Jenessa - Week 9 - Mighty Change of Heart!

Merry Christmas Everyone....its practically here!!! 

Most of you dont know that my companion and I have had some struggles and that is not what I am about to write to you about, but I wanted to share a portion of what I wrote to President Craig this week, because it truly has been a week of miracles for me and my companion and I have truly had a MIGHT CHANGE OF HEART!!! 

So here it goes.....(from Presidents letter)

OH MY GOODNESS!! I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW I CANT EVEN CONTAIN MYSELF!! 

Sister Orton and I have had many might miracles happening in our companionship and in our area. It has been an absolutely spectacular week!

In terms of me and Sister Orton, you dont have anything to worry about anymore. We are working on some things that are really promising! Let me back up a bit and tell you what has happened and why we (BOTH of us) are so happy!! Tension has been mounting in our apartment and as much as we try and brush it off, it has been difficult to ignore. We have had communication issues (probably our biggest issue) with Sister Orton hardly ever saying anything and me probably saying too much. Its always felt like a one way highway. Its been quite frustrating. After only getting through half of a very intense companionship inventory, Sister Orton and I had to split up to go on a trade off. I went with Sister Clayton up to Whitehouse and thats when it all began to change! The Lord is sooooo good and sends you people right when you need them. It truly is through other people that he answers our prayers and performs miracles in our lives! Sister Clayton and I had a nice chat while we were on our trade off. Well...It was a bit of a venting session, but it turned into something incredibly spiritual. And while on the trade off I got to experience, for the first time since i have been out, the way a missionary companion SHOULD teach 50/50! It was glorious. I came to some realizations while I discussed and cried a little to Sister Clayton. Here are my realizations:

1. I CANNOT do this work without the Spirit (this is what I cried about the most). When I first came out here on my mission back in May 2012, I could not talk to people hardly at all. It was so frustrating and never made any sense. I just would start talking and sentences and ideas would come out backwards. CRAZY! I was always searching for words and could never really find them. I was always so worried about what I was going to say versus letting the Spirit work through me. Now that i have come back out I realize that the ONLY way that i can speak the way that I do and not have my sentences coming out backwards like they would normally is because of the Spirit of the Lord. I know that the ONLY time I fear is when i dont have the Spirit of the Lord with me. I have realized that this is what I was trying to convey in my interview and didn't even know it. I dont EVER fear when the Lord is near, but with all the frustration and tension in our (Sister Orton and I's) relationship it has not always been easy to have the Spirit close to me and so then i start to fear to go up and talk to people because I KNOW that I am incapable of carrying on a conversation, especially about the Gospel (that would make sense) without the Spirit of the Lord with me. So then, precious sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father pass me by when I could have shared this light with them all because I FEAR because I have not allowed the Lord to be near! That has added to the stress of this whole situation because I have felt myself taking little steps away from the Spirit daily as I have struggled with this whole thing and that is not what the Lord would have us do. 

2. I have been praying all wrong!! I have been asking the Lord all along the way to help me implement the things that I think are a good idea with Sister Orton and how the best way to implement them would be. I dont think I ever, at least not until Friday, truly asked Him what His will for his precious daughter is. I was always thinking that i had a good solution and had this master plan to help her become this stellar spiritual giant of a missionary...when really...the Lord has had a different plan all along but I was never open to seeing it. This is His work, not mine! This is His daughter I am working with and He knows her so much better then she even knows herself. As I finally prayed on Friday, just completely spent and just wanting to give up with Sister Orton, I just pleaded that I would be led to know what I should do....I didn't care what it was....I just needed guidance...and the Lord brought it to me in the form of Sister Clayton and some personal revelation as we discussed. At one point, as I was babbling on to Sister Clayton, it was as though the Lord had opened up a Spiritual gateway and poured some spiritual enlightenment into my brain! Idea after idea started flooding my mind and I was completely overwhelmed and overjoyed!! 

3. We are all here for a reason, and those reasons are ALL DIFFERENT. Sister Orton is not here to be this amazing orator and to share things with eloquence and many words. She has such an incredibly sweet spirit and a pure testimony (which is something i really admire about her) and that is what she is here to share. She is here to share HER! :-) She brings such a calming presence into a lesson and she is here to touch certain people that I cannot. As we work side by side as we should, with the Spirit of the Lord, her simple testimony and sharing the Gospel are going to touch so many people! 

