Quanto sarà grande la vostra gioia💛

Sorella Hess comin' at ya live from the Amalfi Coast round 2!! Easily my favorite place on earth.

The wind is INSANE today so this is as good as the pics from Amalfi got haha

It's only been 6 days but we've had a crazy week with so many miracles. The biggest had definitely been Veronica (the girl that showed up at church a few weeks ago and said she wants to learn more about our church!) She's incredible and hasn't missed a night of reading the Book of Mormon since we met her and has been to church every week :) She's preparing for her baptism for next Saturday the 12th!! She's so prepared for the gospel. We meet with her almost every night and just walk away from each lesson so amazed by how amazing she is. Her testimony is so strong already :)

With Veronica after the Halloween party :)

I could stay here for the rest of my life and never get sick of it.

Our mission has been doing a mission prayer every night right at 10pm where each companionship prays to be able to reach our new standard of excellence for the mission. It's amazing how many miracles we have seen from it! The Sorelle from Battipaglia came to Caserta and did exchanges with us this week and it was fun to blitz a city and get a lot of work done! We're doing an exchange with them in their city tonight and tomorrow so it should be fun! :) On Saturday night we did a Halloween Party for our English course students and the ward and it was super successful! Several of our investigators came and were able to meet members of the ward :) Member missionary work and fellowshipping is crucial!! The mission is amazing and it's making me pretty sad to think that this journey is halfway over this week! These past 9 months have FLOWN by and I've grown and learned in so many ways. I'm so excited to see what is in store for the next 9 months :) I am thankful that as missionaries we have the opportunity to see a small glimpse of God's love for His children. It's humbling to know that someone loved us enough to give His life for us so that we can overcome sin and return to our Father in Heaven one day. I testify that if you pray, God will listen. He loves us more than we know and wants us to be happy :) Vi voglio un montagne di bene!! Prego per la vostra felicità ogni giorno :) Con tanto amore, Sorella Hess :) With Veronica after the Halloween party :) The wind is INSANE today so this is as good as the pics from Amalfi got haha I could stay here for the rest of my life and never get sick of it.

"Siam chiamati sempre per servirLo"

Buongiorno amici miei!!

Hands down one of the best weeks of my life. SO much has happened since last P-day so let's see if I can remember the most important stuff!!

-First and foremost, I want to give a huge shout out to my brother Sam who got his call to FIJI this week!! I'm so happy for him and proud of him :) 

-Last Tuesday we had exchanges with the Sorelle in Pozzuoli and I was with Sorella Hunter who went to AF High with me ❤️😊 We had so much fun!

Gelato on scambio with cute Sorella Hunter from AF :)

-Wednesday we took a train up to Rome for the Mission Conference. We stayed with one of the Senior Couples :) We did a massive finding activity with the majority of the Sorelle in the mission up in Rome! We saw a ton of miracles.

-Thursday was the MISSION CONFERENCE :) It was incredible. The Spirit was so strong. President Kearon, Elder Hallstrom, and President Russell M. Nelson and each of their wives spoke to us. We got to shake each of their hands and there was no doubt in my mind that they are called of the Lord. The common theme of the conference was of our divine heritage and how we were saved for these last days to come to the earth to share the gospel. :) It's been on my mind ever since and how blessed we are to have been raised in the truth of the gospel. I was asked to say the closing prayer in the meeting in English. Who would've thought that it would be scarier to say it in English than in Italian? I didn't pass out up there so I'd call it a success :)

-Friday was one of the happiest days of my whole mission. First, when we got to the church that evening I saw an email from my Mom saying that Sam was going to be opening his call later that night. For some reason I started feeling kind of bummed that I couldn't be there with all my family just for a few minutes. We had an amazing lesson with Veronica and taught her about the Plan of Salvation more in detail. She is so elect. She asks the coolest questions and just absorbs EVERYTHING we say. She's so excited about the gospel. I asked her on Sunday at church what made her decide to come by our church a few weeks ago and ask to learn more. (By the way, she hasn't missed a week of church yet!!) She said, "I was led by the Spirit or Jesus and I knew I had to be here." 

