Politics

This week has FLOWN by! It's been a good one, so I'll just get right to it.

Tuesday we went and visited this super old super cute less active lady named Nicole. She's from some super teeny country in Europe somewhere and speaks French. She's SO CUTE. She gave us lemonade and we sat and listened to her stories about World War 2 and how she came to America and everything. What a cutie.

Wednesday we had a youth tour, which was pretty crazy. The leaders have different schedules than we did and they changed it up a lot, but we survived and I think a few of them felt the spirit so. We survived.

Thursday we had an appointment with Bernice, the old lady in the retirement home that fed us lunch a couple weeks ago. She lives down by Dupont Circle, and for some reason we decided to drive instead of taking the metro. Definitely the most stressful time of the mish. Then she wasn't even home so that was a bust. Don't drive in DC. Only dummies drive in DC. 

Friday we went on exchanges with President Cooke. Hes big on exchanges this transfer, and I guess we got to start it off! It was SO FUN. Oh my goodness I love that man. We had an appointment with Kimberly, and he was the PERFECT member present for her. Shes big on politics, and it's her dream to work on the Hill. So he was perfect. Sister Williams and I only said a few words the whole lesson, but we learned so much about her. She's GOLDEN. She's basically already LDS. My goodness I love her. It was wonderful. Then we went street contacting, which is always fun. There was a street concert of some sort going on, so we contacted around there because it was way good haha. Nobody wanted to learn more, but we had fun. Then we met up with Sister Cooke and the 4 of us had dinner at Panera! It was so much fun. I love them so, so much. Then he had to go and we went and met up with Nimi. It was a dang good night. Loved that. 

Saturday was so fun! We had morning shift, which is the WORST shift of the whole week.  But we had to switch so we could go to the Ward BBQ that night, which was so fun. Kimberly came and brought banana pudding, which is to DIE for. Dang good. I absolutely LOVE this ward!! There was a dunk tank, and bishop and brother Ellis both got dunked like 20 times haha. It's such a good ward!! UGH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. It was such a good time. If I ever move back to DC, I'm moving into the Chevy Chase boundaries, because it's wonderful. 

Last night Cynthia came to the VC with us to make a family history account because she's going to the temple to do baptisms on Saturday! WOOO. Except she's from Nigeria so that's hard and sister Williams and I don't even do our own American family history so we were useless haha. Then we met with Nimi again. He's a work in progress. 

So here on the east coast, it's a jungle, sort of. Trees are everywhere, and the bugs are massive. And way more disgusting. We've ran into rather large spiders, huge centipedes, and some of the biggest butterflies I have ever seen. The butterflies aren't bad though. But this one creature takes the cake. It has some weird fancy name for it, but I can't remember, so I will just have to describe it. So close your eyes, and try to imagine it. But actually open your eyes so that you can read the description. They are about as fat as your index finger, and almost as long as it as well. Kind of like a fat centipede. They have many legs, each of them a different length, the longest reaching out about 2 inches. With huge antennae out in front of them stretching about 3 inches long. They are shiny, and the most disgusting bug that I have ever seen. And they move fast. One day I'll grab a picture. But they are EVERYWHERE. Apparently they are harmless, but that's a joke. They're the most terrifying things! And yesterday at church, we found two of them! Two! Lurking behind the paper towel dispenser in the women's bathroom. With all of their legs poking out of the side. Oh my goodness they were so gross. So we obviously went and told somebody about it, but I guess we told the wrong somebody because nobody did anything about it! We were there later that night and they were still there! Well, one of them was, and the other had scuttled off somewhere! SERIOUSLY EW. 

Anyways, that's the week. I stinking love DC. I love being a missionary. I love Jesus Christ! I love representing him and testifying of him every day. It's the most rewarding thing, and I couldn't be happier! I love you all!

Much love,

Sister Wilson

 Time to burn the building down.

 So we made Elder White cake and got him an Obama card because birthdays

 HAHA. OK. So there's this legend of this lady that rides around in her motorized wheelchair, with all her belongings piled on top. Two prosthetic legs dangling off the back. Wearing a red beret and giant sunglasses. Sounds like a chain smoker. AND GUESS WHO WE SAW THE OTHER DAY. The legend is real everybody.

