week 24: somos las hermanas PLANTANDO

Hermana Gomez loves to plant and I think it is getting to our missionary work because we did a lot of contacting this week and planted a whole lot of seeds sharing scriptures, inviting people to prepare for Easter and conference, and talking to new people...all just seeds getting planted though. Happy spring!!

We left the mission twice this week and then our area an additional two times!! We went up to Salt Lake for the Mexican consulate on Monday, then to Orem to visit the mission doctor on Tuesday, up to Provo twice to take some sisters to get their car from the shop on Wednesday, and on Friday we had zone conference in Payson. So we did a lot of traveling this week haha. 

Salt Lake made for one of the best p days so far! We made a quick visit to the consulate, then went to Temple Square to see the construction anddddd SISTER SALLY BIRD!!! Got to go to lunch and catch up with my college roomie and it was so so good to see her after a year since we got sent home from school!! #tendermercies The temple grounds were so different from the past and it was cool to see all the work being done and to talk to some of the sisters on the grounds about their missions and work going on. While we were in SLC we also obviously hit Trader Joe's too haha so it was a 10/10 day! 

Zone conf was so so good!!! The APs talked a lot about how we can better invite the spirit into our lessons with our friends and then get out of the way to allow the spirit to teach. Lots of things were said that I want to incorporate more into our teaching! President and Sister O'Riordan did a elders/sisters breakout and the sisters all talked about our identity and the strengths we have as women in the church(classic hehe). It was really cool to get to know the other sisters better and to talk about all the spiritual gifts that we've been blessed with and how we can apply those gifts to our missionary work. A tonnnn of missionaries from our zone leave in a month, so they all bore their testimonies and President added to their thoughts about the time we have to be missionaries as being so sacred and special in our lives. We only get 18-24 months to testify of Christ everyday and we need to enjoy it bc once we find our purpose, time fliesssss!!!

Milagro: We had another lesson with Santo Rio, Silvia, and Joseph this week in the chapel to give them a tour and teach them about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was finally a good spirit filled lesson where they didn't try to bash us for two hours lol. Silvia was dressed in nice clothes instead of pajamas and both guys really just soaked in everything we had to teach. So much better than some of the previous lessons!! Silvia told us she would be at church which didn't happen, but we are having people from the ward watch conference with them so fingers crossed! 

General Conference is this weekend!!!  Saturday and Sunday at 10am and 12pm MST! We get to hear from our apostles and prophet, Russell M Nelson! I am so excited and am so grateful for the leaders we have in the church to give us guidance and counsel from our Heavenly Father. If you want more info on how to watch, go to churchofjesuschrist.org !! :)

les amo mucho!!

♡hermana dougall

p.s. FUN FACT! I get the COVID vaccine next Wednesday!! Just pray that missionaries can stop wearing masks soon oof!!

Salt Lake w Sis Sally Bird!!! 

Temple Square w Hna Gomez

Weeding to plant w Hna Garrido(feat the ugliest dog haha)

Payson temple!!!

Go watch General Conference!!!

week 23: somos las hermanas APRENDIENDO

We said "adios" to half of our district last week which was bitter sweet! This is the first time I'm staying in the same district for a second transfer, so it's weird watching it change. We enjoyed the nice weather last week and went on a hike up spring creek canyon and then hung at the chapel signing transfer journals for a couple hours. Transfers are the best and the worst!!

And speaking of transfers, Hna Gomez and I are back in a trio! Our new comp is Hermana Holt from Chicago, IL!! She likes photography, playing the piano, yoga, and learning Spanish. She reminds me of one of the sister missionaries from the district haha. Such a cutie(and trainees say the FUNNIEST things, so there have been some goooood laughs this week)!!

Hna Gomez leaves for Pachuca, Mexico in 2 weeks!! TEARS!!! But she got to go to the Provo temple on Friday, so Hna Holt and I got to do studies on the temple grounds and enjoy the sunshine! It was a mega blessing! 

