BEST WEEK

So, we don't get a Pday today since the 4th is this Saturday (WOOO MURICA), but we get a couple hours to shop and email. So! It's been the best week ever! So much has happened! First and foremost, CYNTHIA GOT BAPTIZED on Saturday!! WOOO. SHES SO GREAT. It was such a good service too. It poured all day here, so everybody was late, the service started almost an hour later than planned haha BUT she got baptized so it all worked out. She got confirmed in church yesterday! Ugh such a good weekend. I love her so much! Sister Williams and Sister Wathen found her street contacting her one night, and she was SO prepared. Shes soaked up everything we've told her, and is so excited about everything. What a cutie. LOVE HER.

The rest of the week was pretty good, we had zone conference on Tuesday and focused a lot on finding out individual purpose as missionaries and staying loyal to that. Really good stuff. We also got black boxes in all of the cars! They're a big black box. On the front windshield. It yells at you if you speed/turn too fast/accelerate too fast/brake too hard/hit a bump too hard/etc. good thing I'm such a good driver and only got yelled at twice for almost speeding. Lol. It's a fun game. Then on Thursday the entire mission got to go to the MOTAB concert!! SO COOL. Haha we made up about half of the audience, the rest were over the age of 70. But it was so good. Alex Boye came HAHA he's great. We got a kick out of that. (Watch his I'm A Mormon video hahahahaaaa). 

This week we also had a huge youth tour! Youth tours are my favorite part about being a missionary so far, and I'm SO happy that I get 2 summers here. During the summer months (late May-August), stakes from all over the temple district sign up for a youth tour. All the youth come and split up into groups (the group this week has 130 total youth, split up into groups of 25). We have a program that we follow with them, each group has an hour to go over to the temple and do baptisms, but the rest of the time they're over with us in the VC! It's an all day thing, this week we were with them from 10-4:30. And oh my goodness, they are such a blessing. I feel like I got more revelation than they did haha. I'm just blown away at how incredible the youth are. I'd always scoff when older people would talk to us as youth and say how strong we were and everything, but being with them? WOW. It's incredible and was a huge testimony builder to me. Missionary work is hard, especially in a Visitors Center, but days like that make it all worth it! My testimony of the Savior was strengthened SO much. I know without a doubt that he LIVES and knows us personally. It's the greatest experience being able to testify of Him every single day. I love being a missionary!!

I love you all!

Sister Wilson 

 

 

 CYNTHIA <3 <3 <3

 MOTAB

 ALEX BOYE

 

Potatoes, broken necks, bugs

So, I'm super lazy today, so I'm just sending y'all sister Williams email for this week. She pretty much covered it all. So. Lol. Enjoy. 

LOVE YOU ALL ❤️

It was a solid week out here in the nations capital.

For starters, Cynthia passed her baptismal interview and she is getting baptized this coming Saturday! Yes! It's so exciting! I know I say this every week, but she's wonderful. And truly a blessing. She was definitely prepared when we found her. Heavenly Father placed her in our path because she was ready.

This week started out pretty great. We ate at a members home this week and they brought a friend who wasn't a member! So that was awesome. We are hoping to teach her this coming week. She's really cool, and is from Israel! We made rice crispies that night. So good.

Tuesday we had our zone/district meetings. So that was great. Sister Wilson and I gave a workshop on setting expectations. It went really well. That's about it for Tuesday. Not much else happened.

Wednesday we has dinner with the Jacksons in our ward. Super cute family. And Brother Jackson is in the bishopric, and super concerned for the ward. It's really great! I think our whole conversation was about how the ward is doing, and how we can help them and how they can help us. It was really cool. They're a fun family. I like them a lot. We had a really good lesson with Cynthia after and taught Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, and the Ten Commandments. It was a great lesson.

