June 27th, 2011

Hello Friends and family,

You will have to excuse the short letter last week.  I didn't have too much time.  This week was actually a pretty good week.  I am still enjoying where i am very much.  I really like my area.  Its a really cool area.  But its still in the middle of the desert and it never rains.  The winter months are here so the weather is a little dreary. Its a little cold too i have to wear a sweater at night to keep warm. Theres no such things as air conditioners here or heaters so we just learn to live in the weather as it is.  Daily life here is super busy.  i dont think I've ever been so busy in my entire life.  But it has helped me to be able to be more focused on what i want to do.  It should help me a lot in college when i get back.  Well We had a super cool experience yesterday with a family that we are teaching.  They are a classic peruvian family with parents that work 12 hours a day 7 days a week. They sell fruit juice in the market.  We challenged them two weeks ago to not work on sunday to just leave it completely and
that God would bless them for doing it.  It takes a lot of faith to do that because Sundays in Peru people that sell on the streets sell triple what they sell on a normal day.  So that is a big step of faith to just leave it.  Yesterday the four of them came to church as a family and last night we visited them.  It was then that we realized that yesterday was the first day they had ever spent together as a family.  They all just had huge smiles on the their face and were so happy.  They are an awesome family.  It takes a lot of faith to do what they are doing.  They are planning on being baptized on the 16th of July the whole family.  Its amazing how the gospel can bring families together and its amazing the change we have seen in this family.  Its awesome!  So that was the great way that we ended our week.  right now we have baptisms scheduled for 4 of the five weeks in July and all of the investigators that have a date in the first three weeks are progressing.  So we should have a really successful month again like in may.  Well thats the hope at least.  We have the goal of 10 for the month of july.  thats about all thats going on here right now im loving every minute of it but definitely missing summer at home.  Its a different world down here.  I now realize how much i had when i was a kid.  And the kids here dont have anything.  But in many ways they are a lot happier than the kids in the states.  Its pretty amazing. Happiness does not come from material things but from a persons relation with god and with other people.

love you all

feel free to write me i havent received a letter in a while

Elder Hesselgesser

June 13th, 2011

Dear family and friends 

well this week has been yet another successful week here in San Vicente de cañete.  I really love my area and am having an absolute blast right now.  Well its a lot of hard work but im loving every second of it even the hard parts.  I can honestly say that we are seeing miracles happen here almost every day.  I am so amazed at the trust the Lord has put into our hands at this time.
Every week we are finding somebody new who is prepared to recieve the gospel.  Every week we are having more and more success.  Right now we have 10 investigators that have baptismal dates and i can honestly say that each and every one of them was prepared for us and that we have been guided to each and every one of them.  Im am truly amazed.  There are trials and its not easy but when there is success its awsome.  We have investigators that are truly having amazing spiritual experiences and recieving answeres to their prayers.  Its really awome!  I really
dont know what else to say i got a package this week! thanks a ton you have know idea how much i needed new insoles.  My shoes are in more or less good shape but the insides were just torn apart.  And know i feel like im walking on clouds with my new Dr. Scholls haha.  The Zone leader things are keeping us super busy there is zero minutes of extra time durring the day.  Sometimes i wish the days were longer so we could teach more people.  The weather here is really cooling down. Its now going into winter and im starting to be really cold.  Theres no such thing as heater or AC hear so we just live with what the weather is like.  Right now im sleeping with a blanket and sweats a sweatshirt and a hat at night to keep warm.  Its working pretty well. Its not exactly a washington winter but its pretty cold.  Theres always a cloud layer over the town but it never ever rains.  Every once in a while early in the morning it will be like midsty but it does not rain here.  Ever.  Its nice compared to the hot summer that we had before but its a little too cold i would say.  anyways other than that things are great here.  My area is huge and there area great investigators in every part of my area.  We spend a lot of time traveling to get to little neighborhoods that are in the middle of nowhere.  Something different about peru is that nobody lives alone nobody just builds their house alone like we do in the states. everybody has neighbors.  They form groups of people called pueblos that live together.  and so we have to travel far to get to some of the publos here to visit.  But its okay i really like my area i hope i never leave.  Thats all Ive got for this week hope everything is well in the states.  Hope everyone is having a good summer.

