Tuesday, June 24, 2014

June 24, 2014 - Breaking Into Cars is O.K.

HI FAMILY!
 
Saturday night, we got a call from the Gonzalez family and when we asked them how they were, they said, "We're terrible. We locked our keys in our car!". They asked if we knew how to break into cars. So we replied with a resounding "YES!" (we've seen enough movies and there was a convenient wire hanger in our trunk)  and were off to the rescue. We got to their house and they said, "Hermanas, we really want to go to church tomorrow but we need to be able to drive our car." Okay, no pressure. After just a few minutes of struggling to get the wire hanger into the door, the blissful sound "Dink!" of the door becoming unlocked began a choir of angels singing. Haha the awesome part of it all is that we had just had a super powerful lesson with 1 Nephi 3:7 the night before about how the Lord will provide a way for them to go to church every Sunday if they had the faith to talk to their bosses and get work off. So it was a perfect object lesson--Satan tries to get you to "lock your keys in your car" but we have been given the tools (faith, prayer, wire hangers, etc.) to "break into our car" if we really have the desire and the faith to keep the commandments. I'm a cheese ball. But anyway, THEY CAME TO CHURCH!!!! All of them were in church dress, when in the past they've come in jeans and t-shirts. Little Arthur was even wearing a sweet white suit. We sat next to them the whole time and couldn't stop smiling. AND both of them are asking their bosses to have at least 2 Sundays a month off so they can come to church as a family:)
 
I think the coolest thing about this family is that when we bring up things like getting work off and getting married, they reply "Oh yeah, we've already been talking about it.". Heavenly Father has been preparing them for so long that they've already made up their minds to follow the commandments before we teach them. We just show up, God has already done the work!
 
By the way, I am not a fan of the World Cup. No one will answer their doors and we can hear them yelling in the back. But I guess Mexico won so we are expecting lots of baptisms as a result. Hurrah for Israel!
 
I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day at the end of the war chapters. Pahoran was talking to Moroni about the help that he needed and after all this instruction that he received, Pahoran says "See that you strengthen Lehi and Teancum in the Lord.". At this point, I bet Moroni was so tired. He's been at the head of these battles for years, he's been in charge of thousands of people and I am willing to bet that he was so dang tired. And yet, he receives instruction to keep his eye on the sparrow and strengthen his friends. And not only strengthen them, but strengthen them "in the Lord."
There are times when we are tired, but it is a miracle to see that when we are in the business of lifting, we realize that God strengthens our shoulders and our knees, and we receive the strength that we ourselves have been pleading for. And when we think that our energy is spent, this is when we can rely on the reserve tanks that our faith brings us. We will always have enough to do the things we have been asked! And we are happy as a result. And who doesn't want that?
 
Life is so so good. Sorry this is a bit on the short side! Know I love you and pray for you all the time!
 
Les quiero,
 
Hermana Hess

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

June 17, 2014 - I Hugged President Clayton!

Hey fam!!
 
This week was our last Zone Conference with the Claytons before they leave in about a week, so President decided to break a little rule and hug all of the sisters. It felt like hugging my dad. I love the Claytons!! I'll be so sad to see them go. It'll be a little weird to  have the new President for only one transfer. I think I'll just have to wait to see them before they become mine. Without a doubt, when they enter into that first transfer meeting all of us will think "Oh yeah, he's our new President. He is exactly the right person who needs to be here.". But until that day, all of us are a little sad, because we love they Claytons and will cry like babies the day they leave.
 
It was their last Mission President's Fireside on Sunday and it was the best one yet. TONS of missionaries and members came and it was so powerful. Usually the missionary choir sings simple pieces, but the ones we did this last week were by far the best. We started by singing all the verses of "I Am a Child of God", but in all of the languages that are spoken here in the mission. English, Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, Lao, Mandarin Chinese and American Sign Language were all represented! The Tagalog was the best-there's only 4 of them but they sang the loudest and proudest. They Claytons cried the whole time! The testimonies that were given were some of the strongest I've ever heard, so I bet it made them feel good about the state that they are leaving the mission in.

President Morgan (first counselor) asked me to sing "Consider the Lilies" because it's their favorite. It wasn't originally a piece that I enjoyed....but of course I was happy to do it. It was cool to study the words of that song, especially on Father's day, and realize just how "seen" we are by our Father in Heaven, and I was glad that I was able to bear my testimony through it. I cried. Duh.
At the end, Sister Clayton said to the congregation, "Please take care of my Missionaries. I love them". Then everyone else cried. We are babies.
 
It's been a great week! We are continuing to work harder and harder. It's definitely been an "Ok hermanas...let's see how hard you are willing to work for Me" week, but both of us have felt so happy in the process that we don't even care. The Gonzalez family continues to be the greatest gift we have been given! They are opening up so much more than before and we can literally SEE the change in their eyes. They are working towards getting baptized at the end of July!!! Arturo's brother, Pablo (the one in the hospital) got a blessing from the missionaries that we sent over there and was released from the hospital a few days ago!! Arturo was so grateful. I think the BIGGEST miracle was that they went to a baptismal service in their brother's ward and both of them commented on how beautiful it was. Mayra cried through the whole thing (There is a lot of tears in this email). I love Heavenly Father! He is working a lot harder up there than we are down here...
 
