December 24, 2012 Zechariah 1:7,8,10,11,20 Chapter 2: 6

FELIZ NAVIDAD
This week was really awesome. It was awesome to hear dads voice for a second. The scripture of the week Is Alma 7:27. and here is The scriptural evidence of Santa clause Zechariah 1:7,8,10,11,20 chap 2 verse 6. This week was really good. The Christmas program was fun but we gave up 2 whole days of proselyting  Even so we found lots of new people to teach and we are baptizing rocios older daughter this Saturday  angela. I am really excited to speaking with you guys tomorrow. Ill be Skype calling at 12 o clock noon your time. Like I said if you guys want to divide up the time or not depends on ya'll. We found some new families this week. I love teaching families. I feel the spirit so strongly every day and learn something new every day. we ran into a family that me and elder beazer baptized in los cedrosa .I sent a pic. Well not much time to write today but tomorrow we will talk face to face!!!
Elder HUrley

Sister Turks Blog Morning Devotional December 19, 2012

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2012

Jam Packed with Excitement!

What a wonderful day we had yesterday...

Our morning devotional was Special...

We talked about the 3 greatest gifts that we have each been given

The Book of Mormon/restored Gospel

The Holy Ghost

The Savior, Jesus Christ.

We had five of our missionaries give their unbelievable 

stories of conversion and love for the Book of Mormon.

Elder Hurley played and sang an original song he wrote

about 2 Nephi 4.

I spoke on the Holy Ghost

We had Oh that I were an Angel

We had Elder Olivares play a medley on the piano

of Sacred Christmas songs.

We had "How can I be" sung by Elder Bulmini

 with a slide show of all our missionaries

President Turk spoke on the Savior.

We had "One Solitary Life" read with music

in the background...

Then we moved to the Cultural Hall.

Our 1800 Celebration was fantastic

We gathered in a circle

We sang "We are as the Army of Helaman"

We had a couple of members share how their lives had been changed

forever because of the missionary work that has taken place this last year.

We knelt and thanked our Heavenly Father for His help

and called upon the powers of Heaven to move us forward with our new goals.

We then ate Cake and took pictures.

They all got their gifts of new ties and scarves for the show.

We went to Lunch and then went to the Institute for our practice.

Our afternoon practice for the show went smoothly

And the Christmas Spectacular Program in the Plaza

was a huge success! 

Fireworks and all.

We will do it all over again on Thursday

with the second half of the mission.

Yippy!

Congratulations to our Missionaries on all their successes.

December 22, 2012 Christmas Program in The Plaza from Sister Turks Blog

Last Program in the Plaza...

Here we all are right before the last program in the Plaza.

The missionaries looked and sounded like Angels.

They truly were a light to Trujillo last night.

It is just a magnificent backdrop for a special program.

After we performed the Nativity with narration, songs and multimedia...

We threw in a few more songs to explain who we are

and what we believe and where to find us 

if they want to listen to the Gospel.

We have just one afternoon for practicing with everyone.

The missionaries listen carefully and focus intently. 

Here is the short stomp segment from "Seize the Day"

The crowd went crazy when we waved the Peruvian flag

after singing the great song 

"Do you hear the people sing" from Les Miserables.

We changed a few words in the Spanish version

to represent religious freedom.

It is so sweet that all these missionaries from all over the world

can come here and fall in love with 

this country and the people where they serve.

We have a Colombian raising the Peruvian flag

with North Americans, Mexicans, Chileanos etc...

holding him up 

and then our whole choir erupts in cheers with them. 

We all love Peru!

Elder Cornejo was our narrator and oh what a talent he has with that microphone.

Our missionaries cheered the first time they heard him.

He was also over all publicity and printing.

Elder Richards is the only one that I could trust on the computer

with all the background music behind the narrations

and with all the special musical numbers, music to the fireworks

sound effects etc...

He was also the voice and Ho Ho Ho's of Santa.

He is extremely talented.

Here are Elders Castillo and Castillo.

Elder Castillo standing was our drummer specialist.

