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