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On the way to Sitio Liwliwa, Zambales

March 2020 Oppo A83 VSCOcam

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Week 80

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Week 80: I love my Mission and I Love these People. They are like family!

We had a great week! We taught Shaina about family history. Whe we gave her the family booklet for her genealogy, she started it immediately!! I've never seen anyone so excited to do family history. She practically had the whole booklet done within 5 minutes. Her baptism is coming up this Saturday and she is so excited! We taught Tatay Alexander Castro a.k.a Brother King Kong haha He's such a humble man and has such a repentant spirit. He only wants to do the right thing and worship Christ. When we sat down to teach him, he looked so weighed down. He explained to us that he was fasting (which we haven't even taught him yet) and then he asked, "Sister Murray, when are you leaving the Philippines?" I replied, "My last day is next Sunday." He was so heavy-hearted and replied, "It hurts so bad to know that you will go. We will miss you. I will miss you, your voice, explanations, and messages. I know that you'll have a replacement but it won't be the same. I've seen other missionaries before, but I never listened to any other ones before the two of you. You haven't changed either. Since day one until now, you've only been kind to me." He was so sweet. I wanted to cry so bad. He said that he was sad that I'd miss his baptism too. As of right now, he's drinking 2 small cups of coffee, before he was drinking 4 cups. We are so proud of his progress and willingness to try to follow God's commandments. Tatay told us he'd come to Church on Sunday. Sunday came and I was waiting by the door the whole time for him. With 5 minutes to start, I turned around and started to head for my seat. One last time, I looked behind me and there I see Tatay. I exclaimed, "TATAY!" He had a huge smile on his face and everyone welcomed him. Tatay stayed for both sacrament and gospel principles class. The whole time, he was beaming and smiling so big. In the middle of gospel principles class, Tatay commented, "It's actually really nice here at the Mormon Church. I thought that it would be for people who are really high class and rude, but you're all very simple people like me." Another ward member commented, "Honestly, it's all the thrift store." Haha! So true. Tatay had a great time. Another great highlight was meeting the Guila family. We found them by tao-poing and a bunch of dogs ran out. Sister Marites walked out and welcomed us in readily. She gave us food and showed us her wedding album and treated us like long-lost friends. We met her 3 children and her husband Ruben. Ruben used to be taught by missionaries as a 19 year old and his brother was even baptized and served a mission. During the first lesson, we only taught Marites and her 3 children. When we came back the following visit, she told us that she cooked us lunch! We were so surprised! We taught the whole family about the restoration and it was a great lesson. I think this family will be the next miracle in the area. They already feel like members and are so kind and receptive. While we ate, Sister Marites told us, "Yesterday I was thinking about how you'd be coming today and I was wondering what food you eat so I bought you chicken, carrots, and potatoes." We didn't even know that she planned in advance to feed us. She is so kind!!! Our next appointment is this coming Wednesday and she will feed us after the lesson again. I love the Lord and His mercies! When you first come on a mission, it's hard to leave your family. When it is time to come home from your mission, you have to leave family again!!  --all of the people who stolen your heart while you're here. I love my mission and I love these people. I've loved giving what I have to give to help increase their Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Mahal na mahal ko po kayo! xo Sister Murray

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Week 79: Reunion time! 

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Week 78: I Love Missionary Work but Above All, I Love God

What a great and spiritual week we had! 

