April 25, 2011

Hello Everybody

Well this week was another good week.  Im actually exhausted to be honest.  We are rediculously busy i dont have an extra second to breath here.  I got the package that you sent me.  Im really escited to eat the cake i just dont know when im gonna eat it because this week is going to be super busy and im not going to have a spare second today.  

A couple that we have been teaching are getting married today and we are in charge of their reception.  So yeah you can imagine. But we should see how it goes. Anyways this coming saturday a family of four has a goal to be baptized and it looks like they are going to be able to be baptized on saturday.  Im really excited for that it will be the first full family i have been able to baptize in the mission.  So im really excited for that.  On thursday i had a really
crazy experience.  President Manning came down to do interviews with us.  And one of the investigators of another area in my district had talked with him months previously and wanted president manning to baptize him.  So he did it.  It was pretty neat.  President manning is a guy that just radiates the spirit of God in all places.  One of my old companions called him a portable temple because anbody thats with him always feels the spirit. So it was a neat baptismal service.

Yesterday i got bit by a dog.  Its the second time this dog has bitten me.  its the dog of my pensionista so i cant avoid it because i go to that house every day.  But may ill just kick it in the face or something to teach it a lesson.  I ate a couple of wierd things this week.  Duck and cow stomach.  Ducks good cow stomach is not.  We are working hard here and trying to get the investigators we are teaching to baptism.  

I dont have any crazy stories this week i spent two days in other areas doing interchanges with missionaries in my district so like i said im very busy.  Too busy to take time to think or to miss home or anything so i guess thats a good thing.  Welp thats all for this week.  Oh and thanks for the tape recording i loved it and ive already recorded all sorts of stuff to send you.  Ill probably send it out next week.  Miss you all tons and hope everything is going well up in the states.

Elder Hesselgesser

April 11, 2011

Friends and Family

I was thinking that tylers graduation was coming up soon.  Thats crazy he is now a college graduate! I bet that feels good.  Too bad its just the beginning for him but thats alright.  And im glad to hear that all the family is now at home minus me.  Should be a busy funfilled summer for all of you up there.  As far as the work goes i have no complaints.  Im in an area that is completely different than my first area.  There is a lot less people and a lot more area.  A lot less garbage and dogs in the streets and a lot less hills as well.  all in all i really like it.  It reminds me a lot of home actually.  Well minus the houses and the people.  The landscape reminds me a lot of home.  Theres lots of green fields surrounded by brown hills.  After being in Lima for so long i feel like im in paradise.  

The week has gone really well and we are starting to have a lot of success.  When i first got here there wasnt any investigators with a baptismal date but now we have 7!  And we should have more by the end of the next week. We are teaching a lot of families which is really neat.  Last PDay we went to a place called Incahuasi.  Its some aincient ruins not to far from cañete.  We got there and it was closed and nobody was in the offices.  So in order to see the ruins we crossed the streets and climbed up a hill.  Turns out the ruins were probably the ugliest part of the view from the top.  It was really cool.  Im going to upload some pictures of it.  

Last week i weighed myself.  And concequently I am now starting a diet.  For dinner im only eating fruit.  And the only real meal im eating is lunch.  Just a small breakfast and fruit

for dinner.  Its a little difficult but necessary.  Other than that theres not much new to say.  Im really really busy and enjoying the work right now.  My new companion is a nice change from the last one. He is really calm and go with the flow.  He is a good missionary and likes to work.  So we get along fine and have had a lot of success in these two weeks.  His name is Elder Perez and he is from a city in northern Peru called Iquitos.  Its in the middle of the jungle where they eat insects and aligators and stuff... so he always has some funny stories to share.  The only hard thing is that he for some reason has the goal to gain as much weight as possible on the mission.  Exactly the opposite as me.  So he is always eating.  And eating a
ton of food.  But im learning to resist.  Okay love you all tons until next week....

Elder Hesselgesser

Pictures:  

1.  Me in a Cactus
2. Me on top of the hill enjoying the first green thing ive seen in 7 months.
3. Me and two other missionaries Elder Ewing and Elder Peterson that i was with in the MTC we are in the same zone
4. Name tag
5. Me and my companion Elder Perez on top of the hill
6.  With my new pensionista eating fruit for dinner

April 4th 2011

Hello Family,

Well being in a new area has completely changed everything.  It couldnt be more different than where i was at in Lima.  I am in a small part called San Vicente in Cañete.  Cañete is what you might call a farming town.  Its surrounded by farms and many of the people that live here work in the farms.  And since there are farms that means that there is plant life and greenery.  Which is a new thing for me too because in Lima there was nothing green.  Nothing at all. Overall i would say it is a pretty area.  It actually reminds me alot of the lower valley.  Its got farms surrounded by hills.  Im still in the desert so it never rains, but there is a river that runs through the town so its got plant life.  The peruvian way of farming is very different than the us.  For example yesterday i saw a guy on top of a 10 foot tall pile of hay stacked on a cart being hauled by three donkeys driving down the street.  And thats not an unusual thing.  

