Hello! 

It is officially winter here in Minnesota! We have aproximately a foot of snow, and it came fast! Since we live out in the boonies, it is really bad...so we are stuck inside. Luckily we live in a member's home so we can email and such! 

Exciting news of the week...we were able to go to the temple! Not only that, but I was able to see one of the sisters from Austin! It was super super great :) I highly recommend going if you are able, and have time! It is worth it. There is an incredible amount of peace and hope. The St. Paul temple is very tiny, but still beautiful! It was interesting. That night after having gone to the temple, Sister Huang and I were knocking. Lots of rejections, little opportunity for conversation. It was so sad to us. It was very obvious that these people are lost and confused. They are looking for truth, but not finding it. Their lives would be so much better if they listened with an open heart to the message we share! Also, I was reminded that members of the church have many opportunities to share the gospel that we missionaries never have. Friends, family listen to members much more than they will listen to missionaries! Members just need to do that first step, we can take it from there ;) 

Thanksgiving sounds fun, take pictures ;) I am glad that you and dad were able to get away for a bit, I'm sure that was a great experience!

Good for Jackie! If she works hard, she can make it. Also, cutting out junk food and such could make a difference. I sure hope she makes it....it's quite the experience :)

Matthew: Good that he is busy. You are definitely right, I need that too desperatly. Today we were stuck at home, and I seriously can not handle myself, I just don't know what to do! I tried to do a puzzle, that lasted only a few minutes, playing the piano lasted about 10 minutes. Oh china. It is going to be a struggle coming home I think! I just need to be busy! I'll get a job and such and it will work out i'm sure ;) I am glad that everyone else is doing well. They are all growing up! And good for Tiffany, I would absolutely love to play the violin right now! I sure do miss it. 

Transfers are the day before thanksgiving. We will find out that Monday, and I will let you know! I hope you all have a great week!!

Sincerely, 

Sister Christina Trickler 

Hello!! Thanks for the email, and letters that arrived this week, they were so great!

Speaking of that....I have a story.

Salamander Saga, part 2:

So....Halloween night, we get home, and I sort of crashed. WE did planning and everything, and got ready for bed. It was 10:28, time for prayers, and then bed time!! My knees have been giving me a lot of grief lately, so I am in the habit of taking my pillow off my bed, and kneeling on it. I went to grab my pillow, and noticed that there was a branch or something at the end corner of my pillow (inside the pillow case) I started to reach my hand in there, then had the thought that I probably shouldn't reach in there. I didn't pay that thought any attention...fatal mistake number 1!! I reached in, and pulled out a stiff crunch....SALAMANDER!!!! IT WAS IN MY PILLOW! GROSS!! IT was about 3 or 4 inches long, and stiff as a stick. I quickly, oh so kindly asked my companion if she had put it there, and she nearly fainted. (did I mention that she doesn't like the little creatures? I threw it away (sorry Matthew, no fancy burial) and after completely un making my bed, and making it again, went to sleep. The new morning, I pulled the pillow out of the case and saw that in the process of grabbing the salamander, it lost a claw and it's tail. So, I had to dispose of those as well. It was slightly scarring, not going to lie!

Salamander Saga, part 3:

Saturday night, we got the letters from the family. Sister Huang was reading hers, and saw the tail of the Salamander that Jake drew! She screamed and threw it across the couch. I think I almost died laughing. Good work Jacob! 

Also, I am really surprised that the members we live with haven't said anything about the noise....that is just what happens when you have unexpected visitors!

I am glad to hear that you got to go to the temple, I believe that I am going to be able to go this thursday!!!!!!!!! I am more than excited. It has been a long time. Nearly a year to be precise. 

The weather has changed, winter has hit. We haven't had any snow, but it has been down in the 20's a couple of evenings. I have to admit, I am ready for heavy snow to hit though, then I can wear my winter boots, and be warm again! :) Haha this morning I was thinking, that I really timed it well. I got here just in time for last winter to hit, and will be leaving just as winter ends this year! Crazy stuff.

