Hey! We only have a little bit of time again because things are all crazy with the holidays. It is very cold again, we had a drop of 50 degrees within 2 days, so it's been crazy. I have to explain about the frostbite so that you don't worry....when it is below 25 degrees below freezing if you have any exposed skin for more than 30 seconds you can get frostbite. We had a meeting a couple of weeks ago when it was approx. 30 degrees below and walking in from the car I forgot to put on gloves. So I got frostbite on my finger. It really isn't as bad as it sounds though, it acts and looks just like a burn like I would get when making bannannnanna bread ;) So it really isn't that bad, don't worry. I have been trying my best to always keep covered though, it's super cold. Yesterday I was wearing 4 pairs of leggings for the first time. I've learned that I don't really have to worry about gaining weight, but gaining mass because of all the layers I wear! It's sorta crazy, but you learn to love it haha. What's the weather like at home? I'm sorta jealous that you get to run every morning though! When it's 10 below and really windy, it's just not safe for us to be running outside. The mission president is really good about telling us when we need to stay inside though, and when we can't tract.  It's interesting that you would mention the 2nd coming. That was something the mission president talked about this week, and I have been hearing a lot. The time certainly is coming. It's crazy. The world is getting more and more awful everyday. Sister hartely and I were thinking about it, and it's sort of like we are searching for needles in a haystack...except that these needles are made of gold and are of infinite value to our heavenly father. It's hard sometimes because no one wants to listen, but I know that it is worth it! That we can find people, and that we will :) Thanks for all the presents, they are wonderful! I will have to send pictures sometime! We have pday on wed. so I'll try to take some pictures then! I can't wait for the letters, that sounds wonderful! I'm glad all is going well. Just think, only one more Christmas, then I'll be able to be there for the parties! Haha it'll be good. I'm glad to hear the cousins are over, that must be lots of fun! Haha they sent me a great package :) I am glad as well that the days are getting longer. Winter lasts until May here, so maybe by the time I talk to you guys again it will be above zero! Haha the worst of it should be jan. and feb. then it will be good :) Anyways, one last thought before I go. As a mission we started to read the Book of Mormon on Christmas eve. We are supposed to read 6 pages a day, and it has been really neat. I've taken so many notes in the margins, and marked it up really well so far. I have been able to use a new copy of the Book of Mormon (like one that we hand out to investigators) And that has been a really good experience, I would highly recommend it! Sorry I don't have time, hopefully next week will be better! Have a great week, I love and pray for you all!

Love,

Sister Christina Trickler

p.s. could I get dad's email address?

We were able to Skype with Christina on Christmas.  It was good to see her and hear her.  She is optimistic and growing in her faith.  She requested more letters so we sent some today.  I am amazed at her courage and strength as she faces temperatures I can't even comprehend.  We are so very proud of her and our faith is strengthened as we watch her go through so much to share the gospel.