4. I need to stop trying to fix something that is NOT broken!! That is basically what the Lord was telling me this past weekend.  Sister Orton isn't broken! I just haven't been working with her right. Its like she was this package that the Lord gave to me with this instruction manual and I just completely disregarded the manual and went to work on my own trying to help her be better and "fix" something that wasn't broken in the first place...trying to make her more like me...HOW DUMB!  If I had just opened up the "instruction manual"....getting on my knees and asking what the Lord would have me do (with a willing heart to do it).....he would have instructed me, like he did this weekend to STOP trying to fix and LOVE and WORK!! As I have turned my heart around I have realized that I have been doing this all wrong. Granted, there are some things that Sister Orton needs help with, but the path that I thought was the right one to take by my own reasoning has only been harming her more. It has been making it all worse and starting to "break" her.

OK...done with my really bad analogies. 

Now....Sister Orton and I are on a new and exciting path with the Lord as our guide. We are so excited. We were finally able to finish up our companionship inventory on Sunday and it was the BEST companionship inventory we have had since we first came together. I laid some things out for Sister Orton, letting her know the conclusions I had come to and shared some suggestions for our relationship and what do you know....she started talking!!!!!!! She shared, for the FIRST TIME EVER, things about me that bothered her or made her feel stupid. Most of what she said came as a total shock to me....but I am so glad that she was open and willing to share and now I can change!!! It feels so amazing! I have never been SOOO HAPPY to have someone criticize me so much in my life...haha! I have always known there were things that bothered her, but I have never been able to figure it out and now I know cause she will tell me!! YAY!!  The past 24 hours have been absolutely fantastic and full of smiles all the way. Sister Orton and I are working together in a way that we have never worked before. We have figured out a "strategy" together (with the Lords help, of course) to help her be more involved in lessons and we are both soooooo confident that it is going to work and that it will help her to become more involved as a missionary period. I am so excited! I feel like this huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders!! This is what it truly means to "apply" the atonement and let the Lord just take it all. I have just turned it all over to Him. It is NOT my load to carry. :-) I am so grateful that it is not mine to carry. I think the weight was beginning to crush me and I finally just reached out to him through prayer and he came and took the load! I am crying right now as I write this to you because my soul is so happy! I have not felt this FREE in a long time. I thank you for your prayers and your concern and help as well. I know that the Lord has his hand in our lives and that everything happens for a reason and I have become so much stronger going through this and probably have benefited more from this relationship then Sister Orton will probably ever fully understand. I feel like I am a new person and i still have so much more to grow! 

(Everything above was from the Letter that I wrote to my mission president, President Craig this week...Now for more.....) 

Time to tell you a bit about what has been going on with us this week in the Normandy area. It has been wonderful. We were blessed to pick up 5 new investigators this week. We have also been able to solidly and recommit Harold and Christine to Baptism for Jan 5th. We are so excited for them. We realized that we hadn't spelled out clearly what was required to be baptized. Now that it is more clear for them and that they have a direction to go in....they are so excited and understand that coming to church is going to be key to reaching that date. We will be setting up a baptismal calendar with them on Tuesday to help them to reach their goals!  Love it! We are teaching so many people write now. I feel like we pick up new people every day. The lord has truly been blessing us, especially since we have divided the area into thirds! Woohoo for a smaller proselyting area. It is great. We have been so much more productive, especially being on bikes.

There are so many people that I would love to talk about, but my email is already so long and I have so much more I want to write about. We are teaching so many new people and some families. We love it! Oh oh....while I was on the trade off I had the opportunity to commit this very outgoing southern black lady to baptism on the 29th of this month. She has been meeting with missionaries for over 3 years and we read 2 Nephi 31 with her. We didn't even finish the Chapter and the Spirit was so strong and we asked her to be baptized and she said YES!!  It was amazing! Love her!! We are teaching this girl named Kristy, we are meeting with her for the 2nd time tonight. She is like a sponge. She has never been very religious, but has always believed in God and she loves everything that we have to share with her. We are so excited! :-) We already invited her to baptism on the first lesson and she said yes and tonight we plan on committing her to a date! :-) Oh goodness I love this work! The Gospel is so true!! 

