11 months!!

Dear all,
This week was really busy and flew by. The weeks are just all mixed together for me. I can't believe it is already September this week....which means it is my last week of being a TEENAGER..! Wednesday night we had a lesson with a recent convert named Bogo. He is an elderly man who was baptized a few months ago. We went with a sister in the ward and talked about the temple. He is working on going to the temple to do baptisms. On Thursday we had the opportunity to go to Shepherd's Table and serve. It is a shelter for people who are homeless to come and eat a meal. So we went there for dinner and I loved it. That day started off really hard for me for various reasons, but I was looking forward to helping out there because I knew that it would cheer me up. It did a lot more than cheer me up, that's for sure! It definitely humbled me and made me realize how much I have to be grateful for. The problems that I had faded away and I felt so much happier. We were helping with a couple of people from the ward as well as another Christian church with a few members. Last week I got an email from Elder Tome (Marcos) saying that he had been teaching a man named John that had moved to DC. He had his phone number attached and so I decided to give him a call. He answered and didn't seem too interested but very nice. On Thursday we came back to the Visitors Center after Shepherd's Table and a man walked up to me to say hello. He introduced himself and it was John! We had a great conversation with him and learned that he has read the Book of Mormon 3 times already and wants to come to church. We're not exactly sure what is holding him back from joining the church, but he is a great guy. He is in his 50's and is here for work for a while. On Friday we had a lesson with a man named Robert and his daughter named Rachel who is 12 years old. The Mtichells (a couple in our ward) came with us to teach them and it went great. Robert has known about the church for years and says that he has always admired the LDS faith. He really wants his daughter to grow up in a church like this and have good standards as she enters middle school/highschool. I'm really excited to be able to teach Rachel, and she is such a sweet girl. We also had interviews with president Johnson on Friday which is always my favorite. I found out that President Johnson and I have the same birthday! Later that day we got to have a lesson with Nancy, who I'd never met before, but Sister Vespucci had been teaching her in the past. She is an amazing lady (in her 50's) and we were able to answer a lot of her questions about the Plan of Salvation. She came to church with us on Sunday and really loved it. At church on Sunday we got to teach the CTR 8 class last minute since they couldn't find anyone that was available. There were about 9 kids and they were a lot of fun to teach. I'm always amazed at how much kids know and how strong their testimonies are even at that age. Yesterday a really cool group tour came in. They were Mennonite and have been studying a bit about Mormon's. Sister Vespucci and I got to take them around for about an hour and a half to teach them. There were about 25 of them and they ranged from age 18-40. They had a lot of similarities in beliefs and they had so many questions for us. They really enjoyed learning about the temple and eternal families. They value the importance of families and have very high standards. One of them had a question about specific standards, so I showed her a "for the strength of youth" pamphlet. She asked if she could have it and by the end, every single one of them wanted one also so we gave them all pamphlets. This group was probably one of my favorite groups to teach on my mission so far. At about 7:00 last night I was in the front of the visitors center talking to one of the senior couples when a couple walked through the door. It was Brianna Daw (I forgot her new last name) and her husband!! I gave her a big hug and we got to talk for a while. I didn't know that they had been living here and it was really fun to see a familiar face. Also while we were at church yesterday some of the ward members were telling me how there is a group of moms who play basketball and they just changed to Monday morning (which is perfect because it's Pday) and that we could go. So we went to go play and it was SO much fun. There were a lot of young moms who were really good! It felt so nice to be able to play again and it was great exercise. This week I have been studying a talk that someone recommended to me called, Then Jesus Beholding Him Loved Him by Elder S. Mark Palmer of the Seventy. On Sunday the relief society president got up to teach and told us that her lesson was based of that exact talk! So I know that it was no coincidence that I've been focusing on love this week. There were four points that he focuses on in his talk:

1) As we learn to see others as the Lord sees them rather than with our own eyes, our love for them will grow and so will our desire to help them.
2) No true teaching or learning will ever occur when done in frustration or anger, and hearts will not change where love is not present. Whether we act in our roles as parents, teachers, or leaders, true teaching will happen only in an atmosphere of trust rather than condemnation
3) Love should never be withdrawn when a child, friend, or family member fails to live up to our expectations
4) Because He loves us, the Lord expects much of us. If we are humble, we will welcome the Lord’s invitations to repent, to sacrifice, and to serve as evidence of His perfect love for us.

