La settimana piena di miracoli!!!

Hey mom and anyone else who reads these anymore hahaha

This week was straight INCREDIBLE. We saw so many miracles I can't

even begin to describe them all haha but I'll try to share a couple of

the coolest ones.

MONICA E MASSIMO: they are perfect you guys. Sorella Holmes and I were

on scambio Friday night and we had such an awesome lesson with them.

We had it at Stefania's house (a member here who is our mom away from

home). It was one of those lessons where you walk away and say to each

other, "wow that should've been filmed for the district 3." Haha it

was nothing WE did...they're just that amazing and are SO prepared for

the gospel. Yesterday in principi evangelici at church, Monica told us

that she was just so happy the other night after the lesson and she

said she just felt "that feeling she feels when we are all together in

church or a lesson or when she's reading the scriptures" and she

couldn't fall asleep because she was just so happy 😍😭 Those are the

moments on the mission that make it ALL worth it :)

Grazia, Sofia, e Silvia: We called this ex-investigator on Tuesday to

see if we could meet up with her sometime, and she goes, "yeah!! How

about tonight at 8??" What. Hahah that never happens. She's one of the

strongest people I've ever met you guys. She told us her whole story

and we just KNOW that this is the right time for her for this gospel.

She's been through a lot this past year and is still facing some

really really hard things but she has so much faith and is incredible.

Her little daughters came with her :) They're 9 and 10 and so stinkin

cute!

Sonya: As we were leaving the church after Zone Conference (missionary

Super Bowl) a couple weeks ago, we were super pumped up and ready to

hit the pavement and we saw this cute girl waiting at the bus stop.

I'd seen her before but we didn't get the chance to talk to her but

this time we took it as a sign that we needed to talk to her :) We

finally got to meet with her this week! Her name is Sonya and she's 22

and from Nigeria! We are excited to continue to work with her.

We've just been able to see so many miracles this week. We've been

really trying hard to work with the members and get them involved in

missionary work because we know that's the most effective way to do

it.

This week we felt super prompted to share the talk, "The Master

Healer," during two different lessons. We weren't planning on sharing

it but both times it ended up being exactly what that person needed to

hear. Then our RS lesson in church yesterday was on it too! As I've

been thinking and studying this week about it, I've just been so

thankful for our Savior and that He really is there for us. The

Atonement isn't just for those who have made mistakes. It's for each

and every one of us no matter what we are going through. "His love is

there for us whether we feel we deserve it or not."

I love you all and pray for you everyday :)

Con tanto amore,

Sorella Hess

Via Orazio Flacco 13/3

Bari, Italia

70100

Le foto:

Service Projects!

Closest I've been to the ocean for a while :)

MY FAVS :) L-R Me, Leonarda, Sorella B, Giuliana, e Monica 💕💕💕

Pranzo with la famiglia Cutrignelli yesterday ❤️

Il bello Lungomare di Bari with Sorella Holmes!

Zone Pday Beach Volleyball today

Tower of Terror...in real life

Buona Pasquetta!!

I love Easter in Italy! We've had such a fun week. Today we are having

Pasquetta at the church with the whole ward. We've been playing

volleyball, ping-pong, calcetto, soccer, Just Dance, etc. all day long

and it's been a blast! Bari knows how to party!

Sllllaa Bellomo

We've had a great and busy week--complete with 2 exchanges.

We took a train for an hour and a half to Foggia and spent a day with

them from Thursday to Friday. I was with Sorella Manning who's in her

2nd transfer. We had a lot of fun and were able to teach some cool

lessons. We came back Friday afternoon and went directly out to

Bitonto with the ZL's and did some finding and then we came back to

Bari for our Mexican Fiesta night with the GANS (YSA). Whooo!

Saturday Sorella Holmes (one of the Sorelle we live with) wasn't

feeling very well so her comp spent the morning/afternoon inside with

her and then I spent the evening in with her so Sorella CB could go

out and not go stir-crazy.

Yesterday we had pranzo with Giuliana and Pippo :) She's a recent-ish

convert! They spoiled us and treated us like family. I love them!!

