Taking the District By Storm

Hello everyone from (surprisingly) NOT White Plains (it's not lie I

was there for 9 months or anything...) and instead from CAPITOL HILL

(south)! That's right, despite what I originally thought, I did indeed

get a transfer call last Monday to pack my bags (though they were

mostly packed already due to the moving fiasco) and relocate from

Southern Maryland into the District of Columbia (though I'm still in

the Suitland Stake, funny enough) to claim my mission "birthright" and

serve the people of the Capitol Hill Ward (what I mean by "birthright"

is that literally everyone in my line of trainers-to-trainees has

served in the Capitol Hill South area, which is cool!) in a trio with

Elders Tausaga and Talbot (though Tausaga is leaving to have knee

surgery in two weeks, so the trio will be unfortunately short-lived)!

As such, Tuesday ended up being a pretty bittersweet day. I was

incredibly sad to be leaving White Plains and to be split up from

Elder Hunt, but I was excited to experience DC (seeing as I was called

to the DC Mission then spent the entirety of a Sister Missionary's

mission time in Maryland). Saying goodbye to the amazingly wonderful

people in the Ward was probably the hardest part, but with promises to

stay in touch with many of them, I packed my bags and departed for

Washington DC on Wednesday morning!

So a little bit about my area: it is the smallest area in the mission

(we can cross from one end to the other in a little under an hour) and

smack dab in the middle of the area is a line that divides a pretty

nice area from a really ghetto one that perpetually smells like weed

(we don't go there after dark), so that's fun! I also have the

Nationals stadium in my area, which is cool! We also get to talk to a

lot of cool/"interesting" people out here.

For example, on Thursday while we were walking to check on a referral,

we stopped to talk to a guy we passed on the street and ended up

having a super cool talk with him about the church and religion. He

initially told us that he wasn't interested (though we could see that

he was really fighting with the Spirit at the time) then as we were

walking away, he suddenly turned around and yelled at us to come back

and asked us for our number, the address of the church, and a copy of

the Book of Mormon, which was really cool!

Another example: while we were heading to an appointment, a

maintenance guy who worked at the apartment complex the person lives

in pulled us aside and introduced himself to us (his name is Rambo)

and proceeded to psycho-analyze each of us and have a really

good/interesting conversation about religion and using our strengths

and relying on each other to succeed. He then told us that the next

time we went over there, we needed to find him and he would take us

out to lunch and give us a ride to wherever we needed to go!

One of the coolest things that happened this week/on my mission was

that on Saturday, our mission and the DC South Mission had a combined

mission conference with Elders Ballard and Rasband of the Quorum of

the Twelve Apostles as well as Elders Gong, Perkins, Meuer, and

Bennett of the Seventy along with all of the area authorities! It was

super cool and an amazingly spiritual experience to be able to meet

two of the Lord's Apostles! I also had no idea how hilarious Elder

Ballard is (seriously, the dude's really funny), which was cool! I

know that they truly are the Lord's called representatives to help

lead His church!

Other than that, I've been doing a lot of getting to know a lot of the

members of the Ward, which has been really cool, as well as quite a

bit of contacting, tracting, and walking around getting to know the

area (which has also been interesting as my feet haven't been used to

walking around after six months of getting around exclusively by car).

I have loved my few days that I've been here and look foreword to

continuing on in the area (plus, it's very possible that I will spend

the rest of my mission here since I only have a handful of transfers

left to be moved around).

I love you all! Have a fantastic week! I also have attached my new

shipping address.

Sincerely,

Elder Sam Williams

70 I St SE #818

Washington, DC, 20003

I'm going to miss this stud!

The "scenic" view from my apartment window

Rooftop selfies (realization that I'm actually in DC (featuring Washington Monument Nats Stadium, and some cool office buildings.)

Capitol Selfie!

Elder Talbot and I in front of the Capitol (all set up for inauguration)

Talbot, Tausaga,and I in front of the Capitol.