That's good to hear that Heather and Todd finally set a date. I was wondering if they would do it during the Christmas break or else wait until she graduates.
Oddly enough (or miraculously :) Sis. Aitken's Estonian friends she met in America (they lived with her fam while she finished school) now live in Pärnu and they cooked us dinner on Wednesday night. It was so fun being around them, plus they speak English. I hope we can meet with them again this week and teach them some stuff now. Kätlin actually told Sis. Aitken that she wanted to be baptized back when she lived with them in America, but the missionaries they had in were
really poor missionaries :/ I guess we're here to fix that!
"It was even down in the 60s..." Wow, Mom, that sounds like the life right now. On Friday, we had our first, legit snowfall. The week before, the weather had teased us a little by snowing for only 10 minutes. Thank goodness the snowing only lasted until noon on Friday, so it melted away by the afternoon after we helped the members
do a little setting-up for the open house on Saturday. We woke up that morning and were just staring out the windows during our study that morning, dreading about having to don our boots. While setting-up for Saturday, the branch president asked us to perform some songs for the concert that was happening after the open house, so Sis. Aitken had the idea of renting a violin so she could play. We went to the concert hall just right around the corner, but the cheapest violin they had for sale was a piece of junk, but the saleswoman suggested we could go around to the music school on the other side and ask if we could rent one. After going back and forth between various floors, talking to various ladies and teachers, we got to borrow an old violin from a really nice violin teacher! It was just the violin she uses as
she teaches because she has a much nicer, concert instrument at home. We asked if we could pay, but she insisted that we didn't. :D I accompanied Sis. Aitken on the piano with a 2 page rendition of "I Stand All Amazed" since it was quick and easy to learn. We took home one of the keyboards from the church to practice at home with. Lo and behold, the demo song was none other than Rick Astley's "Together
Forever". WIN.
At the open house, only 3 non-members showed up, but they have really good potential! Although, we only got phone numbers for 2 of them. One lady said she actually grew up on the plot of land where the church building is so she wanted to see what it was like. 0_0 I don't think anybody actually invited her to come either, but Janeli immediately befriended her and we'll call her about setting an
appointment later this week. The other lady was a co-worker of one of our recent converts and she actually came to church yesterday too!
I did buy some boots, but not some really nice gloves yet. I haven't really needed them yet, thankfully. I asked my companions if there was anything they wanted from America and they just said peanut butter M&Ms, ha ha! I think I might prefer Reese's pieces a little more, but it's all good :) I can't really think of something specific because the chocolate here keeps me pretty content, ha ha! Popcorn (only have indiv. packs here), red vines, mike n'ikes, psh! I dunno! Did I leave any warm sweaters at home? Probably not :P I guess you could send some tights, leggings, socks, etc. Sis. Aitken says I need to let her mom know what I want for Christmas though, ha ha ha! If for whatever reason, the value of goods is over 100 dollars, they'll charge tariffs when I pick it up :P
Gotta run now! The language is coming along just fine for me, and I think now we'll finally have some people to teach this week. Thanks for the love and prayers!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Email: Figure 8 races 10-18-10
Wowerz, it's been a bit of a crazy week. Lots of changes, but I'm still in Pärnu. Sis. LeFevre did in fact choose to go home, so I got a phone call from President Dance on Monday night saying that Sis. LeDuc and Sis. Aitken were transferring down from Keila to Pärnu the next day and that we are in a trio now. Pärnu sure is lucky. They have all the sister missionaries in all of Estonia ;) And with the time is takes to call a new sister missionary and train in the MTC...well, I'm sure we'll be spending the next 6 months together. It's a pleasure to be back with Sis. Aitken so soon, and Sis. LeDuc is great too. Let's hope we can keep up the greatness! At least we'll all be enduring the winter together, so we should have fun stories to share, ha ha!
