Hello!!!

Time does seem to fly (at least for the most part :) ) The weather has been absolutly gorgeous here this past week, I am so grateful! Not too hot, but warm enough that only a cardigan was needed at night! Yay for Brennen!!!! He is going to do great :) Except I will miss seeing him :( I have a feeling it might be a while before all the extended family is in one place again....good thing we got the picture before I left! That is so exciting that Sara is on her way here! She is going to love it! She will probably leave Wed. the 1st of October, and then be here for transfers! It is crazy that they are just two weeks away, this one has gone so quickly!

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Yes though, the temple was a major theme of the conference, to me I also learned a lot about obedience. I saw many areas in my missionary work where I could step it up! Sometimes I fall into the trap of just obeying rules because that is what I am told to do, not necessarily because it is what I want to do, or because I want to follow the Savior. The letter of the law verses the spirit of the law.

I am so excited for conference too!!!!!!!! It is definitely one of my favorite weekends on the mission. It is great just to soak up all the hope and spirit, and everything else good for 8 hours! :) The best pick me up, seeing how there isn't a Jamba Juice nearby ;) Good luck with the quilt, if you end up doing it. This week we were able to do some service for a sister in our ward. She is in the process of cleaning out her basment, and we were in charge of cleaning her sewing room. It was great fun! I don't think I have ever seen anyone with that much material though! I have decided that when I come back to visit I will have to stop by her house, and do a little shopping ;)

I hope the job goes well for Dad...that sounds rather stressful. 

It sounds like everyone else is busy, busy is good though! I hope school is going well for everyone?

Today we had district p-day, so all the missionaries in the Andover and Anoka ward got together. We went and played mini golf, laser tag, and ate at noodles! It was great fun. Out of the 8 of us, another Elder and I were battling for 1st place in mini golf the whole time, he got a hole in 1 the last hole, so beat me by two, but it was still fun ;) It reminded me of when we went and played mini golf in Providence, that is a great memory! We will have to do that again when I get home! 

This week we had a neat experience. We have been biking a lot lately, and had biked to an appointment with a less-active sister. We had to park a few blocks away, and just walked the rest of the way. We had a good appointment with this sister, then headed back to our bikes. On the way we met an elderly man who was in the process of mowing his leaves. We got talking, and told him we were missionaries and such. Somehow he got talking about the history of Israel. He was a Palestinian, and had immigrated here to the US after earning his degree in Baghdad. He told us all about the Jews and that whole history. It was something that I remember talking about in my international relations class at USU, but it was really neat to hear it from his perspective! Anyways, the next morning, I was reading in the Old Testament about the Palestinians and the Jews, and the history way back then. It was cool to see the connection, and how history repeats itself. Anyways it was great fun :)

Also, we had a cool experience at the women's conference. We got a ride from a Sister in our ward and her two daughters, who we are pretty close to. Her oldest daughter is 21, and has some severe disabilities. Her other daughter just turned 16. It was neat to be there at the conference and to be reminded that God loves us all equaly. We are all his daughters and that is never going to change! It doesn't matter what we do, or what we say...he loves us just the same. I am so grateful for that knowledge that we have!

Well, I hope you all enjoy conference, I am sure that it will be great! Have a lovely week!

Love,

Sister Christina Trickler