This week. I can't even.

Hello all!

Where to start...

Well, lets start with Monday. I went to the beach party (only in Florida would I go to the beach 2 days before Christmas in a short sleeve shirt and be sweating). We just hung out with the other missionaries for a few hours and watched the sun go down and then packed up and went back home. It's super funny because there are to be like, NO interactions between elders and sisters so it pretty much felt like a middle school dance. Minus the dancing. And plus a bunch of awkward missionaries. So great. 

Then we got together with two of our favorite families and an investigator for Christmas Eve and ate way too much and played games. We came home that night a little early and opened our presents because we wouldn't have time on Christmas. Thank you so much for all of the presents! I love you all :)

On Christmas we woke up and did our normal thang. It was super weird because it way didn't feel like Christmas at all. We went to District Meeting and then went over to the Mahe's and skyped/called home! And ate. A lot. Then we went over to the Kezell's (who are my favorites) and ate more. It was a lot of fun.

Last night we were having a hard time knowing where we needed to be and who Heavenly Father wanted us to see so we pulled out a ward list and looked it over and found 2 names of less actives we never noticed before! However, we didn't know where their streets were and we didn't have a GPS but we felt like we needed to drive around and try to find them. And Heavenly Father led us to their houses without us even getting lost. He just prompted us the whole way there. It was the coolest thing. One of them even let us make a return appointment to come back. I know that that was where we needed to be.

Despite all of the craziness of this last week, one truth really stuck out to me. Heavenly Father knows what He's doing and I need to trust Him and have faith in His plan. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year!

I love you all,

Sister Trebotich

At the beach with my MTC companion, Sister Bennett! I love her :)

No, I didn't touch the water. But I wanted to sooo bad.

Sister Goodman and I got each other onsies for Christmas. You KNOW how much I loved that. But it's way too hot to wear them, which is a shame.

Apparently I'll do anything to serve those I teach. I hate dogs, and yet...

Weird

Everything about this week was weird.

We did A TON of service for that Night in Bethlehem Christmas thing our ward did which took up our days, and then we were there all night helping and doin' our missionary thang. So we pretty much taught like 3 lessons all week long. 

But that thing was incredible. The Spirit was so strong and it totally exceeded my expectations. We ended up having about 3500 people come with about half of them being nonmembers, so it was a total success. I'm beyond exhausted, but it was totally worth it.

Sister Goodman and I were called to be Sister Training Leaders this last week, over all of the English Sisters. Which is about 18 of us. Hah. It totally caught us off guard because I still have about 5 more weeks of training to get done, so we were stressing pretty hard. But one of the APs called us this morning and said "okay, so Sister Goodman will actually be transferred next transfer so Sister Trebotich really needs to get trained. So don't worry about being STL's, we'll figure something else out." Uh... okay. Whew.

Also, I had been trying to run in just some tennis shoes with my inserts until I got some new running shoes and I may have hurt my foot... but I can still walk so I think I'm fine. I am SO not being put in another one of those huge cast-boots again and I know they would try to stick me in one of those. That's not happening. 

But I got the new shoes, dad, and they're perfect! You're the best! Thank goodness I can run again because my skirts seem to be fitting a little tighter...

That was pretty much my week! Hopefully this next I'll have a bit more significant news to give. I may or may not have consumed close to 3 dozen cookies since Thursday...

Love you all! I love this gospel! The church is so true and I am so honored to have been called to preach it!

Sister Trebotich

PS. I hate to say it... but I said "y'all" for the first time the other night. I'm ashamed of myself.

The Begg's were Thanksgiving dinner #3. She takes the best care of us, she's absolutely wonderful.

The famous Tampa sign when I was in downtown. I had to.

Sister Goodman and I at Night in Bethlehem. We had a BLAST.

We went to a soccer game for one of the kids in the ward and their families. Our ward is the best.

All the Odessa missionaries. We take up like half the ward. 

Our investigator gave us a Christmas tree! So we have our stockings on the wall (thanks Sister Beckstrand!) and we have 3 real presents under the tree and a few fake ones so it doesn't look so pathetic haha.

My two favorite sisters in my zone. They're so funny, Sister Kitchen is 6'1" and Sister Bush is 4'9". They're so great.

I've Lost My Shoes...

And my mind apparently.

Hello all!

This week, oh my gosh. I'm exhausted. But great.

I went on emergency last minute exchanges and spent some time in downtown Tampa as a "metro" missionary. Basically, we didn't teach lessons, we just talked to anyone and everyone we could. We walked all around downtown all day, every day. It was possibly the most fun I've had as a missionary, period. I love people. I think I forget that here in Odessa because we like, never see people. But then my time had to come to an end and that's when my shoes went missing. I'm not so sure exactly how someone loses their running shoes, but it happens. Apparently. I'd have to go back to the city to get some new ones... but it's not like we have an extra hour to go do that. So I'm not exactly too sure how this is going to work out for me... hahah. I'll figure it out though.

