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

Weeding at the wedding

Dear everyone :)

this week was reallllllly sweet. like. tripple dog dare lightning sweet. hah.

im so bad at journaling and so i cant even remember it all and i only have like 30 minutes to do this all before the library closes soooo lemme see

MONDAY: we did hair and and board games with r :) stayed there for alot of the day... HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I LOVE HER???? well i do. i love the p's i love the p's i love the p's. yes. so that was great :) annnnnd i believe we had supper there to.. ha yes we did.. we were there a while :) how i love them

then off to fhe with sister j :) what a sweetie she is haha she is hillarious

tuesday:

r had a skirt party that we took a to :) cuuuute skirts.. i did buy one.. only one.. boy it is cute.. i will have to send pics... prolly the cutest skirt in my closet... sister w be jelly. haha jk she got a cute skirt to :)

then we had a GREAT lesson with a at the park and the c's came to... (they are less active but they know a and it was cool to see them want to help her) annnd we talked all about baptism and although she is not on date she is progressing wonderfully. she reads the book of mormon everyday.. annotates it and everything.. and she listens to it on her phone to read along to and takes it with her to work.... HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!!??? AND it made her cry in 1 nephi 11 when it talks all about the atonement.. SHE REALLY INTERNALIZES EVERYTHING :) what a doll she is... anyways during the lesson we read mosiah 18 and i asked her what she would answer if the SAVIOR was the one asking her those questions... :) (it was a great question ) annnnd she said well i know i need to be baptised i just need to figure out when.. so SHE is going to find the right date.. were gonna help her with thtat tho :) but then it started to rain so the c's drove A home and we realized our car was still at the p's from the skirt party....(we had walked to the park with a') ANNNNND it started to monsoon on us.. like TORRENTIAL DOWN POUR PEOPLE... I COULDNT EVEN SEEEEEEEEEEE and we had to run like 2 blocks to the palskys hahahahaha by the time we arrived we were soaked to the bone and freezing.. so they let us dry off at their house :) that was fun :)

wednesday: we spent basically the whole day out at the r ranch weeding and shoveling rotten hay and poo. it was great :) seriously i have MISSED getting my hands dirty and just working hard and not really THINKING about it :) we made GREAT friends with j, the r's niece... (she is 7th day adventist) and we are going to church with her on saturday and she is coming with us on sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! her husband , d, is seriously the funniest person i think i have ever talked to.. HILLARIOUS. my cheeks hurt whenever i am around them :) LOVE THEM!!! then we went to supper with c and j(j is a new investigator for us.. but been investigatting for a while) and their friend b (who just STARTED INVESTIGATING :):):):) ) AND WE WENT  out to j's farm and played with little piggies and fed some fish and then picked raspberries.. i felt like i was in a western movie :) hahaha...

thursday:

practiced the piano.. well sister w did.. have i mentioned she's amazing at that.. gonna be playing this sunday :)

then out to district meeting... its an hour and a half drive out.. but we get to see mountains :)

then BACK home after and out to see a and e and fam... by GOLLY the advesary is on to them... like every sunday one of them has had to take a trip to the hospital.. j had his appendix out, k broke her arm... and now a has some weird side pain that sent her to the ER!! so please pray for them that they will finally be able to make it out to church!! :(

then we had supper with the p's AGAIN :) hahahaha i flippin love them... r signs up as much as she can to feed us cause we are all a little frantic knowing this is our last week ALL together :( im going to miss sister w very much :(

then we went and met a less active lady named b and she is darling and i love her and i hope she comes to church :)

Friday:

we helped c's friend b  (who came to church last week randomly) move across town and she is sweet potential for the elders :) she's great :)

then had lunch then OUT TO THE R RANCH TO PREP FOR THE WEDDING. weeding for the wedding haha :) so r and s have 2 sons a and r... a got married to t like 4 months ago in cuba but they just had their reception this past weekend which is what we helped do like everything for :) it was SO FUN. also r is a boss cause he's ranked like 20 in the nation for 5k or something like that.. he. is. fast.

anyways friday was like the best day of my life cause we just went out and gathered hay bales all day and stacked them into giant hay couches and chairs and tables.. and it was stinkin hard but SOOOOO FUN :) and i got hay slivers all up my arm and my legs and arms are DEAD AND SO SORE but like i said... FUNNEST EVER... we also might have tried to unicycle and do a few backflips on their trampoline. HA!! so fun :)

Saturday .. went out to j's and helped her make some fairies for her fairy garden :) i showed her how to make the sculpey clay people like grandmom does :) THEY WERE SO CUTE!!! then out to the r ranch to set up the tent and lights and lanterns and table cloths and flowers and EVERYTHIGN :) we (sister w and i) were in charge of keeping the goats ahahhaha.. i have a funny video of us leading our goat to the "promised land" haha...

the reception was BEAUTIFUL.. we helped serve all the food which meant we MET EVERYONE AND TALKED WITH EVERYONE... :D everyone wanted to know who we were and what missions were and a ton of people were from cardston and lethbridge so they had alot of mormon friends and now none of them are scared of missionaries :):):) also we had a GREAT conversation with r and s and j.... i can not WAIT to start teaching them all :) plus also r reminds me so much of scotty droubay! haha :) he is the best!

all in all it was SO SO SOOOO FUN AND GREAT and lots of seeds planted..

SUNDAY rocked cause j and b came to church :) annnnnd turns out that im going to be singing next week in church with sister w and elder r and heather... soooo we are going to record one of our practice rounds and send it home if it works... hope so... i think we sound great.

so ya holy cow long email in short amount of time.. i love you all so so soooo much.. i have thought alot about you this week... ALMOST cried :) but i didnt hahaha.

my heart goes out to nic and mitch my buddies in the field!! i LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 i love you mama siniscalchi!

happy birthday to GRACE TODAY!!!!! a;lsdkfja;lsdkjf;kl I LOVE HER :) i love you!!! and happy birthday to james to!!!! sorry i couldnt email you ON your birthday :P birthdays!! its also sister ballantynes bday today.. happy birthday to her.

ummmmmmm i think that is all

i LOVE YOU!!!!!

love sister douglas