Washington DC - Highrollers and Lowlifes

Washington DC - ahhh, what can I say? It's a very diverse and incredible place..."good and evil, virtue and vice"

The Temple just north of the District is awe inspiring and majestic. It is, without a doubt, one of the top three most beautiful temples I've been able to enter. It is glorious and amazing. Come and see for yourself...come to worship.

The LDS Church in Northern VA. near the District is strong, and there are a lot of influential and powerful members, yet all we've met have been humble and grateful. Just this last Sunday President Dahlquist (General YM President for the Church) visited our ward. It was very humbling to meet him and talk to him about our very own YM program. We've had Trevor Mattich (Former BYU, Redskins Superbowl, and current ESPN analyst) come speak to our Youth about the evils of our day, we hope soon to have a Senator come speak. We've made friends with the Coopers (JW Marriott's in-laws) and found them to be down to earth, humble, wonderful people...who we really get along with well. The Marriott empire is head-quartered in DC...I personally know influential LDS lobbyists (they are not all bad :P)....it's already been a life changing experience for us and something we'll never forget.

Our neighbors we've met are God-fearing and good. These are humble Christians in every sense of the word. They reach out to people in kindness and love. They are open and welcoming, and we haven't once felt persecuted or looked down upon. It's like old America, they still have neighborhood bar-b-ques, everyone knows everyone else, and we even have our own Old Austrian Lady and Retired Vetrans who walk the large neighborhood circle every day, talking to all they meet, and providing the grease to our neighborhood wheels...allowing us all to interact together smoothly.

On the other hand, DC is a massive city, full of opulance and wealth. Along with these attributes comes greed, pride, un-abashed worldliness, carnal lifestyles, and evil. The underbelly of DC is rife with corruption, illicit drugs, and sex. These things are almost celebrated. Washington DC is once again the murder capital of the United States per capita...and while that might be the crown jewel of criminal activity, believe me, DC strives hard to rank high in the other brutal felonious areas. The evil and crime, while centered in DC and Baltimore, has spread outwards to the suburbs like a dark inky cloud. It almost proves the adage, that where there is great goodness, there also shall be great evil.

DC itself is a very nice place to visit, with so much good to offer...so long as you don't look under the rug or in the closets...I know more and more each day that Valerie was led by the Holy Spirit to find our family home in Warrenton.