March 18, 2014 - The Day Hermana Hess Ruined a Child's Dream

A few days ago we went to visit a less-active named Mayra and her family, and for some reason she asked my companion if teaching children about Santa Clause was okay. After Hermana Hansen replied with a resounding "heck yes!" Mayra just looked at her and said "of course it's not!!". So that was awkward. Then somehow the tooth fairy was brought up and I said that "of course it wasn't real", which was promptly followed by an eerie silence and all the kids just stared at me with open mouths and shocked faces. Just for future reference, Santa is bad. Tooth fairy is okay. I'm just glad that they all laughed it off afterwards and said "yeah, I kinda already knew" or else I would've felt like the most horrible person to ever walk the planet. Don't worry, she invited us over again and is going to come to church this Sunday!! Thank heavens for the spirit.....

HEY FAMILY!

This week was one of those "thank heavens Heavenly Father recognizes effort" weeks because we had many buffed appointments and a lot of rejection haha. But it actually turned out so good! Sometimes we get so caught up in the running from appointment to appointment business that we miss the little miracle moments, like pulling the car over and contacting for a few hours or really looking for Heavenly Father's guidance as to who to see next. So while it was a little rough and there was a lot of sweat and rejection, it was one of the most rewarding weeks of the mission. It brings me back to a lesson I learned while I served in my first area-it feels good to sweat for a purpose.

Jorge has a temple recommend! He came out of his interview waving it like a flag over his head! Not a bad moment!

I mentioned miracles earlier and this week was definitely full of them. The difference was that it was full of miracles after getting over a lot of pride and fear on my part haha. I have TONS of weaknesses, people. Tons of them. And this week a lot of them were thrown in my face, but as we just worked and worked and did it anyway, we saw a lot of really cool things happen! Ever since coming to Santee I have not been the best at street contacting in sketchy situations. Sometimes I think to myself "uuuuhhhh....this may not be such a good idea. They look less-than-pleasant," which is completely ridiculous on my part. So I made it a goal this week to just "get over yourself and do it anyway". We ended up contacting a guy named Hector, teaching him a SUPER powerful restoration lesson, and by the end of it he was in tears and accepted a baptismal date for April 12th! I walked away from that situation thoroughly humbled, to say the least. What made it even cooler was later that day we contacted another man named Gerardo, taught him an equally powerful restoration lesson, and he went on and on about how "right" it feels and he begged us to come and teach his family!! You guys, miracles don't happen within your comfort zone! Life is so good!

Another miracle of the week was that Hermana Hansen was sick on Thursday (that sounded awful) so I had three hours to tackle Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon. So I cried for three hours. How in the world did I not understand what it means before now?!? It's so legit!

And since we are talking about miracles, this weekend was full of them. We had a mission president's fireside this Sunday, but the whole thing was in Spanish (President Clayton served his mission in Peru and he still speaks like a native!). I've never been to a Spanish one before, and it was the coolest!! It was so cool to just sing in the language we were called to serve in. I LOVE THIS LANGUAGE! For some reason things said in Spanish mean a lot more to me than if it's said in English. I got asked to sing a musical number so I did "Lead Kindly Light" (the same one I sang at Ty's farewell) and the whole thing just took on a whole new meaning. The best part, though, was that so many people from my Chula Vista ward were there!!! DANG I LOVE THOSE PEOPLE!! I know I was only there for 2 transfers, but I feel the same way about them as I do the people in the Valley (I have no idea if that was grammatically correct at all, but you get the point.). I felt so at home there. I think that's one of the biggest blessings of my mission-I have felt at home in every place I've been in and the people have felt like family. It was so good to see them again!

Last week I went on an exchange with my MTC companion, Hermana DeAngelo, and it was so much fun. It was cool to be with her again, literally one year later, and see how she has changed and grown and gotten refined. She is doing so well and looks so happy-she is one who let the mission work through her and you can see it in her countenance!

 

I have been learning more and more about how the Spirit works these past few months. I love this feeling. And the coolest thing is that as long as we are worthy of it, it doesn't leave. Heavenly Father doesn't want to leave His children, so we need to live in a way that He doesn't have to take His spirit away from us. And even if we are going throughout our day, and we don't get that heart-pounding feeling at every moment, it is still there. That has brought me a lot of comfort: if we do our part, The Spirit won't leave. "I the Lord am bound...."

