Christmas Week :)

So this week has been super dead. All the young single adults (the area that we cover) are either busy with finals, home for the holidays, or are finished with their internship and are leaving!! Haha it was funny, they ended up cancelling church on Sunday because all the young single adults were gone! So we went to a family ward near our apartment. It was fun to show Victor, one of our investigators, what a family ward is like. He really enjoyed it. Festival of Lights has been so busy this week, so that is good! Our record for people coming in in one night is over 8,000!! Christmas was so great! This was my first year away from home for Christmas! As sad as it was, I have really truly felt and understood the TRUE meaning of Christmas!

On Christmas Day we had a fun big lunch with the whole mission and President Cooke and his wife. I love this mission and have developed so many life long relationships.

This week I have seen first hand the blessings this gospel brings into peoples lives. Joseph Smith wrote, “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every climb, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” This is such a powerful quote from Joseph Smith. It is so true. Nothing can stop this great and marvelous work of God. I know that the miracles of missionary work are real. President Monson taught, “Regarding one’s testimony, remember, that which one willingly shares he keeps, while that which he selfishly keeps he loses. … Teach and testify. There is no better combination." Teach and testify to everyone about this great joy and this plan of happiness.

Never forget Jesus Christ's great and atoning sacrifice that made EVERYTHING possible. His atonement made it possible for us to have enternal life and for us to return to live in the presence of God with our families forever! This is such a wonderful gift and we have the opportunity to share it with others! This is the greatest gift we can give back to the Savior… missionary work!!! :) Test it out... teach and testify and accomplish the Lords work and I promise you will find a joy you have never experienced before. I love you all and miss you so much!!! Have a wonderful New Year and always walk by faith, not by sight. Thanks for all your support!

Love, Sister Freeman

Christmas!!! THANKS MOM AND DAD AND FAMILY FOR THE CHRISTMAS PACKAGE!:)

Sorry about the messy room!!! Haha!!;)  We cleaned it, don't worry! :)

(Mom needs to note here that Megan came clean by admitting that she opened her 

Christmas package WAY before Christmas!  Little stinker!!)  

Christmas Skype!! :D

So happy I got to Skype the family!!:)  Miss them so much!!

We have the best roomies ever so.....

we surprised them with a gift from us to them!  We got them pomegranates because they love those!!

Merry Christmas! :)

Hey everyone!!! 

This week we had transfers!!! Sister Griffin and I are staying together! YAY!! :) We had a 5 week transfer instead of 6 because Christmas is next week!! So the next transfer will be 7 weeks to make up for it!! Sister Griffin is so amazing! She always has the best insights! She is the funniest person ever! Haha, so we both have the same retainer case (like they are EXACTLY the same….) and so one night we were both brushing our teeth…. and somehow the cases got mixed up and she put in my retainers and I put in her retainers!!! It was the funniest, grossest thing ever! We had a good laugh! I guess you can say we have gotten pretty close!! :) ;) 

This week was filled with lots of great lessons, different culture experiences, and ya lots of rejections;). We had a great lesson with Victor! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and so far he has gone a week without smoking or drinking! He is doing so great! HE set his OWN tentative baptismal date for January 10th!!!!! We will see how it goes! He wants to finish the Book of Mormon before and is almost done!!! There is so much cultural diversity in DC! It is so awesome talking to so many different people!! Along with many open and kind people, we got a lot of hard, mean people this week. But that's okay, it made us stronger. Everyone has their agency to either accept or reject our message!! It's funny when people see us walking down the street… they suddenly have a phone call, look completely in another direction, or suddenly have to go another way to avoid us, haha it is SO funny! People are great! 

I heard this awesome quote about the Book of Mormon this week by Elder Holland, "No wicked man would write such a thing (The Book of Mormon) and no good man would unless commanded to by God." This is SO true! The Book of Mormon is such an incredible book!!!!! It truly is another testament of Jesus Christ! It is the word of God. We have given away SO many copies of the Book of Mormon at the Visitors' Center during Festival of Lights! It is so awesome! The Book of Mormon is truly for everyone!!!! Study and pray about it and I promise you will see blessings in your life! :) I hope you all have an amazing Christmas!!! You are all so great! Thanks for being such a huge example to me! :)

Sister Freeman 

Sister Griffin trained both Sister McArthur and I, so we are her "daughters" and she is our "mom"!

Sister McArthur

Christmas Pictures

We didn't realize that Elder Oliver photobombed us until we got home... hahaha!!!!

(note: Mom at home has no idea why the creepy fake baby is in the picture!)

It's so foggy in DC!  This is the view from our apartment window!

Here is our apartment...

we got a little crazy with the pictures!

Amazing Week :)

Hello everyone!!:)

This week was so amazing! There is this quote that stuck with me during this week! It says, "There is a power that enters into your life as you begin a serious study of the Book of Mormon and Bible"

(President Ezra Taft Benson). I really like this quote because it is so true! I have been trying to really seriously study the Book of Mormon and Bible. My companion is so knowledgeable when it comes to the scriptures and is a great example to me! She has taught me really good ways to study!:) The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly what is important!

