I Always Get Along with the Crazies (Week #68)

Our area is great! Still super huge! I don't know if I told you but the Zone is just about a third of the whole mission. Yeah we travel all over and go on exchanges fairly often. Went on one this week with Elder B.

This zone is way different because it's so spread out we don't see much of everyone but we're working on it. It seems like a good mix of older and younger missionaries. We're pretty young for zone leaders which is crazy but yeah.


R dissapeared. We haven't seen him in a while. But we met his daughter and she's interested so that was cool. We found a bunch of new people. We just have to make sure they're solid.

We've had exchanges with the AP's a bunch because we're new. We always play basketball in missionary clothes so they know what they're getting into. 

I always get along with the crazies...cause I sass them and then they think I'm a punk. exactly what didn't work on all my teachers in school works really well for Texans...I get complimented a lot for being myself and not a robot missionary...

E's son is awesome. he wants to go on a mission. Really funny guy and he's super helpful. He gets along
with people really well.


What has been your biggest challenge this week?It wasn't really a challenge, more like weirdness. As ZL's we're in charge of zone meeting and making trainings and stuff. And it's weird when people are taking notes of what you're saying...

What has been your biggest success?There's a member who was leaving for his mission in Korea but his flight got cancelled and his mom had to work, so we got to work with him for a day. And he said we answered a really big question he had during the day. I don't know what the question was but I hope it was something good haha

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?Probably M, Sister E's son. We get along really well.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?The car has been a huge blessing. We had a day that I swear felt like 130 degrees. It was so hot and we were walking around and i was drenched in sweat. so we went back to the car and drove with the ac blasting for a while.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?We're going to see a ton of miracles going for our goal. It's going to be awesome.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?I like 2 Nephi 2. It talks about Jacob and how he saw all things that were to come, just like Nephi did. It's interesting how testimonies can come if we ask.

Love you guys! Have a good week!
Elder Hess

Painting a nonmember's wall on his roof

a lady has a pet bison 

(It licked my face. Kinda gross)

Ton of Respect Points from the Local Hoodrats (Week #67)

Things here are awesome! 

In our zone we have 8 companionships total. They're all awesome missionaries. We interact with them fairly often. Especially with the District leaders. Our job is to make sure the DLs are doing their jobs so everyone else can do theirs. It's an alright gig.

We're teaching an older guy named R. He came to church yesterday! He's a good dude. And he loved church!

We have a car but we walk a bunch around our area. Lots of people are outside here.

It's pretty weird to make zone goals. We have to make sure everyone's behind it. If there's any doubts we won't reach it.

Zone conference was awesome. President Maluenda talked a lot about how the mission applies to life after it. All the choices we make here are the choices we'll make later. He talked alot about future wives and husbands and stuff...Freaky....


What has been your biggest challenge this week?
Biggest challenge has been figuring out how to inspire people to do better haha that's pretty much our job and I'm still figuring it out...

What has been your biggest concern?
Getting people to church. We worked suuuper hard this week and it paid off.

What has been your biggest success?
We worked in a trio with one of the APs for like 4 days and we prossballed these kids in the projects on an 8 foot hoop and just absolutely wrecked them...dunking and stuff. And then we were walking by a park like 4 hours after and they started talking trash and challenging us and stuff (in good humor. Not meanly or anything) and so we played 8 on 3 with them on a 10 foot hoop and wrecked them again. haha We found 8 investigators out of it and got a ton of respect points from the local hoodrats too.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
Sister E. She's awesome! She has a super strong testimony and loves the missionaries. She'd do anything for us. We go eat at her house twice a week and take her son to lessons with us. They're super cool.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
We got to know a lot of the members who gave us their friends to work with. So we have somewhere to start with now. haha

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
I've been rereading the BOM in Spanish. And I'm noticing a lot of the mistakes Laman and Lemuel made. In 1 Nephi 15 (i think), Nephi talks about asking with faith and following commandments. All they had to do
was ask in faith and they'd have the same testimony Nephi did but they never took the time to do it. Really dumb.

Love you guys!
Elder Hess

Life Got Super Crazy Real Quick (Week #66)

Life got super crazy real quick....

I'm working in the biggest zone in the mission. Same zone I was in earlier. Elder Stone is my companion now! I've been hoping for it for a long time. He's my best friend here. We're the zone leaders here. So we're in charge of 16 missionaries and planning everything and helping them to improve. Pretty much overblown cheerleaders.

Elder N didn't get a greenie this time. I think just about everyone told him he was going to train.

It's not too hot actually. We've had a ton of rain and a little bit of flooding. Everything's been pretty cool so far. For Texas at least.


