Jan 26th, 2017
                                                                                                         
Dear Family and Friends,

My how time flies when your having fun, or getting an overload of information! It has been a week full of Blessings.

We left Salt Lake City Thursday afternoon, but wondered for a few minutes if we would actually make it home that night.  When we went to get the car from the parking garage at our hotel, the car wouldn't start!  I think that we had left an inside light on, and the battery was pretty run down.  I hurried back to the hotel to find our good friends, the Mowers and ask them to jump our car.  When I get closer to the hotel, I could see that they were just entering the front door from the outside.  I caught up to them and told them our dilemma.  They had been on their way downtown when they remember that they had forgotten something and had to return to the hotel.  How fortunate for us, OR, how blessed we were that they had to return! They got us going, and we headed for home. Everyone leaving had been worried about the incoming storm and again we were blessed and traveled home with mostly clear roads and weather.

Picture taken on Temple Square with new mission Friends; Whyte's, Hess' and Mowers

We went straight to Pizza Hut and met Annalee and her family there for dinner!  What a welcome sight they all were.  We LOVED our visit with them, and so appreciated their traveling from ID to spend some time with us!

Friday for lunch we had another surprise visit from Margie and the kids.  We choose Burger King for the very busy and active little ones! Thanks for making the trip over from ID to see us!!

Friday night we had a wonderful dinner with Judy, and then a good visit with my siblings; sure love them all, and happy that we can be so very close to each other.  (missed you Bonnie and Javier)

Another miracle happened Sat. morning.  Bro Hess and I both woke up with headaches and not feeling very well.  We got up and got ready, but I was feeling worse as we repacked suitcases and loaded the car.  I laid down now and then, threw up, among other things, and finally I asked Bro. Hess for a Blessing.  He was feeling better by now, so we took off.  (THANKS Judy for taking care of us!)  I slept and shivered off and on for the next 4 hours, and then came the blessing.  When we reached Rawlins, we stopped for gas and both had a bowl of soup!  I felt 200% better, and I know that it was the power of the Priesthood that made the difference.

We reached Mitchell and Sierra's home just in time for a Birthday celebration for Ephraim, our 1 year old grandson.  Isn't he adorable!  We enjoyed Sunday with them and left early Mon morning.

Traveling through Kansas, we did know enough to.......

We arrived in North Little Rock AR on Tues, Jan 24th, late afternoon.  We were so excited to get there that we didn't even stop for lunch along the way.  (Well, maybe Bro. Hess would rather have stopped for lunch)

Once again we were extremely blessed to have good weather and good roads the entire trip.  Many parts of WY, ID and UT were continuing to receive bountiful amounts of snow!

The hour is late, almost past missionary hours, so this will have to be continued another day.

Parting thought;  Our mission purpose is, "to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end."  In a special training on Wed, a World Wide Mission Broadcast, we were reminded that in order to teach repentance, we must each individually repent daily to bring that added power and testimony of the principle into our own lives.  Read Alma 34: 17.  "Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon His holy name, that he would have mercy upon you".

Our love and prayers are with all of you.

love,
Bro/Sis Hess

January 9th, 2017

Hello Family and Friends!  We are so excited to finally be here at the MTC, and wow, what a wonderful feeling just walking through those front doors and realizing that we are here for a week to just learn about our Savior, feel of the overwhelming Spirit here, and rub shoulders with so many others who are on the Lord's errand.

There are about 90 other senior missionaries here, 3 of them are single Sisters.  We sure admire their courage and determination to go alone.  We have met some wonderful people, and have made some friends that we hope to always stay in touch with.  With the whole focus on our Savior Jesus Christ, and to daily learn more of Him and His role in our lives, and how we can share His message, we are growing in our love and gratitude for Him. One quote that we will always remember is, "The Church is True, the Book is Blue.  Bro. Hess and I have reminded each other of that quite a few times.  Another thought that we liked was this.....You can count the eyes in a potato, but you can't count the potatoes in an eye!  Great possibilities are in store for all those who will plant the seeds.   D&C 100:1 was a very comforting scripture for us as parents.  Read it together as a family; it is what the Lord told Sidney and Joseph as they embarked on their missions.     

We attended a Sunday night devotional, and again, the Spirit was amazing.  It was a taped video from Elder Bednar.  He challenged us to learn about the character and attributes of Christ. The work is all about Him.  Elder Bednar did a very good impression of Cookie Monster!  The natural man is like cookie monster, I Want it NOW!  We need to turn our thoughts outward, and look for ways we can help each other.

Monday night devotional was given by Neil L Anderson, one of the 12 apostles.  You knew when you listened to him that he IS a special witness for the Savior.  We were able to shake hands with him as he left the devotional.  He asked us where we would be serving, and when we told him 

Arkansas, he smiled and said that he would see us there, he would be visiting that mission the following week.  

Each day we learned from our wonderful trainer, Elder Arslanian, and many other former missionaries serving there as instructors.  They boldly and humbly teach us to always speak of Christ, and when you are at a loss for words, teach of Him.  Have faith, trust in the Spirit, and it does help to be prepared!

We left reluctantly the MTC,  on Sat after doing our laundry and headed to SLC to stay at the Hyatt.  We attended the temple with our friends and fellow missionaries, the Mowers. 

Sunday morning we listened to the Spoken Word on Temple Square at the Tabernacle, it was amazing to be there.  Then we attended a Sacrament meeting at the Joseph Smith Building,  Elder J Devn Cornish, a member of the 70 was in attendance.

We loved seeing the reflection of the Assembly Hall on Temple Square in the building across the street so I took a picture of it.  We went on a tour of the Conference center, and loved looking at all of the original art work there.  I think our guide said that there over 500 volunteers to serve as guides.

One thing we have learned this week, is that the Lord loves and watches over His Missionaries. Thousands of volunteers are in place to serve us, guide us, teach us, and be a part of His care and love for us.  

We love you all, and pray for you daily.

Love,

Brother and Sister Hess

Grand kids.....there will be a test when we talk to you, The________ is true, the __________ is Blue!