Monday, October 13, 2014

Musical Number-I Believe in Christ (Creo en Cristo; ¡El es mi Rey!)

Written 10/13/2014
This week has been really nice. As always, my companion and I are trying to stay busy and work hard in our area. 

We spent a lot of time in the Stake Center in Kensington this week for music practice for me. Yesterday was "Night of Music and Inspiration" in Spanish at the Visitors' Center. I was in a group singing a 6-part, a cappella version of "I Believe in Christ" (of course in Spanish). All of us performing were from all over the mission and it was a hard time for us practicing together on a rather difficult piece of music. Of course, you have already heard the piece and hopefully it was ok. We had one investigator and four members go to the performance so we were excited for the attendance we brought out.


Wednesday we had the privilege of watching some of the lunar eclipse that happened here at 7am. We all went up on our roof at 6am and played some sports watching as the moon became a vivid red. The sun starting coming up so by peak eclipse time at 7 the moon was nigh impossible to see. It was still a fun morning for us.
Photo Credit: Kevin Ambrose

Photo Credit: Randy Taylor
Wednesday my companion and I also had exchanges and I was with Elder A for the day still in my area. We had a few appointments cancel on us but we still had a good number of lessons from going around finding people. We also were able to take a member out with us for a couple hours of the day; which really helped us have the spirit and teach powerfully.

We also had interviews with President Cooke on Saturday at the Stake Center. The interviews went well and were enjoyable.
Autumn Fields at Capitol Arboretum by Nichole Pretty 
I'm glad you enjoyed the photos that I took. It covers a wider timetable but they were certainly fun to take. Don't worry though because I'm still taking pictures and still enjoying seeing what the area has to offer. We are now approaching fall. Some trees are beginning to loose their vivid green color and start the changing of color. It also is starting to get colder again. I've had to put on a windbreaker a few times this week. It's also starting to rain more but not as hard as the summer thunderstorms.

Nature's Beauty with Sculpture by Patricia Vesey
The area we live in is North West. I'm not sure what area we are exactly in. Mount Pleasant's a little west of us and Columbia Height's is a little south of us. 

We still are teaching a lot and working hard. We are hoping to have another great week. I hope that you have a great week. I love you lots.

Love,Elder Braden Dahl

P.S. I think Dad asked me when transfers are; they're the 29th of October.

Dad,

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well overall. I hope everything continues to go well and that nothing is too crazy.

Our area is going well. We have a few good investigators that are progressing. We are trying to find some more people to teach right now. The city is just a lot of hard work trying to keep members active and to get less-active members to come to church. There never seems to be a dull moment.

This Sunday was the Primary Program which was really nice. The primary here is nothing size wise compared to Roseville 2nd, they fit in about two rows on the side. It was still a really nice program and it was fun hearing them all sing. Our investigator actually was in the program and gave a short one minute talk. It was a good time and the classes afterwards were also great.

I guess you already know and have heard "Creo en Cristo", the song I sang last night at the Visitors' Center. The number was really fun to do but ridiculously difficult. It was the Eclipse version of the song and we translated it out. It wasn't great but it was the first time all of us singing together and we had 2 weeks to put it together. Of course during mike checks they balanced it all out and then during the performance the mike I was on was blaring and turned way up. It was still fun to perform and I enjoyed performing.

One thing I forgot to mention was today we went over to the ghetto Chinese shops on the east side of DC. It's not somewhere I'd ever even think of taking Mom but they have little shops packed with all kinds of stuff from knives to shoes, watches to toys. Everything is straight from China and the shop owners barely speak English. It's all super cheap things but cash only. It's pretty close to a metro stop. Around the metro is pretty nice but suddenly about a block and a half away it's pretty ghetto. I might bring you and maybe my oldest brother over there; just don't have too much on you. It was cool to go and check out. It's always cool seeing all the great diversity around here and seeing some of the interesting things around.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

General Conference...More Sightseeing in D.C.-Written 10-6-2014

 Written 10/6/2014
Well I must say I was thoroughly surprised when JS said he had a small package for me. It was super nice to receive that package from you with all the Spanish hymns on it. I've already listened to it several times now. Thank you very much for the pleasant surprise.

