They Really Deserve to Be a Ward (Week #53)

What has been your biggest challenge this week?
We're working as a zone on being EXACTLY obedient and it's tough! Especially when you write down every single rule and find some you didn't even know about. hahaha Awkward!

What has been your biggest concern?
We found a guy named J and we tried really hard to get him to come to church but he didn't. So we're concerned about that.

What has been your biggest success?
Actually finding somebody who could be really good. J is 19 and he turned off his video games and homework to listen to us. Super unexpected.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
The whole branch really. They're so cool. They really deserve to be a ward. They're working so hard and I hope they see the fruits of it soon.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
Finally getting that winter coat that I so desperately need now that it's summer weather (photo attached)

What are you looking forward to this coming week?
Transfers are tomorrow! It's gonna be crazy I can already tell.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.
Get J going to church and progressing.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
I've been reading a lot of conference talks and I love the one that talked about the 7 year old girl who got in the plane crash. I can't remember who gave it but It made me realize we're supposed to help them get to that light in the distance so they don't have to do it alone.

I'm doing great!!

I think I'm staying and Elder P is leaving for transfers, but they blow my mind every time.

Hope you have a great week! Love you guys!
Elder Hess

The B family

...and my new coat

....I can be that weird guy at
school that wears his coat 24/7 now

Didn't Sound Like Garbage (Week #52)

Weeks been good! I left for a couple days on exchange again and I came back and nothing had been done in my area basically...So that was frustrating. But i got to see Elder A from the MTC!! He's a great dude.

My debit card hasn't been working...the pin would be nice...


We had a ton of less actives in church! It was really cool. Some people I'd never seen before!

I don't know if we served five but we did help a lot. We did yard work for a long time with a family in the branch. It was a lot of fun. Got to weed whack the heck out of some weeds.

What has been your biggest challenge this week?Trying to catch up on our goals after the exchange. I really have no idea what happened while I was gone but it wasn't much.

What has been your biggest concern?That guy who's writing the essay we talked to a couple weeks ago keeps texting us with these insanely detailed, researched questions trying to catch us in some kind of trap or make us doubt or something. Bunch of crap about the rosetta stone and joseph smith and stuff. Really dumb.

What has been your biggest success?We've been working with a less active named N to get his girlfriend to come to church and this week she did! It was awesome. Hopefully she'll let us teach her.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?Probably Elder K. He's who I was on the exchange with. Just a really humble kid, ready to learn.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?Our missionary music fireside didn't sound like garbage...It went pretty well actually.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?I'm looking forward to having a whole week in my area. Hopefully it actually happens.


Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.Reach all the goals we have set haha we're struggling.


Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?Alma 32:34 I talked about it at the music conference. I think Sister S sent some pictures of it to you. 


Have a great week!
Love you guys!
Elder Hess

Service Shows Love Really Well (Week #51)

We had a good week! I'm doing good. Elder P is doing fine. The best things about Laredo..I don't know it's all really good. It's different from everywhere else. Like you have super white places and then there's really Spanish places. All mixed together. Pretty cool the vibe this city has.

E is doing great. She got confirmed this Sunday and is loving it. 

During the exchange, Elders P and G went to E's house and her cousin who's a member had made an ice cream cake and bought some of those Lindor truffles to thank us. Wish I'd have been there but they saved us some so that was cool.

I've taken more pictures here than I've taken in my whole life combined. We aren't allowed to use members
computers to email so we use the library. We only get and hour and 15 minutes.

Brother B lends us books that'll help us teach. Like a book on 50 questions people ask about the church and how to answer them. And a book on covenants and how they're essential to salvation. They're both written by Joseph Fielding McConkie. Awesome books.

What has been your biggest challenge this week?We had a surprise meeting in McAllen because Lawrence E. Corbridge came in to talk to us. So we had to find a ride so we would have miles and stuff. Luckily we were able to and we had a great meeting. He talked a lot about conversion and how to help people reach it.

What has been your biggest concern?Investigators still. Everyone we've found has been Spanish so we pass them off to the zone leaders to teach.


What has been your biggest success?We found a less active member that really wants to go to church again. She is a really really nice lady.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?Elder A. It was super fun working 2 days with him. We joked around and and laughed a lot while finding a lot of new people for them.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?Yesterday we had a member offer to go out with us for the evening and he lead us to the less active that we found. His name is R. He's a good guy.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?We've been focusing on the less active members and we're going to focus on serving them somehow this week.


Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.We want to help 5 people with service this week. It shows love really well.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?My patriarchal blessing actually. I think I've finally figured out ho to study it and now it's a lot deeper than I thought it was.

Hope you have a great week!
Love you guys!
Elder Hess


Pics of the week!

Our roadtrip to McAllen!

A 7 year old wrote this in my planner.
I thought it was really nice but then I realized at 7
that's like the biggest commitment you can make to a dude...

.....and right now in the library
Because you said so 

Everything Gets Brighter (Week #50)

I'm doing great! Everyone's being nice and stuff. All is well in Zion. (just kidding, that's actually a bad thing)


So yeah we found some new investigators...We had a guy who came up to us and said he was writing an essay on our religion and pretty much asked every question imaginable for like 2 hours straight.

The best way to find investigators is probably just being myself. Like having fun with it. When I'm tired and a robot, nothing happens but when we're joking around and having fun it's great.


The missionary choir sings on the 28th.

So yeah E got baptized!! It went super well. 


What has been your biggest challenge this week?Probably finding time for everything. We've been trying to help as many people as possible this week but planning has been super important.

What has been your biggest concern?Making sure Satan doesn't get a chance to stop E from baptism.

What has been your biggest success?She done been baptized!! She told us about how she was having dreams about she's in a really dark space and can't move or wake up and then the missionaries show up and G. Super sweet.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?Either Brother B or the Ls. The Ls are like the perfect family and are missionaries times 100. They try to fellowship everyone as much as they can and take really good care of the missionaries. And Brother B just really cares about us and loans us a bunch of books to help us out. He really cares about his family and is trying to set a better example for them.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?Realizing that we're recognized. We were walking down the street and this dude was working outside and all he asked was where we were going and then handed us a rake because he knew we would help out. Pretty cool.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?We're having an exchange for almost 3 days. So I get to go work with Elder A. He's a blast so it's gonna be awesome.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.Focus on being guided by the spirit. It's super important.


Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?We had a zone meeting and they really focused on the Book of Mormon and sharing it. In specific, 3rd Nephi 11 when Jesus comes and visits the Nephites. We've shared it maybe 10 times this week and IDK if I ever shared it, but we went caving in scouts and Bishop Johnson took us to the very back of a cave and turned off all the lights and shared his testimony about their experience. It really hit me that that was a huge boost for my testimony.

Hope y'all have a great week!
Love you guys!
Elder Hess

That Was a Plus (Week #49)

Life is good! We still speak in Spanish because half of our area is Spanish and we don't know whose house we're knocking on so it doesn't change much besides the branch we attend. We always study spanish.


E is loving the YSA. She's all set for next week and is really excited.

The missionary choir is singing in a couple weeks. We sound a little rough but we're getting there. We're singing a song called "Everywhere I Go"


and "Be Still My Soul"

  

and the efy medley....



Should be a good one.


What has been your biggest challenge this week?
Getting members to join us on lessons. Our area has a lot of people who work all day so we have to figure out when they're off and pretty often they work until late...

What has been your biggest concern?
Making sure E is ready. And she is!!

What has been your biggest success?
We've been working with the E family and helping them go to the temple to get sealed and they're making progress! They all came to church together!

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
Brother S! He's the biggest punk in the world but he's really funny. And he tazed me so that was a plus.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
Singing in the choir. It's a weird throwback to Encore days.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?
Baptizing E!!

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.
Getting some progressing investigators to come to church and settle on a date!

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
Ether 12:27. We've been helping the less active members to strengthen their faith and become stronger in God!

Love you guys!
Elder Hess

I've Decided to Procrastinate Procrastinating (Week #48)

Yep I'm still in Laredo with Elder Pierce. I think it's a good opportunity to learn to be a great example not just a good one. Life is good right now. No problems.

We were teaching a lot. They decided to have the missionaries only cover one branch each now. So we lost all our investigators and gave them to the zone leaders to teach. It should make things simpler though because now we can focus on our English branch more and what they need. Luckily E decided to go to YSA so we can keep teaching her.

I've decided to procrastinate procrastinating.

What has been your biggest challenge this week?Shifting all of our investigators and potentials to other missionaries. We had some people that were pretty good but were in Spanish...


What has been your biggest concern?Making sure E comes to church. We went by everyday to make sure she came.

