Week 32: A day late :)

Sooooo Hi :) How's everyone today? Everything's good over here. Just peachy :)

There's a reason why this is late and that would be because yesterday we got to go on another Zone Activity because we achieved the Standard of Excellence again for the month of February. And we just happened to be the only zone in the whole mission to achieve. Woohoo! So we got to go to Mt. Samat. If you don't know what that is it is a really big monument from world war 2. All about the Death March in Bataan. If you are at home, feel free to look it up. It's a really cool story about how the Filipinos and the Americans worked together against the Japanese. But the monument itself is amazing. It is a giant cross on the top of a hill. And you can go inside it and ride an elevator all the way to the

top. When you're at the top, there are windows on both sides and you can see from one side of the island (you can literally see the ocean) to the other (and then you can see the other ocean). It was pretty awesome. But the coolest part was the spiritual devotional thing we had afterwards. But yeah :) Yesterday was a good day.

But right now I'm supposed to tell you about this last week, so I guess I should get to that. 

Monday was fun. Support days are exhausting though. Support days are what you call the first p-day of the month and you go get your money. And then you shop and get everything you need to get done. And then we went out and worked. We didn't have an FHE planned to we went to our area and decided to do some finding. Brother C M worked with us. He's never worked with us before. We contacted a couple of referrals and I got to I2L a lady who wanted to talk to me because I'm white and speak English. The reason she wanted to do that is because her husband is Canadian and she needs someone to practice English on while he's gone. Works for me as long as I get to teach her. 

Tuesday: We had a district meeting and that was good and President Q attended our meeting. I got to give the Spiritual Instruction at the end and yup. That was it. Then we went out and taught. We taught Sister J who is an interesting old lady and also a member of Iglesia ni Cristo. That was an interesting lesson because she just wanted to compare our church with hers. Good luck with that. Then we went and taught D who is the cousin of some members here. He's a funny kid who is 14 years old and he's shy because we're girls haha. But it was a good lesson and now he has a baptismal date and we'll see what happens with that. And then we went and taught Brother D and Brother C worked with us again and he shared the scripture with him. Brother D has been discouraged a lot because he's trying to stop smoking. It was a good lesson and we've really been trying to encourage him. We'll see what happens there too.

Wednesday: Brother C M worked with us the whole day today. And we were punted. We still taught people and had a good day in that sense of the word but I haven't gone home that depressed or discouraged in a long time. Like since my training. I prayed so hard that night to figure out what I was supposed to do on Friday... And I refused to have a repeat of that day.

Thursday: Thursday was a very very good day compared to Wednesday. We got to teach another referral for the first time. Brother L, who is very smart and wants to be baptized too. And then we taught some less-actives and D and Brother D again too. And Brother W worked with us. I love it when he works with us. It was like a breath of fresh air. 

Friday: Brother C worked with us again. The day was good. We got to teach the lady that we contacted on Monday who only wanted to talk to me because I was white. She calls me Hess because she doesn't realize that that is my last name haha. She's a Baptist and we got to hear all about her life problems. It was very very interesting. Then we went and taught Tatay A who is one recent convert who recently suffered from a stroke. We got Brother C and Brother W to give him a priesthood blessing and the changes were dramatic. He sat up more and had more energy and we actually got to teach him. It was awesome. We also taught the S family again and Brother C taught them and he did it right this time :) And then we went and taught Brother D. He's really down on himself. We almost don't know how to help him. But we keep trying because we know that he can do it. So all-in-all the day was a really big success. 

Saturday: Happy Birthday, Dad! :) We had a meeting with our BML and we planned for a Mini MTC that we're gonna hold in two weeks. It's gonna be awesome!

And then our BML, Brother De worked with us. I love that guy. He's super funny. He's an RM that served in the Cebu mission and he's a really good missionary. We went and taught D again and it was a good lesson and then we went to teach Brother D. We were really hoping that Brother De could help him because they're best friends. And he did help him. Brother D was a bit more encouraged and willing to keep trying.

