Week 37 - 25 Words! :-)

Hello Everyone-

It's been a busy week this week. Full of wonderful experiences and
some sadness with the passing of a very special man here in the
Hendricks ward, the stake patriarch Brother Vorwaller.

I think The Lord is testing our faith and our diligence at this time
because the theme of this week has been about dropping and being
dropped by investigators. We have also picked up some new
investigators who are promising. :) its so sad to see investigators
make the choice to discontinue looking into the gospel and the joy
that is found therein, I can't even imagine how sad it makes our
Father in Heaven with how much it effects me. I am confident that
there are great things yet to come though.

We have been doing a lot of sifting, as I expressed before....but that
is good :-) We had some wonderful lessons this week and met some
amazing people. We met this lady named Terry, she was a referral from
a member. Its incredible what this lady has been through. She is a two
time cancer survivor, who lost both her mom and her younger sister,
within a year of each other back in the 90's....one was from cancer
and the other from a brain tumor. She is amazing and has been looking
for a church that would baptize her, and guess what....we will, and by
proper authority. We are so excited for her and her journey into the
Gospel. It is going to bring her so much joy and so much peace. I wish
I could write everything that she shared with us during that hour we
were with her. Her life story is just incredible!! She has definitely
been prepared. We were able to set a baptismal date with her for the
end of this month. Oh and something neat, is that the lady, Judy, who
rents the other side of her house is a less active. Terry said that
she was going to get Judy to come to church with her next week :-)
Baptism and a reactivation, all from one referral. How wonderful! :-)
I love missionary work!

We were also able to have an amazingly powerful and spirit filled
lesson with Robert, who i talked about last week. We took members over
with us, who connected with him well. That was, without a doubt one of
the most spirit driven lessons that Sister Blotter and I have ever
experienced together. It was wonderful! You could just feel the love
that our Heavenly Father has for Robert! It was so wonderful! :-)
Robert definitely felt the spirit and it think that is why he asked us
yesterday if we could just take a little break so he could ponder on
some things. He didn't say he didn't want us to come back, he just
needed a minute. Surprisingly, I felt so good about that. I had this
sense of peace and just felt in my heart that was exactly what Robert
needed and that we would be able to talk to him a little later down
the road. I know that he is going to accept the gospel, he just needs
some time! I love the Holy Ghost and its ability to comfort and help
enlighten our minds and give us understanding!!

We had Mission Leadership Council this week, where we were spiritually
fed as we discussed FAITH and the power that faith has. There has been
this talk that I have been reading that I may have mentioned before
called "Thoughts on Faith" by Brother Rector (and someone else). Its
been mind blowing and life changing. I gave it to president and then
he took it and gave a training on it at MLC and now our whole mission
is focusing on this talk. It is so good. I will have to get the whole
name of it and send it to you and maybe you can find it. :-) I might
be able to just send a copy home. :-) It was so spirit filled. Sister
Craig got up and gave a training on the Book of Mormon that was so
touching talking about the Book of Momron. She first recounted the
story that was told by President Monson a while back about a man who
became a prisoner of war....this man Jay Hess....who he was actually
an uncle of one of Sister Craigs really good friends from back home.
She recounted the story:

President Thomas S. Monson shared the experience of Jay Hess, an
airman who was shot down over North Vietnam in the 1960s: “For two
years his family had no idea whether he was dead or alive. His captors
in Hanoi eventually allowed him to write home but limited his message
to less than 25 words.” President Monson asks: “What would you and I
say to our families if we were in the same situation--not having seen
them for over two years and not knowing if we would ever see them
again? Wanting to provide something his family could recognize as
having come from him and also wanting to give them valuable counsel,
Brother Hess wrote [the following words]: ‘These things are important:
temple marriage, mission, college. Press on, set goals, write history,
take pictures twice a year.’”

After she shared this story she asked each of us.....what would be
your 25 words?? If you were never to see your family again?? What
would they be??