We got Costco pizza! Hurray! I miss Costco. So Thursday was a great day. I went to the podiatrist for my toe that morning, and they got my foot all figured out. So hopefully I won't be limping around much more. But my foot was hurting at the VC, and I technically wasn't supposed to be up doing things that day. It was so funny, the doctor said, "how about you take a break from the mission today. It's up to you, but I would suggest taking a break today." So that was really funny! Because we don't get breaks as missionaries. But I had to take it easy at the VC. We spent a few hours taking Mormon.org chats which was fun. Then we watched On The Way Home and the Testaments. So it was a pretty good day.

Friday we switched up at the VC and had dress like your companion day. So that was a lot of fun. Sister Wilson and I already dress alike, but it was still really fun to see everyone dressed as their comp. it was actually pretty hilarious. That night we had dinner at the Cannons which was a lot of fun. They also brought a friend who wasn't a member! It was awesome. Though he's not interested in being taught right now, we are able to expose him to more of our beliefs. Which might be what he needs! We had another lesson with Cynthia where we went over the baptismal interview questions and it went really well! She's super ready to be baptized!

Saturday was a great day. We got up early to help the ward clean the church which was a lot of fun. Afterwards we went to go check on a sort of investigator, but then they weren't home. And on the way out I noticed the something was missing on Sister Wilson's shirt. Her name tag was gone!!! Ah! Pretty much the most terrifying thing ever. And we couldn't find it anywhere! It wasn't in the building, or in our car. So we went back to the church and found it there. Which was a relief. We had VC that night and the Washington DC something choir came and performed, and during the performance it started raining like nothing I've ever seen. I loved it. Just a huge storm! And after the
performance people weren't leaving because it was raining so much. So Sister Wilson, Sister Veenker, Sister Amparo, and Sister Plazier all got umbrellas and started running people out to their cars! They were all soaked by the end. What troopers. I stayed inside because I wasn't able to run because of the foot. So Sister Wathen and I were back to being comps again for about and hour. She's a great missionary. I miss her tons. Driving home in the rain was terrifying. There was a huge semi that had driven off the road, and it was blocking about half the road as well. And there was this tree that had fallen in the road too. There were some flares in front of it, but I wasn't able to see what it was until we were really close to it! It was an adventure driving home.

Yesterday was a good day. Church was great. Cynthia came, and afterwards she had her interview. After that we had lunch with all the mid-singles in the ward. What cuties. I love our ward. We had Why I Believe that night at the VC, and Ken Niumatalolo came and spoke. He's the head coach for the U.S. Naval Academy. He's in Meet the Mormons too. So that was a big deal. There were so many people there. SO MANY AH. But it went really well.

It was a pretty great week. Today I think we are going to Ford's Theatre which is really exciting! Just to be able to be where a President Lincoln was assassinated. It'll be really cool. I LOVE DC.

Love you all,
Sister Williams

PS The subject has nothing to do with this email HAHAHA. Gotcha. K bye.

 Missionary life

 MURICA

 Over an hour of running people to their cars in DUMPING rain (this was after it stopped) (ps our parking lots are gigantic)

 Drying the umbrellas lol

4 MONTHS

It's been an exciting week! Last Monday night was fun for sure, we spend a good 95% of our time in the area out in the streets contacting people, trying to find somebody to teach! So last Monday we went down to Georgetown to drop off a BOM to someone that ordered one on Mormon.org (turns out they actually didn't order one), then we tracted a bit down there, no success there. So we started heading back towards the apartment, passed the National Cathedral and everything on the way (so cool). It was starting to get pretty cloudy, but it was golden hours so we couldn't go in. We ran into this cute little Ethiopian man sitting on a park bench, and ended up talking with him for 20 minutes or so! He wasn't interested in changing religions, but he took a Book of Mormon and we're hoping we run into him again somewhere! He was so sweet.  Anyways, clouds getting darker, wind picking up, etc. we make it back to our car and head back towards our apartment so we can contact there. By the time we get there, it has turned into the most torrential downpour I've ever seen. The kind where you can't see a block ahead of you because it so much stinking water. BUT, we still had 20 minutes of golden hours, so we had to go out! Oh man was it fun. Haha we had one tiny umbrella, which did absolutely SQUAT. Haha because of the downpour there was nobody out, so we walked to a CVS a few blocks away, hoping to find some people there! On the way we passed a bus stop with an old man that went to the temple open house in '74, then tugged on sister Williams hair. MAKE IT TO CVS. At this point, we're dripping wet. We thought at this point we were soaked through. Nobody in the CVS wanted to talk with us either, so we bought some Oreos. The clerk was nice. TREKKED HOME. Haha it was super fun, we were just belting hymns trekking through this waterfall of rain. So fun. We made it back to the apartment, completely SOAKED to the skin. Water was actually pouring off of us, not dripping. NUTS. It was a darn good night haha!

