There is no point to this post other than sharing a random Thursday encounter with you all.
I usually take the bus to work (it’s easier than dealing with parking), and I ran into the missionaries on the bus this morning. It was a pleasant surprise. Though they were seated near the front, I didn’t notice them at first; I don’t pay much attention to the other people on the bus. After I sat down I noticed them. Though they tend to blend into DC’s suit-clad business folks, their missionary nametags are immediately distinguishable. Also, one of them has been in our ward long enough that I recognized his face (though, to be honest, without the missionary nametag, there’s a very good chance I would have sat there and thought, “That guy looks familiar…. Where do I know him from?”).
Even though I’m shy and almost never strike up conversations with strangers (you mean… speak the humans that surround me?!), I moved forward and said hello and engaged in some conversation about their mission and where they were from. It wasn’t until a minute into the conversation that I realized it was quite early for them to be out – it was 7:15 AM (missionaries, of course, usually don’t go out until 9:30). I asked what brought them out so early; they apparently had a mission meeting to get to. And that led to some more information that I didn’t know: they were on their way to pick up their car, which they park in the church parking lot every night because it has Maryland plates, which means they can’t get a DC parking permit to park on the street, because a car has to have DC plates to get the parking permit (I knew the DC plates requirement, of course, having jumped through those hoops last year; I didn’t realize they parked at the church, which is a couple miles from their apartment). Apparently it is not worth the cost to the mission to register the cars for the DC missionaries in DC. So they get to play musical chairs with their car and the bus each day.
Just before we reached their stop, a lady sitting near us asked them if they had a book she could read. They gave her a Book of Mormon and their card and got off. Before I got off at the next stop, I told her it was an excellent book.