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    

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