DC! 10-8-18 (Family Letter)

So I'm not really sure where to start with this email haha. But I love you!! Thats a good start :)

So DC. What a city. Hermana Miley and I walked a solid 12 miles or so, met 4 members of the church, and almost got on the wrong subway. Part of DC is in Virginia so I technically left the mission too which is weird! I felt almost disobedient leaving the mission but we had permission to go there so we were fine.

To start out, we drove to the Shady Grove subway about 15 minutes away from our apartment and got me a card and a nice guy helped us get on the right train. He lives in DC and he reminds me of an older version of Parker! When we got off, we saw the elders! They were on the same train as us and we didnt even know! When missionaries go to the city, they dont want them to gather together or hang out. We just said hi and to have a fun preperation day and off we went.

We first walked to the Ford's theatre where President Lincoln was shot. We sat down in the middle of the theatre and they had a 30 minute historical presentation. I learned a lot! It was such an amazing experience to sit there and learn of the history that had occurred within those 4 walls. What a good start start to the morning. We walked across the street to the Peterson house where they transported him for the remaining 9 or so hours if his life. We walked in the room and stood by the bed. It was a little errie but peaceful at the same time. It was a busy street outside but a quiet and respectful atmosphere in the room.

We walked to visit the American Mueaum of art which was interesting and then to the National Archives where the Declaration if Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are located. There are no pictures allowed to preserve the writing on the documents and they were all very neat to see in person. The Magna Carta was another cool piece of history to view. It is not in English! That caught me by surprise.

We walked to the White House and took some pictures. Its right in the middle of the city which is a little different than I expected. We headed to the Washington Monument (personal favorite) and met a cute member Filipino family who gave us snacks and talked about church. We sat on a bench and gave our feet a quick break before heading over to the WW2 monument. We saw the wall of gold stars. Per each gold star, 100 people died. The giant wall was full of gold stars.

We walked along the reflection pool to the Abraham Lincoln memorial and stood at the feet of the giant statue of the President. I turned around and lost my breath as I saw the Washington Wonument and its reflection in the pool. We headed over to the nursing memorial and the Vietnam War memorial. (Another Favorite) It was silent as people stopped to find names and read of those who gave their lives for this country. It was such a beautiful memorial to pay a reapect for all those who served in that specific war. I could see the long wall full of names and my reflection staring back at me in the shiny stone. Those people gave their lives so that generations to come, like me, could live in safety and freedom.
We started for the Jefferson Memorial to view it from the Tidal Basin. The memorial is made of 13 different types of stone, all from the 13 origional colonies to come together in remembrance of Thomas Jefferson.

Then we saw the time and we ran. We had to walk 2 more miles to get to the subway and we had 45 minutes to get there. Not too hard but we were a little tired from the days adventures so we sped walked. We sped walked past the holocaust museum. The word Holocausta in spanish means burnt offering which we read many times in the scriptures. I will have to take a couple of hours my next trip to visit that museum.
We stopped at Qdoba to grab sone dinner and then got on the subway to head back home. It was an amazi g experience to visit the city. I'm kind of a lame tourist because I didn't even buy a tshirt but I lived in the moment which was good.
I love this country and the religious freedom we have today. I know there are people here who are ready for the gospel and I am so grateful to have this opportunity to share it with them in this beautiful city.

Love you!

-Hermana Barthlome