Week 41

Deeeeear everyone :)

9 months WHAT?! Has not even come CLOSE to sinking in! To celebrate, Sis. Judd and I went to a Pho restaurant (Vietnamese noodle soup - these restaurants are everywhere here!) and then DQ, haha. It was a fun adventure! She's just the best. I know I've said this before, but I just can't get over how well we work together and how we build off of each other. It's FANTASTIC! 

It was really good that we had each other yesterday as well, because not one investigator came to church or is progressing, and that was a blow. However, we both know that we did EVERY SINGLE THING IN OUR POWER to help them come to church, and they chose to let other things keep them from coming. I would say the hardest part of my mission (and a mission in general) is seeing others reject the truth. I don't care if they reject me, but I care if they reject happiness. It kills me! Seeing them so close, knowing what will help them - then seeing them not take that step, not do what I KNOW is best for them. I imagine Heavenly Father constantly feels like this. I'm so grateful He never gives up on us. Ever. So I won't give up on these people. Even if they keep rejecting, I will keep trying! They're worth it.  

TANYA IS A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS!!! THAT was the best part of yesterday and of the weekend, by far!! Oh my goodness, her baptism was so wonderful. Sis. Judd and I had the opportunity to share the message of the Restoration for about 5 minutes while Tanya got ready, and the Spirit definitely led us! We hadn't gotten to practice it all the way through beforehand, but it made sense, thanks to the Spirit.  Wow. I am SO HAPPY she decided to act on her faith and testimony, and I know she'll be great (even though she's moving out of the ward this week, to the neighboring ward). 

I love my Savior and His gospel!

 Hurrah for Israel!

Sister Hehl

Week 40

Oh my goodness gracious, I don't even know where to start! LIFE IS SO GOOD! I LOVE being in Clark Lake (it now feels like home, and I've definitely made so many relationships with the members and the people here), I LOVE being Sis. Judd's companion, I LOVE being a sister training leader, I LOVE being a missionary, and I LOVE this gospel. 

Miracles:

I really feel a difference in the atmosphere of the ward since we've been doing short lessons with members. They know us and trust us better, they're able to see how the gospel has blessed their lives by discussing the doctrine of Christ, they're a lot more motivated to share the gospel, and each has resulted in them giving us names of less-active members to visit. By teaching the doctrine of Christ, the members are more impelled, not compelled, to share the gospel. It's coming from the inside-out, not the other way around. I'm also learning that we can do NOTHING without the members. Nothing sticks, nothing lasts, nothing keeps going without their help. Getting members to lessons and to meet people has been so key in spiritual progression - especially Amy and Ken. 

I don't exactly know what we did, if anything, for the Lord to POUR out blessings, but He is! It's truly amazing.

On exchanges (when one missionary switches another for 24 hours), Sis. Judd and Sis. Carlin (I went to Sis. Carlin's area with her companion, Sis. Keele. So great!) drove past a lady by our apartments who was pushing a stroller, had 2 kids roller-blading around her, and who looked absolutely exhausted. They felt prompted to talk to her, so they drove in a circle to come back and put up the front that they were getting something out of the trunk ;) She invited them over the next day, when I was back, and we had an AMAZING lesson with this lady, Kayla, and her 10 year old daughter Annie. Kayla initially said she just wanted to learn more, but as we taught them about the Restoration you could just see in their eyes that they believed it. Lisa said she's tried all sorts of churches and has studied with Jehovah's Witnesses, but things have never quite "sat well" with her - UNTIL NOW. Everything made sense in her mind and in her heart, and she seemed so relieved to find that what she has always believed, especially about living prophets, is true. She and Annie both committed to be baptized at the end of this month!!

Tanya is moving out of the ward :( but she's getting baptized THIS SATURDAY!! AH she's so great - she bore her testimony yesterday! She shared 2 Ne. 32:3 (I will always remember this scripture as Tanya's favorite) and said that scripture helped her feel that the Book of Mormon and this church is true. The Book of Mormon is SO POWERFUL. I'm learning to teach from it more, to help them understand that it's the keystone to everything - to let the prophets and the Spirit teach them, not me. She also said in her testimony that she's doing this for her. I love those words. Near the beginning of her testimony, she said "Hail Sister Hehl!" hahaha.

