Jonas

This week was nuts! I think this has been THE longest week of my mission. For those of you that don't know, "winter storm Jonas" hit this weekend, and it threw our week off.. The beginning of our week was ok, we had a bunch of meetings mostly. We did get to go to the temple though, which was awesome!! After we did that, we went to the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast, which was equally excellent. 

Good news, Nian had his baptism interview early Friday morning, and he passed with flying colors! WOOOO. His baptism was originally supposed to be Saturday evening, but Jonas took over the entire northeastern United States, so that didn't work out too well. We've been quarantined inside for the past 3 days, and have to stay in again today! The worst. But his baptism has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening at 7, and he's so excited!! He goes back to China a week from today. Ah! Pray for him!! 

Yesterday was probably my favorite day of my mission though! We're one of the few apartments without Elders or a senior couple in the complex, so Elder Fowler came and picked us up yesterday in the early afternoon! He and Sister Fowler live in a complex a mile or two up the road from us, so he got special permission to come and get us so we could have the sacrament! Some other sisters in that complex came as well, so there were 15 of us total I think. It was the best sacrament meeting I've ever been to!! The Spirit was so strong, holy smokes. Sister So gave a talk, and Elder Fowler spoke as well. After the meeting was over, Sister Fowler gave us all hot chocolate and cookies! Then we all sat and talked with Elder and Sister Fowler for 3+ hours, asking them questions and listening to them tell stories. I can't tell you guys how much I love and respect them!! I've never met anyone more dedicated to the Lord than them! I was definitely sent to this mission because of them, they've inspired me and taught me SO MUCH. Wow I love them so much it hurts. I love my calling!! :') 

One more fun fact for ya... So, a few days ago the Trainers got an email from church headquarters. I'll just attach the email so y'all can read for yourself. This is from Brother Mark Lisvardi, who serves as the Church Director of Public Programs (meaning he's super high up there):

"I would like to express my appreciation to you and all of the missionaries at the Washington DC Temple visitors' center for the remarkable efforts made and inviting guests during the year 2015.  Over the course of the year, your overall referrals increased by 62%. During the month of December alone your referrals increased by 84%. Further, you lead all visitors' centers including Temple Square with the highest number of referrals during the month of December 2015. This is really quite remarkable and we know that the missionaries must have a great spirit of unity and an understanding of their purpose to have achieved such fine results. I have been sharing this information here with the Brethren so that they are aware of the success that you are having."

AHHHHHHHHH!!! Believe it or not, our 24 sisters got more referrals during the month of December than any other visitors center or historic site, including Temple stinking Square!! And the Brethren (as in the 12 Apostles) know. Holy smokes. It was a huge miracle that came because of our faith and diligence. Elder Fowler, along with the incredible sisters here, has played a huge role in changing this Center into a prime proselyting area. It's my favorite area, and I feel so blessed to be a part of such a great work! I LOVE the Visitors Center, we proselyte like nobody's business. I know most members of the Church have this notion that Visitors Center sisters are "tour guides", or they apologize that we "don't get to proselyte" or that our "mission call isn't actually a 'call'", or even that we're not "real missionaries". If you've ever said or thought any of those things, go repent, because you're absolutely 100% dead wrong. We proselyte here more than anywhere. We work hard. We teach and baptize a blooming ton. If you ever have preconceived notions about VC Sisters, come talk to me - I'll be happy to tell you about the hard work we do. ;) Haha just kidding. But really, I'm so grateful for my calling! The Sisters I get to serve with an incredible, and they've taught me so much. I love Elder Fowler and everything he does, I just love my mission!!!!

That's about it for now, folks. I don't have much else to report, unless you want to hear about how many Wild Berry Skittles I've eaten over the past 3 days. Sorry this is so long, that should tell you how crazy I'm going haha. Feel free to shoot me an email or picture or video or something today so I don't go totally nuts. Thanks, I love you all so much!! 

Sister Wilson

衛愛欣

 Nian made us pig backbone soup. Yes, that's a pig spine everyone.

 

 Pre-Jonas shopping. Wheres the bread? 

 Beginnings of Jonas

 

 Mid-Jonas

 Mid-Jonas

 

 Post-Jonas (that's a van and a little sedan next to it)

 Driving with Elder Fowler

 

 Sacrament meeting yesterday!

 Lockdown day 2 - I did everyone's makeup haha

 Lockdown day 3

The Mainland

Happy MLK Day! This has been the craziest week of my mission. I feel like I've experienced every emotion under the sun, it was exhausting! We'll just get right into it I guess:

So, it snowed twice this week! Once on Tuesday while we were out street contacting, and the second time on Sunday! So fun, it was so pretty! Nothing really stuck, but it was gorgeous. Snow in the city is the best thing! It was fun for the first few minutes, until it turned into a blizzard or something and we ended up running for our lives to the car. Sister So almost blew away, it was nuts! Tuesday night in general was absolutely insane, we ended up in Virginia at one point. WOOP. Lol. 

On Wednesday, we got a call from the a Elders saying that Sister Ellis was in the emergency room. She's been having back problems, and ended up having back surgery on Friday morning, so it's been scary! She's ok now, she's recovering at home, but keep her and her family in your prayers! On Friday night, we went over to their house to help out and spend some time with their kids. We helped the kids clean up, Nian made some dinner, and then we had a fun lesson with all of them and played a game! It was awesome! 

