Tuesday, December 23, 2014

December 22, 2014

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!
 
we had cambios and... i will finish my mission in a trio with hermana M and HERMANA G!!! my childhood friend!  it is literally the best thing ever.  i have never had more fun in my whole life.  the 3 of us just laugh and joke around nonstop.  i am soooooo sad that i will have to leave them in just a short week and a half but i know that they will continue the work strong here in chinchaysuyo!
we are so excited for an investigator named J who will be baptized in january.  last night we had a great lesson with her about following the commandments and she is completely committed to living the gospel.  she is even sharing her testimony with her friends and giving us references!! 
also this week we had a family night with my FAVORITE family in peru.  la familia E.  the mom L has cancer for the 2nd time and she just had an operation to remove part of the tumor.  and she will start chemo again in january.  she is the strongest person i know.  honestly she has changed my life and i will always be grateful for her and her family.  even when things get tough if we have faith and a good attitude anything is possible.  miracles are possible.  they invited my companions and i to spend Christmas eve with them so i will send more pictures next week.  
and this week is CHRISTMAS! what a great time to remember Christ and everything that he did for us.  there are so many things that we can do to show our gratitude in this Christmas season.  giving service is one of the best ways to feel the spirit and to be happy.  i hope you all have a great Christmas.  i am so grateful to be here serving in peru and to get to spend Christmas with these amazing people. 
 
i love you all and will talk to you soon on skype!!! ahhhhh im so excited! 
ps the photo is of me with a peruvian dog.  they are the most hidious things i have ever seen in my life. haha
Peruvian dog

Trio
 

December 15, 2014

time is passing so quickly!!!!!!!! ahhhhhhhhh.  i feel like just yesterday i was writing you about going to the temple and now another week has passed!
 
this week was so amazing.  there are weeks on the mission where we are just going through the motions and there are weeks (like this week) where you really feel like you are making a difference in peoples lives.  where you can feel the spirit in every lesson and you cant help but smile all the time.  those weeks make this all worth it.  we didn't have anyone accept a baptismal date and we didn't really have very many investigators at church but i was just filled with the spirit.  i'll tell you about a few of the experiences we had this week....
yesterday we had lunch with a family that we have never been with before in the ward.  they just moved into our ward and signed up to give us lunch.  so we started talking to them and they told us about some really hard things that they have gone through in their life (he was into drugs, she got pregnant at 18, she grew up in the church and her family are all really active members so when she got pregnant they basically disowned her) and they were basically at the lowest point in their lives.  but they have decided to make things right and are working toward being sealed as a family in the temple.  the spirit was SO STRONG in the lunch.  we testified of the power of repentance and they testified of the power of prayer and tithing. J said that he got baptized 3 years ago because he knew its what D wanted him to do and he didn't really even have a testimony.  He was 19 so the bishop gave him the papers to fill out to go on a mission and he said that the mouse on his computer wasn't working so he used the packet of mission papers as a mouse pad haha.  But D started to go back to church and say her prayers every night and she would hide money to pay tithing and one sunday she got up and got ready for church with their little boy and they went to church.  and J said that something in him just clicked and he said what am i doing here alone.  i should be with my family at church.  so that's when they started doing the things as a family and he stopped drinking and they talked with the bishop and set goals and things like that.  and they pay their tithing every single month! he told us that they have received not only blessings but miracles from paying tithing.  as we were leaving we asked them if they would want to accompany us in a lesson that we were going to teach that night with 2 investigators who don't want to get married and they happily said yes.  so we met up with them later that night and they were so excited to help us and to share their testimonies.  the lesson turned out so great and the spirit was so strong.  my companion and i left and could not stop smiling.  it was probably one of the best days of my entire mission.  
sorry that was a long story and i have so much more i could say but honestly it was so great.  these last few months have really strengthened and confirmed my testimony of the power of repentance.  when we are living in sin we cannot be happy.  but repentance frees us.  i have seen it first hand in so many families here in peru and i know its true!!! there is always hope.  we just have to start and keep moving forward.  

also we had the chance to give service 2 times this week! the first time we went to fix some holes in the walls of a house and then the second time we went to paint the house.  i have made some really good friends in the zone so its always fun to get to spend time with them and joke around and give service all at the same time haha.  

