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