Rain, rain rain, bike, bike bike!!

A few years ago, Elder Eyring gave a talk in general conference called "Mountains to Climb". I remember being at that conference session when he to,d us hat once he prayed for more mountains to climb, or more trials to learn from. And then Heavenly Father hit him with some of the hardest times of his life. Well, I read that talk recently and thought it would be a good idea to do as he did. Ha. I'll get back to this a little later on in the email.

We had the coolest miracle happen this week. Seriously.

His name is Lile.

So... Back story:

We had gone over to a members house to meet them and leave them with a prayer. Then we asked if anyone they knew could use one and they gave us their neighbors address. Then we went on exchanges, and sister day and Hermana Mathis went by that neighbor because she only speaks Spanish. Then that lady became the Hermanas new investigator. So they went back 2 days ago to teach her and on their way home they street contacted Lile and gave him a pass along card. Then Lile CALLED the headquarters number on the card and requested missionaries. Then we met with him and it was amazing.

We showed him "The Hope of God's Light" Mormon message and afterward he was quiet for what seemed like forever and then he said, "So... There's hope for me?" It was so powerful and so heartbreaking because this man had been living without hope for 25 years. But the best part of being a missionary is the testimony in which I am called to bear. I said, "Yes, Lile. I can promise you there is hope." And the tears came.

After biking 400 miles in the last 2 weeks, after all the rain, after all the rejection, after all the being yelled at, after all the hard times with Sister Day, and after all the times I just about gave up trying, Heavenly Father was still there. And He always will be. Miracles truly DO happen.

We met a super cool couple at church who both had served missions and let me just say, I'm so excited to be that couple. Also, everything that COULD have gone wrong this week pretty much did. So many people bashed us, so many holes in Sister Day's bike tires, so many lessons didn't work out, and so much rain poured on us as we biked. But you know what? Being a missionary is THE BEST. I wouldn't trade this for the world.

This week we invited to church a catholic priest who knows dallin h oaks, a Mennonite minister, several homeless people, a Haitian voodoo worshipper, and a deaf person. Along with countless others, of course, but those were the funny ones.

And to go along with that humor, I would like to refer back to the beginning paragraph ofis email and close with the last lesson we had with our "miracle" Lile. See photograph below.

Okay okay, Heavenly Father knows best. Really.

Every morning at 7:59 we have a "mighty prayer" where we kneel and say
a personal prayer for the day normally for those we'll be teaching.
But the other day, I pretty much straight broke down before I even got
on my knees in my closet. And I kept saying, "I can't. I can't. I
can't." And a voice inside my head said, "yes you can. And now I'm
going to show you how." And He did, He showed me how.

There are many kinds of endurance, but this week I learned about two main kinds.
1. Regular endurance.
2. True endurance.

Regular endurance is WAITING.
True endurance is LEARNING.

Regular endurance is a passage of time.
True endurance is a passage of soul.

Regular endurance yields nothing but wasted time.
True endurance yields change within oneself.

No matter our attitude, we're still going to experience the same
experiences. But the outcome completely depends on us. We can choose
to gain something from it or we can choose to suffer it for nothing.

We've started teaching a hoarder, a gang member, and 2 strong southern
baptists. Sometimes we don't realize how hilarious of a situation were
in until we're sitting in it. Like in a hoarder house, or with someone
who could potentially kill us, or with two boys who pretty much just
want to tell us we're wrong. It's times like those that I remember
that I'm definitely a missionary.

But this week was really good. We taught some way cool lessons, did a
lot of service, and we worked out some problems between us. Heavenly
Father never puts us in something He doesn't prepare a way for us to
overcome. Sometimes it happens soon, sometimes it happens after the
longest 6 weeks of your life, but if you trust in Him and endure, it
happens.

We biked ALL day on Wednesday and let me tell you, Florida is hot. I
was legitly dripping in sweat, and I wore the wrong shirt because you
could totally see it all down my back. So embarrassing. Definitely
almost got hit by a car AGAIN (is 'hit me' written on me or
something?), rode over multiple lizards (I'll never get used to that
crunch), and sister day hit a pole. But all in all, it was a good
experience. I'm now 100% positive that I will never live in Florida
again, so that's good to know hah.

College starts this week, so we're going to go and hopefully find us
someone new (and not sketchy) to teach. I'm pretty stoked. Plus, I
just got my slack line and we're about to go do some creative
finding!!

Anyways, I love y'all and hope y'all have a great week!

Sister Trebotich

IM PRETTY MUCH GETTING A FERRET.

And that is how I almost died TWICE...

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be single for time and all eternity. And
being on a mission makes me somewhat okay with that. It seems like
lately, we've been teaching a lot of eternal marriage lessons and have
been asked by a lot of people about it. Hmm, we'll let me speak from
experience... Oh wait. Nevermind. #singlelife.
Quote of the day:
"Wait, you went to BYU I Do?"
"Yeah, for 2 years."
"And you didn't get married?"
"Yeah, definitely didn't get married."
"Oh. That's okay. I'm sure that doesn't mean anything."

Aaaaand there it is. THANK YOU.

We had so many miracles happen this week of walking up to people and
them telling us all about what theyre struggling with in life without
us even asking. It's so cool to see how people can feel our authority
as representatives of Jesus Christ. It still amazes me that people can
feel that we're different, because I feel like I'm normal. But I'm
not. I've been called by a prophet of god to bring this gospel to
complete strangers in Florida.

