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 HaertlingI 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!
top picture: Washington DC Temple
middle picture: Sister Haertling and her companion Sister Freeman
bottom picture: Entrance into the metro
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