Monday, December 26, 2016

Christmas 2016

Hey y'all! I hope y'all have had a great Christmas, mine was pretty
good out here! It was close to 85 degrees on Christmas. It was really nice to talk to my family again! To my
family who is reading this, y'all are looking great and I love you so
much! Thanks for the love and support!
This week was good too. We went on exchanges with the zone leaders, I
went up to Lakehurst with my buddy Elder Biesinger, who I actually knew
back home! We had a good time up there and worked hard too, it was
fun! The rest of the week was good with Elder Harmon, we worked hard
to make it the best week yet, and it payed off! We finally got our
investigators progressing, and we also found a new investigator named
Marcus. He's the son of another one of our investigators who we
haven't been able to get in with for the longest time, but his son is
way interested! We taught him a little word of wisdom lesson, and
after it he stared at his cup of tea he had just made real thoughtful
like, then we all just stared at it, things got awkward, we said
goodbye...then we came back in Saturday and he was way happy to see
us, and didn't have his usual cup of tea this time either! The sad
thing about all this is, I'm leaving Atascocita! I have been here
since June, so it's probably time for me to leave, I've really grown
to love this place, and all the people here, but I know it's time to
go work somewhere else and make all new friends, wherever I need to
go!
I sure do love y'all, but I love the Lord more! I can't wait to see
where He'll have me go next, and who my new best friend will be! Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year,
Love,
Elder Murdock
True to the Faith

Elder Biesinger and Elder Murdock

Merry Christmas 2016
Kingwood Zone Christmas Breakfast at the mission home


Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Week Before Christmas

Hello everyone! Sorry I am emailing late and it will be super short! This day has been really crazy, we went out to Vidor (with President Drake's permission) for a special thingamajig, but it went really well, I'll have more time to talk about it next week! 
But real quick, this week was good, we were able to do a lot of service this week, and we also taught one of our investigators, Josh,  at the end of the lesson he gave me a great compliment, he said that I reminded him of Linus from Charlie Brown! He's a big Charlie Brown fan and he and his wife both think of Linus very highly as a wise and chipper person, and so I guess that's what he thought of me! I was really touched by that, it kinda made my day. 
I'm so very grateful for all of y'all, thanks for all the support y'all give me from back home, I sure do love y'all, but I love the Lord even more! I know this is where I need to be, 
Love, 
Elder Murdock 

I love the Joy in Elder Murdock's face in this picture!-Love from his Mom

Christmas Lights in Atascocita

Monday, December 12, 2016



Howdy y'all! 
Sorry, I don't have too much time today for a nice big email like I usually give, but I hope this is good enough for now, I'll just say that I'm still working hard down here, Elder Harmon and I are having fun and learning how to use faith as a power. We are still teaching Ryan, and he is progressing very well, we went to a child of record baptism this last Saturday for the daughter of a part member family in the ward and it went really well! The father's been investigating for a while now, his wife is a member of about two years now, and I think this baptism for his daughter was good for him to go to. Maybe this will start moving things forward a little more with him! The family had me play viola at the baptism, then later that night I had the chance to play it again at the ward Christmas party, then I played with two young men in our ward for Sacrament meeting yesterday, and I'll be playing it again tomorrow for the mission Christmas conference talent show, so I'm super happy to be using this talent! It's been a lot of fun playing music for others while I've been out here, I've especially enjoyed playing the hymns, there's a lot of power and testimony in them, I love it! 
Alright that's about all I've got time for, I hope y'all have a good week, I'll be thinking of more info to write for next week, I love you all. I love His church, I know it's true and that this mission is where the Lord needs me to be, Merry Christmas y'all! 
Love, 
Elder Murdock 
True to the Faith πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ







Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Getting Cold in Texas

Howdy everybody! I hope y'all have had a fantastic week. Ours sure was good, we had a lot of good things happen. We've really been striving to learn how to call down the powers of heaven to help us in our work, so we did a lot of fasting and praying to know what we needed to do. We did our best to get members out with us, there were a few days when we weren't able to find anyone available to come out with us, after all we could do, but hey, that's exactly when the Lord steps in to help out, right? Those days that we tried our hardest to get members out but couldn't, other members of the ward invited us in to teach them and their investigator friends and family, and we were able to exceed our member present goals for the week! Another miracle that happened this week was with one of our investigators, Ryan.  He's been very humbled and very prepared to hear our message, and we've loved teaching him these last few weeks. We stopped by to see him on Tuesday and he was working in his garage as usual. We noticed that he sick and stuffed up, but he just brushed it off like it was nothing. We taught him a lesson and said goodbye, and I went to get back on my bike as he was closing the garage door, but Elder Harmon stayed up by the door with a thoughtful look on his face. We had wanted to give Ryan a blessing for his chewing tobacco problem but we weren't able to because of time, but I could tell Elder Harmon was still dead set on giving him this blessing, especially after we found out he was sick. So I got off my bike and Elder Harmon knocked on the garage door so we could come back in and give him a blessing, which is exactly what happened. Ryan was more than happy to let us give him a blessing, Elder Harmon anointed and I sealed it. After the blessing Ryan sat in his chair for a bit, then took a deep breath through his nose and told us that that was the first time in two days that he'd been able to breath. He teared up a bit and thanked us and gave both of us a hug. We said goodbye, riding off with a greater love for Ryan and a greater thanks to our Heavenly Father for allowing us to be His servants. 

I testify that this work is true! The Lord wants all of us to do our best and serve Him, and give Him our all. I can tell y'all that as you strive to give all you've got to him, a change will come in you're
 Heart that will be sweet and pure. 

We also had the Kingwood Nativity this week, and that was awesome! It was the same one we worked at last year, so I kinda knew what was going on. It was so fun to be there again and feel that awesome Christmas spirit. I think the coolest part was one of the performances, he was a blind and handicapped man that played the piano so beautifully! I loved listening to him and other performers play Christmas music, I love this time of year, there's just something wonderful about it, I hope y'all can feel it too, and share it with others! 

I sure do love y'all, but I just love the Lord a whole lot more, so I'll be serving him with the best I have for as much time as I've got till he says I'm done, until then I'll be sending Texas sized love to y'all from here in Atascocita! 
Love,
Elder Murdock
Elder Murdock and Elder Harmon

KingWood Nativity


KingWood Nativity
Cool car and getting Cold in Texas



Monday, November 28, 2016

Thanksgiving

Hello friends and family! I hope y'all had a good Thanksgiving, eating food, seeing family, eating food, remembering what you're grateful for, eating more food...anyway, sorry, we ate a lot of food down here, like, A LOT OF FOOD. It was awesome. We also had a good week teaching people, we went out to lunch with an investigator to a Cajun restaurant, and we had a little lesson in the middle of jazz music and while eating gumbo, it was neat! He's a great guy, he's doing pretty much all he can to study the gospel, he even said it was like he was making his own college course on it, he's taking it pretty seriously, which is good! 
Elder Harmon and I also did some fasting this week to try and know what the will of the lord was for our area, and we've seen some blessings come from it. We've been able to get revelation for our investigators, and also on the things we need to do in our companionship to keep the spirit strong, if any of you feel like you need to understand the will of the Lord, fast to know it, and pray about it as well, then wrote down those things he tells you, so they can be a visible goal to remind you of the things you need to do, it makes a difference!
Ok, I'll end with how Thanksgiving went for us: 
We had two diner appointments, the first one started at 3:00 and it was with some members named the Killians, who are really good at cooking food! They smoked a turkey for us, and made some great desert too, it all tasted good, and their kids were a blast to be with too. They're a funny bunch. Our second appointment was with the Tuhalangingi family, their Tongan, so that means there was TONS OF FOOD TO EAT. Like, just so much food, and it was all good. Most of the family all the kids were born here in the states, but their dad was from Tonga, their mom was from California, and they all reminded me of my trainer Moeakiola. I love Tongans, they know how to have a good time!  The funniest part of diner with them was when they asked me to do the Hakka for them! I was surprised when I was actually the only one that knew how to do it! But they all loved it, and we had a good laugh :) 
I hope y'all have a great week, remember to be grateful for all the blessings we get in our lives, and remember who they come from! I sure do love y'all, but I love the Lord a whole lot more, keep him the center of your life and you'll never go wrong, 
Love,
Elder Murdock 
True to the Faith πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ



Monday, November 21, 2016

Wonderful Week in Texas-Happy Thanksgiving

Howdy y'all! Haha, I love being a Texas missionary, I get to say howdy y'all, it's the best, I know y'all are jealous :) 
Anyway! Hey! I hope y'all have been having a great day, a great life, and all that, if you haven't been, cheer up! Life is great, the Savior is real, and peace will come. 

Actually, I've been studying a lot about peace this week and how we can find it, and how we can keep it. The people of King Benjamin were able to find peace in Mosiah 4:2-3, they found it after repenting, having faith in Christ that they can change. Once they gave their all to Him, peace came upon them. The way we can keep peace in our lives is if we keep the Lords commandments, simple as that. Also, when we strive to work our little hearts out for Christ, peace can be found there. 
 So, as far as missionary work goes, it wasn't the most exciting week, a lot of biking a talking to people, trying to find some good people to teach. We did find this one guy who is really cool! He's just got out of prison about 5 months ago, he's 49 and he's spent over 20 years in prison, but he's so humble and awesome! Every time we've stopped by to see him he says we cheered him up. We also got to teach a lesson to a baptist guy. We brought a member with us, and the two of them really did most of the talking, we stuck to the bible for that lesson. He wasn't wanting to hear anything outside of it. But it was alright! The member knew exactly how to teach out of the bible, something I've struggled with a bit, and he helped us out a ton. He even gave us a lesson on how to teach out of the bible after the lesson, he's a great guy, his family is awesome too! 

I hope y'all have a great Thanksgiving this week, remember to count your many blessings, one by one! I sure do love y'all, but I love the lord so much more. He is absolutely amazing, and I hope each of you are striving each and every day to get to know him and your Heavenly Father more. 
Lots of love! 
Elder Murdock 
True to the Faith


Planning with the Spanish Speaking Elders.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Jambalaya and Fried Texas French Toast

Hey everybody! I hope y'all have had a great week!
This week was a good one, me and Elder Harmon had some fun looking for some old potential investigators and trying to get in with some less actives in the ward, we were actually supposed to have dinner with a few of them, but they cancelled on us. The good news is, we had a great time cooking up our own diners, and I finally learned how to make Jambalaya! I hope that makes you proud dad! It wasn't half bad either, if I do say so myself .
Today is also transfers, and holy cow, I'm staying here one more to finish training Elder Harmon. I was nervous there for a second, that I'd be moved out, but hey, no worries. That also means I'll be staying here in Atascocita for Christmas, which is awesome because I LOVE the ward here, sorry mom and dad, I might just stay here, it's like my new home ward, hahaha! But really, I am excited to be in the Kingwood stake for Christmas again, I was actually in this same stake last year and I heard about all the crazy cool light shows the people have in the neighborhoods in Humble and Atascocita. I was actually thinking last year that it would be cool to see that, and here I am! We also have the Christmas Nativity at the Kingwood stake center again, and all the Kingwood missionaries get to help out with it, again! It's gonna be great I love Christmas 
Anyway, on to the rest of the week!
This past Friday night was the ward camp out, and our ward mission leader asked us and the Huffman Elders to come up to give a fire side devotional, don't worry it was still in the ward boundaries and we didn't spend the night, but I was able to bring my viola out and play some camp songs. The members have known me long enough now that they've come up with a game called "stump Elder Murdock" where they can each call out one of their favorite hymns to see if I can play it or not. And, needless to say, I won! I love doing that, it's such a blessing to be able to play the Lords hymns for people. Thank you to all my teachers through the years and my mom and dad who made me practice so hard!
We got invited back the next morning for the ward camp breakfast, it was so good, if y'all haven't had deepfried Texas French toast covered in powdered sugar and syrup, then you just haven't been living your life to its full potential, it's amazing! I actually brought my viola back up again in the morning, and Elder Harmon brought his clogs, and we jammed out a little bit, he was clogging up a storm while I fiddled a little, it was fun :) 
That's about it for the week, I hope this next one will be good for all y'all! I sure do love y'all, but hey, I love my Savior even more. This is His work, so I'm going to give it my all for Him! 
Love, 
Elder Murdock



Name tag scuffed up from a bike crash- but "no worries mom! I'm all good."


