This week was SO great!! It was transfers week so sister Freeman got
transferred to one of the YSA wards. I stayed in Bethesda and am with
Sister Stevens!!! Sister Stevens is from Australia and came out with
me from the MTC but previously had to wait in Australia for her Visa.
So technically she has been out for 6 months. She was born in England,
her parents are from Zimbabwe and South Africa, then she moved to
Australia when she was 12. She has the coolest accent and sometimes
when we are saying things together I start talking like her haha! But
we get along great and are loving it! We had transfers on Wednesday
and it's always a pretty funny sight to see all the missionaries in
the church parking lot hauling their suitcases and the random things
they have collected over time to other cars. A new change for me is
that I'm now driving! There's always a designated driver in each
companionship and it's been sister Freeman for the last 2 transfers.
So it was weird being behind the wheel again. Traffic here is nothing
like rd 68 in pasco that's for sure...you have to weave in and out on
the big 6 lane freeways and hope someone's nice enough to let you in.
Usually they aren't very nice and will honk at you but I'm used to it
now. On Saturday I had an amazing experience that I will never forget.
We had the greatest opportunity to have an unexpected meeting with all
of the DC north and south mission to hear from Elder Ballard and Elder
Rasband. We left to drive to Virginia at 6:00 that morning and got to
the stake center about 7:00. Then we waited for Elder Rasband and
Elder Ballard to arrive and took pictures with all of the mission. It
was completely silent when they walked into the gym to take the
pictures with us and I will never forget that feeling. Elder Ballard
is a very funny man and we were all surprised how much he likes to
joke around with us. Along with them we got to hear from Elder Randal
K Bennett, Elder Gong, Elder Meurs and elder Perkins all from the
seventy. When we walked out of the gym into the chapel we all got to
shake their hands and say hello to them which was such a neat
experience. Elder Rasband told us that he only knows of one other time
when he was in a meeting with missionaries where there was more than
one apostle coming to speak to a mission. We felt pretty lucky. They
all talked to us about how we can be better teachers. Asking more
inspired questions, listening with love, allowing the spirit to be
with us and praying for those we teach are a few of the things each
person talked about. Elder Gong asked Elder Ballard on the drive over
to the meeting how he wasn't tired after a flight and being in
meetings nonstop and his response was, "if I ever get tired, I always
picture Jesus Christ in the garden of gethsemane". I loved that and
will always remember that when we have especially long days. Elder
Ballard taught us about talking to EVERYONE we see. Their testimonies
were so powerful and I loved singing all together. We were lucky and
got to sit on the very front row in the chapel and so we got to sit
literally 5 steps away from them the whole meeting. It was crazy to
think that I was just watching them in the MTC for general conference
and there they were almost arms length away speaking to our mission.
It was one of the most spiritual meetings I've ever been in and will
never forget it. On Thursdays we don't go into the VC at all and so we
have a full proselyting day. We went tracting that day and sister
Stevens was super excited to be in a new area to tract. It was raining
pretty hard and we started on a neighborhood. We just went down the
street and knocked every door until we made the loop back. Every
single door except one cut us off before we were even done talking and
just slammed the door in our face. One even told us they were calling
someone to get us out of their neighborhood and sure enough, right
when we were back on the car to go to the next neighborhood there was
some kind of truck with its flashing lights on driving to the woman's
house that complained looking around. We left right in time though
luckily. And I don't think he could've done anything anyways. Anyways,
right after that not so fun experience we were ready to go back home
but felt like we should go to a mans house ( his name is Fayiah) that
we've tried getting a hold of so many times before and have never met.
We were soaking wet and pretty discouraged but we were close and
decided to just go. We walked up to the house and a woman answered the
door. She said they had company and her husband wasn't home so we told
them we would come by another time. They live in an apartment complex
and so as we were walking back to the parking lot I saw a man getting
out of his car. I had the strongest feeling telling me to talk to him
but he was a ways away and we had to get home on time. The feeling
came again so i started walking over to him and asked him how his day
was. I asked what his name was and it was Fayiah!!! We were just
smiling really big and told him how we were just at his apartment! He
told us he would love for us to come and meet his family and that his
dad was a member of the church too. We are going over this Thursday
and are pretty excited. The family that I talked about last week with
the two little boys had to move their appointment but still texts us
to let us know how they are doing and invited us over for dinner this
week. We have such a great feeling about them and their friends who
are in our ward have been such a great help with everything. We also
had a lesson with a girl named Madeline who came into the VC for
Festival of Lights (this was when I was companions with sister
freeman) . We met with her on Sunday and she even cancelled work so
that she could meet with us. She told us that she has been going
through a lot emotionally and is interested in learning more about
what we have. We get along great with her and share a lot of the same
interests. She is going to school here and is 19 years old. We will
have to pass her to the YSA missionaries because she is 19, but the
amazing news is that sister Freeman got transferred to the YSA ward
and so she already knows her and gets to teach her! We are so excited
and so is Madeline. Our VC directors are leaving to go home today
which is really sad. I have grown to love them so much. We see them
every day and elder fowler is incredible. He is the greatest example
of dedicating his life to the Lord. He was a general authority when he
was young and ever since then has been on missions and in callings
that require so much of him. The entire 2 years that he was a
missionary here he never took one pday. He told us all that he wants
to seal us all in the temple and if we already have someone to seal us
then he at least had to be at the wedding haha. I just think the world
of him and will really miss the fowlers. But the new VC director and
his wife will be here now and we are excited to get to know them too!
This week has been great and there is so much work to be done in the
Bethesda area. Hope you all have a great week!
Love, sister Haertling
Top picture: Sister Haertling with her new companion Sister Stevens
Middle picture: Sister Haertling and Stevens with the Visitor Center director Elder Fowler
Bottom picture: Sister Haertling and Sister Stevens
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