This was another good week that I had here. My companion and I were trying to visit everyone in our area and invite them to view General Conference. It was tough at the beginning of the week to find anyone but toward the end of the week we were able to visit a ton of the people in our area and invite them to come and listen to General Conference.

On Tuesday we received a couple referrals from the mission office and we went over to try and contact them, unfortunately they weren't home but we then called them in the evening and set up appointments to visit with them this coming week.

Wednesday was our Zone Conference which was really good. We had a lot of great worships on how to better ourselves and how to improve our teaching skills. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun there. After the meeting we went over and taught one of our investigators some of the commandments. He is still doing really well and has a very solid grip on gospel principles.

Friday my companion and I stayed super busy with a lot of appointments, contacting, plus a couple meetings. It was a really good day where we were able to have a lot of success in our area and work hard and fast.

Saturday, of course, was General Conference. My companion and I viewed all three sessions that day in Spanish. I was able to get most of the things said in conference, some analogies like Henry VIII were a little hard to understand or Elder Jörg Klebingat speaking so fast the translator couldn't keep up. Overall it was really enjoyable and one of the fastest sessions of General Conference I've ever listened to. I think the messages were wonderful and very inspired for us. Oh, and don't worry I was able to make out where Elder Jones was in the Missionary Choir. In regards to Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong's talk I really enjoyed it again, I actually heard a longer version of the talk out here in English when he came out with Elder M. Russell Ballard to the mission. So I guess D.C. is just being hipster hearing the talk before it was cool.

Sunday was another wonderful day with the two sessions of General Conference. My companion and I were again able to see both sessions in Spanish. So we ended up seeing all of General Conference in Spanish and nothing in English (except the music). We had two of our investigators come out and each watch one session of conference. We also had lessons with both of them on Sunday. To me, Elder Hugo E. Martinez didn't seem to speak very fast. He was one of the slowest voices during conference. Most likely due to the translators trying to keep up with the other speakers. Elder Richard G. Scott prerecorded his talk in Spanish so I heard him speak in Spanish during his talk. (Also, fyi Jesucristo is one word in Spanish.)

Today (Monday), we went downtown with the North Elders to the White House Visitors' Center. Not a whole lot there, but now we know if we want tickets to the White House we need to contact our senators or representative, put in some info, mention religious group, and probably wait 30 days.
Anyways, we then went to the WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial.
We then went to Ford's Theater and saw where Lincoln was shot, the gun that shot him, and the outside of the house where he died. We then went to the National Building Museum which is cool to see once inside but don't take the tour unless you're really interested because it can get a little boring for some.


I still speak a great deal of English (I am in the US) and there are mostly English missionaries and meetings. I do speak a lot of Spanish too though.

We only see the 11-year-old investigator twice a week, on Wednesday's and at church, sometimes at a branch futbol [soccer] activity too. His mom lets him come to church with his grandma and sister who are members. He is involved in the ward but I'm 99% sure they don't have a scouting program here.

Although we do end up playing soccer just about once a week. I've only been to the field by our apartment 4 times. And we didn't play soccer one of those times. I usually play defense and I don't know what foot I'm dominant on, probably right.

We will not be seeing Meet the Mormons in theaters and the closest theater playing it here is in Virginia. However, there is a slight chance they may play it at the Visitors' Center after it comes out on DVD.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Sightseeing-The National Cathedral, Zoo, Holocaust Museum & Dept of the Treasury...Written 9-29-2014

Written 9/29/2014
This week was another really fun one. My companion and I have really been working hard to teach the 20 lessons (to members, less-actives, investigators, etc.) each week. President Cooke has really been stressing this goal lately. Luckily we've been keeping pace these last few weeks. This week we were able to have 25 lessons. It was a great and busy week.

My companion and I are visiting with a lot of less-active members right now trying hard to get them to come back to church. We are seeing some miracles with less-active members who haven't opened there doors in years or who people have completely forgotten about, begin opening their doors to us and letting us come and teach them.

With our investigators we have one on baptismal date. We are working very hard to keep her on date and make sure she feels comfortable with baptism. She is doing well and really progressing. We also have another investigator that would be baptized now but his parents said we have to wait until his birthday in April. He's a rock solid guy and we are just waiting and working on his parents. Another investigator we have is super close to baptism and we are trying to put on date but she just needs a little more time and she'll be golden.