 Cynthia!

 LOOK WHO CAME BACK AND WHY IS SHE SO CUTE (ps it's veenker)

 We went to the natural history museum, yay! Here's a couple pics!

Never sure what to title these

Ok! So this morning we had a sisters run from the Capitol to the Lincoln. We just finished and are currently sitting in an ihop getting some lunch. Yummy. SO. It's been a pretty aight week. We didn't teach much, other than Nimi and a couple less actives, but we've been super busy! Tuesday morning the trainers asked if we could cover some other sisters shift, so we ended up being at the VC for 12 hours. I'm really glad I'm not a temple square sister cuz that's too long for anybody to be at a VC. Haha.

Wednesday morning we got to go to the temple! WOO. It was a last minute thing, but it was so needed. I love the temple more every time I go and I'm so blessed to be able to see it every day and be in it so often. Much love for that place. Not much else happened that except that we got stranded at a metro stop way out of our area for 2 hours until some sisters came and rescued us.

*[Asked why she got stranded and this was her reply]- We were going to meet with Nimi at his work (out of our area), and metroed up there. He didn't tell us that we had to take a bus after we did that, which we didn't have time for. Plus the bus didn't exist. So. We got off the metro a few stops farther than planned because the metros weren't going back the other way. We eventually got off, and we're planning on just headin back cuz it was late. But the metros. Weren't going the other way. Aka the way we wanted to go. Aka home. So we went to the bus station to see if one went to a metro a few stops back where the trains were working. Nope. So we sat. And waited. And waited. And called sisters. No answer. And waited. And walked. And waited. For 2 1/2 hours. Then some sisters came and got us at 9:45 and drove us home. Bless their hearts. Haha. 

We had a youth tour this week too, they were punks. The leaders were super rude and the youth didn't want to be there, so that's obnoxious. Made the most of it though and hopefully one of them felt the spirit.

Nimi is working towards August 1st for his baptism, and we feel good about it this time! He is actually reading and praying and coming to all 3 hours of church, he's actually progressing! We're praying a ton for him. 

Other than that it's been a typical week, almost all of our appointments cancelled. Lots of nonmembers in the VC though! It would've been better if any of them had wanted to learn more, but it's good, they felt the spirit.

Loving DC, hating the humidity, ready for winter. Way stoked for Christmas.

LOVE YOU ALL.

Sister Wilson 

Transfers and retirement homes

Transfer 4! I'm officially more than 1/4 through now. WHAT. Time isn't even a thing. This week I also hit my 5 month mark! Wooooo!

Monday night we met with Nimi, our lesson turned into more of a concert, he performed a couple songs for us. Haha. He's a crack up. We went to check on a less-active, who wasn't home. One thing about serving in a super touristy area is that when spring break/summer rolls around, all the west-coast Mormons come to visit. Within an hour on the street/metro, we had been stopped 5 times by members here on vacation. WE GOT PLACES TO BE PEOPLE. Don't have time to tell you where we're from and how long we've been out. Huff. Jk they were all super nice. But none of them know how to ride the metro or use an escalator. And we were late to our appointment. So.

Tuesday after some district meeting we went to get Costco pizza for lunch. A bajillion elders had the idea but one of the senior elders paid for all of our food. SCORE. Then we stopped at Payless on our way back to the car, best idea ever. All the 4th of July stuff is on sale, so we got some SWEET 'murican sandals and a purse. SCORE.

Wednesday, the dreaded transfer day! I'm staying here in Chevy Chase with Sister Willums for another transfer, yay! The area is starting to pick up so we're super excited!! But Veenker, Hansen, and Turley all went home. Which totally stinks. Saying goodbye was awful. One of the greatest blessings of serving in the VC are the sisters there. These sisters have become my best friends! So transfers STINK. And they're only going to get worse. Then it'll be me going home. NOPE. That's not happening. We had shift after transfer meeting. Then one of the super cute girls from the ward took us to the legendary Shake Shack for dinner! She's so cute!! OH MY WORD. Seriously. The. Best. Food. We're going back this Wednesday with another lady in the ward. SCORE. 

The Ambassador of Korea came on Thursday,so that's always fun. They didn't have any leftovers though. Lame.