"My dear brothers and sisters, now anytime you feel you are being asked to do something hard—give up a poor habit or an addiction, put aside worldly pursuits, sacrifice a favorite activity because it is the Sabbath, forgive someone who has wronged you—think of the Lord beholding you, loving you, and inviting you to let it go and follow Him. And thank Him for loving you enough to invite you to do more."
As I've been remembering this throughout the week and trying to show more love for everyone around me I have felt more peace in my life knowing that I can give everything to the Savior. Sometimes it can be a lot easier said than done, but Christ DID give everything to us so that we can access peace and strength through His Atonement. He loves us with a perfect love and always is there. I love you all!
Love, Sister Haertling

August 21st

Dear all,
This week flew by! I am really loving serving in the Kensington area. The ward is incredible and so willing to work with us. There are a TON  of young families...actually there are 20 babies that have been born recently/are about to be born haha. Sacrament meetings are pretty entertaining by the end of the hour. This week we were going to a lesson to teach Diamond with sister Longenecker, but it fell through. So we went with her to a less active in the ward. Sister Longenecker was nervous because in the past she hasn't been open to missionaries coming by or sharing thoughts with her. We went anyways, and she opened up to us about a lot of things going on in her life. We shared a video with her and she started crying and said at she needed to come back to church. We invited her to come on Sunday and she said that she would think about it. Then on Sunday she actually came! We have been visiting a lot of members in the ward lately and teaching the lessons. When Elder Ballard and Elder Rasband were here they challenged us to teach the full discussions to families in the ward. He promised that they would have more trust and confidence in us, then in return they would be more willing to invite their friends to learn more. So this week we have been doing that and five families gave us someone that they think would be ready to hear about the gospel! It was the coolest thing. Yesterday was an unforgettable day. We had a great day at church and then later that night we had Why I Believe at the visitor center. It's an event every third Sunday night of the month where a couple of recent converts bear their testimonies and there is a main speaker that talks about why they believe the things they do. This time Thurl Bailey and his wife came to speak. He played for the Utah Jazz and is 6'11"!!!! His testimony is just as big as he is tall haha. He told of his conversion story which is by far the BEST experience I've ever heard. His wife was a member her whole life and eventually after they were married for a long time he joined. He talked a lot about basketball and made many connections to how those same principles can apply to our lives. Also Sister Webster and I sang together. When we first decided we were going to sing a month ago, we had no idea who the speaker would be. Usually the auditorium is half full for a why I believe, but for this night ever seat was filled with overflow upstairs (550 people...). I was really nervous but once we got up there I was calm. Today we had district activity which was kind of far away so that's why I'm a little rushed writing my email today. We played basketball and had an intense ping pong tournament. Our district includes a lot of the missionaries in the Chinese program, so they made some good Chinese food. Also this week we got to have a big youth conference from Virginia come to the visitors center. We got to have about 20 of the youth per companionship for 3 hours. I missed a lot of the youth tours that came in this summer while I wasn't in the visitors center so I was happy to be able to do one. At the end, an older man in the group came up to me and asked what part of Washington I was from. I said, tri cities and he said he and his wife were missionaries at Bing canyon for treks. I told him I got to go on trek twice and I started telling him about trek and some of the things that we did while we were there and before I even could finish the story he put his arm around me and squeezed my shoulder. his eyes filled with tears and said, Sister, were you a part of the rescue?". I was surprised and said yeah, that was my stake, the Pasco stake. He said he had gotten there right after and wanted to meet someone really bad from the rescue that he heard all about. It was so sweet. I also met a family who lived in Pasco all of their life, the Hughes I think was their name. The dad told me he was Stan Stinson's step son if I remember right. It was funny because just that day I had gotten an email from brother Stinson about Pasco stake Conference. I also met a girl from Connell, whose brother was getting married this weekend. We knew a lot of the same people. I asked her if she knew any Henry's in her stake and she said, "oh Julia and Jackson???". It was really neat to talk to her. I feel bad I have her name written down but I can't think of it right now. Also, one of the craziest things happened to me this week. At the visitors center we teach people online and send them to missionaries. Well this week I was online and trying to send missionaries to a man in Italy who had just moved there from Pakistan to try and join the church. He was trying to tell me where he lived but didn't have an address. Usually we will just call the missionaries in the area to give them the persons contact info. So I saw that this guy was in Italy and thought of Roman, but there were so many different meetinghouses and areas, I thought there was no way. Well I dial the first random number of missionaries who are supposed to be in this mans area, no answer. Then there is a different number so I try that one. A voice picks up that sounds very familiar and starts speaking Italian. I said it was Sister Haertling from the referral center and the missionary starts speaking English. Then I reallyyyyy recognize the voice and ask, "wait is this elder Ruiz??" And he just says, "Sarah!?" Haha. It was so crazy. I told him this mans information and he said he would try contacting him. It was pretty weird hearing someone's voice that is so familiar so unexpected. But a really cool experience. Something that I really loved that I studied about this week was really short and simple, but a good reminder. It says, "Love precedes the miracle. Love is a process; it is not a program. The love of Christ can overcome any of the worries of our lives and heal any human affliction".  I hope you all have a great week!!
Love, Sister Haertling

