Christmas week

augh no man i have no words for this week. NO WORDS... but ill try and explain some things that have happened :)

last monday we made treats for the ward at the bishops home :) looooots of cookies. sister gardner and i were just leaning against the wall in the hallway talking to everyone and then we both realized at the same time that there was mistletoe just hangin there.. HAHAHAHA we both were like BAHA runaway. just kidding i took a picture under the mistle toe and everyone laughed.

we went to the store to get flowers for a lady and its was like -500 degrees outside cause the wind and i was complaining and i get out the car and sister gardner is talking to this guy in his car parked next to us.. so i walk over and this guy just has the biggest smile on his face and this is the first thing i hear him say "HERE I AM SITTING HERE FOR 45 MINUTES JUST THINKING ABOUT MY LIFE.. AND THINKING ABOUT GOD.. and asking him to show me the way.. because i just dont know what is true anymore.. and then two angels show up and give me their religious card (haha a "religious card is what he kept calling our christmas "he is the gift" card) and now i know what to do!" we proceeded to talk to him about joseph smith and the restoration and he was SO HAPPY! EXCEPT I COULD HARDLY TALK MY TEETH WERE CHATTERING SO HARD ha..... sooooo we gave him the elders number and went on our merry way and i will tell you what happened to him next week when we find out... but it was super cool :)

tuesday oh tuesday was awesome :)
we had a lesson with esther and sister konietz came with... both of them are from germany :) OH MAH GOSH. esther is so golden.. we get there and she's like.. so i have some questions for you.. and starts asking us all about the book of mormon.. she has read like the first two books of nephi already and she got it a WEEK ago... anyways she had the CRAZIEST experience reading a verse from the book of mormon and wanted to know the context and stuff and then we taught her all about the restoration and at the part where we teach her about the first vision my companion took it away and it was soooo good... bahhhhh!! i loved it :) and esther was just like "..... wooooow...." and she said she would pray about baptism.
IM EXCITED.

then for lunch on tuesday i went to lunch with andre and israel. no big deal.
just kidding yes it is a big deal! i was so excited and happy to see them :) we went to a dim dum beijing blah blah blah chinese place i cant say but it was WAY GOOD BUT WAY WEIRD.. and i SAW real chicken feet.. hahah.. good thing i already know what those taste like ;)

then we went to a lesson with kristy and sorted out her baptism stuff.... thats a long story in itself but she will be baptised one day :)

wednesday the elders stole our car for transfer meeting and then FORGOT to give us the bus passes so we walked 1000 miles all over the place and got like nothing done.. it was very frustrating... we handed out alot of cards :P

thursday we met with pama nd roopa came with.. they are both from guyana so that was perfect as well :) waha... and i love pam. whenever she talks she calls us her honey loves or her sweeties hahaha oh pam :)

then we went to another lesson with esther and sister koneitz came again.. man i sure love sister konietz.. her conversion story is so boss and she is a rock star at teaching  and brought the spirit in more and more every time she opened her mouth.. sister gardner and i would just kinda guide the conversation and then sister konietz would teach and esther would ask questions... al;kdfj;alksdfjkl;j asdfj SO GOOD :)

we delivered a bunch of books of mormon to members for the challenge starting next week :) then we went carolling at the hospital and called ourselves the really bad carollers.. cause we are hahah but we sure laugh and smile alot and who doesnt like that

friday was christmas conference and (sorry im writing a novel with everything i just have to tell you everything cause it was the best. and just accept it :) )

christmas conference was good :) and i got my letters from you :) aww gee thank you i love you so so much my family :)

we had time to write in our journal and i was just thinking about how i felt just plain happy. but no different from any other time of the year when im happy. i know christmas is special but heck everyday is and can be special if we make it ya know?? so i got to thinking about the concept of "special" of "worth" and of "important". in matters of finance or supply and demand the world would tell you that because there are so many of us( people) we dont MATTER we are insignificant, and no one is really important unless you do something psycho crazy cool or something... but God does not veiw us this way.. it doesnt matter how many people have blue eyes or green eyes or brown or whatever.. he still thinks we are beautiful, it doesnt matter if we can speak 500 languages or cant speak but god still communicates with us as individuals because he loves us as that, AN INDIVIDUAL.. and he loves us for US... even IF we arent unique or "special" or "important" in the worlds eyes.. we are to Him. and my mind and heart are starting to get that.. even thought i cant explain it.. im starting to love that way and see that way.... thats what i learned at christmas conference. we should all just be ourselves... and be content to just improve a little bit everyday and just LET GOD LOVE US :)

then the rest of friday we weekly planned. gaaaaaaaaaaaag me. exchanges are annoying to plan but fun to go on.
saturday came and went.. what did we do saturday??? uuuum oh we had a few lessons and delivered more books andthen went carolling again.
sunday was good :) church is the best.. we have been giving out the he is the gift cards to every BREATHING CREATURE outside... and i love getting out my comfort zone to talk to people with head phones in.. pull over on the side of the road to talk to people or almost be attacked by awful stupid dogs just to talk to their owners.. ha :)

life is so good :)
i love love love being a missionary.. i kinda feel like this is what i have been doing my whole life.. and my old life is just a dream.. or something i read in a book once. weird.
i love you :) i will see you to soon :)
love sister doulgas

Progress

Waiting for the bus -39

THERE has been alot of progression happening this week :)

carol went to ARP to stop smoking

kristy was engaged.. not engaged but still comitted to baptism

marcus came to church and went to mutual and is going to a youth dance..he is 16 and all the youth love him.. the young women too haha  nothin like flirting to convert.. hahaha (i told the young women in the ward that they should DEFINITELY invite him hahaha)

ASHELY and ashaya are doing the book of mormon challenge.. finish the book by the end of april... (by the way this is a challenge our bishop gave us up here and its to read the whole book of mormon from january to the end of april highlighting and annotating the paper back copy we give them and then when they are done.. give it to someone :) you should do it.. its like right as I come home so you should try it )

pam came to church for the first time.. she isnt really interested in JOINING but she has been reading the book of mormon and she really felt the spirit during testimony meeting.. man there are some solid rocks in this ward.. like alot of the testimonies made me cry... welll.. im really weepy cause of all the sugar hahah but still it was GOOD
and esther came to church.. she is our newest investigator from germany, and we have a family from germany in our ward GOLDEN!!
WERE gonna have a lot of baptisms next transfer its really exciting. so much is happening here.. im so grateful.. i feel like Heavenly Father sent the best work for my last area to keep me focused and working so so hard...

i worked so hard in every area but now i feel like such a tangible thing to work on.. if that makes sense.. sometimes i felt like in other areas we just knocked s to knock doors... which was MY FAULT. but we also didnt have too many people to teach and here they are comin out our ears :)

sacrament meeting really touched me this week.. so many people.. so many broken people experiencing healing and peace. the gospel in NO WAY makes us perfect now.. heck that would defeat the purpose of LIFE but the gospel brings us PERFECT PEACE. and one day we will be perfect because of Christ. how cool is that :)

I saw the Cousin krugers this week! that was so SWEET!! :)

we had our ward christmas party.. also awesome :)

exchanges and MLC and getting lost in the city and all of that made for an exciting crazy week.

i just know the church is true! it so is. it really really is. and the Book of Mormon ROCKS :) I LOVE IT :) IT IS TRUE. and truth makes a difference.
i love you all :)
love Sister Douglas

Sister missionaries sang as they walked and walked and walked and WAAAAAAAAAAAAAALKED.

