Spit Take

Last night at our dinner appointment, Brother Bud Richmond covered in tattoos with a deep and burly voice and a soft teddy bear heart guessed automatically that I was O-Positive. What kind of veteran Kansan man guesses a blood type with such ease?? "Gotta know your type!" He says. He also is O-Positive, so we discussed the painful side-affects our type produces. The gurgling acidity was my biggest complaint, and the moment I said so he got up and came back with his arm extended, waiting for me to accept his gift. In my palm dropped a pill. "Omneeoh-so-prol," he said (meaning to say Omeprazol). "Take it."

Being a "greeny" or "hippie" as my comp calls me gets sticky on a mission when  a member urges you to pop a pill. There was no way out, so I gulped it down. "Now you must know the side affects," Bud informed.

"LET'S HEAR IT!" I said bravely, then began to continue drinking water. He pointed at his brow and he began, "increased hair growth between the eyes.." And I spewed water ALL over the remains of dinner in shock.

DON'T WORRY. I have not grown a Unibrow…..Yet. 

Life here in Kansas is excellent. I was becoming unsure I'd say it, but I feel officially that I never want to leave my mission. I am hooked. I am totally and completely committed and despite thinking about my family and friends often and certainly missing the life there, I just never want to leave Kansas.

Elder David A. Bednar appeared for three hours of surreal Q and A in Wichita. As we retired to bed that night we couldn't believe how emotionally and spiritually exhausted we were, "It all feels like it was a dream!" we said. I was sworn to not share a lot of the sacred information we discussed, but I will absolutely share his incredible tactic in teaching that he hopes we adopt as the hastening of the work full-time missionaries. He brought a near-visible powerful spirit along with him. He shared personal experience and simple, true doctrine. He asked us questions and encouraged us to ask him more and more. He told us we are to never write verbatim what an apostle tells, but to listen for our own revelation; to hear the words and feel the clarity of what the Holy Ghost says that goes unsaid. We could even see Elder Bednar as he listened to our comments and qs, he was hearing what we didn't say and sensing what we would never tell. It was unreal. I can't even explain.

One of my biggest revelations was five simple words, and they came as Bednar spoke of I don't remember what, and my mind was flitting through endless memories of my past. I recalled the depths of my sorrows and the endless support that brought me out of it. Near tears I realized, "I had so much help."

I'm not sure why, but the Holy Ghost needs me to understand the vital essence of a working team. This church is all about help, all about a cluster of members each emphasizing a specialized service and duty. It is so beyond necessary to help someone come closer to Christ, it just cannot happen on your own. Heavenly Father wants a personal relationship with each of His children, and we need it, but it is magnified as He sends his angels to bear us up, both in body and spirit. And so the lesson I am sure I have already bore to you dear friends and family is this: that it is our duty to follow the Book of Mormon each time it discusses the purpose of a "church" in Christ's gospel and to mourn with and comfort and encourage and teach and become edified with EVERYONE within your reach. He said boldly that ward council's these days should aim toward getting together, saying a little prayer, and acting upon the following statement. "There were a great many people that didn't make it to church today. Let's go get em!" Which would entail each auxiliary leader immediately venturing out to visit the lost sheep... wowzas.

Lastly, I am forgetting myself. I am so wonderfully and joyfully forgetting myself and going to work. I love being a missionary. I will never ever EVER stop.

I love you all! Hope your week and spring time has been AMAZAZAZING!

Best,

Sister Murphy Senior