SERVICE FOR DAYS

Hey Y'all:) Well this week was so crazy. So much happened. I'll sum it up then I'll go into detail. We built a mud house. Married a couple (in the Church), built a street (as in road), and saved like 20 houses from flooding. Ok so first, building the mud house was so cool! It is crazy how they do it down here! What they do is form mud out of wood boxes (about 2 and a half feet long). From there you let the mud dry for two days. Then you just stack them like you are playing legos! To stick the blocks together we used more mud as a cement to hold everything together nice and tight! Really cool. Cant wait too see the end result. I'll send you pics when it's all done:) Ok so Chenny and her husband got married!!! It was so cool! We had the wedding in the Church. The weddings here are a lot different hahaha! Basically you just sign a paper in front of everyone and that's it. It's not really a party type thing. But after the wedding they handed out Chinese food to everyone:) So that was really yummy! Their baptism is this Saturday. But it turns out El Chao (the Husband) is addicted to smoking. He never told us until now. So right now we are deciding if we should just baptize Chenny and her Daughter Dixie or if we should wait until he stops smoking... Really hard situation. But we are helping him as much as we can to stop smoking! He has already stopped drinking coffee so we have a lot of faith that he can stop smoking:) Ok as for the street that we are making. It's hard work because there are no tools to help us, we just use our bare hands to get the job done. First we have to level the road. And then move huge rocks and place them in the road so we don't use a lot of cement. From there we just drop  a ton of cement on it to level it all out. Really cool. Doing service is one of my favorite parts of my mission:) And for the Flooding. The biggest rain storm of the year hit this Wednesday. It was coming down so hard.. At first it was really cool! We couldn't even hear each other talk because it was coming down so hard. We were walking to a lesson that we had planned but we got stopped by a little kid who was trying to dig a ditch so the water didn't flood his house. He was trying to make the water flow in another direction. Well, at first we weren't that worried but then the rain started coming down twice as hard. Then we realized, "Ah flip it really is going to flood all the houses." We dropped all of our stuff and started digging. We did that for an hour and a half and saved all of the houses:) Other than that we had a lot of great lessons and got most of our investigators to church yesterday:) It was a really good week! Well I love you all!! Hope you guys understand this Email haha! 

Love Elder Hess

The Road were building

Right before it started dumping down!

Saving the houses from Flooding

Workin

Selfies:)

The Wedding:)

MIRACLES

So as a missionary you teach and testify every day the power of the Priesthood. And the importance of Prophets and Apostles (Amos 3:7) So when I heard the news about Elder Perry it was really sad for me. One of the 12 apostles of the Savior had past away. I remember thinking while I was working that day "Why is nobody sad? How come no one knows about his passing?" But then a thought came into my mind and it just told me. "That is why you are here Elder Hess. To let the people know of the Power and Authority that we have in this Church." We are the only true Church on this earth and we are the only Church who has the power of God. It really does work miracles. I have seen so many miracles in my mission, it blows my mind. I'll give an example that just happened. The other day we had a lesson with a really awesome Family! They all want to be baptized. But they have to get married first for them to do it. And there is no way they can pay for it. So after the lesson it was time to have dinner 8'clock. As we were walking home an American yells "ELDERS." He ran up to us and told us he was from Utah! A member. He invited us to Dinner and of course we said yes, I was about to Die of hunger.. We talked about a lot of things. Like why he is here, what he is doing and little things like that. Then he asked about the investigators. I told him about the family who we just taught and he said I'll tell you what Elders. Get them a set Baptismal date and I'm going to pay for the wedding. He said don't tell them you are going to pay for the wedding until you know they are ready to be baptized, because he wanted it to be a True conversion process. I couldn't have agreed more. I was so happy I had tears running down my eyes. And then on the Spot, he gave us 500$ to pay for the wedding. So the next day we passed by their house again and they told us "Elders, were going to sell the house and move into a smaller one just to have the money to get married so we can be baptized." I could not believe it.... I told them the great news and they all started to cry. They could not believe it. They were so happy. All crying with HUGE smiles on their faces. There is going to be a lot of left over money so we are just going to donate it to the missionary fund here in the branch. God puts us all in the spots that we need to be in, in the right timing too. God is always making miracles happen and helping out his children. I love this church so much. I love our Father In Heaven. I know that he is always watching us. I love you all. Love Elder Hess

