Called to Serve in DC North: Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hey everybody!! This week was fantastic! The Visitors' Center is ready and we are excited for The Festival of Lights!! Oh yeah, during the month of December my P day will be on Tuesday instead of Monday because of Festival!

I think I will start out with our little miracle we had this week. So we were checking up on potential investigators and we decided to go to Darlene Shaw's house. So we got there and her husband answered the door and he said that they weren't really interested but he did accept our offer to come back and rake their leaves on Saturday. So Saturday came and we knocked on his door with our rakes! He was shocked we actually came, haha! So we raked his whole front yard with him. We were praying the whole time that his heart would be softened. Sure enough, he asked us tons of questions and he really appreciated us coming to help him. We were able to teach him all about the restoration just from the questions he was asking. He was intrigued by the Book of Mormon and accepted a copy and said he was really going to read it. They had us come in for dinner after and we got to know them a lot more! They really opened up to us and told us some concerns they were having with their church. We testified to them of the things we know to be true and it went right along with what they believed. They accepted a return appointment and to come to The Festival of Lights. They are honest seekers of truth and it was really neat to be able to teach them. It was a huge miracle and I have such a strong testimony that service softens hearts, not only for missionary work, but for everything!

So a little bit ago, we found out that our ward has 49 part member families and so Sister Haertling and I decided to make that our focus this transfer. So far it has been a success. We visited a part member family and later found out that the dad who is not a member is the son in law to a senior couple in the ward! It was fun to get to know him and he said we were more than welcome to come back anytime! So we are super excited about that!! Some other part member families are having us over for dinner this week! We are so excited! I will tell you all about it next week!

So Thanksgiving was AMAZING!! We had a no proselyting day so we got to spend the day with lots of members from the ward! It was cool because a lot of the people we went to had non members there so we were able to teach them still! It was really neat and we loved being around so many amazing families!

Something cool: So at the Visitors' Center we have a teaching center where we call missionaries all around the world and send them referrals we get online from people who request Bibles or copies of the Book of Mormon and so there was a referral I sent to the local missionaries in the Little Rock Arkansas mission and GUESS WHO THE MISSIONARIES WERE?! SISTER SAGE INMAN! It was so amazing and it was fun to get to talk with her for a little bit and to give them that referral! Haha small world!

On Sunday Sister Haertling and I got to teach the cute Young Women in our ward! It was so fun! I LOVE the Young Women! The lesson went super well! It was about the value Knowledge!! We talked about the importance of not only gaining educational knowledge but also spiritual knowledge as well! And to gain a strong testimony because that is everything we KNOW!

Oh yeah, so I don't know if you have watched the new Christmas video for the year but it is really good!! Here is the link to watch it! https://www.mormon.org/ I love the video and how we are challenged to "light the world". I love how we all have the ability to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Even in the small things! We can ALL serve and help others! A member in the ward told us this wise council, "When we expect things from other people, our joy is in their hands, but when we choose to serve others, our joy is in our hands!" Keep that in mind this Christmas season! I love you all!

Sister Freeman