Some new photos Dec 30th and letter

new jamas

clothes from TJ

Skype on Christmas Day from Bron's side

hello my lovelies!! i love you all! i just LOVE tuesdays cause i love being able to read all of these emails and write home! agh i love it :)

so this week was CRAZY! like it was super busy... but also hard to be productive cause NO ONE IS HOME during the holidays and also NO ONE wants to talk with us :P suuuuper lame.... and ALSO all of our investigators are busy during christmas time... which i totally understand... just sucks for us ya know? but on a happy note... CHRISTMAS WAS SO WONDERFUL and the best present in the whole world was getting to see all your beautiful faces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love you so much! and just talking to you! ahhhhh! i love you :)

so ya umm on monday was the funnest Pday ever!! we hada district christmas party :) pizza and all :) i wore my cat shirt ;) (paha!!!) then we had the live nativity that night with a minature horse as the donkey LOL it was FAREEZING..... -35... i dont know what that tranlates to in F.. but with the wind blowing it felt like -80 degrees... needless to say we didnt have that many people show up the first night but it went well. oh............. waiiiiiiiiit that was actually on sunday that it was that cold.... on monday it was beautiful weather and we had a KABIZZILION people show up and we were running around like mad people trying to talk to everyone... we talked to SO MANY PEOPLE and got another GOLDEN referal from it all so it was totally worth it. i. was. EXHAUSTED. after that... like 6 hours on your feet running around being ridiculously bubbly and happy and smiley and laughy and trying to make everyone feel loved was the GREATEST THING Ever... BUT  i could hardly walk up the stairs and crawl into bed when we were finally done haha... but it was worth it and lovely.

tuesday was Christmas lovely eve and we delivered christmas grams all day and then went to the Anecas for Christmas.. they SPOILED us and it was so so sooo yummy dinner (sushi!!!) we played games and got to know them and had a blast. (i got a huuuuge bag of clothes from tj... ill have to send some jeans home cause they are to DIE for but they will prolly fit morgan.. but the pair that is mine is OFF LIMITS you have to put it in my bag in storage... no touchy pplease!!!)

wednesday was CHRISTMAS  and the best day ever and you know all about that day.. plus i guess theres evidence of it all over fb???? hahah i dunno... but we had fun ;) loooots of fun :)

thursday we had a lovely district meeting and then went to menchies for lunch which is a frozen yogurt place.. now dont ask my WHY we were going there... no one really knew why we just felt like it... and then low and behold it was actually the Lords plan all along BECAUSE!! this guy named nathan comes up and is like "i saw your badges and it says the name of your church on them right??? is that like the mormon church? what do you guys believe?? cause i have been reading alot about different religions lately and i dont know much about you guys"

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thats basically what all six of us missionaries did for like 30 seconds as he stared at us confused until finally i was like

"YOUR AWESOME!!! well lets tell ya!!!!" and he's like"dont you guys preach this or something what are you all about, what makes your church different from everyone else??"

so i said"we believe in the RESTORATION of the gospel of jesus christ, and we know it to be true from the evidence of the book of mormon" which then led to alll SIX of us missionaries giving him the first 2 lessons in a 45 minute discussion at menchies... it was SO COOL.

we sorted doterra oils at sister hamiltons, we smelled so yummy after we left, had dinner at the lillies (she is the one during our first week here we saw and thought we were gonna convert her and turns out she was already a member! suprise! haha :) )

then we went to see miss wanda and we helped her get ready for bed... she is like 90 years old... and she is HILLARIOUS.

friday we did weekly planning which took FOREVER but was good... then we went to natashas... her husband dave is home and .. he got us SWORDS FOR CHRISTMAS.... well not REAL swords.... more like... daggers..... BUT THEY ARE SUPER LEGIT AND IM LIKE A MISSIONARY WARRIOR PRINCESS...... :3

went to the rosaks for supper,  i love them, and they had this little purple guitar that i played for them... haha sooo funny. also her mom's name is ATHENA which is super cool :) to end the night we visited sis. depeel and she gave us white hot cocoa which is DELICIOUS

saturday seemed like a day full of good intentions and great planning but everything fell through and everyone was busy and no one was home.... :P LOTS of praying. visited natasha had dinner there... then visited sister baade (she is suuuuper sick with a disease similar to vertigo.. except way extreme... called menaes or something??)

sunday: WHAT A DAY!!!!! SIMONE CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I REPEAT SIMONE CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SIMONE. CAME. TO CHURCH. oh my heck i was overjoyed! it only took us 10 weeks to get someone to come to church lol and she brought her gorgeous baby girl oh my goodness i love them! and we will be meeting with her sometime next week! :) so excited!!! sunday was also filled to the brim at church cause we were teaching the sunday school lesson and the ym/yw lesson at the same time as trying to give simone a tour but then trusting other people to do it (which was scary but the right thing to do anyways) (her baby HATES nursery haha... but it will all work out) but everything worked out how it was supposed to,

had dinner at the goebels :) went and visited tamala and her husband dave and shared the video Good things to come by elder holland and dave even shared it on fb haha :) we got non members doin missionary work for us! :D

overall its been a rollercoaster of a week but heavenly, we really are in his hands. im praying i dont get tranferred we find out on the 12.. i dont ever want to leave!!!!!!

i love you all so so much!
love sister dougie (thats what all the elders call me lol)

Finally some pictures

On the way to Sister Sui's Valley

Christmas Pageant

-35 celsius at Christmas Pageant

typical road conditions

Merry Christmas!

Thanks to the Rolls Family for allowing Bron to use their Skype and computer.  It was amazing to see her face and hear her voice again.  40 Minutes FLEW by.

Mwah, Goodbye!

we get to Talk to this woman tomorrow!!!!

hello beautifuls! :)

soooo imma be skyping around 11... 11 am! from sister rolls house.... soooooooooooooooooooooooo mayyybe you could call her phone around then to set things up so that i dont have to use her minutes... or like you should give me your skype name and everything cause i dont even know what it is.. and how we are going to set that up?????

anyways... this week i kept a good journal so i can tell you all the happenings! :):)

monday the 16th:

got everything done that we needed to as FAST as we could...so i didnt do much grocery shopping... except i bought NASTY BEATRICE milk that tastes like wax. gross. anyways we then went to the church and played ball with the elders... im getting better at dunking.. ha.

then i accidentaly drank some pepsi... and i was SOOOO hyper.. and we went to the hudsons for dinner (who i LOVE btw) annnnd i was way to hyper i had to tell myself like 5 different times to STOP TALKING. they also had a cute dog... OH ANNNNND I WORE MY CAT SHIRT ALL DAY!!! teheh..... :):):)

tuesday the 17th:

went to natashas i love that lady.. she is going through some STRUGGLES but i made a promise that if she would read the book of mormon everyday she would have more peace and comfort in her life... (so i was praying suuuuper hard that heavenly father would give her that peace) cause she promised BACK that she WOULD read it and she will SEE if it works!! (scary!) but then it BLEW UP IN MY FACE with the whole book of mormon thing!! and at first i was like "what the heck the book of mormon is supposed to soften peoples hearts not make them angry!!!!' she was angry at the fact that EVERYONE has to go through all these crazy trials and no one can seem to catch a break and it was really hard to see that heavenly father would let bad things happen, or give us these hard trials if he loves us? so that was a tough question to answer... but we talked alot about becoming and then i asked the scariest question and... WAIT i just remembered i told you about this last week.......

had dinner with the hamiltons.. they are so cute!! her name is valoy! haha and she reminds me of ellie off of the movie up haha she also gave us a ton of dottera stuff for christmas... it was soooo great :) deep blue rub :):) mmmm mm!

had a lesson with alfred and nancy... the little STINKER alfred is making me so mad!!!!!!!! we were talking about praying to Heavenly Father and how when we pray it helps us recieve revelation from him and we can recieve answers... and nancy was totally feeling the spirit and knew it was true and the stinking ALFRED says "thats great but you are hallucinating your answers from god.. he doesnt speak to us anymore!"
how SAD IS THAT! and i was so angry.. i was like "ummm no im not hallucinating but thank you for your comment!!" ok i didnt really say that but i wanted to.. ahha i love that lil old guy so much but he sure is annoying sometimes!!!! one day he's going to get an answer to his prayers and its gonna whack him across the face.. in a loving way of course.. and then he will remember everything we taught him and he will be so so happy! yay!

wednesday 18th: CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE!! oh my goodyness this was so so fun!! we had a huge training meeting with President and everyone got to share their success stories (which totally helped us and i will tell you how in a little bit :) ) and there are so many amaaaaazing talented missionaries in our mission! im so blessed to be a part of this :):) i looooove being a missionary i could sing and cry and laugh about it all day!