Elder Castillo (sitting down) was our multi media specialist.

He had the bible videos of the Nativity running behind narration

and then he would freeze them and put up still shots and 

then start the video again.... etc.. It was perfect.

and a lot of hard work.  He also did all of our power points 

for the devotional and videos behind special numbers

and a slide show of all the baptisms put to music 

that ran the whole time we were eating cake

and taking photos.

Elder Mecham helped with all the multi media also and did all the translations

for my talks, any songs, and One Solitary Life which 

Elder Guerrero read with background music.

Elder Guerrero was also in charge of the physical facilities.

He had all the reference tables, materials, buildings, etc...

Poor Elder Mecham is my go to guy for anything and everything.

He never lets me down.

His list is always as long as his arm.

He is over all the missionaries... getting them wherever and 

whenever they need to be somewhere.

No matter which way the camera was facing... 

 all you could see were throngs of people.

 I was getting a little nervous as people were crowding up towards the front

to take pictures.

We want to thank all the members that came and brought their friends

and neighbors.  It was a sight to behold.

 Our reference tables were stationed all over the plaza and 

they were mobbed.

And that's what we wanted.

Look at this view...  People Everywhere.

We finished with the crowd pleasing song...

We are the World... Somos el Mundo

the audience joined in on the last chorus.

We always have Santa come and head out in the crowd 

with our missionaries following him.

They all have bags of candy and are able to talk to the people

Greet them, Invite them, Wish them a Merry Christmas, etc...

This year the show was entitled  "Light of the World"

and in the last line of the show we said...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

in honor and love for our Savior Jesus Christ,

who truly is the Light of the World

We give you now a glorious show of Light.

Then we had a barrage of fireworks 

with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing

the Hallelujah Chorus and Joy to the World.

It was a Spectacular Ending.

Elder Cook and Elder Fackrell were in charge of the white doves,

the fireworks, all the permits and city paper work, 

all the food, and they were performers.

They really did so much more that I can't list what they did.

Thank you to Elder Sandiford my photographer 

and Elder Levos my Videographer.

Videos still to come.

The office elders were also in charge of all the lighting, 

the large screen, the sound systems, the chairs etc... 

The list is long but it was worth it.

December 22, 2012 Post by Sister Turk from her Blog Christmas Program

Feliz Navidad desde la Misión Perú Trujillo!

Here's just a little bit of our program...

What is not captured are the doves flying into the choir

after being let go after Silent Night...

I think one hit Elder Brian in the head.

The fireworks were spectacular but we were too busy 

watching to tape them.

December 17, 2012 Luke 10:30-35

Dear Family,

This week was really great! The scripture of the week is Lucas 10:30-35. We had zone leader council with president this past week which is always an amazing experience. Learned more deeply about service. He who gives always gets more than he who receives. We played futbol after which is always really fun. As you know the Christmas program is going to be this week. I am also going to be singing a song I wrote at the mission christmas devotional on Tuesday and on Thursday  There was a missionary whose parents are coming to the show in Peru and they wanted to see him sing, I am already singing in a number and singing both days at the devotional so i'm giving him my les mis solo I was going to sing. either way you guys will see me in the o holy night song. I will pre call you guys this Friday  and will call on Christmas day. You guys can decide how you want to split up the 40 minutes if you want to do like 5 minutes each and 15 all together or something or just do it all together or all separated  however you wanna do it. We will just do the Skype thing like last time. I can probably do it any time on Christmas but best will probably be at like 2 in the afternoon. see what time will work best for everyone and we will decide on Friday when I call. This week we also did a service project where we basically torn down a whole house. Really fun. haha. Rocio is doing awesome and one of her daughters is really interested as well. They both attended church yesterday and tonight we are going to invite her daughter to be baptized. Liliana is still really close to accepting a baptism. She feels the spirit in every lesson. And the spirit really is the one who baptizes, not us. We did some work visits and I worked with one of our district leaders this week. Elder Bustinsa he is from puno Peru and we taught 7 lessons together that day. Thanks for all your updates, I love hearing all that you guys do. I am so grateful for every one of you. We have the best family in the whole world for reals. Have the best week of your life. Talk to you on Friday,

Elder Hurley 

Post from Sister Turk's Blog The Hooker's visit our Mission

Mission Tour

First day of the tour is finished and what a day it has been...