OK-HUGE MIRACLE! A few days ago we got a referral from Otay Mesa for the sister of a member of their ward. We called her the other day and she said "Please! Come on over!". We went to her house and she just gave us this huge hug and said "it's a joy to have you in my home!". Her name is Elena and I guess when her brother was getting the discussions from the missionaries, she would sit in and listen, but never got baptized. A lot of her family has converted from Catholicism so she has a lot of family who are really solid members! We had a SWEET lesson with her, and she accepted to be baptized on July 26th within the first 15 minutes! She was already talking about what she had to wear at her baptism. I am so grateful for the missionaries who taught her brother. She said they were in and out within an hour and had a very high standard of obedience. She already knows what good missionaries are like and she knows the Spirit that obedient missionaries have! It's a great reminder that missionaries will leave a legacy-both good or bad. SO JUST BE OBEDIENT FOR HEAVENS SAKE. So keep Elena in your prayers! She's the coolest!!!!
 
I've been thinking about the past 16 months or so and the differences of areas I've had. I feel like in the Valley, I got humbled and beaten down, I got my weaknesses thrown in my face and I was made ready to learn. In Chula was where I got to heal a little bit from the Valley haha, and experience what it felt like to have hard work pay off on a DAILY basis. Santee has been my area of refinement. It is where I have learned the most about the nature of my Father and my Savior. I have learned that I really don't know much about them at all, but I am trying. Cory sent me a talk ("The Bitter Cup and the Bloody Baptism"-greatest thing I have ever read.), and Elder Holland brought it home when he said "Surely our sometimes clichéd expressions of testimony and latter-day privilege don’t amount to much until we have had open invitation to test them in the heat of battle and have in such spiritual combat found ourselves to be faithful. We may speak glibly in those Sunday services of having the truth or even of knowing the truth, but only one who is confronting error and conquering it, however painfully or however slowly, can properly speak of loving the truth. And I believe Christ intends us someday to truly, honestly love him—the way, the truth, and the life.".
Isn't it cool how we have the rest of our lives to figure out how to love our Savior? Enduring to the end-what a beautiful thing.
 
I love you all! Have a rockin week and know that you are always in my prayers!
 
Hermana Hess

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

June 9, 2014 - The Week Where We Got Blessed


HEY FAM!!

Sorry this email is getting out to you a little late! We had a meeting this morning over in the city that took up most of our morning. But it's okay because they fed us. Go senior missionaries!! 

HOW THE HECK IS EVERYONE!? How was your birthday, dad? Is there a firepit in the backyard? I knew there would be. I know how long you have been wanting one:)  But I hope everyone is happy and not getting swept up by tornadoes. 

This week was our first week since Sister Barnes and I got put together where we didn't have meetings or exchanges or trainings to do, except for zone meeting, so we straight up went to work! Both of us just kept looking at our schedules and said "we have so much tiiiiiiiiiiiiime!!!" so we set some high goals and went to work. Unfortunately, satan is a JERK and decided to work extra hard in our area this week. I have never felt so persecuted my whole mission, haha. I feel like the majority of people that we talked to has just yelled at us or said awful things to us about the church. Managers not letting us into their apartment complexes, people yelling at us from across the street to "stop trying and go home", stuff like that. I've been pretty blessed to be surrounded by nice people my whole mission so I guess the majority of the haters were getting all saved up for the end haha. I was so glad for the lesson I learned about opposition last week! So instead of getting down, Hermana Barnes and I just get stoked, because if satan is working this hard, there must be some amazing things coming. 

I feel like these past few weeks have been a major refining period-I've been more frustrated and tired than I ever have been, I've been on my knees more in prayer and the answers aren't exactly coming as we expect them too (doesn't that always happen?), and I feel like we are working as hard as we can and being as obedient as we can, but things are kindof at a stand still. I'm not gonna lie, there have been moments where I have questioned if God really wants to answer my prayers, or if He just says "You're on your own with that one". It's been humbling, thinking "you've been out for this long and you're still figuring out if God can actually hear you??", but just goes to show that there must always be growth, even in the fundamentals. Sometimes we think-especially those of us who've been members our whole lives-that if we question the basics, if we say "holy crud--can God hear me??", we don't have faith and we freak out a little bit. But I've learned that our testimonies of the basics always need to be reevaluated, and we have the ability to question everything, no matter how simple they may seem. With honest questioning brings strengthened faith, which is always worth it. 

Anyways, I feel like that was a whiny paragraph. This week we street contacted this lady who told us that she was a Pentecostal, and after we told her a little about what missionaries do, she was so pleased that she put her hands on our heads and literally shouted out a blessing for us in the name of Jesus. I had to try to hard not to laugh, but at the same time I just wanted to shout out to the people passing by that "THIS IS NOT WHAT MORMON MISSIONARIES DO!!!". So that was a fun experience. 

