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

what a week what a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek... i feel like i havent emailed in a century so much has happened haha

alright

DEAREST EVERYONE :)

how is everyone!?!? i miss you! i LOVE you!

this week rocked..... i SERIOUSLY can say i have never worked so hard in all my life... we set the highest goals ever and we SURPASSED THEM by alot and we were so determined to have the best week of our lives cause our days together are numbered.. sister w is prolly getting transfered for sure and that makes me very sad... but it will be alright :) so yes we worked and worked and worked and got a million lessons 2 new investigators... amber is reading the book of mormon like a BOSS and the work is just kaboooooming like we have been getting referals left and right from all the members... were getting fed everyday and we just love everyone so much and everyone loves us haha its great :)

i seriously dont even know what to tell you because i dont know where to begin and really its a bunch of lessons we taught and people we saw....

highlights of the week...

R came with us to A's lesson ( first of all i love R to the moon and back i feel like if i had an older sister... IT'D BE HER... . i LOVE HER!!!) the lesson was AMAZING.. i swear r is a sister missionary in disguise. she taught better than we did and the spirit was like... "wabwabwabwabbbbbb" you know what i mean?? and A was like... THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING and she started talking about getting family history done so we can get them baptized.. hahah she's not on date yet... i dont know if it will happen on august 9 anymore... but i know she'll be baptized :) she will be :)

ummm another highlight

we went out to the r's ranch and THEY SAID THEY WOULD TAKE THE LESSONS!!! thats exciting :) were going to help out with her daughters wedding reception this week and we get to wear jeans... thats pretty exciting stuff right there haha

i cant think of anything hillarious that happened that i can tell you about.. most of the things sister w and i have been laughing at is things we say.. we ARE actually hillarious if you didnt notice ("im kinda a big deal, call me sister big deal" ;) )

the branch campout is coming up and missionaries are in charge of cooking breakfast the next day.. we cant campout but we'll drive out early to feed the "sheep"

i have fallen in love with missionary work all over again this week.. i keep looking down at my tag and smiling.. I LOVE THIS. i love this more than i can say. i love being tired after working so hard at something i KNOW god is proud of me for. i love having DREAMS about missionary work (the good dreams.... when things work out haha) i love talking to people about the restoration.. i love quoting joseph smith i love making new friends i love the branch i love my companion i love everything "i love my WHOLEHOUSE!!!" I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!

love sister douglas :)

 

 

well last week was the tornado.. this week was a whirl wind!! haha

DEAREST EVERYONE :)

i cant even wait to tell you about this week :) ok..

so

MONDAY: did some service for sister s.. cutting branches and what not.. of course we did it in our skirts.. hahaha it was funny. and HOT!! my HEAVENS its gotten hot up here. then off to FHE with sister J :) love that cute lil lady.

tuesday... this day was crazy.. to many stories.. i feel like this email might be a long one.. and i already write novels.. oh dear.

we went and weeded sister B's garden.. ill have to send you pictures it is ALSO lovely :)

ran to A's house. :) she finally let us come to her house.. after church on sunday she was really confused about some of the things in the plan of salvation...so we took a white board and just drew it all out... and she learned fantastically and she said it all makes sense now and she really likes it.. we are really nervous but we are planning on inviting her to be baptized this week.. weve talked about baptism alot but never straight up asked her to be baptized.. so PRAY FOR HER.. AND PRAY FOR US.. that she will be ready and able :) i believe she will be :)

then we had exchanges.. which to be honest i wasnt really looking forward to cause i was leaving my area and i dont like being caught up on all that happened later but it turned out WONDERFUL :) i went with sister B to the castle downs area which is north edmonton and it was fantastic....

we went tracting.. "sing" tracting and it was the scariest thing i think i have done on my mission so far.. like way out of my comfort zone.. but it proved to be successful...

we knocked on this guys door

sister B: "HI we're representatives of Jesus Christ we try to help people come closer to him and today we would like to do that through music.. may we sing you a hymn?"

