Baptism - May 28, 2018

this saturday ethan got baptized!!!!! woohooo!!!! it was SUCH A GOOD BAPTISM. president and hermana smart even came! they made the 3 hour drive all the way to cabo rojo just for the baptism :))))) and they said it was one of the best baptisms theyve been to. the whole family was so happy and theyre all just so cute. ethan was so nervous he didnt want to go under the water haha. and an 11 year old girl in the ward, aliah, gave the talk on baptism and it was soooo cute she cried when she was talking about her own baptism and basically like everyone cried. and there were so many people there from the ward that there wasnt enough chairs. it was a very happy baptism. woohoo! and digna's (ethans grandma) sister, manji, who is active in the church, came in from new york for the baptism and surprised them. it was so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it made it even better because he got confirmed on sunday. yeeeeeeesss. 

this week, hermana peterson and i decided that we are going to BAPTIZE. hence the title of this weeks email. we are cutting down the time we are teaching slowly-progressing investigators and we're searching the ones who are READY. we are PUMPED. we only have a month left together and we are gonna make it THE BEST ONE YET. if theyre not progressing, BAM. theyre dropped. like a hot potato. not keeping commitments? BAM. dont want to get baptizd? bam. dropped. hahaha. we are super pumped to find all these people who are ready to get baptized NOW. we're workin. WE ARE BOLD. 

this week we were texting benji to ask about his book of mormon reading and such and we invited him to ethan's baptism on saturday and he said "tengo trabajo, pero no te preocupes, con el favor de dios pronto vemos el mio!" and hermana peterson and i were both like AHHHHHHH. WHAAAAAAT. and we were like CUANDO ES PRONTO? and he said "cuando menos se lo imaginen!!" ahhah. so we're just waiting for a surprise wedding any day. and he fasted with us yesterday :)

yesterday we taught luis and the coupeles fam and he was like "we (silvian and him) want to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead!" and we were like niceeeeee. and we asked when and he said "when we finish reading the book of mormon. we're thinking the temple in conecticut because silvians sister lives there" AW BEST CONVERT EVER. READING THE BOOK OF MORMON AND PLANNING ON GOING TO THE TEMPLE. it was so nice. and he passed the sacrament yesterday and he was so happy and he was like "i didnt even ask to do it, the bishop asked me! and next week i think theyre going to ask me to bless it!!" :')

we climbed a couple of mountains while we were contacting this week. it was so fun. and in one, it started raining super hard, as you can see in my picture. and we found some cool people while doing it. and people tell us not to get wet, but dont let us inside. haha. 

so yes, that was my week. a good week! and this morning we had a district activity and went to el faro and it was so fun. woop woop.

<3 hermana murphy

1. feeling like a testigo with my umbrella :)

2. i forgot the umbrella!!!!!!!!!

3. hermana morales!

4. luis and robielane and silvian!

5. the three muskateers

6. the SALT FLATS (hermana peterson's hair is like the founding fathers) (4 for 4 transfers)

7. im a great photographer :)

8. eternal companion :-)

9. the district

10. hermana smith and her 3 puerto rican companions

11. yay! we live in HEAVEN!

12. everyone made fun of me for my utah jazz shirt :)

13-16. pictures from ethan's baptism!!

May 21, 2018

this week we got a new member in our house, hermana SMITH! my mtc companion/hermana peterson's hija! its so fun. 

ethan is getting baptized on saturday! woohoo! the fam came to church yesterday and he is super excited to be baptized! and danna's (his mom) husband came to church too and we were able to teach him too and hes interested in the church as well! they're not actually married, so we'll have to work on that. but we're so happy that the family is getting reactivated. theyre all so nice.

this week hermana peterson and i spent a good amount of time contacting trying to find new investigators. and we found a good numer of people who gave us set return appointments to come back! so we have high hopes for this week that we'll get some good new investigators from this.

we had a FIRE lesson with benji and jorma this week about marriage and we brought obispo rivera and his wife, who got married so they could get baptized (like 40 years ago) haha. but WE COULD TELL that it realllly made benji think and we have a feeling that hes gonna surprise us all and get married. and hermana peterson and i keep telling them that it has to be soon because we both have to be there. hah. WE HAVE FAITH!!

so last week luis and a recent(ish) convert who was kind of less active for a little while and we reactivated him (alex!) both got the priesthood last sunday and yesterday they both showed up in their white shirts and ties and helped with the sacrament!! it was the best feeling ever!!!!! soooooooo happy

a few weeks ago we got a referral from this one guy who is from cabo rojo and hes currently serving a mission. he gave us a refereence for his friend, adriana, and her family who live down in corozo which is super far. basically the furthest down south you can go in cabo rojo. so we've taught her a few times and then we lost contact for a couple weeks but then we heard this week that her brother was shot and killed in mayaguez, so we went down with hermana morales and were able to teach the whole family about the plan of salvation. it was a very powerful lesson and they just kept thanking us for coming over and bringing them some peace. it was a lesson that really made me feel grateful to be a missionary and be able to really help people in their lives. and they said that they will come to church this sunday! woop woop!

a pretty good week here in cabo rojo!

<3 cabo rojo <3

love

hermana murphy

1. happy first day of transfers!

2. the new house! 

3. with the OG, hermana morales
4. :0

5. cute baby animals!