We are pretty close to the ocean here even though i havent seen it yet. And my area is giant.  theres is the city and then tons of small neighborhoods of people to the south.  Some of these little neighborhood are a half hour or more away in a car.  So its deffinitely a change.  For the first time in 7 months i was able to see the stars last night.  It was really cool.  Theres a lot less pollution here and the air is really fresh.  My new companion is Elder Perez.  He is from the jungle.  He is a good guy we are getting along good.  The only thing that is a little hard is taking on the duties and responsibilities of being a district leader in an area that i dont know at all.  Its a little hard and it will get easier as i get more time here.  There are also two senior couples in my zone.  Which is really really unusual.  Im pretty sure we are the only zone in the world with two senior couples.  They are both from the United States so consequently i had American Cake for the first time in a very long time the other day.  It was amazing.  So that was cool.  none of the senior missionaries speak spanish so they are quite dependant on the missionaries to help them out with what they are doing.  

Today we are going to go see some ruins of some ancient civilization or something. IM not sure on the details but ill be sure to take pictures.  Im doing well and happy to be where im at right now.  I hope everything is going well for everyone at home.  The heat here is starting to go away little by little.  Im actually pretty cold at night.  But its still pretty hot durring the day.  We are now starting to reach what would be the fall months.  Not much new to report this week.

Elder Hesselgesser

Pictures!

Transfer!

Hello Family and Friends,

Well so much has happened this week and weekend i dont really know where to start.  Ill start with Thursday.  I had a really interesting experience.  For the first time in my mission i talked with people from the united states that arent missionaries.  We were way up in the hills doing a service project for a family and they had a little medical tent set up and were teaching kids to brush their teach and giving out medication to those who needed it.  It was me my companion and the zone leaders that were together doing the service.  One of the zone leaders is American so we decided to go and talk to them and see whats up.  We started talking to them and it was super awkward.  It was then that i realized that ive forgotten how to socialize in english.  It was really a wierd experience.  But i was able to find
out that they were from Boston and Seattle.  There were several students from UW there so it was neat to be able to talk with them for a little while.  It made me realize how much i have sunk into the culture here.  Its just become normal life for me.

On saturday we had a baptism.  It was an 18 year old guy who we have been teaching for quite a while now.  It was pretty awsome to be able to finally reach the point when he was able to be baptized.  It was all well and good until we arrived at the baptism and none of the bishopric came.   There was no presiding authority to be able to do the baptism.  So we were scrambling to call the bishop and members of
the bishopric so we could get started.  Finally got a hold of the bishop and he was still at work and hadnt bothered to make arrangments so someone could be there to preside.  So after about 45 minutes of making calls and getting authorization we did the baptism without them.  It was frustrating but what can you do.  But we started the baptism an hour late (which is not unusual here) and he was able to be
baptized.  His name is Elmer and he makes a living by making coathangers with his uncle.  Im going to try and attatch some fotos of the baptism.

Saturday night after the baptism and all that, we got a phone call from the zone leaders about the changes.  They told me i was going to Ayacucho which is a zone way up in the mountains and the only zone in the mission thats outside the dessert.  But then they called back an hour later and said they were just joking and that im going to Cañete.  Cañete is a town south of Lima so i got out of the City.  I got here about 10 minutes ago and we came straight here to internet.  The part that scares me the most is that president called me to be district leader here.  Why? idk.  I guess the Lord knows i need to be more humble.  So it should be an interesting experience trying to accustom myself to be a leader in a zone that i dont know at all.  But hey who the lord calls the Lord qualifies.  So im a town called cañete in the part thats called San Vicente.  Ive only heard good things and they finished building a chapel here only a few weeks ago so its brand new. 

 Im really excited about being able to be in a new area again. Yesterday was a little hard saying goodbye to all the families in the ward and the converts and everything.  Especially knowing that i will most likely never see any of them again.  But its a part of the mission.  Thats it from me this week.  Im sad to hear about BYUH losing in the championship game, that sounds rough.    Im super happy to have the jump rope im using it every day.  And i need it too because im pretty sure yesterday alone i gained about 15 pounds.  When i told people that i was leaving they all gave me a ton of food to eat.  And they dont offer either.  They dont even ask if you want it.  They serve you a mountain of rice and chicken on a plate and expect you to eat it.  But hey its better than starving.

