Tuesday, December 31, 2013

December 31, 2013 - Nos Vemos 2013!

FAMILY!
 
Hey! Remember that one time where we got to talk a couple of days ago and it was THE BEST THING EVER?! Man, it was so good to talk to you!!! I barely remember what we talked about jaja but all I know is that it felt really, really good to hear your voices! It was so fun to hear Russell and Jacob in the background (by the way Cory and Joe, thank you for training Russell to say "I love you, Kelsey" as it was the best thing of my life.). I'm so glad all is well and everyone is happy!! David's email filled me in on all of the hand and foot/falling Christmas tree/YouTube video/Neil Diamond/Canadian Christmas song adventures and I couldn't help but laugh out loud and say "MY FAMILY IS THE BEST".
 
Christmas was amazing. I think the biggest miracle, though, was how quickly we went back to work after the festivities ended. We all spent the day at our bishops house, eating (and eating and eating....) and opening presents, but we also sang at the veterans home and got the chance to talk to some of the bishop's family who weren't members. By the time dinner was over, all the missionaries cleared out, and were back on the streets finding people to teach. We didn't get the chance to teach anyone that day, but we felt that the Lord was pleased with the decision we made to go back to work and not linger, when it could've been really easy to do so.
 
Despite the fact that we had a lot less proselyting time as usual, this week was awesome! Hermana Kelemen and I worked really really hard teaching as many people as we could find. There weren't a ton of people home (Tijuana is probably overflowing with the residents of Chula Vista right about now...) so we got the chance to see people we don't normally see and teach a bunch of different people. We've really been pushing to get members out in lessons with us; those lessons are always the best and most spiritual! The members of our ward haven't really caught the "urgency" of the work, so Bishop Chavez asked us missionaries to teach a lesson on how they can become involved in the work for the fifth Sunday. We set a goal of having every family inviting another family to their house for an FHE or dinner with the missionaries, and we expanded on that goal the whole lesson. It was so cool! We talked about how the people around us (our friends) don't have something that they desperately need. Once the members realize the enormity of what they have (the gospel) they'll want to share it more. We introduced ways that they could start a gospel conversation with their friends or co-workers, and addressed some of their fears. It was really cool to be up there, looking at all of the nodding heads and smiles as you could see the spirit of missionary work start to enter into their hearts. By the end of church, all of the companionships had members running up to them, inviting them for an FHE or offering to come out with us. MIRACLE!!!!
 
Speaking of miracles, Bertha is doing amazing! We went over the other day to teach her, and we asked her how she first heard of the church. She told us her friends were LDS but they never said anything about the Church. She always wanted to learn more, but she just didn't know how to ask. She ended up asking her friends "hey! how can I learn more about your church!? I think I want to be baptized!", and so they referred her to us missionaries. My testimony of member missionary work skyrocketed! She told us she would've been baptized months ago if someone just told her how to do it. She even asked us if she could have some pass along cards and pamphlets so she could give them to her friends. MAN I can't get over how much I love her!! She is well on her way of being truly converted. We taught her the word of wisdom yesterday and when we told her about tea and coffee she goes, "I can't have tea or coffee???? I drink it every day!!!.....but ok. This law is true. I'll obey and be blessed." Our mouths literally dropped to the floor. Just when we picked them back up, she says "I can't wait to tell my kids all about this church, that way they'll see my example and want to get baptized because of how happy I am!". I would like to add in my testimony of how missionaries do nothing. 100% Spirit right there. I'm so grateful I got the chance to know her!!
 
We are teaching a woman and her mom (Perla and Araceli) who are also really, really prepared. Whenever we teach them, they look like they're hanging on to every word we say! (THE SPIRIT IS AWESOME.) We taught them the Plan of Salvation the other day and when we laid the visual aid out in front of them, they just stared and stared and smiled and said "This is SO COOL. This makes so much sense!". The first lesson we ever had with them, Perla asked us "Why do bad things happen to good people?" It was a sweet experience to lay out the plan of salvation and testify that all will be made right in the end. I think that was one of my favorite lessons we've ever taught!!
 
Yesterday, we taught a bunch of self-proclaimed atheists. They were actually really kind and really open and it was a really fun lesson! At the end, one of them told us "man, I would LOVE to serve an 18 month mission for Jesus!"....5 minutes before he told us he didn't believe in Christ. Again, the Spirit does all the work! He told us he is going to University of Utah and when I told him that I was an Aggie, he reminded me that they were playing in San Diego that afternoon for the Poinsettia Bowl. I had to hum "Nearer My God to Thee" in my head for the next 15 minutes so I could get that out of my head and focus.
 
I was never one for new years resolutions, but as a missionary our minds are continually filled with goals and how we go about accomplishing them. David in his email mentioned that with the new year, we have the chance to change. I guess these past 11 months have helped me realize that as children of God, our potential is far greater than we realize, and that if we follow the council that is stated in Ether 12:27, we can hand God our weaknesses and become stronger. We can slowly realize this great potential that we have. I love looking at the people we teach and seeing them for who they can become, but every once in a while I forget that I can do that for myself. When we ask, Heavenly Father will allow us a glimpse of who He sees in us. We get the strength and the power to change and become more as a result! When I started my mission, one thing I knew for certain was that I wanted to come back a lot different, and while it's hard to see personal progress, I know that God takes His time shaping us IF WE LET HIM. We are going to become polished. I'm grateful I still have 7 months on my mission and a lifetime afterward to become polished.
 
Well, know that I love you all and am so pleased to be serving in the greatest place in the world!
 