Our lessons were a little wild this week to say the least. We had another 2 hour lesson with Santo Rio, Silvia, and Joseph about the plan of salvation. Long story short, they all have very differing beliefs and questions regarding where we go after our life here on earth. And when baptism for the dead was brought up it took a nasty wild turn haha. We'll see what happens with them this upcoming week. Rebecca had another wild lesson. We asked the baptismal interview questions and found out she really doesn't know much from the first lessons, so we are starting fresh with her. And she is trying to break up with her awful BF so that will be in her favor for getting on the right track. That girl is crazyyyy! Victor is solid though and while his family is still in Ecuador, we taught him about faith and miracles and are praying/fasting that he will have the faith to take the next step of baptism and he will see miracles in his family as a result of that faith(ether 12:13-19!!!)! We finally got let in to Mayela's house after no missionaries have been able to in the past. But thanks to my squirrel bladder, she let us in yesterday and talked to us about her family and interests(which don't exactly include the gospel for now though). She invited us back Wednesday to make salsa and Mexican enchiladas so that hna Gomez is prepared for Mexico haha. 

Milagro: Jerry!! We were trying to contact his brother, but he wasn't home twice in a row. The second time, I told him straight up that maybe he was the one we were trying to talk to(and I think it was the truth haha). This guy is ELECT!! He grew up kinda catholic, but mostly just a faith filled guy that is too busy to commit to a religion. He told us about how he moved from Cali/Mexico to Utah and loves the peacefulness here. He quit drinking/smoking 2 weeks ago and has since seen so many tender mercies and miracles, both big and small, in his life. He loves uplifting podcasts and messages, so we shared some scriptures and told him we had more lessons and a book of upliftment if he would have us back again. And he said YES! We are meeting him again Saturday and I am hyped!! 

funny Spanish things I said:

1. "¿Hablas mucho?" = "Do you talk much?" (said to a quiet lady when I meant to ask if she had talked to missionaries in the past...oops)

2. "Miras más viejo que 13!" = basically, "you look like an old woman" instead of "you look older than 13..."

3. "Ratas!" = "rats!" gets said a lot whenever I mess up constantly haha...gotta keep Gomez laughing :)

4. "Que oso" = "how bear," but also "how embarrassing!!" (I like this one haha)

other things:

-we got sunburnt Friday w 70 degree weather, then it poured all day Saturday, and then woke up to snow on Sunday!! WHAT THE?!

- the stake came to speak in our ward so we got to hear talks in English and Spanish and the comprehension was a bit better haha 

Finallyyyy, the subject line...it has been a week of learning! Hermana Holt is learning the ways of a missionary, we are both learning lots of Spanish, and Hna Gomez and I are learning to train together. It's been fun and so busy! But I got the best compliment last night when one of our ward mission leaders came out knocking with us and at the end of the night he told me(in Spanish), "Hermana, your Spanish is so much better in just the last month. When you bore your testimony on your first day in the ward, you seemed nervous and were a little hard to understand, but you have improved a lot since working in the barrio!" It made my whole week!!! I LOVE OUR MIEMBROS!!!

love y'all!! ♡hermana dougall

District hike

Last goodbyes w the district

Goodbyes to Avery (until her baptism this weekend haha)

Jesus Christ is Lord @ Walmart

 Temple!! 

Doggosssss

Sunburns from studies...and then it snowed the next day what the!!! 

Sarah Johnson surprised us w a visit and Chip cookies!!

Hna Fischer also showed up to say hi and introduce her BF haha 

week 22: somos las hermanas ENFERMAS

Hola hola hola!!! busiest and best week of my life y'all!! 

Transfer news!! Hermana Gomez and i are obviously staying together until she leaves in 3 weeks, but we are going full Spanish and losing our English stake (third area to leave haha) AND we are training a gringa together until for 3 weeks and then I'm fully training a Spanish missionary!!! President said I am now an Hermana until England!!! I have 3 weeks to really get my Spanish down so I can be a Spanish trainer! Who would have thought?!

