Week 61

Hey Family

Loved your emails! So this week was transfer week and it was crazy! I was
almost certain we would stay but I was shocked Elder Quilicot
transferred and they put me with a new "trainee" who is a visa waiter
assigned in India. He is American and is from Missouri. His name is
Elder Aldridge and he is really nice, but doesn't speak a lick of
Tagalog so I get to translate. I have experienced the gift of tongues
and gift of translation of tongues and it has been amazing! We are
still receiving so much help and it makes me be filled with joy to see
the great work happening here.
I am learning about patience with my new companion. He is really nice
and I like him, it is just hard that he doesn't speak Tagalog. It has
been a lesson that I have been really happy to learn and know that is
part of the reason that we are together.
One thing I have noticed is how Filipino I actually have become. It is
funny. He told me I speak with an accent and sometimes he doesn't know
what I am saying. But it is fun. He is picking up the language and I
am teaching him as best I can.
Peter and Rachel are still progressing towards baptism on Sept. 26! I
am super excited for them. They invited their younger brother and
sister to church and we taught them as well.  They have a great
chance of choosing to be baptized as well!

I love it here! My mission is going too fast and it really kind of
scares me! I love this work. I challenge each of you to share you
light and find one friend or family member as a referral to give to the
missionaries! I know we can make a big difference in others lives. It
says in Preach my gospel "remember you can help someone the most by
sharing with them the restored gospel!"

Love you all! Mahal ko kayo!

enclosed are pictures of the ocean I promised

-- 
ELDER MURDOCK

Week 60

Hey family!

This week was pretty exciting so I am really excited to write to all of you!

Elder Quilicot and I have been working hard. My companion is really a hard worker and is really fun to be with. I have really been impressed also at his great teaching skills even though he is still really new in the mission. Elder Quilicot is from Bohol which is a part of the Philippines and is home to the worlds largest snake is what he says. He is really funny and we have a good time together. It has been fun as I have been able to teach him the things I have learned from experience and watch him improve everyday. He is naturally a great teacher who cares so much for the people. I am learning that a trainer's real job is to supervise and watch him and even let him struggle sometimes. Sometimes that is the best way we learn. I feel that is how Heavenly Father is with us often. Sometimes it feels like we are alone but really he is right there. We just have to trust that he won't let us fall.

So with the work, like I mentioned we have been working really hard and we have been blessed so much by our Heavenly Father. One of the big blessing we received was a family we met last Sunday. Brother and Sister Martin were so prepared to receive the gospel when we met them. It was amazing to see how well they received our message and how they hungered and thirsted after the truth. Brother Martin told us on Friday that he is so excited for his baptism and it has been really fun to see how they just radiate with light. They have a two year old boy and a 3 week old baby girl and they are just a wonderful family. After a day of rejection we opened our mouths and found this wonderful family and I have marveled and thanked the Lord for the great blessing he has poured upon us.

I know that even us missionaries are learning and growing and I feel even though I make mistakes, and am human that the Lord is happy with me. I feel his love and grace in my life. He doesn't demand perfection. He asks for willing disciples that will work with him in his vineyard. I know that even though we make mistakes we can repent and change and become what we are made to be and fulfill the measure of our creation. We are all a work in progress, and as we turn to him he will take the natural man out of us.

I love you all and pray for you. I hope that you always look to the light, our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Mahal ko kayo,

ELDER MURDOCK

        

Week 59

Hello Family!

Thank you for your emails and your support this week!

This week has been fun but difficult as Elder Quilicot and I have been working hard to be obedient and diligent as we have been finding the souls that the Lord has prepared to come into the fold of Christ. We truly have been blessed with great member support, many referrals and new investigators, man times we have members call us and ask if they can come work with us. It has been a great blessing and has really hastened the work here. We have started from the bottom to having a full day of teaching in just a week which has been a miracle in itself. The Lord has been directing us to those that would receive us and has given us a the words to say to bring the word of Christ unto their hearts. It has not been easy, but we have been working hard and have seen the fruits of our hard work and the mercy and blessing of the Lord.

So I have been thinking a lot about Paco Roman, because I loved the people there and still think of our investigators there daily. I got some good news though. Sister Ann will be baptized this week! And two others Jane and Noel that were super special to me came to church together as husband and wife. So it makes me happy that things are going well and that the work is moving along there as well.

Things are going well, opposition is a big part of the Plan of Salvation, we cannot become like our Father without it because through opposition we have growth.

I love you all so much! I am still one happy missionary!

Make it a great week!

ELDER MURDOCK

--Pictures next week of the ocean!

Baptism of Rogeliyo

Week 58

Hey Family and Friends!

Man this week was such an adventure! On Thursday we got a call from the assistants to the president, they told us that I would be unexpectedly be transferring to a different area and that I would finish training a elder. I was really surprised. I asked if I could go to the baptism of Rogelyo and they approved. I was able to attend his baptism and it was so wonderful! The spirit was super strong. I really grew to love him and others that we were teaching so it was super hard for me to leave but I know that for some reason I am needed here. I left to my new area right after the baptism, so it was a really great way to end my stay in Paco Roman. I will really miss the wonderful people there. It was really hard to say goodbye to Paulino and Ann and Rogelyo and my companion Elder McBride and others that I have gotten so close to. I know we will meet again someday.