Sunday: Brother D's birthday. He worked with us all day and didn't smoke (because he couldn't). At the end of the day we went and dropped him off at his house and he told us that if it was last year he wouldn't have been working with the missionaries for his birthday. He would have been off drinking at one of his buddies houses. He told us that this birthday was a lot happier and then he said that he wasn't going to smoke anymore because he really wanted to quit and he knew he could. YES! Success :) 

So yeah. That was my week. It had it's ups and downs but that's just how missionary work is. I know that this is the only true church on earth and if we keep striving to be exactly obedient and never give up, the Lord will bless us in every aspect. I love you all and thank you so much for all the support and prayers. 

Have a great week. Talk to you next time. 

Mahal ko kayo!

-Sister Hess :)

Week 31: Keep Calm and Don't Become a Nazi

haha this week has been super duper interesting. It was transfer week and guess what! None of us got transferred. We're still here in San Agustin. The only thing that changed in our zone is that one of our zone leaders became an assistant to the president and then we got two new ones. That's.... fun.

So yeah, crazy crazy crazy week over here.

Monday: We had a Family Home Evening at one of the members houses and it was super fun. We played a whole bunch of games and they all involved water :)

Tuesday: We went out and tracted and worked with the members and waited for the text announcing who was transferring. We were almost home and then Elder C called and said that no one was transferring. Not exactly the most exciting of transfer days.

Wednesday: We went around our area again and taught a bunch of people. Our last appointment was with Brother D. And he told us that he had relapsed and was super super discouraged. He told us that he wanted to give up. So we taught him a really encouraging lesson about David and Goliath and he got a priesthood blessing. That is some powerful stuff.

Thursday: We had a zone meeting where we met our new Zone Leaders. They're an interesting pair. This is gonna be an interesting transfer... Afterwards we taught J (who was getting baptized on Saturday) and that was super fun because we joke around with him a lot. We also went and taught one of our recently returned less-actives who is also a really big joker. And then he told us that we was going to work with us on Friday. Alright, that's good with us.We went and visited D again and he seemed to be doing a little bit better but he was still a bit discouraged.

Friday! We had MLC again and that was awesome. We went to the mission home and I got to see everyone I love because Sister C is now an STL as well! YAY! Reunions are sooooo happy. And I learned a lot too. And I'm definitely going to apply them to my calling as an STL. After the MLC, we went home. There I found out that all the branch missionaries had had a huge bunch of drama happen and while I was gone the other sisters here had fixed it. Ah I love these sisters... And then we had a baptism. Brother J got baptized and he was so happy. He says he wants to serve a mission. YES! After the baptism we went and taught all the recent converts that we have in Balintabog who are a bunch of kids that are awesome. We always play a really short game afterwards with them as a reward for listening to us. We played Hair Fight this time hehe

Saturday: This day was really successful. We got 3 new investigators and they were all referrals. We taught Sister B (16 years old) and gave her a baptism date but she says she can't come to church because she goes to church with her Grandma at the Catholic church. That's gonna change pretty soon. And then we went and found another referral and taught them too. Then we went and taught the S family who are recent converts. They're awesome and say they're gonna prepare a lot of referrals for us :)

Sunday: We went to church and it was good. We went and taught the O family again and Brother D worked with us along with Brother W and Brother Jo. It was a really fun time. And then we went and taught the kids in Balintabog again and then went to the Su family's house and had dinner. Nanay Su is awesome and she loves cooking for us. So yeah. This week was good and fun. I learned a lot and I plan on changing a lot. Thank you for all your prayers and support. I love you all. Have a great week! Until next time.

Mahal ko kayo!

-Sister Hess

Week 30: This is the ONLY true church on the face of the earth. You can argue with me, say whatever you want. It's not gonna change how I feel. And if you try and make me mad in the process, I'll just speak really fast in Tagalog at you hahaha Good luck!

Well, this week was very very very interesting. Lets just say that I had two people try to convince me that the LDS church isn't true. Good luck with that….

