Spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went for a run.... in the lovely spring weather.. ha

I love my hoodie

 

I love these sisters

hello all my lovlies!! how i LOVE you all :)

i dont have much time to email today... due to it being on TUESDAY and all... canadians LOVE long weekends so any excuse they have they extend the holiday... kinda fun.. but not for all us missionaries.. sorry about that, anyways.....

SPRING IS FINALLY HERE!!! its like... actually warm outside.. yesterday i took my shoes off and played ultimate frisbee on the grass and my toes didnt even get cold!! it was heavenly...

sooooo due to times sake im gonna do some bullet points of things that i have to tell you about that happened this week... they are not necessarily in order but just that comes to my mind..

- C and K and family did not come to church even tho they said they would :/ and it was even when elder christopherson was here so that was kinda a bummer BUT we had technological difficulties the WHOLE time... and so it might have been a good thing they werent there... but the meeting was amazing despite us only hearing half of it (we were in the overflow chapel about 20 minutes away and we didnt get much of the broadcast..) but we said a prayer and as soon as elder christopherson started talking.. we got video and audio.... afterwards it went back to just being audio,.. it was kinda neat sitting in a chapel FULLLLLLLL of people just bowing our heads and listening to the words of our leaders.

- N brought her cousin with her to church.. her name is C... ANNNND she wants to be baptized!! it was the cutest thing.. she just turned around at church and was like... "sister douglas... are you an apostle???" hahahahha i was LIKE..."NOOOO.." HAHAHA and she said" wellllllll you teach like the apostle and he was talking about being baptized.. will you help me get baptized?"

that i can do C.. that i CAN do and will do and im SOOOOO excited for her :):) oh she is so smart!! SHE'S READ THE WHOLE BIBLE.... NO JOKE! AND SHE'S 11!!! crazy africans!! ;)

-i got another haircut... >:I it was against my better judgment but i still did.. cause she was a fancy hairdresser and did it for free... i look like the lady from tron. not impressed... im not sure what to do with it.. and i dont think ANYONE will talk to us cause i look like an alien...... but thats not really important.. just know i prolly wont be sending pictures for a while cause i dont want anyone important to see my hair like this... BLECK

-we are officially bus riders now!?!? :D well only on mondays and thursdays.. but we are going to have such fun with this adventure everyday... so far its alot more complicated than you would think... cause you have to schedule in time to WALK to the bus stop have a lesson and then walk back to the bus stop and then make sure that aligns with the bust SCHEDULE... its kinda crazy.. and then if we have to get to certain areas of our area... we have to take 2 buses to get there and sometimes the overlay of time is alot so we have to go tracting in between.... which really isnt that bad.. we'll figure it out :)

-im feeling so happy... i think.. well ill explain kinda a little bit what i feel..sometimes

when we go to lessons i can be ... the most happy person in the world.. and i like the kind of person that i am.. i am bold and out going and i feel like i can teach well.....THEN... we leave and we go drive somewhere else and then it HITS you like a ton of bricks how UTTERLY exhausted you are... and so thats when im not the happiest but im pretty good at going up down up down and being happy when i need to be.. and PEACEFUL in the other times... but for the most part i think i am happy and well.... and when im not i am just thoughtful and introspective which isnt BAD..its just new for me... ACTUALLY not really.... i would do that lots... people just SEE me as this really outgoing crazy girl... when REALLLLLLLY im all sorts! im shy sometimes... im quiet sometimes.. im moody like all the time and sometimes im grumpy BUT the beauty of it all is that i have peace! i know God loves me and im doing my BEST to share that love with everyone so im happy with who i am....i mean i still gotta work on some things... but im not down on myself because im flawed.