Sis. LeFevre and I traveled to Riga again on Tuesday night, then we stayed at the mission home for the night and then dropped Sis. LeFevre off at the Riga airport at about 5:30 for her 7am flight to Brussels. The Jacques droves me back to Pärnu to find Sis. LeDuc and Sis. Aitken all muddy and dirty from exploring near the beach and helping an old lady raking leaves. So they showered up and then it was off to
Steffani's for lunch, paid for by the Jacques :) When we got to the apartment, the whole place was in disarray because of all the stuff the sisters brought with them, plus they were in the midst of DEEP CLEANING. It puts me at ease knowing that our apartment is finally up to suitable living standards. The great thing is that Sis. Aitken and Sis. LeDuc like to clean and cook so that helps the place stay happy and orderly. They bring a great fire, spirit and work ethic, so now that we're finally settled in, we'll get started on those miracles ;)
On Friday, for our service project of the week, all the missionaries met up with Merit and Janeli to go to a dog shelter and walk some of the beasts around. I say beasts because most of them were rather large. I paired up with Janeli and we took big, but peaceful Donovan for a spin around the block. It was kinda fun just walking around and chatting with Janeli. We helped the Young Women make some signs since it was Saima's birthday, which we celebrated at game night. My companions really grew to love Keila, but they're quickly warming up to Pärnu. It's cute to continually hear them say how nice people are on the buses. :)
The open house for the church is actually going to be this Saturday, so maybe tomorrow we'll be helping do some stuff for the Relief Society presentation. I'm not exactly sure about that... Sis. LeDuc had to travel down to Riga with Elder Barney, our district leader for some sort of leadership training until Wednesday night. She nearly missed her bus because we had to taxi back home supa-quick because she forgot her passport xP Turns out our taxi driver actually lives a floor below the Branch President. He was a nice guy :)
The "Hang 10" idea is so cute!! It's funny to hear that it's still prime swimming weather. Saturday was very cold~ It probably didn't help that we walked a bunch outside because we missed some buses or just didn't want to wait for the next one to come :P Today seems like a pleasant autumn day, though. I'm glad the Figure 8 races were a blast!! I had been reminiscing about those good times.
As far as stuff in the package, how about some measuring spoons? I have a feeling Sis. Aitken wants to do a lot of baking. That's one way to get into peoples' hearts! I wonder how they'll take to American style cookies... like if they're too sweet, haha. Yesterday, the Kõivs from the Tallinn branch (he's the branch president) came down to give some excellent talks about living prophets and missionary work. Sis. Kõiv even made this really yummy pumpkin stuff. It was pretty much like pumpkin pie, just more of a cake form rather than a pie. That was a real treat :) I think Sis. LeDuc wants to carve pumpkins next week. I don't really care to make a mess, but she seem really pumped for it. Whoa, I only just realized now that I unintentionally made a pun. 0_0 Anyway...
Yeah, it's still weird thinking that Sis. LeFevre actually went home, but I think she'll be better able to recover. Being with Sis. Aitken and Sis. LeDuc is a blessing though. They're excited to work. Although their Estonian isn't quite as pretty, there's still plenty I can learn from the two of them. :D Things are finally lookin' on the upside!
Much love,
Courtney
Sis. LeFevre and I traveled to Riga again on Tuesday night, then we stayed at the mission home for the night and then dropped Sis. LeFevre off at the Riga airport at about 5:30 for her 7am flight to Brussels. The Jacques droves me back to Pärnu to find Sis. LeDuc and Sis. Aitken all muddy and dirty from exploring near the beach and helping an old lady raking leaves. So they showered up and then it was off to
Steffani's for lunch, paid for by the Jacques :) When we got to the apartment, the whole place was in disarray because of all the stuff the sisters brought with them, plus they were in the midst of DEEP CLEANING. It puts me at ease knowing that our apartment is finally up to suitable living standards. The great thing is that Sis. Aitken and Sis. LeDuc like to clean and cook so that helps the place stay happy and orderly. They bring a great fire, spirit and work ethic, so now that we're finally settled in, we'll get started on those miracles ;)
On Friday, for our service project of the week, all the missionaries met up with Merit and Janeli to go to a dog shelter and walk some of the beasts around. I say beasts because most of them were rather large. I paired up with Janeli and we took big, but peaceful Donovan for a spin around the block. It was kinda fun just walking around and chatting with Janeli. We helped the Young Women make some signs since it was Saima's birthday, which we celebrated at game night. My companions really grew to love Keila, but they're quickly warming up to Pärnu. It's cute to continually hear them say how nice people are on the buses. :)
The open house for the church is actually going to be this Saturday, so maybe tomorrow we'll be helping do some stuff for the Relief Society presentation. I'm not exactly sure about that... Sis. LeDuc had to travel down to Riga with Elder Barney, our district leader for some sort of leadership training until Wednesday night. She nearly missed her bus because we had to taxi back home supa-quick because she forgot her passport xP Turns out our taxi driver actually lives a floor below the Branch President. He was a nice guy :)
The "Hang 10" idea is so cute!! It's funny to hear that it's still prime swimming weather. Saturday was very cold~ It probably didn't help that we walked a bunch outside because we missed some buses or just didn't want to wait for the next one to come :P Today seems like a pleasant autumn day, though. I'm glad the Figure 8 races were a blast!! I had been reminiscing about those good times.