Hello! It's great to hear from you, as per usual :) We only have a little bit to write today because our pday was switched to Christmas. We are going to a family in our ward, and will be able to Skype around 1! So make sure you know what your skype id is because we will just use the members account, and add you as one of their contacts if that's alright! We will call home and get the name and get it all connected, then be able to skype for 40 minutes. So i'll plan on calling your cell phone, then yep. It'll be good! :) I hope you guys are all excited! This week we have done lots of finding, and teaching members. It's good, sort of cold yes though! I think I'll let you keep grandma's sweater, but I will definitely let you know if I change my mind ;) Could you send me my fleece jacket though? I need something that I can wear under my coat and take of at member's houses without ruining my hair ;) Oh random sidenote, it is so much faster to curl my hair, so I do that all the time now! And thanks for the packages, I'm so excited to open them! I'll have to send you a picture of our tree next week, it's pretty great. We are hoping to be able to go caroling tomorrow night, so that should be lots of fun! I hope all is going well at home :) Crazy to hear about the gay marriage stuff. Could you keep me updated on how that goes? It is a sad world we live in. Thanks so much for the encouraging letter. It's hard sometimes to get rejected everyday all the time in the cold. It really is quite sad that people are too hard hearted to hear the good news of the gospel. It changes people's lifes for the better if they let it. We do the best we can though! I got a letter from Lexi this week (which was fantastic :) ) in it she mentioned how exciting it is to be a soldier at the forefront of God's army. I've been thinking about that lately, and how true it is! It's very true for me being a missionary, but I think that each and every one of us are soldiers in God's army. The lines are being drawn, we have to pick which side we are on! With the world becoming more and more wicked, we have to stand up for that which is right. Let's become the most valiant and brave soldiers we can be! Let's be the ones who are thinking clearly, and giving our all. With the Savior on our side I know we will win the battle, it's just a matter of becoming the best soldier we can be. The best part is that we're not alone! Sometimes I forget that there are so many other people out there fighting for what is right! Everyone at home, and missionaries all over the world are striving to do the best, to bring hope and cheer to a dreary world! We can do it. Just sayin :) I love you all very much and can't wait to talk to you on wednesday! :) Oh and thanks so much for the eggnog, that was a brilliant idea! Have a lovely Christmas :)

Love,

Sister Christina Trickler

Hey!!

It's so good to hear from you! Thanks for giving the updates on all the kids, it's great to hear what they're up to! And great to hear about you :) It sounds like everyone is pretty darn busy! When do the kids get off school? Haha how come i'm not getting 100 pictures a week from Kaycee? ;) It's so crazy how fast they are growing up, goodness. And Jackie, dates, what the?? I guess it just shows how different our personalities are! I really hope she's enjoying life though. And there is going to be plenty of time for everyone to write me letters once school gets out, right? I sure hope so at least! I have to tell you, Jacob sent me the funniest letter with that package! It was great referencing megamind sometimes ;) Oh good times. I'm finally sending some pictures! Only a few, but it'll have to do. The first one is from Saturday night when we had been out tracting for two hours....we were freezing! you can't see the two pair of leggings, three pairs of socks, three long sleeve shirts, two scarves, two pairs of gloves, and some awesome boots! Haha we came in and there was ice on our scarves because we had been breathing through them. It's great fun. Would you let two crazy girls who looked like that into your house? Haha I sure hope you would! :) The next one is of our investigator who was just baptized! She was baptized by our ward mission leader who is great! It was a really wonderful day, it's so neat to see how much happier she is now that she has the gospel. It has been a privelege to be able to teach her. The last picture is from the MTC, I thought you might enjoy it...apparently I missed the whole smile memo...haha gotta love it! Sister McCullough is standing next to me, she was my companion, she was an amazing person I loved being her companion. :) It was great. I'm so excited to skype on Christmas! We aren't quite sure what time yet though. We were planning on having Christmas with a family in our ward, but their son was rushed to the hospital for an emergency surgery on a tumor in his stomach yesterday, so we're not quite sure what the plans will be yet. I would assume sometime in the afternoon we will be able to access a computer, hopefully! Make sure you're on though, and know how to work it :) It will be quite grand :) Oh, today we found out about transfers, and Sister Hartley and I will be together for the next transfer here in St. Cloud, which is quite a relief! I was nervous I would have to pack up all of my stuff already! It'll be good. Well, I'll have Christmas stuff in the mail today, and thanks so much for the packages!! I was so very excited when I saw the piano music, i'm going to play some in just a few minutes! Thanks very much. I love and miss you all, have a great week. :)

