Happy New Year

Happy New Year

The new year rang in as I was sleeping, I'm sorry to say.  We had finished our shift at the visitors center and headed home and I was in bed reading by 9:30.. This was the next to last night of our assignment at the VC and it is sad. We had been there every night for 44 nights. We really had our assignments down and loved what we were doing.  For the festival they had a total of 88,000 people come through the doors. Many nights there were so many people it was very hard to navigate your way through the crowds.  It is one of those moments, where we were ready for festival to be over, but didn't want to not be with all our friends there. It was so neat to be with the 28 young sister missionaries every night, and the 4 senior couples, plus the young elders that I got to serve dinner to and those others who were attending performances each evening. 

This week was transfers and 6 of the young sisters that I had grown so close to went home.. I was so excited for them and yet will really miss them.  Several of the senior couples start leaving this next week and it seems that someone is leaving every week.  What wonderful friendships I have made during my mission. Working with the 4 couples every day at the VC was amazing and I just love them all..





The missionaries who were returning home this transfer.. just love them all.

 

The Performances for New Years Eve and New Years evening were:

• Washington Guzheng Society- (Chinese Instrumentalists) It was founded in 2000 by a group of Guzheng musicians and enthusiasts. The        goal of the group is to introduce Chinese culture to all audiences through guzheng       music. The group is actively involved in community performances and public       service programs. We have held a variety of performances in the Baltimore       Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the U.S. National Arboretum , the University of Maryland, the Smithsonian Institution.
• Olney Concert Band- a volunteer community band made up of 55 fun loving members who have been entertaining local audiences for over 27 years. The range from high school students to retired musicians.

Wednesday we started our day at the Family History Center and I must say I am loving learning how to use the new Family Tree for my searching.. I am such a novice and learn a little something each week.. I am going to love being able to spend time on this when I get home and can spread it out on the table and pull it all together.  I am back in the 1600's and wishing I knew each of their stories as I read their names and where they are from.

 After we left the FHC we went over to the visitors center to help dis-mantle the nativity displays and clear out the room. We worked hard and helped Julia (the coordinator) and her crew get everything packed up and put away.  It took a couple weeks to set up and just a few hours to take it all down.. We said goodbye to all our friends at the VC and headed home, and were amazed it was still light out side..

We are ready to get back to our regular visits to the sisters and help them in any way we can.  
Thursday we started out our day with our weekly visit to Barbara. What a joy she is.. she is always sitting in the little parlor area of the center waiting for us and gets a huge smile the minute she hears us walk in.  It is so fun to know that we will see her each week, and she will always be there and happy to see us..

We then called on 3 other sisters, two didn't answer the door and we didn't think that the 3rd was going to answer, but as we walked down the hall she called after us. She has just moved here and said that she is probably moving to Florida in the next couple weeks. She has a daughter who is almost nine and wasn't in school.. (they said it was because they were moving?)  She also has a very active 2 year old little girl.. Kind of a sad situation, she moved in so that she and her current husband can try and work things out. There are also 2 other men living there. She is also in a custody battle with her x-husband over the custody of her son, who lives with his dad.

 Friday we had a day off.. got lots accomplished around the apartment.. never left the building.. all I can say is yahoo!  I started to organize and box things I know I won't need before I leave for home and sorted through papers and things I have collected while I was here.. I got all my receipts sorted for tax prep.  It was a good day.

 Saturday Sister Wege and I were asked if we wanted to go with the Dickeys (another senior couple) into DC to the Martin Luther King library to hear a lecture on  "The Emancipation Proclamation".  Sister Wege loves that sort of thing, so she went and I decided to go down south and pick up my quilt, that I bought from my Amish friend Magdalena Stoltzfus.. She lives a little over an hour and a half from our apartment.. I love the drive down, and it was fun to see what things have changed since I moved up to Silver Springs. When I pulled into the driveway of her home, I saw a "closed" sign on the quilt shop, but I did see Magdalena standing in her house, so I knocked and asked if I could pick up my quilt. She is such a sweet lady.  I am so happy I have gotten to know her. I love my quilt. When I saw it in her shop, I knew I just had to have it.. She let me make monthly payments.. I am so happy that I know who cut out the pieces and stitched it all together and quilted it all by hand.. I can't wait to put it on my bed at home.. I have gotten a couple other things from her in the past and she is so talented.. Such a true artist.

My Quilt

I then stopped at a few places down in Waldorf and worked my way back toward our apartment.  It was such a beautiful day out and I loved driving around.  When I got back to the apartment I decided to start entering all my tax information on spread sheets, getting it ready to turn over to my most helpful brother-in-law.. He and my sister Judy will be coming to Arizona a couple weeks after I get home and I want to be able to give it to him then..

 Sunday started with our 7:30 a.m. meeting then church services.. we then stopped back by our apartment for lunch before we headed out to visit some sisters. It is really good to be back in the groove.. I just love visiting with each one we get to see.. Everyone is so different and so much fun to get to know.. We got to visit with 3 sisters this afternoon and then we went to a baptism.. A great day..

 We have a busy week planned and I can't wait..