LA VEGA- Rama Conani- February 27, 2014

Yeah, I got transfered. I am now in the city of La Vega, getting to know the good old Conani branch!! I am really excited. My companions name is Elder Bartholomew from Fillmore, UT. He has like 8 or 9 months in the mission, which is awesome! I feel like I havent ever been so excited! I am going to see what happens in this transfer, I am really excited. As you can tell, I am really excited. 

But yeah, THIS IS INCREDIBLE!! I feel like I am here to basically show the Lord and the world what I have really got. All that I have learned in the MTC, in Villa Gonzalez, Hato Mayor and Bella Vista are going to go into CONANI and I just cannot wait to help these people out. We were able to talk to the Branch President and he said that he wants to really work with the priesthood holders and stuff, so that is what we are going to do! Just build the kingdom of God here in La Vega, not just be here to waste time in here doing not the most efficient missionary activites. 

I feel really good! We had our PDAY changed to today for some reason, but we are going to go from today until middle of July to work 100% here in Conani. We have a couple investigators and stuff and we are going to just do some great stuff. 

It was a little bit hard to leave Bella Vista and Elder Mendez, but it was time. I had spent a good 5 transfers there and I have no regrets. Elder Hardy (Madsens good friend) replaced me over there!! So it was great and everything went well. 

Love you all! Thanks for all you do. 

Elder Dallin Murphy

What a fast week!- February 18, 2015

This week was really really fast... I feel like it was just last week that we had Pday and everything... its pretty amazing how we are able to keep up the good work and work really hard (we had the week with most lessons in a long time together), but sometimes I say "if i dont want the time to go by so fast... i just dont need to work so hard!" HAHAHA just kidding, I dont think that would be good at all, if the Lord wants the days to be cut and shortened, thats what they need to do. Roberto, Gabriela, her sister, Gabrielas husband and also a reactivating less active Jorge all came to church!! We were all really excited. I feel like I am going to be leaving a happy area with my companion next week when I leave (or at least I am suspecting that I am going to leave). This is going to be the last week of the transfer, and we are going to do some big big work. 

Edwin didnt come to church, so we are going to postpone for a few week his baptism, which is sad but that is the way that the Lord wanted it. We are going to put dates for March 14th with Edwin, Gabriela, and Roberto... maybe. We want to focus a little bit on Edwin and Robertos families.. Sister Douglas talked pretty directly about that in our Zone Conference yesterday. It was really awesome, she is great. It is too true that we are here to do a few things, and one of those things is fortalecer a las familias!! STRENGTHEN THE FAMILIES!! What is the point in throwing people into a difficult situation with all that. ALL CONVERT would have liked to be baptized with their family. 

Also, yesterday President talked about the importance of using correctly the Book of Mormon. We went verse by verse trying to see what we could learn from 1 Nephi 1, and it was really great to see how much we can learn!! Also, he said that we need to use the testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses, and Joseph Smiths that are in the beginning of the book. Even though people have their doubts, there are 12 people that have literal testimonies that the plates are real, not just 1 or 2. Even though a few fell away from the church and apostatized, they never ever ever denied their testimony of the Book of Mormon. WHOEVER READS IT will know, but those who arent hungry normally will not eat. 

The mission is awesome. I feel good. Thanks for your prayers. I took some nice pictures of a hike we went on today as a zone, but my camera cable decided to stay in the house. I hope that all keeps going well and I cannot wait to hear about Northwood Girls Basketball DESTROYING THAT TEAM THAT THEY ARE GOING TO PLAY IN CIF THIS WEEK!!!

ONE TEAM ONE HEARTBEAT-- NORTHWOOD BASKETBALL

Love you all,

Elder Dallin Murphy

ps. elder mendez got the scriptures. i told him to write you thankyou

Animados- February 11, 2015

We are pretty excited here in Bella Vista. We have had an interesting week with a few problems in companionships in our zone, but all of that has been resolved and we are hoping to finish the transfer well. We were excited with Edwin Reyes and his baptism, but we were thinking about postponing it for the 28th. But on Saturday we had a lesson with him where we watched the video of the conversion of Wilford Woodruff, and he said that the 21st was his day. So we were pretty convinced, then in Sacrament Meeting he got up and shared his testimony about how he feels like his life has completely changed. He said that he always wanted to be an example in his life and now he has realized that the "Mormons" that arrived to his door have brought him what he has always needed. So, it looks like we will have a baptism on February 21st!

In sacrament meeting, I was able to share my testimony as well. (Dad challenged me to do it every fast sunday of my mission, and I am good so far) I had studied about Christs trip through Samaria where he goes and is by the well and he asks the woman for water. And he also talks about the water that HE could give HER. It is really interesting how James E Talmage talks about it in Jesus the Christ, and I also put my own twist on it. I feel like a lot of times as members of the church and as human beings we see something who is hungry or thirsty and we are not afraid to go help them. Someone gets hit by a car and the whole world goes and helps them. They dont have anything to feed their children, the whole world gives them food. That is not a bad thing, it is really a great thing. But I have learned that we can compare that to the example of where if we give a man a fish, we feed him for a day and if we teach him to fish we feed him for a life time. We give fish all the time to help them out and to comfort them. But that is a really temporary feeling, and something that doesnt last. When people need the LIVING WATERS and the BREAD OF LIFE, or the fruit of the tree of life in them, we get embarrassed or we get scared. We say that maybe another time we will talk about the blessing that we have recieved and invite them to enjoy the same happiness that we have. But that is what we need more than anything. Satan really wants us to give that out a lot less than food or water. We need to help others, but one thing is that TRUE CHARITY is shown when we give them what is most important to us and what we know that they need more than anything. 

