Racing for Book of Mormons, Halloween, and Teaching

 I hope all y'all are doing good after that earthquake. (We had a small earthquake here at home on Monday morning. It woke us up early!) I know I'm doing alright after a few tornado warnings out here, pretty crazy stuff lately I guess! It's been a really good week, we got some good stuff done and had fun doing it. On Tuesday we went out looking for people, and we stopped by to see these people we met a while back, but they weren't home. Instead, their kids were there, with some of their cousins riding bikes. We actually got to play with two of the younger kids. We played catch with a baseball a little bit, it was fun. It all started out with Moe challenging their older cousin, who was on a bike, to a race. Moe on feet, the kid on a bike.  Moe won, of course, and because he won, the kids had to take Books of Mormon from us! The younger kid,  who is about seven, invited us back the other day, but nothing really came of it, but I think we'll keep trying them out, we'll see how it goes.  Wednesday was great, we taught an 8 year old another lesson.  He is in a part member family.  His family all dressed up as opposite genders for the ward trunk or treat, and it was so funny to see them like that! I love this 8 year old! He is such a smart little guy, he's taking the lessons really well!  The rest of the week has been good, we had the sisters over to our porch for dinner on Halloween, and that was fun, we had Tongan food for Halloween! We all went as missionaries, of course.  Then just yesterday, we went back to see those kids I was talking about, and their grandma wasn't having a good day. She lives with them, and she just told us to go away. So, we decided to walk down the street a little farther and knocked on some houses. The first one we knocked on was an old couple who let us in and were nice, but just weren't interested, but they did say that their neighbor was a preacher if we wanted to talk to him. Of course we did, so we went over and knocked on his door, and, long story short, he and his whole congregation want to be baptized now! Haha, just kidding I wish. The preacher moved out not too long ago and another older gentleman lives there now, and this guy needs to be a Mormon! I'm not kidding, he doesn't drink, he loves the story of the early saints, he understands the restoration, and he's looking for a church around here where he can pay his 10% tithe! This guy is practically made for our church, I just want to keep teaching him! 

So, I took a lot of pictures this week. I think I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. I love you all so much, you're the best!

Love, 

              Elder Murdock

True to the Faith

Enjoying the view

Fishing early morning on P day

Rain, Pugs, and Prayer

Hello everybody! Yes, I am staying dry, but just barely! It's been
raining non stop for the last two days, and it only just stopped
today! It's  crazy! It's been good though, I don't mind it that much.Thank you for the
package! The pumpkins are awesome, and Elder Moe loved
those cookies. He grabbed a couple when I first opened it and walked
off, then he came straight back and said, dang those are good, grabbed
another handful and walked off again! I'm still with him here in
Onalaska after this transfer, so I guess there's still some work we
need to do here! I'm glad, I've really gotten to love this place and
this ward, it almost feels like home! Speaking of home, I'm so happy
to hear about the wedding! Tell Libby and Drew that I am really happy for
them, and that I'm sorry I missed it!   This week we had Stake
Conference and we couldn't go to the Sunday sessions due to the rain,
but I was able to go down Saturday night with our ward mission leader
and his wife. Sister and President Drake spoke there, and a big part
of their talks was on love, and it made me think of how much love the
Savior has for each and every one of us.  It also made me think of my
mission plaque scripture,  Moroni 7:48.
 I have truly felt the power of prayer as I've served
out here, especially as I've prayed to be filled with charity.  I've
been thinking about the love of Christ a lot lately, and about how I
need to show that love to others, even more now that I'm a full time
representative of the Lord.  I hope y'all  can find that love too!
So, something funny happened this week. Our heater got turned on for
the first time by our landlady, and it was getting a little too hot
for me and Elder Moe, so I opened up or front and back doors to get a
good breeze in, then I went back to reading my scriptures at my desk.
While I was reading, I heard this really creepy grunting and snorting
noise coming from the door. At first I thought it was just Elder
Moeakiola, because he does that a lot, but I didn't see anyone there!
So I looked at the door, expecting to see a great big dog standing at
it, but instead I find this hilarious little pug with a huge nose
trying to get in through the cracked door! He actually did get in, and
waddled all around our apartment until we finally shooed him out, but
it was so funny to see this little dog with its big tongue scampering
around the apartment!
I'm doing good out here, and I'm excited for this new transfer, to see
if I get to meet any  new people, or even get a couple baptisms!
Who knows, anything can happen out here, and I can't wait to write y'all 
back about it! Keep up the good work back home, and know I love you
all!
Love,
               Elder Murdock

