So i heard that it is mothers day next week HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! haha we found out that we can use the computer at the church building to skype. sorry for the late notice and we can't plan for when i will talk with you but we decided that we would go there Monday morning and call. so i will have a turn at about 9 or 9:30 and if i am counting right that is Sunday night for you at like 8 or 8:30. i know that's kinda late for sami and matt, but it would be cool if they were there :) i don't know how the whole skype thing works but i am sure that i will figure it out.

dad- hey old man :) haha Just kidding.  its a small world huh? Addy french got married!?!  i had no idea!  to that same kid that came to lake powell with us or something like that?  what part of Russian is Alicia going to?

well- sorry i took a long time reading all of your emails :) we found a library to do Internet and it is so quiet and clean and great haha i am just enjoying it and relaxing. its been a good week. its all going by so so fast.

no i am going to paste whati wrote to president and also add some stuff to it.

Its a good week we did well at planning this week and we had all our meetings set up for the whole week almost!  its amazing what a good planning session does! no stress! and we were able to focus on the needs of the people, not just on who we were going to find to meet with.

Our goal as a companionship right now is learning how to better teach together with the Holy Ghost. We have been studying how the Holy Ghost works and trying to learn how to teach the same way, and get out of the way so He can do the actual teaching.

We had a meeting with one of the people that came to the church Open house. Her name is Olga. We met with her at a members house and it was an incredible meeting. The spirit was so strong and we were all just able to discuss how the blessings of the restored gospel are able to bless our individual lives. She described her feelings that the presence of God was so strong that it was tangible. We left that meeting just floating on air. She has a small problem with her mother who is very very against all other religion other than Russian Orthodox but i think that it will all turn out ok. we are praying and planning on going over to do service at her house to soften her heart.

my companion after the meeting asked me where all the perfect Russian came from during the lesson haha.  i have found when i step aside let the spirit speak my Russian is way better too, not only the quality of the lesson. The Spirit is so cool.

We also met with a woman whose husband is a counselor in the branch presidency. Her name is Larissa. She is an incredibly sweet woman. She has been coming to church for quite awhile and loves the Book of Mormon.  She is just a little nervous about the responsibility that being a member has.  But it also was a great meeting led by the spirit. We talked of prayer and i found myself spouting off answers and passages i didn't know. She is so great, you know she already shares the gospel. and at work she said that they used to buy alcohol for everyones birthdays and stuff to celebrate and she asked them why they were wasting their money and they now buy fruit to eat on holidays! haha she is trying to not drink coffee so she says that she just sometimes stands next the machine and smells it and that is enough haha. she was so cute she asked us kinda timidly if it was bad if she marked her scriptures and wrote in them!  of course not!  we were thrilled!

we went to a village this week to meet wtih our new young converts. holy cow- remember last time that i said they had a mean dog? well now they have 3 mean dogs!  and i am talking MEAN they were trying to eat us. seriously! have never been more scared in my whole entire life. the girls came out to hold the dogs back, but they dogs were doing all they could to get free and to attack. one even got my companions coat. oh goodness.

had some great meetings with active and inactive members. its great to visit them and to serve them. Emma is a cute babooshka who always feeds us and takes care of us. the members here are so great. they have become my family.

Saturday all our plans fell through!  but don't worry "the gospels still true" so we had a bunch of time to contact and i will tell you a story. So, i decided it was warm enough to not wear boots-wrong! so we took buses where we were planning instead of walking and you know what? it meant that we were in the right place at the exact right time. it was incredible. i just stopped this young guy (which normally isn't who we go looking to contact- usually turns out not great) and we ended up teaching a lesson right there on the street. it was so cool. He was a great guy  who just "found God" not long ago.  you never know who is ready to hear the gospel. and then we jumped of our bus and i saw a lady with a stroller who was not the way we were planning on going but i grabbed my comps coat and pulled her over.  This lady was so excited to talk to us and already knew who we were and where our church was. her and her husband had been planning to come for awhile now. seriously. i was blown away how happy she was to talk to us. it was like she was a member or something. i was blown away. They are going out of town until June, but hopefully my comp will baptize their whole family! :)

lately we have been meting all sorts of people who know who we are. who have been to our church before or have friends or relatives that are members. Craziest ever. its never been this often before but its like everyone knows who we are. its nice. they already know we are normal and not trying to eat them or something. which i really don't get when people are scared of us....we are pretty normal looking girls.