The Gospel is true. God lives and He wants us to be happy. The one and only way to have an everlasting happiness is through His gospel. Thats why he gave it to us. Lets share it with everything else!! Then and only then will they and we be truly happy. 

I love the mission! I am so happy. Thanks for everything!!

Love,

Elder Murphy

1. We helped a family start their house and we had to transport cinderblocks. and help them mix cement and stuff. It was great!

A Solid Week- February 4, 2015

Sometimes being assigned as a leader is kind of stressful, like this week, but everything turned out great. When the missionaries need your help, they go look for you, but when they dont want your help EVEN IF THEY NEED IT, they don't accept anything. A few missionaries this week have needed our help with things and we were afraid of the worst that could happen, but it's all good. Everything here in la Zona Bella Vista is all going well. 

So this weekend we had a Carribean Area conference which was AWESOME, and it was a great opportunity to restrengthen the testimony of how inspired the leaders of this church are. Elder Wilford Anderson, Sister Oscarson, Elder Jeffery R Holland and President Boyd K Packer all spoke, along with Presidente Bueno of the Santiago Sur Stake here before they began the broadcast. It was a really eye opener, and I loved a few things that President Bueno said to the stake. He said that if in our homes we want to begin a gospel based culture in the home, we need to keep the Sabbath day holy. If we don't, we can begin a church based culture, but that is completely different. It is a little bit sad to see the misunderstanding of a few commandments, but I am sure that the more that we keep the commandments, we will be blessed and God will make us prosper. Also, he said that if we do not arrive to church on time, it will be very difficult for us to feel a sincere spirit of revelation and adoration during the Sacrament. He is a really great man, like 32 or 35 years old, and he is helping a lot here in Santiago. 

But, we didn't have any investigators or any less actives there! It was a little sad but that is OK. Edwin said he didnt know if he felt really all that comfortable going without knowing people, and Gabriela's husbands little car was getting fixed in the perfect time where they needed to go. Roberto was going to go, and just never showed up! We are not too sure what was happening but my companion went by on Monday on an exchange and Roberto explained to him. 

I am trying my best to get an organized file of all my studies and my knowledge and stuff like that. Here on the mission it has been really really difficult to keep up a Study Journal. BUT we will see what happens, I got a binder and i am going to try and organize what I study and stuff like that. I think that it would be even better with an iPhone, iPad, or a computer, but I will have to use what I can for now. 

I HOPE THAT YOU ALL ARE READING YOUR SCRIPTURES!! Sometimes we say that we dont have time but, come on, it says that in them is ETERNAL LIFE!! Do we not want that? Is that 2nd or 3rd on our priority list?? To receive the eternal life we have got to get to know God and His Son, and how can we know them if we don't go out to read the very books that they inspired to be written ABOUT THEM?? We have got to read. Bethany!! Especially you. 

Love you all!! I hope that you can all keep working hard and doing the right thing. 

Elder Dallin Murphy

Picture:  Teaching Javi from La Yaguita his english!! 

Consecration- January 28, 2015

Wow, its a pretty great blessing to be a missionary. We have been seeing a great progress in Roberto, Gabriela, and Edwin. 

Roberto was only coming to the 1st hour of church and we talked pretty directly about how to be a member of the church, you've got to go to all 3. He is pretty excited. He is getting all the papers together to get married before February 21st so that he can get completely ready for his baptism. He came to church and was going to stay, but then they had been calling him for a while to go help a really sick woman to get better. It was good that he went because the next day she passed away, and he said that he was able to help. It was hard, but he is doing well. 

Gabriela is awesome. She went to church on Sunday again for 3 hours and got out her notebook and scriptures for the Gospel Principles class. We went on Monday night and I was with another companion and she was a little worried since she thought that Elder Mendez had been transferred, but Elder Castillo, that was with me on the exchange, and I did well. We went as well with Alberto Lugo, the 1st counselor in the bishopric, and she said that if we keep going to visit her with him, he would probably convince her. She said that he was explaining things really well, and seems like we will have to keep going with him as well! She said "Neither of you can get transferred before February 28th!!" but we will see because February 25th is the transfer day. 

Edwin is just 15 years old but really has a way of understanding these things that we teach him. He couldn't go to church because he went to Puerto Plata this weekend, but we taught him about part of the plan of Salvation yesterday and he was even teaching us a few things!! Like "it was important for us to go through the veil of forgetfulness because God has given us talents and for us to be able to find these talents and develop them, we needed to search. but if we knew, it'd be too easy." He is so cool!!

Elder Mendez is great. He is from Barahona, which is in the Santo Domingo West mission, and he rocks. He really has a lot of faith and is really smart. He loves the gospel and he is a really consecrated servant of the Lord. Both of us are here to work and only to work. Just to teach and help people to receive blessings!! I love this guy, and he has helped me a lot with a lot of things. he is 6-4 or 6-3ish, but if he is 6-4 as he says, i am growing because i don't feel like he is as big as dad!

Thanks for all you do. God just wants us to give all to him so that he can take charge of what we have. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! Thanks for everything!!

Love, 

Elder Dallin Murphy

ps BETHANY DO WORK IN YOUR FINALS YOU ROCK AND ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SMART!! JUST DO IT BE CONFIDENT!! ITS ALL IN YOUR HEAD!!

PSS Also Congrats to Isaac Myres and Zack Rusick on your calls!!! YOULL LOVE IT!! When are they going??