ELDER OLIVAS

This past week I had the opportunity to go on Divisions with an Elder named Elder Olivas. OH MAN did I have the best time of my life. He is such a good missionary. To start the day we had a lesson with a girl named Paola. It was the weirdest lesson ever because she actually read the whole pamphlet and took notes and read every scripture. HAHAHA that never ever happens! Every question we asked her she knew the answer and we were just sitting there like "UH.... You already know everything haha.¨ She actually is going to get baptized this upcoming Saturday!:) And I'm going to do the interview:) SO I am excited to see her and feel her testimony again. Ok so second lesson. We visited some less actives and it was one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever had. The Family that we were teaching said that they don't go to church anymore because they are sick of being made fun of and being spit on and having rocks thrown at them for being a member of this Church. Well I talked about Christ and how his life was never ever easy but he kept pushing until he finished his perfect life. But they didn't really relate to it. I was a little lost and I was thinking "What do they need, what is it that THEY need to hear." Well, Elder Olivas was up. This is what he said "Going to Church is like when somebody is really hungry. When we are Hungry we eat." He then went on to say "Personally when I am hungry I want a big Pizza. But to get my Pizza I have to get up and walk to the Pizza restaurant and sometimes it is pouring rain. But that does not change the fact that I am hungry and that I want my Pizza. So what do I do?? I walk to the restaurant and get drenched. When I arrive I sit down and Enjoy every second of the Pizza. I walk out with a smile on my face and a full stomach.¨ He went on to Explain that's how church is. How it's not easy. But in the end it is all worth it. And eventually the sun will always come out. OK so saying it in English sounds so weird so I hope you guys get what I'm trying to say haha! Well the family was in tears and they all said "you're right... I want The Lord in my life and nothing can or will take him out of my life.¨ Long story short they all went to church this Sunday with huge smiles on their faces with a very full spirit. Being from Utah we don't really get attacked for being a member of this church. But the people down here are worriers and don't let a little egg slow them down. SOY MORMON! It was such a strange example but it touched every one's heart. I could feel the spirit so strong during his whole example that he shared with us! Its been a great week! Lots of ups and downs with the Goozman Family.. But we are working through it. I'll just say they looked up a Prophet on the internet and read a lot of garbage.. But light will always overcome darkness. In fact I have a picture I want to send you guys. But I'll have to send it to you next week! I love you guys!

Love Elder Hess

The view

Elder Olivas

Waiting for the bus

Pday

The boys

NEW PEOPLE TO TEACH

Well this weekend we contacted a ton! For like 5 hours a day.. We are trying to find a whole new group of people to teach! I am feeling good about it! We found someone who is very prepared to listen to our message. He went to church and loved it! He wants to get baptized! So I am very excited about that! He was actually a referral! His brother called us over and started off, the first lesson went great! After the lesson when we were walking out of the house the brother who is a member came running out to us and said Elders Wait. He stopped us and gave us both a huge bear hug. With tears in his eyes he said "Elders Thank you so much for sharing your message with my brother. You two are going to change his life for all of eternity!" It was a very touching moment for me. I loved it. It made me realize how we should treat every investigator that we have. We are all children of God. And we are all very important. Well that was the Highlight of my week! I love you guys!!!!

Love Elder Hess

#LDSGC

How is everyone doing in good Ol AMERICA! Wow, I just feel happy right now! I am currently writing this Email with a HuGe smile on my face:) How good was Conference... I loved it so much! I took a billion notes!! I learned so much. I wish more than anything that I understood the importance of General Conference when I was home.. It can build ones faith so much if they listen and study the words of the Prophets. I love our Prophet Thomas S. Monson so much. I know he is a Prophet of God. I know that God has called him to guide his people here on the earth. ALL of us should study and listen to his words. He has all of the Keys in this Church and he will not lead us down a wrong path. Well I loved the Talk by Elder Holland so much. It even made me cry a little. It talks about all the Mothers in the World. MOM, I want you to know that I love you and that I am so thankful that you raised me into a missionary in the Lord's Church. You are the best Mom on the Planet:) I'm sad its going to be another 6 months until the next Conference. I am so excited for it! This week was a good one! We focused a lot on working with the less actives in our area! It is always sad to talk to a member who has let go of the Iron Rod, but there is always a path back! We are trying to show them that path. We actually got a couple of them to go to Conference:) I love this Church so much. It is perfect, why? Because it is the Lord's Church. He guides it. He is the one that gives the Prophet's revelation. We are the only church on earth who has that wonderful blessing. We all need to go to Church as much as we can. We all need to take the Sacrament. I invite all of you to read the Sacrament Prayers and to study them. I think it might help you understand the importance of the Sabbath day. Well I love you Guys!:) Have a great week!!

GC gringo room:)

LAS FLORES

So this past week I got to go visit Las Flores! One of my old areas! Also my Favorite area! We had to teach the Stake President and all of the Bishops in the Stake. Yeah I was stressed. Anyways it was in Las Flores at 2:00 p.m. When I walked in all of the members were still there. They all just screamed "HESS!!!" It put a really big smile on my face. I saw all of the converts that we had and ALL of them were active with callings! That was such a big blessing to see! I also saw the Hermana Wendy!! The Lady who visited our house! I took some Pics with her so I'll send those to you guys! So a fast update on the Guzman family! They are getting married! Last Tuesday they sold 55 Baleadas. They  raised over 1000 Limps just to get married! The goal is to get them married on the 17th of Ocotber and to have them get baptized the next day! So awesome! Oh yeah so I have a new Comp! His name is Elder Paredes! He is super cool! We get a long great! And he is a work horse! So it's really fun to be with him! He is from Guatemala and has 22 months in the mission. He loves soccer just like the rest of em and has big plans in life! He is the man! I love you guys! I'll send you all some pictures!

