Jenessa Week 3 - NOW IS THE TIME!!

Hello Everybody-

Had a wonderful week. My companion and I are working hard in our area and seeing many fruits come from our Labors. Anthony, is still progressing towards baptism in a few weeks. We are so excited for him. The other set of Sister missionaries in our ward have a baptism going on next week and we have set a baptismal date with this 18 year old girl named Tatiyana, who is loving the Gospel. We are also teaching a family that we are hoping to commit to a baptismal date this week. God is so good and his hand is in this work. He is truly hastening the work and you can feel it! 

This week Elder Zwick, of the quorum of the Seventy, came and did a devotional for all the leaders in the stakes here in the Northern Florida region, then we had a day of training for the missionaries. It was incredible!!! 

I would like to share with you some of my notes from this past weeks meetings. 

At the devotional Elder Zwick talked a lot about the hastening of the work and what that means for members. First off, he talked about Preach My Gospel and its significance, not only in the lives of missionaries, but in the lives of members to move this missionary effort forward. 

Preach My Gospel (PMG) Origins: 

When you think of President Hinckley, what do you think of? 

For me (Sister Heckel), I used to think of TEMPLES. During his time as prophet many many temples were built and it was an incredible work. 

Now...I think of PREACH MY GOSPEL when I think of President Gordon B. Hinckley. He not only built so many temples to hasten the work of Salvation on the other side, but to add to that he (along with his counselors and the Quorum of the twelve) produced Preach My Gospel to hasten the work here on the earth!!! 

PMG started in 1995 at an assembly of the Quorum of the 12 and the First Presidency and a couple hundred or so other general authorities. They were all dressed in white on an upper floor in the Salt Lake Temple. [This was the first meeting the Elder Zwick had gone to as a member of the 70] President Hinckley stood to speak and he read from Mormon 6:17-19. "O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you! Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss. O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen!" As he shared this with those present, he wept openly and after 15 or so seconds of silence (Elder Zwick said it lasted an eternity), the next words that were spoken by the Prophet were "I LOVE THE MISSIONARIES. We MUST DO MORE FOR THE MISSIONARIES." That is when Preach My Gospel got started. 

This next part not seem very remarkable for some, but for me it is incredibly significant. During the 9 years that it took for PMG to be created, there was not a single change in the Quorum of the 12 or the first presidency. ALL of them lived to see its completion. ALL of them had their hand in its work from the beginning to the end. This is the longest period of time in the history of the church that the brethren went without someone passing and another of the quorum of the twelve being called. Even more remarkable was that in 1996 Elder Maxwell (i believe) was diagnosed with a very serious form of cancer and given only months to live and he survived for the next 8 years!! Elder Hate had 3 heart attacks and was even pronounced dead at one point, but he survived those 9 years. There were 7 of those bretheren who had significant health issues and they all lived to see the beginning and the completion of preach my gospel! 

Within a week of the completion of PMG Elder Maxwell passed away and in a few more weeks after that Elder Hate left us, and then within a few short weeks and months thereafter we also lost Elder Wirthlin, Elder faust, and another. REMARKABLE....at least to me!

Preach My Gospel is so inspired and prayed over.....it is the Lords work!!! It was prepared to hasten the work! 

EVERY MEMBER OF THE CHURCH SHOULD HAVE A COPY (or two) IN THERE HOME AND SHOULD BE STUDYING FROM IT REGULARLY!! 

At the seminar for new mission presidents held in June, a record 173 new presidents and their wives received final instructions before beginning their service. All 15 members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles addressed this special group. 

Elder L. Tom Perry added the concluding comments: "This is the most remarkable era in the history of the Church. this is something that ranks with the great events that have happened in past history, like the First Vision, like the gift of the Book of Mormon, like the Restoration of the gospel, like all of the things that build the foundation for us to go forward and teach in our Father in Heaven's kingdom."

How amazing is that. This "hastening of the work" that was prophesied about in D&C, is coming to pass and it ranks with the FIRST VISION! Do you grasp the significance of that?? 

We need to be actively engaged in this work.....President Monson, this past general conference, asked us to do one thing.....and he asked us to do it NOW! Did you catch it?? Are you following the prophet and doing it?? 

This is what he said.....

"Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together to labor in the Lords vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill HIS work." - Pres. Monson

Are you heeding the call of the prophet?? To rise up and come together with the missionaries and "labor in the Lords vineyard? If not, what do you need to do to heed that call in your own life. No one is an exempt from this calling. We are all called to this work! 

There are numerous ways to do the work, there is no one specific way. Like I mention in my previous emails....READ....."The Power of Everyday Missionaries." It will help you. 

TEACH TRUE PRINCIPLES THE SAME WAY YOU LEARN THEM!!! It doesn't have to be anything fancy. If you dont know what to share....share the first article of faith and go from there. "We believe in God the Eternal Father and in His son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." Also....the missionaries in your area are just itching to teach....TRUST them....they have been prepared well. Let them teach those that you contact! :-) 

STUDY.... Preach My Gospel & the scriptures daily....and understand the basic principles of the Gospel. PRAY....for missionary opportunities. TRUST....the spirit to put in your heart and mind what to share and what to teach when the time is right. INVITE.....we are successful when we invite. You don't have to get a YES every time to be successful.....but inviting shows the Lord that you have faith and trust in him and that if the timing is right someone at some point will accept. 

YOU have a TREASURE (the gospel).....a treasure that goes UP in value, not down, when we SHARE IT!! :-) 

I love you all! I have so much more that i would love to share, but my time is running out. I must go. :-) Have a wonderful week and I will share more next week. 

I want you to know how much I appreciate all of your prayers and all that you do to support me and my family! I am truly grateful! 

Love

-Sister Heckel 

P.S I would love letters and emails from anyone who receives my weekly emails. I would love to hear success stories in your own lives as you strive to follow the prophet :-) I would also just love to hear from you! 

Jenessa Week 2: GOLDEN!!

Hello Everyone-

I have only been out for 2 weeks now, but oh what a 2 weeks has been! LIFE CHANGING!!! I have enjoyed every minute of it. I do not have a lot of time to write today, but I wanted to share a few things that happened this week!  

We were coming home for lunch earlier this week and two maintenance men were out in the parking lot near where we parked. We started walking by and going into the apartment, then I had a feeling we should go over and talk to the guy rummaging through a garbage can  (who know why??..haha). We started talking to him and shared the message about the Restoration with him. His name is Anthony and he is GOLDEN! We gave him a Book of Mormon, set up a return appointment and committed him to be baptized on November 24th! He was so enthusiastic about it. He had a friend during his 21 years in the military who used to share bits and pieces of the Gospel with him while they were being bombed. He said that it was a "little hard to concentrate and remember all that he was saying because of all the noise." HAHA! He is such a great guy. We went in to look up his address after talking with him and found out that he didn't actually live in our area. We referred him to the Elders in the area he is in and they kept the appointment we set with him. They called us back on Sunday to tell us that he was there for their lesson and he is still working towards his baptismal date, he even came to church on Sunday!! 

Sister Orton and I were out looking for a former investigator and saw this lady in this bright colorful shirt out on her porch as we pulled into this trailer park. We both had the impression that we needed to go and speak with her! We kept moving on past to go look for our former though. We got to the house and found that she no longer lived at the address we had on file. We then drove back around the block and up the street past this ladies house to leave. We started driving out and we both looked at each other and we both said we felt like we needed to go talk to her. So we parked out car as soon as we could and walked back. We shared the message of the Restoration with Irene and she is reading the Book of Mormon and would like to come to church this next Sunday! We are so excited for her to progress towards baptism. She is such a sweet lady and wants to follow God! 

We also had the experience with a inactive sister, who was actually put on the Do Not Contact list. Apparently she wanted her records removed. We didn't let that information stop us. We went and saw her and miraculously she let us in the door. She had a lot of questions that had never fully been answered when she was baptized in 1996. We were able to clarify and share a very simple and spirit filled lesson as we answered her questions. She now wants to come back to church, after being inactive for many years!! We are so excited for Viriginia and her desire to follow the Lord!! :-) 

It has been a Golden Week! Truly amazing! Not only has the Lord been preparing all these people for us, but Sister Orton and I are growing in ways we didn't even know we needed to grow in. It has been incredible. We are opening our mouths and the Lord is truly giving us EXACTLY what we need to say when we need to say it! I can feel the Spirit of the Lord so abundantly in my life. I cant even imagine my life without this gospel and this great work. 

