Coming home!!!!!

(Editor's note: Karissa flies in on Friday,  June 16!!!

She will be speaking about her experiences in Chile on Father's Day, Sunday June 18, at 1:00 p.m. at 29441 Altisima, Rancho Santa Margarita CA. 

Please come if you can!

And So it Begins...

hola familia! 

This is soooo crazy! I cannot believe that this is the last email I will be sending out to you guys...

3 days and then I’ll be in the temple in Santiago.

4 and I’ll be with you!!!

Haha I had my last interview with Presidente just this afternoon. He asked me how I feel. I told him frustrated. I feel frustrated.

Part of me wants to go home.

A bigger part doesn’t. He told me to listen to the part that wants to go home. :)

It was a good interview. He told me to be selective with the types of guys that I choose to date and to have fun and enjoy life.

The only thing that changes is the calling and the area, but when I received my call to be a missionary it was for life, not for 18 meses. Just as when Christ called His apostles. It was for life.

The mission has been the best experience for my life. It has been hard and trying but I am sooo grateful for every moment. I love Chile and the people here . I love my Padre Celestial. I know that He lives and that His love for each of us is eternal.

Everyone should go on a mission. It is amazing. haha oh and I just found out that as a woman, I can go out on a mission again... sooooo :)  I’m still young. I still got time. My eggs haven’t died yet. Maybe I’ll serve another mission. I think I’m going to follow the example of Alma and go home to rest for a few days or year and then go back out ;) 

I know that this church is true. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that His Atonement is pure and wonderful. I have participated in His healing and His forgiveness. It is amazing. 

I love you all and cannot wait to see you in a few! 

p.s. I still want a mariachi band at the airport!

p.p.s. For anyone in town (or out of town) I will be speaking at my church this Sunday, June 18 (Father's day) about my experiences as a missionary in Chile at 1:00 p.m. I'd love for you to come if you can.

29441 Altisima, Rancho Santa Margarita CA 92688

wow

hey familia!!

So we went on a super fun trip today! I don’t have a lot of time to write, so I’m sending you the letter of what I wrote my mission president. 

We went to Lago Todos Los Santos, Los Saltos de Petrohue y Volcan Osorno. There was so much snow!! 

It’s been sooo cold here! Last week it was negative 2 one day. I thought my hands would fall off... hope you are all enjoying the sun and blue skies! It’s been raining here off and on for the past 3 weeks but always cloudy. I’m glad I’m getting out though because this weather is wearing on me. 

Les amo mucho!! Hasta el ultimo lunes! No lo puedo creer... que terrible... (Until the last Monday! I cannot believe… how terrible…)

Presidente,

This week flew by!! I cannot believe that it is already the start of week 6 of this cambio. I´m not going to lie, this cambio has been very difficult. It is so much better comp. wise and I am soooo grateful for the hna Query. She keeps me sane and going.

This sector requires a lot of work, patience and diligence. That is what I have learned from these past 11 weeks here. I never really imagined how my last cambio would be, but I never thought it would be like this. I know there are people that the Lord is preparing for us but it has been so hard to find them.

We taught 3 lessons this week. I have never taught so few lessons before in my mission. But it’s been like this ever since I got here.

I was really getting down on myself and angry and frustrated that we weren’t having more success. I just want to end strong by teaching and testifying a lot. Instead I feel like I´m ending frustrated and having rejections left and right. I was thinking about it all last week, Why? Why? Why?

Heavenly Father is very mysterious sometimes and although I still haven´t quite figured out why I´m ending here, I was able to get a response during the week and at church. It was the night that hna Query got sick so we stayed in the house. She was sleeping and I was cleaning while listening to motab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir).

I began thinking about a lot of stuff, this sector, the few investigoadores that we have and that none of them are really progressing or showing much interest, my mission in general and the fact that next week would be my last week.

I felt a lot of emotions but peace and happiness were not among them.

I looked outside and was saw the sun setting. I put the broom off to the side and looked out the window for a moment to calm down.

It was then that I felt a loving peaceful feeling come over me and the words of pres. Hinckley entered my head "todo saldrá bien" (Everything will all work out).

Then, at church yesterday when we were singing the sacrament song, the same peaceful feeling came over me and I was reminded that for Christ too, the end of His ministry was not easy nor desirable. Nor was it for Joseph Smith or many other prophets and children of God.

Although I much rather would have preferred that we have at least a baptism and teaching a lot and finding a lot of people, I am grateful for this time that I have had in this sector. It has truly tried me, humbled me and helped me grow into the person that I am now.

It is hard. It is really hard sometimes, especially at night in the cold, but I am eternally grateful for hard moments like this because I can show the Lord that I really do love Him and that I really do want to stand as a witness at all times in all things and in all places. I love my Savior and I am so grateful that He never gave up on me in the garden. No matter how hard and painful it was to suffer for my sins and my sicknesses, debilidades, and pride. He never gave up on me, so I´ll never give up on Him.

I love this work. I love this Gospel. I know it is true and it breaks my heart to leave, but I know that the call to serve is not confined to a place, rather it is a call for life.

Thank you for everything you guys do! I love you!!

con amor,

Hermana Hess