What has been your biggest success?She came to church and finally settled on a date! She prayed about it with us and said she wants to be baptized the 14th!!! And then she came to church!

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?Elder A. He's the most ridiculously goofy dude in the world. He's a really good example of a great attitude all the time.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?There's a YSA member who's planning on going on a mission soon and she's become great friends with E. She's helping her a ton. Inviting her to every activity and institute and stuff.


What are you looking forward to this coming week?We're going to be practicing a missionary choir thing for a conference on Thursday. Apparently they're going to have a bunch of missionary musical numbers for the district. It'll be really fun and hopefully won't sound awful.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.Find 4 more English investigators and have them in church. English is tough to work in...but it's doable!

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?I was asked to give a talk 20 minutes before sacrament meeting and so I shared something about prayer and faith and preparation. I shared the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (how the flip do you spell those?!) and how they had to have been prepared for that event spiritually in order to survive the fiery furnace. Idk I though it was cool.

Hope y'all have a great week!
Love you guys!
Elder Hess

Found some stuff made by Grandpa in Walmart.
"For all your dry udder needs"

....and I saw my Dream car!

MIND. FREAKING. BLOWN. (Week #47)

This week was good! Lots of good stuff happened!

First off, we already know about transfers! I'm staying up here with Elder P!! My gut was right! HA! It's crazy out of the 18 missionaries in our zone I think only 4 are moving. Really weird. Last few it's been that everyone leaves.

We found some good investigators that we talked to once and they said they would come to church (what everyone says) and then actually showed up (what no one does) So that was pretty cool.

Everybody's got issues is what I've learned on my mission. And so we have to first find the problem and then solve it. 

I never got the coat or the package from A....maybe on Tuesday...

President M is my hero. The dude straight up changed my life at interviews...We sat down and said a prayer and then he looked up like he was talking to Jesus for a second and then was like "Elder Hess. You've been called to play on the field with the ball at this moment. This is your chance to learn and improve. You have a lot of talents but you also have weaknesses. One of those, that you've faced your whole life is that when you're on the field, you find yourself slowly walking to the backseat of the stadium. You've been called to play. So don't procrastinate, go play. You're in charge." MIND. FREAKING. BLOWN. And I think we can all agree that I've had issues with procrastination before....Sooo yeah no more.

Senior companion is tough. I've never been more tired in my life. But it's awesome. Weird to be in charge of making decisions and stuff.

What has been your biggest challenge this week? 

Getting E to church. We had contact with her everyday. I'm not super sure why she didn't come...

What has been your biggest concern? 

Same thing. Just getting people to church. We want them to progress and they won't if they don't come.

What has been your biggest success?

Those 2 random people who showed up. Their names are J and L. We only talked to them on Wednesday...

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why? 

President...Ugh blown mind. Or Elder P. He's already gone down to McAllen to go home...

What has been your most significant tender mercy?

Our district staying the same for this next transfer. I love this district a lot. We only had one person change out.

What are you looking forward to this coming week? 

Figuring out what's up with E.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it. 

Make plans to make this transfer even better than last one.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?

President told me to read Genesis 39 and make plans to avoid procrastinating, and I'd never thought about it in that light. So that was cool.

Tell Bill thanks again! The L's want me to play something so we'll see what happens.

Love you guys! 

Have a great week!

Elder Hess

Pictures of the week!

Exchange with Elder Young

Service with Elders W, G, and P

Elder P is gone!!!

I Kinda Got the Slidey Thing to Work (Week #46)

Helllllooooo!

So yes! Because of the necessity as Americans to have a holiday for every single culture, we didn't get to email on Monday because the libraries were closed. But yeah! And as well, for some reason, interviews have been pushed back like 4 times...so they haven't happened yet. Hopefully on Thursday!

I occasionally practice the harmonica, but I'm still figuring it out. I kinda got the slidey thing to work a little but it's still weird. Tell him thanks for me! It's awesome! Everyone's really jealous of it haha (I'm not prideful...) I taught everyone how to play the harmonica in our district so they all bought one yesterday. It's about to spread all over the mission haha

Things are going well. The transfer is ending so I will hopefully get the package from A on Tuesday or something. And Elder P is going home!!!! I'm gonna miss him!!

What has been your biggest challenge this week? 

Priorites. Things have been going crazy with all the less actives and investigators having different needs so we have to plan really well to make sure they're all taken care of.

What has been your biggest concern? 

