July 13, 2014

Hello from Jamaica

Road trip week

 On the way to Ocho Rio we saw a Man in a wheelchair doing a wheelie going at least 20 mph down the very steep Mt. Rosser road.  Unless you have ridden in a wheelchair you can’t appreciate how very difficult it is to steer a wheelchair going downhill, let alone doing a wheelie.

 First stop on our list was to take Elder and Sister Hardy and all their stuff to their new apartment in Ocho Rio where they have been assigned to do Member Leadership work with the Ocho Rios and Port Antonio Branches.  They are a great couple and will do great work.  He was and institute instructor and has a good grasp of the gospel.

 ext stop Montego Bay to meet with Brother Buchanan about their Food Initiative program (chickens and gardens).   They have been working hard to collect all the information needed and have some good ideas on how the cut the cost of building the chicken coops.  We will present their ideas to the Area Authorities and see what they think. 

 Next, on to Savanna la Mar to meet with Brother Samuels.  Savanna la Mar Food Initiative project is just about ready to submit for Area Authority Approval.

 Then, on to Negril for a short night’s stay and a little time to enjoy the Sea.

 And get some rest.

See ya next week.

Love

Mom and Dad

E/S Murdock

July 5, 2014

Great day in Jamaica…Of course every day in Jamaica is a pretty great day. The picture below is at the Hope Gardens. We visited there Saturday with the Halls. It was their first time to visit this place. It is a beautiful restful area in Kingston.  Not all is this lush but it sure makes it quiet there.

This week we did some apartment inspections at the Office Elders/Kingston Elders Apartments and also got our Temple Recommends renewed. It will probably be the only time when we will have only one signature on it instead of two. The Mission President is our only ecclesiastical leader so just one signature is required! It is always a blessing to have a temple recommend.   We may not have a temple here but we should always live worthy to hold a recommend.

 Elder and Sister Hall are from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. They are the couple who are now serving as our Mission Office Couple. They have been serving up on Ocho Rios for the first 4-5 months of their mission and will finish out the rest of their time in the Office…another good couple we get to work with.

We are getting another project finished up and ready to close. This one is with the School for the Blind here in Kingston. They are run by the Salvation Army and are the only school for the blind in the Caribbean area. We helped them get a chicken coop large enough to house 200 laying hens. We got their chicken food, water and feed pans purchased this week and the hens should be here next week. For the Laying hens we have to order them well in advance of completion of the project. These birds were ordered the first of January 2014. In the picture below is the box of automatic water pans.

 The Salvation Army chicken project also included a chicken coop and several bags of chicken food to get their project off to a good start.  We are still waiting for the chickens they should come in the next couple of week.

 By the time they were done the van was full and the tires were almost flat.

 Saw an interesting thing this week.  There was this guy in a wheelchair going down a narrow mountain road doing about 30 miles per hour…that in and of its self is interesting as he was really flying down the steep winding road in the middle of all the traffic going up and down the mountain…but this guy was doing a wheelie the whole time!!! We were so shocked to see him going so fast in a wheelchair that we did not notice he was doing a wheelie until we passed him.  It was amazing!!! I tell you, you can see just about anything here. These people can do so much with so little. Like the guy at the tire shop. We had a flat tire so we pulled over at this place that had stacks of tires out front…tire store right? Well that’s what the old man said when we asked him if he could fix our tire.  Come to find out they did not have a jack or air to inflate our tire. So they borrowed our jack from our truck, fixed the flat by putting a plug in it and then wheeled the tire about a block and a half down the road and across the 4 lane road to a place that had compressed air (their own air machine was broke), then wheeled the tire back to our truck and put it back on for $5.00.  If they can’t fix it they will work with someone else to get the job done! Jamaican’s really are resourceful.

The Pictures below are of a tree called “Flame of the Forest”. We have seen them mostly like this one with orange blossoms. Sometimes we see them in bright red. They are a real beautiful tree.

 Doctor Sinclair owner of Singram Medical had a celebration for one year in business for and a birthday party for Doctor Sinclair.  Doctor Sinclair has been doing prospective Missionary exams and shots for almost a year she also help members and missionaries with their medical problems.  Doctor Sinclair is on the left.

