Travis - Best Companion Ever

Hello EVERyONE!

Well everyone, this week was a spectacular week! This week was very
fun and spiritually growing. We had a lot of changing and improvement
in our zone. This week we took time to gather with companion ships
throughout the zone and discuss a little on how we can improve. we hit
a bit of a stagnant point in the mission, so a few of us missionaries
knelt down and prayed about it and decided the best course of action
was to add more accountability to the missionaries themselves. So it
was asked that missionaries text in the amount of new investigators
they found that day. Well our average for the zone was about 5 new
investigators per week with 7 companionships. And this week we ended
off with 22 ( we have a guarantee 2 more tomorrow too) it truly was a
miracle and really got everyone excited in this small zone. This area
of the city has been worked really hard in the past by missionaries
and most call it a "dead zone" But i truly don't believe any area is a
dead zone because there is always those the lord has prepared to hear
us. As a companionship Me and Elder Poulter found 5 of those 22
investigators. And all those findings where absolute miracles. One of
them was a really big testimony builder for me because we where
walking Saturday night, It had been a very hard day and A lot of
people (most) had canceled their lessons. It was around 8:00 at night
and we still had one more hour to go, I honestly felt like just
calling it a night and heading back. But for some reason we just
decided to walk through this last apartment street before going back.
As we walked along I heard some people moving around and talking out
of our view(the street curved) And joking I told my companion if they
where outside I would straight out go talk to them. And sure enough we
rounded the corner and found a couple digging through a bush with
there flash lights. My companion smiling said "go ahead" as we walked
towards them. As we got closer I asked what they were doing and if we
could help them. They answered that the husbands wedding ring had just
fallen off into the bush and they where searching for it for like 30
minutes now.  So immediately I grabbed the flashlight and hopped in
searching for the ring (this was a very dense and thick bush) As we
searched I asked questions as to where they are from and how long they
have been married (funny reply from the sarcastic wife 'not long
enough for this to happen') but they had been married for about  3
months now and had moved from north Carolina  to got school here. and
then after about 10 more minutes of search I found the ring buried in
dead leaves and dirt. They where very grateful that we found it and we
kept talking to them for about 10 minutes before they asked what
church we where from. We told them the LDS church and explained a
little about it. they then commented that they went to church a lot in
North Carolina and had not found a church out here since they moved.
my voice got a little excited to there surprise as we invited them to
learn about ours, They gladly accepted and they even took a Book of
Mormon!!! we scheduled a quick return, but what where the chances that
all the appointments would fall through and all this would add up to
helping them. Im so thankful for that chance and that we kept going.
we also saw many other mini miracles, one is we had one of our
investigators go to church without us knowing, he enjoyed it so much
and was really touched by the talk about "what truth is". It really is
crazy the challenges the lord gives us, this whole life is a time to
grow, learn, and stretch. And one of the speakers shared(we heard the
same talk at both wards) that truth is something unchanging, it is set
in stone by the lord. And that we each have the opportunity to find
and learn truths for ourselves, But in order to truly develop and
learn those truths we must exercise a particle of faith and search for
ourselves. and the lord promises answers, and we can know they are
true, the same as we know that gravity is here upon the earth or that
the sun rises. I know each one of us has received those moments in our
lives. Yet there are times that we become discouraged because we don't
see an immediate answer, or we do not get the one we feel is just and
right. But this should never shake your faith, for even the lord said
when in doubt to look back (DC 6:22-23) you know he has told you, you
may not have those same feelings immediately but you know it is true.
That is what this mans testimony especially ended on was the fact that
he had a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. That didn't
mean he had a testimony and instantaneously  believed eerything the
church had, but he knew he could gain a knowledge as sure as he had
gained one of the book of mormon. sorry for such a long letter. but I
am loving this zone and I am going to include many pictures with this
letter too. I love you all so very very much! keep cool and love what
you do.

-Elder Heckel

Travis - New Beginnings!

