Jenessa "Sister Heckel" is Home!!!

Jenessa is home.  She returned at 2:00 PM on Oct 30, 2014.   We are so happy to have her home!

Jenessa- COMING HOME :-)

Hey Ya'll-

Today has been spent packing and cleaning up,....its starting to get real. Its so crazy to me that a year has come and gone so quickly! I am grateful for it all though! Its been wonderful! 

This letter is going to be quite short, since I will see most of you in just a few days and to you who I wont see for a while...I will update you when I get home! 

I had the opportunity to go to the temple this week! It was a wonderful experience! I love the temple! 

 This ward is catching fire with missionary work and is going to explode with Sister Boucher and Sister DeSpain here leading the charge! It is so exciting! J The Waycross 1^st ward is in good hands with these two sisters here! I can’t say enough about how amazing my companion Sister Boucher is. I have learned so much from her. I have never had to work to so hard to get along with someone, but have never loved someone so much in my life….all at the same time. The only way I can really describe mine and Sister Boucher’s relationship is that of Sisters (because this same kind of thing has happened with me and my sister at home)..…because we are so comfortable with each other that we share everything with one another, even those things that are most important to us and make us vulnerable by sharing it. We make each other upset at times, but then within minutes we can be over it and laughing. It has been so great! We have talked and worked and made this companionship absolutely incredible, as we have both had to set aside pride and turn our hearts to the Lord! I have loved that we have had to work at our relationship to make it become like it is, because it has made me so much better and brought me so much closer to my Savior. It has taught me a lot about myself and has sent me into some serious soul searching studies that have been life altering! I am so grateful that the Lord loved me enough to allow me to be Sister Boucher’s companion and work through hard things within our companionship, but more importantly within myself!  

I just want to share with you my facebook post from today because this is how i feel right now: 

"In light of what we know about our eternal destiny, is it any wonder that whenever we face the bitter endings of life, they seem unacceptable to us? There seems to be something inside of us that resists endings.

Why is this? Because we are made of the stuff of eternity. We are eternal beings, children of the Almighty God, whose name is Endless and who promises eternal blessings without number. Endings are not our destiny......there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings." – Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf  

This ending to this amazing 2.5 year journey, is but a glorious BEGINNING! I have loved every minute of this journey even, and maybe even especially, through the tough things...because I have come to learn that I LOVE TOUGH THINGS!! I am excited for the journey ahead and will forever be grateful for the lessons learned, the people I've met, and the experiences i have had while serving among the wonderful people in the Florida Jacksonville Mission! I am forever changed!

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your support and your love throughout my mission! I know that this gospel is true, with all my heart and soul! I know that my Savior lives and oh how He Loves us!I know that this is the greatest work that we can be engaged in at this time. I know that this church is true and it is lead by a living prophet and apostles. I know this, especially with the experiences I have been having re-reading  these past conference talks. So much revelation has come as I have been studying their words! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and is my greatest companion; I will NEVER go a day without reading from it! I know that all this is true and I finish my writing here, as a full time missionary, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. AMEN! 

Love ya'll

See ya soon! 

Larissa - My bike NEVER gives up the fight

Hello:)

This week was great. We had a lot of fun with our recent converts this week and helping them strengthen their faith and get involved alot in the church. THEY LOVED IT.

We spent a lot of time at the Avalos home because we told Oliver we would help him with his project that he had for school. His parents barely understand and speak English so they really can't help him at all with his homework. So that is where we come in. This project turned out to be a big deal. The homework these kids get its crazy. But non the less three days later we were able to help him finish it. It was great because we are also teaching Manuel (dad) the esposa de Emilia and the Padre de Manuel. We were able to get to know him alot more and really see his needs and what he feels about the church..... HE KNOWS IT TRUE:) We are so excited. He needs a little bit more help before baptism but we are going to help him every step of the way. Emilia is especially excited to be united in their faith. We walked into the house one of those days and started talking to Emilia about when she goes back to Mexico. She gladly told us that they already found a church in Mexico.... and Its one block away from there house!! I totally don't believe in coincidences anymore so MIRACLE!!! We love them so much and they are so amazing. I really can't express how much I love them.

This week we had a lot of fun working with the members. I really Love this ward so much. They all have such strong testimonies and amazing stories. More then half our ward is Recent converts of about 5 years. So they are all still pretty new to the gospel but you would never know. They are all so strong and so dedicated to the gospel.They are such amazing examples to me.

I have learned so many new things this week and so many things impressed upon my mind. Our studies this week for some reason has just ROCKED! we learned something new and received so much revelation. Heavenly Father definitely was showing us how much he loved us. We are preparing to go to the temple as a mission again. I am so grateful for the opportunity to go as a mission again. It is an experience of a lifetime and I get to have it twice. The last time was amazing and it can only get better. I definitely have lots more questions and we will see if these are questions that will be answered in the temple or the life after this. haha gotta love those kind of questions.

Hna. Hull is amazing. We definitely knew each other in the pre-existance. haha no joke really though the spirit already told us. I have never laughed so hard while riding my bike..... almost fell over a couple times cause we just die. If there was an outside view of our companionship they were either die laughing or think we were crazy. We are so alike in so many ways but so different at the same time that it just works. Really though! I am so happy to have met her and I know we will be best friends forever. I love the companions that God has blessed me with because really they will be my friends forever.

Ma sista finishes her mission this week. WHAT!! that means I only have 6 months left WHAT!!! so crazy how fast this time is really flying and with the Holidays coming up it can only get faster. We are super excited for Halloween. We don't get to dress up or anything and we cant be out that day because I guess in places outside of Utah... People dress up like missionaries for Halloween.... So weird.but we have an appointment with a couple members so we are going to go be with them for Halloween. We also have the trunk or treat on Wednesday! not sure if the missionaries are doing a car but we will see! I love Halloween... but its okay I have plenty of Halloweens when I get back:) You are only a missionary for 18 months:)

Well I hope you all have a safe Halloween and a wonderful rest of the week. watch out for the candy coma. Alot of the candy we will get have chilli so I don't think the candy coma will be a problem here:) Woohoo.

I love being a missionary!! I couldn't be more blessed!

With Love,
Hermana Heckel

P.s. My bike tire EXPLODES out of no where. so we left it at a members house for two days and walk for two days. Then go back and try and fix it and it sealed itself closed and to the rim of the tire. We ended up having to call the elders and after about 2 hours they were able to get it off the rim and sadely the tred did not make it nor did the tupe. but muy bike is now working great. because the day after this fiastco I got another flat on the other tire and had to replace that one:) haha I just have great luck with my bike. haha hopefully no more problems!!! The district leader definitely gets a hoot out of my bike problems now! haha and so do I!