(ya i was really nervous.. i mean,  how weird is that to stand on someones porch and sing to them...it was awkward) i couldnt even look this guy int he eye as we were singing i was so embarassed but i was praying so hard in my heart that he would feel the spirit.. then the words of what i was actually singing hit me.... BE STILL MY SOUL... and i was. i was still. i sang. and i KNOW he felt the spirit.. cause guess what happened...

at the end he asked us what hymn that was.. where it came from.. where we get our hymns from.. and i shared the scripture in Doctrine&Covenants 25 where it talks about how it is a prayer when it is the song of the heart... and explained that a prophet of God had asked emma smith to organize the hymns.... he was curious as to who the prophet was.. and if we still had prophets today...

turns out the guy is muslim.. but very interested.. he took a book of mormon.. promised to read it.. and the sisters are going back to teach him this week!!! it was amazing!!! going out of your comfort zone definately pays off.

later that night i was blessed to be a part of 3 different investigator lessons.. their area really is doing so well.. so many baptisms scheduled and there is so much faith.. sister B really works hard and she knows it will pay off. she has SO much faith. and it really encouraged me to be better and to be more faithful as well. i want to have that kind of faith that we will find those people who are ready to be baptized because that is who he sent me to find.. plant seeds on the way.. but the field is WHITE ALREADY TO HARVEST. and i am going to thrust in my sickle with my MIGHT and we are going to reap. i can feel it.

wednesday something funny happened.. its a 2 hour drive from the city to drayton.. so we meet in the middle for exchanges... an hour after we were back in drayton.. we get this call from the SPRUCE GROVE SISTERS.. its sister B.. and I STILL HAVE THEIR PHONE IN MY BAG!!!!!!!!!!!! so we had to drive ALL the way back out there to give it back.. hahahah... it was awful.. but funny. our car is LITERALLY COVERED IN BUGS.. its so gross... but i got some sweet videos and pics of the rain storm we drove through to get there.. monsoon status

ummm

thursday we had ZTM.. that was GREAT :) we have such a great zone and i learned alot.. hopefully can start putting it into practice.. cause we were in the city we got permission to go do a session at the temple.. my HEART i dont think i will ever get used to the beauty of the temple.. i love the few precious hours we got there. and we were praying about a date for ambers baptism... august 9.... PRAY FOR IT.

friday we planned our week.. had supper with C out in the counnnntry and went to see our tongans.. they gave us grief for not coming sooner.. we have been feeling kinda frustrated with them cause they are not progressing at all but they love us coming to see them.. :( dont want to drop them but not sure what to do.. we played rugby in our skirts with E and his girls... cutest little girls i have ever seen. i think i might play rugby when i get home.. im so good ;) hahha jk i suck.. its so hard to throw it side ways

saturday went out to J's farm :) you saw the little pig pics :) hahah they are so cute :) cutest things ever :) i love going out there. i love J :) so much :)

then we had a lesson with R's mom.. shame.. i love her so much but she refuses to not be angry at god for taking her son away.. we tried to give her some perspective but she is really stubborn.. she said she would read the book of mormon which hopefully softens her broken heart.

mowed sister J's lawn... that was a NIGHTMARE it was like a jungle and it was plus 30 outside.. im not sure what that is in F.. but its DANG HOT. and its humid here. it feels like iowa. then went and weeded for C. (im so thankful i have had practice working hard in the yard else i think i might have quit lol.. even then im not even as tough as you mom.. you work for HOURS!!!) it was good to just talk to C and see how she was doing.. she really is so elect.. been through some CRAZY things.. and the road to change is hard and rough but she is out in blue sky now.. i love her. she definately has changed my life.

i got a package from danelle and the pearsons.. THANK you.. i love you guys. so much :)

sunday.. :)

A didnt come to church :( she had work.. but J brought her grandaughter and asked us to teach her :):):) annnnnd we had sandwich and squares after which is where the whole branch brings food and after church we all eat it :) its great :)

we went to the P's for supper... they are my favorite.. definatly gonna visit them again.. and they are gonna be in utah next summer so we HAVE to see them.

then the highlight of my week

we drove out to evansburgh... and bro G (our branch mission leader from south africa) and his family and the elders.. we met on a hill over looking the evansburgh valley.. and bro G re-dedicated it for missionary work.. it. was. magnificent. so powerful and there were specific promises from God that we were promised in that blessing. THAT THERE WILL SOMEDAY BE A BRANCH OF ITS OWN IN THAT AREA..and that in our lifetimes we will see the magnificent fruits of our labors there. im so excited to get started.

after that we went to a part member family where the dad has usually been so closed to religion and yesterday he kept staying in the kitchen so he could listen in.. he wouldnt sit down but i knew he was listening.. and he kept walking by and asking random questions and then leaving haha.. THEN HE PRAYED WITH US :) it was sweet :) I LOVE THEIR FAMILY.. i hope we can help them all come close to christ..

well thats it.. CRAZY WEEK RIGHT!!

next week is gonna be even crazier.. we have set some lofty goals and we are gonna get em :) i love sister W... haha we havent been sleeping well lately cause

1-we talk and laugh too much

2-its SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOT

3-WE TALK TOO MUCH hahaha...

