May 23, 2016

Hi guys!! Tutto posto?? This week was so great!! We had so many awesome spiritual experiences:) 

For my permesso di soggiorno (basically my visa to stay in Italy for the next year and a half), we had to do a culture class twice this week for 3 hours each. It was so boring haha. There's an elder in our district who's been out for one transfer longer than me so he had to do his culture class too, so there were 4 Mormon missionaries, and then 3 Nigerian nuns. Quite the group😂 I was able to talk to them about Joseph Smith though and then later on they got our number. I don't know if that means they want to learn more about OUR church or if they want us to learn more about THEIR church haha. 

We had 5 member appointments this week for pranzo (lunch)! I love these members in this ward so much. We had lunch with this cute older woman this week and I can honestly say I've never been so full in my entire life. I thought I was going to die hahaha. Funny story: we were eating this fruit called nespole (sort of like an apricot) at the end of pranzo and as I started peeling mine, a massive earwig crawled out on my hand. You guys. I thought I was going to die. I kept my cool and casually smashed it on my plate and was a champ and proceeded to eat the nespole and the little lady didn't even notice. #missionaccomplished.

We have scambio's this week in Crotone and I'm super excited for it!! I'll be with Sorella Dustin who has been out in the mission field for about 3 weeks so I'll be the senior companion😂😳 

We added two new investigators this week. It's a mom named N and the daughter named A who's 17. We taught them Saturday night and it went so well!! It was a testimony builder to me because I felt like I was able to speak and say what I wanted. I know it wasn't me speaking though. It made me think of this scripture:

D&C 100:5-8

5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;

6 For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.

7 But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever thing ye declare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things.

8 And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this the Holy Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.

The language is coming "piano piano" (little by little). I know that if I'm doing my part and studying and striving to always have the Spirit with me, Heavenly will make up the rest. 

Today for P-day we went to a man in our ward's pizzeria. It was delicious! I still feel like I'm living in a dream and I'm going to wake up and none of this will have been real. I'm so thankful for all I'm learning here and for these amazing people in Italy. I love this Gospel and am thankful for the joy it brings to my life. I love you guys!! Have a blessed week!! 

Sorella Hess

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Pics: with the nuns in our culture course

Walking along the ocean after our lesson on Saturday with our senior couple's daughter :)

Today at Ettore's Pizzeria as a district

I❤️Taranto May 16, 2016

Ciao cari miei!
This week was awesome!! We did our scambio on Tuesday and it was so
much fun!! I was with Sorella Roberts from Provo and we had a great
day:)

Wednesday was Zone Conference🙌🏼😝 Whoo! Highlight of the week for
sure!! It's always so fun to be with the zone. We had a really cool
addestramento (training) by the AP's. They talked about how there are
7.4 billion people in the world and how there are 74 thousand full
time missionaries out serving right now. We each are responsible for
around 100,000 people in the world. We should be doing all we can to
talk to every single person so we can fulfill our purpose as
missionaries. The first word of our purpose is to INVITE, and I don't
really think we can invite people to come to Christ if we aren't
talking to them so we need to open our mouths😊

That night we had a Zone Blitz in Taranto and all the missionaries
from our zone got together and did a massive group Gesso (chalk
drawing finding activity) in Centro. It was super fun to see how other
missionaries do things!

We focused a lot on less-active work this week!! We made some brownies
and delivered them around to some of our investigators and less
actives in the ward because who can say no to 2 cute sister
missionaries and brownies? We got lots of lessons in😂😏

The members here are so great and we had 2 meal appointments 2 days in
a row. I'm still recovering. Sooo much delicious food!! Lucky for me,
apparently this summer is supposed to be one of the hottest that
Taranto has seen in years because this winter wasn't very cold at all.
I guess I'll be sweating away all the calories we've been eating these
past 10 weeks😂

Yesterday morning, I was reading the talk by Elder Wirthlin, "Come
What May, and Love It." I've always loved this talk but as a
missionary I've just grown to appreciate it even more. There are days
when everything we had planned just falls through and it could be easy
to get upset. I love what Elder Wirthlin says, "I know why there must
be opposition in all things. Adversity, if handled correctly, can be a
blessing in our lives. We can learn to love it. As we look for humor,
seek for the eternal perspective, understand the principle of
compensation, and draw near to our Heavenly Father, we can endure
hardship and trial."
I testify of how true this is! Heavenly Father is in every detail of
our lives and we just need to trust Him.

Changing gears a little bit, President Waddoups issued a challenge
back the transfer before I got here for the whole mission to read the
Book of Mormon together by May 15th. I had just finished it in the MTC
but I really wanted to be a part of it with the mission. I finished
the BOM on Saturday morning and I testify that it is true. I promise
that if you read and pray with a sincere heart, with real intent, and
with faith in Christ, you will receive an answer.