There is so much excitement here and I love serving in this area. My companion and I are working hard and trying our best. The members here are great and we have a lot of potential here in the area.

Thursday night the branch had a small activity where we played futbol, sorry, soccer. It was a really fun time and we brought one of our investigators to it and he really enjoyed playing. It was fun night and we were able to connect more with the branch.

Saturday morning we helped with a food drive at the church building and we helped pack up all the donations that were collected.

Today my companion and I passed by the National Cathedral. We didn't go in because it's a $10 admission of $25 for the behind the scenes tour. We took some pictures and it was fun to go and see.























We then headed down to the zoo and checked it out. It was nice to go and see again and it was my companion's first time so he appreciated it. Then we thought, well we can keep doing more so we went down the National Mall and went to go see the Holocaust Museum. My companion was dying to see that museum. Thankfully it was fairly empty today, so we went through pretty quick. We still had a little time left so we went to the Department of the Treasury and saw the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It was a cool little tour and we saw millions of dollars being printed. Today was mostly focused on $5 bills but they did have some of the first coloration printing for some $20 bills. I also got to see $1,000,000 in $10 bills. It was cool to go and see.It doesn't really feel like I've been out 10 months. I'm starting to lose track of dates and months are starting to fly by. I find it hard to believe September is almost over, it feels like it just began. I'm not sure what language I'll be watching Conference in but English is more likely than Spanish, but who knows. Notes for me are will probably be in Spanglish depending on how fast they speak; the slower they speak the more Spanish I write. 

In regards to directing music, yes I have directed music several times on my mission (just not in a Sacrament Meeting) in several meetings. Teach the basics first and stress the importance of just hitting the downbeat if nothing else. Practice directing some hymns and then some hymns with some tricky things-double down beat, time change, fermata, etc.

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well for you and the family and I hope you have a great week.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

A lot of teaching & a lot of family history...Written 9-22-2014

Written 9/22/2014
Youngest Brother,
I'm excited that you got your 3DS XL and a Pokemon game. It sounds like you are certainly enjoying it and are doing really well on the game right now. Today I had fun in DC and I went and bought some delicious chocolate at a fun store to enjoy for National White Chocolate Day. I miss you too. Have fun this week.

Family,
I wouldn't be thinking of picking me up too soon now but I am starting to figure out all the city. It's funny now when people are asking me for directions and I can show them where to go. I hope that all the fires in California will start to calm down and get under control but by the sounds of it, they are a little ways from that.

Today was another fun P-Day. My companion and I went down to Historic Georgetown and went down some of the cobblestone roads. We also went to Dean and Deluca, a cool little deli, candy, stuff store and got some nice little chocolates. We then headed down to the Capitol Building and took a tour there which was really fun. Yes, we saw the Brigham Young Statue in there. I only found one of the two California Statues in there of Ronald Reagan in the Main Dome. We also went and passed by the Supreme Court Building and went into the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Afterwards, we went to the American History Museum and saw all the things there. Finally, we stopped by the National Archives and checked out all the important documents there. It was a really fun time down there but it's starting to get a little chilly here now.

This week was a really fun week. On Monday my companion and I taught a Family Hostory lesson to a recent convert in our area. She now has begun to put in her family into familysearch.org. By Wednesday she had all of her grandparents in.

Tuesday morning we did some service at a nearby food bank where the missionaries there packed 10,000 lbs of food to be distributed. In the afternoon we had a lesson with 2 of our investigators about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also taught 2 less-active families about enduring to the end.

Wednesday was our transfer meeting. Elder A is now my roommate serving in the area next to us. Also we have a brand new missionary that just came out into the field in our district with his trainer who just came back to the city. Wednesday we were able to have 5 lessons; which was super awesome. We taught 1 investigator about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This investigator is ready for baptism but we have to get permission from his parents and they say we have to wait until April when he turns 12. He is super solid and awesome to hang around. We taught a recent convert and a less-active member about Family History and how to begin using FamilySearch.org.