I am glad that you got the pictures, we had some fun. Sister Huang had never been trick-or-treating, so we might have been convinced to go as chaperones to a couple houses with some girls. Oh man, it was brisk, let me tell you! And we have a plethora of candy....it's rediculous. Now that it is light in the morning again though, we can run again! Nearly everynight when we come home we see multiple forms of wildlife by our house, so we didn't exactly want to run in the pitch darkness! 

Good thought, I like that one a lot. This week we had a member of the quorum of the 70 visit our mission. In preparation for that, we were asked to prepare a talk on becoming a concecrated missionary. I decided that for me to be a concecrated missionary means to be trying our very best. We can bee concecrated every day. It doesn't mean that we are perfect by any means, just that we know who we are serving and we are striving to do what He wants us to do all the time. Just becoming a little better each day. I think that is the way it is in life. We are not expected to be perfect all at once, we are just expected to give it our all, and keep that perspective. Remember the Lord, and what he has asked us to do. Were you able to watch the movie meet the mormons? In there a man says "I am not perfect, but I am perfect in one thing, I am perfect in trying" That is all that the Lord expects of us!

I hope that you all have a great week, and are able to stay warm!!

Hello!!

 How is it going in good old Mendon? Haha yes, this week I am going to hit my year mark. Rather strange. It is really interesting to see what has changed in the past year. I have had some great experiences, and learned a lot! But don't worry, I am still the same crazy Sister Trickler! I still love to wear my pencil skirt and heels, and crazy dance at the most random times :) Haha funny story about grey hair, Sister Amis, my second companion was convinced that I had grey hair. We would be walking down the street and she would stop me, pull out a hair, then try to convince me that I was going gray! I still think she is crazy, but that's alright ;) Speaking of hair, it is getting so long!!!! Crazy!

We had a really cool miracle last night. I was having a really rough night, it was bad. 8:00 came around, and we decided to stop by a less-active family on our way home. We had stopped by multiple times before....probably 5-10, with no answer. Yesterday though, a sister answered! She was very kind, and we talked for a little while outside, then another sister came out with a little girl on her hip. She was a 2 year old little Hispanic girl, that looked just like Kaycee. Oh my goodness, she was so cute!! My poor companion was left to talk to the sisters, while I played with that little girl for the next 45 minutes! I had curled my hair, and it was down (and rather long) So I kept shaking my hair so that it would go all crazy! She would laugh and then do it herself! It was such a simple thing, but something that brought a much needed smile to my face. It reminded me that God is mindful of each of us, and gives us little tender mercies just when we need them. Sometimes all we need is a smile, it can make a world of difference!! 

Anywho, I am glad that your relief society activity went well. You know, that remindes me of the scripture....where much is given much is required. There is so much that we can do! Sometimes we get caught up in our world. The things that we need to do and such, there is so much that can be done if we just look outside of ourselves! It is good to be engaged in a good work! 

Oh man, I miss all the kids at home! I am glad to hear that they are doing well though, that is great.

What is the name of the new family that moved in? Is he an institute teacher at USU? That is neat though. I took an institute class on the parables of Jesus Christ, and one of my favorite parts was each week when we would write what were called personal parables, stories from our own lives that we could learn from. It is neat to see how many lessons we can learn in our own lives! Oh speaking of scriptures, We are teaching a family that wanted a "study bible" version of the Book of Mormon. I remembered the one that we got and use to read out of when I was younger. I mentioned it to them, and they bought it, they got it in the mail Friday! I am excited for them to be able to learn more about the Book of Mormon. 

I am glad that Sister Nelson wrote you, she mentioned that she got your package, and was so excited...good work! It is sort of crazy out of all my past companions she is the one I see most often. I see her nearly every other week, I haven't seen my other ones more than once since I have been with them.

Man, crazy house with all the teens! That is great though. Jackie said that she had a lot of fun, so good work :) Haha Kaycee is so funny, that definitely is the way that she works. You know, I'm not too different in that regard....

We are enjoying fall, lots of raking this past week. We have quite a few meetings this week, so we will see how it all goes. I have decided though that I am doing good, I haven't had to break out the coat, or the boots yet :) gloves yes, but that is alright! 