Let me just be candid with you guys for a second.... THIS WEEK SUCKED. but it also was miraculous and i really can not complain... but i think we walked over 40 miles. in -17.. wind chill -25.... no exaggeration.. ok maybe a little on the distance.. but on the cold. no. it. was. disgusting.

but the rewards were sweet and worth it.

soooo im trying to sort through this crazy head of mine and think what i need to tell you first.

blah ok

last monday we walked 500 miles everywhere and i thought i was gonna die and its HILLARIOUS trying to talk to people when your all bundled up cause you cant actually rotate your head to look at people.. you have to rotate your whole body.. so i feel like a big awkward lego marshmellow sister talking to people ha. also if your face itches or your arm or something you just have to endure it cause theres no WAY im takin my mittens of for anything... except to write a number on a card. thats it.

i saw the martins. :)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) oh the martins. i love them.. they are crazy people like me and i love it and those crazy people are GOING BACK TO ENGLAND... crazies... so i got to say good bye and hug em all one last time :) love them... so hopefully i see them in june?? ya?? :) yes :)

we had FHE with anna... she is Ugandan..she was baptized 4 years ago and she is rock solid :)i love it. we watched the testaments with her and she was cryign when christ visits the people and she was like "he REALLY will come AGAIN." in her darling accent. i love these people.
and she's right. HE REALLY WILL COME AGAIN. SOON.

tuesday.

we met with ashley... SHE IS ON DATE FOR BAPTISM PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! IM SO EXCITED :)

my FIRST EXCHANGE...
dun dun dunnnnnnnn

its was great :) i went with sister wilson.. she is just about finished with her training so it was cool to just talk with her about that... we found a sweet new investigator for them when we were on exchanges.. AND got their investigator to commit to baptism... it was awesome :) miracles!

wednesday exchange back... went to service.. we play bean bag baseball with really old folks.. i love them.. and they are hillarious.
this was another day of walking around forever and feeling like we were dying. but were still alive so obviously we were fine

thursday district meeting... training on asking inspired questions... im bad at that cause i just respond to quickly to people.. i talk and ask questions that just come instead of pausing and thinking about it.. so thats what im working on this week.
thursday was the worst ever for WALKING. we walked and walked and walked... and so many people were not home and that really annoyed me. we found two potentials for other missionaries.. one Filipino lady and a YSA guy. solid.

friday. we call it fat friday cause we get to stay inside and plan for a few hours.. and munch on food...but healthy food ;)

gave cheryl (investigator) a church tour and when we were in the relief society room looking at the baptismal font we invited her to be baptized next month and she ACCEPTED. so that was crazy awesome to :) this area is HAPPENING!

saturday helped a lady in the ward move, met the duponts.. awesome family who has nerf wars all the time.. yes i played in a long wool skirt.. miracles.
met a few more of our investigators walked all over the city... got on the wrong bus.. we were super ticked cause then we had to walk FURTHER...... BUUUUUUT it was a miracle cause then we met crystal who was a former investigator from lethbridge who knew missionaries and we walked like 2 miles with her just talking and she was so excited to see us and wants us to teach her daughter :) so that was neat.  i did want to cry that day i was so tired though and my feet hurt and we literally walked all day. like i think we sat down for 2 hours that whole day including supper and one lesson. the rest was trying to contact people.
sunday was amazing. ammmmmmmmmmmmmmazing.

ashley came with all her kids all by herself

cheryl came

and like 5 less active families we are working with came :) it was PACKED. then we had a linger longer so EVERYONE was happy :) especially me :) and we have the car now so im especially happy :)

were going to dye hair today and go shopping so i must go.. still lots of people to write back!!!! :):)

i love you all i love love love you :)

love sister douglas

Leaves, Moose and the Northern Lights

hello hello hello OH MY HECK I CANT WAIT TO TELL YOU ABOUT THIS WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK. its insanity i tell you. pure craziness. but its good.

i THOUGHT i was busy when i was in the city last time... but this is crazy!!!

ok.. but from the begining.

so when i was still in drayton valley at the beggining of this week i might have forgotten to tell you that we saw FIVE MOOSE aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the NORTHERN LIGHTS. my life is officially complete. jk im still on a mission for the lord. not completed yet.. but it was pure joy i tell you. seeing the world in perfection. i cried in joy :) ha

ok so its been kind of a blur but its been a good TIRING blur.

so monday tuesday packing and cleaning and saying goodbye to my friends :( that was hard. but its good. wednesday transfer meeting. it was HUGE transfer and those are always fun seeing old friends and stuff.
my new companion ROCKS :):) her name is sister Gardner from crescent valley NEVADA. she rocks. seriously. and she rocks style too.

i have NO TIME TO DO ANYTHING. ever. we plan bucket load of things alllll the time. its a HUGE ward, and we had to plan plan plan and planning exchanges takes forever cause you have to line up your schedule with 5 other companionships and we only have the car HALF OF THE TIME.... so ya thats an adventure for sure. i love the sisters im over tho...
ok so for those of you who asked a sister training leader is like.. the girl version of a zone leader but only over sisters... btu their not in your zone really cause there are not as many sisters and they are kinda spread out and we just make sure they are doing good and help counsel them on some things they cant really talk to the elders about. so not really qualified to do that but i do my best. havent actually done it yet.. first exchange is tomorrow. im excited :)

this ward rocks. i love them already. its very big ward tho. thats weird to me haha.

we have alot of investigators to work with. i literally couldnt be sent to a more happening area.. i need to stay on top of things its a loooooot to think about and plan for and make sure goes well... the first three days i felt like my head was about to explode i had been thinking so long and so hard but my heart and emotions were tooootally calm and felt so peaceful about everything. and i sleep like a rock every night. its so crazy. i dont wake up till 5:30.. cause i think my body is used to daylight savings or something. but i can go back to sleep till 6:15. then i get up :P thats PROBABLY the hardest part of my whole mission. MORNINGs. ha.