Afterwards we had some meetings and then went to the senior couple's

house for a Nacho Party!!! Leftovers from the fiesta night. We

all piled into the elevator afterwards (...10 missionaries hahahaha)

and literally before the elevator doors had shut we started dropping

from the 5th floor. We were jam packed in that tiny elevator and all

screaming and sweating and freaking out hahahaha. Luckily Anziano

Fitzner was there and he was a fireman back in the day so he knew to

pry the door open and we all jumped out before it dropped all the way

to the very basement hahahha. Memories😂 Lesson learned, the weight

limit posted inside the elevator isn't just a suggestion.

Cute Sorella Manning in Foggia!

Easter eggs from members yesterday

I love this time of year and that we get to reflect on our Savior and

His Resurrection. This week I've been studying a lot and teaching a

lot about the purpose of life. We are here on the earth for a lot of

reasons but the biggest ones are so that we can have a body, to learn,

to grow, and to experience JOY! Our Heavenly Father wants us to be

happy!! When things aren't going our way, we shouldn't ask why it's

happening but what we are supposed to learn from that experience. We

are never alone! Our Savior has been through it all and understands us

perfectly!

Giuliana and Pippo!!

Vi voglio tanto bene! Grazie per il vostro amore e sostegno. Sono

davvero grata per voi!!

Con tanto amore,

Sorella Hess

Via Orazio Flacco 13/3

Bari, Italia

70100

Le foto:

Easter eggs from members yesterday

Giuliana and Pippo!!

Sllllaa Bellomo

Cute Sorella Manning in Foggia!

I love you a latte🐮

We ciao tutti!

This week was CRAZY. Here are some of the funny things that happened
because I don't think I ever fully tell you guys how fun and
entertaining the mission is:

Zone Conf with my fav italiana

First off, we started teaching a lady from Romania this week. She and
her husband speak pretty Italian pretty well and were telling us how
they studied with the JW's in the past. But instead of saying
Testimoni di Geova, she said Testimoni di Genova hahahaha which is a
city up north. Also she kept saying Dios instead of Dio and just other
funny stuff that made us laugh :) They come to English course and a
few weeks ago we had taught them the verb "to believe" and then during
the spiritual thought at the end I was bearing my testimony on the
Savior and she stands up and says, "I believe!!!" Hahahaha I lost it
guys. It was so funny. She's a crackup😂

There's something about southern Italy that makes people think that
modesty just goes out the window from April to October. For some
reason people think it's okay to just feed your baby in public on a
bus with no blanket or just pee on the sidewalk in front of two sister
missionaries walking down the street. I wish I could say that it only
happened once this week but that'd be a lie. 😂 Sorry for the TMI
hahaha :)

WE GOT A NEW PHONE!!! Praise the heavens because our ghetto flip phone
stopped . recognizing our SIM card so we haven't been getting calls
for like the past week or so.
"Ciao Anziano...Mi senti?" "Si...?" "Lo so. Abbiamo un nuovo
telefono." 💁🏼 hahaha.

Service!!! So there's this field behind our church where literally
hundreds of homeless people live and they leave a lot of trash outside
our church on the road. We decided to clean it up a little bit because
it's pretty bad haha. People were driving by and literally clapping
and honking for us as we did it hahaha. I guess they were impressed :)
Good way to get the church's name out there :)

Here are some of the quotes of the week:
"I was really just feeling emotionally constipated.... oh
wait...that's not the right word.... emotionally CONSOLATED.... that's
not right either. Whatever..."  -Anz Carroll in our district😂

*President at Zone Conference yesterday asking the senior couple what
they had to do in preparation for the mission* "well we had to be out
of debt, retired, etc...." "what else did you have to do?" "A
colonoscopy..?" 😂😂😂 we all died!

Okay I'm done sharing stories :) This week was super awesome though.
We had 2 super successful ward activities! There was a talent show on
Thursday night and lots of our contacts came! Then on Saturday we had
STARLAT!! It's a charity concert that the ward here does every year.
Singers in the community perform and we ask people to bring boxed milk
instead of a ticket and then we donate it all to families in need in
Bari. This year by the end we had 1,365 liters of milk!! Soo cool!!
Also we easily had over 200 people there and probably more than half
of them weren't members.

