HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween everybody!
We had a good week this week, especially in the Visitors' Center! A lot of people came in on Saturday who were looking to strengthen their relationship with Jesus Christ! Here are a few experiences that we had:

Noah and Carlin- Noah and Carlin were a couple that came in who were both Jewish! They had SO many AMAZING questions about our faith! They approached us and it was so great to take them around the Visitors' Center! We ended up spending three hours with them! They were great examples to me!

Two Catholic girls- So two Catholic girls living here in DC came into the VC and they said that they had to come and check out the temple because they drive past it every day! They said that they had a lot of friends out serving missions right now and that they wanted to learn more! One of the girls said that she really looked up to one of her friends out serving a mission! I thought this was the coolest thing! They had such great questions and it was so fun taking them around!

Laura and her daughter- This sweet lady named Laura came into the VC and told us how her daughter had to do a research paper about our religion! We told them that they came to the PERFECT place! We took them around and shared our beliefs with them and GUESS WHAT? They gladly agreed to learning more and for us to keep in touch! The whole time the mom was saying, "This is so interesting!" She was very spiritually sensitive and loved the spirt that was present at the Visitors' Center!

Mark Lusvardi- So Mark Lusvardi is in charge of all of the Visitors' Centers around the world! We had the wonderful opportunity this morning to hear from him! He gave wonderful insights on how we can better use Visitors' Centers! We also got to see the sneak peak of the new Christmas Videos the Church is putting out this year! They are SO GOOD! I cant wait for you all to see them! :)

In our area this week we had a little tender mercy from our Heavenly Father! We were out having  a crazy night contacting. We were handing out pictures of Jesus Christ and we came across this lady named Jessica! She is from Brazil and she loved what we were sharing! She was interested in learning more! She said she was really open to learning more about Jesus Christ! YAY! We are meeting with her tomorrow!

Yesterday our mission President and his wife came and spoke at our ward! It was the BEST! I love them so much! The whole Sunday was centered on Missionary Work and how we can better follow the example of Jesus Christ! It was amazing! We loved it! It was the best Sunday ever.

Here is my spiritual thought to finish up: "Satan wants us to be perfect by ourselves. God wants us to be perfect through Jesus Christ."  I LOVE this quote! I know that it is through Jesus Christ that we can become better! As we strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ, we will become what ever we want to become!

Love you all!
Sister Megan Freeman

 

 Sister Hugely (an AMAZING lady in our ward) took us out to dinner!

She is the BEST and is like another grandma to us!:)

 

 Haha, Sister Haertling and I were twins for Halloween!

 

Our ward trunk or treat was super fun

  Our Gospel Principles class!!:)

GUESS WHAT!? Bernice went through the temple for the first time and the missionary

that taught her when she was younger came down for it! It was so neat!:)!

 

 

 

 

(Mom's note:  I got this picture off of the mission Facebook page this morning.  It said that it was a picture of half of the missionaries currently serving in the DC North Mission.)

Letter From Sister Shin to Mom

Sister Shin emailed today with this sweet letter to me (Mom).  It made my day!  What a beautiful person she is!  I could feel her strong spirit as I read this letter.  Here it is:

:)
I always wanted to send you an email to tell you how amazing daughter you have.
I love her so much from bottom of my heart.
I am so happy and feel honor to have her as my trainer and first companion.
I am so sad that we are not companion anymore but! I know that we are going to be best friend forever and eternity! Thanks for the decision to get married and have wonderful daughters!
Your daughter changed my life! And just telling you that Sister Freeman is the most wonderful missionary in whole world. I love you Sister Freeman (you!) hahaha this is funny pic!!

She sent me this picture:

Spiritual Week :)

Hi Everyone! 