The book of mormon is the book of answers. we always ask ourselves questions and also try to find answers to the questions we have and as we are studying together we will be reading and one of us will say, "hey that's our answer"  its incredible.  Read it.

Anyways. I have found a new scripture. don't know if i told you about it last week, but it is Alma 7:23-24. its a great scripture with of the characteristics that i am working towards haha that i am far from reaching.  I am taking the verse apart word by word and trying to discern what each one really means. I studied the word "submissive" today.  I have come up with synonyms i think that match what it means- malleable, willing, adaptable, humble, obedient, responsive, ability to yield, ability to take correction and chastisement, go with the flow, easy to get along with...i didn't bring my notes but those were just a few. 

welp- my time is about out so i gotta go, but i love you all very much! and i will talk to you next week hopefully! 

The church is true. The Book of mormon answers all questions.

Sister Trottier

we are spending alot of time trying to get referrals from members and inactives and also through our own finding! we need new investigators!  but no worries

boring today...sorry :)

Hey hey hey,

right now in my studies when i have "free time"  after i have planned and studied for others, i am studying the "final words" of the prophets in the Book of Mormon.  I really love it.  Just the few verses or chapters that they end when they say something like "I nephi about to go down to my grave...." or something like that.  its great the things that they have to say to us. My favorite is Amaleki (sp?) its at the end of Omni. Sorry don't have it with me now, but you can go and read it. but today i started reading the "last words" of Christ.  who knows what they really were, but i am reading them all from Matt, Mark, Luke and John, and also 3 nephi. its interesting from all the prophets and Christ, their final words go back to a basic doctrine.  Repent, Come unto Christ. Or something like this.  It really is simple, the gospel.  We just have to live it. 

Had service this week at a hospital. Wore jeans for the first time in a year which was weird but sweet! haha  we have a rule that we can't proselyte if we are in service clothes and it felt so weird to not talk to people. I felt so useless and lame to just walk, or sit on a bus haha and not do anything. The hospital------well we aren't in America is what i have to say about that.  :)  we cleaned windows and then went out to help the elders rake leaves. it was way fun! physical labor is the best time for thinking and chatting. 

had some great meetings this week with great people- contacts, investigators, members, inactives and new members.  it was great. I love being a missionary. haha maybe i will just go around to everybody at home with spiritual thoughts too haha i love just seeing a lot of different people everyday, getting to know them and learning about the gospel with them. Its true that the gospel is (should be) our lives.  I think i probably say this like every week but at church i just had to hug everyone (and give all the men hearty handshakes) Because i felt such an overwhelming love for all of them. I haven't served as long here in Tomsk as other places but i already feel even closer to these members here. 

We had an open house at the branch and the members are so incredible the building was spotless and decorated with banners and posters and flowers and they prepared presentations on different topics and questions of the soul. as i listened to each of them i was inspired and got alot of help and thoughts about how i can improve my teaching. one lady that came was so intense. she just sat through the whole thing very in awe and just loved it all. We are going to meet with her this week. i will let you know how it goes of course :). 

There is this one lady that we meet with , she is so great and so funny and has a story for EVERYTHING haha and she can talk for 3 hours with out a breath probably haha but its mostly on topic..... :) anyways we were just with her and she was telling a story when all of a sudden she breaks into opera singing!  haah for her its normal but it was so funny haha we both couldn't help but laugh because she scared us both so bad that we jumped a foot out of our chairs haha. her name is Nina. 

met a young mom named Katya. She is really nice but has led a hard life. worse than that, her "husband" is scary. She is scared of him and he came home when we were there and we had to leave. To be honest i had no idea what he said and my comp said it was because it was all bad words.  We have been praying to know how to help her and serve her.