Love,

Sister Christina Trickler

Heyyyyooooo!!!!! Haha i'll be sure and answer your questions, then write other stuff, if that's alright. I haven't gotten the packages yet, but i'm sure they're on their way. :) I got some really good boots, they're rated to -25 degrees, so I should be good for a while. Between the boots, two pairs of socks, two pairs of leggings and toe warmers i'm doing just fine. Please don't worry. :) Another scarve would be lovely. I have to tell you, I wear the one you sent me, and the gray one Eric gave me every day. Since it is so cold, you have to wear scarves wrapped around your face, so that only your eyes are exposed, but I'm learning. :) A hat would be lovely, I wear the black one every day, but if you could find maybe an ear flap hat? If not, it's alright. I bought a bright pink headband thing to wear around my ears under my hat, and that has helped a lot. Thank you so much for the thermals! Those sound great. We have some wonderful ward members who have been helping us learn how to stay warm, it is possible. :) Layers. Lots and lots of Layers. I think I'm going to buy a fleece jacket to wear under my coat today...we'll see. ;) The mission president is great, he is very considerate of the cold, and has had us stay inside a couple of mornings this week. On Saturday he texted us and said to stay inside because it was -37, unless we were driving directly to an appointment. So yes, it has been mighty chilly! I haven't had to tract in anything colder than -5 though, so I've been blessed. It really isn't too bad as long as we are careful, and prepare well. Any ways, the cold is so fun ;) This has been a ccccrrrrraaaaazzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyyy week! I love writing in my journal, and haven't missed a day since coming out. Well, I wasn't able to write all this week! I missed 7 days! It has been so busy. Monday was p-day which was  good, we were able to go shopping early, and buy me some boots and socks. :) We really were blessed though, because as soon as we got home, it started snowing super bad, and the roads were awful. It was quite scary, there were lots of wrecks. Don't worry though, we are super careful driving. We drive like grandmas....except with better eyesight. ;) Tuesday we had a meeting down in the cities, and so we left before 6 am. The roads were bad, so we were driving quite slow. We got halfway there, and our president called and asked us if we had brought clothes to spend the night. We said no, and he told us to turn around, go home and get clothes for two nights just in case.So it was a super long drive that morning. Don't worry, we had crackers and chocolate and chocolate and lots of chocolate to keep us awake. ;) Anyways, we got there, and I went on exchanges with Sister Smith, while my companion, Sister Hartley, went to her meeting. That was a lot of fun. I learned that Sister Smith lived in tremonton! What are the odds. It was fun to see her style of teaching though, and to learn a little from her. We were both new missionaries (she had been out for two months) so it was quite the adventure. :D We got a text that night saying that all cars in the mission were grounded, so we stayed with some sisters in their apartment just outside of the cities. Needless to say, It wasn't the best night of sleep I had ever had, but I was grateful for the rest anyways! The next day we went to new missionary training, which was really good. It was nice to see all the elders and sisters I came out with, and to see that they were all doing relatively well. I was able to learn a lot, and take lots of notes! That night the roads were a mess again, so once again all mission vehicles where grounded. So we spent our second night with those sisters again. Thursday morning we got permission to drive back to Saint Cloud. We had picked that day to fast...so we were sort of out of sorts all day. We have been struggling with figuring out how to help the members in our ward want to do missionary work, so the elders in our ward and sister  Heartley and I were all fasting. Anyways, The drive home was supposed to take 1 hour, but it took almost 4. It was crazy. We got home exhausted, and a slight bit frusterated. We got through the day though, even though it was crazy. Friday we had some sisters meet us at our apartment at 6 and then we drove down to the cities for zone conference. That was a lot of fun. It was great to see missionaries! Haha I saw Elder Calvin Rust ( I went to high school with him) and that was sort of funny. We learned a lot, and I accompanied a musical number which I really enjoyed. That afternoon as part of our conference we watched the movie Miracle. I remember watching it in swimming...it is really good. I would highly recommend it! Random sidenote, I have played the piano at every meeting we have had, and