Jan 24 2011

Hello Hello everybody!  

Well Im extremely happy to learn about my new nephew this week!  Its been a little difficult going through the week supposing that a new member of the family came but not knowing anything for sure!  So ive been telling everybody that supposedly i have a new nephew!  haha.  Yeah but im glad to hear everything went well and that he is a happy healthy sleepy baby!  I think his name should be changed to puppy lol.  But i like Carter its a cool name. 

Well after a really difficult week last week we had a lot of success this week.  Numbers wise it was by far the most successful week fo the mission. (not counting baptisms).  But we found some awsome people to teach this week.  And some not so awsome people as well.  but yeah its
been a really good week.  I cant complain at all.  This week i have the temple to look forward to.  We are going on thursday and i cant wait. ive been to about twice as manny sessions in spanish as english.  The spanish is improving.  Little by little.  But i can communicate just fine.  Ive lost the fear of opening my mouth.  Im gaining greater confidence to talk with all the people on the streets and stuff and i believe it is for that reason that all our numbers sky rocketed this week.  We are finally gaining the confidence of the bishop because we are teaching his nonmember 25 year old son.  We are gaining more and more confidence from the members too.  We got two references of families that are married last week.  Thats rare here.  The is a huge problem here with people just hooking up and never getting married. The ones who are not married are usually the ones who are more willing to listen.  I`ve been thinking alot about why this is and came to the conclusion that the only reason anybody here gets married is for
religion.  And so the ones who are married therefor are a little more closed off to listening to the missionaries.  But we are finding people so i have hope.  I feel like we are working hard and making a lot more progress than ever before.  Its killing me that i cant be home to see my new member of the family.  And by the time i return home he will be walking and even saying a few words.  Maybe ill be home for the next one.  Well thats about all thats going on here.
Nothing too crazy happened this week.  Just walking and sweating a lot in the heat here.  My companion and i started a diet.  It doesnt work though because every house we enter they have to give us food and its extremely rude to refuse.  Oh well.  Welp thats all for this week.

Elder Hesselgesser

Jan. 31, 2011

Hola Family and Friends

Well this week has been a bit harder than last week.  Something that i am learning is that the mission is hard.  Its hard and sometimes its hard to see the results of all the work we are doing.  This week was no exception to the hard factor.  Lots of failed appointments and people that suddenly changed their mind and dont want to hear the gospel anymore.  Its frustrating at times.  The hardest part is that all we want to do is help people.  And they straight up reject us. Sometimes i wonder if only they knew the value of the gospel that we represent in their lives.  And yet to many it doesnt matter.  They dont care.  Ive found that confusion has caused a lot of people here to come up with their own theories of how god works and what we need

to do in our life to return to him.  many have been blinded and decieved by men who want nothing more than their money.  Its hard to make people realize that they are allowed to ask God which of all the churches is the true church.  Its hard to tell them that they are allowed to think when their pastors and church leaders their whole life have told them they have no right to read the bible and learn for themselves.  Things like this make it really sad for me.  But at the same time it makes me so glad for the knowledge that i have of this gospel.  That Jesus Christ really has restored the same church he established when he waled upon the earth so many years ago.  Ive often asked myself the question, Why am i a person so lucky to have been
born so close to the truth?  I dont know what i did in the pre earth life to have the opportunity to know the church but i am eternally greatful.  

We are teaching a young man of about 24 years right now and he is awsome.  He has a baptismal date for the 19th of February.  He is a super cool guy and has true ententions of finding the truth.  We are teaching several more good investigators but nobody is progressing at the same rate as him.

As far as fun facts from Elder Hesselgesser goes this week I contacted someone on the street and was halfway through explaining who we are before i realized he was deff.  We left him with a Pamphlet to read. Whenever we are walking on the streets all of the drunk people always come up to us confessing all of their sins.  I dont know why.  And yeah Im fairly sure that im gaining weight.  I went for a little run this morning with my companion and was very tired.   Its impossible to go on a diet here because In order to show thanks people give us food.  Rejecting food here is worse than punching them in the face so we have to accept.  Some days i eat so much that i really feel like im going to explode.  

This week i began reading the new testament in spanish.  Im finding the scriptures easier to understand in spanish than in english.  They are written in a more simple form of language. For four months now ive been doing all my studies and everything in spanish.  Its a good way to expand my vocabulary.

Miss you all and love you thanks for all the prayers.

Elder Hesselgesser