On Thursday, my companion and I taught three people on Facebook which was super great. Who new that Facebook could be such an awesome tool. We also taught a member about temples and her preparation for entering the temple. My companion and I also went with the Branch President to the old home of a member to pick up some of his personal belongings due to some issues he had. In the evening, my companion and I went to a member's home with the East Elders to a less-active member to celebrate Chile's Independence Day. We are so much food and then some. It was super good but I would not be surprised if each of us ate more than 2,000 calories in just that meal. We had a great discussion on prayer with her and one of her friends from Panama that isn't a member.

Friday we taught another member about Family History. (If you can't tell there is a pattern here.) The mission is really stressing family history and we are more than willing to try and teach everyone here how to start and get going.

Saturday, my companion and I visited a less-active member and shared a short message with her about Faith in Jesus Christ. In the afternoon, we taught our investigator with a baptismal date and we showed her the baptismal font at the chapel and finished practicing the baptismal interview questions with her. It was a great lesson and we are excited to continue to work with her. In the evening we taught another investigator about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. She is very close to baptism but she said she was already baptized. We then spoke about authority with her and she started to wonder if she was baptized with authority. She said she would study it until our next appointment and come with some questions.

On Sunday we went to "Why I Believe" with 4 of our members and had a great night. My companion and I are teaching a lot out here and really enjoying it. All in all, we are teaching a lot over here always trying to hit the 20 lessons each week. This last week we hit 23 lessons. It can be a little tough but it's fun.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

2 Missionaries attempting sophistication at Starbucks...Written 9-15-2014

Written 9-15-2014
My companion and I attempting sophistication at Starbucks
at 
DuPont circle today
Mom's Caption: Great! 2 Missionaries drinking Starbucks!!
I was told it was a carmel frappé and hot chocolate.
Today was nicknamed "Sophistic P-Day" for my companion and I. Sister Cooke [the Mission President's wife] gave a workshop on seeing God's hand in everything and going and seeing D.C. to see God's hands. Today we biked down to DuPont Circle and went to a cool Starbucks that Sister Cooke recommended we go to. We had the best seats there looking out on the circle. We then went and looked at the upper loft it had and then went downtown. We started at the Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial and then went to the Enid A. Haupt Garden behind the Smithsonian Castle. We then biked down to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial and walked the wall as well as passing  by the Vietnam Women's Memorial. We then biked to the Albert Einstein Monument and then all the way up to the Watergate Complex. We then took a tour of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Let's just say it's a crazy huge place and it's Mom's kind of place. We saw the three main theaters: Concert Hall seating 2400 people, the Opera Theater (where musicals also are performed) seating 2300 people, and the Eisenhower Theater seating 1100 people. As well as the Terrace Theater that seats around 500. They also have a free concert available almost every day at 6pm. It was fun to go and see.

We then headed over and saw the Native American Museum which wasn't that impressive but still very nice to see. The. We headed over and did the bottom floor of the National Gallery of Art and went over to the new East Building for the National Gallery of Art. We then had lunch at Union Station and did a quick stop at the Postal Museum which has a ton of crazy stamps and mailboxes.

On Monday our Zone leaders challenged our district to get 500 contacts this week because the numbers are low for contacts as well as the teaching pool. My companion and I were working hard to do our part. Monday evening mostly consisted of us trying to talk to people. During the rest of the week we also continued to do a lot of contacting,

Tuesday we had 2 great lessons with an active member that we are helping work on family history with. Also with a less-active member who is very nice and we were able to share a message with her about enduring to the end.

Wednesday we had 4 lessons. We helped a recent convert begin their family history. She is excited to start and it's not something she knows a lot about. We shared a short message with a less-active member that afternoon and we also had a short lesson with one of our investigators on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also had a great lesson with our Branch Mission Leader.

Last Thursday was September 11th and as a precaution (nothing happened that day) the Washington D.C. zone had to go to the Stake Center next to the temple without using any public transportation. It was a large Zone Comference and we had some great workshops from our leaders about never fearing, keep going, and remember who you are. Sister Cooke gave a workshop about seeing the hand of God here and gave us a huge list of the must sees while we are serving in the mission here. Luckily, I've done almost all of them that she mentioned as a must see. My companion and I came up with a list of some of other things she mentioned and things we know about that we'd like to see. We have plans to go and see most of them through this next transfer. Also an expert cyclist came in representing WABA (Washington Area Bicycling Association) to give us some bike safety and information about biking around here. It was very informational and helps a lot putting into practice here. It helped me out on Saturday especially. After the meeting ended (9am-5pm), we went back to our areas and my companion and I had a lesson with one of the members in the evening.

