4th of July!

Momma and Liz thank you so much for the 4th of July packages! Me and My companion are wearing our matching shirts today! We love them so much. Also, there were enough cupcakes for all the sisters in my branch (all 12 of us), all the elders in my district, and my teachers! They were delicious. Thank you so much!

Being completely honest, this past week was the most challenging one yet, but I still LOVE being a missionary.

Tuesday Night we had another incredible devotional. Lowell M. Snow (A former Seventy) spoke to us on becoming true disciples. He told a story of 2 elders in Germany who couldn't speak the language very well. They taught this lady who decided to be baptized. Later when they asked her why she decided to be baptized she said, "honestly I didn't understand everything you said but it was the virtue in your faces that drew me in" She said she saw Christ when she looked at them.

I want to be like this. I don't know how fluent I will ever be in Korean, but I want people to see the light of Christ when they look at me. A quote Tom shared with me this week in his email was, "Live so that those who know you and don't know him, will want to know him because they know you". I love this. 

Yesterday, the Korean Branch here at the MTC gained 30 new elders and 2 new sisters so that was exciting! We love Wednesdays here at the MTC because all the new missionaries that come in.

One of my favorite teachers this past week left the MTC to go work for the Mormon Channel. On her last day, I got to have a one on one interview with her where she shared the scripture ALMA 31:38 with me.

It says:

"And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in Faith."

This scripture is so powerful. The knowledge we have that the Lord can truly "swallow" up all of our afflictions in the Joy of Christ if we pray to him in Faith is amazing. I KNOW this is true. I have seen him guiding me every step of the way as a missionary. He WILL lift our burdens. He knows  what I need to go through right now so that I can be a successful and happy missionary. 

We are teaching two investigators right now and we are learning so much from this experience. I have seen how powerful the spirit is in teaching our lessons. Through our broken Korean, our investigators have been able to come closer to Christ only because the spirit has lead them.

I hope that you all have a wonderful 4th of July!! Go light some fireworks for me!! I love you all so much!!

Love,

Sister Hurley

We weird.

The big map that is apparently a MUST to get a picture by :)

In our matching shirts!

4th of July Cupcake Party!

Week 2 and I'm practically fluent in Korean!

I hope you all can sense the sarcasm in my letter title. Korean just keeps getting more challenging, but I truly do love learning it! It is actually coming along quite well little by little and I fully attribute that to the spirit that is helping me.

This past week was INCREDIBLE! Last P-Day our district got to play sand volleyball (which anyone who knows me knows volleyball is my absolute favorite) so that was a blast! apparently it's a Korean district tradition to play every P-day so that is always something to look forward to. We also got to do a session as a district in the provo temple which was amazing! Today we are going to do sealings which I have never done before so I am looking forward to that.

DAD I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY ON SUNDAY AND I HOPE YOU RECEIVED MY LETTER. It sounded like momma and the kids spoiled you which is good:)

Sunday night devotional Janice Kapp Perry and her husband spoke to us so that was a neat experience! It was quite entertaining when she told a story of how her husband asked her out in music class by telling her that her lips looked like they were made for more than playing the clarinet! haha and then her husband got up and gave her a big smooch on the lips while she was speaking at the devotional! haha

This last week my investigator Pheko became my second korean teacher! His real name is Brother Scoville and I really enjoy the way he teaches! One thing that I really gained a testimony of this last week is that I am not here to learn Korean, I am here to learn the language of the spirit. This is for all you wondering how Korean is coming along! One day my teacher sent us into the computer lab and my teacher told us that we had one hour to learn 20 words and 2 phrases and then come back and tell him what we had learned. For some this may seem easy but if you could fully understand the extent of Korean phrases and how challenging it is to learn you would see why I somewhat doubted my ability to do it. Our teacher told us to seek the spirit and to have faith that we could do it. I said a prayer before and pleaded that the spirit could be with me while I learned the phrases and I was able to do it as I relied on the spirit! I learned all 20 words and both phrases. The Spirit is incredible. This is why I love being a missionary so much.

One thing that has been tough this past week is that my poor companion has been pretty sick with a cough and possibly bronchitis. On Monday we got to walk out of the MTC gates into the real world to go get her some medication. It was fun to feel like a real missionary walking the streets with people waving at us. She has been so good to continue to work hard despite how difficult it may be to be sick at this time. She seems to be improving so hopefully she will feel better soon!