These days are long but very fulfilling.

  

President Turk was brilliant as usual...

(He is standing right behind me as I type this)

 I can't believe I didn't get a full photo of this group with 

Elder and Sister Hooker.  

Can you see your son or daughter while they are practicing

with each other....

 Here is the other half of the room....

I am so Sorry.

 Elder Hooker told a sweet story of his mother's conversion.

When she was 15 years old she was reading a newspaper

and in the middle of this paper

was an article written asking this question...

Did Christ visit the Americas?

The article had all the theories and legends of the great white bearded God.

She cut it out at age 15 and folded it up and put it in her Bible.

 Many years passed and she forgot about it.

She got married and started to have children.

And one day a knock came to her door.

It was two Mormon missionaries.

And the first thing they asked her as she opened the door was

"Did you know that Christ has visited the Americas"

This took her back to when she was 15.

She ran and got her Bible and opened up the article.

 She asked them if they could answer this question.

The missionaries were thrilled, of course they could.

She learned all about the Church and she and her family

were among the first to be baptized here in Peru.

Elder Hooker said that his family prayed for those two missionaries

for the rest of the missionaries lives.

Elder Stevenson and Elder Boyce.

Our missionaries are having this same kind of impact on their converts.

How great would it be to have sweet families

praying for you for the rest of your life?

Hermana Hooker and I went to check a few rooms today too.

They were all very clean and impressive.

Thank you to all of you for going the extra mile.

We have another day of travel and teaching in Chimbote.

Hasta Mañana!

December 10, 2012 Alma 60:11-13

Dear Family, This week was great. Lots of stuff happened this week. The scripture of the week is Alma 60:11-13. The christmas practices are going well, I have a small solo in la cancion del pueblo. And will be singin Oh holy Night also. I talked to sister turk and she said that this year she is going to have the christmas program Live on the blog. We´ll hope she can figure that out. We had the mission tour this week and Elder Hooker came. Him and his wife gave us some awesome advice and President taught us some cool things about the Godhead. Also my companion and I, president turk and the asistants had our stake presidents meeting with our stake president. We came well prepared and it went well. Rocio got baptized!!! by a hair. she passed her interview, everything was going perfect and the day of the baptism, the chapel had no water. We couldn´t fill the font!!! The water was supposedly going to arrive at 5. So we postponed the baptism for a few hours and she was very coorapative. In the end it still wouldn´t fill, we ended up just getting buckets of water and filled the font up one by one. There was barely enough water to baptize her but I got her totally immersed. and in the end it worked out. Converts dont get confirmed in their baptism so she will get confirmed this sunday. Liliana is progressing great. This past week she commited to not work on sundays. Which is huge cuz they don´t have money. Got the christmas package. Im saving it for christmas.... except the dr schools was ripped when it arrived soo.... im wearing em. oooh yeah. Yesterday I spoke in church, Taught second hour, And taught 3rd hour. fun fun. Have the best week of your life!!! sorry i don´t have much time to write.

 Rocio's Baptism 11/9/2012

elder hurley

December 3, 2012 Acts 5:29

Dear Family,

This week was awesome.