A different Nina we met with has been an investigator forever haha the same one that i argued with about prophets (i think i told that story...)  anyways we were going with the intention of dropping her and we get there and she just starts whipping out all this stuff she read from the Book of Mormon, how she has been praying and how she wants to come to church on Sunday! we were shocked! so we went to pick her up and she came and loved it! got to know all the babushki and just had a ball.  Hope she continues

had FHE with branch president and his family.   They have two grandmas (both named Galina) who are interesting in meeting with us! one was there. it was cool!  

had a meeting with a new lady Nina (ya lots of Nina's)  which was good. has a bunch of kids and wants to find truth for her family. 

we contacting a whole bunch of contacts and this guy agreed to meet with us, so we grabbed the elders and he came. Turns out he is from Uzbekistan and doesn't speak Russian well- haha he just knew we asked him to meet. haha but it was ok.  He was way nice but we couldn't communicate anything. But what we got across i think is that we are all children of God and He loves us. So that is positive :)

well---this is a lame email this time i think. sorry :)  but i don't know what to say either..... found a new grocery store that is new new new and everything is clean and i felt like i was in America. not to mention it is like a 2 minute walk!  AND it was cheaper! we bought a whole ton of fruits and veggies and alot of food and it was cheaper than normal. it was great. probably going to a museum today with the elders.  i bought a Russian rug.  maybe going to buy a Russian scarf today. haven't bought martroshki dolls yet or wood boxes but i will.  donut know what else to buy. might buy traditional Russian dishes.

its snowed this week. it was like winter! craziness. and today its a little bit warmer. 

Well.  The church is true.  The key to success in life is love and charity. To our Heavenly Father and to Others.  two greatest commandments....now i just have to apply it :) 

I love you so so much!

Sister Trottier

well....

Just another day, started out like any other....

Tues-  our great miracle Lydia remember? ya she gave back all we gave her.  And she dropped us.  I was really really sad. I was already feeling like a failure that day and i was doing all i could to not just start crying on her couch right then and there. she is scared of change i think.  But it was interesting, she is usually just is embarrassed about me hugging her but this time she just clung to me and said she was sorry.  I think we will visit her in a few weeks to let her know we still love her. she was sad to not see us anymore but at the same time not.,..i don't know...it was weird. 

that day we were sitting in a park area and calling people and a little girl came up and asked me to fix her broken zipper so i did of course and i don't know why but it lifted my spirits so much. she just chatted with me and shyly spoke to me in English a little.  it just was a like a little gift from Heavenly Father showing me that it is all worth it. that are little sweet spirits who need my help. she was so sweet. 

we also went to the branch presidents to teach his mother in law who is a definite Russian Babooshka! haha she is so great! but very stuck in her ways. BUT  the whole little family of 3 kids are members and so so strong!  The little boy that is like 13 and he just is and arguer and he knows WAY to much for his own good but its incredible how strong his testimony is!  When his grandma was asking defensive questions he just was bouncing in his seat haha and raising his hand and he would say to me "sister can i say something PLEASE"  and i would say "only if you say it really really sweetly" haha so he would begin nicely but then they would just argue.  and it sounds really really bad but that's just how they are here.  I feel like its arguing but they just think its "discussing" haha I just had to stop and think about what would happen if i talked to my grandma that way! haha but its how they show their love i guess. but anyways, her questions stemmed from actually who God is and why if He is our loving Heavenly Father He would let bad things happen and evil in the world.  its hard alot because alot of people not only have their religion to argue with us but also if in fact God is God. Its like they have two sides to chuck at us and want us to fix. But in all reality it was one of the best meetings on my whole mission. I just felt that i needed to testify testify and testify some more! and so i did and the spirit was so strong.  She said to me (pointing) "i want to know what you know, and as strongly as you know it".  SO i testified some more and told her that that was what was so great about our message, was that she could  know for herself! Her name is Galina.

