It's amazing seeing spring begin to bloom here in DC! I can't wait for
all of the cherry blossoms. There are quite a few blooming, and then
the first week of April we get to all be in the Cherry Blossom parade
which will be really fun. On Tuesday we had specialized training for
the 6 new missionaries. It's a 6 hour meeting that only the new
missionaries and their trainers go to with President and sister
Johnson. It's always good to be able to meet with president and sister
Johnson. They are the best. On Thursday we found out that the Meena
family was in the hospital with their little girl Avni who has been
battling Leukemia. We called Lokesh (the dad) and spoke with him about
how they were doing and if they needed anything. He told us that he
would really like a blessing for Avni just so she could be comfortable
and have the strength to eat again. We got permission to go to
downtown DC with some members in our ward to the hospital. When we
walked in Avni was barely sitting up on the bed and every time she
tried leaning over on her hands, her arms would give out on her. It
was so sad to see. We brought her some flowers and snacks for their
family while they were in the hospital. She loves Lego friends and so
we played those with her for a while. The member in our ward gave her
a blessing and I could feel the spirit so strongly. I especially felt
that same overwhelming feeling of love that I felt the first time we
met with their family. It helps me understand (in the most basic way
possible) a small amount of what our Heavenly Father feels for us. I
am so grateful for the Meena family. They weren't able to come to
church on Sunday because they had just gotten home from the hospital
the night before. That night they told us that they were so thankful
for the blessing and that Avni was finally eating again. The text he
sent us said, "thank you again for coming last night. Avni is doing
much better and our prayers have been answered. We know that God is
watching over our family". I love being able to witness their faith
start to grow. On Friday morning we finally got to meet with a mother
named Miriam. We have been trying to contact her since I first got to
the mission and just now got ahold of her. She has three kids, and her
youngest son who is two years old has epilepsy. She has read parts of
the Book of Mormon before and just hasn't made time to learn more. We
taught her more about the plan of salvation and the steps that we need
to take in order to live with God and our families again forever. We
talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ mainly, and focused on faith
and baptism. She wants to be baptized especially with her kids and so
we set a date for the middle of April. We are so excited for her to
start coming to church and meeting more regularly with us. On Saturday
we had called our bishop to ask him a question and he mentioned a
ladies name that he thought might like a visit. So we went over that
morning and she was really excited to see some company. She lost her
husband 6 years ago and hasn't been to church hardly at all since
then. She said she has been praying for strength to come back. She has
2 kids and is one of the kindest and successful people I know. It was
a really nice visit and she told us about her friend down the street
who is looking for the right church to join and so we are going to
visit her this week. This week was really great, we have been doing a
lot of metro contacting. When I was in the first couple months of my
mission I really didn't like it, but I actually love metro contacting
now. We have our little metro cards that let us go on the metro
whenever we want, we sit at different parts of the metro and talk to
people about their day and get to share our testimony. Most of them
are usually pretty nice and open. s there's always the grumpy ones who
don't want anything to do with you once they see our tags, but I just
be overly friendly to them and it makes them even more mad haha!
Actually there was one time this week where we were just getting off
the metro and I went up to a guy around 20 years old and he looked
really mad. I asked him how his day was and introduced myself and
sister Cleaver. He just rolled his eyes and I stuck my hand out to
shake his and he gave me a look as if I just asked him to do some
incredibly difficult task. I thought it was pretty funny. Then I
invited him to come to the visitors center and he said some really not
so kind words haha. I just gave him a big smile and we walked away.
Usually that situation would've bothered me, but it doesn't so much
anymore. It helps remind me of the things the Savior did while he was
here on the earth. He faced so much rejection and MUCH more than we
will ever go through. I am so grateful for him and everything that he
has done for me. Missionary work is amazing, but can be difficult, but
that's because we are representatives of Jesus Christ and in being
such, requires us to walk a small SMALL path of that of the Savior. It
is the greatest blessing to know that we never have to walk alone and
He always is there to guide us in whatever we are going through!
Love, Sister Haertling
Bottom Picture: Visiting the Meena's
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