BROTHER MANUEL

Hey everyone:) So good news! Brother Manuel got baptized on Saturday! It was an awesome service! Like 50 people showed up too!!! Manuel is so awesome! He was a reference given to us from his sister:) His sister was baptized 6 weeks ago in a different ward! But now they all live here in San Pedro Sula! We met Manuel 3 weeks ago, and now he's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ! It is so crazy how fast this work grows when everyone works together! We visited Manuel 3 times a week for 3 weeks. Now we are going to focus on his Dad. He doesn't really like us but we are going to see what we can do with him:) This week was "Semana Santa" and holy cow did everyone leave San Pedro. There was nobody here all week... It was kinda a hard week on us but it all paid off because we had the baptism. During Semana Santa the whole world here goes to the beaches to relax. Oh and another thing... It is so hot.. I can't even sleep at night because the heat is so strong. I showered 3 times in the middle of the night the other day because I was so dang hot. It's insane.. I have never gotten use to the heat down here haha!! Well I love you guys! That was my week!!!! Everyone Watch conference and take notes!!

Love Elder Hess

Baptism of Manuel

SANTOS AND RICARDO

So things are going great down here like always. Still just trying to find new people to teach.. But this Saturday we should have a baptism:) So that's cool:) This week Brother Santos and Brother Ricardo both put the biggest smile on my face... First off in church Brother Santos showed up with his tithing. I helped him with it. He was giving his 10%.. It wasn't too much but it was very special to see a man like that paying his full tithing when he almost has nothing to his name. The members have given him 3 white shirts and a pair of shoes for church:) It's so awesome:) I love him to death. I look up to him a lot. He is a man with TRUE faith. OK so Ricardo was bearing his testimony in front of a class about how happy he is for being a member of this church. He started crying and looked at me and said "Thanks to you Elder Hess I am a member of this Church. I used to be a drug and alcohol user. But thanks to that man right there I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ." I started crying. It was very very special to me. I love this work so much and blessing the lives of the people around me. 

Love Elder Hess

RICARDO AND DANIELA

Hey Guys!! Well we had an awesome week! Ricardo and Daniela got baptized!!!! Ricardo was a huge miracle because he stopped smoking in just two weeks! How cool is that!! It really was a miracle! When people have smoking problems it usually takes them months or even years to stop!! So I was so happy! The only reason that he was able to stop is because he has so much faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I love him and I am so happy that he was baptized! Also Daniela! She is just 9 years old but she is the man! Her whole family was inactive for years and just a couple visits with the Bishop and us they were all activated and Daniela was baptized! It was so awesome! It's crazy how fast this work moves forward when the members support us in this work!!! OK so on Sunday the craziest thing happened ever.. So ALL of Central America had a huge conference with the Apostles from Salt Lake. Instead of having a normal Sunday we all just went to church and watched the Conference with the Apostles. They all talked about how we can grow as a people and as a Church if we CTR! So while Elder Anderson was talking he was talking about a family that was baptized in a small Branch in Central America.. I was just listening and thinking "Huh, that's kinda weird, that sounds like Olga's family" and then he said "this family lives in the Copan Honduras Branch, Sister Olga and Sister Luz!" I literally screamed in front of the whole stake when he said that hahaha! Elder Ola and I baptized that family!! I have no idea how their story got all the way to Salt Lake but it did! I was so happy!!!!! I wish I was in Copan to see the reaction of the little branch when the Apostle said that!!!! It was so Cool! I was floating for the rest of the day after I heard that! After he said that, I got like 6546 phone calls from all my friends in the mission to ask me if I knew that family! Gosh it was so dang cool! Well that was my week! I love you guys!!

Love Elda He$$

Baptism of Daniela

Baptism of Ricardo

 Companion Elder NcNeely, Elder Hernandez, Elder Ledesma, Elder Hess

with a balloon heart found at church

MS

Alright so I had a crazy week........... I couldn't really leave because MS13 was on one. The Police killed 4 of their members so MS13 sent out a notice saying that they were going to kill anyone they saw in the street just to get back at the police. They also killed 40 plus people on a bus on Thursday. So that's crazy! We were working at like 7:30 and everyone was screaming at us to go home because MS was coming haha! We just ran to the nearest member's house to hide for a little bit. Big Joe has our back though so I'm not scared at all;) We couldn't leave for a little bit just to be safe. Also our member were sent to jail for killing a taxi driver. He was cool:( (well I thought he was cool). Also this week we should have two baptisms! So I'm excited! This Country is insane haha!!!! I love it:) All the Members of the Church are really cool! I love them all! They don't have much in their lives but they have the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that is everything! God always protects them as well! I love you guys!!!!