6. we luv da panaderias

Together 4ever - May 14, 2018

guess what! hermana peterson and i are together FOR ONE MORE TRANSFER!!!!!!! hahahah. wow. i never thought id be with a companion for this long :))))) but we're excited because we're gonna baptize EVERYONE this transfer. and neither of us wanted to leave cabo rojo, so we're pumped. get readyyyy. and we're getting 4 new sisters in the zone this transfer!! woo! besides that, basically no ones changing. 

i just talked to the fam yesterday so i dont really know what else to write. haha. yesterday night we went to go see dolores and when we showed up, she was reading the book of mormon, then we read three chapters with her, and then she texted us at 1 AM and said that she just finished reading jacob 5 and was going to go to bed. HAHAHA. SHES ON FIRE. i asked her "do you believe that the book of mormon is true?' "yes" "do you believe that joseph smith was a prophet?" "yes" "do you believe that the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is God's church?' "yes' and then she said "the only thing im missing is being baptized! but i hope it comes soon." so BASICALLY shes just waiting for a sign from God. so we're working on that. 

benji quit drinking coffee this week WOOOOOOO hes so good. we have a plan to get him married. then hes BAPTIZED. 

yesterday we put this lady yolanda on date for the end of june. we've been kind of on/off teaching her but we went like twice this week and yesterday she was like "i want to get baptized! i want to do it for god!' and she just has to come to church but she has like social anxiety so shes kind of scared but she really wants to come to church this sunday. 

ethan couldnt come to church yesterday so we have to move his baptism date back but NO WORRIES

we had a zone activity last week in the lajas parguera and we had a barbecue and played sports and it was so fun!!!!!! 

yep. im not sure what else to say. heres some fun pics! and happy mothers day yesterday! and happy bday to dallin on saturday! i love how dallin changed his major and is following his dreams................ DREAM BIG! **************** SHOOT FOR THE MOON! IF YOU MISS, YOULL LAND AMONG THE STARS ******************** haha but for realz dallin is so fun and we have a good time quoting movies and talking about bball and taking classes together at byu. hope you had a gr8 birthday!!!!!!

love

hermana murphy

1. forever companions

2. forever companions part 2

3. fail zone selfie!

4. zone shirts!

5. us and waddy, a member of cabo rojo 1 who works on a farm with fun animals!!! like zebras! :0

6. first day of 14th grade! 

7. the district takes college!!! we had permission to go out without our plaques in regular clothes to do an experiment about the book of mormon at mayaguez university......... we're not disobedient!!!!!!!!! 

8. flowers from our friend who sells stuff in the intersection. happy mothers day to us!

9. shes so nice!

"Puerto Rico is in the ICU" - Area President Elder Gonzalez - May 7, 2018

this week was PROBS ONE OF THE BEST WEEKS OF MY MISSION. we literally taught ALL DAY EVERY DAY. it was crazy. we just went from one appointment to the next to the next to the next. and we had a TON of member presents. in our district meeting, the zone leaders said that if we got 27 member presents as a district, they would get us donuts. and there are 3 companionships in our district so it would be 9 each. and usually, hermana peterson and i get like 7. and this week we got THIRTEEN. we were very motivated by the donuts. as a district we got THIRTY TWO. it was legit. and we had FIVE investigators in church this week. LEGITTTT. 

remember the 9 person family i said that we contacted a couple weeks ago. well this week we started teaching them and theyre SO COOL. THEY NEED TO BE BAPTIZED. THEY WOULD MAKE PERFECT MORMONS. all the kids still live at home and are just so nice. theyre 21, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 5.  the only problem is that theyre currently active in their other church... but we can change that. haha. theyre all homeschooled and all the kids play musical instruments and theyre all so cute and nice and we went and read a chapter in the book of mormon with them and all the kids wanted book of mormons and theyre SO AWESOME. and then SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENED. so hermana peterson and i to call all the numbers on the ward list to find less actives to visit and try to find through them. soooo one night we were making calls and it was 8:59 and i caled one more number and i was looking for "eugenio" so i asked if eugenio was there and they said no, wrong number. and then they said "ustedes son las mormonas?" and i said "si, somos las misioneras" and she was like "this is taina's number" and TAINA IS THE MOM OF THE 9 PERSON FAMILY. WHAAAAAT. FOR SOME REASON THEIR NUMBER WAS UNDER EUGENIO ON OUR WARD LIST AND THEY DONT KNOW WHO EUGENIO IS AND I JUST RANDOMLY CALLED THEM. :0 it was crazy. i was laughing so hard. 

yesterday we had a meeting with elder gonzales who is the area president and he asked us questions and stuff and one of his questions was "if you were the mission president for a day, what would you do to find" basically saying if we could do ANYTHING what would we do. and he looked at me and was like "hermana murphy is thinking, what is your idea?" and all that was going through my head was if we got all our members to proselite like the testigos de jeobah do ahhaahahaa so i said it. it was funny. i personally think it would be very successful. it was a super good meeting. he said that of the 29 countries that he covers, puerto rico is the one in the intensive care unit :-) so we need to be working really hard to get it back up and running again. but which nurses and doctors are in the icu? THE BEST ONES! so basically it was like a compliment, he was telling us that we're awesome. 

this week we also found ETHAN, the 10 year old son of a less active member and we started teaching him and the WHOLE FAMILY came to church yesterday!!! the great grandma, the grandma, the mom and her non member husband, and the 2 boys. it was so nice!!!!!! finally, we have a progressing investigator in cabo rojo 2! haha. we were trying to set a baptismal date with him and asked which saturday he wanted to do it on and he said the 12th! haah! so next saturday. but we said the 19th, to make sure the family is a little bit more reactivated. but WOOO!!! im excited. we just need them to come to church next week again. and every week after :)

so a pretty SOLID week. i love teaching!!!!! cabo rojo is on FIRRREEEEE. i better not get transferred now that things are picking up.. haha. just kidding. ill be fine anywhere. we'll see what happens with transfer calls next week!

love 

hermana murphy

1. FIRST MANGOS OF THE SEASON!

2. passing out the family proclamation in the intersection with our friend

3. OG squad