The scripture of the week is Acts 5:29. By the way I have grown to love the bible so much more on my mission. And the book of mormon. Both are so important and the word of God. Thanks to all you for writing me! Sorry my letters aren´t that long I try to always hit the most important points of my week and still read all the letters and briefly respond. Overall This past week went really well with Elder Zarian. He is a good missionary and we have a similar work ethic. He will be a great zone leader and I am excited to work with him. He is from Idaho. The past week we had quite a few lessons and Rocio accepted to be baptized on the 9th. We met her other older daughter this week finally which was good to finally have met the whole family. A lot of people failed us and didn´t come to church which is always hard but we will just keep making inspired plans to help them. This past week we gave a training to the district leaders which is always fun. Every single companionship in our zone had a change this transfer cycle and we have 3 new missionarys with their trainers. We have a great zone though. We helped a companionship move and approve their new place and everything. I remember when I had to do that in area trujillo and it was so hard to move without help so we had some compasion. The christmas program is a huge thing we do in the plaza de armas of trujillo. So its for everyone. Ill be singing a solo from les miserables. And o holy night again like last year. sister turk just did auditions this year cuz a lot more people wanted to participate. Last year they just asked me if i could do it. This week we are having elder hooker of the seventy come talk to us which is going to be a real treat. Im glad that video finally got through. Overall I am doing really great and me and and Zarian are working really hard. We are hoping to see miracles and help people come unto christ. Thats so awesome the project that dad is doing. haven´t got the package yet but prob will soon. Yall need to stop worrying about me. I am on a mission for God what is the worst that could happen to me? God is protecting me and watching out for me every day physically and emotionally. I know that God really is supporting this work and I know he answers sincere prayers. I hope you guys have the best week of your life this week!!!

Elder Hurley

November 26, 2012 Alma 32: 31-39

Dear Family, This week was........ AMAZING!

The scripture of the week is Alma 32 verses 31 through 39. Well this week was good. We had a baptism. a young women named Sofia. We have been teaching her family and she has been progressing most and accepted to be baptized. She is awesome and I know will progress a lot in the church. She is the first in her family and we feel we can baptize the rest of the family this month. which would be awesome. I sent picture of her and her family. Also Rocio came to church again yesterday with her daughter. She is progressing really well and with a lot of help she can be baptized this week. Last week was the last week of the change so I sent a picture of our all elder zone. I love all these guys. Elder Brian is getting changed to Huaraz and starting tomorrow I will be training a new zone leader named elder Zerian. I'm stoked. This past week was elder Brians birthday so we got lots of cake. I love hearing about all your experiences. I had another spiritual confirmation this week that the book of Mormon is true. I know with all my heart that the book of Mormon is true. And it is the key stone of our religion. I encourage you all to read it more fully and meditate and ask god if it really is true or not. We didn´t do anything for thanksgiving but I am very thankful for everything God has given me. I'm thankful for each one of you. The mission is going by way too fast. if you need anything from me just let me know. Have the best week of your life!

Elder Hurley 

November 19, 2012 1 Nephi 22:8-12

Dear Family,

This week was GOOD. The scripture of the week is 1 nephi 22:8-12. This past week was great. As you can see on the blog, I am officially a grandpa. Elder Meza is training. haha. my trainer elder contreras is finishing his mission this week. Mostly just wanted to talk about my investigators this week. We have Rocio, she is a married lady that had attended church before who has committed to a date before but we couldn´t get her to church. Yesterday we I saw that she came I was sooo happy. She just might maybe get baptized this week. If she does she´ll be the first in her family and We think her husband and kids will also join the church which would be AWESOME. we have Liliana, who also is a married lady who used to listen to missionaries and come to church. We gave her a book of mormon this past week and she is reading it. She recognizes the spirit and also came to church yesterday with her daughter. They are both progressing well. We had more people in church yesterday. 8 in total which was good. We are lso teaching another family llhim and soña who havent came to church yet but are really awesome. The ward went to the temple this past week and 2 families got sealed. That is a huge deal here. Sounds like everyone is stoked for thanksgiving. They kind of celebrate thanksgiving here in peru but its called el día de gracias. but yeah Ill prob eat turkey. I ate duck yesterday which was really good. I want to invite you guys to study about the gathering of israel whether in gospel principles book or another place, it is something that has really strengthened my testimony understanding more and more about it. Love you guys a ton and hope you have a great week! Oh yeah its mango season again here and our pensionista filled her fridge with mangos cuz she knows we love them so I have been eating mangos every day and they are SO GOOD. love you guys! 

