Jenessa - Week 27 - Because of HIM!!

Hello Everybody-

I have had a bit of a struggling week emotionally. I think I am just
seeing how quickly my mission is going to come to an end having hit my
1 year mark!! I am just overwhelmed with emotions as i look back at
where i have come from and where I still have yet to go! Its not all
bad, its just emotions! HAHA! I am so grateful for the atonement of my
Savior, Jesus Christ that helps me to be strong and continue forward,
even on days that I dont have the greatest desire to. I am grateful
for the atonement that gives me even more strength on those days that
I DO have a desire to go out and do this work! Its been amazing to
ponder on what is possible #becauseofhim as we have been posting those
things all week long on facebook. EVERYTHING is possible because of
our Savior and I know this! i know that it is only through Him that i
am back out here on my mission! I know that he LOVES me and He loves
you! Turn to Him for strength, guidance, reassurance, love, comfort,
and anything else you need....His arms are open and his hands are
outstretched to do all that is required to help you to become the
strong son or daughter of God that you are meant to become! Let Him
in, let him help you because it is ALL BECAUSE OF HIM that you are
even here! :-)

If you haven't watched the Because of Him video on mormon.org you
should check it out NOW..... easter.mormon.org. Then come back and
finish reading!........ GO NOW!!

This week has been a very meaningful week with our investigators here
in our area. Its been absolutely amazing! The spirit has born witness
to me again and again and again that this is the truth that we share.
Its been amazing!!

We had the opportunity of going to the mission home for an FHE with 4
of our investigators. It was a marvelous experience. One of our
investigators Jessica , is a very very special woman with an
incredible gift of the Spirit. She is so incredibly close to the Holy
Ghost, that its as if she already has the gift of the Holy Ghost to
always be with her. She also has dreams that seems to be connected
with her life somehow. Its incredible. She shared a very powerful
experience she had with the Book of Mormon and how she knew she needed
to come to FHE that night. She was with her friends when she received
a text from us about FHE and felt like she needed to go back to a
previous text (long story about how this text is important....will
have to share that another time)....but it was an important text that
linked us together and she   took the date from the text which was
March 12, 2014, which would be 03/212/14....she looked that up in the
scriptures...she flipped open and the first thing she opened to was
THIRD NEPHI chapter 1....then she went and read versus 12-14 and it
said:

12 And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that
day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

13 Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at
hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow
come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all
that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy
prophets.

14 Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made
known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and
to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son--of the Father
because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the
time is at hand, and THIS NIGHT shall the SIGN be given."

(3 Nephi 1:12-14)

She felt like everything with us had a been a sign and she knew she
couldn't miss FHE, because the "sign" was going to be given for her,
as to what she should do. She shared that very powerful experience
with us and you could just feel the Holy Ghost just envelope us as she
shared it. The same happened when she shared that with President
Craig. She is so elect. She went out of town the rest of the week and
so we have the wonderful opportunity to teach her again on Tuesday.
She is excited to meet with us again, that she texted us!! :-)
Miracles are happening everywhere!!

Had 3 trade off's this week. I had the privilege of going with Sister
Graham in her area and then have Sister Chambers and Sister Murray
here in our area. It was a great week.

Sister Graham is so amazing. I love her so much. She is working hard,
despite her back causing her issues, I remember being there and
struggling. Its not fun at all. Although mine became incredibly
unbearable, hers is still just more of an annoyance. It makes me sad
that she does not get a good nights rest, and as a result is very
tired a lot of the time, but she perseveres and loves being a
missionary above all other things. It was so great to laugh and work
with her. :) we had the wonderful opportunity to teach so many people
while we were together. One lesson in particular was very
touching.....we had an appointment with this man named Ron, who has
his baptism coming up on April 27th. His wife has been a member most,
if not all, her life....but was not active after her and her ex
husband (who was also mormon at the time) were divorced. She (i cant
remember her name) within the past few years had knee surgery and
while she was in surgery, she had a stroke and now her mental and
physical capabilities are rather limited. Its very sad. So Ron is
taking care of her. His testimony is so sweet and pure. He talked
about how he has nobody but his wife. His mom is dead, his brother
disowned him after his mom died and he has no other living relatives.
His wife has two sons from her previous husband, but they never come
around and even her two sisters only come to see her occasionally and
the last time she saw her brother he pulled a gun on her. So they are
both basically alone in this world and he wants a family and a place
where he can come back to God. He is so very sweet and understands the
eternality of this baptism compared to his last and how the Gospel in
just a few short weeks has already, and will continue, to change his
life!! :-) He is grateful for the spiritual guidance and support. I
was so touched by him and his love for The Lord and for the Gospel!!
And for his wife!