This past week it POURED on us TWICE! The first time we weren't prepared for it at all on Tuesday. It was hilarious! On Saturday, Sister Orton and I were both so wet (it was like we had jumped into a pool with all our cloths on), but we still were able to pick up a new investigator Jenny who was sitting out on her porch. I think she was very intrigued that we were our riding in the rain...IN SKIRTS!!! LOL :-) It was fantastic. The Lord led us right to her and at the perfect time. Cause she said she doesn't open her door for people late at night. We didn't get into our appointment we had scheduled that night with a lady named Cynthia. So we followed our back up plans, but then decided to try another house before and because of that on our way back down the street Cynthia had just come out and sat on her porch for a minute and we were able to teach her the first lesson and give her a Book of Mormon. She is even coming to the Relief Society Christmas Party on Thursday, super excited! 

Our week is SOOOOO PACKED!! We have at least 2 appointments with investigators nearly every day this week. We are also being fed by ward members more than we ever have before, GO CHRISTMAS SPIRIT! :-) HAHA! We love it....although my waistline doesn't appreciate it so much! HAHA! :-) We'll work on that after the Holidays are over! 

We had our Mission Christmas Party this week. It was absolutely FANTASTIC! We had a talent show and had some pretty creative and fun talents shared! I loved it. Sister Craig also put together a little devotional with music and scripture narrations in between. I was asked to since Mary Did You know? Which is one of my favorite songs! It was so much fun to be with the entire mission and to see some of my favorite people and to give Sister Craig a huge HUG!!! I love hugs from my mission Momma!! It was a wonderful time and we laughed so hard. I was able to sing for the Talent show and sang "Arise and Shine Forth" by Michael McLean...it was kind of impromptu. Soooo fun!  We all received gifts and letters from the wards and from our families. I was really really lucky and got the last gift bag on the table and what do you know it has a case and a keyboard for an iPad Mini in it....WHAT???! Can you believe that? HAHA!! BTW....it looks like we are scheduled to get those at the end of January! I am so excited! Can't even stand it. Not that the work isn't already booming, but I am so excited to use all the resources that will be available with the iPads to share the gospel! :-) Can't wait!  

 

"The future is as bright as our faith," and my faith is SO BRIGHT right now!! :-) I know that this is the Lords work, not mine. I know that His work will go forward no matter what and I am excited to be a part of it. I hope you all have a blessed and Happy Holidays and always remember WHOSE day we celebrate!! :-)  

 

Merry Christmas!

Sister Heckel 

P.S the guy in the picture doing the handstand....is President Patch, he is one of President Craig's counselors and used to be the Stake President in the Jax East stake when I served in Atlantic Beach last year. He is the son of President Patch in Midway (in the 5th Ward). He can do a hand stand and walk clear across the stage and I think he is in his 50's or 60's....thats pretty great hu?! 

Larissa...Last week at la CCM(MTC)!!!!! CRAZY!!! Dec 10, 2013

I can not believe that I am in my last week at la CCM!! its seriously so crazy!! Ese sermana Hermana Allen y yo are working mucho hard!! we want to be able to bare our testimonies without any trouble before we leave so we have a ways to go but we will get there!!! The CCM is starting to get old and super repetitive, I am torn between wanting to stay and learn more and wanting to get out in the field and talk with real investigators!!!

TY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! My first homesick moment happened this week because of your birthday. I cried the night before and during the day of whenever I had time to think of you and not being there, I hope it was an awesome day and I cant believe you are 17, Holy COW!!!! But the package came from you guys with all the candy that day so that was like the BEST... and then shortly after I started getting that same pain that we went to the hospital for last year and it was a cyst. yeah that sucked cause my teacher made me go to the CCM clinic (I resisted the entire time, and complained the whole time we were in the doctor cause we should have been in class) so we went and the doctor wasnt there it was just the Nurse who I freaken loved he was awesome but he thought like the doctors before that it was appendicitis and so i am freaking out thinking how I am NOT getting surgery in mexico and planning my escape from the clinic. So then I remember how familiar this pain was and then became calmer.... but the doctor wasnt going to be there for an hour so we went back to class I laid on the floor while we studied. All the elders were betting on appendicitis and I was getting so mad. But when it was time to go my WHOLE district came with me to make sure I was okay and to give me a blessing. Well the doctor confirmed what I already knew it was a cyst and sent me to my casa. So that was a very eventful fun day for sure.... it hurt soooooo bad, im starting to think that is a yearly thing cause it happens the same time every year and every year we think its something that will require surgery and it freaks me out.... Im never going back to the doctor because I refuse to go home! haha

This past couple weeks have been super eventful! Our investigators have been going so well, both of them are committed to baptism and we are working on commandments. lastnight was an incredible lesson and built up my testimony on the gift of tongues! it seriously went incredible!! that lesson was what i needed because me and Hermana Allen were starting to really get down on ourselves for not knowing enough, and we wont know enough but we will have the spirit with us and that is what counts, we are starting to wake up in the morning to do some spanish scripture reading.... the scriptures are super hard to understand but we will work hard to understand them. 

