July 28th

Hola everyone! We had another amazing week doing missionary work! 

We felt a little stuck this week. One of the wonderful things about training a new missionary is how excited she is and she just has a huge desire to share the Gospel with everyone. I think she wishes that people accepted the message and were as excited as we are about the wonderful life changing truths that we are sharing but sometimes things are going a little slower than we'd like (well basically always, because we would like to be having baptisms every week.) But the good news is if everything goes according to plan for August our ward alone should have 12 baptisms! We have several people getting baptized every Saturday in August! This is what we are here for!!!! So we are super excited about August. 

An unexpected and exciting event of the week happened on Thursday. We drove down to Manteca for District Meeting on Thursday morning just like usual. Upon arrival we find out that one of the sisters in Manteca (where I used to serve) was having some health problems and had gone up to Sacramento, leaving her companion ( who is also a new missionary, being trained) tagging along with the English sisters. We realized that it would make much more sense if I stayed with her because I a) know the area b) speak Spanish (unlike the English ward sisters) and c) my companion can easily go with the other two sisters in Tracy, whom we already live with. So we did a little last minute exchange and I went to their appointments in Manteca during the day and stayed at their apartment that night. It was so great to be back "home". We visited a few people that I love so much in Manteca and overall I think we turned a less than ideal situation into an enjoyable day. The best news is the next morning the Sister was able to return and was much better! I was still wearing my clothes from the day before when I returned home the next day but other than that things went smoothly :)

Well, I honestly can't think of anything else to talk about so love you all!

Hermana Hurley

July 21st

It's been a great week!! My new companion is really great! Her name is Hermana Clark and we just get along so well. She came in pretty much pre-trained so I don't have much to do except show her how we do little things like numbers and paperwork stuff. She is a wonderful teacher, a hard worker and has great ideas. I'm so excited to baptize the entirety of Tracy East together. It's been un poco loco all living at the Robinson's this week just because they also had cousins and grandkids staying there! But this week will be really quiet :)

We have already had some great miracles this week! My favorite was yesterday. We found these little shacks behind some trailers and there were kids playing outside. We started talking to them and they wanted us to go to all their families and say prayers with them! We did, and we even were invited to a big group of people having a party and said a prayer with them! We added several investigators that way!

Love you all!

Hermana Hurley

July 15th

Mind blown! Transfer calls were this week and wow! They were even more of a rollercoaster than usual!!!!!

Get ready for this:

I'm training! That means my companion is brand new to the mission. I drive up to the mission office tomorrow for a meeting on how to be a trainer and then I get to meet her! I'm really excited and a little bit nervous. I loved my trainer a lot, she was a huge influence on me and helped me to feel comfortable and excited about missionary work. I hope I can do the same for my new companion.

It gets crazier-

So the last two transfers we have been covering both sides of Tracy. It's been hectic but truly amazing!! 

They are splitting the area! So my companion and I are going to Tracy East.

Tracy West will be covered by another missionary, and she is also training! Two brand new missionaries in Tracy.

There's more.

All 4 of us are staying in the same house with the members that I am currently living with until other arrangements are made. And the two hermanas in Tracy West have no idea what's going on there so it's up to me to make sure both sides of Tracy get off to a good start!

So this is going to be a super interesting couple of transfers!

Another side note- that means I'm still in the same ward I've been in my whole mission!! I'm so excited!!!! I could not be more at home in the Monte Vista ward. I love it!

My companion and I were asked to speak in Church on Sunday. They didn't assign a topic, they just asked us to pray about it and decide. We spoke on Charity and Love. We talked about showing our love for our brothers and sisters here on earth by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. We both felt really good about how our talks went and were relieved to say our first talks in Spanish were  behind us :)

Something that happened a couple of weeks ago that I completely forgot to mention was we got a new mission President! I was very close to President and Sister Lewis. It was hard to say goodbye to them but we got to meet our New President last week and he and his wife are really warm and loving people. We feel really good about them and are excited to get to know them more.

Well that's all the time we have for today folks!

Go share the message of Jesus Christ!

Love

Hermana Hurley 

July 7th

This week was hard but amazing! One cool thing we did is we went to the Farmer's Market this week on Saturday because a member in the English ward had the idea for us to do a booth there, he even paid for the spot. We set out cards for our website, some pamphlets and Books of Mormon. It was actually the opposite of success. The only little bit of success out of all the missionaries there was us (the Spanish speaking missionaries!). We talked to a guy from Bolivia at a neighboring booth and we have an appointment with him on Saturday. I am more grateful everyday that I'm in Spanish work. Spanish speakers are so much more open and friendly! 