Amy and Ken came to church!!!! And they LOVED it! It was a spectacular fast and testimony meeting, and the Spirit was so strong. They had to leave afterwards because of their daughter, but they're reading and praying together daily (!) and they're excited for us to come back this week :)

Hurrah for Israel! 

Sister Hehl

If you would like to send an email to Sister Hehl, her email address is:

alyssa.hehl@myldsmail.net

Week 39 - Feb. 25, 2014

Hello Everyone,

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE WEEK! Sis. Judd and I repeatedly turned to each other, jaws dropped, saying, "What is happening?!" in a good way. SO MANY MIRACLES!! I feel we're both really striving to be exactly obedient, and that's helping the work. We're best friends already, we work fantastically together, we have so much fun, we work our hardest, we're on the same page, and I love this transfer already! I love Sister Judd, I love Clark Lake, I love this work! 

We've also really been trying to implement new training we've gotten recently - especially shorter, more focused, more interactive lessons with the pamphlets. It's worked wonders! We went back to Christine after not seeing her for a while (an older, spunky lady the elders tracted into), she actually listened, and we taught the Restoration the new way. We asked her to pray to know if this is God's church at the end of the lesson - we meant out loud, but she did it silently. We just waited...for a couple minutes...then she looks at us and says, "So where's your church at?" !!!! WHAT?! She said she felt good and she wants to keep studying and praying about it. She committed to baptism on March 15 but she wasn't feeling well enough to come to church yesterday, so we'll change her date when we see her on Tuesday. But still, that experience was AMAZING! 

We received 2 referrals who are GOLDEN! Alison and Nancy. We reviewed the Restoration with Nancy and she already knows most of it - she received the first 3 lessons in another state already and WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED! She knows it's true already!! We have another lesson with her tonight and we're trying to help her feel the urgency of baptism - she wants to wait until June so she can be baptized with her family there. (some of her family is Mormon - MAN is she prepared!)

I've seen miracles from talking with EVERYONE we see. Sister Judd is really good at that. Even if it's just giving them a mormon.org card - we're still inviting them to come unto Christ. So much of missionary work is simply INVITING, whether or not they accept. 

Another instance of a miracle from talking with everyone: we went to check that Nancy was coming to church, but she wasn't home. As we were walking back to our car, Sister Judd spotted a family walking out to their car and went to go talk to them. Turns out the mother is a less-active member that recently moved in who wants to come back to church with her family. We have an appointment for Wednesday. WHAT? The Lord just keeps teaching me, over and over and over, that I can NEVER judge. I can NEVER tell who's ready and who isn't. My job is to invite EVERYONE. 

We had a wonderful lesson with Jessica and Martha T (member), mostly about the Restoration and living prophets. We invited Jessica to say the closing prayer and ask God if this is true, and if Thomas S. Monson is His living prophet today. She's prayed out loud before, but this time was different - there was a point where it got intense and real. Even though it was in Marshallese, I could tell she was really asking, and really feeling the Spirit. She started crying! The Spirit was so strong. She wants so badly to have an eternal family, to live God's commandments and be clean in His eyes, and to be baptized. After that lesson, I have no doubt that she will be baptized. And that is the best feeling :)

Sarah came to church for the first time in about a YEAR! Even before Sacrament meeting started, she had tears in her eyes. She was in a lot of pain (fibromyalgia) but she wanted to come, and she said it felt so good. :D

We've also been trying to work out how to really facilitate member and missionary work - how to work better together to hasten the Lord's work. Any ideas??

I know this is God's church. He lets me know through the scriptures, through prayer, through how it blesses the lives of others, and mostly importantly through the Spirit EVERY DAY. He has given us His power so we can be clean and be guided back to live with Him. He loves us and understands us more than we can comprehend. 