We had transfers on Wednesday! I am staying in the Bethesda area and training a new missionary! Her name is Sister Haertling and she is from Washington State. She is so sweet and such a hard worker! It is going to be a wonderful transfer! I first want to tell you about a HUGE miracle that happened this week! Something Sister Haertling and I have been trying to do  is pray for specific things, so we can get specific answers. We were lucky and had a lot of time to find the elect this week! We got to see the blessings from praying for specific things. On Wednesday, we had an appointment with Doris, but when we got there, she said that she was not feeling good, so we decided to tract near her house. Before we did, we prayed that we would be able to find a family to teach where the kids were anxious to learn more. After a lot of rejections, we knocked on this one families' house. Two cute little girls answered the door and seemed super excited to see us! Their dad came to the door and we told him that we are the Sister Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that we had a message for his family about Jesus Christ. The dad looks at his two girls and says, "What do you guys say, should we let them in?" and the girls  both said, "YESSSS PLEASE!!!!!" They had these huge smiles on their faces! So the dad told us to come on in and to have a seat on their sofa. WE WERE SO HAPPY! We shared our message and they were so receptive. The whole time we were teaching them I felt the spirit so strongly and knew that Heavenly Father was so happy. After the lesson, Sister Haertling and I were so happy and during the lesson we both felt such a special bond to this family. I know I met this family before in the pre earth life. The dad and the kids both seemed so familiar! Ever since that night we have been praying and fasting for this family. They have been on our minds constantly! We are going to go back this week to share more with them and we are SO EXCITED! The story gets better. So some other sisters in our mission that also serve in the Visitors' Center came up to us a couple days after we met this family and they said, "WE HAVE EXCITING NEWS FOR YOU!" They told us how they were out contacting and that they met the nanny who watches those two little girls and she said that the girls can't stop talking about the things we shared with them! She told them that the family is super excited to come to the Visitors' Center (we left them with an invitation to come to the Visitors Center). AND now the nanny is interested in hearing about our message. I am so glad that those sisters followed the prompting to go and talk to the nanny! Aw man this was just such a huge miracle. I have such a strong testimony of being diligent in finding and of not giving up. Ever. We made that commitment that night to not go home until we found the family we prayed for and sure enough, God was able to lead us to that elect family! 

We had another experience this week where Sister Haertling specifically prayed to find a sweet lady in a blue shirt. While we were out tracting, sure enough a sweet lady wearing a blue shirt answered the door and was interested! I am so grateful for prayer! I know that God answers our prayers as we are willing to put forth the effort.

I am teaching this girl online at the Visitors' Center named Amanda! She called in to mormon.org a couple weeks ago and she explained to us how she was wanting to feel hope. I shared a message with her and called her local missionaries to go and visit her. They went over that night, and she came to church on Sunday. I called her yesterday to follow up with her on how it was going with the missionaries and with church and she said that she LOVES it! She said that she keeps feeling a tingling feeling in her heart. She said that she knew that it was the Holy Ghost and that she is making the right decision! The missionaries put her on date to be baptized on November 5! I was so happy for her! The gospel helped her to flip her life around and give her so much hope!

Another miracle, so I am teaching this guy from Pakistan online at the Visitors' Center, and he has been wanting to come to church and read the Book of Mormon for quite some time but hasn't been able to because of obvious reasons. And GUESS WHAT? So a guy from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (near Pakistan) came into the Visitors' Center and just said he felt prompted to come in and he agreed when he went back to get in touch with the guy from Pakistan and take him to church!!!!!! It was a HUGE miracle! I hope everything works out and that they will stay safe! Keep them in your prayers!

Sorry this email is getting long but I just want you all to know that I love being a missionary! I love it so much! I know that this work is important and that this gospel is eternal. I know that this is the path that God wants all His children to take. This gospel truly is something special and infinitely worth sharing. Love you all! 
Sister Megan Freeman

 TRANSFERS!

 

 Sister Haertling and I with President and Sister Johnson! 

 We both hit our YEAR mark on the 21st! Woo!

 

 

Last couple days with Sister Shin! She went on her outbound to Bowie! I'm gunna miss her!

This last picture is with Marty.

This Little Surprise Came Today!

I love random texts from other mothers!  I (mom) got this one today from a Sister Tanner visiting DC with her son who served in this mission.



 

Here is the text conversation:

 

Sister Tanner: Sister Haertling and Sister Freeman.  I just ran into these cute sisters at the DC Visitors' Center.  My son Elder Tanner served in the amazing DC mission and loved it. 

We are here visiting with him.  Your daughter is happy and loving her mission! :)

 

Me: This is so great! I haven't seen Sis. Freeman's new comp yet!!  How fun!!  I love these texts--thank you thank you!!

 

 

 

 

 

YEAR MARK!!

Hey family and friends! 

This week I hit my year mark! The mission is going so well and I LOVE the area that I am in! Here are a few highlights from each day! 

 

Tuesday: Today was fabulous! A member fed us a meal today and it reminded me of what my mom would make for us! :) It was great! 

