Elder Anthony Murdoch, is from West Des Moines, Iowa. A pianist and percussionist, he played drums in the marching band and several jazz bands in high school. He’s loved music since he was young, starting piano lessons when he was eight and continuing for nine years. He later taught piano and drum lessons during high school. He enjoys hiking and backpacking, especially in the mountains of Idaho and Utah with his family.

Following his high school graduation from Valley High School, he chose to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is now in the Portland Oregon Mission. He says “the ball is rolling so fast, I am struggling to keep up.”

A recent experience reminded him of God’s individual care for each of his children. “I had a really small but cool miracle this week,” he said. “I pulled out my phone to do something, and tried to type in my password. But instead of my password, I typed “Monica.” There is a woman in our area named Monica that we tried to contact about a month ago, but she didn’t want to visit with us at that time. I told my companion that we needed to call Monica, but he said we should probably wait until tomorrow because it was so late. I agreed he was probably right and went back to study. I pulled out my phone again and somehow typed “Monica” again. I told my companion we needed to call her right then. She answered after the first ring and said she had been thinking about us and wanted to talk with us. We’re going over later this week.

“We called another Monica as well, who also picked up the phone right away. She needed help moving out of her apartment, so we helped her move all of her things.”

Elder Murdoch was originally called to the Lisbon, Portugal mission and hopes he gets to serve there when pandemic restrictions are mitigated. After his mission, he plans to study medicine.