Exciting week

Dear all,
This has been an exciting week! On Valentine's Day we thought it would
be a good idea to bring a note and flowers to some of the widows in
our ward and our investigators. So we got flowers and delivered them
that night. I LOVED seeing their faces when they saw us at he door. It
really made them and mostly ME so happy. Almost all of the elderly
ladies said that these were the first flowers they had gotten in years
and it just made me so grateful for all of the loved ones I have in my
life. Serving others -even in the simplest ways- is the best way to be
happy. You are able to forget about the struggles you may have in your
life and help someone with theirs. Not only are you helping them, but
in return our lives are blessed and we will feel that same happiness
and gratitude that those who we serve feel. On Thursday we had our
district meeting at the stake center and afterwards we were going to
have our companionship study for the day back at our apartment. We got
in the car and I suggested that we just stay here and do it in the car
so we can save miles (we get a certain number of miles each month). We
decided just to stay there and after about 20 minutes we saw President
and sister Johnson show up, the APs, and a couple other missionaries.
Sister Stevens had to go to the bathroom and so we went inside. While
I was waiting for her I asked one of the sisters what was going on.
They said it was the trainers meeting for everyone who would be
training the new missionaries coming from the MTC on Wednesday. Sister
Stevens came out and we went into one of the classrooms to study.
About 10 minutes later Sister Johnson comes in our classroom and says,
"Are you coming to the meeting??"...we both looked at each other and
said "Not that we know of..?" And then President Johnson came in and
couldn't believe he forgot to ask me. So he asked me right then if I
would train and we went right into the meeting! It was a big surprise
because usually President will ask you a week before transfers if you
will train. There were 4 other missionaries in there were going to be
training as well. I am SO excited to train a new missionary. I feel a
little out of place though because I still feel like the new
missionary haha! It will definitely be a challenge, but a lot of fun.
I remember being back in the MTC praying every morning and night for
my trainer that would be waiting for me here in Washington DC and now
I'm the one on the other side praying for my trainee!! On Friday night
we went to the Olsen family's house for dinner in our ward. They
invited Michael and his 2 boys over also, and it was a great night.
After dinner all the kids went downstairs to play and we were all able
to talk about our own testimonies and where Michael feels like he is
right now. He told us that he feels that right now is a window for a
lot of opportunities and he is just wanting to make sure that this is
the right path for him AND his boys. He has a hard time relating the
Book of Mormon with the Bible and so this week brother Olsen
challenged him to read 3 Nephi 11 and a couple other chapters with
him. It is so great when we aren't the only ones asking people to do
things such as read the Book of Mormon. It shows the investigator that
this is important in their friends' life and they sincerely want the
best for them. On Saturday it was 75 degrees! We were tracting most of
the day and so we were happy the weather was nice. We knocked on one
door and a lady in her 30's answered. She said, "Oh it's you guys!!!!!
Do you want some water???" We said that would be great and went
inside. We went out to her back deck and she said about a month
earlier she had been in Utah skiing with her daughter and they went to
temple square. She said everyone was friendly and was so surprised to
see missionaries at her actual door shortly after that experience.
It's funny.. she grew up in Pullman Washington because her dad went to
school there for a while and she nearly fell over when I told her that
I was born there hahaha. Also a lot of her family lived in Australia
and so she had connections to both of us. Her husband is from Germany
and so they have lived there on and off. We had a great conversation
about our purpose as missionaries and the message that we share. She
kept saying over and over again how she knew this wasn't a coincidence
and although she wasn't sure if she was interested right now, I know
eventually she will be down the road. On Sunday during ward council we
got a text from Lokesh (the Meena family from India) saying he had
signed up to help at a 5k for kids and he wouldn't be able to come to
church. We asked him if he could come to some of church at least and
so sure enough 20 minutes later they were all at church for the first
two hours! When they got there he told us, "I know that if I put God
first, then He will help me get everything else done". It's amazing to
see their faith growing. I was a little nervous to see how the little
girls would be with primary and being away from their parents but they
walked right in! The girls came out afterwards so happy and talking to
all the new friends they made. It made me happy and the oldest was
telling their mom in Hindi what she learned. I love being here and
love these people so much. I know Heavenly Father loves each one of us
and I am so grateful that I am able to help these people understand
and feel that same love. It is such a blessing. I hope you all have a
great week!!
Love, Sister Haertling