Anyways, on Tuesday our district leader told us a story about his dad (who was bishop at the time) that has stuck with me. It was early Christmas morning and the whole family was sleeping. Then his dad woke everyone up and they all were upset and said, "What are you doing! It's 3 in the morning!!" He explained, "I couldn't sleep. I feel I need to visit the ____ family." It was a family he home taught. His dad called his hometeaching companion, and his companion was so frustrated. He was swearing and screaming on the phone, "It's 3 in the morning! It's Christmas morning!" But his dad explained that he had a feeling he couldn't shake. They both left and visited the family. When they knocked on the door, the parents were outraged. They asked, "What are you doing here! Come at a different time, it's 3 in the morning and Christmas!" The dad plead, "Please. I really need to visit with your family," even though he didn't know what message he had to share. The family woke up all the kids and called them in. About to start, the dad asked, "Where is _____?" The mom rolled her eyes, "She's sleeping still. She has work early in the morning." His dad pressed, "Please go get her. I need all of you here." The mom stomped over to her daughter's room and opened the door, then screamed. She found her daughter hanging. They called the ambulance and went to the hospital immediately. The hospital crew explained, "If you waited 2 minutes longer, your daughter would be dead." That daughter lived because of the prompting of her bishop. She is married in the temple now, has 5 children, and 3 of those children are currently serving missions (Canada, Ohio, Philippines). Always act on the first prompting and do not delay, no matter the opposition. This week we taught Shaina. Her mom is reading as well. Her mom began asking Shaina questions about her understanding and Shaina couldn't answer, so her mom said, "Start it over and read with your heart." Now they always tell one another, "Read with your heart," and share verses with one another. Every Friday they read The Book of Mormon as a family, which was their own idea :) They have scripture-chase races too and practice giving one another a reference and racing to it. Shaina's mom is really sweet. We haven't been able to teach her yet though! Every time we come, she is busy or not there. We encouraged Shaina to pray about The Book of Mormon and if Joseph Smith was a prophet. The next day we visited her and asked how it went, praying about it. She replied, "I dreamt that you were teaching me and Joseph Smith was to your side. He was even wearing his white scarf and his hair was so curly! He asked me, 'Are you praying hard and good for your baptism?' I replied, 'Opo, Joseph Smith.'" We loved it! S. Chavez and I have been saying "Opo, Joseph Smith" and cracking up. I love Shaina's pure heart. She is innocent but mature, and she has a great desire to learn about God and draw closer to Him.   We also taught Tatay Alexander again. It has been several weeks since seeing him because he wasn't there when we tried. We taught about word of wisdom. Tatay drinks coffee and alcohol and smokes. He is so humble and willing to change. He said that it doesn't matter how much you have of it, whether it's a lot of barely a sip, sin is sin. While teaching him, I asked, "Do you believed this is true?" He answered quietly but firmly, "Opo. Alam ko na totoo siya" ("Yes, I know that it's true.") I asked him, "Will you strive to follow it then?" Tatay answered he would. He wrote down his plans and goals for how to overcome it. I love Tatay. He is one of my favorites. I love missionary work. Above all, I love God. My missionary service may be ending soon, but I know the gospel is forever. Loving others is forever. Bearing testimony is forever. Strengthening others is forever. God is forever. Just because my mission is ending, my joy doesn't have too.  Mahal na mahal ko po kayo! xo Sister Murray

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Gave Darcy and Shaina my skirts, I love them!

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Week 77: When ye are in the Service of your fellow Beings, Ye are only in the Service of your God

What a week of service! We are just serving and serving over here. 

We had a CSP (community service porject) for Nanay Aquino and Nanay Aranas cleaning up trash and clearing out a tall field of weeds. My job was shoveling out the canal of trash and grass. I got a small battle wound of a bruise on my leg but it was a good workout! Another strange opportunity was unplanned while we were proselyting. We were on our way to teach and we saw an old Nanay sitting on a porch and she waved us over. She called us over, and long story short we helped her for 3 hours. She's 85 years old and can't walk. She kept saying "Have mercy on me." She was pretty helpless and had no one there to help her (her caretaker was at a procession and was coming back in a few hours.) We bought Nanay bread & made her coffee (don't judge ha!...), then she showered by wiping herself with a wet rag and she asked me to wash the rag and her underwear. I washed them, then washed the dishes, swept the floor, and we helped Nanay to the bathroom. It was so pitiful. Part of me was thinking, "Is this okay?" But then I kept thinking, "You are a representative of Christ. Minister like He does." So we kept helping Nanay. Eventually her caretaker showed up and thanked us so much. 

We taught Shaina again this week. She is already in 2 Nephi of The Book of Mormon! She attended Church yesterday and loved it. Shaina has such a desire to learn. She read all of the pamphlet including the definitions, and understood what she read. She had questions for us too. In order to be able to come to Church yesterday, she asked to move her family reunion of swimming to this coming Wednesday. We didn't even tell her to, she told us about it after it was done. She moved her family reunion so that she could come to Church! I mean di ba! Her mom is even reading The Book of Mormon too and we haven't even been able to teach her yet missionary work is really rewarding. We are so grateful for Shaina and her little miracle in our life. I love the Lord. I know He is mindful of me. Mahal na mahal ko po kayo! xo Sister Murray

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Week 75: We have seen so many miracles this week!!