at a lot of church meetings. It has been so much fun, and really good for me to be able to play. :) We came home friday with the sisters, and were on exchanges until Saturday afternoon. That was a good experience. It was different trying to teach with someone who I never had taught with before, it was a little bit frusterating at times but I was able to learn a lot. The sister I was with is 30 years old, but the age gap didn't feel like it was that much. It has been interesting to me to see the different personalities each missionary has, and how that affects everything they do. It was a fun exchange though. Then Saturday night when we finally got home we realized we had talks to write for Sunday! We were asked to give 10 minute talks introducing ourselves, then giving a thought. We were not assigned a topic. I didn't worry about it too much, except for the fact that we didn't have more than an hour to prepare for it. I wrote an outline for my talk, and ended up writing about conversion. Including the story of how I really got back into the church. As Sister Hartley and I were doing our hair Sunday morning right before we were to leave, we were talking about what we wrote about. We found out that we had both chosen to talk about conversion, and that our talks were really similar! It was so funny to me. We got to the church, and found out that we were the only two speakers. Say what?! Haha it was really just amusing. I was to the point where you either laugh about it or cry about it, and to be honest crying hurts my head, and makes my nose run, so I just laughed about it.....and prayed really hard! Somehow I was very blessed, and was able to talk for a whole 15 minutes, off of a half page outline. It was a miracle. I just hope and pray that it made some sense, and that people were able to feel the spirit. It is a topic that I feel really strongly about. It is so important to become truly converted. It is easy to have knowledge about a topic, but to become converted we need to act on that knowledge. We need to change through repentance and using the Atonement. I really can't say how important that is. We need to become Christ like, not just know how to. It is a slow process, but I know that as we work each and every day that we will be able to change day by day and be helped by the Savior to reach our true potential. I just wish I could sit down with everyone one on one and tell them that they are a daughter or son of God. They have a Heavenly Father who loves them more than they can ever comprehend. I know that this is true. It is amazing when I am able to feel just a little bit of the love He has for His children. When I am teaching someone I have never met before, and I can really love them. I really want them to listen, to understand that the Atonement will change their life. That the Gospel has been restored! It's so exciting. I just want to sing it from the mountain tops! But that would be too cold.....and we have limited miles to drive. ;) Anyways. Exciting news of the week, we have a baptism on Saturday!!!!!!! I think I have told you about Caroline, she is wonderful. We met her the first week we were here, and have had 14 lessons with her! She is 21 and the sweetest girl in the world. It was really funny though, on Sunday night we were teaching her, and mention the singles ward. She insists on calling it the "young and desperate group". Haha oh my goodness, we laughed so hard when she first said that!! It was so funny, it still makes me laugh everytime I hear it. :) She really is amazing though. She has been very prepared, and has an incredible strong testimony already. I am very excited for Saturday :) I wanted to share a scripture that we have shared with a couple of sister who have really been struggling. We felt like we really needed to visit both of them, so we did. They both ended up in tears talking to us about the struggles they have been having within their homes. It was a really touching experience to again feel of God's love for his two daughters. We shared Mosiah 24: 12-18 I think. I'm not sure about the verse, but you'll find out when you read it. It is a passage of scripture I have turned to over and over when life is hard (which it usually is). I would encourage all of you who read this to read that scripture and really ponder it, and to share it with someone who is struggling. Maybe send a text, or a note, just share it in some way. I know that we all need each others help. And that a scripture, or a hug can mean more than we would have ever guessed. I love you all, and hope that you have lovely weeks. I would encourage everyone to strive to remember the true meaning of Christmas, and ponder on all that the birth of Christ means. And I hope you all can find something to laugh about and smile about this week.....there is truly joy in the world!! :)

