Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope it was the best one yet and that you ate lots for me! :) 

Our week was pretty good! After a crazy fiasco searching for my lost metro card on Tuesday night, we were able to meet with Joe! He took us out to a pizza place in Dupont, and it was so. good. Holy smokes. Definitely my new favorite pizza place here! Joe is super funny, he reminds me a lot of my dad haha. He's beyond prepared too!! He was basically teaching us the lessons. I'm super bummed that he's going back to Arizona in a week, but I'm trusting that my family there is going to swoop him up and be friends with him. Lol. But really guys, thanks. Our lesson with him was bomb, and he's already planning on how he's going to get his wife into the BOM (she's the only reason he's not getting baptized yet). He's so, so solid, and I'm way bummed that he's not going to be here longer!

Thanksgiving was super great! We couldn't do any proselyting, so we baked some pies to take to the VC later that day. Then we headed over to the Ellis's house, and spent the morning/afternoon with them!! They're my favorite family I've met here, and I love them SO much! We played board games and made food and it was just a blast. Nian was there too, so we got to know him a ton! After we ate, he asked a bunch of questions, and Sister Ellis taught him the entire restoration, and it was so powerful! She's the best. Then, we went to the VC, and had a potluck with the sisters and senior couples and had thanksgiving round 2. It was awesome! Holidays on the mission are so stinking fun! I love it!

On Saturday night, we went over to the Ellis's again, had thanksgiving round 3, and taught Nian again! He's super prepared too! We watched the Joseph smith movie, and invited him to be baptized. He doesn't want to set a date yet, but he's working towards a baptism! He loves the BOM and loves learning. He said that he's finally found a "home for his spirit" :') Only downside is he's 23, and we told him about the YSA Ward. We went with him yesterday during relief society/priesthood, and he loved it and made lots of friends. So we're probably going to be passing him soon. Agh. We'll still get to go to his baptism though, so that's awesome! He's so great!!

Festival starts TOMORROW, and I can't tell you how pumped I am!! They turned on the lights for the temple workers last night and I about cried. In our training meeting on Friday, we set a goal for how many referrals we were going to get during the month of December. 2 years ago, they got around 100. Last year, they set the goal of 800, and got 810! A lot of changes have happened since then, with Elder Fowler coming in January and really pushing us. After getting a super awesome training from him about "with God, nothing is impossible", we said a kneeling prayer. Then, we set the goal of getting 2,000 people during the month of December to give us their information and agree to meet with missionaries. I am absolutely confident that that goal was set prayerfully, and that the Lord is going to provide a way for us to exceed that 2,000. Then, as companionships, we set daily goals for the entire month of December, and how many referrals we wanted to get those nights. Sister So and I are going to get {at least} 200 of them, and we're so excited! December is going to be exhausting and challenging, but I am beyond excited. The spirit of Christmas is real, especially at the visitors center! Remember to be happy and give thanks always. Read the scriptures and pray often. God's real and He loves you! Love you all! 

衛愛兒

 

 Brother Ellis and Tysi!

 Miss y'all.

 MERRY CHRISTMAS MERRY CHRISTMAS.

 NIMI.

 The morning shift wore pilgrim hats, night shift wore feathers. #winning.

 

Stake Conference

It's been a great week, this weekend was amazing! Sister So and I are totally shifting gears and spending our time working with the members. The youth invited us to a missionary night they had this week for mutual, and it was so fun! We got to talk about missions and how to prepare and what we do and answered a lot of their questions! Then we made pies afterwards, it was super fun!

This week was stake conference, and I'm not sure who I told already, but President Nelson and Elder Hallstrom both came out for it! This year is the 75th anniversary of the DC stake, so they had a special fireside on Friday night, then conference on Saturday and Sunday. SO. GOOD. We were on shift at the VC Friday night, so we didn't get to go to the special fireside. Earlier that day, we had been talking about how cool it would be if President Nelson came in to see the temple model, since he was at the stake center like 300 feet away. Friday night it was pretty slow, there were a few families there. We were talking to a couple other sisters, when we heard the door open. The room went totally silent, and we turned around just in time to see President Russell M. Nelson walking in the door, followed by Elder Hallstrom (Presidency of the 70), and some security guys. You could literally feel the spirit hit you when he walked in, the room was silent within seconds, and everyone turned around to see what was up. President Nelson looked around, then WALKED OVER TO US. He said, "Hi, I'm Brother Nelson!" (The most humble man on this planet). Then he went to all the sisters, and shook our hands, and we introduced ourselves. It was the most amazing experience!! He has the bluest eyes, and shaking his hand I thought my heart was going to explode the spirit was so strong! After that, he went and found Elder Fowler (they're best friends!), and looked at the temple model. He was only there for like 10 minutes, but the spirit was buzzing the rest of the night. Basically the best thing ever. I met him again on Saturday night before Conference started, I got to shake his hand again! SO COOL. 