We got a new district this week and we absolutely love them, the Hermanas are so amazing and I am so glad I get to know them as well as I do. They already speak incredible spanish so they are really lucky! But they are so fun! 

So our district LOVES to play volleyball and we have gym time everyday so we play all the time and my district is getting sooooooo good at volleyball literally it is an actually game except we arent allowed to keep score cause then it gets competitive and people get mean. One district wanted to play against us and they wanted to keep score.... I am not very nice when I am competitive that is for sure, so our distract stopped playing cause we all got that way and went and played with just us and that was so much fun. I love them so much and I dont know what I am going to do when I leave them in a week. Good thing they are all from utah basically so that is nice. AND I get to take Hermana Allen with me to Texas so hopefully we will see eachother alot and possibly in like a year be companions! but she only lives in Herisville Utah which is like by ogden so yeah destined to be friends forever cause she is just basically the quite version of me!! 

We went through the temple for the last time today :( but we got so lucky because it is actually closing down for the christmas season for remodeling so the new missionaries coming in wont get to go to the temple... We were so blessed because it is beautiful and I love it so much! We are so lucky to have so many temples in utah that we can go to all the time. the next closest temple in Mexico is about 2 and a half hours away. We are seriously so blessed.

This Sunday was especially amazing!! we had the Christmas devotional which I hope you all saw it was amazing, it made me miss utah alot seeing temple square lights and snow and everything. Make sure to go visit that because it truly is a privileged to live that close and to have such an amazing place to visit all the time. But the devotional was incredible and then we watched the joseph smith film.... yeah i started crying when i found out what we were watching! Our devotional missionary devotional was sooooo good too. We heard from Elder Holland Again, who I love so its totally fine and he talked about how our missions are forever and that it does not end after 24 or 18 months haha favorite quote "if you come home from your mission and start back on the life you had before and go inactive or what, dont meet me down a dark ali I will tell ya that". I guess they are having a problem with this, Missionary work is a lifetime calling, even if we dont wear his name on our chest we need to be the example of him in our daily lives. I love Elder Holland, he is absolutely incredible!! 

Well I hope everyone had a good week! Missions are incredible. so hard, the past couple weeks have been a real test but the I know the Lord is on my side and those trials have turned into such amazing testimony building moments. I have made some of the best friends in the entire world here. My district is incredible and now that we are all healthy and coming to class it has been a blast and we have become one big family!! haha sometimes we have trouble focusing because we have so much fun together but other then that it is great, we have had some amazing spiritual experiences. Even though these guys are babies (18 and 19 year olds) With the spirit they turn into me and are strong and they are awesome!! 

I cant imagine being anywhere else right now or doing any other work. This work is the work of salvation and happiness. I could not think of anything more better to do with my life right now. There is a saying on your mission that you leave your old life behind on your mission and start a new one that lasts forever on your mission. Its true, I dont think I will be the same person I was before and it is going to be great!! They say that you will have at least one convert on your mission and that is yourself and that is so true. I didn´t know anything about the gospel and I was not even close to a good representative of Christ!! But that will change for sure when I get home. I Love the book of mormon, a couple of the elders in our district know so much about the book of mormon and I am so jealous, I have been reading alot lately every chance I have anyways and the stories are passages are incredible. I love it so much. If you want an action packed book it is the book of mormon!! Its incredible!! 

Well last week at the CCM. Muy Triste. 

todo mi amo,

Hermana Heckel

 

Jenessa Week 8 - Biking!!! December 9, 2013

Hello Everyone-

This week has been crazy.....you want to know why??? Because we are now on BIKES!!! Yup thats right! We get to do it like the Elders do, although we do get a car part time. We are sharing a car with the other set of Sister Missionaries in our ward. Its been very interesting figuring it all out, that is for sure!

