All Heaven broke loose

I dont even know WHERE to begin i have like miracle after miracle to tell you about........

also im getting a six pack.. not because of working out but because sister w and i LAUGH SO HARD like 50% of the day. i love it. i love everything i love everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

OK..... MONDAY: we had a giant potluck with the whole branch at the currys home.. i love them. i love the branch it was fabulous... then we went out to sister j to sing with her for FHE.. she is the cutest...

TUESDAY: went out to the k's and played with puppies.. (i sent the pictures) g is quitting smoking so we gave him a little pep talk and talked about priesthood blessings... then the zone leaders brought our MAILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY HEAVENS OH MY HEAVENS THANK YOU EVERYONE!! i dont think i have ever been so excited to get mail and i dont think i have ever gotten such NICE mail :) thank you :) soooooo we might have read our letters in the car on the side of the road.. but it took too much time and we felt really guilty about it haha so we prayed and asked for forgiveness and went right back to work and found d and awhile tracting and A said she had been looking for a church and that she would see us on sunday at church!! (she didnt come :( but thats ok cause we know where she lives we'll just go talk to her haha)

then we went out WAY into the country and helped do some farm work... (my jeans i brought with my have officially become farm pants.. they are ruined. holes in both the knees) but i have LOVED getting my hands dirty and just WORKING.. i love it :)

on the way home i hit a bird :(:(( it was so gross and i dont know HOW but it managed to get stuck in the ONE HOLE IN THE BUMPER WE HAVE and we were worried it would get stuck in the radiator so the elders had to rescue us... which.. is even more hysterical because the whole time sister w and i were laughing so hard we were crying and the elders didnt even break a smile... (they are pretty serious haha) the poor bird was very much dead.

WEDNESDAY: we did our regular member visits in the morning... lots of visits.. then that evening went out to S and I's house.. S is tongan and is A BOSS and i love their family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they just invited us in, gave us food and cookies and talked forever.. and NOW THEY ARE INVESTIGATING!! and at the end the wife said, m and j need this.. here's their address... and so then.. (i have to skip to friday to tell you this story) FRIDAY COMES AROUND and we go drop by m's house and we just pretended like we knew them and were totally friends and j answered the door and said, sure come on in!!!!!!! and we shared the restoration with them and their friend F was there and he was asking us so many questions about the book of mormon and baptism.. (he totally asked us to baptize him in the tub.. LOL it was so funny) then before we left f said.. h needs this!! and e and m.. and he gave us ALLLLLLL their numbers.... were gonna have to start a tongan branch out here if we keep getting referals like this.. plus also they are all so golden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! then on saturday night we texted all of them and invited them to church and f said " ya for sure!!!! i didnt even drink tonight just for you guys cause i didnt want to be hungover at church lol" HOW COOL IS THAT! he didnt even drink!! this kid likes parties all the time... so thats a big deall.... met with him again last night.. man he is so golden.. just LOOKING FOR CHANGE:)

sooooo thats how we got 4 new investigators aand like 10 potentials in 2 days.. sooooo sweet.

back to thursday..

THURSDAY was crappy as can be.. we drove all the way out to wild wood.. its like a 50 minute drive.. and every appointment fell through.. EVERY APPOINTMENT.. went tracting.. NO one was interested.. drove to evansburg... EVERY APPOINTMENT FELL THROUGH... annnnnd i really mean guy in a big red truck honked and glared at us and we didnt even DO ANYTHING TO HIM! :P haha... drove out to entwistle... EVERY APPOINTMENT fell through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i felt like we were in a movie... like we kept joking and being like "OK YOU CAN COME OUT NOW.. WHERE ARE THE CAMERAS.. THIS HAS TO BE A JOKE." worst day ever.... but it ened well.. we had moose burgers with the h's for supper and then friday was the best day ever with the tongans. you gotta take the downs and the ups.

i feel like im finally reaching my potential... im just begining to.. i still have so much to do and learn and always will.. but im not so annoyed at myself all the time.. im really giving this my all and i love that :)

i love this :)

i love being a missionary. i love what im learning. i love that i can see how to apply it to real life already. i love the friends im making. the people i love. the success were seeing. and yes the challenges also.

i love the perspective the gospel brings.