The moon has a ring around it every night here.. Cool

Mud houses (really nice ones)

This is how they make tortillas

MARIA Y SOBEIDA

This was such a great week. I'll start off first by saying that Maria and Sobeida were baptized! It was so awesome! My comps first 2 baptisms:) and he only has like 12 days in the mission haha! It was a really big blessing being able to perform the ordinance. It was my first baptism in a Rio. My comp and I were running a little late to the Baptism (we had to do tithing, it was on a Sunday). When we arrived the whole Branch was there and 9 investigators!! They actually kept their promise and went haha! We sang a hymn and had 2 talks. One of the talks was by Sister Olga (the lady who was Baptized 2 weeks ago) it was such a good talk. She even started crying when she started to Testify about the Church. I was so proud of her. Well from there we did the Baptisms. Maria and I went first and everything went perfectly. Then it was Elder Canel's turn hahahahaha! Lets just say Sister Sobeida is a little on the heavy side... and Elder Canel can't do a push up... So when he "Dunked" her he could not get her back up haha! I'm honestly laughing while writing this because I can still just picture it in my head! When she went under he started going under too and the current of the river took him off his feet and he started floating down the river while she was under water haha! He finally got her up and she had no idea what even happened. She was calm the whole time, which is a miracle in this country. The baptism when great, and it was a very special day for Maria, Sobeida, Elder Canel, and I. And for our King who is watching over us. I don't know if I have ever told you all the story of how we first came in contact with Maria and Sobeida so I'll tell it now. We went to go visit Sister Olga to set a baptismal date and when we walked in we saw Maria and Sobeida. They were buying tortillas from Sister Olga. When they saw us they literally started to run for the door so we wouldn't talk to them but Elder Ola and I followed them out to the street and started to talk to them. We set an appointment for the next day (but they gave us a fake address) so we asked Olga if she could show us where they lived. We found the house and gave them a lesson. When we arrived though they told us that they didn't have any time because they had "Work" but we told them that it would only take about 5 minutes of their time. The lesson ended up lasting about 45 minutes because they had so many questions. From there, they were pure Gold and were baptized in 5 weeks. This church is true and I know that Jesus Christ personally directs it. I am so happy to be out here on my mission.

Love Elder Hess

This is Ana. She is special needs but is my favorite person in the World.

Sisters Olga's Kitchen

Making Tortillas

Maria & Sobeida baptism

White White White

The Branch all showed up again:)

Sister Maria in the Water:)

Team Latino;)

Sorry, this is the top view.

I'm really not that tall... The people are just so dang small here ha

NEW CAMERA

OK so I don't have too much time.. but I have a new Comp! His name is Elder Canel and he is from Guatemala! He now has 5 days in the mission so he's just a greenie! But he is really awesome and we seem to be getting along great! Training is always fun! New missionaries always have a really great energy! He is always so excited to leave the door in the morning I love it! This week we ran all over the place! He isn't really used to walking but he will get a hang of it soon haha! We have to stop for water a lot because he says he's dying haha! He makes me laugh a lot. He's a convert of about 4 years ago and has 100%  turned his life around. He's 19 and loves soccer just like every other companion I have had haha! He really wants to learn English! So I am helping him with that during language study! SO this week we had a very cool experience. We had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom with an investigator. We taught the lesson and she said "Well Elders I'll be honest, I was never in life planning on giving up coffee.. but, the spirit has just touched my heart and I promise I'll never drink coffee again." She also said she wanted to get baptized:):) It was my comps first lesson in the mission too. He was so pumped haha! Well I love you all!! Give the missionaries names of people to teach in your wards!! Love you all!!

