Monday, May 29, 2017

Week 97-Jasper

Happy Memorial Day y'all! I sure hope you're having a good one!
This last week has been great, on Tuesday we had our Beaumont zone
conference, where we got to hear from our APs, zone leaders, and
president and sister Drake. It was actually the last time we'd get to
hear from them in a conference like that, and on Friday we had our
last interview with President Drake, pretty crazy it's already time
for them to go, I can hardly believe it.

Through this whole week we saw Margaret every day to make sure she was
ready for her Baptism, which was on Friday. We did it mostly so she
wouldn't forget about it! We went to her house on Friday with our
district leader Elder Wood for her interview and she thought that that
was the day she was getting baptized! But other than her memory
problems, she had to have been the smoothest person I've ever taught
to prepare for Baptism. There was no problems at all with her, we just
met, taught her, and now, two weeks later, she's a member of the
church with a whole new family of friends. It's been a testimony to me
that the Lord is preparing people every day to hear the gospel, and He
will use you to help those people who are searching, and can't help
themselves. We just need to be ready and willing to go when He calls!

Elder Chanel and I also gave talks yesterday in Sacrament meeting, we
were told we could do it in any subject we wanted, so we decided to
talk on Memorial day, and how it ties into the gospel. Elder Chanel
talked about sacrifice, and I talked about how our service and
membership in the church is like military service. I talked a little
about the flag my uncle Rob gave me before I left on my mission, the
one he wore on his shoulder through his service in Iraq. He gave me
a letter with it describing some of the challenges that went along
with that service, and the challenges I'd face out here in the field.
I carry that flag in my wallet and think about what it means to be a
soldier in the army of the Lord each time I see it. It's hard work,
and does require a lot of sacrifice, but anything good in this world
requires at least a little sacrifice. Some give their all in defending
what they know is right and true, and those are the people we honor
today. I hope as we all go about our day, and as we remember those
brave men and women who did sacrifice everything for this wonderful
country, that we don't forget the one Man who gave His absolute all
for each of us, who performed the greatest sacrifice that has ever
been made, who fought the entire army of the adversary completely
alone. I hope we all remember our Savior today, and every day. As we
follow Him, our ultimate Commander and Chief, we will never lose any
battle that is thrown our way.
One last thing about the meeting yesterday, Elder Chanel and I decided
to do a little musical number between our talks with him singing and
me playing the viola. We did a medley of different hymns in English
and Samoan, which ended with the Stars Spangler Banner, with the whole
congregation singing along. That was a neat experience, playing that
song with everyone
Singing a long. I swear, as I was playing I almost thought I could
hear angels singing a long with us. Very special moment.

Well, I sure do love y'all, and this great country, and I know that
the Lord loves us all even more than that! Keep your faith in Him and
you'll never fail!

Love,
Elder Murdock
True to the Faith


Somewhere in East Texas

Margaret's Baptism


Monday, May 22, 2017

Week 96

Hello Everyone! 
This week was exciting, full of adventures in the woods. On Tuesday, we went with a member named Brother Rogers, an old east Texan who literally knows everyone in the state of Texas, to go try and see some people. Once we'd talked to the person we'd planned on seeing, he took us out to the woods to try and talk to some of his friends he knows. We weren't able find any of them, but we did run into some long horns, so that was neat. Wednesday we had exchanges, i went down to Woodville with elder Park and had another great day out looking for people in the woods who weren't there, but it's all good,elder park's a great guy with a TON of good stories, too many for one email. On Thursday Brother Rogers had us back over so Elder Chanel could fix a carburetor on one of his old tractors. He ended up letting us ride around his property in a couple of them once they were fixed, that was a good time. 
We've been teaching a kind lady named Maggie for the past couple of weeks, a member referred her to us our first week together, and she's just been a joy to teach. She's been prepared to accept the gospel for years now, she'd even been living the Word of Wisdom all her life and hadn't even known it! One thing about her, though, is that she forgets things very easily. This last time we met, she'd forgotten that she went to church with us last week! When we reminded her that she did come, she sat thinking for a moment, then a big smile lit up her face and she said, "oh that's right! I love that church!" She'll be getting baptized this Saturday, we had her write a big sign on her wall about it so she can remember!
Everything else is going good up here, there's been a ton of rain these last few days but that wont stop us! This week the memorization challenge is 1 Nephi 7:12, join in on the fun and read it live it love it! 
I hope all yall have a great week this week, I sure do love yall, and the Lord loves you even more than that! Keep Him centered in your life and you'll never be led astray. It's that simple.
Love, 
Elder Murdock
True to the Faith