I LOVE YOU!! talk to you next week!

 

December 8, 2014


I don't have much to report this week so this is going to be short but things are moving forward! this week hermana M and i were able to go to the lima temple!! it is so pretty and the spirit is so strong there! it was a long journey in 3 different buses standing the whole time but we made it in about 2 hours.  and it was so worth it! i sent a few pictures and the rest of the pictures i will show you when i get home.  
 
and last night in the stake center we were able to watch the first presidency Christmas devotional and we had 5 investigators come! so we are hoping that they were able to feel the spirit and that they have desires to learn more and to progress towards a baptismal date.  
this morning my companion and i went with the elders up in the cerro to play futbol (well, we cheered them on while they played haha) at 6am which was super fun.  i have made so many friends here and it is going to be so hard to say goodbye.  i have definitely made a family here in peru and memories that i will never forget.  
how are you all doing on your personal study of the book of mormon?? i started over again a few weeks ago and i just finished 1 nefi and everytime i read it i learn so many new things.  it truly is the word of god and i am so thankful for the guidance i receive from reading it every day. 
les amo mucho enserio!  estoy muy muy muy agradecida por cada uno de ustedes y por las cosas que me han enseñado.  me he dado cuenta de cuan bendecida soy a tener una familia tan especial como ustedes.  yo sé que este evangelio es verdadero y que las familias son eternas.  sigan adelante con fe y van a ver milagros en su vida.  nos vemos pronto!!
xoxo hermana murdock 

Lima Temple

 

December 1, 2014

hey! wow i cant believe that today is december 1st.  its begining to look a lot like christmas... (oh wait, not really haha).  its warming up here in lima and i love it.  its so nice to walk outsided and feel the sun!
 
well this week was great! here they dont celebrate thanksgiving.  but luckilly my companion and i got invited to 2 thanksgiving dinners!! the first was on monday with the zone which was SOOOOO good! literally the best thing i have eatin in a long long time.  us gringos and a few of the latinos made it all from scratch! we asked the married missionaries from idaho to help us so it all turned out super good! and then on thurdsay the bishop and his wife, my pensionista and her family, and another family in the ward invited us to celebrate thanksgiving with them.  but turns out that they invited us so that we could make the food for them haha.  im going to miss these people so much! 
 
this thanksgiving made me think a lot about how grateful i am. i have recieved so so so many blessings in my life and it would take forever to write them all.    
 
and on wednesday elder wilson, elder martinez, elder muñoz, elder neranjo, and my companion and i cleaned the church for service which was super boring at first because we had to clean a million dirty chairs but we decided to make it fun and had a water fight.  i ended up stepping on glass which went through my tennis shoe and into my foot and it was bleeding all over the place but we just cleaned it off and no harm done.  it stopped bleeding after awhile and at home i cleaned it really good and now i just have a huge deep hole in my foot haha.  but it doesnt hurt anymore so todo está bien.  
this week hermana M and i get to go to the temple which will be my last time before i finish my mission.  so i will send you pictures next week of the beautiful lima temple! 
and we also found a new investigator this week named A.  she came to church on sunday and had a lot of questions and seems really interested.  keep her in your prayers so that she can overcome a few addictions to progress and accept a baptismal date of december 27th! 
 
I LOVE YOU ALL!! have a great week! 
xoxo hermana murdock 
service with zone


Thanksgiving

service and water fight
 

Thursday, November 27, 2014

November 24, 2014

HAPPY THANKSGIVING this week!!! i am so thankful for you all!! and I'm thankful to be here serving the lord in Peru.
 
on Monday we got to go to central de lima which was super fun.  we were having a grand old time laughing and talking with the elders on the bus when all the sudden my companion starts screaming.  turns out her hand was stuck in the bus door (its like an electric door that shuts automatically)! after like 5 seconds she finally was able to pull out her hand and we all just stood there in silence for a second in shock and when we realized that everything was ok and that she still had her had connected to her body we all just started laughing haha.  honestly it was a miracle.  she doesn't even have a bruise or anything! we really are so protected as missionaries.  
 