but its great :)

i love you all!!!!

the church is TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

love sister douglas

I SERIOUSLY think i can say that this has been the best week of my life

Welllll i NEVER!! hahah thats the only thing i can start this email off with.. never had a week like this one.. i SERIOUSLY think i can say that this has been the best week of my life.. oh and im TWENTY YEARS OLD NOW?!?!?! HOW CRAZY IS THAT!! im like an adult... weird.

so... monday... saw sister james.. she fed us YUMMMMY cake and we sit and talk with her like old friends haha
Tuesday- CANADA DAY!!! now... i dont think there were any two more patriotic people out there that day then sister W and i... we were DECKED out... watched the parade from our balcony with a young couple from the branch went to the fair.. sang o canada.. garrett and melissa took us for a joy ride in his FANCY car... we went WAAAAAAAAAAAY fast and it was grande

we played hockey... in canada... on canada... in canadian shirts and snap backs... doesnt get any more canadian then that. so sweet

Wednesday- the funeral...ok so i dont have WORDS for this experience but im going to do my best. first you have to know a little bit about rod to understand why the funeral was the way it was. rod used to be a drug addict.. and he was on the hard stuff like bad.. so he came from one side of the tracks to the other.... he had influenced the HUGEST circle..... most of the recent converts in the branch new each other because they all were trying to get out of the drug scene at the same time.. infact carrie (the one whose baptism was here when i was here... i have pictures and everything..) she was the one who introduced him to the elders... she said she never felt such an urgency to do anything.. rod's conversion was so quick ... he changed from night to day.... and he was such an amazing example to all his friends who were still stuck in addiction becuase he still kept in contact with all of them and gave them encouragment..

needless to say the attendance at the funeral was ASTOUNDING.. they rented a huge center and the room was filled... the spectrum of people was the strangest thing... some people with piercings all over and rainbow hair... ragged clothing.. to missionaries.. the branch president.. the lady down the street... the guy that worked at the gas station... all sorts.

there was this feeling.. a tangible feeling.. of.. i felt like i was IN the tree of life.. i could see these people ( i LOVED all of them) i could see how so many of these people had "wandered on forbidden paths and were lost" i could see how some of them were just trying to get through the "mists of darkness" and then the stark contrast to people who were "pressing forward continually" the loss of rods life was sad... but not a loss.. they KNEW where he was.. who he was.. where he was going and that we would all see him again. i am so grateful for Rod.. i didnt know him.. but for his example.. he became a type of christ to so many people.. someone who had BEEN there.. who KNEW what these people were suffering.. and his death shook up alot of people to reality.. ELDER BROWN came back for the service.. he is the one who baptized him ( one of my best friends out here) he knew rod so well and loved him dearly. the family asked him to speak at the funeral and let me tell you... he brought the spirit.. the spirit was THERE... he bore POWERFUL testimony of the plan of salvation.. of the atonement.. of change of God of Christ's love for us... and i am CERTAIN that we will see fruits from his talk.. amazing amazing amazing.

thursday no to much happened.. or at least that i can remember.. haha OH! we weeded for the Rad's... and we weeded like ALL day... i got a nice tan.. :3

friday... HALLELUJAH IT was amazing... went out to Tomohawk to visit the K' s and then to contact some other less actives.. no one else was home, decided to go tracting... you know the coolest thing happened...

this man opened the door. his name was b. he wasnt religious, and he let us know, KINDLY, that he wasnt interested but thanks anyways... before we left i wanted to bear my testimony to him (which by the way is a scary thing to do especially when someone has very graciously declined what you are offereing them) but i did anyways.. i told him that we come as representatives of Christ.. that we have a message for the world about his gospel and about his church.. that i KNOW its weird we're knocking on his door but we wouldnt do it if we didnt KNOW that what we had to share with him would change his life. i told him i KNEW god was aware of him and loved him and then i SAW IN HIS EYES that he FELT something... he didnt take a book of mormon.. he didnt say we could come back.. but i KNOW he felt the spirit and it changed him because i SAW IT. seed planted.

that opened up our day for the best experience ever.. drove further into town.. we'd never been there before... jammin out to lower lights "ye elders of israel".. the line from the song. "we'll go to the poor like our captain of old..." was ringing in my ears... pulled up to a trailer park.. tracted the whole street and out of 10 , 3 people were home.. 1 of the 3 is a potential... and the other 2 are now investigating

