Tornados, Rain and Walking :)

First off, don't freak out, Okotoks was not hit by a tornado.  But there have been a few tornado warnings for southern Alberta.  It's been a little stressful, but nothing has been close to Okotoks.  People assure me that A) tornadoes up here are very rare and B) they are nothing like the tornadoes that hit tornado alley. But that was one "excitement" for the week.
 
I can't believe it's June! Seriously, it feels like April/May weather.  It's very odd weather for Sister Hoyt (from Arizona).  One member told us that the past two years June has been their wettest month.  Crazy.  We are in the process of getting a hold of a member who has bikes that we can use.  I'm not superly excited about biking in a skirt, that just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but it will be much more effective than walking everywhere. 
 
And now for the TWO most EXCITING news for this week.  The Sister's Specialized Training is this Thursday!!!  I am just thrilled to pieces to finally get some information about the Temple Open House AND to be able to visit with all of the Sisters in the mission.  It's going to be so fantastic!!! They finally announced the dates for the temple open house and dedication!!!!!!!!!!! The Open House will be September 29 - October 20 and the Dedication will be October 28!!!   :)
 
One miracle that happened was we felt that we should tract in a cul-de-sac.  We knocked on a door and a young mother answered.  She said that she believed in science and not God.  We tried to be more bold and to press her with questions.  She said that she felt that we all have a purpose in our life and she's trying to figure out what that is.  She also told us that there have been some recent, unexpected deaths in her family and she is trying to figure out why that happened.  We left her with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and she said she would read it and that we could come by this week and see what she thought about it!
 
We have a new investigator!!! His name is Malcom Duncan and he's from South Africa.  He is very open minded and he really wants to read and study the Book of Mormon.  We are to invite people to baptism on our first lesson and Sister Hoyt said it was my turn to do it.  I was super nervous, but we practiced a few times and I felt more comfortable do it.  When I extended the invitation I felt the spirit and I knew that I was doing it just fine.  I was doing what the Savior would do if He was here teaching Malcom.  Malcom was super nice.  He said that he couldn't accept the invitation until he knows that it's true and then he kept apologizing just to me about not accepting it. :) We can tell that he is super prepared and since he has the desire to read and learn more he will be able to come to know the truth for himself.  

 
I guess when I look at this week and I think about all of the small miracles we have had it helps me to carry on and have the motivation to keep going.  Especially when we had a tough lesson with a potential investigator.  Jane is recently separated and had a 18 month old.  We found out that she talked to the Spanish Elders up in Calgary because she backed into them...We told her that God has been giving her chances to hear the gospel.  She was open and willing to listen, but she was just stuck on some things that she couldn't accept.  Oh well, we are doing our best and the Holy Ghost will testify to them. They have to be willing to let the spirit touch their hearts and they have to be willing to act on the message.
 
I am looking forward to this week! Miracles are going to continue to happen.  God loves us sooooo much!!!! The Book of Mormon is amazing!!! And it is true!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL!!!

69 people in 4 1/2 days!

This week has been exciting.  Transfers happened and Sister Hoyt and I are trying to tear it up in Okotoks.  She is AMAZING!!!  Wednesday was kind of crazy with transfers.  The trailer that they put all of the new arriving missionary luggage in got broken into...so it was a later start for the van going down to Lethbridge and coming back up.  I went on a three leg with Sister Alsup and Sister Thrope in the Queenland/Parkland area.  Finally we got the call that the van had arrived and I picked up Sister Hoyt and we headed back to Okotoks.  

We didn't have any appointments set up for the remainder of the week (Thursday-Saturday) which means...tracting! Yeah...we decided to try and weed out our list of potential investigators and less actives that we want to work with.  We have been able to shorten the list, but we haven't really been able to add more promising people to it.  So, in the four and half days we've been out talking to everyone we talked to 69 people. Whew, I pray that we will be able to have appointments set up for the rest of the week. I'm not sure how much more of this I can handle.  It hasn't been too bad, but it does make for a really long day.
 