Tuesday we had our zone/district meeting, and I accidentally closed district meeting (said the closing prayer, there was still another workshop, WOOP hahaha). Then, that night at the VC, we gave the AP's and their investigator a tour! This guy had had a dream that Christ came to him and led him to the temple, so he texted the AP's and asked if they could bring him here. It was SUCH a good tour, the spirit was SO strong. It started out pretty rocky, but as soon as we got into Because He Lives, the spirit was just EXPLOOODING. Best feeling in the world, folks. Best feeling in the world. I love being a missionary! Wednesday was pretty eventful too haha! Oh man. Long story short, we walked almost 6 miles that night. ACK. We walked down Connecticut, contacting, when Nimi texted and asked if we could meet. So we jumped on the metro and went to the church to meet him! Had a great lesson, commit him to baptism (for the 6th time). We got out of that lesson at 9:10 or so, leaving us 20 minutes to get home. We ran to the metro just as the cars pulled away, the next train coming in 20 minutes. So. Haha. We decided that it might be faster just to run home, since the nearest metro to our apartment is still over a mile away. So we did! We ran from the church to our apartment. Ducked behind trees and bushes every time a car drove by because we thought we were gonna get shot lol. We slept well that night for sure haha. Night of Music was last night, I accompanied one number, which w as fun! The whole theme was on missionary work, so all but one of the songs were hymns that missionaries sang in their languages. So cool! 

As far as the area goes, it's been alright. It's hot and humid as HECK oh my gosh it's AWFUL. And apparently it gets much worse in July/August. I miss Phoenix heat! We just passed around a meal calendar yesterday and people actually signed up! WOW! We have somebody feeding us every day this week except Saturday and Sunday! WAT! Let the weight gain begin! lol. Just kidding. Anyways haha so we'll be working a lot so members, hopefully they'll give us some referrals of people we can teach! Crossing our fingers and praying more than ever! This week we've talked with almost 200 people, 50 of those being in a single night. Guess how many return appointments we got? 0. Guess how many phone numbers we got? 0. Haha. It's fun. We also dropped one of our 2 people in our area book, so as of now we have a whopping one investigator! She's SO solid though (because she's Nigerian and not from here lol). She's planning on being baptized by the end of the month, she's praying about a specific date! WOO! So that's way exciting! But yeah. Like Sam said, there are a lot of not very humble, meek, and submissive people here in DC. Like 99.8% of the population here actually lol. BUT, when we find that .2% (Cynthia), they're SOLID. Haha I'm not discouraged though, no worries! we're working hard and we know there's at least one person in DC that's prepared, we've just gotta find them! It's like a big game here haha we have lots of fun contacting. Gotta love em. The ward is super great though, I love it! Our ward doubles as the mid-singles ward, and the mid singles are the best haha they're always wanting to come out with us (if we ever have an appointment haha), it's such a good ward! Chevy Chase fellowships everybody SO WELL. Cynthia is already friends with all the mid-singles, and the teachers are incredible. Love it! 

Also, I hit my 4 month mark this week! WOOOP! I love every minute of this! I love you all!

