Hola y'all!
It's 100 degrees here. Welcome to the Imperial Valley, family. Welcome.
Honestly, my heart belongs to the Valley. It belongs to the people here and it belongs to the work. I know I say this a lot, but I am continually amazed by how much LOVE my heart can hold now. It's funny how the longer you're on a mission, the more your prayers become about the people you teach and less about you. I love the ward, I love the less actives even thought they don't come to church because they are in Mexicali getting tacos, and I love the investigators even though they aren't progressing because they have visions of their dead husbands telling them they need to go to another church (True stories). I love the 15 other missionaries in our zone, and I love it when we get together every P-day and try to think up of adventures to go on without crossing the border and not being able to come back. I love the language even though I'm riding on an eternal struggle-bus when it comes to speaking it. I love being on a mission. It's hard. It's worth it. Holla.
Needless to say it's been a great week! The highlight was meeting the Brillones family. We met them through a member. This family is absolutely beautiful, and come from extraordinarily humble circumstances. When we walked in the door of their little shack there was just mattresses and a little TV on the ground. But the moment I walked in, I immediately felt a "This is one of the reason's why you are here, Sister Hess". This family is struggling. The dad, Saoul, is sick and needs to go on dialysis a few times a week, they have 4 gorgeous kids, one being a brand new baby, and they literally have nothing and are starting to lose hope. I am so excited to teach these people, they already have a huge claim on my heart!
We taught a lot this week. The English elders in our area gave us a list of 44 less active hispanic people in their ward to go visit, so we've being doing that for a good chunk of the week. Basically none of the addresses are right so we've taught A LOT of people at the door. It's basically the closest we get to tracting, so it's been a blast. I've started to carry a copy of the Book of Mormon in my hand wherever I go, because I think it's just a shoot-dang good-looking book, which in turn makes me more good-looking and will attract more people to the Gospel.
That last part was a joke. But I really do carry one in my hands wherever I go.
Yesterday we taught a group of 5 little kids (side note-i love teaching kids.). They're all brothers and sisters and have been passed around by so many people that they don't have a lot of discipline. Right now they are living with their grandparents under a tarp attached to a broken down trailer. These cute kids were yelling and kicking and just being kids to each other (ironically, we were teaching "Love one another"). My favorite part was we asked them if they could do one nice thing for someone else this week. Everyone said "yes" except for one, who said "I'll start tomorrow" and then proceeded to throw something at his little sister. CUTE. Actually, it was really cute, because at the end when I was bearing my testimony, they were all silent. Love them.
We had dinner at the ward mission leader's house yesterday. His little brother is an incredibly piano player and we sat down and just talked about Rachmananov and Whitacre and theory. It was so fun to talk music again!! He said that he has a bunch of music he wants to give me, and he wants me to sing in a bunch of ward and stake meetings. YES! It's nice to have my music back!
On Sunday, the bishopric told me that I was "Weird, which is refreshing" and that they liked my sense of style and pink shoes and are glad that I am here. I still can't get over how much I love this ward. They are progressing so much and are really starting to own their callings!! On of the youth members actually went to the temple to do baptisms with the stake!!!! MIRACLES!!!!! Oh man!
I started to drive this week. I still get lost all the time.
We've taught a lot of the restoration this week at a lot of doorsteps. That is by far my favorite lesson to teach, especially the first vision. The spirit is undeniable, and with a copy of the Book of Mormon in your hand, there is power. The spirit brings power. I pray that whoever we teach will just have the faith the remember the feelings that they felt when the spirit was working through us.
Sorry this is a bit of a boring letter. But I love you all with all the love I have in my growing heart! I can't believe that next week is transfers already. Time is flying. Life is good. I love you, my family, more than you know!!
Love,
Hermana who sings "Oh what a beautiful morning" at 6:30 AM
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