Aunt Ruth, Here I come!

My last couple days in Oak Ridge were spent saying goodbyes. It was hard for a lot of people to hear that they wouldn't be putting sisters back in the area. we teach a lot of single sisters, so hopefully the ward will step up and be team-ups with the elders. But really, there just haven't been as many sisters coming out recently and because our area is one of the smallest in the mission, they had to close it. Hopefully it is only temporarily closed, but there is no telling as of yet.

I had the opportunity to accompany a special musical number at transfer meeting so that was cool :) But I found out that I am being transferred to JOHNSON CITY!! My companion's name is Sister Arianne Tomlinson. Trommlitz and Tomlinson.... nice.

Ever since day one we have been busy. I really enjoy this area. The ward is incredible! I feel this is where I need to be right now. 

We have an aunt and her son and family who live in Johnson City!  Ken's aunt Ruth and Uncle Gene are there and are excited to have Rachel serving right in their neck of the woods.  What a small world it is in the church :)  

 Tori and Sydney in their dorm room!

We have been teaching Tori who is preparing to be baptized on Valentine's Day! She is 19 years old and attending ETSU. She amazes me. She has a strong testimony of this gospel already and is willing to do whatever is needed in order to be baptized. She was introduced to the gospel through her friend Sydney who was baptized a year ago.

John is another YSA we are teaching. He has a sister who is a member and he works for a security system based out of Provo, so everyone he works with is LDS. He started reading the Book of Mormon and then contacted us to be taught the lessons. He also is working to be baptized on Valentine's day.

There are many people we are working with who have so much potential! I can't wait to see what miracles this transfer holds.

God truly has our best interest in mind. I am so happy to be here. I will only be with my companion for one transfer, but I can already see how much I can learn from her.

This will be her 3rd companion to go home after serving with her.  She is destined to be the one to say goodbye...

It's exciting to be in a new area, great experiences await!  

Why Can't You Trust Atoms?

Because they make up everything! hahahahaha!!! oh... good ol' Oak Ridge joke of the week :)

It sounds like she'll be getting a new companion next week on transfer day.  Constant change in the mission field!  Well, in life too of course!  What a great training ground :)  Here is some news from her New Year's week:

Dixie is a less-active member here, who we were able to get out of the house, which was a huge step! We visited another member of the ward who was (divinely planned!) with other members of the RS. It was so good to get Dixie out and then for her to see her old friends that she doesn't see by not coming to church. It may seem small, but I believe the results are going to be big.

Toe Socks and Straight hair--Wow! 

Leslie is out of the rehab center! We made her a fleece blanket, so we took that to her, and she was soooooo happy. It made us feel so good :) Later in the week we taught her about the apostasy and restoration again. It was a great lesson with the spirit being strong. She thought that the first vision was absolutely beautiful and wanted us to tell it to her again. She said she felt chills running down her back as we told her Joseph Smith's story. Because it's true!! That is the spirit testifying of truth. It was a testimony reaffirmed to me that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that through him, Christ did restore His church on the earth. Strong, simple truths.

Happy New Year everyone! We played Disney Monopoly for New Year's Eve and then just a good ol' missionary day for New Year's Day :) Can't believe it's 2015!!!

I love you all!!!!!!

Con amor, Hermana Trommlitz

Cookie Christmas

Feliz Navidad!!

Leslie is doing so much better and is now in a rehab center. She looks even better than when she was home! She has a lot of down time and the large print Book of Mormon we ordered for her finally came in, so we delivered that and it's not often that we see that much excitement from a person after giving them a Book of Mormon. :) She was thrilled! The rehab center is the perfect place for her to begin reading because she now doesn't have any people to sway her and she won't go to other sources for answers. She has prayer, scriptures and missionaries to answer her questions. Also taking advantage of that excitement to learn and the time she has to do so is going to be a great step in gaining a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and Christ's restored church.

We shared several Christmas messages with the people we teach and every time we did, my testimony of the Savior was strengthened.

