Sister Wilson in DC North: Popcorn Trees

Ok! This week was alright, just about every single one of our appointments fell through so we didn't teach much at all. Tuesday I was on exchange with Sister Veenker, which was super fun! We went and visited Barbette (less active), and saw a huge miracle there! She has had3 miscarriages, and her niece was murdered last week. Really, really hard life. And the ward doesn't really give her any support or love at all so she's struggling. She's been less active forrrrrr like ever haha. Been living with her boyfriend Tory for years(no bueno). So we go over and talk to her about conference, and have an AMAZING lesson with her! She decided this last week that she wants to go to the temple, and she talked to Tory about it and told him to go live with his brother on Saturday! TORY IS GONE! Praying that he stays out! And she came to church! Ahhhhh!!! It was wonderful.

Also, ummmm my first transfer is over? Sorry what? I just got here? AH. 1 down, 11 to go. NO. I'M NEVER COMING HOME. I'm staying with Sisted Kohler in Carrolton. Kinda bittersweet haha. This is a really hard area... We don't really have a hard time finding people to talk to, but absolutely nobody keeps commitments here... Everybody LOVES God, but they love all churches and are open to pretty much everything. They think all religions are good, so it's so hard to teach haha. It's tough. They call this area "Little Africa" because quite literally EVERYBODY is African. I love it. A lot of them are stuck here in the states while their family is back in Africa, but they can't go back because of Ebola and a TON political crap going on... So they get stuck here with no way to contact their families... :/ Gosh I love Africans. And I love serving in DC! It's incredible how much I've learned about the world already. Politics, world policies, governments, everything. And how many people I meet!! So far I think I've taught people from over 20 countries! Wooooop! I LOVE IT HERE. AHHH.

Spring is here! The blossoms! The flowers! The grass! AHHH. Seasons are beautiful. But my body isn't used to it so it gets headaches lots haha. The weather here is way weird haha it'll go from 35 and rainy one day to a hot sunny humid windy 70 the next day. I never thought I'd miss Phoenix sun haha, this week was super overcast and drizzly, and holy poop it was bringin me down. OH! You know the rhyme "April showers bring May flowers"? I TOTALLY GET WHAT THAT SONG MEANS NOW. And did you know that there isn't actually such thing as a "popcorn tree" (popcorn popping on the apricot tree)? I figured that out this week. It's not popcorn growing on the apricot trees. They're flowers everybody. Flowers grow on the apricot tree. Popcorn grows on corn. We have lots of popcorn trees here in Maryland.

We did see Betty this week (eternigator). We actually had to go with her to urgent care because she was having signs of heart attacks (she's already had like 4, she's had a crazy hard life like everybody else here AGH), and her cardiologist was t answering. So we ended up in urgent care for a couple hours haha. And in the waiting room they were playing Judge Judy and MAN I HATE THAT SHOW. We didn't watch (we turned our chairs around so we couldn't see the tv lol too tempting, family feud was on before...), and I just want everybody to know how much hate Judge Judy. Worst judge ever. I don't even think she's a real judge. Pft. Betty is doing alright though, she came to Night of Music last night and didn't say no to coming to church next week! Progress!

Anyways, this week has been hard. This transfer has been hard. Our one investigator on date just left to Nigeria haha, soo. It's a hard area. Working hard though!

Love you all!

Emily

PS- next Monday is mine and Sam's official one year. So. Shoutout to you, Elder. *fist bump*

PPS-Oh and online I'm teaching people from 4 countries (New Zealand, Brazil, England, and Canada). I LOVE online teaching. Honestly all of my baptisms will probably be from the VC haha. Online teaching is part of our shift, we have "TC"/chats. We go online and answer Mormon.org chats, which is.... Interesting most of the time lol. But we pick up investigators that way from all over the world, and we teach them online and keep in contact. We also send missionaries to them when they're ready, and it counts for our baptism when/if they get baptized. It's super cool! One companionship has 43 progressing and 8 people on date online. AH! So cool! I love online! It's just chatting usually but we can skype if it's an option (haven't done that yet). Figuring out time zones is a pain though! Haha.