OH HEY FAMILY!!
So one of the ward missionaries in our ward just moved to El Cajon (like an hour away) to be a goat herder (I'm not even joking.) and he called the other day and said that he named one of his goats after me. Hessey the goat. The family name is being well represented here in California.
This week was the BOMB!! Last Monday we went to go contact a referral from our zone leaders that they got from one of the other areas. His name is Victor and he is blind and lives with his family in a little apartment. So we started by just getting to know him and all of a sudden he goes "Oh by the way, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon was true. I want to be baptized. Is that ok?" Um, yes. Yes it is. It was so cool! We just asked him if he has any doubts or anything and he had a lot of questions about the Word of Wisdom. So we gave a lesson on that, invited him to commit to it and he said "Well, giving up tea will be really tough. But I know that God is going to give me the strength to do it because I want to be obedient to His commandments." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?! So Victor will be getting baptized on January 11th!!!! He listens to the Book of Mormon on CD all the time and loves it!! He's the coolest! It's a Christmas Miracle!!
Speaking of Christmas miracles, Hermana Kelemen and I have been praying for Bertha (our investigator getting baptized on the 28th) to attend our ward. She has a friend in one of the other wards in a different stake so she has been going with her the past couple of weeks. We tried explaining that it would be better to come to the one in the area that she lives in so she can meet the people and make friends and receive the fellowshipping that she needs, and every time she agrees to come to Chula, but when Sunday comes around she calls us and says "I'm sorry but I'm going to the church in Bonita today.". We went and saw her the other day and while we were chatting at the beginning, she told us that while she was at church with her friend she had a strong feeling that she shouldn't attend that ward anymore! She told us she is so excited to go to the ward she belongs in and knows that there are people there who she needs to meet. MIRACLE. We were so stoked!!!
Quote of the week: "It's kind of annoying being an atheist". Thank you, Roberto our newly added investigator!
This week was full of Christmas activities haha. We had our ward party (I love Spanish wards....Dancing and tamales at every ward party is NOT A BAD THING AT ALL. The missionaries just sit back and watch the members dance with the investigators that we brought. If that's not the prime example of fellowshipping, I don't know what is.) which we sang at. Our stake choir concert, which we sang at, and our apartment complex (which we did not sing at, but at the beginning the apartment manager asked us missionaries if we would be willing to pray and bless the food!!!!!!!! Super cool moment. It's fun to have missionaries live in the same apartment complex.). A lot of the members have asked our district if we could accompany them as they go out and carol and give Christmas gifts to their friends. It's been so cool to see the members give out "Finding Faith In Christ" DVDs. We went out with a family last night and sang, and Hermana Escobar (the family who invited us) did such a good job just letting her friends know how important they were to her. It was so genuine that she made all of her friends cry. Sometime an "I love you" from a friend can be super powerful.
By the way, mom, the stake choir did the same Wilberg version of "Fum Fum Fum" as we did when I was in high school. Good memories.
Hey guess what! I GET TO TALK YOU Y'ALL IN A WEEK!!!!!
Cool moment of the week. A few weeks ago we were talking to one of our less active members about following the spirit and he asked "How do you know if it's the spirit and not just your thoughts?" That's something that I've been trying to figure out my whole mission haha. I told him. "You know, I still struggle with that. But know that every good thing comes from God, even our thoughts". We went by their house the other day and as soon as we opened the door he said "Hermana Hess!!! I have something to tell you!!" He told us that that morning he had a thought pop into his head that he couldn't decide if it was a prompting or not. But it was good, so he said a prayer in his heart and told God "You know, I don't know if this is You or me, but I'm going to follow it. If it was the right thing, please help it to be a good day.". He told us that the rest of the day he felt happy, calm, and he had the most successful day of work of the week!. He told me "I couldn't wait to tell you, Hermana Hess. I know that sometimes you still don't know if it's you or the spirit, but if it's good, follow it immediately! I know you will be blessed." It was such a cool experience, HIM following up with ME, when usually it's the other way around. I left that lesson edified and feeling loved, and my testimony was strengthened about following up with commitments. You definitely feel a lot of love when other people follow up with you.
BORING LETTER. But guess what? Christmastime is here and life is good!! I love you all!! I sent a Christmas package home today, so it should come in the mail within these next few days. LOVE YOU TONS!!! Have a great week!
Hermana Hessey
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