Week 18 yata. oh how the time flies when you're having fun :)

Well I've officially been out here in the field for 5 months and I still love it,  possibly more than I ever have. 

This week has been very productive. We opened areas again and it's a lot of fun because now Sister J and Sister P and Sister L and I are all pretty much working together. We all go to the same area every day and then walk on opposite sides of the street. Hehe it's quite fun.

Also because I've been realizing that my hugest weakness right now is finding the courage to talk to everyone, that's what we've been doing. We got a total of 18 new investigators this week. I wish I could keep track of how many times I've taught lesson one in my mission. The other day we taught it to 9 people. CRAZY. And they were all very attentive and receptive. Astig :)

Remember Sister M? She's one of our previous investigators and she's 18 and she lives in Santa Rita. Well this week we went and found her family and taught all of them. Hopefully, they'll all accept the Gospel and then they can all be together forever. That would be so amazing.

Well that's been the funnest part of this week. Just meeting new people and getting out of my bubble.

Also, I've come to appreciate the Atonement a lot more this week and realized why we all grow up so much on our missions. We are basically gospel psychologists. We go from appointment to appointment (less-actives, recent converts, and investigators) and listen to all of their problems and concerns. And then we try to fix them with the gospel. This week has been interesting because we've gone to visit a lot of less-actives who have been offended by members here. Their reasons for not coming to church are so heavy sometimes. And of course we can feel exactly what they're feeling because we're missionaries and we're the servants of the Savior and we love them. So I just feel like I've matured a lot this week because of their stories that they've told me. I don't feel like I'm 20 right now. Probably closer to 35.... Oh well. I know that their lives are hard and our jobs as missionaries is to help them come unto Christ because that's the best help they can get in their lives.

I love being a missionary so much but I can promise you that I am NOT going to be a psychologist when I grow up. I'll be getting enough of that during my mission.

I love you all. The Gospel is true and it's the best help any of us can get in our lives. We just have to trust in God and remember that "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."

Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts in my behalf. Have a great week!

Mahal ko kayo

-Sister Hess

p.s. Mom, you should tell [#7] that some little kids here have started to call me Tinker Bell because I do my hair like her :)