Time for another Story.

The Kingston Branch is within the new Kingston Jamaica Stake boundaries.  The Branch did not qualify to become a Ward so they remain a Branch.  During the Branch combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting the Branch President made a list of things they needed in order to become a Ward.  One of the main things they need is three more worthy Tithing Paying Melchezidic Priesthood holders.  They talked about having the Missionaries baptize some good men that could become priesthood holders.  They talked about reactivating in-active members through home and visiting teaching. 

Then a Young man stood up and introduced himself as a return Missionary who had been excommunicated, but had been trying to come back to church.  He tried coming to church a few times but each time no one spoke to him or encouraged him to come back.  With tears in his eyes he said I know the gospel is true and I want to come back but I need to know I have friends here someone to talk to.  Overcome with emotion he sat down.  Another young man stood up introduced himself as a return Missionary who also had been excommunicated from the church.  He bore his testimony and expressed his desire to become a better man and be re-baptized a member of the church.  He also told a similar story about not feeling welcome at church and asked the members for friendship and home teachers.  We know of one other young man from this branch with an almost identical story only he has been attending church faithfully and often volunteers for service projects and offers help where ever he can. 

Isn’t it interesting, the Branch needs three more Melchezidic Priesthood and three young men with Mission experience stand up and say “here am I pick me I’m going to need some help but I am willing to try”.  The road ahead of these three men will not be easy but with help it can be done.  We will be praying for them.

We hope you had a happy 4^th of July…Stay safe and know that we love you…

Love

Mom and Dad

E/S Murdock

June 30, 2014

Morning!

This week close friends and fellow Missionaries completed their mission and went home to Texas.   We will miss them. By now Elder and Sister Mortensen are safely home with their children and grandchildren. They have been a marvelous example of missionaries acting faithfully…just doing whatever was asked of them with a smile…

 We did drag them on one last trip to the West end of Jamaica.  We stayed in Negril where this picture was taken.   Sat by the Sea and told stories one last time.  Of course the real reason for the trip was too gather more information for a Food Initiative project we have been working on with the Savanna la Mar Branch.  The project if approved will include 13 family broiler chicken projects and 6 family layer chicken projects.   Sorry no pictures of the people in Sav. Maybe we will remember to take some pictures on our next trip.

 As Humanitarian Missionaries we have been working with the Salvation Army and the church on a wheelchair program and a chicken coop for the School for the Blind. The eggs from the chickens will be used in the school’s cafeteria to feed the students.  Most of the students live and eat at the school. Some of them will help take care of the chickens. Major Lyons who is over the School for the Blind has been promoted to Divisional Commander and is moving to Montego Bay.  We have been working with Major Lyons on these projects and have come to know him and many of the good people at the School.  Any way they gave Major Lyons a big going away party and they invited us.

 Some of the students from the School for the Blind danced and played their tambourines.  If you think it is tough to perform in front of a lot of people.  Think how these girls must have felt.  Most of the girls could not see and held each other’s hands as they were led to the stage.

 Miss Burke, Major Lyons Secretary, is another person we worked with and became friends with at the Salvation Army.  She always hugs Sister Murdock whenever we go there. Being the Secretary for the Schol for the Blind she pretty much runs the place. What a talented lady she is.

Anyway that was pretty much it, without mentioning the three full days of computer work.  Trying to get more projects set up and ready. Those three days we were without a vehicle as well. The mission sold our truck and our new truck was not ready until Wednesday this week. Funny thing is the new truck is identical to the old truck (but new and without dents or scratches). The only thing different is the color; it’s silver.

