Now in Norway Maine

On June 16, 2009, Ronnie left his first area, Bangor Maine, and was transferred to Norway Maine. His companion is Elder Duval (doo val, as in Al not all) from Texas. Here is what Ronnie has said in his email.

"This area is SUPER BOONY! I have not done so much tracting on my whole mission! In Bangor we could pick a sweet apartment complex and be there for a few hours, and not have to walk a whole lot...but it is completely different here! In the MTC there was a teacher who served here who told us how spread out the houses were...I didn't believe her after I got to Bangor, but WOW! The roads are just hills after hills, and there will be like 1 house every 8-10 minutes! And in between houses is just thick, thick, thick, super thick forest, infested with mosquitos! It's wicked crazy! But it's good excersise :) I really was actually sore my first 2 days. But, I found out a cool secret. My Nike shoes in-souls, fit in my tracting shoes :) That made a HUGE difference! I got to meet the ward yesterday! They all seem pretty nice. I was "blessed" to introduce myself in the Oxford sacrament meeting yesterday haha! Kinda scary, but it was good."

He says he and Elder Duval are getting to know each other and that he is nice. Elder Duval is the District leader and will be going home in 8 weeks. I'm sure Ronnie will be able to learn from him.

From looking on the internet, Norway seems like a small historic town. It is by Lake Penneeseewassee. Ronnie lives on Round the Pond Road. Thats not a joke either!! We are looking forward to hearing about his experiences in Norway Maine.

Still in Bangor--Second Companion

Tues May 5, 2009 was transfer day. Here is what his letter said:

"Hello everyone! Well....want the news on transfers??
Wanna take a guess? haha! Elder Bigler is actually being transfered! I'm staying here in Pushaw :) (which is the ward in Bangor) I'm pretty excited about it actually. For one: I don't have to pack, For two: I'm loving this area, the people we're working with, and I love the members here. So it's all going to be good! We don't know where Elder Bigler is going. When President Jensen called us last night, he extended the calling to Elder Bigler as District Leader in his next area, so that's pretty cool! I'm not sure who my next companion is going to be, but I know I'm still going to be a junior companion. We will find out tomorrow all of those details. We have to be in Louiston, ME tomorrow morning at 6 AM. It's a 2 hour drive...EARLY! :( and then I'll be on an exchange with Elder Pitt(one of the Augusta Zone Leaders) and his companion will go with Elder Bigler to transfer meeting. So at transfer meeting, they'll get Elder Pitt's new companion, and my new companion :) and then we'll be back in Bangor in the afternoon :) It should be exciting! I love Bangor! And I love Mainers! haha and they're sweet Maine-iac accent haha!

On May 10, 2009, we celebrated Mother's Day and with that came a phone call from Ronnie.

It was a long day waiting for him to call. We didn't know what time he would be calling so we hurried home from church and waited and waited. He ended up calling while we were at his grandma and grandpa Hurst's house. It was so wonderful talking to him. Each of the kids got to talk to him for a few minutes. We loved just listening to him laugh and talk about things he has been doing. He sounded so happy and is doing so well. It was great talking to him and hard to hang up. The time just went by too fast. Now we wait until Christmas!

The next day was his p-day and this is what he wrote in his email:

"Oh man! It was so good to talk to all of you last night! That was the best day of my mission yet! I loved hearing all of your voices! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it as much as I did :)"

We found out while talking to Ronnie on Mother's day who his new companion was. His name is Elder Scott Nielson from Sandy, UT. They are getting along great and he makes Ronnie laugh. We even talked to Elder Nielson for a minute and that was fun. He wants to come and meet us when he gets home this coming December. We were glad that he got a great companion.

Here is a picture he sent and we got it in the mail a few days after Mother's Day.



Now that Ronnie had a new companion, Sister ______ wanted to make another lobster dinner. She didn't have to ask Ronnie twice! Here are some pictures he sent us.

