Le feste di Bari!!

Ciao tutti!

Another week! It's been great down here in Bari. This transfer is flying! Transfer calls are next P-day!

Friday was for sure the highlight of the week! We had a stake Relief Society activity for all the women in the Puglia Stake... so know what that means?? ALL the sisters from Taranto (my 1st area) came up to Bari for the evening 😊😍 It was easily one of the best nights of my mission. So much fun to see them all after almost a year and to actually be able to communicate with them now haha. I got to see a lady who was a Less-Active while I was there but then re-activated herself during my 3rd transfer. She told me that she just got a calling as a RS instructor!! I was soo happy to hear she's still doing well! Seriously such a powerful night. There were around 200 women there which is AMAZING for places outside of Utah haha 😉 I was blown away by how strong these members are. They truly are the pioneers of the church here in Italy since the church has only been here for about 40 years.

Bari and Taranto Zone Sorelle

Also, Monica (that lady from last Sunday who showed up at church) came to the activity and they officially own a house in our ward and are moving in the first week of April! We are so excited to teach her :) She's golden!

Sabrina from Taranto

Other exciting events of this week: we were trying to pass by the home of a less active member. When we found the one we were looking for, we rang the citofono. Immediately after the "chi è" (who is it) and our "salve siamo le sorelle," (hi we are the sisters) we were buzzed in. We were pleasantly surprised and went up to the first floor. We rang the bell at the apartment and a woman asked who we were through the closed door. We explained that we were the missionaries, and she told us she couldn't open the door because she was just the badante (caregiver) and didn't have the keys. We were about to leave and come back in the morning, and I asked, "Ma, c'è Paola?" And the woman said, "Aspettate, vediamo se trovo le chiavi." (Wait a second, I'll see if I can find the keys) And she opened up the door and let us right in. Her name is Maria, and she told us that sadly the less active we were looking for died last year from cancer, and she is the badante (caregiver) for the mother of this woman. BUT Maria had met missionaries in the past and always wanted to be in contact with them again, but had no number or anything to contact them! We have been talking to her and are trying to meet with her again, we just have to find a time in her busy work schedule. Isn't that amazing?!

Guisi!!!

We had a party with our English course where we made British, American, and Canadian treats. It was really fun! There were lots of people there. Lots of potentials!

My Fav people

Cool graffiti

I gave a talk in church yesterday on why we need the restored church and as I've been studying it this past week, I've been able to reflect a lot on all of the blessings in my life thanks to the church. I invite you guys to sit down and make a list of all the ways the gospel has blessed you. It'll take a while, I promise haha but it's a pretty special experience. During 2nd and 3rd hour we got to watch the full Joseph Smith movie in English with our African Gospel Principles class. It's amazing watching it as a missionary because this is what we share with people every single day. I am thankful for the Restoration and that we have the priesthood again on the earth today. We're blessed guys!!! I love you all! Have a great week! 

Elisabeth--spelled like my middle name :)

Bari is good for a lot of things....but Pizza isn't one of them haha:)

Con amore,

Sorella Hess

Via Orazio Flacco 13/3

Bari, Italia

70100

Le foto:

Bari and Taranto Zone Sorelle

Sabrina from Taranto

Giusy!

My fav people :)

Elisabeth (spelled like my middle name) :)

Cool graffiti 

Bari is good for a lot of things but pizza isn't one of

them haha :) 

Digiuni, miracoli, funerali!(2)

Ciao guys, 

I swear we just had P-day 5 minutes ago haha. Time really needs to slow down. We had such a cool miracle yesterday so I'll start with that! 

"Shoot, we haven't taken any pics this week....smile guys"

Sorella Sargeant and I fasted yesterday so that we'd be able to find more truly interested investigators this week. No joke, right at the beginning of sacrament meeting this couple walks in. We didn't know who they were so I went and sat by them. Massimo--the husband--is a member from Taranto (my 1st area!!!) but has been living in L'aquila (up north of Rome) for 8 years and is inactive. His wife, Monica is from Uruguay but moved to Italy when she was 11. She's not a member (yet😉) but is seriously soo sweet and interested in the church. They're married and in the middle of adopting a baby and ARE MOVING TO OUR WARD IN A FEW WEEKS :) :) :) She texted US after church and said thank you so much for making her feel welcomed and that she's coming to the Relief Society activity this Saturday night. A random inactive man just shows up at our church and brings his non-member wife. That doesn't just randomly happen while we happen to be fasting for miracles. Fasting works guys!! Punto.

Saimo noi, la luce less'amore

Bishop asked me to play the piano for a funeral on Friday of an older man in the ward who passed away. It was such a spiritual day. His wife and daughters aren't members of the church and it was hard to watch them so heartbroken thinking they wouldn't be able to see their dad ever again. That morning we had taught a lesson to a new convert on the Plan of Salvation and then being at that funeral afterwards just confirmed my testimony of it even more. We are so blessed to know that death isn't the end!! I'm so thankful for the knowledge we have of where we came from, why we are here, where we are going, and how we can reach the highest kingdom of glory. The gospel brings so much peace and comfort in our lives! 

Visiting older ladies in the ward is the BESST!

New mattress today, we live in the old elder apartment so it was a necessity hahaha

Other than that, not much out of the usual happened. Getting creeped on, eating pasta, teaching English Course, preachin' the gospel...all that good stuff :) I love you guys! I love this church and all the blessings that come from being a missionary. You don't have to wear a name tag to be a missionary though ;) Pray for opportunities to share the gospel! Vi voglio un mondo di bene! 

Baci da Bari

Sorella Hess

Via Orazio Flacco 13/3
Bari, Italia
70100

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!