elder Hurley 

November 12, 2012 1 Corinthians 15:58

Dear Family,
This week was decent. The scripture of the week is 1 corinthians 15:58. Thanks for writing. This past week we had zone leader council with president which is always a really special meeting. Can see it on the blog. We taught a lot about the book of mormon and the gathering of israel and read a lot of quotes from elder russel m. nelson. That is so awesome that you guys had him in your stake conference! He spoke to us when I was in the MTC. The book of mormon is so important to bring about the gathering of israel. It is the evidence and the tool to bring it about. It is amazing to me that I have the opportunity to teach the children of the people who wrote in the book of mormon and then tell them about their fathers, and help them know that they too came from israel. Yesterday was a bummer, what breaks or makes the week is who we can get to sacrament meeting, and we had a lot of people commited but only got 3 there. We are working with some familys which is really exciting for me. I want to baptize a whole family, see them progress and be sealed in the temple. Sorry for those who write me that I don´t write back. I can only communicate through email brothers, sisters, parents, and grandparents. Anyone else only through written letters. But just know I love all of you and thanks for writing me. I too never wanted to go to BYU till God helped me make that decision. God always guides us if we just ask. Today we went to a place called conache, hiked up this huge sand hill and at lunch at the very top, it was pretty fun with our zone. Im singing in the christmas program again this year and we got the the office with sister to practice on mondays. I am doing a choral quortet thing and a solo in a different song. I really love music. Dad really knows how to distract a missionary saying how much powder there is in the mountains. haha just kidding. But here it feels so hot every day but it is really probably on like 80. Don´t think they put that video on yet but is that memory card I sent just totally ruined? cuz that was completely full of pictures on it too. :( oh well.  Overall I love each one of you. Thanks ma for your testimony. Testimony is always growing or shrinking, make sure its growing. I encourage everyone to read more out of the book of mormon.  have a great week!
Elder Hurley 

November 4, 2012 Alma 5:62

Hello family!!
Thanks for all your letters they make me smile. The scripture of the week is Alma 5:62. Funny seeing mom as waldo haha. thats a good look. The shawn made me laugh a lot too haha. Thats funny that you say you are a cheater. My companion and I were talking about how everyone at home cheats on fasts haha cuz here the members start fasting after lunch saturday and fast until lunch sunday. But yeah dont worry about me getting enough food. The majority of people eat a lot. haha it is a fight for me every day to try to finish everything that is on my plate. But the food is really good always. This week we went to do service at a little town that is in my area called san carlos. They are just finally getting sewage system in and we helped them this week with that. I got a big blister haha. (see foto) Also made an awesome reference box this week with slits for each organization. We are teaching quite a few familys which is such a blessing. It is really hard here to find two civilly married people that have kids. But we are teaching some and one lady accepted a baptismal date for the 17th but then didnt make it to church yesterday. I have really grown to love soccer. We play every monday and friday at 530 in the morning and it is so fun.  Thanks for all your support and love. Don´t be too worried about the christmas package, if I got nothing id still have a lot more than most the world. I liked the ctr rings you sent last year I passed those all out to kids fast. It would be cool but I don´t know how possible to find HLJ rings. Love all serve all
Elder Hurley

October 29, 2012 Omni 1:26

Dear Family,
So im short on time again sorry but Ill do my best. thank you so much for writing me this week! I got lots of letters from you guys. The scripture of the week is Omni 1:26. Love it. This past week was great. Had interviews with president which is always really great. We had some time to train the zone as well and talked about lesson plans. Jairo, the one we were going to baptized last week, moved out of our area. :( haha we went back to teach him and his family had moved totally, but we found him and one of the areas in our zone are going to baptize him. Our english class is doing really great and we found a kid named jon who told us he wants to join the church. He has accepted to be baptized on the 17th. a really strong member hno mego is in the hospital and we went to visit him and give him a blessing this week. He is looking pretty bad we didn´t even recognize him when we got there. But it seems like he will get better. We completed our zone goal this week having a total of 16 people confirmed in the month of october. It is really exciting because this zone hasn´t had that many in more than a year. Went to the clinic this week with a missionary who passed out played soccer. Sister took took us to papa johns pizza after which was fun. I have been thinking hard about things you guys could maybe send if you want in the christmas package and here are some thoughts. bbq twists fritos that you find in gas stations, a 5 star mead note book 9.5 by 6.5 3 subject porforated, pictures of yall. just some ideas. I love you all with the bottom of my heart and thats cool that courts took the act for the 4th time. I took it 5 times in total. ;) fifth times a charm. Have a great week!
Elder Hurley

