One Year!!

Dear all,
Crazy to think that this time last year I was about to get on a plane
to head off on my mission. I'm really loving my mission right now and
our area is great! I love the Kensington Ward a lot. So on Tuesday we
had a cool experience at the visitors center. We had a tour scheduled
for a man from Africa that lives here right now named Leonard. Some
missionaries came in with him at have been teaching them. Missionaries
being their investigators to the visitors center often and the sisters
here all prepare lessons for them to show them around. Leonard has
been reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church, but didn't see a
need for him to be baptized if he had already been baptized in another
church. We had an awesome lesson with him and we watched a great video
about the Holy Ghost. It was then that he finally realized why being
baptized with the proper priesthood authority and receiving the gift
of the Holy Ghost was so important. It was amazing to to see him
completely have a change of heart and he has a date set to be baptized
on October 14th!! I love being able to serve in the visitors center
and meet so many incredible people who wasn't to learn more. Damian,
who I talked about last week is doing great. We had a lesson with him
on Friday. A member of our ward, brother Coleman came with us and he
was PERFECT for Damian. They really connected and we were able to
teach him the rest of the Restoration. He is planning on being
baptized next month! Sadly Sister Vespucci caught a cold, and then I
caught it as well....so we have had to stay in our apartment for a
couple of days.. Gladys Knight has been doing a tour on the east coast
with her choir and so she came Saturday and Sunday. All of the tickets
were gone and pretty much all of the 1500 seats were taken. It was a
big event. Since we were both sick, we couldn't go which was really
hard. The good news is that Joan (our miracle who walked into the
visitors center last week) was able to go with one of the ward members
and LOVED it. She filled out a referral card saying that she would
want the missionaries to come and teach her more so we are excited to
finally be able to teach her. Also Nancy came to church yesterday
anddd her whole family came to Gladys Knight! They really loved it and
we were happy they could go. Last night we came to the visitors center
to grab some medicine and as we were in the parking lot I saw three
little girls running towards me yelling, "sister Haertling, sister
Haertling!". It was the Meena family who were all baptized in the
Bethesda Ward. I hadn't seen them all since I left and it was so
special to see their whole family. I got lots of hugs from the girls
and Nirma. I started the Book of Mormon over last week and am in 1
Nephi 16, which is one of my favorite chapters ever! I got to the part
where Nephi breaks his bow and everyone is upset about not having
food. Nephi makes his own bow and prays to know where he can find
food. I found a quote that talks about our own lives when things might
not be going according to our own plan or when we are facing trials.
Elder Robert D. Hales says, “I have come to understand how useless it
is to dwell on the whys, what ifs, and if onlys for which there likely
will be given no answers in mortality. To receive the Lord’s comfort,
we must exercise faith. The questions Why me? Why our family? Why now?
are usually unanswerable questions. These questions detract from our
spirituality and can destroy our faith. We need to spend our time and
energy building our faith by turning to the Lord and asking for
strength to overcome the pains and trials of this world and to endure
to the end for greater understanding”. I have really been thinking
about this and it came to me at a good time. I was pretty upset about
being sick and my shingles coming back again, which meant we couldn't
do much and stay in. I was asking those questions that elder Hales
talked about, "Why do I have to keep having these health problems
right now on a mission" (I always thought missionaries were exempt
from that on their missions haha!), "why me". But afterwards I thought
of all the things I've learned from these experiences and how it has
added to my testimony. I know that my understanding of the Atonement
of Jesus Christ wouldn't be what it is now, and also my relationship
with my Savior wouldn't be as strong. It's usually the hard stretching
experiences on my mission that help me learn and grow the most. It's
one of the first things I learned while in the MTC that has always
stuck with me, "there's no growth in a comfort zone, and no comfort in
a growth zone". Even when it is hard to see in the moment, we will all
be able to look back and realize how much we have learned when we turn
to the Savior and our Heavenly Father. I love you all!
Love Sister Haertling