Pic #1- "Before the bubble bath



Pic #2- "After the Bubble Bath"

He loves Maine lobster!! He is getting spoiled eating the good stuff! When he gets home he may not be able to get that great of sea food here in Utah.


On June 1, 2009 Ronnie wrote this email about his investigator:

"Well, it's been an awesome couple weeks! The work continues to move and to progress :) We've been teaching quite a bit and we're loving it! There's one lady we've been teaching the most. Her name is Brenda ____. She is soooo solid and soooo awesome! She's like a gospel sponge!
Her husband, Craig, is from California and is a member, but he was baptized when he was 10, and went in-active when he was 13. They're both now in their 50's. Recently, his father passed away and they were at his funeral in California. Brenda had recently watched a DVD about the conversion story of Glen Beck. But she was very interested (or in other words: prepared by
the Lord) and had a lot of questions for Craig's VERY active sister in California. Well, this sister of his called our Bishop, and Bishop _____ gave us their address and we went and met them a couple weeks ago :) The rest is history, she really has been soaking it all up and LOVES it!! It's
sooooo awesome!! She loves me and Elder Nielson and wants to be baptized before one of us will probably leave. One of us could leave in 2 weeks But Brenda is ready, she's just working on kicking the habit of smoking. Craig will be recieving the priesthood this Sunday, so he is going
to be able to baptize her :) Cool huh!? We're sooo excited for them!

On June 12, 2009, we got a phone call. The caller i.d said it was from US Cellular so we had no idea who it was. The lady on the other end identified herself as Brenda and said she was from Maine. She wanted to tell us that "Elder Hurst is my missionary". Oh my goodness!!! She went on to tell us how wonderful Ronnie is and how much she appreciates him teaching her the gospel. She said she wanted to adopt him. :) We can share! It was the sweetest phone call (next to talking to Ronnie himself) that we could have ever recieved. We felt pure joy and were so pleased to know the Ronnie has touched the life of someone and was an instrument in the Lord's hand in bringing her into the gospel. There just was no better feeling as parents. Her baptism was set for June 13, 2009.

On June 15, Ronnie sent us an email and here are some things he wrote:

"Brenda had a WONDERFUL baptism!! It was sooooo good :) The ward LOVES her and is supporting her 110%. There were a lot of people there, but it was a very spiritual experience for her and Craig. Her 17 year old son Adam even showed up, and he hasn't even been that interested that Brenda has been learning, but she was glad that he was there. She also had 2 non-member friends from work show up...they think she's joining a crazy cult, but it was awesome that they showed up :) It was a really good week! Helping Brenda get ready for her baptism was a lot of fun for us, and her."

We were glad to hear that all went well with her baptism. He also mentioned how happy she was that we were able to talk to her.

He also wrote this:

"Well, it's been real...I'm out of Bangor bright and early tomorrow morning. I'm kind of bummed about it, but it's what the Lord wants. I really actually thought I was staying at least one more transfer, but I'm not. I have to meet in Manchester tomorrow morning at 9:00. Because I'm meeting there, I'll probably be going across the mission. If I was staying in Maine, they would have me meet somewhere in Maine. So yeah, I'll probably be somewhere in New Hampshire or Vermont. I'm excited but I'm really bummed I'm leaving already. It doesn't feel like I have been here that long. I'm bummed to be leaving Elder Nielson, we've had a lot of fun together and the Transfer was just way to fast, but this is life of a missionary. I've spent the day packing and saying goodbye to a lot of people, it's sad, but I'm glad that they don't give me a whole week to try to say goodbye...instead I just bounce out of here."

So now we wait to hear from him. We are anxious to know where he is and who his companion will be for the next little while. We are excited for him to experience another place, but we know its difficult to leave the area and the people you have grown to love. He has enjoyed serving in Bangor Maine and will have fond memories of that area.