Larissa - Hermana Heckel with her Companion and members in the area!!

Jenessa - Week 52 - ONE YEAR!!!

Hey Ya’ll - J

Sooo many emotions running through me today! I can’t believe that in a week and half I will have COMPLETED my full time mission and be moving on to fulfill the rest of my life’s mission! WOW! I am so grateful for all that I have been able to do and still have yet to do in the next week! J Its truly a strange place to be, but I love knowing that I have accomplished what the Lord has sent me here to do and to start down the road to becoming who he would have me be!

I can't believe that one year ago, this past week, I got on a plane and came back out to the Florida Jacksonville Mission to finish off the last year of my mission! Its just so crazy to me how fast time flies! I am so grateful I made the decision to return to serve a mission! It has absolutely changed my life! I know that i made the right decision to return home when I did back in 2012 and i made the right decision to come back out when i did in 2013! Its been a crazy 29 month roller-coaster ride, but one of the funnest rides i have ever been on! :-) I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for guiding me the entire way, even when I didn't feel like it, He has ALWAYS been there! 

This week was wonderful! We had a very powerful lesson with Alisa this week. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and the tears just flowed. It was so powerful to her to know that her mother was not lost because she struggled with her belief, that her mother would have the chance to hear of the fullness of the Gospel and that she could be baptized for her and help in that process. She was so touched by the whole thing and that her and her (soon to be) husband would have the opportunity in the future of being sealed for time and for ALL ETERNITY!!  We talked about being baptized. I think she really wants to be baptized this weekend as we had initially talked about, but she is also trying to get moved and would have to quit smoking and so she feels that might be too quickly. We are going to finalize when she wants to be baptized between today and tomorrow, but she is SOOOO ready! When we had our lesson with her Sister Boucher asked her if she was reading from the Book of Mormon and she said yes, a lot. We asked her what she felt about it and she said that she felt like it was true, she knew that it was true! We had a member with us, Sister Cornett, and she was the PERFECT member for Alisa. She has been the absolute BEST fellowshipper for her! It was so great when we were able to pray and take Sister Cornett with us that first time we talked with Alisa and there was an instant connection and I know that Sister Cornett has had a profound impact on Alisa and her continuing to come while she built her own testimony of these things. I love member involvement, it is the BEST!! It really is the only way to do missionary work. I wish members really knew how important it was for them to be involved in the process of bringing souls unto Christ!!

We had an amazing opportunity to run into a little boy who happened to be a former investigator this past week. We didn’t have much time to talk to him, but set up a time to come back. We came back and he wasn’t where we had initially planned on meeting him, so we went to his apartment and knocked, his step mom answered the door. We had an amazing lesson with her and gave her a book of Mormon, she felt like God had brought us to her. Come to find out she works two jobs and is hardly EVER home. It was perfect timing. If we had been a bit earlier or a bit later we would have missed her. It was so wonderful and she was so happy we had come. Now the trick is to help her find the time to work us into her crazy schedule with 4 kids (I think the 5 year old is her and the other 3 are her step kids….possibly all are her step kids) and two jobs! She is a wonderful woman and she is only 21! Blows my mind the life situations people are in and how hard working some people are! We are excited for her to find out for herself and to get her husband, who is a former investigator back on track for baptism. We looked him up and he was on track to be baptized last December and we are not sure what happened, he has been taught almost all of the lessons. We shall see….so much potential and NESHA (the wife) is so elect. You could just feel it! J

It’s been a great week. We have had to drop people and have had a few people drop us, so our teaching pool has been getting lower and lower, so our focus for this upcoming week will be on finding. We have decided to implement an idea that Sister Boucher received from a friend of hers who served his mission in Germany. They would take Restoration Pamphlets and prayerfully pick a street, then write a note on the pamphlets that would indicate that they this message would bless their lives and if they wanted to learn more that they (the missionaries) would be back on ____a day at _____time and if they wanted to learn more they should leave their front porch light on at that time and they would come and share. We have decided to try this out a few times and see how it works. It may be a total bust, but we figured it would be worth a shot. We tried it earlier on this week and only gave everyone that we were seeing a day’s notice that we would be coming back the next day. It was kind of funny…..we wen to that street and NOT A SINGLE front porch light was on wherever we had left pamphlets, but then everyone else along the other side of the street had their lights on. We think they got our message. J So that wasn’t as successful as we thought it would be but we decided we would try two more streets that we have prayed about and we left pamphlets there and are going back tonight and tomorrow. We will let you know how that goes….this may turn out to be something we don’t ever do again, but we thought it would be worth a try. This elder in Germany said it was quite successful. They did have some streets with no lights on, but then they had some streets where multiple lights were on and where many people got baptized. So that is hopeful! J We will see if we can find success here in Georgia like they did in Germany. In my head this “tactic” makes sense, because I am sure there are people who would accept our message if it wasn’t a “bad time” or a time when they are just getting their kids to bed and so they have no desire to talk to you….but if they have the opportunity to read and then it is on their timetable (kind of) to talk to you, then they may have a more open mind to find out more….versus just feeling bothered. Not to say that door to door contacting isn’t successful, because that is how I have found most of the people I have had the opportunity to see receive the blessings of being baptized, but this might prove to be effective as well when used appropriately and prayerfully!

I have recently come to feel of the power of Gratitude in one’s life. I started keeping a gratitude journal, writing down at least three things that I am grateful for or how I saw the hand of God in my life that day. It’s a beautiful thing to ponder on at the end of the night and there is always something. I had one day this week that was particularly hard because my back was really bothering me, I was kind of sick all day, and things that day just were not going the way we had planned, it was very discouraging…but when I sat down to write in my gratitude journal that night…I just remember feeling so much love come into my heart and mind as I pondered upon the blessings that did come into my life that day! It took my focus off of what went wrong to what went right and even just the small things, and it brought so much joy into my heart. It was such a powerful experience!

I know that this gospel is true and I am grateful for every opportunity that I have to share it. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to continue to review the words of our prophet and apostles that uplift, inspire, and guide me from day to day! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the power that it gives me in my life and in this work! I know that it is true and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet! I am so grateful for his sacrifice and his example of following our Savior, giving me hope and courage to go forward despite anything that happens in life! I know that my Savior lives and He loves me! I am so grateful for this knowledge and how much joy that brings into my life daily. I love life, the good and the bad, it brings with it blessed opportunities to learn and grow which allows us to become more like our Savior and strengthen that relationship! I know that this gospel is true with all of my heart and I leave you these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Love you

Sister Heckel

P.S Enjoy the pictures. Sister Boucher and I with the Waycross 2^nd Sister carved pumpkins last week for p-day it was fun! J We went to this really small cute little building (drive through only) that sells like coffee, bagels, and smoothies called Ellianos...YUMMMY SMOOTHIES! 