anyways so that training was great and i wrote alot about what i learned about different ways to talk to everyone and how to get investigators and UTILIZE members... HEY do your missionary work family!! :):) ;) do some fhe's or dinners or something... member present lessons are GOLDEN!

but i got to know alot more of the missionaries here and the church is such a small world hey.. i dont even remember all the connections but they are all over the place. the talent show was hillarious.. i feel like my life could be a movie... they should make our district the next season of the District hahah

we had dinner with sister bailou who is scottish!! haha i love it!

follow up lesson with natasha!! she is reading the book of mormon everyday... she ALMOST smoked.. but she turned on the book of mormon and just listened to it for a whole hour and it pulled her through!! she is so strong! alot of her concerns were resolved and she is so much happier... even from just these past 2 days!! dave (her husband) works up on the rigs up north so we have only met him once.. but he says we are already a part of their family... and they took us out to eat on friday and we drove around and looked at the lights.. it was so great :)

thursday 19th : we didnt have district meeting but we went out to lunch with all the elders, it was elder caruso and elder rogers 1 year mark so we made cupcakes and sang to them haha we are so nice

it was -35 degrees outside.. enough for us to legally stay inside... but we braved the cold and went to work! :) we went and checked on natasha... (she really has such a hard life.. day to day she just barely gets by) and she was soooo tired of everything... and mention that she hasnt even had time to do her eybrows or dye her hair or anything... we had a free hour so we RAN to walmart boguht some cute hair color and i did some magic on her hair.. let me tell you.. I HAVE FOUND MY CALLING IN LIFE,,,, YOU KNow how i wanted to do art therapy?? well i deciced that doing hair IS art therapy.. because you talk to them the whole time and get to know them and can help and serve them all the while creating and making cute hair!! :) i cute and colored it and i really think the spirit helped me cause i gave her a hairstyle i have never done before and when i was done she looked int he mirror and just cried she was so happy.. literally haha she was wiping tears and couldnt stop hugging me.. i was so happy :) so thats what i want to do... maybe i will just go to hair school.... but i still wanna go to byu??? i dont know ill worry about it later haha ;)

we went to the oviatts for dinner... they live way out in the country.. but i love it... the hills remind me of the lake point hills... excpet there are alot more trees here haha

friday 20th:

WE GOT A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! georgina!! we met her on the sidewalk about 4 weeks ago and she was yelling at us "mormons!!! look out the mormons are coming!!!" hahaha she is like 80 years old and so we ran after her and were like "lady your hillarious who are you!!?!?" and  we totally thought she was a member but tunrs out she's not but her ex husband is now and she wanted to learn more but had surgery and all this other crazy stuff... but we were finally able to make contact with her and the lesson was so great! and she gave us referalls to her family..they all live in lacomb but the missionaries there are gonna be so happy! :)

saw miss wanda at the old age home... she cracks me up she always asks us to sing.. but then asks us to sing louder and louder till we are practically screaming hymns at her.. hahaha

we got lost trying to contact a referal way out in the country :P LAME
then we went and saw michelle and her girls they are soooo fun :) and the lesson was so great cause they all participated.. they are a PM family.
went to the Kosaks for dinner... i LOVE THEM!!! plus their house looks like a little cottage in a magizine and then the inside is like.... that store at gardner village grandmom used to paint for... SO FUN :) annnnd we basically laughed and giggled all through dinner cause everyone was so funny and happy :')

then we went to Dairy queen with natasha and family but i already told you about that :)

saturday the 21

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! I SENT YOU HAPPY THOUGHTS ALLLLLLL DAY!! i love and miss you!!! :):):):):):):)

we had a MIRACLE lesson with ALISHa WHO IS ALSO OUR NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!!!!!!! she is a friend of rachel (who has been coming with us to lessons) and she invited alisha over for dinner last week... so this week our appointment with alfred and nancy fell through so we just stopped by alisha's and she wasnt interested in legit lessons when we talked with her last week but i had a prompting to ask her if she would help us (this is something i learned at christmas conference to do) if she would help us "practice the lessons on her" and she ACCEPTED!! and now she has legit questions about it all hahah :) like joseph smith and she is a perfect situation cause she has a kabizzilion member friends :) woo hoo!

lesson with donna fell through :/ bummer

sunday 22:

i. SANG. IN CHURCH.. and i even had a solo part.. and then sang a harmony with this professional singer lady... suuuuuper scary i had to pray sooooo hard my heart would calm down so my voice wouldnt be shaky... and i couldnt even look up cause i had to follow the notes really good cause  i had only ung the song 2 different times!! but when i looked up once everyone was crying! :) well not everyone.. but a few! :):) hahaha! it was great!!

we had dinner with sister schindler and SIMONE WAS THERE WITH HER BABY SANAA!!! AND SHE ALSO COMMITTED TO THE LESSONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 we got NOT 1 NOT 2 BUT THREE new investigators this week which is more than we have had my WHOLE mission basically!!! hahaha and simone is SO GOLDEN she is coming to church and everythign!!! :):) im so excited!!!!!!!

the pageant was that night and it was -35 again so not that many people came but we did have a few good conversations with non members and we also saw our friend heather from drayton valley and i love her so that was exciting! :)

annnnd the library is closing early for christmas so i dont have time to write to anyone else! tell everyone i LOVE them and merry christmas and i will see you soon! ;) haha :) i love you all so much!
love sister douglas

OH loooooots of snow shovelling...

dear my family :)

I GET TO TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which we still need to figure out cause christmas is gonna be a lil cray cray. good crazy but busy nonetheless. we are going to members houses for breakfast lunch AND dinner :) haha wowee wow woow. they take such good care of us here :) i love this ward. but so ya we will be at the sukhus for dinner and they are the ones who said we could skype from their house.. so it will be in the afternoon some time.. but im not really sure WHAT time yet soooo i dont know how to organize it cause i know you will have plans aswell... soooo and i only have 40 minutes allotted to talk :/ bummer... but it will be soooo good :)

so this week was awful "number wise" they are called key indicators.. like how many lessons you taught how many referals recieved and contacted... those kinds of things... and you shouldnt OBSESS over the numbers cause sometimes they dont mean that much, but they also are super helpful to set goals and to measure progress..... so that was a little frustrating, but we did have alot of success in conversations with people. i have been trying to be even more bold and brave and bring up religion to EVERYONE... and so now we have 3 potentials from random people... like glenn the gas station man! yay!

we went to a christmas concert that our stake performed and there were soooo many non memeber is was like missionary heaven and we met a GOLDEN lady named simone from JAMAICA! :) and she has the most DARLING girl... ah! i cant wait to go see them this week :) also GUESS WHO SAT BEHIND ME???? some SOUTH AFRICANS.... i turned around and basically screamed at them in excitement, but i also kinda started crying hearing their accents hahahahahaha but they have lived here for 13 years now and they know the krugers and the goldens and the name jakins... but they didnt know any of US really... soooo i dont know... but i loved speaking with them.

also the hudsons in our ward... they remind me alot of the pollmans :) i dont know why.. but they do haha... their daughter rachel had us over for dinner and she brought her friend alisha and pretty sure she will be baptized to! :) im so excited to teach all these new people.. dana is moving along... slowly.. but she is learning more and more and she wants us to meet her boyfriend which is a big deal :)

we set up our CHRISTMAS tree!!!!!!!!!! haha it is the cutest most christmasey ugliest tree ever hahaha... total charlie brown skinny little thing with no lights... but i bought a BIG sparkly star... its decorated with my za za jewelry that is to snazzy to wear... christmas cards from everyone.. candy canes and candles aunty dara sent me! HAHA we love it! and we are SO BLESSED theres quite a few packages under that tree and we put all the wrapped presents under there as well... our parents must think alike cause sister schofield got a box full of wrapped stuff to.. THANKYOU. for being so good to me. i am SO BLESSED to have a wonderful family. so blessed. THAT is something i have learned from being out here is.. i always LOVED YOU... but i now fully appreciate how good i have had it. i LOVE you. AND AM SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU!

ummmm i cant even think of what else has happened this week.... OH loooooots of snow shovelling... LOTS. imma be so buff when i get home. ha.

we are making lots of cupcakes to give to everyone for their presents :)

ermmm what else...

