Last P-Day of 2016

Dear everyone,
Today we went to the city, so I don't have much time to write. Serving
in Washington DC is amazing! Christmas this past week was great and I
loved getting to talk to my family. The visitors' center has been
crazy to say the least...on Christmas night the visitor center sisters
all sang for the performance (there are performances every night
during December) and there were over 9,000 people there!!! Every seat
in the auditorium downstairs was full for both performances. We have
had so many non members come in to the VC and accept to learn more
from missionaries. December has been full of miracles, and I love
being able to see them with all of the sisters at the visitors center.
This week we were going to check up on a referral but couldn't find
the right apartment. We knocked on a door and there was an older lady
who answered. She said that she didn't know the person we were looking
for so we went to the next one. A couple minutes later the older lady
opened the door and told us to come inside. She wanted to know why we
were dressed up and what our name tags were for. We explained that we
were missionaries and she told us she was catholic. We sat down with
her and we talked about her family. She lost her husband almost 20
years ago and she was struggling with health/mental problems so she
can't ever get out of the house. She lives alone and doesn't really
ever get to talk to anyone. We prayed with her and she started crying.
We talked about how Heavenly knows her and Christ knows exactly how
she feels. We had to go to the visitors center but she didn't want us
to leave so we set up another appointment for next week. It made me so
grateful for what I have and I loved talking to her because we could
tell she needed someone to just simply talk to that afternoon. I love
being able to serve every day and I love being on a mission. There's
nowhere I'd rather be and I'm grateful I have the opportunity to be
here. It really is a blessing. I hope you all had a great Christmas!!
I love you all.
Love, Sister Haertling

Top picture: Washington DC North Missionaries
Middle picture:  Smithsonian Castle
Bottom picture:  Hirshhorn Museum

