. It was the third anniversary of a mother’s son’s death. Our message that she can be sealed to him in the Temple for all Eternity really brought hope and love into her heart. I had a neat experiance sharing a scripture with Sister Brown. I shared with her, Matthew 10: 39 “ He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” This scripture meant a lot to me when I read it during my scripture study because it describes my conversion. Before I found my relationship with Christ, my life was all about school, volleyball and my family, which are all very important things..But I was missing my purpose and what should be first in my life: God. I felt like something was missing and I wasnt completely happy. Once I discovered my purpose and my relationship with God through prayer that missing puzzle piece in my heart was filled and I was baptized. Since my baptism, my life has been about fulfilling the things Heavenly Father wants me to fulfill. He has a plan for each and everyone of us and we can know our purpose and receive direction in every choice we make through prayer. My discovery of prayer changed my life and grew me close to my Savior. I am so thankful for my conversion and for the restoration of the Church of Christ. I am thankful that as a child of God, I can receive his direction and follow it! Anyways, that scripture touched me and I wanted to share it with all of you! :) I love you all and hope to hear from you soon! Sioux City is great and Hermana McGuire is too! Funny story: I talked to the other Hermanas, Jordan and Reese in Des Moines who were with me in Sioux City before Hermana Mcguire came...they said that they are more lovey dovey with eachother now! Thats because they received a lot of hugs and love from me! Yeah! Spread the love. I broke Hermana Madsen out of her bubble and Im working on Hermana Mcguire. Hehe I love you Hermana Madsen if you are reading this! Adios!
Oh before I forget...we had a great time doing service this week. We go to the Floyd House, a place for old people...we have made close friends there...and we have tried to connect with themby playing cards and talking. Well, we found out this week that the way to connect with them is by playing Wii sports! I have never played Wii and I cant believe that they know how to play video games! We got it approved by President, so dont worry..but Im excited! Wahoo!

-Hermana Murphy

First letter of 2010!!

Here is Caitlyn's first letter for the new year...

January 4, 2010

Hola! Happy New Year Everyone! Our New Year was spent at Hermana Florez’s house eating Mexican food and playing cards with the other missionaries because we weren’t allowed to drive (people are kind of crazy on new years I guess.) Exciting News! Scott Haycock and Jenna Lee Bates are engaged! I love them and am happy for them! Aww. The mission was excited since Elder Haycock served here!

Lots has happened this last week! To start, I have a new companion, mi hija, Hermana McGuire- from Utah, strawberry blonde hair, likes to sing, goes to BYU, loves missionary work, good at Spanish, great at navigating me in the snow (my driving is ok-don’t worry), and she likes to smile a lot! I like her! We have had some cool experiences together thus far.

We had a very spiritual lesson with Amanda and Celia. We listened to a General Conference talk by Elder Hales about believing in God and Jesus Christ and following the feelings of the Spirit. I love our investigators so much! During this lesson, as I bore my testimony, I cried because our investigators are so special to Heavenly Father. He has prepared them to accept the Gospel and I am honored to be guided by the Spirit to those ready to be baptized! Amanda cried while listening to the talk because she also felt the Spirit strongly. She said afterwards that she knows the Apostles and Prophet are truly called of God. She has been a great example to me of faith because she is willing to follow the Spiritual promptings she receives. Her and her boyfriend, Carlos are going to drive to South Dakota to get their wedding license. We might do a wedding and baptism at our church on January 23. We haven’t fully planned it yet. We have been teaching her kids, Ariana and Andrew, and they are really learning fast! We actually got the chance to teach Carlos and will be every week! He hasn’t let us before but now he wants to learn. That is a huge blessing! We are praying to prepare him to be baptized. We set 3 more baptismal dates this week! Heavenly Father really is blessing us! Amanda’s best friend, Celia and her two daughters (Yareli and Maria) are going to be baptized February 13. They are so excited! We had been teaching Celia with Amanda occasionally but we have started to teach her and her family at their house. We are so happy for them!

