Larissa......MUCH MUCH BETTER

This last week has been absolutely incredible!! I got to see my beautiful family all growing up into very good looking individuals!! So good to see you all and my grandma and uncles and aunt for a little bit and lets not forget my incredible sister! Christmas was great thanks for the gifts and all the candy.... I think you are trying to make me fat but at least I will be happy doing it:) I feel so blessed!!

This week was great! we committed one of our lovely investigators and baptism and she is going to be great. She gets a little nervous about church but she knows she needs to go so she is, what great faith! She is only 15 and is going to be one of the only active members in her family! she is so strong! 

We also were able to go to the Houston temple and do baptisms for the dead with 5 of our recent converts, it was such an incredible experience and they all brought there own names too so that made it all more special! The Houston temple is absolutely incredible, soooo beautiful and I was so blessed to have the opportunity to go. 

We are looking for new investigators this week so hopefully we will be able to accomplish our goal, this area is full of people who are ready to receive the gospel we just need to find them:)

My Spanish is coming along, I learn more everyday and I am learning to really understand, its not great and sometimes I really have no idea what is going on but I try not to let myself get discouraged and listen to the spirit and see what I need to say. The people here are great though and our tiny branch is going to grow so fast. We have a goal to make the branch a ward by the end of the year and that can totally happen! we are starting to work a lot with the members and having them be more active in helping the missionaries and being more active in the church and that will help out a lot. 

This week has been so much better and I am so blessed to be serving the Lord not alot of time to write but you can all feel free to write me 

#610

110 Lake Road,

Lake Jackson TX. 77566

Todo amor,

Hermana Heckel

 

                                                        Great street name......Midway!!!

 

Houston TX Temple. 

 

 

 

 

Jenessa - Week 11- Simple Obedience!

Hello Everyone-

 

Oh my goodness! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! Not just because i got to talk with my family, but because it is THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR...especially to be a missionary!

 

This week we picked up SEVEN new investigators, that is a lot for us! We picked up the family that i talked to you about last week. We are teaching them and they are loving the Gospel. It is a couple and their (soon to be adopted) granddaughter! The woman, Misty, was SOOOOO excited to receive a Book of Mormon. I pulled it out of my bag and before I could really say anything she said "I need to read that book!" HAHA! It was wonderful! We love them so much! 

 

We learned this week about the power of obedience, even in the small things. We are always constantly striving to be obedient to the rules of the mission and to the commandments of God, but this week we decided we needed to fine tune some things. One of those things was our music. We have been asked by President Craig to only listen to music that would be appropriate to listen to in Sacrament meeting. We realized this past week that we hadn't even made any changes to our music since he asked that of us and although we were listening to very uplifting and great music, a lot of it was more appropriate for firesides and EFY then to be listened to in Sacrament. We made it our goal this week to be obedient to this rule and started sifting through our music. As we did so, you would not believe the difference in our companionship, apartment, and in our teaching. The Spirit of the Lord is so strong....even stronger than before. We are finding that this little, quite simple, act of obedience has brought about wonderful blessings...including SEVEN new investigators! As we are going about doing good and striving to talk with everyone and being as obedient as we possibly can, the Lord can trust us with his children and he does! He has placed seven of his precious spirits into our path this week to teach and a few others that we are going to go back and teach and will hopefully start on their journey towards baptism this week!  

 

I love it! 

 

Christmas was fantastic!  We were SOOOO busy all day on Christmas! We ate breakfast at our Relief Society President house, she does this buffet style breakfast for her whole family every year and invited us over....it was a lot of fun! We then had to finish up some studies and then had a little bit of time before lunch to open presents! My family did this really fun 12 days of Christmas thing. We would read a scripture and then open this gift that was connected to the scripture! Super cute! I loved it! 

 

We had lunch with the Cambodian family that we ate with at Thanksgiving....soooo nummy...I never want to eat american food again! We had homemade Pho and Egg Roles....I will never eat another egg role cause I will always be thinking about the ones I had this Christmas! I will probably fly out to Florida just to get Sister Son's egg roles!!! Yum!  HAHA! 

 

After Lunch we talked with our families which was WONDERFUL! I love my family so much...they make me laugh! It was crazy trying to get everyone connected, but it was good to see their faces and to see my wonderful Sister, Hermana Heckel, out in Texas...she was just full of tears, but i love her! She is my best friend and I am so happy that i get to serve at the same time as she is. I know that we are both learning and growing so much. Can't wait to be reunited and share all of our wonderful, hard, and crazy experiences from our missions, face to face!  