i love the relationship im gaining with my savior.

i LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i love you :)))))))) i love YOU!!

love from sister douglas

Transfer Day

HOLYCOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

dear everyone i love.
dear family

I HAVE LIKE ZERO TIME EVER but out of all the weeks i want to tell you about this is the one

theres so much to tell you i dont even know where to start and my brain is so scattered and im flustered cause i have no time and too much to do that its going to be all over the place so bear with me

-3 NEW INVESTIGATORS THIS WEEK.... I HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT EACH OF THEM because how we got them all is just miraculous

first investigator

we met him on the bus.. he is DEAF and he started signing to me.. and i had no idea what he was saying so i just showed him that i only know how to finger sign ( spell with my hands the alphabet)

so we started "talking" very slow conversation because we are spelling each word. i was getting frustrated that i couldnt communicate better so i just got out my tracting notebook and we started writing back and forth.. he wanted to know what church we were from and what we do who were were cause we "stood out" and ya!! but also sign language really IS a different language and it was hard to put together what he was saying and if what we were saying was making sense to him.. basically got his number met up with him the next day and had a lesson over notebook, and then the next day had a lesson with a missionary who COULD sign! it was awesome!!! except i dont know how much longer he will investigate cause his family is muslim and doesnt like that he wants to learn about other faiths.. he wouldnt even take a book of mormon.. just took a picture of it... so it was a cool oxperience.. but more of a planting seed experience not really harvesting

the other two new investigators just FELL into our laps... they literally just came to church because her mother in law is a memer and brought them and now they are investigating... reallllly cool experience teaching them... they are Filipino. they are not married but starting a family. she is catholic.. and very catholic.. like she was almost going to be a nun... but she says she is trying to keep an open mind and she really would like to learn if our church is the RIGHT one like we say it is...

there was a time in their lesson that i just lost it cause they are so amazing.. we had read the first chapter of the book of mormon with them and the introduction..talked about the spirit what it feels like.. warned them of the advesary and how he is going to try and distract them from this and anti mormon stuff will come up so pay attention to how they FEEL and i asked her this question

"so... IF this is true.. if all that we claim to have... is true.. what are you willing to do?"
and she said,"well the scripture comes to mind... 'as for me and my house.. we will serve the lord', if this is God's church i will join it"

:O
:')

i cried.

sooooo im excited to see where that goes for the new sister here to teach and sister B, they will do so well :)

- on MONDAY which was victoria day... and May long weekend.. thats why i didnt email yesterday yet AGAIN... well we got the opportunity to go to fort edmonton which is kinda like this is the place... except wayyyyyy huge.. with a train and everything... SO fun :)

- i gave a talk on sunday!!! on the role of the book of mormon in conversion.... which i thought was funny cause the last time i talked in sacrament was my farewell and it also had to do with conversion.. and then mom you TALKED on conversion.. interesting... i see a theme here. but basically the book of mormon coupled with the spirit.. IS the converter.. we cannot become CONVERTED without the book of mormon.. it is the rod. it is the sickle. it is the keystone. pretty neat stuff.

-ummm what else.. oh i sent a package home today... theres some stuff thats mine that i just want you to save but most of it is gifts... so ENJOY :)

- oh.. i guess i should tell you about transfers hey?? hahahaha

IM GETTING TRANSFERRED!!! GOT THE CALL YESTERDAY...

im going to drayton valley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and ill be serving with sister W :)
this is what i know

-drayton valley is tiny

-its a branch

-i served there like 12 days and i loved it

-but i also think finding new people will be a CHALLENGE

-sister W just got out of training

-but she was trained by sister J who i love

-and im just super excited for this challenge and change

- i will miss ellerslie people and sister ballantyne

ummmm what else what else quick before i have to go...

this week we gave our all.... and it was AMAZING!! like heavenly father dropped two new investigators in our lap!! just for us giving it a little more than before! its not about running faster its about running smarter.. PACING yourself, planning ahead, not getting caught up in the stress of it all.. just focus on where you are what your doing and GO :) (SOUND FAMILIAR.. im so grateful for cross country and coach and all that i learned.. application of experience is such a sweet joy)

well i love the work

i love the gospel
i love you all and i appreciate you and miss you but time is flying!