Christmas Eve we decorated cookies, which, as you all know, was a huge treat for me! The Valdez family invited us over for that because we couldn't proselyte that night and then afterwards, we delivered them to families in the ward, investigators and others who just needed a little boost. :)

Christmas was wonderful. We did studies and the planning we needed to, then went to Sister Sammon's home for breakfast. We were then able to Skype home which was the BEST!!! And then I was able to continue our tradition from home of having an ethnic dinner for Christmas and we had homemade Tamales with the Valdez's. yum!! Dianna is a member of the ward who lives in a rehab/nursing home, so we saw her that night so she would have someone to spend Christmas with. It was a great Christmas.

Talk to all ya'll next year! ;)

A Tennessee Christmas

First Christmas away from home.  We got to talk to her on Thursday and it was great!  She is happy and working hard and learning that loving the people is more important than anything else you can do on a mission.  She inspires us every time we hear from her, and she looks radiant!  Even though we miss her at the holidays of course, we're so happy she is enjoying her mission and serving the Lord who's life we celebrate each year. Here are some excerpts from her last email:

We had our Christmas Zone Conference this past week which was AWESOME! Those trainings are the best! The spirit is always so strong and I am re-motivated and recommitted to the work when I leave. Also..... we got to watch Frozen!!! It was hilarious to watch it with missionaries who had never seen it before. 

Can I just say that Oak Ridge is soooooo musical!!! We had several youth in the High School Orchestra concert so we went to that and then we were invited to go to the Methodist Christmas Noel and then our own ward's Christmas program was spectacular! Music has the ability to quickly bring the spirit into a setting, and Christmas music all about Jesus Christ has such a powerful effect. 

One of our investigators, Leslie, was in the hospital this week, so we went and visited her She is an older lady who has a great knowledge of the Bible, but is very confused on how to interpret it. She is being "carried to and fro with every wind of doctrine." We stopped by to share a brief thought with her and she really loved the idea of "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." It was something that she really wanted to apply in her life, and her prayer was so genuine as she asked Heavenly Father to help her to do and see the small and simple things. It was an example to me that when we learn something new, we should strive to act on it and involve Heavenly Father in the process. He can make our weaknesses become strengths.

We had our Ward Christmas Brunch with a pancake bar! yum :) The primary kids did a short reenactment of the nativity. Can I just say I love little kids! They are so fun, innocent, and smart!

We also had a great lesson with Connie. She hasn't come to church yet, so we took her to the church for a lesson and gave her a tour. She stopped at the picture of the first presidency and said, "Wow.... what a powerful picture." Our last lesson with her was about prophets and so it was perfect that she connected with that picture and we were able to remind her what we taught her and testify of a living prophet.

Have a great week!! and FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

1st Transfer! Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Here She Comes!

 I forgot to post last week :(  So here are 2 weeks worth of letters:

I don't quite know about how to write about this past week. The first part of the week flew by and the second half is going slower... but all is well! :)

The first half of the week consisted of many goodbyes, which are hopefully just see-you-laters. I'm not one to cry, but I lost a few tears as I parted with the people I have come to love. One of the hardest goodbyes was to my trainer, companion and best friend. We really worked at our companionship and we became close the past 4 months.

Although it was hard, I have no doubt that I am supposed to be in my new area and with my new companion. My new companion's name is Sister Price. and guess what?? She is from Syracuse! We plotted our houses and we are only 15 minutes away. She went to Clearfield High and I am excited to work with her.

The ward here in Oak Ridge is made up of a lot of people from Utah who are here working. The streets are alphabetical which is convenient for missionaries who don't have a GPS! :) We for sure know Sister Price is leaving next transfer (which is a bummer. It'll be hard to bond in only 3 weeks.) so I'll have to learn my way around pretty quickly. Also, I live in a mansion! If you want to see, google earth 120 Wolf Creek Way. Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830. (which, if you want, you can send mail here for the next little bit instead of the mission home. Either way.) We live with a non-member: sweet, old Maxine who has diabetes and still eats pie every night. But we love her. It's good for us to be with her to help her with some of the things she can't do for herself and it's a blessing for us to be here as well. (She is the mother of a former bishop of that ward and she called us as soon as Rachel got there to let us know she was safe, so nice:)

A lovely Christmas sweater from Maxine!  I've always thought she looked good in red!