and on Wednesday we had a multizone conference and president gave a great training on repentance. and then it came time to do some practices (where all the companionships practice teaching a lesson with another companionship) so my companion and i stood up to go look for another companionship to practice with and again hna M and i were having a grand old time laughing and talking and we went to sit down and right as we were siting down one of the elders pulled the chair away that hna M was about to sit on but she was already in the motion of sitting down so she fell straight to the floor.  turns out the elder "didn't know she was going to sit there".  we had a good laugh about it haha. 
 
on Thursday i was sitting on the toilet (sorry maybe that's too much information) and i kept hearing weird noises coming from the shower curtain.  after the rat incident you can imagine that i was a little bit scared of what i might find hiding in our shower.  so anyway i moved away the curtain and there was the biggest cockroach i have ever seen in my life staring at me! it was literally like the size of the palm of my hand! and my companion and i were trying to come up with plans to kill it and how we would get rid of it and of course my compi was screaming haha so my pensionista that lives abajo called to see if everything was ok and luckilly her husband offered to come up and kill it.  problem solved.  you never know what surprises you will find in our baño.  
On Saturday we had the baptism of M & S! it was the best baptism i have ever been to! im serious! i know i always say that but this time i really am serious.  there was not a dry eye in the place.  they both shared their testimonies after and those are momentos that makes all this worth it.  living in a cuarto without a roof in the freezing cold, walking in the dirt all day, eating cuy and frogs and intestines, everything hard about the mission doesn't even matter when you hear the most heartfelt testimony of someone you have grown to love as Christ would love them.  ah its awesome.  
 
to end on a spiritual note last night as i was saying my prayers before bed i asked heavenly father to help me be in tune to the spirit to recognize peoples needs and to have the words to help them feel comforted and right as i finished my prayer my companion said something to me and i felt the strongest impression to ask her if everything was ok.  she started crying and told me about some things that she is going through from before her mission and i cant even remember what i told her but the perfect words just came out and we both started crying and i just realized how amazing Heavenly Father's plan is.  that he really does answer prayers.  and the scripture came into my head that says something like "mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort".  im so thankful that i was able to recognize the promptings of the spirit to be a comfort to my companion.  
 
I love you all and hope you have the best THANKSGIVING ever!! until next week...
xoxo hermana murdock 
ps- i would LOVE LOVE LOVE to recieve letters in the mail! 
hermana morgan murdock
peru lima north mission
ave. carlos izaquirre #124
casille de corrello 39-054
independencia
lima 28, peru 

November 17, 2014

hey everyone!
 
today for pday we get to go to central de lima again so i am super excited.  for this, we are here early today in internet.  pictures to come next week...
this week i found a liahona from general conference 2012 and found a conference talk that i love!  i read it in spanish so im not sure exactly what its called in english but in spanish its called "lamentos y resoluciones" by president dieter f. uchtdorf.  and it talks about a nurse who worked with people who were about to die.  and she always asked them what their biggest regret in life is.  and the answers were usually one of these three things:
1. i wish i would have spent more time with the people i love
2. i wish i would have lived up to my potential
3. i wish i would have let myself be happier
he says that we should decide now to spend more time with the people we love, remember who we can become, and let ourselves be happy so that we don't have regrets later.  we can set goals and enjoy the journey.  its not a race its a journey. we should enjoy the moment.  Anyway that is my little spiritual thought for the week. 
on saturday we will have M & S's baptism! i am so excited for them.  they are already basically part of the ward and the members love them.  last night we had a family night with them in the house of our ward mission leader and we watched the restauracion video and it was very spiritual.  she said that she knows without a doubt that its true.  she is truly converted. 
i love you and will talk to you next week!!
 