Love
TJ

June 6th 2011

Wow well this week was yet another eventful week.  Its amazing how much has been happening and changing in the last few weeks of my mission.  First of all on Monday last week we went to the beach. Im not going to lie that was really awesome and a little depressing.  The two senior couples that are in our zone brought us hot dogs and we made a fire and cooked hot dogs and smsmores.  It was fantastic.  Then we played soccer on the beach.  It was probably the funnest Pday i have had since ive been here on the mission.´ Then that very night we went back to the room showered got ready and President Manning picked us up in his minivan and took us down to a town called Chincha to stay for the night.  We stayed in a hotel that was pretty much unbelievable.  Well it may have been somewhat normal for states standards but compared to what i have been living in here it was paradise.  And the best part was it had hot water.  Im pretty sure itook the longest and best shower of my life.  And the beds were super comfortable.  So that was fun.  Also president manning took us out to a super expensive restaurant to eat dinner so that was pretty cool as well.  After staying in the hotel for the night we traveled another hour and got to a town called Pisco.  there we had a leadership training which was pretty cool.  We got back late that night.  So for monday and tuesday we weren't in our area at all.  Then on Wednesday evening at 6 we had to go to Lima to a Zone leaders council.  So we spend Wednesday night traveling as well.  Then on Thursday morning we had the zone leaders council until about 4 in the afternoon and we got back to our area about 8 at night again.  So basically we were
traveling every day from Monday until thursday.  Friday and saturday were great days of normal work but sunday was very different.  There were presidential elections here in Peru and on election day by law every peruvian citizen has to vote and no church or any type of organization can hold meetings on election day.  So We didnt have church yesterday.  We were also not able to contact in the streets in order to avoid any problems.  So instead we just visited a bunch of investigators and members.  The work here in our area is going really well.  Unfortunately in our zone its not going so well.  We seem to be one of the only areas in this zone that can have any success.  But im really enjoying the success that we are having.  I have never been so busy in my entire mission and im loving it.  We spend every minute of every day running from house to house to try and visit everybody and even then there isnt enough time.  We have even considered cutting our pday way short to be albe to go and visit more people.  Right now we
have 8 investigators with a baptismal date and we have plans to invite more in the weeks that are coming.  Peru is fantastic im having the time of my life down here.  I just hope i can stay where i am for a while so i can keep on working the way i am right now.

Love you all and miss you a ton

Elder Hesselgesser

May 30, 2011

Hello Family,

Well You could say that each and every week just gets crazier and crazier.  I have absolutely no complaints.  We have so many awsome people that we are teaching and we find even more new people every week.  Its really quite amazing what is happening here.  Im not sure what it is but there has been a huge change in this area and in the zone.  In March and April the entire zone baptized a total of three each month with 12 missionaries.  In this month of may we baptized 13 and we baptized 8 in the area that im in.  And we have lots more that will be coming in June and July.  The only thing that is hard for us is we have so many great investigators but not enough time to teach them all.  Its basically impossible to teach all of the good investigators that we have.  So its a little painful in that respect because unless we could be in two places at once it would be impossible to be able to teach everybody.  So we are just trying to
get to the best of the best and even that is proving to be hard.  Like i said i love what is going on in my area but we just arent capable of doing everything that we want to do.

This week we had a family get baptized.  Their names we Carlos the dad Mery the mom and the two kids Anita and Cristhian.  There were a few minor difficulties but the important part is that they got there on saturday and were baptized.  They were them confirmed on Sunday in the sacrament meeting.  It was fast and testimony meeting because there is elections here next week and there is no church the sunday of elections.  and in the sacrament meeting we confirmed the four in the family and gave their two little ones baby blessings.  So that took up just about the entire sacrament meeting.  It was pretty interesting. It was great to finally see the family get baptized.  I had the opportunity to baptize Carlos Christhian and Anita.  So that was
awsome.  Something ive noticed on the mission is that something always happens the last week before the baptizm that tries to prevent them from being baptized.  Always something happens.  Its just a matter of preparing the people so that they dont fall when thier trial comes. But the family got through and made to the waters of baptism.  It was a neat situation.  It was funny because after baptizing the little kid he screamed out, ¨You almost killed me!¨ So that made everybody laugh but things like that are uncommon.  The last kid i baptized a month ago screamed Dont Drown ME! HAHA.  Anyways we had a great baptismal service and a great week over all.