Love, 

Sister Christina Trickler

p.s. thanks for the letters!!!!! They made my day :) I loved them all, and will respond as soon as I can, feel free to send me more ;) :)

Hey!!

So sorry about last week. We had a scheduling conflict with the elders, then we couldn't use the church building because there was a teenage boy cleaning, basically it was a whole big mess, and so we had 5 minutes to email. But today I have a bit longer, don't worry! :) Wow, it has been a crazy week! It's so crazy to see time fly by, but drag on at the same time. The days feel like years sometimes, but the weeks go super fast. It's crazy stuff ;) I'm just so happy to be able to write! It is quite wonderful :) I thought of the twins yesterday, their cakes sound fun :) I hope it was a great birthday for them! I can't believe they're already 5! It seems like just yesterday that they were just learning to walk, and talk. It's crazy :) And yes, pictures would be absolutely wonderful! And could you send the family pictures please? Oh and I'm so sorry....I'll take some pictures this week and send them next week for sure...I just forget to bring my camera!   I have learned more and more just how important we (god's children) are to Him. I was pondering the other night about agency. And how hard that must be for Heavenly Father to send us to earth knowing that so many of His children would make bad awful choices and not return to Him. It made me think that we must have so much potential. Potential that we can not even fathom, that He would send us here knowing there was a chance we wouldn't return to Him. I know that we do have crazy potential, and that we truly can become something far more than we could ever imagine here on Earth. It really truly makes me sad to see people making wrong decisions, or being so hard hearted because I wish they could see the potential they have. That they are really sons and daughters of God. It just hit me that everyone is so so important. Anyways, that was my random thought for the week. It helped me change my perspective a little bit, and be more excited to find people. That is an interesting sacrament meeting! Sounds really neat, you'll have to let me know if you research more about it and find anything else out! I love those meetings that you really get something out of it. I've learned that if you want to, and really try to that you can always get something out of church. I have learned to love church so much! Partially because we are in out of the cold for 3 hours, and the beautiful music ;) But also because it's truly a time for me to regenerate. To get ready for the crazy week! It's just great :) You know, I have been thinking a lot about how much potential the YW program has. It really changes lifes. I wish that I would have been better about trying to change my situation, not just giving up in yw if that makes sense. I think I could have strengthened the girls around me, as well as myself. It's a good lesson to learn though going forward. That even if I struggle with leaders or whatnot, that I can still contribute and do good in my own way. To not let that get in the way of doing what is right, and uplifting people. And yes, the world is getting so bad. It's awful. I think it is so important that we do the simple things like praying and reading scriptures to help us be strengthened every day. It makes me so sad to see all the awful things happening. And yes, I too know who will win the war, but it is a war. It is hard, and sad. I have come to a very firm belief that the only way we will be happy and find peace is through the Atonement. Through striving to do better every day and coming unto Christ. He is the only one who will truly be able to be with us always. I had an interesting thing I learned about the Atonement and repentance the other day. I always looked as repentance as sort of a negative thing that we did only when we made mistakes. I was wrong though. Repentance is something to be used each day not only when we make mistakes, but when we don't live up to our potential, which we usually don't. It is a way of turning to our Heavenly Father and saying, you know, I'm not very strong in this area, and i'm going to really strive to do better. Then asking for His help. I know that as we do this every day we will become much better people. We will be strengthened and guided. My companion and I talked this morning about how if we are not moving forward, we are inevitably falling behind. It is so true. I love that we can change everyday and become better. That it doesn't all happen at once, but just a little bit each day. It makes it do able :) Isn't it the perfect plan? ;) It really is though. :) That is great to hear about your running! And I am a believer in exercise each morning as well! We go running 3 times a week and oh my goodness, it is so cold! It hasn't dropped below zero yet, but it will soon. It is freezing! But It's the best feeling in the world to come in after a run and get warm, and eat some oatmeal and just feel good for a few minutes :) It definitely helps me focus and just feel better. And I think that even just doing a little bit helps. We don't have much time, but just the 20 minutes we have running is wonderful :) Plus, it's a good way to work out frustrations you may have, just sayin ;)  It really is so good to hear from you guys and to be able to respond. Your letters give me strength through out the week. Be strong in your faith, and I know all things are possible! I love you much, give hugs to everyone for me....except maybe Matthew...haha just kidding, just let Jackie chase him around for a hug, they could use some exercise ;) Anyways, have a great week!

Love,

Sister Christina Trickler

p.s. if you happen to have some spare time, you should read the end of the book of Alma where it talks about Moroni. He was amazing. Just sayin ;)