The church is TRUE. YA

Soooooooooooo. Wow. I dont even know WHERE to start how to express in words to you the..... miraculous week that we have had.... from day 1 of this week it has been a whirlwind. a whirlwind of emotions, of energy, of willpower, of heavens grace, of answers to long sought after prayers, miracles, friendship (finally!) love, and hope, and despair, and.... there's a man here in the library that looks like he needs the computer really bad... hold on.....ope one opened up :D hooray. ANYWAYS.....

I don't even like writing about all of this because nothing can do it justice... you cant explain a mission in a homecoming talk.. you cant explain it in emails home.. you can't write about it in your journal enough to capture the HEAVEN you experience out here... you just CANT... its like the veil.. lol.. if babies could tell us about heaven then there would be no faith.. for all you out there that are contemplating going on a mission... JUST DO IT... no one can experience it like you can... no one can explain WHY you need to go.. no one can express the way your heart feels when you look someone in the eyes and they say they want to be baptized and you know that's the best decision they will ever make... no one can explain to you how exhausted and frustrated you will be everyday and then no one can explain to you how tenderly and lovingly Heavenly Father uplifts you and encourages you and holds you and tells you everything will be FINE. NO ONE CAN TELL YOU OR EXPLAIN TO YOU OR SHOW YOU. Only YOU can experience it. Do it.

Anyways ya... I love it out here.. I ALMOST gave up this week.. I wanted to come home.. I stomped my feet and bawled and then just went to work and I KNOW I need to stay....

sooooo...... we got 6 new investigators this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we have a teaching pool of like... 19 people!!! I'm kinda at max capacity right now and we are going to have to pass over some people cause I really am just being honest when I can not handle preparing for that many people a week... but we are going to get SIX more investigators this week... It'll happen.. I was reading in Ether when Moroni talks about how the brother of Jared moved a mountain... BECAUSE OF HIS FAITH he said to the mountain be ye therefore removed... and BOOM it was removed...... our fear and fatigue was a MOUNT EVEREST this week and through our faith we said GET ON OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!! then the Lord just made our success explode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have to tell you this story, I don't have to time to tell all of them but I'll give you 2 of my favorites from this week.

We were tracting for THREE hours the other day.. very tiring but it was warm outside so perfect... knocked on this guys door and it was like getting hit in the face by pot! He was pretty high haha... but we had an interesting conversation.. just asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. Nope. Believed in God? Nope. Believed in ANYTHING? UMMM... maybe... we asked if we could share a message with him that was from Jesus Christ? Nope. so I just goofily said "K what if
God comes to you in a week or so and asks you why you didn't listen to the crazy girls he sent your way because the message they had to share with you will CHANGE. YOUR. LIFE.!?!?!" and he just gave us the funny look and was like... well I guess I'm in trouble then cause I'm really not interested but thank you. So, we left.... 6 hours go by and then we get a call from some Elders in our zone:

" hey sisters were you by any chance tracting around *** today??"

"uh ya why??" Than we hear him say to his companion "it was them!" He gets back on the phone and says,"we were at the church tonight for a scouting activity and the phone in the hallway started to ring so they answered it. the guy on the other side said "hey this is K, there were two girls who came to my house today and wanted to help me know that there is a God, I was REALLY rude to them and I was wondering if you could send them back over here. I have Social Anxiety and just before they came I was QUESTIONING GOD! I was amazed by how insanely positive they were and how happy and excited they were to talk about what they believed even thoughI  kept shutting them down. I feel really bad. Can they come back?"

So...... long story short he is  a ysa so I went to the passover lesson with the ysa sisters... he is taking the discussions, referred a couple of his friends... they are all learning together and the church is true. ya.

Another tracting story...his name is A. He was Presbyterian converted to Lutheran and then quit that because no one could answer his questions... He is from the congo, speaks french and has a phd in  theology!! He has been SEARCHING for truth his whole life and it came knocking on his door! He is reading the book of mormon LOVING IT and wants us to meet with SIX of his grandchildren to teach them what we know.. they are all french so we wont be the ones teaching them. The french elders will be but, it was a MIRACLE!!!