Its funny how sometimes we have lessons, or at least I have noticed,
that some lessons we go into are exactly what I need to hear as well
as the investigator. That's exactly what happened with the next lesson
we went into with this less active. We talked about Charity and
allowing the love of Christ into our hearts. I have just been
struggling with having Charity towards myself, and then it also
effects my love for others. Its completely true when The Lord says,
"Love thy neighbor as thyself" that you have to love yourself to truly
love your neighbor. So as you come to know yourself as a true Son or
Daughter of our Heavenly Father and are confident with that identity
and purpose, then you can truly love others in this way. It might seem
like this simple commandment is meant for us to love all those around
us, but really it is a two part commandment; we must also love
ourselves! That i how our Savior truly loved all those around Him, he
KNEW who he was and what his purpose was. He KNEW that he was loved by
our Heavenly Father and that his relationship with our Father in
Heaven is really all that truly matters. He took that Love and then
shared it! We must beware of pride though, because it is an easy trap
to fall into to vainly love yourself, versus Loving who you are as a
son/daughter of God and being confident in our Heavenly Fathers
ability to strengthen and help you through life, versus your own
efforts. That has been a struggle for me this week, I haven't been the
kindest to myself, and have noticed i have lost a bit of the Spirit
and feel like I have hit a wall in my spiritual progression. I have
felt like something is missing and I am still searching for that
missing piece. I know that through prayer and scripture study The Lord
can help lead me to that missing piece in my heart. It will come! I am
sure of it! Patience is required.

Another incredible experience happened when we I was on a trade off
with Sister Chambers here in our area. Sister Chambers has a gift of
discernment and really knows how to get to the core issue people have,
it was amazing to work with her to help the investigators that we
taught discover their main questions that they had concerning God and
the gospel! I loved it! Taught me so much! We had 2 very powerful
lessons, but for the sake of time, I will just share the one. Our
investigator Rod was able to come to our Scripture Study Class this
past week that we just started up. We decided to start from the
beginning of the Book of Mormon and instantly it took us into some
very deep discussions, he is a very deep thinker. Its wonderful
though. After we had talked a bit about his questions concerning the
name of Christ.....which I have a question about and will address at
the end of this letter.....Sister Chambers had the impression that we
needed to get him into the chapel. We took him in their and the
instant the lights turned on.....it was like the Holy Ghost was just
waiting for us in there, it was so strong. Instantly he began to see
that we didn't have any crosses or pictures of Christ. He has always
been so concerned and even ridiculed by others for not "worshiping"
Christ as our God, when He knows there is a Heavenly Father. As he
noticed these things and as he paced at the front of the chapel, he
was overcome with emotion and began to cry. We asked him how he felt,
and he said "I don't know what this is, but i am feeling something."
We helped him to identify it as the Holy Ghost. We continued to teach
a little bit and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest of the work and
he continued to cry. It was the most powerful lesson I have EVER had!
You could almost feel the Holy Ghost standing right there in the midst
of us and who knows how many other angels helping and him along! He is
such a choice son of God who will be such a strong and faithful member
once he comes to know for certain that these things are true. We were
able to commit him to baptism and to pray for a date and then HE CAME
TO CHURCH!! Woot woot! It was amazing and the Spirit was so strong all
through church as it was centered on Christ with it being Easter
Sunday, it was perfect!