Elder Hess

March 14, 2011

Hello Family and everybody.

Well not a whole lot new happened this week.  I was a little nervous after hearing what happened in Japan.  I didnt know if my college still existed or not but sounds like nothing bad happened.  Its really sad what happened in Japan ive never heard on tsunamis reaching three miles in shore thats crazy.  Its amazing how much power water has.

Anyways not a whole lot new to report.  Last monday we went bowling. That was neet.  And today all the american missionaries in the zone got together and we cooked eggs potatoes and french toast.  It was awsome!.  I havent had american food for a long time.  And even though it was made with peruvian ingredients it still tasted pretty good.

Its still burning hot down here it should only be like this for another month or so i assume.  But im not sure we will have to see. We have some great investigators with great potential.  Im really excited about the work right. everything seems to be going pretty smooth.  We are starting to get some help from the leaders and the members and its really helping out a lot.  Unfortunately i dont think ill be here to see the fruits of it because im almost positive i will be changing areas at the end of March.  I would love to hear more details about whats going on in Japan and what happened in Hawaii. And also what happened in California and Oregon.  Im kind of cut off from the world here and dont have access to any news. Other than that everything is fantastic. thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

TJ

March 7, 2011

This is the most recent letter I have gotten. He wrote a couple times and accidentally deleted what he wrote. Here is this weeks!

Hello everybody,

Well this week was a little on the difficult side.  I got pretty sick on Tuesday and im just starting to get better.  I was a pretty nasty stomach infection that had me down and out most of the week.  But no worries im doing better now and im taking some magical pills that are helping me out a lot.  In the little time that i was able to proselite this weeks some crazy things happened.  

The big news here in Lima is there was a rainbow.  And concidering that it never ever ever rains here that was a little wierd.  The next day we were in a middle of the lesson and there was a small earthquake.  then the guy that we are teaching said,  I knew that something crazy was going to happen today because i saw a rainbow yesterday.  That goes to show you exactly how superstitious the peruvian people are.  They are super superstitous. Every body was talking about how the rainbow was a sign of something thats to come.  Its all a little entertaining to say the least.  

But yeah other than that we have one baptism that is almost 100 percent for sure this coming saturday.  Im really excited for it because we have worked really hard with him for a real long time to be able to get to this point.  We also have three more maybes for this saturday so im looking forward to this week a lot should be real great. 

Yesterday was the last day of carnaval so we dont have to run around trying to avoid all the kids with squirt guns and waterballoons anymore because that ended yesterday.  they have a tradition here that every carnaval they pick a tree and hang a bunch of shirts pans and tons of random stuff from it.  Then a group of neighbors all take turns whacking the tree with an ax.  One at a time.  Then when it falls its a mad mass of people running to pick up all the stuff that they want.  Its like a piñata but its a tree.  And the person that makes the tree fall with their hit have to plant  the next years tree and put all the stuff in it.  Its funny because nobody can tell me where these ideas started or came from they just know that this is what they do here.  

anyways tahts whats going on with me.  Its still super hot and it will stay hot until sometime in may from what i hear.  But thats allright im getting used to it.  Miss you all tons hope everything is going well.

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

Jan. 17, 2011

Well this week was to say the least quite difficult.  Not a ton happened with our investigators.  Every single one that we were excited about and that had real potential to progress failed us.  We would go to their house and they would not be there.  And our investigator that was supposed to get baptized this week is now bed bound and they found out he has a tumor in his brain.  So yeah its been a difficult and sad week to say the least.  Nothing too crazy or unordinary happened.  


The weather is going from hot to hotter.  I find myself constantly covered in sweat.  But thats not anything too out of the ordinary for me.  My new companion is great.  Im hoping that we can have a lot of success.  We are working hard but the results havent shown themselves yet. I had my first interview with the mission president since ive been in the field this last week.  I felt really good after leaving.  He helped me realise that I can only do as much as i can do and I need to leave the rest up to the Lord.  Something i didnt understand before the mission was how overwhelming the amount of work would be.  There is just too much to be done and not nearly enough time to do it.  Its difficult to try and do everything.  But i felt really good coming out of my interview because I know and He knows that im doing what i can.  


Im working hard along side my companion.  And thats all we can do.  If results dont immediately show themselves then thats alright.  What is important is that we are doing everything we can do to invite people to come unto Christ.  The mission is very different from what i imagined it being before.  I dont know what exactly i imagined but i do know that it wasnt this.  Even in these first five months i have learned and grown a lot.  I feel like ive learned more in this five months than in any other five months of my entire life.  I feel like i have a more
defined goal in life.  A more clear picture of where im headed and what my goals are.  


