Contact Information

Russia 630102
Novosibirisk
46 Kirova
Russia Novosibirsk Mission
Sister Heather Trottier

(Yes I know it is backwards, its right I promise!)

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

First letter from Sister Trottier!

Hello Family!
 
To be honest, i have no idea where to begin, or even what to say! haha  i got your letters and they made me very happy!  just so you know, you can send emails and that is great, but letters are the best cause they hand them out in class and you feel loved when you get them :)   As probably every missionary says, i feel like i have been here forever but not long at all. There is so much to tell you.

Right when i left you a sister came to pick me up and show me to my room.  There are six sisters in my room, Sister webb, francom, taylor, pitchforth and west. and then onto my classroom.  There i met my companion. Her name is Sister West :) my new best friend! i already love her and we get along really well!  possibly too well if that is possible.    And i did not bring too many clothes if you are wondering, all the girls in my room have way more than i do! if this gives you any idea, Sister West brought 3 peacoats, 3 boots and about a billion clothes!   It is a struggle for us to get to bed on time because we all want to talk all night long, but we do not we go to bed :)

oddly enough the sisters in my room are not in my district (they are in my zone though)  The sisters in my district are sister stout and rassmussen.  we have four elders in our district Elder winnegar, sperry, hansen and goodard.  We all get along really well and are all very close already.    The first day we had a teaching exercise with all of the newbie missionaries. it was stressful and they just throw you out there right at the beginning.  We learned quickly that spouting off doctrine is not how to teach, but rather bearing pure testimony and sharing scriptures in order to let the investigators feel the Spirit.   (i am typing so quickly my hands are cramping haha, i have so much to say and not enough time!) 

It is true what they say about the MTC, all you do is eat and study and go to class :) i have never been more tired, frustrated, happy, excited and uplifted in my whole life.  The Spirit is so strong here. There is no where else that you have thousands of people all praying their hardest to be able to live up to what the Lord expects of them.  Sister West and i usually spend our Gym time playing basketball and volleyball, haven't tried four square yet.  In the mornings they have a special aerobics class for the sisters at 6 am that we go to. There is step, yoga, etc and it is a good thing to get us up and going in the morning to start the day out right.

about the Russian. We began learning Russian that first day.  I have two very conflicting emotions, I have never felt so confident that i can do something and that the Lord will help me, and I have never felt so helpless that I cannot do something haha!  Because of this i have been studying humility, faith, hope and patience.  I know that if i do all i can, the Lord WILL do the rest. I will be able to learn Russian and teach with His power and authority.  I have learned to pray in Russian, although it is somewhat memorized it is heartfelt. I start out in Russian begin thanking Him in Russian and finish what i cannot say in English and then i end in Russian.   I also sort of know how to meet someone, testify of Christ, and ask to set up an appointment.  tomorrow in the TRC that is our task so i have to practice that more :)   We try to use our Russian as much as we possibly can.

I have seen quite a few people that i know here and it is nice and comforting to talk with them.  Kelli Russel is my neighbor and she comes in and checks on me and a girl from school Erin Austin is on my floor and we chat too (she says hi Chelsea)  and also a girl from my study abroad Jennie? Ward is in my zone and is the leader over my district. She is AWESOME and it is so good to have her there.   I also say trevor reeder and matt okasaki...awkward kinda.... 

MDT is probably the thing that i need to work on the most at being effective at.  it is time where we just study, at first it is hard to study for four hours straight, but we are getting better and better at it as we go.   We seriously have class for hours and hours haha but it gets broken up between, teaching skills, gospel study, language study, practicing teaching/language etc. We have two teachers Brother Mccleary and Bro. Rutter. They are both very different but also very nice.
 

Before i forget i want to tell you what i need.  Please :)  I need my boyfriend jeans and my skinny jeans, i need my blue basketball shorts, and some nail polish and remover.  i know i had more but now i forget :)    I am out of time which is sad because i don't think i have told you everything that i need to, but i will write you a letter too ok?  and i will send pictures soon and  i will get better at writing emails! I'm sorry! its stressful!

I love it here!  you know at my farewell how my face hurt cause i was smiling so much? that is how it is here.  I love being here and i love the spirit of the MTC. I have already grown so much and i understand now why boys are weird when they come home. I would probably already be weird. My weaknesses are already starting to be my strengths, i probably comment the most in class but i also ask the most questions, i struggle the most at the language ahah i think i still know more Spanish than Russian :)  Sister west and i have the best companionship and are always laughing and talking. Went to the temple this morning and the provo temple is so beautiful! it was a great experience to go with my whole zone.  I am very happy and am looking forward to hearing more from  you wink wink.  I love you all!  sorry i didn't have enough details.   oddly enough it is normal to be called sister trottier

Love, Sister Trottier

4 comments:

  1. Made me so happy to hear how good she is doing!! Love that girl!

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  2. Great Letter! Thanks for posting it, and don't edit out a thing Sami, we want to read it all. I don't know what you could have edited out, it was all inspiring and wonderful to read. What a great start to a great mission. We're praying for Sister T! Love you!

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  3. Oh I love it, she is going to be such a great missionary! I really really like the quote at the top of page. And I agree with Lisa... we want all the details! Nice work on the blog Sammers!

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  4. This "happiness and act don't react" part shall be my motto for the week. Go Sister Go!

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