But yeah, lots of fun times this week but my testimony is stronger than ever.

So Monday: It was a normal p-day and then at night we had a FHE and it was super super fun. We made some more people members of booga booga and then we had a hair fight (we'll play that when I get home) and then played the needle game (Sister C knows what that is... hehe).

Tuesday: We were really really punted. We went from appointment to appointment and no one was home. But we still got some lessons in anyways. We taught L and D to help them prepare for their baptism and then went and taught De again. He was smoking 8 cigarettes a day and then he dropped down to 7.

Wednesday: Today was one of the interesting ones... We went and taught the S family (recent converts) and then taught N (one of our investigators) and then we taught brother De again (only 6 sticks today!) And then went back to the Methodist lady's house. She wanted to feed us and she had ordered my favorite Filippino food (Bicol Express). But there was a catch to that meeting... Someone had given her an Anti-Mormon magazine. I asked her about it, and she said she didn't want to talk about it because it might "ruin our friendship" and then we were like ok fine with us. But then she proceeded to tell us things about it and read us things out of it that were possibly the most ridiculous things I've ever heard about the Mormon church. We told her that they weren't true. Even though we kept telling her that it wasn't true and that it wasn't even written by Mormons, she said that she didn't know. Well, alrighty then. And then she proceeded to lecture us again about being "inclusive and not exclusive". Hmmm ok. Yup. That was the first interesting lesson that I got to be a part of this week. The good thing was the food was delicious :)

Thursday: Thursday was another punted day. We went and contacted the referral of one of our recent converts, and she's awesome. She really, really wants to go to church. The only problem is that they're really far away from the church, and they don't have any money to ride to church. So we'll see if we can fix that.

Then we got to the other interesting lesson. This one was to one of our less-actives that I had actually never taught yet. His name is R and he has actually been taught by another religion and they gave him a bible of theirs, and he's been studying it religiously. We went to teach him and we answered all his questions but he didn't accept them as answers because they're built on faith and not on fact. Let's just say that he made me really mad and yup. But the one thing I actually like about the hard lessons like that is that they solidify my testimony. There is no way they're going to convert me to their religion because I know that mine is true. Don't bother trying to convince me because I'm just as stubborn as you are... Ugh. So that was fun. 

Friday: This day was a lot better because I got to go on exchanges with Sister T. We went around her area and taught a bunch of people. I tried to help her resolve some of her concerns. We taught one less-active who says I look like Taylor Swift (when she came to church on Sunday that's what she called me and hugged me) and taught some more investigators and it was fun because it was two white girls walking around speaking English and everyone was pretty amazed haha

Saturday! Baptism day of Tatay and Nanay M and L and D. It was great, and they were all so happy because of it. Then we went to visit the O family (recent converts), and I got to play with their three little girls and their son. Man it made me miss my siblings so much. But it was fun. I felt like I was home.

Sunday: This day was good too. I got to be the pianist at church, and I also got to give a talk about our Missionary duty. I forgot how much I love giving talks. We also got one more of our investigators interviewed for baptism. Then we went and taught the O family again about missionary work and then went and contacted another referral and then went and taught Brother De again. He's down to two cigarettes :) His goal is to be completely off them by March 1st. I love this Gospel and seeing it change the lives of people. 

I'm so grateful for the chance to be a missionary. I know this is the true church. Not a doubt in my mind. Thank you for all the love and support that you give me. 

Mahal ko kayo!

Have a great week! Until next time.

Sister Hess

Week 29: Jeans, Sun, Wishing wells, Sand everywhere, Exchanges, Nutella, and Jam sessions on the piano

Greetings from planet Earth! I'm Jimmy Neutron and YOU'RE an Alien life form....

Hahah juuuuust kidding. 

Sister Hess here again. 

This past week has been super fun and we've noticed so many blessings in our work. 

Monday: As you heard last week, we had a zone activity on the beach over here in our area, and it was amazing and gorgeous, and I wanted to swim sooooo badly but I'm a good girl and I didn't. We also did a family home evening in our area and made a whole bunch of kids members of Booga-booga. That was super super fun. 