First Area--Bangor Maine

Ronnie arrived in New Hampshire on Feb. 9, 2009. He met with the Mission President, President Jensen, and the Assistants. They had a nice dinner made by Sister Jensen, "real food" as Ronnie says. They went out teaching with the Assistants that evening. He was nervous but it went well and he learned a lot from Elder McBride. They stayed the night in the Assistant's apartment and had fun getting to know them.

Here is what his letter said:
"Tuesday came along. We all met for transfer meeting and had a pretty good meeting. Then we got assigned to our areas. I was soooo nervous! haha! It was crazy! But I was excited :) I got assigned as Elder Bigler's Companion (and I'm sure you already have heard this from the mission office.) But yeah, he is my trainer and we are in the Bangor, Maine area :) I'm learning a lot from him, but he's made the comment that "it doesn't feel like he's teaching" he says I'm really good at talking to people and all that they needed to do was stick a name tag on me and I was a missionary haha! That made me feel good, but I still have a lot to learn. He's very nice, and I'm learning a lot from him...He's like walking talking scriptures/gospel doctrine. It's so cool! He's from Mesa, Arizona."

"So that's where I am :) Bangor, Maine! It's a beautiful area, but it's all pretty dead from winter...which by the way, it's FREEEZING!! I thing the high the other day was like 19. Crazy!! And the wind DEFINITELY does not make it fun either. I've used my thermals a couple times already. The crazy thing is that people are saying it's warming up and I just barely missed the negatives. I would've died! haha!"

On Feb. 23, Ronnie wrote and told us about the Noreaster Storm that passed through Bangor Maine. He says: "We got dumped on with snow last night and today... we had to literally dig our car out...it was like 3 feet of snow! I think they call it a Nor Easter. It was bad...yet awesome! haha!"

Ronnie has been able to teach many people in Bangor Maine. We aren't going to publish names on our blog for privacy issues. He loves the people there and says the area is beautiful. He has been able to bring a few people into the church and says its amazing. The members are great and he has been enjoying serving there very much.

Ronnie loves to try new things to eat and being in Maine opened the door to a few things to try. On of the first things he tried was a Soda called Moxie. It is a well known drink in the New England States. He says its kind of of good and kind of bad. Its a wierd taste.

He loves eating fluffer-nutters. It is a peanut butter and marshmellow fluff sandwich. For Braden's birthday, Ronnie sent him a jar of Marshmellow Fluff and Peter Pan peanut butter. Braden has them displayed in his bedroom, not wanting to eat them yet.

Ronnie also has been able to eat Maine Lobster. Here is what he has said about that:
"I got to experience something else this week for the first time too...it's called...LOBSTER :) haha! I finally ate lobster in Maine!! It was a pretty gnarly experience. This is how it went: We've been working with this one lady, Sister _____. Her husband is a member and he grew up in the church. They're just a young couple with a little 2 year old girl. He's in the army and he's just way cool! His middle name is Moroni, named after captain Moroni :) He's been kind of inactive, but they love having the missionaries over. She's been meeting with the missionaries off and on for a few years. But anyways, we've eaten at their house before, and they told me a few weeks ago that I had just barely missed out on the lobster experience before I came and that they would have to do it again. So Friday rolled around and they called us to make sure we were still going over that night. I said yes, and then sister ____ was like "well Adam is going to go buy some lobster for you and him, and I'll make pork chops for me and Elder Bigler." (Elder Bigler didn't like the whole lobster thing last time haha). So I was like Sweet!! So we got there, and he pulled these 2 large, creepy, bug looking lobsters out of boiling water. I was a little weirded out because they really look like bugs with their big eyes, antenaes, and legs. Then Bro. ____ told me that's exactly what they are...big bugs. So here I have this full lobster, eyes and all on my plate, looking at me, and it was alive just a while before that...AH!! But, we began eating...he showed me how :) you rip off one leg at a time, suck the juice and the meat out, then you rip the claws off, suck the juice out, crack it open, get the meat out, put it in butter...hahah!!! creepy huh!? then you rip the tail off the other half of the body and get the meat out of that. The whole process was pretty gnarly and gross, but the experience was awesome and didn't taste too bad :)Anyways...that was my lobster experience :)"