What has been your biggest challenge this week?
We're whitewashing our area. So we have no idea what's happening right now. haha Our mission president goes home after this transfer and all the higher up leaders in the mission go home soon too. So they pretty much switched all them out for younger missionaries so they can learn before President Torres gets here.

What has been your biggest concern?
We set a really high goal for our zone this month for baptisms. So we're working really hard on increasing the faith of all the missionaries so we can hit it. It's a goal that's never been hit here before. We're trying to make history.

What has been your biggest success?
We had a zone meeting with all the missionaries and we talked about unity. We figured since me and Elder Stone are together, there has to be a reason. We're super unified and this zone is really hard to have unity in because it's so spread out. So we trained about it and I feel like it went really well.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
Elder Stone!!! He's an awesome guy. Super funny.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
Last night, the zone leaders in Harlingen called me just to thank me for my help last transfer. They said I helped the missionaries out a ton there, and the fruits are coming now that I left. We struggled the whole time to bring people to church and they brought 7 this last Sunday. Super cool. Nice to know the work doesn't go wasted.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?
We have a zone conference with President this Thursday. It's one of the last times we'll see him so I'm interested to hear what he has to say.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.
We want to baptize someone and get our goal going.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
We talked about 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 with the zone and focused on how we're all different but have the same purpose.

Love you guys!
Elder Hess

You Could See His Eyes Get Big and He was Super Confused (Week #65)

Life is good!

A was pretty dissapointing. He didn't come to church this Sunday either but we talked to him the other day. I think he's sticking around. 

This sunday we had I think 6 people who said they would definitely be at church. 2 of them actually showed up. Their names are P and D. I think they're 13 and 16 or something like that. The young women in this branch are awesome fellowshippers. 

Members come out with us fairly often. There's a member named R who used to go out with us, but he's kinda struggling right now. We're helping grow the members testimonies more so they're more willing to help out.

The A's Dad was baptized just a few months ago. This Sunday was the first time that their whole family
showed up to church. I'm good buddies with their 7 and 4 year old kids, F and L. Funny little kids.

The other English ward likes to do missionary talent things and so they decided to do a musical thing. And I didn't volunteer for any of the numbers but somehow I ended up in 5 of them...And I'm too quiet to sing in the gym far away from the microphone so that threw me off...

Transfers are tomorrow. I think Elder N will get a greenie to train this next one. That's the only one I'm sure about. But I think we could both go. Just a feeling I don't know. Elder N's doing great. He's super cool. 

That's so cool about DJ's call! 


What has been your biggest challenge this week?
Staying focused in the area. We didn't hit any of our weekly goals which was kind of a downer cause I feel like we worked super hard, we just weren't seeing the fruits. So Saturday night I prayed that we would see the fruits of our labors and we had 2 people at church! Pretty cool stuff.

What has been your biggest concern?
I've been praying Elder N doesn't get transferred. He's been a perfect companion.

What has been your biggest success?
I think finally getting people to church was a good one.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
Elders M and R. We got invited to a baccalaureate thing for the graduating class here by Sister D to show that we're Christians too. And me and N called them 5 minutes before, and they came with us. It was kinda weird cause it was in a different church but it was awesome. They're really fun guys.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
At the thing at the other church, they had a guest speaker dude who apparently has said some anti-Mormon stuff before. And he didn't know we were there so he started talking and he looked at us and you could see his eyes get big and he was super confused. But he said stuff that felt directed at us. He said that no matter what the
graduates do, they should do it in the service of the Lord. He said "no matter what you do, school, work, military, You will be missionaries in a mission field." It was weird wording to use...

What are you looking forward to this coming week?
Seeing what happens with transfers and such. I hope not much changes.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.
Keep getting those 2 to church and build off it.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
We've been sharing Mosiah with a lot of people. I think it's pretty simple. We follow the commandments and we get happy.

Love you guys!
Elder Hess

We helped a lady out who owns a bunch of monkeys

Our zone!

Played the Piano for Primary and We Didn't Suck! (Week #64)

Life is good! This week was pretty long but really good!

So yeah 3 day was all the leaders in the whole mission. Probably about 60 people. I learned a lot about having a good attitude and how to change a bad one to a good one. Tons about the Book of Mormon and how to use it in lessons and stuff like that.

Elder Katieli is awesome. He's a super good example for me. I've learned that when you work really hard in an area, even if you get transferred from it, you'll still get the blessings in the next one.

Soooo A....We went by him on Sunday to help him get to church and stuff...and he told us his girlfriend is now pregnant and he has to leave up north to work...Ironic thing is we taught him the law of chastity last week and he told us after that he was going to do what he wanted cause he's not baptized. Don't you love it when those
consequences come so quick? Fabulous.