Elder Uceda a member of the 70 and the area president said something interesting to us as missionaries.  He said
that for a person to acquire the same amount of experience as a missionary gains in two years.  It would take the average person with an average job 40years to gain all the experiences that we gain.  To me thats crazy. But yeah anyways I hope all things are going well back in the states.  Keep the prayers going there are a lot of people here that need them.  Thank you guys and miss you tons.

Elder Hesselgesser

Dec. 21, 2010

Hey fam y friends. 

This week was a pretty crazy week.  Of course since its Christmas it made me miss home a lot but i expect thats normal.  We were really busy this week trying to satisfy all of the people that invited us to come and do stuff. I forgot to comment last week on a conference we had with Edler Juan R Uceda of the 70. It was amazing.  He talked for a good three hours and It was really cool because I was able to understand every single word he said.  He taught us some great lessons and helped me to be more focused on what im doing here.  

On the contrary the following week on Thursday the Mission president took us to the movie theatre.  He took about 100 of us missionaries to the movie theatre and we watched toy story three. It was way awsome!  We got popcorn and everything.  It turns out that Christmas in Peru is wayyy different then the States.  We spend Christmas eve with three different families so naturally we ate dinner three times.  I wanted to die by the third.  Ive never before been so
stuffeed with turkey and chicken.  But As it approached midnight i kept hereing fireworks go off.  So i went outside to see what was going on and im pretty sure that every resident of Lima was lighting off fireworks at midnight on christmas eve.  It was crazy.  Everywhere i looked there was fireworks.  Ive never seen anything like it in my life.  So thats how they celebrate.  Then at 12 everybody opens gifts.  Its different thats for sure.  Not to mention its summer here.  It puts a whole new feel on what christmas is.  

For the second time since ive been here the bishop called on me to give a talk in sacrament meeting without giving me a seconds notice.  So that was interesting But yeah everything is good here.  Im eating way too much food and not exercizing enough.  But after the holidays i plan on cutting wayyy back on the food.  Especially if i get sent to a really hot area.  Miss everybody like crazy hope all is well up in the states.  Love you all

lder Hesselgesser
E

Pictures

Pictures from TJ!!

Dec. 21, 2010

We are looking forward to the phone call this week. 

We will post about that Sunday or Monday.

I have not received the emails from TJ the past two weeks. 

When I get ahold of those I will post them!

Happy Holidays!

Dec. 6, 2010

We did some crazy service on thursday with all the elders in the  zone we carried bags of sand up to the top of a hill for a service that they were doing.  It was a mile walk about with steep hill and stairs. i was dead afterwards.  I miss technology and raods and stuff it was crazy

Dec. 6, 2010

Hey hey everybody!

So sorry that i was not able to write last week we were cut short on time because we got to internet late.  Speaking of late that has been i thing that i have had to learn to deal with.  Ive always been a semi
punctual person.  And in the MTC we were trained to never ever ever be late for anything but rather early.  I came out here to peru and quickly realized that ontime does not exist.  So that has been something that i have had to learn how to deal with.  Its not unusual for a meeting to start 30 or 40 minutes or even an hour after its
supposed to.  And that throws off the rest of our schedule for the entire day and we have to cancel appointments and all that stuff.  Its frustrating really frustrating sometimes.  But what a perfect opportunity to work on my christlike attribute of patience haha. 


Yeah anyways things are going fairly well here in Lima.  my companion and i have a baptism this saturday.  A 17 year old girl named tessy.  She is a shy little girl with a big testimony.  So we are excited for the baptism this saturday because we have been working with her since i got here.  As the christmas season approaches here in Lima its getting hotter and hotter.  Its getting to the point where its hot.  Its totally throwing me off because its december and its super hot outside.  As far as holiday decorations go nobody here has enough money to decorate so they dont.  So its definitely not the same as at home.  


My adjustment to the food is going pretty good.  A lot of rice. But thats just how the food is because the people cant really afford anything else.  Our pensionista is super cool.  The food is a little bland but their family is fun to hang out with.  


The work is going good.  We are working on trying to find some new investigators.  A lot of people will let us into their home and even believe on our words but it rarely drives anybody to action.  They think we are just here
to talk about God or something idk but for that reason we are trying to find a refreshed group of investigators with more of a disposiotion to keep their commitments.  Im finding that i attract a lot of attention in the streets. a lot of people will yell hello at me or yell how are you in english.  When they do that i just start talking
to them in english and the get a smile on their face and run away.  


 Anyways thats a small update of Peru.  The language is coming slowly but surely.  Im finding that my understanding is improvig a lot faster than my ability to speak. but yeah anyways.  It is improving and thats whats important.  Hope everything is well back in the States.

Elder Hesselgesser