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



Monday, August 22, 2016

Another Good, Wet Week in Texas

Hello Everybody.  I hope y'all have been doing well this past week. 
Ours was a little slower after the baptism, just trying to find more
people to teach, but it was still a good one. 
Oh yeah, also, transfers are happening today, and me and Elder Niemann
are still together! We are also getting some new Spanish Elders in our
district who'll be living in our apartment complex, so that should be
fun. It's looking like it'll be a good transfer, even though I'm
killing elder Niemann (don't worry, I won't actually kill him, it just
means I'll be his last companion).
We also helped a family, the Cranes, move out of the Humble ward on
Tuesday in a massive rain storm. Us, the Humble Elders and Sister
missionaries were the only ones helping them out. The Cranes actually
got baptized on Saturday right after Amanda. The Sisters taught them
all the lessons in like, two days! They were in a hurry because they
had to move to Utah a few days after their baptism, which is what we
were helping them do. They have three little kids who were all
adorable, the mom was from South Africa and called them all her
Angels, and they were!
Other than all that we had a rather plain week, but I got lots of
pictures for y'all, I hope that makes up for it! I hope y'all have a
fantastic week, I sure do love y'all but I love the Lord more, he's
done so much for me, it's so wonderful to be a part of his work.
Love,
Elder Murdock
Into the Storm

Elder Murdock and Elder Niemann



Monday, August 15, 2016

Good Week



Hello everybody! I hope y'all have been doing well and stuff, nothing
too exciting has happened here except...
WE GOT A BAPTISM FINALY!!!!  WOOHOO!! Yeah, really though, it's been a
great week down here. Thursday we got to go down to the temple as a
zone, the spirit was strong there and I even got to see some members
from Livingston that I haven't seen in a long time. I love being able
to go there, there's so much peace inside the Temple when the world
offers so much chaos. If you ever have a chance to go to a temple near
you, go as often as you can! It's a great blessing to have a place to
go to feel the Saviors presence so strongly.
So, we baptized Amanda on Saturday and confirmed her on Sunday! The
baptism went really well, Elder Niemann did the actual baptizing and
did it real smooth too, she only had to go down once. 
Anyway, I had the chance to confirm Amanda a member of the
church yesterday, it was the first time I've done it and it was
wonderful! The spirit defiantly helped me out with it though, it was
something I won't ever forget.
On Tuesday we had exchanges with the zone leaders and I got to spend
the day with my buddy Elder Asay! It was nice to talk to him and
reminisce on our time in the MTC, we also both served in Baytown so we
had a lot to talk about that place.  It's been raining here lately and
it's made me think of something kinda cool: Obedience is like a
personal umbrella against those storms of sin and sadness that tell
you you can't do it, or that it's too hard, that disobedience is
easier. When you open up the umbrella of obedience you're telling
yourself you can do hard things and that you are willing to keep doing
hard things, and the lord naturally and lovingly protects you for it.
I think I'll keep that umbrella up, it feels a whole lot better then
getting soaked in sadness!
I hope y'all keep your umbrellas open in those crazy storms of life,
stay dry out there! I sure do love y'all but I love the Good Lord
more, I know if you put Him first and foremost in your life things
will always just work out!
Love,
Elder Murdock



Monday, August 8, 2016

"I am never getting a pitbull."