What has been your biggest challenge this week?
We've been trying to find a way to involve the members in the work more and it's tough cause they work. But luckily we got to do splits with the M boys on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. They're awesome kids.

What has been your biggest concern?
Well A was kind of a concern cause we knew he wasn't following the LOC...And we see how that turned out sooooo yeahhhhh....

What has been your biggest success?
We've been working really hard with the A family to get them to come to church and they came this week which was awesome!

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
I got to work with Elder M on exchanges. He's a blast. Really smart kid. 

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
Probably having the A family come. We also got to teach the youth class on Sunday about mission prep and then played the piano for Primary and we didn't suck! So that was good.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?
Working hard for the end of the transfer!

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.
We're going to find someone to baptize. We know there's a miracle out there somewhere.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
I saw a parable I'd never seen before in Corinthians I think. It was about the body of Christ and how we're all baptized into his "body" or church. And all the parts of that body are different but all important and all do some good. It was really interesting.

Love you guys!
Elder Hess

Prayed Super Hard the Night Before and God Answered It (Week #63)

My weeks been really good. Lots of cool stuff happened.


What has been your biggest challenge this week?
I was out of my area for 3 days for that big meeting thing so i didn't really know what was going on over there.

What has been your biggest concern?
We've been pushing super hard and working really hard but nothing's been happening for a bit, which is super confusing. We want to build God's kingdom but we couldn't see the fruits recently. It seems like everywhere I look, people talk about planting seeds and saving the 1 from the 99, and I feel like that's what's been happening the last few weeks.

What has been your biggest success?
It wasn't really our success...we didn't do anything besides be worthy of a miracle...but we had a guy named A show up to church who has a member cousin and was taught by some missionaries about a year ago. He reaaaaally wants to be baptized and is a really good guy. I'm really excited for him. I prayed super hard the night before and God answered it.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
Elder VK and Elder M. I got to work with them for 3 day, and they're 2 of my favorite people here. Really fun, happy guys. Elder VK goes home in about 2 weeks so it was good to see him before that.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
Probably A showing up to church. I really needed that to feel like we're doing good here.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?
Meeting A some more and finding more people who need us.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.
We're doing a district olympics to build unity and we're going to do some fun little competitions and stuff.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
Probably the story of the 1 lost sheep. Sometimes all God needs is to help that one. Like in Elder Bednar's talk this last conference.

Love you guys a lot!
Elder Hess

Check out what we found in our apartment while cleaning it

Some pictures from 3 day

We Help Each Other Keep a Positive Attitude All the Time (Week #62)

Right now we don't have anybody really that's progressing. It's pretty frustrating but we've been doing all we can so we know it's just a trial we have to go through for now. Nobody came to church but we had some less actives we've been working with like the C family come which was really cool.


What has been your biggest challenge this week?
Having to drop a lot of people. It's not fun but when they're not going anywhere or acting we have to be patient and let them figure it out for a bit.

What has been your biggest concern?
Making sure we're patient with ourselves. We're trying super hard to find and to help as many people as we can but we have to follow the Spirit to know if someone's going to act or not.

What has been your biggest success?
Having the C family at church was awesome. They hadn't been in a while and we finally got them to come which is an awesome step.

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
Elder N. We help each other keep a positive attitude all the time and we work together really well.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
We brought some mac and cheese to P, and she was super thankful which was nice. She told us if we feel like we haven't helped anyone here we've at least helped her out to gain a stronger testimony and stuff. And she hadn't eaten in like 3 days because her surgery was rough and the food is gross so she was really appreciative.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?
We have 3 day this week. It's a meeting where all the mission leaders get together and learn and stuff. I've heard it's awesome. but I have to sing there which I'm not too excited about.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.
Find some people to progress and help.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
I've been reading a lot of Preach My Gospel and developing Christlike attributes. I like to learn about faith because I'm not completely sure I understand the full power of it yet. But i learned a ton about developing it in Alma 32.

Btdubs I attached a musical number I did a couple months ago. Elder M played the violin for it, and I sang the first part and Elder T did the second and elder A the 3rd.

Love you guys!
Elder Hess

Here's a pig on a farm we've been helping take care of. It's 700 lbs.

named Salsa

He Legit Called Us Peter and James From then On (Week #61)

Life is awesome. I love Harlingen. Elder N is still the greatest. The Elders and Sisters are doing great. Elder M was Elder S's comp last transfer and he's a great kid. He plays pretty much every instrument and such. Elder O is a good kid. Still learning about missionary life. He's a convert of about a year and a half. Sister H is super cool and fun. She's quiet but is down to do anything to help people out. Sister S is funny. Sister F is a boss. She
surfs and acts like it. Really chill, dedicated lady. Sister Sc is super sassy, and she'll fire my sarcasm right back at me. They're a great group.