Sorry that ya'll are FREEZING while we here in Florida are absolutely BAKING in the sun!!! HAHA! Its been crazy....two days ago while we were on bikes it was 88 degrees outside...we were DYING!! LOL :-) And then I get on facebook later that day and find out that it was like a -9 back at home....what is up with the weather!!! HAHA!!! Not quite sure what to make of it. I am definitely enjoying the warm though, much preferred over the cold ya'll have going on right now. :-) Its also funny...cause we get down into the low 60's and I start shivering...LOL :-) I actually kind of get mad....cause I hate the fact that the thermomiter says its 61 degrees outside and I feel like winter is coming on.....I'm sure ya'll would die to have 60 degree weather right now!! I say I am sorry, but I am also laughing cause its just so strange! Life is just awesome!! 

We are teaching a guy named Larry, who hasn't been to a church in years! He loves everything that we have taught him so far though and he said he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He even committed to be baptized but made sure that we knew that it would be in his own time and not super fast. He is a great guy....has a super thick accent and is really hard to understand...my companion swears that she can't understand what he says half of the time....amazingly i have been given the "gift of tongues" and can understand him as well as our other investigator Dee....who seems to slur everything together. My companion cant understand her either....makes it a bit difficult to teach. Who knew that it would be so difficult to understand people that speak my own language....well...maybe its the same language?? LOL :-) I love these people to death. They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet in your life that is for sure! 

We had an awesome lesson with Momma Dee last night and took a recent convert Ylonda with us. They connected with each other soooo well. It was such a powerful lesson and Ylonda, being baptized only a couple weeks ago, is on FIRE! She rekindled the fire within me, that didn't necessarily go out, but just faded a bit with being sick and tired the past couple of weeks. I have finally kicked the sickness though. After discussing things with the mission Doctor, Dr. Rose. We concluded that I needed some antibiotics, I went on the antibiotics and poof in just over 24 hours I was feeling like a million bucks....wish we had just gone with them sooner instead of dealing with being sick for over 2 weeks. HAHA! Live and learn! 

Did ya'll get to watch the Christmas Devotional on Sunday?? If not, you should go find it online and watch it...it was amazing! I LOVE CHRISTMAS and the spririt it brings into our lives. I wish people could hold onto this Spirit during the year. Its amazing and what the Lord would have us feel ALL the time! My companion and I were able to watch most of it, but then the Bishop came to us not quite half way through and told us that a car had run out of gas and that the husband, Curtis...was going to get gas and his pregnant wife, Kristy was sitting out there. We decided to go out and talk with her. We were eventually able to convince her to come inside and enjoy the music and the messages shared in the Devotional. She was able to listen to Elder Neilson speak and then her husband came back. It was a wonderful missionary opportunity and they were happy to let us come over and share another video with them about the Savior later. It was wonderful!....although we found out that they live in the Timuquana ward, so we will be handing them over the the Elders or Sisters in that ward. A seed was planted and thats all that really matters right?? We are here to invite all men to come unto Christ, we dont take them there we invite them there and if they accept the invitation we are thrilled. We succeed when we invite!! :-) 

I have learned some amazing lessons since coming into the mission 8 weeks ago....that is crazy! Next monday I will "officially" have been here as a full time missionary preaching the gospel for 2 full months! CRAZY!!! LOVE IT!!! The time is just flying by. There is nowhere I would rather be though. I love it! Maybe I will be able to extend and come home with Larissa....who knows?? Anything is possible!! :-) 

I wanted to share something from my studies this morning that was incredibly powerful for me and has had me on the verge of tears all day. I LOVE THE SPIRIT! I was reading this morning in D&C 5. Towards then end of the chapter the Lord talks to Joseph about how their are many that lie in wait to destroy thee and I began to feel like that, I have had so many things that have happened over the past 2 months that have been so incredibly trying, that i feel like there are many "unseen" that are trying to destroy me and all those who are trying to do the work of the Lord, then I was completely overwhelmed by the Spirit as I read the Lords words from verse 34: "Yea, and for this cause I have said: STOP AND STAND STILL until I command thee, and i will provide means whereby thou mayest accomplish the thing which I have commanded thee." I was so taken back, as I felt the Lord was telling me to STOP AND STAND STILL. He is not necessarily asking me to stop moving and progressing, but stop trying to move forward by my own volition and not by His way. He wants me to "stand still" and listen to what he has to tell me, because this is His work and it must be done his way. These are His children that we are  talking with each day, he knows them better than I could possibly EVER know them. I felt comforted in knowing that He will provide a way for me to accomplish the goals and desires of my heart here in this area, despite the difficulties that we have had...but he has asked me to stop pushing forward and trying to do things "without" Him. I honestly think that is one of the reasons I have been sick lately, because I have forgotten to hand everything over to him and STOP AND STAND STILL...taking a moment to let him really speak to my mind and my heart, to bring me peace in this troubled world, and know that He has it all under control!  It was such an incredible reminder! 