Hello all you wonderful sons and daughters of God! I hope y'all have
been getting along well this week, I know I had a good one, mostly
because it was my birthday on Friday, and my Texas birthday on
Saturday! Woohoo! I've been on the earth for 20 years and Texas for 1.
Time sure does fly by! So, I got an email this morning from a friend
of mine, Äldste Groberg whose been on a mission to Sweden for a year
now, and in it he made a list of things he's learned in his year as a
missionary, and I hope he doesn't mind if I steal his idea and do the
same thing! So, here's a list of things I've learned here in the great
state of Texas:
-God is really there, he's truly my father, and loves me more than I
will ever be able to know
- He loves all y'all just as much
-He's asked me to serve Him with all my heart might mind and strength,
and I've really enjoyed myself doing so!
-the keys to missionary work are love, obedience, and confidence,
fearing no one.
-Texas is absolutely by far the BEST GOSH DARN STATE IN THE WHOLE GOSH
DARN UNION!
-It also just so happens to be the most prideful state in the whole Union!
-I've come to love the people of the south and their testimonies of the Savior
-Trailer parks are a gift from God and there's a lot of fun to be had
for missionaries that go Tracting there.
-The sealing power is real and is the only way families can be together forever
-It doesn't matter what it is, if you wrap it in bacon and BBQ it, it
will end up tasting good. Even better if you deep fry it.
-The apostasy was real, is still going on, and only the truths
restored by the prophet Joseph smith and the Atonement of Jesus can
save the world from it.
-The atonement of Christ is the most beautiful and transcendent
doctrine to be found in all of our revealed truths
-The bible is an amazing book
-It's also a really confusing book
-The only reason I believe the bible is true is because we have the
Book of Mormon to back it up.
-I'm never getting a pit bull
-I love people!
-just because it's been raining for a whole day straight, doesn't mean
it's going to get any cooler, just more humid.
-Texas is really a beautiful place...
-But it would be even better with mountains!
-missionary work is the best thing anyone can do!
-Contrary to popular belief,  the Texas Houston East Mission is the
greatest mission in the church #T.H.E.Missionofthechurch
The list can go on and on, but I think that may be enough for now!
Our investigators are doing well.  We have a baptism lined up for Saturday, and another person committed! Obedience and fasting have been key to all that is going on. I sure do
love y'all but I know that I love the Lord more, and I know that He
loves everyone most of all! I guess I'll see y'all in a year or so,
until then, hope y'all stay fair ta midlin!
Love
-Elder Murdock
Happy Birthday Elder Murdock!!



Exchanges in Humble






Monday, August 1, 2016

Inspired members=amazing lessons

I hope y'all are doing real well out there, things in Texas couldn't
be better, here's a low down on how the works been going on this part
of the vineyard this week:

It started out real good, me and Elder Niemann taught a great lesson
with an investigator named Shane. We brought a member with us that
moved into the ward like, two weeks ago to live with his family here,
he came from Virginia. His parents are divorced, his mom is still back
in Virginia and is less active. His dad and step mom just moved here
too with the rest of the family, and they are awesome! They're the
Richardson family, and the sons name is Adam. He'd been less active
for years living with his mom on the military base in Virginia (his
dad that just moved here was in the Army National Guard) and was even getting
ready to join the military (he's my age) But the first Sunday he was
here, something amazing happened! He woke up and told himself, "I'm
going to get ready for church." When he got done, he went around the
rest of the house and found that everyone else was asleep! So he
figured he would just go change back and get some more sleep, but
instead a voice told him to go and wake everyone up to go to church,
and he did! And the services for him were exactly what he needed, he
told us that it was like the spirit just kept putting people directly
in his path that he needed to hear. He walked into church that morning
unsure if any of it was even true, and walked out by the end of the
day wanting to talk to the bishop about serving a mission! The kid is a
stud, with a solid testimony, and was perfect for our lesson with
Shane. We also were able to teach the stop smoking lesson to Amanda
with the Swanks, they're an older couple who used to be the vehicle
coordinators when I first came out, they moved to Kingwood recently
and still go out with the missionaries to teach the stop smoking
lessons, and they are awesome too! Elder Swank used to smoke three and
a half packs a day, and Sister Swank used to smoke two and a half,
until the missionary's got a hold of them and helped them out. They were
taught the same stop smoking lesson that they teach out here 15 years
ago, and they haven't wanted a cigarette since. We taught her the lesson
on Wednesday, and she hasn't had a cigarette since then! She is
progressing smoothly, she even brought her two sons to
church yesterday, and they loved it! Her oldest is 16 and her younger
son is 11, and she also has a little 2 year old daughter that stayed
home. We were able to get the two sons a baptismal date for the 13,
the same day as their mom, amazing things are happening and it's all
the spirits fault!
That's about it for this week, I hope y'all keep the Lord first in
your life, I know that if you do, you'll never go wrong, I sure do
love y'all!
-Elder Murdock
Texas Bar B Que

P Day

Kingwood Zone Conference