Church was great yesterday! Was the first Sunday being the Senior companion at church. I had to show Hermana McGuire around, do more translating, and a bunch of other things! It was fun though. Amanda, Celia, Yareli, Maria, Elva, Reuben, and Omar were able to come to church yesterday. Elva and Reuben are still excited about their baptism on January 16. Elva isn’t sure if she will be ready then, but we are still helping her prepare. Reuben is all into it, reading his Book of Mormon and talking a lot with his brother (who was recently baptized in Ca) about the scriptures. He will be ready! If Elva isn’t she can be baptized on February 9 with Omar or the 13th with Celia and her family. I have faith that she will get baptized! We had our fast/testimony meeting yesterday and I bore my testimony is Spanish! Was way fun! But I totally cried while talking about the love God has for His children and how strongly I have felt that for our investigators. As I was talking, I made eye contact with Amanda and she was crying. Missions are the best! These sweet experiences couldn’t be felt any other place. Amanda and I will be friends forever.

We had a very powerful lesson with Omar on the Atonement and repentance. He has been changing so much! Unfortunately, he had some deaths in his family which led to him being very depressed. He fell back into some old habits, against the Word of Wisdom. We helped him see that he can repent and be forgiven through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. For the first time, he repented in prayer last night. We talked to him on the phone this morning and we shared 1Nefi 3: 7 with him that basically states God will provide a way to do anything he has commanded us to do. So with Omar, if God as commanded him to follow the Word of Wisdom, Heavenly Father will help him achieve and bless him with strength. Omar has committed to live it and rely on the help of God. He even cut his long hair shorter to be clean cut! We are so proud of him. He is so excited about his baptism!

I look forward to a very busy week and to share the Gospel with more of Heavenly Father’s children! We really want to strengthen the Spanish part of the Ward here and get them more involved. The English part of the ward has really changed their attitude and are more willing to help out. We are having Hermana and Hermano Baraza teach our Wednesday night class so that they are more involved (less-active Spanish family.) We hope to impact Sioux City and help out as many people as possible!

Love you all! Have a great week.

Hermana Murphy

recent letter & photos!!!

December 29, 2009
Hola!! Wowie! This week was packed with Christmas spirit! To start off…we showed Joy to the World in Spanish at the church Monday night…Elva, Rueben, Omar, Angel, Cilvia and her family and others came to watch. I love that film because it focuses on why Christmas is important..to celebrate Christ’s birth! The crazy snow storm this week prohibited us from having our Wednesday night Gospel Principles Class. We got so much snow this week! I will be talking more about that later in the letter. We had a fun district meeting on Christmas Eve! Our Zone leaders dressed up as Santa and Elves..we laughed our heads off! We also had an activity where we taught the Restoration of the Gospel while using props. My prop was an umbrella, and I needed to connect umbrellas to prophets. I said that God knows the “forecast” and can provide us with the help we need to shield us from the evil storms of life…Prophets are a protection that Heavenly Father provides in each dispensation. I am so thankful for the guidance of our Prophet today, Thomas S. Monson. Christmas Eve was amusing because we had a fiesta at the church with Spanish members and investigators. Not many people came because the snow was pretty dangerous to drive in! But Omar, Eddy, Ignacio, Hermana Florez, Nefi, Melissa’s kids and the missionaries were there. We had a good time hitting the piñata! I crushed it! What satisfaction! Candy flying everywhere! J

Christmas was an intense adventure! Earlier in the week we had gone shopping with Amanda to help her buy Christmas presents for her kids. They had never had a Christmas, so we wanted to help her out. My parents helped out because I didn’t really need anything for Christmas. So we wrapped all these presents and stockings in our apartment and but them in bags like Santa bags. On Christmas morning the Hermanas and I opened up presents we got from each other and some we had gotten from our families… the snow was so bad no one was driving but we were determined to go to Amanda’s and deliver the presents…our little red car made it to her house after getting stuck twice. We were lucky! The Zone leaders met us there and were dressed up as Santa and Elves…us Hermanas wearing reindeer antlers. It was great! We woke up the kids and they each sat on Santa’s lap and opened presents. They were so surprised and thankful for their Christmas! I am thankful to have shared that experience with their kids..so thanks to my family for helping out! After opening presents, we helped Amanda make pancakes to have a breakfast feast! I love her family so much; they are like my family. Amanda will be getting married soon and we got her and Carlos an Olive Garden gift card to go out to eat after. They have never been there and always have wanted to go. After Amanda’s we went to the Widdison’s house with the other Elders and played Apples to Apples. That game is entertaining! Bompy has been writing me and telling me about it and I finally experienced it! Later that afternoon, we went to Hermana Florez’s house to eat lunch and call our families! That was so neat talking to my family; felt like we didn’t lose a beat…talking baby talk with Mom and Nanny, getting all the news about volleyball from my dad, talking to Bompy about cooking…I got to call my mommy and my daddy. Luckily both were with other family members so I got to talk to lots of people! I love my family so much and really appreciate all they have done for me. I committed my mommy to read the Book of Mormon and receive missionary lessons. I really want the blessing of the Gospel to be shared with my family. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and is another testament of Christ…I challenge all to read it and ask Heavenly Father if it is true! I will see my family in a year! I promised Bompy that I will help a lot with next the next Christmas dinner, since I like to cook now. My Christmas was way good!