-As we were walking home after that lesson, we poked our heads in at our favorite pizzeria down the street from our apartment. There's a lady that works there named Gina who is always so nice to us and we've really been wanting to add her as an investigator. We went in and ordered our pizzas and I asked her if there was a day this week before work that we could meet so we could share a message with her. She pulled us aside and said, "I know you didn't know this, but I was baptized in your church back in Ukraine on October 30th, 1990. It is a miracle that you two found me." 

WHAT?! Our jaws basically were on the ground. Those are the kind of stories you read about in the Ensign haha! She told us to come back on Tuesday so we're going by again tonight :) 

It was a huge testimony builder to me of how aware the Lord is of us. This is why we leave our families and go on missions. It was especially sweet for me knowing that Sam would be opening his call in just a couple hours to know where he will be going. There's no describing the happiness that comes from missionary work. I love this gospel and am so thankful for all the mission is teaching me :)

Best pizza in Italy today for P-day, hands down. Sorbillo in Napoli :) 

I love you all! Sorry about this crazy long email but it's been an amazing week! I hope you're all doing well wherever you are in the world :)

"Avanti andiamo con fede nel Signore!"

Sorella Hess :)

Ps, I had one of my most embarrassing moments of my life at Zone Conference yesterday. We were doing a role play with one of the AP's and we were trying to say that we wanted to give him a GIFT but I accidentally said a WOMAN. Un dono = a gift. Una donna = a woman. Hahahhahahaha. I couldn't stop laughing. I totally lost character but shout out to my companion for finishing for me. I know the difference between the two words but just got super tongue tied and it came our wrong hahaha.

My entire MTC group reunited for the first time since we all got here!

We went to the top of this castle in Napoli today with our Zone! #blessed. That's Mt Vesuvius in the background :)

"Non siamo suore."

Hey fam and friends!

This week was awesome! We worked hard and saw a ton of miracles. Our investigator Veronica is incredible. She came to church again this week and is reading the Book of Mormon. We asked her how it's going and she said she loves how she can read a verse during the day and it means one thing to her, and then she reads it later and it means something else to her. She's way awesome! 

Fun fact: I gave my whole district their flu shots this week. 😏😂

We had a few lessons with Ester and Pia this week and I can honestly say they're some of my favorite people I've ever met. They are absolutely hysterical but also really spiritual when we get them to focus haha. :) We're trying to figure out their baptism date because Pia has to get surgery in a few weeks so we have to wait until December but they're both so excited!

We went to Lina's house (the lady with the cute shoes on the train) on Saturday night and had a cool lesson with her. She had a lot of questions for us about the church and why she "feels so peaceful when we're with her". :) 

Hahaha I wish you guys knew how many times a day we get asked, "Siete Testimoni di Geova?" or "Siete suore?" (Are you Jehovah's Witnesses? Are you nuns?) 

I was studying this morning in Alma 62 and I was thinking a lot about how much our attitude matters when we are going through a trial. It's so important to choose to be happy and to humble ourselves and ask what the Lord would want us to learn from it. 

50 Yea, they did remember how great things the Lord had done for them, that he had delivered them from death, and from bonds, and from prisons, and from all manner of afflictions, and he had delivered them out of the hands of their enemies.

51 And they did pray unto the Lord their God continually, insomuch that the Lord did bless them, according to his word, so that they did wax strong and prosper in the land.

On Thursday we're having another mission conference in Rome and President Nelson is coming!!! Also a few other general authorities from the 70 are coming. It's going to be amazing. Next week we have Zone Conference on Monday so our P-day will be on Tuesday. It's going to be a great week! Stay tuned! Love you all ❤️

Sorella Hess

Ester learning how to pronounce our names hahaha.

We didn't take pics this week so here's an awkward one of us emailing at the church right now haha :)