NEW COMP

I want to say congrats to Brandon Amacherlyson for finishing his mission! He really was such a great missionary and I look up to him a lot! Also this week I got my new Comp! Elder McNeely! He is awesome! We were actually good friends before the mission so we are pumped that were comps! He's from Utah so we have a lot in common! He loves soccer too so its fun to play the kids in the street because we actually win sometimes haha! He has 18 months in mission as well:) OK so this week went great! Sister Cilvia went to Church like she said! And she loved it! I'm going to have to take a picture with her soon so you guys can see what she looks like:) Also Angel went! He has been out of town the last two weeks because his Grandma passed away:( But he is doing good! We have talked to him a lot actually about the Plan of Salvation! We have found a lot of people the last couple of weeks and we think that some of them are going to start being baptized! I am so happy:) This Friday I think we should actually have one! His name is David! I'll tell you all about him next week! Well that's about it for this week! We are still just knocking on a whole lot of doors! Everything is going great! Well I love you guys!!!!!!!!

Love Elder Hess

CHANGES AGAIN:(

Alright so this Change has now come to an end.. Which means that Elder Toolson and I are going to have to split up:( I'm going to be getting a new companion tomorrow. This will also be my last companion, so I am praying that he is a good one. Elder Toolson and I worked our backs off for 6 weeks straight. We gave it our all. We contacted for about 6 hours a day every single day. The people in San Pedro Sula are a little harder to teach. But that's OK:) Because Elder Toolson and I had an amazing experience yesterday. We were out contacting like normal and we came across this one house with a green door. Before we knocked on the door, I looked at E. Toolson and told him "Im feeling really good about this house." Well, this Lady named Cilvia. We talked to her for a little and she let us in her house. She lives with her Brother and her cousin. They were all so excited to listen to us. So what they told us was that the day before they had been talking about how they need to start going to a Church because they needed to act more on the faith that they had. Well we gave them a lesson about the Restoration. They all loved it and they told us that they were going to go to Church this upcoming Sunday! We also set another lesson with them this Wednesday:) I am so excited to go back! They really were the nicest people on the planet! Also that was the last contact that Elder Toolson and I did together! It was late and we had another lesson. It is so weird how God works. We had been working as hard as we could for 6 weeks straight and on the very last door we knocked on was the house that we needed to go to. I learned a very big lesson after that. We might not understand why things happen. But in the end God has a plan for us. A perfect plan. And if we keep on doing what we are suppose to. If we keep on following our Savior. God will ALWAYS bless us. I know this work is true and I know that God is the Author of the great Plan of Salvation. I love this Church and I sure Love my Mission. I love you guys. I hope everyone remembers to "CTR" this week:) 

Love Elder Hess

WORKING WITH THE MEMBERS

So in San Pedro Sula it is hard to find new people to teach. Because most of the people in the city are hard core catholic. Elder Toolson and I have been contacting a lot and it hasn't been working that well.. SO now we are working with all the Members so that they can give us references! So far it has been working! SO we are all really excited! This week I had the chance to go on divisions with a guy named Elder Cerros! He's from Australia:) I had a really good time with him! HAHA he always says a lot of bad words in English because he said in Australia it's not swearing haha! When he said the first swear word I just looked at him and said "Are you serious?" HAHA and he told me that everyone always gets mad at him but in Australia it's a normal word HAHA! Well we ended up finding a couple of people to teach but no one said we could go back:( But the highlight of the week was Angel:) He is a 45 year old man who is very interested in the Gospel and says he's going to church next Sunday!!!! We found him on Sunday! He said that it makes sense that Christ would come here to the Americas:) So  we are off to a really good start! He is the type of guy that could be a future bishop here in the ward!!:) We are going to work as hard as we can so that he can get baptized as soon as possible!!:) Well I have to go now I love you Guys!!!

Love Elder Hess

2016

How y'all doin? Sorry I have not emailed for the last little bit, I don't really have too much time. I'll give you guys a quick update on what I have been doing!! Well Santos got baptized:) He went to church 3 straight times and was baptized! He's 72 and has been waiting for the truth ever since he was born! And now he has it. He said something that I will never forget. When it was time to baptize him we asked him "Brother Santos who do you want to baptize you" and all he responded was "Somebody with the Authority of God." So it might not sound like much but when he said that my Comp and I both just kind of froze. I looked at Elder Toolson and said, "He understands it" I got a little teary eyed because it is so special when people understand why this is the only one and true church. Also New Years was great. We were locked in but I still had a good time in the house. The first was an insane day though... We walked around for hours trying to find someone to teach but everyone was way to hung over hahahahaha! So we just helped a lot of drunk people out who had passed out on the street. We moved them to the curb so a car wouldn't hit them. It was fun. Well that's about It! I'm happy and I'm loving every second of my mish!!!!!