Frog Juice

Live Frog

Frog Juice


November 10, 2014

BUENOS DIAS MI FAMILIA!!
 
ok i dont know what happening to me today but i cannot type.  so sorry in advance for the typos.  this week we invited M and her son sebastian to be baptized on the 22nd de noviember and they said yes!! they are so great and we are super excited for them.  they have come to church twice and went to the primary activity this week and are fully willing to change their lives to live in harmony with the teachings of the lord.  we know they are going to recieve so many blessings becasue of their faith in the lord. 
 
we also are really excited for an investigator named Luis.  he is a single dad whose wife died from cancer 4 months ago.  he said he is looking for something that will help him be with his wife for eternity.  and we have the answer for him!! so i will keep you updated on his progress. 
 
and we had cambios and i am still in chinchaysuyo!!!! i know its because my companion and i still have so much to do here and there are people we still need to find.  we are going to work like crazy in these next few weeks! 
 
and this week I DRANK FROG JUICE!! let me explain the process... 
first you choose a live frog from the tank.
then the guy takes the frog out of the tank and wacks it against the wall until it dies.
then he cuts off the head and pulls off the skin all in one piece. 
so then its just a whole frog but without skin.
then he cuts a little slit in the stomach and pulls out the intestines.
then he boils the frog in a mixture of some kind of milk crap and other surprises.
and then he pours the boiled frog and the milk mixture into the blender and blends it up until its liquid. (the bones and everything) 
he then adds 2 raw eggs and...
LISTO! 
it didnt taste bad.  it actually had a sweet taste.  supposedly its good for your lungs and its very healthy.  on tuesday one of the elders in our zone called us at 6:40 in the morning and told us to come to el mercado for "breakfast". so like 6 elders and 2 hermanas and my companion and i all drank the frog juice.  it actually tasted good but i dont think i will be doing it again haha.  
i am loving my time here as a missionary.  anyone who is thinking about serving a mission i would encourage you to go!! you wont regret it. 
LOVE YOU!! xoxox hermana murdock    

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Halloween


Hermanas dressed as Elders

November 3, 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
 
this week was super fun! my zone had a halloween party on monday and everyone was being boring and said they didnt want to dress up but my companion and i dressed up anyway haha.  we went as elders!! we borrowed clothes from a guy in our ward and it was super fun! everyone was jealous haha. and everyone wanted to take pictures with us.  
and we had G's baptism this week!! she is only 10 years old but it was awesome because she really has such a strong testimony and her uncle diego was able to baptise her.  i really feel so blessed to have met this family.  we first went to teach C, and then when C got baptized, D started coming back to church and now is going on a mission in january, and G got baptized. and the parents are reading the book of mormon and even though they still say that they arent ready for baptism i know their time will come!   
also this week the bishop told us that we should go visit una hermana from the ward named R becuase she is going through some hard times and she is a single mom who just found out that her little daughter has bipolar disorder and is going through lot of other problems also so anyway we went to visit her and had an awesome lesson with her and we could feel the spirit so strong and at the end of the lesson she told us that there are 2 families that live in the same building as her that she has become friends with (a single mom and her kids, and a single dad and his kids) who she feels like are ready to hear the gospel.  so she introduced us to them and the mom and her kids came to church on sunday!! and then sunday night we had a family night in la casa de ruth with all 3 of the families and it was AMAZING! my companion and i are so excited and we feel like they are definitely going to progress.  
 
xoxo hermana Murdock

ps- this week it rained (which never happens in lima) and our ghetto bathroom doesnt have a roof.  so sitting on the toilet while getting rained on was fun...NOT haha

October 20, 2014

this week flew by with lots to do! i will tell you a few of the things that happened this week.

1- the young men and women has their annual stake dance called oro y verde and its a formal dance.  none of the young women could find dresses appropriate and so my companion and i let all the young women come over and see if they could find anything in the clothes that we have.  so at the dance all the young women were in my companion and my clothes haha!!! they all looked really cute and we were happy to help out! 
 
2- on monday we had a noche de hogar con E and his wife, the couple missionaries, and a couple in the ward.  i have not laughed that hard in a long time.  it was hilarious.  after the spiritual message we played a game that elder M organized.  it was like charades (how do you spell that???) where you have to act out the name of a person and your team has to guess who it is.  it was 6 old people and my companion and i.  really i should hang out with old people more often because it was hilarious.  it makes me miss spring creek (i never thought i would say that).  
3- this week my companion and i got super sick because of so much food.  on wednesday we went to lunch and the member brought out our plates of food and we just looked at each other like ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!! the food they served us could have been for at least 6 people.  im not exaggerating.  i wanted to take a picture to send to you but that would have been rude haha.  it was a mountain (literally) or rice and a mountain of mashed potatoes and a HUGE piece of chicken. we finished as much as we could and then just said over and over how good it was so that they didnt feel bad that we couldnt finish it all.  and asked for forgivness a million times.  and we left basically rolling out the door.  the walk home was the hardest thing i have ever done haha.  
 
