October 17, 2011 Alma 36: 24-25

Hey there beautiful family,

This week was delicious. The scripture of the week is alma 36:24-25. 

24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto ^arepentance; that I might bring them to ^btaste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be ^cborn of God, and be ^dfilled with the Holy Ghost.

 25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth ^agive me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my ^blabors;

Came across it as i was readin on a bus.

We taught and prepared esthefany for her baptism, and sunday morning we baptized her. (well technically I baptized her cuz she asked me too). That was cool, my first time actually doing the ordinance. We found lots of new people this week, and had some great lessons. Some baptisms should becoming up hopefully, maybe this week. Esthefany is the first in her family to be baptized, and almost her whole family came to church last week, and i am almost positive that the whole family will be baptized eventually. So cool. We did some service for her mom this morning, sanded and painted some stuff.

 Dad without fail makes me laugh as I sit here in this little booth reading. Sounds like courts is having fun in high school. Matt made me laugh pretty hard too. Love gettin your letters. Missed mamma this week, but i know how busy she is.  Got a letter from bishop brown. He wants to email me pictures but I can only use email with family, so maybe he could email to you guys and you guys can forward to me. Some ideas for the package, would be a game, like phase ten or uno or a game like that that would be good for family home evenings. This week was good.  We have been trying to find a new pension. I love our pensionista to death so I am really sad. She really is the best. But the office told us we have to so we just do. Church was good yesterday, randomly asked me to play the piano, so i did the first hymn, but then the pianista showed up, haha so i let her have it. We got to hear from ELder Waddell of the seventy this week too, so there is problably pics on the blog. That was really awesome. The Spanish is here. Im thinking in spanish now, and understand and say almost pretty much everything i want to. but imma keep working on it, cuz you can never learn enough in a language. I love hearing from you, it was good to see some pictures of courtney with some random boy that i can`t meet or hurt. but sounds like she had fun. haha. love you guys so much family, have a great week. I think i am going to send my sd card soon of all the pictures i have. love you guys, pray as a family.

Elder Hurley.
ps i am glad grandpa is back home, tell him i miss him and love him and all the memories we have had.

Multi zone Conference October 11, 2011 w/Elder Waddell

Where's Your Waldo...

The first day of the mission tour has come to an end.

It was a big success.

Elder Waddell is of course an incredible teacher.

The missionaries loved their session with him today.

If you look all the way in the back of this photo...

You will see Elder Román right in the dead center.

To the left of him is Elder Waddell

and to the right of him and over two elders is President Turk

I am holding on to the photographer (President Giraldez) 

that climbed up on a desk to take this shot.  

This photo includes Trujillo Zones, Viru and Casa Grande.

We then had a late lunch... and Elder Waddell had a few interviews

and then off to a Young Adult Fireside this evening.
Again he had them in the palm of his hand.

October 10, 2011 1 nephi 15:8

buenas mi familia hermosa.

Hows my favorite family doing. best family i ever had. This week was crazy good. love my new area, but i´ll get to that later. 

first, the scripture of the week, it is 1 nephi 15:8.

8 And I said unto them: Have ye ^ainquired of the Lord?

 Really simple, but if we apply it to our lives when we have questions or problems or just all the time, life will be way better. 

Thanks for your letters. Dad makes me laugh out loud every time. It was also great to see some pictures of my new nephew. and to answer your questions pa about the condition of the items that came, the crystal light packages broke cuz they weren`t in a bag or anythin just chillin in there, and there was powder everywhere and on everything, (on the christmas pic of fam too, so that  was little messed, but now too bad). The chocolate was perfect. the reeses changed shape a little, but does it matter? Rico. 

Mamas questions now, don`t need anything really, maybe the allred cd of christmas if you can find it. maybe to give to people, a lot of like little candies. Cuz theres a a ton of chocolate that you sent which was awesome awesome, and i gave a lot of that away. but it would be cool to have little candys like laffy taffy or even smaller, cuz there is a lot of people in the world. Address is always the same throughout my mish im pretty sure. im closer to the mission home, im in trujillo, but that doesn`t mean anything really. My companion is the man. for reals i love him to death. this is his last transfer but im making sure we are working our hardest nevertheless. there are 6 in our district, just me and my comp and our area. we have hermanas in our district too. There is a bunch of people from utah in my zone too. one from tenessee ( there are some cool people from tenessee) a little cd player would be cool, i was thinking about that, but i can prob buy one here for cheaper anyways. and almost everyone uses USB`s for music. nothing else. just load up a flash drive with music and every music player has a spot for it. my pension is awesome too. my laptop has a built in webcam if you want to use that for skype, don`t worry too much about that yet. But my area is way different here in the city. I absolutley love it though. there are a lot more people for one. It is good to be done with my training too. I feel way confident in my spanish now, understand pretty much everything, and everyone tells me i am way ahead at 3 months in the field than usual. I met the ward mission leader the first night i came to the area. He is so so cool, and has such a testimony, it is weird having way strong members and a ward, haha. church felt NORMAL yesterday, which was WEIRD. The ward mish leader is blind. And when i first met him he thought i was Latino. haha that gave me some confidence in the language too. The work here is really moving along too. Last week there was a baptism of a guy who has been smoking since he was 13. And we are going to have a baptism this week, we prepared this girl estefany she`s called, last week, for her interview, and she had it saturday and passed. and we need to make sure she is all ready this week. She has a lot of faith. We have a bunch of people progressing too. I love this area, we can actually do stuff in trujillo, today we played futbol with the zone. The food is good too. we will have a multi zone thing tomorrow, and every week we meet as a zone so i can get letters weekly now if they come. cool cool. I love you guys so much, take care