OOOOOHHH i got your letter!!!!!!!!!! from all of you :) and i am so excited to get dads talks... and i have been working on being a HERO instead of a survivor... and QUESTIONS in missionary work are soooo powerful....
today we had this conversation with natasha.... she is my FAVORITE i love her! she has been soooo angry with God... and she has gone through AWFULLNESS so i can SEE how she is angry... but its still so sad so we have been trying to help her.. and today i asked the boldest question ever cause it could have gone so wrong... and it ALMOST did... but it didnt :) i asked...
natasha.... would you have the faith you have now... would you learn the things you did ANY OTHER WAY? cause i would argue no... God was being merciful when he was TEACHING you the things he was... and continues to... and she about slapped me... but then she starts crying and was like your RIGHT! i wouldnt! annnd it was sooo neat :) dave (her husband) wants to take us out this next week for dessert with the whole family which (according to natasha) is unheard of :D hooray!

welllllllllll i think that is all for this week :) i love you so much :) the church is true.. so so true. and i love it. and i love missionary work and i love YOU!
love me! sister D!

I know you're in there!

My dear family :):)

this week has been MIRACULOUS!! in every sense!! we have received RREFERRALS OUT THE WAZOO! AND I AM SOOOO EXCITED because the work is starting to pick up and rolllllllin on! i love it!!

sooo we had transfer meeting on wednesday and cute little sister sui is now back in drayton valley so its just sis. schofield and i again. oh how i love her! :) we are just going to be best friends forEVER and i get kinda emotional thinking about that... because i was promised in more than one blessing that i would make friends for LIFE on my mission :) and life never ends!! what a wonderful thought :)

sooooo we had a MIRACULOUS investigator named DONNA... im not sure if i told you about her or not... wellllllll if not basically the lesson was the best i have ever been in  cause we didnt really even get to plan that much and all FIVE of us missionaries (the elders and 3 sisters) were so guided and all of what we were saying blended in to this perfect lesson to kick it off and she basically begged to be baptized... and so the next lesson we were going to set a baptism date.... we go over... and she wouldnt answer her phones or her dooor!! i was so frustrated so i said well maybe she'll answer her back door (haha) and the elders were like "sister douglas that is super creepy if you knock on her back door" and i said "I KNOW SHE'S IN THERE AND IF SHE ISNT GOING TO ANSWER HER PHONE im going to ask her why!" and so i marched to her back door and i couldnt get to the door to knock on it cause it was on this balcony thing so i started yelling!! hahaha it was like i movie i was like "donna!! donnaaaaaa!! DONNA! we know your in there!! why are you hiding!!!!!!!!!???" AND so she called us haha and was like "go away!!!" WHAT THE HECK RIGHT??? ends up her MOM  said that if she kept meeting with "the mormons" then she would stop paying for all this stuff that donna needs.... (which i THINK that she should just pay for herself ANYWAYS) buuuuttt donna is going to meet with us at a MEMBERS house this week.. and not at HER house so that her mom doesnt know... which sounds awful i know... keep in mind donna is 48..... so her mom is like 80 something anyways.. i dont like that old 80 year old lady and i kinda wanna call her and ask her why she hates us so much when she has never met us! but i wont. not yet at least ;)

Natasha is making progress... she actually says she's coming to church after the new year! AND she quit smoking!!! booooo ya!

thursday we met our... do do DOOOOOO...DRUM ROLLL PLEASE........NEWWWWWWW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! her name is dana :) and she has 2 kids... and her life is MESSED. but she is so awesome :) and i cant wait to see her again today :) we are going to teach her the very best lesson and we are just going to focus on God and his love for US his CHILDREN!! so that she can pray to him :) we ACTUALLY knocked on this lady's door a while ago and she didnt want to talk to us.. but the elders ended up doing some service for her... which led to her heart softening right up and now we get to teach her :) cause she is a single sister and that is our specialty ;) haha :) i love her :) THANK YOU ELDERS! i have come to realize that it is like practically unheard of to FIND someone TEACH the same person AND be there for their baptism. THE lord lets us just leave little finger prints here and there on the conversion story of someone else.. like the elders are the ones that got INTO her house to open it up for us... WE will teach her.. and someone ELSE will baptize her.. and hopefully she will have member friends that are influential in the whole thing as well.... we have a cute girl coming with us to her lesson today... she is 18 and wants to go on a mission herself... shes awesome :)

really i have been SO prideful... for a while i was frustrated feeling like we werent getting enough support from the ward or the bishop.. really this ward is AMAZING and the leaders do SOOOO MUCH and our job is to HELP THEM.. our purpose to to invite OTHERS to come unto Christ. and as much as we want NEW MEMBERS we also are doing our job when we help EVERYONE members included... and i have found a whole new love and respect and appreciation for the ward and the ward leaders as we have looked to serve them and pray for them.
a lady in our ward gave us a CHRISTMAS TREE!!! :) were going to set it up on monday :) im so excited! and we have ZTM tomorrow and christmas conference the next week... so hopefully i will be able to get some mail to put under the tree! :) and mom sister rolls texted us today and said SHE HAS MY PACKAGE!!!!:) THANK YOU SO MUCH :) were going to go pick that up today... i REALLLLY want to open it.. but im going to wait till christmas :)

OH before i forget there are a few people i have been telling to add me on FB so hopefully can you just accept those for me :):)  theres carrie and mary lou and danielle and shelby... and i love them all :)

lets see what else has happened this week.. oh! we had the ward christmas party which was a HUGE SUCCESS dana and her mother came! her mom is being taught by the missionaries in stony plain so that is GREAT :) and we had a potential investigator come! heather :) haha oh heather.. she said she loves us so much already like her own granddaughters and she wants to take us to dinner... but only if we dont talk about church.. ahha i laughed and said um heather.... thats kind of our JOB... haha so she said... ugh fine.. :) shes totally gonna be baptized lol the members all introduced themselves to dana too.. so it was amazing to see :)

soooooo i have to sing a SOLO on the 22 for our christmas program..... NOT sure how i got roped into that but it IS a pretty song... jk its not actually a solo.. more like a suet with sis. oviett who happens to sing proffessionally which is super scary... but the harmonies are SO pretty.. i DO have to sing by myself for a whole verse tho... D:

alfred and nancy are wonderful... they are coming to the stake christmas concert which is the first sign of commitment we have ever seen from them! a lady in our ward will be taking them... so hopefully the fellowship helps :)

yesterday for Pday we went to walmart and made Christmas cards :) youll be getting those gems one of these days :) also i sent my packages to you off LAST week... so you should be getting those soon.. hopefully :) haha

ummm but ya we HURRIED and got everything done that we need to so we could actually relax yesterday... sooooo heavenly to just wear SWEATS for like an hour haha :).... ALMOST got the dunkin business down.. watch out when i come home mitch imma be such a baller youll lose all the bball games ;) hahaha

some other questions you had... i bought the liner at super store.. its just like a fleece jacket basically that feels like heaven and it is super warm :) but it was like 30 dollars :P i hate money... other than that i have been keeping warm... my toes get cold.. but not TOO cold.

the moose we had actually was suprisingly delicious.. its very lean meat so not greasy at all and it tasted pretty similar to beef :)

service lately??? we delivered all the left over food from the ward party to some needy families :) that was really fun :) we also shovel sidewalks alot annnnd helped with the lighting of central square which was suuuuper cool and ill have to tell you about it but im out of time!!!
i love you all!! and i MISS you all :)
love sister bronwyn

Thank You to Sister Rolls for sending this pic.

Crazy Snow Driving

Dear Everyone :)

i dont even have words for the tenderness of this week :) and it makes my heart just smile to think you have had the same week :)

Im praying really hard for you all and i know you are just going to be taken care of how it is all supposed to go.