At one of the ward correlation meetings our ward mission leader reminded up that President Archibald promised the Foothills Stake that they would have one baptism per month until the temple open house.  I had forgotten about this and I am praying that Heavenly Father will help us to reach this goal. I know that as we are exactly obedient and do all that we can miracles will happen and we will provide the way for this to happen.

I am so excited to learn all that I can from Sister Hoyt! She has really helped me to try and get over my fear of street contacting and door approaches.  I am by no means perfect and I still have a ton to learn, but hopefully I am getting more comfortable with approaching people.

I love Sundays!!!! We had an amazing fireside that we were able to attend.  It was so powerful!!! I prayed that the less actives/recent converts that attended found peace and strength from the message.  I am so grateful for the power of music!!

Heavenly Father LOVES us SO MUCH!!! The Atonement is all about love! The first three lessons that we teach: the restoration, the plan of happiness and the gospel of Jesus Christ are all messages of love that we share with people.  I LOVE the gospel and the peace, joy and happiness it brings into our lives!

I Got Some Sun In Canada!

Transfer news is in and...I am staying in Okotoks! Sister Hoyt will be my new companion.  She trained Sister Mazzolini down in Lethbridge.  I was a little nervous about leaving, so my nerves are down and I am looking forward to what the new transfer is going to bring.
 
Last week we finally were able to have a lesson with Brother Cranmer. They had us over for dinner since it was Sister Nielson's birthday. We had a really really really good lesson with him.  He is getting so close to accepting the invitation to be baptized it kind of hurts! He said that he does feel that his faith in Christ is increasing (which is huge for him) and then we asked him if he has the desire to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, he said yes.  Well...that means that you have to be baptized first.  

 
We had a good short lesson with Michelle.  She asked about receiving answers to prayers because she had been praying about something for a while and she feels that she isn't getting any answers.  We shared the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that talks about peace filling our hearts and minds.  After we talked she paused and said "oh, I guess He did answer my prayer and I didn't realize it."
  

Sunday was Stake Conference, but it was a very special stake conference. It was a satellite broadcast from SLC to all of Canada!!!  It was pretty sweet. Elder Walker from the Seventy spoke along with Sister Stephens (new 1st Councilor in the RS Presidency), Elder D. Todd Christofferson and President Packer.  They talked a lot on the importance of temples, raising families. And I loved what President Packer said, he talked about how the gospel isn't easy, but it is much easier to live it than by any other way we can live.
 
Yesterday we had another lesson with Anna.  She is amazing and so strong.  She is really interested in the gospel and she told us that right before she divorced her husband she was at her ends wits.  She just said a prayer and...the sister missionaries showed up at her door!!! She has had some very powerful spiritual experiences with people on the other side of the veil.  She is being prepared!! We don't know if she will be baptized by us, but we are a part of her life for a part of the harvest season.
 
I am so grateful for our Savior and His Atonement.  Last night we finally were able to get in with a less active sister.  We went over Elder Bednar's talk from the April Ensign that talks about the Atonement.  I asked her if he would offer the closing prayer and she gave one of the most sincere, heartfelt prayers I have ever heard.  It was amazing!!
 
The gospel is wonderful!!! I am so grateful for the comfort and strength it gives me!!!

Another Week Down

 

This has been quite the week for Sister Nielson and I.  Monday on our way to an appointment we got a call from Angie.  She's 17 and she contacted us and wanted to learn more!!! We were so excited!!! She dated a boy in our ward and she has many member friends.  We set up an appointment for Wednesday.

Then Tuesday was fun.  Sister Nielson went into a Stake Center in Calgary and I came back to Okotoks with Sister Nelson.  We stopped by Brother Cranmer's, which was an interesting experience, but good.  Keep your fingers crossed that he will set a date with Sister Nielson and I tomorrow.  Sister Nelson is much more bold than me.  We were doing our door approach and Sister Nelson asked the lady if we could come back and teach her.  She said yes.  I just about fainted.  That has never happened to me before.  We drove back into Calgary (the traffic made me a little nervous, but we survived!!) Sister Nielson and I drove back to Okotoks (yes, lots of driving that day) and had an amazing lesson with Heather Fancourt.  She asked us about spiritual experiences and we watched Elder Scott's talk from Conference.  At the end of the lesson I felt prompted to ask Heather if she has received a patriarchal blessing.  She said yes and we all decided to read our blessings and then talk about our experience our next lesson. She was so excited that she decided to schedule it for the next day.

