LUIS GOT BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED! - April 30, 2018

hey! FINALLY! A BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION! yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh. i dont think ill ever be calm inbetween a baptism and confirmation ever again :-) but IT WAS SO HAPPY! probably one of the happiest baptisms ive ever attended. obispo cruz baptized him and all the cupeles fam was crying and it was all so happy. and luis and silvian are TOTALLY gonna get sealed and im totally going. my goal is to get them both to go on missions now. heheh. 

other good news. DOLORES CAME TO CHURCH. FINALLYYYYYY. shes still on fire with her book of mormon reading and she loved church and its looking realll good. woo! finally! shes progressing!

we had zone conference this week and hermana peterson and i gave a FIRE training on "praying with faith" and we also had to sing a special musical number :-) so fun (-: but it was a super good zone conference on revelation and such and i learned a LOT. luv zone conference. 

yeah ok i dont really know what else to say besides LUIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DOLORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was a great week. here are lots of pics!!!!!!

love

hermana murphy

1. fun drives around the island! la cara del indio in isabela

2. benji and jorma brought us carrot cake and gave us a ride BLESSED

3. making TOSTONES (my favorite food) 

4. yeeeaaaaahhhhhhh

5. LUIS'S BAPTISM!!!!!!!!

6. LUIS AND SILVIAN <3

7. SQUAAAAAD (this is dolores, juanita, and hermana morales) (we have fun times)

8. DOLORES AT CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!

9. yessssssss

10. zone conference

hi! - April 23, 2018

hello! we have a baptism on saturday! LUIS!!!!! hes straight FIRE. so we went to go teach him on thursday and we asked him if he had prayed, and he said yes but that he felt super weird. he said that he got a weird feeling that just told him to leave and stop listening and stop going to church. so he just had a weird feeling for a couple days. we talked about the importance of praying often and reading the scriptures and we had him say the closing prayer for the lesson and it was THE BEST PRAYER IVE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE. it was so heartfelt and sincere and hermana peterson and i KNEW that he was going to recieve an answer because he just had so much faith. then he came to a baptism that they had in mayaguez on saturday, and he said that he felt super good and excited! and then we taught him yesterday and asked him how he felt and what he was thinking, and he said "me siento bien, lei y ore y desde entonces me he sentido bien, y pues, el sabado, me bautizo." and we were all like YEESSSSSSSSSSS. hermana peterson FREAKED. hahahah. and then he basically bore his testimony about how since he has started coming to church and reading the scriptures and taking the charlas, he has noticed that a lot of bad things have gone away and how he has felt calmer and how he knows that this is the true church. yay! so hes gonna get baptized on saturday. we're so excited!!! hes the best. he has never missed a commitment and is just golden.

yesterday at church i was talking to this one guy, alexander, who is the grandson of a member and comes to church with her every week. and as i was talking to him, i had an epiphany that his grandma said that she was the only member in her family. so i asked him "are you baptized?" and he said no. and then i wondered WHY NO ONE IN THIS WARD TOLD US THAT HE ISNT A MEMBER? literally we have gone to his grandmas house like 3 times and asked for referrals and SHE GAVE US FAKE NAMES. NOT EVEN REAL PEOPLE. AND SHE DIDNT TELL US THAT HER GRANDSON, WHO HAS COME TO CHURCH FOR LIKE 6 MONTHS, ISNT A MEMBER. AND FOR THAT MATTER NO ONE ELSE IN THE WARD. :-) so nice. so we are going to teach him this week. hes like 30ish and literally i dont even know. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY

dolores is also FIRE right now. we taught her on wednesday and we were talking to her and she was like "in the bible it says to leave your family and friends and follow Jesus and thats what im thinking of doing" HAHAHAHAHAHA since the ONLY reason she cant come to church is because her sister, who has alzheimers, refuses to come to church and she cant find anyone to take careo of her. so we're working on it. but anyways we had a lesson with her about reading the book of mormon every day and shes been updating us on where she is in her reading like 8 times a day hahaha. shes basically done with first nephi! woo! in our lesson, we read the first 2 chapters with her and when she heard about lehi leaving everything and going into the desert she said "thats like me! except i want to leave my family ,and take my clothes" hahahhah. shes hilarious

this week we also did exchanges with hermanas guido and cluff and i went with hermana cluff to mayaguez! it was fun. we put someone on DATE for NEXT SATURDAY so that was pretty exciting. idk if i wrote this before but when hermana peterson and i were covering the four wards, there was this lady in mayaguez, jennifer, who wanted to get baptized but she couldnt because she lived with her boyfriend but she came to church every week. well this week her boyfriend FINALLY moved out so we put her on date and shes getting baptized on saturday! woohoo! baptisms!

