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

 Our district activity today! We played ping pong!

My mom sent us some pre Christmas things! :) 

 

 We decorated for Christmas! A member in the ward gave us a Charlie Brown Christmas tree! :D 

 

THANKSGIVING!

(Sister Larson)

 

 All the VC sisters got together at the VC in the house exhibit and watched Gods Plan for Families!! 

 

We all wore stripes!

 THE LIGHTS ARE UP!

We went over to a members house to help her organize...

and her cat jumped on top of everything... haha! 

This Little Gem Popped Up On My App Today!!

This is how fast time is going right now!  I  couldn't believe it when I looked this up on my phone!  And this is if she comes home in mid-May!!  (If she decides to come home in April, it will be even sooner!)  Wow!  I love my missionary!

 

Thanksgiving Pictures Sent From April!! Thank You Thank You!!!

I received 2 pictures and 2 videos from April, a member in Bethesda, who had Megan and her companion over a couple of times this week-- once on Thanksgiving and the other on today!  So fun to get these pictures!!!

 Megan and her companion helped April with her Thanksgiving dinner today! (11/24/16)

Here's what April said: "Had the help of these two sweet sisters today!  They've been such blessings! They miss you and love you! Send pictures back :)" 

I did send some back but they had already left her house by the time I saw the text message...

 

Here's a picture from today-- 11/26/16. Here's what April said: "Got a nice little visit from these two tonight. They've spent the day serving non-members. Love them!"

13 Months and Arlington!!!

Hey everyone! Sorry today's email is going to be super short! We don't have too much time left to email today! All the departing missionaries within the next 6 months got to go on a trip to the Arlington Cemetery with President and Sister Johnson!! It was such an amazing experience! We also got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier! It was really neat. It was really cool how EXACT and PRISTINE the guards have to be. I loved getting to watch it! I will write more next week but here are some pictures!!

Miss you all!!

Here is a quote really quick that I absolutely love! "We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family”(Ezra Taft Benson). I love this especially with all the craziness happening in today's world!! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Megan Freeman

 

The whole group going home within the next 6 months at Arlington National Cemetary  

 



 The group going home with me. 

 

 President and Sister Johnson! (Some of my most favorite people ever!)

Robert E. Lee Mansion

 



Tomb of the Unknown Solider

 



Arlington in the Fall!

 

Me!

My trainees!!!! <3 <3 (Sister Escobar, far right, is representing Sister Greenhalgh;)

(Sister Haertling and Sister Shin each beside me.)

 





 

Happy November!

Hey everyone! 
Things are going great over here in the best mission in the history of life! I hope you all had a wonderful week and are staying warm! 

 

I'll start out with a funny little story that happened this week! SO Sister Haertling and I had some extra time so we prayed about a street that we should go to tract in our area and we were led to a wonderful street up in the nicer part of our area. We started off with one house and went all the way down the street hoping someone would want to hear more about the plan Jesus Christ has for them and how they can come closer to Him. We eventually got to a house with a SUPER nice lady and we knocked on her door. She opened and before we could say anything she says COME ON IN!! So we gladly came in and she said, "Okay so all the people are downstairs so I can take your coats and you can join them." Haha, we thought about just going along with it but decided to tell her we weren't there for the party and that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints before things got too confusing. The lady then says, "Yeah I know! All the youth are down stairs." Haha it was a really funny moment when we found out SHE WAS A MEMBER! Haha she thought we were there for the stake youth activity that they were having at their house that night! We talked with them a little bit and found out they are the Marriott's son and daughter in law!!!!!!!!! Haha so funny! We all had a good laugh about that! I knew I would tract into a member at least once on my mission haha! ;)

 

On a more spiritual note, we came across this man as we were out one day. We approached him and invited him to come to the Washington DC Temple Visitors' Center. He seemed really excited to come. We asked him some questions and found out that he has experienced some REALLY hard things in the last couple years that have really tested his faith and that he has almost lost all hope. We got to testify that our beliefs and what we teach is centered on Jesus Christ and how Christ can bring that hope back into our lives. He said that he knew he was supposed to be there that night and that it wasn't by chance that we found him. He asked if we could help bring that hope back into his life. I am so grateful to be an instrument in helping others feel of Gods' love. We found out that his name is Douglas Freeman! I don't know, maybe it is because we had the same last name but we felt a connection to him! It was really neat! 

 

So there was an ambassador that came in from Zimbabwe! Some Sisters and the Visitor Center Director took she and her family around. They showed her the temple model that we have and the sisters that took her around told us something really neat that she said! They said that she knew why our religion was spreading so rapidly in Zimbabwe. She said it is because of our belief in the family. She knew about how they were going to build a temple there and she expressed concern that they would need a bigger temple for the growth that their country will be experiencing! It was so neat to hear.

 

We got to go to the city today! It was so fun! I hope you all have a great week! Stay safe and I love you all!
Love, Sister Megan Elizabeth Freeman 

It was Elder Fowler's birthday!!

 He is the VC Director.

  Sister Haertling got her I pad at specialized training!! Woot woot!

 

We went to the city today! We went to the Botanical Garden Museum! They have different climates and plants for every area like the desert, the rainforest, and the tropics! It was really cool! 

