Happy Thanksgiving!

Well since it's the week of thanksgiving and all... I have truly been reflecting on the many blessing I have received in my life because of the knowledge I have that I have a Savior. Having His gospel in my life has added a special light that helps me get through each day a little happier.

Well today has been a really relaxing P-Day but it was well needed. We were supposed to have a sister zone P-day 2 hours from our area but because Sister Kang and I are absolutely exhausted so we decided to stay home and rest a little bit. It has been nice:)

This last week I was able to go on the funnest exchange of my life with Sister Hill<3 She is only one transfer older than me so we both don't speak korean super well or really know what we are doing but we both have the fire of being new missionaries so it was a blast! In the 2 1/2 hours we had to street contact we managed to receive 7 contacts and a lesson on the street. (in korea this is a lot okay? haha) But not only did we see so many miracles on this exchange, I learned soo much from her. I am a firm believer that exchanges are inspired. She taught me that I can actually do a whole lot more than I thought I could do. That We don't need to speak Korean perfectly to be good successful missionaries. Everyday I am reminded of How imperfect I am. I have so many weaknesses that I am working to overcome. I still am terrible at Korean too haha. Some days I still can't believe I am trying to learn Korean... haha. but I know that we aren't meant to be perfect. We aren't expected to be perfect. At least not in this life. We are only expected to try to be a little bit better every day and turn the rest over to the Lord. He literally makes up the difference. He fills in the gaps for what we aren't able to do. I'm so grateful I have the knowledge that I have a Savior that can lift my burdens.

This week was also super good because we found a new family to teach! The mother is a less active and she has 3 children. We are doing the family English program with them. I feel there is something special about this family and I am excited to be able to teach them<3

It's been a while since I have sent awkward moments... don't worry, I still have them:)

This last week instead of asking if I could have more potatoes at lunch I asked if I could have more boys. namja vs gamja. they sound really similar okay?! haha so I hope that made you smile a little bit although I am miles away.

I hope you all have a really great week and thanksgiving! I hope you know how grateful I am to have each one of you in my life.

Have the Best week of your life!

Sister Hurley

My area <3

The Sound of Music Korean style.

Me and Sister Hill on our exchange!

Read the book of mormon this week everyone! It's true!

Did I mention that I'm learning how to text in Korean?!

Yummy Food :)

my house:) suppahh nice! sometimes I forget that americans sleep on beds though..

5 Months... what?

I can't believe it has already been 5 months!... seriously I do not really know where time has gone... Anyway... this last week was really quite great because.... I learned a lot about the SPIRIT.<3 I'm going to apoligize in advance because I again... don't have much time to say all that I want to because today we are having a zone Pday about 2 hours away from our area but I will do my best to give you all a good letter:)

This week was soo much better than last week! Sister Kang and I are learning how to communicate better and better with each other everyday. We were able to really open up to each other this last week and understand each other.. it was really neat. Also... I made her want to learn English:) She used to hate English because it is so hard but with me still not being good at Korean... she is sorta forced to learn a little haha but she is excited and has starting asking me questions of what things mean. She can actually understand a lot of what I say from what she learned in school growing up so that has been really nice. I try to speak korean to her as much as I can though! We truly have come to love eachother as we find opportunities to serve eachother each day!

This last week I had the opportunity to teach about the Sabbath day and the importance of keeping it centered on Christ. Memories flooded my mind of when I made the decision to not play volleyball on sunday because I knew it was important to keep the day holy. I was able to share this experience with a family in our ward this past week and testify that we truly are blessed when we keep the commandments God has given us. It was a really neat time for me to share this experience because I could feel the spirit helping me know what to say. Sometimes I feel I get to caught up in learning to speak korean perfectly that I focus too much on the korean rather than focusing on the actual experience and the spirit. This past week I had several experiences where I was able to testify and feel the spirit working through me. These were times I want to remember forever. I know that the language of the spirit is way more important to learn that the language of Korean. The spirit is what converts people.

Also this last week I was able to meet the members of the sacheon branch! Running two areas is soo busy! we switch off each sunday which sacrament meeting we attend. In sacheon there are only about 15 members that attend church so it is like a ward family! We live in in jinju and the church in sacheon is about 1 hour and a half away! So much traveling! In Sacheon they actually have two sacrament meetings on sunday becasue their is a lady in the branch who absolutely not make the first one so us missionaries do I second one for her a little later in the day for only about 30 minutes. I had the opportunity of speaking at both of them because I'm a new missionary and that's what we do haha. I say opportunity because I actually love speaking in church now:) I mean I still stress about it a little bit because Korean... and yeah Korean. But I truly love testifying what I know to be true about our church. I love feeling the spirit work through me. This last week I sought the spirit more and I felt it in more abundance. I worked to truly forget Korean, not worry about making mistakes and let the spirit guide. The spirit is so important! please strive to have it daily! pray for the spirit to guide your life! love and serve those around you! The most important time in your life is now!

I will leave you with a couple scriptures that played a role in my life this past week.

D&C 122:9

John 14:27

Love you all! thank you for all the support. I can feel your love all the way from america to korea! hope you have a great week! I am praying for you!