SOOOO sister siu is AMAZING today she was telling us her "story" and she shouldnt even be ALIVE like.....ah man... and im crying typing this because of something kathy stienagel told me before i left.... but the story about the little asian guy they were teaching and his dad had a restoration pamphlet from years and years ago?? THAT HAPPENED TO HER FAMILY! like... she was telling us that they dont know where it came from or how it was even in her language... cause (thats the weird part we dont even have a book of mormon in her language (cause its not ACTUALLY vietnamese its some little tribe down there? id dunno) but ya so soooo miraculous) and THEN when they escaped to canada the missionaries found them and they all went "WHAT?? WE KNOW THIS STUFF!!!" and its super cool!! but actually it was only her and her sister that got baptized her mom and dad are suuuper protestant... and but they still sound super cool. i dunno i just thought it was so miraculous and amazing at how Heavenly Father provides for his children as a whole and then as FAMILIES! he love our families! :)

something i have learned this week was how to pray. for real how to pray. like to NEED what you are praying for and to make sure you have enough faith and to plead with heavenly father and talk to him like he is REALLY listening to me and to bawl my eyes out when i just felt... like he REALLY LISTENS TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!! a;sdlkfja;lsdkf i just love this gospel... i cant even handle how happy this gospel can make us! i wanna SING!!

sooooo crazy story time!

on our way to drayton valley.. the weather was AWFUL TIMES 5... LIKE FREEZING RAIN. the kind that shut the airports down last year in utah? ya? gross.

sooooo we are driving to drayton and this car SPINS OUT on the highway in front of us... and we had to swerve to the left to get out of the way and then OUR car couldnt get back into our lane so we were headed towards a TRUCK and then it just corrected itself and we were able to pull over and ran and helped this car that had just spun out and it was a little family from COLUMBIA!! and they had 2 little girls... everyone was pretty shook up and there car was SOOOO stuck in like 2 feet of snow in the ditch soooo we asked if we could say a prayer that we would be able to get it out... and that if they had the faith ,God would help us get the car out so they wouldnt have to pay for a tow truck.. and so we used out TINY little shovel to dig out the wheels and then 3 sisters and one little comlubian lady started heaving against their car but it wasnt going anywhere and then this TEXAN pulls up.. and i mean like he was a cowboy strait down to his boots hahaha sooo funny he comes and helps us PUSH IT OUT.. like it was a total miracle cause we were basically pushing it up a 4 foot wall in 2 feet of snow... MIRACLE

and then AFTERWARDS the lady says iin broken english "i know your church.. back in columbia my pa was listening to your "fathers" (haha) and you dont drink coffee and you believe in joseeph smeeeth" haha

so we were so excited to tell her about what we believe and she invited us to DINNER AT THEIR HOUSE and they want to learn more!!! sooooo they arent in our area but we got a GOLDEN potential for sis. siu when she goes back to drayton on wednesday haha

ummm im trying to think of all the things that have happened this week.. i need to be better at writing it all down... much to my embarassment my journal is more of a diary annnnd i dont really keep that good a record of the happenings but more of my thoughts so you get what you get from me....

tender mercies tho, just to have WONDERFUL WONDERFUL angels in this ward of ours... dinners and thanksgivings and meetings with them all just makes me loooove them,,, well like i already love them but i just dont even know how to say how much i have fallen in love with this place and these people. mom you have to find kathy harding on fb... she reminds me of a mix of grandmom and eyrin and you and aunty broni all in one and i just love her so much.

ummmmm lets see what else..

i am eating SO SO healthy... like you would be proud of me. no white bread.. actually not much bread.. at all really. i dont reamember when i bought bread last.. but veggies and fruit and granola and get this... SOY MILK... its cheaper and yummier :) im so granolaey and healthy tehe... :)

oh you asked about the people here ya?

my companions oh i lvoe them i lolloooooosd;ofjasdkl;fjal;sdkflloooove sister schofield.. i almost pee in my pants i laugh so hard with her.. she has the greatest sense of humor... the dry kind of humor ya know?? or i should actually spell humor like humour.. i think?? i dunno....
but yes she is so funny and fun and i love her and she did my hair today (very za za) haha she reminds me of kathy ALL the time. even her style.

sister siu is also HILLARIOUS she has a funny little accent and her voice sounds like the minions on dispicable me and she is sassy as... as ever? haha i dunno she cracks me up. little 4'8 lady!

ummmmm i love sister rolls, she takes such good care of us.. and she left us cupcakes at her house while we were doing laundry that were so yummy it was cruel.... soooo not so healthy there but they were SO GOOD!

sister harding well BOTH OF THEM theres 2 haha kathy and tracy and they both help alot. tracy brought a croation friend to church! :) and so we are getting a croation BOM for her.

ummmmm our teaching pool is SEVERELY small.... but we are going to just open the flood gates here. one way we are going to do that is work with the YOUTH we feel really good abotu that and are planning a sweet lesson/ fireside/ disguised as District meeting thing for them. and they all get call letters and badges and everything haha so cute...

the ganders we ate with them last night and her house is ADORABLE like pottery barn or anthropology all mixed together and its from all over yard sales and vintage shops... oh i love it!

nancy and alfred had us over for "drinks" hahaha we bought some sparkling cider and drank it out of REAL SHERRY GLASSES hahaha it was great! and THEN alfred let me play his fiddle!!! needless to say im AWFUL at it but it made for some cute pictures hey?! haha

i am SO FRUSTRATED with the computers here i dont know how i will ever be able to send you photos.. until i get transfered!!! humbag!

as to the mail situation i got a package from the williams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! did i say that last week??? pres manion brought it!! and i also got a letter from jill! and from danelle!! that were from my first week here! hahahaha aw man the mail situation stinks but i am ETERNALLY grateful for the package... im wearing the socks today actually and the lotion AND the chapstick. i love them. oh i love them :)

Mouse slayer

Hello my DARLING friends and my DARLINGEST family :)

i have SO much to write about and SOOOOO little time... i only have about 30 minutes before we have an appointment... and first most important news first:

we are in a TRICOMPANIONSHIP!! with sister SUI :) shes from Vietnam! and she is prolly 4 and a half feet tall...she comes 2 inches from my shoulder!! hehe cute little fairy missionary! i love her :) so ya he companion was sick :/ and had to go home... soooo we get to have so so much fun for the next days till transfer meeting which CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT ITS BEEN LIKE....ALMOST 2 MONTHS.. what the HECK???????????? so we do this training program called the 12 week program and we have to watch these really cheezy videos.... and yesterday a TEAR ACTUALLY CAME OUT OF MY EYE cause i thought to myself "i love this. and i dont want to go home ever!!" like i was crying cause i realized how fast it goes! i think the ONLY reason i can ever leave this place is just cause i miss you all SO MUCH!! i put my christmas package together for you and was writing cards for you and it made me cry cause i actually thought about how much i miss you. mostly i just miss you. but if i THINK about it... then i get sad. soooooooo thats not fun but i am SO blessed to have such a WONDERFUL family to miss :)

ok i gotta tell you some crazy stories now :):):) :3

first I AM THE MOUSE SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!! AND THE BRAVEST EVER! AND SO PROUD OF MY SELF :) caaaaause natasha has this insane phobia of mice right? and so she calls us SCREAMING and crying and telling us we have to come over RIGHT NOW AND SAVE HER... haha so we ran down there and turned the house UPSIDE DOWN looking for the mouse that she had uhh... evidences of in the closet... but we couldnt find the lil nasty thing... SO we went to walmart and bought SNAP TRAPS AND STICKY TRAPS AND GREEN POISON STUFF AND THESE LITTLSOUND THINGS... oh wait i just remembered i was telling you about this last week... shoot.... oh well

WE CAUGHT 3 MICE!!!!!!!!!!!!! and sister schofield was dry heaving the whole time cause NOT HER but IIIIII HAD TO PICK THEM up... and i was laughing so hard i peed in my pants... well skirt.... it was... like there are no words for how funny it was... SO FUNNY.

so THEN that same night we had mushroom stew...and sis. schofield ALSO gags at mushrooms but she swallowed those suckers whole! i was so proud of her :3 THEN THAT SAAAAAAAAME night.... when we were going home.. we got STUCK IN AN ELEVATOR. annnnnnd it wouldnt move... and it wouldnt open and it was like the movies... and sister schofield was like hyperventalating and i just said COOL IT AND PRAY LADY! HAHA and she did..... and i used the emergency phone which was a JOKE cause this alarm was beeping in my ear the whole time and the 911 lady was absolutely NO help finally we ended up PRYING the door open with our fingers and then squeezing on out... it was hysterical. needless to say that day rocked... i dont even remember what day it was... ha! WHAT A WEEK!