It is sad to be leaving yet another area, but we had a GREAT farewell meeting yesterday with all the stake and ward leaders. Their stake is being combined with another stake in terms of missionaries, so they were pretty sad they are losing their own set of sisters. A bunch of people shared their experiences in going out knocking with us, joining us for lessons, having us in their homes, and what missionary work they have been inspired to do in the last month. It was so spirit filled and a great reminder to always be missionary minded even when you aren't a full time missionary! I feel like the last 6 weeks we really touched the lives of the members even if we didn't do much nonmember teaching. Perks of so many areas is that I have learned SO many different ways of missionary work and I LOVE IT! 

AVERY IS ON DATE for march 27!! We had a miracle lesson and BOTH her parents were there, involved, and excited to commit her to a baptism date. She is so excited to get the holy ghost and we are so excited for her!! And I'm glad I'll be close so I can go to the baptism too!

We found 5 new people in the Spanish area this week: Dora, Gerrardo, and Sylvia(Santa Rio's wife)! 

Dora and Gerrardo are a couple from El Salvador and all of their grown children are members of the church. Their daughter was married in the salt lake temple a couple years ago, so we talked about eternal families with them. They aren't quite ready to be baptized yet, but they want to learn more for themselves. Dora loves to cook, so she is going to teach us to make sopa and pupusas next weekend!! 

Santo Rio called us this week and asked if we could come in the afternoon, when only he would be home, so that we could answer some of the questions he had about the book of Mormon. We went to his place planning to teach the Restoration and brought a fellowshipper and it went wild. Not only was everyone(AND coworkers and kids) home, but his wife sat in on the lesson and wanted to basically bash everything. It was a mess and the fellowshipper was ALL over the place leaving us with so many loose ends to tie and questions to answer haha. The longest 2 hour lesson of my life, but we got Sylvia as a new and she wants to come get a chapel tour since she works on Sunday so that was a win in the end haha. 

Nestor and Zulai are from Venezuela and have a huge family! We have been trying to teach Nestor's cousin, Hector, and are already teaching Hector's cousin, Victor. Their whole fam came to Utah bc they love the people and the culture so they are happy to learn more about the church haha. 

We also had some good service opportunities this week! We cooked for some of the elders(wish I had a pic, but we made some fancy bacon wrapped cordon bleu with Spanish rice for the DL!! and frijoles charros for our new ZL haha) and cleaned out a mega hoarder house(do have a pic from that). It was fun!

Milagro: Both Hermana Gomez and I were feeling a little sick on Friday night, but that didn't keep us from going out(that's what masks are for right?). We REALLY wanted to knock with our English stake high counselor in the Spanish area, so we had to push through lol. We knocked the door of what ended up being a member and she invited us in to talk. Before we left, she told us she had felt like she needed to make extra soup for dinner even though it was just her and her granddaughter at home. She sent both us and President Boyer home with big containers of caldo de res and it was exactly what hna Gomez said that she always ate when she was sick! Miracle from our sweet angel member!! 

con amor, hermana dougall ♡

Elder Angel y los frijoles charros

Avery is the one w red streaks haha

. Transfer doctrine<doctrine of christ

Just another ribs pic to my collection

"This is how england weather will be for you!" -gomez

Hotdog

 Cleaned out this hoarder house lol

Hit 4 months on Tuesday!

Zoom lesson with the Anna, TX missionaries :) 

 Biggest dog of MY LIFE! he is a bear!! 

Senior couple goodbyes

week 21: somos las hermanas CANSADAS

hola a todos!! 

What a WEEK this has been! I feel like so much has happened, so last Monday feels like a month ago, but also it flew because SO much happened!! It has been a busy and exhausting week haha. 

Where to even start? How about with some good news? Hermana Gomez got a call on Thursday that she is going to Pachuca, Mexico on April 6!!! It is a week after she hits a year on the mission, so it is so so perfect! We also found out we are staying together until she leaves(not sure if it'll be Spanish only or both stakes still, but YAY!!!)!! Our trio was split on Wednesday when a sister was sent to Brazil, so everyone is off to their OG assignments! 