Hermana Hess

Monday, December 30, 2013

December 24, 2013 - FELIZ NAVIDAD


I just wanted to bear my testimony of the divinity of out Savior Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary at this time because it seems like a lot more people are open to hear about the Love that our Savior has for us. I love telling people they are loved, and we have gotten the chance to do that a lot these past couple of weeks. We had a mission Christmas party last Saturday and President Clayton promised us that if we forget ourselves, this will be the best Christmas of our lives. It's definitely been a different Christmas, but I have been loving feeling the Saviors love more and more. As we celebrate His birth, we can celebrate His life by sharing our love for people wherever we go. I think Heavenly Father needs more angels here on the earth, and as we lift those around us we become the hands of the Father, and we assist Him in His glorious work. I love being His representative at this time. He is real, He came into the world to do the will of the Father that we might come home again to Him. He is perfect. We are blessed.

K I'm done waxing poetic. Don't worry about me! I am happy-I can't believe I get the chance to serve here in Chula in this season, surrounded by the love and support of the members, investigators, and our Heavenly Father. I've been surrounded by music. Life is good.
 
my heart is yours!
 
Hermana Hess 

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

December 17, 2013 - There Once Was a Goat Named Hessey

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

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

December 10, 2013 - Virgin Mary Statues All Over the Place


HI FAM!
 
I have never in my life seen so many statues of the Virgin Mary covered in Christmas lights ever before in my life. Just so you all know, psychedelic dancing virgin Mary statues complete with flashing neon lights exist. Welcome to Chula Vista.
 
I feel like this week flew! We spent a lot of time together as a district this week, which I loved. Can I just tell you how much I love the group of missionaries that I'm serving with?! I feel like they've become my brothers and sisters, and I can't believe how blessed I am to be serving with them around Christmastime. Our bishop and his wife are equally incredible. We all watched the Christmas devotional together on Sunday at the bishop's house (complete with hot chocolate and cookies and the whole shebang....it was awesome.) and it felt good to be surrounded by people who you love. Fills the little hole in mah heart from being away from you guys in this season. Also, as a district, we invited a bunch of our investigators to all go up to the temple on Saturday night to see the Christmas lights on the grounds! All of us brought some of our investigators and the spirit was so strong as they felt the power that only being on the temple grounds brings. All of them, by the end of the night, told us "I want so bad to go inside!!". It was SUPER powerful! Every weekend they have a bunch of different choirs sing at night for all the people who come see the lights. The choir who was supposed to sing the night we came bailed, so our district got up on the stage they had and just sang Christmas hymns for everyone. (Side note-everyone in my district can sing all the different parts. I call that a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE.). Oh man, the spirit was so strong!! None of us had any books, so while we were singing we could look at the faces of everyone who was listening and just see the spirit working through them. Being on the temple grounds, listening to the music about Christ's birth, the spirit was undeniable. And I was in Heaven and cried the whole time because sometimes, it just feels good to sing. (Take that, dad, for dramatic effect!)
 
The whole week, we visited all of our investigators and got them really excited to come to church this Sunday. And then a horrible thing happened. It rained. Because of the rain (more of a light sprinkle), the temperature dropped to a frigid 50 degrees and everyone came to the conclusion that it was far too dangerous to step outside of the house. We were pretty bummed. That's why prayer and the Book of Mormon are so important! The spirit is there in the lessons, and everyone can feel it. But after the missionaries leave, if they don't read or pray they lose that feeling so fast, which makes the decision to come to church harder. Faith cannot be stagnant, it needs constant nourishing-which is something I have definitely learned since becoming a missionary. We can't afford to stop begging for Heavenly Father's presence. The natural man forgets way too fast!
 
This is a boring letter.
 
We are teaching a less active named Edgar who has the hugest testimony ever! He has such a big desire to be worthy to exercise his priesthood again and go to the temple and endure to the end....the problem is that he has been living with his girlfriend and their daughter for the past 4 years. He invited them to live with him in the hopes that they could have an eternal family one day and be the normal "happy Mormon family". Janelle (his girlfriend who we are teaching) is really cool, but in the past she has had no desire to learn about the gospel or anything because past missionaries were going to fast and "shoving" the lessons down her throat. She was really hesitant when Edgar invited us over a few weeks ago and at first she didn't say much. But as we've come over every week, her heart has really softened. She still is hesitant to make and keep commitments, but she did tell us that we were the first missionaries to actually listen to her and not try and change her from the get go by pointing out all the bad and wrong things she is doing. My district leader in my last area told me on day that we need to "Love the people enough to patiently wait with quiet expectation. Love them enough not to rush them.". As we've taught Janelle, I have come to have a testimony of that statement. Listening and being patient...two things I had major issues with before my mission haha. It's cool how Heavenly Father helps you get humbled.
 
We had a zone meeting the other day, and at the end of the meeting a missionary who is going home in a few weeks got up to bear his testimony and share some thoughts. He said "One of the greatest parts about being a missionary is the chance to change.". I think that that is one of the coolest parts about wearing the badge. You get the opportunity to have your weaknesses thrown in your face and have your heart break, but you also get the chance to choose if you want to let Heavenly Father make you into the person you need to become. I hope so bad that I have become someone different in these last 10 months. I definitely feel different haha. I feel like I have a clearer vision of my strengths and weaknesses and how much more I need to rely on Christ's Atonement. I still yell a lot, but I have a greater purpose for it now:)
 
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! I hope you are the happiest you've ever been and that you can feel how much I love you!
 
Hermana Hess (or Herrrrrmana Hessey as my ward calls me)

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

December 3, 2013 - The week that the J-Dubs were running rampant



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