Well, I hope that you all have a great week!

also, I have probably listened to this 5 times today already, it is fantastic. Definitely worth a watch! Maybe I am just dying for good music or something.....haha no, it is really good!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2119328537001&cid=HPTU102114502 

Love,

Sister Christina Trickler

Also p.s. since my companion is from Taiwan, and it is rather expensive to send mail, she doesn't recieve any. If the kids wanted to draw her a picture, or write her a letter, she would greatly appreciate it! Thanks :)

holy Moly!!!! I forgot the best part of our week!!!!!

So. Wednesday night. We get home at 9:15ish, and were planning. I was really tired, really I was half asleep leaning against the couch attempting to plan the day. Needless to say it was being rather unproductive. All of the sudden my companion jumps up out of her seat and screams! Please keep in mind that we are in the basement of a member. Still half asleep, I looked up, and she is pointing at the floor. Running across our floor is a 4-5 inch long Salamander!!!! Haha it ran under my purse, and was just sitting there. I got a container, and helped it find its home...outside! Oh man, it was probably one of the best experience of my mission up to this point! My Asian companion screaming after seeing a salamander. Then I teased her the rest of the night, that it was going to make it's way into her bed...haha I am the worst companion ;) She started talking about snakes though, and I shut my mouth pretty darn quickly!!

Anywho, miracles happen!

Hello!!

Haha no, I do not get tired of that greeting, it is wonderful to hear from home :) Man, that little girl is spunky, I am glad to hear that nothing has changed! I got your package of letters this week, thanks so much! And I greatly appreciate the voting ballot! Although, I am regretably not informed at all...haha such is the life of a missionary ;) I guess I'll pray about it or something! It was perfect timing seeing as we heard about voting from the first presidency in church. I have letters in the mail for the kids, so Matthew is going to get a card at least :) But I will send him an email. I can't believe he is so old, they all are looking so old! Grandma sent me a picture from the adoption, it was great :) And I do quite like the hair! 

Guess what? Do you remember Sara Turner? Well...she is in my district. Meaning that she is in the neighboring ward, and we will see each other at least 4 times a week for a couple of hours! Isn't that crazy? I saw her yesterday for the first time, and it was sort of strange, because sometimes I forget that Utah exists, but it was really great to talk to her :) She is really going to be an incredible missionary, I can tell already! And she has a wonderful companion. We are going to carve pumpkins with them and a couple of sisters in the surrounding areas today, I am quite excited! It is the first time that Sister Huang has carved a pumpkin, so we went and picked some out this morning from a stand on the side of the road. It reminded me of when I grew pumpkins and sold them. Good times :) 

I am glad that you had a good Stake Conference! I am sure that was really neat to have Elder Nelson there! And I love that story about visiting less active souls. Sometimes it does get sort of discouraging because they don't seem to ever want to change, or they don't want to talk to you, but it is really neat to see that we can have an impact, and make a difference. The little things we do definitely make a big difference in the end! Even if we feel like we did nothing, a seed was planted. 

That remindes me of two of my favorite people in Austin! A mother and her daughter that got baptized while we were there. I remember that I was with Sister Amis, trying to find some less-active members. We went to one house, and no one was there. After knocking, Sister Amis thought that we should go try a yellow house across the street. We did, and found out that a less-active family lived there. When we returned to see them again, we were introduced to their cousins, the two who were baptized. They are amazing people!! It was neat though that we were able to find them through less-active members. I wear a braclet that the daughter made for me every day reminding that the little things we do make a difference. Plus it is a really cute braclet ;)

Haha oh goodness, I have read a bit of the Old Testament as well, what a crazy book of scripture!! There are some amazing stories in there, and then some that make you wonder! 

I am sorry that you have had a headache, I have been having some recently as well. They seem to hit me for 3 weeks or so, then I get a little break. Isn't it funny how it makes you so much more grateful for a healthy body when you have pains like that? It is sort of neat. It reminds me that there really has to be opposition in all things! 

Well,

Miracles happen!! I hope that you all have a lovely week :)

Love you lots!

-Sister Christina Trickler

p.s. I am not sure when our day to email will be next week, so don't panic if you don't get an email from me on Monday. We have a member of the 70 visiting us, and with Halloween, p-day