the belief here in peru is that if you go home from your mission skinny its because you werent loved.  well, i am definitely loved haha.  
anyway things are going good!! the work is moving forward.  i really hope i can finish my mission with hermana M because she is the best!!!!!!!!! we have so much fun together.  this saturday we have el bautismo de eli so i will be sending you pictures next week!! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! thanks for always writing me! i can feel your love and your prayers! 
xoxox hermana murdock 

Guinea Pig

Eating Cuy (guinea pig)

October 27, 2014

THIS WEEK THERE WAS A RAT IN OUR BATHROOM!!!!!!!!!! so on friday we were walking down the street were we live and our pensionista and her daughters were outside and one of her daughters came running toward us yelling "a rat! a rat!" so we were said ok but where??? and she said, "in your room!" Well rats arent uncommon so i wasnt too worried until she said that the rat was in our room! there were people fixing the tubing unter the street so they cut a hole in the street and tons of rats came running out.  and our neighbor was looking out his window and saw a rat go under our door.  so anyway my compañera and my pensionista were screeming haha and i was laughing and no one wanted to go in to see if it was in there.  but i said i would go check so i went in and found it in the bathroom. and our awesome neighbor came in and killed it for us.  and then the husband of our pensionista came and cleaned the bathroom.  no harm done. everything is fine.  but then we had a baptism and after they invited us to go to their house to eat and they had prepared a delicacy cuy (pronounced qui) which is guinea pig!! all my companion and i could think of was the rat that we found in our bathroom hahahah.  and they serve the cuy whole! with the head and the paws and the teeth and everything! anyway it was quite the experience one i will never forget!!
and E got baptized!!! it was such an awesome baptism.  he has rejected the gopesl for so many years but his day finially came to make this sacred covenant with the lord.  his wife is a member and she shared her testimony about how she has been praying for years for this day to come.  and they now have a goal to be sealed in the temple in one year! it was awesome!
this week my companion and i also spent 2 days in imagrations and interpol trying to get my companions visa.  its is chaos there.  but we had fun making friends with people from around the world.  we now have a friend from columbia who is living here in peru to study.  and hippie friends from switzerland.   and a few other interesting people.  you never know who you are going to meet in imagrations haha. 
 
well thats about all from this week.  today for pday we are going to have a halloween party! so pictures to come... 
I LOVE YOU MORE THAN NEFI LOVES HIS PEOPLE!
xoxoxo hermana murdock 
 
 
 
Beautiful Peru


Peru Sunset

A rat in the bathroom
 
 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

futbol tournament





October 13, 2014

Buenos dias mi familia!
como estan? how was your conference weekend? i absolutely loved conference.  and we had a miracle.  we had 6 investigators come to conference!!! it was so great. 
and we have a baptismal date for 25 de octubre named elí.  the work is moving forward!!
 
this week was so good.  we started out the week on monday with a fútbol tournament with the whole mission which was super fun because i got to hang out with mis amigos from other zones.  great day.  then on tuesday we had interviews with president erickson which are always good.  he said that there were a lot of sisters that wanted to train this transfer but he felt to trust me with the responsibility.  so that made me feel good.  and then on thursday we had a conference with all the hermanas in the mission and it was SO GOOD!!! one of the senor missionaries hermana rodriguez who is here with her husband gave us some life advise and she talked about how everyone comes with luggage and baggage.  luggage is like things that they have learned, possitive qualities, experiences they have had, and baggage is things that we bring with us like weaknesses, fears, things we have in our personality because of negative experience we have had or the way we were raised, things like that.  and we have to accept and love people with their luggage AND their baggage.  and we should help them to leave behind some of the baggage and not add to it.  anyway i cant really explain it in engish but it was a really good conference!! and saturday and sunday were the general conference! i loved the talk by elder richard g. scott about things that we can do to have more happiness and joy in our lives.  he gave us 4 keys to apply in our lives.  1-daily prayer, 2-daily scripture study, 3-weekly family home evening, 4-frequent temple attendance.  if we do these things we have the promise that we will be blessed and we will be happy!
i love you all and i love my mission! i am so happy to be here!
xoxoxo hermana murdock 