 

Wednesday: I got a call to train again next transfer!!!!! I am so excited! Training is the best thing ever and I learn so much from it!!:) We also tried to check up on this lady named Neda. We went over and knocked on her door and another lady answered the door and she told us that Neda and her family actually moved away a few weeks ago, but that they would like to hear the message we have!! This was a huge miracle!! Her name is Christy and she is SO INCREDIBLE! We are so stoked to come back! 

 

Thursday: Literally EVERYONE that came in the Visitors' Center was from Arizona! I think they all had fall break or something! It was so fun to see people from Arizona! We had our district meeting today and something that stood out to me was this quote, "I don't see the sun, but I see everything the sun lets me see, so I know that there is a sun." They related this to God and how we don't see Him but we are able to see everything He has given to us and the fruits that this gospel brings. I know that God lives and that he loves us!

 

Friday: Today all the missionaries who are going to train next transfer had a meeting and it was so good! President Johnson talked to us a lot about the importance of setting goals, planning, and obedience! It was a good meeting and I am so excited for next transfer! 

 

Saturday: GIAN AND KENGI GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!! We are so happy!!! They are some people who I had previously taught! They are brother and sister and are such amazing people!!! I'll send pictures! Today we went tracting and we played this game where someone says a word and then the other person has to use that word when they talk to the next person! It was really fun! We got to a house and the word I chose for Sister Shin was "an nyung ha se yo" which means hello in Korean and GUESS WHAT, the guy who answered the door was Asian! It was so funny! A member in the ward gave us a referral and we went and checked up on them and the family is SO AWESOME! We are so excited! :) This was a huge highlight! 

 

Sunday: Church was so great! Sister Shin and I got to do the musical number. She sang 'Joseph Smiths First Prayer' and I played the piano! It was really pretty! There are little triplets in our ward that were just born and were blessed during sacrament meeting! It was the coolest thing ever! 

 

Today: All the sisters in our apartment came and Sister Shin made Korean BBQ! It was so fun and yummy! I love the sisters in our mission! 

 

Ah man I have learned so much in this past year! I know with all my heart that this is the only true church and I am so grateful to be able to proclaim it. I know without question that it is right and true. It makes more and more sense every day! I love you all! Have a great week! 

Sister Megan Freeman 

 

 Gian and Kengi's baptism!!

 

Melody! She is doing well! She is going through a hard time but is hanging in there!

This was a picture after she went to the renaissance festival!

 Carpool to the Visitors' Center!

 

 District activity last Monday! Right next to the temple, there is a park with a fire pit! 

We made s'mores.

 Last district picture for the transfer.

 

Haha...Happy Halloween!

 We made the ward bulletin ;)

 

 Korean BBQ

 

 

Package for my birthday from home!

 

20 Years Old! :D Woot Woot

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week!

Here are a few highlights: 

 

Doris: Doris came to church yesterday! She is progressing very well! She is from Liberia and we took this really awesome member who is also from Africa with us to our last lesson with Doris and they really connected and are getting to be really good friends! :D Doris was a media referral sent to us. Doris originally just wanted a Bible and not to meet or anything, but we eventually were able to get inside her home and teach her! She is progressing super well and absolutely LOVED church yesterday! 

 

Funny story: We were our tracting and we knocked on this one persons door and the husband answered and he was like, "COME ON IN!!" And Sister Shin and I were SO HAPPY! And then the wife came up and was like, "no." Haha, so we just offered to leave them an invitation to come to the Visitors' Center and the husband was like, " YEAH ABSOLUTELY COME IN PLEASE!" And the wife was like, " no. No. NO" and the husband was like, " Whyyyyy they look so nice and it says Jesus on their badge", haha we had mixed emotions haha! I hope the husband comes in contact with missionaries again!!

 

Meeting with Elder Bennett (Member of the 70): So we had a TEN hour meeting with Elder Bennett!! It was the best meeting of my life and was so spiritual. That meeting changed my life!! I took so many notes and I wish I could share them ALL with you! He talked to us for ten hours but it felt like two hours! Ah it was so good! He talked about how we can be better missionaries and how to do it! It was so good and I am so pumped! This is something he said that really stood out to me: He asked the question, "Why do you think we don't receive immediate answers to our prayers? Or why do we sometimes not receive any answers at all?" And he said that because if we did, we would have no agency to choose! That was really neat! I know that God has HIS way of answering our prayers and He trusts us to use our agency in the right way! 

Love you all!

 

 

Bernice had a WONDERFUL birthday brunch!

 

She is the best!!

 

More cake!!:) Members from the Bethesda Ward

came to the Visitors' Center!

