Work, work, work!!

Hola mis queridos Hermanos..

This week was full of ups and downs...We are working really hard with our baptismal dates to get them ready for baptism. You should see our weekly planning. Our schedules are always crazy busy but this week especially! No one came to church yesterday, which really bummed me out! We all need to go to church and dedicate Sunday to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ..partake of the Sacrament and remember the Atonement of our Savior. It is very hard with investigators when they dont follow through with commitments because we are so involved with them and helping them along this path to baptism..we know they will receive the answers they are seeking through the Spirit, but they have to do their part, read, pray and go to church. Faith without works is dead!

Those on date are Fransisco, Angel, Jorge, Julio and Diana..Lorenzo definately moved so that is a bit depressing, we hope he can continue to learn and still be baptized in his new area! Fransisco has been really sick lately and had to go to the hospital..we have been praying so much for his health to get better. We havent been in contact with him for a week and thats a long time in the mission field when we were having daily contact! I miss him! His baptism is set for this Sunday but we may have to move it back to get him more prepared. He has taken lessons with missionaries for 3 years so he has been taught everything more than once. We want him to receive all the blessings of the Gospel and baptism is such an important step. In my mission I have been able to taste a bit of the desperation that Heavenly Father feels for His children. He wants to bless us so much and He is waiting for us to make the right decisions and follow the promptings He gives us that lead to eternal happiness. Fransisco knows it's true, he has felt the Spirit reassure him..

Angel is a whole different story. Unfortunately his job makes it impossible for him to come to church on Sundays..which means he isnt keeping the sabbath day holy. This is a struggle for a lot of people we are teaching. We had a really spiritual lesson with him, talking about how we need to put Heavenly Father first in our life and all the things of the world including money will fall into place. It seems obvious to keep his two jobs to pay the bills and so on..we expressed to him that quitting a job to be able to go to church on Sundays is a test of his faith. God knows everything we are all going through, at times before we make a huge step spiritually (like a baptism in Angel's case) God will ask us to show Him our faith and do what's right. We shared the parable of the rich man, Christ asked him to give up all the things of the world and follow Him, but the man couldnt do it...We all know that the things of God bring eternal happiness, while the materials of the world only bring temporary happiness. We can't have any other Gods before Heavenly Father! I shared my experience from Cal and how I made the decision to transfer schools to be more comfortable with my religion..Heavenly Father tested my faith to make that hard decision then blessed me after with a mission and ASU! It is way hard to step into the dark and trust, but once we do it a few times we learn to really have confidence in God and realize His will will bring more happiness then our will. Big steps in conversion! Anyways, Angel decided to quit the job in our lesson because he felt peace with that decision...then he changed his mind and called Sunday morning to let us know he wouldnt be coming. I still have faith he will be baptized, it will just take some time to adjust his frame of mind.

Jorge is aking his boss about his work hours to get off on Sundays...Julio also has work but it progressing very well! Diana wasnt home for church yesterday when we went by to pick her up. Yesterday was a rough day. I talked to a few members at church because they noticed I was down. Hermano Santiago pepped me up and said you are doing a great work! You are planting seeds along the way, that will flourish whether its while you are here or after. Hermana Crespo shared with us about her experiences dodging the missionaries..they used to not answer the door for the missionaries on Sunday morning..and now they are baptized! Yipee! So yeah its all a process, still got my faith..just going to do all thats in my power to help them..most is up to their agency and the Lord.

Gladis is absolutely amazing and is progressing very..we are focusing on marriage and gave her and her boyfriend the movie, Together Forever. They want a strong, happy family so I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will help them achieve that! Hermana Alma came with us and strongly testified about how the church has helped her and her family. I also talked about my desire to have an Eternal family and my excitement to teach my kids!

Adrian's baptism was on Saturday..that was the highlight of the week! The Ortega family is all set now to go to the Temple and be sealed for all time and eternity! We are so thrilled to be able to go with them this Saturday to Nauvoo..a lot of the branch is going to support them and another family, the Rodriguez, is also getting sealed. We are so excited! Ill let you know Monday how it goes. We did splits again with Esmerelda and Jenni Crespo. I am in love with her daughter, Debbi. She is like my little sister! I told her she has to serve a mission.

Well I appreciate every experience I have on my mission and I look forward to more work work work! We found some sweet new investigators at the laundry mat today. :) Love you all!

Hermana Murphy