Wednesday - we stopped by Anna's house.  We tracted into her a few weeks ago and she said to stop by during the day. So we did.  We attempted to give the first lesson on the door step and she was very interested in the First Vision.  She talked about how she likes to learn about our purpose in life and where we came from.  We told her that was perfect since that is what the next lesson is about.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would try to read it and she said we could come back and teach her again.  YEAH!!! Do you know what that means???!! We have a new investigator!!!! We had our lesson with Angie and she is so golden.  She prayed at the end of the lesson and she said she is excited to be baptized on June 9th!!! :) Only downside? She doesn't live in our area? She's in the Elders area. :( So we had to pass her on. But it's okay, because she's getting baptized!!!

We had Michelle over for dinner (recent convert, we walked her dogs a while ago).  She told us that she is struggling right now. She had to give up one of her dogs :( We watched Finding Faith in Christ and that seemed to help.  Right after she left we got a phone call from Dorothy, Don Trottier's fiancee.  She told us that Don was having symptoms of a heart attack that morning and was in the hospital.  She said he had fluid on the lungs and his blood pressure was high.  Thankfully all is well now and he should be home in a few days.  We called someone in the bishopric and he went up and gave Don a blessing.

I'm so grateful for our Savior and all He has done for us! Have a great week!! Love, love, love you!!!!
-Sister Josie Douglass

THREE MONTHS!!

May 14, 2012

Well, tomorrow is my three month mark!!! Crazy, eh? ;) I am so glad that we got to talk yesterday!!! It was so good hearing from everyone.  It defiantly gave me the boost that I needed.

Well this week we did a lot of tracting.  We stopped by a house that we knocked on a week or so ago.  The man who answered said to come back when the children's mother was home.  When we knocked on the door she, Jeanine, was home.  She told us that she just divorced and out of a bad marriage.  She said that she grew up Catholic, but he husband (previous) didn't believe in God and he was very controlling.  She said after they got divorced she came to find herself again and turned back to God.  She said that there are many lost souls in the world who need God in their lives.  She took a pamphlet and...a Book of Mormon!!! You have to understand that this is our first Book of Mormon that Sister Nielson and I have placed.  They told us at the MTC to only give out Books of Mormon if people seem that they will genuinely read it.  She set up an appointment for us to come back Monday (tonight). Good things are going to be happening this week!

Sadly, we did not get in with Brother Cranmer this week.  We were talking to their neighbor and best friend and she said that once spring/summer comes you rarely see the Cranmer's.  They are always down at their cabin in Medicine Hat.  We need to get that man baptized before he's gone for three months.  We did stop by on Sunday and he said that me and Sister Nelson can come by on Tuesday. (Tuesday Sister Nielson has leadership training so me and Sister Nelson get to go on splits in Okotoks).

Well this week was Mission Tour, sort of like our Zone Conference, but bigger.  I believe there were at least three zones there.  Elder Melchin was there.  He is the area Seventy for our mission.  It was so neat to be taught by him.  He gets to sit in out trainings from the Brethren.  Super neat stories.  Yeah, as I told you yesterday, I got chosen to give my 3-5 minute talk. Bleh.   Thankfully I wrote it out or else I would have completely blanked. And I think it flowed alright.  One disadvantage to being a Sister, you will always be asked to do something at Trainings or Meetings...always.  

Sister Archibald gave a talk about sacrifice and she gave us some reasons of why of the law of sacrifice: 

1- To test and prove us 

2) Assist us to come unto Christ. 

And What does sacrifice teach us: 

1) To learn something about ourselves 

2) Allows us to come to know the Lord 

3) Allows us to become more sacred and holy 

4) Prepares us to live in God's presence (putting God first and giving Him all).  