True to the Faith

Stormy weather

Sneaky Pug

P Day

Talent shows, baptize, and ride

Hello family!  Elder Moe and I, along with the young men in our ward, did a Hakka for our talent show! It was so fun, Elder Moe especially liked doing it, and practicing for it.  The talent show was fun, we also did another skit with a young adult in the ward who just graduated.

This week has been great! On Tuesday we were on another exchange with the the zone leaders, so I got to go  down by Kingwood with a red head named Elder--- he's a zone leader. That was pretty great. We biked around a lot and even stopped at this Mexican food truck, and Wes, I actually got a Torta! I didn't drop it though, thankfully, but I thought of you when I got it. It's kinda like if you put a fajita on a sandwich, they are pretty good.  The place reminded me of some places we were at in India!

Then on Wednesday we had a talent show, and that was way fun to see all the ward and their talents. I didn't play viola then, but I still had fun doing some skits and things! 

Also, on Sunday, our Bishop's wife asked if I could play viola on Friday for the ward genealogy dinner. I told  her yes, but I would need to find some old Scottish and Irish jigs to play.  So, I went and found a few jigs to play on Wednesday, practiced and memorized them on Thursday, and played them on Friday! It was a little hectic, but it turned out alright. I love playing!

Then of course, we had a baptism on Saturday!!! It went really well, it felt so good to be able to help him into the water, I didn't baptize him, it was the another older gentleman that did that.  Me and Moe just helped him into the water because of his leg.  He did well though! He was very frightened though, but Elder Moe had him as he went under. It went off without a hitch and it was awesome! His confirmation yesterday went great too. It was amazing, being able to stand in the circle and help give him the Holy Ghost. Man, I love being a missionary! It made me hungry for more! I can see why dad loved his mission so much, it is just so amazing! I want to keep bringing people to the fold, to the true church! It's amazing seeing them grow in the gospel, and to see the spirit touch them in such an amazing way.  I'll keep working hard!

Ok, now I should probably answer a few of yalls questions: the weather is good, the heat is starting to go away, finally, but there hasn't been any rain for a while, we could really use some! 

I'm not sure about jackets and sweater vests, I think the jacket I have here will work for now, but if I need more I'll let y'all  know! 

Alright, things are going great out here, I love you all, thanks for caring about me while I'm out here, I can't believe how fast time flies! I'm already about to go into my third transfer next week! It's all going good guys, keep up the good work back home! I'm glad you had an undefeated season, tell the team they are the best!  Good luck in playoffs.  I love you. 

Love, 

                 Elder Murdock

 True to the Faith

P Day BBall

Ward talent night 

Some people are "dying" for the Book of Mormon

Baptism

"You Do You"

Hello my super amazing, terrified-of-a-mouse family!  I'm sorry, but I just think that's hilarious! Good luck with that, and try not to hurt him too much!  This week has been great!  It started off with a great p day, the whole zone went down to Kingwood for Zone p day, and we filled socks with flour and threw them at each other, and by the end of it, everyone was just caked in flour! It was awesome.  On Tuesday we went over to a less actives house to teach her great grand kid the first lesson. He is turning eight and really really wants to get baptized! His dad is not a member, so I'm hoping he will be able to sit in on some lessons.  Anyway, when we went over to the lady members house no one was home, but we did catch her driving in in her mini van full of grand kids and great grand kids so we stopped them and it turns out they were just stopping at the house to grab something before going down to the daughters house, who is not a baptized member.  We followed them over to the house and who else should be there but the sister missionaries!  The sisters were helping her daughter clean up her house as service, and they have also been teaching her the lessons, because she is finally starting to become more interested in the Church!  So we taught the little boy there, and we set up his baptism date!  