SOOOOOOOO this week has been awful for numbers of things we were trying to accomplish but MIRACULOUS in miracles :):) we talked to EVERYONE and we have about 4 "potentials" and so we are going to follow up with them next week cause THIS week is gonna be a challenge cause we have to drive back and forth from our area to sis. sui's which is in drayton valley like an hour and a half away.... not the best situation but we will definately be staying busy.. adn the reason we have to drive back and forth is because they have THREE baptisms in the coming month and we gotta get those people READY!! :) awesome stuff :) go sister sui :) what a boss

one of the elders in my area is from cedar... tell the browns!! but he doesnt know them so im sure they dont know him.. haha but his name is... elder rogers... and i THINK his first name is landon... lol im not sure!!!

i have been informed 3 different times this week that i am "powerful" and at first i was like COOL :) but not actually cause apparently they meant in a "bantering" way... whoops i gotta cool it on the "prove it:". Grandpa sent me an interesting email that i PRINTED OUT cause it was awesome and we are going to use it with out members now :) thanks grandpa... we are gonna focus on what people NEED, what they NOTICE... when we teach simply and purely the spirit can witness truth, but we need to know WHAT to teach simply and purely... and what he sent really helps with that :)

ermmmm we met a family that is baptist.. the dad is a pastor or something... haha he said that he read the book of mormon... but really he DIDNT and it frustrated me and i was trying so hard to bite my tongue when he kept saying joseph smith was a good man but misguided.... finally i was like... "ok if you have read the book of mormons and oh so many of joseph smiths 'misguided' teachings i would love to hear what you learned from it all and WHAT exactly you found to be wrong with it... cause i TOO have read it and have had an AMAZING experience with the book of mormon" and he said... ok well actually i have just read a few chapters and neener neener neener and kept bringing up stupid stuff like polygamy and the official declaration 2... and it is FRUSTRATING.... but... we are gonna work with his SONS... cause they were really interested in what we had to say if their DAD would just be quiet we could teach them... haha but the one son was like "theres GIRL mormons??? ive never talked to girls who are actually COOL and religous!" and then he was like "i would totally come to church with ya.. but mine is at 10 and im the drummer so i kinda have to go." haha... the drummer... awesome.
so i feel like im kinda ranting about unimportant things... honestly im just telling you the funny or crazy stories..... day to day there are small miracles i wish i could capture them all... theres a spirit in this work like none else. of protection. oh man.... i dont want to freak you out or anything but we have had some NOT so cool experiences in the scary sense..... but it has all worked out. prayer.... i have found to be SUCH a protection. the spirit has warned us so many times this week.... and i am so thankful for the priesthood, and the elders came and blessed a home and we prayed over ours and we dont go ANYWHERE now without praying about it and we dont LEAVE anywhere with out praying over the home... its super cool how it works... man i just....

the SPIRIT IS EVERYWHERe!! :) well with us :)i just feel so overwhelmingly GOOD with everything... like this week we were talking about how, yes, we all have flaws and things we are working on but the Lord knows where we are at with it all and he guides us along just as he helps us help others and it just works out perfectly in all the ways its supposed to. i havent felt FEAR or DOUBT... but have been working so hard to gain more FAITH and TRUST... and we are gonna move MOUNTAINS of darkness out of this place and bring in the FLOODS OF LIGHT to spruce grove :) well and now drayton valley to :)

im out of time! i love you all!!! i miss you but i love you and i am so grateful for you :)
love sister douglas

The field is "white"

Hello i LOVE YOU!!! :):)

this week was WONDERFUL and i have no doubt it is from all my angels back home praying for me... so thank you. i love you. more than i even thought i could love people my heart is just about to explode from all the LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

soooooo this week.. lets see....

on wednesday we went to go see a lady named wanda who is like... 90 something years old.. shes a member but gets lonely and she is super funny and takes naps during the lesson... hehe i love her.
then we went to the the BERGERS finnnnnally they were home!!  jeff and cory are SUPPOSED to be getting baptized but since the keep going MIA we had to move the date further back so they can COME TO CHURCH butttt they still havent come :P but i do love them... they are the cutest little family... they just need to commit.
then on thursday... thursday was just crazy crazy like nothing went according to plans BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT we had an AMMMMMAZING district meeting like.....
guys our district.... OH MAN were like OCEANS 11 or something hahaha
like Elder Pitts is our DL and he is all about logistics and documents and goals which is great... and then elder ohmdal and elder rogers are all about SERVICE and everyone loves them and they can get in any where and then elder stewart and hentunen are all about FUN and they are awesome and funny and the life of the party and THEY can get in anywhere. and then sister schofield and i are the...... well we are the secret agents... the black ops of missionaries... just kidding we like to say that to ourselves but really i think we are just good at making friends with people and making them see that we are PEOPLE and that we LOVE them.. ill give you taht we are GOOD AT TALKING TO PEOPLE..... but not everyone is good at listening to us... haha oh well
so thursday was kind of an answer to prayers... i was praying to really.....my heart was like not in this for a bit there.. i was happy but not... JOYOUS?? i dunno... but dm just got me ready to go and then FRIDAY\
a;sdklfa;kldfj;aklsjf;klasj;

fkl i cant even wait to tell you about FRIDAY

so............................

.....................................

we had exchanges which is kinda like sleepovers... and so i went to edmonton with Sis Grahm... shes our sister training leader... and I CANT EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU THE MIRACLES WE SAW!!!!!!
soooo we went to dinner and made greek food which was SO GOOD and the name sounded something like pistachio but it was like lasagna stuff??? i dunno it was good... but basically THAT lady is golden.. her son is a brand new convert with a KILLER testimony and just LEARNNNNNS and so.... i think shes gonna start seriously investigating soon... so we leave there.. go give a tour of the chapel which was awesome.. got THREE new investigators just by talking to everyone there and THEN
were on our way to our next appointment but the lady called us and said she couldnt do it anymore so sister grahm says "welllllll we MIGHT just be doing some street contacting then cause i dont know what else!!!" and then the PHONE RINGS
and this lady named kanysha calls and let me just tell you what she says
" is this the sisters??? hi.. umm i need your help... i.. i just need help i met with your fathers.. or elders or i dont know and they gave me your number but i just need your help."
boom.
so SINCE OUR PLANS WERE CANCELED WE HAD ALL NIGHT TO GO SEE THIS LADY WHO... oh my her life is a mess.....so when we get there the windows are like boarded up and everything and by the way its BLIZZARDING when we walk there... like not just snowing its a BLIZZARD annnnd she lets us in
starts BAWLING and says
"please can you help me find God!?!? i dont know what else to do... can i be baptized? but im addicted to acohol and i need to get my family back together and" (all this other stuff that is just so sad... shes from a reserve way up north and has had a TERRIBLE childhood..which has led her to where she is now and she just wants to break the cycle) BASICALLY she asks us to be baptized
and how NEAT it was to hand her a book of mormon and tell her... "this is a book of your PEOPLE... its a history of your ancestry and the Lord has made special promises to help YOU."
SHE WAS SO EXCITED TO READ!! and this isnt even the best part yet... she then goes on to say that she knows god is real and that he is waiting for her because she had this DREAM.... WHERE SHE WAS ON ONE SIDE OF A REALLYL DEEP RIVER THAT WAS SO DIRTY IT WAS BLACK AND ON THE OTHER SIDE WAS A MAN INFRONT OF A SHINING TREE THAT WAS PERFECT... AND SHE DIDNT KNOW HOW TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE BUT WANTED TO!........ ummmmmmmmmm MIRACLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!

oh man oh man oh mannnnn it was so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the BOOK OF MORMON is the rod that leads to the tree and faith and repentance and baptism lead to it and CHRISTS atonement BRIDGES the chasm of sin and death and fear and past life.... to the LOVE OF GOD! indeed the very presence of him....
like... my family. there is no words for how perfect it was.
basically we all bawled... and she is getting baptized on december 14 and i cant go but
how GRACIOUS is the Lord for letting me be a part of that MIRACLE!? how kind is he???? like... that could have been anyone there... it wasnt ME she needed... she needed the gospel and i got to see the BEAUTIFUL moment when she accepted it and she is going to break that chain of her dark past and move on wards and upwards and its going to be amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so all in all it was SO PERFECT
thennnnn the next day we woke up to a foot of snow
and im not exaggerating
a foot
of snow
drifts 2 feet deep
im not exaggerating
i walked in it
2 FEET OF SNOW
MY BOOTS ARENT 2 FEET TALL
but i never felt so missionaryish in all my life... like seriously to weirdos talkin to everyone in this psycho weather and getting 2 NEW investigators... i dont know what the deal was but the field was VERY VERY WHITE READY TO HARVEST ON SATURDAY.... because of the weather we didnt get home to waaaay way way late but we did manage to go see
NANCY AND STUBBORN BUM ALFRED... (WHO I LOVE)
we shoveled their driveway in vain cause the wind just blows it all over the place.... this snow is like....... flour?? its soooo dry and light and fluffy its like.... fake snow... but its cold.. like the high today was -14.. haha and its the day... i love it
sooooooooooooo miracle as well tho.... ALFRED PRAYED!!!!!!! and he NEVER prays outloud or unscrpted... so it was amazing.. we watched finding faith in christ with them.... which i think showed them that we ACTUALLY do have alot in common. and he might be coming to church on the 15 causewe are singing in church.. haha ill do whateevr it takes to get them to church i would do a dance for the whole world if they would come to church! jk dancing is against the white handbook..... so maybe just sing!
THENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
ANOTHER miracle...
NATASHA.... that turkey... so SHE refuses to come to church... she really got attached to the elder that baptized her and all heck broke loose in her life in june and she has just lost everything and since has become very bitter...
she like wouldnt even talk to any other missionaries or ANYONE and then randomly let us in?? i dunno it was weird she still doesnt know what she started talking to us but now we are like her daughters and she calls us for everything and we go over there all the time but we have the hardest time talking about anything gospel related cause she is so angry at God right?
wellll last week she let us pray with her... THIS WEEK SHE ASKED US... she asked US.. IF WE WOULD TEACH HER THE LESSONS...and she said that if she could feel that again.. and talk to God again... and learn how to forgive... then she would go to church and tell everyone during testimony meeting her story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and shes feeding us tonight..
also all this might be due to the fact that we saved her life cause we are now "exterminators" and are catching the mice in her basment.... hahah its super fun i feel like we deserve a movie series.. like seriously... we are hilarious and we run around doing the randomest things like moving people in moving people out killing mice walking through blizzards talking to CRAZIES converting CRAZIES and just loving this whole thing!!!!
I LOVE NATASHA I LOVE NANCY AND ALFRED AND I LOVE THE INVESTIGATORS WE HAVENT EVEN MET YET.
were praying really hard that we catch the vision for this area.. that Heavenly Father will give us the vision he has for the people of spruce grove... and i think that it is not to find people anymore but to find FAMILIES. families that can be sealed for eternity... thats what its all about
i love you my forever family!!! :):)
thank you for all your support
ummm some other random things i thought of that i needed to tell you....
-really dont worry about me if i sound negative or frustrated or bummed out... cause i feel like a mission makes you a bit bipolar... like not only does it depend on the day but on the very hour how you feel..... well like i know that it is a choice how to feeel and what to think... but it does change really fast :)
-there have been quite a few families from home on my mind..how are the mcconells doing??? hows their cute kiddos doing?? i have been praying really hard for brin and seth... tell them hello from canada! also our neighbors down the road... well YOUR neighbors down the road.. you should do FHE with them one of these days
-i need Glenn and Dara's address i want to write to them.. and if you could thank them again for all they did for me when i was in the MTC it really.. i just love them:) and i love tarryn and i love her cute letters she is so talented :)