Tuesday: I went on exchanges with Sister A (trainee of Sister T). That was a lot of fun too. I learned so much from her. She's a great missionary and even though she's only been out here for 5 weeks. We got to teach a lot of people in their area and that was a lot of fun to get to know a whole bunch of new people.

Wednesday: We had a zone conference. It was great and I got to see a lot of my friends, and then we got to eat at a fancy restaurant. We came home and got back to work. We visited L and D and then headed to teach Brother D. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and found out that he has a drinking problem and a smoking problem. But he is so willing to change. That's always one of my favorite things about missionary work, seeing the change come over the people we teach because they know that the Gospel is true. I love it so much. 

Thursday: We were actually quite punted today which means that we go to our appointments and no one is there or they're super busy. But we still got to teach some people anyway. We went and taught the S family and then taught J (who is going to be baptized on the 28th) and then went and taught the O family. They're a family of recent converts, and they're awesome. They have 3 little girls and they always hang on me because they think that if they do, maybe some of my whiteness will rub off on them haha I gave the three little girls and their older brother and their mom some CTR rings and they were so happy. 

Friday: We were really punted today too. Because it was Valentine's day, and no one was home at all. It was really weird. But we still got some teaching appointments in anyways. We taught Brother E who is a recent convert too. He's a little spitfire. He's 14 years old and super funny. We pretty much just tease each other through the whole teaching appointment. And then we went and taught L and D again. They're ready for their baptism too. And then we went to our dinner date at the house of Sister Z, the Methodist. This was like us making up for the last time we tried to teach her. And it was actually pretty good but mainly because we didn't teach her anything. But it was fun anyways.

Saturday: This day was super super fun. We got to do a CSP or church service project. We went to the M's house and we got to chop up a bunch of vines that were making a mess everywhere and then we got to help pick mangoes. And *bonus* I got to wear my jeans! :D That makes a very very happy Sister Hess. And then we taught them the Law of Chastity and the Law of Tithing and reviewed all the baptismal interview questions in one sitting hahaha that was fun. And then we went and visited L and D again and reviewed the baptismal interview questions with them too. 

Sunday: Went to church and so did 6 of our investigators. We had a jam session after church and I learned to play some new songs and then 4 of our investigators got interviewed for their baptism next week. And yup. Now I have to go.

Thank you so much for all the love and support. I love you all. Keep working hard and keep smiling. 

Mahal ko kayo!

-Sister Hess

Week 28: It is February and I am soooooooooooooooo sunburned. I love the Philippines :)

Magandang hapon po sa inyo lahat! Kumusta na po kayo? Seguro, gusto ko magtagalog lang dito sa email ko sa inyo haha pero hindi pala pwede kusi hindo nyo naiintindihan. Sayang naman…..

Alright English na lang. 

How is everyone?

I'm great over here in the Philippines. You know that statement that says, "It's more fun in the Philippines."? Well if you didn't know that well now you do and it's definitely true.

This week has been a lot of fun.

Monday was a normal p-day. Got everything done and got back to the house, cleaned and then went out to work. We went and visited a recent convert who right now is living as a single parent because her husband (who is also a recent convert) is working abroad. We shared a scripture verse with her and then she just opened up and told us all about the many problems in her life. Apparently she's having a really hard time with her youngest son.... We could only encourage her to keep praying and having faith. 

Then we went and visited a husband and wife who are members and they've been members for a while. That was a fun lesson too. They're both pretty old but the dad's a big joker. 

Tuesday was MLC or Mission Leadership Counsel. So I got to go to the mission home. And I got to see Sister Lo and Sister Le and Sister P and Sister Ja and all my friends that are also ZLs and STLs right now. And it was super fun. I learned so much, and after that I actually felt like I might be able to do this STL thing.  

