Christmas week

augh no man i have no words for this week. NO WORDS... but ill try and explain some things that have happened :)

last monday we made treats for the ward at the bishops home :) looooots of cookies. sister gardner and i were just leaning against the wall in the hallway talking to everyone and then we both realized at the same time that there was mistletoe just hangin there.. HAHAHAHA we both were like BAHA runaway. just kidding i took a picture under the mistle toe and everyone laughed.

we went to the store to get flowers for a lady and its was like -500 degrees outside cause the wind and i was complaining and i get out the car and sister gardner is talking to this guy in his car parked next to us.. so i walk over and this guy just has the biggest smile on his face and this is the first thing i hear him say "HERE I AM SITTING HERE FOR 45 MINUTES JUST THINKING ABOUT MY LIFE.. AND THINKING ABOUT GOD.. and asking him to show me the way.. because i just dont know what is true anymore.. and then two angels show up and give me their religious card (haha a "religious card is what he kept calling our christmas "he is the gift" card) and now i know what to do!" we proceeded to talk to him about joseph smith and the restoration and he was SO HAPPY! EXCEPT I COULD HARDLY TALK MY TEETH WERE CHATTERING SO HARD ha..... sooooo we gave him the elders number and went on our merry way and i will tell you what happened to him next week when we find out... but it was super cool :)

tuesday oh tuesday was awesome :)
we had a lesson with esther and sister konietz came with... both of them are from germany :) OH MAH GOSH. esther is so golden.. we get there and she's like.. so i have some questions for you.. and starts asking us all about the book of mormon.. she has read like the first two books of nephi already and she got it a WEEK ago... anyways she had the CRAZIEST experience reading a verse from the book of mormon and wanted to know the context and stuff and then we taught her all about the restoration and at the part where we teach her about the first vision my companion took it away and it was soooo good... bahhhhh!! i loved it :) and esther was just like "..... wooooow...." and she said she would pray about baptism.
IM EXCITED.

then for lunch on tuesday i went to lunch with andre and israel. no big deal.
just kidding yes it is a big deal! i was so excited and happy to see them :) we went to a dim dum beijing blah blah blah chinese place i cant say but it was WAY GOOD BUT WAY WEIRD.. and i SAW real chicken feet.. hahah.. good thing i already know what those taste like ;)

then we went to a lesson with kristy and sorted out her baptism stuff.... thats a long story in itself but she will be baptised one day :)

wednesday the elders stole our car for transfer meeting and then FORGOT to give us the bus passes so we walked 1000 miles all over the place and got like nothing done.. it was very frustrating... we handed out alot of cards :P

thursday we met with pama nd roopa came with.. they are both from guyana so that was perfect as well :) waha... and i love pam. whenever she talks she calls us her honey loves or her sweeties hahaha oh pam :)

then we went to another lesson with esther and sister koneitz came again.. man i sure love sister konietz.. her conversion story is so boss and she is a rock star at teaching  and brought the spirit in more and more every time she opened her mouth.. sister gardner and i would just kinda guide the conversation and then sister konietz would teach and esther would ask questions... al;kdfj;alksdfjkl;j asdfj SO GOOD :)

we delivered a bunch of books of mormon to members for the challenge starting next week :) then we went carolling at the hospital and called ourselves the really bad carollers.. cause we are hahah but we sure laugh and smile alot and who doesnt like that

friday was christmas conference and (sorry im writing a novel with everything i just have to tell you everything cause it was the best. and just accept it :) )

christmas conference was good :) and i got my letters from you :) aww gee thank you i love you so so much my family :)

we had time to write in our journal and i was just thinking about how i felt just plain happy. but no different from any other time of the year when im happy. i know christmas is special but heck everyday is and can be special if we make it ya know?? so i got to thinking about the concept of "special" of "worth" and of "important". in matters of finance or supply and demand the world would tell you that because there are so many of us( people) we dont MATTER we are insignificant, and no one is really important unless you do something psycho crazy cool or something... but God does not veiw us this way.. it doesnt matter how many people have blue eyes or green eyes or brown or whatever.. he still thinks we are beautiful, it doesnt matter if we can speak 500 languages or cant speak but god still communicates with us as individuals because he loves us as that, AN INDIVIDUAL.. and he loves us for US... even IF we arent unique or "special" or "important" in the worlds eyes.. we are to Him. and my mind and heart are starting to get that.. even thought i cant explain it.. im starting to love that way and see that way.... thats what i learned at christmas conference. we should all just be ourselves... and be content to just improve a little bit everyday and just LET GOD LOVE US :)

then the rest of friday we weekly planned. gaaaaaaaaaaaag me. exchanges are annoying to plan but fun to go on.
saturday came and went.. what did we do saturday??? uuuum oh we had a few lessons and delivered more books andthen went carolling again.
sunday was good :) church is the best.. we have been giving out the he is the gift cards to every BREATHING CREATURE outside... and i love getting out my comfort zone to talk to people with head phones in.. pull over on the side of the road to talk to people or almost be attacked by awful stupid dogs just to talk to their owners.. ha :)

life is so good :)
i love love love being a missionary.. i kinda feel like this is what i have been doing my whole life.. and my old life is just a dream.. or something i read in a book once. weird.
i love you :) i will see you to soon :)
love sister doulgas

Progress

Waiting for the bus -39

THERE has been alot of progression happening this week :)

carol went to ARP to stop smoking

kristy was engaged.. not engaged but still comitted to baptism

marcus came to church and went to mutual and is going to a youth dance..he is 16 and all the youth love him.. the young women too haha  nothin like flirting to convert.. hahaha (i told the young women in the ward that they should DEFINITELY invite him hahaha)

ASHELY and ashaya are doing the book of mormon challenge.. finish the book by the end of april... (by the way this is a challenge our bishop gave us up here and its to read the whole book of mormon from january to the end of april highlighting and annotating the paper back copy we give them and then when they are done.. give it to someone :) you should do it.. its like right as I come home so you should try it )

pam came to church for the first time.. she isnt really interested in JOINING but she has been reading the book of mormon and she really felt the spirit during testimony meeting.. man there are some solid rocks in this ward.. like alot of the testimonies made me cry... welll.. im really weepy cause of all the sugar hahah but still it was GOOD
and esther came to church.. she is our newest investigator from germany, and we have a family from germany in our ward GOLDEN!!
WERE gonna have a lot of baptisms next transfer its really exciting. so much is happening here.. im so grateful.. i feel like Heavenly Father sent the best work for my last area to keep me focused and working so so hard...

i worked so hard in every area but now i feel like such a tangible thing to work on.. if that makes sense.. sometimes i felt like in other areas we just knocked s to knock doors... which was MY FAULT. but we also didnt have too many people to teach and here they are comin out our ears :)

sacrament meeting really touched me this week.. so many people.. so many broken people experiencing healing and peace. the gospel in NO WAY makes us perfect now.. heck that would defeat the purpose of LIFE but the gospel brings us PERFECT PEACE. and one day we will be perfect because of Christ. how cool is that :)

I saw the Cousin krugers this week! that was so SWEET!! :)

we had our ward christmas party.. also awesome :)

exchanges and MLC and getting lost in the city and all of that made for an exciting crazy week.

i just know the church is true! it so is. it really really is. and the Book of Mormon ROCKS :) I LOVE IT :) IT IS TRUE. and truth makes a difference.
i love you all :)
love Sister Douglas