July 19

Dear all, 

It's been a long week and a half since our last P-day! But we got to drive to the temple today which was so amazing. As soon as we walked in I just felt such an overwhelming feeling of peace. I love going to the temple. Last Thursday we had zone Conference. It was at a chapel about an hour from Kent Island, so we gave ourselves some cushion time in case there was traffic. Last time we went it wasn't bad at all and so we thought we would be fine....well we got on the road at about 7:00 that morning and 20 minutes in we hit horrible traffic. There had been two crashes and so it took us close to 3 hours to travel 40 miles to zone conference. We were really late. Zone Conference was incredible and gave me a lot of motivation. The focus of this upcoming transfer is the Book of Mormon and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I always love feeling the power of all of the missionaries being together. 

Friday was a day that I will never forget on my mission. Very bittersweet. The day started off great. We had a lesson with Pal who is from India and doing great. Then we found a woman named Janice who was washing her car and listened to us for a while and wanted to meet again. After lunch and studies we went to the church for a missionary correlation meeting. -funny story- we went to the bathroom and found soap all over the floor that had obviously been there for a while and hardened. So sister Rees and I got water and mops and by the end of it all, were covered in water and bubbles haha. After that we had a lesson with Debbie who we've been meeting with for the past few weeks and love to death. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and focused on our faith in Him. She loves watching the Mormon messages. This next part I wasn't going to write about but I felt like I should. We had a great lesson with a family in the branch for family home evening who we've never really met and one of the kids' friends was over. Right after we got there his parents showed up to pick him up. We didn't think much of it, and after the lesson we said goodbye and walked out the door. As we were walking to our car a black suburban pulls up and it is that little boys parents. He starts yelling at us in the driveway about how inappropriate it was to be over at the house while his son was there and a lot of other things that I can't repeat. I've had a lot of people get mad for talking to them on my mission, but nothing quite like this. By the end of the 10 minute rant (luckily the member had come outside halfway through when he heard the yelling) sister Rees and I were in tears. I felt embarrassed and belittled. It was one of those experiences I just want to forget, but what happened after that was what really strengthened my testimony. The senior couple in our branch had just left and turned around in their car to see what was going on. They told us to come to the church building. We talked about what happened and elder Boren gave us each a priesthood blessing. I felt such a great feeling of peace and calmness come over me and the things that were said gave me a lot of strength. The next day I was feeling pretty down still and was praying that I would be able to study something to help me out with what I was feeling. I opened to where I was reading in the New Testament, Matthew 5. These were the verses that I read. 

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

I love in verse 12 where it talks about the prophets before us and examples that we have that sacrificed and went through so much. I took a lot of comfort from that. It helped me realize that I can go through hard things and come out stronger. I like to think of the day when we will return back to our Heavenly Father and meet those people such as Joseph smith, Moses, Abraham, Nephi. We won't ever go through the trials that they went through, but thinking about standing next to them makes me more willing to endure trials with a smile and with gratitude. It also reminded me of how grateful I am to have the priesthood restored on the earth and the blessing it is for each one of us. It showed me that the scriptures answer our questions, bring comfort and they are written for us!!! The next day we were knocking on doors when our phone started ringing. It was a member of our branch who just recently started coming to church. We have been teaching her 11 year old son Zach. They were calling to tell us that they had prayed about a date for Zach to be baptized and that they want to have it on August 6th! We are super excited for Zach, and so is his family. His dad isn't a member, and Zach is such an amazing example/support for the rest of his family. I don't have much time to write today because going to the temple took most of the day. But thank you for all of your prayers. I have felt very blessed this week! 

Love, Sister Haertling