While we were cleaning up, we were talking with Nian, and he told us that he was going back to China.. The masters program he was in required a 3.0 GPA, and he got a 2.9, so they kicked him out and told him to be out of the country by February 3rd! THE HECK. For those of you that don't know, mainland China is one of the few countries where we don't have missionaries. You're also not allowed to attend any church services or anything if you're not already a member of the Church, so we naturally freaked out with him, and we brought up the possibility of baptism before he left. He declined, and didn't feel ready for baptism yet, he wanted to wait until he came back in August (he applied for some universities on the west coast, NICE). It was so devastating! We were sad for a day or two before we came to terms with it. Still super devastated, but we knew God would watch out for him. Then yesterday happened. AH. MIRACLES. So yesterday was Why I Believe, which was awesome! I performed with Sister Griffin and Sundwall! While we were doing a mic check, the elders in our ward come running down the stairs of the auditorium, and tell us they have "exciting and scary news!". They proceeded to tell us about how they had been over with the Ellis's and Nian was there. They ended up sharing a message with them, and talked about baptism (which was really weird. Don't do that.). Nian said no, and they left. Then, apparently Shayna talked with him, and she's just a miracle worker. He agreed to baptism, and found us at why I believe! He's getting baptized this Saturday!!! AHHHH! It was a HUGE miracle, I'm SO happy! It's right before all of us leave the area as well. He'll be able to go to church and everything now, it's perfect!! I know this is God's work! It's been amazing seeing Him work through Nian. Everything has played out perfectly, and I know that wasn't a coincidence. God is real, and He knows His children. This is His work, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it! I love being a missionary! I love you all! 

Sister Wilson

衛愛欣

 

 I love my area you guys. 

 SNOWAHH

 Nian and Harry Reid. #cc

 LOOK WHO CAME BACK

 SNOW

 #twinning

 Why I Believe!

 

Titling these emails is the hardest thing

This week has been awesome, and exhausting! Festival is officially over, and all the Christmas stuff has been taken down. It's weird getting back into the normal swing of things, but so nice! Festival recovery is real haha. 

On Tuesday, we went and visited Denise, an old lady in our ward. She's had big problems, so we went over to clean up all the residue and put her apartment back together with the Bishops wife. It was super fun! I wish more people let us do service for them, people here are weird about letting us help with things. "No thanks, we'll ask the Elders!" UM NO WE'RE PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF HELPING YOU THANKS. Let sister missionaries help you, guys. It's so frustrating, but I love when people actually give us stuff to do! It's the best!! 

Thursday, the zone leaders asked us to come and give a workshop in the 12-Week meeting (trainers and trainees) about companionship unity. It was SO FUN. I love giving workshops, especially about stuff like companions. I've been super blessed to have great companions, and I love my companions right now, they're my favorite!! We had so much fun. We did the "10 Commandments of a Companionship". It was hilarious. Haha. 

Nian is still doing super well, we had a super fun lesson with him on Saturday about the Commandments. He's so sincere, ugh he's the best!! We also got to see Carly, Orin Hatch's referral, again! She and her fiancé just got married, they're so cute, he's from Chile! She's super nice and has potential! We had 2 lessons this week, it was awesome! We have 2 investigators right now, which is the most we've had in months! And they both have lots of potential! I love this area so much! I'll probably be transferred out this coming transfer, I've been here for 9 months already... I've learned so much and I'm so grateful so all the experiences I've had here. I LOVE Chevy Chase! it's been my refiners fire for sure! I've learned so much about the atonement and discipleship. I know more than ever that God is real, and that He is aware of us. The atonement is powerful, and I've felt that in my life daily! You guys, I love the gospel SO. MUCH. I love being a missionary! I love the Book of Mormon and I know it's a true book. Read it every day, it'll change your heart.  The Church is so true, and I absolutely love what I'm doing! God is so good! 

Love you all!

Sister Wilson

衛愛欣

 

 The only pics we took were car selfies, sorry haha

LOVE YOU ALL

 

 It's been cold this week.

 

Happy 2016!!

This week has been awesome! Happy 2016, I hope you all had the best time and set some reasonable goals for the new year! Our New Years was pretty great, we were at the Visitors Center both days. Good news though, FESTIVAL IS OVER! Festival was super fun and it was a huge success, but we're all totally exhausted and ready for recovery. As a Visitors Center, we sent out 1,229 referrals from December 1-December 31st! Most of those referrals were couples or families. We haven't totaled up how many individuals we sent missionaries to, but we know it's several thousand! All of the sisters serving here are amazing, and we all worked our hardest! It was such a great experience, and I just loved being part of it. I'm excited to continue seeing these miracles as we go into January and start teaching all these people through the Teaching Center! WOO. Great things are coming! 

Great things are happening in our area as well. Nian has decided to stay in the Chevy Chase Ward, so we get to keep teaching him, YES. He's so awesome, and he's progressing a ton!! He loves the gospel and his life has totally changed. He bore his testimony on Sunday for like 10 minutes about how much the gospel has changed his life, and how much he loves it. He's the best!! We love him a ton. We also said goodbye to Ximena yesterday, she flies back to Bolivia today :( I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to serve in this area for so long, it's changed my perspective on so many things! I've learned so much and met so many incredible people. I love my companions, my ward, and my area! I love being a missionary! I love you all! 

Sister Wilson

 

 

 Zoo lights with the Ellis's and Nian!

 

 Become a member - We can help! 

 How I feel about 2016

 Last night of Festival WOO

 Saying bye to Ximena!