Oh...and remember that discouraging day that i said i had earlier this week....we saw that rainbow towards the end of that day....GOD LOVES ME!! Just a simple things made life so much happier that day.....and it was a full rainbow and then their was part of a second one...but it was too big to get into the picture! :-) It was BEAUTIFUL!!

Travis - A whole lot of learning

Here is a little piece of Travis's letter from this week. :-) Enjoy! 




....there's a whole lot of learning still going on, and I have to find motivation to really keep working on like studying and praying and stuff. I guess I really relate to the scripture. 1 Nephi 3:7 " And I Nephi said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the lord hath commanded me, for I know the lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, Save he shall prepare a way that they may accomplish the things which he commandeth them." This scriptures basic meaning I have really understood good and didn't really care for. But I really had an eye opener as it speaks not about everyday trials we go through...but those challenging situations we face where we cannot possibly see a good results, come of it. The times when we do not have the power or the resources to achieve what we want. That's when we must armor up and charge forward, not blind, but with faith that if this be the lords will, he will provide for us, that we will come out unscathed and successful in the quest he has given us. I truly feel sometimes like I don't have the spirit and don't know what I am exactly doing. I have been put in situations I just don't understand that make me feel dumb. But I'm always brought back to remember that even though I may doubt myself, even though I feel tired and ready to just quit. When life just feels like to much, And I cannot seem to do anything right. These are the times I remember.........the feelings of wanting to believe of wanting to know. This desire alone I hinge on to Carry me for another day. I remember there's always tomorrow, a different day I can change. You know a mission shows so much, it creates a time of focus on you. Yes you are out here to serve and help others, to In a sense be just like christ for two years. But you also get to see your true self, you cannot 'fake' who you are for this long of a time. And when you finally start to be you. You see your good and bad, and you desire to change to grow. You want to become better then you originally were. I'm so glad for the chance I have out here to serve my Heavenly Father in this quest. to bring the truth to all. Haha the song paradise is playing inside this restaurant and it means so much to me. You really don't know what YA got till its gone, a big paradise...put up a parking lot. Hahaha i really do miss the old days, the days I played with friends, enjoyed the great food with family and was worry free. But I'm now excited to see what else I can do in life. I limit myself so much before, but now I live in a world limited by only what I want, by who I choose to be


Love
Elder Heckel 

Larissa :) we just love missionary work.

Dear wonderful people:)

HEEEEEEEYYYYYYY!!! 

Well as you know last week we had P-day on Wednesday... that made the whole week go by sooooooooo fast. Not okay but we saw so many miracles.

Well first off we had the confirmation of Emilia and Manuel:) they are amazing! I love them so much. haha mom and dad you better learn Spanish cause all these people want to come to Utah and I want y'all to meet all of these amazing people:) haha Or i will translate if you want but whichever. Haha Emilia is so amazing. She is so excited to learn and progress in the gospel. She was definitely prepared for us, We were just her way to find the true gospel. Now it is time to work with her husband who is equally as awesome but just a little tough:) haha firm handshake though I am scared one day he might crush my hand... but he thinks its funny so alright. haha he loved the missionaries and learning.

We have been teaching like crazy!! I seriously have never taught so much in my entire mission. We try to take every opportunity we can to share the gospel. It is seriously the greatest. We have definitely had some really uncomfortable experiences with some people.  Once we tell them that we are missionaries, they really don't want anything to do with us but its okay. We really don't let it get us down cause once we start talking to more people we find some people who have actually gone to church, live in the complex of our recent converts, and want to come to church.... :DGAAAA diligence, we are definitely blessed when we persevere.

We have been applying our training that we received from Elder Schwitzer. It has made a dramatic difference in every aspect of our teaching. I can't explain how much I know that this church is true. I wish I could have received this type of testimony sooner and straightened out my life soon. But we all have lessons we need to learn in our lives right? Thank the daylights for repentance! Our Heavenly Father really does love us.

Another miracle happened this week. One day we were riding bikes and hna. Hull looks over at me and says, "we should switch bikes" I think hmmmmm sure! her bike is brand new and mine is definitely been through a couple missionaries but is still good. haha broke a couple parts like the lights and the seat but easily replaceable. haha she gets on my bike and in about 5 minutes she is huffin and puffin and goes "HOW DO YOU RIDE THIS BIKE EVERYDAY???!!!" haha Her bike was a dream no effort to ride at all, it was amazing. I had no idea that my brakes was tugging on the wheel, the chain was super rusted. So I went home and luckily had some grease that an old missionary left and my tools and went about fixing my bike. I do have to say It was pro. its a whole new bike riding experience that I didn't even know I needed to change. I had been riding this same bike for so long I didn't even realize I had been putting way more effort into it then I needed too. Now that I feel the difference it is amazing how I will always be more aware of my bike and what condition it is in and make all the required maintenance. Hmmmm definitely time for an analogy right? :) yes use your imaginations and Maybe I will share my analogy next week:)

Oh this week we also got a call from one of our investigators who just had a baby. She asked if we would come with her to help translate. It was so cool. Didn't really think I could translate but we did and it was so much fun. The doctor was super nice and was super grateful we were there and invited us to come back anytime to help cause she doesn't really speak any Spanish. but sadly the clinic is in the area of other sisters so we told them about it and they are going to go volunteer there and we are going to try and go volunteer at the hospitals in our area. It was so much fun to help out and see how much our Spanish has progressed. Definitely a blessing from Heavenly Father cause there is no way I could ever speak Spanish by myself and through my own abilities. Truly a miracle.

haha Funny story: One day we had inspiration to stop and eat at a taco truck for dinner. (casual) and after naturally again the spiritual impression to get ice cream at the gas station across the street. haha hna. Hull fought me cause there was a place right next to the taco truck but I really felt like we should go there. Lo and behold a member that was baptized in Provo while going to byu just moved to Houston and had been praying to find the church. BAM missionaries. 2. we walked out and there was a lady outside smoking we stopped to talk with her and I handed her a card and tell her we were missionaries. Out of nowhere this guy jumps out and Yells "MISSIONARIES!!! PRAY FOR ME"  then flings his arms out to the side and thrusts his head forward and down. looked like he was bowing down to hna. Hull. then proceeds to say "PUT YO HANDS ON MA HEAD!!!" he was really excited about this. The Hna. Hull kindly sweetly says "we will pray WITH you" he quickly jumps up and says "I DON'T WANT NON A Y'ALL PRAYERS I WANT YO HANDS OWWWN MA HEAD" as he repeatedly pegs himself in the head with his hand.... :) hahah We happened to be going to same direction as him and asked him what his name was "Melvin" we told him we would pray for him and start to ride off and he says " Alright alright and pray for all dem fools too!" as he points to about 5 men sitting on the side of the road. hahahah oh the joys of missionary work. so funny.  