Love Sister Hurley

Changes for days.

SOO Many Changes in this last week! Change is always a little hard but I know that there are good things to come! My new companion is Sister Kang, I think I mentioned this last week but she is such a boss! She is pretty young in the mission and only in her 5th transfer but she is completely qualified to be follow up training me.  Her mom and her are the only members in her family and her parents are divorced so yes. She is "daybock" which means "big squash" in korea. which basically translates to awesome.

They use that for things that are a big deal. Anyway, this last week has been quite challenging trying to communicate with each other. We carry our phone dictionary around with us everywhere we go and use it multiple times a day! A lot of the times I am confused as to what is going on but I know it will get better. I know I will learn Korean and hopefully a few other things from this experience:)

Other changes... Our apartment is a mansion compared to my last one. Which means it has 2 rooms! My last one only had one and it was meant for one person to live there haha so I feel like I'm the most spoiled missionary around now with 2 rooms! You think I'm kidding... It's seriously super great:)

Anyway...like I mention last week I am now over 2 areas! A branch and a ward! We switch off each week which one we go to which is a little challenging. The areas are about 1 hour away from each other so we spend a lot of time traveling which Is really a  bummer but I will use this time to study or find people on the bus to teach so it won't be too bad. We don't have many investigators right now so we will have to do a lot of finding this week! Also because we have two areas that means 2 MCMs, 2 service activities, 2 english classes, so each week is pretty full from the start!

I had the opportunity of speaking for the 3rd week in a row in church yesterday and I will be privileged to speak again in my other areas branch next week which will make for 4 weeks in a row! Let's just say i'm beginning not to stress about things like this anymore which is a really great thing haha. It is a lot more fun to speak in church now that I can speak a little bit more too! I know I'm improving a little bit each day even when it doesn't feel like it sometimes.

It was super fun to meet some of my new ward members yesterday! They are all so sweet! The children all attacked me after church and started playing with my blonde hair. I will have to send a picture haha it was pretty funny:) There are a lot of less actives in the area I am in now so I think that this transfer we will work really hard to reactivate them!

Other exciting news! Because one of the areas I am over (sacheon) is really country, every saturday we prune persimmon at our ward mission leaders mother's (who is not a member) farm. haha it is actually really fun and quite the adventure. Never thought I would be doing this on a mission... but I can say that about a lot of things. Persimmon is SOO popular at this time of year in Korea. Sadly I didn't really know it existed before coming to korea!

Anyway this last week was good but hard as always. Missionary work is tough but worth it. I'm here because I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so much and I know that they need me here in Korea at this time. To help the people of Korea but to also teach me so many things that I didn't even know I needed to learn! I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to be here! I want to work hard every day and do what I can to be a little better and to help others come unto Christ. I love you all so much! Thank you for you love, prayers, and support! It means so much to me! I pray for you all everyday!

Sister Hurley

Mission t-shirt!

Sister Kang and I

They like me cuz I have blonde hair... haha

New life in Jinju!

SOOO Much has happened since last week. I feel like it has been a year since I wrote last! Thursday night I received a transfer call telling me that I would be leaving bangeojin and that I would be going to jinju! I would be over two areas. one has a branch of about 15 people in in at the other has a ward with about 50 people in it! My new companion is Sister Kang! She is Korean and this is now her 5 transfer so she is pretty young but I already love her so much! I am in for tor the adventure of a lifetime because she doesn't speak English very well but it only means I will learn Korean super fast right? She is seriously so sweet and kind<3 One thing I didn't think much about before I left to Korea was transfers. I didn't realize how hard it would be to leave these people that I have come to love so incredibly much. I have come to understand how we can show love and feel love despite a language barrier. Because it was my last week in bangeojin I wanted to work harder than I ever had to make sure I left feeling like my work there was done. We were able to meet Stacy again (the australian) and give her a BOM. She is so incredible. I had a couple "ahh teaching in English is so easy" moments.. but I got over it pretty quickly because I couldn't imagine serving anywhere besides Korea. I know someone needs to teach the Korean people the gospel and I know God trusts me enough. Stacy told us that she sees a light in us when we speak. Its a testimony to me that God is truly with us everywhere we go. <3 We also had the opportunity this last week to meet with a Filipino. Sister Bonney and I met him on the street a couple weeks ago. His native language is cebuano and he seemed interested in what we believe so we ordered him a cebuano book of mormon that we were able to give him before I left. I don't have this much time this week but know that I am living it up in the countryside of jinju with My incredible Korean companion sister Kang! I love you All so much!

That moment you realize you are in Korea when you are at the branch presidents house and you have live octupus in front of you on your plate. it's tentacles suck to your tongue...ew. haha. But sister Bonney said "If you chew it really fast it stops moving!" haha sooo funny. I LOVE KOREA<3

Sister Hurley

Korean kids from my first area.

A sister I got to know well in Bangeojin<3 love her soo much!

Note from Sister Kim's son

Bangeojin ward mission leader!

Sister Bakmiyeon. She helped so much with our recent convert Sister Kim <3

Korean Food! :)

I ate live octupus. yes. it was still moving when I put it in my mouth. It was actually not bad... haha.
#adventureisoutthere