letter!!!

Hello Spring,

Well, the rain was pouring down this week...even when us Hermanas and the Elders were planting flowers for a family..so we ran around and got soaked. It was hilarious! I woke up scared to death because the thunder and lightning storm was so loud. Hermana Reese has this weather alarm and it kept going off and telling us a tornado was coming. All I could think about was the Wizard of Oz. We survived so it was okay.

The lowlight of the week was the fact that Omar didnt follow through with his baptism. :( He is scared of committing to the Lord and being held accountable. We do take upon ourselves the name of Christ and there is responsibility with that...Christ is there to back us up if we do fall after baptism. We will never be perfect! We are made that way so we have to depend on God! (Ether 12:27) Ofcourse, it is scary! It is about faith and taking a step into the unknown and then receiving tons of blessings! I was nervous, then at my baptism I was overcome with the Spirit and knew it was the right thing! I am so thankful for my decision. Omar is going to keep reading in the Book of Mormon and praying; I know God will help him prepare more and increase his faith. Highlight of the week: Adela and Janeth coming to church and then going to Janeth's birthday party! We also went to a violin concert to a boy in the branch. It was adorable!

Hermana Reese is a wonderful companion. We are starting a 40 day fast where we sacrifice certain things for 40 days to bring us closer to the Lord. We want the Spririt more in our companionship. Itll be a challenge but its worth it. We each made our own lits and shared them with eachother.

I love you all! I get to talk to my family next week because its Mother's Day and we have transfers..I hope I stay here!

Love,

Hermana Murphy

hola!!!

hola hola hola

This week has been super busy and fun! Our investigators are doing good...Omar is ready to be baptized- we are helping him have confidence in his decision! He is nervous and excited. I explained to him how I was also nervous but we can't fear the unknown in this situation. We have to have faith in Heavenly Father and the answer we receive to be baptized and do it! He will opening a door to many blessings. His baptism is scheduled for this Saturday. Francisco is starting to understand the importance of the Book of Mormon. He is going to pray and I know he will receive his answer! He feels he needs to know everything before being baptized! So not true. We need to have a desire to follow Christ and feel the Holy Ghost testify to us that the Church is true..we continue to learn as members everday. I shared with him my experience of conversion..how I didnt know everything but felt the Spirit while reading the BOM. My favorite scripture is Alma 32:28 talking about how we plant the word of God in our soul and if it is true, the seed will grow in our heart. I also compare it to a testimony...it starts small but with daily nourishment of scripture study and prayer, it grows and grows!! Fransisco will come around, we hope to set a date with him soon. We had a great lesson with Angel. Hermano Otanez explained the restoration very clearly and Angel said if he receives an answer, he will follow it and be baptized. We had a strong lesson with Adela and her family. We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" and talked about how we can strengthen our faith. Adela wants to strengthen her beliefs, she feels like she doesnt have much faith left because of some experiences she has had. We will pump her up! We found some sweet new investies too...

Other news: The Zone leaders in our branch had a baptism. Ramon was baptized. He is going to be a strong member! I told him its the best decision he could be making. I beat Elder Finnerty at horse. The spring flowers are so nice! I love the Sunshine! I experienced an Easter aftershock thanks to Clay and Shelby..thanks!

Church was really crazy! We had a special seminary program during sacrament in spanish and english so us 4 missionaries got to translate in both languages..I taught the Old Testament class with Elder Finnerty. That was fun! I told the seminary kids they should be thankful they get to go to class every morning..I didnt have that. We taught about Moses and the ten commandments..we focused a lot on the first commandment about not having any other gods before Heavenly Father...there are many things in the world that can be considered gods..money, technology, fame..but all of that changes whereas Heavenly Father is constant. He has restored the Church of Christ again on this earth because that is His way of guiding us through a Prophet. We also acted it out where Moses went to talk to God and came back and the people started to worship a bull...I played the bull part. haha

Well lots has been learned this week and Im excited for another week of working hard and helping others grow in the Gospel.

love Hermana Murphy

Loved Conference!

Hola otra vez! Como estan?

April 5, 2010

I am in Des Moines and loving it. Hermana Reese and I are still getting all snuggled into our new apartment..its way better! This week was full of training. We had Zone Conference, which was awesome and then General Conference!! Our Zone Conference was focused on being an obedient and consecrated missionary. Hermana Reese and I are working on being as obedient as we can because thats how we will be blesses with the Spirit, and the Spirit is what converts our investigators! Ofcourse, we have faults and that is why we have Jesus Christ. Through Him we can overcome weaknesses and be the missionary Heavenly Father wants us to be! I know I wont be perfect, but I am trying to improve every day. :) We talked a lot at Zone Conference about following up on our investigators- basically making them the center of your life as a missionary. I may become a little obsessed but thats ok. :) But we are trying to call them everyday and help them to feel comfortable with the Church and doing their daily reading and praying. There are some things we are going to start implementing in this area, such as a "Our Heritage" class. We are going to start teaching a class about the history of the church, aimed at the less-actives, recent converts and investigators. In Sioux City that was a topic of interest but we were teaching the Gospel Principles class every week (that class is already provided here in Sunday school.) It'll be great! If you did not watch General Conference..you should! It was amazing. We learn so much from the leaders of our church. The talks will be available on lds.org to either listen to or watch. The big theme of the conference was Jesus Christ, families and mother/ daughter relationships. My family is the most important thing to me! I am so thankful for the church's focus on that unit. I want to study psychology and help struggling families...because the world is degrading the family unit! What each family really needs is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the living Prophet of God. :)

Updates on the investigators: Cynthia is getting baptized on Saturday. She is very excited! We spent Easter afternoon with her and her family, we dyed easter eggs and did an easter egg hunt. It was fun! They had never dyed eggs before so it was a special experience. I do every year with Bompy and Nanny. :) We are having a baptismal service on April 24 and have set that date with Omar, Lindolfo and Christine. Omar has an amazing story. He has had a rough life, but through his faith in Christ has stepped into the light. He really wants to change for the better and continue to do whats right. We are working with him on some word of wisdom issues but we have faith he will stop drinking because he knows its the right thing to do. We are contacting him daily. He came to Saturday General Conference at The Juhls house (Bompy and Nanny's friends) with us Hermanas and our Zone Leaders. He loved conference and was able to hear the testimonies of members. The Juhls are the sweetest people and fed us a feast! I also got to say hi to Nanny and Bompy. Oh, how much I love them! I thanked the Juhls a million times for the special day. Anyways...Lindolfo is the sweetest old man! He and Christine are married-which is interesting because he only speaks spanish and she only speaks english..so I guess facial expressions work wonders for them? ha. They are both looking for the truth and felt the Spirit strongly at General Conference. We are working with Lindolfo to stop praying to Maria but to Heavenly Father instead and Christine to stop smoking. I have faith in each one of these investigators that through the Atonement of Christ and with the help of the Lord they will be prepared for their baptism on the 24th!

All is well here in Des Moines and we are going to work so hard to help our investigators progress and keep their commitments. We are their guides back to Heavenly Father, it's a wonderful calling!

Love you all,

Hermana Murphy