In my scripture reading I am to one of my favorite stories: the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.  I love how in the scriptures it says that they were converted unto the Lord and never did fall away.  One thing that I found really interesting when reading the story this time is how when the Lamanites come upon them and they kill 1005 people over a thousand of the Lamanites were converted.  It says that the people who were converted were true descendants of Laman and Lemuel and the Amalakites and Amulonites were so hardened they did not bring themselves down to repentance. EXCEPT - it says their was one Amalakite that was converted.  I told Sister Nielson I need to repent and not judge how ready people may be according to their house size.  They need the gospel just as much as anyone else.

I love you all so much!!!! I am so happy that we were able to talk for a few minutes yesterday!!!! The Lord loves us and we will be compensated for all of our losses and sacrifices!!!

-Sister Josie Douglass

BAPTISM!!

May 7, 2012

Dear Family,
 
Well what a week! I want to start off with Colin's Baptism, but I
think I will save the best for last :) There are so many amazing families in the wards we are over.  I seriously am going to miss them so much when I leave.  We had dinner with the Moore family on Monday.  Sister Nielson kept saying how excited she was that we were having dinner with them.  Now I know why. They are so cute and hilarious!! Sister Moore is from the UK - around
the London area...I think it's called Burkshire... probably butchered that spelling, but whatever. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard at a dinner appointment.  It was just what I needed.  They told us about their neighbors and how they feel that they need to share the gospel with them.  If they don't contact them this week they said we should knock on their door.  I am looking forward to having dinner again with them soon!
 
Wednesday we had a lunch appointment with the Bidlingmaier family. They are soooo sweet.  They are from South Africa and have the most polite manners.  I love going there because they always refer to us as the "Lady Missionaries". They have an adorable dog, Penny.  I think she's a Bishon mix, but she's warmed up to me. :) They are so missionary minded and have committed to get to know their neighbors in their cul-de-sac.
 
Then...Colin's baptism!!! When we were getting ready to start the baptismal services, who should walk in, but President and Sister Archibald and the assistance.  My heart rate went through the roof and I got soooo nervous.  We were giving the 1st lesson in 10 minutes while Colin and his father-in-law changed. Well the baptism was so nice. Colin's wife, Holly, was crying the entire time.  Their best friend, DJ, sang "I know Heavenly Father Loves Me" and she got crying so she couldn't sing.  But, she sang the song so tenderly that it brought the spirit into the room. 

We showed the First Vision from the Restoration Video and then we just wrapped it up with the Book of Mormon.  When a member, Brother Kyle, got up to talk about the Holy Ghost he just paused and said "Do you feel that? The Spirit is so strong in this room." And it was! It was just an overwhelming feeling of peace, comfort and love. Sister Nielson and I got so many compliments for our part.  We have been working really hard on memorizing the bullet points in the back of each lesson in Preach My Gospel.  It was a testimony to us that it is truly inspired and that is all we need to teach.  Sister Nielson and I are still feeling like everything is so surreal with Colin.  He was just so golden.  But it sounds like Heavenly Father has been helping Colin for the past year in preparing him to join the church.  Colin was confirmed on Sunday by his friend, Lucas De Silva.  It was soooo neat!!! The blessing was so specific and powerful.  Ahh!!! It's just so great!!!!! No worries, I will send pictures ASAP! They are such a cute couple! And their little boy, Beckam is to die for! He has the biggest brown eyes I have ever seen.
 
One of the neatest things that happened on Sunday was during sacrament
meeting.  Richard has been coming to church ever since I have been here.  His parents were totally against him looking into a church, but they are coming along.  Richard got up and bore his testimony about how he finished the Book of Mormon and he knows that it is true!!! We introduced ourselves to him and he said that he father doesn't want him to meet with the missionaries.  We told him we will respect his father's wishes.  Pray that his father will soften his heart.  At least Richard can come to church!!!
 
Things are going so great! Despite it snowing for a while on Saturday ;) I am so grateful for our Savior and all that He has done for us! I am so grateful that He provided a way for us to become clean so we can live with our Father in Heaven again someday!

LOVES!!!!!
-Sister Josie Douglass