Mission Temple Trip

Ward Camp Out
Service with Elder Harmon and Elder Hansen





Monday, November 7, 2016

Positive

Hello everyone! Sorry I'm taking a while today, we had a lot of emails to send today, but I'll try to make up with the short email with some good pictures, and I'll get right into the week now!
We had a rougher week this week, but it was still fun! A lot of our investigators were no where to be found, and one of them even dropped us, but don't worry y'all, we ended the week on a good note with a great lesson with a man named Josh, he's had a lot of LDS friends through his life, and has good potential in the church. I'm excited to see where He goes with it! 
Also, something fun this week, as me and Elder Harmon were biking in what we thought was the farthest south we could bike in our area, we found a sweet off road path that went farther down into a part we've never been able to tract in before, it was awesome! It was nice to bike on a dirt road for a change, instead of the usual pavement. We should find some good investigators down there too so woot woot! 
That's it for this week, I sure do love y'all but I love the Lord more, I'm going to keep doing His work with a smile, I hope y'all can do the same! 
Love, 
Elder Murdock 

Elder Murdock and Elder Harmon


Pelicans

Name Tag Picture

Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween Y'all!

Happy Halloween y'all! I hope all of you are enjoying the candy and costumes, just be smart and safe and look out for clowns (apparently there's a big clown scare down here, I'm not sure but it's kinda funny to me) anyway, here we go!
This week was a good one, we were able to do some service digging a French well for a member, and we helped move a members house into a shed, pretty good stuff.  Me and Elder Harmon are doing well too, he's an awesome missionary, I'm glad I'm with him, I'm supposed to be training him, but he's teaching me so much too! On Saturday we had exchanges with the Huffman Elders and I got to go back over into Huffman with my old Comp Elder Hansen! It was fun being back in the country for a bit, I miss it out there. After me and Elder Hansen talked with a member we went over to another members house so Elder Hansen could cook his and his dads famous award wining chili for the cook off, he got every kind of pepper in Walmart and threw it into this crazy chili, it was great! It even won the award for the spiciest chili, haha! All the missionaries, except Elder Hansen, were judges for the cook off along with brother McBride, who is a professional chef, it was fun tasting everyone's chilis, even though I have no idea how to judge food, I thought they all tasted good! 
I hope y'all have a great week, if any of you are going through a hard time, know that the Savior is here to help. Seek him more in your life, and I can promise that you will immediately see a difference in how happy you can be. Remember Elder Nelsons talk this last conference and strive to be joyful! I sure do love y'all, but I love the Lord even more than that, have a great Halloween y'all! 
Love,
Elder Murdock 


Elder Murdock and Elder Harmon cooking Omelets

Elder Murdock and Harmon at Five Guys
Elder Hansen's Chili


Monday, October 24, 2016

Another Week in Texas

Hey everyone! Sorry, I don't have too much time to email today, so I need to keep it short, I'll get right to it! 
This week we had our zone conference, we got to hear instruction from President and Sister Drake, along with the Assistants and other leaders, they all taught a lot about faith, and how we need to use it and have in our missionary work. A lot of what I got out of it was that I am really needing to dedicate myself more to this work, just get all in! 
We also had stake conference yesterday and on Saturdayon Saturday we really tried to get people out to the evening adult session, we went to all the investigators we had and tell them where it was, and even set one up with a ride from members to take him, and still no one came to the evening session! Oh well, thus is mission life :) But he talks in conference were amazing, Elder Tillman of the 70 came to speak, and he just testified of the truthfulness of this gospel over and over again! He went from one point to the next, about the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and testified the heck out of each point of doctrine, it was powerful, and made me want to work hard for a testimony like that one day! 
I hope all of you out there are having a nice time being alive, we are all here to have joy after all! I hope y'all have a joyful week, 
With big old Texas love, 
Elder Murdock 

Election Sign in Texas

The Zone Leaders had sone extra suits.  Elder Murdock said they are a little big, but he could
save them for when he is a high priest!