Friday we had five lessons, two of which were on Facebook. We tried to keep busy all day and really enjoyed all the people we were able to be with and share the gospel with.

Saturday was rainy and busy. We had to bike nearly all the way to the Capitol to drop off an ID for someone in Judiciary Square. Luckily, there was also a less-active down there too that we tried to visit with. We ended up seeing a less-active member that hasn't had the missionaries over in years and was very surprised to see us call to set up an appointment. She is very nice and I was glad to meet with her and share some of the gospel a gain with her. We also taught a investigator at the old chapel about the restoration to solidify their understanding of it and the importance of it. It was a great discussion and went very well.

Sunday my companion and I really pushed for completing our 20 lessons for the week. (I bribed him with something he really wants to do and Bam! I've never seen such a hard worker to get 6 lessons in a day.) We ended up getting 23 lessons that week and 174 persons contacted. It was an awesome week for us.

For transfers my companion and I are staying together here. Both elders from the north area are leaving and then one from the east area, so half of the district is leaving.

That's one of the ties you sent me. I wore it today to go see the place you'd die to see in D.C. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

I hope that you have a great week.
Love, Elder Braden Dahl





Sunday, October 5, 2014

New Requirement-Reflective Vests...at all times while riding a bike Written 9-8-2014

Written 9/8/2014
Yes I am doing well here and everything's going fairly well. We have 3 good and solid investigators right now and several other investigators we are working with. I'm still studying hard-yes I'm reading the Book of Mormon right now and I am on pace with the Calendar. I am also studying in the Bible right now.
Elder Dahl biking on California Street--in Washington D.C.

My companion has been out 6 months (getting close to 7) and he also went to the Mexico MTC. I have a hard time placing him to be like a person you know...he's a yellow. He can easily be distracted by the hustle of the big city. We still get along pretty well and we have fun too.

On this last Tuesday my companion and I taught a family that is investigating the church. We taught them about the 10 Commandments and how we need to keep them. They all agreed that they are important to keep and try our best at.

Wednesday was the departing temple trip. It was a week early because the temple is closing for 4 weeks due to summer maintenance. It was a good day at the temple and very enjoyable. After the temple trip, all of the bike missionaries had to go to a bike meeting. We reviewed some basic bike safety and learned that all the bike missionaries in our mission will now be required to wear a reflective vest when they are biking. They told us that the vests would be arriving shortly and that we would be issued them soon. Once my companion and I got back into our area we had a lesson with one of our investigators. He is 11 years old and his grandmother is a member. He wants to join the church now and his mother said he has to take the missionary lessons and learn and know them. Then once he turns 12 he can be baptized. He is a super solid kid and he's trying to learn everything now. We're helping him get ready for baptism but we have to wait until April (when he turns 12) until he can get baptized. We also were able to visit with a less-active member in the evening and talked about repentance and enduring to the end. She said she's not quite ready to come back to church but that she is trying to live the commandments and follow the example of Christ. My companion and I are both hopeful to see her return to church again soon.

This last Thursday we had a special 'Spanish Missionaries' meeting about trying to improve ourselves and help the wards and branches better understand our purpose. The meeting was very good and ended on a positive note. We also taught one of the members in the branch about missionary work and how to spread the gospel.

On Friday my companion and I helped a member begin working on Family History and we helped her set up an account on FamilySearch.org. She was very excited to begin and work on her family lines. We also taught another member and her almost 8-year-old son about baptism and the Holy Ghost and had some fun object lessons to go along with it. In the evening we had Branch Correlation and all of our reflective vests came in. The district leader passed out our assigned vests to us. Now all of the bike missionaries have our reflective vests for additional safety while riding.
Elder Dahl with Elder H (his roommate) and the new reflective vests.
Saturday we helped an investigator pack up and move back to New Jersey. She is really nice and great friends with the missionaries around here. Afterwards, we went to lunch with a member and the North Elders. We then ran over to an appointment we had with some investigators and taught them about the Restoration. It was a really good lesson and it became more of a discussion towards the end which helped them get very interactive with us. We also went back to the member who we helped with Family History the day before and helped her learn how to put in names and information on her ancestors. She is really excited too because someone had worked a little on 1 of her lines and had her great grandparents already entered in. Hopefully she will continue to have success while working on her Family History.

