Hello All!
Thanks for all the emails! haven't read them all but i will :)
Had a great week and it was full of interesting great things. AND FREEZING!!! haha it is below negative 30 here! haha BELOW!!! oh man! they told us that it was done being cold but i think that they were joking. This week they said that it might get down to negative 40! oh man oh man. its hysterical! we seriously dont know what to do sometimes. We just randomly start laughing! and sister sanford asks, "whats funny?" and i say "its cold!" haha it will be a winter to remember. The funniest is that when we talk to people they look at us like we are crazy that we are trying to talk to them! There is a very significantly less amount of people on the street this week. but surprisingly alot alot of people at church. we have such great members who are so valiant!
as you can see in the pictures on monday we went to the ice city! it was sweet! and really cold so no one else was there! haha it was great! and alot more fun than we thought it would be! and we already thought that it was going to be fun. i was nervous to go down the slide at first but it was sweet! we were all like little kids again! after we went to carls jr and ate burgers...mmmmg good!
Tuesday was our last english club for awhile which was interesting but kind of a relief. we are going to revamp the whole thing and make it better and funner and more effective. elder topham gave a huge great spiritual thought and just killed it! seriously! the spirit was so strong you could have swam through it. and like half of the missionaries got one or more contacts.
grandmas cookies came and they were the best in the whole world! soft still even! if you are home you only get 1 haha if you are in russia you get 6 or so! haha im stayin! haha jk :)
wednesday we had fun in snigory. it was sad to say bye to elya though. i love her so much. and then this one lady we met on the street one time who came to music night wanted the recipe of one of sister webbs treats but instead we invited her and her daughter over and had a cooking night. it was alot of fun and i think she will be willing to do more activites and learn more in the future. she is way nice. her name is elena. all about all of us being brothers and sisters and just doing good in the world. she is great.
saturday we went to bed with only thoughts of plans because nothing was going through, no one was answering etc etc etc. and we went out in faith hoping and praying we would be contacting in -30 degree weather! we did for a little while which was craziness. couldn't move my face...but then some one called back and another answered their phone and some one else let us in when we dropped by! it was a miracle! sometimes you just have to trust in the Lord and walk out into the snow. He will make things happen, AFTER we exercise our faith. sometimes the fact that it is AFTER is the hard part.....
sunday was tough saying bye to everyone. i have come to love these people so much. just like my family. they were all telling me that it was a good thing president gibbons didn't come to their branch this week because they would talk to him and not let me go :) they are so sweet. i realized that it is a little bit sad for the members here. and i realized more why they have a hard time becoming close to us sometimes. because we become friends and family and then after we are all realy close we get transferred. its sad. and they are sad. and someo f them say stuff like i will just leave and forget all about t hem and find new people to love and then i will go home to america and not even remember my family in russia.
It has been really good for me to be with sister sanford. she is so positive and if we mess up she just says...welp, can't change it now. we can just repent and do better next time! its alot healthier than always just focusing on what you should have done.. you can't change the past, but you can determine the future....this may sound similiar....i think i may relearn the same things over and over every couple weeks. i hope that they get deeper and deeper engrained in my heart and soul each time :) anyways, Sister Sanford has helped me change the way i think so that even though the stats dont show alot she has helped me see what good i have done here and how i have helped. And i am really grateful to her for that.
cut my hair today again....i feel way more like myself when i cut my hair haha but also its weird cut....i think ann will be worried a bit. but i will just cut most my hair off anyways when i get home.
i studied alot about doing missionary work with members. its so so important. the only way for missionary work to work the way that we want it to. but its hard. BUT i had a revelation. There is a story about Member refferrals in the Book of Mormon! you can find everything in there! its Lamoni's father! he was referred by Lamoni, and then Lamoni referred his whole household and THEN his WHOLE KINGDOM! and you know what? they became the type of members that never did fall away but always had faith! If you get converts who have friends in the church they support each other and they are already interetested and know you aren't crazy. AND when you ahve members teaching and sharing they strengthen their testimonies and have more friends to support them. its just a great awesome cycle!
i have also been studing all in the doctrine and covenants! its all about missionaries and missionary work! or...maybe everything just is because i am a missionary.... :) aren't the scriptures great?
my transfer is focused on light. We decorate our planners every transfer and i have begun making themes for my transfers. The front Cover is Christ with Mosiah 16:9 and the back is lanterns with 3 nephi 12:16. great verses that have been helping me to remember to let my light shine and to bring light to other people. and also to remember where that light comes from.
there was a great fireside all about the difference between just being an active member and being converted. it was incredible. its a good thing to thing about. it includes letting the gospel change us and our hearts. living the doctrines. repenting, studying. changing. its hard. but worth it i would think.
welp, thats about all of my time this week. I am glad you liked last weeks letter haha. the rules about how long we can be on internet were changed and so we give ourselves more time and its less stressful and i am not freaking out trying to write haha. its nice. I love you so much!
The gospel is true. Study it. Share it. Live it.
Sister Trottier
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