 

My heart is full this week! I am so dang happy. While this may not be the easiest thing we've ever done, I would do it over and over again if I could keep feeling this way. I love sitting in silence and feeling the spirit. It's better than Whitacre.

 

I love you so dang much it doesn't fit in my heart!

 

Hermana Hess!

March 11, 2014 - I Held A Snake!

So the other day we were walking around a trailer park complex looking for people we could help and teach, when we found this guy cleaning the outside of his trailer. We asked him if we could help and after a few minutes, he and his sister let us in. We cleaned their house, shared a message and added them as SUPER SOLID investigators. He then told us he had a baby python. SO he goes and gets said python. I held a python.

 

It was awesome!

 

Jorge is a full-fledged Mormon! Haha his baptismal service was AMAZING! The spirit was so strong and literally every single member of this high priest group was there supporting him. When he got up out of the water he just smiled and gave everyone two thumbs up...it was classic. Jorge is a completely changed man! When we met him, he was rough and had a huge chip on his shoulder and had no patience or love for anyone. Now he just smiles all the time and gives all the other hermanos in the branch hugs and jokes around like it's nobody's business! When he got confirmed the circle was huge, and he stood up, smiled, and raised another 2 thumbs up. We went over yesterday and he told us that he feels "light" and that the burden he's carried for so long was gone. AND he already has a calling!!!! High Priest Secretary. Isn't even  a high priest and he's already  being put to work! They're going to the temple this Thursday with him. I am stoked.

 

I think the coolest moment of the baptism was that I was just sitting there and I felt like I had nothing to do with it. It was not "my" baptism-it was all Jorge and the credit goes all to the Lord. Every baptism I have gone to has felt the same. We work and pray so hard but in the end, it feels good to know that Heavenly Father did it, and we just got the front row seat to the best event of LIFE.

 

We have a big goal this week to focus on having lessons with members present. I LOVE it when members come with us! The Spirit is super strong and that relationship between the investigator is so important. An hermana named Maria Theresa came with us yesterday and her testimony was so key in the lessons we had with her. When we were dropping her off she just kept going off on how grateful she was for the chance to learn with the missionaries again (she's a convert of about 8 months). It definitely got me thinking-yes, the investigator needs the member, but the member needs the investigator too. There is a special spirit when the simple truths of the gospel are being taught and ALL members, notwithstanding their time in the church, need to be reminded. We always have something to learn from the principles of the gospel. I think I'll be going to that class in church for the rest of my life....

 

We had a really cool zone meeting yesterday! The zone leaders brought an ASL companionship and an Arabic companionship to teach us how to contact in those languages, so it was really solid. DANG Arabic is hard! I can barely speak Spanish!! I give major props to those elders...

The zone leaders called us the night before and asked us to teach about how to begin teaching. We focused a lot on charity. The main theme of out lesson was, "how to we teach in a way where, when we tell them we love them after 2 minutes of knowing them, they believe it?". We need to beg for charity, because if we don't have it we don't deserve to teach God's children. It was definitely something that I needed to be reminded of, so it was a great morning. Plus, those are my favorite types of groups to teach (seminary, mutual, missionaries etc.) so basically I was on a spiritual high all day.

 

Speaking of Arabic, a member fed us Arabic vegetarian food the other day and it was honestly the weirdest thing I have ever eaten in my life. I'll take tacos over grain/vegetable/imitation meatball things ANY DAY.

 

We go on exchanges every week with the sisters in the mission, so this week I brought a brand-new missionary to Santee. It was fun to be with a greenie again! We were planning that night and the next day was going to be crazy with meetings and a baptism, so I was having issues with planning. The only name that I could think of was an investigator named Margherita - she was never home and didn't seem too interested in the past so I wasn't super sure, but we put her down anyway. We ended up only having time to see one person that day, so we went over to her house and she was there! We taught a powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon, and then taught her to pray. As she said the closing prayer, she started to straight up cry and the only thing she could say was, "thank you for sending me these messengers. I didn't know how much I needed them." POWER. I said a silent prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father after that....

 

 

Actually, I've said a lot of prayers of gratitude this week. I've been working on just talking with God more and praying more DURING the lessons. As a result, I feel the spirit more, I am happier, and I love the people more. For some reason, it has taken me a long time to make Santee feel like "home" like my last areas, but this week as I've just kept a prayer in my heart, I've felt happier than I've ever been here. Life is good when you know God.

 

I love you SO MUCH. Seriously. SO. Much.

