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😂

Carnevale, Conferenza di Zona, e Casa in Casa

Hi family and friends 😊

We saw SO many miracles this week!! Monday night I was on a scambio with Sorella Manning from Tooele. She's been out in the field a grand total of 2 weeks!!! It is so fun being with new missionaries. We had a lesson with Angela and Carlo and were able to add them as investigators! They are in their mid twenties and are dating. They took us out to get focaccia and then we had an incredible lesson with them about prayer. They asked US if they could try praying right then and there. Some of the most powerful moments I've had on the mission are the first times that people pray. Then they asked us all about how our marriages work in the church so we went on to talk about temples and eternal families. Such a cool night! We are way excited to work with them!

The next morning we were out doing finding and met several interested people. One lady stopped us and said she had met with the elders in the past and that she still reads the BOM and loves the comfort it brings her! Whattt?! Her name is Irma and she's from Georgia (the country, not state lol) and has lived in Italy for 10yrs. She came to English Course on Thursday and brought her BOM with her. So cute! 

We've been doing a lot of finding this week! I've never really done a lot of house to house finding on the mission because it's really hard to get into apartment complexes here because you have to talk to them through an intercom and get buzzed in. President and Sorella Pickerd talked about it at Zone Conference and said that we shouldn't be scared of it and that they both saw a lot of success from it when they were serving here, so we did it for a few hours this week. We saw lots of "Go away Jehovah's Witnesses" stickers haha and we only got yelled at twice so SUCCESS. Nobody let us in, haha but we tried hard :) Piano piano.

Zone Conf was awesome. I love President and Sorella Pickerd. The Zone Leaders and I taught an addestramento on "we invite, they commit, we follow up." It's been really neat this week to see how much more effective our lessons are as we plan our lessons around the investigator's need...not just necessarily the next lesson on the progress record. Haha I know none of you back home care about that haha but we've been seeing lots of miracles from it.

There's this holiday here in Italy called Carnevale that they celebrate for an entire week. I don't really know what they actually celebrate but it's kinda like a Halloween I guess. They all dress up and just party. Haha the ward had a huge party Friday night and mamma mia, they get crazy in Bari! They had Just Dance playing on the projector in the chapel and Bishop and his wife and all these old couples in the ward were going crazy! Hahaha we were dying. Luckily for us, we had to be home at 9 so we didn't have to help clean up all the confetti and food and streamers ;) The party was just getting started by the time we left haha. Several of our friends from English Course came and lots of Less-Actives we work with!! 

Anywayyyy. All in all, it's been solid week. I love the mission and I love you all!! Keep reading the scriptures!! I promise it will bless you!! Thanks for your emails and letters :) I still appreciate them a lot :) 

Con affetto,

Sorella Hess

Via Orazio Flacco 13/3

Bari, Italia

70100

Le foto:

Le Sorelle di Bari at Zone Conference

Last night with part of the district 

Today in Alberobello! It's a city with all these little houses called "trulli." It's such a cute place!

"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 :)

Conferenza Generale, Scambi, 8 Mesi!!(11) Oct. 3, 2016

Buonasera cari miei!!

Come va? I seriously cannot believe it's October. Today's my 8 month mark in the mission!! I want time to stop. The mission is incredible. Also, wanted to give a quick shout out to my little brother Sam on submitting his papers this week :) Keep your fingers crossed he comes to the Great Italy Rome Mission :) 

We had an exchange with the Sorelle in Battipaglia from Monday night to Tuesday afternoon and I was with cute Sorella Shubin from Alpine!! We found a 14yr old girl on the street and taught her the Restoration right there. She was really interested so I'm excited to see what happens with her :) Scambi (exchanges) bring miracles!

We visited an older man in our ward and his wife who isn't a member this week. They fed us lunch (ovviamente haha) and it was delicious. He is the coolest member ever and has a full on baptismal font in his house. It was the biggest and most beautiful house I've seen on my whole mission. Out in the middle of the country with a huge garden. It was amazing. We love Fratello Izzo. 