I love being a missionary. I love wearing the name of the Savior on my
name tag every day. I love these Italian people and all that they are
teaching me. I feel so blessed to be here and to be sharing the good
news of the gospel.

Vi voglio bene!! La vita è bella❤️

Sorella Hess

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Week 14 (I think!) May 9, 2016

Buongiorno cari miei!! Spero che tutto sia bene per voi:) I can't
believe it's already Monday again! Time really is FLYING!! I feel like
I just emailed yesterday haha!!

We had a fun week! We had several lessons with our investigators and
we bright members with us. It's amazing what a difference it makes
having a third person there to share their testimony too. We met with
Margherita (24yr old) this week and taught her the Restoration and she
prayed at the end of the lesson and the Spirit was so strong. She's
such a sweet girl. She's out of town for the next week or so, so we're
hoping they get home soon and we can continue to work with her.

We had 2 lessons with M! She's amazing!! She told us that she
lost her keys the other day and her husband and daughter were really
upset at her for it. She decided to pray like we had taught her and
she found her keys right after! So cool!!:) Gotta love answers to
prayers like that😊

Today for P-day we went and toured the Aragonese Castle of Taranto. We
have the Sorelle from Crotone with us because we have scambio's
tomorrow and then Zone Conference on Wednesday. It's been nice to have
some girl time and people to speak in English with😂 The only people
we ever speak in English to are the Anziani in our district so every
once in a while it's good to be around other girls haha.

This morning I was reading an article from the November New Era from
1996 (haha I downloaded them all from the year I was born😂). It has
the cutest article in it called "A Reason to Smile." I encourage you
all to go read it!! It's awesome. It tells this story about having a
good attitude:
“A father is aboard an airplane on a short business trip. He has with
him his five-year-old son and is almost wishing his son were not there
because it is a very rough trip. There are downdrafts and updrafts and
head winds alternating with tail winds, and some passengers are
feeling a bit queasy. Apprehensively, the father glances at his son
and finds him grinning from ear to ear. ‘Dad,’ he says, ‘do they do
this just to make it fun for the kids?’”

I love this! We need to remember how important it is to be positive
and remember how blessed we are. D&C 31:3 D&C 78:17-19 :)

I love you guys!! Thank you for all you do for me. Have a wonderful week:)
"God our strength will be, press forward ever called to serve our king."

Con amore,
Sorella Hess

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One of our English course students brought us panzarotti 😍
Gesso!!
In the castle today in Città Vecchia:)

May 2, 2016 'My Big Fat Italian Wedding'

Hi guys!

Hope everything is going well for you all!! I need to come up with
more creative ways to start these emails because I feel like they're
always the same haha. We had a busy and fun week!!

We added a new simpatizzante (investigator) this week! She's the 24
year old girl whose brother was in a motorcycle accident 5yrs ago. I
think I mentioned her a couple weeks ago. She's such a sweetheart! We
gave her a BOM and she randomly flipped it open as we were talking and
asked who the Lamanites were. We told her they're usually the bad guys
at the beginning of the BOM but they're constantly going back and
forth between righteous and corrupt. She said something like, "ok so
next time someone is being "cattivo" (mean), I'll just call them a
Lamanite." Hahahaha. We were dying😂 She's super cute and we're
excited to work with her.

A member in our ward here got married on Thursday so we went to her
wedding in the church. They're getting sealed this week in the London
temple but have to be legally married before because I guess that's a
law here. Italian weddings are quite the production!! Huge flowers and
super fancy clothes and dresses! It felt like the movie My Big Fat
Greek Wedding hahaha.

We did a little service project with some members in our ward and
helped them set up for their daughter's birthday party on Saturday. It
was a fun afternoon and we got a lot of stuff done:)

Saturday night we were walking home at like 8:45pm and we heard a
kitten meowing under a car. It's eyes were still closed and it was
shaking really bad... We called our district leader and asked what we
should do and he said we had to leave it😭 So sad. Prayers for our
little kitten💔

When people cancel appointments it's called a "bidone" (bee-doh-nay)
and we got a few of those this week but we're feeling optimistic about
this next transfer! Big things are coming for the Taranto area😊 We've
been walking like crazy trying to find people who are ready for the
gospel!! We walked 11 miles one day this week. It might give me an
excuse to buy some new Italian shoes here pretty soon😉

My favorite Mormon Message for the week is "Good Things to Come" by
Elder Holland. I encourage you all to go watch it! It's really
powerful:)
"Don't give up. Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying.
There is help and happiness ahead. It will be all right in the end.
Trust God and believe in good things to come." -Elder Holland

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms!!
And a special shout out to my own Mom:) I'm so thankful for you. Thank
you for being my best friend😘💕 I'm so excited to skype you guys this
week!!

Have a great week guys!!❤️

Con amore,
Sorella Hess

Sent from my iPad
Last District Meeting for the transfer
Setting up for Giulia's birthday
Pranzo with the Mazzolari Fam