we go running in the mornings tho :) i LOVE it :) i loooove it.

it snowed this week

like 5 inches
and its -15

hello edmonton. i see you.

we bussed yesterday and talked to a lot of people :) good and bad. there are sometimes alot of crazy people on the bus. hahaha

i really dont know what else to tell you...just send me questions and ill reply accordingly next week

DERYCK I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PROUD OF YOU AND HAPPY FOR YOU AND YOU ARE THE CUTEST 8 YEAR OLD BROTHER I EVER SAW!!!!!!!!!!!

i love you all so so much :)
love sister douglas

Amber and Sister Boyd

Bales

Crazy leap

Boss

Giddeys

Gord Bamford, country singer, acccepting a Book of Mormon

Judy and Ernie, the ones with the gorgeous farm

MMOOSE!!!

Palsky's

Zemp

Hello again!

can't resist

New companion

New District

Back to the big city

HELLO i love you :)

ok ok ok so first off TRANSFERS!!!

i have been called to be a sister training leader and i will be serving in the lakewood area and with sister gardner

a sister training leader is KIND OF like a girl version of a zone leader. kind of. we dont take stewardship calls but we go on a bunch of exchanges and we do lots of trainings at big meetings and stuff.

lakewood is literally the next door to ellerslie.. i think i live in the same apartment as ellerslie now hahaha

and sister gardner was one of the millwoods ysa sisters that i got really close with so I GUESS I COULD SAY IM EXCITED! :)

SO yes. change. big change.

this week was the hardest week of my life probably. in every way most unexplainable.

missionary work is painful and loving people is painful.

i got a blessing last night from brother palsky that was perfect and beautiful and just what i needed and i actually slept through the night last night, so THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER and for everyone that prays for me :) thank you.

we are getting white washed so there is a million and 1 things that we have to do and get organized. im sending you a package full of clothing and something that i need you to give to meri for her bday, and i just realized now that derycks bday present is going to be late to cause thats not in the package. so GREAT no one gets bday presents from me on time but thats just fine :D ha

i really have like no time to write.. im trying to think what happened this week

just lots of goodbyes... some tearful some not.

church was the best in the world yesterday. best ever. but it was hard.

amber bore her testimony. i cried. her mom was there too :) it was neat :)

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sister boyd is going to be home in 2 days.. thats weird to me. 

we have to go do laundry and shop and pack and clean and say good bye right now, so please tell everyone im sorry for not writing back its just getting really crazy really fast and i dont know when i will have time to write back really anyone!!!!!

coreen is progressing slowly

peggy and charlie dont really want to learn like at all

candice is investigating just in time for us to leave :) 

thats about all the investigators we taught

we found 2 new investigators for the new sisters through sing tracting :) it was cool :)

i love tracting. itll be fun to tract in the city again :) WINTER IN THE CITY. :P
all in all im doing alot better than i was last week. and the begining of ths week. im happpy and i feel more fresh and crisp than i did. more ready.

im nervous for my new calling but i know its from the lord. 

i really dont know what to tell you all sorry its so boring. i feel a LITTLE bit robotic this morning cause we spent like half the night talking and sister boyd poor sister boyd had like melt down and so has paul kruger eyes this morning... so im drained but ready to go.. but i need to run have too much to do!!! 

i love you so so sooooo much :)

love sister douglas :)

its 2 degrees right now..

we had the branch halloween party that we went to :) we dressed up as "baby sisters" in our onsie pjs :) i thought we were cute :) P and C came with S so that was soooo good :)

its 2 degrees right now.. i want all of you to just let that soak in right now

DEAR EVERYONE

i love you all so so much i could hug you all right now i miss you!

ok so this week

the suckiest i have ever had for "numbers" (as in reporting lessons and such)

for one reason or another this area has just come to a standstill it seems!! its like we ran out of people to teach but just a few weeks ago we couldnt handle all the work we were doing.. sooo thats annoying... but

"no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing...the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent."

i got the flu shot on tuesday. almost passed out i was so scared but i did it and was obedient to the council of President manion :)

we walked like 1200 miles on tuesday hoping to street contact, but it was to cold and we talked to 2 uninterested people.

I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARENT INTERESTED IN THE TRUE CHURCH. IN THE THING TAHT WOULD CHANGE THEM FOREVER. INT HE THING THAT IS CONSTANT IN ALL OF THE CHAOS. I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPLE CLOSE THEIR HEARTS. I DONT GET IT.

wednesday we went to lunch with sister bals and the elders investigator, L. it was an awkward but yummy lunch haha

we taught T (the referal from C who initially hated us) with sister giddey and it was alright. she doesnt want to INVESTIGATE but she says she'll check out church one of these days and she took a book of mormon. she is VERY QUICK to jump to negative conclusions and i just hope she'll "not cast the seed away by unbelief."

saw the palskys for supper and they always make me feel better. i love them. on sunday i saw sister warr and robin was there and we all hugged each other and jumped around like we were back in highschool or something haha :)

thursday it seemed that NOTHING happened EXCEPT MAHONRI came out to see us!!! it was so nice to visit with him at lunch :) we went to boston Pizza and it was GLORIOUS im not even gonna tell you how many pieces of pizza i ate but it was divino

we had the branch halloween party that we went to :) we dressed up as "baby sisters" in our onsie pjs :) i thought we were cute :) P and C came with S so that was soooo good :)

we had supper with C, a potential investigator and her 2 darling children. she is prolly one of the nicest people i have ever met and i love love love her kids.. she is engaged to a south african! who knew i would meet so many africans!!

she asked us to come back the next day and when we came back we met her fiance, jan (pronounced yan) and he is like legit africaans his accents is tooootally different than from what im used to but he was super nice and friendly, and then her MOM showed up who ASKED for a book of mormon cause she had missionaries in her home ages ago and loooove s them. we were so excited. candice and her family are suuuuper involved in another church right now tho and so were a lil anxious to inviting her to INVESTIGATE but we'll continue to soften her up and talk alot about the book of mormon.

we had a gong show lesson with C with sister bals. we drove all the way out there and C had forgotten we were coming and then when we finally got into the lesson she kept bringing things up that we thought we had already resolved with her and then she just disagreed with everything and sister bals was being snippety back at her and it was just a night mare, i was really down hearted about it because we were so hopeful for C.

we had stake conference which was nice :) lots of spiritual insights. i cant WAIT to be able to go to the temple more regularly. please take advantage of that sacred place :)

all in all i think sister boyd and i walked 52000000 miles this week and i am learning deeper and more heartbreaking lessons than i ever have experience with life and agency and the power to choose. In heaven i fought for that blessing of agency and i need to fight to sustain it.

i love you all.

i love you so so so much

the gospel is real and glorious and tangible. TASTE IT

love sister douglas

Jesus is the Christ and His atonement covers us. USE IT.