Hurrah for Israel!

Sister Hehl

Sister Hehl with Sister Kartchner- they changed this tire together in December all by themselves!

Sister Hehl with her last companion, Sister Swapp. 

August Pictures

September 10, 2013

Hehlo there!

So overall, we have 3 investigators: Jalice, Stephanie, and Jennifer. We found Jennifer this week, thanks to a referral from some other elders in the zone! My mind is still blown by how prepared she is (and she doesn't even know it). We taught her part of the Restoration, and she's so smart and was asking all these penetrating questions that frankly, we didn't know the answer to, haha. For example, "How did Noah know he was a prophet? Did he hear the Lord's voice, or did he just know?" and, "How did Moses know to part the Red Sea? Did he think of it beforehand, or was it just an overpowering thought from God?" This girl thinks deeply. I like it :) And near the end, she asked a question about the Plan of Salvation. We gave her a quick overview (we ran out of time) and she said she had thought about there being 3 options before (the 3 kingdoms). WHAT. We have a church tour with her tomorrow and I'm just real excited about her :D

We're teaching Jalice and Stephanie 2-3 times a week, and they're both just soaking it in and learning and growing spiritually! They're both getting baptized on the 28th of this month. It's actually hard to get them to talk cause they don't have questions, haha. Come on, we can't be THAT good of teachers! But I'm learning how to ask inspired questions in inspired ways. It's amazing what happens when you ask the right question - and then wait. 

One thing I loved from district meeting last Wednesday: Our purpose is to invite, so Satan's best tool is to shut our mouths with fear. I refuse to let him shut my mouth! The Lord has definitely strengthened me to be able to do things I wouldn't be able to do on my own. He's just amazing!!

We had Stake Conference this weekend, although we were only able to go to the Sunday session. Stephanie was able to come! It was a broadcast for all of Washington and Alaska, and 4 people spoke: Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Seventy, Sister Carol F. McConkie of the YW Presidency, Elder Robert D. Hales, and Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve. I loved it all! It's hard to narrow down my favorite parts (as usual), but one thing that really stuck out to me: Elder Perry told a story about a 14 year old boy training a horse and them working together to plow and do the needed things around the farm. Then he related that to our bodies and our spirits - our spirit is the boy, our body the horse. We have to train our body what we allow and don't allow, what's okay and what is not okay, and we have to show it who's boss. When our spirit is in charge and our body and our spirit work together, we can accomplish great things. (more than the boy or the horse could on their own)

I still feel like I'm reading the Book of Mormon for the first time, considering all the things I have never noticed/realized before! Man, I've been a blockhead cause I've missed so much! Haha. But the Spirit is helping me learn so much more, understand so much more. One thing I've loved the last couple days especially: Mosiah 12-17, Abinadi's story. I never really understood what exactly he was teaching - I just knew that he had taught something then was killed. But what he teaches is AMAZING! And how he deals with the priests - he answers with scripture and testimony. I want to teach like THAT GUY. He's so great.

I'm starting to get tastes of what winter will be like here! What everyone says about the "misty" rain is true - that's exactly what it feels like! It barely feels like raindrops - just wetness. But it's only happened a couple times so far. Good thing I LOVE THE RAIN! :)

Jo and Kat finally got in contact with us yesterday! First time in 2 weeks! They called cause Jo needed a ride to the hospital. He pulled a muscle in his back and was in excruciating pain. They got a ride and we went to see them after Stake Conference. We basically had what missionaries call a do-or-die lesson - where we let them know that we still love them, but we can't continue visiting them if they're not willing to change. We're on the Lord's time, and we're here for only a short period of time, and we're here to teach people who are ready to learn about the Gospel and ready to change. It was really hard and we only talked to Kat about it, but we thinks she understands and they don't hate us! It's just sad because we love them SO MUCH and we care about them and their eternal happiness SO MUCH! But we've done all we can, we've taught them and helped them all that we can, and we've planted the seed. Now it's up to them. And I know the Lord won't forget them or leave them.

