My dearest, dearest, wonderfullest family, that I just love so so much more than I ever thought was possible,

Wellllll,  here I am in the laundry room at the MTC and I think its finally settling in that I'm not in a dream haha. I keep looking down at my tag like "no way this is real" haha I love it though. I don't think I have ever been so exhausted in every sense of the word than I have been lately, mentally, physically, spiritually and what else.. oh ya EMOTIONALLY haha... so tired :) but oh so dang happy...I dont even know if im allowed to say dang any more...heh... I'll have to double check that.

as I have said before my companions are wonderful, my room is nice and spacious... kinda. but I'll tell you a lil 'bout my schedule if you want?? ya???

Soooooo we get up at 6:00 or 6:30 depending on if we have gym or not in the morning which is nice either way we have gym everyday. there's a track that goes around the gym floor, so I have been able to go running everyday which has been a wonderful stress relief... tell coach I'm getting a sub 7 minute mile time which...I  know isn't that fast considering that I used to be sub 6, BUT I'm pretty impressed with myself :)

Except the track is reallllly little so its like 10 laps for a mile... kinda makes me go insane.. in a good way.

So ya, we get up.. get ready in like 25 minutes which is a miracle seeing as we are all girls with hair and faces then we go to class to study for an hour which I love 'cause I can study whatever I want... except letters... you aren't allowed to study those haha

I have to admit if I get a dear elder letter sometimes I take them to the bathroom with me so I can read them before lunch ahah... gross but happy :)

Um so ya, we study then we have teachers come in and depending on the day depends on the teacher and if we are learning WHAT to teach or HOW to teach..both my teachers are AMAZING like... stellar, prolly some of my new favorite people in the world kinda people. Also there are so many teachers that aren't OUR teachers that just come in to help with the lessons or role playing and what not and they are all so cool too!  Like I wish they would ALL BECOME seminary teachers 'cause they could change lives like a boss.

I have been learning about the fundamentals of teaching the gospel.  Things like revelation through prayer, through scriptures, the doctrine of Christ, revelation through church attendance.. things like that.. and its SO cool cause I knew all these things but to go on an even deeper level and gain a TESTIMONY and then be CONVERTED to something and then have other PEOPLE BE CONVERTED TO THIS... man...its so cool.
Something neat,  my teacher told us last week after a role play where I told him "I can't promise you that the situation can work out a certain way all I can promise is that it will work out." After we were done he said '"Sister Douglas!!! i want to share with you something cool. you are a representative of JESUS CHRIST for the next 18 months because you have the authority to do so... and obviously according to the spirit... but you can make specific powerful promises to people in the name of CHRIST because you REPRESENT HIM. you are called to say what he would say and do what he would do, and because of that and the authority and your call you can promise blessings to people so specific to their needs if you are worthy of that blessing." HOW COOL IS THAT!?!?!?!??!!??! I'm so excited to be able to pray about what I can promise people and then be able to do that :D ahhhh yeah!

Umm so ya the food is great. My district... ah man.. my district is so cool we only have 6 people in our district cause there's an elder trio and then a sister trio and we are like... all best friends, I love it.. the elders can get really side tracked sometimes... its funny but I think we work well together 'cause we help keep the elders focused and they help us chill out and not get so tense about what we are doing..l just to have peaceful faith and confidence in the converting power of the gospel.

So I'm typing as fast as I can just so you know that's why all the spelling mistakes (here I am fixing all of them for her)

Ummm,I' m trying to think what else I could tell you... honestly talking about the lessons and how special they are almost feels too sacred... like... there's no way I will ever be able to convey how powerful it is to look at someone you don't even know in the eye and testify that GOD IS REAL and that he LOVES them..... and to KNOW that that is true.... ya, I can't even explain it...I wish I could....

BUT ITS WONDERFUL....
Will you please tell Aunty Dara that due to the extreme shock of seeing her today I could only mumble "thank you" but really I wanted to say "Thank You so so soooooo much for the packages that make my whole day and my whole districts day". We all ate the milktart at dinner and I told them about South Africa...wellllll mostly about my african family :) heh I love that :)

DAD... is there anyway you can access or find that character of Christ video.. I wrote mom about it I think (she didn't write to me about it. not sure what video she is talking about?).... YOU ALL HAVE TO WATCH IT. I'm serious. DO IT.

I think they should just send people to the MTC to learn how to be like Christ... 'cause it really can do that for you... but (coach you'll laugh at this) YOU REALLY DO GET WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT! Now, I don't think you should work hard for the sole purpose of getting more out of it, but I promise if you work as hard as you can and just TRY, then its like..... HEAVEN! 

I CANT WAAAAIT to go to CANADA. I can't wait to freeze. I can't wait to teach. I can't wait to meet everyone and sing & smile and make new friends and be apart of people's LIVES CHANGING. I'm so excited :):)

Well, I think that is all for now!!!! Talk to you next week.  I love you more than I will ever be able to say :)
Love,
Sister Douglas