Dearest everyone that i love so much!!!!!!!!!!

blah blah blah

blah blah blah

blah blah blah blah blah blah BLAH. that was my week. haha :)

just kidding it was way better than a blah but i just dont really feel all that wordy today cause my head feels like a balloon about to pop ha. thank HEAVENS for the meds mom sent me. I LOVE YOU.

carrie had work off all week.. so we went over there as much as possible and can i just say THAT LADY IS AMAZING.. she was like worst of the worst druggies a year ago.. like on every kind of drug you can imagine and now she is like... she is like king lamoni or something. and she is so converted and sends us to her friends all the time and teaches so powerfully and moves me to tears everytime she talks about the gospel. we have been working with her kids A and L and  Lis preparing to become a deacon (which weirds me out that seth is older than L cause i feel like seth is still only 10 in my eyes.. he's my little brother.. dont grow up ever seth) but so we have been doign scripture challenges with him and i love it :)

G moved up to high prairie this week.. WAY UP HIGH NORTH

H one of my favorite people up here is so crazy and tries to do to much stuff and was overwhelmed and on top of that was trying to cover like 4 people at work and didnt have time to make her family suppers.. so we went during our lunch our and i made some LOVELY turkey soup... mom you would be so proud.. it was GOOD.

we went and visited H and her two darling children.. she is a member but the kids arent.. they both want to be baptised so bad and i know they will be soon. they are elect kids i tell you. so noble. their little eyes shine so bright :)

we had a do or die lesson with C... she is so stubborn that lady and she told us she doesnt want to learn the gospel unless she learns it from US. so i said then she really must not want to learn the gospel cause thats not what its about. its not MY work. its the LORDS and he will send whomever he wants to where ever he wants and its for the BEST. and she said... fine. so slowly but surely she will be converted. She sent us to a lady nameT this week. she told us a little bit about her life and sparing you the details.. it hasnt been a nice life... and she is looking for a church.. but she didnt know we knew that and when we knocked on her door she was rude and couldnt wait to shut the door.. the the spirit wouldnt let us leave so basically putting my foot in the door i just kept asking her questions about herself and what she was looking for and she kept shooting us down cause she had all these misconceptions about "mormons" and FINALLY she let us in enought for us to straighten out some of her false ideas and long story short she invited us back to drink "ice water" not tea or cofee haha.. and she then texted us the next morning about what time our church starts!!!! so that was cool :) i love people

G and M had their baby!!! they named him hyrum and he is so gorgeous... i could just kiss his little head but im not allowed to hold him :P rude.

we went to the P's little baby's bday party and met a bunch of philipinos and a german guy and had cool conversations with all of them.. but they all had closed hearts to change. :( its really frustrating to me cause all i want to do is change for the better.. and i feel like im not changing all that much and then people that i know can change and should change and would be SO MUCH HAPPIER if they would just TRY are closed to it.

i can only imagine the tears our father in heaven sheds for us if i cry this much for people i hardly know.

i love this gospel and i love these people so much. i love them so much i would die for them but i donthave to because someone way cooler than me and capable already did. all i need to do is testify of him.

Jesus is the Christ. and his atonement covers us. USE IT.

 i love you all

love sister douglas

to all the Cheerleaders

i want to dedicate this letter to all the cheerleaders in my life :3 ha.. im gonna be a cheeze ball today but i had a cool thought that im going to tell you about so just bear with me

giving someone support is an interesting thing. cause i dont really understand HOW it works i just know it does. i dont know HOW all the prayer and love and support from you all lifts me up so much, i just know it does
i dont know HOW heavenly father is able to bear us up, to lift us higher, to change our very natures... i know its through the ATONEMENT, i just know He does.

i was thinking about all of you. EVERYONE THAT SUPPORTS ME AND LIFTS ME HIGHER. for once i was thinking about all of you and not aching to see you again but just out of gratitude. and i thought about all the people HERE. the leaders and people here. president and sister manion, my sweet companions.... all of you and them have CHANGED ME SOMEHOW. and i dont really understand HOW that works... like what you all did to change me...you have prayed for me, i can feel them. you have loved me.. and I LOVE YOU :)

i thought about when i was in cross country, and all the cheerleaders our team had. all our parents and friends. i thought about how mom you came to almost every race, and dad you did to! you never could take away the discomfort i felt in the race, or make me run faster, but being able to look into your faces and seeing the pure BELIEF you had in me.. .and knowing i could do it, helped me believe that i could do it to.
thank you for believing in me.

and then i thought about Christ. how much he believes in us. how much he supports us. and i thought its so cool, cause i think that in the moment he laid it all on the line, when he was in that garden, we all watched. he had to feel alone... but i think all of us were hoping praying believing willing him on. and i love thinking that the way we live our lives now, is still showing our support for HIM, our COMPLETE BELIEF in HIM. because he DID DO IT. HE WON. HE CONQUERED DEATH. SIN. DESPAIR. FATIGUE. DEPRESSION. EVERYTHING. HE WON.

thank you for believing in HIM. and helping me to do the same :)

sooooo this week :)

it was pretty good. we had a TON of lessons fall through which was such a bummer but we still worked really hard and got alot done and saw alot of miracles.
some highlights:

-doing zombie makeup for carrie and marylou and kids

-teaching gina about prayer, and then her really praying

-helping kathy and kaylie can tomatoes, and them asking us LOADS of questions :)

-building a shed with paulette

-reading the book of mormon with denise

-meeting zachary, 10 year old down-syndrome boy, and making a new best friend :)

-having supper with the millers and laughing my head off

-getting the cops called on us cause they thought we were vandalizing the church.. OL

-teaching peggy and charlie.. ok not teaching cause I DONT SPEAK MANDARIN... but listening and seeing the gift of tongues literally.. for anyone that reads that dont think we speak in tongues as in a creepy way hahaha... two elders just taught a whole lesson in mandarin and they only studied it for 10 weeks.... so that was pretty cool. PEGGY AND CHARLIE AND OFFICIALLY INVESTIGATING AND READING THE BOOK OF MORMON :)

-supper with the currys.. i sure love them.