-i needed someone elses address shoot who was it...CAITS.. I need her address also

-sister rolls told me that you have been emailing her?!?!?! hahaha you SNEAKY MOM!! :) i love her and i love you hahha what have you been talking about???

-i have to hurry lets see....oh i dyed my hair.... sort of.. i just dyed it all one color so its not like blonde here and brown there like it was... if you remember... i dunno no biggie it actually was kinda lame cause it didnt look all taht much different

-i might be able to send pictures once i get a card reader... apparently i can get them from dollarama?? i dunno that might be to good to be true

-im getting YOUR christmas package together :):):) :3 its GOLDEN! im so excited to send it to you :)

-ummmm we have to go to the store and get mouse trap things for natasha and its gonna be a suprise because she is gonna try and pay for them but she has NO extra money to spare and i dont want her to have to feel bad for it... so im just gonna buy them... so can you make sure that some more mula can be transfered from my savings to checkings... cause im not entirely sure how much i even have on there.... thats awful haha

-annnnnnnnnnnd i THINK that is all.... is there anything specifically from canada that you want??? smarties?? crunchies??? maple syrup?? its not that expensive up here for that ;) go figure :D

well im almost out of time!
i love you all!!!

i believe in Christ
and he believes in me.

love sister douglas

O Canada

Hello, I love you!!!

So first of all I LOVE all the pictures!! I'm tempted to print them all off but the printer here costs money and i dont have alot of that stuff haha :)

SO... nothing really has CHANGED like nothing is harder or bad or worse or anything like that... but if this were a race this is one of those "ugh" feelings that I've been feeling today.. but you know what??? thats just FINE cause I know it wont last forever..I know homesickness is normal... and its NOT WEIRD to cry at the computer... haha at least thats what Sis. Schofield says haha.. cause today is the first time ive cried!!

I went to the temple today... and I had one of the most sacred experiences ever... that I prolly wont relate in this email cause its just too special.. but I felt very close to my family, and I know Sarah is being taken care of as I am by Grandad, he can still give us priesthood blessings.

So..... I'm very unpleased to announce that Alfred has "drawn the line" he says that he respects us.. he believes that we will get to heaven contrary to what he used to believe haha... but he is "comfortable in his faith and he knows what he knows now don't go tryin and change me". soooo ya... Alfred's breakin my heart.. and I even told him that haha... PRAY FOR HIM.... we will continue to serve him and Nancy by doing little things for them... but we can't be going over there all the time when they wont progress ya know... so that was sad....

Ummmmmm the people that were supposed to be getting baptized on the 30th can't get baptized yet because THEY WON'T COME TO CHURCH which is dumb 'cause you should come to church....

ANNNNNNND in better news Natasha Robertson who is a LA we have been working with had us meet with her SCARY husband and him and I had a very "intelligent" conversation about religion... he doesn't know if he believes in Christianity becuase he thinks its "borrowed from other religions" so we talked about how Adam was taught the gospel from the beginning and the reason there are so many parallels in other religions is because of that. I think it really made him think.. but he also was very annoyed that a 19 year old girl could talk back to his smack talk on the church... NOT THAT WE BIBLE BASHED, but he was pretty hard headed.... and I guess so am I :)

Sis. Schofield said she is very proud of me for not being shy at all when we go places... which I'm proud of too:) haha I don't want to waste any time just gettin to it when we are with people... like.. chit chat is good and you need to get to know people and we are doing that... but then we can be talking for hours about not gospelness ya know??? so thats what we have been working on....

Last night we had the most gag fest lesson ever!!!! Smoky pot filled room ADHD (prolly high) dog jumping everywhere and we were teaching a 21 year old KID about the book of mormon... and that didnt really go anywhere but it was a really funny lesson... he compared God to "everybody loves Raymond" and the way that God loves us is like milk.....?? I dunno but he was really funny... and high.... ha.

Yesterday was remembrance day so we went to the service for that in the morning... It made me all teary.. I dunno whats with the tears this week!? I promise I'm not even hormonal! but it was really patriotic and neat.. I ALMOST have all of "O Canada!" memorized.. and I love it here...maybe I'll live here one day ;) jk I'm a yankee doodle dandy and I love the USA :) I also love how when we sing our anthem we place our hands over our hearts.. they don't do that here.... but it was very religious... which I liked :)

Sis. Rolls (the relief society pres) lets us do laundry at her house... SUCH A BLESSING. I love that lady.

Ummmm.. what else this week.... lets see... OH WE went to Red Robin after the temple today! YUUUMMM I had a guacamole burger and the Elders were amaaazed that I ate the whole thing... hah. Gross.

I forgot to mention FOREVER ago that I met the Goldens at the airport in SLC!! They said to tell Grandmom hello! I recognized their accents :)

ummmm umm um... its getting colder and colder here... hasn't been above 0 C so thats fun... but i think I'm aclimatizing...

I still haven't gotten any letters...I'm prolly just gonna print out my emails and put them under our little christmas tree haha :)

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh if there is ANY way possible you can even get them with my debit card.. but I need more Dotera oils.... well the lavendar one leaked at the airport :P and the deep blue one leaked all over my Book of Mormon... which is fun... haha it smells very deep ;) hahaha I crack myself up....

Dad thank you for your email you made me cry! ;) and Mom yours did as well.. you are so good at encouraging people.

I'm writing you an ACTUAL letter today as well.... but I'm really bad at it and not sure what else to say haha... cause missionary work is kinda monotonous... kinda not... i dunno.

What I have learned this week is that I can do the EXACT same thing one day as the next in terms of reading and praying AMOUNTs but when I PUT MY HEART into it and internalize it and let myself be EMOTIONAL then I can actually feel growth and guidance more...