Victor is doing so great! In one of the lessons this week, he explained to us how it is hard to put his spiritual needs first when he is struggling with his physical needs! And how he really needs a job to feed him before he can provide for his spiritual needs. After he said that, something flowed out of my mouth, "Victor as you put God first and as you continue to go to church and read the scriptures, you will find a job and everything else will work out." After the lesson, Sister Griffin said she was going to say the exact same thing! Just the other day Victor called us and said HE GOT A JOB!!!! Miracles are real and they do happen as you put God first. I remember in the MTC one of my teachers told me that as missionaries we have the ability and power of God to make promises with people, and they WILL come true. We are called and chosen and set apart and qualified to do so, and I can totally see this now!

Funny stories: hahahaha!!! Okay so during the Festival of Lights this month, our record for the amount of people who have come in one night is over 6,000!!! We have a lot of crazy people that come in...

One night my companion and I were talking to this one lady when all the sudden this crazy man came running up to me and in a baby voice said "Aww look at your little smile" ... And then he hugged me and picked me up and squeezed me to death... HE PICKED ME UP... My companion was like YOU CANT DO THAT!!! It was so awkward. Ya he was going around and hugging all the sisters and just being super weird... Let's just say he got escorted out.

This other time this man that was SUPER in to bowling came up to us and tried to get us to join his special needs bowling team... I'm not sure what he was inferring hahaha but He made us write down his phone number and all his information to join his team... I guess I should start practicing ;) haha just kidding!

Well that is my crazy week! At zone conference we had a really nice meeting with President Cooke! We are all disciples or followers of Jesus Christ who are continually repenting! " Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life" (3 Nephi 5:13). As missionaries we are one of the few to represent Jesus Christ and are humbled by this great responsibility! The test is what we take home with us at the end! I am learning what it truly means to forget yourself and go to work and the blessings that come from putting God first! You never leave yourself or the Lord so stay true to yourself and the Lord! Hang on to that hope when all is lost! The only person that can stop you from progressing is you!

Everyone watch and share the two new Christmas videos on Christmas.mormon.org!! If you haven't seen them yet, that's okay I can quote them ;) haha! We see them so much but they are so good!:) Talk to ya next week!

Sister Freeman :)

Look at who Megan ran in to at the Visitors' Center... Elder Jensen Inman!

When you run out of silverware...you use a machete to put Nutella on your strawberries!!;)

...and chopsticks to eat eggs! ;)

Sister Gomez (We flew to the mission together.)

Elder and Sister White (a senior couple) left this week! :(

Festival of Lights!!!!!!

This week has been SO busy with the Festival of Lights!!!! The Festival of Lights is a really exciting event at the Visitors' Center where we have A TON of Christmas lights up outside by the visitors center and the temple!!! Then inside the visitors center we have over 80 Nativities from 70 different countries!! It is so much fun! SOOO many people come each night!!! I think I've talked to 72818381829191 different people from 3829382 different countries;) haha!! To start out the Festival of Lights we had the ambassador and diplomat night where all the top notch dudes from all over the world and in the embassies came in. The program ran really smoothly!! It was a lot of fun!!

Haha funny story... So one day this week we all had to be at the Visitors' Center all day to help set up and such and so our roommates drove with us... And at the end of the night we left them at the Visitors' Center!!!!!!:O  It was such a long day we completely forgot!!!!!! Sooooooo they were stranded for a little bit but we came to their rescue! ;)

Yesterday we had Marvin Gomez's baptism!! He has been the best investigator ever!! The baptism was so sweet and ran so smoothly!! He is so golden!! He is such a jokester!! Haha he asked a sister to confirm him... haha! I guess we didn't do a very good job teaching him about the priesthood ;) haha just kidding and he was kidding lol!!

Missionaries are in charge of filling up the font... Ya we got drenched but hey it's okay we needed a shower anyway. ;)

Victor came to church and to Marvin's baptism!! He is progressing so much!! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he really liked that lesson. I know we lived in heaven a long time ago before we came down to earth and I know that we are here to be tested and to prepare to return to meet God. We ALL have a plan and purpose here on earth. God has given us a way to return back to Him because He loves us so much!!

No test or trial is easy. Life isn't easy and this mission is definitely not easy but through the atonement, hope, faith, repentance, baptism, and promptings from the Holy Ghost, we can progress, and we can prepare to meet God as we endure to the end. I know this to be true. I love you all and miss you tons!! Never forget our Fathers' loving hand in our life that leads, guides, and protects us.

Love, Sister Freeman :)

Sister Larson (one of my roommates) and I accidentally matched!!!! :)

Sister Parabirsing!  We were companions for one of the nights during the Festival of Lights

Sister Mickmiller

Marvin Gomez's Baptism

Gavin Britto (the Ward Mission Leader) got to baptize him!! :)

This sunset ALMOST beats Arizona's ;)