-tracting into marsha... who let us in despite being uninterested at first... and then watching the spirit change her mind and heart.

even tho we werent able to meet with EVERYONE we wanted to this week.... we were led to specific people this week and able to make a difference.

both sister boyd and i have been struggling and fighting to feel happy all the time.. which was usually a gift that came easy and naturally to both of us.. i dont know if its the weather hormones or the cold that we both have but man grumpiness and just feeling down in the dumps can nip you in the butt sometimes... but we found a cure...

HYMNS!!

you literally cannot sing some of those inspired tunes and feel sad.
you just cant :)

you guys i really know this church is true.

i know that Jesus is the Christ. i KNOW he loves us. and that love makes a DIFFERENCE. i know that through the atonement of christ ALL MANKIND MAY BE SAVED BY OBEDIENCE TO THE LAWS AND ORDINANCES OF THE GOSPEL.

i know he lives. he loves. he saves.

i love you!
love sister douglas

A, She got baptized!!!

this might be the longest email i write home cause SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED I LITERALLY CANT CAPTURE IT ALL.. but it has probably been the best/hardest week of my life. i say that all the time. but i MEAN IT. ha

dear everyone

first of all TARRYN IS A LITTLE HOTTIE BABE BRIDE and i am SO HAPPY FOR HER!!!!!!!!!!! :') she's is so beautiful and i AH im just so happy for her :)

poopy i just realized i forgot my old planner so i dont remember every little thing that happened this week.. good thing sister boyd has hers :)

ok....

so monday we met with A.. we were thinking before we went that we were gonna help her plan all the little details of her baptism yatta yatta yatta and when we get there she is so excited to give us something and what does she pull out but the PROGRAM FOR HER BAPTISM THAT SHE MADE HERSELF!! HA she just googled one and organized and planned the whole thing and mormon.org-ed all her questions!! hahahahah she is so crazy i love her :) 

oh and like 5 minutes before going to her lesson i had like a mental break down but i didnt ACTUALLY HAVE the time to cry so i felt like i GIANT BALLOON ABOUT TO POP and then it was like slowly deflated in her lesson. i love the spirit.

tuesday was celestial. oh it was perfect.

we woke up at 5 am... yes folks. 5 am. drove to the city watching the sunrise... sat at the feet of Elder Martino (from the quorum of the seventy) and we were taught wonderful things about being better missionaries and we set lots of goals to improve.. then we went to the temple and i LOVE the temple. ANNNNND in the celestial room i was able to talk to brother and sister wright from spruce grove!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he was our ward mission leader there :) and they said they really missed me and sister schofield and that we were the best missionaries they ever had .. hahahhaa i love them. and they told me that j v is getting baptized!!!! he was married to a member and investigated for like 3 years so that was GREAT NEWS :) then we talked to a lady named S from serbia at tim hortons and then drove home :) exhausted and happy

wednesday we met with A and J came with to help make sure everything was good to go :) they are such amazing inspired women and i love them

then with P a less active lady who i love and cant wait to see her back at church :) shes wonderful

then out to tomohawk... then back for supper to the strausbergs and then... THEN this miracle happened.....

we were TRYING to get out to B H's.. but i got us lost on a range road somewhere... and we were like WELLLLLLL we better make the most of it and knock on a few doors.... 

first door- no one was home

second door- rottweiler chased us... (they obviously arent ready for the gospel... ;) haha)

third door (this time we PRAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYED) annnnnd this girl answers the door talk to her for 3 minutes or so her mom comes to the door.. invites us in.. tells us she's from poland and catholic and has religious questions for us... 30 minutes later they are new investigators with a return appointment this weekend to teach their whole family.

pretty neat stuff.

what if we hadnt got lost? what if we hadnt stopped?

what if we didnt ask the questions we did?

so cool.

thursday we saw sister phipps and her cute lil Filipino babies :) and then helped P finish her shed (ill send pics) then out to see C our new investigator of LAST week.. and we were having a nice lesson about the holy ghost when the jehovah witnesses came to see her... ha AWKWARD.. but it really wasnt awkward we just left with a prayer and it was good and C still loves us and is learning well :)

had supper with the perretts and then on the way home from evansburg we got a call from president henriksen with a referal for us for a lady named Al ......

our plans for that night had fallen through so we were able to contact her that night and she asked us THREE TIMES that visit if we could come back and teach her whole family. THEY ARE SO PREPARED AND ARE TOTALLY GONNA BE BAPTIZED THIS TRANSFER

friday was insane.. cause we had weekly planning and the whole time i kept bursting into tears cause we were planning for a week that i wasnt even going to be here for, cause i was gonna be transferred so that was really hard and emotionally draining and i just kept thinking about tarryns wedding that i missed on wednesday and all that and i was so trunky so i just kept PRAYING and sister boyd helped me and hugged me and it was dramatic but hey we're girls and we have alot of peoples problems to deal with its STRESSFUL sometimes.... but we got over it and went to work and had an amazing evening seeing C and the W's and the C's and then H and her kids are now new investigators as well cause they aren't baptized and want to be and we taught them the plan of salvation and it was one of the coolest moments of my life watching them get it and love it :)

saturday

WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

YES A WAS BAPTIZED

YES 

YES 

YES 

YES

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and it was so BEAUTIFUL!!! and her whole family came from all over canada to support her and it was just so HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

like i dont even know what to say about it.. oh i gave a talk on baptism for her.. and it was great in my opinion haha :)

and she was just so happy

ill send pics of that to :)

then we went out the heilgers "cave" its a GIANT QUANSET and had the branch family barn dance and basically sister boyd and i should enter a virginia reel competiton cause we KILLED IT!!! haha :) SO FUN! oh ANNNNND on the way out there we saw THREE MOOSE!!! miracles

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND crazy side story

so sister boyd and i went early to set up the primary room with tables and chairs for treats after A's baptism and we looked out the window and in the parking lot was this cute little asian family just playing and laughing and we were like.. who the heck are they!??!?! and we looked at each other and then just booked it out into the parking lot to talk to them haha

and we met them and their names are (well their english names) p and c and s (she's 3) and they have only been in drayton valley for 3 months and we invited them to A's baptism and THEY CAME and loved it and had all these questions.. but their english is a little new and such and so we called the mandarin elders in the city and they talked on the phone for like 15 minutes and the dad  was SO impressed with the Elder's chinese he couldnt believe he had just learned it. and so skip forward to last night sister boyd and i went over to their house and they are the CUTEST PEOPLE EVER they have such a little asian apartment like chairs that are on the ground and little asian posters and i LOVE them!!! i want to go to china!!!

but so CRAZIEST lesson ever... they couldnt understand all that we say so we had to talk so simply and slowly and they asked questions and THEY WANT TO LEARN AND COME TO CHURCH AND SO THE MANDARIN ELDERS ARE COMING OUT HERE TO TEACH THEM!!!! and they are so excited..... ya. its insane..

so this week we got EIGHT NEW investigators and... oh shoot i havent even told you about J so crazy story about her too...

so the kinniburghs bring their friend j to like everything and she is the sweetest girl ever she is like my age and expecting and trying to get out of a bad scene and stuff so we havent ACTUALLY been able to meet with her to TEACH her but we have been working with her for a while and she is totally interested and wants to learn we just need to nail down a time.

now get this.

her last name is M and the people we tracted into.. the mom and daughters that let us in and let us teach them.....their names are R, N, and A... M. Same last name and J IS THEIR DAUGHTER!!!

their family is so hosed.. like heavenly father has us working with their family in two different places and we didnt even realize it!