October 4, 2014

hey everyone! i know today is saturday and i always write on mondays but this monday we are going to have a fútbol tournament with the whole mission so president told us to write today.  and today starts conference weekend!! here in peru there are elections tomorrow so we will be watching conference next weekend.  youll all have to let me know what your favorite parts were.  i so excited to hear what the profeta has to tell us and im curious to see if they will anounce any new temples!
 
not much has changed since the last time i talked to you guys.  things are going great with my companion and she is learning so fast.  she is such a trooper.  she has been sick since she got to peru (there is so much humidity you can see the water in the air so it makes a lot of people sick) but she isnt letting that stop her.  we have had a weird week.  literally no one has wanted to listen to us this week.  we have had so many doors and windows slammed in our faces but thats part of the mission haha.  we are hoping that after the elections the people will be more friendly haha.  but everything is good.  i know that if we are obedient and working hard heavenly father will put people in our path to teach.  
i love you all and will talk to you next monday! (13 de octubre)
xoxoxo hermana Murdock 
attached is a photo of hermana maldonado and i last pday in civilization haha eating a cinnamon roll!! 

September 29, 2014

well on monday we had cambios and i am now with HERMANA MALDONADO from MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she is so awesome!! we have so much in common and are already great friends.   i am learning tons of mexican slang and i love her accent.  i hope i come home with a mexican accent!! haha. and she promised me she would teach me how to make real mexican food so when I get home we can have a fiesta! and she has 1 week in the mission!! so i am traing again which i am so excited about! i love training.  we are having lots of fun together.  only 2 hermanas came this transfer so i feel very lucky to have been chosen out of all the hermanas to train again.  its such a great opportunity to learn and progress together. 
 
Also this week i finished the book of mormon again! i absolutely love the book of mormon and know without a doubt that it is true.  everytime i read it i learn so many new things to help our investigators and also to help me.  i found this scripture this week that i love in ether 2:24-25.  heavenly father knows that we are going to have trials and difficulties because he send them to us.  but he also prepares us for them if we ask for his help.    24 For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.
 25 And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?  
 
i love you all and hope you have an awesome conference weekend.  we will be watching conference the next week because this weekend is elections in all of peru.  I LOVE YOU!!
xoxo hermana murdock

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Photos


wedding

hermanas of Tahuantinsu


modern mall


September 22, 2014

hey everyone!! thanks for all the emails!
 
this week C & H got married!  it was such a fun day and they were all so happy.  i sent a few pictures so hopefully you can feel a little of the excitement we felt that day.  the next step is to prepare and  for baptism.  if everything works out as planned they should be baptized in october! 
 
this week i was thinking about things that i love about peru.  there are definitely things i dont like (cultural differences, weird beliefs, tardiness) but there are also so many things i love about peru.  so here are a few:
 
-the food here is super good! (very fattening and diabetes waiting to happen with so many carbs but very good haha).  they are very proud of their food and spend hours in the kitchen every day preparing lunch.  
-also there are little tiendas on every street which are like little mini stores where you can buy whatever random thing you want.  they literally have everything. 
-the people are really friendly and they wave or say hi to everyone that passes by. 
-in peru there is beach, jungle, mountains, snow, and desert.  they have it all.  
-there is so much old culture and families have traditions that trace back to the incas
-the people here are not focused on material things and they dont really care about their appearance.  they have their focus on different things.  instead of being focused on clothes and phones and cars and houses, they are focused on family and religion.  everyone believes in god here. 
-also the church is fairly young in peru so almost everyone we talk to that is a member is a convert.  they have such cool stories of how they were converted and the reasons they are in the iglesia right now.  
 
there are so many more that i cant think of right now but i really do love peru.  and i am so grateful for this oportunidad to live her for year and half and experience the crazy peruvian culture!
 
les quiero mucho! estoy muy agradecida por este oportunidad de ser misionera y experimentar la felicidad que este evangelio brinda.  y también que puedo compartirlo con ustedes un poco por medio de mis emails!   yo sé que dios no ama y que este evangelio es verdadero.  yo sé con todo mi corazón que las familias pueden ser eternas! les quiero mucho!
 
