Sister Wilson in DC North: Hide and Seek

First transfer, DONE. I still can't believe that I'm actually here, and that I only have 11 transfers left. I'm staying in Carrolton with sister Kohler! I'm never coming home, sorry everybody. I've decided to take whatever money I have left and buy an apartment when they drop us off at the airport. Never coming home. Hahaha. I love being a missionary SO MUCH.

First and foremost, MY CAST IS GONE. GLORY GLORY HALLELUJAH. PRAISE THE LORD. NEVER AGAIN. Haha we had a little scare on Monday night when the doctor called and said that "the doctor wouldn't be in on Thursday, so we have to reschedule you for April 30th." Um, excuse me what. That's in 2 1/2 weeks. This thing is supposed to be off in 3 days. Bye. So we made plans to take it off ourselves (we found a good knife that cut through it pretty well!). Unfortunately, sister Cooke wasn't too fond of the idea. She and Dr Kearle called the doctor and threw a stink until they finally agreed to let me come in Friday afternoon. BEST. FEELING. EVER. The feeling in my fingers is almost all the way back, I just have a couple spots without feeling WOOP WOOP. Let it be known that if I ever happen to break another bone (which I've decided not to do ever), I refuse medical treatment. That's all.

This week has been so long! Tina came to church though!! Our first investigator at church! And it was so good! All us missionaries had to speak in sacrament, so we could kinda tweak it to her needs, which was good. She's so awesome! Gosh I love her SO MUCH. I'm actually getting pretty good and knowing where in Africa people are from based on their accents! So cool! These are the best people! Serving in this area is the most humbling experience. I am yet to meet one person that has had a relatively easy life. Everyone here has been through and is going through SO much (Katrina, Ebola, civil wars, extreme poverty, natural disasters, starvation, etc). My love for these people is more than I know how to handle. I very much plan on taking a humanitarian trip to Africa after I get home. I love these people!!

HAHA. So i think I've told you all about Betty, yes? Maybe not? She's our eternigator, she's like 75 and lives alone. She's had a super hard life, but we love her so stinking much. We took her to urgent care last week because she has congestive heart failure and was showing signs of a heart attack. SO. We haven't been able to get ahold of her all week. Her car was gone, house locked up, lights off, mail piling up in her mailbox. She doesn't have a cell and she has no family so we have NO away to contact her. We started getting super, super worried! For days this went on. Finally, yesterday we tried calling for the zillionth time and her phone had been disconnected. We were sure that she had gone to the hospital and passed away. Except we had no way to know because she has no family or anybody. Super, super sad. We love Betty SO much. We talked to a lady in the ward that drives her to the VC when she wants to come, and she hadn't heard anything from her either. More mourning. Last night during Why I Believe we get a voicemail from the lady in the ward. Hesitantly, we start listening... "Hey sisters, just letting you know... Betty is ok, she's home now. She didn't like that lady that was trying to rent her room downstairs, so she disconnected her phone, took her car, and went somewhere to hide for a few days. She's home safe now. Have a good night." HAHAHAHAHA. BETTY. SHE HID. I CANNNTTTT. We were laughing SO hard. She's the craziest, funniest lady I've met. She took her car and hid from this lady. Going to see her tonight to hear the story. This is gonna be good. Lolololllllllllll.

This week has been better though, we had a couple good lessons. Trying to do work in the ward, which is kinda difficult sometimes. (The ward members are bomb, some of the leadership is just.... -__-) We came back to the apartment withour roomies after church yesterday and just broke down for over an hour. We're still working hard though and trying to get them going. When you have 8 missionaries in a ward you know something probably needs fixed... Haha. Learning so much though, and you better believe that I'm going to be the best member missionary when I get home. Everybody go hug the nearest missionary and tell them how much you appreciate them please. Go on splits with them. Let them teach your fambam. Thanks. Mucho gracias.

Spring is wonderful and I love DC. So blessed to be able to serve here where there's so much diversity and culture. It's the most humbling experience of my life and I love every second! Our mission has taken up the Elder Bednar missionary challenge to talk to 10 people a day (20/companionship). We have a goal of contacting 51,800 people this transfer! Also focusing a ton on family history (trying way hard to get excited about that haha). Get pumped lol. Super excited to go to the temple in a couple weeks! Sorry, nothing super exciting happened this week haha. Some sweet lady from Seattle came in and gave us DC Cupcakes (like from food network--SO STINKING GOOD). The VC has been getting way busy, I love it!! Got some super exciting calls/chats. Lololollll. Going to start keeping a chat/call journal where I can write down all the crazy stuff people say. I love it way too much.

I love missionary life! I love you all! Have a great week!!

Emily