From One Washington to the Other: December 8, 2014

Sorry I'm emailing later than usual this week! Today we went into DC and took a tour of the Captial and went to the Library of Congress. It was super cool! I'm so grateful to serve in our Nation's Capital!

This week went by quick! Thanks for all the birthday wishes! It was a great day :)

Tuesday we had a lesson with a Muslim lady we met. She invited two of her friends to come along. It was more of a debate... It wasn't heated or anything, but those women had no intent to really take to heart what we had to say. But it was really interesting to learn about whawt Muslim's believe. Oh and they invited US to read the Quran... It was really kind of them. Maybe when I get home I'll look more into it to learn more. I think religions are really interesting. If anything else, they help me to realize that I have been so incredibly blessed to be a part of the fulness of Christ's church!

Thursday we went to Centreville for a Dr appointment. They told me I have lost 14 pounds since I've started going to that Drs office in April! Woo! I still have a long way to go...But running at least a mile every day has worked wonders! That night we went to a lesson with a Hispanic lady named Angelik that we met last week. Everyone has been so incredibly flaky lately and all of our return appointments have fallen through, so I didn't have high hopes for Angelik. I didn't even want to go. But we went anyway of course. I was so glad we did! We knocked on the door and this guy answers. He was super sarcastic with us and didn't make eye contact, so when he told us the story about how Angelik had just called him and asked that he let us know that she was out with friends, I didn't believe him at all. We were about to leave when he stopped us and said, "well hey, since I've got your attention, I have a few questions for you." I got really nervous as he brought up a ton of anti material and asked if we wore that "cool underwear" and talked about how he fully supported polygamy. Honestly, anti just drives me nuts. Plus, I couldn't handle his sarcastic attitude like he was pulling a huge joke on us. So before he could go on I stopped him and said something like, "wait. Are you being for real? Because Yes I am a Mormon, but that doesn't mean I'm not a normal person who can see right through all of this!" He just looked at me and said, "no I'm totally serious!" After that, the conversation went up hill. Thank goodness! Hahaha. I told him that yes, I wear the cool underwear and I love it! we made sure the whole polygamy situation was cleared up too...We started asking him what his religious background was and who God is to him. He said he's pretty much a Buddhist because he just believes in good energy or something. Our conversation with him turned out to be a lot of fun! Eventually we were all laughing together out on his doorstep. After about 20 minutes, the door right across from him in the apartment building FLEW open and we all stopped laughing and turned to see a tiny old lady standing in the doorway with a crazy look in her eyes. I think my heart might've stopped in that moment. She said, "Tom! How dare you have a party...without inviting ME!" She then saw our name tags and said, "oh, it's just the missionaries. Okay." It was hilarious!! Turns out, the Sisters before me had knocked that building and met her. Her name is Debb and she's a Born Again Christian. Actually, she is the first Born Again Christian that was kind to me. I'm used to Born Again Christians being all sweet at first but then turning out to be not very kind because they're just trying to prove me wrong. Debb didn't do that. She asked if we could pray together and invited us and Tom over! After another 20 minutes, Angelik came over and sincerely apologized to us. Turns out she actually did call Tom and asked him to tell us that she wasn't home. Hm. It helped restore my faith in humanity! I love honest people!

Friday we went to Mission Leadership Council! That's where all the leadership of the mission gets together. We sat in a HUGE circle and counselled on what will help our mission progress. It was really interesting. It was from 8am-4pm.... Sooo long. After they fed us lunch, a tradition that President Riggs does with all the missionaries is to play a game of BUMP! It was so much fun! If that's what he does at every MLC, I don't mind having to go once a month!

Missionary Leadership Council

Saturday we stopped by Warrens and he didn't answer. His roommate named Guy came home when we were about to leave and he opened the door and made Warren come out to talk to us. I guess from where Warren was sitting in his house, he just couldn't hear us knocking. And he doesn't have a doorbell. Lame! haha. But as soon as he came to the door he said he would come to church in the morning! It was a miracle becasue we've been having a really hard time trying to get into contact with him this week!

Sunday Warren didn't come to church and he missed our appointment. So we stopped by and started talking to his neighbors that lived across the street. He saw us and came out to talk. He had a family emergency and couldn't come to church. But he told us that he gave up tea and is working on giving up coffee. He is excited about being baptized on the 27th!!! There are just a few things we will have to go over with him, but his heart seems to be in the right place. Plus, he is reading out of the Book of Mormon, so that shows how serious he is. I love Warren!!! He is such a sweet old man! He has a lot going on in his life that always seems to explode whenever he says he will come to church or do anything that will help him progress. It would be great if you all would please pray for him!!!! He needs all the prayers he can get.

Love you all! Keep up the good work! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! Be sure to keep me updated on where you're at! :)

I can't wait to SEE YOUR FACES IN A FEW WEEKS AAAHHHH!!!!

Love you!

Sister Anderson