OH HEY FAM!
First of all, OH MY GOSH. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE BIRTHDAY SWAG! I got the packages last Tuesday and I couldn't wait till Friday....haha so I opened it right there, on the coast at Coronado Island at sunset. Not bad at all:) My birthday was awesome! I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people. I felt a lot of love for sure. Members from my ward and from other wards in the stake came by to drop off gifts, my old district and members in the Valley sent me a care package, my zone surprised me and took me out to lunch (they gave us a fake referral and said to meet at the Chinese restaurant down the street....I should've known. My life dream of having a group of Chinese women sing "Happy Birthday" to me was fulfilled!!) and the Elders who live in our complex surprised me with Italian food. SUCH a good day! To top it off, we as a district spent 4 hours doing service for a lady in our ward, decorating her house for Christmas (which was HUGE). She had Christmas music playing throughout her house. Oh darn! Thank you so much for sending those packages, and for making sure I am being taken care of. I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD!!!!
Oh man what a good week! We got a referral from the Elders for a member named German (the guy in "The District")-they told us that he wanted a Book of Mormon at the hospital he was at. When we asked him which hospital, they said "the mental hospital right next to your apartment". That was a blastyblast haha. But no worries, he just had a bit of a mental breakdown and was back at church on Sunday! The weird part was the next day we got another referral for the same hospital. We shared Elder Holland's conference talk with him....IT WAS AWESOME! Journal worthy moments right there haha.
I think this week we've worked harder than we ever have. Last week the elders gave us 14 referrals so we've been trying to contact them as quickly as we can. We've met some really cool people and have added 9 new investigators just this week! 9 SOULS!! It's a Thanksgiving miracle. Sister Kelemen and I have a goal to add 25 this month and we need 5 more. Chula Vista really is the promised land. I am constantly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that there is in this area-so I'm being stretched in so many ways. Transfers were today and our district found out that none of us are leaving, so we'll all be together for Christmas!! It's the ideal situation as a missionary serving in San Diego-serving in Chula for Christmas. Yep, life is pretty good right now! I can't believe that Thanksgiving is Thursday! We've gotten a lot of invitations for dinner, so no worries there. Can't get over how great and selfless these people are.
We had dinner at a member's house the other day (The Gallegos-they were the ones who really didn't like us, and then we cleaned their house and now they LOVE missionaries!! That was a HUGE miracles in and of itself.) and they served us this really good drink that both of us loved. When we asked what it was, they said "tea from Tijuana!!".....WHAT. Haha I find it ironic that the first time I drank tea was on my mission. Repentance is possible, people. They just laughed when we taught them the word of wisdom later that night and said "whoops. My bad!".
Teaching Freddy is fun. He has tattoos all over and dresses like a gang member, but whenever the spirit touches him, he smiles so wide that he looks like a little kid. I am grateful for moments where instead of seeing someone who looks like a thug, we see them as they really are.
Socorro, who we have been teaching for a while, has kindof stopped progressing. She has been cancelling appointments and when we DO go over, she gets really distracted. But last night we had a miracle lesson!! We had a simple faith lesson-and she sat. and Listened. The whole time. After we were done, she said simply, "I have things to work on. But I promise you, I will.". I think my time in the Valley taught me to appreciate and really rejoice in those little (more like HUGE) miracles!!
You know, these past few week's I've been having problems really feeling the spirit working powerfully through me. It's present during lessons, but for some reason I've been having problems really feeling it. (By the way mom, your last 2 letters were a complete answer to prayer in that aspect. You have no idea.). So for a while I've been praying and praying for moments where I could just feel that the words weren't mine, where I could feel it running through my veins. We went to a baptism for the other sisters in our district and they asked us to teach the Joseph Smith story while they were changing out of their wet clothes. In my head I just kept thinking "First Vision", so we got up and started teaching. When I went and recited Joseph Smith's recollection of his experience, the Spirit clenched my heart so hard that it was almost painful. It is the best feeling I've ever felt. I am learning that those intense spiritual experiences don't have to happen every moment of every day. Feeling the Spirit, and having spiritual experiences are two different things. I am grateful for those heart-pounding moments that happen every so often, but I am even more grateful for the calm and peaceful feelings that occur on a daily basis, when we are doing what we need to be doing. It is quiet, it is at times hard to discern, but it is there.
I love you all so much! I am so happy and so grateful to be serving my Savior. I was talking to a young adult in my ward who is about to go serve a mission, and she is really worried about leaving her family. I told her that "even though you will be apart for a short time, you will never love them more.". You are integral to this work. Have a great Thanksgiving (while you will be eating turkey, I will be eating tamales!) And be happy!!
Con amor,
Hermana Hess
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