Monday, October 17, 2016

Another Week In Texas

Hey Everyone! I hope that all y'all had a good week and that you were able to feel the love of the Savior in some way, and that you were able to share it with some one else, because that's what life is all about! 

This week for me and Elder Harmon was a blast, we started it out by knocking on doors, then we knocked on some more doors, then biked in the rain, and knocked on more doors! Elder Harmon thought it was a blast though, he's just way excited about this work, no matter what we are doing, which helps me keep the blues away too! On Friday things got a little more exciting though, we had our zone meeting over in the Kingwood Stake center, which went really well. One of the segments was by Brother Salmon, who is an institute teacher over here. He pretty much just opened up the scriptures in the Old Testament and blew all of our minds! He's a really good teacher, and it just got me pumped to go out and start teaching people out of the scriptures more, especially the Book of Mormon. We also had exchanges with Elder Hansen and Elder Souza on Thursday and Friday, Elder Harmon went out and had his first taste of the country in wacky ole' Huffman with Elder Souza palooza while I stayed in Atascocita with my good buddy Elder Hansen! It was a little strange biking around with him again, it felt like we were back in Baytown! But we had a blast, Elder Hansen is still one of my favorite people. 

Well, that's about it for this week, Elder Harmon and I are still looking for some peeps to baptize, oh, fun little tid bit, today marks the year anniversary of my first Baptism, Thomas "Skip" Alger! On a bit of a sadder note, I found out a while back that he had passed away a few months after he was baptized. But, now that a year has passed he can finally have his temple work done, so that is something to look forward to. I'm just grateful that I was able to be a help for him in his life and that I was able to get to know him. I hope each and every one of you strive to live the way the Savior has asked to, each day. I know that as you do, you will immediately feel peace flow into your life like a river. There is not one thing that He is not able to help, to heal, and to succor. He's been through it all and more, so just turn to Him! 

I sure do love y'all, but I know the Savior loves you even more, I know this is where He wants me and because of that I'll be doing my best to serve Him.
Love, 
Elder Murdock
True to the Faith







Monday, October 10, 2016

Greenie!

Hello everyone! I sure hope yall have been having a great couple of weeks. Sorry I wasn't able to send an email last week, the day was hectic, going to Kingwood for transfers, saying goodbye to Elder Niemann and other Missionaries that I knew, and getting a brand new greenie straight from Provo... yeah, last Monday was nuts! 

Some more big news, the mission split the Atascocita area in two, so now there are missionaries that serve out in Huffman, which means they stole our car and most of our investigators, too! But it's all good, I don't mind being back on my bike, me and Elder Harmon (the greenie) are having lots of fun biking all day. The new Missionaries that are serving in Huffman are Elder Souza and Elder Hansen, the same Elder Hansen that was my companion back in Baytown! he's the district leader now, and its been great to be serving around him again, he's just a great guy! 

A little back ground on the new guy, Elder Harmon: he's from West Jordan, Utah, is the second of a family of 5, he's been to Europe a few times for a folk dance group that he was a part of. He's an absolute ham! We are already getting along really well, he is just so excited to be here serving, and is ready to bear down and go to work. I can already tell that this is going to be a great couple of transfers!
As for whats been going on in the area, its a little wonky now that we have less people to focus on, but that just means we can give more attention to the investigators that we had in the Atascocita area. Its probably the smallest area I've had yet, but there are tons of people here, as well as some amazing members to help out, so it should be good!