elder hurley

A Post From Sister Turks Blog about Elder Hurley's 1st Baptism 10.3.2011

 President Turk went to Otusco yesterday and picked up the missionaries
and then drove with them to Millauchaqui

to be with the family group.

They are not a branch yet.

Elders:  Mikesell, Contreras, Espinal, and Hurley

Here is one of the Sisters kitchens in Milluachaqui

She made the Elders and President some hot cereal and bread 

for breakfast

This family group is too far to meet with the Otusco branch

so they are meeting on this back porch

of one of the members.

This little girl will be a great leader someday.

She was the first baptized in her family 

and now her parents are preparing to be baptized.

They also attended a baptism there yesterday.

The younger brother who is 74 baptized his older brother who is 84

The font is outside 

in this garden next to the house chapel

Here is the cute primary group 

and the Gospel Doctrine Class

We love the faithful saints all over Peru.

October 3, 2011 Alma 5:13-16,21, 26-35, 44-46, 49, 51, and 53-55

13 And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and livingGod. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who createdyou? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?

26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

28 Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.

29 Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.

30 And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?

31 Wo unto such an one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved!

32 Yea, even wo unto all ye workers of iniquity; repent, repent, for the Lord God hath spoken it!

33 Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the armsof mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you.

34 Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the breadand the waters of life freely;

35 Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire—

44 For I am called to speak after this manner, according to the holy order of God, which is in Christ Jesus; yea, I am commanded to stand and testify unto this people the things which have been spoken by our fathers concerning the things which are to come.

45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

49 And now I say unto you that this is the order after which I am called, yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren, yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land; yea, to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again.

51 And also the Spirit saith unto me, yea, crieth unto me with a mighty voice, saying: Go forth and say unto this people—Repent, for except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of heaven.
53 And now my beloved brethren, I say unto you, can ye withstand these sayings; yea, can ye lay aside these things, and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts; yea, will ye still persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches?

54 Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another; yea, will ye persist in the persecution of your brethren, who humble themselves and do walk after the holy order of God, wherewith they have been brought into this church, having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for repentance—

55 Yea, and will you persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them?

SOY TIO!

Hey family,

Wow so much happening in one week. With me too. I hope you guys saw all the pictures on the hma turks blog. there is a section of just my area and the baptism we had. The scripture of the week is Alma 5:13-16.   and for those of you that are really hungry, read also verses 21, 26-35, 44-46, 49, 51, and 53-55. these scriptures effected me lots. I can`t believe I am an uncle now, I love little Jett to death already and was thinking about him this week cuz i had a feeling he was born. I don`t have much time to write. But I loved hearing from all of you. That is cool rache and her familia came. something unexpected happened last night. I am being transfered. my new area is Laureles Trujillo. It is unexpected cuz we thought elder contreras would be leaving but he is staying. He has been in Otuzco for 6 months. My new companion is an elder that just has one more change (transfer). My job is to make sure he pushes to the end. This week was really good, I was so stoked for conference. It is amazing that we have a living prophet on the earth, like moses, adam, abraham, all of them. Maybe in the next package you could send me the ensign of conference talks in english. That would be awesome to have. speaking of packages. They came! whole cow i am spoiled. who does shawn think he is?? ten pounds of chocolate, 4 things of peanut butter and crystal light. wow. i loved the pics too. whit has black hair haha. I loved sharing all my stuff. Everyone shares everything here, which is something i have learned. It is awesome. I am leaving this town, i love it the branch everything, Piano in sacrament, english class, and the branch choir has been effected by this transfer, (ha since i was the main dude in those things) hopefully at least the choir can continue. We worked our tails off trying to make sure everything was ready for conference. Big stress, since the branch president was out of town. We figured it all out though. I wish I could have seen it in English. But I love conference so much anyways and the music was great. haha. I prayed hard sunday morning that I could understand it. And because of that I understood almost all in the morning session which was really good. Didn`t have the opportunity to watch preiesthood, cuz we didn`t get that here. hopefully I can. So much happening but I think i will be able to send letters more often now. There was a big parade also. All of the kids make this lanterns of whatever shape, and then march down the town in the dark. it was cool i got somewhat of a picture of it. Also attached some pics of Salpo. I am so happy everything went well with Jett. I think i will write him a song if i get the chance. (unlikely) I love you guys so much with all my heart. wish i could write you all individually. oh also with the packet, I also got a letter from rache (dear elder) one from sister wright, and one from the young women in the ward. That was cool. I`ll have to respond when i get a chance. 
have a great week!