As far as stuff in the package, how about some measuring spoons? I have a feeling Sis. Aitken wants to do a lot of baking. That's one way to get into peoples' hearts! I wonder how they'll take to American style cookies... like if they're too sweet, haha. Yesterday, the Kõivs from the Tallinn branch (he's the branch president) came down to give some excellent talks about living prophets and missionary work. Sis. Kõiv even made this really yummy pumpkin stuff. It was pretty much like pumpkin pie, just more of a cake form rather than a pie. That was a real treat :) I think Sis. LeDuc wants to carve pumpkins next week. I don't really care to make a mess, but she seem really pumped for it. Whoa, I only just realized now that I unintentionally made a pun. 0_0 Anyway...
Yeah, it's still weird thinking that Sis. LeFevre actually went home, but I think she'll be better able to recover. Being with Sis. Aitken and Sis. LeDuc is a blessing though. They're excited to work. Although their Estonian isn't quite as pretty, there's still plenty I can learn from the two of them. :D Things are finally lookin' on the upside!
Much love,
Courtney
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Email: Fall is in full swing! 10-11-10
Holy cow, this coming Saturday marks my 4 month as a missionary (and Stacey's b-day)!! O_O Alrighty, so transfers actually happen this week. It's very much up in the air at this point.
We decided to tromp out to the beach this morning. There is a bunch of brush next to the beach, so we were wandering around, avoiding random cow pies as we tried to find a pathway around the plants that led us to the sea. It was so beautiful since it was about 9:30 this morning. We had a pleasant little jaunt. I only dipped my hand in the water and we took a few pics and then walked back to the bus stop to come to the library.
Last week, we went to visit with some of the old lady members in the branch. They just wanted to invite us over to eat and chat. It was typical Estonian food, but simple and tasty and the company was certainly pleasant. In order to protect their privacy, (and myself from legal complexities) I'll only use their first name if I'm sharing pictures of them. Vilma insisted on showing us ALL her photo albums of previous missionaries and even some of those missionaries' wedding pictures via Facebook, hahaha :P These old ladies are the cutest things ever~ They worry that we're going to get sick because we don't have hats yet!
Next weekend in Pärnu is an open house, so the branch is getting prepared for that. Last year, it miraculously led to the baptism of one of our best members, so we're hoping more miracles come from it. We have 2 investigators now, but we've got to get them to read the Book of Mormon and come to church now so we can get them progressing. Janeli has come out to do a wee bit of contacting with us this last
week. Her peppiness is contagious and we definitely need to figure out how to utilize her more since she helps us with our Estonian and she can relate better to the people, obviously. She's thinking of serving a mini-mission, but's she's not sure how soon she can, just yet. The girl's a missionary machine~!
That's some mighty, crazy weather you've got down there! It's actually been rather pleasant fall weather, just nippy at nightime. Thankfully our apartment is cozy. Usually, weather equates to Christmastime for me, so thoughts of Christmas keep popping into my head even though it's not for another 2 months!
Have fun at the Figure 8 races! I've been reminiscing about the fair lately :) I think I found a pair of boots that I like. They're about 80 smackers (I just hope they still have my size xP) I've seen some nice, leather gloves too, but those are about 20 or so. I may or may not get those today... The country is getting prepped to switch to the Euro come January 1st. Yay~ less bills in our wallets! The only session we haven't seen in English yet is the Relief Society and Sunday Afternoon session. We watched the sunday afternoon session yesterday after sacrament meeting.
Well, I think that's about it for this edition! I'm so grateful for my support team, cheering me on back home. Y'all are the greatest. I think about you all the time because your influences are what have helped me get here.
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Mom, we're missionaries. Of course we have a microwave! ;) Wouldn't a cornbag be pretty heavy to ship though??