Ronnie loves the New England accent. He writes:
"So many New Englanders put R's at the end of words that end in A. It's so funny and some times hard NOT to laugh. I heard one lady say United States of Americer haha!...Bananer, Idear Haha! It's awesome!"
"New Englanders would say ... Wicked Weeid. These people love the word Wicked! Wicked this, wicked that...it's funny. If you're smart...you're "wicked smaat." They also say, "I'm all set, we’re all set, are you all set?" All set!? It drives me nuts sometimes! It's our main rejection at the door … "No thanks, I'm all set." ugh..."

Ronnie loves Zone Conferences and there he has been able to see his MTC companion, Elder Parkinson, and also Elder Schow (Ronnie's step cousin from Alpine UT) and also Elder Charlesworth, a cousin of Ronnie's friend Nic Cline, who Ronnie had met the day before he left for the MTC. It was fun for him to see a few Elders he knew from home.

Just when things get going good, things change. At the beginning of May, Ronnie knew transfers were coming. Was he going to a different place or was it Elder Bigler leaving? Hmmm...

The MTC

Ronnie was in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) from Jan. 21, 2009 to Feb. 9, 2009. His companion was Elder Brett Parkinson from Lehi, UT. They got along great and became good friends.

Here is part of the second letter we got from Ronnie while in the MTC.

"Ok so I'm hoping you got my first letter in the mail telling how my first day was! that was the only time I could write without it being P day. well today is P day...tuesdays, and so much has happened!! Like I said, my companion is Elder Brett Parkinson, from Lehi, UT. Ah! he is so awesome!! We make quite the team that's for sure! He and I get along so well! and we have so much fun together!! I'm glad we get along, it makes things so much easier! Not only that, we're sure getting the Knoweledge of the teaching down! in fact, last night, we taught the whole first lesson! About Joseph Smith and the restoration. We only had to look at notes a couple times but other than that we nailed it!! It felt so good being able to do that right from knowledge, instead of having to use preach my gospel right in front of us. We're spiritually on fire and it's awesome having him as a companion! Now, here's the news for the week...you ready?? After preisthood meeting, president Rolfe, our branch president said "everyone can leave, except I need to see Elder Hurst, and Elder Parkinson." I was so confused, and we were afraid we had done something wrong. Well things are good, he asked if we would be willing to be the new Zone Leaders!! :):) so guess what?? Elder Parkinson and I are Zone Leaders!! :) The Zone Leaders that are here now, ship off to chekelslovokia a week from today so we'll be shadowing them for a week and leadership classes start tonight. We were kind of confused though because we're brand new missionaries, and our zone is kind of big, and there's missionaries who have been here longer than us, but we're excited!! :) it's going to be a fun new expirience! A few missionaries came up to us and said, "we new you 2 would be the new Zone Leaders," and that made us feel pretty good."

One of Ronnie's favorite things to do while in the MTC was taking phone calls in the Referral Center. He and Elder Parkinson would spend their free time in there. He loved talking to people and sharing the message of Jesus Christ.

Ronnie loved the MTC. He had a great district. He enjoyed being a Zone Leader. He loved his companion and his roomates, Elder Larsen and Elder Hala'ufia. He learned a lot, studied hard, played on p-days, went to the Provo Temple on p-days, and most of all strengthened his testimony of the gospel.

Feb. 9, 2009, Ronnie left the MTC and headed for New Hampshire. He was nervous and excited. He called us from the airport and it was great to talk to him. He sounded happy and ready to be a missionary out in the field. We were so proud of him and and so grateful the MTC was such a great experience for him. Now he was headed to the New Hampshire Manchester Mission!