Ya We Got Some Snow

 HAHAHA ya we got some snow.... We've been in our apartment the past 2 and a half days! We had been hearing about this storm the whole week and most people were pretty skeptical about it actually being as much as they said it would be. We went and got jugs of water and some more food on Thursday, just to be safe.

Friday night it started coming down and it snowed through the night and ALL of Saturday and stopped around midnight. It was pretty windy so there are drifts up to 5ft! Church was canceled because everyone was buried in and the streets were BAD! Yesterday we had our own church meeting and both prepared talks. It was fun! Then we went to dig out our car so we could go help members, but it took us 3 hours... !! Oh man then we helped our neighbors get their car out which took 2 more hours! I AM SO SORE!! It has been pretty fun though!

So before this huge cray cray storm happened we had a really great productive week! 

We taught so many less-active ward members this week and they are really starting to trust us and feel the spirit in their lives! It was funny because, with the storm, they were the ones calling and texting to make sure WE were ok! I'm so excited to work with these members

We also went and contacted some potential investigators we tracted into a few weeks ago. First we went and saw Crystal who is a young mother of 5 and 6 year old girls! She is super great and has so much faith in Christ. She had a rough life but started going to the methodist church when she moved here and saw how much God can help us in our trials if we turn to Him! They have pictures of Christ all over their walls, even have some of Greg Olson's paintings on their walls lol! 

We also got in contact with this amazing potential investigator Blake, who has been reading the Book of Mormon. We had only communicated through text, but we went over that day to invite him to FHE. He said he would probably come and wants to meet to talk more about the Book of Mormon!!! SOOOO great:)

On Thursday we had a really good lesson with a less-active sister and her son, Noah. We talked about faith and the story of Peter walking on water. We had a member there that bore a powerful testimony of faith and the spirit was so strong. We asked Noah if he wants to take the lessons and be baptized and they agreed! We're starting the lessons on Thursday and I think this will really help his mom get back to church as well!

It's crazy because at the beginning of this week I was really frustrated because it felt like nothing was happening and I felt like the ward members were starting to loose hope in us sisters. But I've really come to know that God works in mysterious ways and that we just have to be patient and know that everything will work out. He see's the bigger picture and all we need to do is what it says in 

D&C 123:17 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.”

Love Sister Raquel Douglas

Which lump is our car?

Car identified. Now to get it out. Before shot.

After digging their car out!

Finding Joy In the Mission Journey

Back:Elder Smedly(ZL), Elder Baker(ZL), Elder White(DL), Elder Coburn (greenie)
Front: PJ, Sister Consaco, Sister Whyaskit, Sister Faamaile,
Me(one of these sister's is not like the others;)

You were spot on with whole spiritual high of Christmas, then going to

cold new January and being asked to train and having no idea what I'm

doing. Whenever I feel upset or homesick I always get  so frustrated

with myself because I know this is an incredible thing I get to do and

I need to enjoy it. So I prayed and prayed and prayed to Heavenly

Father to help me resolve some of my concerns and help lift my

burdens. Let me tell ya, my prayers were defiantly answered!!!

First of all, being able to study every morning for two hours is such

a blessing. It's my favorite part of the day, because of the sacred time

I have to communicate with Heavenly Father and prepare for the day.

There are times when my thoughts are led to something to read and

it's exactly what I need. That happened ALL week:)

I remembered this BYU devotional some missionaries talked about that I

felt impressed to read called "Remember Lot's Wife" by Elder Holland

*(I totally recommend you read this talk). He talks about having faith

in the future and refers to the story of Lot's wife. The second talk

that came to mind was "Finding Joy in the Journey" by President Monson

and this quote really impacted me, "I plead with you not to let those

most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and

nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to

do. Instead, find joy in the journey--now."

As I reflected on what goals I wanted to set for the new year with

President Johnson on Wednesday, for interviews, my thought's kept

turning to these two talks. I prayerfully decided that I wanted

to strengthen my Faith in the Savior Jesus Christ, through

reading/searching a chapter of the Book of Mormon everyday. My second

goal is to find Joy in the Journey and develop a more positive outlook

on life. The scripture kept coming to my mind, "Adam fell that men

might be, and men are that they might have JOY" 2 Nephi 2:25.

As I talked to my mission president he said that if I continually strive to

keep these goals that I will have life changing experiences here on

the mission and for the rest of my life.

My joy was really tested this week when EVERYTHING we had planned fell

through and each door we knocked was a hard core rejection. But then

I recognized that each day I could see a blessing from Heavenly father.

-Monday: taught a woman named Janelle, and I felt so much love for her.

-Tuesday: Did service at SPO with a ton of non-members who are so

loving and caring.

-Wednesday: had an amazing training by president and sister Johnson on

"staying on the steep end of the learning curve" -Continual growth and

striving to always push ourselves out of our comfort zone so we can

learn to rely on our Savior! As well as being able to sit down and

talk to president about my goals, and receive inspired council! And

getting a very much needed inspired email from my mom:)

-Thursday: Beautiful weather while tracting. It was 60 degrees:)

-Friday: Having a Zone activity and playing ultimate frisbee in the

mud! Then having an incredible testimony meeting afterward. And going

to dinner at my fav families house, They Lymans!!! And hearing sister

Lyman's conversion story.

-Saturday: Planning for the upcoming week and feeling the spirit!