HOW NEAT IS THAT!??!?! pretty neat :3

then sunday was so sweet cause H and her kids came to church and R loved it and she said the "holy water is so delicious." hahahah (she's seven :D )

and then we met with P and C, the asian family, so it was the best day ever! and i went around saying goodbye to a bunch of people like almost bawling my eyes out ..

only to find out this morning that

IM STAYING IN DRAYTON VALLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SISTER BOYD AND I ARE STAYING IN DRAYTON VALLEY!! SOOOOO i dont know what the heck is going on cause she goes home this transfer so when she is gone ill have to stay for at least one for to train the newbie to this area.. which means ill be here for 5 transfers... thats seven and a half months... that never happens.. but it IS happening :3 im so happy :) :):):):):):):)

so ya.

life is perfect

its so busy 

crazy busy... and ive almost reached my breaking point a few times this week as we have just go go go goooooo all day... and then never get enough sleep but the lord just leads us along and makes things happen and its HAPPENING! SO IM HAPPY :)

i love you all so much

the church is so true. it really is

miracles happen :)

i love you!

love sister Douglas

dear everyone

the library is acting up again YET AGAIN soooo i don't have as much time YET AGAIN. I'm at the palskys :) lovely palskys. and this keyboard is tiny so its hard to type on haha....

lets see i feel super scatterbrained cause I'm trying to be fast but lets see

this week......

much better than last week emotionally... soooo thanks for praying for me. i know it was cause of you guys. i also had interviews with president manion and those went really well and he told me he was really proud of me so that was really nice  to hear. dad, whenever i would get blessings from you you would say the lord was proud of me and i have missed hearing that... something cool happened...:

this week...

we had the musical fireside on sunday (which i shall talk about more later on) but as i was sitting listening to bro palsky playing the piano i tried really hard to listen to the spirit and i just smiled cause i was so happy and my mind was just cleared of everything i wasn't really thinking of anything in particular and then this sentence popped into my head 

"I'm proud of you."

so i don't need to hear it in a blessing to know that heavenly father is proud of me :) he just told me! it made me very happy.. but the quiet reverent happy that i usually struggle to understand. but i understood it :)

so I'm trying to think what all has happened this week. let me get out my planner.

we went out to the kesslers.. a family in our branch who i haven't been out there before and their house is gorgeous and i LOVE THEM!!! so cute :) so many people are just so inspiring

G, our new investigator is progressing well... we have met with her a couple of times and she is doing well, we're trying to help her and give her the support she needs as she is making a lot of big changes in her life really fast. but she has awesome fellowship and is doing really well

we saw J!! she voiced that the book of mormon is something she is really skeptical of and i can see why, when she has been raised in her church her whole life and told that everyone else is wrong and they are right... so her heart isn't exactly that opened........... so that made me sad... but she still loves US... and she sees a light in US.. so hopefully that will help that seed grow

we tracted the whole HAMLET of tomahawk and that went well we got a few potentials and boosted out spirits with our effectiveness

practiced and practiced and practiced singing for the musical fireside thing

had supper at the giddies.. man i love them!

interviews.. those were good :)

stopped by C's!! we found her sing tracting and she is WONDERFUL and gonna be the next relief society president when the branch in evansburg is created hahaha

had supper at a restaurant with the hewitts and strausbergs and then practiced singing some more with the currys and the currys sound like professional singers... they are glorious

A HAD HER BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW and she is soooooo excited to get baptized since!!!! so that is the best news in the world

the sun is back!!! its no longer winter.. just back to autumn :D

A is gonna be  baptized we're planning that this week

saw G and J man they are so stubborn

M had her baby shower and we gave her a book of mormon! hahaha we said "babes first book of mormon" on it haha.. hilarious

stopped by the tongans.. i have missed them.. they still haven't come to church tho :P i just wish there was a pill i could give to people to stop them from being so flaky.

"anti-flakiness: take every time you feel like you want to flake out"

i guess prayer works to ;)

sunday was one of the best days ever... just sooooo FILLING. sacrament was especially good. A was there and stayed the whole 3 hours and sister B  and i did singing time in primary so that was fun :) i like singing

The musical fireside was so well attended!!! over 20 people came who were non members . the chapel was filled!!!

D came and was just loving it. she said "i just feel like i know all these people!!" i can't wait to teach her about the plan of salvation haha :) i sure love that lady.. she asked if she could adopt me haha! i said..... well could i adopt YOU??? she said she would come live with us in utah... so ya ;)

so ya thats my week in a nutshell!

its been humbling and exciting. frustrating and exhausting, exhilarating and happy all in one. 

i will say this.. i think i am going to have to sleep for a whole week STRAIGHT just to recover from the exhaustion that NEVER GOES AWAY. like ever. people always try to help with sleep and stuff and give good advice.. I'm not struggling to get to sleep or stay asleep.. but i just never get ENOUGH!!! 

so ya I'm just really excited for this week. its going to be really full. tomorrow we have mission tour. a seventy is coming to talk to us for basically a whole day about cool stuff.. so ill take good notes and then we are going to the temple after. i am SO PUMPED TO GO TO THE TEMPLE. i love this temple .well i love all the temples.... edmonton will forever be so special and holy to me. especially so :)

I'm trying to think if there is anything else i should tellllll you.......??? a;ksldfj;alkdsfj;lakdsjsf

meh :)

i just love you all

and please accept my apologies of not writing everyone back... i just really don't have time today :( i will soon. next week? :D

i love you all

i pray for you

i love love love you

love sister douglas

Some photos from this week

Pranking the Elders

Sister B               

exchanges

exchanges

new sunnies from the dollar store

Hard week

Big storm

After the storm 

Clothing swap

                                             

This is how fast we've been going this week

it is SNOWING FOLKS!! a thick wet snow! whats funny tho is that it made me really excited cause it reminded me of being a little greenie in spruce grove and just giving it my all and i am just happy to be here.

although it was been a rough week.

