Hello!!

Sounds good on the bike....yes I legitimately am attached to it, but I suppose I could sacrifice and let my sis use it if she wants to ;) Good that you got the papers, and I am glad you agree with me on the Skype! As far as a musical number, of course I would love to accompany them! Can you give me a heads up as far as what the song is and such? That should be great fun.

Oh man, I can't believe you cut your finger! Seriously, it is almost amusing the amount of medical problems lately, except it's not. I really hope that it heals soon!!

I am glad that you get to teach the general conference lessons in relief society! Those ones are always my favorite. Last conference, I got my own copy of the ensign and for the next two months seriously studied all of the talks in there. I was amazed at how much I had missed just listening to it the first time, and skimming over the talks. They are well worth some study time. I'm glad that you have decided to make scripture reading a priority. That is so important! I think of back when I decided to read the scriptures every day may 2012. Holy moly, I'm getting old. Anyways, I didn't miss a day for the first 6 months or so....even if it was just a verse a day, or I was half asleep, I decided to not miss. I know that it is because of this that I am out here on a mission, having the time of my life! There is a power that comes into our lives as we read the Book of Mormon, no matter how many times we have read it before, or how much we read a day. It changes us, helps us to gain an eternal perspective and gives us so many answers to questions we may have.

? And I am glad that Jacob did well on his talk, good for him! Man, they have him speak with the stake president? That is a high bar to live up to! I am sure that he did just great :) He is the only one besides me with glasses, right? Good for him. Classy. :)

Thanks for your thought about how we are sent here to be tested and tried. I love the example of the refiners fire. We definitely go through some fire sometimes. We are shaped and molded, the impurities are refined out of us (eventually at least). We become something greater than we ever could have been with out the fire. It isn't fun all the times, but the result will be well worth it....eventually we will see ;) I remember the first day in the mission field. President and Sister Clements told us that we were sort of like lumps of clay coming down the escalator. Not going to lie, I wasn't exactly sure how to take that one. ;) Then they told us that out in the mission, the Lord would mold us into something incredible. It wouldn't be easy, or fun all the time, but it would be worth it. All I have to say to that is AMEN.

This week was a really crazy one. We had interviews with our mission president, then cleaned up some garbage for zone service. It was a whole ton of fun to be with all the missionaries in the zone for a few hours. We laughed a lot, and got work done. I feel really blessed to be surrounded by such great missionaries right now! On Thursday I had the great opportunity to go on an exchange with my good friend Sister Kirkman. We have been in the same district for the past 6 months now. Oh my goodness, I feel like we were just laughing all that day! We had a meeting with our district leader and his companion, and from him received some words of wisdom that I feel like I should pass on to any future missionaries who may read or hear this! He told us that missionary work is just awkward a lot of times. We are awkward, we are in awkward situations, etc. Now here comes the words of wisdom, Embrace the Awkward!! Haha if you aren't awkward, no one else will feel awkward. So there you go, words of wisdom for the day! Later on in the exchange we had the opportunity to visit a really neat less-active sister in the Elm Creek ward. She asked us how long we had all been out. I told her nearly 18 months, and she proceeded to give me all sorts of fantastic advice about going home including telling me how similar the mission is to jail. Haha you finish up your time, turn in your nametag and they send you out into the world! You can do what you want, wear what you want, and choose what to do with your time! I think this means that I need a parol officer, I have decided to appoint Jackie....hopefully she is okay with that! ;) Haha it was a really funny great experience.

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week....enjoy the wonderful weather!!

Love,

Sister Christina Trickler