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