I love the Scriptures. I wish i had time to share with you all my spiritual insights from the entire week, it truly has been a week that I can say I FEASTED from the scriptures and oh how FULL I am!! :-) I love this work. I love the Gospel and most of all I LOVE MY SAVIOR! He is my rock and my salvation. He is my never failing energy source. He is my best friend and someone I NEVER want to be without for as long as I live! It is his PERFECT LOVE that i seek daily and desire to share with all those around me! He will NEVER fail us! I know that He died for me and for you! I know that through Him we can find peace in this life and eternal joy and happiness throughout the eternities! I am so grateful for this knowledge. I know that we have a living prophet here on the earth that leads and guides us in righteousness. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, as is the Bible. I know that we can receive personal revelation that these things are true and so much more, as we get on our knees humbly before the Lord and ASK!! :-) I know all that i have said is true and I say it in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN!!! :-) 

Happy Holidays

-Sister Heckel 

Larissa Pic over Thanksgiving!!

Larissa and The MTC Sisters!!  Camera date is only off by one year!

Larissa Thanksgiving Week!! Craziest week EVER!

Well first off Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Thanksgiving was great at the CCM! we had our thanksgiving dinner for lunch cause thats cuando they have all there big meals is during Almuerzo, which I kinda like alot now! All I wanted for thanksgiving was some pumpkin pie and guess what we got pie and icecream.... I may have cried with happiness for that.... or maybe not. you will never know.

Well this week has been one of the hardest/best weeks, our everything was going great until wednesday hit.... our investigator (who is depressed, had a really bad day) well he told us that he didnt want to meet with us anymore and that he didnt believe in our religion anymore and he was basically done. Me and Hermana Allen were shocked, we could not believe what he was saying! Our last lesson went so good and we didnt know what to do so all we could think of was ask him questions and bare our testimonies. we asked him to pray everyday to know that god loved him and had a purpose for him and then he decided that he wanted to see us again. That was officially the first time I have cried at the CCM, the rest of that day was so hard. We had a conversation with our Miestro (our investigator) afterwords and talked with him about and he said that we needed to work harder because this type of stuff will happen and he isnt going to be as easy on us as he has been. seriously it was so difficult. But then we had thanksgiving the next day so that made it better and our next lesson with him..... guess what happened! HE AGREED TO BE BAPTIZED!!!! So now we will be preparing him for that which will be awesome cause we have alot more to learn and are ready to work hard to get him to baptism. 

Yesterday was the greatest experience ever! so we are kinda starting to review stuff we have already learned and using it in all spanish and figuring it all out! well yesterday we did an activity and we were learning to teach by the spirit. I was pared up with Elder Corry (who i freaken love, but he speaks incredible spanish so its kinda intimidating to work with him) and I was the investigator first and we were practicing the situation that we had the week before, an investigator who doesnt want to continue with the discussions. So I was the investigator first and I didnt want to continue with the lessons because my husband was a ¨"memeber" but wasnt terribly active and if I commited to a religion I wanted to make sure it was right and wanted to be the best I could be, i didnt want to fail. Well Elder Corry... Oh my gosh, the spirit was incredible! Its so weird how even as a pretend investigator you cant say no sometimes. He bore me his testimony and it was exactly what I needed to hear to make me feel comforted and go forward with the lesson and baptism. Then we switched, I didnt know his profile at all, so he came in and told me that he didnt feel god was answering his prayers.... I seriously could speak so good to him and was asking questions and finally I had a feeling I should have him to pray with me right then... and that is exactly what he needed. seriously the room was not big enough for how much of the spirit was in there. It was so overwhelming, me and elder corry are almost in tears. It was incredible, I had been praying to know how to receive guiar during my lesson for my investigators and during my studies for them and this week i finally figured it out and it is incredible. I figured out how the spirit really speaks to me, haha it needs me to stop talking and listen, just pause for a bit in my lesson to really think and feel before i act and then I will know where I need to go. I was so overwhelmed because My prayers were answered and I felt the spirit so strong, I love this gospel, I know it is true with all my heart. I might not know everything and my testimony has a long way to go but I KNOW (YO SE QUE LA IGLESIA DE JESUCRISTO DE LOS SANTOS DE LOS ULTIMOS DIAS ES VERDADERO) I know it. This work is so incredible and I love it so much! 