This week we were feeling pretty beaten down because we got bashed 3 days in a row. it was pretty rough. We somehow ran into several people all at once that were not just uninterested, but down right outraged that we are dedicating lives to helping other's come unto Christ. That's hasn't really happened to me on my mission much so I guess it was about time! It's gotta be hard sometimes because "salvation is not a cheap experience". But it was a little hard not to get down. But then we were able to have two amazing miracles!
1) There is a family that we are teaching. We've had many more lessons with the mom and the kids because the husband is always working. The wife and kids have attended a baptismal service and a ward activity, and the mom even came to Church by herself once. Then they disappeared for a while (they went to Mexico for a week long trip and didn't come back for 2 months). When we had a lesson with them the dad was there and told us he thought it was nice to listen but they would not get baptized in another church (they have been baptized Catholic already). But on Friday we went for another lesson and he had read in the the Book of Mormon! In the same lesson he and his wife accepted baptismal dates and they even came to Church on Sunday!
2) An eternal investigator, the son of a Convert who was baptized a year ago, picked his own baptismal date!!!! This was unbelievable! This 13 year old has been through countless missionaries, and has gone through varying levels of interest in the Church. The last few weeks he would barely talk to us and wouldn't sit down for any lessons! But yesterday we were fasting for a miracle with him and we brought a Young Men's leader who just got back from his mission and it was just what he needed. He picked a baptismal date! We could not be more excited for this miracle!!!!

 

Quick funny story:

So back when I was in a trio with Hermana Cuesta and Hermana Sanchez we happened upon a whole colony of critters. None of us knew what they were! They looked a lot like squirrels, but they were a lighter tan color and their tails weren't bushy like a squirrel. Also they were burrowing into holes in the ground. We were fascinated! We ruled out groundhogs, moles and prairie dogs. We've lived with the mystery haunting us for a couple of months. Then this week at dinner someone mention that the pest of california is the ground squirrel. Hermana Sanchez and I looked at each other and said in unison: Ground squirrel!

We explained: One time we saw these animals that looked like squirrels but were in the ground.....and we couldn't figure out what they were. Maybe they were.... ground squirrels?

Case closed!

hahahaha

love you all!
Hermana Hurley

June 30th

Here in Tracy my companion and I are still covering 2 areas. It's super busy all the time and a little stressful but we are loving it. We had a day full of miracles yesterday. We started off with having 2 investigators at the Stake Conference yesterday and afterwards we were able to arrange a last minute  lesson with some wonderful members in our ward that was really powerful.
After that we visited a family that the husband just got baptized last year his wife who is a nonmember testified of the change that reading the Book of Mormon made in her life this week.
In the last 30 minutes of the day we acted on some inspiration from my companion and stopped by the house of a family we used to teach but they went to Mexico to visit for a week and never came back. That was 2 months ago! We stopped by yesterday and they had just gotten home that morning. They were so excited to see us and considered it a miracle that God sent us before they even had the chance to call.
I love being a missionary!

Love you all,
Hermana Hurley

June 16th

This week was wonderful, I have truly hard times are always followed by miracles.
This week we had several finding miracles. We added 7 new investigators! And we received a lot of referrals! It was really amazing to follow the promptings of the Spirit this week and see miracles. 
We followed promptings to go visit a former investigator we had taught twice about a month ago and had never found again, and she accepted a baptismal date!
We acted on a feeling to leave a note for a referral we'd been unable to contact and she called us the next day. When we arrived they were already gathering the whole family around and said they'd been waiting for us because they'd always wanted to learn more about our Church.
We contacted a referral this week and the lady answered the door and immediately looked happy to see us. We told her we'd met her son and he'd said she might be interested in our message. She said she was. We were so surprised we asked her again if she was interested and she excitedly said "Si!" She had met missionaries a few months earlier, she'd been crying outside and they'd talked to her and shared comfort with her. She'd declined learning more then and never told them where she lived. Ever since then she'd see missionaries on their bikes but never were able to talk to them until we knocked on her door. She asked us to teach her a lesson right on the spot!

The highlight of this week was definitely Rey's baptism. There was a lot of craziness at the beginning- when we arrived to fill the baptismal font with water it smelled horrible from the hallway. It was a sewage backup! But the Elders took care of everything and we got the font at the other building filled and kicked out the ward having a potluck and we had a beautiful baptism. Rey is an amazing example to me. He had to change a lot of things in his life to be ready for baptism. He is determined to be a "buen mormoncito" or a good little mormon. He is the best.

Love you all!

Hermana Hurley

 

Lots of pictures this week!

 

 

Pictures from Rey's Baptisim

 

 

 

 

Me and Alfred with his baby goats

My companions pretending to teach a lesson

 

My companions in a almond orchard

 

Our Book of Mormon T-Shirts that Leilani hooked us up with!

