Hi Mom

Hi Mom!
 It was so good to talk to everyone today. I won’t be sending anymore emails though today. Love you so much!

Bye!

7 Days till Christmas

Dear all,

       It blows my mind that next week is Christmas. It doesn’t feel like it at all this year. I feel like I’m stuck in October and there’s still 2 months left. We had transfers last week and Sister Bingham and I are staying together for another transfer!! This is Sister Bingham’s last transfer which is really crazy because I came out just one transfer after she did. 

         The Festival of Lights is really taking off! Over 6500 people came in last night and it was so much fun to have everyone there. The performances were great, and every seat in the 600 seat theater was filled for both shows. So many people who have just seen the temple off the beltway come in and have questions about the church. Many even accept to learn more and the visitors center is an amazing way to spread the gospel. 

        On Wednesday we had a lesson with a guy named Jorge who some elders had met while knocking doors last week. He is YSA age, so we get to teach him! We met him at the visitors center and were able to teach him about the restoration and he loved the Book of Mormon. On Sunday he came to church and we asked him if he had a chance to read from the Book of Mormon yet. He said that he had and started telling us in detail all about the first few chapters. We were so happy! Our YSA stake just started a coed basketball program and he is going to play on our wards’ team. He has a lot of friends in the ward now which is great. That is something that I really love about the church. You will always have a support group no matter where you go. 

        Friday night we were able to meet with Jean at elder and sister Chesamore who are the military relations missionaries here. There are two guys in the ward who are also at the military base with Jean that know of him. They were able to come to the lesson with us and it was one of those nights I will always remember. One of the guys has been in the military overseas for a while and has been recovering from a serious injury along with the mental side of things after going through/seeing so much. They were bearing their testimonies and talking about very detailed things that they had gone through while overseas. It was really incredible and humbling to hear what they had gone through for our country and the freedoms we enjoy. It makes me so much more grateful for everyone that makes that sacrifice in their life. Their testimonies of the plan of salvation made an impact on me that I also will not forget. They said a quote that I haven’t heard in a while... “the only thing that we are promised today, is that tomorrow isn’t”. Living the gospel of Jesus Christ every day pushes us to be our best selves and be prepared for the day when we meet our Heavenly Father again. 

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Love you all! 

Love Sister Haertling 

 

Snow better place than DC

Dear all,
It has been a really busy day so I’ll have to email really quickly! It finally snowed this week!! Jean and Mohy came to church on Sunday. The two girls also came to church that I talked about last week. We got to talk to one of them for quite a bit after church about her life and future plans. It was amazing to see how far she’s come in the last few weeks and how much of a difference that’s made in her life. She told us that she’s planning on going weekly to the temple. We were so happy when she said that. It makes me so happy to see others come back to church but even more happier when people come back full force.
Also, Jean wants to get baptized! We’re working on the date. He came to the ward Christmas Party this week and had a blast. He made about a dozen new friends at the party and they all welcomed him to church when they saw him. Jean is literally our best friend and we’re so happy to know him and see him progress in the gospel.
Transfers are this week. Many of the sisters are going home so it was very bittersweet for us as they bore their testimonies. It’s amazing to see how firm their testimonies are of the restored gospel. It builds up my testimony each time.
Last night a 16 year old, anti Mormon, atheist came into the Visitors Center to persuade some of the newer missionaries thats it’s “all a scam”. One of the senior couples told me what was going on and shoved me into the room. The two sisters looked like deer in the headlights as this boy pounded them with question after question. As soon as they saw me they relaxed and it was as if the spirit started speaking through them. Their young testimonies of the Restoration were so firm and strong against the “mighty storm” of the adversary. I simply sat there and listened to these sisters invite this young boy to pray earnestly and to repent. His countenance changed ever so slightly as he exited the room. The sisters looked at me and I’m pretty sure I had the biggest smile plastered across my face because I was so proud of them. I think I was there to witness their fervent testimonies to help build on my own testimony. I grabbed each of them and hugged them. The church truly was restored by Joseph Smith and I know without a doubt all of it is true.
One of my favorite parts of this week was when we got some great advice from our mission presidents wife. She said, “That’s life. If you look back and notice all of the things you could have done better then that means you’re learning and changing. Regrets can be a good thing.” And I’ve repeated that to almost all of the other sister missionaries. When we look back and see all of the things we could have done better that means we’re repenting and improving. Elder Uchtdorf talked about this last General Conference. He said, “Choosing this path of discipleship will lead to untold happiness and fulfillment of your divine nature. It will not be easy. It will require the very best that you have- all your intelligence, creativity, faith, integrity, strength, determination, and love. But one day you will look back upon your efforts, and oh, how grateful you will be.”
How grateful we will be. I am so grateful to be blessed with the gospel in my life and even more grateful for the opportunity to share it with others. We are so blessed! I love you all!
Love Sister Haertling