I couldnt imagine being anywhere else right now. I seriously love it here so much! the Spanish i really starting to come along, in our last lesson with Ulises (depressed investigator) I spoke basically the whole time (oops) but It went to so good I could talk pretty well, haha some of my sentences were mixed up but all the words were out there! we are slowly but surely getting better, we made a goal as a district to talk spanglish as much as possible and just throw out our english words we dont need anymore.... and I learned the craziest thing. Some sentences we say in english, you can say in one word in spanish just by conjugating them (Ex: "Orará" means "will you pray") one stinkin word!!! CRAZY!!! but its nice at the same time, easy to remember, haha there isnt a word for "will" so we have to learn those conjugations very quickly cause they are vital for a lesson! I am really starting to LOVE SPANISH SO MUCH now that I can actually speak and commmunicate and kinda understand! haha sometimes they talk so darn fast I cant understand a word that he is saying but If i can pick out a few key words I can figure it out pretty easily. 

I want to share a couple things that we learned on the Thanksgiving Devotional, it was taught by Russel M. Nelson and his wife Wendy Nelson. So good it was basically on obedience and being clean and ready to serve the Lord. the quote that I will never forget from this devotional is "Obedience brings success, Exact Obedience brings miracles." so comepletely true, we have to be exactly obedient in order to receive all the blessings and that is what me and my companierá are working especially hard on for the last two weeks we are here because I am so excited to see how we improve because we definitely are not where we want to be before we leave so we are kicking it into gear! 

Mi companierá y yo have gotten so close seriously she is just the quiet shy version of me, but we are twins. I love her so much and cant even imagine leaving her after these two weeks. buien thing she is going to Texas with me so I will at least get to see her a little bit before I leave. Seriously one incredible girl and we work so well together. 

Our district had some super drama this week, we have all gotten so close and started to love eachother so much! seriously these hermanas and Elders are like my brothers and sisters. they have taught me so much and have helped me and my companierá through so much  but now we have had a tendency to talk and sing instead of study.... which is not good. so our Miestro emailed our branch president (basically like our zone bishop) and we had a talk about some of the stuff we need to fix. so after the meeting we went back to our classroom and talked and shared how we felt and made goals of what we can do better and I think It will help us out alot!! soooooo much actually, and me and hermana Allen have made our own goals and i think the goofing around will stop.... during study time. We still love the play volleyball and all that. Seriously I cant even think about leaving my district at the end of these last two weeks because I just start to cry. I love them all so much I cant even say. All the elders have such strong testimonies and amazing spirits and amazing stories. They have all been through it, all different things but for most everyone in our district it was a hard road to get here which has made it so much better. I love all of them. except how the nickname "hobbit" has stuck so well and they make jokes about how frodo is my dad, and ask me how mordor was..... yes they are definitely 18 year old boys.... until they feel the spirit then they turn into Missionaries. haha

The district that was here before us left yesterday.... I am so sad right now I cant even believe that we are the one of the oldest districts here. I have no idea how that happened so fast, but I miss them so much. the Hermanas in that district were incredible and I cant wait to hear how they do in the field cause they will do amazing things. 

We get a new district this week too. I am so excited!! I love being the sister leader! I get to go talk to the girls all the time and make sure they are okay and that they like it here and feel loved and happy. The new districts hermanas are muy muy bien, todos bonita y fuerte testimonios. I love them all already and they have only been here a little less then a week. But they will be great. We get to go to district leadership meetings on sundays.... which is great cause we get to know about how we can improve as a district and as a zone and everything. Its great!! 

Well All in all I love el CCM!! for real, I love learning the gospel and learning spanish!! its seriously still incredible.

sinceremente, Hermana Heckel

Jenessa Week 7 Dec 2, 2013

Hello Everybody-

This week was great and at the same time was not so great! I got sick early on in the week and it has put me out of commission for a few days this week. It all started coming on around Tuesday afternoon/evening and I am still dealing with a bit of the sniffles today. Even though I was sick I still went out a bit and this week was wonderful! 

On Wednesday, Harold and Christine committed to be baptized on December 22nd. We are so excited for them. We have some word of wisdom issues that we are going to have to work through, but nothing that the Lord can't help them handle!  