This week was the best. Houston is crazy and I love it. so many people to teach all the time. I have truly been blessed here.

:) I just love this gospel Its so weird to think how before my mission I thought I was happy. Nope not even close. I have truly been able to find what true joy and true relief is. It is through My savior and following his gospel. I love it:)

I hope y'all have a good week. let me know about it if you want:)

Love your favorite missionary,

Hermana Heckel,

1. Hna. Sofia Ramos. and her adorable smily Baby Alberto. I love them so much. Her husband is our ward mission leader and we got to be with her every weekend. She is from Colombia and is absolutely adorable.

2.I love Texas:) 

3. My baby, shes the greatest. 

4. After translating at the Clinic for the mom of baby Moises:)

Larissa - Miracles all over!!!

Where to start with this week. So many amazing things happened and this week was a blast. haha so hmmmmm okay.

To start Elder Gregory Schwitzer of the 70 came and toured our mission!! super cool!! We had a training with him that gave the whole mission a new way to work and work more effectively. We are so excited to put in play all the things he has taught us in order to help the Lords work move forward. We also were able to hear from his wife and see a roll play between him and President Ashton. It was amazing. Two very powerful men. We learned a lot of personal improvements we can make as missionaries as well as disciples of Jesus Christ, truly an amazing experience. One thing that we were taught by him was that we need to focus more on Christ. He is the center of everything, this is his true church and we need to make it known that he is the center of everything we believe. We are not preaching about the Mormon Church. We are representatives of Jesus Christ, Preaching his Gospel and his teachings to everyone. haha I guess a lot of people are really getting confused with the whole "Mormon" thing. haha once they know the real name of the church that solves a lot of the problems. 

We had 2 Baptisms this week:) it was amazing!! Manuel(son) and Emilia(mom)! we have been teaching them for a while and we have seen so many miracles with them. Manuel was totally psyched and ready for his baptism he loves it because he knows that he can become who he wants to be through Christ and following his example. Emilia Loved our lessons but never accepted a date. so the day before we decided to really teach Emilia. We talked about the covenant of baptism and what it really means then we told her we had the baptismal questions and she asked to see them. We went over all the questions and the spirit was so strong and she answer all the questions and bore her testimony as well. At the end we asked her how she felt  and she said "Ready" it was amazing. We schedules her interview for the next morning and she was baptized that day with her son. It was such a powerful service the spirit was so strong and it was beautiful. You could see the relief on Emilia's face and the joy that she felt afterwards. truly a privilege to be able to be part of this process with them and help them come unto Christ.

We also got to clean presidents Office this last week and talk to him while we did it and that was super fun. He's the best.

This week was amazing we saw a lot of miracles in our investigators and members. The Lords work is really Moving forward. for this transfer my companion and I are working on the 6 steps to increase your spiritual confidence. haha this week we are working on number 2. Our physical bodies. I can really testify that our Physical bodies and our spirits are related as we have focused on eating better and putting forth more effort to exercise this week we have felt happy have felt the spirit stronger and are seeing so many miracles. It is really incredible how fast the blessings can come when we start to obey the counsel of the Lord. He really does love us and will bless us when we obey what he asks us.

I love this work. I can't say it enough and I will say it every week! it really is incredible and I cant get enough. It weird to think real life is still going on for everyone else. haha I feel like everyone should be doing this and doing it forever!! haha gotta Love missionary work. I hope you all are doing well and I hope to hear from ya'll soon!!

Love you favorite Missionary,

Hermana Heckel:)

1. Mom thanks for the Swiss days Atire:) I loved it SO much:)

2.We Play badmitton in the mornings sometimes.... Yeah it gets intense! 

3. We love our medical Adviser Sister Mecham

4.Manuel y Emilia (family of the Avalos:) gotta love the whole Hispanic don't smile deal! I love these people!

Jenessa - Week 51 - Agency!!

​Hey Ya’ll-

ALISA CAME TO CHURCH!!!  Such a beautiful and wonderful thing! Mrs. Alisa called us this past week and we found out that she is being evicted, for absolutely no logical reason. Her neighbors are crazy and have been telling the landlord things that are completely false!  She has a hearing this Tuesday that will hopefully be in her favor to be able to get a 30 day extension....please pray for that! It was so amazing and heart stopping when she called us this week. We were able to realize why she had said "no more visits"....she was just overwhelmed by everything that she had to do in such a short period of time. They are really struggling financially right now and she realized that she had a month to not only quite smoking (which she has a lot of anxiety and it helps her right now)....but she also needed to get married and they have no money for a marriage license and then on top of all of that they were being evicted! WHOA!! Talk about everything feeling like it is hitting you all at once. She called us in tears though and said that she didn't mean what she said; she was just so overwhelmed and didn't know what to do. We were able to comfort her and go over and teach her this weekend a bit, just how she would be blessed by being obedient and coming to church...and she did!!! It was so great! By coming to church she has been able to receive so much help too! O my goodness! My heart is so full of gratitude for how the Lords church is set up and that we are able to help those who stand in need! Its magnificent! We think she might still keep to her baptismal date of October 25th if all goes well with the hearing and all. Her husband Buddy is still encouraging her to come to church, even though his disability doesn’t seem to allow him to at this time. WOW!! I love God! I love that Alisa has felt the spirit and knows that this is right and where she needs to be! HAPPY DAY!! :-) She is the sweetest and most selfless person I have ever met. It’s incredible the things she is willing to sacrifice for those that she loves, especially her "husband." She just loves with all her heart and wears that heart right on her sleeve. I love her with all my heart and it breaks my heart that I will have to leave her in just two and half very short weeks!! :(