Well, we totally got snowed in the day after Christmas…day full of studying, sleeping, writing letters, playing cards…Church was even cancelled on Sunday because of the snow, so the Elders came over to our apartment and blessed the Sacrament so we could take it. That was nice of them. We sang a few hymns and had a Spiritual thought.

Transfers are coming up Thursday…us Hermanas are driving to Des Moines tomorrow and I will get my new companion Thursday morning. I am so excited to meet her and serve with her. It’ll be nice to start fresh with a new transfer and set new goals. I hope that I can train her well and be a good example to her! She will teach me a lot too. I am grateful for having these two weeks to serve with Hermana Reese and Jordan because both have taught me more as well. I will serve with both probably after I train Hermana Mcguire…we will see! We have lots of work to still get done here in Sioux City. We have baptismal dates for this month and have found new investigators to teach. I really want to make the Spanish in our ward stronger..eventually they can have a branch! It’s fun to see where other missionaries go for transfers as well. I talked to Elder Holman and he might be moved into my Zone. Thatd be crazy! I know one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Blanchard is transferring to another zone. He has been here this whole time in Sioux City with me! Crazy!

I have seen many miracles of Heavenly Father in the work this week; He is able to guide us missionaries through the Holy Ghost and put us in places where there are people in need of the Gospel. We had a house we needed to contact and the lady, Maria, was never home. We drove by her house on one of the snowy days this week…looked like no one was home but I had an impression that we needed to go knock. So we got out of the car and knocked and she was there! We shared the first lesson with her and are returning to her house this week-end. She really enjoyed the lesson and wants us to teach all of her children. The Plan of Salvation will bring her much peace, because her husband passed away, and she will learn that he is in the Spirit World right now learning about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she can do the necessary ordinances for him in the Temple! What a blessing! Yesterday we had to stop at a gas station to go to the bathroom…Heavenly Father totally put Jamie and Francisco in our path. They were prior investigators who we had lost touch with. I reinvited them to learn and felt much satisfaction to know things are ok with them. Jim is a cool story! We contacted him on Christmas Eve when he was shoveling outside..gave him some pamphlets but didn’t get his contact information. We wished we had. Well, last night we were at a house we needed to contact, but they weren’t home. The house across the street has lights on and I felt an impression that we should go knock. Well we knocked and it was totally Jim’s house! That was so exciting to know that Heavenly Father was guiding us to Jim again! He is totally being prepared to accept the Gospel. We invited him and his family to come to church and gave their contact info to the Elders to go and teach. Elder Jones is really excited about it. I know that Heavenly Father guides us missionaries to find those that are prepared, we just have to be willing to act on the impression we feel!

I am so thankful for this Gospel and for the happiness it brings into my life. I am grateful for the chance to share it with people and help them feel Heavenly Father’s love in their lives. I know its true and we can become closer to Christ through His church. I love all of you and my prayers are with you! Have a happy new year! Happy birthday Lizzy and Jilly. Love you both lots!

Love Hermana Murphy

Christmas Letter!!