So the day was sad at the beginning and ended in a miracle.  

wed-  headed off to Novosibirsk on our bus, but it was good. I brought my new guilty pleasure -  Jesus the Christ by James E Talmage and we had some great doctrine discussions all the way haha.  had a fun sleep over at the sisters as always

Thurs- and me and sister Sanford woke up at 5.30 to start getting ready to go to Finland.   It was so fun of course. Went over to the palace (the big office elders apartment) to meet the 18 elders going with us! haha just a blast and so crazy!  We obviously get alot of attention and its so fun to be together we get so excited! but surprisingly we are able to keep our dignity and good standing. we just look like a really well dressed group of really happy well behaved Americans :)  The first airplane ride was great.  I mean we are all used to studying in the morning so everyone was all sitting close together all studying the scriptures and preach my gospel. It was an incredible airplane ride :) one of the most spiritual ever i would have to say and we were all able to discuss and ponder and share ideas and thoughts about the gospel and being good instruments in the hand of the Lord.  The elders are all so great.  But they all decided to ask me for my "wisdom" because its my last time haha so i tried to give them all that i had learned and hand on all my experiences and then i asked all of them who had had companions who had gone home what i can do in my last transfer to make it the best. 

then we got to Moscow and went to Red Square!  yep! that's right!  We got to go! it was sweet!  haha  but basically we ran over there took pictures and ran back haha but it was worth it!    we then got on an airplane where we were all spread out.  haha possibly the most talkative airplane ride in all of history. you could hear missionaries talking and making friends left and right in Russian and English haha i think we made friends with half the plane. the stewardesses were just thinking it was funny :)  i started talking to my neighbor after the food came and i prayed over my food.  She just looked at me funny and asked if i had just blessed my food. :) i said yes and we began our conversation. it was great.  

Got to Finland, went to the American store and bought oreos and recess peanut butter cups and the lady gave us a whole bunch of chips and marshmallows!  we had a good time walking in the warm spring air to the temple housing and when we got there  made rice crispy treats! haha the Russians thought it was the most interesting thing we could make in the whole world but they LOVED IT!  temple housing is the best place in the whole world besides the temple. everyone loves each other and all the senior couples just become our grandparents! 

Fri-  woke up and ate breakfast with the elders. Apple cinnamon granola with apple cinnamon yogurt-----oh man it was heaven and me and Sister Sanford took a morning stroll and headed to the temple. It was great. I had a great spiritual experience and felt lifted up and prepared for the last stretch.  

went back and headed to eat. Had Chinese food!! it was amazing! not as amazing as The Mandarin, so jealous by the way that you get to have dan dan noodles....oh man!  and then headed back to the airport....haha our last flight i offered the man some Finnish candy haha thats how we got our conversation started. He was nice. Maybe will go to church in Novo he said. 

sat- got to novo and stayed for conference and headed back that night to Tomsk

sun- watched conference with members in Tomsk

Conference was amazing and so was all my studies this weekend! had a lot of studying that i did. I studied Galina's question about bad and evil life in the scriptures and Jesus the Christ and in Conference and got some great answers i hope!  I love conference, i love the scriptures and i love finding answers for other people because i also find them for myself too! for more insight see Moroni 7:12-34 and 2 nephi 2. 

I can't choose a favorite talk.....but they were all great.  My favorite quote was probably from President Holland when he said not to hyperventilate about something that happened at 9 am and it is now 6 am.  I think he was talking to me.  I had a lot of insights i wanted to share but i rambled too much :)  but i also found my commandments for the next week. its great.

studied GRACE this week. The article in the ensign from Bednar. It has changed my life and my prayers and the way i think about the atonement. Read it.  Grace = enabling power.  Pray to be strengthened and given capacity. Not just that your situation can be changed.

i love you all so much!  

Sister Trottier 

Hey family,

I saw my travel plans this week......weird. I think they sent them to you too right?  Well i will be home on the evening of May 30th.  Its a Wednesday. I freaked out when i saw it!  And we were at a members house and she was on the computer and asked to add me on facebook.  and its so different from when i was home!  and my picture with my companion was on it! haha that was funny! after that i had a dream that i came one and it was like that RM movie and you weren't there at the airport! i had to call the bishop (who in my dream was still Bishop Heaps) and he came and picked me up!  haha! you forgot about me!  

Alot happened this week, but i don't have anything to say haha. I have been studying the Plan of Salvation the past couple of weeks and we just teach it to everyone!  seriously everyone!  BUT the cool thing about it is that EVERYONE needs it! and that everyone finds a small part in it for them.  and we can apply it to everyones needs.  The main foundational doctrines that we teach people at the beginning are the most important i have found. and in all reality everything else in the gospel relates back to them. They answer all questions and solve all problems. I have been studying it this week by using Jesus the Christ. oh man i love that book! I have to force myself to put it down so that i can work on something else that i need to do :) also on the same topic i have started a list of clear pure doctrine about the plan of salvation both in the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  In all reality, its all there.  You just have to draw it out and fit together the puzzle pieces. 