Merry Christmas

Dear all,
Merry Christmas!! I can't believe it's Christmas THIS Sunday already..
this week has been very busy, but we have seen so many miracles. Sorry
I wasn't able to send a big email last week, I've been sick and our
pday was cut short. One experience that I had though last week was one
that I will always remember. It was last Saturday night I had been
sick for a week and none of the doctors were able to help me so I was
frustrated. I hadn't been able to eat for that week because the sores
in my mouth and I just wanted to get back to normal missionary work. I
had been praying for that whole week so hard that I could just be
healthy and everything was just getting worse..so we were at the
emergency room on Saturday and the doctor was doing a lot of tests to
try and figure out what was wrong with me and at this point I was
really wanting my mom there next to me and just felt really alone. I
was confused why I was so sick as a missionary and felt like Heavenly
Father wasn't answering me. They were taking some blood, when I looked
down and saw that drop of blood I had a very, VERY direct and clear
thought that I know wasn't my own. The words I heard were, "I bled
from every pore". It was so strong and I knew right then that Jesus
Christ knew what I was feeling and Heavenly Father was aware of my
struggles. It was an experience I will never forget, and I am so
thankful we have a savior who knows exactly what we are going through
all the time. This Tuesday a nice lady in our ward invited us over
because she was making seafood for us since she heard I had been sick
the last week and needed to "boost my immune system" haha. She is
Chinese and so it was a mix of Chinese food and seafood. It was so
sweet of her because she had been preparing it all day long and was so
excited to feed it to us. A lot of the fish I wasn't even sure what I
was eating and the texture was really different but I had to just keep
thinking of Cayden in Zimbabwe and the things he has to eat haha. It
didn't help when I was eating some ball of fish/eggs/something else
and she told us that almost all of what we were eating had been
crawling or swimming earlier that morning...haha. But I'm grateful for
amazing members who always invite us over. On Wednesday I was standing
in the visitors center and had just gotten done teaching a man. Right
when you walk into the visitors center there is a big statue of
Christ. I was standing there when a little girl around the age of 4
walked by holding her moms hand. I could tell they weren't members of
the church. They were walking past the statue in a hurry trying to get
out the door when I saw the little girl look up at Christ and say,
"mommy, He was holding me in heaven". It completely caught the mother
off guard and she just stopped and looked at her daughter. Right then
one of the senior missionaries walked up to me and needed my help
finding more pamphlets so I'm not sure what ever happened, but I felt
the spirit so strong from that innocent little girl. I love when the
little kids come in and just want to be by the big statue of Christ.
They are so drawn to Him and it is amazing to see how much they love
Him. Every night now there are sisters from the Baltimore mission or
the Washington DC South mission that come in to help with the Festival
of Lights because it is so busy and so we go on exchanges with them
every night. It's fun having a different companion every night for a
couple of hours in the VC. On Friday night it was about 9:45 and we
were getting ready to close. I was standing in one of the rooms with
the nativities from all over the world and started talking to a man
from Guatemala who had a sleeping daughter on his shoulder. I was
asking him about his family and their beliefs for a while when elder
Fowler (our VC director) walked up to us, put his hand on the man's
daughter and said, "She's yours right? Well do you want to live with
her forever?" The man answered yes and elder Fowler said, "Well that's
why we have temples, you can be sealed to your family for time and all
eternity". The man asked if we had anything he could read to know more
about our religion and I explained to him about he Book of Mormon. He
asked where he could find one and I told him we had a whole room in
the back filled with them in every language he could think of. I asked
if he would like to learn more from local missionaries and he said he
would like that a lot. It was such a great example to me about how
lots of people are just waiting and so prepared to hear more about the
restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I get scared that people
are going to think I am too pushy or they will say no, but really it's
not like that and it's ok if they say no! At least they are being
given the opportunity and later down the road they may be more open to
learning more. I was able to meet quite a few people from Pasco this
week that came into the VC which was really fun. I didn't know them,
but we knew mutual people. There was a family that came into the
Festival of Lights about a week ago and they moved here from India
about 5 years ago. They have a little baby and just came to see the
lights. Sister missionaries taught them while they were there and they
eventually said they would be willing to meet with missionaries. So
since they live in the Bethesda area, we are the missionaries who get
to teach them. We went over to their house on Saturday and were able
to teach them the first lesson. Before we were even able to ask them
anything they asked us if they could come to church with us. We are so
excited and they told us they had started to read the Book of Mormon.
Another great teaching opportunity we have had is with an older lady
named Mary. She also came to the VC for the Festival of Lights and she
was interested in meeting with missionaries too. We got to teach her
there and found out that she lives in our same apartment complex. We
went over last night and got to teach her about the restoration and
the priesthood power. She was so sweet and told us she had the Mormon
tabernacle choir recorded if we wanted to watch it and was dressed up
really nice in a dress since we were coming over. She told us she
would be interested in coming to church on Sunday for Christmas and
asked us to come over again to teach her more. It was amazing. I love
being able to serve at the visitors center. There are so many miracles
that happen there on dedicated ground and I know people can feel the
spirit there. I hope you all have a great Christmas, I love and
appreciate you all so much!
Love, Sister Haertling

Festival of Lights begins!

