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:)