Hey thanks for all the emails! you guys are the best! SOunds like everyone is having all sorts of fun and having their own adventures too!! thats pretty cool!
I had a lot of cool experiences this week! SOme of which involve missionary work and some of which do not. really...but kinda....
So there was a wedding this last weekend! so we and a bunch of ladies went to the branch to decorate and cook food! and It was so great! we got to talk to some less actives and even some non members about religion and their views on marriage etc etc. The reception was alot of fun and they have a bunch of cool traditions that we don't have but they also have alot of things that are the same! I have found that Russians Onions are SUPER STRONG! i have never had this problem before, i have cut o nions before but never cried. THese onions are the worst ever seriously i was leaking out of my eyes for like 30 min afterward! it was a waterful! haha but the food was good so it was alright! The bride and groom were very russian which means alot of eye makeup! huge puffy dress and a tiara etc etc haha its funny! but beautiful in their very Russian way!
I also went to help at my first Datcha which like a second plot of land people have outside of the city where they go on weekends. They are seriously a huge problem for church attendance but it is fun to be there and do yard work and they are very beautiful!
This SUnday i translated a talk given by Our senior Couple on Sunday! I have realized how much i DO NOT know russian by how terrible my translating skills are! I was starting to get really frustrated when he got to his testimony. He has been practicing and practicing his testimony in Russian and it was incredible when he gave it. He gave it all he could and he bore pure testimony. I felt the spirit at a million miles an hour. It helped remind me that no matter my language skills i can't teach with out the spirit. But with the Power of the Holy Ghost I can teach. That is what matters. My experiences never sound as cool as they actually were when they happened when i try to write them...but maybe they will be better wheni can talk about them in person....
It has been my goal to not have to count how many people i have talked to on the street to be able to get our desired amount, but to just talk to everyone so that i always know i have talked to enough! and i have been getting pretty good at it! whichi s the first step...but thge problem is that we still don't have this much success....so it means that i am doing it wrong kinda...only like 3 out of the 40 people we talk to each day actually stops to listen at all!! and President wrote me and i think he gave me the answer, he said i have to open my mouth and "visit with people" not just chuch information at them, but get to know them, talk to them and show them that i love them. Because its strange, buti really do love them! And so i need to do this better. But the russians don't really just talk....but this is my goal for the next week! i will report back next week!
we finally got 3 of our investigators to meet with us!! interesting enough all three of them are young girls about 20 years old. They are all incredible and really sweet, but i think that it is hard for them to want to or to think it is possibleto change. But I think that if we get all of them to church the same day we can help them to become friends and they can become a support system for each other. Their names are Sveta, Kristina, and Olya. and you can all pray for them! :) that would be great!
As i said i started the Book of Mormon over and i am loving it even though i have read 1 nephi maybe 30 times! :) i always find something new and great every day! I have also been reading the talks from Priesthood session and although i do n't have the priesthood, the principles found there can be related to me and they have helped strengthen me and helped me realize how powerful and how incredible the power of the Priesthood really is in our lives.
I was thinking today and actually alot this whole week on whether or not i have made a difference here. It is hard to see and to measure the success i have had out here and i have been trying to do so. and sister schwab read me a quote "When you go home be able to say "im glad that i did...." instead of "i wish that i had..." " So that is another of my new goals. to work each day so thati can be glad that i did what i did in that day. It is a hard task buta very good one! Now i can think of a few people whom i think i have helped and have made a difference but i realized that if nothing i have changed. i wouldn't change the last 7 months for anything. I have changed so much and i hope to conti nue to do so. I am so thankful for the hope that our gospel gives us. the hope to change adn to BE better, the hope to be worthy to live with our Heavenly Father. With Sveta yesterday we read Alma 36 and we talked about changing through christ. She has had alot of trials lately and she has been blaming them on the fact that she has been coming to church. So we read this chapter and in verst 27 it talks about the trials that he goes through, but he has been supported. Now this is AFTER he has changed and gone on to preach and teach and live righteously but HE STILL HAS TRIALS, It helped me to see that even when we do all that we can life is still going to be hard BUT it will be easier if we turn to the Lord.
Anyways....
Love you all!!!
Sister Trottier
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