The Washington DC North mission is one of the smallest missions in terms of geography. The mission includes the heart of Washington DC, which missionaries navigate by foot, by bicycle or by Metro. But it also includes outlying suburb areas and even farm land. These areas are so spread out, the missionaries must travel in cars.
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| Missionaries certify on their application forms that they can walk 6 miles a day. However, some days they walk even further than that. |
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| This missionary didn't have black thread to stitch up his well-worn shoes, so he used the only color he had in the apartment: blue. |
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| Fortunately it didn't rain during the days he wore this shoe. |
More than thirty missionaries - both elders and sisters - use bicycles to travel to their appointments and to get around their areas.
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| Elder Fawcett travels in the DC 3rd Ward area. |
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| Elder Furugen, his companion, rides on bike as well. |
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| Sister Allen and Sister Shannon with their bikes. |
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| Sister Bleazard and Sister Miller ride Sister Shannon and Sister Allen's bikes. |
A common problem for the bike missionaries is theft. All of the missionaries receive instructions about the proper way to lock their bikes. However, even when they follow these procedures, they can have their bike stolen. One missionary cautiously locked his bike to a sign post - only to return to find his bike gone and the post hacksawed through.
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| Elder Chiang |
While working in the mission office, Elder Huffaker loved to use his spare time fixing bicycles.
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| Elder Huffaker's bike stand he used to reconstruct bikes from spare parts. |
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| Elder and Sister Huffaker planned on riding bikes when they returned to Michigan. |
The missionaries who drive cars experience their own challenges. Maryland and Washington DC have photo cop. And companions share everything - even the cost of the speeding ticket.
Another interesting phenomenon for missionaries in cars is that during the fall there are deer that run into the stopped cars. Three cars last year and one car this year have been waiting at stop lights or for construction and had deer broadside them. All of the deer so far just shake their heads and run off. The cars are not so fortunate and end up in the body shop for significant work.
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| Elder DeKlerk, Elder Rodriguez, Elder Spittle and Elder Olsen on a preparation day with the zone leader vehicle. The zone leaders need cars/vans/trucks to help move missionaries on transfer days. |
For additional car pictures and their owners, see "teach one another words of wisdom" and the car check section.
