Travis - Training!

Oh hey everyone!

This week was a radical week. It was full of a lot of important
training. Not just for the new missionaries, but for us! Several
meetings were held this week including Zone conference in which the
mission president and the stake waders talked more about the change
that comes in the work. Now more than ever is the time the members
must work together with missionaries for the work to progress. We meet
really find new ways to show our care for the community and different
views to our religion. It was very fun as we not only listened to
talks but had a bunch of times to practice teach either for examples
or simply to learn. I can't believe I would ever say that but yes it
is a blast! This week also filled with tons of service, we cleaned out
a garage, helped a family move, did landscaping, cleaning a school,
preparing and passing food to elderly. Gosh it is such a blast and
provided us so many opportunities to meet new people. Including a
miracle in which we met a lady named Rebekah and her son Patrick, she
is a very educated women who retired early to spend time with her son
who is a GENIUS high functioning autistic boy. He's 16 and already
knows a few languages of coding! We had a splendid time talking with
them about the love and support communities provide and also of our
lord, she isn't a big believer but is curious as to what makes
missionaries come out and serve. :)
   Another miracle this week was we went to go teach a less active
women the lessons, normally she wouldn't let us in till her husband
was gone. But today the husband answered, so we started talking and
found he was an atheist after serving in Vietnam. We got into a big
talk about history and all the changes that came and we showed him a
video of family history. This lead him to ask questions of why we
would care for dead people? We told him a brief summary as we wanted
to go teach his wife. So right then and there he told us we would come
back and tell him more!! His wife, who noticed he had answered was
worried but was now in shock! We love the miracles we see everyday in
our lives. And the work is still progressing, everyone is enjoying the
time they have here and really is coming together I think now more
than ever as a family. I'm so thankful to be here in California, I've
met many wonderful people already and hope to meet more. Well we are
off to go play some basketball, hope all is well for y'all

elder Heckel