Thanksgiving!

We have dinner with an English speaking member tonight so that will be fun to have a more traditional Thanksgiving instead of the Mexican version we had at the ward thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, which was so fun. My spanish is getting better and I really love the members here! They take care of us so much! We had to throw away a ton of food from the fridge this week because people had given us so much we couldn't eat it all before it went bad. They are great! I understand why missionaries gain weight!! Sometimes we show up to teaching appointments and they are eating and give us food. That's how Spanish speakers are haha. So some nights we have to eat two dinners!

side note. Members gave us 2 avocados off their tree this week. I almost died. I was crying with happiness while eating them. It was amazing to experience them.

Also, we got a walmart bag full of mysterious nameless cheese for quesadillas and we have been eating quesadillas twice a day because it is sooooo good!

It's chilly here but not much precipitation. We wear jackets at nights. It rained once last week which actually ended up being a miracle because people felt sorry for us and let us in and we taught a ton. Plus we have a car so we didn't even really get wet.

I am loving it here!

We have a miracle this week!!! We have a last minute double baptism this Saturday!!!! They are 9 and 10 year old boys. Their mom got baptized last year. The missionaries have been working with them for months and their mom wouldn't give permission to be baptized. We worked so hard and prayed so hard and then one night they asked us to come over and we told them we have taught you everything! do you have any questions. and Manuel and Jesus said yes! can we be baptized and their mom said YES!!!!!!!! They burst into tears. They have such a strong testimony and desire to be baptized. my companion and i cried too. It was amazing! 

I love you all!

Hermana Hurley

Trials and miracles.

Spanish is getting better for sure! Its been a really up and down week! The beginning of the week we had tons of miracles and then towards the end of the week everything fell apart. I'm finally getting what people say about this whole "missions are hard" thing. We spend our entire day knocking on doors and people are annoyed that we are there, dont want to listen, or listen and tell us to come back but arent home. we had an experience with an investigator this week. he has a baptismal date but he is kinda back and forth but we had a miracle with him and I told him give me your cigarettes and he did and he prayed for the Lords strenght. It was such a miracle. The Spirit was so strong and he was smiling so big. I have never seen him smiling like that before. I know he could feel that this was right and he felt liberated and wanted to do better. The next day I gave some mentos  and a stack of cards I made with scriptures on them to help every time he wants to smoke. then he has been avoiding us since then. Wont answer our calls or texts or the door when we are there. Saturdaywe thought we finally had him cuz when we walked up to his door we saw him watching tv. We knocked and rang the doorbell and called him and knocked more for probably 15 minutes. We could see him looking through the peephole and not answering. it was so frustrating. other things liket that happened this week when we would have a super strong spirtiual experience with people and then they would commit to living the gospel and then didnt show up at church and wouldnt answer the door when we went to their house, even when we could see them inside and waved at them. ugh. its hard. but I know that the Lord blesses us with trials to grow. I also know that satan tries his hardest whenever he knows we are about to prove to be disturbers of his kingdom so I know that good things are going to come from this. Its been hard. But my comp is awesome and we have zone conference tomorrow so we will see the mission president and I get to see Elder Barrio my friend from the MTC and he always has soemting to say to make me feel better. I dont want anyone to feel bad for me! It was a little discouraging but I am feel at peace in my heart. My Heavenly Father sent me here, and He will not leave me alone (John 8:29ish I think). I love the Gospel and I cant keep it inside of me. I was reminded of how powerful my simple testimony can be in bringing the Spirit last night. We contacted a potential last night and I could tell he could feel the truth of our message through my testimony. he committed to pray. The way I get up the courage to try to jump into the conversation and try to tell someone, in Spanish, about the truth of the Gospel, is that I picture them in the baptismal font, and the joy that will bring to there life. And thats what I remember every day.

Love,

Hermana Hurley

Buy the missionaries cereal and fruit.

Ok. I am in the field now. I have been here about 5 days and it's an interesting experience to be putting into practice what I learned in the training center the last 6 weeks. Let me just say that it is a lot different than I expected. 

The town where I live is just so cute and great. I live in a super nice small little apartment. The members feed us here so well and last night we ate with this great family and I had the best carne asada (thinly sliced steak) and it was Ricissimo!

Also, my trainer (that is what your first companion is called) is great. She is from Honduras/Panama and somehow speaks perfect English so she is a crazy amazing blessing. 

So the disappointment is that when I was in the MTC I though I was a great Spanish speaker and a super powerful teacher and I spent all my time helping everyone else try to be as great as me. Welp. Now I am in real life and I don't understand a word of Spanish all day and I even struggle to bear my testimony at the doorstep. I am excited the Lord is humbling me so I can be more teachable and get some amazing work done through the Spirit. I know he is blessing me with this experience its because I need to rely on Him more and recognize I can only do it through Him.  

We spend a lot of our time knocking on doors hoping to catch people home because it is difficult to get people to set appointments. It's pretty discouraging because we often don't find them at home or they say they are busy at that time. But then last night we were trying to contact a referral and met the ladies dad and he was amazing and really open and receptive and so we set up an appointmentt to meet with him today and I am so excited to teach him tonight!

Well I had a lot of pictures but didn't bring the cord to upload them so I promise that next week will be a post FULL of pics from the MTC and the first couple weeks in the field!

I love you all! I really appreciate you letters!

Invite your local missionaries for dinner and send them leftovers to take home and buy them cereal and fruit! Also GIVE THEM REFERRALS!!!!!!!!! Tell them about friends of yours that might be looking for the truth of the Gospel. And offer to go on appointments with them. We might have to do our lesson with our new investigator on the doorstep tonight because we need a member to come if we are going to enter his home.

Ok Im out

Hermana Hurley

El Campo!

Hey! I am in Sacramento! I will have my P-Days on Mondays from now on usually. I have met the Mission President and had some orientation classes. I will be staying at a members home tonight and meeting my companion and going to my area tomorrow! Its really weird to keep trying to speak Spanish to people and to be back in America. Its so so so nice.

Love you all!

OK, super cortito

Ok so I have to minutes to write this.

Fantastic week. I have one week left before I go out into the field!

Best thing ever happened this week.

Our amazing teacher Hermano Tapia brought his secret girlfriend who we love so much who is a teacher at the ccm too (we figured out they were dating last week...they have been official for 1 month) and something weird was going on that day because he brings her all the time but they had just come from this big teacher devo and he was being super weird and then we realized that he was about to PROPOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND HE DID RIGHT THERE ON THE SPOT!!!!!! needless to say we got absolutely nothing done that day in class but it was the most amazing thing ever and we were all so happy.

The Church is so true. I am dying to share it with the world. Cant wait to get out in the field but I am gonna miss these people so much!!!!

Love you all!

Hermana Hurley