Feliz Navidad! Estoy muy emocionada para la Navidad en Sioux City! This week is going to be very much like Christmas. At the church on Tuesday, we are showing Joy to the World for the Spanish members and investigators. Wednesday we will have our normal Gospel Principles class, focusing on Christ . We are having a fiesta at the church on Christmas Eve with all the families of the Spanish members and our investigators. It’ll be so great! The Bishop is helping provide food and we are getting a piñata. I am also bringing Nanny and Bompy’s treats they sent me…those will be popular! On Christmas day we are waking up and opening presents in our apartment (my family sent me them in the mail, even my stocking Nanny made me!!) , then going to Amanda Gomez’s house to watch her kids open presents and make pancakes. I love that family so much! She is like my best friend. I want all of you to meet her someday. She has a heart of gold and so much love for God. After that, we are going to the Widdisons (family in the ward) to have more breakfast with all the Elders in our zone. On Christmas we will be having dinner with Hermana Florez and with the Brisenos. During that time we will also be calling home to our families! I am way excited to talk to my family. It’s been a long time…I am thankful for the weekly e-mailing, letters, pictures, tape recorders…but the phone will be SWEET! I love my family so much!

This week has been crazy! My companion, Hermana Jenny Madsen finished her mission. We had an emotional goodbye. I miss her lots. She is such a great person and one of my best friends. We will be friends for life! Sonya, Bryan and Bryanna received the Gift of the Holy Ghost in church on Sunday. I wish Jenny could have been there. We love this family so much and have put so much sweat and tears into helping them find their path back to Heavenly Father. We are so proud of the change they have made through becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. Kianna Lovejoy was also baptized/confirmed on Sunday. It was a great thing! Bryanna asked me if she could get baptized again because it made her feel happy! Isnt that cute? Church was great yesterday! We had fasted with Elva and Reuben in regards to their baptismal date, January 16. They came to church and felt really good about preparing for that date! Amanda has also been fasting to know if the Church is true and if she, Ariana and Andrew should be baptized on January 23. She told me that she felt so much peace and happiness. Yeah! I told her that was the Holy Ghost confirming to her that it is true! She has encountered adversity because some friends and family have tried telling her that Joseph Smith was crazy, he wrote the Book of Mormon, and that the church was full of lies. Well despite all that, she has continued learning because she knows it is of God. We had an AMAZING spiritual experience together on Friday night. I had been making phone calls to investigators seeing who we should visit that night, because our appointment fell through. I had an impression to call Amanda…when she answered she was hysterically crying..explaining to me the troubles her family has been encountering, her relationship with her boyfriend isn’t as strong as she would like it to be, how she wants to be a better mother to make her kids happier…then she had been praying to Heavenly Father to help her with her trials, guide her in the right direction, she had been telling Him if the church is true she would get baptized no matter what it takes, asking Him for a sign to tell her yes the church is true and yes you need to be baptized…Then I called her! We both ended up crying on the phone together…we knew it was a sign from Heavenly Father that she needs to continue growing in the Gospel and be baptized. The Gospel will help strengthen her family and relationships…make her family happier and fill her home with the love of God. We are planning her wedding for the beginning of January and her baptism for January 23. I am so proud of her for her willingness to follow the Spirit and the guidance of God. She is a great example for me!

Omar is so excited about his baptism! I told him about my experience with Amanda and he was pumped! We are still working with him on living the Word of Wisdom and being prepared by February 9.

The Hermanas from Des Moines have been here in Sioux City with me. They are great! Hermana Reese has been on her mission for 2 more transfers then me and Hermana Jordan is in her first transfer. Being in a three some is a bit different, but I am used to it from the MTC with Hermana Taulanga and Nielson (which are doing great by the way! We have been writing and keeping in contact). Speaking of my MTC district, I talked to Elder Holman on the phone! He is doing great. We wished each other a Merry Christmas and he got the addresses of some of my family members to send them a Christmas card. So be expecting that, family.

We have found some new promising investigators! Cilvia and her family, Bitalino and Sandra! We will see how they progress, but we mentioned baptism to all of them and they seemed positive about it. I love the work and helping Heavenly Father’s children receive the blessings of baptism. I have seen how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can transform lives. I am so thankful for His birth and his ministry. I know that the true Church of Christ has been restored to this earth and we have a living Prophet today. I know this because I have prayed about it and received an answer through the Holy Ghost, and the burning in my heart. I encourage all of you to pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him if He has a Prophet on the Earth today to lead His people!

Love you all and have a very Merry Christmas!

-Hermana Murphy