Called to Serve in DC North: 18 Months and VC Tour with Donald Trump's Secretary :o

HAPPY EASTER!

THIS WEEK WAS SO AWESOME!! There were so many miracles in the Visitors' Center and in our area!

Something really exciting we got to do this week was we got to have a lesson on the roof top of the Kennedy Center!! A member in our ward, who is interning at the Kennedy Center, brought one of her intern friends to church last Sunday! We got talking with them and scheduled to have a missionary discussion together at the Kennedy Center! IT WAS SO COOL! Her friend's name is Javier and he is the nicest person ever! They are both really talented! The lesson went really well! We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed our lives! He had so many good questions! We are excited to work with him!

Another REALLY SUPER AMAZING thing that happened this week was Sister Escobar and I got to give a tour to Donald Trump's secretary, who is a member of the church, and his co worker. We walked into the Visitors' Center to come onto shift and the VC director rushed over and frantically told us Donald Trump's secretary, Layne Bangerter, was bringing his co worker, Beatrice, to the VC and he wants the sisters to give them a tour at the Visitors' Center on the Restoration! The VC director said he would like Sister Escobar and I to give their tour so we gladly agreed! Beatrice came in first and so it was nice to be able to get to know her and answer some of her questions before Brother Bangerter came in. Brother Bangerter was such an amazing member present and is probably one of the most spiritual people I know! It was such a great lesson! Beatrice, during the tour, told us about how she has had dreams about our church. I won't go into too much detail with them because they are really neat personal experiences that she had. But basically her dreams told her this was the true church of Jesus Christ and that she needed to be a part of it. She said when Brother Bangerter first introduced himself to her at work, she said that the Mormon faith was her favorite religion! Haha Brother Bangerter hopped right on that and has helped her every step of he way!

It was such a neat experience to be able to a part in this experience. She asked Brother Bangerter if he would baptize her and we all set a date in May. Brother Bangerter is such an amazing member missionary! I love the example he showed us! Her local missionaries who get to teach her are so lucky! She is so amazing and so prepared. This was probably one of the most spiritual experiences I've had in my mission! We started the tour at 6:30 and ended right before closing at 9! It was so awesome! Ah it was so cool! Afterward, Brother Bangerter gave us big hugs haha! He said he knew he was not allowed to hug us, but he just wanted to thank us! He said he LOVES missionaries! It was really sweet! We asked him about his job being the secretary for Donald Trump (It's crazy because nothing gets to Donald Trump without Brother Bangerter!) and he told us it is crazy but so good! He told us how he and Donald were talking one day and Donald Trump goes, "Man, Mormons just HATE me!" And Brother Bangerter told him how we all have our flaws and he pulled up a scripture of the Book of Mormon to share with him!! Ah it was so cool to hear that!!!! It was great to hear a REAL viewpoint on him. And how even the President of the United States needs encouragement and prayers. After the tour Sister Escobar and I just looked and each other and asked... what just happened???? Haha

We have a new investigator named Cassandra!! She is amazing! Her boy friend is a less active member and she recently has shown an interest! We taught her the Restoration and she LOVED it! She accepted our invitation to be baptized and she is just so excited to change her life to live more in line with Gods will! Lauren is another person we are working with! She is the nicest person I have ever met and has such a deep understanding of Jesus Christ. She was contacted on the metro and wanted to learn more! Her uncle and grandpa are both active members of the church and have sparked her interest. This week I have gained a strong testimony that God places people in each others' path to help them learn and grow!

We were out checking up on a referral and we knocked on the door and it was a wrong address!! We asked the guy who answered the door if he would like to learn more and he said YES! He has a Buddhist background and told us he has always wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ. He is originally from China and he said all of his friends here now believe in Jesus Christ and he wants to too! It was really cool how we were led to him!

My final experience I wanted to talk about is an experience I will never forget!! We were at the Visitors' Center and a member from the Annacostia Ward came in with a friend. The member said that he was going to go inside the temple and that we should take his friend around! We gladly agreed and began to take Eric around the VC. We started at the temple model and began talking about everything we do inside the temple. He was so intrigued. He opened right up to us and he told us how he felt like he has been carrying a lot on his shoulders. He asked me how he could remove that burden from him. We talked to him a lot about repentance and then took him into the Because He Lives room. We talked all about our Savior and how if we let Him, Christ will take away our burdens. It was so neat to be able to testify of these things. Eric told us he wanted what Rodney, the member that brought him, had. He wants the light and peace Rodney has. We testified that he COULD have that. We told him about how missionaries in his area could help him. He gladly accepted the offer. We felt prompted to invite him to be baptized in three weeks, and he gladly accepted and said he needed that. He said this is the time that God is telling him to change. I am so amazed at Eric's faith to completely change his life. Visitors' Centers work miracles! We showed Eric the Restoration movie and at the end of the movie, Eric said "This is where I need to be". He got all choked up, and said this is where God needs him to be. It was so amazing to be able to witness this! We called the missionaries right up to inform them of Eric and his desire to be baptized on the 30th of April! Eric came to church yesterday and seems to be doing really well! Ah I can't wait! :) When Rodney came back from the temple to pick Eric up, we told him all about what happened and Rodney was SO HAPPY! It was so amazing!:)

I just want to end with my testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. Yesterday we got to watch the Savior of the World performance at the Visitors' Center and it was so good! We were in tears the whole time! It was so neat to see the life of Jesus Christ visually. I know that the life of Jesus Christ is real and that it is essential in Gods plan for us. I know Christ is our Savior and that He resurrected and that He lives. We are so blessed and I am glad that I can continue to learn more and more about Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!

The mission is just getting better and better and the experiences that I've had this week have given me so much joy that I cannot describe. Missions are the best! I really do not want to leave, but I know the work will continue to hasten and move forward. "Every knee shall bow and every tounge confess that Jesus Is the Christ the Son of the Living God"

Have a wonderful week!

- Sister Megan Freeman