jaaaacob, jacob & sons

hola hola! buenos días mis amigos y familia!!! first off, I hit 2 months tomorrow which is absolutely insane. it's even weirder because the ccm feels like 15 years ago hahaha time is WACK! 

 

spiritual updates: 

-INTERCAMBIOS! (exchanges!) we had our first intercambios this week and I got to be an English speaking sister for a day so that was awesome!! I left hermana Jackson and spent the day with Sister Carpenter from Centreville Virginia in Kent and we had an awesome time. she's very quiet like me which was good because it definitely forced me to take the lead in a lot of the conversations! in the one neighborhood we were finding in for 2 hours, we found 2 Indian families that were Sikh, a protestant, a Roman catholic, and then a pentacostal which just shows how crazy diverse this area is haha. I accidentally got into a bible bash with the pentacostal dude for an hour and a half hahaha but it was kinda cool cause we were able to look at the similarities between our religions and I showed him a few scriptures in the bible that talk about the book of mormon, but he was still convinced that the whole point of our missions is to build our church and baptize people and I was like aaaaactually I'm here to help people come closer to christ hahah it's not just about the baptisms. I bore my testimony of why I'm serving and how I would not be leaving a year and a half of my life at home if I didnt know this church was true and how we are here in washington to just help people come to know christ, so I hope his knowledge of the church grew even a tiny bit. white people crack me up here

-ANOTHER CRAZY EXPERIENCE WITH SIS. CARPENTER: we were going to check up on a potential and we were just walking past a car with the window down and so we said hello and he was like "are you guys looking for me? I'm kenny! have you been trying to find me?" and we were very intrigued because hes not who we came there to find, but I guess hes been meeting with missionaries for 3 years and recently moved and has been trying to get in contact with the missionaries for a few months... MIRACLES! coincidences aren't real in the mission

-we've met so many people who have been involved in gangs and have either held their friends or their children in their arms as they were dying from a gun wound and it's so so sad, but it's incredible to share the plan of salvation with them. 

-okay patriarchal blessings are the coolest. I've been reading mine more and more out here and literally see new things every single time that are exactly what I need to hear. I have such a strong testimony that God knows me and loves me and he knows YOU and loves YOU! you chose to come to this earth and follow His plan so He wants to help you in any way He can!! 

-our sweet sweet friend Selvin is still on track to be baptized at the end of this month and bears his testimony whenever he can. we love him so much

-gathering Israel has been a huge focus of the stake here and was the theme of stake conference on Sunday. missionary work isn't just for us missionaries with the tags! find out how you can get involved with missionary work and I promise itll bless your life! 

 

fun updates:

-BLACKBERRY SEASON! blackberry bushes are weeds here so they're all over the place which provides a nice little snack while we're tracting hehe

-my poor sweet mouth is so sensitive and I absolutely hate anything spicy, which is the opposite of my companion, so the Mexican food has been a hard adjustment because these people put chili powder on EVERYTHING. we had a member dinner and they fed us some HECKA spicy food and I only died a little bit. hna Jackson even thought it was spicy which was saying something cause she can eat anything so that was rough hahahah. 

-we started a health kick with the elders and so we're not eating any sugar and working out for the full 30 minutes and eating a ton of protein so I'm gonna get some mad gainz out here

-lol some nice black man told us our church is boring and how we need to start a gospel choir in our meetings and how we probably dont know any gospel songs because we're naive 19 year olds and all of my years of choir prepared me for this moment and the black woman inside me came out and I sang Joyful Joyful and Oh Happy Day from sister act for him and he was surprised and said we need to include those songs in our Sunday service hahahaha 

-we taught the law of chastity with the elders this week hahahahaha. Selvin ran into them and invited them to our lesson so they came and it was kinda funny cause my companion taught the lesson while I translated for the elders and then we all would bear testimony and it was awesoooome. selvin was so cute because he has dreams of marrying a Latin woman and 'treating her like a princess'

-the pranks still continue and we've now had shaving cream left in our door handles, cookies left on our door to tempt us with sugar and had our car littered with scripture references on sticky notes haha gotta love them

-since we talk about the gathering of Israel all the time, I constantly have that one song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat about Jacob and his sons stuck in my head haha

-since we can't eat sugar and started this health kick after we went shopping, we ran out of food we could eat approximately 2 days ago sooo we've been surviving off of blueberries and canned tuna. all the tears for my poor starving tummy

 

scriptures of the week:

alma 18:32 

"...he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning"

 

mosiah 24:14 

"and I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their affliction"

 

mosiah 4:9

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend"

 

GOD KNOWS YOU! HE IS YOUR FATHER AND HE LOVES YOU! He knows all of your desires, pains, interests, dreams, sorrows, etc because He created you. He knows exactly how to help you to be the best person that you can be so have faith in Him!

 

sorry for the long email! love you all! thank you for all of your support and love! I'm the luckiest hermana in the world because I have the best support system back home :') 

 

the church is true, the book is blue! LET'S GATHER ISRAEL! 

 

con amor, 

hermana hhhhess (people are still struggling to pronounce my very difficult last name lol)

 

fotos: they get out of order so you can figure out which descriptions go to which photos haha

 

•pranks with shaving cream

•pranks with trampoline pieces

•if you look close you can see mount Rainier

•sistaaa carpenter

•Washington is BEAUTIFUL! this is just one road we tract on but they're all like this!

•my beautiful companion

•hahahahahahahahah best text we received this week