TWO AMAZING 14 YEAR OLD GIRLS who recognized the spirit let us in and we had the best first lesson EVER. all of us were in tears... so... that was the best birthday present ever :) (btw no one celebrates the 4th up here.. just in case you were wondering.. but i like thinking i knew all of you were thinking of me ;3 mwaha)

saturday- a bit hot and exhausting but still wonderful... i have really grown to LOVE LOVE LOVE all these different people i see and get to talk to like never before.. i really encourage praying for charity.. it WORKS!!

sunday was wonderful... A CAME TO CHURCH :) and she is SERIOUS about investigating.. she asks so many questions and she is VERY prepared... im so thankful to be able to work with her. i LOVE genuine people.. there is alot of flakiness out here.. enough to make one very sick of PEOPLE.. but there are some GEMS out here that balance it all out.

i dont know what else to say and i also wrote a novel so i should sign off real quick. KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU ALL.. know that i pray for you.. and i think of you all the time. i imagine you praying for me and that gives me the strength enough to go on for days and days. i love you so so sososoosoososoooo much :)
the gospel is real the church is true :)

love sister douglas

the weather up here is crazy

Dear Family :)

So... this week.. hahahhaa... WELLLLLL monday and tuesday and wednesday we were sick.. monday and tuesday we did our best but tuesday i got a fever and sister warr was COUGHING so wednesday we just took the day to sleep and get feeling better.. it was strange just sleeping in and getting up whenever but sleep does wonders for the body!! so we are feeling much better now but it put a real dent in the number of lessons and people we wanted to contact that week so we were running a million miles an hour the rest of the week trying to get it all done but there were so many things happening that WEREN'T lessons that we still had to do like weekly planning and a womens broadcast and 2 different branch activities... soooo it wasnt the greatest week when you just LOOK at it.. but WE experienced it and i think it was pretty dang great :)

first off....

A!!!!!!!!!! you know how she came to church last week?? well we met with her THREE TIMES this week and turns out she knows a bunch of the members and she is eating everything up!!!! she came to the volleyball night and to the BBQ and both nights we had supper with members and brought her with us so we shared lessons with her in THEIR HOMES which is one of the goals of the whole mission.. so that was pretty neat. and each member we had supper at.. the first home they were converts of only 4 years so they had lots of really good advice for her.. and also because her husband isnt interested in the discussions its been eating away at her and really frustrating but at that first lesson with her we told her along with the members of that home that we would all pray that d's heart would be softened and prepared. and then the next night she came out to the BBQ and we had a brief little lesson with a at j's house. j's husband isnt a member, so she had wonderful words of wisdom for a. she couldnt come to church this week but she is totally coming next week and guess what... D SAID HE WOULD COME TO CHURCH!!!! he knows a bunch of the members also and is willing to come and see. thats all we need people.. just a step in the right direction :):):):)

so that was wonderful :)

ummmmmmmmmmmmm the weather up here is crazy one day it was like 27 degrees.. which is the hottest its been yet.. it was crazy hot.. imma fry when i come home... but then the very next day its back down to 15 degrees and pouring rain.. then that SAME day back up to 23 degrees and its HUMMMMID. so weird.

canada day is tomorrow!!! everyone blow a kiss to canada!!!! happy birthday canada!!!! (but my heart is still owned by my home... happy birthday america on friday :) ) (i love that day :) i love the 4th ;) hahahha)

tomorrow there is a parade and everything and since we cant proselyte we just go out and mingle with everyone the whole day :) hooray!!!

oh.. something sad that happened.... on wednesday in the middle of us reading/sleeping we got a call from mary lou one of the recent converts in the branch... she let us know that R (one of the other recent converts.. baptized in april) was in a head on semi collision and was killed..... we didnt even know what to say... so that was another thing that this week has been all over the place.. we visited with his family and they are all not members so we didnt share a message because that would be awful to cram info down their throats when they are trying to swallow the hardest pill already.... so we just sat and cried with them and hugged them... alot of the recent converts were all friends so alot of people are taking it pretty hard.. we have just visited lots of people :/

we got a new branch mission leader... brother g!!! the one from south africa.. holy smokes i love their family and he is helping us so much he calls and asks how we are doing multiple times a week and sees if he can come to any of the appointments.. were going to get this area even more on fire then it already is..
transfer calls are this morning and we were WAITING WAITING WAITING so anxiously cause neither sister w nor i want to leave each other forever!!!!! we waiting waiting waiting couldnt wait any longer so we just came to email... apparently the calls are still going cause we havent heard from the zone leaders yet.. im nervous.. but i think we could still have one more transfer together :) i hope so :)

well i dont know what else to tell you besides i love you so so much. thank you so much for the packages. like more than thank you. you all brighten my days :) and i looooove you!!!! give everyone hugs from me!!
love, sister douglas

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