Hello

Dear all,
I don't have much to write about since I just had pday on Thursday! On
Friday we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I got to
stay in Bethesda and be with sister Freeman!! It was a lot of fun. We
got to visit a lot of people that we taught together when we were
companions. While we were tracting we saw a bunny on the sidewalk. We
decided to follow it and it stopped at a house, so we decided we
should knock on the door. A man answered and he said that he had met
missionaries about a year ago but he wasn't interested. We asked him
if he would be interested in meeting again and he said yes! We have an
appointment with him this week, and his mom who is 92 years old really
liked talking to us at the door. The bunny was definitely inspired
haha. On Saturday we were at the VC and Miriam's husband and two kids
showed up unexpectedly. We gave them a tour and focused a lot of Jesus
Christ's example and what we can do in our lives because of Him. It
was a really cool experience and Sebastian is very excited to be
baptized. On Sunday we had a regional broadcast at the stake center,
which was amazingggg. Elder Oaks talked about missionary work and also
a lot of the youth of the church. He talked about technology and how
our phones should be our slaves, not our masters. He invited us all to
start reading the Book of Mormon in our life everyday, and if we are
then to continue doing that. One of my favorite things he said was,
there's a big difference between being active in the church and active
in the gospel. Being active in the church can be easy, just showing up
for meetings each week, but being active in the gospel requires effort
and preparation. After church Miriam had her baptismal interview with
Elder Bennett! Everything went well and she is excited for Saturday.
We walked over to the visitors center after that and I saw some elders
walking in the parking lot with two ladies. Let me start from the
beginning of this story 4 months ago. Back in January I answered the
phone at the front desk of the visitors center. A lady named Lisa from
Washington state said hello and said she had a question for me. She
told me that she had a cousin named Poleen who lived in Washington DC
who isn't a member and she really wanted her to try going to church.
So I took all of Poleens information down and told Lisa that I would
make sure and call poleen. So I went back to the online teaching
center and called the missionaries in the DC 3rd ward, gave them her
contact information and everything. A couple of months went by and I
would call Poleen and nothing was really happening. She loved talking
to me though haha. She is African American and one of the sweetest
ladies ever. Somehow her contact got deleted on my account and so I
had no way to get ahold of her or know how she was doing. Then about a
month and a half ago I got switched into a different district of
missionaries. I heard some elders sharing a miracle about someone
named Poleen and that she was going to be baptized with her daughter
Poleen. It didn't click in my head until about 5 minutes later and
asked the missionaries if it was the same Poleen I had sent about 4
months earlier. They checked and said yes!!!! So last Saturday Poleen
and her daughter May were baptized!! Fast forward to Sunday....we were
walking over from the stake center to the VC and I saw two ladies with
the missionaries who are in the DC 3rd ward. I ran up to them and got
to meet Poleen and May!!! It was such a special tender mercy that they
were there at that exact time and got to give them hugs and talk.
Poleen was really happy and said, "wait so you're the nice girl on the
phone that talks to me??" Haha. It was an experience I won't forget.
On Sunday night we were tracting and sister Cleaver wasn't feeling
good. We were going to head home since it was late, but decided we
would tract five more houses. The first house we knocked on after
deciding we would stay was a nice man who was very curious about what
we were doing walking around in dresses. He asked us to come in and we
had an amazing lesson with him and his daughter. Their family is from
Tanzania and he works in the embassy here. They want to come to church
this week and said that they would really like a place for their
daughter with youth the same age as her. We are meeting again with
them this next week! Thanks for all of your prayers lately. I have
felt so much love!
Love Sister Haertling