June 19th

Dear all,
We were able to have a general authority come speak to our mission
this week. His name is Elder Bent H. Nielson and he and his wife spoke
to us at the visitors center. I have really been looking forward to
that. He is the executive director of the missionary department and
spoke to us for 4 hours. There are so many amazing things that he said
but really what I remember he most is how strongly I felt the spirit
and knew that this is where I'm supposed to be right now and that this
gospel of Jesus Christ that has been restored is true. One of the
things that hit me was talking about our purpose here on earth.
Growing up we are asked in primary and young women's and Sunday
school, "what is our purpose here?". And we answer, "to obtain a body
and to be tried and tested". We all know that, but why is it, that
when a trial comes into our lives we ask, "why is this happening to
me?" Or "I'm doing everything right that I should be, so why am I
having such a hard time?". I know that I have asked that a lot. But
like I said before, that is our whole purpose here on earth. It's not
always easy, but that is how Heavenly Father is helping us become the
person He wants us to become. Elder Bednar gave a talk called Bear up
their Burdens with Ease, and he says, "Sometimes we mistakenly may
believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is
a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness". Joseph smith
is an amazing example of what elder Bednar is talking about. In
Doctrine and Covenants 126 Joseph Smith says, "And as for the perils
which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me,
as the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of
my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained
from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as
you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God knoweth all
these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water
is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me;
and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has
the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver
me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my
enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it". I don't know if I will ever
be able to say that "deep water is what I am won't to swim in", but my
perspective on challenges in life has definitely changed. The last
quote that I loved when studying this talk in preparation for Elder
Nielson says, "As we are yoked with our Savior through sacred
covenants and receive the enabling power of His Atonement in our
lives, we increasingly will seek to understand and live according to
His will. We also will pray for the strength to learn from, change, or
accept our circumstances rather than praying relentlessly for God to
change our circumstances according to our will. We will become agents
who act rather than objects that are acted upon". I have really been
trying to work on that lately. It really works! Instead of praying for
something to change or to take away hard situations, I've been praying
for the strength to get through it.
So Elder Nielsen was coming in the morning to speak with us and we
needed to be there sitting down by 7:15. Since Kent Island is the
furthest area in the mission and we would've had to get up in the dark
and drive over early in the morning President Johnson told us to drive
the night before and stay with some VC sisters. We got there the night
before, got a parking pass for the parking garage, visited with the
sisters who we have missed so much, and went to bed. We came down to
leave for the meeting and when we went out to the parking garage our
car was gone....luckily the sisters hadn't left yet and we got a ride,
but we couldn't be late for this meeting. So the whole time I was
praying and praying that our car would somehow be there when we got
back. And then I realized I was falling back into the same thing I was
working on not doing! So I started praying that I wouldn't be as
stressed out and that we could figure things out smoothly after the
meeting. We figured out afterwards that the lady who wrote our pass at
the apartment wrote it wrong and our car had been towed. Sooooo we
went with elder and sister Thompson to the towing place and got our
car to make it back to Kent Island. It was quite the day.
Yesterday we had such a cool tracting miracle!! We knocked on a door
and a lady named Debbie answered. She was pretty nice and did the
usual at her door talking about why we were there. She asked us to
come in and ended up getting to teach her the whole first lesson! That
hasn't happened to us with someone who is actually curious all
transfer. We both felt really prompted to ask her if she came to know
that the things we talked about are true that she would be baptized
and she said yes with no hesitation! She said at she hasn't been very
good lately about reading the scriptures or going to church and has
been jumping around different churches. She also said that she had
never heard this before and felt so much peace. She gave us both hugs
after we said a prayer together and we are going back on Wednesday.
She is definitely prepared!
We've been able to keep helping Australia and her husband who are
elderly with their back yard. We finished cleaning and painting her
picnic table and benches and are working on her back steps. She is
really sweet and hopefully it will impact her. Thank you for all of
your prayers and support. It really means so much to me! Have a great
week!
Love Sister Haertling