Dear all,
Where do I begin, this week has been absolutely crazy!! On Tuesday we
had ambassador night at the VC which is a big event closed to the
public where ambassadors from countries around the world come. The
Marriotts host the event and the visitors center puts on a big
lighting ceremony. It's such an amazing experience but it is different
because as missionaries we aren't allowed to talk about the church
with the people there even if they ask us questions about the church.
If they do ask us we are supposed to let someone from the public
affairs talk to them more. It is a really formal event so we got
dressed up for it and they even told us to take more time getting
ready and look our best. It felt so weird because as missionaries we
don't have much time to get ready in the morning and usually are told
to always look professional but not take much time or effort into
outward appearance.. so that was different. Some of the things we did
at ambassador night and diplomat night were greeting them, passing out
programs/ushering, taking all the fancy coats, and handing out gift
bags. Being a missionary here in the VC feels a little strange
sometimes, just because of the events that go on and things we do but
I love it and there are so many neat experiences. There is usually
always a general authority at ambassador night and this year Elder
Stevenson was the one to come. He spoke about bringing hope to the
world through our examples. It was really cool because the ambassador
that helped turn on the Christmas lights was from Japan and elder
Stevenson served his mission in Japan as well as serving as a mission
president there. They had a choir come and sing as well as Sandra
Turley who is an amazing singer in our stake who performs on broadway.
After brother Marriott spoke and Elder Stevenson, they pressed the big
button that turns on the 800,000 lights. It's so amazing. When elder
Stevenson first came in I didn't see him but all of the sudden he was
right in front of me and shaking my hand. He asked me a couple of
questions about my mission and then left. After the ceremony he came
over to all the VC sisters and talked to us again. He got some
pictures with all of us (I only have one, but hopefully next week I'll
be able to get the rest). On Wednesday we had diplomat night which is
just like ambassador night but more people come from different
embassies and they hold the ceremony in the big theater downstairs.
They have a reception outside afterwards but it was pouring rain so
people didn't stay very long. On Thursday we finally could get back to
the normal missionary schedule and Festival of Lights finally started.
The VC is open now from 10am-10pm which means most nights we don't get
home until 10:45 or 11. Luckily we get an extra hour to sleep in the
morning. I had heard that Festival of Lights is crazy...but I didn't
realize how crazy..we had over 6,000 people in the VC just in the
first two nights. I was talking to one of the sisters who was here
last year at Festival of Lights and she laughed and said that in the
next week and a half we will have over 6,000 people in just one night!
There are so many non members that come into the VC that just love
coming to see the lights and the shows every night. On Thursday night
as I was walking around in the front of the VC I saw 2 guys that
looked familiar and realized it was Studio C! They had been at the
stake center next door for #lighttheworld collecting donations of
clothes and visiting with everyone there. I got a picture with them
and a sister I was with asked one of them to do his "lobster bisque"
thing from one of their skits. If you've never watched the studio C
skit with the lobster bisque then it's probably not very funny, but he
said "lobster bisque with sister Haertling and sister Stephan at the
Washington DC temple visitors center". We thought it was pretty funny.
So one of the rooms in the visitors center is filled with amazing
nativities from different countries around the world. Besides the
lights and performances, that room is why so many people come. I was
walking around talking to people on Friday night when a man came up to
me and asked me what the room was. His name is Pavell and he's about
60 years old. He barely spoke any English, so it was hard to
understand him. I could tell he spoke Russian and so since I know a
few things in Russian I introduced myself in his language. His face
lit up and started speaking Russian super fast. I told him that was
about all I knew and he was surprised because he told me he thought I
looked Russian. We ended up talking (or at least trying to understand
each other) for about an hour. He loved the new Christmas video and
after he watched it he wiped a tear from his eye. We both felt the
spirit so strong. I asked him if he would be interested in meeting
with missionaries and that they could give him a Russian Book of
Mormon. He said he would and wrote down his information so I could
send it to the missionaries. Later on that night I was walking around
and saw Pavell again but he was talking to some of his friends that he
came with. He waved for me to come over and said to them, "guys this
is my new friend I want you to meet her". It was so sweet! On Sunday
night a family of 3 came into the VC. They had a couple of questions
but the dad was just making little sarcastic comments about Joseph
smith and other things. We ended up talking for an hour and a half and
were able to clear up so many misconceptions they had about the
church. They said it made so much sense and that we had a lot of
similarities with their beliefs. We watched the new Christmas video
and the wife was crying at the end. I could tell they all felt the
spirit. They were so interested in the Book of Mormon and all wanted a
copy. We got their information and they said it would be okay for the
missionaries to bring it by and talk to them. The parents live in
North Carolina, but the daughter who lives here actually lives in the
Bethesda area so we get to teach her!! I have seen so many miracles
already with Festival and even though the nights are long and our feet
feel like they are going to fall off by the end of each night, it is
so so SO worth it to see how many peoples lives can be changed and see
the spirit work in them. I am so lucky and thankful to get to serve in
the VC and love being here in Washington DC!! Thank you for your love
and prayers!
Love, Sister Haertling