OH HAHA the retirement home. So I think it was Thursday afternoon? Somebody signed up for lunch, but we didn't know who this person was. We called and she said that she had lunch from 12:30-1:00, so we assumed she was working and that was her lunch break. Score, she'd be taking us out to eat! So we get to the address. As we walk up, we notice an unusual amount of elderly people inside. Haha. Sister Chuku came out and met us. Turns out she lives in a retirement home, and they served lunch between 12:30-1:00. This was all good for me, I stinking LOVE old people. We got introduced to all her friends. Then we had lunch in the cafeteria. Ham, lettuce, a whole wheat roll, green beans, apple sauce, and a carton of milk. SO FUNNY. We mistook the salad dressing for gravy so our ham was especially Italian. Yum. It was the funniest lunch I've had for sure. After we ate, we went up to her room and helped her figure out how to use her keyboard, then we sat with her for a while and sang hymns. She got so happy she pulled out a big bottle of sparkling cider, which ended up all over the floor when she forgot to stop pouring sister Willums glass. She's the cutest little Nigerian lady I've ever met. SO FUN. We'll be going back there every week to sit with her and sing hymns. I love these people SO MUCH AH

Friday was glorious! After shift, we met with Cynthia and talked about temples, she's going on August 1st with the other recent converts to do baptisms! Wooooo! She's so solid. Love her. Then we went to Nahidas house! I think I talked about her before, she's good friends with a family in the ward, and they invited us over for dinner with them a few weeks back. Then Nahida called us and invited us over On Friday for pizza! She's so cute ugh we love her so much!! We walked her dog with her, then met up with Brother Lindsay and we all had pizza. It was so fun. Such a good night!

Saturday we decided it would be a good idea to dye sister Williams hair blonde. So at 7:00 in the am, we walked to the cvs on the corner. Cvs was closed. Walked back at 8:00. Open, but the pharmacy didn't open until 9:00 so I couldn't fill my prescription. Lame. So we pick a box of blonde hair dye. Success. Walk home. Proceed to dye her hair blonde while we have comp study/finish weekly planning. Because as you all know, a $10 box of drugstore hair dye can transform her dark brown hair to a perfect ashy blonde. Her roots turned blonde just fine. The rest of her hair was orange or brown. So. Dying that back today. Lol. Then we went to check on a referral in Georgetown. She lived in a sorority house, so that didn't happen. While we were street contacting there, we ran into 2 RMs! They were so cute, and gave us $10 to go buy some cupcakes down the street. SCORE. Got to the cupcake shop, which was full of cute college kids. We got our frumpy butts out of there real quick. Went to Starbucks instead. Yum. On shift, we gave a tour to Kojo, who we taught the first lesson to last time he came in! It was so awesome, he's getting baptized on the 25th! He's from Ghana, love him. He told us that he's going to keep coming back, and he's going to request us every time he comes in. What a cutie. He was like "I'm YOUR concert!" YES. SCORE. Then we went to Safeway after shift to grab some stuff, and ran into a guy I taught in carrolton. SCORE.

Sunday Kimberly came to church! HAHA. She's wonderful, and she loved it! Probably because she figured out pretty quickly that Harry Reid is in the ward. She introduced herself before gospel doctrine. HAHA. It was SO FUNNY. Then talked to his security. Lol. Time goes on. The lesson was super good! When they ask for a volunteer for the closing prayer, her hand shoots up. We're all happy cuz YAY our investigator is comfortable praying in church. Time goes on. The prayer starts out pretty good! Then, after a few sentences.... "Father God, we're SO grateful to be in the presence of Senator Harry Reid this day. Father God, we are so blessed to be with him. Father God, we pray for a blessing upon him, as he leads this great nation. Father God, we bless his intellect, that he may continue making righteous choices to lead this great nation. Father God, we bless his wife..." FOR 4 MINUTES. PRAISING HARRY REID. HE WAS SITTING RIGHT BEHIND US. WE WERE DYING. IT WAS SO FUNNY. HAHAHAHAHAA. Life man. Chevy Chase life. Gotta love it.

Life is all good over here. Went to a single adult fireside last night which was weird, but Nimi and Cynthia came so yay. I love being a missionary.

