> I have soooo much to write about from the past week and a half!! We
> haven't had pday for a week and a half because we got to go to the
> temple today! We had Zone Conference last Tuesday and it was all about
> diligence. We talked about how we can be diligent in our prayers,
> scripture study and fasting. On Wednesday we had an appointment with a
> man named Henry who we were meeting for the first time. We met
> at......Barnes and Nobles....(He was the one who picked it... out of
> all the places in Bethesda) if you read my last email you'll get it
> hahaha. But this experience was one of the greatest experiences on my
> mission. A lot better than last time at Barnes and Noble! Henry and
> his wife are both nurses in the military and have a little girl. He
> knows a little bit about the church and had so many amazing, sincere
> questions for us. We talked about the restoration, plan of salvation
> and temples. He was just so curious!! We invited him to be baptized
> and he said yes! The sad thing is that they are moving 30 minutes away
> in a week, but the important thing is that he and his family will be
> able to join the church!! On Thursday we had a really cool opportunity
> to teach a group of teachers in the community. Sister Johnson asked
> The elders in our ward and ourselves to teach the class. It was kind
> of a different teaching opportunity because it was a comparative
> religions class. It was a lot about the history of the the church, but
> we also talked about personal revelation, the temple, and the Book of
> Mormon. It was a good chance to study the gospel topics essays that
> the church has on more of the controversial topics like race and the
> priesthood, gay marriage, and polygamy which were a lot of the
> questions they asked about. It was a two hour class, so we put
> together a PowerPoint and all taught different points. Something
> really cool was at the beginning we asked how many of them had met
> missionaries before and all of them had, but almost 15 out of the
> group of 40 had met them within the past couple of weeks. One lady
> came up to us afterwards and told us that she had just met the
> missionaries last week and never got their information and now is
> interested in learning more! It was really great. On Friday we were
> out tracting for most of the day. We knocked on one house and we
> talked for a little while. Then we asked him some questions about why
> he thought he was here on earth and what his purpose is. He told us he
> really didn't know and has been wondering about it for a while. Then
> we told him that we knew God loved him and had a plan for him and that
> he had a purpose here. He was really interested in learning more. He
> is 21 years old and going to school right now and since he was the
> only one home we couldn't go inside to teach him, so we just stayed
> onside on the porch. We taught the first lesson and by the end he was
> asking about how he could be baptized!!! The spirit was so strong and
> it was amazing to hear the questions he had. We don't get to teach him
> since he's YSA, but it is incredible to see how many people are here
> just waiting to hear this message. Heavenly Father is preparing so
> many people and will guide us to them if we are obedient and willing
> to work hard. On Saturday we got to meet with the Meenas! They are
> doing SO good. We talked about family home evening and also finding
> their ancestors so that they can do baptisms for them next Saturday.
> On Sunday Lokesh received the priesthood and both Nirma and Lokesh
> were given callings. Nirma was called to be a greeter for sacrament
> meeting so she can work on her English and get to know more people in
> the ward. Lokesh was called to be in the elders quorum presidency and
> it just makes me so happy to see them all walk into church each week
> with huge smiles on their faces. We are continuing to meet with Miriam
> and her kids to work towards baptism. They really want to and the kids
> are finally used to being at church for "sooooo longgg" haha. After
> third hour each week Sebastian (he's 9) jumps out of his chair after
> the closing prayer and pretty much runs outside to move around. When
> you aren't used to sitting for three hours at church, it can be kinda
> hard. Last night we got to help at an interfaith meeting where leaders
> from all different churches came to talk about how they can help in
> the community and be aware of others. It was really great to see
> everyone together and hear what they believed. A funny experience this
> week was, a couple days ago we were trying to check on a woman who
> came into the visitors center and said she wanted to learn more. We
> got there and in order to walk up her walkway to the door, there was
> this mean looking goose. We tried walking up to it and it started
> hissing at us and running towards us...so then we tried walking around
> it, and it still chased us and wouldn't let us pass! We tried every
> way around this dumb goose for over 10 minutes when finally a guy
> walked out from next door and said that she wasn't going to move cause
> she had eggs near by. Finally 5 minutes later when the goose was
> eating something in the grass we made a run for the door and got
> inside the apartment building. The lady wasn't even home, but it made
> for a funny story! Yesterday at the visitors center we had two younger
> guys come in wanting to know what the temple was. Sister Cleaver and I
> showed them around the visitors center and talked to them about what
> they believe. They are seventh day Adventists and actually have a lot
> of similarities. One of them spoke French and ended up taking a Book
> of Mormon in French. The other guy took one in English, and said he
> would be interested in hearing more from missionaries!. They loved the
> because he lives video and I learned so much from them. The whole time
> I just kept having the strongest feeling of love that Heavenly Father
> loves all of us so much and wants all of His children to return back
> to him. Last week I hadn't been feeling good and my shingles came back
> behind my ear and neck. One of the senior missionaries elder Tolman
> who serves in the visitors center with us was able to give me a
> blessing so that I could sleep and some of the things in the blessing
> that he said were so specific to me. There were things I was thinking
> about in my mind and worrying about, but hadn't told anyone. I know
> that Heavenly Father is aware of our thoughts and struggles and is
> always there to help us. I'm grateful for the priesthood, for the
> comfort and power we can find through it. Thank you all for the
> prayers and love!
> Love Sister Haertling
>
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