Dear Everyone,

ha the weirdest thing is happening right now like,,, as i start typing to you i havent even said anything and i just start crying.. hahaha kinda like you know when you just hold it in hold it in and someone asks you "whats wrong?" and then you just burst into tears???? ya well thats happening over email haha.

so... this week.

ok.... so we had exchanges with sister H and it was so good... and i love her to the moon and back and i feel like.. like were just soul sisters ya know?? but it was also hard cause i just have been feeling so distant from everyone and everything and not really FEELING a whole lot of anything except little random moments of frustration but i was actually probably getting DEPRESSED and i was like "what the heck is wrong with me.. why am i not laughing at all these things that are hillarious and why am i annoyed all the time and whats with me falling asleep all over the place??" ya depression. please dont think that i am like really unstable... really it was neat cause i was able to figure out something was wrong... but when your feeling down in the dumps you gotta figure out WHY???? and what was bothering me so much was i DIDNT KNOW WHY.. i was just plain SAD!! and i cried alot.. and poor sister b was trying to help me.

so... i had this neat experience.

theres this lady in our branch that is kinda cookoo crazy and drinks alot and has the saddest life..like ever.. and pres. henriksen always asks us to go see her and i was annoyed because i didnt WANT to go see her and then i was more annoyed at myself for not wanting to go see her... and as we were sitting out side her house in the car i said the prayer and i asked God to give me charity for this lady... to love her, just love her.

and so she came out on the porch (it started to rain) she wasnt dressed properly, drunk as a dog, and SO SAD she just stood there and cried... her life is such a mess, and this lady (she's in her fifties, and has lost everything) just stands there and looks into my soul and says "thank you for loving me" and i loved her so much i wanted to just wrap her up and give her everything she every wanted... I STARTED to cry cause i just felt her pain this poor poor lady.. and all we could do was sing to her. we sang with tears streaming down our faces there is sunshine in my soul today.. haha... and she just bawled and hugged us.

as we were leaving the line from les mis came into my mind "to love another man is to see the face of God"..... 

more talks with sister B to try and figure out what is WRONG with me.... 

its just really painful not being able to HELP IMMEDIATELY. its painful to watch my BROTHERS AND SISTERs make STUPID choices. its painful to see humanity and i can understand now why GOD WEEPS for us.

i got a blessing from brother N... he didnt even ask me why he just gave me a blessing that was SO INSPIRED.

something he said was "those that be with you are more than they who are against you. be patient in peoples progress and patient in yourself and you are learning to love more deeply than you ever have." 

my HEART HURTS... its been rough guys.. not gonna lie.. i miss you lots. i still miss you. and to hear about kendal levine (Bron's good friend from High school who is currently serving a mission in Sydney AUS got hit by a car on Saturday and is in a coma)... man. i just wish i could do something. i wish i could hug you all! :) but thats ok

ill share with you what i shared at testimony meeting yesterday

"when i was in grade 10 my english teacher told me that i was a little bird because i was to scared to jump off the edge and i was never going to learn to fly if i didnt take risks. i have always been petrified of taking risks because i am so so scared of getting hurt. i hate hurting. there have been times when i have taken that risk.. and i have jumped.. and then i have gotten hurt, and then i have gotten angry and mad at the world and sometimes frustrated with God for not helping me FLY! i so badly want to just fly and never experience pain. i have come to see that we dont learn to fly just from jumping off the cliff... we learn from falling. because when we get hurt and fall we get the opportunity to have the savior pick us up dust us off and show us a better way. a man who was in the willy handcart company said  "I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.’”

He continues: “‘I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

“‘Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.’

i am thankful for the times that god has let me hurt. and let me cry. and i am grateful to have in those moments seen and felt angels around me and the love of the lord encircling me. 

my heart is aching but it is full. i love you guys. 

bah i havent even told you about the rest of this week!!!!!

ok so A is still planning on being baptized...she really really wants to know the book of mormon is true.. and i really really want her to know that she KNOWS THAT!!! she loves the book of mormon.. and she prays about it all the time.. and the church makes her so happy but she is waiting for like so BIG answer.... SHE'LL GET ONE it is miraculoous.. but its quiet you know/? so we have been talking alot about revelation. and G and M have really reached out to her and D which is awesome :) A DID read a bunch of anti crap.. which scared me for a sec.. but she is to smart and to intune and it hardly phased her. we warned her that the advesary is going to try and stop her from getting baptized... so she knows to stay strong

ummmm what else what else... oh the stake president came out to tell us were 13 people away from becoming a ward but he upped the number to 34 for a good comfort space.. so thats exciting.. we are gonna make it happen.. gotta find some FAMILIES!!

OK I REALLY dont know what else to tell you.. i feel like i word vomitted at the beginning of this email.. and all i really want is to talk to my mom but i cant so that sucks

the church really is true and that really is a great fact that should make anyone happy!!!! the world spins madly on and we keep working on and the Lord is working with us.. which is comforting and exciting.. great things are happening all around the world and we are apart of it!!!!!!!!!!

i love you

love sister douglas

Transfer week

I believe that any kind of big change.. like transfers, creates big holes in the veil. because we NEED the angels on the other side to help us, or maybe its not even to help us but to be there and be something constant when everything else is changing.

so YA!!!! sister W my best friend is leaving me for the city. haha RUTHERFORD is where she's off to :) she'll be great :) AND I GET SISTER B!!!! :):):) i just went on exchanges with her last transfer and it rocked so im super pumped... all though she is going HOME next transfer and i have never "killed" a companion before so it should be interesting especially since its only one transfer together.. which makes it hard to spec whats going to happen after... i could train after which would leave me here for 7 and a half months which is rare... so prolly not... so ill be with another companion for only 6 weeks and then be booted out... so thats whats happening!!!!!!

