A hard week

i think this week has been the hardest of my whole mission so far. but blessings have abounded... (is that a word? :D)

im learning to get thicker skin... i have never been spoken to soooo rudely this week... lots of anti mormons have been encountered... BUT something i learned in the MTC is that if opposition increases?? it means we are doing something RIGHT. so we are definately doing right over here! haha :)

lets see... some crazy cool things have happened though :) it was warm warm WARM for like 4 days in a row which was lovely for street contacting and it makes people more open to listening when we are standing on their porch... but it also makes the roads a little bit of a challenge.. haha we got stuck like 10 times a day....and my boots have salt water stains :( but maybe it makes them look more vintage.. ahha thats what i tell myself anyways

im making friends with some of the families in the ward... aw man.. the martins.. i LOVE THEM they are from england and they will do anything for us at the drop of a hat... they are WONDERFUL and lovely :) and i love love love them.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU i MADE CONTACT WITH CATHE MULLER!!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE the day after you asked about her i was thinking about how its almost impossible to find her cause i dont even know what ward or anything she would be in... and we were at dinner at some members houses and i mentioned that my mom is from south africa and she said.. oh i know a south african... she lives in the lakewood ward.. muller i think her last name is.. and i wasw like WHO WAHT WHERE WHERE DOES SHE LIVE WHO IS SHE I KNOW HER I NEEDED TO FIND HER! and then we got her number and i CALLED her :):):)) annnnnnd we are going to go visit her soon and drink bush tea :D haha... can i just say i love and miss hearing that accent. so that was super cool :)

were getting the families in the ward.. (well at least trying to ;D) more excited about missionary work... so we have been working on lessons that even little little kids could understand and love... so like remembering principles of the lessons with handsigns and songs and things like that

umm what else has happened this week....

oh.....

something not all that cool.

we got a flat tire...
and no one could come help us for like 40 minutes..

i figured out how to do that jack all by myself and i remembered dad told me to loosen the lug nuts BEFORE the jack goes up... so i was pretty proud of myself... finally someone came to help us.. bless them. it was bro. redoy a recent convert, is so so cool. actually let me just tell you about him and his mom, eena. so eena and her NINE kids came to canada from a little country in south america after her husband died, and then 20 years later missionaries found john... one of her sons.. he lives with eena now.. adn they will feed us whenever we dont have a supper.. and LAST NIGHT we went over there and she made the funniest food i have ever had... but it was actually delicious... it was sardines and eggplant and potatoes on rice.... HAHA and then she offered us mullet... i think thats how you spell it but john was like no no mom they wont like it.. and im glad cause it still had their eyes and everything and i really didnt want to eat fish eyes...

but eena is the cutest little lady ever and she.. man... we gotta get her to church.. shes like already a member ya know?? and john is just eating up all the stuff we have been sharing with him.. he reads the book of mormon everyday and hands out the pamphlets on the bus hahaha

so ya he helped us with our flat tire... which will be fixed tomorrow... we have to drive around on a donut for 2 days... not really sure thats the best idea in the world but we do what we can do!

hmmm lets see what else......

we had 10 lessons with less actives this week..
oh my goodness i need to tell you this story!!!!!!!!!!!!!! laura!! i love her! she is a less active that has been inactive for over 20 years and no one had even met her yet and so we stopped by... no answer... but the door was open? so we waited and waited and rang and rang... finally we got a clue... we could HEAR PEOPLE IN THE BACK YARD! hah sooooooo we just skipped our way to the back door and lo and behold there was a fence and when we peeked THROUGH THE FENCE.... we could see a lady and there was a DOG THE SIZE OF A COW.. SPOTTED LIKE A COW AND SOUNDING LIKE A COW/// this thing was HUUUUUUUUGE/.... and then he saw us and started galloping over to us.. like charging us and i almost peed my pants cause he was sooooo huge and he ran up and barked right in our faces... cause ya know he could see OVER the fence he was so tall......hahah

but it was good cause then laura was laughing and she let us in and she told us she hasnt had ANYONE from the church over for like ever!!! and we just made friends with her except lazerus... her dog.. he HATED us and kept barking and keep in mind this is a HUUUUUGE DOG LIKE GREAT DANE MIXED WITH A COW dog.... so barking is like like the whole house was shaking.... annnnd we couldnt really share anything with her cause he kept barking so finally i was like... WHAT can i do to make him like us laura?? and she started alughing and was like there is only one way and your not gonna like it... and i was like.. tell me we gotta get this done... we gotta make friends with this dog... and sooo

she gave me a dog treat... and i had to hold it IN MY MOUTH FOR HIM TO TAKE.... (they treat lazerus like a little baby or something haha) but....I HELD THE DOG TREAT IN MY MOUTH.. MORE THE HUGE COW DOG THAT HATED ME, TO TAKE FROM. MY. MOUTH. TWICE. i did it twice... cause i wanted camera proof lol

so now he loves us.

hahah. suuuuper cool.

another amazing thing.

this one is more spiritual.

marlenis.. our new investigator.. the one i tapped on the window... we had a lesson with her today (yes even on pday.. it was the only day she could meet) and we brought with us courtney from our ward who was sooooo perfect for the lesson.. like... holy cow... both of them needed the lesson... and then courtney shared some profound things and then basically bore witness of prayer and how marlenis could pray to know if all of this was true and that if she listened to here heart she will feel the spirit telling her it is true.... it was the most powerfull lesson ever.. like its like you can feel the spirit littlerally just in everything.. in the air!!
and i am SO HAPPY.. everything is worth it..
through all these trials that sister halverson and i have been going through we have been getting to know each other so much more.. so well. like i feel like she is my best friend already... and i know that going through these hard things together and supporting each other has been what we needed to make us more unified than we ever could and so quickly so that the more people we come in contact with we can teach them so well TOGETHER. i know there are more people here in ellerslie.. tons of them that are just WAITING to hear what we ahve to say to them... and all they need is the invitation to come!! but i gotta knock on a million doors to find em and take a bunch of criticsism to find the one... but its worth it. so worth it
why do i do this??
why do i get up before the sun everyday, why do i walk through slush and ice... and freeze my face and fingers off?? why do i talk to everyone even when they are mean?? why do i work as hard as i can EVERY HOUR? WHY DO I NOT QUIT WHEN ITS HARD??

because i love jesus christ.
i have been called as his representative. he needs me. i love him and he loves me and he LOVES these people. he LOVES THEM SO MUCH and i love them.
thats why.

this is his church... his work and his glory is missionary work. its the salvation of souls... "bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"

catch the vision of that...!!! catch the wave!! be a part of HIS WORK.

i love you all so so soooo much and i miss you!! ill see you soon!
love sister douglas