And then we went and visited Brother D who is my favorite investigator right now. He's 23 years old and he reminds me a lot of Brother R over in Lubao. He plays the guitar and used to be part of a band and so we had a jam session :) That was super super fun. And then we shared a scripture verse with him and committed him to ask God if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. 

Wednesday was my first Zone Meeting here in Botolan Zone. Our Zone Leaders are Elder C and Elder E. They're both awesome. If I was going to use one word to describe Elder C that would be "intense". He loves missionary work and he is a very, very hard worker so of course he expects all of us to be that way too. Elder E is just kind of quiet but he's also a very good ZL. Their workshop was all about finding because they want to make sure that we're prepared for next month too. And then they challenged us all to find at least one new investigator every single day. And then it was time for me Spiritual Instruction (that's what STLs usually do in zone meetings). My SI was on improving yourself everyday and pushing yourself. My favorite quote (that I forgot to share) is, "The only person you should be better than is that person that you were yesterday." And then I compared missionary work with Cross Country hahaha yup, I actually did. I think it was good... but I'm not exactly sure because the only person I asked for an opinion from was Sister L and because she's my companion... She's kind of biased haha but oh well. 

Wedneday was the start of the finding game. The ZLs texted us and told us that we had from 2pm to 9pm that night to find at least one new investigator and then to text them the names of them right after we get out of the appointment (I hope that makes sense... my English grammar is so bad right now). And then once they knew who had investigators they would send a mass text to everyone so that we would push each other to keep finding. It actually worked out really well. 

So we went out and taught a lot of people and everyone we saw we would talk to and so we got two new investigators and a bunch of return appointments :) Woohoo! "It's fun to find, it's fun to find, it's fun to find." 

Thursday, this was a good day too and yes, the finding game did continue. We headed straight out to visit the M family who lives really, really far away. They live about a 25-30 minute tricycle ride away. But they're awesome. But the sad thing was that we got there and Tatay told us that Nanay wasn't there. She was at a funeral... Darn. We taught Tatay anyways. We just resolved his concerns again and he said he was 99.9% sure that he was ready to be baptized. YAY! But because we spent so much time there resolving his concerns, we didn't get back in time to do some actual finding because it was dark by then. We went and taught Brother J who is going to be baptized on the 28th and that was fun because he's a 15 year old kid that's really quiet but has his own way of joking. Filippinos loooooove joking so I fit in perfectly here haha After the lesson for J, we got to teach Brother D again. We asked him if he prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a true prophet and after the prayer he said he heard a really loud "Oo" (oh-oh) in his head which is Tagalog for "yes." It said it scared him really bad hahaha So he knows that Joseph is a true prophet of God. We then proceeded to teach him about the Book of Mormon and it was a really good lesson too. Then we committed him to be baptized on March 8th and he accepted :) yeehee.

Friday was a lot of fun because somehow we ended up with four members to work with us. All young men. The young men here in San Agustin Branch are craaaaaazy. There was Brother W, Brother Du, Brother B (one of our returning less-actives), and Brother Je. They are a hilarious group of boys. We got two new investigators on Friday too. One of them, Sister M, has a lot of potential and we're really excited to teach her again. The other, Brother A, probably won't progress very much but at least he listened. He told us straight up that he wouldn't go to church at our church because when he does go to church it's only at the Catholic church. Well, we'll see about that. 

Saturday, we went and visited a lot of less-actives. And that was fun and at the same time not so fun. Sometimes less-actives are really hard to teach because they are members that already know that gospel. So sometimes it feels like running head first into a brick wall.... But oh well. At least we keep trying. We went back and taught Brother D again and had another jam session. We shared a scripture verse and he had invited his two cousins to listen. It was a good lesson too.

Sunday, church time! And we had 6 investigators come. And they all have baptism dates :) Looks promising. Work after church wasn't as good as it was on the other day. We were so punted. There was no one home. But we still went and taught Le and De who are two little kids that are gonna be baptized too. They're super funny and I love teaching them. They're 13 and 11 years old and they've got a lot of spunk. 

After teaching them we went and visited our Methodist friend, Sister Z. It was a very interesting lesson.