JOY truly comes when we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are struggling in your life in any way and cant seem to find that peace and joy that you desire, SHARE THE GOSPEL! Sharing the gospel is such a powerful way to invite the spirit of the Lord directly into your life. We must invite people to hear this message without fear. FEAR and FAITH cannot dwell in the same being at the same time! We must have faith!!! We must move forward with a faith in God that everything will work out like it is supposed to and better then we hoped. It doesn't mean things will work out like we WANT, they will work out like we NEED them too! 

I love this Gospel with all of my heart and I know that the Lord has his hand in everything that we are doing. We mus LET HIM IN! We must let him change us. He knows us better than we know ourselves....so why do we fight him when he is trying to teach us to be a better US!! :-) Let GO and LET GOD!! :-) 

I love you all and am so grateful for your support and prayers! 

Have a wonderful day!

Love-
Sister Heckel :-) 

Jenessa Week 1 Again!!!!

Hello - 

This week has been crazy. I found out that I was officially coming back out the the Florida Jacksonville Mission around 6:30 to 7:00 Monday night!  I was to be on a plane on Tuesday at 7:10A. Which means that I would have to leave my house by 4:30A to catch the plane in SLC. What?? HAHA!  It all has just been crazy since then. I didn't sleep all night Monday as I packed to head out, and I am still convinced I forgot some things, but so far so good. 

You will not believe it, but I guess it was the last open seat on the plane with all the other missionaries heading to Jacksonville, but I rode FIRST CLASS! What missionary gets to ride first class??? Seriously. It was incredible. I never want to fly coach again. HAHA! I sat next to a man from Highland, UT and we talked all about his sons serving mission and how his one son had to come home from his mission because of a brain tumor. Luckily it was malignant, so chemo was not necessary, but his son lost his motor skills when they removed the tumor and so he is currently learning how to hold a glass of water. He is 21 and having to learn all those things over again. He still has full function of the rest of his brain though. He didn't lose any memories and his personality is the same, which they consider a huge blessing. He is expected to get back to "normal" within the next 2 years. It was an incredible story. I felt so blessed to be sitting next to him and have him share these things with me. I was humbled by the fact that my situation could have been a lot worse! I came home for back issues that were quite quickly fixed and I get the opportunity to finish my mission and serve again as a full time missionary. 

My connecting flight put me back in coach, but still priority seating, which was sweet. I was blessed to sit next to this man named Scott who lives in Jacksonville and we talked all about Christ and religion and how he hopes that his girls could grow up to be like me. He has two girls that are 6 and 8. He is so worried about all the filth out there in the world and wants them to have a strong relationship with their Savior. We were able to discuss the Bible and a bit about the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, I didn't have a Book of Mormon to give him, but I did give him a mormon.org card that I had purchased a few days ago, just for this occasion. We talked nearly the whole 45 minute flight. It was wonderful. :-) 

Being back out here in the mission field as a full time missionary is incredible!! BEST DECISION EVER! If anyone is contemplating going on a mission or going back tell them its a MUST!! 

The Florida Jacksonville Mission has changed sooooo much since I was out here nearly a year ago. Its amazing! Our new mission President and his wife are incredible. President Craig is such a people person and find so much joy and excitement in the work. 

The first night here was so great. There were 33.....yes that's right THIRTY THREE new missionaries coming in this last transfer and guess whats even better, only about 10 of them were Elders! The explosion of sisters in this mission is unreal. We went from 16 when I was out here November 2012 to  over 110!! We are expecting to reach about 120 something sisters by the beginning of next year! Isn't that crazy amazing!! :-) That, with a few more Elders coming into the mission, will put us at a total of over 250 missionaries, last year our total was 160ish. 

President Craig is definitely putting me to work. I have been called to white wash an area called Normandy with Sister Orton, who has been out for 7.5 months. Its been a whirlwind of a week figuring out our apartment and figuring out the area with the sisters and elders that are already here. Oh thats right, we already have 2 sets of missionaries in this ward, now we have 3. Isn't that crazy. EVERY ward here in the FJM has at least 2 sets of missionaries, a set of Sisters and a set of Elders!! We have 3, a set of Elders and 2 sets of Sisters. Well....technically we have 4 if you count the floating Spanish Missionaries that cover the 3 wards that are in our building. :-) Our district has 8 sets of missionaries, that is unreal. We maybe had 4 or 5 when I was here. Sisters almost feel like they are outnumbering the Elders, almost. Its so great! 