We did LOTS of service this week, but we were blessed so incredibly for it! We had a very interesting experience when we went over the see a less active woman. Her daughter had this big bandage all over her arm. Apparently she had to have a skin graft on a finger or two because she had stuck it into something that the only way to get it out was to pull and it ripped all the skin off of it. It was so sad....because she was crying because this huge wrapped bandage had fallen off and they had just tried to slide it back on and so there was all this pressure on her very sensitive fingers. We went on the hunt for some medical tape to be able to take the bandage off and wrap it back on....we tried to find someone to come and wrap it, but no one was available and this little girl was in a lot of pain. Not that I am an expert, but having gone through a CNA course and all, I was confident I could help this little one and get her out of at least some of the pain. It was quite the experience and you would have thought that I was beating the child with how much she screamed.....you probably could hear her all the way out there in Utah....but we were able to get that bandage off and as soon as it came off and she saw how her fingers looked she stopped crying and just stared at them. Then she just turned to me with tears in her eyes and asked "you put band aid"  on it?" I said, "Yes, a very big band aide." She is only 3 years old and so very sweet and soft spoken. It just crushed me and I know her momma, knowing that she was in so much pain…and unintentional because the bandaging just slipped right off her little arm. L It was so sad. Anyways, we were glad we could help and she was so much happier after that! J

We set a baptismal date ONLINE!! We were able to talk with Isabelle and committed her to be baptized on December 6^th. We are getting the nearest church house to her now and she said she will attend. She is planning on meeting with missionaries there as well, really soon! Her friend, who introduced us to her is also going to be a part of that. It’s so exciting! I love online missionary work. You can really change people’s lives by your example and sharing the gospel online! J It’s wonderful!

Life is good as a missionary. It has definitely been a challenge to stay focused, especially through discouragement, but it has been a wonderful challenge to work through with the Lord! I know that with Him I can do ALL things! J

We have so many appointment for this upcoming week which means this week is just going to FLY by as we stay busy. That is so sad to me, because I only have two and a half weeks left! Oh my goodness, how did this even happen?? I can’t believe it. J There is a time and season for everything and my time and season for being a full time missionary (at least for this time of my life) is coming to a close. But we always know that as doors close, others open….and who knows what might be through the next door. J Life is so great!

I am so grateful for General Conference, as I have been reviewing my notes it’s been amazing to see how much personal discipleship and personal responsibility, using our agency wisely, was talked about. Everything we do is our choice, good or bad. We make the decision to “stay in the boat.” We make the decision to become “really really good at repenting or really really good at forgiving.” We make the decision to “have Christ-like love.” We make the decision to “boldly defend the temple standards (or not).” We make the decision and must take personal responsibility for “our physical and spiritual well-being.” We make the decision and are personally responsible for listening to and “sustaining the prophet,” and trusting the Lord. We make the decision to accept the grace of our Savior and forgive, understanding that “someone has already paid.” We make the decision for “which way [we] face.” We are responsible for allowing the sacrament to be “a truly spiritual experience, a holy communion, and a renewal for [our] souls.” We make the decision to reach out, as Christ did, and “love the impoverished and the disadvantaged in a powerful way.”

We make the decision to pay attention “to the powerful currents in our lives” or to ignore them. Then finally, President Monson sums all of this up so nicely saying “Decisions determine destiny.” We must turn to our savior Jesus Christ, follow his example and as we do, our decisions will be easier to make. We will choose the right. J Our decision to follow the Savior will truly determine our destiny!

 I loved that President Monson mentioned that “walking where Jesus walked is far less important than walking AS Jesus walked.” That is what we must all strive to do! With our everyday decisions we have before us we CHOOSE to walk as he walked, no one will make that decision for us! Elder Christopherson said it so great in his talk about our agency saying that “God will not live our lives for us nor control us as if we were His puppets, as Lucifer once proposed to do. Nor will His prophets accept the role of “puppet master” in Gods place.”  How amazing that God has given us this amazing gift to choose. It is our responsibility to choose where we want to be in the end and how happy and joyful we want our journey to be along the way! Elder Christophersons continues with “In matters both temporal and spiritual, the opportunity to assume personal responsibility is a God-given gift without which we cannot realize our full potential as daughters and sons of God. Personal accountability becomes both a right and a duty that we must constantly defend.”

I have not always been good and giving a personal accounting to the Lord. In fact, I used to never think about it…until I became companions with Sister Boucher and she taught me by her example how powerful accountability is in our lives. I have been working on personal accountability and on using my “God-given gift” of agency to help realize my full potential and hopefully in tern help others see theirs. J

I know that the words that were spoken at conference were inspired and I am so grateful for them! I encourage all of you to go back and READ or LISTEN to conference again! Its so powerful and you learn so much the second time through. What they say, when inspired by the Holy Ghost, truly can be taken as scripture and just like scripture there is something new that can be learned each time we read and strive to apply the teachings into our own lives! J

I want you to know that I know that President Monson is the Prophet here on the earth today and that this is Christ’s church lead by inspiration through his prophets and apostles in these last days! I am grateful for my agency to choose and the ability that I have to learn to “walk as Christ walked.” I know that as I continue forward with diligence each day that I will see miracles and find that I am coming much closer to walking as he walked then I ever expected! I know that God lives and He loves us! I know these things and finish my writing in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

With much Love

Sister Heckel 

Enjoy the pictures :-) 

1. Went out to lunch with these wonderful sisters...oh goodness I love them so much! The two on the opposite end from me are our Sister Training Leaders. 

2. This picture of Christ is my new FAVORITE picture of Him :-) Love it! 

3. Love the MIDWAY sign for the Baptist church....its also right across the street from the "Midway Cemetery." :-) Fun stuff. The saying on the church sign is pretty neat as well :-) 

Larissa - 7 Months to go.... AHHHH

Dear People I LOVE!!!!

I seriously can not believe how fast time goes by out here. I am almost at my Year mark, and everyone that I came in with are going home. I will be one of the oldest pretty soon which is super scary. Today was transfer calls and I am staying with mi hija (my trainee)

She is the greatest and we are so excited for this next transfer together!

This week was packed full of miracles. Where to start? well we had a HUGE miracle this last week. We have an investigator and his parents (Manuel y Emilia and Manuel) Yes they have the same name... happens all the time. but anyways they are from mexico and had a problem with their visas and ended up having to go back to Mexico. Well they didnt know if they would be back for general conference so we had an appointment with the Familia Avalos (who they were living with) and knocked on the door and lo and behold Manuel pops out of no where!! WE WERE SO HAPPY. They said they had no troubles coming back and they are planning on staying for a while! YaY:) All three and the familia Avalos came to conference and LOVED it. The spirit was so strong and so amazing! they didn't get to see all the sessions but we will change that these coming weeks. I can not wait to read through them again. Share with me things you learned and things that stood out to you! I want to hear all the cool things that Heavenly Father revelaed to all yall. Also some things you will change and goals you will make to change them. I know I have my long list. I definitely need to pick it up!!