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Week 75: My Week Has Been Full of Miracles!

My week has been full of miracles! I'll start on my weekly email after this one and tell y'all all about it. But we've been finding and teaching a lot, we found 22 investigators this past week. We've been finding 15+ new investigators every week for the past transfer and a half. We are seeing the blessings unravel.Like I said, we have seen little miracles every day. I know that the Lord is there. It started with Tatay Castro. He's 60 years old and super involved in out lessons. While we taught him about the restoration, we used scriptures from The Book of Mormon. Tatay understood all of the scriptures and continued to ask questions and add his comments. While we were teaching about Jesus Christ being baptized, Tatay very humbly asked, "Sisters, can you show me a verse in this book that tells about Christ's baptism?" He had question after question for us. During the lesson, it felt like it was only us, even though we were in the middle of this small eskinita, with tons of people passing through the lesson. It was like a little heaven created on earth. At the end of the lesson, Tatay wrote down on a stickynote what time Church was and where and committed to attending. We taught him another time throughout the week and he again had tons of questions for us. Unfortunately when Sunday came, Tatay didn't come. We will visit him this week and see what happened. It's still a blessing to have an investigator who loves the lessons so much. 

Our other little miracle was R__, another investigator who is about 40+. She's been an investigator for a long time daw. When I came in, she started to really be more involved during the lessons of asking questions. Sister Chavez felt that we should put her to the side, even though I felt that maybe we should keep visiting her. But I decided to listen to Sister Chavez because she's been in the area longer than me and knows Rosanna. On Saturday we got a phone call from Rosanna and she asked, "Church is tomorrow morning at 9 am, right? I'm coming." I was like jumping up and down!!! When Sunday came, R__ didn't show up until 9:55 am haha! Better late than never. She stayed for the rest of the 3 hours and really enjoyed it. She made a lot of friends too. Hopefully she will come again next week! Our last little miracle is Shaina, a 12 year old. She's a referral from a Nanay in the ward. We met Shaina on Wednesday and she was so cute! She talks like she's already a member. She's been to Church and the activities a few times before in Balanga (the neighboring area). When Sunday came, Shaina came to Church and stayed for all 3 hours and attended the youth classes. After Church, we taught Shaina. Before opening the lesson, Shaina asked, "When can I be baptized?" Here in the Philippines a person can be baptized if they have come to Church 4 times and if they have no word of wisdom problem for 4 weeks. I have exactly 4 Saturdays left. If we didn't meet Shaina this week and if she didn't come to Church, she wouldn't be able to be baptized on my last Saturday May 20th. I was sitting there in amazement of the miracle God gave me. Shaina agreed to her baptism on May 20th!! and she is so excited! I'm so grateful I can be a part of her conversion process. I know that when we work hard and extend our very BEST efforts, God will give you miracles. I know that He is in the details of my life and that He loves me enough to even just answer my unspoken prayer of hoping to help one more person covenant with God through baptism. His timing is perfect. Just do your best and the Lord will do the rest! Nasa tao ang gawa, nasa Diyos ang awa. I love being a missionary! Mahal na mahal ko po kayo xo Sister Murray

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Week 74: Pilar

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Week 74: Focus on What You Can Do and Pour Out Your Heart to God