August 14th

Dear all, 
Sadly my adventure on Kent Island has come to an end, but I'm so excited to be in Kensington! So on Wednesday morning, Sister Rees, Sister Yang and I got up at 4:00am so that we could beat the traffic going into the city. We got to transfers, unloaded all of our things and gave the car to the new elders going to Kent Island. I am now companions with Sister Vespucci! She is from Georgia and has been out three months longer than I have. Our area covers the temple and the ward is amazing. It was definitely pretty different coming to a huge ward full of little kids after being in the little Kent Island branch. Since it was my first Sunday in the Kensington ward yesterday, they asked me to bear my testimony. Afterwards as I was talking to people a woman came up to me and I realized it was another Sister Maughan!!! (Bro Maughan's sister) It was so fun to see her and I felt a little closer to home since she's flying to tri cities this weekend. 
On Thursday night we went and visited a couple of families in the ward to share a thought and get to know them. We visited the Wilcox's first and they of course asked where I was from. Then I asked where they were from and they said, "oh a little town in Oregon. My first thought was, "Oh maybe it's Hermiston". But I've yet to meet anyone from Hermiston haha. Then I asked where at and she said, "Hermiston"!! She and her husband both grew up there, went to high school together and came out here for law school. She texted her parents who still live there to see if they knew any of the Haertlings but I haven't heard if she said anything. Speaking of Hermiston, Marie's niece Chyanne (well Sister Peterson now) arrived on Wednesday! We are on opposite shifts at the visitors center, but we still get to see each other every once in a while. 
On Friday we went and taught a lesson to a lady named Mandy. She is in her 40's and loves gardening. She hadn't read Mosiah chapter two from the last time that they were there teaching her and so we just read some of it with her instead of teaching what we had prepared. It went really well and she loved it. 
Since I am back in the city near the metro and busy streets we can go out and contact people instead of only being able to knock on doors. I love being close to all of the business. It was nice being out in the fields on Kent Island, but I forgot how much I've grown to love the city. We met a lady who speaks mostly French and she seemed interested in what she could understand. So we passed her information to the French elders and we saw them last night coming out from her apartment complex. They said that the lesson had gone really well and she wanted to learn more. This area is a melting pot and there is SO much diversity. It's nice to be able to have missionaries here who can speak so many languages.  
So this week I read a talk called, "Stay by the Tree" by Elder Kevin W Pearson. He is talking about Lehi's vision and staying faithful to the end. One part that I really love is this; "Shortly before President Heber J. Grant passed away, one of the Brethren visited his home. Before he left, President Grant prayed, “O God, bless me that I shall not lose my testimony and keep faithful to the end!”1 After nearly 27 years as President of the Church, this was his fervent prayer. His example is a striking reminder that no one, at any age, is immune from Satan’s influence. Two of Satan’s most powerful tools are distraction and deception. Enduring to the end is a hallmark of true discipleship and is essential to eternal life. But when trials and challenges come our way, we are often told to simply “hang in there.” Let me be clear: to “hang in there” is not a principle of the gospel. Enduring to the end means constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him. If enduring to the end is essential to eternal life, why do we struggle to be faithful? We struggle when we are caught between competing priorities. Casual obedience and lukewarm commitment weaken faith. Enduring to the end requires total commitment to the Savior and to our covenants."
I really loved this talk and how it really makes it clear that we always, always always have to be moving forward, strengthening our testimony. Nobody is excused, not even the prophet! 
This week we have a devotional at the visitors center that sister Webster and I are singing at. I'm excited because the speaker is Thurl Bailey (his son Elder Bailey serves in our mission). Should be fun! I hope you all have a great week! 
Love, Sister Haertling 