All the Food they made to sell:)

 Hermana Wendy

IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES

Alright so I had an awesome week! But something awful happened. I'll start off with the good news first:) So.. Sister Elcisa got baptized! It was such a shock! We've been passing by her house for 6 weeks now. She has always gone to Church, but... Always rejected being Baptized. So we actually stopped passing by for a little bit. Then last Monday we passed by and gave her some homework. We told her to read 3 Nephi 11. When Jesus Christ came here to the Americas. Well I can't remember exactly, but Christ himself mentions the word baptism around 20 times in one chapter, and the importance of it. Well we stopped buy again on Wednesday and we wanted to set another baptismal date with her on the 26 of September. When we told her that she said "NO." I was just sitting there like "Why doesn't she feel this?" But the next thing she said was "I want to be Baptized this Saturday." I was blown away! I was so happy! I actually went over to her got on my knees and asked her "Sister how did you get your response that these things were true?" She said "I felt that the Book of Mormon was true while I read Chapter 11 in the Book of Mormon." How awesome is that!!!!! I was so excited! Her baptism went great! A lot of people showed up and she was glowing during the whole service!!!! So that was for sure the highlight of my week! OK... And for the bad news. Mom, you might want to sit down. So, on my camera I had over 1,100 pictures.. Well a little girl (13 years old) Deleted ALL of my Pictures. I just about died. But I've sent all the good pictures home already so its OK Mom:) But yeah. HAHAHA but it was a great week! I do have a picture of the Baptism though!:) (Because we retook it the next day in Church haha) I love you Guys!!!!!!

Love Elder Hess

Sister Elcisa

PRAYER

SO this week was hard but everything turned out perfectly at the end:) So Carlos is doing great! He has a Baptismal date in 3 weeks! He has to repent for some things but he's 100% awesome:) He was so sad that he could not get baptized this Saturday. At the end of the lesson (when we told him he had to wait) he told us that he wants to give the Prayer in front of everyone at sacrament meeting! 3 weeks ago he was way to scared to even pray in front of us!! He is progressing so fast it's amazing! He also went to church and gave all the members hand shakes with us haha I love him so much. The Goozman Fam is doing great! They all went to church and Liseth even invited her sister to come! Now she wants to listen to us!!!! I LOVE THIS AREA!!! I feel like it was yesterday that I knocked on their door to contact them:) And now I've known them for 4 weeks! This week we found some awesome new people as well:) I hope they all progress like Carlos did hahaha! I love this Obra. Es la Obra mas importante en el Mundo. I love y'all!!

Love Elder Hess

LIGHT

Sup Chikis! This week was awesome! I learned so much. I want to update you guys real fast on the Family Goozman. So we had a lesson with them and my Comp asked them if they had a bible that we could use "to show that it's the same Bible.¨ Anyways they said ¨No.. but we have this one book that's like the Bible that we found years ago.¨ I was like.. OH boy its probably some crazy catholic church bible haha! But they brought out a Book of Mormon. It was like 40 years old. It looked nothing like the Books that we have now. I was going crazy. Before telling her that it was a BoM I asked her, have you read it. She said yes. I then asked, do you feel like it is the Word of God. She replied to me, Yes I do. It talks about Church a lot. We then told her it was the Book of Mormon and that it's the same book that we gave her 2 weeks ago. They already had a testimony of this Church and they didn't even know it. We then went on and talked about if the BoM is true, Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that Jose Smith was a Prophet of God. And if the Book of Mormon is True this Church La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias is the only true church that is true over all the face of the earth. The whole family wants to get baptized!! We just have to get them married. Which we will get done in 3 months. Also this Sunday was insane.. So at 8:00 a bus for the church always passes by all the houses of our investigators and for the members because we live really far from the Church. Well the Bus never passed.. SO NOT ONE MEMBER OR INVESTIGATOR went to church this Sunday. Except Carlos. He went because we saw him riding his bike in the morning. Anyways we went to church on a different bus and my comp and I were both pretty upset-mad at the bus that never came. So when we got dropped off Elder Roldan told me ¨Satan Won Today.¨ I was thinking the same thing. But right after he said that Carlos said something that taught me a lesson that I will never forget. Carlos told us "Elders... I've been thinking a lot this past week.. And I want to get baptized.¨ When he said that, he got the chills, and told us ¨Look how I get when I talk about baptism.¨ I didn't even know what to say. Before in my head I was thinking that Satan won that day, Until Carlos told us that he wanted to get baptized. What I learned from that is that Light will always overcome darkness. God will always overcome Satan in all things that we do if we are obedient. I learned that even if everything is going wrong God knows what he is doing and it is part of a plan. A perfect plan. I know that God lives. I know that we are his children and that He Loves us and is always with us. I love this Church!! I love my Savior and I love my Father.

Service