Stake Conference was incredible, I feel like I got just as much, if not more, revelation than general conference. I'll attach some cool facts below! 

Some fun facts from Conference:

-9 apostles came from the DC stake

-Ezra Taft Benson was the first stake president here

-President Nelson has 10 children, 52 grandchildren, and 91 great grandchildren. WHUT

-25% of missionaries are sisters 

-In 2 years, we went from having 58,000 to 88,000 missionaries worldwide 

-When Elder Hallstrom was born, there were only 8 temples. They just dedicated the 148th temple this weekend!

On Saturday night, President Nelson talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and the atonement. In the King James Version of the Bible, the word "atonement", in any of its forms (atone, atoning, atonement, etc), is only found ONCE: Romans 5:11. In the Book of Mormon, it's found THIRTY NINE TIMES. That's a big deal! The Book of Mormon contains the "fullness of the gospel'" because it teaches about the atonement. I absolutely know that's true, and have come to understand Jesus Christ and the atonement through the Book of Mormon. It is a true book, and will change your life. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church, and we are led by a living prophet and apostles! That's something that I'm so beyond grateful for, and know to be true with all my heart!

I love you all so much! Have the best Thanksgiving and eat lots for me! :)

Sending lots of hugs (especially this week),

Sister Wilson

衛愛兒

 

 

Beanies!
 

 Tried fixing our blinds, and it was going pretty well... Then they all started falling off the other side. So.

Dinner last night with the Ellis's! They're the BEST.


Every Sunday, they have all the converts over, and any nonmembers they know, and have Sunday dinner.

Nian made us all Chinese food!

President Nelson right after we shook hands. Dying.

 

SO COOL. he is the sweetest, funniest, most humble man on the planet.

 

Eyes dilated ;)

Over the Hill!

Happy 7th transfer! Thanks to everyone for their love and support, I love you all! 

 Wednesday was transfers, and it was the worst. They get worse every time as you watch people you've come to love so much leave! Sister Wathen went home, which was the worst. She's definitely been the one that's been keeping me sane a lot of the time this past transfer, and it's so different without her! She and Sister Amparo were huge examples to me, and we all miss then a ton already. Transfers stink. Sister So and I are staying together for another transfer, yay! She's the best. They also split our zone, so that's exciting I guess. 

On Wednesday night, Joe called us to tell us that he was moving back to Arizona permanently, and that he was leaving Thursday night! He's going to look up the church there! Bummer for us, but good for him. On Saturday morning, we woke up at 5 because our phone was going off. Ed texted us, and dropped us. He said he's decided to stop taking the lessons, and discontinue his association with the Church! So lame! He still hasn't responded to any of our texts or calls, and he's not responding to any of his friends from church either. Pretty sad, agency stinks! We were pretty bummed about that all day, we're back to finding! AH.

Despite having no investigators again, we had an awesome day Saturday morning at the VC!! We spent a couple hours with one couple, the husband is a convert of a few years, and his wife isn't a member (from China, doesn't speak any English and he doesn't speak any Chinese. Weird relationship, long story...). Sister so was able to teach her a ton, and I taught him a ton! The lady ended up upper boxing, and she has ton of potential! WOO. An hour or so after they left, a family from El Salvador walked in. They weren't members, and wanted to go in the temple. We were able to show them around and teach them a ton, and found out that their 16 year old son has been meeting with missionaries every other week! Apparently they meet in his room, so the rest of the family has no idea what they do or believe or what's going on, but they're supportive! We taught them a ton and they are SO PREPARED. When talking about sealings and eternal families, the dad leaned over to the youngest son and was like, "Andrew! Do you want to get baptized? How do you feel? Do you feel that burning deep in your heart??" UM IM SORRY WHUT. IT WAS SO COOL. The spirit was so powerful, it was such a neat experience! The whole family upperboxed! #MIRACLES. Even though our area is a huge struggle, I'm so grateful for the visitors center and the incredible miracles we see there every day. It's an amazing blessing and I love my calling!! :) 

The Ellis family is the best family in the world. They're the best member missionaries, and brought their neighbor to church yesterday! His name is Nian, he's also from China! Pretty sure he's YSA, but we're meeting with him on Sunday! NICE. MEMBER MISSIONARIES ARE THE BEST. Brother Ellis and Matthew came to Why I Believe last night, and told us about another one of their neighbors that Sister Ellis is talking to, they're bringing her to the VC sometime soon! The best people in the world!! 