Sunday was an awesome day. After church we went to find some of our potential investigators and we had to drop a few because we haven't been able to contact them in weeks. We decided to look for some of our lost members instead because of the lack of success with our investigators. We ended up going to a man's home pretty far down in our area. We knocked on the door for his address and he was there! We were able to visit with him for a little bit and we found out he hasn't been to church in about 5 years. He didn't know there was a new chapel but he said more recently he's stopped by the old empty chapel to see if anyone was there. He is super nice and says he's willing to come back to church. He doesn't work most Sundays too (this is a huge deal in the Spanish Program). He works at a restaurant and unless they have a special event he doesn't have to work. He committed to come to church in 2 weeks (special event next week for his work) and meet with us again. We are super excited to find this Brother and now be able to visit with him. Later in the evening we had an appointment with one of our longtime investigators. She wasn't home when we arrived but 2 of her grandchildren, that are also our investigators, were there. We started teaching them the Plan of Salvation when a member knocks on their door to fix their doorknob. He sits in on the lesson and helps us teach it. Then after the lesson finished, we get in contact with the Grandmother and she says she's 10 minutes away. Since we had a 30-minute lesson with our other investigators, we decided to stay and help out with the doorknob. We get it all fixed and in walks our investigator. The member decided to stay and help us teach her. She has been really close to baptism for a little while now, but she never wanted to take the leap of faith. She told us she wants to be baptized!! She also wants her sister to be there at her baptism but she is visiting El Salvador for a little over 2 more months. She selected her own baptismal date in December. It's a little ways away but my companion and I are ecstatic that she has made the decision to be baptized and she selected when she wants to be baptized. It's a much firmer goal then if we just kept throwing out dates.

Mom's question: So are you the senior companion then? Braden escribió: Yes. [Nothing like getting those long answers!!]

I'm glad you guys all enjoyed your weekend and that everything is going well. Everything good with the two of us here. Senior companion's a bit more work and now we always have to be thinking about a third male for appointments. It's still nice and we're getting lessons in. The mission is shooting for 20 lessons a week (regardless if it's investigators, members, less-actives, etc.). We got 20 lessons once but now we're averaging about 12 per week. We're really pushing for it and we know that we can do it but we just have a lot of appointments cancel on us.
Braden wearing reflective vest that must be worn at all times when riding
a bike. Note the Washington Monument in the background. From his
"fun ride" with his companion on 9/8/2014
The Pentagon-View from the DC (not Virginia) side.

In regards to being vigilant and aware, President Cooke has been upgrading our safety precautions around here due to recent world events and talking to his General buddies. The mission now has an emergency plan and we have started practicing drills in case of emergency. We've had one emergency drill so far with a few more to come. Bike missionaries now have to wear a yellow reflective vest at all times when riding. The mission is also trying to get every bike missionary front and rear lights if they need them. In the future they are thinking of getting every missionary an orange reflector belt for walking around at night. Also, rumor has it we will all have to go to the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors' Center all day for 9/11.

Today my companion and I biked down 16th St and then went down Embassy Row on Massachusetts Ave where we saw more Embassies than I can possibly remember. We also bike down to the Pentagon..sort of. Obviously the Pentagon is in Virginia but we biked down to an island in our area (Still in DC) in between the Lincoln Memorial and the Pentagon. It has a nice trail around the island and we biked around and got pretty close by the Pentagon. It was a fun morning bike ride on P-Day. In the afternoon we went over to the Recreational Center by us and played soccer for a while.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl
Braden at the dock with a view of the Pentagon in the background.
P.S. I have a completely filled 4GB SD Card ready to send to you. I just don't have any little box/protector to send it in. (I have 2 bubble wrapped envelopes though.) Don't worry I still have a 32GB card here I can take pictures with. 
Braden says: "Very important building in VA-I'm still in DC"
Still in my area and not wearing the vest overlooking the Pentagon on the Virginia side.

Elder Dahl by Lincoln Memorial looking at Virginia.

Elder Dahl by a memorial w/ flowers for Mom