We had a busy and awesome week and conference was the icing on the cake!! Wasn't it incredible? I loved all of the talks!! I took way too many pages of notes haha. Here are some of my favorite quotes/thoughts I had while listening: (sorry if they aren't exactly worded right)

"Even though storms will beat on the ship, we need not fear because the Savior is on board. He is our captain! Even the winds and seas obey Him. He will never abandon any of us." -M. Russell Ballard

"As we become more familiar with something, we lose our sense of awe. The same thing goes with the gospel. We've been given so much!! The message of the gospel is exciting!! We should be proud of our message! We have unimaginable glory to come." -President Uchtdorf

"Let the Savior be your caregiver. Turn to Him." -Robert D. Hales

I could go on all day, but I encourage you all to go back and read the talks again. 

I LOVED the talk called "The Master Healer" from the Women's session. You should all go read it right now :) and of course "Fourth Floor, Last Door" by President Uchtdorf.

We get transfer calls tonight after 8 so it will be fun to see if we stay or go! I love Caserta so much. I could honestly serve here until I go home and be happy. Caserta is the promised land and Napoli Zone is the best 😊 I love you all. I love this gospel. I love the joy that comes from sharing the gospel. We are SO blessed. Pray for an opportunity to share your testimony!

Vi voglio un mondo di bene,

Sorella Hess

Positano last P-day

Amalfi!!

Amalfi

Positano

Forza Italia August 29, 2016

"L" a recent convert

What a week!!! Wow. First off, I want to say that all the missionaries
in this mission are safe. There was a 6.1 earthquake up near Rome this
week and a lot of people were killed. It was about 2.5 hours away from
here and happened at 3:30am. We were asleep but we've heard from
several of our friends here that they were awake and felt it. Please
keep everyone that was effected by it in your prayers!


As we were teaching R this week, we were bearing testimony about
the atonement and I felt completely overwhelmed with love for her.
I've only known her for about 5 weeks, but I felt like I was given a
glimpse of God's love for her. It was amazing :)

What happens when we ask the Elders to take pics for us.....all blurry hahaha

Ok, ready for the biggest miracle?!?! Friday night we met these two
teenage girls and their mom-E (19), P (17), and M the mom. We
taught them right there on the street about how they can be an eternal
family and set a return appointment for the next night. They came on
Saturday night and brought their dad too!! We taught them all the
Restoration and they LOVED it. It felt like we were on the District
haha. Dream lesson. They are so excited and preparing to be baptized
on October 8th!!! It was so amazing. They are elect! My favorite quote
from the night was, "What do I have to do to be a Sorella like you
guys? I want to be Sorella E one day!" Music to my ears :)

They said they were coming to church the next morning and we were
pretty bummed when they didn't show up. They called us later on Sunday
and explained that their mom had work at 7am and they didn't have a
ride because their dad's car wouldn't start but that they've been
reading the Book of Mormon and praying and are loving it!

Weekly planning selfie

On Monday we did an FHE with this cute blonde (😊) American family on
the base. They gave us a huge jar of peanut butter and a big container
of mint oreos 😍 The tiniest jar of peanut butter here is literally
€6.50 so we loooove having Americans in the ward who live on the base
and can get stuff for cheap. It's the little things. Invite the
missionaries over guys! We've been eating PB&J's all week.

We added another investigator this week, A, who owns a gym and is a body builder. Guys,
she's ripped. Hahaha #lifegoals. I was thinking the other day about
how we have to exercise every day. What happens when we don't? We lose
muscle, it becomes harder the next time, we lose motivation, etc. It's
exactly the same with working out spiritually. When we aren't doing
the small things every day like reading the scriptures and praying,
Satan works a lot harder on us and it becomes much harder. We lose
spiritual strength. I'm thankful to be here on a mission and to have 2
hours set aside every day to study the scriptures and "spriritually
exercise". :) I encourage you all to go watch the Mormon Message,
"Flecks of Gold." We use this all the time with our MA's
(Meno-attivi's = less-actives) and investigators to show that as we do
the small things every day, piano piano (little by little) they will
become big things.

Spero che tutto sia posto! Grazie per i vostri esempi e le vostre
testimonianze! I have the best family & friends ever. Ciao ciao for
now :)

❤️,
Sorella Hess

Sent from my iPad