I can’t end the e-mail without telling you a story.  It took place in the Kingston Branch in the Gospel Principles class.  The teacher was a young girl 20 something, a convert to the church, and the only member of her family.  When she reads her scriptures her family makes fun or her and teases her.  It got so bad that at first she would hide somewhere and read her scriptures where no one would see her.  Then the spirit asked her if she was ashamed of her religion.  NO she told herself, so she started to read her scriptures on the front porch where everyone could see.  Her family started to make fun of her again and tease her but she tried to ignore them, smile, and kept studying.  The whole family seemed to make fun of her when she read the scriptures or when she went to church.  Her mother would really make fun of her about going to church.  But she just kept coming.  One day a week before this past Sunday; she became really sick and could not even get up off the floor.  She had walked to church every Sunday since she was baptized and never missed a Sunday.  She was so sick she was afraid she would miss church so she prayed and forced herself to get up early and get ready to go to church.  All the while her Mother made fun of her again.  Then last Sunday her Mother gave her a new skirt to wear to church.  She cried when she told this story and said she was going to keep the skirt forever because her Mother bought it for her to go to church in. Her mother is starting to realize that her daughter is really serious about keeping her baptismal covenants. She is talking about going on a mission as soon as she is eligible. She has not been a member for a year yet.

 Just keep going to Church…keep following the commandments…you may be persecuted or made fun of, but do not be ashamed or embarrassed of your membership in the Lords Church. His blessings are waiting for you when you willingly submit your will to His.

We had another Tender Mercy this past week.  My hearing aids stopped working. They had gotten damp from humidity and sweat and stopped working last Sunday. We didn’t realize what the problem was for a while but after a few phone calls it was thought that nothing could be done to repair them. We were just about to order a new pair, have them programmed to mom’s hearing loss and sent here when we tried them one more time…they are back to working again!! It would have been a major expense to deal with but Heavenly Father blessed us… again… Of course we made it a matter of prayer but just didn’t see another way besides buying another set and she depends on them so much. These hearing aids are about 5 years old and will need to be replaced but we were hoping to get home before that happened so we wouldn’t have to deal with customs fees which are very high for anything electronic. The good Lord willing they will keep on functioning until we get home and can see her hearing specialist.

June 22, 2014

Well last Sunday was Father’s Day and we were able to visit with most of our children. It was really great to hear our children express their love for their dad. We attended Yallahs last Sunday just on a whim and it was the day that Bro George Williams a member of just over a year was put into the Branch Presidency. He is the second counselor.  This man has grown so much in the gospel and he has thirst to learn as much as he can.  He wants to please his Father in Heaven and to good. If you remember us talking about him before he was our construction foreman for the Yallahs Food Initiative. He was a great teacher to the branch members on how to build a coop.  Some have never held a hammer before. It was so fun to see some of the sisters pick up a hammer and pound a nail in the boards. They would start out going tink, tink, tink. And by the time the last coop was finished those same sisters were going ‘Bam, Bam, Bam! Being a servant of the Lord has become his greatest desire. He is a dear friend forever now.

 We also had transfers…again! How does time go so fast? This time our assignment was to go out to the Southwest side of the island to Santa Cruz.   We picked up Elders Humphries, Williams, and Dean. It was the latter two who were being transferred but you can’t leave a missionary without a companion so we took all three. By the time we had the two missionary’s luggage, boxes and bikes, we were loaded to the max! What a great time we have whenever we can spend time with these great young men and women.

 More Transfers

 After the transfer meeting we came out and found President Brown loading our Truck for the return ride to Santa Cruz!  He is a very hands on Mission President!

 Missionaries filled the parking lot and got to see past companions and catch up on all the news the other missionaries have from their areas.

 We spent two days of this week moving Hygiene Kits. First we had to make sure the container was arranged how we needed it and then we needed to make sure the Spanish Town Basement was arranged to handle the extra kits. Then on Saturday we spent four hours moving 1400 boxes of kits. In the picture below we are taking them out of the shipping container that was brought from the port and delivered to the Salvation Army Havendale Compound and loading them into two van trucks and the back of the office elders’ truck (couldn’t use our truck, more on that later).

