Bella Vista- the Family Area- September 17, 2014

I love this area! While I still miss Hato Mayor and Villa Gonzalez, there is something about this area that makes a missionary just happy. Especially when the majority of your contacts are families and you get to teach more families than not. We have found a few that, while they need some clarifying on a few doubts that they have, but that is why we are here!! People have a LOT of questions about Joseph Smith, so I have been able to strengthen my testimony of his calling as prophet of the restoration, because it just makes so much sense!! Let me tell you why:

A lot of people ask why the other churches dont talk about him, why they dont recognize him as a prophet. I compare the situation to the restoration before him, the restoration of the gospel through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! He got there and there were all these doubters that had their doctrine and had their doubts (pharisees and saudusees and scribes) and they never accepted him because they couldnt leave their church. They were stuck in the effects of the apostasy!! But those who followed Christ got the blessings and true baptism. Then the church got lost again, because of the hardness of the people (as Christ prophesied in Matthew 21:43). Then the people got into all these different religions. So when the truth came again, the people were and are still so blinded from this confusion that they sometimes cannot see the light!! It is sad, but we know that people can come to know through reading, pondering, and praying! AND THAT IS OUR INVITATION!!

It is really cool, I still think about it all the time. I am A MISSIONARY!! I speak fluent spanish, I am here and I just love the life here. It still hasnt hit me 100% that I am a missionary, which is just insane. Life is great!!

Brandon, as ward mission leader, dont stress. Just be the bridge between the elders and the ward. Dont do the Missionaries' responsibilities, and dont do the ward's responsibility!! You might have to do a little at a time but being a good LIDER MISIONAL is being the sturdy and big bridge between the ward and the missionaries, not being the ward and the missionaries. ERES LO MEJOR Y QUISIERA QUE FUERAS MI LIDER MISIONAL MUCHACHO!!!!

Love you my friends!!

Elder Murphy

1. The view from the bridge that connects Santiago to Bella Vista!!!

Another Transfer without changes! September 10, 2014

So today was transfer day, and I am still here in Bella Vista with Elder Herrera!! We are working really hard here and loving the work in Bella Vista, even though we are different people we work together to make the best of what we have. Yesterday we were able to go out and help some of the new missionaries go and give out Book of Mormons, and I went with Elder Dickson from Logan, UT. It was a lot of fun, and pretty crazy to see how he is brand new and already sees me as an old missionary. Something pretty cool is that today when Elder Torres, who lives in our same house, recieved his new companion that we will train, it was Elder Dickson!! What a good guy. 

Wow, what a week. The Lord is blessing us much more than we deserve, he is just leading us and doing all that he can so that the work progresses in Bella Vista. While we can always improve, I am loving life and little by little I know we will improve. 

There is this less active member named Yudi, who is the wife of the Sunday School President in the ward, and she has a really sad story. She has a lot of doubts about a lot of things, and it can be owed like 80% to her father, who is also a less active member. He talks super bad about the church now, goes to another church, and just does EVERYTHING possible to tear down the testimony of his daughter. He went to the temple, has the priesthood, and just is confused about a lot of stuff. But we have shared with her a few times and really she just needs to learn to defend herself spiritually. We talked about Ephesians 6 and how in life, to defend our testimony, we need to defend ourselves against 2 forces. The people who talk bad, and Satan who reminds us and puts stuff in all places about the church. It was a neat experience, seeing that I had never thought of this before but it just came out. I explained about the armour of God and how there are 5 things that we need to put on to defend and 1 to attack. The sword of THE SPIRIT!! And then we learned together that the way to draw the spirit of truth to a conversation is through Testifying. So then we were able to talk about HOW to testify to these 2 groups of advesaries. 1. We just have to be willing to talk! We cannot just sit back. Now, we dont argue, or bash, but we can defend and testify then leave them to argue with themselves. That one is a lot easier. But the 2nd group, or Satan, is a little bit harder. Satan works hard, and the way that we can testify to him is through our works. We need to ALWAYS pray, always read the scriptures, and ALWAYS GO TO CHURCH EVERY WEEK TO TAKE THE SACRAMENT!! It is the only way to testify to him with the spirit. There are other ways, but those are the 3 most important. If we do it, he cannot deny our testimony. He wont quit, but we cant either!

It is something hard to see. The willingness of some people to TEAR down what people love. What they say confuses us in the head but if we have recieved our answer in our hearts, we will be good. We have to remember that moment!

I love you all. I know that this church is true and that CHRIST LIVES!!

Elder Dallin Murphy

1. Last Pday, we went to a waterfall! This is the river on the way, with Elder Herrera and Elder Stegelmeier (from Tuella, Utah)

2. Elder Hardy! Elder Madsen Murphy´s best bud!

WHAT A WEEK!- September 3, 2014

Hey so I don't have much time this week, but it was a good one. With a family named Tania, Wandy, Yalinet, and Yudelis, we were able to put down a baptismal date for the 27th of September, which was awesome. They have gone to church since January, but the thing is that they have had problems with getting married, mostly with their birth certificates, but now we are on our way. We need to teach the daughters all the lessons in 4 weeks, but they want to and know a lot already, so we are going to do that. 

That is basically the most exciting thing that happened in this week, I don't know much else to say. I feel like the Lord is really testing us a lot. We were able to talk about Job in church, which was a cool class, and it made me realize how great of a man he was. Perfect=complete in the scriptures, which makes us really just need to be obedient and recieve the grace from Christ, through his atonement, so that he can perfect us ever day. And the real test of obedience are the trials, and the temptations. In the house with our family we usually aren't tempted to do anything bad, but when the bad situations come, we have got to be ready. THAT is how he got perfected. Perfected in Christ!!

I feel like the Lord is testing me a lot right now in the mission, especially in diligence and patience. And faith. Like it says in Alma 32, the way to partake of the fruit of the tree of life is through FAITH, DILIGENCE, and PATIENCE. We have just got to maintain it. 

Love you all! 

Elder Dallin Murphy