Love Elder Hess

Selfie

Baptism of Brother Santos

Soccerrrrr

THE HEART OF SAN PEDRO SULA...

Alright so everyone knows that I'm serving in the San Pedro Sula Oeste Mission. But I've actually never served in San Pedro Sula.. Until now.. I AM RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY!!!!!! (It is honestly so dangerous it's a joke..) You know how people say that this is the most dangerous city in the world.. Yup, they're right haha! I'm not going to tell you guys what I've seen here (in just 5 days) but it's so insane. I'll tell you guys the stories when I'm home:) So I am serving in the Stake San Pedro Sula, and our ward is called "The San Pedro Ward." It is so awesome. Our church is also the biggest Church in Central America... I'll send a picture of it. It's massive. Also my new comp is Elder Toolson!!! He is the Man! He works so hard. I love it! We talk to EVERYONE on the street! (Unless they have tattoos on their faces..) We are working as hard as we can so that there will be no regrets out here. The only problem with San Pedro Sula is that the people are all Catholic. More Catholic than the Pope. So we actually find ourselves teaching a lot of people about the Great Apostasy. Elder Toolson has 20 months in the mission too! So we are actually going to go home together! I am very excited for this upcoming change:) So this week I had to say good bye to one of my best friends in the mission. Do you guys remember Elder Chapeton? My first companion? Well he just finished his mission this week. When he said Goodbye to me we both just started crying. He helped me so much in my mission. He really did shape me into the missionary that I wanted to be. He showed me how to work and how to have the Spirit with me at all times. When we talked about all the memories we had we both had tears running down our faces. I told him he could live at our house in Utah if he wanted so get ready Mom. Well I'll keep you guys updated on everything that is going on here! I'll see you guys next week.

Elder Chapeton (first companion)

Last Comp (Elder Lorenzana) New Comp (Elder Toolson)

Stake Center San Pedro Sula

SISTER SHARON

Well this week went really well:) I had an awesome meeting with President Dester! I always learn so much from him when I talk to him! Also Sister Sharon was baptized! She is an awesome person! She was a reference from one of her friends! She has always had the faith that this Church was true. One of the main reasons why she was baptized is because she said that she loved seeing how happy all the people in the church were! I love it when people say that about us:) We really are the happiest group of people in the world! I am very excited for her to progress in the church! Also Brother Muñoz is the biggest example that any person in this whole country has given me over these last 19 months... He is amazing. (He is going to the temple in 2 weeks) No matter what happens to him he always has a faith that could move mountains. But I have bad news... I am going to have changes. So I am not going to see him anymore. He has been such a big part in my mission. I am going to miss him so much. At the end of my mission I am going to visit him. I have too!! Also I am very sad that I am going to be leaving Elder Lorenzana... I love him so much. He has been my favorite comp. I already know I'm going to break down crying when I say good bye to him haha! He is the man. I learned so much from him. I hope I get to be friends with him for the rest of my life. He is just a happy person. If I had to describe him in one word it would be happy. I will never forget these 6 weeks we had together! Well that was my week! Things are going great out here!!!!!!

Sister Sharon Baptism

The Crew

Elder Lorenzana takes the best selfie!

THANKSGIVIN'

Well I hope that everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving... Because I know I did! Lets just say that I bought an 18 pound Turkey. HAHA it was so yummy! We had a service day too so we did service for like 5 hours. My buddy Elder Bate and I cut wood with an axe for five hours for our Stake President. I felt like I was in Man town the whole time. I had my blue jeans on while wearing my John Deere hat. It was pretty cool. I'll send some pictures below. And the food was so dang good!! But not as good as the Turkey back at home:) I didn't get as full as last year:( But it was really fun and I felt really good about it after! We invited 3 families from the ward to come over to share thanksgiving with us and they had the Packers game on... NO I did not sit facing the TV hahahaha! Sorry Mom I know I shouldn't of done that. Alright well things are going great over here in good ol´ Yojoa! We got one of our investigators to accept baptism:) So this Saturday we should have a water day:) Also on Thursday when I was buying the Turkey guess who I ran into.... VICTORIA from Las Flores!! I was so happy! She is active and is loving the Church of Jesus Christ:) That is such a blessing to see as a missionary! She even told me that she said the Prayer in Sacrament meeting! I was so proud of her! I'll send you a picture. When she saw me she screamed and said Elder Hess!!!!!! Get over here!! She was so happy:) Seeing her and hearing that she was active made me realize the importance of contacting because we found her from knocking doors. I love her so much!!! Well a lot of other stuff happened this week but I'm going to end this now because I don't want to put everyone to sleep. I love y'all:)

Love Elder Hess

Thanksgiving in Yojoa