Love Elder Hess

BRO. RECARDO :)

Alright so this week was a very long one until the very last lesson that we had on Sunday night:) I think I've already told you guys about Brother Recardo. Well, he's been going to church and has been progressing very very fast! Well this Sunday (yesterday) he decided that he wanted to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be Baptized:) He called us over to his house at 8:30PM because he said that he wanted to talk about some things with us. Well the news was that he wanted to be baptized. He read the Chapter in the Book of Mormon that we left him:) 2 Nephi Chapter 31 (this chapter is a missionary's best friend:) Well he said that if Jesus had the need to be baptized then he definitely had the need to be baptized in Christ's Church. He even set his own date! So on the 27th of this month he is going to be baptized:) He's a 20 year old so the next goal is to get him out on a mission!!! His Mom was baptized over 6 years ago and he FINALLY decided to get baptized:) He is the man!! He always had the best questions. I love it when people are real with us. I'll give a list of good questions people ask us and AWFUL dumb questions people ask us.

The Good

1. How can I know if Jose Smith was a Prophet?

2. Why is this the one and ONLY true church?

3. Who is Jesus Christ to you guys?

4. How can we know what is the one and only true Church?

The Bad -_-

1. If Coffee is a sin so is Coke. 

2. You guys are Jehovah's Witnesses right-_-

3. Didn't Jose Smith have like 68628 wives

4. My Pastor said you guys are from the Devil..

We get dumb comments like those every single day haha! Usually people just do it to make us mad. SO we've learned perfectly how to respond to them now:) Well I am so  excited for Recardo! He is going to be a great member of this Church:) I love him to death! I'll send you guys a picture of him next week!:)

Love y'all, 

Love Elder Hess

ZIKA -_-

Do you guys back in the States know what the ZIKA is?? Well every Honduran in the world has it-_- It's really hard because now nobody will let us in their house because everyone is sick. It's really really sad because it is really affecting the work out here. We're trying to offer prayers inside their houses so that people will let us in but it's not working to great as of right now! We are trying to come up with new ideas to get in the houses though! If any of you guys have any ideas let me know!!:) Well besides the Zika we had an awesome week!! Brother Davis was baptized:):) The service went so well and everyone showed up to support David. He is going to be a future Missionary one day so that's the coolest thing in the whole entire world!!! I can't now wait to see him as a missionary in just a few years! His family invites us over every single day haha!! We usually try to stop by 2 times a week though:) This week we also found two awesome new investigators:) Brother Rigoberto, and Bro Recardo! Both of them are awesome and have very high potential to progress in the church:) I'll keep you updated on them over the next couple of weeks! Well that's about it! I love all of you so much! Thank you all for supporting me 24-7 out here!!! I love you all!!

Love Elder Hess

David's Baptism

TOO HAPPY RIGHT NOW:)

Well right now I am on top of the world! I feel so happy for so many reasons:) I love all of you back at home for always supporting me so much in all that I have ever done out here:) Alright so this week was a good one! The Hermana Cilvia is so awesome! She is getting baptized on the 27th of this month! We are waiting a little bit because she has to stop doing a could of things (Word of Wisdom-_-) But she is amazing! I love the Lessons with her so much! Just so you guys know she was the contact that Elder Toolson did the day Elder Toolson Left!! We are thinking that we are going to be able to baptize her whole family too! We just have to talk to them! They work a lot so they aren't usually home:( But we are working on it!! Also David is going to get baptized this Saturday!! Elder Toolson and I also found him the week he left! He is 10 and is the funniest kid I have ever met hahaha!!!! He's super chubby and he always talks about how much he loves to eat and he plans and gaining more weight hahaha!! We actually have a cita with them tonight:) This Saturday at 5 he is going to be baptized! So everyone pray that the plans that we have will actually happen:) Well that's about it for this week! I love you all so much! Always remember to CTR!! 

Love Elder Hess

David

The whole zone