Tuesday, March 18, 2014

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!

No comments:

Post a Comment