xoxo hermana murdock  

Monday, September 8, 2014

Welcome to my Peru!

knocking on doors!

welcome to my Peru!


a typical Peruvian house

washing by hand

September 8, 2014


This week i had a really humbling experience.  my companion and i gave service to one of the old ladies in the ward.  every wednesday we have time to give service.  so we planned to help one of our investigators but they weren't home.  so we decided to walk around and find something to do.  so we decided to knock on the door of one of the members house.  and she was home alone doing laundry.  she is allergic to laundry detergent so her whole hand was red and had a huge rash all over.  so it was the perfect opportunity to give service! here in peru the people live in very humble circumstances and they do laundry by hand.  it is a very long and hard process and its super hard on your back and your hands.  and the water is freezing! but my companion taught me how to do it and we spent the next 2 and a half hours doing the laundry.  and then we hung it out to dry but there is no sun and there is a ton of humidity so it takes days to dry.  it was a very humbling experience because i just realized how blessed i really am.  most of the world does laundry by hand.  in other parts of peru they wash their laundry in rivers with rock or with a scrub board.  i really feel so grateful to be serving here because i am learning so much about what really makes people happy.  its not the material things that bring happiness.  those thing are unnecessary.  its families, friends, and the gospel that make people happy.  it was a great day and my companion and i both felt super happy to be giving service and helping this hermana.  she was so thankful for our service!!!
 
C & H are doing great! this week we recieved their partidas so they were able to register for the wedding and are now trying to do all the other paperwork they have to do before the wedding.  they are both super excited and a little stressed but everything will turn out great! 
well thats all for this week.  I always have so much i want to say but just dont have the words to explain everything.  my english is struggling a little bit haha.  but i hope that you can feel my love and excitement for the work.  i love being here and i am a really going to try to use these last 4 months to work hard and teach like crazy.  
i love you all!!

Photos of Lima








September 1, 2014

hello family!
 
i am sending a bunch of pictures of downtown lima.  it was so awesome.  it really looks like europe.  it was great to get out for a few hours and experience lima haha there is so much culture it is so interesting.  lima was founded by spain so there is a lot of catholic history with tons of huge churches.  i definitely want to go back one day to be able to see more.  
yesterday we had a miracle.  we had 6 investigators at church!  we really are so excited for this month of september because we have some great investigators who we can see have big potential.  and i should be a professional wedding planner!! C & H are getting married!! C is an inactive member who was baptized when she was young in arequipa and then she moved to lima and stopped going to church. H had never really heard of the church and didnt even know that C was a member.  but they live like 4 houses away from us and are friends with my pensionista.  so we started visiting them awhile ago and became really good friends with their 2 little kids.  C is pregnant so they are expecting aother baby in january.  We challenged them to be married and they told us that honestly no one had ever taught them that people should get married.  they really had never been told that marriage was important.  but after a family night with the bishop and another with our pensionista and her family, C & H have decided to be married on spetember 19th! so now we are in the process of finding their partidas de nacimiento and all that fun stuff.  but luckily this time i know a little bit more about how to do it.  C & H and their 2 kids all came to church yesterday! we were so excited.  
 
we had 4 other investigators that came also that are progressing towards baptism.  we are hoping that they will all be baptized in september but we also know that the adversary likes to convince people that following heavenly fathers plan is not what they should do.  so keep them all in your prayers!! 
the weather is finally starting to warm up a tiny tiny bit haha.  now sometimes the sun comes out for an hour or so.  it makes me so happy!
well thats all for this week! i love you all.  have a great week
xoxo hermana murdock 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014


