October 9

Dear all,
Sister Kunz and I had a great week this week. On Tuesday we were out talking to people and met a man who was in a hurry. He was walking to his car and said that he was going to a doctors appointment but gave us his address and phone number and told us to call him. His name was Okinto and he is from Sierra Leone. We called him later that day and he said that we could come over to teach him that night at 6:30. He lives right down the street from our apartment and so we went over to teach him. We asked him if his family would be home and he said yes, his wife was there. We went inside and there was about 7 other people there with a couple of kids running around. They were all family, doing hair, making dinner and talking. Everyone was SO happy to see us. They all asked where we were from and said that they had seen missionaries from our church in Africa. Also they have family members who are members! They pulled out two chairs for us in their family room and all of them gathered around on the ground. I’ve never had another lesson like it. They soaked it all in and we were able to teach them the restoration. All of them had great questions and we invited them to pray to know if this is true. They all said yes and accepted to be baptized!!!! Some of them live in surrounding areas not in our ward, but 3 of them live in our ward. It is so exciting. I already have a strong love for them all so much. Right after the lesson with them, we raced over to a lesson with Paul. Paul is also from Sierra Leone and so we showed him a picture of the family that we had just met. He pointed to every single one of them and said their names!!!! We couldn’t believe it. He said that he was good friends with their family back home and he had no idea that they were here. He couldn’t believe that we were teaching them. We brought sister Peral in our ward to the lesson with Paul and it was great to have a member with us to teach. Almost every lesson that we have taught here is with members. I really appreciate how willing the Carrollton ward is to help us and fellowship everyone. We were able to have a lesson with Taiwo this week and he is working towards being baptized on the 28th. He loved general conference and church this Sunday. He got along great with the new family the Bundurs that also came to church this Sunday. Two weeks ago at church we had a lesson about the word of wisdom in Sunday school. Tawio told us when we met with him two days ago that he had something to tell us. He told us that he gave up drinking coffee! We didn’t even know that he had a problem with that but he said that after the lesson in church he knew he needed to stop. Today we had a very special price late of going to the Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. Every six months, missionaries who will be going home in the next six months get to go. The elders went in the morning, and all of the sisters went in the afternoon. There were about 25 of us who are going home in the next 5 months. We spent about 4 hours long and a senior couple was our tour guide. It was an amazing, amazing experience. One of My favorite parts of it was the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” ceremony. It was very emotional and something I will never forget. It made me really appreciate the freedom that we have here in our country and the sacrifices that were made by so many. It also made me realize how because of all of this, we are able to live in the place where the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored. It has truly been prepared in this place and I dxxdWs very grateful to be able to share that message here in the Nations capitol. I love you all so much!
Love Sister Haertling