This week went by so crazy fast that I don't even really remember what else happened. President wants us to get more involved in the member's lives and go to their activities with them, so we went to a little league baseball game and a choir concert this week. Our main focus in doing that is to get people familiar with missionaries and show them that we're normal people, it's strange because we're not supposed to proselyte when we do these things and it almost feels like we're being disobedient. But we're having a blast with it. Times are changing for us missionaries.

We totally have facebook accounts. It's so weird. It's for strictly proselyting purposes only so we can only add our immediate family and people from Tampa. We haven't posted anything yet, but its totally the weirdest thing ever logging in to facebook as a missionary. It just seems so wrong. And iPads as a Christmas present...? Pres has been hinting at giving them to us then. Everything is so weird. Haha.

I can't believe Christmas is coming up in two weeks. We've been setting up for this Christmas thing that is this Thursday-Sunday at the church. It's called "A Night In Bethlehem" and it's a HUGE production. Everyone is dressed up in costume and you walk through the little town of Bethlehem which is set up on the acre our church is on. There are all sorts of little buildings with toy shops, little pita and olive snack foods, a carpenter shop, and other various shops that go along with the time period. Then you are taken through these huge gates they built to the area where the stage is. That's where the play happens. Mary comes in on a donkey, there's singing, a real baby, and it's really incredible. Thousands of people come from all over Florida to watch it, it's apparently a big deal. It's cool to be a part of it. Sister Goodman and I get to be at the well talking to people and giving them water. It should be way fun.

I am so grateful to be an instrument in the Lord's hand. I know that He works through imperfect people to preach His perfect gospel. Its an incredible time to be a member of this church. As Elder L Tom Perry said, "This is the most remarkable era in the history of the Church. This is something that ranks with the great events that have happened in past history, like the First Vision, like the gift of the Book of Mormon, like the Restoration of the gospel, like all of the things that build that foundation for us to go forward and teach in our Father in Heaven's kingdom." I know this to be true. I know that the Lord is really hastening His work and it is up to us as people who know the truth to help others to find it.

Love you all so much,

Sister Trebotich

For more information on the "A Night in Bethlehem" event that Sister Trebotich and her companion will get to be a part of, there is a website for the event, anightinbethlehem.org

Don't forget... Christmas is coming up soon! Don't forget to send Sister Trebotich some love! Now is a great time to send a Christmas package.

With the US Postal Service, you can stop by a post office and pick up a FREE small, medium, or large flat rate box and then stuff it with Christmas goodies for Kim! They ship at these rates, regardless of weight: 

Small- $5.80

Medium- $12.35

Large- $16.85

Letters can be sent to: 

Sister Kimberly Trebotich
17750 C Jamestown Way
Lutz, FL 33558

Packages can be sent to: 

Sister Kimberly Trebotich

Florida Tampa Mission

13153 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, STE 109

Tampa, FL 33618-2410

We made a new friend this week

Hello all!

This week was incredible. We found 3 new investigators who are super solid and way prepared, we ate WAY too much (it was really disgusting, but great), and we found a nice little alligator in our backyard/swamp. He/she is quite nice and totally our new friend.

I ate 3 Thanksgiving dinners and probably gained more weight than I am willing to admit. Good thing we lose our car next week and we're back to biking 30ish miles a day, because I still feel gross haha. 

We had 2 investigators at church this week which was so exciting! AND we had a goal of 3 new investigators by Sunday at 9pm and we went and had dinner with a part member family to try to get his wife to take the lessons (which she has denied for like 10 years) and we got her. 8:30 at night on Sunday and God totally delivered. The look on his face when she said "yeah, I think I would actually like that" was the best thing I've ever seen. He just about started crying because it's just been such a long time coming. It was awesome to be a part of that.

Heavenly Father loves His children and He is so mindful of every single one of us and the trials that we each are going through. We were blessed to find a new investigator who is dying of cancer. We found her when we were walking home from a lesson with another new investigator and we were able to have a lesson with her yesterday. I know that Heavenly Father placed her in our path because she needs this right now. The knowledge that we have of our Father in Heaven's love for us and that death is not the end is so comforting. I know that there is a purpose and a plan for each of us and that He is with us every step of the way. I know that sometimes things happen that we don't understand, sometimes we feel like we are given more than we can handle but I KNOW that we are never given more than we can overcome with Jesus Christ.

I love this church and I love you all,

Sister Trebotich