On Thanksgiving, Sister Orton and I had TWO Thanksgiving appointments. We first had a CAMBODIAN Thanksgiving with the family of the First counselor in our Bishopric, Brother Nhiev. HAHA! His whole family is Cambodian! Its great! He and his wife both served missions....Sister Nhiev served in Guam and he served in California. Pretty cool! They are so great. Thanksgiving at their place was great....TONS of family speaking a language that there is NO WAY i would ever be able to understand! I dont know how Sister Rachael Kohler is doing it in Cambodia!! LOL :-) Good for her! I'll stick with my English, sometimes that is hard enough to speak. HAHA! Some of their family are not members of the church, as well as some of the friends that came over for Thanksgiving as well. It was great to mingle with them and even answer some questions about the church for  few of them. Incredibly, even though I could not understand the language, unlike the other missionaries their I could understand EVERY word that the cambodians said with their really thick cambodian accents!  It was great! 

Our second Thanksgiving was more tradition with Sister Webster and Sister Morrow. Sister Webster is such a sweet woman. Her husband is a trucker and so he was on the road this Thanksgiving so she had us and Sister Morrow (who turns 71 this month) over for Thanksgiving dinner! It was a wonderful evening, although my sickness really started settling into my lungs and I was really really tired the entire evening. Sister Webster, bless her heart, was so kind and let me fall asleep on her recliner while they finished preparing dinner and stuff. It felt like being home there!! It was so great! I LOVE this ward! I never want to leave!! I have met some of the most amazing people here. Some of the most charitable hearts EVER! 

Friday was spent at the apartment unfortunately because I had a bit of a fever. Although, we did go to dinner at a members home that night and it was the most AWKWARD thing I have ever been a part of in my entire life!!! I dont think their are words to even describe how the dinner went with her, especially once her Hometeachers showed up and she was all upset that they weren't going to teach her the EXACT message from the hometeaching message from the ensign....which their isn't one this last month because it is the conference ensign, but thats ok. It was quite an eventful evening and unfortunately I dont have time to give you all the details, just know that I have a good story to tell you when I get home...dont let me forget to tell you! 

Saturday, we had a cool experience. We got to go to the "dedication" of a Buddhist Temple! I guess this kind of thing only happens like once in a lifetime or at least once in like 50 years or so. It was way cool. There were over 150 monks present from all over the world, some of them from Cambodia. Brother and Sister Nhiev were there to help explain things to us. It was great. It was this massive celebration with AWESOME food. It was nothing like I expected it to be, but it was very cool to be a part of something historical like that. Something interesting that they do at Temple dedications, they dig these pits around the temple (like on the temple ground) and then their is a big deep one that is dug right in the middle of the temple itself.....and before the dedication is complete during this 3 day celebration, people will come by and throw things in to these pits.  They will throw things in that they desire to have or to be in the next life....say you want to be beautiful, then you would throw in some make up and a mirror or something. If you want to be smart, you throw in some paper and a pen or a book. If you want to be rich, you throw in some money....get the picture? I guess in Cambodia, these pits are much larger than they were at this gathering, but they do the same thing with them. I guess, if you fall in they wont pull you back out though. You would be considered bad luck. So in cambodia if a child were to fall in on accident, they would bury the child alive. That means the family would get to have them in the next life, but once something has gone into the pit it cannot be pulled back out. Pretty crazy hu?? I thought so. The whole thing was great though. Definitely different from the dedication of one of our temples....espeically since the Spirit was nowhere to be found at this event. It made me sad! It was so much about worldly possessions and this and that. 

I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and the peace that it brings into my life! SOOOOO GRATEFUL! 

Unfortunately being out in the cold again on Saturday did me in for Sunday and Sister Carlson was also sick..... (she's new to our area), she's companions with Sister Martinez. So we did a little tradeoff for Sunday. Sister Carlson and I stayed home sick, while Sister Martinez and Sister Orton went to church and did missionary work like we wished we could do. We were so sick, but we decided to build a fort in the middle of our apartment....since we had studied as much as our hazy brains would allow us too. I will send a picture to show you. We look so happy in that picture, but we truly were quite miserable, but you dont want to look miserable in a picture....especially when you are in a fort...haha! :-) We are mostly recovered today though, Sister Carlson is a little bit more under the weather then I am at the moment....lol. Hopefully by the time we have Presidents interviews this week we will both be in tip top shape! 

I am so ready to get back to regular missionary work and be health and well again! It will be so great!! 

I love this work! I am so grateful to be a missionary! Life is amazing and tough and wonderful all at the same time!!! HAHA!! 

Hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Love

Sister Heckel

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