AAAND we have to have the obligatory Gonzalez family paragraph:) OH man, I can't believe how much I love this family. And we love them so much because I don't think we've ever worked harder for a family before. We stopped by for dinner the other day, and after we had a "faith through opposition" lesson (which, by the way, we have taught to almost every member and investigator we teach no matter what we had originally planned. Santee is going through some challenges....) and after we had a SOLID lesson with them, Arturo asks his kids to leave the room, because he had something to tell us. We were terrified....we were thinking "are they gonna drop us? are they breaking up?? whats going on??". He ended up breaking down crying and told us that his little brother who lived in San Antonio was sick, and that no doctor knows whats wrong with him. The minute he found out he was ill, he wanted to call us. He said he knew that we had the power to call down miracles, so he asked us to pray for his brother and he had the faith that if we did, he would be okay. We had a great conversation, and when Arturo offered the prayer, it was the most powerful and sincere prayer we've ever heard! He said "I have been praying to know what direction I need to take in my life, and these missionaries keep coming back, and I know that this church is where I need to be.". All throughout this prayer, big, tough, Arturo was crying. The spirit was so strong and WE LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!! So keep his brother, Pablo Ambriz in your prayers, along with the rest of the family!!!! 

HEY! I LOVE YALL! I hope this week is the best!! HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermanita Hess 

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

June 3, 2014 - Life is Good

And today begins the ever-awaited birthday week for dad! Don't worry, I didn't forget. People have been singing "Feliz Cumpleanos" for you since last Saturday.
 
Super good week! It started out with the last MTE of the season. I got to go back down to San Ysidro and Rio Otay to be with Hermana Oliver again:) It was SO cool to see how much she has grown and how she's changed. From brand new to over a year out. We became comps just about a year ago and it was the best to just go right back to work with her. It was so familiar yet way different and it was a good reminder that she wasn't the only one who has changed, but I guess I'm a little different as well. A year ago I was just barely three months out and she was fresh out of the MTC and as we look back on it, both of us just said "how in the heck did God TRUST us out there without supervision??"
 
Our area is starting to really pick up and it's the coolest to see how many prayers are getting answered! It strengthened my testimony of "waiting" and accepting God's timing. This week the Gonzales family actually cracked open the Book of Mormon and told us how their faith is growing so much! They're visiting their brother (who's a member) this weekend and he invited them to a baptismal service that they're having over there. Mayra made Arturo take off work so that everyone could go and see what a baptism is like!! I NEVER thought Mayra would instigate something like that. All the kids are wanting to get baptized soon, and when we asked Arturo (the dad), he just said "yeah!" super casually.....um WHAT?? DID YOU JUST SAY WHAT I THINK YOU SAID? Now all they have to do is get married. We talked about it a few weeks ago and they were totally opposed to it, but las Friday we went over and they're starting to actually make some plans. Whenever I think about it my mouth just drops to the floor and I just drop to my knees. Missionary work is miracle work. I can't even get over how good God is.
 
We've been teaching Lyanne and Gerardo for a little over a month and we saw some pretty crazy miracles with them as well! We taught Lyanne about the Book of Mormon and promised a TON of blessings and all she could say at the end was "wow....i think i need to read and pray. I actually want this answer now". And then an hour later when we saw Gerardo, we taught him a way powerful restoration lesson and he just look like he had a million things going through his mind the whole time. When we asked him what his thoughts were, he replied "I just need to have a loooong talk with God tonight. I have to know if this is true!". This is why I will never NOT want to be a missionary. Statements of total faith like that. Worth it.
 
We had our last Mission Leadership Council with the Claytons yesterday. It was pretty unforgettable, and a lot harder than I thought it would be haha. The spirit was super strong and it was definitely a sight to see 14 pairs of zone leaders and the mission presidency all in tears. There's a tradition where all of the departing missionaries bear there testimony at the end of the meeting so we got to hear it from President and Sister Clayton. We've heard their testimonies a thousand times, but it was never like this. President's was short, he looked at us all in the eyes and just said "I Know". It was two words but the most powerful testimony I've ever heard. We all knew that we were his, and that if there was a time where our testimonies wavered, we could always lean on the ones of President and Sister Clayton. That's what makes good leaders, people.
 
At the end of MLC yesterday President Clayton wrote the word "opposition" on the board. He said that these past few weeks have been rough for him, that Satan is angry with the work going on in the California San Diego Mission, and that Satan is attacking the mission more than he has ever seen. He looked at us and said "Look forward to opposition, it will make you mighty. Don't be afraid to repent, it will make you mighty. Work through the pain, it will make you mighty". When we return to the presence of Heavenly Father, we need to be mighty. Opposition is an incredible opportunity to become more like our Savior. Besides, we can't rise if we don't fall.
 
I love you! Be SO happy and know that people are praying for you over here in the promised land:)
 
All my heart,
 
Hermana Hess