 It was a nice surprise! 

 

 

 

 Celebration with our roommates! 

 

It rained like crazy!! 

 

Birthday cake my mom sent me! 

 

 My roommates surprised me with this!!
 

 

 

Megan Is Well-Loved! Two Random Texts For Her Birthday Today!!

I got a couple of texts with pictures today from some awesome people in DC!  How thoughtful that they would think to send them to me on her birthday!  That was so sweet and such a nice surprise!  The first picture is in the Visitors' Center, and the 2nd set of pictures are from a member dinner that they went to today!

Person sending text: "Look who we saw at the DC Temple just now!!  She loves you!"

Mom: "That's my girl!  It's her birthday today!  Please wish her a happy birthday for me!! And thank you so much for sending this picture!!"

Person sending text: "We did wish her a happy birthday.  She was sweet and happy!"

Mom: "Thank you!"

 Blowing out her candles!  It's tradition to get this shot,

so I'm grateful to this sister who took this shot!

 

How sweet that this sister made her a cake!!

 

Here was the text conversation for these 3 pics: 

Mom: "Thank you so much for helping Sister Freeman have a great birthday! 

I am so grateful for good people!  Thank you!"

Person sending text: "You are so welcome!  It was such a treat to have them over; it was a tender mercy and exactly what a friend of mine needed.  They are serving in my ward right now in Bethesda...I'll take and send more photos as the opportunities arise!  Just wanted you to know (though I'm sure you're already aware) that she's definitely changing and blessing the lives of many out here!"

 

This just warmed my heart right up to hear this about Megan!  It's humbling to know

that she's having such an amazing impact on people...it makes it all worth it!!! 

(Plus she's going to send more pictures!)

 

Update From Bethesda!

Hey family and friends! I will keep this email short and sweet today!

We had a busy week filled with lots of lessons, service, and GENERAL CONFERENCE! :D

Sister Shin and I gave a workshop at our district meeting about agency, the fall of Adam and Eve, and our life on earth! It went super great and it really increased my testimony of God's plan for us. Agency is our ability to choose. We fought for our agency before we came down to earth and it is one of God's GREATEST gifts to us. No one can take away our ability to choose. Sister Shin told a really good story that related to Adam and Eve. When she was younger, her mom told her not to run outside when it was dark because she could trip and fall. But her mom also told her to always be home on time no matter what, and if she ever was late there would be consequences. One night, Sister Shin was going to be late coming home. She had to make curfew, so she chose to run home and ended up falling and scraping her knee pretty badly. Sister Shin got home on time, but she tried hiding her scraped knee from her mom. Her mom noticed her scraped knee right away and kindly and willingly started to help take care of her knee. Though her mom was proud she had a desire to follow their curfew rule, she was still disappointed and sad that she hurt herself by running even when her mom told her not to. This can be related to the fall of Adam and Eve because just like Sister Shin had two rules (not to run, but to be home on time) Adam and Eve also had two commandments (to not partake of the forbidden fruit, but to multiply and replenish the earth). In order for Adam and Eve to obey one rule they had to fall to be able to have kids. God knew the fall would be hard and painful and since He is so loving he warned them not to fall and partake of the fruit. But we all know that they chose to in order for us to all be here and to be able to feel of that same love God has for us. God was disappointed and sad that they disobeyed but proud that they were the parents of all who live today. I am so grateful for Adam and Eve and because of them, we are all able to come down to earth to be able to obtain a body and to learn and grow to become like God and to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Just like Sister Shin's mom helped clean up the mess from when Sister Shin fell, God helped us by sending His son Jesus Christ after Adam fell. Jesus Christ heals us from our sins.

Love you all! I hope you were able to watch General Conference! I loved every talk and all the counsel our prophet and apostles gave to us to help us in our life here on earth.
Love, Sister Freeman

 

THE BURGONS! They are a senior couple that are serving in the Visitors Center! They received a new call to go to be the Visitor Center Director in the St. George VC!! I am going to miss them so much!!

They took all the Sisters out to lunch! They are the BEST!

 

 Our district had an opportunity to serve at a 5K race in the city!!

 

 We handed out water to runners as they passed by!

 

It POURED rain and we got DRENCHED! But it was super fun!

We all matched!!!! Woo!

The Harrison's invited us over to watch General Conference and we got a

picture with their HUGE puppy named Oz! It is the cutest dog ever!

I FOUND PHOENIX! :D :D