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

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 

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

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! 🎉🎉 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