Conquered the Fufu...

It was a great week. I can't believe I've been here in Caserta for over 6 months. I love it here so much! It truly feels like home to me. Not a whole ton of stuff happened this week that was extra exciting. We've been working with a lot of less-active members. It's fun to see them recognize the Spirit again during our lessons. One of our Less-Actives has a 9yr old daughter that we're teaching who should be getting baptized here in a couple weeks. She's the cutest! We taught her the plan of salvation this week and she LOVED it. It's fun having to simplify the lessons down to a child's level because it makes us focus on what's the most important. Also Gianfranco gets baptized this weekend! It's been a long time since he started investigating the church so it's really exciting that it's happening!! 

Here's probably the most exciting thing that happened: 

The Battipaglia Sorelle came to do a scambio with us and I was with Sorella Barnes from North Salt Lake. She's the same age as Sorella Neuberger in the mission so in her 2nd transfer. We were visiting a woman in our ward that's from Ghana and we didn't realize that she would be feeding us and we had just eaten a couple hours before so we weren't super hungry. I've heard all about "fufu" but I had never tried it on my mission yet. It's basically a huge piece of dough that is on one plate and then a bowl next to it with soup in it. Our soup had a full-on chicken (bones and all), mushrooms, and a bunch of other stuff. You eat it all with your hands and dip the bread dough in the soup. It was dannnng spicy. I had no clue how hot African food is so shoutout to Sis Caroline Richards and my cousins and friends serving down in Africa. 💛 Our eyes were watering the whole time. I probably chugged a whole two liter bottle of water by myself hahaha. AND, she gave us each enough dough to feed a family of 10. Hahaha we were DYING by the end. I've never prayed so hard to be able to finish something and keep it down with a smile. It was way nice of her to feed us and I'd always wanted to try it--I just hadn't eaten spicy food for almost a year so we weren't used to it haha.

We got to teach the Young Women yesterday which was a blast. It made me think of my sisters Hailey and Sadie :) It was on why Jesus Christ is important in our lives. We asked them a rhetorical question that I've been thinking a lot about. What is the difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Christ? Do you know Christ or do you know of Him? It reminded me of the talk from this last conference by Elder Bednar. I invite you all to read it and to ask yourself if you truly know Christ. I'm so thankful for my Savior and that I get to be a full-time representative of Him. 

Ok one more funny story: Last night we were going through the area book calling old simps. I called a lady who tells us she has 17 cats and several of them are dying right now so she's too busy to meet with us. I ask if we can help her with anything and she says just to pray. So we're praying for her cats and maybe she'll find time to meet with us ;) Haha.

Vi voglio un Napolitano di bene! 

❤/

Sorella Hess

Piazza Monte Gemma 9

Roma 00141

Italia 

Fufu! Doesn't do it justice for how filling it was haha.

One more of Pompeii last week 

Buon Natale Amici Miei🎄❤️

Buon Natale a tutti!! I hope you guys had a great Christmas!! People aren't lying when they say the best Christmases are on the mission. It's been such an amazing week. The members here spoiled us. We're so blessed! It was awesome talking to my family yesterday too. I love those guys :)

We had two HUGE Christmas miracles yesterday. There is a less-active woman we've been working with since I got here back in July. We visit her several times a week and she's never been to church but yesterday she CAME. Sorella Neuberger and I both got teary-eyed as she walked in. We were so happy!

Right before sacrament meeting started our investigator Gianfranco came up to us and  said he's ready to be baptized as soon as we can do it!!! He's been coming to church for the last year or so but he's in a tricky situation and hasn't been able to get baptized until now. We both cried again right there when he said that!! We are so excited for him. He has the strongest testimony and hasn't missed a week of church since I've been here. Best Christmas gift ever❤️

It's been such a special week. I gotta keep this short because we are doing something reeeally cool for P-day today. Stay tuned for next week!! 

I've been studying this week from the Harmonies of the Gospel. It's right after the Bible Dictionary and before the JST. Mamma Mia, it's helped me a lot with understanding the New Testament and the chronology. My testimony of the Savior has grown so much this week as I've read about His life. I'm so thankful that He was born and that because of Him we can have eternal life with our families. I love my Savior and am eternally grateful for His atoning sacrifice. 

I hope you all have an amazing week. Don't party too hard for New Years 😉 

Con amore,

Sorella Hess

Via Caduti sul Lavoro 3 

Caserta, CE 81100

Italia

Christmas Eve with a cute family in the ward

Merry Christmas from the Caserta Sorelle :)

Best Christmas ever 💕

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 :)

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

Caserta, Taranto, Rome, Caserta!! Sept. 19, 2016

Ciao amici e famiglia!