CITY! :D :D

 

 

On our way home from the city next to our favorite tree! 

Crazy Week!

Hello Everyone! 
Our P Day was switched to today instead of Monday because today was our temple day! The temple is the best place ever! It was much needed!:) 

Election week was crazy here in DC. That's all I gotta say! Haha. 

Here is what happened since last Monday!

Tuesday: Tuesday we had exchanges! Sister Urbina came to me in Bethesda and Sister Haertling went to Sister Acosta in their area! I love exchanges. They are always so much fun! We had a little miracle! We were out contacting and we both felt like we needed to walk one direction and we ended up meeting this really awesome guy named James! He was on his way home from work and he lived right next to our apartment complex so we ended up just teaching him while we both walked home! He had so many good questions and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and an invitation to learn more! We are excited to see where it goes with him! He is so nice! 

Wednesday: We had Zone Conference and it was so amazing! I learned so much! They really stressed the importance of planning! It was great. Later that day, Sister Haertling and I had a funny little story. We went to check up on a less active member in our ward that we had never met. We pulled into the neighborhood and realized that she lives in “the mansions”. That area is one of the richest parts of Maryland by far and has the biggest houses I have ever seen haha! She wasn’t home and our backup plan was to go tracting around her house...so we decided to tract the mansions! It was so fun and the people were so nice! The driveways were like a quarter mile long. It gets REALLY dark pretty early here and there weren’t any street lights/lamps so we couldn’t see very well haha. We went up to one house and while we were walking up the long driveway we heard movement in the forest next to us. We decided it was just a deer and that we would be fine. We walked faster and finally got to the front door. We knocked and waited for about a minute, but the lights were out and nobody answered. So we turned around and GUESS WHAT, and I kid you not, there were like 15 deer just staring at us blocking the driveway where we had just walked… we both just froze and even though we knew the deer wouldn’t do anything, we were outnumbered and scared haha. We immediately grabbed each other and started laughing/quietly squealing. They wouldn’t move so we waited there and slowly tip toed... and then ran back to our car.  It was quite the adventure. 

Saturday: So I'm not sure if you remember that person I was talking about named Dylan... Sister Shin and I (when we were still companions) took him around in the Visitors' Center and he ended up having a complete change of heart and we challenged him to meet with missionaries! So we have been keeping in touch and GUESS WHAT! Sister Shin just got transfered to Bowie and that is where Dylan lives, so she will get to teach him! It is a huge miracle! 

Later that night, we went tracting in this super amazing neighborhood and seriously everyone was so nice and some just invited us right in!! We got to teach so many people! We are going to go back soon to have some follow up lessons! It was a good night! 

Sunday: AMANDA GOT BAPTIZED!!! She is a lady I have been teaching online at the Visitors' Center! She is so sweet! I'll send you some pictures! Here is what she emailed me after her baptism. It made my day! "It's hard to believe that 6 hours ago I was baptized. What a great feeling it was. Just an hour and half ago I felt the spirit and the tears started flowing from my eyes and there is nothing to cry about.  The guys got to see tears in my eyes for the first time today and they were tears of joy knowing that I now know who I belong to and it's Jesus Christ. Thanks for being awesome friends to me and caring!" She is such an amazing lady! 

Monday: We had a sweet little tender mercy. We were driving home from an appointment and we don't have a GPS.... and we got WAY lost. Our Ipad maps don't work without wifi so we were pretty much doomed ;) --until we had the smartest idea ever... to PRAY! So we did and Heavenly Father directed us home (literally). I have no idea how it worked, our area is huge and we were on the complete other side of it, but we got home safe and sound and still had some time to go contacting before we had to come in for the night! It was a testimony builder for both of us. God really does hear and answer our prayers and will literally guide us. 

Well, the Visitors' Center is almost all ready for Christmas! It is so fun to be able to see everything get put up! It makes me so happy! I LOVE this time of the year! 

Love you all! 
Sister Freeman :) 

 Amanda's baptism!!

 

 Our mission president had all the missionaries stay in on Halloween night

for safety SO we had dinner on our balcony to our apartment! It was so fun!

 

 We love the fall! There are so many leaves! 

 

 An AWESOME member in our ward made us dinner-to-go to bring to the Visitors' Center!

 

 Dolls from all around the world that we put up on Christmas trees!! 

 We got to meet some really nice Monks at the Temple Visitors' Center!

 

FALL!

A Missionary Sunday!

We got a text with a picture and video of Megan at a member named April's house today!  It was so fun to "see" her in the video and to get a picture of her!  There are such good people in this world!  Then later, our Elders stopped by at our house to tell us they are getting transferred!  This was kind of sad as we've really gotten to know them well and have enjoyed having them over for dinners and lessons.  But, they also told us that replacing them will be sister missionaries!  I was so excited!  I explained to them that I love Elders and they are great and everything, but I can HUG sisters and go out with them and teach with them.  I'm really looking forward to doing this now that we will have sisters!  It will be a lot of fun!

Here's my sweet Megan arranging flowers for the table for Sunday dinner today!

Found this on fb today!  Just love this and I absolutely LOVE Elder Holland

and the beautiful way he teaches!  Even though this is a picture of Elders, it

makes me think of all the good that Megan is accomplishing in her mission out there in DC!!