Dear all,
This week we had an incredible zone Conference with Elder Ringwood and his wife . He is a member of the seventy and his wife, Sister Ringwood is the daughter of President Russel M. Nelson. We had that conference on Thursday with three of the zones in our mission. A lot of what we talked about was faith and having a mission of miracles.
On Friday we had a special training at the Visitors Center in preparation for the Festival of Lights..it starts in NINE days which is just the weirdest thing to me. It feels like this was just happening....but that was a whole year ago. Later that day we went on exchanges and I got to be with Sister Yancey in the Kentlands area. Sister Yancey and I came out together at the same time, so it was fun to be able to be companions for a little while. While on exchanges we had a member meal with the Pratt family in their area. They asked me where I was from and when I said the tri cities, their Dad who is in his 70s told me he lived in Kennewick for 15 years or so. He asked me if I knew Lowell Barber and I said of course I know him! He told me he knew him very well and wanted me to tell him and his family he said hello. I told him it would be easy for me to do that since his daughter and son-in-law were my aunt and uncle and our families are so close. Also I met another two families at the visitors center this week who were from the tri cities. There are always so many small connections that I find each week and I know that Heavenly Father is aware of each of us.
Another miracle happened on Saturday. We were walking back to our church building from the metro and we saw our mission president sitting in his car. He waved to us and told us there was a baptism in another ward that was happening in a little while but he was here early. He had a lot of things to ask us about and as we were talking, an older lady came up behind us. She told us that she had met missionaries last Easter and works with a lot of members of the church. She started naming off a lot of her friends that are members of the seventy and very well known members of the church. President Johnson, Sister Bingham and I all looked at each-other and were pretty surprised at why she was there at that moment if she had so many connections to these other members of the church. She said she didn’t have much family around anymore and is moving apartments and the missionaries had told her to come to this church if she ever needed anything. We talked to her together and she told us that she has always been drawn to the Mormon church. We told her that there was a baptism happening in a few minutes if she wanted to come and see what it was like. She accepted and came in with us. She turned to me half way through the meeting and told us that she thought everything was so beautiful and that she loved the feeling that was there. We gave her the missionaries number and they are going to be able to teach her now. I know that the Lord’s timing is perfect and he puts people in our path that are truly prepared.
This past week at the visitors center I found a really cool miracle as well. I’ve been teaching a guy online from New Jersey for the past couple of months. He initially came online and called in to Mormon.org. His sister is a member of the church in North Carolina and he has always been curious. He wasn’t quite open to have missionaries come over at church, so Ive been able to teach him online through the teaching center at the visitors center. About a month ago he finally accepted to meet with the missionaries in New Jersey. He will hopefully be getting baptized next month. Well I was on the phone with him this week and he told me that he has to commute from New Jersey to Virginia sometimes for work. I realized that he probably goes through DC to get there and asked him if he’s ever seen the temple before. He told me that he has seen that a lot because his sister lives near it. Then out of the blue he says, “you know, my sister has been going through a rough time lately. She lost her husband while he was serving in the military ten years ago, and her son has been battling cancer. I think that this message that you all share really could help her out”. He gave me all of her contact information and she lives in our mission! I was so excited and called her right after that. She is in the Air Force and sounds like an amazing woman. We talked for a while and told me about her sister who is a member and how she has seen a change in her life since joining the church. She accepted for missionaries to come over and meet with her! I see the missionaries in her area quite a bit and can’t wait to hear how it goes.
On Saturday the YSA stake announced that they would be creating 4 new wards. There are now 11 YSA wards in the stake. It is just crazy how many young people are around here. On Sunday we were having a munch and mingle after church. There was a guy there who I didn’t recognize and so we started talking to him. He told us that he plays rugby with someone in our ward and that he invited him to come to the activity. We were able to talk to him for a while and he agreed to start meeting with us. Also while we were there a girl in our ward came up to us and introduced her friend Austin to us who isn’t a member. He told us that he went to school with a lot of LDS people and was interested in learning more from us. We have a busy week and are really grateful for all of the miracles that Heavenly Father has let us be a part of recently.
Last night we were at the visitors center and Mohy who we have been teaching came in! President Johnson was there and met him and taught with us. Mohy loved the temple and also learning about modern day prophets/apostles. We showed him how there are copies of the Book of Mormon in a lot of different languages. He picked up a Book of Mormon in French, German and Amharic and just started reading. It was amazing to hear it read in all of the languages. He said that he feels that this is true, and knows that this is where God wants him to be! We are really excited for him.
Something that I really loved studying about in Preach my gospel this week was faith. In it, it talks about how faith leads to action, and how it is a principle of power. “God works by power, but His power is usually exercised in response to faith”. A lot of times we hear the phrase ‘faith to move mountains’ when talking about faith. There is an amazing talk on faith by Richard C. Edgley, called “Faith-the Choice is Yours”. It says, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove” (Matthew 17:20). I have never witnessed the removal of an actual mountain. But because of faith I have seen a mountain of doubt and despair removed and replaced with hope and optimism. Because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of sin replaced with repentance and forgiveness. And because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude. Yes, I have seen mountains removed”. I know that if we trust in the Lord and have faith, that he can help us with those personal “mountains” that we each have. Sometimes they aren’t removed completely, sometimes He gives us the faith to get over them and the strength that is needed. But I know He is aware of each of us. I love you all so much. Happy Thanksgiving!
Love Sister Haertling
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