-Sunday: having President and Sister Johnson at Church with us. And

seeing the little 8 year old that we've been helping teach, get

baptized:)

I know that it is as we turn to our Heavenly Father and seek our His

will for us that we can find true and everlasting joy through His Son

Jesus Christ.

xoxoxoxox Sister Raquel Dougals😉

You're Not In Somoa Anymore, Sister

Introducing Sis. Faamaile. She is here all the way from Somoa! New companions.

Excerpts from her letter on January 4, 2016

Haha, you would not believe the week I've had... It's been so CRAZY!

Monday night we drove to Pittsburgh and got there at about 10pm. We

went and stayed with the Gardners, a senior couple in the mission.

When we came in they asked which one of us would be staying for two

nights... we were so confused. They asked which one of us was the

trainer. I said it was me. They said that our trainees were stuck

in the Detroit airport for the bad weather and didn't make it there

that day. I was so tired at that point that I didn't really know what

to think. So we just went to bed. 

Then next day the AP's emailed us and said our

trainee's wouldn't be there until Wednesday so they had me and two of

the other Sister trainers go to Wheeling West Virginia... Before I went to 

West Virginia I was feeling kinda stressed about everything and asked 

Elder Gardner for a blessing and it helped me feel so much peace. 

Sister Hanson, Sister Palmer, and I went to Wheeling,

which took about an hour and a half. Thankfully they had three

Temporary companions on a 2 day assignment to Wheeling.

mattresses there so no one had to sleep on the floor for two

nights. The bad thing was that Sister Palmer and I only had one change

of cloths. Haha the struggle was real! We had to wash our

cloths every night. On top of that I was feeling sick so that wasn't fun.

The full day we were there we went and cleaned this ladies house. Then

we went tracting for a few hours. There was a really sweet lady that

invited us over for dinner-she's a young mom with two cute

little kids. She was recently reactivated and has so much faith.

Thursday we drove back to Pittsburgh and had our Trainers meeting.

President Johnson told us how important trainers are and how we have 

the ability to influence the new missionaries for the rest of their mission. 

That was overwhelming. But then we talked about what our trainers did 

that we liked I got super pumped about training!

We had lunch and all of the sweet sisters that just came to Pittsburgh were

terrified. I totally remember that day. SO HARD! We had a mini

transfer meeting and president assigned all of the missionaries to

their trainee's. I was assigned to SISTER FAAMAILE!!!!! She is here

all the way from Samoa!!

We drove back to Shippensburg on New Years Eve and finally got home at

6:30pm! President wanted us in our apartments cleaning that night, so

her first mission experience was cleaning the apartment. Haha!

She is super sweet even though it's been overwhelming for her with the

different culture and everything. She has been so strong! She isn't afraid of

anything and on her first real day she handed out a Book of Mormon!!!

I was so proud of my baby!

January 11, 2016

It is so stinkin' cold here! The sad thing is that it is a super mild winter this year so thankfully it hasn't dropped below 10 degrees, but man being out in that cold air all day just drains you! Yesterday it was absolutely freezing and we were walking around a neighborhood trying to find a few less-actives and potential investigators and the wind was blowing so hard that the wet cold air would just go straight through our cloths. My poor comp hates the cold, but she's been a trooper and never complains!

Sis. Faamaile wanted a picture with the icy road. She has never seen ice outside before.

I've learned SO much this past week! I've really had to rely on Heavenly Father in EVERYTHING I do. I've really come to understand the importance of planning and how planning and faith truly go together. When we make plans according to the direction and will of the Lord there is so much more peace and the spirit truly directs the work. Tuesday we set goals to how many people we wanted to talk to and how many doors we wanted opened and where we wanted to be.

As we went on tracting for about four and  a half hours, it was hard, but we were so blessed. We were on the outskirts of the University campus where a lot of college students live. It was pretty barren because their semester doesn't start until the 19th so we would go like 20 doors before one would answer, yet I felt like we were in the right place. As we continued through that day we talked to four people that said they would like to know more. I was totally taken back because that was the first time I had been tracting and had someone actually say they were interested. We are planning on going back and seeing them in a few weeks! One girl, Chelsey, who was probably a little older than me, answered the door with this huge smile on her face. She was the nicest person I've ever met door to door. I feel like we were really led by the spirit to meet her that day and I hope to see something come from it in the future.

Heavenly Father once again has truly blessed us. Through a lot of contacting and talking to members we have two lessons with potential investigators next week! One with Chloe, who is in her 80's and had contact with the missionaries about a year ago, but lost contact. The other is a friend of a Sister in the ward who we are actually teaching tonight at 7 :) 

Heavenly Father truly does answer our prayers. It may not always be in the way we want or expect, but He does. I know that Heavenly Father loves us way too much to just sit and watch us fail at life. He wants us to find joy in this life, and that's something  I've been trying my hardest to do. One of my transfer goals is to "Find Joy in the Journey"! Thank's to my mom plastering those words on the wall and reminding us over and over to find the joy of life! I've learned that if we're not seeking it we'll never find it.

This is the true church being led by a man called of God in these latter days in preparation for our dear Saviors return. I know there is true everlasting peace in the gospel of Jesus Christ and if we just endure to the end and endure it well we will be blessed with joy beyond comprehension!

Have a wonderful week,

Sis Douglas

Sis. Faamaile loves her selfies man! That's how sister Hokafonu was too haha! I
love the car so I guess this picture pretty much sums up our lives:)