We had culture night this Saturday. we went to a puppet show type thing! haha it was so funny. Elder vargin and sister karacheva said that it was exactly like what they used to go to see when they were kids, so it was legit Russian. it was the type of puppet show that the people put their hands in the sleeves of the puppets and another person moves the head. they are really really good at it and it looks like they are moving for real like real people.  All of us Americans had no idea what was going on! haha Sister Karacheva said it was because it was a mix of Old Russian and Old Russian slang, little kid Russian and modern Russian slang and alot of Russian humor and Russian phrases. But they told us the story and we were able to follow.  In front of us was sitting a guy and his date and heard our weird accents and started talking to me and my companion.  He was really interested and we talked to him a bunch about the gospel and why we are here.  I don't think his date was so excited that he was talking to us so we hit the elders and got them to ask him for his number instead of us.  you just never know when or where you will be able to share the gospel. 

We had a guy contact us this week! that was weird. we were walking close to the university and a guy ran after us to invite us to an Easter concert. we got talking to him and he was a really religious young man with a wife and a baby just three days old.  it was great to have a conversation with him about the gospel.  Today we are dying Easter eggs with the elders!  yes i know that it is after Easter, but Russia celebrates Easter next Sunday so its all good.  Grandma asked out they celebrate it, and they also dye eggs and make lots and lots of traditional Russian food and especially bake some sort of special bread that rises miraculously in the oven or something like that. and they have a greeting thing. Someone comes up to you and they say "Jesus Christ was Resurrected!" and you say "It's true, He is Resurrected!" yep.  and they have some sort of plant that everyone has and carries around. its like a twig with white furry things on it....why? i don't know. whats it called? don't know haha. 

well what else can i say?  i don't know.  had some great meetings this week and some great contacting experiences. I love it here. I love the people, I love the gospel, i love the Savior, and I love my Heavenly Father.  Mom said something this week about daily remembering where our strength comes from. Actually just every moment remembering where our everything came from is so important. i think i already talked about this but we had a lesson/chat in church about just having the gospel be who you are and what you talk about. Most times we just chat about the weather or politics or what ever else we can think of. but if we let the gospel be a part of our every moment we not only can share the gospel, but we can help everyone remember where our strength comes from and we ourselves will remember also. The world would be a much better place if we were always remember the gospel, and our Savior, what he has done for us and our purpose in life of becoming like Him. 

We get to watch conference next week.  I'm excited! i love conference! can't wait! I will try to find my "golden nuggets" of truth as grandma said.  This conference i have decided to search for 3 different things. inspired by a quote i read from Thomas Monson.  He said, "The past is behind, we must learn from it. The future is ahead, we must prepare for it. The present is now, we must live in it."  I want to think about how i can learn from the past (before the mission and on the mission), how i can prepare for the future and how i can live in the present and do the most that i can now.  Is it just me or has one of President Monson's themes been to act today!  live now!  don't wait until "next time"  or tomorrow.   I have been sharing that with alot of people. I am thinking about printing off a bunch on pretty paper with a good quote about that and giving it to everyone haha and making an EXTRA LARGE one for me!  it should be a goal of the world probably. 

My new favorite quote i found is from Emma Smith from "Daughters in my Kingdom"  Great book.  

Emma Smith
First Relief Society General President

“I desire the Spirit of God to know and understand myself, that I might be able to overcome whatever of tradition or nature that would not tend to my exaltation in the eternal worlds. I desire a fruitful, active mind, that I may be able to comprehend the designs of God, when revealed through His servants without doubting.”

great isn't it?  That is the purpose of life.  To get rid of any part of ourselves that would keep us from living in the Celestial kingdom with our families and our Heavenly Father and to be able to understand the gospel and the works of God from His servants, that is what i call sustaining your leaders! 

well what else? haha i said i didn't have much to say but i didn't have a whole ton of emails to write and i think i still have a bit more time :) so now i am rambling and just writing and writing......  we are going to Novosibirsk again this week on Wednesday.  I'm heading off to Finland for my last and final Visa trip!  maybe i will buy some more candy for you all! but i can't promise that it will all be there in a few months haha. but i will be going to the Temple which is the best thing ever! my companion is really jealous AND  i think that we get to go to Red Square!  I told the office elders that i really really really wanted to go and to ask what they could do for me! and one of them is in my group so he wanted to go to so it was all good!  I think...so that will be sweet if yes.  