THEN.....last night we had dinner with him at the Cano's. It was very
powerful. Rod even commented that he felt so comfortable in their home
and felt something so calming there (which we know is the
Spirit...woohoo), that he almost fell asleep sitting on the couch
there while watching basketball after church. He says that he NEVER
gets comfortable somewhere, he's from New York and thats just not
something that happens to him easy. We had a wonderful dinner and a
very powerful lesson centered on the Book of Mormon and coming to know
for himself. Brother Cano bore his testimony and we shared ours and
the spirit was so sweet. :-) He is thirsting for this knowledge and
wants to know more. He is going to be such a powerful member! I see
him all in white and standing in the celestial room at the temple
already. I'm way beyond justing seeing him in white at his baptism!!
He is going to great things for The Lord here in the south and
wherever else his life may take him as a member of our Saviors
church!! :-) I KNOW that, if it wasn't for anyone else here in
Hendricks, Rod was why I was sent here. Our souls connected from our
very first meeting, that i cannot deny that we knew each other before
this life. Its such an incredible feeling knowing that we were
probably friends in the preexistence and probably talked all about the
fact that i would need to come find him! I am so grateful for him and
his honest heart. He has taught me so much about loving The Lord and
wanting to do His will! He wants to do what The Lord would have him
do. He wants to preach the gospel and bring in the lost sheep of the
Lords! I could just explode with the joy in my heart for this man and
the work that our Father in Heaven has in store for him! :-)

We had a trade off with Sister Murray and Sister Hale and I was able
to go with Sister Murray. She is such a sweet soul. I love her so
much. She struggles with her health and I am so proud of her for her
dedication to this work and her desire to be here and do this with all
her might. She is such a dedicated and powerful missionary, although
she doesn't see herself as such. She helped me out more then she will
ever know through her testimony and her desire to serve. Just the
power of her spirit and being around her is so incredible. I was
having a rough day when we were together and her loving spirit was
just what i needed. I was so grateful for her! :-) We were able to do
service for a single mom moving into our ward....we had NO IDEA what
we were getting ourselves into...haha! Neither did the elders and
other men who came to help her move into her apartment on the THIRD
FLOOR!! HAHA!! It was wonderful and we are excited to be working with
this wonderful sister  in our ward.

I absolutely love our focus on the Book of Mormon right now!! It has
been such a powerful experience in my own life AND I have seen how
powerful this has been within companionships, in individual areas, and
even just the feeling within the entire mission. Its incredible! I
love it and can't wait to see the many mighty miracles that continue
to happen here in the FJM! The Lord is truly hastening his work! I
have been asked to give a training in District Meeting tomorrow on The
Book of Mormon and how it answers questions of the soul. Indeed it
does! As i have been studying this, I came across a general conference
talk from October 1988 by President Ezra Taft Benson called "Flooding
the Earth with the Book of Mormon." It is an incredibly powerful
talk....EVERY member of the church should read it! The talk was given
nearly 26 years ago and a Prophet of God shared with us the importance
of helping this Book FLOOD the earth! President Benson boldly
proclaims, "Now, my good Saints, we have a great work to perform in a
very short time. We must flood the earth with the Book of Mormon--and
get out from under God's condemnation for having treated it lightly.
(See D&C 84:54-58.)"

This is still the same today, if anything it has become even more
important for us to help this Book to continue to flood the earth. I
love a quote in President Bensons talk by Bruce R. McConkie that
states "Few men on earth either in or out of the Church, have caught
the vision of what the Book of Mormon is all about. Few are they among
men who know the part it has played and will yet play in preparing the
way for the coming of Him of whom it is a new witness. ... The Book of
Mormon shall so affect men that the whole earth and all its peoples
will have been influenced and governed by it. ... There is no greater
issue ever to confront mankind in modern times than this: Is the Book
of Mormon the mind and will and voice of God to all men?" (Millennial
Messiah pp. 159, 170, 179.) We testify that it is." I testify that
this is true! I know that the Book of Mormon is the single most
important thing we could share with our fellow brothers and sisters.
It points the way to salvation, which can be found in our Savior. It
answers life's great questions. It helps us find direction and to feel
the love of The Lord. It helps us find peace in this life because it
helps us to see into the eternities, giving us that eternal
perspective and KNOWING we can be with our families FOREVER! I love it
with all my heart and cant imagine my life without it and as we study
it with the Bible, we will come closer to our Heavenly Father, Savior,
and the Holy Ghost then ever before. And that is exactly what we need
to be doing in this world where Satan is running rampant. We must put
on the armor of God and strengthen our Spirits to be on these front
lines, as The Lord has prepared us to be!  We can do this, but we can
NOT do this alone!! I know this to be true with all my heart and soul
and I wish I could declare it to the entire world!!


Well....We are off to a Zone p-day. :-)

Love
Sister Heckel