have a good week YALL

hermana murphy!

i figured mom would like a pic of me in my Ecuador shoes so here's me eating corn ice cream

swag - April 16, 2018

hi! im emailing so early because i have to go to the dentist in bayamon today :-) fun p day! but anyways, we had a gooooood week!

so luis is now on date for the 28th of april! hes great. we taught him twice this week and he came to church yesterday! we brought obispo cruz with us both times because luis has a lot of super deep questions obispo can answer them haha. but we have super good lessons with him. we taught him on thursday and left him 1 nephi 8 to read (about the tree of life) and he told us yesterday that they talked about that chapter in the priesthood class and then he read it after church and it all made so much sense! it was cool. and he has refused to say the prayers in our lessons UNTIL YESTERDAY and he FINALLY said the closing prayer and it was so good. A++ prayer. and he asked us "what days have you come? like the exact dates? i want to write them in my book of mormon" :''') so nice. also so his girlfriend is silvian cupeles and her sister is robilain and theyre both preparing to get their patriarchal blessings. but they can't find robilain's records in the church system so she needs to find her baptismal date or something but if they cant find it bishop says that she has to get rebaptized HAHAH. and luis was like "just get baptized with me on the 28th!" hahah so MAYBE we'll have two baptisms! hahahah.

this week we had MLC and it was sooooo good! we talked a LOT about recieving revelation, based on the conference talks from a couple weeks ago. i felt very young there because i was the youngest missionary there by at long time and it was intimidating hahaha but i learned so much. basically im a NEW WOMAN! hahaha. just everything now is pointing to us becoming more "spiritually self reliant" through recieving our own revelation and its super important. i love the smarts. theyre so smart. 

hahah. funny stories about hermana morales. so this week we brought her to a lesson with benji and jorma. and benji was like I DONT WANNA GET MARRIED and hermana morales just looked at him and goes "YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE! YOU HAVE BEEN LIVING TOGETHER FOR 6 YEARS YOURE BASICALLY ALREADY MARRIED" and then she started talking about how she can plan the whole wedding and get jorma a dress and put flowers in her hair and give benji a tie and shell help them find a ring and it was soooo funny. and on friday she called and asked for benji's phone number and i asked why and she said "es un secreto!" and i asked why again and she said "encontre un vestido para jorma!" hahahha. and then on SUNDAY i walked into sacrament meeting and they were sitting next to eachother so i went to sit by them and i saw that hermana morales had brought a thing to measure benji's ring size hahhah. shes gonna make this wedding happen. MEMBER SUPPORT!

last night we were looking for this one guy in this huge urbinization and couldnt find him and were about to go home and we turned the corner and found this family of SEVEN KIDS. JACKPOT. AHHAHA. theyre very active in their own church (for now) and theyre all homeschooled and basically the PERFECT MORMON FAMILY! when we left hermana peterson and i just both looked at eachother like :O so we're gonna baptize them.

obispo cruz got released yesterday and we were like NOOOO but he was like "dont worry! youre still like my daughters" hahaha YES. maybe now he'll have MORE time to come out and teach with us. yesssss. 

on saturday we had a lesson with miriam and the zone leaders came because we literally have no idea what to do ha ha ha and it was a suuuuuuuuper good lesson on the holy ghost and the sacrament and she UNDERSTANDS EVERYTHING but then she told us about how her husband doesn't want her to come to church and since she has to take care of him she can't just leave in the morning to go to church because she has to give him breakfast and stuff and get him ready for the day and if he refuses to get up early she can't do anything :( but she was like "ill be there tomorrow!" but then she didnt come :'( so yeah. thats that. sad. president smart is going to visit her with us this week.

S/O to hermana GREEN who came to cabo rojo this week. its been a good time. LOVE HERMANA GREEEEEN! 

well we're gonna head off to bayamon soon for my SUPER FUN DENTIST APPOINTMENT! have a good weeeeek!

<3 hermana murphy

1. MLC! 

2. learning to play dominos with albert einstein! jk, hes just a member's brother

3. HERMANA GREEEEEN!

4. hermana morales measuring benji's ring size AHAHAHHAHA 

5. OBISPO CRUZ GOT RELEASED :'(

6. george! (recent convert from CR1!)

