Dear all,
Happy New Year!!!! This week was a great one. Festival is over, which
is bitter sweet...since the end of November our schedule has changed
for VC sisters. We get home from the visitors around 10:30-10:45 which
means we go to bed at 11:30 and wake up at 7:30. So we are happy to
get back to the normal schedule and go to bed earlier. In the month of
December we had over 115,000 people come into the visitors center. A
lot of those people who came were non members and many wanted to learn
more.
I had a cool experience happen last night, I was standing near the
temple model and it was getting late when 3 guys in their twenties
came up to me. They were asking if I was a volunteer and what I did. I
explained my purpose as a missionary and they had lots of questions
about the church since they had friends who were members. Then their
dad came over to us and asked us, "so how do you get inside that
building (the temple)????" We told him that only members of the church
who are worthy and prepared can enter. He then said very simply, "okay
I can do that". I was really caught off guard and wanted to say
something like "wait I don't think you understood me right..you have
to be a member of the church" haha! But I asked him if he would like
to meet with missionaries and he said he was interested and would give
it a try. It was amazing and we got to teach him how he could be
sealed together with his family forever. Sometimes i fall into the
trap of thinking that everyone knows everything that I know. Things as
simple as "we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows us individually"
or "we can be with our families forever and see our loved ones again"
are a foreign concept. That is why being a missionary is such a
blessing because we can give a message of hope to so many people. Even
though a lot of times people slam the door and tell us to get off
their property or just ignore us, there are the times when people stop
to listen and want to learn more. They are the people who make it all
worth it.
We also have been teaching a man named Freburgue and his wife. They
have two older kids and live in Brazil but are here for a year and a
half. It's been really great teaching them because they are so willing
to learn. Almost half of the people we have contacted from the
Festival of Lights that want a Book of Mormon have been from Brazil
and speak Portuguese also. It's cool because both of Sister Freeman's
parents served their missions in Brazil and my dad served in Brazil!!
The weather here has been pretty bipolar. Last week we went to the
city and didn't even bring a coat, but then a couple of days later
there was a big snow storm that didn't ever stick to the ground. I
hope everyone enjoyed the Holidays. I can't believe it's 2017! Have a
great week!
Love, Sister Haertling
Bottom picture: Meeting up with Sister Wilcox (MTC companion)
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