Monday night I got to Meet my new mission president and his wife! It was really fun to finally meet them. They have a 16 year old son who will be moving to Korea with them. I could really feel their strong spirits as they bore testimony to us.

Tuesday Night Devotional was the most amazing experience I have had here at the MTC yet. We got to hear from D Todd Christofferson. Also Sitting on the stand was Elder Bednar, Oaks, Ballard, Anderson, and Nelson of the quorum of the 12! I had never been that close to so many apostles of the Lord before and the spirit truly testified to me that they are men called of God. I also sang in the choir for that devotional so it was really neat experience. 

I am so incredibly grateful for all the love and support I have felt while I have been in the MTC so far. Although its only been 2 weeks, being a missionary and learning Korean is the most challenging thing I have been faced with in my life. (probably mostly because of the pressure I put on myself to be perfect at it) It's hard being away from everyone I love so dearly and I know it is only going to get more challenging. Monday night was the first time I shed a tear because I missed you all so much but the next day I prayed so hard because I was feeling discouraged and during personal study my prayer was answered. I was reading in 1 nephi 17 when nephi was commanded to build a ship and no one believed he could do it. His brethren were murmuring and said in vs 21 "yeah and we might have been happy". Sadly, I kind of felt like that was my attitude on Monday night. I was thinking about home and dwelling on the past. During this personal study I was reminded that this mission I am on is not about me. It all about Christ and I know that more happiness than I have ever experienced before awaits me as I serve God and help bring souls unto Christ. I Know that if I have a good attitude, always remember my purpose and forget myself, I will have a great and successful mission. 

I love you all so much and I pray for you everyday! I love being a missionary! 

Love, Sister Hurley

My District playing volleyball on pday! yay

Gold Fish Snack Pack! Aunt Teresa sent these! We love them.

We are weird. Temple Pic

Elder Murdoch in my District

My companion is a goof. Lover her!

The girls going to the same mission that came the same day! I love them so much!

Me and Sister Eyring.

 A girl I met at BYU who I love so much! Little did I know she is actually President
 Eyering's granddaughter!

My friend Sister Gazdik from BYU!

Meeting my mission president and his wife!

First Week!

Annyeounghaseyo Family and Friends!!

I only have an hour to write so I'll try to get as much in as I can but SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED.

I'm ALIVE, and loving every minute of the MTC!

Day 1- My friend from BYU Dani Hamblin who is going to Italy on her mission got to be my host the first day and how grateful I was for that! She helped me with the adjustment so much! I got my companion and her name is Sister Dayley. I actually had communicated with her on Facebook through the Korea Busan Mission page before coming here so it was fun to actually meet her in person. We are definitely different, but she is super great and I love her already! We have a room to ourselves that has six beds in it. haha. Also, I absolutely love my district SO MUCH! It is full of 10 elders and then Sister Dayley and me. The elders are good at keeping Sister Dayley and me sane while we attempt to learn Korean all day.

Funny story about Korean- The very first day here, I walked into classroom and my teacher started talking to me only in Korean. I literally didn't undersstand a single word that he said except for "hello"....haha and then he pointed to the board which had different Korean words on it and I assumed he wanted me to read it so I started reading it. (side note- because I was so stressed and overwhelmed about being able to learn Korean, I decided to learn the alphabet before I entered the MTC-- so at this point, I already knew how to read) While reading the board, everyone in the room just looked at me like "what?! how do you know that??" haha my companion leaned over to me and whispered "Everyone in here has been trying to learn the alphabet for the past hour and you just come in here and start reading!" haha. I thought that was pretty funny. I am SO GLAD that I learned the alphabet before I came because it made the first day a lot less overwhelming!

So.. My teacher is Gunnel hyeoung jae nim (brother Gunnell) and he only speaks to us in Korean. EVER. We keep trying to make him speak English but he won't do it. So about 90% of class everyday is us playing charades trying to guess what he is saying. But we are learning SO much everyday and it is incredible. We can already pray and bear our testimonies in Korean and say a few other phrases! At the end of class every day my teacher always says (saranghamnida) that he loves us and then goes around the room and gives all the elders hugs and me and my companion just awkwardly stand in the corner. Occasionally he will bow to us so that's a plus. :)

Day 2- We had a branch presidency meeting and one of the speakers got up and said " Don't worry about the language, you'll never learn it" haha so that was super comforting...:)

Day 3-We taught an "investigator"!!! ALL IN KOREAN. yeah what? it actually went pretty okay! haha as okay as it could go for being in the MTC 3 days.