Top picture:  meeting Elder Gary E. Stevenson
Middle picture:  ambassador night
Bottom picture:  beautiful temple in the rain 

week 10

Dear all,

Being on a mission during the holidays can definitely be hard, but it is also such a blessing. Our whole purpose as missionaries is to invite and bring closer to Jesus Christ and during the holidays it is even easier to keep that focus. On Monday we went to a member's house with April. April is one of my favorite people. She is in her late 20's and comes to the Bethesda family ward instead of the singles ward. --speaking of singles wards...this past Sunday during stake conference they announced that because there are so many single adults here in DC they are forming a single adult stake-- anyways, the three of us went to a member's house named Brother Cook who lives by himself and is an older man. something I loved that we talked about was taking control of your own joy. A lot of times during the holidays it is easy to get caught up in the receiving end or what we want to get. When we do this we are putting our joy in the hands of someone else. When we don't get what we were hoping for we get disappointed and forget the whole meaning behind the season. But when we focus on what we can do to help others and serve them, we are in control of our own happiness and forget about ourselves. The new Christmas initiative that is up on Mormon.org is so great and makes missionary work even easier! It gives us step by step what we can do to turn outward and help others. We can share that light of Christ through our examples and service to others. Something that we have been focusing on in our area lately is the part member families in our ward. We have 52 part member families and have been getting to know them better. We stopped by one house this week and met Todd, who is the father of an active family in our ward but he is not a member. We found out that his in laws are missionaries at the visitors center that we absolutely adore and love so much. He was the only one home at the time so we couldn't go inside to teach him but he told us we were welcome back to talk more with him again when his family was home. On Wednesday we went to a referral that we had for a lady named Darlene. A man answered the door and he didn't look very happy that we were on his porch. He came outside and shut the door and asked why we were there. We told him that his wife had been interested in meeting with missionaries. He told us he wasn't too interested but appreciated the work we were doing. He asked us if we could pray with him which really caught me off guard, but we did and we asked if we could come back and take his leaves for him. He told us he would just blow them all off anyways but we persisted and he finally gave in. We showed up a couple days later at the time we told him we would be there and he was surprised that we actually remembered. The three of us all raked his front yard and we got to know him pretty well. He and his wife have done some amazing things and have traveled all over the world. He has grown up in the Catholic Church all his life but he said he struggles with it because there's a lot of things that he doesn't agree with. All of the issues that he told us about with his church, we were able to show him in the Book of Mormon where those exact issues are talked about and our stand on them. He really loved what we said about it all and we were able to teach the entire first lesson on the restoration with him. When we brought up the Book of Mormon he told us he really would like one before we could even ask and he told us he was going to read it. It was so amazing. We are going back this week to meet his wife, who originally was the one who wanted to learn more from the missionaries. For Thanksgiving we weren't able to proselyte so we went to April's house to help make Thanksgiving with her. She nannys for a Jewish family and they like when we come over so we got to answer lots of questions they had and were able to teach a little bit. April also had a friend from out of town that is not active in the church at all and is actually really against it. She told April she hates the missionaries so we were kinda nervous going over. We met her, her name is Carrie, and slowly she opened up to us. The next time we got to see her she gave us a hug and told us she was going to miss us. April said Carrie loved us and talked about us all day. I was so surprised at how fast she changed her mind! We didn't eat with April because another member had signed up to feed us that day, the Mermiets who live here in Bethesda but work at the VC with us. They have a son who isn't active and his wife and daughter aren't members. They had so many questions for us and we loved getting to know them better. We shared the story of the Jaredites and their journey across the sea. We explained how the only way they were able to get to their destination was by the stormy seas, the wind and the waves. A lot of times in our lives we just want smooth sailing, but really those trials and hard times in our lives are what help direct us here in life. I love how immediately when the Jaredite people arrive there, they thank Heavenly Father. Sometimes it's easy to forget to thank Heavenly Father for our trials, but they are really blessings to help us become what He wants us to be. Yesterday at church we were able to teach the young women in our ward. They were really quiet..but it was still fun to be back in young women's and teach them. This week the Festival of Lights start...things are starting to get crazy. Last night they tested out the lights for the first time and it is beautiful. This year they put over 850,00 lights around the temple parking lot and visitor center. I'll send lots of pictures next week! I hope you all had a great thanksgiving. Love you all! 

