Great month. . . .

We started out our Monday going to pick up Tigi from a doctors appointment and then taking her to lunch.. She is so much fun and I just love that girl so much.. We ventured to our favorite Wegmans again.. then we took Tigi to her dialysis appointment. 

In the evening we visited with 3 sisters and then had family home evening with the Hickman's. Annecia and her two daughters are so enjoyable to spend time with. The girls are 11 & 6 and just love to have us over.  We had a short lesson on honesty then gave them a page to color of a little girl saying her prayers. Sister Wege had made dessert for the evening..  A great day. 

 

 The Hickmans



Tuesday we were out the door at 7:00 to drive over to pick Tigi up for some more appointments.  She was having an x-ray, cat scan and MRI. We then went to lunch, since she hadn't eaten since lunch on Monday. Then off to her cardiologist to pick up some paper work and then to her primary care physician to drop it off. Our next stop was the social security office to help get her Medicare straightened out. So it was a full day of appointments and stops, but so worth it to help her get these things all taken care of and it was, get this 71 degrees.. that's right we were warmer than Phoenix..

 

Tigi

 



Tuesday evening we took one of the sisters from College Park ward to the visitors center. She is getting baptized in 2 weeks and wanted to have a teaching tour of the VC. She had never been there and really enjoyed seeing all the wonderful things it has to offer. 

 Wednesday was Family History Center and I even helped one of the patrons find some information.. I told her I love Ancestry.com and just keep putting in names and pushing the buttons and I find all kinds of information.  Found more today. . . my grandfathers military registration card.. signed by him.. what a fun day. 

We then headed out for visits and had a wonderful one with a sister from Globe, Arizona who is visiting her daughter for the winter. And then the weather hit hard and started to rain so we headed home..  No fun walking around in the pouring rain..

Thursday, it was sunny and so we headed out.. Man was it cold.. and windy.. which made it even colder.. It was 20 degrees with a wind chill I'm sure it was "0".. probably not quite, but I was sure it must be. We went to visit several sisters and some we had to walk quite a ways to get to their house or apartment, because of restricted parking.. and the wind was blowing and jeepers it was cold.. So when we found someone home we loved it and had wonderful visits.. We visited a new mom, who has been going through some major struggles, but seemed to be doing fine.  We also visited a sister who lives in a very nice group home. She has some mental disabilities that prevent her from coming out to church, we had a very nice visit with her & she was so happy we came by to see her. Our last visit was with a sister who is recovering from a very serious surgery. We had been to see her before we started working full time at the visitors center and we were anxious to see her. She was so pleased that we came by to see her. What a wonderful lady she is and so happy she is no longer in pain.

 Two of the sisters we visited on Thursday

Friday morning when we woke up everything was covered in a blanket of white. Sister Wege had PT for her shoulder and when she got home we picked up Darlene and took her to the temple.. She is really loving it and so are we.

Saturday was going to be another record breaking cold day, so we decided to take a personal day and stay in and get some things done here at our apartment. We were having 7 over for dinner on Sunday after church, so we were able to get a lot of the prep finished. It is a birthday dinner for two of the senior missionaries we serve with, Sister Dickey and Elder Sieg..

L.to R: Alison, Sister Dickey, Me, Elder Dickey, Elder and Sister Sieg

 





January was a great month for visits, we knocked on 111 doors and visited with so many wonderful sisters.. each one a joy to spend time with.  That was even with me being down for a week with the
flu..

Below are some of the places that we visit

It has been such a thrill to serve in this mission and I truly will miss it when I leave in three weeks. It has been such a amazing opportunity on so many levels.

·       To meet so many wonderful people and make so many friends

·       To be of help to the sisters we serve in so many different ways

·       To be in the nations capital and see so many historic sites & events

·       To serve with all the fantastic young sisters and elders

·       To serve in "10" different wards (congregations)

·       To meet and be counseled by these general authorities of our church:

·                   Elder David A. Bednar

·                   Elder Kearon & Sister Kearon

·                   Elder Allen E. Packer & Sister Packer

·                   Elder Quentin L. Cook & Sister Cook

·                   Elder Russell M. Nelson

·                   Elder Steven E. Snow

·       To meet the Ambassador of the Ukraine

·       To work as an ordinance worker in the Washington DC Temple       

·       To work in the Visitors Center during the Festival of Lights

·       To serve under our extraordinary Mission President Matsumori and Sister Matsumori

·       To be companions with two wonderful women

·       To work in the Family History Center and learn to love genealogy

·       To see the wonders of the seasons here in Maryland

I have also learned a few things about being a Marylander...

·       You must honk your horn at the car in front of you the second the light turns green, even if you are 6 cars back.

·       You have to have x-ray night vision, because they do not believe in street lights on any of the streets off the main roads.

·       Speed limit signs are just for looks, for if you go the speed limit you are left in the dust.

·       Maps are deceiving, they have street names on the maps and GPS and on the road signs they have numbers.. It seems every road is both named and numbered.

·       If you pull up behind an Amish cart or buggy you have to follow them, because they have the right of way on the roads in Maryland.

·       You have to bring your own bags to the grocery store, because they charge for bags.

So now, I carry a cute little bag in my purse at all times, just in case, make sure I know the route # I need before I leave home, & know exactly where I need to go at night & never honk at the driver in front of me & only drive a "little" over the speed limit..