OH HEY FAM!
Woof. This week was crazy! I am not sure why, but for some strange reason I feel like all of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the entire San Diego area decided to congregate in Chula Vista, seek out all of the LDS missionaries and spend and inordinate amount of time bashing us to our faces. As we all know, I am not very good at keeping my mouth closed, so this week was the ultimate test of patience and self control haha. But you should be proud of me, as I displayed a level of patience that only came because I was set apart as a representative of Jesus Christ. If not, there would have been fireworks. So that was a blastyblast...
Happy week after Thanksgiving!!! I hope it was great! Thanksgiving over here was so much fun. Initially I was worried that I would be super homesick, but we had 2 meal appointments (I AM NEVER EATING AGAIN.) and at both there was a lot of love, so it felt like home. One family, the Gallegos fam, told us that for Thanksgiving they usually meet their whole family in Mexico and eat with them, but this year they decided to stay here and cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal for the missionaries. It was one of the hugest acts of service I've seen on my mission!! I may have cried. After we ate, our district went to go sing Christmas carols outside of all the Black Friday lines at the mall-which was one of the most fun things I've done out here! The people loved it. We gave out a tons of pass along cards and even taught some people, so it was a really cool finding activity. So no worries, family, Thanksgiving was awesome!!
We have been working with 2 specific people for a while now, but they haven't been progressing these past few weeks. We decided that we definitely should not drop them, but give them a week to think and decided for themselves. So this week we have been seeing a lot of our new investigators a lot more frequently and we've seen so many miracles!!!! We had 3 of our brand new investigators come to church this Sunday, and they loved it! When it was over they came up to us and told us they never wanted to stop coming. George, Janelle, and Alijandra will get baptized SOON, I know it. Not only that, but we found quite a few families that are so prepared and so excited for us. We had an appointment with one of them yesterday, but they had to cancel so they called us up (which is evidence #1 that they want to learn more because they NEVER CALL!!) and told us, in tears, that they had to reschedule, but that they were "so so so sorry, we were looking forward to it all day!". Hello miracle!!!! Man we are so stoked for all these new investigators we have. I've never taught a group that has been so prepared before, and it makes me want to work even harder for them. I've never seen God's hand in the work more!! That's one of the goals that I have-to notice his hand more. It's everywhere and it deserved to be recognized and vocalized. Loudly. :)
We met a man on the street who said that this was the 875th time he's been on earth (as a reincarnated being) and that he was born in Atlantis....
But I think one of the biggest miracles this week was Bertha! She was a referral from the other Elders. We went over to her house last night to contact her and when she opened the door she just smiled so wide and said "I am so happy you are here!! I have been waiting!!!". She immediately told us that she wanted to be baptized, and within the first 5 minutes of us meeting her, we had her with a Baptismal date! December 28th is going to be a good day! It was a super powerful lesson. She told us she wanted us to come back everyday, and that she wanted to come to church every week for the rest of her life. We walked out of that lesson completely floored and very humbled. It was just another reminder that as missionaries, the only thing we do is invite and provide the conduit so that the people can feel the spirit. I know for a fact that it was nothing that we did that led her to her desire to be baptized. 100% the spirit, So both of us are walking on air right about now haha.
I love being a missionary. This week was such a good reminder that no matter how hard we think we are working, Heavenly Father is working so much harder preparing the hearts of the people who can't wait to hear the truth again. That's one of the perks of being a missionary-getting a front row seat and witnessing all that He is doing. I have the biggest testimony of the hastening of the work. He needs more missionaries to keep up with Him! It strengthens my faith a lot-we've met a lot of people on the street who have been so closed off and hard-hearted and who have bashed us so much. But instead of allowing us to be discouraged, Heavenly Father has put these prepared people in our path and has said "I've been working on Him. Here ya go!" . He is so good!
Just so you know, I love you all a lot. You've been on my mind a bunch and whenever I think of y'all, I just feel blessed to be a part of such a perfect family.
I love you! Have a great week!!!
Hermana Hess
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