So this past week the Philippines celebrated Holy Week. Which, you may remember, is when the men cut slits in their backs, whip themselves, carry crosses, wear crowns made of thorns, and crucify themselves on crosses. It still just makes me feel so sick inside. I read an incredible statement made by President Ezra Taft Benson, "Some men are willing to die for their faith but will not fully live for it." Our love to God is not only manifest in being a martyr for Him, but also living like Him. True commitment to God is manifest in our life, not our death. It is in our daily obedience that we show Him that we not only would die for Him, but choose to live for Him day to day. I love this quote from President Boyd K. Packer and feel that I can relate to it. He said, "I'm not ashamed to say that...I want to be good. And I've found in my life it has been critically important that this was established between me and the Lord so that I knew that He knew which way I committed my agency. I went before Him and said, 'I'm not neutral, and You can do with me what You want. If you need my vote, it's there. I don't care what You do with me, and You don't have to take anything from me, because I give it to You--everything, all I own, all I am.'" This past week we experienced being an answer to someone's prayer. But first, let me preface: since I've apparently been wearing too small of shoes for my whole mission, I have long-term toe nail damage on my feet ( I even lost my whole pinky toe!). It was KILLING me to walk this past week, so I decided to rest it for a few hours while I had a stomach ache and headache. Around 5 pm I was feeling better, I felt in my heart we needed to visit the Marina family, who were recent converts but are now less active. So I told S. Chavez that we should go to them. We knew it was a bit early to see them, but she felt we should try too. When we showed up, they weren't home. Only, the sister-in-law was home. She was visiting from Balanga and recognized me immediately (since I used to serve in Balanga during my training). We almost were about to leave, but I could sense Nelsie's ache to talk with us. She kept saying, "Sisters! Come in, come in!" Then she blurted out, "Sister, my husband died." We came in and started visiting with her and she told me she went less active and explained that she felt it was all becoming too hard. With tears in her eyes, she said, "Sisters, you answered my prayer. It's such a blessing you came. Before you showed up, I opened The Book of Mormon and began reading, hoping to feel closer to God. You are such a blessing to me." We decided to share several verses about trials and how to gain strength. Throughout the lesson, she would break down and weep, "I don't think I can do this. I have two little kids. I don't have any money. I didn't think the Lord would take him this early from me. I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't do this. What am I going to do?" I replied, "Sister, we know what you will do. You will focus on what you can do. You can pray to God, pour out your heart to Him, and you will feel His love. Then you can read His words and know that others have experienced your suffering. Then you can go to Church with your children and help them know Jesus Christ while they are young. We don't know why this has happened, but we know that God knows. We know He loves you so much. We know that He is using this experience for your good. Just trust in Him and do the things that you can." We left the lesson in amazement at how Heaven;y Father uses us to answer others prayers. Yesterday was Easter. During Church, my mind really contemplated the empty tomb. Most times we see things incompletely in this life. When Mary came to the tomb, she initially saw only emptiness and thus felt it consume her too. She had thought her Master had been taken. Within moments, the whole truth was shown to her. The tomb was empty because He had risen and conquered death. Sometimes things need to be left empty momentarily in order to be made full, complete, and accomplished. The emptiness we feel in moments of trial is not permanent. Because of a temporarily empty tomb, we have an eternal fullness of hope in Christ. In those empty-tomb moments of our lives, we can know that the emptiness has a different purpose. The purpose being for us to realize this reality: in Christ is our true Life. In spite of our empty tombs, we can have a Living Savior  to come to our aid and remind us of His eternal purposes and why sometimes we need to feel empty. We need to be left empty to have our life fulfilled in Him and by Him.   Mahal na mahal ko po kayo! Love, Sister Murray

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Week 73: Love from HOME! This LAST Transfer. Pilar!

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Week 73: We promised...As you read this book...

We had a really spiritual week, except for I totally forgot my notebook with all of my notes at home! Nooooooooooo! So I'll have to try to write in detail more about it next week. We watched General Conference this weekend, and I love the gospel. It's all so true. This past week, we did more--you guessed it--Finding!. 

We found sister Rochelle Buhain yesterday. Bless her heart. You can’t really begin to understand how poor this country really is. I try to not talk about it too much, but honestly I've only learned gratitude for my life here. Rochelle is 34, has 5 kids, and her husband had a kidney/bladder disease. Her daughter has asthma, and her other daughter has an eye condition. Some of these may sound like minor problems, but here in the Philippines, when not treated properly with hospitals and the right medication, they always lead to deformities or death. We focused our lesson on trials and joy in the journey. I really felt the Spirit. We gave Sister Rochelle a Book of Mormon at the end. I told her, "You may not know this yet, but this book is true. It is God's words. I We promised her, “As you read this book, the weight of your burdens will become lighter. You will still have trials but you won't feel the pain of it anymore. You will only feel God's love." Sister Rochelle had some tears in her eyes throughout the lesson and the spirit was strong. I hope and pray that she continues to accept the gospel and look forward to seeing her again. After listening to Conference, I just felt it confirmed over and over again that people are looking for the message we have to offer them as a missionary. This message of hope. When I saw the picture of Elder Rasband and his wife in front of that filled congregation in Ecuador(?), the back of his wife looked like Mommy!! Within an instant, I started crying. I was reminded of how much I really do miss my family. I cannot wait to be with y'all again. But this is the time to be the Lord's missionary, and I love sharing so much hope with so many people that feel hopeless about this life. Jesus Christ is the only way to obtain true riches beyond our world. I love you all!  I will write more next week! Mahal na mahal ko po kayo!!