Other exciting news is that we got to road trip to Vernal this weekend for the Breen twin's baptism! It was so so so good to see them and their whole family so happy together! They gave me huge hugs and their mom cried and told me how glad she was that I was able to come back for the baptism because her life had been changed since the day we showed up at her door. My missionary heart was SO FULL!! I also got to see Sis Gill and meet her new comp, get ribs at our fav restaurant, teach an after baptism lesson to our friend Kasey, and visit the temple. Talk about BEST. DAY. EVER!! If I don't live in Morgan, I'm moving to Vernal bc that place is my FAV!!!

But back to Springville...Who are we teaching? 

1. JENNIE- She is the HS friend from Texas of one of our members, so we are teaching her completely over zoom. She has been progressing slowly and has a lot of struggles going on in her life rn. But we had a POWERFUL lesson last night on revelation and she told us that her heart was being softened by the gospel. She told us that she doesn't always receive answers to prayers, but when we showed her Bednar's Patterns of Light video and shared personal experiences with her, she said she felt so much peace. It was so good and the spirit was so strong! Sadly, we are passing her off to her missionaries in Texas this next lesson, but it's been awesome to see some progression!! (ps if anyone knows the Anna, TX missionaries, lmk)

2. VICTOR- This guy is ready to be baptized!! But sadly, his whole family is still in Ecuador and he wants to wait for them to be here for it(which is totally fair, but kinda a bummer for us). We taught him about families and temple work in his last lesson and he said it is something he wants for them! During the week, be visited Temple Square and was excited to send us some sweet selfies haha. 

3. SANTA RIO & JOSEPH- They are brother in laws who live together because Santa Rio(holy river haha) just moved from Florida. The first time we met, he brought out his bible and we thought he was going to bash us, but he was super open to learning more! Before our next lesson we had him read in 2 Nephi 2 and he had a lot of really great questions about agency and obedience and joy v happiness. We are excited to keep teaching them and see where things go! 

Milagro: We are also teaching Rebecca, the mom of a recently baptized teenager, Jonathan. She is from El Salvador and has gotten super close with us! That's good and bad though bc our lessons often turn to her just talking about her life. We taught her this week about how we can have faith during trial and trust in the Lord and it turned into an hour long chat about some hard difficulties she has had in her life growing up! As we were wrapping up the lesson, a scripture I had read that morning during my studies came to mind. It was 2 Nephi 4:20-21 that says, "My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.  He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh." I shared my testimony in solid Spanish and used words I didn't even know I knew. It was definitely a gift of tongues moment and was so powerful and cool!! We found some good friends for her at church yesterday who are going to visit during the week so that we can be her teachers now, so things are going well with her too! 

AND we also got updated COVID restrictions, so we can finally eat homemade meals instead of only takeout, have in person district activities every week, and accept rides from members. Slowly but surely getting back to normal life! I told my President I would stay here in Utah speaking Spanish and enjoying summer weather until he goes home in July, so hopefully England gets on the normal life train soon too!! Miracles all around! 

♡hermana dougall

Victor at the temple! (Kinda reminds me of Tim's selfies haha)

The Springville ZONE

Officially got the hermana tags!!

Miracle walk and photoshoot lol 

Sis gill♡♡

The Breen's baptism!!!

 The vernal temple..."muy poquito"

Jonathan and our twinning bracelets hehe

Somewhere between England and Oregon haha 

week 20: somos las hermanas de DIFICULTADES y MILAGROS!

Have you ever had those weeks where almost every single night everything you have planned is cancelled, your companion gives you the silent treatment for 3 days straight, you feel like you understand zero of what is said in lessons, and you burst into tears in the middle of 2 stake meetings? Well I'll be 100% honest in saying this week was just one of those weeks. It was a hard one for sure, but let me tell you this! Heavenly Father does NOT forget about us!! Whether it's scripture verses being just what I needed to read, people reaching out and saying just what I needed to hear, tender mercies and miracles were in abundance this week!

