Oh my goodness oh my goodness! My wonderful friends and family and sweet neighbors, wasn't conference weekend just amazing?!! I feel so full, up to the brim with spiritual inspiration! I can't believe how much we are being comforted and motivated right now to be missionaries, to overcome our sorrows, to SERVE, and to notice the signs of the final days! As I was listening to the talks emphasizing commandments it reminded me of 1 Nephi 10, that our Lord is the same as He has always been! It's so cool, teaching and being taught what has been prophesied forEVER. For all time! It has always been the same commandments, the same urgent request to come unto Christ, and the same unconditional love from our Heavenly Father. I really loved the following idea from Timothy J. Dyches: "When He gives a commandment, He gives also the love and care needed to keep it." Okay so maybe I'm paraphrasing, I write so frantically I just can't be sure! But I definitely feel more and more blessings and talents surface as I work harder to follow the commandments. And so, I want to know what you all think about this big commandment to be missionaries! What did you learn? How are you going to be a missionary in your own neighborhood and at work and in your home?! These truly feel like the last days and there is no time to waste :)
Okay so I really hope you all are doing so well. The longer I am out here the more I feel everyone's love and concern! It is greatly appreciated, I truly am speechless about how blessed I am with such quality friends and family.
So it all started with a six-hour public bus ride from Wichita to Manhattan--the Little Apple of Kansas! It is a gorgeous place with outrageous rain storms and perfect sunshiny-days. We are in a home ward that includes many immigrants from Ecuador, here to study hard through this sweet K-State program, and then back to Ecuador in December! So we have three months to get em all dunked (I've been wanting to say something like that for so long! hahaha..). We met up with a PI (potential investigator) Julianna and ended up getting to know her study buddies and friends. I just couldn't help myself with some of that college Spanish I've taken, and started throwing out sentences and words. They loved it!! We had some mini-conversations and it felt so snazzy and we laughed at all their broken english and my super broken spanish. I want so badly to learn terms such as el Libro de Mormon and evanglesia and hopefully be able to actually preach the gospel en Espanol! We shall see what the Lord wants ;)
My companion, Sister Smartt is a beautiful red head from Mesa, Arizona and knows her stuff! It's been fun to learn that the mormon culture in Utah is just the same in Mesa, so we relate in a lot of ways! I'll start rambling all newbie-style with an investigator and she will step right in with the perfect scripture to tie it all together. I just love this mentality I've been blessed with by Heavenly Father, to analyze what's missing in people's lives and what they need to hear and when to bear testimony and how to ask important questions... I have so much room for improvement and I'm so excited to keep growing. Anways, back to my companion!! We laugh hard together because an investigator told us they knew a guy who laughed so much he got a six-pack. And she is this great anchor, she keeps me centered on the important stuff and encourages me to learn all the extra stuff. I feel so beyond lucky to be in a beautiful place with a great comp so I can get super strong for wherever the Lord needs to send me next. The natives here have so much faith, they just don't know where to put it so that they can grow even more and last forever with their Father in heaven! We mostly have sweet older women who are going through tough times to teach right now. They have families involved in gangs, or their husband passed away at a younger age, or extreme surgeries and just so many hardships. We are trying to help them understand that now is a better time than ever to come unto Christ, even though they feel like they don't have the time for it.
I have yet to meet our ward, but have had dinner with a couple families who are just mind-blowingly dedicated to serving the Lord and their community. I learn so much from their vigor. But anways, I'm so sorry I feel like this is short, I want to share more but my time is limited. I pray for you all and hope you are praying for Manhattan investigators! April, Shawn and Wendy all really need your love!
Sister Murphy Senior
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