Other than that, it's been a pretty normal week! We're back to finding, WOO. We've been doing tons of Festival prep, got trained for ambassador and diplomat night on Friday, I'm SO. PUMPED. Life's good. 

衛愛兒

 

 My comp is the cutest

 

  

 

 

 Mid singles! Volunteered at a food bank. It was rad. 

 

 

  

 AMPY

 

  

 WAFFEN 

 

 Last McDonalds run with these babes. OH MY HEART. 😭

 

  

 Rockville District!

 

  

 Elder Fowlers bitdaee

 

  

 Leaning to use chopsticks. Basically Chinese.

Hump Day 🐪

So, I've been a missionary for 9 months. That's weird. It's been a roller coaster for sure, but I'm loving it! More sentimental stuff later. As far as transfers go, Sister So and I are both staying in Chevy Chase! NICE. I love this area so much, it feels like home! (eh, maybe not "home", but it's growing on me). The Ward is incredible and I'm so blessed to be serving here for so long! Praying I stay for Christmas too! WOO.  

This week has been good! We didn't have much time in our area, so finding time for all our appointments was hard, but it's been a relatively good week! Last Monday night, we got to the VC to see CHRISTMAS TREES all over the floor. Cried a lil bit. We've been fluffing them up in our spare time, getting ready for Festival! Oh man it's going to be SO. AWESOME. More on that in my pictures. 

Tuesday was great! Around 11, a man walked into the VC and went straight for the temple model. I went over and started talking to him and found out he's not a member. He's an engineer doing a project up the road, and his boss told him that he had to come check out our temple model! He popped in on his lunch break, and he was totally wigging out over it! l ended up talking to him for over an hour and got his information! He's been to tons of different churches but has never found that "one true church". He had tons of great questions, and after every response I gave, he would pause, think about it, then say "well, I can't argue with that!". He's so awesome! Calling him tonight to see how church went, woo! Because we talked for so long, we totally missed lunch and went to zone district meeting for 3 hours, then got sucked into a Chinese and full-pros sisters meeting, and eventually made our way to some food late that night. Whew. We also met with Ed for the first time that night! Not sure what I've told you about him, he met with missionaries 15 years ago, but stopped investigating when he got a work transfer to California. He's back in DC now, and wants to investigate the church again! He also had lots of deep doctrine questions and has some concerns that we're resolving, but he's great! He loves church and loves Mormons in general. NICE. 

Wednesday we went finding again. It's definitely something that you have to practice as a missionary, living out of our area makes it hard to just go out and talk to people all the time, so I'm a bit rusty! We metro contacted, the street contacted, then tracted. AH. DC people are terrifying. Plus some creepy old guy that didn't speak any English gave us his number, we gave him a VC card, he hugged us, took a picture of us, and has called us like 5 times a day since then. So. Ah. 

On Thursday morning, we got a call from one of the older ladies in our Ward, Mildred. She invited us to go get some ice cream with her, so we headed down to Georgetown and for ice cream with her. It was FREEZING, but she loved the company. What a cutie. 

Friday, we met with Ed again, Sara came with. It was good! He's progressing, so that's awesome! On Saturday, he came with us to a Veterans Day Concert at the VC. We were able to show him around afterwards and answer a lot of his questions about everything happening right now in the Church.  He came back again Sunday nightjust after we left the VC, and spent like 3 hours watching the Joseph Smith movie and every church movie he could before we closed! NICE. He came to church, and Joe came too! Joe is our new investigator, he's actually from Phoenix too!! He lives right by Arrowhead, but he's here for a couple months for work. He took the first discussion in California on his last work trip (he travels lots), came to the VC, and now he's meeting with us. He's awesome too! NICE. Go figure his first Sunday at church was the primary program, but oh well haha. Miracles are happening in Chevy Chase!! 

The past 9 months have been wonderful and challenging! Being a missionary isn't what I thought it'd be, it's a lot more difficult in a lot of different ways. But being out here in DC, teaching people about the restored gospel and how it can completely change their life is amazing (even when people are really mean). Nothing has brought me more joy than this! I've grown and changed so much, and I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity I have to serve the Lord this way. I know that God lives! He loves and knows each of us perfectly, and answers our prayers. He speaks today through a living prophet and 12 apostles. The Book of Mormon is true, and can CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Read it! The atonement is real and it works. I love Jesus Christ and I love His gospel! I'm so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the plan of salvation and eternal families, Sister So and I have really been learning that one this week together. Serving at a visitors center and teaching people every day about the blessings of the temple is the best calling in the Church! The temple is the goal! Get there! It's worth it, I promise! 

I love each and every one of you so much! Thank you SO much for all the love and support you've shown for me, it means so much. I love you all!! 

