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 2nd 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!!
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