October 22, 2012 1 John 4:6-7, 20

Dear Family,

This week went really well. The scripture of the week is 1 john 4:6-7,20. That is so sad what happened to Jett. Glad to hear he is doing better now. Sounds like He is following my example early in life. I too was in a hospital this week. One of the missionarys in our zone told me about pain he had in is lower right stomache. We went to the clinic and turned out he had apendecitis. He had his appendix removed that same night. So I stayed in Trujillo with the office elders. This week we found a lot of new people to teach and we had 19 investigators in church. It was crazy id never had so many people in church. Our neighbor who is a member got really really sick this week and is on life sustaining supporters in the closest hospital. He has one older son that isn´t a member. and 12 other relatives of his came to church who werent members. When I got to church they told me I was speaking. So I prepared my talk during the first hymn. haha. I found some old talks that I had in my suit and my message actually turned out ok. Our stake presidents mom died this week. The cemetary is in our area and we were proselyted by it when she was getting burried. We went over there so I saw how they do burials here. Every stays till she is completely buried. Lots of deaths and sickness happening here and there. how interesting. We also found a little kid this week who apparantly has been attending every week without us knowing he wasn´t a member. He accepted to be baptized this week and his parents are supporting him.  Played some tennis today. There were actually some peruvians on the courts ( which there never is cuz tennis is so foreign to everyone here) but we played some doubles with them and a couple of them were actually pretty good. So fun. Today we are starting up practices for the christmas program in the mission home so that should be fun. Overall I love you guys so much and hope you have a great week! some ideas for christmas package: dr scholls sole inserts, wingers sauce, nutella. You don´t have to get me anything though. Love you guys have  great week!. oh for whitneys song there is a member here that has it on his computer and he is going to try to put it on his facebook or his youtube. His email is omar_5@hotmail.com and my pensionista is irma_ale_2@hotmail.com.  add them on facebook.

love you guys .

Elder Hurley

October 15, 2012 D&C 76:51-53

This week was good.

My sister is married!!!! woo hoo! WHAT A BUMMER that the song I wrote and sent didn´t work. Try putting the sd card in a camera and seeing if it can play. The scripture of the week is Doct. and cove. 76:51-53. This week was pretty good. we are seeing miracles in our zone and have really great missionaries in our zone. This week was stake conference for us and it was really great and spiritual. President turk bore his testimony in it and the spirit was way strong. We started teaching english this week which was cool. just 2 students to start with haha but we will grow. Today was fun pianoed for a while. SOrry my time is totally out right now but I will write a big letter next week. HOpe you all know I love you. Let me know if you get that video watched somehow.  

October 9, 2012 Matthew 7:13-14

Dear Family,

This week was grrreeeaaatt. The scripture of the week is Matthew 7:13-14. Sorry I totally forgot to tell you guys about the second package that I did receive already actually like 2 or 3 weeks ago. I was refering to the 1st package. seems like it got to trujillo but its not there now, not sure, if you could just get the phone number of the lady that is sending it from lima it would make things easy. Conference was awesome.That is cool that the ages have changed. I know I would have had an even more successull freshman year knowing all the things I have learned on the mission haha. in peru that was already the age that people could leave. we are stoked for the new temple in araquipa. I know 2 people that are serving in that mission. So thats exciting. Trujillo temple is actually being built now they are digging and stuff apparantly. Haha. This past week was pack full of meetings. lidership council and zone leader council with president and general conference. General conference was SO GOOD. I think I got more out of this conference than I had in any other previous one. I especially loved the talk from pres. monson in priesthood that says we should not look at people how they currently are, but look at what they can become. I love that so much. Sounds like everything is getting ready for the wedding. thats really exciting. Well today i played tennis. !!! oh you guys are probably wondering why I didn`t write yesterday, P day got changed to tuesday this week cuz there was a country side service day yesterday and we proselited and did service yesterday. But last week my companion and I bought tennis rackets and a few balls and there is a place in our zone with a tennis court. So we went and played today. It was so fun. We  have a lot of baptismal dates in our zone and are becoming more unified each day. Sounds like everyone is happy and doing well. please send lots of pictures of the wedding. I am so happy about it for realls!! Greisy is getting closer to being able to be baptized and we found a lot of new people to teach this past week. Overall life is great.

