This week was absolutely full of miracles!! We now have two of the coolest investigators.
The first one we met on Thursday when we decided to do an optional morning shift at the VC because we felt like we needed to be there. That afternoon, an Italian lady named Joan came in wanting to know what the temple was for. She lives two miles away from it, but never had stopped in. We taught her the temple model, and she loved it. She loved the art exhibit we have from Liz Lemon Swindle that depicts the life of Christ (she was an art professor for 18 years). You could tell she was really touched by the peaceful Spirit she felt on the temple grounds. She was saying things like, "So suppose someone, I'm not saying me, were to want to join the Mormon church...how would you go about doing that?" And "I feel that I have been missing something in my life but I don't know how to fill it"and by the end of it all she told us she wouldn't mind having some missionaries stop by her house.The best part is...she lives in our area! So we get to teach her!!
Friday, we had a lesson with someone we had never met before, a man named Damian. He was a referral from other missionaries who met him on the street. We called and set up a time to meet. He is in his early thirties and has two young boys. He and his wife got a divorce a couple of years back and he manages a business in silver spring. We met him next to the business where he works. He is a really successful guy who really wants to do what is right. He mentioned how with the job he just moved from which was in the entertainment industry it was hard to keep from getting sucked into all of the distractions of the world. We got to talking and he had amazing questions for us. It ended up being one of the best discussions we've ever had with someone because he had such great questions. He told us that he has admired Mormons all of his life and really been curious to learn more. He passes the temple everyday on the beltway and said how he's always thought it would be important in his future someday. We asked him to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and Restoration pamphlet and he texted us saying that he had more questions for us but was so happy because it just feels so right and true to him!!!!!
So this week I was in the visitors center on the computers working on Mormon.org. I've talked about it before but I'll explain what teaching center is again. So each day that we are at the visitors center we have time that we are in the front talking to people, and then other times we are in the back of the visitors center online answering chats, phone calls and Bible/Book of Mormon requests from all over the world. A lot of the visitors centers have these call centers in the back where we can teach people and so if someone calls in, any sister in a visitors center around the world can pick up the phone (everyone is just in a big queue). Anyways, there was a number calling in that had an area code of 509!!!! My computer froze and so I couldn't answer the call but when it came back on, the 509 number was still calling. So I answered it and it was a man named Bill that was looking for some information. He told me about how his friend who he works with's brother passed away very recently and they wanted to know where the services would be. All they knew was that he was Mormon and that was it. I asked him where his friend lived so I could find out a number that he could call. He told me the Tri Cities and since there are so many buildings there I thought I probably wouldn't be able to help them out. I asked him what the last name of his friends brother was that passed away maybe hoping that I knew the family. I didn't recognize the name that he told me, so I went on LDS tools and ended up being able to find the ward in the Pasco Stake! I gave him the information that he could find on Mormon.org and he then continued to ask me more questions about the church. He said that all of his friends at work really wanted to support their coworker/friend and come to church! It was a really cool experience
Sunday afternoon we volunteered at a Unity of Faith Walk in D.C. and it was probably one of the coolest things I've got to do on my mission. The Unity of Faith Walk is an event the do every year since 9/11 to unite as many faiths as possible. There was an opening ceremony at a Jewish synagogue, and a walk-about with a 2 mile strip of all these different churches (almost 12 of them!!) open for the public to tour. We got to volunteer at the Book of Mormon and just serve booth where everyone was at the beginning of he event. At the booth, we would give people a random page of the Book of Mormon to read, and they would circle things what stood out to them. Most people marked references to "charity." Afterwards, all of the volunteers and missionaries who were helping would mingle with the crowds and help people if they needed anything. In the process, we got to see the following churches: Greek Orthodox, Russian orthodox, Annunciation Catholic, Jewish synagogue, Muslim mosque, Sikhism temple, Hindu temple, and the Vatican embassy. Since we were volunteers and wearing bright red volunteer tshirts, people were very friendly with us.
This week I was studying an amazing talk by Joseph B. Wirthlin about kindness. I have been trying to study more about kindness, charity and love over the past couple of weeks. It's something that I feel I can always improve on. One of the quotes I loved which was very direct and clear was, "The Church is not a place where perfect people gather to say perfect things, or have perfect thoughts, or have perfect feelings. The Church is a place where imperfect people gather to provide encouragement, support, and service to each other as we press on in our journey to return to our Heavenly Father. Each one of us will travel a different road during this life. Each progresses at a different rate. Temptations that trouble your brother may not challenge you at all. Strengths that you possess may seem impossible to another. Never look down on those who are less perfect than you. Don’t be upset because someone can't do something as well as you. We are all children of our Heavenly Father. And we are here with the same purpose: to learn to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.One way you can measure your value in the kingdom of God is to ask, “How well am I doing in helping others reach their potential? Do I support others, or do I criticize them?” If you are criticizing others, you are weakening the Church. If you are building others, you are building the kingdom of God. As Heavenly Father is kind, we also should be kind to others". I love how clear his message is to us all about the importance of our kindness towards others. I love you all! Have a great week.
Love Sister Haertling
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