Week 31: Harlingen-San Benito

What a week!

This week the leaders of the mission had a training for three days. So for three days I had the opportunity to work with Elder Rididng! Elder RIding and I came out on the mission together! We had a lot of fun. We decided that we would speak only Spanish unless we were talking to a member or investigator in English! It was a pretty fun three days! We had a lot of fun. Every night we came back to the apartment with headaches from speaking Spanish so much. We both learned that our Spanish is better than we give ourselves credit.

We also learned the importance of listening to the spirit. We decided since both of us are inexperienced that we were going to follow the spirit. And we did! On Tuesday we even got up half way in the middle of a lesson and left. It was pretty cool to see the results of following the spirit.

We were blessed to find a lot of people that were really prepared this week. A lot of young families that are looking for a good church for their families to join! It was a super good week for us! We always have to listen to the spirit no matter what!

Last pday we got 900 pounds of ties from a member. It was so many ties! But it was super fun to find the ones we want to keep. We also got some cool pictures.

I feel like my Spanish is doing a lot better. I can understand a lot more of it and am learning to talk a lot better! So it's all good for me! I hope you guys have a good week!! I love you all!!!

Love, ELder Hurst

Hanging out at a member's home.

900 lbs of ties.

District and San Benito missionaries.

Elder Riding, riding in the back of a truck.

Week 30: Harlingen-San Benito

This was a pretty normal week for us! Nothing too exciting happened. Plus it's only Saturday... We usually email on Mondays but the library is going to be closed on Monday so we had to email today!

On Tuesday we had to go up to McAllen and get a hitch for our car so we would can put a bike rack on our car. We had to wait at the mechanic forever! It sucked. And when we were waiting the news was on. I hated hearing about all the awful things going on in the world right now. I'm glad that I'm a missionary right now and don't have to deal with any of that!

On Thursday we went to try and find a member that just moved into our area. We were driving around forever and finally found them. We got out of the car and walked toward their garage where the member was working on a car. He yelled at us to stop walking and ran into the house. He came back like two minutes later with a gun and started yelling at us. Elder Davis was like we're just the missionaries! The member was like oh my gosh I'm so sorry guys I couldn't see you and thought you were someone else. I was pretty scared!! But it was all good. He told us that he lives in the middle of nowhere and a lot of people try to rob his house so he gets a little jumpy! But it was all good!

Yesterday we had a pretty  cool experience. We went to go and visit one of our investigatiors who is awesome. But he wasn't there so we were a little sad and went to try and visit someone else but the things with the second person didn't work out either so we decided to say a prayer because it was only 7 and we were already out of things to do for the day. So we prayed and I felt like we needed to go back to the first investigator. When elder Davis asked where we needed to go I just said I don't know because I didn't want to go back because we had just been there. Elder Davis said he felt like we needed to go visit one of the first investigator's neighbors. So we went back to the neighborhood of our investigator and when we were driving there he pulled out in front of us! It was a surprise and we went to his house and taught him. He has a lot of problems but he knows that the church can help him and he is going to be at church tomorrow and is already starting to change his life so much! That little excperince taught me to listen to the spirit! The Lord knows where we need to go a lot better than I do. I just have to listen!!

Well this is the last week of the transfer. I hope that I stay. We will find our next Sunday if one of us leaves. Most likely elder Davis will leave. But you never know. I hope you are all having an amazing Valentines Day!!!! I love you all!

Love, ELder Hurst

San Benito

Elder Davis teaching the district about love.

The sister missionaries decorated our car.

Week 29: Harlingen-San Benito

This was a pretty good week!

It was super busy. Due to the fact that they split our area we had the opportunity to work out in the area that we don't usually work in. We visited a less active family on Friday and they came to church! That was super cool to see them there. They are an awesome family! They actually technically live in my old area. So it was cool to talk to them. They just like the branch in San Benito better. It was super cool for them to come to church though!

We had a zone meeting this week that was really cool. President Maluenda wants to put just as much emphasis on reactivating less active members as baptisms. There has been a lot of baptisms in the area but a lot of them have gone less active so we are going to see if we can help them start to reactivate and come back to church!

This Saturday we had the idea to go on an exchange with some of the members of the branch. I went with the branch president and elder Davis went with one of the youth that is about to leave on his mission! When I was deciding what I wanted to do with President I had the thought to go to a less active that we have. I was really hesitant to go to them because whenever we try to visit them they always shut the door and basically tell us to go away. But we went anyway and it was super good. President basically just shut down any doubts they had and told them that they need to start coming back to church. They unfortuniately couldn't make It this week because the mom just barely had a baby. But I know that they will start coming back! I learned so much from this mini exchange that we did! President is an amazing man!

This was a really good week and we saw a lot of miracles. I know that God has a plan for us. We just need to do his will!!

I love you all!

Love, Elder Hurst

Week 28: Harlingen-San Benito

This week was super slow! Elder Davis got sick so we pretty much just stayed in the house the whole week. It was good to catch up on some sleep and do some studying.

But to end the week we had a miracle!!!! J got baptized!!!!!! Saturday was a crazy day. But it all worked out in the end. He ended up getting baptized in basketball shorts and a white t-shirt. It was a super awesome experience. But after he talked about how clean he felt. It made me so happy to hear that! I know that he is going to be a super amazing member for many years!

Things are going amazing here! Let me know if there is anything that I can do to help you out!

I love you guys so much!!!

Love, Elder Hurst