I am very happy to have again another time to email and report my week to all of you. This week was honestly a challenge. I have learned so much patience and love and have felt a lot of help from Our Heavenly Father. He really is in the detail of our mortal experience on earth if we let him.
One thing that has been quite the challenge is helping my companion Elder Aldridge communicate with the people as he was before serving in India and is here because of the visa restrictions in that country and will return as soon as his visa goes through. It has been fun to hear all the interesting stories about the cool culture in India. I have received a lot of help from heaven with my Tagalog as I have been translating for him and teaching him Tagalog. I have grown in patience and love and have really grown close to him. He is a nice elder.
The work here is going well. We are working with a beautiful family, the Martin family that I have mentioned in my past emails. They are so special and love and know that we are teaching them is true. They have felt the Holy Ghost touch their hearts and as we have taught them we have both been edified and rejoiced together. I just love this family. The more I am out here the more I realize that this work is not my work, not the work of men but the work of God that I have been SO privileged to be apart of. I know that I cannot truly convert anyone and that was a lesson that I learned by experience this week. I felt a bit weighted down with my new responsibility to teach and translate, I felt mistakenly like I was on my own, I forgot that I was called and set apart and that the Lord is with me always and started to depend on my own abilities, it was a bit startling to see as fear crept in and that I couldn't do it on my own and I became venerable and was less effective. It took me some time to realize what was happening that I was choosing fear rather than faith, but then as I looked to the Savior I found the strength beyond my own to complete the assignment ahead of me. I know that as we choose faith over fear, trust God and do without doubting what he has commanded no matter the sacrifice, He will always stand with us. That is his promise!
"I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. "
Fear comes from Satan, Love, peace and joy come from the Prince of Peace.
The Savior has not usually made his presence known to me in big dramatic ways, but I feel His sustaining power in my life, and because He lives I can live in His light! I love Jesus Christ. He is my best friend. I know that He loves each of us infinitely. He has felt our pains and carried our sorrows and will lift us up that we will not feel the burden of them on our backs. Opposition doesn't go a way but we receive strength to become more like our Savior through the hard and the good.
I love you all. I feel your support and prayers and ask you to pray for my companion that he may receive the gift to communicate to these people and also Peter and Rachel Martin our investigators.
Mahal ko kayo!
ELDER MURDOCK
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