This week was also find what we thought would be a new investigator but turned into a less active member. Irving was baptized in Vegas. He learned spanish after learning english so we talk to him mostly in English.... super WEIRD!! but its all good. He is super funny and really wants to come back to church. he was really attatched to the missionaries in Vegas so when they left he started going a inactive. But he is ready to come back. We had a prayer with him and it had been a while since he had felt the spirit that strong and we get done and he kept his eyes closed and said "Do you feel that? tell me you feel that! I feel like Jesus is right next to me." pretty sweet! he loves to feel the spirit and cant wait to come to church and meet with us again.

CONFERENCE WAS THE BOMB!!!!! I love general conference so much. We have some amazing leaders. I loved all the stories and expiriences shared. Also thought it was super awesome that a couple speakers spoke in spanish! We had a couple members go for their first time and I know that it was a real treat that they did not have to listen to translation for those couple talks. We listened to half in spanish and half in english. We could understand it all pretty well but sometimes we would get lost so we decided it would be best in English. the spirit was so strong. We watched it in our capilla with the other members that dont have byu tv. or internet. That is a super new thing for me because I have always watched it at home. The spirit in that Chapel was so strong. Its crazy! I love watching it at church.

haha this week we have been focusing alot of exact obedience and of course satan decided he was going to make it super hard on us. So we were coming home from a lesson and we left with time to spare to make it home and we got a ride form that member. as we were driving we were about 3 blocks (texas blocks) away from our apartment when we see this women who was in the middle of the road having car trouble. So being the awesome member/investigators we were with they wanted to help. the women happened to speak spanish as well. So we started helping her. looked at the clock and we had 10 minutes to get home and they werent done helping her. so we told them to stay and help her and we would walk the rest of the way. haha Walk I mean Olympic sprint to our apartment. I wonder what people thought about these two girls in skirts with side bags running like the wind in the middle of the night.... haha but we made it home on time with 3 minutes to spare!! haha Heavenly Father loves us. and our member and investigator were able to help out that women. So it all worked out. and so did we:P

Well this week has been so funny. I love my comp so much and I want to share with you one way that she receives revelation and our comp unity is awesome. so we were in a lesson with Hna. Perez and Juan and I was saying the closing prayer and I was saying a couple specific things that Hna. Perez needed and Hna. Hull suddenly had this thought that came in the form of a common song I am sure you all know "Dont youuuu forget about..... JUAN" right after she had that thought I started to pray for Juan:) so awesome. I love her song revelation. And I a so happy I get to be with her for another transfer:) I got Lucky!

Well from the pictures you will see that we had a super fun week:) and an excited GIANT cockroach again!! this is roach number 3!! haha and counting.

Well i hope you all have a fantastic week. Make sure to read all of you notes from conference and if you can listen to the talks over again:) you can only recieve more direction and revelation:)

I love this church so much! it really has changed so many aspects of myself and who I want to be. I can finally become who I know I can be through God. I want to bare special testimony of the commandments and guidelines we have in this church. I can testify that ALL of them come from God. He loves us and he wants to protect us. I know that if we keep his commandments, All of them, not just the ones that are easy, or the ones we think we can do all of them we will be blessed. " I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the things which he hath commanded them." The Lord will make a way, he will provide. How amazing it is that we have the opportunity everyday to repent and do better. Repentence has been one the most amazing gifts that I have recieved form my Heavenly Father through my Savior. I invite you all to always excersize the blessings of the atonement and try always to do better tomorrow. God will bless you.

I love you all and Hope you have a wonderful week. :)

con amor,
La Hermana Heckel

Jenessa - Week 50 - Awakening!!

Hey Ya'll- 

This week has been wonderful and so hard all at the same time!  First of all, having the opportunity to watch Meet the Mormons this week was wonderful and so inspiring. I loved it. It was so well done and I don't know how you cant walk away from watching that without a desire to do better and be a better person! Its so wonderful! :-)

Before I go on.....I just have to say that Sister Boucher is INCREDIBLE!!! I just love her. She is a phenomenal missionary....no one can meet her and just not absolutely fall in love with her! I definitely have! :-) She is doing very well too! She is ready to continue to take Waycross by storm with the lucky next companion! :-)

Monday evening was absolutely miraculous. Our dinner appointment fell through and we are so grateful that it did, not only because we were both so very full from lunch, but because we then decided to go check our emails just before P-day was over and ended up in McDonalds and this lady Roberta was there, who had been bringing an older member of the church to Sacrament each week. Checking our emails was completely put out of our mind as we sat down and talked with her. We were able to teach her the first lesson. It was a good lesson, but also a bit frustrating as she believed the The Book Of Mormon is the word of God, but she could not accept that Joseph Smith was the Prophet, she just believed he was an inspired man. It was really sad that she felt that way, but we were able to commit her to read and pray to know for herself if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Right after that we were able to catch this man at home we have been trying to see for weeks. We were actually trying to contact his mom, but we found him on the porch and found out that she had been put in a Nursing Home because her Alzheimer's was getting bad. He was so great and talked to us for a bit and we were able to leave the Restoration Pamphlet and the Book of Mormon with him to read over the weekend. He loves to read and has always wondered why his mom didn't have more "Mormon Books." He and his five siblings had been raised baptist. It was such a wonderful opportunity to speak with him and feel of the Saviors love for this man. We have a lesson with him TONIGHT!! :-)

THEN....we had an interesting lesson with this part member family. Kathy, the non member wife had read through the beginning of the Book of Mormon and read through all of the Joseph Smith History, this brought about a lot of questions. I learned from that lesson that we DONT have to answer all objections...I kind of had forgotten about this in my zeal to answer her questions because we could...and because I love this woman and want her to have the answers. This thought was confirmed to me the next day in my studies as I was reading from Preach My Gospel in Chapter 5, Use the Book of Mormon to Respond to Objections, it talked about how "All objections, whether they be on abortion, plural marriage, seventh day worship, etc., basically hinge on whether Joseph Smith and his successors were and are prophets of God receiving divine revelation. The only problem the objector has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of Mormon is true. For, if the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, and it is being led today by  a prophet receiving revelation. Our main task is to declare the gospel and do it effectively. WE ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO ANSWER EVERY OBJECTION. Every man eventually is backed up to the wall of faith, and there he must take his stand. (pg. 108-109)"