My new area is Gabaldon and it is really close to the ocean, it is so beautiful! We also are surrounded by huge mountains. It is paradise! 

Going to church my new area was great, the branch is super strong, a lot of people work with us which is great. My companion is really great too, Elder Quilicot from Vasayas and Tagalog is his second language too and he doesn't speak English so it is fun. He has good desires and wants to do what is right. I am humbled that I was chosen to fulfill this assignment.

It will not be easy, but I know that when we humbly take any assignment given to us, we will not stand alone, our Savior will be with us and will take us by the hand and make us equal to the task! I know that I can do what the Lord needs me to do. I learned that lesson while teaching Rogelyo, if we have Faith, Hope and Charity we can do all that He asks of us!

I love you all so much! Even though I am far from you I feel your love and your prayers and know that soon we will all be together.
--

ELDER MURDOCK

Week 57

Hello Family!

It is a great day to share my week with all of you!

We are having the Lord pour out blessings in this area and it has filled me with gratitude that I have been able to be a part of this marvelous work! First off we are having another baptism this week. Rogelyo, is the brother that we have been teaching that is deaf. He is so ready and it has been such a special thing for me to be a part of the miracle with teaching him. We have started to teach him how to read so that someday he can read the book of Mormon. It was pretty difficult at first but he is very diligent and really wants to learn so it is fun. He is making progress and can read and write a few words we have taught him. His baptism is this Saturday.

Also we found this really amazing Sister about 3 weeks ago, Her name is Ann. Her faith has grown so quickly and it has caused me to marvel. Yesterday she bore her testimony in sacrament meeting. It was such a wonderful moment for me, I felt the spirit so strong. She just told the congregation how she met us and that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. It just made my heart swell with joy.

We are having less active members return to the Church and have seen our words carry into the hearts of these people.

I know that I am just an instrument and that is what makes me so filled with joy! I know that as we humbly serve God he will be merciful and give us what we ask if we ask not a miss.

Love you all, 

I will send pictures of the baptism next week!

--

ELDER MURDOCK

Week 56

Hello Family and friends.

This week was a wonderful one, Bro. Paulino's baptism was so filled with the spirit. I just felt the most indescribable amount of joy. This brother was so ready for his baptism, and waited a long 7 months for him to prepare himself and fully repent. He read the book of Mormon 3 times and half of the Doctrine and Covenants. This man just fully defined the qualifications of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. The Lord has blessed us greatly. It is difficult to explain the joy I feel but I know that that joy comes from the Spirit of Promise sealing and testifying that the ordinance was acceptable to our Father. 

It reminds me of the covenant we all make to always remember our Savior, to be His witness in all things and to follow His example of obedience to our Father in Heaven. I love the opportunity to partake of the sacrament and renew my personal promise to follow Jesus Christ every week. Seeing Bro. Paulino take this new covenant in such a sincere way made it so special.

God knows our hearts and our desires. We will not only be judged by our actions but also our desires. Watching this baptism made me evaluate my own dedication to my covenant and helped me see things I can do to improve.

Our Father in Heaven is very merciful. The arms of the Savior are open to us, we just have to let him in to our lives. I humbly testify to you that Jesus is the Christ and that he paid the price, no matter how far we feel we have gone, no matter how many mistakes we make- the road to true happiness, repentance and forgiveness is always available.

I am so grateful I am here in Paco Roman. The coming weeks will be the harvest of our labors here and I am so filled with gratitude to the Lord for his mercy and his spirit which has been poured out to these people.

Let's all lift up our light which is Christ and help those within our reach. Each soul is so precious to our Father. Let's be faithful to our covenant and be His witness.

I love you all, I miss you all but feel like I am near by when I read your letters thank you for them. I won't have a lot of time to reply anymore but please know I do read them and each one of them makes me smile and gives me strength. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful family members and friends. You are strong. 

Go and conquer,

--

ELDER MURDOCK

Week 55

Hey Family,

So this week was a super happy week. Honestly, I thought I was transferring but the Lord's ways are higher than our ways and no I am not transferring which is really happy! I feel peace and love from God in knowing that I am exactly where God needs me to be. He has work yet for me to do here. I am just at peace.

So the missionaries here have taught this man named Paulino for about 7 months now which is a really long time! I have really grown to love this man. He has struggled with cigarettes for a very long time, 45+ years but now he has changed.  He will be baptized this week and it makes me so happy to see his great change. He cried so hard after his interview. He was so happy and excited for his baptism. I think the biggest lesson i learned from him was patience. Conversion is not a cheap experience, sometimes it takes time for us to really become converted. I am excited to be here for others of our investigators baptism. This transfer will be a wonderful one I can feel it, God is so good. He blesses us immediately after we repent and come to him. He wants us to change and come unto us but is completely up to us if we will use the Atonement. Repentance is such a wonderful gift. 

I love you all! 

--

ELDER MURDOCK