Church attendance isn't really happening right now but we'll get there. We've been working for it, it's just a matter of being patient now.

We did play basketball but only a few people showed up this time. That's expected when there's new missionaries though...

We have zone activities just about every pday. We play basketball, have dart wars, etc. Today we're going to play indoor soccer. All sorts of stuff.

Elder Holland is really in tune with the Spirit so yeah he told us himself he sends people home based on his handshake interviews. I can attach part of the talk he gave. It was awesome.


What has been your biggest challenge this week?
Making sure people are pumped to receive miracles. Being in charge of missionaries is weird because you always have to be aware of how their attitude is.

What has been your biggest concern?
We may have to drop pretty much everyone we've been teaching because they're not progressing at all.

What has been your biggest success?
Well, I was ordained an apostle. By a crazy investigator. We were teaching him and all of a sudden he was like "I see you guys as disciples of Jesus Christ (he meant apostles). And so from now on between you me and Jesus your names will be Peter and James. (then he crossed himself and said hallelujah a couple times)" So that was
pretty cool. He legit called us Peter and James from then on. Super fun. haha

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?
Probably the peeps in my district. We played soccer for our workout in the morning and we have a bunch of fun together.

What has been your most significant tender mercy?
We found a couple people that are really interested in us coming by. It's nice to have people that may be interested after a bunch of people who don't go anywhere.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?
Not Skyping that's for sure....haha Probably getting to know our investigators a little better and finding out how we can help them.

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.
Our goal is to keep working hard. We've been doing all we possibly can to receive miracles so now we're going to keep working and watch them happen.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?
I really like the story of the brother of Jared. He came up with a suuuper simple plan and trusted in God enough to make it happen. Good example for us.

Have a great week! Love you guys!
Elder Hess

She Swears a Lot...But She's Awesome! (Week #60)

This week has been insane....

My new comp is amazing. I love him. I can already tell he'll be my best one so far. He's from Grantsville, Utah. He's reaaaallly spiritual and focused but also loves to joke around. We get along really well.

Things have been great. They also added a companionship of Elders into my district. I now have Elders M (Utah), O (Greenie from Vegas), and Sisters H (the only one that stayed), S (Dallas), F (California), and Sc (Wyoming). They're awesome. Really good peeps.

Well, our investigators didn't come to church, but they're progressing a little bit right now..

So our members and missionaries basketball game kinda changed cause so many members and nonmembers came so we just switched teams around and played a bunch of 3 on 3 games. Elder N hasn't played in the
games here yet but he's pretty good. We won all but one. We didn't do it last week but we're doing it this one.

Elder H was excited because he's going back to an area he'd served in before but he was sad to leave. He had been here for 6 months. 

We speak English at church but we still try to find Spanish speaking people.


What has been your biggest challenge this week?Getting to know the people in my district...It was awkward because the actual transfers happened on a Wednesday because bad weather delayed the greenie's flight. So we had an awkward extra day to work and
stuff. So we didn't have any meetings to really get to know each other until today...But they're awesome!

What has been your biggest concern?Finding people to baptize. They seem to be stuck in the mode of "oh talking to the missionaries makes me feel good so that's enough" And so we're trying to change that.

What has been your biggest success?We've been working a lot with P. She has some bad health issues and has wanted a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon to help her through her stuff. And so we've been going over every night and sharing scripture stories with her. She said she feels more complete now which is awesome. I love her a ton. We talk a lot of trash. haha She said she can trust me and knows I'm real because I'm an "A-Hole." hahaha She swears a lot...but she's awesome!

Who has been your favorite person this week? Why?Jeffrey R Holland. He's the reason we didn't email yesterday. He came down to visit the mission and to talk to us....Terrifying. I've heard some scary stories about that dude. He shakes everyone's hand as they come in and stares into their eyes for just a second. And he'll send you home if the Spirit tells him you shouldn't be there. Thank goodness I'm all good, haha but he trained us a lot on having the Spirit and teaching by it. It was awesome. The spirit was palpable...(that's right. I said Palpable...)

What has been your most significant tender mercy?Having Elder N as a comp. Elder H was a good comp, definitely. Elder N is a spiritual giant for sure.

What are you looking forward to this coming week?Working hard. I'm fired up to go!

Do you have a goal set for this coming week? Tell me about it.We're working on daily service as a district and so we're keeping track of how many service things we do a day.

Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week?Elder Holland shared 3rd Nephi 17 with us when he's healing the people. And he really pointed out the words "All" and "every one". As in everyone is afflicted somehow even if it's not physical. We've been sharing it a lot.

Have a great week! Love you guys!
Elder Hess