That was exactly how we ended the lessons, which was good, but the lesson could have been a lot shorter and more spirit driven even though it was something we emphasized throughout the entire lesson. By the end of the lesson though, by letting her know that she needed to read and pray to know for herself, she had basically resolved to do it herself before we recommitted her to it.  We definitely could have left some of the questions to be answered once she has come to understand the truth. It was definitely amazing though to see that a question that I had searched out and got an answer for in my studies that morning I was able to use and answer for her through the scriptures. I believe that question was definitely something that needed to be answered because of that. The spirit was definitely there and by the end of the Lesson Kathy knew that she needed to fully read from the Book of Mormon, set Joseph Smith aside for a just a minute and find out for herself if the Book of Mormon is true first! I love the Lord and am grateful  that I was able to share those things and that my companion and I are learning so much from these experiences.  :-)

GUESS WHAT?? Kathy came to the last session of General Conference on Sunday! It was wonderful! She wasn't going to be in town and also told us she wasn't quite ready to come to church yet. BUT SHE DID!! She came with her husband James....it was perfect and she liked it! We are having a lesson with them tomorrow night and are excited to commit her to be baptized :-)

My last Zone Meeting was this past Tuesday, it was PERFECT for me! Watching Meet the Mormons was great, but the answers that i received during the training's were amazing! I have been struggling a bit lately with knowing if I have done everything I could do during my mission. I
felt an undeniable feeling of peace and off comfort, knowing that i have. I felt like the Lord was answering my prayers letting me know that my mission has been acceptable to him. One of the training's was on 1 Nephi 17, talking about Nephi preparing the tools to build the ship that would take them across the waters. We, as missionaries, out here in the field are learning how to make and use the tools that we need, all throughout our missions, to then help us build our  ship, OURSELVES, all throughout our lives. That is what my mission has been for me. The Lord has shown me the way and then I have had to work to put these tools to good use in my life, and now i feel like I can go home with the tools necessary to build my ship that I might be able to
make it to the "promised land" and take others with me. With this knowledge I can go forward with confidence that all things will work out, I have the tools necessary to build my ship. Not that more tools wont be made available as time goes along, but the tools that are necessary for moving forward in my life at this time have been given to me and I just need to remember them and to use them. The  second training given about Obedience solidified this idea of consistently using the tools that the Lord has given us. Showing our love to the Lord by using those tools to not only bless our lives, but to bless the lives of others.....to build your ship to help others to cross the waters as well. Because building your ship and then getting on and going to the promised land by yourself would be lonely and have no joy. We must build our ship so that others, especially those that we love, can come with us and want to come with us....if your ship has holes in it or made too small, no one will want to come with you and follow you. We must build our ships with the proper tools, the proper materials, and following the plan that God has established or it will never get you or those you love with you to the promised land :-)

On Wednesday of this week we had a lesson with Mrs. Alisa. She has now been to church twice and to the General Womens Meeting and has loved it. We FINALLY had the first lesson with her and she accepted the invitation to be baptized on October 25th! It was one the greatest and most spirit filled lessons i have had since coming to this area. We were out on her porch, but it was so peaceful, it was like the spirit just brought down a little bubble around us that blocked out bugs, noise, and anything else distracting as we shared that first vision! WOW!! We were so excited and she was so excited! Then the hard part of the week happened the next day, when out of the blue Mrs. Alisa text-ed us the simple sentence "No more visits..." My heart sank, the car went silent, and then my companion burst into tears. We were just in shock. She wouldn't answer our text messages really, but we were able to get a facebook message from her that said that She "was just raised differently," that she had already been baptized and that she had the faith in God that he would never leave her. --It still didn't answer our question as to what brought all this on after a very powerful lesson and her even bearing her testimony of the Spirit the night before. We have yet to be able to fully contact her since Wednesday, but Sister Boucher and I have been praying and have felt a very sweet spirit of peace come over both of us as we have prayed for her. Something has happened....whether she is just overwhelmed by all that she has felt or heard, or if she is being influenced by someone else....we KNOW that things will all come around. I just have so much love for this woman. She is one of those people that I just have a "connection" with, like a connection that started before we ever met! My heart broke on Wednesday, but through the Savior and his sweet loving and confirming spirit has put it back together :-) I am grateful for this! 

We had a miracle happen, one of the great things about following promptings. We were in this store called Piggley Wiggleys (I know funny name for a store...but apparently it was the FIRST grocery store chain in the US or something like that) in Blackshear on Monday, doing our Shopping for P-Day. I have been striving to follow my first impressions. While walking down one isle, I saw one of the workers, he was busy putting things on the shelves and I was just going about trying to find something. As my companion and I were leaving the isle, something told me to go back and give him a card. For a second I resisted, but then in the spirit of talking with everyone no matter what the situation and doing what first comes to my mind....i think I confused my companion as I said we needed to go back....I gave him that card. He didn't say anything and we went on. That evening he texted us, "What is your church all about?" WOW!! He actually contacted us! We were able to have a lesson with him in between sessions of conference this weekend and he committed to be baptized on November 8th! We are so excited for Jacob and I am so grateful that I followed that prompting! :-) 

Conference was incredible! There are so many things that I learned, questions that were answered, and beautiful light and truth shared! Its all so fresh in my mind that it is hard to pick a "favorite"  from all who spoke. I  

I had another "awakening" moment this week as Sister Boucher and I had a discussion during one our companion studies, working through a challenge that presented itself for us as a companionship. Because of this discussion D&C 88:119 and Mosiah 4:27 has a whole new meaning for me.

D&C 88:119
"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of ORDER, a house of God;"


Mosiah 4:27
"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in ORDER."

So let me tell you what i have learned and why this is important. So thinking first about how we are temples of the Lord, Houses of the Lord (1 Cor 3:16-17). With this understanding we take D&C 88 and see that God wants us to not only prepare our homes, but to prepare ourselves as we are "his house." We must establish our minds and hearts as a mind and heart of prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, order, and mind and heart of GOD!