Festival of Lights

Dear all,

I have a lot to write about this week. So much has happened. On

Tuesday last week we began setting up for ambassador night and getting

ready for that. These two nights of the year, ambassador and diplomat

night, is a time where leaders (ambassadors and diplomats) of

countries and those in public affairs come to the visitors center for

the lighting ceremony to start the Festival of Lights. This year the

ambassador of South Africa was the one who turned on the Christmas

lights for the lighting ceremony. Elder Bednar and Sister Bednar came

as well which was amazing to hear from him and meet them. On Wednesday

night all of the diplomats and ambassadors and their families came.

After the ceremony, the countdown begins to illuminate the lights.

Everything goes dark and that’s when Elder Bednar and the ambassador

of South Africa press the big red button to turn on all of the

Christmas trees and 700,000 Christmas lights outside. It didn’t seem

real because it’s my second year now being a part of this event. It

feels too soon to be singing Christmas carols and setting everything

up! On Thursday the visitors center was open to the public again and

it was the first official day of the Festival of Lights. We are there

most of the nights during the week. We spend the morning and afternoon

in our area, and then help most nights at the visitors center. Over

the past 3 nights, over 12,000 people have come in...by the end of

each night Sister Bingham and I feel like our feet are going to fall

off, but it’s the best feeling in the world! My favorite was on

Saturday night over 4 thousand people came in through the visitors

center. Sister Bingham and I stood at the temple model for over an

hour and a half and just taught people over and over again who had no

idea what the temple really was. Sometimes (well most nights) it’s a

little bit hectic and can be hard to teach with so many distractions

around, but the spirit is still there and people want to learn. It’s

the best! One cool experience that happened on Saturday night was

three college students came walking in. Two of them were sisters and

they had their best friend with them. They were all really nice and we

assumed they were all members. They told us that they were in the same

ward that we are serving in, but we had never seen them before...They

also told us that their friend had never been to the temple before and

wasn’t a member. Sister Bingham and I really clicked with them and

spent some time with them. Their friend ended up taking all of the

pamphlets and a Book of Mormon and was really interested. As we said

goodbye and they were walking away we heard their friend mention how

she would like to come to church. The next day when we walked into

sacrament all three of them were there and they had a great time at

church. We later found out that the two sisters hadn’t come to church

in a long time, that’s why we didn’t recognize them. I really love

them all so much. It was also a tender mercy to see that even though

we don’t have as much time in our area with the visitors center we can

still see miracles at the visitors center with people that are in our

area as well.

Another miracle that happened this week; so a couple of months ago,

Sister Kunz and I found this really cool lady who was interested and

said that she had a son who was a young adult and wanted to find a

church. Sister Kunz and I had sent her sons information to the

missionaries for the YSA. His name is Emory and sister Kunz and I

taught him a little bit over the phone. Well this week some

missionaries came into the visitors center with a young adult guy. We

said hello to him and he said his name was Emory!! I asked if his moms

name was Rachel and he said, “yes!! Are you the ones that taught her

and sent missionaries to me and talked on the phone?”. I said yes and

he told me he was getting baptized! I was so excited for him. This

last Saturday Emory got baptized and confirmed. Our ward got split a

couple of weeks ago and so now Emory is in our ward and we will get to

teach him the new concert lessons. It’s amazing to see the Lords hand

in everything.

Today we got to go to the temple! I forgot how much I love being

inside the temple and the feeling that is there.

On Sunday night I met a really cool man. He is the Father of a Coptic

Orthodox Church and he is known as the “Father of giving” to all of

the people that know him. I learned a lot about their religion and

showed them around. He pulled out some little bracelets and a two

dollar bill and gave it to me. He only spoke Arabic and so his

translator told me that he wanted to leave this with me to remember

the special night. It was really sweet.

Mohy has been doing great, he was traveling in Africa for work and so

he wouldn’t come to church this week. He has met with a lot of members

of our ward throughout the week and is really close with them.

Last week for part of the #lighttheworld, Sister Bingham and I and

some members went to the metro and sung Christmas carols. A lot of

people stopped to listen and we gave them light the world cards. We

sang I am a child of god and a couple of people came up asking where

we got the song from. One lady wanted her kids to sing and so we had a

lot of people joining in to sing. It really lifted my day and was fun

to have everyone else be a part of it or even just to stop and smile.

I hope you all are finding ways to light the world every day too! I

love you all!

Love Sister Haertling