 Then we had to drive to Spanish Town and move them again and put them into our Emergency Container and in our overflow space. We used and abused six young missionaries and seven senior missionaries, plus President Brown and his son Jonathan, President Medley and his two son’s Patrick and Nate, and several more Salvation Army workers! The Office Elders Martin and Henderson and the Medleys were at both locations so they were really worn out. It is really hot working in the containers. At the back it can get to about 110 degrees and with our humidity it can be dangerous without enough water. We made sure to trade out people and have plenty of water on hand for drinking…plus lunch for everyone for helping. It is really a marvelous thing to see when you get people together to do a service project like this and no one is complaining or slacking off, everyone had a marvelous attitude of love and joy. It was so much fun to be with these people. Everyone went home hot tired and sweaty but with glad hearts. Below is our human chain to get the kits from the truck into our container. Sister Mortensen, Elder Hall, Sister Kinghorn, Dad and Elder Biddulph are the people you can see; who you can see are two more Elders and Pres. Medley (2^nd counselor in the new Stake Presidency) and his son Patrick in the very back.

 Below are President Brown and his son Jonathan unloading kits from one of our van trucks and handing them off to the people in the picture above this one. It was hard to get a picture of President Brown holding still! He was usually throwing the boxes so fast it was hard to keep up with him!

Another event that happened this month is that the mission sold our truck. We are currently ‘truckless’ and on foot! Not to worry though our new truck should be ready for us sometime this week. Until then we do have access to a car if we need some transportation.  It will give us “more time on the computer to get our projects organized and entered on the church systems.

We have had two birthdays this week…Victor and Megan had their first child born on June 20^th!! Little Wesley Victor Murdock entered the world weighing 6 lbs. 12 oz. and is 19 inches long. He and mom are doing great and are home already. We were able to Skype with them at the hospital and so we were able to see this newest grandchild on his Birth Day. We can’t wait to be able to hug and snuggle this precious little bundle of joy.  Abigale Marci Marie Miller (officially Abigale Marie Miller but grandma’s habit of adding Marci ((long story)) is hard to overcome), daughter of Lori and Aaron Miller, turned 6 today. Her birthday party was yesterday with friends, gifts, games and cupcakes! She got to stay up late and have some one on one time with mom that night and we were able to Skype and visit with them too. So thankful for modern technologies that allow us to be able to see and visit with our children.

Much more has been happening around here but this letter is long enough.  To our children and family…know that you are loved and prayed for every day. We feel your love and support for us and it gives us strength to carry on with the work here. To our friends…know that we love you and appreciate your love and support as well. The Lords work will move forward with or without us; we just need to choose our part of the work and move it forward. With everyone doing their part all will be blessed.

Love

Mom and Dad

Elder and Sister Murdock

June 15, 2014

Dear Family and Friends:

First and foremost Happy Father Day!!! I am so thankful for our fathers, and for the fathers of our grandchildren. We are thankful for Bishop Epling as the ‘Father of our Ward’. Thankful for those worthy men who were/ are teachers that influence others for good in the world. Especially thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who loves and forgives us and desires us all to return to His presence; who has provided a Savior for us, who was the one perfect example of how to live, love and serve each other.  So many blessings come through the Priesthood of our Father in Heaven…blessings that enhance our lives if we are willing to work for them.

It has been another busy week here in Jamaica.  We started the week out with some of the returned senior missionaries who came for the Stake Organization. The Whiteheads, Larsens, and Pugmires came and it was great to have them here in Jamaica again.  These are friends we served with so it was wonderful to see with them again.

 They were here for our Monthly FHE at the Mission Home. It was our turn for the lesson so Mom made this Shield with all of the Brown Family Pictures and we cut it out around their pictures. We had each of them write on the back of their puzzle piece how being in a family protected them and increased their faith. Then when they put all the puzzle pieces together it made a Shield of Faith, a protection for their family. This is our Mission president with his two youngest children, Leah and Jared, putting together their “Shield of Faith”

 We also have been working on Project Development Worksheets. That is the preliminary paperwork for the projects we enter into the church ChaS program.

We traveled out to the West end of the Island to Negril and Savanna la Mar. We stay in Negril with another set of senior missionaries, the Pearsons, at their apartment and travel to Sav, or Mo Bay.  We are hoping to have a couple of projects in Sav.  One will be with a school and another will be a Food Initiative (chicken) Project. They have been working on getting all of their paperwork filled out and ready for us.  It takes a lot of work and determination from the members to get ready for this.  After the paperwork is done they will attend about 6 training classes on how to raise, care for, manage the finances of each project, and they need to find a place to commit to buy their meat or eggs. They have to work up a budget so they know how much to sell their produce for so they can make a profit to maintain their projects too. Some of these areas of training are new to these people, but essential for good business practices.  We want them to succeed. Ultimately it is up to them for the follow through, but if you teach them correct principles they can govern themselves.