A AND M AND N are all getting baptized in April.. and then A our new investigator is getting baptized in May and then there are 2 more people that should be on date this next week... this area is exploding.. and I'm running out of time.. Tell everyone I love them oh so much more than I will ever be able to say :) I love love looooooove you!!! and I miss you!
love Sister Douglas

Princess Nora

Hello my lovelies

What a turn around from last week! last week i was crying most of the time i was writing this and now i just cant wait to tell you all the things that have been happening here. thank you for your prayers i KNOW that is why all the miracles are happening.

soooooo sister B got a weird infection on her hand that we had to get taken care of quickly this week which was Heavenly Fathers way of giving us some time to catch a breather... we have been running 100 mph it seems like trying to meet with everyone and talking with everyone and making enough contacts and still meeting with members and dr appointents and calls and cleaning and meetings... absolutely crazy.. i felt some of my Comfort Inn skills come in as i had to manage phone calls and appointments... i have never been one to be very organized but BOY can we snap it into gear and jam it all in when we need to.

on friday we had zone conference which was SO INSPIRING you could tangibly feel the presence of angels in the room

president has called for higher goals.. more numbers and more baptisms... he has set the standards for our mission and when i first saw the numbers he expected my jaw dropped... he wants us to get 6 new investigators a week which means we have to have 6 quality discussions with different people everyday... which means we need to go finding and tracting more than we are and he wants to have EVERY investigator lesson in members homes. now i would have normally said.. dont be ridiculous that is crazy... but heavenly father the week before had shown us that those things were possible... so we have gone to WORK these past 4 days and we have done it!!!!!!! ok i shouldnt say we have done it.. with heavens help we have done it. our goals are higher than i ever thought we would ever set and a part of me is gasping for breath and hoping we can do this but there is a being inside me that is getting stronger every day that sings "WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!!!!! thats why we are here is to bring people to Christ!!"

now let me tell you some amazing news i could just cry im so happy

The mother and daughter from sudan... the mom is married to a man that i cant remember his name cause its so different but he says we can just call him brother lam... haha well the mom has always been hesitant about baptism and we have had a hard time teaching her because of the language barrier but  her 9 year old daughter would get baptized tomorrow if we let her.. she is SO EXCITED TO LEARN!! welllllllll the 9 yr old went to activity days and the lady who took her (whom i love by the way... and they might come stay with us during conference when i get home because i love their family so much) wellllll when she dropped her off she started talking to the mom and told her about church and that she would take her daughter to church and the mom said well actually i was thinking about going to!!!!! so mom and daughter said they would come to church so we saved them a spot and then GUESS WHO ALL CAME!?!?!?!??! THE WHOLE FAMILY!!!!!ALL SEVEN OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!  ;) oh i love them all) and the whole family came to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! brother lam was so intrigued by the lessons in church (we talked alot about prophets) that he committed to take the lessons and come to church every week! and he downloaded lds tools on his phone and was so excited he could have the bible and the "Mormon bible" on his phone to study all the time...the nine year old is tearing through the book of mormon.. shes already in ENOS!!! ya... she is legit!

THENNNNNNNNNNNNA and M came to church as welllllllll!!!!!!!! and they are going to be baptized in april!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love them so much and i just cant wait to teach them more... like A is the best ever she is plowing through the book of mormon and writes all her questions down for us to answer when we come by and even does these additional study questions from the pamphlets that we give her.. she is so awesome :) and M  is only 13 years old but he is just eating everything up and loving learning so much.

oh i need a nap. im trying to figure out that balance of doing all i can do and not running faster than i have the strength..  i really think the harder the work the more lessons we will have... and not that we are busy bodies doing pointless things and stressing ourselves over nothing.. we are anxiously engaged in a good cause.. in the best cause and yes it is draining.. but it is so fullfilling.

i pray for strength every hour it seems, and every minute there are miracles on our right hand and on our left.. some day im going to be able to paint a picture of the way i feel or somethng to some how express the beauty of the exhaustion and work that goes into the salvation of souls... i cant imagine being the prophet... whew that would be so tiring haha... or like... Ammon!! he served his mission for 14 YEARS!!! i would die lol.... but i want to serve till forever actually... not just now :)

oh i love this :)
i love you all! i love love love you all :) and i miss you
love sister Douglas :)