Love you all!

Sister Wilson

 DC zone!

 Laying on the kitchen floor watching the testaments cuz my back hurt too bad to move

 Georgetown!

 

 Killing Veenker <\3

 Murican pride

 Rockville district!

 SHAKE SHACK UGH YUM

 

Visiting with Nahida

Urine, Sweat, and Gas Leaks. America.

Ok first of all, DC smells like urine and sweat and it's disgusting. Seriously ew. 

Anyways, it's been quite the week! We started off the week by calling 911 (I got to call, super intense). We woke up Tuesday morning and walked out of our rooms to a BURNING hot apartment. We were all feeling super sick as well. I didn't think much of it so I hopped in the shower. A few minutes later, sister Veenker starts POUNDING on the bathroom door, telling me we have to leave right then. So I jump out and we all run outside. Most stoves/ovens here are gas powered (which I really dislike), and our apartment is temperamental. Overnight, our oven has turned itself on. For at least a few hours it had been dumping gas into our apartment. It was so hot that Sister Veenker couldn't even touch the handle without burning herself. SCARY. The apartment people didn't do anything about it, so I had to call 911. Haha despite telling them several times that it wasn't a huge emergency, they sent the entire fire brigade. We hear the sirens coming from all directions as 4 giant fire trucks (the massive ones, with ladders) and a big cop car speed toward us. We were dying haha. They all ran into the apartment to scope it out while we waited outside. After 20 minutes or so they finally got the oven to turn off by tearing it out of the wall. Haha. The apartment people finally sent maintenance guys way later in the day to figure out the gas situation. You know how a few weeks ago I talked about how our kitchen always smells like natural gas? And how everybody in this apartment always gets sick? Yep, out apartment has been leaking gas for weeks now. YAY. So we spent the rest of the day trying not to throw up and popping pain killers for our headaches. SO FUN. Good times. Super grateful that we're all alive, apparently gas leaks are the #1 reason for missionary deaths. ACK.

We had a couple super awesome member meals this week (I love the Chevy Chase ward so much). As much as I love the DC area, I'm going crazy. Up until Wednesday night, I hadn't seen more than the road in front of us. Whether it be trees or buildings, you can't see anything here. We went to the Ellis's for dinner on Wednesday, and they live in a super nice apartment downtown. They took us up to the roof and I just about peed my pants because we could SEEEEEEEEE. OVER THE TREES AND BUILDINGS. Still no mountains but MAN. Best moment of the mish so far. Haha. Just kidding. Kinda. Haha. Tender mercy. 

It's been a pretty busy week, but we weren't able to teach very much. The Fourth was super fun! We weren't allowed to proselyte in any way, shape, or form, we had a full 24 hour Pday! We were planning on going and hiking Great Falls in the morning, but then the rain happened so nah. We went shopping with Veenker, Ete, Hansen, and Plaizier in the morning! Super fun! Then we had shift, and the senior couples made us lunch. Love them so much. On shift it was pretty dead, but the last few minutes a big group of nonmembers came in! So cool! Saw quite a few miracles from that! After shift, a bunch of us sisters went to Outback for dinner. Then we went home and passed out haha. No missionaries were allowed on the Mall, the terrorist risk is crazy high right now so we all have to be more careful than normal. Hopefully we'll be able to go down there next year for the parade and fireworks and such! MURICA. 

This morning we went to the Lincoln for sunrise pictures, but the clouds were being turds and blocked the whole thing. So we went to ihop for breakfast to make up for it haha. We've been up since 4 and didn't get to bed until later than we should've so I'm gonna go sleep now. I LOVE THIS COUNTRY. I LOVE THE FAMILY UNIT. SO EXCITED TO FIGHT FOR IT. 

I LOVE YOU ALL. 

Sister Wilson 

 good ol Albert

 Boy band

 Comp study WOOP

 FOURTH OF JULYYYY

 Babe Lincoln

 MURICA

 Our poor oven

 HE CAME TO THE VC AFTER THE MOTAB CONCERT BTW. I ALMOST DIED. Snuck into one of his pics. Celeb crush Ryan Murphy.

 

 "Sunrise"

Happy fourth from DC!