This picture is of the Sav. Branch Project members.

 We are also working of a similar Food Initiative for the Montego Bay Branch as well.  They have already begun their training and we will receive their paperwork this week. The Zone Leaders will be bringing it in on Wednesday coming.

Staying in Negril is real hard….the Pearsons live on a private beach that is fantastic! Dad and I have learned to love snorkeling. Sorry no Pictures…

We did take a picture at the coast by the airport. This is where we usually go for a walk. Mom and Sisters Mortensen and Kinghorn are in the picture. The Mortensen’s will complete their mission and return home to Lubbock Texas the end of this month.  They are currently serving as the office couple. We have grown really close to this couple.  They live just 3 doors down in our apartment building so we see them often.

 Elder and Sister Mortensen

We also had a couple of birthdays this week. Our daughter Katie had a birthday last Wednesday, granddaughter Bodi, Richards’s daughter, also celebrated a birthday yesterday (Saturday). What treasures these sweet girls are in our family. They are wonderful and we love them forever!!

If anyone is interested there is an article on lds.org in the ‘News’ section about Elder Holland’s Visit to Jamaica organizing our very 1^st Stake.  On face book you can look for ‘Mormon Newsroom-Jamaica. If you scroll through the pictures you will see mom sitting with a group of women listening to the session of conference.

Love to all

Mom and Dad

E/S Murdock

June 8, 2014

Hello Family and Friends It’s a great week in and for Jamaica.  Here’s what’s happening.

We transferred all the old hygiene kit form our emergency container to the Salvation Army’s truck.  Next week the Salvation Army will receive a shipment of new hygiene kits.  We will put the new kits back in with our emergency supplies and get a few extras for the branches to distribute to the poor and needy.  The rest will be distributed by the Salvation Army for the poor and needy they serve.  Dad has to think fast when the young Elders were tossing those boxes down the line.  We moved 936 boxes of hygiene kits that day. It was awesome!

 Missionaries will work all day for some Pizza. These are some of the wonderful Elders we get to work with today; Elders Meacham, Layton, Tuala, Farb, and Carter. After they ate their pizza they worked some more and then we sent them home with the leftovers. Yeah they love their pizza…

 Jamaica was preparing for Elder Holland’s visit and the hopes of having the first Stake in Jamaica.

The Public affairs Committee is responsible for recording and publicizing this Historic event.  As part of the committee we helped in this process by recording the meetings.  This picture is of that Committee.

Front row is Sisters Whitehorn-Smith, Pinnock, Anderson, Ulett. On the back row is Sister, Britton and President Brown.

 Then the long awaited Conference.  Yes we made it we are a Stake.  Our first Stake President is Andrew Lue. He was Branch President of the Spanish Town 1^st Branch. His 1^st Counselor is Royce Britton, who was Branch President of the Spanish Town 2^nd Branch. The 2^nd Counselor is Patrick Medley, who was the Spanish Town District President.  They will be an awesome Stake Presidency.  Everyone was so happy and you could literally cut the Spirit with a knife; it was that strong in the room. They also called a Patriarch. That is Lloyd MacPherson. He was the Spanish Town District 1^st Counselor. So there will be a few changes going on around here and it will all be wonderful. So now we have 6 wards and 2 remaining branches in the Kingston Jamaica Stake.  It will be a time of learning and great growth.  I imagine it won’t be long before you will start seeing and hearing about the new Stake on the Church internet sites.

 Sister Murdock sang in the choir. Dad sat at the very back so the members could have all the forward seats so the pictures are all from very far away. There were a lot of returned missionaries and their parents who came for the Stake meeting too. Even the very first Jamaican member was here. One past Mission President (Gingery) was in attendance as well.  We were approached by many of the returning missionaries who wanted to know how to come back here as Senior Missionaries. They served here decades ago and still love the people and the island.  We told them to do what we did…plan ahead, save your money, and have family support…when you do your best, the Lord will do the rest. It is an absolute truth.