We had an AWESOME zone conference this week. The spirit slapped me in
the face SO hard. Heavenly Father basically said, "Sister Trebotich,
don't you waste this time. Don't you let this hard companion drag you
down. This is not your mission, this is mine. These are not your
people, these are mine. And you better take care of them the way you
promised with the time I'm giving you."

And then I almost got hit by a car when we were riding our bikes home
night. Legit, it was so close to hitting me. But angels are
protecting me, so we're all good. Near death experience NÚMERO UNO.

Then some pipe in our apartment complex broke and all of our water got
contaminated with some deadly virus, so we had to move in with some
sister missionaries up in Bradenton and we're having a BLAST. But
hopefully we'll be able to move back soon, because it's a little
cramped on the floor in their apartment haha. Unfortunately, pretty
sure I had filled my water bottle up before they notified us that the
water was contaminated. But I'm still kicking, so I think I'm good.
Near death experience NÚMERO DOS.

We also are now over two wards, which is kinda cool. Except the family
ward were over is full of some crazy people. One lady gets up to bear
her testimony and it's straight about pornography. I'm not going to
get into details, but it was SUPER awkward and way inappropriate. Holy
holy. This is going to be a trip. Hahah.

Anyways, this week the big thing I learned is that we constantly stand
in our own way of progression. Sometimes when Heavenly Father gives us
something super hard, we pray for him to deliver us or we beg him to
help us, and then that's it. That's all we do. That's why it never
works, because we have to put effort into it too! I can't just pray
that Heavenly Father will bless me with love for sister day, I have to
pray for it and the to and serve her or go and compliment her. Or go
and do SOMETHING, otherwise it was an empty prayer. If we're not
willing to do our part, we aren't going to see any changes.

Heavenly Father continues to teach me everyday just how imperfect I
am, but just how much he loves me anyway. I am so grateful to be a
missionary and to be able to have these 18 months focused on Him and
His children. It's the greatest blessing.

There's been a whole lot of crazy this week, but none of it is really
all that important. Haha.  

Sister Treboitch

So Much Has Happened

Hey y'all!

Okay, so let me tell you.

I broke my big right toe. The memory of how it happened is a little foggy, but it happened nonetheless. I still laugh about it every time I think about it. But its great! Nothin' a little tape and prayer won't fix! 

Also, straight MIRACLES happened this week.

So Sister Goodman had gotten a referral back in June for a lady who lives out of our area but in our ward boundaries who had been to the Hudson ward with her friend a few times before they moved. We've tried stopping by many times since then, but she's never home. Her husband was in this terrible car accident that left him without memory of the last 10 years of his life putting him back at an 18 year old mindset. So they had a lot on their plate and so it was understandable that they would be busy a lot. BUT, Heavenly Father is the best and put her name in our heads when we were planning Thursday night. So we went to see her on Friday and knocked on her door with no response. Just as we were leaving they pulled up. We talked with them, left a super cool prayer, and she totally sold him on our church. She wants to be baptized already, but she's waiting for him. It's a little difficult to teach him because not only does her not remember much, but he can't recognize anyone ever. So it's like we're starting over with him every time. But I know that Heavenly Father wants him to have the gospel just as much as any of His other children, so He'll make a way.

We had 5 investigators at church on Sunday. A record high. It was awesome. Also, we got to watch the CES Devotional with Tad R. Callister of the Seventy and it was AMAZING. He talked about how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really is the Lord's same church He had when He was on the earth. We can't wait to print it out and study all of the scriptural references, because we get bashed on pretty hard here and having some biblical backup would help (in a loving and non-bashing way of course :)).

Of course, with all of the great things that happened there has to be a bad thing. All of my pictures got erased on my memory card on my camera. No idea how or when, but they're all gone. I was pretty upset, and unfortunately let that get me down for the rest of that night. That was when I realized how I get hung up on things that, in the grand scheme of things, really don't matter. That is definitely one of my biggest weaknesses. I studied weakness a little bit after and read a quote about how accepting a weakness as "that's just me, it's who I am" is completely denying the power of the Atonement. We learn in the scriptures that God gives us weakness so that we can be humble, and if we are humble He can turn our weaknesses into strengths. According to our faith. That's the key. If we have the faith, He can and will help us overcome anything and everything.

I know that God is so patient and so merciful with all of His children (especially me) as we try and fail and try again to become all He knows we can be in this life. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Christ and knowing that He NEVER breaks His promises.

Keep focusing on the good in life and you'll stop seeing the bad.

I love you all!

Sister Trebotich

What a Wonderful World

Happy New Year!

Sister Goodman and I were in bed, passed out by 10:30 as per usual. Such party animals, we are.

We had such a better week, we actually got to teach a lot, which I totally missed. So, the 12 year old we're teaching is amazing. She's so excited about the gospel and it's really refreshing to see because so many people are not. It's really tough for her though, because her mom doesn't approve of her getting baptized, but her mom's heart has been softening! Slowly but surely, the Lord always does His work. One of my favorite scriptures has become 1 Nephi 3:7; it talks about how the Lord never gives us a commandment "save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." and I know that to be so true. The Lord wants us to fulfill His commandments, so He always makes a way. Always.

Another cool thing is we got to participate in a charity walk with some of the youth. We got together and spray painted mormon.org shirts and all wore them at the race. The elders of course one up-ed us and got some made, but it was a blast anyways. Being a missionary is the best.

I know that the prayers are answered, whether we recognize the answer of not. I love knowing that no matter what, my Father in Heaven is always there for me. And thank goodness He is.

Love you!

Sister Trebotich

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.