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Week 72: Last box from home with Sarris chocolate's and lots of goodies! Zone Conference and the De Jesus family for family home evening <3

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Week 72: It’s Not About How Much You Give, But Our Attitude of Giving

This past week we had zone conference. It was so great. President Dahle and Sister Dahle go home this coming June, and he spoke about their upcoming departure. He mentioned how there's this kind of unsaid pressure of ending a mission, like a "grand finale" or "famous last words." And our time here is like sands of time in an hour glass, racing through until time is up. He said, "I want to hold every precious grain in my memory," and I feel the same. As I reflect on my mission, I feel happy. I know that I am not a legendary missionary or leaving a profound legacy in my mission, nor have I baptized the most people, but that does not matter. How does the Lord feel about me if I work my hardest and still nothing? The Lord has told us, "his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase" (D&C 117:13). It's not about how much we give, but our attitude of giving. If I have done my best, it is enough. One of the senior missionaries, Sister Epperson, bore her testimony. Through tears, she powerfully whispered to us, "You are the angels for these people...we may not see the results of our efforts while we are here, but there is influence." It makes me think of the missionaries who taught Mommy. Did those missionaries know how much it would mean to me to have her baptized? Maybe not, and they still probably do not know. But I know the gratitude I have in my heart for their sacrifice, because they gave me the mother that I have today. President Dahle said, "While you are building up the Kingdom, the Lord is building you." How I have changed from my mission is worth any sacrifice. It's hard to consider it a sacrifice when I have received so much in return. A soon-to-be missionary attended our zone conference. In her short testimony, she said these tender words with a shaking but firm voice, "I want to be righteous forever." I echo my testimony with hers, that is my only desire too. I love my mission, and I love how the Lord can see us as we truly are and help us to become as He is. 

All week we have continued our finding efforts. While teaching The Book of Mormon to our new investigators, at the end of the lesson we gave away the two Book of Mormons that we had with us. Daniel, an 11 year-old, sitting in on the lesson asked if he could have one too. We told him that we'd come back the following day with one for him. The next day we saw Daniel again and told him that we'd teach him. He said, "Do you have the book? That thick one?" I asked him, "Well did you read that pamphlet we gave you yesterday?" "Yeah." "We'll give you it at the Marina house. C'mon. Let's go." Daniel replied, "I'm only coming if you give me the book." Haha! Never have I ever had someone beg me for a Book of Mormon, and never have I ever been able to use The Book of Mormon as a bribing technique! This kid wants the book! So we went to the Marina house so that we could teach him and his two friends. We taught them about the restoration and then gave them their own copy of the Book of Mormon. The moment we gave it to them, they all stopped listening and started reading! We were so amazed. Another one of our new investigators, Rosanna Fideldia (about 40+ years old), is starting to get pretty interested. Before when we taught her, it seemed like she was just being nice. But lately, she's been really asking us questions. This past week we taught her about baptism. After explaining about infant baptism, Rosanna said, "Infant baptism is bad. But why is it that a lot of christian churches teach that we need it?" We replied, "We don't know. But this is what Jesus Christ has said about how we should be baptized..." And we shared 3 Nephi 11:23-26,28: "Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them. And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying: Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been." Rosanna really is starting to understand our lessons and she said she was going to come to Church, but then she didn't. This week we will try to resolve her hidden concerns about coming to Church. 

Mahal ko po kayo! xo Sister Murray

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Week 71: Reasons to Jump for Joy!  Jamaica & Joyce Tuazon's baptism <3