April 9, 2018

hello!

shoutout to @sisteraubreyholt who told me to format my emails better. #shoutout

this week i took it upon myself to ask around for cool stuff to do on pdays. and lots of people told us about cool hikes around here. so we went on a hike this morning to some caves! its near the playa buye and was super pretty and FUN! i attached some chevereeeeee pics

this week we got a SOLID new investigator. hes named luis! hes 23 and is the boyfriend of one of the members in cabo rojo 1. he has come to church 3 times and to 2 of the ward activities since we've been here! hes super cool and curious and WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED! seriously. we taught him on thursday and his girlfriend, silvian, and her fam were there and obispo cruz! we taught him about the restoration and after he was like "so, what do i have to do to be baptized?" and i almost started laughing because THAT NEVER HAPPENS. and obispo cruz explained that we have to teach him some things and he has to keep the commandments and stuff, and he asked luis "if you could get baptized right now, would you?" and he thought for a second and said "......yeah". so hes super solid. i dont know why we didn't put him on date right there. but we will this week. and he came to church yesterday. it was SICK!

also, other good news. I FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO MAKE PUERTO RICAN RICE!!!!!! we taught benji and jorma last night and we asked them how and jorma gave us the spice stuff we need and i made it last night and it was GOOD. needs more oil, though. arroz y habituelas <3

benji and jorma. BENJI AND JORMA. benji still doesnt want to commit to marriage. WHAT THE HECK. hermana peterson and i decided that we just have to go CRAZY BOLD on them. JUST DO IT. haha. but i love them. we have the funnest lessons with them hahah.

other than that, this week was just a normal week. yesterday, both the wards passed around dinner calendars so we have double dinners this week :-----) so we are trying to switch it so we can have lunch and dinner...... hahaha.

welp. thats it folks!

have a great week!

<3

hermana murphy

1. lionsrule100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. haha this is the cutest house ever!!! she wanted a pic with us and with her house. shes just some random lady that we contacted while she was cutting her grass with scissors hahahah

3. ~~views~~

4. hikes! caves!

5. ~~mystery~~

6. ~~selfie~~
7. PRSJ

G CONF = MIND BLOWN ?? - April 2, 2018

hello! ok. first things first. A TEMPLE IN LAYTON?????? YEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH. SO GOOD. I SERVED THERE!!!! also. GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD! i brought my notes to the library so i can talk about ALL THE GOOD THINGS! and i got to watch it in english, fortunately :) they were showing it in our chapel in spanish and english. miriam came to watch it! woop woop!

also, before all of that. transfers happened! and hermana peterson and i are both staying in cabo rojo! and we're the STLs for the mayaguez zone! woooo. they arent sending any more sisters to this zone though so we're just over the two sisters that we live with LOL. more missionaries are getting here this week! but it looks like all the heramnas are going to the other side of the island. 

ok. so this i went into general conference with EIGHT SPECIFIC QUESTIONS that i wanted the answers, and they all got answered! it was so good. i loved all the talks. i cant choose a favorite! 

ok ill just list some of the good stuff

elder Lynn G Robbins - "success is not the absense of failure, but going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm" TRUUUU

ELDER BEDNAR'S TALK. WOW. soooooooo goooood. hes my fave

elder Godoy's talk just reminded me of Les Mis (and made me reevaluate all my life choices)

all the talks on recieving revelation. that was definitely a theme. one thing that president smart is focusing on is being "spiritually self reliant." and that is very true. we need to learn how to receive revelation for ourselves!

im just throwing out a wild guess but i think that dad LOVED elder de feo's talk. just a wild guess :-) 3 nephi 5:13!!!

elder oaks talk! he quoted some of my fav scriptures about the small and simple things :)))

president nelson making prophesies ALL OVER. it was crazy

and all the other ones! so good

this week, we were able to see miriam a few times. she is still not sure if she wants to be confirmed but she DID come to watch conference and loved it. and we know that she was paying attention because she told us "i loved the prayer because they prayed for all the missionaries!!" haha. we're hoping that she will get confirmed this sunday. PLS PRAY A LOT.

we found a cool family yesterday! the mom is lisa and she lives with her two young sons. their dad died like 2 years ago and she went from being catholic to christian and shes super cool! we taught the plan of salvation and they all loved it. and the 11 year old son wanted a book of mormon! haha. it was so fun. especially because we didnt find any new investigators ALL WEEK until sunday. so it was a good end to the week. 

im just getting ready for another transfer in cabo rojo! gonna be LIT

love

hermana murphy

1. WE TAKE THE BEST DISTRICT PICTURES

2. exchanges with hermana thelin THE BEST STL EVER and she told me it was her 15th cumplemes so i made her this very thoughtful piece of art :)

3. COMP CUT MY HAIR!

4. I CUT COMPS HAIR!

5. im as tall as a palm tree!

6. HARDCORE twinning with hermana rivera. dresses, journals, and watches! yeeeee

7. dont ask how i got up there!!!!!