love sister douglas

I choose joy. I choose peace. I choose happy.

sorry sorry sorry this is a day late AGAIN... annnnd that it is so late in the day! im sad i missed you.. i like the thought of you waiting for my emails... but i dont like the thought of you sadly walking away from the computer with no email from me... :3 haha

anyways

DEAR family and friends and everyone i love as MUCH

 as i would loooove to say that this week has been the turn around week... it KIND OF WAS THE WORST EVER!!! but good stuff still happened :)

ill just get the bad news out first and then talk about everything good

K dropped us..
i dont want to talk about it, but she did. i just hope with all the hope i can hope in my heart that the seed we planted will grow. i PRRRRRAY for her and CH... THEY NEED THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

huff.... SO that was hard and sad.

BUUUUUTTTTTTT we had some super cool things happen :)

sister band i got the flu AGAIN.... (thats what we get for sneaking past the flu shot in the mtc.... for all the new missionaries coming out... GET THE FLU SHOT!!)

but what was cool was DESPITE feeling miserable, we still went out and worked... (not as hard as we could have or would have liked... cause ya know.. we were dying and it snowed... which is like the icing on the cake) but we WORKED and WORK+GOD=MIRACLES. thats a fact. i dont know why it suprises me everytime it happens.

2 stories for you

1) tracting during a snow storm. (it makes for really good conversation.. especially when my cheeks are blue.. i think it makes the nice people feel bad for us and they let us in ;) )
so were tracting and we found a guy named R who actually said he was INTERESTED and set up a return appointment and everything!! he asked US to come back... AND for any reading material we could give him... it was one of those moments when they actually say yes you already have the line of "well thats ok never mind" but then its like... wait what?!?! oh!!! :):) so that was really cool :) the elders will be teaching him :)

2) we have flash cards in the car.. well they are giant signs that say "Jesus loves you" "we're mormon missionaries" "learn more?" "and our number" annnnd when we are freezing we go "traffic contacting" (ok when i say we go do this i mean we have done it one other time lol once means sometimes, twice means always ;) ) SOOOO we went traffic contacting and it ACTUALLY WORKED!!!!! this guy took down our number and called us! and we set up an appointment at the church!!!!! he couldnt COME to the appointment... but we'll try him again next week :D kinda cool :)

we helped M move like 3 days this week... helped clean both houses.. she's moving but staying in our area.. the spanish elders are working with their family but we were the ones that found them and still love them so much so we stop by as much as we can... IM LEARNING SPANISH and can actually carry on a broken conversation with her mom now!! ALLLLLSO when we were helping pack up their van her husband was there and he was asking us all sorts of questions (he has not been able to be at any lessons so this was totally new to him to be talking to missionaries) i feel very strongly that this family will be sealed one day. they are so choice. i dont think i will be here to see them be baptized... but i do love the fact that i helped. i knocked on the window to make her come outside!! what a great decision to be cheeky sometimes ;)

life is meant to be enjoyed. and we dont need to be having an easy time to be enjoying it.

joy is a choice. it results from righteous actions

peace is a choice it happens when we give our hearts to god

happiness is a choice it comes when we do our best.

i choose joy. i choose peace i choose happy.

guess what??? although this week has been hellacious...
my heart has gone back to that feeling i had in the MTC... that i was completely overwhelmed if i did it myself... but if i lean on the Lord.. i have no worries. welll thats not entirely true its like... i just have a deep sense of the fact that it will all work out.. and that this is good and happy and im ok :)
i love you all so much. you have been on my mind IMMENSLY lately. im praying for you dad seeing as you have so much going on and mister momming it... which reminds me.... I AM SO BAD AT NOT EMAILING BEFORE BIRTHDAYS HAPPEN.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BAHHHHH YOUR THE BEST DAD IN THE WHOLE WORLD AND I WISH I COULD JUST GIVE YOU THE BEST BIGGEST HUG EVER!! I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAVE A GOOD BIRTHDAY WEEK!! :):):):):):):):) OH I LOVE YOU!

im praying for you mom to have FUN and to be safe!! and that you will feel my love from edmonton to lethbridge cause it doesnt have to travel as far :D haha

im praying for you all! i love you i love you i LOVE you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love sister douglas

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

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 :)