Bed bugs are back...so gross!

Hello Family and Friends,

The bugs are back! So we moved again to the mission home. They are coming to spray our apartment again but it scares me. I would rather move or stay forever with the Jergesens. They are really nice about it! This week has been good (except for the bug bites.) We had a strong district meeting with our new district leader, Elder Marshall. He is a funny kid. I was asked to give a talk on the Doctrine of Christ. I shared 2Nephi 31 with the district and some personal experiences. My favorite part of the Gospel is Repentance. It is amazing! This life is about changing and improving and it all is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He loves us so much and wants us to come unto him and let Him heal us. God is merciful and just. We have our agency in this life to choose between good and evil. Each commandment has a blessing and a consequence attached depending on how WE choose to act. We will be held accountable for our mistakes on judgment day if we have not repented of them. This is where the mercy comes in. Christ has repented for all of our sins, so we can turn to Him when we mess up and He can purify us again to be worth y of the Holy Ghost. We won’t be held accountable if we have fully repented, which means changing our lives to be more in line with the life of the Savior. It is so beautiful! It is the Plan of Happiness and true happiness comes through repentance. It can be a joyful experience because we realize the love of our Savior and how much He has done for us and our salvation! Speaking of our Savior, Hermano Flores followed the example of Jesus Christ and was baptized! Haha The Elders have been teaching him and his wife and daughter were baptized previously. We taught at their baptism and I felt the Spirit very strongly as I promised them that they will have an Eternal family! It is all possible through Jesus Christ.

For the updates on the investigators...

Hector is doing great and is following the word of wisdom-he prefers Orange soda anyways :) We were able to have a few member presents with him this week. We organized a movie night at the Crespos house with their family as well as Hermano Paisono and Hermano Huerta. It went really well! We watched the Restoration video to help him understand better the importance of it. He said that seeing the video helped him because he is a visual learner. We are going to do more activities with him and continue to get the members involved. Teaching him in a members home, really brings the Spirit and the member's testimonies strengthen him. He is preparing for baptism on the 28th of this month and we feel he will be ready. He has the desire and wants to follow the example of Jesus Christ.



Gladis rocks! We had two dinner appointments with her this week! We also got the opportunity to teach her boyfriend, Eder. We talked a lot about why we need to be baptized and the blessings that come from being a member of Christ's church, mainly the ability to repent and be forgiven through the Atonement. Gladis has talked to him about marriage because they need to go to the court house and be legally married...he is thinking about it. She is pressuring him to make up his mind because she wants to be ready to be baptized on the 28th of August. I think he will come around. We went through all the Articles of Faith and the baptismal questions with Gladis and she only has one doubt. She has been praying to receive a testimony that President Thomas S Monson is the Prophet of the Lord. So we are going to listen to a talk of his and watch a testimony of a member on mormon.org. She knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet, is just unsure about Monson. She will get there!



Jose Rubio is so interesting! He has progressed really well. This last week we taught him at the Crespos for a dinner appointment, and Hermana Crespo's testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon helped Jose alot. He has been having troubles understanding the importance of the book and relating it to himself. This week we are going to go over the questions of the soul as well as watch testimonies of other members. He has been moved the most by hearing others testify of how the church has changed their lives and how they know it to be true. He understands as it explains in 1Nephi 14 that there are only two churches...the church of God and of Satan. We explained the importance of the Spirit and gaining a testimony of the BOM to know if this is the true church. He just now sent us a text thanking us for helping him. He said that he received the answer he needed last night in the BOM to know that the church was true! Wahoooo! That is the best news.We will continue working with him this week. He showed up to the third hour of church and enjoyed Priesthood! That is dedication, coming right after he finished work.



Jenn is going away to college this week. She was able to go visit the temple with the young women in the branch and really enjoyed it. It is too bad that her parents arent supportive but I know she will be baptized in the Lord's timing. I think she will go away to school and really get the opportunity to learn...she already found an institute on campus! She has become one of my best friends, I am really going to miss her but we will keep in touch and I will be at her baptism!



Jorge and his daughters came to church again. We are going to teach him with Pedro this week. Pedro is the best fellowshipper! Pedro now has hometeachers and is preparing to receive the Priesthood!



The Branch here is doing pretty good. We are going to focus more on serving the members and spreading the charity! We taught primary this Sunday. That was so much fun. I love seeing the light of Christ shine out of their little eyes. I never was in primary considering I was baptized 2 yrs ago, so learning the songs and doing the activites was special. Margarita, the President, thanked us because she said the kids get tired of the same people teaching. We offered to help whenever she needs us. Next week, we are going to teach the young women about missionary work. Hermana Ruiz, is always really stressed out trying to do all the things for young women. We offered to help her as much as we can. We are planning to do a service project with the young women; we think they need mentors and we want to help motivate them to live the Gospel with a smile! Some of them are going to help us with appointments this week. We are going to help more with the recent converts and less actives in the branch. Strengthening them would make an impact in the branch, so we are planning on stopping by their housese with cards and cookies. Our ward mission leader, Hermano Otanez is leaving the branch to go to another ward. This is a big deal for our branch considering he and his family have made a huge positive impact. We are hoping that the members will step up and this will be a huge growing experience. Let the little birdies fly. The Lord is really blessing us in the work and we are finding new people to teach. I love it!



I love all of you! My dad, Heidi and little brothers are in town and my president said I could see them. I am excited about it! Yeah for family.

Hermana Murphy