I know this church is the true and LIVING church of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. It is not just for "good people" but for everyone on the planet - every single person deserves to hear about it, because they deserve to be happy and to know that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them. It is here to bring us closer to Christ through the gospel - the ordinances and covenants. That's the way to get back, and it will never change. I love my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and I'm coming to know Him. He somehow deals with me every day, so I guess I can deal with me every day too, even in all my imperfections and shortcomings. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. What a beautiful paradox. Without Him, we are nothing, we can do nothing. But with Him - we are everything, we can do everything. I love the hope and peace I feel every day that comes DIRECTLY from this gospel and from Jesus Christ. This gospel is not only true - it is REAL. And I love it with all my heart!

Hurrah for Israel!!

Sister Hehl

September 3, 2013

SHANNON IS A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS!! wow. wowwowwowwow. It still hasn't sunk in - for me or for her, haha. I played my musical number at her baptism on Saturday and oh boy, what a miracle. No matter how much I practice a number, I always mess up when I'm nervous. I knew this was going to happen big time, during this important solo, and I wanted to just bring the Spirit, so at the beginning of my song, I just prayed for help. I let go a bit, stop worrying so much, kind of gave it over to Heavenly Father...and He led my fingers. Again! When my mind didn't know where to put my fingers, my fingers went the right places anyways! And the room got really quiet and the Spirit was strong as I was playing. I'm so happy I was able to be an instrument (instrument - piano solo- haha) in the Lord's hands to help bring the Spirit. I am just so happy for Shannon!! She's come so far even in the time I've been here, and I'm so blessed to have been able to see her spiritual progress. 

Cool random story! Last Monday was the first time that someone has stopped US to talk to us - a guy was sitting on a bench as we were leaving the library and he wanted to talk to us cause he knows a former bishop! Turned into a great discussion. If only it were always that easy, haha...just kidding, a mission is so wonderful because it's hard. But it'd be nice ;) 

I read Jacob 7 recently and I LOVE how Jacob responded to Sherem - he could've gone down to Sherem's level and argued, but instead - he bore TESTIMONY. Can't argue with that :) 

Also, Ether 12 is my life theme right now. I especially love verses 2, 4, and 27. 

2 NEW INVESTIGATORS! We went on exchanges last Thurs-Fri, so I left the area and SBarlow came here with SMorrow. Maybe I need to leave more often, cause they found both the investigators that day! They found Stephanie, who is BEYOND GOLDEN. She soaks everything up like a sponge! And she's feeling the Spirit stronger and stronger - she needs to be baptized ASAP! The only hurdle is her dad, who feels she's taking it too fast. We're all praying for his heart to be softened so he's comfortable with her being baptized. She's just amazing.

I haven't met our other investigator, Jalice, but hopefully will soon! We have a list of all the YSA's in the stake, most of them are less-active, that we work on every day. They were going to find someone, and a total miracle happened. They found Jasmine, who is less-active, and Jalice, who was never baptized, but both of them want to come to church! Jasmine had been thinking of coming back to church THAT DAY, and then the sisters knocked!! Wow. That actually happened. MIRACLES HAPPEN! 

SStempniak taught me a lot - it's okay to be chill, to sit back, to be silent and hold off on get-to-know-you questions. Also, God trusts me to be me.

Transfers are today, actually, but neither of us are getting transferred! OH such a relief. By the end of this transfer, SMorrow and I will have been companions for 4 1/2 months! That's a semester at college! We're best friends, so it's the greatest thing ever ;D

Haha some elders in our district made our day - instead of leaving our journals (we have journals that other missionaries sign) in a normal place, they led us around the whole church on a scavenger hunt for them! It totally made my week! I love that! :D

A favorite quote from Fast and Testimony meeting: "It's not about hiding your pain, but about showing your faith." LOVE that. 

Bear testimony all the day long, EVERYONE! 

Does anyone have any cool finding ideas?

Love you ALL!