Hello everyone!!! so this week has been a very interesting week. we have had a lot going on with Transfers! Im now in Roseville in a tiny apartment that missionaries haven't cared for in a big aparment complex! we do have a car since we are covering two wards which is good and bad. we still are taking a few days a week to randomly bike and talk with people. Im now going to get fat, right as I promise to lay of sweets I get into a car area in the holidays.......im good at timing! haaha a Lady in this ward made a funny mistake she thought gluten free meant white flour not wheat flour....so dinner was delicious burritos luckily so I just removed the tortilla. But rather than that I'm loving it! Elder Poulter is my new companion and he's awesome! He's a hard worker and very bold, it's helping me get outta my shell more as we tract a ton since there are apartments everywhere.  And the two different wards are exciting. Ones the Roseville YSA and the 4th ward a small family ward. The work here will be interesting since people are constantly moving in and out. But I'm excited and loving it, we even made it a game to see who can get the most creative in finding new investigators. And so we tried our first day and found 3 new people to teach!!! A big miracle in this area. I feel so blessed to be here and so sad to leave my old area after 7 1/2 months. But this mission is incredible...probably one of the best on earth ;) just kidding. But California is certainly its own kinda world. So our first new investigator was a man we met who probably knew more about what's going on in the world than the news casters on T.v. It was crazy all the things going on that he shared with us. And she talked a lot, but he said a key thing that got us excited, he told us he feels that their is something much bigger about to occur and that's the reason the world is getting worse. It blew his mind that we could help answer his own question, he is a wealthy man who had been just been kinda living out life, but we helped him to find a purpose. He loves what we shared and promise to go to church with us this next Sunday. I know this is a place has great potential and I can wait to find those who are ready for the gospel. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you, the work we do as missionaries are more important that's ever before. Heading out to play basketball see y'all later. 

Travis - Going, Going, Gone!

Hey Everybody-

I hope all of you are doing great, This week has been a fantastic week! We have been working hard for the last week of this transfer to do as much as we can to help people in the work. We have biked many miles talking to a lot of people, the cool weather has brought everyone out of hiding. It is so funny though, because during district meeting we practice different ways to start a gospel conversation on the street(OYM) and I actually tried one of the different methods shared, so the situation went like this. We approached a man, who already gave the first signs of wanting us to go away, non the less we talked with him and introduced ourselves. After that he let us know he already had a religion and that he was Catholic, and to his surprise I quickly said with excitement in my voice, awesome we are looking for people who believe in Jesus Christ. We explained how he would appreciate our message from the Bible and we where not looking to convert him(yet) haha, he was baffled and finally agreed. After we shared a message about feeling the Holy Spirit in our lives we got his number and scheduled to come back and do service. It was very cool because we didn't corner him as much as we sparked his interested differently. I'm excited for the mission rise who will return and meet the man (Rob). Unfortunately I will not be able to meet him again, because transfer calls just came in and I am leaving Loomis! :( it's been a long and wonderful 7 1/2 months serving here. Here are many great and wonderful families and so much work to do there. But now I have been called to serve in Roseville City. I will be serving in the 4th and 8th Ward there. And I will leave tomorrow morning to it, I'm scared but so excited for the next part of the adventure. It's been a blast of fun, we met our goal of 20+ lessons 10/12 weeks I have been in this area. It's been very inspirational to this last month as we have had several guest speakers for zone meeting. Especially a man named Brother Stacy who is a sales man, he goes door to door and talks in conventions. He shared with us the Mandy's struggles everyone would face at the door, we had long discussions of how we can overcome objections and how we can be better missionaries and people, then we did 10 minute work shops in which we practiced a lot of what we taught. Talking to random people still scares the Bagebeerz  out of me, but it's getting to be more exciting, I'm gunna miss going out with elder Campbell, he is A man of many different talents and the way he speaks is bold and to the point which helps me greatly in working together. I love him he is an awesome missionary. Anyhow I hope you all are doing good and can't wait to hear from you all. Here is one of the crazy(awesome) lady's we taught! And her dog who hated me until the last day. 

Elder Heckel 

Scripture: Alma 26:12

Travis - General Conference

Just a picture today! Happy Conference weekend everyone!