Longhorns and Elder Murdock

Exchanges with Elder Park

Cowboy and a Samoan

Working in the Woods




Monday, May 15, 2017

Mother's Day

Talofa lava everyone! I hope y'all had a good week, I know I did! I
had a nice time talking to my family yesterday, so forgive me if this
email is short, I was able to say a lot to my family, so that was sort of
my weekly thingamajiger 🙃
Elder Chanel and I had a great week, we had a great miracle happen on
Wednesday, a member referred us to a nice lady named Margaret. She has
been looking for years for God's true church, and when we taught the
restoration, she knew she'd found it. When she came to church
yesterday, she told me that she'd found her a church to stay in!
We also had the chance to go to a rodeo on Saturday with some
investigators, it was way fun I hadn't been to one in part two years
now, Elder Chanel thought it was great too, he'd never been before.
Also, apparently the famous bull rider Cooner Davis lives in our area,
we drive past his house a lot, we're fixin to knock on it one of these
days.
I'm having a great time with Elder Chanel, it's been fun learning more
about the Polynesian culture, it's way laid back and fun, but still so
full of strength and hard work. That's one thing I've been lucky to
have in my mission, to get to know so many cool cultures, like Tongan,
Cajun, Samoan, Hispanic, Korean, Texan, it's a big old melting pot
here!
That's all I got this week, our memorization challenge this week is
Alma 7:15, join in on the fun and memorize it with us! Read it, live
it, love it!
I sure do love y'all and I know the Lord loves you even more than
that! Hope y'all have a great week,
Love,
Elder Murdock
True to the Faith

Jasper Rodeo

Rodeo

Camels??

Monday, May 8, 2017

Week 94-Week of Travels, Transfer to Jasper

Hey everyone, Elder Kent and I did a whole lot of traveling this week, we went from one side of the mission to the other, all the way into Baton Rouge! It's been pretty wild, and I've got lots of pictures this week, so I hope yall enjoy!

We started the week off with a road trip, I dropped Elder Kent off in Orange and picked up my buddy Elder Andersen, then we drove to Vidor where the zone leaders picked us up and drove us all the way over to Kingwood, where I stayed the night in my old apartment in Atascocita. The next day was a mission leader training meeting which went really well, I got to see a lot of my old friends I hadn't seen in a while, and we all got some good spiritual direction. We're focusing on effective studies and the Book of Mormon this month, I'm excited.  On Wednesday we drove out to Jennings to give the elders there a new phone. By the time we got there a huge storm hit that flooded a lot of the roads and freeways, so we were stuck at their apartment for a while, the rain never really stopped all day, it was nuts. The next day we got to go out to Sulphur and help the elders there clean out a member's home that got flooded pretty bad. On Friday we had the zone leaders come down to teach a special district meeting on what we learned on Tuesday about the Book of Mormon, we dont do zone meetings anymore, now the zone leaders come to us, pretty nice. On Saturday we took anther road trip clear out to Baton Rouge to go to the temple there with our recent converts. Pierre was nice enough to take us, we probably wouldn't be able to go anywhere without that guy. The temple was great! we did Baptisms and confirmations, and they all went wonderfully. It was really neat to see where my dad's old mission was, it's a nice place, but i think Texas still has it beat! That night we got transfer calls and I found out that I'll be leaving Lake Chuck and my good friend and companion elder Kent. Sad. I've had a lot of fun out here, elder Kent and I worked hard together, I sure will miss him. But, this means we get to have another road trip! This has been the week of road trips I swear. We'll be driving over to Beaumont where we'll meet up with the Jasper elders, I'll be going up to Jasper with Elder Chanel, an Elder from Samoa, and Elder Kent and Chanel's comp, elder Morris, will be going on to kKngwood to get their new comps, and mission life goes on! 

That just about wraps it up for this week, I'll let yall know more about my new comp and my new area next Monday. As a mission we're all memorizing a book of mormon scripture each week, this weeks is Mosiah 4:10, so I'll be ponderizing on that one this week! Read it live it love it!
I sure do love yall, and the Lord loves you even more than that! Remember that and you'll have a wonderful life!
Love, 
Elder Murdock
True to the faith

Baton Rogue Temple 

Baby Gator

Texas Star
Atascosita Apartment
Storm in Jennings










Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Week 93

Hey This ones gonna be a short one y'all, I've got to take off soon
for another road trip into Houston, I'll try and make it a good email
though!
So, I had exchanges with elder Remund over in Jennings today, we got
to go clear over into Crowley, the edge of the mission, we met some
cool people there, one was a ninety six year old catholic guy, another
guy named smokey Jackson, it was great. The best part was seeing how
other missionaries do their work, and trying to help out in little
ways
We also had a baptism this week! A young man named Christian got
baptized, it was way fun teaching him, he even
brought a friend to the baptism that he'd met a couple weeks ago, he's
the one who drove him to the baptism actually, good guy.
Alright that's about it from me for now, I'll need to get going! I
sure do love y'all, and I love the lord even more than that! I'll keep
working hard out here, y'all take care back home and stay close to the
gospel! I've been thinking a lot about charity this week, and I've
still got that on my mind, so I'm doing Moroni 7:44-48 as my ponderize
scripture, learn it live it love it!
Love,
Elder Murdock!
True to the Faith

Elder Kent and Elder Murdock


Chris' Baptism

Dinner with a Member