a giant among Peruvians, a midget among North amerians

August 24, 2014

hey!!!  how was everyone's first day of school??
this week we had L's baptism! it was so great and the spirit was so strong.  she was super nervous to go into the freezing cold water but i talked to her right after and she said that while she was in the water she couldnt even feel the cold.  she was filled with something warm she said.  we could all tell how happy she was.  all the young women came to support and they are all committed to help her stay active.  and then yesterday she was confirmed a member of the church!! the work of the lord is progressing here in chinchaysuyo!!
and on friday my zone had the opportunity to sing at a massive wedding.  it was super fun because i got to see my friends in other zones who were helping people to be married.  and there was a 85 year old couple getting married!! they were soooo cute.  the lady had flowers braided into her hair and her husband could barely walk but he was in his suit and was smiling the whole time.  everyone was dying it was so cute haha.  and then they were both baptized the next day.  and they all lived happily ever after...   
well today my zone gets to go to downtown lima!! we are so excited because it is outside our mission and there are actually cool things to do! haha.  we got special permission from president to leave the mission boundaries for the day.  there are new rules and each zone is now allowed to go to downtown lima once every 3 months.  so i will take tons of pictures and send them to you next week!!
 
well thats about all for this week.  i hope everyone is doing good and loving school.  i would love to hear how all your first days of school were so write me!!!!
xoxo hermana murdock

Photos

A view of the ocean

zone
 

August 18, 2014

buenos dias mi familia!! how is everyone? i cant believe school starts this week!!

sorry this email is going to be short because i want to send you all the pictures of cristians baptism! 

first off we had cambios and i will be staying here in chinchaysuyo with hermana L for at least another cambio.  i was really happy because we are seeing some great progress and i know there is still so much i can do here.  
 
this week was so great!! C was baptized on saturday and confirmed a member of the church on sunday.  it was such an awesome baptism.  he is truly converted.  and his mom who isn't a member came.  and his brother D who was inactive is now active again and said that he wants to serve a mission! the baptism was so spiritual and C bore his testimony at the end and said that he truly feels like a different person.  and that he was filled with a happiness that he can't explain.  the water was ice cold and it was freezing cold outside but he was a champ and didn't even complain.
 
we had some major stress the friday before the baptism because L (who was supposed to be baptized the same day) called and told us that her uncle C who was going to baptize her, had to work saturday and wasn't going to be able to do it and that she didn't want anyone else.  we tried to tell her that its wasn't important who baptized her but what mattered was that she was making this covenant with god.  but anyway turns out that we had to postpone the baptism until next saturday (aug 23rd).  so next week i will send you the photos of the baptism! 
and we have another baptism planned for september 13th! his name is A and he is 76 years old.  his wife is a member and has been praying her whole life that her husband would one day be converted.  and the day has come!! prayers really are answered! its so cool to be apart of this amazing work.  
i love you all! i feel so lucky to be here in peru.  i know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and i am trying to take advantage of every minute because before i know it, it will be over.  thanks for always emailing! i love to hear from you!
 
xoxo hermana murdock 
 
ps how did our family become members of the church? who was the first person years ago who accepted the gospel? i would love to hear the stories.  did anyone see or hear joseph smith in person?  

August 11, 2014

hey! buenos dias! como estan? sorry my emails are always so boring.  i wish i was a better writer but im always in such a hurry so i just write the first thing that comes to my mind haha.  how is the summer treatin ya? i cant believe school is going to start so soon!  what plans are there for the last few weeks of summer?
well we have 2 baptisms planned for this saturday!! C and L.  so i will update you a little about each of them.  C has progressed so much this week!! we can tell 100% that his is being converted.  he told us that he has always been very prideful and has never asked forgiveness from anyone but this week he has been praying for a change in his character and on wednesday he siad that he had yelled at his little neice for spilling a big cup of juice but immediatly felt sorry and gave her a hug and asked her to forgive him for yelling.  he siad that now is is a lot more humble and recognizes that he has weaknesses and is trying to change.  we have seen a huge change in him too.  he is truely becoming converted!! and is demonstrating true repentance.  
and then we have L.  L is the cutest girl and its so sad because she had to go through something extremely sad this week. She lost her dad.  We have been talking to her about the plan of salvacion and how she will be able to see her dad again.  i wrote her a little card with the scripture in alma 28:12.  hopefully it helped her feel at least a little bit of comfort.  and as of now the baptism is still on for this saturday.
well today we are going to find out about cambios.  i dont know if i will be changed or not.  there are no new hermanas coming to the mission this cambios so we will see what happens haha! i love you all!! i hope you can feel my love from all the way over here in peru!!
xoxo hermana murdock 

Birthday photos

Happy 21!

Independence Day in Peru

Happy Birthday