I kinda just wanna be the girl I'm supposed to be right now and its frustrating to see that I still have the same flaws and challenges I left with... aw well :)

I love you all and I promise as big as the sky that Heavenly Father loves you. I wish I could write everyone a 10 page letter.. but I'll see you sooner than we even realize... I love you!!

the Church is True.. seriously
love Sister Douglas

WELL WHAT A WEEK!!?!?!?!?!??!. If I was Sis. Schofield then I would say "what a gong show!?" hahaha thats her funny little saying..apparently its Canadian.
First of all SHOUT OUT TO EVERYONE DOWN IN UTAH.... I. LOVE YOU and I need you ALL to do something... look out your WINDOWS..yup look out your windows and then look at the MOUNTAINS. and now just blow a kiss to them for me cause lets just say it looks like Kansas here. There are NONE.. well everyone says there are mountains but they are 4 hours away in JASPER... (WHICH I GET TO GO TO NEXT MONDAY :):):) ) but ya so kiss the mountains for me...maybe hike in them...and just love them cause I really took those babies for granted and THEN one more favor...look at yourselves and then give yourself a HUUUUUGE hug from me cause I sure miss you :), but guess what I haven't even cried the whole time I have been here!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so impressed with myself. I'm being negative... let me just tell you how wonderful it is here. I love Spruce Grove (which you need to look up cause I wanna hear your opinion of how CUTE it is right??) I love the ward. I love my whole HOUSE! jk its an apartment but I had to say that :) I DONT love these computers cause I dont know how to attach photos so imma have to try and figure that out....ummmmm lets see I actually love the weather suprisingly...it does this BEAUTIFULLEST THING EVER in the mornings... so its so so soooo cold like -15 C so....i think thats like 10 F I dunno... but its cold... maybe colder than that and THE WATER IN THE AIR FREEZES and makes FAIRY DUST MAGIC IN THE AIR... like you're walking in sparkles...thats what it looks like and I think I couldnt have been happier this morning to be skippin around in sparkle air! Its the best!
So ya, its freezing, I live in my fleece lined tights..maybe even 2 pairs a day! (shout out mama Siniscalchi and my lil sis Cate for those babies)
Oh and lemme answer your questions cause your so great at that :)

Did you move at the beginning of the month? if so, How did the move go?

so... we moved on SATURDAY... the... well just this past Saturday.. the 2nd?? I dunno its all a blur haha but ya it went good :) we just set up our beds and all and our apt is HUGE and newish! well its nice :) and guess what!! we have TWO BATHROOMS... wellll WASHROOMS haha and so we have our own vanity get ready at the same time! We're so spoiled, haha I love it.. the elders who helped us move were so jealous and so funny they're like "well sisters is this gonna work for you...does this meet your expectations??" paha!

Did you have to smoosh everything back into your 2 suitcases again?

Ummm YES! Since I knew we were just driving like 30 minutes I didn't even fold my stuff so so nice and shoved it in the suitcase... I have to iron everything again :P whatever, it warms my hands up I guess :)

Who have you been teaching? Any referrals?  Any Goldens?

Ok teaching!!!!! SO for some reason MY idea of missionary work was that we would be teaching 10 people a day or something... HA!! Maybe 3 a day... MAYBE. We do lots of other stuff too! This morning we volunteered at this cute little thrift shop and we TESTED TOYS...LIKE SANTA'S ELVES!! It was so fun, except kinda dirty.. but way fun :) and we also do lots of service for the single ladies in the ward like yard work and washing walls and helping people move..I love it all and I LOVE the people here.. let me just tell you about some of the people we are ACTUALLY TEACHING.. so we don't have any like legit "progressing investigators" just people that are gaining testimonies and they dont even know it. My favorite people EVER are Alfred and Nancy... they both have got to be in their late 70's and they live in the senior village..WELL they called US! and said "WE KNOW YOU ARE HERE WHY HAVEN'T YOU COME SEEN US YET??" HHAHAHA so we drove over there and they both were just soooo excited to see missionaries and that we were GIRLS and they didn't know GIRLS could serve missions and that oh missionaries this and missionaries that are so so great and such a wonderful spirit and Sis. Schofield and I are thinking like GOLDEN but then Alfred is all "so, we love you so much and we are going to have you over every week but here's the thing...we are CATHOLIC AND YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO "CONVERT" US OK?" ,so i said "is that right Alfred?? Wanna know something?" and he said "what" and I said "I'm not gonna do ANYTHING to you we are so excited to come see you all the time and visit with you..but I think you are already converted hun." and he said "oh Sister Douglas no no.. Idont want to be a mormon" so I said "we shall see.." :") hahah SO since that time they have asked us every question in the book like the plan of salvation, where babies go when they die if they arent baptized, what God looks like, why we dont drink coffee, polgamy, all that jazz and Nancy kept saying "I haven't asked any of the Elders this before BUT...??" so they totally trust us and they don't even realize they are getting the lessons taught to them! haha its awesome :) so Nancy might have to go on dialysis and she was really worried about it... so we said "well we can organize for you to have a priesthood blessing if you would like".. and she said "a WHAT?" AND so we explained that...and she said "YES!" and so the Elders came over and administered to her and guess what HAPPENED?? Alfred said... "I had a dream last night where I was able to lay my hands on my wife and I did the same thing.. it was the strangest thing.. but I felt so peaceful!" al;sdkfa;lsdkfal;skdf;lasdjfl I was like "ALFRED GOD IS SPEAKING TO YOU!!!! LISTEN TO HIM!!!"  so.....we are going to go to mass with them next week...and THEY are coming to sacrament meeting with US!! its gonna be so great :):)

What has been one of your memorable experiences this week?

Lets see...YESTERDAY we had to vacuum out our car... but our cord wasn't long enough so we drove to the church and used one of those vacuums... it was quite hillarious to see a 90 year old vacuum in our car ;)

Where have you eaten?  Have members fed you? Have you had any curry yet?

wellllll we have eaten at a lot of members' houses :) everyone is so great and is SO EXCITED TO HAVE SISTERS the elders are so kind but they are a little jealous about how well we have been taken care of haha. All the food has been great, nothing strange or anything...I did have baked pickles... that was a little strange but not gross. We also had Wendys and Subway after District Meeting... oh and this place called MUCHO Burrito... YUM its like....Costa Vida except.. more... authentic.

How was P-day, what did you do?

Preparation day was CRAZY BUSY.. we unpacked everything from our suitcases, ironed, vacuumed cleaned, organized, filled out cupboards, so we did alot of shopping.. There's a DOLLARAMA here that I am so excited to do Christmas shopping at. We did laundry, I wrote 1 letter 'cause I had no time... 'cause pday ends at 6 pm and we had dinner at the Bishop's house at 5:30 and we still had to wash the car.. which was SO FUN!! ITS LIKE A GIANT CAR WASHING BUILDING and you get a little stall and can power wash it all by yourself... but we didn't know you had to dry it before you go outside... so our car has a really cool ice pattern all along the sides and top.. haha

Also last night we went to Alfred and Nancy's and taught them about the restoration... and oh, wait I lied about the crying thing!... 'cause I got kinda teary last night when I talked about Joseph Smith... I can't help it.They are so gonna be baptized..I just know it!

Do you think you'll be up in Spruce Grove around Christmas too?

ya... 'cause training lasts 12 weeks and they like to leave people in areas for as long as 6 to 8 months!

Are you warm enough??????

haha yes!! I bought a space heater on my debit card... 'cause our apt is kinda cold and the heating stinks... so we just plug it in under the desk and in our room and we warm right up :)

Ummm what else.... I bought a new hat :) its cute and red and matches my mittens

its freezing freezing cold today....but thats normal

ummmm I've been eating so healthy like carrots and snap peas
and I just realized  I have 10 minutes left and alot of people to email....

I love you all so much and I pray for you by name every day! and I miss you!
Seriously look at how fast this month went!! I only have 17 more left and thats crazy!!!! I kinda wish I could serve for 2 years... but only kinda.. 'cause I miss you too much for that.

I love you so much!
love,

Sister Bronie girl Douglas

First email from Canada

Hellllllo0ooooooo!~!!!!!! I' m a MISSIONARY!!! Is that insane or WHAT!!! Gosh, I love it! I love it more than I thought I would ever love anything... its kinda weird, there are some moments where you look at yourself and think "we're CRAZY! who DOES THIS??" but then you laugh and just keep on going and having fun :)

So first things first!! :):) I'm living in part of the city called BELMEAD but my area is SPRUCE GROVE. We're just staying in Belmead with the sisters there until our apartment is ready to move into in Spruce...apparently it was still being rented or something like that...I dunno..so right now we have to leave 30 minutes earlier to get there and then to get home...which has been kinda fun 'cause the drive out there is BEAUTIFUL!! Oh my goodness its gorgeous out here like it looks like a postcard everywhere..the trees and everything..even tho alot of them don't have leaves anymore its still so so pretty and I love it :)

So, mail here is weird.. could you tell everyone this actually... like... I wont ever get my mail personally cause we hardly every have mailboxes.. so I will give you the MISSION office address AND THEN my ZONE LEADERS pick it up once a week and give it to the DISTRICT leaders who then get it to US..... SOOOOO IT TAKES FOREVER and I' ll only get mail like every other week cause my district is SUUUPER spread out so we don't know how often well have district meeting...which kinda makes me mad... but no negativity is allowed in this mind of mine :)

SOOOO my address is as follows....