Love, Sister Haertling 

Top and middle pictures:  Lights at the temple and visitor center

Bottom:  Matching pjs and Christmas cheer

2 month mark!

Hello everyone! Sorry I don't have much time this week to write, but
there's not much to write about! We've been tracting a lot and trying
to find new investigators. The temperature dropped about 40 degrees
this week but we are starting to adjust to it. We had a referral this
week for someone who went online to Mormon.org and requested a Bible
her name is Miriam. We got to the house and it was huge! The lady who
lives there opened the door and we asked if she had requested a bible.
She told us no and that we had the wrong address. We asked her one
more time just to make sure and then a lady who worked at the house
poked her head around the corner and told us she had ordered it! We
are going to go back tomorrow to teach her more. Something I have been
studying this week is Christlike love and charity. I've learned that
our ability to love others increases as we see everyone as Christ
did/does. There is a talk by Gene R Cook from April 2002 conference
titled Charity: Perfect and Everlasting Love. When we truly see people
children of God, we will be able to feel His love even more in our
life. With that love, we can share it and be able to help so many
people find it too. Have a great Thanksgiving, I love you all!
Love, Sister Haertling

Top picture: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Middle picture:  Cute Sister Haertling at the temple
Bottom picture:  Isn't it beautiful?

"Our focus should be on righteousness, not recognition; on service, not status."

Dear all,
Since I had P-day on Wednesday last week, I don't have that much to
write about, but time is starting to fly by! On Friday we had
specialized training for my group of missionaries that got here last
month. We got our iPads which is so nice! Planning, teaching and
trying to navigate around here is a lot easier. We are really lucky to
have them. On Saturday the VC was packed! There was one man who was
from Thailand and he was very interested in learning more. We gave him
a Thai Book of Mormon and he loved it. He gave us his information and
he's going to come back next weekend. Today we got to go to the city!
It was a really fun experience, but there is so much to see! We went
to the botanical gardens which is a museum that has all of the
different climates from around the world. We went to the capital
building, the Washington monument and the Lincoln memorial. We met a
man while we were metro contacting this week named Douglas. We were
able to talk to him for a while and he had just lost some family
members. He said with everything else going on in the world, he's lost
a lot of hope. We told him about what we believe and the hope that
comes from our Savior Jesus Christ. He said he would be interested in
learning more. He is coming to the visitors center during the Festival
of Lights and is going to meet with us more. Since we aren't in his
area we have to pass him, but we can still teach him online because we
have the teaching center in the VC. That's the nice thing about being
in the VC is that we get to stay in contact with people even if we
aren't in their area to teach them in person! I'm reading in Mosiah
right now and love learning about service. Especially this time of
year as we get closer to Christmas. Something I loved was a quote by
President Howard W. Hunter. He said, “Continue to seek opportunities
for service. Don’t be overly concerned with status. … It is important
to be appreciated. But our focus should be on righteousness, not
recognition; on service, not status. The faithful visiting teacher,
who quietly goes about her work month after month, is just as
important to the work of the Lord as those who occupy what some see as
more prominent positions in the Church. Visibility does not equate to
value". Oh and thank you to everyone In the ward for the Christmas
poster! (I didn't know it was for Christmas haha sorry I read it
anyways) I love reading everything from you all! Hope you all have a
great week!
Love, Sister Haertling

top picture:  Visiting the Washington Monument

middle picture:  The Capitol Building

bottom picture:  getting ipad training and their new ipads, 

November already!