The District
Sister Haertling with Sister Peterson (from Hermiston)

August 7th

Dear All, 
This has been an amazing week! Transfers are coming up this Wednesday, so we said goodbye to the branch yesterday. We had our interviews with President Johnson this last Friday and he told us that we would both be leaving. Sister Rees and Sister Yang will be serving together in the Chinese program and I will be going with Sister Yang's past companion (we aren't sure what area yet). We will find out tonight for sure when President calls us. We have LOVED serving here on the Eastern Shore. 

We had a cool experience last week on Tuesday night. We were just coming back to the car after a long evening of knocking on doors and talking to people. As we were walking down the road, we saw someone pull into their driveway and so we said hello. We found out that his name is Ricardo and he is 24 years old. He works in Bethesda at NIH and is a personal trainer as well. Sister Rees was a personal trainer before the mission and so we talked to him about that. He was really interested why three girls were walking down the street at night and so we told him a little bit about our missions and what we do as missionaries. He said that he would love to find a church family and was interested. We went back on Friday and taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel. Then yesterday he came to church!! It was testimony meeting and he got up and shared his faith in Jesus Christ and how he loved the feeling that he had there at church. Everyone was so surprised and he connected with a lot of people in the branch. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned an older man named Jack who we helped move in. Well we invited him to come to church and he came yesterday! He really enjoyed it and asked a lot of great questions. Pal came to church as well which always really impresses me. He works night shifts and so he comes to church right after work. He's a trooper! 

Some exciting news...Zach got baptized yesterday! His grandparent's flew out from Utah to be there and a lot of the branch was there. The baptism was after church so that more people could be there (everyone lives far away from the church) and then we got permission do do his confirmation the same day as well. I love the Mellor family (Zach's family) and am really sad to be leaving them. 

On Thursday we went down to Easton to teach the Mellors before the baptism on Sunday. We talked a lot about the priesthood for Zach because he is turning twelve next month. We also got to teach the Russels. Sister Russel isn't a member of the church but comes every week and is an amazing woman. We were able to teach the importance of temples. We shared the video about the family who lives in Tahiti and saves up money to fly to New Zealand to be sealed. We have been teaching their granddaughter Ava who wants to be baptized and she will hopefully be able to next month. 

On Saturday we had a little farewell dinner with the Boren's. They are the best! It will probably be hardest to say goodbye to them. We have been through a lot together since we were both new when we got to the area (They started their mission in March and we got here the beginning of May). They will be life long friends for sure. Elder Boren is recovering well from his hip surgery and still always has a smile on his face. He is able to walk with a walker now and he came to church yesterday.

Yesterday at church I loved learning about the theme "Reaching for the Savior". We talked about the woman that we read about in the New Testament who (while Christ is walking by) touches the hem of His clothing in an effort to be healed. She had enough faith to know that if she even just touched the clothing of the Savior, she would be able to be healed. That takes a lot of trust and a lot of faith. I love though how it represents action on our part. We know that Christ is always there reaching out to us, but we have to also make the choice to reach out to Him. It takes humility, knowing that we can't do it on our own, as well as effort. I was reading a talk by Elder Bednar about what it means to become a missionary. In it he illustrates something really important that I love. He says, "In our customary Church vocabulary, we often speak of going to church, going to the temple, and going on a mission. Let me be so bold as to suggest that our rather routine emphasis on going misses the mark.
The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength." It really made me think about the sacrament and how important it is in my life. Sometimes it is easy to go through the motions like elder Bednar said. I want to reach for the sacrament with the same amount of need and desire as the woman did when reaching for Jesus Christ with the intent to be healed. The Sacrament can heal us and gives us a fresh start every single week if we allow it to. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support.

Love, Sister Haertling 

Zach's baptism
Elder Boren after surgery
Ice cream