We had some really fun experiences this week as we have been knocking on doors getting to know the people in the area. This one BIG black man names Roy opened his door and he was on his cell phone. We totally thought he was going to turn us away instantly because he was on the phone. But once we told him that we were here with a message about Jesus Christ. He told the person on the phone, "Hey, Imma gonna have to call you back. Me got to speak with these people about my Jesus Christ!" We ended up having a wonderful conversation with him. Ultimately he turned us down, but we were able to share the whole first lesson with him and suprisingly, even as he turned us down saying that he was "old school and the Bible was good enough for him," he still took the Book of Mormon that we gave him. We are planting seeds wherever we go! :-) Who knows if one day he will pick up that Book of Mormon and read. :-) 

We are slowly moving away from tracting and we work A LOT with members and reactivation. We are told that we will be getting Ipads around the end of the year or sometime in January! We are excited for that. We are moving forward with the work, with an emphasis on Member Missionary Work and INVITING. You NEVER know who will accept your invitation to learn about the Gospel. We are encouraging all members, when we have lessons with them, to set a goal (that we follow up with) of how many people they are going to INVITE, whether it is to church, to a church function, to meet with the missionaries, etc..., it doesn't matter. They just have to invite. We are emphasizing the fact that you don't have to be friends with them, if you know them, invite them!!! We as missionaries dont necessarily become friends before we invite people to baptism, to read the book of mormon, to come to church, to pray, etc. We start up a conversation and once they are comfortable we INVITE! That is what the brethren is asking us all to do as members. We have been baptized and have covenanted with our Heavenly Father that we will be missionaries! Are you being a missionary?? Are you inviting people? 

Remember that as you are inviting people and setting these goals for yourself, which I recommend to ALL!! Old and young!! Remember that you are not setting a goal for how many people you can get to come to something, you are setting a goal for how many people you are going to INVITE! Only 20% of people will say YES to us missionaries. So if you ask 10 people, 2 of them are bound to come. We as a companionship have actually just set a goal to find 100 people per week that will say NO to us!! Because we know that within that 100, we will find about 20! That is an exciting prospect. We just have learned to talk with EVERYONE and invite them to something or to do something very quickly! Its so exciting! 

There is a book that I feel should be in EVERY MEMBERS HOME....its called "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton M. Christensen. He has some amazing insights on how we can be missionaries everyday! How we can not be so intimidated by missionary work and find it fun and engaging. I promise you that you will find more joy than you have ever felt in your life as you follow the things that he has outlined in this book. Its a short read, only 150 pages, but the BEST 150 pages that you could read this year!!! I'm sure of it! It WILL change your life, if you let it! Member missionary work is so incredibly important! We, as missionaries, cant do anything unless we find someone to teach and that responsibility to FIND is not ours, although we do it a lot, it is NOT ours! It is every members responsibility to go out and find the "lost sheep" and lead them back into the fold! 

I love this work and I know that this Gospel is true! I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity to be serving as a full time missionary of the Lord! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that through it we can know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that he restored the Lords kingdom once again on the earth, and that kingdom can be found among the saints in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! There isn't a greater calling that you can have or "give yourself" then to be a missionary, ALWAYS! I know that our Savior lives and He loves us so very much! I am so grateful for the the infinite power of His LOVING Atonement. I know that it is through faith, mighty miracles can be brought to pass! I know that we are living in the last days and that we must fight Satan with all our might, for we know the outcome of the war, we just have to decide which side we will be on. I know that there is so much joy that can be found in this world, even among the pain. We must have faith, continually look to God, and count our blessings. I know that my  Heavenly Father loves me and He loves you too! I know that as we follow Him we will be blessed, he will "open up the windows of heaven and pour out [blessing] that there will not be room enough to receive them." I know all these things to be true and i will testify to these things all my days, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, AMEN! 

Have a Wonderful Day!

Love

Sister Heckel

I AM ME
In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me Everything that comes out of me is authentically me Because I alone chose it - I own everything about me My body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, Whether they be to others or to myself - I own my fantasies, My dreams, my hopes, my fears - I own all my triumphs and Successes, all my failures and mistakes Because I own all of Me, I can become intimately acquainted with me - by so doing I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts - I know There are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other Aspects that I do not know - but as long as I am Friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously And hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles And for ways to find out more about me - However I Look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically Me - If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought And felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is Unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that Which I discarded - I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be Productive to make sense and order out of the world of People and things outside of me - I own me, and therefore I can engineer me - I am me and 
I AM OKAY

Jenessa, Week 17: LOVE!