WOW...if you really take the time to think about it....what would YOURS be??
(I would share mine, but I forgot the journal that I wrote them
in....maybe another time.)

She then related these 25 words to the Book of Mormon, they are the
"25 words" that The Lord has given us. The MOST IMPORTANT things he
would have us know, out of the many mysteries of the universe and the
things he could tell us. He has given it all to us in the Book of
Mormon, Heavenly Fathers "love letters" to us! It was such a powerful
training and i had to turn around the very next day and give this
training to our Zone. It was insane, but I am so grateful I NEVER have
to do these things alone, the Holy Ghost is a powerful and every
present companion who I could NEVER and will NEVER live without!


Here is an AHA moment that I had in the Book of Mormon this morning
....this is just a copy from my journal......it may or may not make
sense ;-) but it was a very good study and i feel so much at peace for
the answer that i received:

July 7, 2014
Question: How can I build my faith and find more peace in my heart today??
Alma 58

vs 11
God has visited you with great assurance over your mission life. He
has assured you that he would deliver you (in his own time). This has
spoken great peace unto your souls.....let it grant unto you faith and
hope for your deliverance. It will come and even has already begun!

vs 37
Focus on what is most important. Dont complain about your
circumstances. You cannot change your circumstances, but you can
change you and God can help you as you do. We just need to trust in
God that he will deliver, notwithstanding your weaknesses. He will
give you strength. Trust in him! Its not needful that you focus on the
"why's" - just like the people here didn't need to focus on the 'why'
they didn't get more strength to their army and more
provisions.....they got what they got and they then needed to take
what they got and trust in God to help and to maintain them from what
was sent. They couldn't do anything about what was sent to them, but
they could put their trust in God and focus on what matters most. Do
the same in your life. Dont focus on the "why's".....why this happened
this way, or didn't happen this way, etc.....you can't control or do
anything about it. Focus on what you are going to do now that whatever
it is has or hasn't happened. Look not behind thee, because you cant
do anything about the past, but you can still mold the future with
God, despite what is in the past and the circumstances you may now
find yourself in!


vs 40
Stand fast, despite the physical trials that may come your way. God
has set you free many times and has given you strength from day to
day. Be grateful for what he HAS given you, dont focus on what you
dont have.
Always remember The Lord your god from day to day, BE GRATEFUL!!
Keep the Commandments continually.
Continue to build your faith and keep it strong in the prophecies of
things to come. Look forward with faith :-)

(End of journal entry)

That was my answer! I love The Lord. :-)

We had an amazing opportunity this week to go to downtown Jacksonville
for the 4th of July. President Craig gave our zone and another zone
permission to go down there for the fireworks, but NOT really for the
fireworks. We went down a few hours before to where everyone was
gathering and there was a couple thousand people there on both sides
of the river, they shoot the fireworks off of the bridges over the
river. We went down with pamphlets, a few Book Of Mormon's and tons of
pass along cards. It was so amazing! We were able to have some amazing
lessons and get many people's contact information to send missionaries
too. I have heard of a lot of other missionaries success stories as
well. We are excited to see what miracles come about because of this.
We were able to hand out (just me and Sister Blotter) 200 pass along
cards. We were able to get addresses and phone numbers of people who
were interested in  learning more and even gave away 2 Book of
Mormon's. It was incredible! :-) The firework show wasn't too bad
either! :-) We didn't get home though till well after 11pm (it felt so
weird since we are supposed to be home by 9pm), and then didn't get to
sleep till almost midnight, because we smelled like smoke and other
things so we had to shower before hopping into bed. So needless to
say, we were tired the next day haha! But it was soooooo worth it!!
:-) Sister Blotter took some pictures of that on her camera. I will
have to send those later since we are not at a computer right now. :-)

Hope everything makes sense. Love you all and hope you are having an
amazing summer! Write me :-) I promise to write back.

LOVE YA!
Sister Heckel :-)

P.S the pictures are from the Hendricks Ward breakfast with other two
sets of Sister in my ward and then the one with my lovely companion
Sister Blotter :-)