That's about it for this week, sorry I wasn't able to give some thoughts on conference from two weeks ago, to keep it brief; it was amazing, I felt the spirit, and my favorite talks were Elder Bednar's and the one which told us to be "Ambitious for Christ". I know that as we stay ambitious for Christ, we will never go wrong. I love you all, I love this church, I know that Christ stands at the head of it, stay close to him y'all, He wont let you down!
Love, 
Elder Murdok
True to the Faith

Elder Harmon and Elder Murdock

Got caught in a rain storm!


Monday, October 3, 2016

Training a New Companion

Elder Murdock sent a short email today saying he will be training an Elder Harmon and staying in Atascocita.  He is excited for this adventure.  He will miss Elder Niemann and appreciated all he learned from him.  Life is good for Elder Murdock in Texas!

Last Picture with Elder Niemann before he goes home.

Elder Harmon

Monday, September 26, 2016

Exchanges and Bananas

Hola mi amigos! 
I hope y'all have had a good week, mine was wonderful out here in Atascocita. I was able to go out on exchanges two days in a row, on Friday the zone leaders came down for exchanges with us and the Spanish Elders.

The next day we went on exchanges with the Spanish elders, Martinez and Peterson. Elder Peterson and I had a blast biking around Atascocita, he's a funny guy, good teacher too. We ran into a Pentecostal preacher who tried to bash with us, he just took it like a champ and testified to him, and he's a greenie too! He'll do great out here. 

Last night we were talking with a recent convert and her  4 year old son. We sat on their front porch swing, swung him around on it, played tag with him, and pretty much tried to keep him entertained for a while, it was fun! He actually ran inside for a bit and came out with bananas for us. It was adorable. 

That's about it for this week, I sure do love y'all but I love the Lord even more! Keep him first in your life and you'll never go wrong. I hope y'all have a good week!
Love, 
Elder Murdock



Monday, September 19, 2016

Love Finds A Way

Hey Y'all! I hope wherever you are you've had a good week, it was a good one out here in Texas, not too much happened though. The first part of the week was a little rough, we had a hard time getting into people's houses, but we were able to teach a couple people the restoration, one of them was a lady from Michigan, she seems to be rather interested! We'll keep going to see her and her family. We first found them by tracting into her husband and kids out in their pool.  Her husband doesn't speak much English, while the rest of the family doesn't speak much Spanish, I'm not sure how that works but hey, love finds a way! 
We did a whole lot of service this week. On Thursday we helped a family in our ward  texture their wall. On Friday we, along with the Humble elders, helped with the painting. We did that in the afternoon, and afterwards we had President interview training, which went really well! It was nice to talk to President Drake again, and hear from the AP's. They gave a lesson on being Preach My Gospel missionaries. A large part of it centered on the Atonement, and how it should be the main thing we think of as we go out and work. I've been thinking for a bit about the change of heart that's spoken of in Alma 5, and how that change is only made possible through Christ. That's the place we, as missionaries, want people to end up, we want them to conclude that they can honestly change who they are because of Christ's sacrifice. If they can get there, then they're set for eternity! 
Saturday was an extremely busy day full of service as well, we woke up at 4:15 am to go help set up traffic cones and barriers for a child triathlon that was going on over in Eagle Springs, which is the APs area. They asked us to help them out with the triathlon throughout the day, we helped set up, then we helped direct where the little kids went off biking and running, it reminded me a lot of herding calves in a corral! Then we helped them clean it all up, it was fantastic. 
That's about it for this week, thanks to everyone that's been cheering me on back home, it really does mean a lot to me. I'll keep on moving forward out here with faith in Christ, and I hope y'all do the same back home! I sure do love y'all but I love the Lord even more, 
Love, 
Elder Murdock
5:00 AM 