-STARLAT Latte!!🥛🍼🐮

Yesterday we had Zone Conference so that's why I'm emailing today :)
It was amazing! We focused on using the Book of Mormon to find answers
to questions. It's so amazing that we have the word of God right at
our fingertips. I'm so grateful for the BOM and the answers we can
find!! We also got to watch the video of them putting the angel Moroni
on the Rome temple. If you haven't seen it yet, I definitely recommend
watching it! It was so powerful seeing him blowing his trumpet out
over Italy telling people to get ready because the Savior is coming!
The work really is hastening and I'm lucky enough to be a part of it
:)

Ok this is the longest group email I've written since the MTC I'm
pretty sure haha but I hope you guys have a fun week!! Happy Easter!!
Go watch the Prince of Peace video!! Vi voglio bene! Eat some Cadbury
eggs for me and remember the real reason for the season--our Savior!

Con amore,
Sorella Hess

Via Orazio Flacco 13/3
Bari, Italia
70100

Le foto:
1-Advertising for our English course while at the phone store hahahah :)
2-BITONTO. Who knew it was this cool?!
3-Zone Conf with my fav italiana
4-one of the many Bari fountains with my cute collega last night
5-STARLAT Latte!!🥛🍼🐮
6-Bari Sorelle!
7-Bari Zone

Advertising for our English course while at the phone store hahahah :)

Bari Sorelle!

Bari Zone

Conferenza, Bitonto, e Pallavolo!!

When members take pics of you during the lesson :)

Cari miei!

Another one of the best weeks of my mission! I say that all the time

but I really do mean it. The mission is just the greatest.

Sorella Bellomo and I are working our tails off and Bari is seeing so

many miracles!! We have a lot of potential investigators and this week

we're gonna work on turning them into actual progressing

investigators.

We're technically the Sorelle assigned to the Bitonto branch as well

as Bari Libertà so this week we were able to go out with the Anziani

and do a bunch of finding out there! It was a lot different than doing

finding in Bari because it's a TINY little town haha but it was a lot

of fun!

MONICA e MASSIMO. Wow they are just amazing. They are officially moved

in here and so we are now officially teaching them! They came to

Conference yesterday and LOVED it. Vescovo gave them each a blessing

and it was one of the most special experiences I've had on my mission.

He said to them that as they continue to take these steps along this

path, they will one day be sealed in the temple as a family! So

powerful. They both told us how badly they want to raise this new baby

they're waiting to adopt in the Gospel ❤️ So thankful the Lord is

allowing me to be a small part of this.

Conferenza Generale: We haven't been able to see the Sunday afternoon

session yet but literally every single one of my questions I had

written down going into this weekend were answered. There were so many

amazing speakers and things they said that touched me. I loved how

much they talked about following God's plan for us, trusting Him, and

following the promptings of the Spirit. It also helped me recognize

those small things that we can do daily in order to have the Spirit

with us constantly. Such an amazing Conference!! We are so blessed :)

Also a happy birthday shout out to my dad yesterday :) 44 never looked

so good!! I love you all!! The church is true and this is the Lord's

work!!!

Con amore,

Sorella Hess

Via Orazio Flacco 13/3

Bari, Italia

70100

Le foto:

When members take pics of you during the lesson hahaha

Pic with Monica while waiting for the boys to be done with the

Priesthood session :)

Our cute street cuz my mom always asks for pics of what the city looks

like haha.

District gelato run after MLC.

PALLAVOLO TODAY 🏐 First time playing in more than a year hahahaha.

We're gonna be dying tomorrow😂

Pic with Monica while waiting for the boys to be done with the

Priesthood session :)

Our cute street cuz my mom always asks for pics of what the city looks

like haha.

District gelato run after MLC.

PALLAVOLO TODAY 🏐 First time playing in more than a year hahahaha.

We're gonna be dying tomorrow😂