Me and a puppy :)

 

 

 

 

 

June 9th

Crazy week! After a super stressful week of trying to cover two areas (and, by the way, we were doing a very good job of it) we were in desperate need of a relaxing pday. Then we got a call yesterday from the housing director.

Surprise! we are moving into the home of different members, the family that my companion lived with before she got put in the trio and moved in with us! Just when we thought we couldn't take anymore stress!

Having all these little stressful things happen reminds me of the conference talk in this past conference and it talked about how much stronger trees are when they grow up in a windy environment! helps us to keep our trials in perspective! Read or watch it here: 

 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/spiritual-whirlwinds?lang=eng 

 

Meanwhile awesome things are happening this week!

The other Hermanas in our ward had a baptism on Friday and this Saturday we are having a double baptism with the Elders! Our investigator, his name is Rey, is getting baptized and he is the best. He is a little bit outrageous and we never know how to react to him, which he loves. He always calls us "Mis bellas hermanitas de la caridad" which means my beautiful little sisters of Charity. It sounds way better in spanish, trust me. He's hilarious and also I respect him so much because he has had to make so many changes in his life to prepare for baptism and he has finally made it! We are so excited for him!!!

 

Another miracle of the week:

Last P-day we had the option to go to the temple. We went and it was really nice, but some things went wrong and it ended up taking the entire day. We weren't able to go grocery shopping for the week and weren't sure how we were gonna eat! But, every single day this week someone has given us food to take home. What beautiful blessings we see from putting the Lord first, even when we don't have time!

Love to you all!

Hermana Hurley

 

June 3rd

Transfers are this week and they are the craziest transfers that have ever happened!

So you know how we were in a temporary trio covering all of Tracy last transfer? We were expecting to have a 4th missionary sent to us for the upcoming transfer so we could split Tracy into two areas again. This in our mind was an absolute necessity because both areas need much more time and attention than they are getting.
But instead, Hermana Cuesta (my companion that I was origianally assigned when I started this transfer) is leaving and Hermana Sanchez (the comp I inherited half way through that was in the other half of Tracy) and I are staying. the two of us will continue to cover ALL OF TRACY!

So that's stressful but I love my companion and I'm so excited to work super hard and bring in the Harvest for the Lord!

Meanwhile this week was amazing.

We had so much fun! We met a man playing the guitar in a park. He was quite the character. He had a beard and a feather in his hat and he said he was part native american and a teacher at his baptist church. He sang us songs about Jesus and then we sang him some. I love cool people.

Another significant event of the week:

Saturday, it's the coolest day of the week. We chose this day to ride our bikes. We are having a dandy time, riding around, sharing the message of Salvation, living the missionary life. We are stopped on a corner and I look around, appreciating the beauty  of the day. I comment to my companions "What an amazing day! And look, none of us have even hurt ourselves biking yet."

Ya know, Karma and I have not always been on great terms. And sure enough with a comment like that, BOOM. Tragedy strikes. Less than a minute later I encounter some overgrown bushes and next thing I know I hit the pavement. Hermana Cuesta calls out to Hermana Sanchez "She's down! Man down!" and when they turn back only my legs tangled in my bicycle are visible.

It was pretty funny, I'm not gonna lie.

I was fairly unscathed, I escaped with just a scraped up knee. But the shame of eating on the sidewalk of the busiest street in Tracy will continue to haunt me.

Well, that's about all the time I have today folks!

I love you all!
Hermana Hurley

May 19th

This week went pretty well! We had zone conference this week! A bunch of missionaries all came together and President and Sister Lewis were there and we had a lot of trainings and classes and we were very inspired. It gave us a lot of tools to be able to have shorter, more powerful lessons by using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching. It really has helped us to improve our lessons and we strive to teach more clearly, simply and with the Spirit. Our trio is going pretty well, but it is hard covering two areas still! There is not enough time in the day!
We had an amazing miracle on Saturday. We go to read the Book of Mormon with an older lady who is a little less active, every week. As we were reading, a man walked in we had never met. It was her son, and he asked if he could sit and listen. We were much more excited than he knew and we welcomed him in. After a moment of silence he said "I don't really know what to say, but I feel really blessed that you are here. I just got out of jail and I'm not really sure what to do and I just feel really blessed you're here." We testified of the Savior's love for him and the power of the Atonement to cleanse him and heal him. After about 10 min we invited him to be baptized. He accepted with tears in his eyes and wanted to know if it was ok if he didn't have slacks to wear to Church. We told him of course, and the next day he came to Church with his mom. He looked wonderful in a white button up shirt and jeans. The first talk was about our ability to change and repent through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. What an amazing miracle. That is the kind of things that we live for as missionaries. It's the best!
That's it for this week! Enjoy a couple of pics :)
Love
Hermana Hurley