As far as responsibilities go this week we have to travel twice to go to two different meetings.  Its going to be a little hard because like i said we have a tone of people to teach and now we will be out of town for two days this week.  So that will be a little bit difficult but im sure we will manage.  Everything usually just seems to work out.  So we will hope for that this week.  Okay thats all for now Miss you all a ton i hope everything is going well up there in the states. We are working hard and having a lot of success.  Miss you all a ton and i hope that everything continues to go well.  Keep me updated on the news and feel free to write me any time.

Love,

Elder Hess

PHOTOS

1. The family plus the missionaries (The senior couple helped them get married so thats why they were there)
2. The family plus us again
3. The family

4. After being baptized with a few of the members

More pictures

1-3. are from when we got lost looking for a members house to eat lunch it was really pretty so we took pictures but we walked around for three hours in farm fields looking for the house.
4. a fruit called granada its one of the wierdest things ive ever eaten

5. we moved the guy is the branch president he has a
mototaxi.  Its the peruvian version of a car.  hardly anybody has a
car here if they have something its a mototaxi.  

6. With a little shopping cart!

May 23, 2011

Hello friends and family,

Well i just finished the craziest week of my mission.  Things just get crazier and crazier each week.  We have an emergency change in the zone this week.  My companion left and the companion of the other zone leader left and now we are companions and they combined our areas. They called us at 1030 at night and told my companion he had to leave first thing in the morning.  It was a little sad because i really liked my companion and i only had one week with him.  Its been a really hard week to try and combine the two areas and visit all of the investigators.  But that was the least of what happened this week.

The next day after having the change the assistants came on a surprise visit to our area.  That was all well and good but we had to take some time out of our day so taht they could do some errands.  We were in charge of organizing and setting everything up for a multizone conference on friday.  Then on Saturday we got lost in the middle of a giant farm trying to find the house of a member for lunch.  All in all we were walking for 3 hours.  In the middle of a farm field.  So that was interesting.  Lets just say that this week has been a little stressful for me.  But im doing relly well.  The area we are in is having a ton of success.  There is a family of four that should be baptized this coming saturday.  Im really excited for their baptism
because we have been working with them for a long time so that they could get to this point.  Today we have to move rooms.  Im going to live in a different house now.  So that should be fun.  

My new companion is Elder Bruns He is from New York.  He is a really good missionary.  I dont know why but i always seem to get american companions.  Its almost unheardof to have to americans together in the mission but its the second time for me.  But its all good we are working hard and having fun.  We had 10 investigators in the chapel this sunday which was awsome.  So im hoping that we have a lot of baptisms in the weeks and months that come here.  Ive said this from the beginning but i really like my area here.  Its a great area and has a ton of potential.  We just have to work.  This week has deffinitely been the most eventful and maybe the most difficult of my entire mission but i know when we have  the challenges we get the rewards.  Im hoping that today we will be able to rest and take it easy a little bit so that we can recharge the batteries a little bit. The weather here is starting to cool down quite a bit.  Im now wearing  a sweetter at night to keep warm.  We are in the desert so the temperature drops a lot at night.  But durring the day its normal. Everything is going good i have nothing to complain about jsut hope i can find an hour or two more durring the day to get some stuff done.

Love you all tons,

Elder Hesselgesser

May 16, 2011

Hello Family,

Well this week has actually gone pretty well.  All the stress was on monday and after that we could finally settle down and start to get to work.  We had a really successful week.  As an area thigns are going really well for us.  We have a baptismal date for a family on the 28th
and they came to church as a family on sunday and stayed all three hours.  It was awsome to finally get them all there.  We also started to teach a super old guy this week.  he is almost deff so the lessons are funny because we are shouting at him so he can here.  