It's been a little hard the past couple of days with it being the first time I have ever transferred. I have not been in an area where my companion knows more about the streets, people and ward than I do. I am now starting all over with the hints I give people to help remember my last name:) (I think Trumpets works...:) Side Note: I love having a unique last name. Seriously, it's awesome. 

The people here are wonderful. I can't wait to get to know them better!

Love you all!! Happy December!!

And I noticed this morning that as of today, I am 19 and 1/2 years old! today's my half birthday!! ha! woot woot!

From Yesterday (Dec. 15th):

One of the highlights of this week was the half-mission conference with Elder Redlund of the Seventy. It was incredible!! A whole day of spiritual feasting! He had us read 3 talks by Elder Bednar before we came, in preparation for his words. It seemed like a main focus was prayer which was so perfect because my goal for this transfer was to improve my personal prayers. It was also a tender mercy that the Dalton district and everyone I have served with came to the same session I did! It was exactly what I needed to see them again and be able to talk, laugh and speak Spanish! ha! Seeing them did the opposite of what I thought it would. It gave me a jump start out of being sad about leaving my last area. :)

I have gotten to know Brother and Sister Huddleston here, who have been investigating the church for 2 years now. Because I was new, I began really digging for the deep concern of why they are not committing to be baptized. A few things surfaced that were not known before this which provided a great place to start. They could both be incredible members and I know that as soon as they commit, they will just accelerate in their testimonies and really in all aspects of their lives. They seem similar to a few other people I have worked with in the past, and I feel like I may be able to do some good for them.

We were able to be in a parade with the ward this weekend. Yes, it was cold, but it was a great opportunity to hand out pass-along cards! I have never seen people s ho happy to get a card! "a free movie about Christ? awesome!" or "what a beautiful picture of Christ. Thank you so much!" We'll see what good it did in the next little bit. It was also great to develop a relationship with the youth in the ward. I saw such success from in it my last ward and know that the youth of the church are incredible and have great potential.

On Sunday we went to the addiction recovery class with a less-active member and it was really neat. It is a program that will even help me to overcome my weaknesses.

We went to our first ward council yesterday and so far it doesn't feel like we are trusted or used very much. I have recently had this kick on working with the leadership of the ward and getting a vision for missionary work from our key-holders, so I have been studying that. It seems like it was divine guidance because I am probably going to have to use my excitement, experience, and new knowledge in that area here in the ward.

I love you all! Have a Merry Christmas! Don't get too wrapped up in the holidays that you forget to read your scriptures and pray. I have been studying the conference talks too which are such powerful words from our leaders.

Con Amor, Hermana Trommlitz

Maybe that could be a new pronunciation!

Thanksgiving Temple Trip

Wow!! Sooo cool! 

With this week being thanksgiving, I have reflected on how much I truly have to be grateful for. The Lord is so merciful to us!

Some crazy news for the week.... I'm getting transferred. I never knew it would be so hard to leave this area, but I am really struggling thinking about all the people I am going to miss here. One of the hardest things is the fact that I didn't expect it at all. I had great visions for this area and was really excited about the potential of all the people we were working with. I don't know where I am going yet, and won't know until Wednesday. I know that the Lord's plan is always better than what we might want and I am trying to look forward with optimism, but for now I am still really sad. I am ready for growth and I know that is what this change will bring.

Not sure what all this means, but looks fun :)  I had to laugh at the elder in the back on the left wearing Rachel's       "cheetah-themed" Santa hat! Guess I sent those for a reason! 