Throughout my life, my mind and my heart has often been place of fasting, prayer, and faith, and even learning, but not always a place of Glory and order....which would keep it from being a place for God. I have a mind that has often run at a million miles a minute and have always thought that was a "talent" or skill to be able to multitask and do a bunch of different things all at the same time. Come to find out, after some prayer, study, and lots of help from the Holy Spirit working through my companion during our companion studies, I have found that this is not the best!  Indirectly, to me, but I am sure was very directly to the Lord.....He has been teaching me the power of a sound and ORDERLY mind. Taking things one step at a time. I have control over my mind. I am the one who decides what is on the stage of my mind and what is not. I must keep it filled, because there is no such thing as a blank mind. But no one can watch a show that is
playing both the first and second act at the same time and really understand what is going on. Right? You would have characters running into each others and part of the story just getting lost all together within the craziness of it all (this mental image is just hilarious to me having been in many plays and theatrical productions)....I can only imagine! With this understanding II have been focusing more on my thoughts and taking things one at a time. I have been learning to "compartmentalize." So if something is not quite as important as another thing, I put that idea or thought in a box and set it on the shelf to be taken care of later. Its been amazing to not only see, but to feel the difference in my life. I am so much calmer. I really enjoy life a little bit more from moment to moment, because I am focusing on the hear and now and not what needs to happen in 20 minutes from now....unless it is absolutely important to be thinking of that, of course.  As I have created this place of order within my own mind, I have noticed that my whole world is becoming, naturally, a place of order. It is much easier to keep my closet and desk clean. I am much less stressed getting out of the apartment in the morning because everything just comes together like it should (mostly...lol). The day runs a bit smoother and my companion seems a lot more at ease  because I am not talking really fast and spouting out a bunch of different thoughts all at the same time to her. :-) LOL


It is just so great to be a missionary. The Lord is constantly teaching and lifting and I LOVE IT!!


I wanted to share this last little personal thing with you about an even better understanding I came to and the peace that the Lord placed in my heart concerning my mission. I don't know why I have been questioning my mission experience and if I made a difference, or if I did everything that the Lord wanted me to, but i have.....but I question NO MORE!!!

Here is an excerpt from my journal from just a few days ago, its not much, but it was a lot to me....and I feel impressed to share it....:

(October 4)

As I was sharing my studies with Sister Boucher today the words and feelings that came to me were overwhelming as all my thoughts, written and not written, all came together. It was quite the spiritual and emotional experience. :)

First off, Faith is everything and I can now see how my faith has grown, even though it still has a ways to grow. I have grown so much closer to my savior in the process! My heart was a little heavy this morning thinking about Alisa (our investigator) and wondering when she will come around. My heart has been breaking and it has had Heartbreaks throughout my mission that I don't think I ever fully acknowledged-- with various investigators not fully accepting, especially after you know they have received a witness and are denying it-- it has brokens my hear. My "anxiety over the welfare of their souls" and the souls of others is great this day....which is something I have been praying for, but am not quite so sure about it now that I have it. Throughout my mission I have wanted to feel, as many prophets have felt before the "anxiety for the welfare of the souls who know or God"-- with that being the only thing that causes me sorrow and grief. I think now that I have moved beyond myself this has become possible. The lord confirmed to me that is exactly what I am feeling. I am finally really feeling! I am not only feeling this on a daily basis for those that I see (not even necessarily for only those Iam able to talk to)-- and I have been feeling for those who have "already passed through"my life that I never really felt for before.

As I was pondering on this and the feelings of my heart, I began to hear music and words in my head, at first I didn't recognize the woods- but as I began to write I did. It was from the song Beautiful Heartbreak" by Hilary Weeks.

Here is what came to my mind: .

I never dreamed my heart would make it, I thought about turning around

BUT Heaven has shown me miracles I never would have seen from the ground. 

Now I take the rain or the sunshine 

Cause there is one thing that I know...

He picks up the pieces along each broken road.

Every fear

Every doubt

All the pain I went through..

Was the price that I paid to see this view

But now that I'm here, I would never trade...

The grace that I feel and the faith that I find

Through the bittersweet tears and the sleepless nights

I used to pray He'd take it all away.

But instead it became 

A BEAUTIFUL HEARTBREAK! 

God has truly lead me to this place that I am at and picked up the pieces along the way. He has picked up the pieces I have missed with these people, and myself. THEN....after pondering on this song more a minute I opened up the scriptures to Mosiah 5 and my whole heart began to swell with gratitude and I began to cry as I shared vs 2-3 and how it was a beautiful spiritual confirmation from the Lord--the MOST powerful I have had so far about this-- saying that my mission was of worth. It was at this point that I really truly realized that although there has been good that i have done on my misison, this experience was for me to help me become a disciple of Jesus Christ and to help others become that throughout the rest of my life.....For I have come to know for a surety of the reality of my Savior and His love "which has wrought a mighty change in [ME], or in [MY] heart, that [I] have no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually. And [I, MYSELF], also, through the infinite goodness of God, and manifestations of his PSirit, have great views of that which is to come." 

My thoughts that followed these versus is that my mission has changed me. My heart truly has been changed--I can stand and say with the utmost confidence that my very disposition has changed. Then as I was thinking about vs 3 my thoughts went back to the song... "every fear, every doubt, all the pain I went through, was the price that i paid to see this view." I have GREAT views of that which is to come! 

Continuing with the Lyrics...."And now that I am here, I would never trade the grace that I feel and the faith that I find through the bittersweet tears and the sleepless nights. I used to pray He'd take it all away. But instead it became a beautiful Heartbreak!" 

I indeed used to pray He would take it all away, but I am so glad he didn't. Because of all I went through (and mind you....it hasn't been all that much), I can feel within my heart that through the covenants i made and am striving to keep all through these hard things I have been spiritually born of Christ, being His Daughter! (vs 7) Because I have been changed my "heart has been changed through faith on his name, therefore [I] am born of Him and have become HIS." 

And because of this I AM MADE FREE! Knowing the name by which I am called! 

I continued to share this all with Sister Boucher and the tears just flowed...and didn't stop there. 

In verse 12...I used to wonder if I would KNOW His voice. Really know it! But I can now say that my mission has helped me to see that i have as I  have remembered him and written his name on my heart and have HEARD his voice. I can now confidently say that YES! I know His voice! 

I then expressed my love for 13 and how this is truly how I came to KNOW HIS VOICE....

"For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger to him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" I didn't really know the master before, because I never fully served him....putting the THOUGHTS and INTENTS of my heart on myself and other trivial matters. I see now that my mission has helped me to point my thoughts and intents of my heart towards Him. Service goes far beyond the act, but penetrates the deepest when it is done with the heart! This is how you come to know Christ! There is still so much that i have to learn about him and I will forever be strengthening my relationship with him, but I do KNOW them!! 

And FINALLY....the last verse of Mosiah 5, left me with the encouraging words to continue forward and be STEADFAST AND IMMOVABLE with this knowledge that I have obtained! :-) 

I know that my Savior lives and He loves me. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that is how He speaks to us, if we will just open our spiritual eyes and see! I know that missioanry work is the lifeblood of the church. I know that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration of the fullness of the Gospel here on the earth today. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is the current Prophet of the church today. I know that prayers are answered everyday! And all these things I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, Amen! 

Love

Sister Heckel