Our mission had the chance to meet with Elder Bednar over zoom on Friday! He told us to not take notes, but to follow the spirit and simply write impressions on what we felt and 5 word summaries on what was said. He talked a lot about how the spirit is the true teacher and as missionaries, we can be totally imperfect, but if we have the spirit and are preparing ourselves each day, we can be the best teachers to carry the spirit. Asking questions, extending invitations, listening, and understanding in lessons is the most powerful way to teach! Doing the little things in life each day of studying the scriptures, having meaningful prayer, and taking time to connect with the Lord are what make us powerful missionaries and powerful members. It was a super awesome meeting!

I say this about all my DLs, but Elder Neve is a real one!! He was serving in Peru before, but is now whipping it up here in the UPM! He got us all wooden nametags this week at district council and they are so so cool(pics below)! It is also my first Hermana tag bc the ones I ordered still haven't come haha. BUT even better than nametags, was he and his companions willingness to give my comps and I all priesthood blessings when we called them up this week after all being prompted to receive blessings from different struggles we were facing. We didn't tell him much, but the spirit was so strong and the words he said were EXACTLY what we all needed to hear! It was directly from Heavenly Father. He knows us each individually and loves us so so much!! 

One thing I am trying to do is really apply the book of Mormon to my life. As I look for tender mercies and miracles in my life everyday, I do the same in the book of Mormon. I find a few tender mercies in every chapter and it is amazing to see the blessings that come, especially when we are following the Lord! It has been really eye opening and I super recommend. If you're trying to apply charity in your life, read the book of Mormon and don't look for the WORD charity, but examples of people showing charity. The same for examples of good teachers, faith, prayer, etc. 10/10 recommended and it makes the Book of Mormon come alive!!! 

Milagro: (2 this week...ask me if you want more because there were lots!)

1. On Monday night, we were in the Spanish area and had planned to knock, but our member got sick last minute. So we decided to pray and go for a walk in one of the apartment areas for an hour. We kinda just walked in circled the entire time and finally found a guy by the trash cans smoking. We talked with him for a bit about families and got his number to set up a return appt(but he was white and very much English...). We start walking back to our car at about 8:40 and I see this Hispanic guy walking towards his house. My comps were talking a few steps behind me and I just took off running towards this guy, Pedro, and yelled out, "hi!!!" until he turned around. He talked with me until my comps caught up and then invited us inside to meet his girlfriend Eva, her sister who was visiting, and their son. The girls completely opened up to us about some struggles they've been facing recently and how they've been needing comfort in their lives. We helped them to see blessings all around them and read some scriptures. We invited Eva to church yesterday and she couldn't come because of work, but she invited us to come cook with her this week so we have an in!!! 

2. Friday night is so hard as a missionary because everyone is always gone and we almost always have cancellations! This week was no different and we had 2 lessons and knocking cancel. We instead heart attacked Avery and Eva, stopped by a part member families house and talked with their son for a bit, took a bathroom stop at Wendy's, and then planned to come home and make calls. Hermana Gomez was craving an elote, so we drove to the Mexican truck on the way home, not knowing it had closed early. We are pulling into the parking lot and this guy in all black is slowly crossing the street in front of our car. He kept walking as we pulled in and then turned around and walked right up to our car. We rolled down the windows and talked to him and he was so nice! He had some whack ideas about God just being a synonym to the worst creating, Jesus being a demon bc he allows us to sin, and so forth, BUT he was open to reading the book of Mormon! He told us he basically learns everything on his own, but he needs a teacher for religion, so lucky missionaries! Sadly, he is in the elders area, but still super crazy! Right place, right time(heavenly father has a plan for e v e r y o n e !!!)!!!!

Heavenly Father loves each of us! That love is infinite and eternal and so individual for each of his children!! 1 Nephi 11:17 says, "I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."  This hit me this week! I may not know what the Lord has in store for me this difficult transfer, but I do know that he loves me and is watching over me! And he is doing the same or all of you! We are so so LOVED!

love you all mucho mucho!!

hermana dougall <3

our wooden tags!! 

the espanol district <3

Elder Bednar meeting!!

Ready to heart attack

Made our mark at MOD pizza in Spanish Fork!