THIS WEEK.

so before i even start TRYING to explain just know that there ARE NO WORDS for this week. some things happen that i dont even know how to explain but i know i need to try so i can remember how sacred this week has been

so lets see.....

monday had supper with the P's :) yummy filipino food :) then went to the N's to practice the piano and we ended up getting into a spy battle with the elders and it was hillarious and i might have actually peed in my pants. for real. i was mortified but then i just laughed.

also by the way we practiced singing and practiced and practiced singing this week and it was cool because EVERYTIME we sang it brought the spirit :)

tuesday built a deck.. i sent those pictures i believe :) emailed... had a picnic with sister P :) lesson with C  and then out to S's to say goodbye (there were lots of goodbyes for sister W this week.. goodbyes are hard) (but also goodbyes kinda make your heart raw and your soul just gets put out there and the coolest things happen because of it)

wednesday we had a lesson with A, and she brought up baptism on her own :) she's really considering it.. really praying about it.. but she wont be put on date because of how worried she is about it right now.. which is confusing to me because she already LIVES the gospel... her husband D said she should be baptized to so that was cool :) she'll get there :) then we went to the P's and talked about the doctrines of the kingdom :) hahaha coolest convestations happen there :)

thursday we had ZTM (zed tee em) (haha) which was suprisingly amazing.. well not that it was suprising that it WAS amazing it was just ESPECIALLY amazing.. and we learned alot about asking inspired questions and sometimes that just means that we just ASK questions and stop thinking so hard about them. and we learned so much about being better teachers just by trying to be more like christ. i was filled :) sister W did fantastic on the piano :) i turned the pages ;D

then we went to the tongans for a big bbq in sister W's honor.. haha we invited the elders... and i just got hashed on by S the whole time.. which i take as a compliment cause he teases all his friends.... he said he would come to church and we made a lot of good contact with H's wife, J, who has grown up catholic her whole life and she had loads of questions for us :) and the food was delicious and we played soccer and rugby so it was like the best night ever basically :)

friday we had lunch with J(she's S's niece, who is also 7th day adventist) and so we had lunch and talked about our church and how its organized and she prepped us for church on saturday (cant wait to tell you about that) then practiced singing again then to a lesson with A and C came.. but Am wasnt there so that was a bummer and we are hoping that everything is ok.. but im starting to think that everything is not ok... and i want to help SO BADLY... but we can only help the people that want to help themselves.. or who want change.. everyone else just wont. we still had a cool lesson with C regardless and Ame (her daughter) helped us with the lesson which was a big deal :)

supper at the K's and then jet to a volleyball night at the church which morphed into giant beach ball head butting ball and then into crab soccer which morphed into us all dying of laughing rolling on the ground... J and D were there AND R :) so it was awesome :) good contact.. and the P's totally became bffs with J andD .. i sense some serious potential there.. but even if they never end up getting baptized i still have made LIFE LONG friends with them.. i love them so dearly.. and they pinky swore to come visit me in utah and J made me promise to take her to conference to see the mormon tabernacle choir (how cute is that!!) best night ever... i was pooped tho.. hard work.. playing hard ;)

saturday we went to church with J and D.. that was awesome.. i learned alot about prayer :) it was neat. still felt the spirit and the people were so good :) theres only a handful of them tho.. like 12 members TOPS. we totally doubled the numbers that day. but it was good. and i recognized a bunch of their hymns. like how great thou art, how firm a foundation, and be still my soul :) awesomeness :)

then we went to sis S's, G and j's, M's, and S's.. full night, full hearts

SUNDAY WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. no joke...

sooooo we had gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before because we were up all night cleaning and packing and writing and talking and crying and then freaking out because we hadnt planned the lesson for sunday school or made a progress record for branch coorelation.. so we did that.. LONG NIGHT.

but meetings were good.. i could barely breath i was so nervous to sing because it wasnt just normal singing i was harmonizing acapella singing high tenor.. like an OCTAVE HIGHER then everyone else.. but we practiced and bro palsky gave us a good pep talk..

A came WITH HER MOM!!!!!!!!!!! (BIGGEST DEAL EVER PEOPLE)

SISTER B came with her daughter (havent seem them in 3 months)

S CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!1 (wearing his lava lava (sp?) and everything :) )

J and D came (totally blended in with everyone and talked with everyone and are my favorite :) )

R and S r came :)

p came

K (n neighbor potential investigator) came

half the congregation was either returning to activity members or non members.. and my heart was full it was going to burst and i was just begging heavenly father the whole time "PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEASE LET THEM FEEL THAT THIS IS TRUE.. help the feel it.. guide the speakers guide the music open their hearts.. PLEASE!!!!" and he did! :)

the song went great :)

sunday school was PROFOUND.. like... the spirit was just like WAB WAB WAB in the room and S TALKED and started crying and he says he's coming next week and j and D all talked and it was amazing and we all cried.. and the scripture came to mind matt 18:20 where 2 or 3 gather in my name, there will I be also..

Christ was there that day.. we all felt Him, we all found Him. it was absolutely blindingly brilliant and wonderful and i couldnt contain it.

after it was all said and done and people were leaving i was standing in the hall saying goodbye to everyone and brother G made eye contact with me and as he kept walking said "its happening" i felt like it was a prophesy. it IS happening. THE WORK AND GLORY of the Lord was being unfolded in front of our eyes that day. it HAPPENED and its continuing to happen.

SO right after church we went to the N's for lunch and J and D and her parents all came and we did bible study which was just MORE manna from heaven... after they left i was just thinking sitting there and brother N came and started talking to me and then everyone joined in and i learned so MUCH about my relationship with my savior and WHAT actually seperates me from him is not so much my flaws and imperfections but my pride.. my 'do it myself" attitude, and my need for constant perfection was just wearing me out.. i'm slowly learning that i dont need to be perfect, and it doesnt need to be all that painful to recognize weakness and acknowledge flaws, i can be CONTENT in the process of change, and also be anxiously engaged in a good cause with out burning out. like in running im no longer focused on winning and being THE best.. but on my PACE and running MY best. (which is actually disgustingly hard to do because PACE is about running smarter not running harder, and sometimes we think "am i giving my BEST cause you COULD run faster but you also have to be SMART!!!! its very dificult) but i learned that just like in running i could make eye contact with my coach... and he would validate my pace or encourage me to go harder... and coach wouldnt kick me off the team for having a bad race...

my coach is christ and he has already won the race for me.. he was WON im not racing to win.. im racing for experience.. and for the refining life gives, and christ runs with us.. coaching us the whole way.. pushing us,,, calming us, sometimes carrying us. he is there.

my heart cant contain the light i have gained in the past 2 days..

to top it all off the sunset was like 2 hours long because of all the smoke and it bathed drayton in golden light all night and i felt like i was laboring in the city of enoch.

i dont know what else to say... (ive written a TON haha) but yes :) thanks for reading the novel i wrote.. i hope all of you can hopefully learn from the sweetest i have learned :) i figured that all the blood sweat tears heart ache and all the crap we have trudged happily through was made all worth it with just one day of seeing the fruit of our labors.. i think thats what the tree of life tastes like

i love you

love sister douglas