Not much happened Wednesday and Thursday, we just tried biking around, trying to find people to talk to most of the day.  We did find a neat place to take some pictures though when we were done, so that was fun!  We did have another lesson with our investigator on Thursday, and he is still going great!  We are going to Baptize him on  Saturday, I'm so excited!!! He has a missing leg so me and Elder Moe are going to step down and help him into and out of the water while a member who is good friend with him will baptize him.  Its going to be a really cool experience, I hope it all goes well!  

Friday night we had an exchange with the district leader and his greenie. His greenie came out at the same time as me.  I went down to Cleveland.  It was pretty crazy, having two greenies working on the area!  We did some good though. On Saturday we did some service work at a Christian thrift shop, sorting clothes and such.  We also biked around Cleveland, trying to make his appointments with investigators.  Not many of them could really talk that day though, so we biked around knocking doors, trying to find people to teach.  I've come to realize that I'm not going to be a missionary forever, so I'm finding joy in the journey, even when the schedule falls apart and we're left with nothing else to do but knock doors and bike around, I still love it!  I think the best thing for missionaries to do is to just be themselves.  There's a saying out here, "you do you" and I think that it's a great saying for missionaries, and for everyone!  We are all unique, and we all have certain qualities about us that make us who we are.  As missionaries, we have all be sent here for a purpose.  I know that I, specifically me, am here, and if I'm not being me, being Mitchel Murdock, then I'm doing something wrong.  We all need to be ourselves, but as missionaries we need to be our best selves.  So, we need to rely on the Savior, and the things He has told us to do, to make us become the best we can be.  So really, just as long as you are relying on the Savior, and working hard, you can get good work done.

As for me, I think I want to be like the missionary dad was!  When Jason Hoopes talked to me and told me about the kinda missionary dad was, it made me laugh!  I could so see dad out as a missionary, and just having fun! That just sounds like dad, and I loved hearing about it!  I also knew, just because it's who dad is, that he got a ton of hard work done, and was an awesome missionary.  I may not want to be quite as crazy a missionary as dad was, but I defiantly want to have fun like he did, and work my guts out like he did.  This gospel is true, it just is, there's no other way anything could happen without it.  I'm here to teach others about it, and to help them feel the joy and love that is our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I'm going to do it, relying fully on Him, while using my unique personality and gifts that have been given to me.  I love all of you so much!  I loved hearing about dads mission stories, if he wants to tell me some more, I love to hear them while I'm out here!

Keep to the faith everyone, stay on the old ship Zion! It's going to a great place!

Love, 

                    Elder Murdock

                    True to the Faith

P.S. I have a ton of pictures to send y'all, but I can't do it on this computer, so look out for them latter today when I'll be able to do it! I love seeing all of y'alls pics, and I'm super pumped about the football season! Go Red Devils!!!

Not sure what kind of burger this is, or if Elder Murdock ate it all, but he thought it would make a great picture!

Have your faith "rooted" in Christ!