Got my permesso after almost 8 months haha

Such an amazing week!!! Monday after we emailed for a little bit, we took a train down to Taranto!!! It was so so good to be back :) We stayed the night with the Sorelle there and then on Tuesday we picked up my Permesso (visa). We met a super nice lady named Mariella. She bought us gelato and we talked to her for a while. I've only had random people buy us food one other time on my mission so it was pretty cool :) Then we went to English course and I got so see some of my favorite people from Taranto! So fun!! Favorite quote from the night was from one of the members who we used to visit all the time: "Sorella Hess!! You can actually speak Italian now!! I remember when you could only say small little words and didn't understand anything." Hahahaha thanks Sorella Mazzolari😂❤️

Wednesday morning we took a train directly from Taranto to Rome with the Taranto elders. We got there and then went and finished our P-day. We saw the Trevi Fountain and also the Vatican! We didn't go inside the Sistine chapel but we walked around in the piazza for a while. Mamma Mia. Rome is amazing! Hopefully I get to serve there at some point :)

trevi fountain 

Thursday was the MISSION CONFERENCE. All the missionaries came up except for the ones in Sicily so we had 140 missionaries there! It was the most missionaries I've seen since the MTC. President Kearon (the European Area President from England) spoke to us and it was amazing. I don't even really know how to sum it all up because it was so good. 

He talked a lot about how we need to become the message we are sharing. We have the happiest message in the world!! People can be with their families for eternity! Our Savior lives and loves us! We can be forgiven of our sins! I've been thinking a lot about what I can do to become the message so that people can tell that there is something different about us. "Let people think that 2 angels just left their house when you leave a lesson." 

the Vatican

Remember the lady with the cute shoes on the train a couple weeks ago? We had a lesson with her this weekend that went really well. I love Italy. I love Italians. I love the culture here. I love the food. I love it all.

part of my MTC group reunited

It's been a weird week being out of our city and we're thankful to be back to our nice (almost brand new) mattresses at home after sleeping on old ones on the floor all week haha. Caserta feels like home to me. Tante belle cose a voi! Ci sentiamo!

❤️/Sorella Hess

pretty streets in Rome 

1- got my permesso after almost 8 months haha

2- trevi fountain 

3- the Vatican 

4- part of my MTC group reunited

5- pretty streets in Rome 

Rough Drafts, Identity Crisis, Taranto e Roma bound Sept. 12, 2016

Me, C, F, L Sorella Jarnagin, and Denis
(member). How stinkin cute are her daughters?

Hey Hey Hey! This will be crazy because we have to take a train backto Taranto today in a little bit to pick up my Permesso (basically my visa to stay in Italy). It will be fun/weird to be back in my first
city! We stay there until Wednesday morning and then are taking a
train from Taranto to Rome for a mission conference on Thursday! It
should be a fun week! Here's to over 16 hours of trains this week! Le
vite delle sorelle. 🇮🇹❤️

-We had to drop one of my favorite investigators this week and it was
pretty hard. It's tough when we have the gospel that brings us so much
joy but people aren't ready to accept it. It's like giving someone the
best present ever and them saying "non mi interessa" (I'm not
interested). I know there are prepared people here. We're praying so
hard that we will be led to them and that they will be led to us.

-Our senior couple this week took us to the American military base for
lunch (American burgers 😍) and then took us to the Navy Exchange
store and let us get some stuff. Bath and body works, American shampoo
and conditioner, etc. We were happy campers. :)

-F is our investigator from the Philippines and she's so ready
to be baptized!! We practiced the baptismal interview questions with
her the other day and she did great. Only problem is that she lives
over an hour away from the church and doesn't have her license yet.
She's taking her driving test in a few weeks and we are praying so
hard that she'll be able to start coming to church.

Sweet church we found the other day when we visited a less active. I
love my mission. This kind of stuff is almost on every corner. 😍

My identity crisis moment. Waiting for the bus in Bellona :)-We highlighted our hair this week and mine turned out good. Poor

Sorella Jarnagin on the other hand.... Haha lets just say she got to
experience what it's like to be a redhead.... Well more like an
orange-head ;) We fixed it and she's back to her beautiful self :)

-I forgot my name tag the other day and we were running late to catch
our train to go to a lesson so we called the elders and had them bring
me one of their extras. Buongiorno!! Sono Anziano Caliò. Haha yeah I
was Anziano Caliò for the day. Identity Crisis or what? An elder's
name tag is better than no name tag I guess :)

We were talking with a member the other night (Jessa-literally my soul
sister. She's unreal) and it was amazing what she said. We were
talking about the Atonement and how when we stand before Heavenly
Father at judgment day, we will basically hand Him a paper of our
life. We can give ourselves a lot more work because we control how
many rough drafts we have to do, but we can turn in a perfect paper
because of the Savior. We don't have to use an eraser and leave behind
black marks. The Atonement allows us to start over on a fresh new
sheet and we will be able to turn in a perfect paper. I'd never
thought about it like that before but I loved it. I'm so thankful we
can get a fresh new page each time we sbagliamo (mess up).

Sorry this is so scatterbrained. We have to get going but I hope you
all have a great week! Since we only get an hour of P-day today, we
get to spend the rest of our P-day in Rome on Wednesday so we're
planning on going to either the Vatican or hitting downtown Rome
(Trevi fountain, Coliseum, etc.) Stay tuned :)
Vi voglio un mondo di bene!

Con amore,
Sorella Hess :)