Before I knew I was being transferred I was asked to sub for the youth speaker and speak in sacrament meeting. So inspired. I was so grateful to speak my last Sunday here.

White shirt, tie, temple recommend in hand...so prepared for the gospel!

Joseph went to the temple this past week and loved it!! He was so excited the days leading up to it and when he was there he said he felt the spirit very strongly. He said it is one thing to talk about the temple, but a completely other thing to actually go inside. He is so right. The temple is the Lord's house and a place where one can feel the spirit unlike anywhere else.

The ward is really working well with Joseph. Yesterday was our last ward council and you can see the ward really feeling the responsibility of helping him stay strong in the church and become more converted to Jesus Christ. I am excited for him and for the ward. I think that seeing Joseph be baptized has excited the ward about missionary work.

This past week we were introduced to the "He is the Gift" initiative and are very excited about it!! If you haven't seen the video yet, go, RIGHT NOW, to christmas.mormon.org and watch it and then go share it on your facebook and everywhere else! It is a touching video which helps us to focus on the Savior this season. The church is putting a HUGE emphasis on it right now, so catch the vision and share this video with everyone. It is a really easy way to share the gospel and about Jesus Christ.

Another push lately has been for families to have their own mission plans and I encourage all that read this to do the same. It helps to keep a focus and a goal for missionary work. It also unifies the family on missionary efforts and gets everyone involved in the hastening of the work.

Look at that... 2 FHE's for ya! :) Mission plan and He is the Gift :)

I watched the video this morning.  It is wonderful!  As is everything the church puts out.  I'm excited to share it with everyone!  In our ward, our bishop has also invited us to council in our families about our personal and family preparedness, so we have 3 family home evenings ready to go for us!  YEA!!  

I love you all!! I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love this gospel and I love Jesus Christ. I love having the opportunity to share my testimony with everyone I meet. Happy December everyone!!

Missionary Christmas Tree :)

From Mormon.org to Baptism!

We've been following the ups and downs of Joseph, her first investigator that she's been privileged to teach from start to finish.  We've been praying for him and hoping he would come unto Christ by being baptized into His church.  Here is her email from this week:

 Joseph was baptized!! It was absolutely incredible. The spirit was so strong and simply got stronger and stronger as the service went on. The best part, beside the actual ordinance, was when Joseph bore his testimony. It was simple, but powerful. And coming from Joseph who has doubted the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and modern-day prophets, it was huge. He was honest and sincere and made several people in the room cry! His parents were able to come and support him and his friend (who Joseph gave a Book of Mormon to earlier) came as well. There were many ward members who came to support him and he was happier than I have ever seen him before.

Sunday was equally as incredible. He was confirmed a member of the church and received the Holy Ghost. Then during the 3rd hour, he received the Aaronic priesthood! (We were able to sit in for that!) and then after church, he was interviewed and received a temple recommend!!!! :) :) :) And what perfect timing the Lord has, because the ward has a temple trip planned for adults and youth this coming Saturday! He is really excited to do baptisms for the dead. I am really excited to teach him family history this week :) :)

Even before he was baptized, we had kinda teased Joseph with the idea of going on a mission. We asked him after his baptism and he said the would really like to go, but will probably finish his degree first. We'll see what the Lord has in store for him, but he would be an incredible missionary. 

 I feel so blessed to be on a mission, serving here in Dalton, Georgia. I thank my Heavenly Father that I had the opportunity to be a part of Joseph's conversion. This church is truly Jesus Christ's church restored on the earth. This knowledge has brought direction and joy into my life. "My life has a purpose, my life has a plan..." 

I don't know how to read her words without crying every week.  It is such a blessing to be able to be a small part of everything she does in her missionary labors.  I hope our family can have at least one missionary out at all times for the next 20 years!!!  (I have 3 more of my own future missionaries and 11 nieces and nephews spanning age 4 months-17 years!) Go Elders and Sisters!!  

"Frozen" and CITH Festival of Trees :)