Dear all,

Happy November!! Fall in Washington DC is beautiful. On Tuesday we had exchanges which means that we switch companions for a day/night with one of the Sister Training leaders. I went with sister Acosta who is in the Spanish speaking area. Our ward is pretty good about feeding the missionaries for dinner...but wow the Spanish branch feeds their missionaries like crazy! It was fun to see a different area. None of the investigators that we taught spoke any English so I just sat and tried to understand some of it. I was actually able to understand almost everything, or at least have some idea of what they were talking about. Sister Acosta and I had 3 referrals (people that we didn’t know that said they would be interested in learning more about the gospel) that we were going to go visit for the first time. The first address we went to led us to the end of a street that was wrong. We went to turn around and had a feeling that we needed to knock on the house in front of us. We knocked and waited at the door, but nobody ever answered. I felt a little discouraged because we both had such a strong feeling about knocking on this particular house. So we decided to go to the next referral. It was completely across town. When we got there they said they weren’t interested anymore. We went to check the last referral and plugged in the last address. When we pulled into the driveway we realized that the house we were going to was the exact same house that we both had an impression to knock on that first time. It was crazy! We knew that there was a reason why we had that impression. They still weren’t home so we left a note with our phone number on it. It was such a great experience and even though that family might not be interested right now, it was such a testimony builder to me that the Spirit is real and can guide us exactly where we need to be at the right time. On Wednesday I was back with Sister Freeman. We had zone conference all day where the AP’s, zone leaders, and President and sister Johnson taught us. We learned more about teaching the Plan of Salvation and the importance of planning. That night we went to check up on a less active member in our ward that we both had never met. We pulled into the neighborhood and realized she lives in “the mansions”. That area is one of the richest parts in Maryland by far and has the biggest houses I have ever seen haha! She wasn’t home and our backup plan was to go tracting around her house...so we decided to tract the mansions! The driveways were like a quarter mile long each and there weren’t any street lights/lamps so we couldn’t see where we were walking. We went up to one house and while we were walking up the long driveway we heard movement in the forest next to us. We just walked faster and finally got to the front door. We knocked and waited for about a minute, but the lights were out and nobody answered. We turned around and about 15 feet in front of us were 13 or 14 deer just staring at us blocking the driveway where we had just walked… Sister Freeman and I froze and even though we knew the deer wouldn’t do anything, we immediately grabbed each other and started laughing/quietly squealing. They wouldn’t move so we waited there and stared back until they left. Because it was pitch black and all of these mansions seemed empty and dark, we ran back to our car which was about a mile away. It was quite the adventure.  On Friday we had VC training and we talked a lot about repentance. A lot of times we think of repentance as going through the “checklist of R’s” (recognition, remorse, restitution, reformation, resolution). Although this is obviously very important and part of the process, a lot of times we can easily overlook the most important R that isn’t listed. Redeemer. There is so much power in the Atonement and it is always available to us. I love our Savior Jesus Christ so much and love being able to bear my testimony of Him everyday. We met a man named Winston while we were waiting for the metro, who took one look at our name tags and said he was already saved...we ended up walking to the metro together and talked for 20 minutes. He is Jewish and was up here visiting his daughter taking her to a Broadway musical or something. On Monday we taught Doris it was kinda hard because she doesn't understand the whole reverence concept in church.. She likes to clap and sing and dance, and it doesn’t make sense to her why she has to sit there and be quiet. Other than that, everything else is going great with her. On our way home that night we got lost..again.. and after 30 minutes of going in circles and almost hitting 5 deer we prayed. Less than 2 minutes later we found the road we were looking for. We thanked Heavenly Father once we knew where we were exactly and I felt an overwhelming feeling that Heavenly Father was aware of the small struggles in my life as well as the bigger ones. He is there for us no matter what, all we have to do is turn to Him. In the VC we have been decorating for Christmas while it's slow and while we were doing that, we got a call from the temple front desk saying that there was a group of monks meditating outside the temple and we should go see them. We went out and met them and showed them the lobby of the temple. They wanted to see the inside so we took them to the visitors center where we have the big temple model of everything inside. They loved it and said they would be back next week. This time of year is starting to get busy. I am so excited for the Festival of Lights which starts December 1st. They are almost finished with the 650,00 Christmas lights outside! Today we were able to go to the temple. We get to go 4 times a year and I was so excited to be inside for the first time there! It was such an amazing experience and I am so grateful to be so close to it. I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Sister Haertling