So yeah. That was my week. Everything's good. And it was all fun. Gotta go now. 

Love you all. Thank you for all your love and support. Until next week. Mahal ko kayo!

-Sister Hess

Week 27: I got emergency transferred?! SAY WHA?!

Well this week has been super duper interesting.

I got emergency transferred on Wednesday. That means (for those of you not familiar with missionary terms) that I got transferred to a new area on a day that wasn't a transfer day. So it was Wednesday, Sister C and I were just sitting there talking and then the APs (assistant to the president) called. Elder F asked to talk to me and then told me that he had news for me. I was being emergency transferred that day, and I had to be packed in 2 hours. And that was all he told me (later he told me that he likes leaving out important details so we freak out....). So of course we ran next door to tell the other sisters and found out that three of them were being emergency transferred as well. CRAZY. So we're all freaking out a bit and packing like mad-women and of course, speculating... Why are we being transferred? 

And then President Q and the APs finally got to Lubao. President told us that we're all being transferred because the Sisters from the Tacloban mission are going back to their mission. 

So I got transferred. I'm back in Zambales! I'm so happy :) And we're super close to the ocean. In fact, it's in our area :) WOOHOO! I'm happy now. 

Also my companion is now Sister L. She's super sweet and I like her a lot. And then to top it all off, President Q made me an Sister Training Leader (STL) which is a leadership position for a sister, kind of like a Zone Leader. 

The main problem with emergency transfers is that your brain and heart are kind of still in your last area. My first two days here were kind of a blur but then I got into the flow again. I'm comfortable here and the people are so nice. 

So I have to tell you about my awesome experience this week....

We have this couple that we're teaching. Tatay and Nanay M. Nanay is awesome and she's so excited to get baptized. She know's it's true and knows what she needs to do. Tatay is a little resistant. He has a few concerns but their all in his head. 

So we went to teach them the other day and it was my first time teaching them. Our topic was obedience and baptism and confirmation. It started out really, really good. And then he started asking questions. He wants to know everything before he gets baptized. 

And then a question popped into my head and I asked him, "Tatay, sa tingnin mo, hindi po kayo pwede patuloy na mag-aaral pagkatapos ung binyag nyo?" (or in english, "Tatay, Do you think that you can't continue studying after your baptism?")

Of course that made him stop and think for a second and then I continued in encouraging him that being baptized is the right decision for him and we shared some scripture verses with him and followed the promptings of the Spirit and then in the end, he agreed to be baptized on February 22. YES! Man I love it when lessons go like that. And the Spirit was so strong too.

That was probably my favorite lesson that I've been a part of in my whole mission. 

The rest of the week was really good too. The members here are awesome and they feed us all the time. 

We also had a baptism on Friday night. Brother A is 15 years old. And he got confirmed and ordained a teacher on Sunday. The work is progressing all over the world. 

Thank you for all your love and support. 

I know this is the true church on earth and that God loves all of us and wants us all to get back to him. 

Mahal ko kayo

-Sister Hess

Week 26: Wala akong creative headings ngayon... Sayang naman

This week has been a good one. Not too much eventful happened. Kind of just a regular week. 

Monday, Sister L's birthday! Happy Birthday! Woohoo! Did you know, fun fact here, when Filippinos have their birthdays, they prepare food for everyone else and then tons and tons of people come over to their house and eat their food. A little bit different than what selfish Americans do haha joke-lang. Anyways, Monday was good. We had our normal P-day and got tons of stuff done and then went out to work. We went and taught Sister E who is a recently returned less-active but we like to visit her anyways. She's kind of creepy... She's old and lives alone in this huge house. She's also a big fan of fortune telling and Sister C's got some fun stories about her from when she and Sister S went and taught her one time. But anyways, it was a good lesson and we helped improve her day (her words, not mine) and yeah. And then we walked around a bit more and I2L-ed a bunch of people.