Sister Emily Wilson

 LOOK WHO CAME TO SEE ME IN THE VC 😭❤️

 OH HAHAHAHAHA. So Thursday. We called the APs and got permission to drive 40 miles north to get cafe rio for lunch. WORTH IT. #weeklyplanning


 National cathedral

Little bit of rain doesn't stop us during golden hours 💪

Dinner and Dog Parks

This week has been pretty good for the most part! I got super sick twice, which wasn't very fun, but I'm ok now! Whew! I don't have any super funny/crazy/good stories from this week so this will probably be a shorter email. Monday night the Mismash's fed us! They're the funniest couple I've ever met haha. We had the best turkey burgers, then had some dove chocolate coconut shake thing for dessert. SO. GOOD. Brother Mismash tried to get us a dinner appointment for Thursday night, but couldn't find anybody, so they insisted on feeding us again! Haha it wasn't raining so we all decided to go eat outside at the "park". We carry all the food outside to this little field with a single picnic table at center and get settled. Just one picnic table, middle of the field. As the meal goes on, we come to find out this was a dog park! There were 6-8 dogs there romping around hahaha they were super fun! We enjoyed that a ton haha.

So we don't have very many people to teach here, we have 3 people in our area book. Which means we spend most of our time out contacting people! More often than not we get rejected, but it's amazing to see how the Lord will lead us to the one prepared person as we prayerfully seek them. This week we found one person (Ramona) that was halfway interested in learning more! We had been out for an hour or so, walking to check on a former. The former had moved years ago, so that was a bust. We had been talking with people (more trying to talk with them) all down Connecticut, praying that we would find the one! Outside the formers house was a bus stop with one little Spanish lady sitting there. I felt prompted to talk with her, but kept walking! We checked on the former, they didn't live there, etc. Thankfully, the lady was still sitting there when we walked back! So we sat with her and talked about the Book of Mormon! She was super sweet (because she's foreign lol)! We prayed with her and asked if she would be interested in meeting with missionaries. She gave us quite a few excuses haha but after much persistence, we got her information! Unfortunately she's Spanish speaking so we had to pass her. But still! We got somebody that wanted to meet with missionaries! WOOOOOOO. It was wonderful! Haha talking with people here is terrifying, but I've never felt more like a missionary! I love every minute of it.

Saturday morning we helped a family in the ward move! We had quite a few people turn out to help load the truck, but not many people helped unload haha. Their new apartment didn't have an elevator. We slept really well that night haha. 

Sorry this email is pretty lame haha we haven't done anything super crazy this week! Today we're going to tour the Capitol with our roomies, then going to lunch. It's going to be great! Lots of pictures to come! Oh, I got the package that the YW sent this week! Give them all huge hugs and thank yous from me!! And remember the Ford family? They were in our ward a few years back, they taught Jeremy's primary class? They came into the VC this week! Super fun! 

Well, that's about all I have to say this week! I'm loving the challenge of the city and loving sister Williams! Cynthia might be getting baptized this weekend (they've been meeting with her for a few months now, I've only met her a couple times!). She came to church yesterday and loved it, she just walked up to a mid-singles group (our ward is also the mid-singles ward btw) and they were all best friends within minutes. She's going to be such a great member! So that's pretty exciting! I guess they met her out street contacting, so there is hope for us haha! 1/1000 street contacts turn into baptisms, and there are how many thousands of people in DC? Haha. 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Wilson

 Bird nest outside the VC that we're watching!

 

  

Roomies! Sister Veenker is in front, sister Ete in the back

 

I LOVE MY TEMPLE

  (ps its massive btw)

 Last Pday, the Whites took all of us VC sisters to five guys for lunch! YUM.

 

Service selfie

  

This morning we went and got a VIP tour of the Capitol. So. Cool. They're doing renewal work on the dome, so it'll be covered in scaffolding probably my entire mission but hey! SO. COOL

 Not very good at jumping pics lol

 They're restoring all the walls to the original paint/etc, and it's beautiful. 

 WOOP

 George Washington is buried under here. I think.(Nope)

 We couldn't open the doors or we'd get arrested in seconds, but we snuck back and peeked through the crack! When the President makes his inauguration speech, he walks down the stairs (the ones we walked down to get here) and stands out here. This is his view. #MURICA 🇺🇸)

 Found good ol Brigham!

 Walked through a ton of the underground tunnels! SO COOL!

