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

1 Week Left as a Trainee

What! These last 3 months have flown by and it's hard to believe in 1 week I will be considered a real missionary... well with a follow up trainer... haha. But I am so excited to see what the future holds! I will find out who my new companion is and whether I am staying in Bangeojin or not this Thursday! So crazy!

Not gonna lie, this last week was rough. But it was only rough because a lot of the time we weren't doing actual missionary work (and by this I mean we didn't have a lot of time to teach people)! ahh I love missionary work so not doing it... well it's when times are rough haha. This last week we had zone conference which took up almost an entire day! It was really really good. I was reminded how important and vital the spirit is to have when we teach as missionaries. Without the spirit, we truly cannot teach. I know this is true with all my heart. The spirit NEEDS to be present in order for our investigators to truly be converted. Also, This last week us missionaries here in the Bangeojin branch had to do all the preparation for the Halloween party! We were put in charge of building a haunted house. yeah what? haha I had no Idea missionaries did things like that.... only in Korea I guess. Also we were in charge of figuring out all the games to play and making them so we made a bean bag toss game out of card board and a jeopardy game for our Halloween English class that we had. We had to plan and work on all this for about 2 1/2 days! I just had to keep reminding myself that it was all going to be worth it because we were inviting everyone to the Halloween party! Well... Saturday came... and Miracles happened at the Halloween party! One of the Sister Kims we are teaching... the one with the English club who we sorta had to drop... because we couldn't teach lessons.. I'm pretty sure I wrote about that... ANYWAYS... She came to the party! with her husband and her two kids! and they all speak English really well so I was able to help them all night while Sister Bonney helped with the other games. I taught them how to carve a pumpkin haha it was really fun actually. And then while their kids were running around in the church going through the haunted house (which was in the basement of the church...) and playing all the games, I was able to bring up the gospel with Sister Kim and her husband! supposedly Her husband met the missionaries 20 years ago and they gave him a Book of Mormon and he read the whole thing in one day because he loves history! soooo crazy! He actually remembered quite a lot about our church. and he had so many questions. This led into Me grabbing Sister Bonney and the four of us going into a room and having a lesson! During the crazyness of the Halloween party we snuck away and taught a lesson. It was incredible. We were able to give Sister kim a book of Mormon and her husband really wants her to read it. We plan to meet them again this week! All the Halloween prep became worth it because of that moment right there. 

This last week I also gave a talk in church. The Branch president said I could speak on anything so I decided to speak on charity... something I believe to be one of the most important things in life. I read Moroni 7: 48 and talked about how we can't develop charity alone.. we MUST pray for charity. I believe this is true with all my heart because I have tried it. We must pray for charity every day! 

Anyway! I love you all so much! Oh we had another Mandatory mission pday today where we ran another 5k. My mission president and his wife are super fit and they love working out! It's always fun to get together and see the other missionaries!

Love you all! 

Sister Hurley

Awkward moments:

That awkward moment when I think I am speaking second in church because that is how they announced it and that is what the program says but supposedly the first speaker forgot he was speaking so while I was praying that I could speak with the spirit everyone is staring at me and my companion nudges me and all of a sudden I went up and spoke... haha. hopefully people didn't think I was sleeping!

Masks!

We made these for the Halloween party!

Mom, we used the banner you sent!

Things that really matter..

This last week is one I hope to remember for the rest of my life. I was reminded of the things that matter most. There is no way I can put into words all that I have been coming to understand but I will do my best.

Monday: for PDAY we went Bowling and played Ping Pong! Yes those are two of my favorite things and I got to do them both in one day! This may be the real reason I got called to Korea. hehe:) only joking. 

Tuesday: The District leader called us and gave us our assignments for District meeting and told me and I would be giving a talk on hope. While studying, an added light came into my life. I came to understand that hope is truly the source of all happiness. Hope is having confidence that thing will work together for your Good even when times are tough. It is trusting God. Trusting him so much and never losing faith in his perfect plan for you. Trusting that all trials in this life are here to strengthen and help us in the long run. The deep talks began. Sister Bonney and I began to talk about the things that really matter in life. We came to understand that everything in life...every fear, discouragement, and weakness can be healed if we focus on the things that matter. I was reminded why I am here.

Wednesday: DISTRICT MEETING! Everyone gave a talk about one of the Christlike attributes. We talked about who we are as missionaries is just as important as what we do. We talked about letting go of how we expected or wanted our missions to go and allow God to shape our missions because this is HIS work and we are simply tools to bring it to pass. This past week as Sister Bonney and I have been able to work together to truly focus on what really matters we have been able to be more unified and more in tune with the spirit. I have felt so close to My Heavenly Father  as I have been working to align my will with his will. 

Thursday: Miracle after Miracle occurred this day. We had 2 investigators call US and make appointments with us, we were able to find someone and teach a lesson on the street, we received a contact, had an investigator show up to our church while we were there and we were able to teach her the plan of salvation. we were also able to visit our recent convert Sister Kim and teach her a lesson with her kids<3

So What matters most in the life you may ask? What really matters? Well... I came to the conclusion that there are 2 main things that matter most. 1. Trusting in God 2. Charity 

If we truly love God, then we will love his children. In order to live with God again, we must develop Charity. When we truly come to understand and TRUST that God has a plan for all of his children then we will be able to see others as God sees them. 

Funny moments:

Sometimes we make children cry just by saying annyeoung (hello) because we are american and they aren't used to people that look different from them... woops. 

I love you all so much! I hope this week we will all be able to focus on the things that really matter!<3

Love

Sister Courtney Hurley

Bowling for pday! thee best. also played ping pong that day.
The real reason I got called to Korea.hehe. i'm kidding..sorta.

.김정자 자매님 One of the sweetest members of my branch. Half the time I can't understand her..
but I love her so much! In this picture we are trying to make a heart. haha.

Korea in a box. EVERYONE lives in an apartment.
Apartments are considered nicer than most houses here.

One out of four dogs of the man who wants to buy us shoes and gives us
free snacks every week.

sooo pretty

I LOVE KOREA! Have i mentioned that recently?