Tuesday: We walked around one part of San Pedro Palcarangan that we had never been in before. We went and contacted a lot more people too. We taught three new people named Sister Am, Sister J and Sister Ai. Sister Am is an older lady and she's had a really hard life too. Something about her daughter getting a "husband" when she was 14 years old and moving out? Not exactly sure because she was talking really fast. And then something else about something bad happening to her son (that one was not fun to hear about and I understood every part of it. Gonna spare you the details right now). I love being a missionary but sometimes I definitely feel like a psychiatrist. I get to hear about everyone's problems. And sometimes (especially with the older ones) they don't have anyone to talk to about their lives and so they just love to spill everything when they talk to us. So that was an interesting lesson but that's ok because we're gonna go back and try to help her. 

We also got to teach the girlfriend of Brother K, Sister M. She's awesome. She actually lived in Japan for 8 years with her last husband and she has 2 kids. And she tried to teach us a little bit of Japanese. I am so glad that I'm serving where I'm serving. That language is so flippin hard. She used to live about an hour north of Sendai. I forgot what the place was called. But anyways. We taught her lesson one and she got it all. She said that she believes that it's true and so we'll see where it goes from there. 

Wednesday: We went and taught Sister M again. She's another older lady who looooooooooooooooves to talk to us. Her kids are part of one of those new Filippino religions that has some very... how do I say this nicely... *interesting* beliefs. Well anyways, Sister M went to church with her kids last Sunday for the first time. After church she said that her daughter asked her how she felt... This was her reply. She felt like she was only a visitor there and then she said that she felt more from when "the mormons taught her because we cheer her up every time we teach her." YES. Point one for the Mormons haha We then proceeded to teach her about the Plan of Salvation and she said that she was grateful for us, that we always come and visit her. And that we are a blessing in her life. Well that definitely made us feel good :) We then walked to Dela Paz and taught a less-active who has a gambling problem and maybe some other problems. It's always a nice reminder for me that even though we're members of the true church, we're not perfect. Everyone has problems.... And our job, as missionaries is to help them fix their problems. Anyways, that was an interesting lesson too.

And then we went and taught Brother J who is a new investigator. He's 13 years old but he is tiny. Like tiny tiny tiny. When I first met him, I thought he was 8 years old. But anyways, he's awesome and we've been teaching him a little bit at a time so it gets stuck in his brain. 

Thursday was interesting because I got sick. I haven't been sick my whole mission but I guess it happens to everyone. We worked for 3 hours but something just wasn't right with me. I was freezing cold, and it was like I didn't have any energy at all. We I2L-ed and then we ended up coming home. I went straight to bed and slept for a really really long time. 

Friday was another sick day. I think I was just physically exhausted. My body couldn't take it anymore. So we got me some vitamin C and some rest and now I'm good as new. 

Saturday was a baptism day for Sister L and Sister J and Sister P. So of course, we went to support. But nothing ever starts on time here. I'm talking like an hour late... So we got to teach Brother J again, and then finally, the baptism started. It was great. It was the baptism for 2 teenage girls who are hilarious and the funniest thing is that they used to live in Masinloc in my old area haha weird... But yeah. AND Sister Ca came up for the baptism :) She brought us brownies from Manila. I almost died. They were like homemade ones! Like from America! :) Sooooo happy. Anyways, after the baptism, we went to the house of a less-active that we'd never met before. They're great and we committed them to come to church and said we were going to come pick them up.

Sunday: We went to the house of the less-active to pick them up and they were actually there. We've tried to do that in the past but they've always flaked on us. But there they were :) We all went to church together and then Brother R showed up and got confirmed. Me and Sister C have missed that guy. He's been working in Manila and he says he's exhausted. Well that's what happens when you get a new job.

After church we went around and taught lots more people. And then had a Family Home Evening. I love FHEs here because they're always soooooooooooo happy. 

But yeah. So that was my week. I guess it was pretty eventful and definitely fun. 

Thank you for all your love and support and prayers. This is the true church, and I'm where I need to be right now. 

Mahal ko kayo!

Until next week!

-Sister Hess