NATS VS. PHILLIES

HEY EVERYBODY!!! This past week has been CRAZY!!! - But in a SUCH a good way!!! :) First things first - in answer to your comment and question/concern about the shooting this morning, Mom (and everybody else): I just found out while sitting in the club house of my apartment complex that the shooting occurred only about TEN MINUTES away from where I live. Yep. In MY area. True story. But no worries. We're safe and sound! However, we don't feel safe going out and going street contacting at this particular moment in time until we know for certainty that the suspect has been caught and is in custody. So for now, we're waiting to hear from our mission President on exactly what we should do regarding that. CRAZY stuff! Now onto this past week! Monday was really good! I cut Sister Woodbury's hair, which was really fun! I LOVE her! I'm going on exchanges with her this week - on Thursday, to be exact! I can't wait! :) Monday night was really good, too! We did LOTS of street contacting and met a Chinese guy named Cage, and a sweet woman from Taiwan named Tina! :) Tuesday we had Zone Training that morning, which was really good! I sincerely LOVE that! After that, we street contacted a LOT and met a sweet Chinese girl named Joanna, a sweet Chinese guy named Pei, and LOTS of spanish speakers! We also met a couple of sweet Ethiopian women! Also - while we were having a lesson in the street with Pei shortly after we met him, this man (probably in his mid-forties) was crossing the street and made eye contact with us, and we moved over on the sidewalk to make room for him to walk by, and he deliberately stuck his tongue out at us while he walked by. People are great. Haha. Then about ten minutes after that, a crazy woman screamed at poor Sister Akin while she was backing me in the car, telling her that we weren't allowed to park at the Potomac Nursing Center - even though Sister Akin calmly explained to her that we volunteer there a lot, so they give us a free parking pass. Well, that woman didn't wanna hear that, so she told us that she saw us walking from the other direction (in other words, she could tell that we weren't coming out of the nursing center), so she was going to go inside and tell them to never let us park there again. I love people. Haha! But it's all good. Cause we ended the night REALLY well with seeing some Jesus-loving women who high-fived us for being missionaries and doing what we're doing (the Ethiopian women). I LOVE them! :) Then we finished the night off by visiting with the Babitz (an AWESOME couple in the ward. I LOVE them! I've seriously become friends with them! They're wonderful! AND Sister Babitz also LOVES Harry Potter! That's where we bonded!), then we visited with another great couple in the ward named the Behnke's. Overall, even despite the negatives, it was a really great day! Sister Akin and I have grown to have the attitude of simply laughing at the poor, unfortunate souls who treat us like dirt and give them titles of our "(anti) Fan Club". For example, the woman who screamed at us is the President, and the man who stuck his tongue out at us is the Secretary. Good times! Haha! Pretty soon all of the roles are either going to be filled, or there are going to be doubles of each role. Haha! Just kidding! But really though, it's a much better way to look at all of it! Anyways, Wednesday was Zone Conference, which was SO good! President came, AND I got to see Sister Woodbury again, so it was a DOUBLE good day!!! :) That night we went street contacting and met Ivonne (a Columbian woman) while street contacting at the park, and we even taught her the whole restoration lesson! :) After that, we visited our less-active friend, Rob! Thursday we met a lot of other new incredible people! We met an amazing black man named Steve while street contacting at a bus stop by the park! He's incredible! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said that he would read it AND come to church next week! :) That night we had dinner with a family in our ward named the Kaneyuki's! They're awesome! Friday we went to the Nationals game - Nats VS Phillies - which I just found out was a Baseball game the night before when I was talking to Sister Akin about it. I figured it was either Football, Baseball or Softball, but probably either Baseball or Softball. Sister Akin got a kick outta that. :) The game itself was quite boring, to be completely honest with you, however, in case any of y'all care about who won, the Nats won. Woo Hoo... Haha. The game itself was SUPER boring, but the socializing with all the other missionaries was SOOOO much fun!!! :) However, that even got to be not quite as fun anymore when people around us started complaining to security and others about the missionaries standing up and moving around and switching seats... So then about 3/4 of the way through the game, we were warned to not do any of that anymore besides between plays, or they'll call security and kick us out... Yep... Awesome... So they REALLY loved having missionaries there... Haha! It's all good though. Overall, it was REALLY fun! :) I sat with Sister Woodbury! :) Saturday was INCREDIBLE!!! The Lord truly handed us our day on a silver platter! We started out the morning by going to a Day to Serve activity with a new Chinese investigator who we had just met earlier in the week, which went REALLY well! We had a short lesson with her right after the activity, and she was going to come to church yesterday, but then something came up and she couldn't go; she said that she'll come next week. Then that afternoon, we went to ANOTHER day to serve activity with another new Chinese investigator who we just met earlier in the week as well! His name is Pei and he's incredible! We even had a lesson with him that night at the home of a member who speaks Chinese, and he came to church yesterday and LOVED it! We are now planning on meeting with him once a week from now on, and he's coming to church again this week! :) On top of that all, we also ran into another investigator of ours named Jacob - we hadn't seen him for a couple of weeks or so - and we visited with him for a bit and caught up with him! Then right after that, we had another lesson with our new Indian investigator named Bipin! We're also planning on meeting with him again this week! He already read 20 pages of the Book of Mormon since we first met him just a few days before then! He's really incredible! The only main thing holding him back from baptism right now is that his dad's a Hindu priest, so he's not really sure about it all right now; however, he is still curious and wants to continue learning. He also agreed to continue to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! After all that, we ended the night off with having a wonderful member visit! Our day was SO busy that we only had about a 10-15 minute dinner break! But it's all good cause it was one of the best days that I've had on my mission so far! I LOVE being a missionary!!! :) Sunday was really good, too! Church was WONDERFUL!!! It was everything I needed! That evening we had dinner with a couple in the ward named the Stenquist's. I love them! That night we visited with Rob again, and this time we were able to have more of a lesson with him. He's great! :) I love you all! The Church is true!!! :) Love always, Sister Aubrie Orrock P.S. Mom! I am SOOOO sorry, but I was a terrible daughter and didn't have time to mail you your birthday present! But don't worry! I will be sure to mail it to you next week, so you'll only get it a week late! SO sorry! I LOVE YOU!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON FRIDAY!!! :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THURSDAY, LANCE!!! :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAST WEEK, DESI!!! :D