This past week and a half has been the longest, but greatest week of my mission so far (I know I probably say that a lot, but I actually mean it this time). It started off last week with Miriam and her son Sebastian. They were both baptized last Saturday! All of her family came, with their extended family. None of them are members of the church, and they are just the sweetest people ever. Sister Cleaver and I sang, "I Feel My Saviors Love" and there was a lot of the ward there to support her. Then a couple of hours later following the baptism we were able to meet the Meena family and Brother Olsen from the ward at the temple and go inside to do baptisms for their family. Lokesh and Nirma both have been doing their family history and they were baptized for their grandparents and great grandparents. When Lokesh came out of the temple and we were walking around he turned to us and said, "this is the best decision I have ever made in my life". Another really neat thing that he said was immediately after we left the temple he told us that he could feel a huge difference in the way that he felt. They can't wait to go back and do more work for their family. Something that Nirma said was, "Now we aren't the only members of the church in our family, there are four more!".Experiences like this just strengthen my faith so much and remind me how much Heavenly Father loves us and wants us all to return to Him. On Monday we got a call from President Johnson for transfers. We only get a call from him the Monday before transfers if we are changing areas/companions, so as soon as we saw his number we knew that one of us was leaving. Since I had been in Bethesda for almost 7 and a half months, I knew I was leaving. We answered the phone and President Johnson said he was sad to split sister Cleaver and I up, but he had a special assignment for me. He started to explain to me that there was an area far away that he needed me to go to over a really long bridge. I was a little bit confused when he told me I would be going to Kent Island. I knew that it was over in the Annapolis zone, but that was it. He told me that there was a little branch there and that missionaries hadn't served there for a long time. There have only ever been elders there and so when everyone found out that president was sending a set of sisters there, all of the elders were a little upset haha. As a Visitors Center sister, we spend half of our day in the VC and half of our day in our area proselyting. So this meant that I was going on my "outbound" where we spend 2 transfers (3 months) as full proselyting sisters and don't come into the VC at all. Also when you go on your outbound you are put with a full proselyting sister, but President Johnson told me that I was going to be serving on Kent Island with Sister Rees! Sister Rees is also a visitor center sister who got to the mission after me. We have been roommates for the past 3 months and so we know each other really well. She is really laid back, but such a hard worker and determined. So sister Rees and I have been assigned to the Kent Island branch, full proselyting, whitewashing (which is missionary term for -both new missionaries in an area, so you don't know anyone yet or know the area at all- usually you are transferred to an area where one of you has served there already and are familiar with the people/area), and the area has been closed down for a long time for missionaries not being there. Kent Island is about an hour and fifteen minutes from the visitors center and in order to get there you have to drive over a toll bridge that is a little under 5 miles long!!!!! It is the coolest thing. Right now we don't have an apartment on the Island and so we stay in Pasadena. Its about 45 minutes from Kent Island which means that we get to cross the bridge every morning and night! It's a fun drive.
So on Wednesday, we went to transfers, packed all of our things into our car, said goodbye to our former companions (Sister Cleaver is staying in Bethesda and is with Sister Rawlins who was Sister Rees' former companion and also our roommate haha!), and headed on our way. We dropped off our things at the apartment and were excited to get over to the Island to check things out. We were about 30 minutes away and we were in heavy traffic. About 2 hours later (a mile down the road) we realized why things were moving so slow. There was a huge accident on the freeway which was the ONLY way to Kent Island. There were helicopters landed on the freeway, firetrucks, ambulances and it wasn't going to be cleared up for another couple of hours. Eventually things cleared up and we got there! It is such a beautiful area. I've been surrounded by traffic and city for all of my mission and so to see fields and country with houses spread out I was so happy. It felt a lot more welcoming. We cover kent Island, but most of our area is the eastern shore as well, so our area is about 3/4 the area of our entire mission boundaries. We looked at the map, because our area just got expanded again and now our area is almost the same size as Delaware haha. It's great. The weather has been so warm this week. On Wednesday it was 95, and then throughout the rest of the week it has been in the 85-95 range. I'm getting used to the humidity for sure. There is a senior couple out here that are probably the kindest people I have ever met. I am already dreading the day that we have to leave them. They have been here since March and so they are still kind of new.
On Friday we stopped by the branch mission leader's house. When we knocked on the door, they looked at us and started crying! Their branch has been needing missionaries and they recognized me from the visitors center during Christmas time. It was a new and really amazing feeling to feel how much they needed us there to help this branch. We have been able to meet a lot of the branch and I just love them so much already. We have been tracting a lot, but also a lot of the work is with less actives. It is a new experience for me, but these people here are really special. One cool experience that we had a couple of days ago was, we were tracting and a lady answered door. She was really surprised to see us and asked if we could come in. We went in and she told us that she was baptized over 20 years ago, but hadn't been since she joined. She asked us where we were from, and when I said Tri Cities Washington, she started screaming...for reals screaming haha. She told me that all of her kids were born in Kadlec Hospital over in Tri Cities and that she lived there for a really long time. She didn't know a lot of the same people that I did, but she knew all of the places and it was cool to see that connection. She said that her daughter would want to meet me and we invited her to church. She said she would think about it, and so hopefully with time she will!
This week I have been studying the talk, "To Whom Shall We Go". It is amazing. One of my favorite parts is, "Brothers and sisters, accepting and living the gospel of Christ can be challenging. It has always been thus, and it ever will be. Life can be like hikers ascending a steep and arduous trail. It is a natural and normal thing to occasionally pause on the path to catch our breath, to recalculate our bearings, and to reconsider our pace. Not everyone needs to pause on the path, but there is nothing wrong with doing so when your circumstances require. In fact, it can be a positive thing for those who take full advantage of the opportunity to refresh themselves with the living water of the gospel of Christ.In the end, each one of us must respond to the Savior’s question: “Will ye also go away?”9 We all have to search for our own answer to that question. For some, the answer is easy; for others, it is difficult. I don’t pretend to know why faith to believe comes easier for some than for others. I’m just so grateful to know that the answers are always there, and if we seek them—really seek with real intent and with full purpose of a prayerful heart—we will eventually find the answers to our questions as we continue on the gospel path. Brothers and sisters, I promise you in the name of the Lord that He will never abandon His Church and that He will never abandon any one of us. Remember Peter’s response to the Savior’s question and words:“To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. “And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” I testify that there is “no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ."
I am so grateful to have the knowledge of our Savior and of His restored church on the earth today. Having it makes me so excited to share it with everyone else. I was reading through my family testimony book, that all of you wrote in for me this week and was reading how because we know so much and are so blessed, we have an ever greater responsibility to share it. When we do share it, it will grow even more! I love you all!
Love, Sister Haertling
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