Kingwood Zone PDay 

Conference Weekend

Howdy everybody! This week has been great!  We went and did service at
a sisters house. We helped her move over to a new home in
Livingston.  It was so nice to help her out, she was so grateful that
we could help, along with some of the ward members.  I love being able
to help out! And that I learned from such good parents to work hard.
We weren't able to find many people this week, no one wanted to hear
about the gospel! It's pretty crazy, but we were able to talk to some
less active families.   I enjoy hearing their stories!
Conference was so good this week! Some of my favorite messages:
President Monson on being a light
Elder Holland on mothers (I almost cried a bit)
Elder Durrant's on ponderizing, I love that.
When Sister Marriott spoke about Texas!
Those are just a few, but really I loved all of it! I watched it at
the church in Livingston, with the sisters and a few other members.
Hearing the words of the General Authorities is awesome as a missionary.
 I liked trying to think of how this could help me out, and how it could help out those
around me.  I felt the spirit so strong when President Monson bore his
testimony, it's so good to know that we have a living prophet that
receives perfect guidance for this church, and for the whole world!
But, I was getting a little scared too, when he kept leaning closer to
the mike. I hope he keeps doing alright, we've already lost three
amazing men this year!
I'm glad you had fun on your trip, dad! And I'm also glad that grandpa
is still doing good, I don't think he's ever going to stop working
hard! And tell Evan to be more careful, but that would have been so
funny to watch! I'm glad you're all doing so well, I love you all! And
sorry I've kinda crammed all your personal emails into one this week,
I'm not sure when I'll have wifi again, which is why I've taken so
long to send it today, but here you go, take it or leave it! I love
you all, and I love hearing from you! Keep doing what's right, and
keep reading over what was said this weekend, and do what they tell
you! The church is true, and the word is good. I'll keep working hard
out here, and I'll only be missing you a little! I love you all!
Love,
                      -Elder Murdock

True to the Faith

"The Christian Satan Warned You About"

Hello everyone! It's so good hear from you again, and to hear about
all the exciting stuff going on back home!  To answer some of Mom's questions,  I can wear my boots on p days or when we do service, and I already wore them out doing service last week, we helped build a new walkway for our ward mission leader.  Also, one more thing about this week.  We have a baptism set for Oct. 17th with a man who had the discussions in Idaho where his sister lives.  We are doing some follow up lessons now.

We had dinner with a family in the ward last night. They are an awesome young married couple in the ward with three little kids and they invited a girl over who they helped change a tire on the side of the road a few days ago.  We taught her a lesson on faith and the Atonement, and she seems really receptive of it.  We're going to keep teaching her.  I'm excited to finally have some real investigators. It feels so good to do this work! 

I've got some crazy stories for y'all!
We went  to a dinner appointment at our bishops. 

On the way there we tracked down a street, and we didn't have
any luck. We did have one guy yell at us from his yard, he was talking
over the fence with his neighbor. We were just walking right then, so
he yelled "where's y'all's bicycles?!" We just told him we were
walking that day, and he sorta just laughed and turned back to his
neighbor. We kept going and didn't have any luck again down another
street, but we did find a little orange tree, so we plucked some off
and ate them on the way back to our bikes. Right when we were
finishing them up, we were passing that house where the crazy guy
yelled at us, and he yelled at us again! But this time it was nice, he
was wondering if we wanted some sodas. Me and elder Moe looked at each
other, turned back to him and said yeah! So we went over by the fence
in front of his house and he brought out some cokes for us.  We
asked him if he had ever talked to LDS missionaries before, and he
told us that he had not, but that he believed in our church anyway!
I'm not sure how he found out, but he told us all about how he knew
about the gold plates and Joseph Smith and the first vision, and he
looked at us and said, "you know what's crazy? I believe it!
Yahkakak!!!" So he invited us over for lunch the next day, he told us
he'd make pork chops, and that's where it really got crazy. We came
back the next day and sure enough, he had pork chops cookin on the
stove for us.  He came out to meet us without a shirt on and called us
Mr Murdock and Mr Moe, like how you say "moe" in English.
He had like eight chiwhawas running around with a great
big French bulldog leading them, drooling all over the place.  We had
pork chops and Mac and cheese with this guy  who had
tattoos all up his arms and chest.  The lunch really wasn't that bad,

but it was a little awkward when he got out a big jar of vodka and
poured a big old glass of it. He was pretty drunk through  this
whole meeting.  He told us more about himself.
He's defiantly a Dixie boy. He even taught his pet parakeet
to whistle Dixie, so I whistled Dixie to try and get the bird to, and
he couldn't believe that a Utah boy knew how to whistle Dixie. He
then talked about how he really wants to start changing his life (as
he was lighting a cigarette) and that he'd been watching glen beck.
Aperantly glen has been talking about love, and how the savior always
showed love in his actions, and he really liked that. He
told us that he really wanted to start showing love to others. He also
told us that he might just want to convert to the church! I think he
might have some word of wisdom stuff to work out though!
 He told us to come back the next day so we could talk with
him so we said sure! On the way out he gave me a biker patch that
reads "I'm the Christian satan warned you about" and I gave him a Book
of Mormon.   