top picture: fall in Washington DC
middle picture:  talks with monks outside the temple
bottom picture:  beautiful fall landscape 

Happy Halloween

Dear all, 

This week has flown by! I am really starting to love the people here in DC. On Wednesday we were walking to the metro behind our apartment and started talking to a girl named Jessica. She said she had little religious background and has actually been looking for something new in her life. She is from Brazil and told us she would love to meet with us. We will see her again on Wednesday and hopefully she will want to keep meeting with us!! So we went to visit the family that we prayed about last week (we found out their last name is Perry) and they weren't home. We stopped by yesterday and only the mom answered the door. She said she thought the work we were doing was great, but she wasn't interested. I wish the dad would've been home, but that's alright. There were so many miracles with that family and I know that it will all happen in the Lord's timing. The Visitors Center is starting to get a little busier and we have been teaching a lot of people there. Before I came our here I thought that mostly members come to the visitors center, but there are actually so many non-members too! On Saturday we had a Jewish couple come in that we thought were members. We started talking to them and quickly realized they weren't. They had so many questions and ended up talking to Sister Freeman and I for almost 3 hours. It was crazy! They said they might be interested in learning more from the missionaries. We got their number and will stay in contact with them. We taught around 10 other non-members that day and it is such a neat experience being able to see them understand and want to know more about Jesus Christ. A lot of people just see a huge white building off the beltway and want to know what it is, but it is still great being able to teach them and plant that seed. Something that has been bringing a lot of people into the VC (visitors center) is the election. I don't get to see the news or anything so I don't know, but so many people have said they see the Mormon church from the news or something related to the election and want to know what it's all about. We had our Ward Halloween party this week and it was pretty fun. Sister Freeman and I just wore the same outfit and said we were thing 1 and thing 2. I love the Bethesda ward! They are always talking to us and wanting to know how to help. It makes such a huge difference when the members are involved. Also on Saturday, a lady in our ward named Bernice was able to go through the temple for the first time. It was so neat to see how excited she was for that. She was baptized 20 years ago, but fell away from the church. About a year ago she decided she was missing something and came back. Her sister missionary that baptized her flew out to be with her. Bernice is one of the kindest, funniest and friendliest people in the world. Another one of my favorite people is Marti. He is about 65 years old and lives with his tiny little service dog Duke. Duke comes to church with him on Sunday and everyone in the ward knows him. Marti got baptized a year ago and has the best stories to tell. He is a great example of someone who is selfless and a friend to everyone. On Sunday, our mission president and his wife, The Johnsons, came to speak to our ward about missionary work. Then for combined third hour we talked about missionary work too. It was perfect! This morning we were able to have a special training for VC sisters by Brother Lusvardi. He is in charge of all the visitors centers and all the media for the church. We were able to see the new Christmas video that will come out next month. it was amazing!! I can't wait for you all to see it! Something I am really learning is the Atonement. I probably say that every week, but it is real! I am starting to understand how when we have hard times and rely on the Atonement, it's not Christ taking the burden from us, it is finding the strength through Christ to get through the trial. My love for Him has grown so much. I hope you all have a happy Halloween and great rest of your week! 