 

Then we had a wonderful traditional Christmas dinner with this wonderful less active couple. Afterwards we went Caroling and met this wonderful lady named Tresonda who opened the door and started singing with us! She asked us to "put some soul into it" after we were done and started us singing all over again! HAHA! It was fantastic! She is going to be taught by the other Normandy Sisters! :-) 

I love this work, have I mentioned that before?? HAHA! Of course i have....cause i do. Sometimes life gets extremely hard out here, but it is so incredibly worth every minute of hardship and trial. Its changing lives, including my own. I am growing in ways that I didn't even know you could grow in! I am coming closer to my Savior everyday as I truly have to rely on him for my strength and my ability to do what i do out here!!!  No-one EVER said that it would be easy, but they said it would be worth it! :-) And oh yes it is!!

 

Oh...I wanted to mention a blog that i am a part of. Its called whenyoubelieveingod.blogspot.com :-) Sister-Jenessa Hutchins and I (funny, we both have the same first name) have this goal with this blog to collect 1000 Miracles over the next year (we started October 25th). We want to show the world that God still performs miracles today, both big and small. I would LOVE it if any and ALL of you would contribute...doesn't matter how young you are. It doens't have to be something long or anything huge, but just ways that you have seen the hand of God in your life!  Will you do that sometime in January and send it to me??? PLEASE! Also...if you are on facebook....go LIKE the When you Believe In God  page. We are getting lots of people liking it that are friends of friend and we are getting beautiful miracles. We are trying to get this blog to take off here so that we can start building it up quicker, since we are only in the 60's with our miracles right now...we wtill have over 900 to go, but it is possible and we believe that this blog was inspired and so we are going to accomplish our goal....but WE NEED YOUR HELP...cause we have such a limited time online each week.....tell your friends and family and lets show the world the God does exists and reigns down blessing and miracles upon His children everyday!! :-) 

Thank you so much for all your prayers! I have really felt them! 

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Hello to 2014 and all the possibilities!! :-) 

 

Love

Sister Heckel

P.S If you haven't purchased and read The Power of Everyday Missionaries yet...you should!!! Its a MUST READ!!! You can also check out everydaymissionaries.org :-) Its a wonderful resource, along with the book itself! :-) 

 

                                                Yummy Christmas Present from Home!!

                                             Egg rolls and Pho for Lunch Christmas Day!!!

 

 

Talking to the girls on Christmas Day!!!

 

 

Larissa First Week In The Field!!

This one was a hard one to post cause it is hard when are children struggle but struggles make us stronger and they help us grow!!!

Ola.....

For lack of a better word. The first week absolutely SUCKED!!!! Hardest week of my life. I don't think I have cried that much ever in my entire life and I have never felt my nerves get this stressed out! I get frustrated with myself since I can't understand anyone so I can't teach and its so frustrating.

My new companion is named Hermana Parra. She actually was Paige's roommate down at BYU so that is cool she knows Paige really well. She is from Mexico and is fluent in Spanish.... which made me even more freaked out cause I don't understand what she is saying either. 

The first day we got our new companions I was actually with another Hermana but because two Hermana's didn't have their license they switched us. So I am actually the driving sister! which is cool we drive a Jeep named Chancho. Well after we got put together is was about 5 and I thought we would go home and unpack and she would let me know how we do things. Well she said some stuff in Spanish and I was too scared to ask her what she said and so she told me that we were going to visit people and going to dinner at a mambos casa. Pues I was so freaked out cause the membro es de Guatemala and they speak super fast Spanish... and he looked mean so I didn't say a word until he asked me how many siblings I had and I thought he asked me how old I was and so I said 20! haha You should have seen his face and Hermana Parra died laughing. so that kind of broke the ice still didn't understand but i felt a little more comfortable. We have worked with this member A LOT and He has an incredible testimony and I love his family su nombre es Hermana Castellos. 

Well I still haven't unpacked cause we just don't have time which is great... But I am learning and me and Hermana Parra are learning to really get along.  

I love all of our investigators. Seriously they are all great and will be baptized.  Once I can actually speak the language that will help! These people are ready they just need to know they are and move to the next step.   Our Branch is so small. but It will get bigger.  All our members are converts so they are all learning.

