Date: Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Subject: Re: Good morning
Tere family!
I now have 19 days until I leave the MTC on my way to Estonia! Wow, the end is finally in sight! Those of us 12 weekers like to joke around that we were born here, and it sorta feels that way :P Goodness, I think I'll get my travel plans by the end of next week. I will be traveling to Latvia to visit the mission home before I'm either I hop on a bus or train to Estonia. You got the e-mail to be 6 minutes before I logged on, so good timing! We've been having some nice weather up here lately. Warm, but not overly warm, and some days where it's been cloudy, but hardly any rainfall, bummer... Would you be so kind as to send me an Estonian weather update before I leave? The temple was magnificent, as always, and we had Navajo tacos for lunch. Ice cream is served on Wednesdays and Sundays and a good pal of ours suggested we get the taco bread and put ice cream on top. Genius. Now I'm väga õnnelik! (very happy!) The care package from Grandma and Carol was super sweet. I will save the peanut butter for Estonia, but I need to use up the strawberry jam before I go. The cookies and other snacks are very appreciated too!
Sister Aitken is finally off the potential hold list. Ain't no way she's gonna let 'em hold her back after being here for so long. We've also been doing really well with SYL (Speak your language) lately. Right now, the MTC entrance is being torn up, I have no idea why. Thanks for the Morgan updates! The girl's a saint for having to deal with legions of cockroaches! I hope Estonia doesn't have too many crazy critters for me to deal with. Why am I not terribly surprised that Chaz would practically copy and paste his talk...? Ha ha ha ha ha! I'll keep on eye on him when he gets up here next week :P I'm happy I'll see another package soon. Yay for thermals~
I realized Sunday afternoon that my legs are as purely white as the Provo Temple walls. I kid you not. We took some pictures and as I stood by the entrance, I noticed in the picture that my legs literally camoflauge in with the white stone. WUT. Having a robe at the MTC is awesome, just sayin'. I don't think I utilized it enough while at home, but it comes in handy so much here, especially since mine has pockets ;)
Last week, we bid farewell to Bro. Andre who is now doing service projects in India until after we leave for Estonia. He shared with us tons of stories and pictures and made me want to get there even faster! It's so crazy thinking about when Sis. Aitken and I arrive there that there will only be 16 Estonian-speaking missionaries, and that we make us 2 of the 4 sisters total. I think that just shows how special this call is. It seems this week's topic focus from above is boldly inviting people to be baptized early on in their investigation of the church. We learned about it a little on Saturday night, we heard a Devotional on is last night, and Sis. Aitken and I scheduled a workshop to help us with that nearly two weeks ago which will be held this Friday. It's amazing how often that happens around here. Heavenly Father is obviously trying to make a point, and I'm taking notes.
Wow, I think for once, I've finally covered just about everything I wanted to in just 1/2 an hour! That means my letter home will be shorter, although I say that all the time and it is still really long, ha ha! I'm just doing my best to prepare myself for the field soon. I have less than 10 pages left in the Book of Mormon and I think I'll start right back at the beginning when I finish it today :) It is such an amazing book.
Logistics stuff: Some other things I've been wondering out before I go are how much cash I should carry with me, what's the average balance in my account (in case of emergency) and if my Acuvue Oasys contact lenses have to be used with Opti-Free repleniSH? That's what my eye doctor recommended, but I don't know if they sell it here in the book store. I'll be sure to check this afternoon. Haparis?
I adore you all so much and I pray that you are doing well. Thanks for the love, support, laughs, hugs and kisses!
Love ya bunches!
Courtney
Love you Ode Courtney! It sounds like you are doing well in your last stretch of the MTC. Keep up the good work, good attitude, and good sense of humor.
ReplyDelete---Noel