Well the time is far spent so just a few last comments…We had one family birthday and it was yesterday, June 7^th and it was Victor’s wife Megan.  She is such sweetheart and we love her to pieces.  We are so glad she and Victor found each other. They are expecting the birth of their 1^st baby, a little boy, this month so we are anxiously waiting for ‘the call’ so we can see this wonderful little addition. Having Skype and the ability to see our children and grandchildren has been such a great blessing. Each one of them is so precious to us…

May the Lord guide and protect you all, and may you all choose to grow your testimonies and grow closer to the Lord.

Love

Mom and Dad

E/S Murdock

June 1, 2014

Hello Again from Jamaica

We were all over the Island this week.  We visited Hope Gardens with Elder and Sister Mortensen and Sister Kinghorn.  The Gardens are only about a mile from our apartment but we have never had time to go until the other Missionaries talked us into it and it was great fun.  All through our mission I have been looking for a Jamaican parrot and never saw one but we saw some in Hope Gardens.  Sorry no pictures.

 Sister Murdock had to take a picture of me just had to prove we were really there.

 Then we went traveling to the other end of the Island.   Our first stop was in Savanna la Mar where we were working on a Hygiene project and a Food Initiative Project. They have some good leadership and members in the Branch.  The Food Initiative project is a lot of work; they are at the stage where each participant needs to find a market for their birds or eggs.  Then write an income expense budget to showing that their project will work and to show them how much of their revenue they have to set aside to pay the bills.  This all must be done before we can even request the project from the church. President Robinson is on the left. After the meet we drove to Negril and stayed with the Pearsons in their apartment by the Sea we were having so much fun we forgot to take pictures.

 The next day we went to Montego Bay to help them with their Food Initiative (chicken project).   Driving to the Church we went through the main part of town and it was crazy.  Cars, people busses, push carts, bicycles, and motorbikes all over the place, with no room for our truck, somehow we made it through.  But before leaving the Church we found another way around so we would not have to drive through that part of town again. The Montego Bay Branch is not quite as far along as Savanna la Mar but they are working hard as well.  

Today we went to church in Yallahs; it’s starting to feel like home.  It was Fast Sunday and testimony we really like to listen to all their testimonies.   The have great strength

Elder/President Beckford, pictured below, is taking his responsibility as Branch President very seriously and he is doing a good Job.  He conferred the Melchizedek priesthood on Brother Williams and ordained him an Elder.  Brother Williams is the one who organized the construction and helped build the chicken coops for the Food Production project in Yallahs.

There is much excitement as the organization of the first Jamaican Stake is next week. It seems the whole membership is buzzing about it. Elder Holland will come next weekend and conduct the interviews. Dad keeps teasing the leadership about what they will be doing after next week.  Each branch president he sees he tells them they will be the next Stake President.  Most realize he is just having fun with them and others want to hit him! They are all pretty nervous about being interviewed by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. We are just glad it isn’t us getting interviewed! These people have really worked hard this past year to raise the standard of living the gospel here so they can be worthy of the blessings of a Stake. We see so many smiles and joy in their hearts now. Each time we elevate our faith and practice what we know to be true, our joy increases.  We can find true and lasting joy and love when we live by Heavenly Fathers plan.  It is the only way. A wonderful part of being a missionary is seeing the change come into someone’s life as they embrace the gospel. People, who thought they were happy before the gospel entered their lives, realize the true joy that comes from living the gospel precepts.  We each have to become a convert at some point in our lives. Even if you were born and raised in the gospel, without your own conversion to it you are just floating along and the winds of the world can take you wherever they will. But if you plant your roots deep in gospel sod you will withstand the winds holding firm to the values and principles you know are true.  Seeking your own testimony is the way to your personal conversion. Keeping your testimony strong will sink your roots deeper where you will find spiritual nourishment.

Thanks for all your prayers, love and support. We truly need them. We have felt so blessed to count you as family and friends.  May the Lord keep you safe, and may you seek His guidance and help always…

Love

Mom and Dad

E/S Murdock