Hey Everyone-

Oh my goodness. This week has been full of discouragement in terms of
teaching and things, but it was definitely a week of learning.

Its been kind of a bumb week in terms of teaching with Sister Ortons
headaches and then being at Zone Conference, which was amazing, and
then some service opportunities that we had this week. Our teaching
pool has shrunk considerably, with many people dropping us or we
dropping them for lack of commitment to anything. It is really sad
when you have to do that, but we know that we are here to try and find
the "low hanging fruit" or those that are elect and ready to hear the
Gospel at this time. It just isn't their time right now.

Our focus here in the Normandy area right now is to fulfill our
Bishops challenge and see less actives through Visiting teaching
opportunities with the Sisters. He has challenged all of us
missionaries to go out with at least 2 sister (or brothers for the
elders) a week to help them with their LONG visiting/hometeaching
lists. Our ward is huge, ON PAPER, we have over 400 families and only
50 or less come to church activily. There is so much work that could
be done with less active and part member families to bring them back
into the fold and bring their family and friends into the waters of
baptism and feel the joy of the Gospel! I am excited for this new
focus that our Bishop has. Its really great! :-) We hope to raise that
number for hometeaching of 11% and the visiting teaching of 23% way
up, and by so doing bring many more wonderful elect people into the
waters of baptism here in the Normandy ward, as well as reactivate
many to have the Joy of the Gospel back in their lives.

I have actually had an emotionally rough week with discouragement
taking over. I was so frustrated and realized this morning that it is
because I was lacking in love. It was amzing to me this morning as I
was reading out of Power of Everday missionary about how "Every time
we take someone figuratively by the hand and introduce him or her to
Jesus Christ, you will feel how deeply our Savior loves you and loves
the person whose hand is in yours." That its all about LOVE! When we
bring others to Christ we feel of his love and this is how/why we find
such JOY in it, because LOVE BRINGS JOY! I realized that i wasn't as
joyful this week, because i wasn't able to do those things that brings
the Love of our Savior into my life. As I then found myself in the
topical guide under love and looking up all these scriptures, I was
overwhelmed by the Spirit and filled with love that I was almost to
tears. I know that my Savior lives and he loves us so very much. He
knows our trials and struggles and he is their to help us, as we turn
to Him. I am so grateful for his mercy and our ability to repent and
come unto him! I love The Lord with all of my heart and all my soul! I
am so grateful for his love!! It is this Love the brings the greatest
joy!! Think about the scripture 1 John 4:16 "God is love; and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." As we dwell on
love, we will have God with us. Then as we think of John 15:10-11 "If
ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as i have
kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things
have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your
oy might be full." This was so enlightening. As we keep the
commandments and abide in the Love of The Lord we will find a fullness
of JOY!!! :-) This is how true joy comes as we learn to LOVE and be
LOVED!! :-) (How fitting with it being Valentines day this week hu? It
just happened like that)

I dont have much more time to type today, but I did have a lot of fun
at the Zoo, as you will see by all the wonderful pictures that we
took. We got our Ipads....which are awesome and I will write more
about how they are working next week and last but not least....I got a
call from President Craig today and I have been called as a Sister
Training Leader and will be transferred next week on Feb 19th. Sister
Training leaders are like Zone Leaders for the Sisters. I feel
incredibly humbled by this call and hope that I can follow the Spirit
and magnify my calling The Lord has extended! I am so grateful to be
serving a mission. :-)

Talk to ya'll next week

Love ya
Sister Heckel


P.S I will let you know where I am going next week, so if you are
planning on sending something to me....you will have to send it by
wednesday (no later than thursday) in order for me to get it safely
before I leave.

Happy 65 years DAD!!!

Hope that you had a great day!!! We love you and look forward to your visit this summer!!

Carmen and Kids

Carmen, Sammy, Jana and Everett

Carmen and the kids are doing well. She is living in Heber.
She is cleaning homes and works at Wendy's. She loves her kids and they are so good. She recently moved and is happy now that she is getting settled into her new place. She lives near her brother and sister.