 MURICAN PRIDE

 

Posh

Transfer 3 here we go! You'll never guess where I am and who my comp is!! GUESS. OK. *drumroll* ........... IM IN CHEVY CHASE. WITH SISTER WILLIAMS. AS IN EDEN WILLIAMS. AS IN ONE OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET. I LOVE IT. And Chevy Chase! I LOVE. Our area covers all of downtown DC, all of the Mall except for the Capitol building, Georgetown, the northern part of DC, and everything in between. So pretty much the best area in the mission probably. I LOVE being in the city! It's the complete opposite of Carrolton. There are so, so many people here and they're always in a hurry. There's just a constant buzz and I love it! So many people! Our apartment by the National Cathedral if any of you know where that is. Way cool. I stinking love DC. 

And the ward. HA. HAHA. HA. I can't. I feel like I just need to make a list of all the people in this ward. AHEM. Harry Reid. Recent convert Senator Larry Pressler. The Marriots. Two of the 70. The treasurer of the house (or something like that can't remember his title #ialmostfailedgovernment). And then some of the most prestigious lawyers/officials in the world. So. Ahem. We had stake conference yesterday, and we just casually sat behind Harry Reid and his body guards. Looked around the congregation at all the other body guards. What the POOP am I doing here. Lol I have no idea how to be classy. This place is FANCY. Basically, if you know of any government officials that are Mormon, there's a 99% chance they're in my ward. Shoot. 

 Saying goodbye to everyone in Carrolton was pretty hard, especially Betty! Oh man. We made hamburgers with her on her little grill thing again, except I think the meat was bad because sister Kohler and I got way sick. But she was SO sweet. She was laughing and joking and we ended up singing campfire songs. I love her so, so much! Then we went to see Jusu, who brought his girlfriend to meet us. Haha he had us give a blessing on them and their relationship. I love him too! We didn't think we'd be able to see Tina because she's been so busy, but Tuesday night at like 9:00, we get a text telling us to come over. We were super far away but we booked it over there! That goodbye was super tough, not only because I love Tina with my whole heart, but also lord of the rings turned on just as we were leaving. I cried lots lol. MY HEART. Haha. I absolutely loved serving in Little Africa! It was the most humbling experience, and I'm so grateful that I was able to serve there. Hopefully I'll go back sometime in the next 14 months! It's the BEST. <3 

So since Sister Williams and I came out together, we still don't really have any idea what we're doing haha. Which I actually love, because it forces us to work harder. We're learning so, so much and it's wonderful! We spend a lot of our time out contacting, trying to find someone that we can teach. And that means a whole lot of walking, bus riding, and metroing! Haha. Contacting on the metro is the SCARIEST thing in the world. There's this unspoken rule that you just DONT TALK ON THE METRO. The only time someone is talking on the metro is usually because a missionary is trying to strike up a conversation lol. Most people know that the people with the black tags will talk to you if they sit next to you, so when we sit down they'll usually put their headphones in, and turn as faaaaaar away from you as they can haha. Occasionally you'll get one person that'll ask what your badge is and you can talk that way! But for the most part is terrifying haha. Definitely out of my comfort zone here! It's so exciting! Haha we had one lady that we met the other day on the street that wanted to have a bible study with us, it was awesome! I got so excited that I forgot to get her phone number. Lol. Praying that she calls us hahaha. 

 Anyways, there's not much else to say! We have a couple people that we're teaching, one is on date for the 14th of June! They've been teaching her for quite a while now, but she's super cool, she came to stake conference yesterday and loved it! We're super excited for her! Then we have Nimi, who's taking us to lunch tomorrow! Haha. I love this area and I love Sister Williams! I love DC and being able to serve here. I love being a missionary!! 

 Love you all, Sister Emily Wilson

 Bishop and Sister Cropper <3

 "Make a funny face Betty!" <3 <3

 TINA <3

 Twinning for transfers <3

 Chevy Chase (wish I had more pics of everything but there's just too much!!)

 Sister Williams, sister Cain, sister parabirsing, and moi! Love them.

 

We're going to have WAY too much fun together. <3 <3