 

All I have,

 

Hermana Hess

March 4, 2014 - San Diego is Under Water

A couple of weeks ago I was debating whether to send home my rain jacket because I don't use it a whole lot on my mission. And then the heavens opened, the rains came down, and the foolish man's house was washed away.

I think Spanish people are afraid of the rain. They take their kids out of school and don't open their doors (I think they are preparing for the flood!) so it was an interesting couple of days haha! We went on exchanges on the day that it rained the hardest and I was up Ramona in the north part of the mission (...think Idaho Springs mountain town...) and the rain and mudslides were so bad that we were advised not to leave the apartment because our car would've gotten buried by mud. Both of us were going nuts by staying inside so we went out later that night and it was crazy- But it was the first time I've seen rain in a looooooong time so I was enjoying myself greatly. And then we all got sick from it. It was a great week! 

Jorge is all set and ready for his baptism this Saturday! He has an incredible gift of discernment-whenever he meets someone at church he can tell by their countenace if they are having a bad day or if they need help or if they are struggling. He will make a great high priest group leader one day. He came to testimony meeting on Sunday and while a lady was bearing her testimony he leans over to us and says "Sisters, why do I have goosebumps??". It was cool to be able to testify that it was 100% the spirit. He knows the church is true, but this was the first time either of us has heard him really recognize the Spirit. We went over last night and had a lesson and he said that he can't wait to get the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday so that he can feel that ever single day. Hellooooo prepared!!!!

We had a really cool mission leadership council yesterday where we talked about maintaining the dignity of our calling at all times. President Clayton told the story of when Parley P. Pratt related the time when they were at the Liberty Jail, and their guards were being vile and profane until they couldn't stand it anymore-that Joseph Smith stood up and literally with the power of God put them in their place. Pratt said that he has been in grand councils all around the world, but he has never seen that much dignity and majesty than that day, in a dark dungeon at midnight. It got really quiet, and President Clayton asked us "Are you in a place where you are prepared to stand up with Joseph Smith, with all the majesty and power that God has placed in you by the virtue of your calling?". All of us kind of just sat there in silence and felt the Spirit super strong. He asked us as leaders to be the example to those we are over, and that if they rebel or have authority issues or if we see any trace of immaturity, that we are to call President immediately and he will take care of it. DANG. It was awesome. I love President Clayton. He does not tolerate disobedience in the slightest and it was cool to see the trust he and the Lord have in us. The mission has a LOT of young missionaries (they far outweigh the older ones) and it's cool to be a part of reestablishing the culture of exact obedience in the mission. The best part is that the whole council is made up of 19 and 20 year old men, and there was not one comment about "wait, we can't high five anymore?? you're asking too much!". It was cool to watch the zone leaders just submit their will to President's, and God's, and put complete trust in them. 

That was a slightly boring paragraph. Yesterday we contacted a woman on the street who went off about how she just got kicked out of her house and the cops were after her. When we prayed with her, she interjected in the middle of Sister Hansen's prayer and said "Also bless my dog. Who is a Christian.". El Cajon is weird. 

Amber is progressing so well! We spent the last few lessons going over the Plan of Salvation and the whole time she kept saying, "I have never heard of anything like this before" over and over again...after a while we asked her if she thought it was true and she thought about it for a minute and said...."yes.". Though she doesn't completely understand it, she understands the Spirit. It's a cool thing to watch! 

These past few weeks have been super good for our district. 2 Saturdays ago the elders baptized a family of three, last Saturday both sets of elders had a baptism, and this week Jorge is getting baptized. So we've ended these past few weeks on some huge spiritual highs:). We have a tradition in this mission that when they are changing back into dry clothes, a set of missionaries teaches the restoration. I think it is the favorite thing I have done on my mission - the Spirit is already super strong because of the ordinance that just took place, and combine that with the Spirit that is always there when we testify of the restoration, it's incredible. I've never done it without crying like a baby. One of the elders in our district just got out of training  3 weeks ago, and when he recited the first vision, he broke down weeping. Missions are full of "perfect moments"-and that was definitely one of them. There is power in SIMPLE testimonies. I have never felt the Spirit stronger than when I testify that through Joseph Smith, Christ restored His church upon the earth. I don't know much, but in the end the amount of knowledge that we have doesn't really matter. Our testimonies do. 

As I approach my 13 month mark I am getting boring.

I LOVE YOU!!!! Have a great week!!! 

Hermana HESS