Sister Wilson

衛愛兒

 

Some guy took this pic early Friday morning. WOOOO. 

Saw my first AZ plate on Saturday #bittersweet

 

Sis So's favorite American song is "Oh Cwismus Twee, oh Chiwmus tweeeeee..." 

 

AHHHHHHHHHHH IM FREAKING OUT

 

  IM SO EXCITED 

Wathen leaves in 2 days and I'm panicking. She's so cute. 

 

Some not so cute things from the Chinese market this morning. So blessed to be serving stateside, English speaking.

Daylight Savings, part 2

This week has been super weird and pretty ineffective! We only had a small handful of hours in our area, so lessons didn't happen. We were able to go to the temple twice, and had some cool miracles. 

Tuesday we had an awesome ZDM all about the atonement and how we use it. That night, after having dinner with the Cannons, we went and visited Ximena, a less-active that we've been working with, and were able to have a super powerful lesson about the atonement with her. Being able to share personal stories about the atonement brings the spirit so quickly and so powerfully. It was awesome! 

Wednesday morning the sisters had our baptism trip to the temple. Sister Garrison brought family names, so we were able to pop up and do some initiatories for them after we finished baptisms! I LOVE the temple, and I'm beyond blessed to be serving so close to one and able to attend so frequently. Sister So and I were able to go to the temple again on Saturday morning for a recent-convert baptism trip! We took Carrie Lee Schults, a sweet Phillipino lady that got baptized in January that we're also working with. She's been wanting to go for so long, and it was so sweet being there with her! I love the temple! It truly is the Lord's house, and inside is where we can find the greatest peace in this world. Being able to serve at the Visitors Center and teach people about the blessings and peace inside is the greatest mission in the world! I'm so blessed, and I love my mission! 

So, a few weeks ago, Elder Fowler pulled Sister So and I and two other companionships aside, and told us that Salt Lake was coming out to film a video about the Visitors Center, and they had chosen us to be in it (We all have foreign companions, lol). They told us to be there early on Thursday and Friday for filming, and to "dress like the prophet is coming" (heh, it's funny cuz Prez Nelson is ACTUALLY COMING. more later.). So we get there early on Thursday morning, expecting a couple guys with a handheld camera. NUPE. We walk inside, and see that most of the furniture has been moved around to accommodate the cameras, lights, ladders, and who knows what else. Not to mention the giant film crew, make up/hair lady, and the actor that played Jesus. His name is John Foss, he's the coolest haha. A bit shocking! We spent the next 2 days at the VC "filming" (mostly sitting around waiting to do something). It was a bit of a pain, the whole VC basically shut down for 2 days, they actually locked the doors at one point lol. It's a big bummer when 2 awesome nonmembers come in, and as you're quietly teaching them about the Book of Mormon, a camera guy comes around and says, "Can you please be quiet, we're filming a movie!" Bummer. They got us really good catered lunch and snacks though, so it all worked out haha. 

Friday night after we finished filming, we went to our wards Halloween party. We combined with DC 3rd and the Spanish branch, and it was super fun. Chevy Chase definitely had the best costumes. #winning. On Saturday, we had shift right after we took Carrie to the temple. After shift, the senior couples got us Costco pizza and snowies and we had a little party! We had to be in by 5, so we headed home after ward correlation and made pumpkin bars with our roomies. Such a fun night! 

Yesterday, only Nimi came to church, but Ed came to a FHE at the mission home with us! It was so fun, there were tons of people there, they had a short lesson, we played a game, then had dessert. He loved it! This week we're actually going to meet with him and teach him so he can actually be baptized haha. He's so solid!! We're so excited for him! 

That's our mediocre week! It was pretty bad as far as actual proselyting goes, but this week will be so much better. I love this area, and I love Sister So! I can't believe that my 9 month mark is next week, and that I'll be halfway done. Time has gone SO quickly! I've had ups and lots of downs, but I absolutely love what I'm doing. I'm so grateful for the challenges that we go through, they bring us so much closer to the savior than we could ever get without them. The atonement really is powerful, and it has carried me through the most difficult times. God hears and answers prayers. Being a missionary is the most rewarding experience! I love God a whole lot, and I can't express how grateful I am to be doing what I'm doing! I love you all! 

衛愛兒

Carrie and I after baptisms on Saturday. SHES SO CUTE. 

#halloween2k15

Jeff Foss (fr those of you that don't believe he played Jesus in the Bible videos)

 

Us with the main crew. 

 

 

Lights, check. Camera, check.

 

 We're basically famous now, right? 

 My favs

 Coming to you live from the Kennedy Center! 

 SHAKE SHACK LIVE!

Sister Harper visited from AZ <3

 

Temple! 

 

 THE HOMELAND.