Making plans. I want to improve on everything at once, but I can only work on one thing and make sure it's totally done.

What has been your biggest success?

Having E at church. She brought 2 of her relatives with her and we became good buddies.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why? 

Probably Sister W. She's a sister in our zone and she's super awesome. She makes fun of stuff like i do haha 

What has been your most significant tender mercy?

We were driving home from a meeting (we were late to our apartment for a good reason) and we saw some people pushing a car. And so we parked the car and ran to help them (in our suits) and it turned out to be Sister I! And her friend was the one with the car! So we pushed their car like a half mile to their house and got to meet her. So that was pretty neat.

What are you looking forward to this coming week? 

Interviews and E's baptism!

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it. 

Stay focused! Transfers are coming up and it's super distracting thinking about where everyone is going to go.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?

I've been finishing up the Book of Mormon. It's crazy about how 4 generations after Jesus comes to the Americas, everything goes down the crapper just because of people's pride....Dumb.

Anyways! Love you guys!

Have a great week!

Elder Hess

When the sisters in our zone don't come to the meeting things get crazy....

I LOVE THE CONCH! (Week #45)

MOM'S NOTE:
The Monday evening before he left, Elder Hess and our whole family was given harmonica lessons by a man in our ward for Family Home Evening. This Brother's biggest hope was that Elder Hess would work on it and use the new skill he'd given him....Sure enough, he has. This Brother was so happy about it that he sent Elder Hess a harmonica for Christmas. None of us knew that he was going to do that...SO NICE! But Elder Hess had also asked me for one for Christmas, so I had sent one too. Mine was not nearly as fancy as the one our friend sent.

That is what Elder Hess is referring to in the first paragraph.

I asked him about exercise. I remember this being a challenge for his older sister as she served in the Philippines. Doesn't seem to be as big of a challenge for Elder Hess. :)

One of the things Elder Hess had mentioned in his previous email was a desire to become more like Shiblon in the Book of Mormon. I asked him what qualities Shiblon had that he was wanting to emulate.

****

Hooooooly poop...Yeah I got the flippin harmonica Bill sent me...It's the snazziest looking thing ever!! I just have to figure out how to work it and everything now...But yeah I got all those things except for the package from A I think.

We didn't get to meet with Sister I's friend this week but we will this coming one. We did find a really cool lady and she was really willing to listen. 

Mornings have been good. We usually wake up at 6:30 and do pushups and situps and stuff. I can almost do 100 pushups in a row..I'm getting there. But Saturdays and sometimes other days too, we wake up at 5 and play soccer at an outdoor hockey rink called the conch. Those are the best mornings. I LOVE THE CONCH!

Shiblon was faithful in everything. And one of the things I'm trying to do better at is to have Christ on my mind all the time. And so I think he had Christ on his mind and that always affected his decisions.

What has been your biggest challenge this week?We had a 3 day zone exchange this week and so I was working with Elder H. He's an awesome guy and we had a lot of fun, and got a ton of work done. But after exchanges, there's like a lull where you were super focused for 3 days and then you get back to normal and you have to keep that focus going.

What has been your biggest concern?E. We've been working with her all transfer and she hasn't really gone anywhere. I'm not super sure what we're missing..

What has been your biggest success?We found M (see above really cool lady). She kept saying "oh que bonita la obra de Jesus! que bonita que estan dedicando su tiempo a el" and all this stuff (use google translate. Ain't nobody got time fo dat)

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?Elder H. He's the most personable person. He'll go up to anybody and talk about anything. He gives the most wholehearted compliments (something I need to work on. Even the real ones come out sarcastic)

What has been your most significant tender mercy?We had about 4 different less acitve families come to church that haven't come in at least a year. It was really cool to see them get accepted by the branch.


What are you looking forward to this coming week?Interviews with Pressy on Tuesday!! Bout to have my mind blown up by all the stuff I'm doing wrong that I need to fix! I love it!!


Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.Get. Someone. To. The. Church. Like what the heck?!

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?I read about the standard of liberty in Alma 47 (I think? It's somewhere in the 40's) And I love that he had no hesitation and knew how necessary his testimony in specific was for the nation.

Transfers are in like 2 weeks I think. I love Laredo. It's amazing. So much fun. And Elder P is a great dude. Really working hard.


Have a great week!
Elder Hess

Dinner with the L's
(apparently I'm playing the harmonica at their house next week.)