Sister Bronwyn Douglas

305-8925 51 Ave. NW
Edmonton, AB T6E-5J3
Canada

And if you ever do send a package up here make sure you clarify it's gifts only and that its not for a business, it's just personal so you don't get charged more...
that is all :)
please write me :) i like real letters better than emails 'cause handwriting is so much more beautiful and personable and YOU and I can re-read it :)

I love you all

Imma just answer all your questions Mom 'cause they are good :)

What stake and ward are you in?

I'm in the Spruce Grove Ward in the Edmonton North Stake (but Spruce Grove is in the very very west end of Edmonton...well actually it's not really in the city at all its kind of it's own town...you should google it its so cute :)

Where is your companion from and what is her name?

My companion is Sister Schofield and I LOVE her... she reminds me so much of kathie stienagel its insane...like even her facial expressions :) haha.  She's from Idaho Falls.

How cold has it been?

Ummm freeezing... hahaha right now its -4 C so...about 21 F so we haven't seen anything yet...apparently it REALLY DOES get to be -40 like... really. hahaha today we had to scrape ice off the windowshield to see..but we didnt have a scarper so I used my BYUI ID haha... thank you thank you BYUI

Did you go shopping for supplies yet?

Nope! Today will be the first!! :) Welllll actually I just lied..we did go shopping on Thursday night at a Superstore to get some food....bananas and spinach haha...I've been eating bananas and peanut butter for breakfast every morning...kinda weird, but then I don't get hungry till lunch again and it's healthy :):)

Have you taught anyone yet?

Welllll we haven't taught any INVESTIGATORS..this week we worked alot with the less actives of the ward and just got to know everyone cause GUESS WHAT!?!?! Sister Schofield and I are OPENING Spruce Grove...which means they haven't had any sisters here since like EVER and so we don't know anyone and we don't have any investigators anyone left us and we had to start completely from scratch... so my trainer says that it's fun cause then BOTH of us have no idea what's goin on haha

Where are you living?
Living...haha in Belmead :) in this ghetto apt..that's like...forest green and lace decorations downstairs hahah I love it....also we have a complimentary "smoothie BAR" hahahaha we're gonna make smoothies on halloween in martini glasses...we have to be in by 6 pm cause of all the sketchy peeps at night :D lotsa fun!! :)

Are you in a car?

we do get a car :) a 2013 chevy cruze :) its tight :) except apparently the Subarus are the coveted cars :) I'm just happy to have one.. and I have been a BOSS at navigating..well not driving but I have to use that MAP...FOR THE CITY and the city isn't like a perfect little SLC grid that I'm used it...it's nuts, but weve only gotten lost twice :):) its great :):)

Is your coat warm enough?

Definitely :) its very nice :) I MIGHT get a liner if I feel I need to when its a little bit more cold but so far so great :) also I might buy a couple longer skirts....'cause I just want to :)

Are your clothes still wrinkly after being vacuum packed for three weeks?

uh yes hahaha...but we have an iron thank heaven!!!

What do you do for exercise?

we do P90x in the morning :) we went walking on the first day but ran home cause it was FLIPPIN cold...and 'cause we were scared of people around there..its a lil sketchy..hahah the first night we got lost we just pulled into a parking lot to figure out where we were,...hahah we were in a club parking lot hahahaha...doors locked!!!

How do you like the Mission pres? What is he and his wife like?

I LOOOOOVE THEM!!!!! So so much, they are wonderful and I have no idea how they get everything done that they do!! like 24/ 7 busy busy busy

What's the strangest thing you've eaten so far?

Ummmmm I had raw chicken at a members house!...but I didn't eat it all cause halfway through she freaked out and apologized and said "its RAW!!!" (well it wasn't like pink PINK just..not all the way cooked) and sister Davies was so cute and was like "STOP EATING IT!!!"

What do you eat for breakfast lunch and dinner?

Breakfast is the bananas, sometimes oats...I also got some of the "Presidents Choice" oats, its good :)

How do you email us? Where do you go to access the internet?

Right now I'm in the library in Belmead, but we will have a library in  Spruce Grove that I'll use EXCEPT I WONT BE EMAILING ON MONDAYS the library there is closed on Mondays, so I will email on TUESDAYS, MY PDAY IS STILL MONDAY BUT NO EMAILS ON MONDAY ONLY TUESDAY :) so yes :)

Have you missed your phone, Facebook and music?

Oh my HEAVENS I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU...sooo no, I haven't missed FB..music a little, but... I TOTALLY understand why they don't want us to listen to non-churchy music now...even if it IS uplifting...'cause we went to this Relief Society social thing... and I'm sitting there just talking... oh and music was playing like "WORDLY MUSIC" haha jk it was nice but not what were allowed to listen to and then ALL OF A SUDDEN...... BRANDIE CARLILE song comes on and BAM never felt so homesick....man oh man... I didn't think missing home could feel like that... DUH of course I've missed you but I kinda felt like an elephant sat on me and I prolly pretended that a yawn made me all teary but realllllly....... stupid Brandie ;)

Well let's seeee what else....

OH, I WENT TRACTING FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! :D funnest thing ever I love tracting.... actually it sucks..actually it doesn't..it just isn't that effective in finding people...BUT, you always get the best stories..hahaha like the VERY FIRST HOUSE I KNOCKED ON...

this HIGH AS A KITE lady ANSWERS the door...and were just standing there smiling like HEY and Sister Schofield starts talking and sticks out her hand to shake her hand like "I'm Sister Schofield" and the high ladys all "ya...I don't shake hands...umm so ya, ummm I have to go cause I'm..umm... (and she like had her eyes were shaking weird) I'm waiting for my mom"

hahaha it was so funny!!!! oh and when she said "I dont shake hands", Sister Schofields like "oh ok thank you!! :)" hahahaha it was so funny I nearly died. Later that day I gave away our first Book of Mormon so were gonna go check back with them this week to see how its goin with them :) ya never know :)
There's this yummy place here called Tim Hortons thats like Starbucks a little bit except you can buy soups and doughnuts and hot chocolate...oh my YUM you would love it Mom..the soup is like zupa status :) MMMM!

I have a bunk bed :P I dont like bunk beds....but only when the ceiling is about a foot above my NOSE when I lie down..its kinda funny.

OH Elder HOLLAND came out here to do Stake conference for the OTHER STAKE so we didn't get to go!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :(:(:( BUT we listened to the broadcast from the foyer...that man...is like.... we're all motivated and gonna change the world now... so cool.

He called this work not missionary work but the salvation of SOULS 'cause it's not just for missionaries... EVERYONE should be hastening the work. Missionaries are here to help YOU the members..not the other way around.
So FAMILY get to work and save some souls!! :)

I'm not even stressed...it's weird.. well I'm sure i"m UNDER STRESSED, but Sister Schofield and I were talking about how strange but wonderful this peaceful calm assuring feeling has been with us this whole week. I haven't felt overwhelmed once or thought how can we do this once.. theL ord knows that we can do this and so I know we can do this.. we are here for a reason and we are going to FIND PEOPLE and BRING THEM TO THE LORD. JUST LIKE MY DREAM how COOL is that???????
I had that dream when I was TEN YEARS OLD about bringing people to the Lord. I am not capable of healing anyone. I am SO incapable of spiritual first aid, but I DO know who can and I know HOW to get them there!
It was kinda neat to realize that :)
The atonement is real.... the realest thing out there. The only person who can fully heal us from EVERYTHING is JESUS CHRIST. and He WILL heal you if you go unto Him!!!!
Thats it :)

Will you please hug everyone for me I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Hug the Siniscalchis and tell Jill thank you for her letters and support. She is so inspired
and tell Aunty Bronwyn I love her and I will always feel so close to her.
Tell Coach and all of XC that I love THEM and that they better kick it into gear for Footlocker and do something CERAZY BIG :)
Tell the kids that I love them more than anything..the kids being my kids like Kyra and Morgan and Seth and Deryck
and MOMMMMMM that GOLD SKIRT IS HEAVENLY and aweil;fjd;aklsdfj;aklsdfl; WHO WOULD EVER BUY IT FOR THE ORIGINAL PRICE THE MANIACS!! hahaha but I LOVE it and I wore it on Friday :)
Mom and Dad I love you the most :) I love love love loooove you and I miss you and I will see you soon :) too soon :) I'm so happy to be here and  I'm happy you are there. We are all where we are supposed to be I love you!!!!

I love you!

Also I  really dont have time today to write to everyone so PLEASE send my apologies
I love you, I love you, I love you!! "What can I say more"

Love, 

Sister Douglas

"many are cold, but few are frozen."

hehe