Love Elder HEss

Piggy

Average Honduran Street (actually a little nicer than others..)

Our little Church:)

As you can all see I've lost 200 pounds... These two girls have a baptism date for this upcoming Sunday:)

That guy is one of my favorite members (always gives me Pepsi)

I'm really not that tall of a person... lol

My new comp Elder Canel and Hermana Olga!!! I love her to Death!!

Funniest little girl. Her dad in the back is the Man too. MEMBERS:)

MORE CHANGES

Hey ya'll. How ya'll durn? Ok well I have about two seconds to write because Elder O has CHANGES... Ya.. I am pretty sad. I don't know who is coming but I will be sure to let you guys know everything next email:) But yeah I am going to miss Ola. We have become really close and I feel like we had a lot of success over these past 6 weeks. We have plans of hanging out after the mission so that's good to know! So this week went so good. I had a great Elders Quorum class. The best one that I have had. People even told me after how strong they felt the spirit. So that made me so happy. Also we just got moved up to the institute teachers. So now we're the counters, secretary, Elders Quorum President, Primary Teachers, Sunday School Teachers and any other calling you can think of ha! But it's great! I love you guys!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Well this week was great! I got to skype home for Mother's Day! It was fun to see everyone! Well today I don't have too much time.. but, I'll update you guys on the Baptism. Hermana Olga was baptized everyone!! WOOO!! And we did it in a River! It was so awesome! She was crying the whole time because she understood the step she was about to take in this whole process! And the coolest part was that the WHOLE Branch showed up! How cool is that! That might not be a huge amount of members here but the ones that we have are so active and love to help. All of the members in the branch have a goal to build an actual church. They need 95 active members for Salt Lake to come down and finally break soil to build it. It might not happen right now, but we are on our way for it to be done!:) Ok so on a funny- awkward note this Sunday I had to give a class on raising kids-_- Yeah. SO just so everyone knows I don't have kids and have never even babysat anyone OK. The people here in Honduras like to hit their kids when they do something that they don't like... So I read a little talk that said "hitting your kids is an abomination in the eyes of God" well when I read that everyone got so mad and said "HOW DO YOU KNOW, YOU DON'T HAVE KIDS! YOU HAVE TO HIT THEM TO RESPECT YOU!" Well I didn't know what to say so I just got destroyed for about 10 minutes until the Stake President showed up and took over and said I was right. It was awful. But I'm just happy that's over haha! Well I love you guys!!

Love Elder Hess

Baptism of Olga

The whole branch attended the baptism:)

1 YEAR

Happy Birthday to my baby sis Tiana! I love you and just because your old now doesn't mean that you can't have a boyfriend haha! Well... Well Peeps, I have a year in the good ol mish. It all went by so fast. I have learned so much. In this Email I would like to share my testimony about everything that I have learned over these past 2 years. 

I want everyone to know that I know that Christ lives and that He is our Savior. And that he died for all of us. And that he suffered the pain of every sin, temptation, and trial in our lives. Because of him we will all live again. And if we live like him we will not only live again, but we will live with him. That is my ultimate goal in this short life that we have. I know that this is his Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is Christ's church. He is the head of it and guides it. I have also learned that Miracles are real. They are happening all around us. Literally, I have seen so many miracles in the lives of my investigators. I have also learned the importance of latter day prophets. They guide us in all. They are a huge blessing from God. Just like Amos 3:7 says. Also that Jose Smith was a prophet of God. And he really did see God the Father and his son Jesus Christ and through him God and his Son restored the church of Jesus Christ on the earth again. This Church will never fall. I love this church so much, I love our Savior and I know that God is listening to our Prayers and if we listen he will always answer them as well. We can only reach full happiness through this church and through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I feel so blessed to be raised in this wonderful church. Just like Nephi, I was raised of Goodly parents ha. I love you all and remember why we are here on this earth!

Love Elder HESS