Elder Hurley

October 1, 2012 1 Corinthians 2:4-5

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JETT!!!!!!!!!!

Dear family,

This week was great. The scripture of the week is 1 corint. 2 verse 4 and 5. Well, We did everything we could for greisi and the other girl this week. But in the end they didn`t get baptized. But they still both came to church so we are not giving up. Our zone was sooo close to completing our goal this month. we had 12 confirmations and we had 13 as the goal. ahh so close. Ive been trying to still get that first package you sent me. the package came from lima to trujillo, and I think was from a lady named clamber espinoza but something that would really help is to know the telephone number of the person who sent it from lima. and if possible the number of the recept or guide or tracking number. Ìf you could find that out and let me know I might still be able to get that package haha. This week is full of meetings for me. Tomorrow we have leadership council with all the leaders of the mission and on wednesday we have zone leader council with president ,and saturday and sunday is general conference. I am so stoked for conference!! Thanks for writing me and updating me about little jett. I love that guy. I hope you guys are happy. I am so happy. Happier than Ive probabley been in my whole life. I wanted to invite you guys to share the gospel more. I know there isn`t too many opportunities to share but there still are opportunities. I decided its easy. Before the mish I didn`t know how to share the gospel, just thought it was inviting people to church, giving away an ensign or book of mormon and that was sharing the gospel. But now I have seen the importance of the elders. If you know anyone that is not a member of the church. Just invite them to listen to the elders and see what they say. the worst that can happen is that they say no. I love you guys so much. If there is anything I can do for yall let me know.

Elder Hurley

Auditions for Christmas Pageant October 23, 2012

Auditions

Amazing how many talented missionaries we have.

We had several in to the mission home yesterday,

on their Preparation day.

to Audition for Solos or others parts 

for the Christmas program.

It was very exciting to have them all sing together some 

of the songs we are going to perform.

There is nothing better than to hear missionaries

singing a great song.

Frio Rico Time! A Post from Sister Turk October 23, 2012

Frio Rico Time!

If you look closely in this photo

You will see why all these missionaries are smiling...

IT'S FRIO RICO TIME!

Can you see President Turk at the check out stand

buying each of the Elders in the Porvenir Zone

and ice cream sundae bar?  They are called Frio Rico.

We love them around here.

It takes very little to make us happy.

Remember...  Wong Grocery Store is right below our office.

Missionaries are coming and going constantly in this place.

And just today, as I was at the check out stand earlier

buying the refreshments for interviews with Elder Cook and Elder Fackrell,

one of the cashiers was asking us where our church was.

She would like to attend and find out what makes

the missionaries so special.

You can believe that those Elders stopped getting the groceries

out of the cart and pulled out their agendas.

They had her phone number and address before

I could get to the grocery cart myself.

The bag boy that was helping us is one of our favorites.

He was a less active member and after having all these missionaries

coming through and encouraging him and getting him back to church...

he is now planning on serving a mission.

He also has one of his bag boy friends taking the lessons too.

I am going to talk to my favorite security guard about the gospel too.

He is great.  Wong is our home away from home.

We are grateful for a beautiful grocery store filled with nice people.

 President Turk asked each of these missionaries 

how the Book of Mormon has impacted their lives...

The stories are each precious and unbelievable.  Where do I start.

I can't tell you every story but I can tell you 

that each of these missionaries will never be the same because of the 

witness that they have received about the truthfulness of the

Book of Mormon.