Love, Sister Haertling

top picture: twinning companions

middle picture: Marti and Duke

bottom picture: Washington DC temple big and small

Week 5

Dear all,
I made it to DC!!! Missionary life is great. It has its ups and downs but I'm already falling in love with DC. We left the MTC at 4:30 am on Tuesday and got here around 3:00 pm. The flight was about 4 hours long. Flying in to DC is so pretty and you fly right past the Washington Monument and see all of the museums. Our mission president and his wife are the greatest and I love them so much. President and sister Johnson picked us up (there was 10 of us- 7 sisters and 3 elders). We went straight to see the temple and then got to see the visitors center. The temple is gorgeous!! As you are driving along the beltway through all the trees, you turn the corner and there it is. I can't get over how big and beautiful it is.  Then we went to the mission home and stayed there for the night. We had dinner, talked with some of the missionaries that came to help out and had a testimony meeting. It's been an adjustment being out on a mission and difficult, but President Johnson is one of the sweetest men I have ever met and is always telling me how right now he is my biggest cheerleader. He was able to give me a blessing and it was just what I needed. I am really lucky and am in a mission that has cars and ipads. I won't get my ipad until next transfer in a couple weeks, but my companion Sister Freeman just lets me use hers if I need something. It is so nice when we are teaching a lesson to be able to just pull up a video to use. The DC visitor center is amazing!! One of my favorite parts is the temple model. It shows every room of the temple and everything is up to date. Even the plants are exactly how it looks in the temple. It is so helpful for investigators who come in because it helps them understand that the temple is not a secret thing, just sacred and the promises we make to Heavenly Father inside are something so special. It is everyone's favorite thing to look at. I am in the Bethesda area right now and it is beautiful! ​​My companion is Sister Freeman and she is the best. She is from Arizona and is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. We get along so great and I love having her as a trainer. We are at the visitors center 6 hours each day. Sometimes we have shift in the morning, and other days at night. The other half of the day we are out proselyting. One of my favorite ways of contacting is going on the metro. We all have metro cards that let us go on the metro as much as we need to. Our apartment building is close to a metro station and so we can just ride the metro and talk to people that way. We go door to door tracting a lot too and have had some good experiences, as well as doors slammed in the face. Most people are pretty respectful though. This week something that Sister Freeman and I have been working on is praying for specific things and then having the faith that they will happen. Thursday morning we prayed in the morning that we would be able to find a family with kids that would be really interested in learning more. We went to teach a lesson to one of our investigators named Doris and she was sick so we went tracting around her neighborhood instead. We knocked on about the 6th house and a little girl opened the door. Her dad came around and talked to us for a little bit. We asked if they would be interested in hearing a message and the dad asked the two girls if they thought they should let us in. They both yelled yes and wanted us to come in so bad. We shared the video "He Lives" and talked for a couple minutes about their religious beliefs. The dad had a meeting and so we couldn't stay long but the girls wanted to learn more. We told them we would be back in the next week. They are such an amazing family and Sister Freeman and I both had tears in our eyes as we left the house. She has been out for a year and that was the first time she has ever been let into a house from tracting. We both felt the Spirit so strong and can't wait to go back. Later in the week some of the sisters that are in the visitor center too came up to us and told us that they ran into a lady who nannys a couple little girls said how some sister missionaries came over a few nights earlier. The nanny said she heard the lesson from the kitchen and all the girls have been talking about is having the missionaries come back. Sister Freeman and I had been fasting and praying for this family and when we heard this we were so happy. We cannot wait to go back and talk with them more!! I know Heavenly Father hears us and will answer our prayers. My first Sunday here was the Primary program and it was great. It is always such a good reminder of how simple the gospel is and what sweet spirit's children have. Thank you all for the prayers and support you give me. Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Haertling

top picture: Washington DC Temple

middle picture: Sister Haertling and her companion Sister Freeman

bottom picture: Entrance into the metro 

Off to D.C.

Today Sister Haertling left the MTC and entered the mission field.  A very kind person took her picture at the Salt Lake City airport and texted it to me.  I have had so many tender mercies since Sarah has left on her mission.  I love being a missionary mom.