 We went back the next day, but he wasn't home. It was all a really strange experience,

and I think we might just go back again sometime to see how he's
doing.
Anyway, I'll finish with a story about how Elder Moe had ants in his
bed a few nights ago.  We were about to go to bed when he saw all these
ants crawling all over the bed, so we had to spray them all off with
bug spray! We got them all killed, and he put his bed up on a bed
stand finally. He had just been sleeping on the box and mattress on
the floor, and that's why the ants went onto his bed and not mine,
because my bed was raised above the ground. It reminded me of dads
story of the bed bugs, so I said a prayer that the ants wouldn't
return, and they didn't!
I love you all, but Jesus loves you more! I love my boots and viola
and the salsa and everything, thanks again! I'm so excited for
conference, I love to hear what the Prophet and Apostles have to say!
Love, Elder Murdock

Elder Murdock!

P-Day at the Church.  Cooking Breakfast for lunch!

Music, Investigators, and Packages From Home- Onalaska, Texas

Hello Everyone!

It's been another good week here in Texas.  I can't believe how many greenies are here in our zone now.  I think that maybe only four or five companionships aren't training right now in my zone, and that's out of thirteen companionships!  It's crazy seeing all these new missionaries, and to think that was me just a few weeks ago.  It really doesn't even seem that long ago!  Time flies when you're working hard I guess.  It's good to hear that everyone is doing well back home.  I'm glad you've been seeing the blessings in your life.  I know I've been seeing a few! Like having my viola shipped out to me!!  Thank you so much for sending it with Candice.  It's pretty funny actually, our ward choir instructor, Sister Crocket is already thinking about having me play a little accompaniment with the choir soon.  She's been a music teacher pretty much her whole life, so she's really excited to have my viola here.  Where as I am just kinda nervous now.  But I think it should be alright!

Well, not too much happened with investigators this week, but it was still a pretty busy week.  We had a big zone meeting down in Kingwood on Tuesday to introduce all those new missionaries to each other.  That's how I actually got my viola.  I was going to pick up my boots and things that y'all sent me (and thank you for those too.  I love having them again!)  and I was so surprised to see it there.  The senior couples working there made me play something for them, along with the other missionaries that were there that day, it was weird playing it for all of them, especially after it's been so long.  But it felt good!

Anyway, enough about my viola.  On Monday we were actually able to go see this family we've been trying to teach.  Last time we went to their house they were taking off to Instacare to have their little baby daughter looked at.  So we came back on Monday to see how they were doing and maybe teach a lesson. We walked up to the door and the dad came out and told us that their daughter was ok, but the pediatrician said it might be contagious.  We asked if he would want us to bless her and he said sure.  So we told them a little about what the blessing is and we blessed her.  The little girl was so quiet throughout all of it.  She was even smiling at us during it!  It felt good to be able to help out like that.  After the blessing we talked more to the family.  We gave them a little bit of the first lesson,on the restoration and we also gave them some Book Of Mormons.  The mom actually was really happy to have us.  She told us that a few days before she met us she asked God for some help in her life.  It had been a while since she had done this.  So she and her little family are looking for a new church now and I think we've got just the one for them.  

I love my ward here.  It's an awesome ward!! The people here have real strong testimonies.  They like having the missionaries here, and they also like to have fun!

Well, that's a long email, but I'm just excited to share this with y'all!  I'm doing good here.  I love you all so much.  Keep doing good back home and know that God is always there for you, no matter what!

Love, Elder Murdock

Notice the truck behind Elder Murdock!