There is a lot of great things happening here.  Its been a little stressful trying to help all of the new elders in the zone.  Two new areas opened up here so the Elders dont have any idea where anything is. But its all a part of the process.  I really really like my new companion.  His name is Elder Fuentes he is from the northern part of Lima so hes not too far from home here.  He is a really good missionary and is helping me out a lot.  The only bad part is that
this is his last change so he is headed home really soon.  But hopefully we will be able to do some work while he is here.  Nothing too crazy has happened this week i have just been working hard and very busy.  Sorry for the short letter but i dont have a ton of time. One of the snior couples in the zone bought a ping pong table so we are all going to go and play ping pong today haha welp thats it miss you all tons and see you all later.

Elder Hess

May 9, 2011

Hello Family

Well this week has been extremely eventful and just like every day in the mission a learning experience.  On Tuesday we had a meeting with the zone leaders and surprise surprise the assistants came without letting anybody know beforehand.  Apart from that one of them came with me for the day.  So i had a surprise visit from the assistants on Tuesday and he stayed with me until 11 in the morning on Wednsday.  He told me on Tuesday that i needed to go to a meeting for all the zone leaders in the mission the next day.  So the next day i got together with the zone leaders from here and we went to Lima together.  We got there at about 8 at night and had time to go out to dinner.  The mission office is in the richest part of Lima.  Everybody that has money lives in this part and if they have money they have a lot of money.  So all the restaurants in this area were super expensive.  We went to a mexican restaurant and payed a ton of money for a tiny bit of food.  The wierd part was there was more english speaking people in
the restaurant than spanish speaking.  It was really wierd.  Im not used to being around other people that speak english.  That night we stayed with the office elders in their house.  They have an entire floor of a skyscraper as their house.  So it was cool to be able to look down on the city from up high.  The next morning we left super early and went to the temple.  The temple was fantastic like always. I enjoyed it very much.  After that we had a zone leaders council. And for lunch we had pizza hut! that was awsome.  It was a really interesting experience and i learned a lot.  

On Saturday night the changes came and more than half the zone left.  In one of the areas president took out both of the elders and put in two new ones.  It was really crazy and im not exactly sure how its gonna work but we will make it work.  We have a lot of work cut out for us this change to get things going here.  Im hoping that we can get the work going here because its been dead for about 6 months now.  To complicate things more im not even companions with the other Zone leader.  Im not exactly sure how thats going to work but its going to be a little
difficult.  On saturday two of our investigators got married.  It was stressful trying to put their reception together but everything turned out really good.   And at least,  they are now married.  Well thats been my life this week hope everything is going well for you miss you
all and love you and happy mothers day!

May 2, 2011

Hello family.

Well this week was a really crazy and hectic week here.  I was to say the least sressed to the max with all the things that we had to do. We were after a lot of effort able to baptize a family of four.  we have been working with them really hard for for about 4 weeks to help them be baptized of saturday.  We had to plan all their interviews and baptisms and confirmations and coordinate with the leaders of the branch so that everything went according to plan.  To say the least it was stressful.  But it was great to see all of them as a family be baptized together on saturday night.  It was a pretty special baptismal service.

My birthday went pretty well.  I didnt really do anything to celebrate.  We were helping a couple of investigators get married that day so thats what we were doing all day was helping get a reception and everything ready for them.  At night we went to my pensionistas house and she had bought a cake for me and they sung me happy birthday.  After i blew the candles out they all smashed eggs and flower over my head.  Thats a tradition here in peru is if its your birthday they crush eggs over your head.  So after that pleasent experience I ate my cake and we went home for the night. Thursday we went up to Lima because my companion had a doctors appointment.  He also had an appointment with the optomotrist.  While we were there i had the guy look at my eyes and got myself a pair of glasses as well.

On sunday we were able to confirm the whole family that got baptized a family of four.  Then we gave babies blessings to the two babies in their family.  We also helped give a babys blessing to another baby in the ward whos dad isnt a member.  To say the least there was time for only two testimonies after all of that and one of them was the dad of the family we baptized.  It was something really special.  It was neat to finally help a family get to baptism together.

Thats all thats going on here miss and love you all

Elder Hesselgesser.

Pictures

1. Me and the sunset cañetano

2. The bride the groom all their children and the wedding cake

3. Me and the wedding cake

4. Me and the birthday cake.

5-6. Me covered in eggs and flower.  (My birthday present)

7. The family and us all dressed in our baptismal clothes 

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.