-i am amazed at how much STUFF missionaries are expected to handle... ok not handle but is thrown at us.. like peoples lives can be so crazy and sometimes we just think we need to SORT THEM OUT!!! sometimes i want to scream at people and be like 'IM ONLY NINETEEEN!!! HELLLLLOOOOO!?!?!? I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!!!!!!" and then the spirit quietly whispers "you dont NEED to know how to give marriage counseling.. you dont NEED to teach them how to stop doing drugs.. or how to help them find a house or friends or family or any of that... TEACH THEM THE GOSPEL... the GOSPEL will help them"

and thats what im going to do for the rest of my life. i dont know how im going to sort out most of the problems i encounter except by living the gospel.. and i know that they will be sorted.

this is a long email for the amount of time i am short of.. wow im so impressed with myself!!!

but i gotta quick respond to some other people so this is it for me! i love you all!
the church is SO true.. it just is. its good. its great. its worth it. and i love it!

i love yoU!!
love sister douglas

no longer "just surviving"

dear everyone :)

i feel like last week i finally had seen the light at the end of the tunnel... and now looking back at this past week i feel like from the begining it was a little rough and then i sped quickly OUT OF THE TUNNEL AND INTO THE LIGHT!!!!

I'M BACK. the real me is back. i'm here in ellerslie. i'm invested. i'm real. i'm a person. i'm flawed but that does NOT stop me from giving everything i have and FEELING everything.. the up and down the high the low the hard the easy the fun the boring the SPIRIT!!!

im committed!!! (haha dad everytime i say that i LAUGH ;) )

so like i said the beginning of the week was a little rough, still kinda felt in the rut....still down on myself and like thursday we got NOTHING done... we DID volunteer at this little old age home.. and i met a guy from Pretoria!!! i recognized that he was from south africa because he told one of the nurses "foot sac!!" except i have no idea how to spell that in afrikaans, but we had a nice chat.. i mean as good as it can get when your talking to a crazy person.. but it was fun :) i also fed a lady some wine.. first time for everything right? haha :D

we had a lunch with the bonds a part member couple in our ward... he is like a proffessional chef and he made this seafood chowder.. im not even kidding you it was the best soup i have ever had in my life... like enough to write home about.. and then giant fluffy biscuts... it was SO GOOD.. my companion doesnt like seafood though... so that was funny. ha.

ummmm what else... OH!! WE GOT 4 NEW INVESTIGATORS!! just goes to show that when you put your heart into things... you have success!! i know that investigators arent always the case... but actually most times yes it is...

annnnnd the same family that got us 3 new investigators in one... that family is a family of 8.. lots of little kids :) ALLLLLLLLLLLL OF THEM CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!! i thought my face was gonna crack i was smiling so big :) we sat with them through sacrament and all the kids were SO GOOD like quieter then every body ELSES kids... the dad DID spill his coffee lol... EMBARASSING ;) nah it was no biggie.. we'll teach em word of wisdom one day. they are so prepared.. we LITERALLY met them on thursday and they came to church that sunday.. so cool
that SAME day we got another new investigator named J :) she just let us in.. let us teach her.. and asked if we could meet weekly! her aunt has a book of mormon. i love seeing that WE arent the ones finding them teaching them and then seeing them baptized... like there is a WORLD of preparation that goes on and THEN we come in... and then we LEAVE.... like we are just here for A MOMENT.



and now i cant write any more cause my head just exploded I AM SO HAPPY. THIS GOSPEL THIS LIFE THIS CHURCH HEAVENLY FATHER'S PLAN... OUR DETAILED LIVES ARE SOOOOOOOO WATCHED OVER SO TAKEN CARE OF.... ITS SO PERFECT. SO FLAWLESS WITH EVERYTHING... like.. EVERYTHING WILL WORK OUT. it always does always will and we can be infinitely happy in moments of trial if we are obedient and lean on HIM.

I LOVE LIFE.

i love it

i love EVERYTHING :) this is great. its the hardest thing i have ever had to do... and i have done some pretty hard things before... but its the best in the world

SO ya :) working hard. putting everything i have into this. loving my companion.. we have so much fun. loving the ward. loving my area.. and loving that it will get hard again, i know it... but thats ok.

well i gotta to jet theres people waiting for me... what a lovely day

k i love you all!!!!!!!!!!!

keep hoping keep working hard i love you
love sister douglas