They have each had the burning in the bosom that they cannot deny.

Tears were shed as they talked about these sacred experiences.

It's the most beautiful thing in the world to hear these young men 

and women testify that they know that there

is a higher calling to life than just going through
the motions of this time on the earth.

There is a real purpose that makes us feel fulfilled
and guided and full of joy... 

Some of our missionaries have memories of seeing
their parents reading and studying

the Book of Mormon when they were tiny...
Others remember reading the book 

at night with their mothers.  Some never read it on their own until 

high school and a few not even until the MTC.

(we would not recommend this)

One of these missionaries, at age 16, took the challenge with his Bishop 

to read the whole thing straight through without stopping.

The Bishop said that he would do it with him.

So they read for 22 hours straight.  He said that he didn't 

get tired.  He stopped to eat a couple of times.

He said that within the first few chapters his heart was pounding and 

he had the burning go throughout his body...

and he knew that what he was reading was true

and that it would change his life.

And it did and it has... and now it is changing

those that he is teaching and 

those that are reading with him here in the mission.

Another missionary said that his family was falling apart.

He couldn't believe what was happening.

Not one of them was active in the church and not one of them

was doing what they should be doing.

They were miserable and living in chaos.

He went home one day... when he was about 17

and found himself alone in the house.

He felt an overwhelming sadness come over him

and he could not stop crying.

A very strong impression came to him that said...

"you know what you need to do"

He stopped crying.... Looked up at the Shelf

and picked up the Book of Mormon and started to read.

He said that the he had the most incredible witness of his life.

He cannot even explain the burning that started at the top of his head

and flowed down through his body.

He knew that what he was reading was true.

He took the Book of Mormon 

and ran down to his Bishop's home.

He asked him what he needed to do to get his life

back on track.

The Bishop told him that he needed to prepare

himself to serve a mission.

From that point on he started to change his life...

he has been a light and example to all those in his family

and his friends and now all those he is affecting here on the mission.

I love these stories...  I could tell you a thousand more just like these.

Sweet.... Everyone... read the Book of Mormon!
Receive your own witness and story.

Porvenir Zone Includes:  Zone Leaders Elder Brian and Elder Hurley
Elders: Nelson, Quispe, Gómez, Russell, Fullmer, Alva, Chatwin, Patiño,
Coronado, Palma, Beazer, Camarena, Nystrom and Salazar

September 24, 2012 Jeremia 33:3

Dear Family,

This week was really great! The scripture of the week is Jeremias 33 verse 3. Sounds like you guys are doing really well. Im trying to send the pictures that didn´t send last time so.. enjoy! This week was really aweseome. Yesterday we had 8 of our investigators come to church. We have a couple of people who may be baptized this week. There is a girl named greissy who has been active in the church for a long time and has wanted to be baptized for a while but hasn´t been able to cuz her dad doesn´t want to give permission. Her mom is a member but doesn´t want to go against her husbands will. We have been trying to teach him since I got here. We finally got the chance this week. Focused on him and and some really great lessons with him. The spirit totally helped us now how to reach him and he opened way up. He even shared some spiritual experiences that he had had in his life. And he was even choking up as he did it. In the end he told us that greisy can be baptized if she wants but he whats to consult it with his other older children( who are less active members and a lot of the reason he didn´t want her to be baptized and not fulfill her commitment). We are going there to do family home evening tonight But she could possibly be baptized this week. We also found an 18 year old girl who was listening to the missionaries before I got here. Turns out she is really prepared and knows all the lessons and was just worried what her mom would think about baptism. We taught her mom this week and she seems happy about the idea. So hopefully we can see these miracles this week. Sounds like everyone is doing great and as busy as ever. Hows jett doing? does he walk? does he talk? how is is physical development haha? there are always moms with there babies here and I always think of how jett would be doing. Overall life is really good and we are really close to completing our goal as a zone, this is the last week, we lack 5 to complete the goal, and we have 4 dates in the zone for this week. So we know we can do it. Thanks for all your support! Loves,

ELder Hurley