I love this new investigator family that we talked to on Sunday, for some reason I could understand more of what he said then anyone else and They are awesome, AMAZING Christian family and hopefully they are ready for the gospel. I feel like they are and they are reading the book of mormon so we will see how they do in a couple days!!! 

we had our Mission Christmas party yesterday and IT was soooo much fun! I love my mission president so so so much and his family and they will be going home with us!!! YAY!! and they live in highland Utah so we will be taking out mission president home with us and I cant wait!! haha May 2015!! hahaha

Merry Christmas Everyone. I love you all so much and currently don't have anymore time to write. Amo ustedes!! Adios. 

Jenessa Week 10 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas Everybody-

 

Things are going so well. Thank you for all your support. Today is going to be a short email, but I wanted to share with you the HAPPINESS coming from the Normandy area this Christmas season! Our area is wonderful and blossoming. We are teaching quite a few people right now and specifically TWO families....I LOVE TEACHING FAMILIES......soooo excited. The first family is one that we have been working with for a while, Harold and Christine. We committed them to stop smoking by the 29th and they are so excited to do so. They know it is going to be hard, but we had a really powerful lesson with them this past wednesday and they know that this Gospel is true and they want to be baptized, so they are going to do it. Christine has been smoking since Junior High and they are in their 40's. She is determined though! The other family is actually our next door neighbors, just downstairs, from where we live in our apartment.  They are so sweet. It is a couple and their "adopted" granddaughter Sarah! She is adorable and 8, perfect age for baptism! We are actually going to commit them to baptism in January TONIGHT! So excited! Its going to be a VERY VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I love this work!! 

I want you to know that I KNOW that this Gospel is true with all of my heart and soul. I know that this is the ONLY way to true and everlasting happiness. I know that my Savior lives and he loves each and every one of us and I strive to allow his love in my life that others might be able to see and feel HIS love through me! I know that the Book of Mormon is true; it is the word of God. As we read from its pages we can gain strength, understanding, comfort and guidance throughout our lives. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and in that sacred grove he saw God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know that we have a living prophet here on the earth today and have since Joseph Smith. I know that as we heed the words of the prophets we are heeding the word of the Lord and we will not be led astray. I am so grateful for the knowledge that i have that families can be together forever. I know that there are loved ones from the other side all around us cheering us on to victory and helping where they can! I know that this is the greatest work that we could ever be doing at this time! I am so grateful that i get this opportunity to be a part of it and to be back out here to be an instrument in the Lords hands in whatever way he feels necessary to use me. I hope that I can live worth to be "used" by Him! I know that as we keep the commandments of God and strive for EXACT obedience that the Lord can truly pour out his blessings upon us! I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time. No place that I would rather be and I know it is EXACTLY where the Lord needs me and wants me to be!!! :-) I know these things and will never deny them and say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen! 

Happy Holidays! 

Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

May the Peace and Joy of the Savior be in your homes during this glorious season! 

Love

Sister Heckel 

Larissa Arrived in Houston, Letter from Mission Presidents Wife!

Dear Parents,

We are pleased to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely in the Texas Houston South Mission, the best mission in the world!!  They are happy and absolutely wonderful. President Ashton and I are thrilled to welcome them. We had a terrific afternoon and evening together on Tuesday. We enjoyed getting to know each of them.  We had dinner together and then we enjoyed a beautiful testimony meeting. Wednesday they received some training, met their trainers as well as many other missionaries, and then left to their areas to meet and teach the wonderful people of Houston.  They come with such courage and strength.   You should be very proud of them.

I have attached a photo from our gathering in the mission home. As you can see, there are many smiles.  We have seven children.  Our youngest is 17 months and our oldest is 14. Our only daughter is not in the picture as she had a ballet performance.  She falls right in the middle of all our boys and is 8.  They are all so excited to be a part of your missionary's life!

Again, thank you for the opportunity you have given us to serve with these fine missionaries. We love them already and promise to take good care of them. May you find great joy and blessings as you continue to support them in bringing souls to Christ through His restored gospel. This is His work and these missionaries are on His errand. More joy awaits them than they have ever experienced!

With love,
President and Sister Ashton, Spencer, Braeden, Jacob, Elisabeth Kate, Ethan, Daniel, and Wesley

PS.  P-days are on Monday which is the day they will write/receive email. If they are assigned to Galveston Island, however, their email day will be Tuesday. I know they will love hearing from you each week and need to know you are loving and supporting them.  Please send/email at least a short note each week.  Thanks for everything.

 

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?!