Larissa - :) amazing week!

Hola mi amoroso amigos y familia,

This week has been super hard and fantastic at the same time. 

So I had to say goodbye to Hna. Bonhard which was super hard. I willl miss her terribly. She is amazing and I cant wait till I get to meet with her again. After dropping her off I was in a trio with the Hermanas from Barrio Houston 8 which is our neighboring Barrio. So we spent a wonderful 3 days together. I spent it with Hermana Vargas (De Espania) y Hermana Jones (Idaho, Arazona and more) They are amazing misioneras. I love them so much and we had a blast teaching together. And then came transfer day.

I was super scared and nervous for transfers. I was taking over my area and was just crazy nervous. I came into transfer meeting and saw alot of my old district from Lake Jackson which was so awesome I love all those missionaries down there. That also helped me feel a little bit better and I got to hear about how my converts are doing:) I love them all so much and I am so happy they are doing good. Oh and I heard that the Brazioria spanish branch is becoming its own indipendent branch:D can you believe it!!! I am so happy it will definitely help them to grow so much more. I am so happy for all the blessings that have been happening in that area. 

Anyways.... after talking to them I walked into the tansfer meeting and see Hna. Scott. I was super good friends with her the first day I came into the mission. She was always so sweet to me and she was in the area I was born in (my first area) right before me and I love her so much. I was mind blown that she got transfered and she was pretty upset about it so I went over to sit next to her and help her feel better.  

At our transfer meeting you sit down in the chapel of the church. We start off with some testimonies of some missionaries that will be leaving this next transfer, all of them were absolutely incredible. we will be losing some amazing missionaries. After they put of projector up on the wall and go through all the areas that will be changing and the comp that is still in the area, their picture will pop up first and then the comp they are with will be next and they announce it at the same time. Our zone is usually one of the last. I was praying the whole transfer meeting that I would having a great comp that could help the area alot and as my picture popped up and then the next picture popped up next to mine I couldnt hold back my girlish squeel. HNA. SCOTT!! I was overjoyed and couldnt stop hugging her. ha then I look up at the stand and president is just laughing. (hna.scott told me that he was laughing when he saw us sit down together she just was really confused why until after she saw the transfer). I was so grateful to my Heavenly Father for putting her with me. I cant tell you how many grateful prayers I have done since she has been with me. 

I told her it was a bike area and she was so happy:) We both LOVE to bike.

We found 3 new investigators this week and made a bunch of new goals and are super excited to work together.

She is literally amazing. I love my ginger companion:) We are very much alike and she will help me alot with my spanish. She will be going home the transfer after this so I hope that I will be able to stay with her for the time she has left in the mission. 

This week I have learned alot about Faith. Faith that my Heavenly Father will provide for the things we need. The work has been a little bit slow here so we have been working hard on finding. and we have been abundantly blessed. We have been able to find those that are prepared left and right. hna. Scott loves to pray so we pray all the time for the guidence we need to do what we know he can help us accomplish and he has never let us down. He definitely has given us our humbling moments which I am also grateful for. 

Miracles have been happening so much and hna. Scott and I have only been together in our area for 4 full days:) We are so excited for this next week of miracles.

This sunday the familia Avalos were confirmed:) they are so happy and You can see it in their faces and in their eyes. They are an amazing family and have already recieved so many blessings through the Gospel. they are truely amazing examples to me and Heavenly Father had prepared them so well to recieve this blessing. We are now preparing them to go to the temple for Baptizms for the Dead:D We are super super excited to share this experience with them in the next couple weeks. 

Marcia Nato is progressing amazingly, she was also very prepared. We started teaching her brother too. We were talking to him one day and he told us about how he used to play basketball with kids in his apartment complex. We asked him why he has stopped playing with them and he said that it was because they were bad influences and he didnt want to be around that. We explained to him about our Standards and that all the kids in the church are trying there best to keep them. He thought it was super cool and that day we had a lesson with him and his sister and gave him a book of mormon and he told us he would like to be baptized too:D!! how awesome is that!! Marcia will be baptized this week and her brother the next! we are so excited for them and they love when we come over to teach. 

This week I have increased my Faith immensley. I want to thank my mother for always asking me when I wasnt in the best mood "who controles your weather?" haha as much as I hated it when she said that she was right. We have the choice to be positive or be negative in any situation we are in if we choose to be Agents who act, instead of Objects who are acted upon. We are all given this ability to choose and with this ability we need to use it. I have been studying alot about being an agent. I have come to realize situations where I had become an object and where I could have done better to be an Agent. 

I have also been studying the atonement alot this week. I become so humbled whenever I study the atonement and realize how much I really am nothing. but my Heavenly Father and my Savior feel that I am of great worth(Mosiah 4:5-8) Through our Savior we can still recieve salvation and live with our beloved father in Heaven forever! I love my Savior so much and I will never be able to repay for all that he has done for me. I am so grateful for his unchanging love and his sacrifice. 

I love being a missionary. I believe I will use this phrase my entire mission because it is true. I love this work, even through the hard times I have come to see the blessings of my trials and the ways that they have changed me and made me the person My Heavenly Father wants me to be. 

I also feel such immense gratitude for my amazing parents. Thank you for everything you have taught me and have raised me to know and learn. Without you and your example I would not be where I am now. I am sorry for all the times I have let you down and not followed your couincel. I know that you recieve all of your councel from the Lord and it was all for my good. I love your unwavering faith and example. You have shown me time and time again through all of your trials that faith can move mountains and we can get through them. I love you so much and am grateful for you everyday. 

Thank you all for your letters,thoughts, prayer, packages and support. I love you all so much and am grateful everyday for the wonderful people around me. 

Con amor,

Hermana Heckel