Remember.  Repentance is just a changing of lifestyle a little bit at a time in order to align our lives with the Savior's life and the Will of our Heavenly Father.  You can do it a little at a time everyday.  Just remember the Savior and make Him apart of everything you do.  

i love you all!!

Sister Trottier 

Hey family!

Here again.  Well. I have alot to write, haha but as always after reading all my emails quickly i don't want to write haha i just want to read them again....haha but don't worry, i will write some.

We went to Novosibirsk again haha ya we make that 4 and half hour bus trip every other week but its ok. Good time to study and ponder and have companion and district bonding time :) we went for leadership conference which was absolutely incredible. I loved it. I wish i could just record all of the conferences we ever had and watch them over and over again. but it probably wouldn't be the same. The spirit is so strong with all of us gathered together. I love learning and studying and picking apart the gospel all together, figuring out how we can help Heavenly Father best in doing His work, or in other words, bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man by helping people perform eternal ordinances.  Sounds epic huh?  well it is! and that is all of our work. What a great privilege. 

I also had a great interview with president. I took notes. :)  We talked about my mission, the future and all about the present. It was great. He said i am at the pinnacle of my mission right now....i will try to live up to that. 

Monday we had a lesson with a member who is Mongolian and her friend. it was so interesting! we read in Russian, they read in Mongolian.  in the past we have just done it in Russian but it was incredible to see the difference when they were about to read the scriptures in their own language. what a blessing to have it translated into so many languages! 

random- i saw a Mormon message this week at conference that was called "Sanctify yourselves"  was Chase Elwood the actor? haha pretty sure ya! i about freaked! He is so cool!

Did i tell you about the awesome couple that we are trying to reactivate?  well they wanted to try American pancakes so we went over to make them! the funny thing was that the oil they bought was from sunflowers so it kinda messed up the taste! but other than that it was pretty good. I felt just like mom making a big pile of pancakes!   PS  could you send me a recipe for syrup? they don't have maple extract i don't think, but maybe a different kind of syrup that is good?  The couple came to church by the way! and all the members welcomed them with hugs and tears and kisses! 

Remember Lydia? who was so excited to hear about the restored gospel?  well we met with her and it was just great! the spirit was so strong and we had a great member present lesson and everything! and Sunday she came!! and she liked it alot! and the members were so nice!  she brought money to pay tithing!  holy cow.  She is the sweetest babooshka and is just like my grandmas at home.  she is from Uzbekistan. She is so happy and smiley and loves to laugh and sing!

Sunday was great!  alot of the people who we are working with came and were able to partake of the sacrament and to hear great testimonies!   Sometimes testimony meetings are crazy sauce here but miraculously every single one this time was incredible! the spirit was so strong!  Members are great!

My new contacting technique is to look at people with a big smile and say "Hello!  How are you?" haha they automatically know i am a foreigner and they just smile and start talking with me, sometimes with a little bit of probing and a few more questions. I have come to LOVE talking to people wherever i go. The Russian people are incredible!  and i have had some great conversations and opportunities to share the gospel and my testimony!

One crazy story to end the email with :) i was blessed by a Provoslovni gypsy lady....she didn't like my name and said that she would give me a new one. she started doing all these weird hand motions and weird noises and gave me the name of Tania. haha and i don't know if it was more of a curse than a blessing haha! oh goodness.  after we walked away we laughed so hard! haha couldn't stop for anything!.  

Gotta good quote for ya for the week from the doctrine and covenants "To be Spiritually Minded is Life Eternal"!   so keep that in mind (pun intended) . and remember that God is a God of miracles. Always was and always will be. So look for those miracles!  

I love you so much! the gospel is true. it changes lives. 

Love sister Trottier

PS-  We will watch conference in 2 weeks :)