Kensington - Week 22

Dear family,

I am in Kensington! It's the city that the DC temple is in. My
companion is Sister Lewis and I LOVE it here! I didn't realize how
down I'd been feeling until I got here because now I feel so much
happier. It's right outside of DC and there are lots of people all
over the place and it's busy and a bit crazy to drive in and I love
it. The ward is super solid with lots of people and the building is
almost identical to the Farmington south stake center. Yesterday for
5th Sunday 3rd hour, Elder and Sister Kendrick came and taught family
history and showed the video of me and Sister Johnson to everyone so
that was a nice, slightly awkward introduction of me into the ward.
Sister Lewis is awesome, we get along great. She's from Utah and went
to BYU for a couple years before coming out here.

Before I left Seneca, I went around and said goodbye to some of the
people I had met there. It was sad but I was ready to leave. We had
ice cream with Candy for an hour and she started crying. I'll miss the
people there but it's just a "see you later."

Wednesday night, Lindsay Sterling came to the Visitors Center to do a
concert. I got to hear her and she was really good. I'll have to get
her cd when I go home. She mainly spoke but her talk was super good.
Apparently it was the tipping point for one guy who was still iffy
about the church. After it was over, he turned to the elders teaching
him and pretty much said he's ready to be baptized now. That's why we
do these!

We've taught a couple of our investigators here already. It's so
diverse here. One is from Ethiopia, one is from India, one is from
Haiti, and quite a few are from Africa. We're just teaching the whole
world here.

We had dinner with a member family last night. We were talking and I
found out that the dad is currently majoring in animation the the Art
Institute in DC. He showed me a ton of his art work and gave me a
sketch book he's not using. Night. Made. I was so happy.

I've discovered a new favorite thing: talking to people at metro bus
stops. On Saturday, we went there and talked to people while they were
waiting for their buses. We gave out 5 Book of Mormons and even more
pass along cards. We're going to do the same thing again tonight. I
love it.

Sunday night, Congressman Chris Stewart came and spoke at the Visitors
Center. We got to go because our recent convert was going. It was
really good. He was talking about why we should have hope. Essentially
he said that the United States of America was established by God's
hand and that He's not going to let it fall so long as we remain
faithful. Just like the angels said to Moses when they were going to
destroy Soddom and Gomorrah, if they find even 10 righteous people,
they will spare it. There are more than 10 righteous people here.
They're all over the place. God loves our country and loves us so we
need to have hope. He has my vote.

Today, we went with members to move them onto campus dorms at
Gallaudet. Gallaudet is a deaf university in DC. The couple is older
and the wife has a disease which is going to make her deaf within the
next 6 years so she is moving there to take classes to learn ASL and
her husband is going to learn as well. It was interesting being there
and we were all making jokes the whole time. Instead of a doorbell,
they have light switches outside that you flip to make all the lights
turn off and on to let them know someone is at the door. More modern
door bells just flash lights. They brought their piano with them so we
were mentioning how she won't have any problem playing at all hours of
the night. It's a pretty quiet campus. Everyone just signs to each
other and it's awkward when someone signs to you and you just stand
there looking stupid. I can say book worm, cereal, stalker, this new
commandment, love one another, yes and no, I can hear, am def, and a
few other things. Super duper fun.

Today they only gave us 2 hours to shop and email. This Friday we are
going to have an all day P day. We just have to be back in our
apartments by 10:30pm. I'm so excited. We are going to go to DC and
fight the huge crowds. I get to spend Independence Day in the nation's
capital!

D&C 78:19. Love you all!

Love, Sister Black

The first pic is of me and Candy and Sister Hancock.