Monday, September 12, 2016

Fiesta

Hey everyone! I hope y'all have been well this last week and have been able to see the Lords hand throughout it.
This week here in the great state of Texas we were able to do some good work. We talked on Tuesday with one of our investigators,  who agreed to baptism if she found out the church was true, and it is, so she should get baptized! We also invited a few other people to baptism, the mission has committed to ask at least two people to be baptized each day, and we've seen a lot of blessings come from it, people being prepared for the gospel, more people to talk to, little things like that that make all the difference. The Lord is definitely moving the work forward, I'm just glad I can be a part of it! 
On Friday we had the chance to go to a Hispanic culture night at the Kingwood stake center; all of the Spanish branches in the stake came together and had a big potluck, played Spanish music, and had dance showcases, it was quite the experience! I thought I got fed a lot of food from the English members, but man, those Hispanic members know how to really eat! Empanadas, Papusas, tacos, huge tamales, and a bunch of other Spanish food I can't remember, it was muy loco, a real fiesta, something I'm glad I got to do. I'm not sure how the Spanish missionaries can stay fit though, they eat like that every day! 
Well, that's about it for me, remember to always keep the spirit in your life. The Sacrament promises us that we can have the Spirit in our lives at all times, so long as we are faithful. It's my hope that we can come ever closer to the great goal of making this a reality. It is possible to have the Spirit with us at all times, and I know that as we strive to do this, we will have more peace in our life, see more blessings, and have more love than we can ever conceive. I sure do love y'all, but I love my Savior more, I'm gonna keep working for him out here, I hope y'all have a great week! 
Love, 
Elder Murdock



Monday, September 5, 2016

Knocking Doors

This week here in Atascocita was a good one, we were able to finally
set a date for an investigator who has been looking into
the church for over a year now. He should be getting baptized on the
17! πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰ so that's some really good news.
Not too much else happened with our other investigators, it was a
rather average week. We did a whole lot of knocking yesterday for
about three hours total, we were able to meet a lot of people, but
only a few of them wanted us to come back. You meet some interesting
people when you knock random doors in Texas, such as:
-A kind old man who told us kindly that he wasn't interested (that's
pretty rare, it's usually not kind)
-A fourth grade teacher who races in dirt derbies, played college
basketball in Oregon, was kidnapped as a child by his own father, and
gave us a few referrals for his neighbors
-an old couple who love their church and told us about it for about 40
Minutes in their front yard, and actually said we could come back!
-A young man who may or may not have broken into he house we knocked
-A born again Christian woman
-A rough looking middle aged man who wants us to come back tomorrow
and teach his family!
- A guy drinking a beer made in Salt Lake City who had talked with
missionaries before in New Mexico

All these people and more as we knocked a street called Success lane!
It's been one of my favorite things to do, find interesting people and
hear their different stories. Everyone you meet has some sort of story,
and for some reason people really like to tell these stories to
missionaries. We don't even know these people and they tell us their
whole life stories! It's a little overwhelming, but it makes it nice
as we try and discern what they need from the gospel.

Well, I hope y'all have a nice week. I sure do love y'all, stay true
to who you are and remember Jesus Loves you!
Love,
Elder Murdock
True to the Faith


A street named Success!

Working in the Backwoods



Monday, August 29, 2016

Temple and Knocking Doors

Hey y'all! I hope everything's going well for everyone, things have
been going real well here in Atascocita. This week was pretty great!
We were able to go to the temple with our recent convert Amanda to do
baptisms and confirmations. It was a good experience for her and for
us. I've really enjoyed going to the the temple here, there's an
amazing spirit of peace there, and it's even better going wth someone
who I've been able to bring closer to Christ. 
We have new elders  in our district! Their names are
Elders Martinez and Peterson.  Elder Martinez is from
Mexico, so I think elder Peterson has a little advantage learning
Spanish. They're both really good guys, it's been nice getting to know
them and showing them around the area.
That's about all that happened this week that's interesting, the rest
of the week was spent knocking doors and biking around. Elder Niemann
got pretty sick on Saturday which made it hard to go talk to people,
but he's feeling better now.
So, that's all I got for now! I hope y'all have a fantastic week
wherever you may be, know that I sure do love y'all, but I love the
Lord more! It's wonderful to be working for him, I couldn't ask for a
better boss.
Love,
Elder Murdock