Our investigators name is Pehko and we have taught him 5 times now. We have been mainly teaching him about the doctrine of Christ because he didn't know much about God or Christ before we taught him. We taught him how to pray and then he prayed for us! Also on our 5th lesson with him we asked him if he would be baptized and he said YES! haha if only it would be like this in Korea.. But yeah if you are wondering, We already have a baptismal date! ;)

Funny story though... the second time we taught him, Dayley Ja mae Nim (Sister Dayley) said the closing prayer and she accidentally said Brother instead of heavenly father to start the prayer and she just started laughing. like uncontrollably laughing in front of our investigator. (who is a korean teacher here) and then it made me start laughing. And then I looked up during the prayer and noticed that our investigator was smiling with his eyes still closed and his head down. For me, I think it was just a moment of "what is this life? what am I doing here learning this crazy hard language and teaching when we can't even speak the language! I ended up finishing  the prayer for her because it was hard for her to stop laughing haha.

Oh another story... sorry so much has happened! My teacher Brother Gunnel was interviewing me and he was asking me how I was liking the MTC and my companion (all in Korean of course) and I said "saranghabnida!" which means" I love you!" hahahaha.... so embarrassing I was trying to say that I love the mtc and that I love my companion... luckily he just acted like he didn't notice. but yeah.... I'm probably going to have a lot of experiences like this. So many words in Korean sound the same!

I had this moment when I was in the Bookstore with my companion and I saw two missionaries and said "look there are the missionaries!" And then I realized that I AM A MISSIONARY. So if you are wondering if i'm losing my mind.. the answer is yes. It's so amazing to be a missionary though! I love it so much.

I didn't receive any of your dear elders until Saturday for some reason so the first few days were pretty rough but THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR NOT FORGETTING ME. Letters are like Christmas. It's true. 

Gym time is fun because I get to play volleyball everyday and it's just the greatest. (4 square is also a really big deal here)  

Sunday was SO incredible. They have everyone in our branch prepare a 5 minute talk every Sunday in Korean and then randomly choose during sacrament who has to give (which is honestly pretty scary because nobody speaks korean all that great yet)  but I didn't get picked this week so that was good! I did write a killer 5 SENTENCE talk on repentance though. haha. It would have taken 5 minutes for me to read it so I had to keep it short.

Sheri Dew spoke to us Sunday night which was super awesome! Also I joined choir...and I love it. We sang in the Tuesday night devotional! Elder Ballard spoke at the devotional!! Talked about the importance of the doctrine of Christ and it was SO GOOD!

Also, I have seen SO many friends here from BYU and it is SO FUN. I love it so much.

Honestly, I can really feel the spirit helping me learn Korean, especially when I am teaching my investigator. There was a moment when I was teaching and I could read better than I ever could and I didn't feel like it was me speaking. words really were just coming out of my mouth and it was so cool and I credit that to the Spirit. We felt inspired to have our investigator read 3 Nephi 11 but I didn't know how we were ever going to find that in the Korean Book of Mormon (without taking like an hour) but I just opened it up and it was right there! THE EXACT PAGE. It was awesome! I know God is helping me learn Korean and that he will be with me every step of the way. 

Thank you all so much for all your love and support! I love you more than words can describe and I am so blessed to have you in my life. Even after this hard week of learning Korean, the Church is still true!:) and I feel so privileged to be able to share this beautiful restored gospel with the people of Korea!

Love Sister Hurley

(sorry this letter is kinda unorganized and all over the place... haha)

talk to you next week!!

p.s.s yes I have become one of THOSE missionaries who is happy all the time that it's almost weird but it's okay. it's a good thing. and YES I AM STILL FUNNY IN KOREAN. I think.

Courtney with Sister Dayley!

Courtney with her District

In front of the Provo Temple

Courtney with friends from BYU

Courtney with her BYU Roomie Elina