We decided to tromp out to the beach this morning. There is a bunch of brush next to the beach, so we were wandering around, avoiding random cow pies as we tried to find a pathway around the plants that led us to the sea. It was so beautiful since it was about 9:30 this morning. We had a pleasant little jaunt. I only dipped my hand in the water and we took a few pics and then walked back to the bus stop to come to the library.
Last week, we went to visit with some of the old lady members in the branch. They just wanted to invite us over to eat and chat. It was typical Estonian food, but simple and tasty and the company was certainly pleasant. In order to protect their privacy, (and myself from legal complexities) I'll only use their first name if I'm sharing pictures of them. Vilma insisted on showing us ALL her photo albums of previous missionaries and even some of those missionaries' wedding pictures via Facebook, hahaha :P These old ladies are the cutest things ever~ They worry that we're going to get sick because we don't have hats yet!
Next weekend in Pärnu is an open house, so the branch is getting prepared for that. Last year, it miraculously led to the baptism of one of our best members, so we're hoping more miracles come from it. We have 2 investigators now, but we've got to get them to read the Book of Mormon and come to church now so we can get them progressing. Janeli has come out to do a wee bit of contacting with us this last
week. Her peppiness is contagious and we definitely need to figure out how to utilize her more since she helps us with our Estonian and she can relate better to the people, obviously. She's thinking of serving a mini-mission, but's she's not sure how soon she can, just yet. The girl's a missionary machine~!
That's some mighty, crazy weather you've got down there! It's actually been rather pleasant fall weather, just nippy at nightime. Thankfully our apartment is cozy. Usually, weather equates to Christmastime for me, so thoughts of Christmas keep popping into my head even though it's not for another 2 months!
Have fun at the Figure 8 races! I've been reminiscing about the fair lately :) I think I found a pair of boots that I like. They're about 80 smackers (I just hope they still have my size xP) I've seen some nice, leather gloves too, but those are about 20 or so. I may or may not get those today... The country is getting prepped to switch to the Euro come January 1st. Yay~ less bills in our wallets! The only session we haven't seen in English yet is the Relief Society and Sunday Afternoon session. We watched the sunday afternoon session yesterday after sacrament meeting.
Well, I think that's about it for this edition! I'm so grateful for my support team, cheering me on back home. Y'all are the greatest. I think about you all the time because your influences are what have helped me get here.
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Mom, we're missionaries. Of course we have a microwave! ;) Wouldn't a cornbag be pretty heavy to ship though??
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Email: September is over! 10-04-10
Hiya fam!
I can't believe September is over now too. I don't know if I've accomplished much in the last month either. Next week is already the end of the transfer, so I'm wondering where I'll end up next week. I still think I'll be in Pärnu though, but who knows! Good luck family, with the house cleanup! You all seem to be keeping yourselves really busy, but happy :D WOW, Dad's truck still lives!!! That's quite a feat!
I happened to see the Sunday morning conference session in English. We'll be watching the rest later this week. Watching conference in Estonian made it kinda rough to focus on all the time, but well, I tried to be attentive and be an example to the members. The max we had for a session was about 10 people. We watched the translated version via internet which was wirelessly transmitted from the computer upstairs to the tv downstairs in the tiny chapel. It was a little rough to get a good signal, but well, we tried. On Saturday night, we were watching a session and there were only like 4 members there and then the 4 of us missionaries. The signal was freezing so they decided to go up to the branch presidency office where the computers are and then watch it there since there were so few of us. All the brethren went upstairs and just when Sis. LeFevre and I were thinking of just going home, but we saw Sis. Lashenko (sp?) sitting on the couch, looking rather sad. We asked her if she was going to go up the stairs to watch but she said something like she was afraid of going up, I think because of her health or she was afraid she'd fall. So, I went up the stairs, asked the Elders to turn up the speakers a bit more and then we listened to conference on the couch in the lobby with her. She pulled out a bunch of photos of missionaries who served in Pärnu and some who came back to visit after their mission. She told us how she keeps in contact with them through Facebook. I told her I'd do the same. I'm really glad we stayed, and I think she was too :D
Most of the appointments we had set up cancelled or didn't show, so we're praying for a better week. We have one tonight, and hopefully we can finally contact a referral that a member gave us a few weeks ago. We've gone over there 3 times and they haven't been home xP That's so amazing to hear about the Kiev Temple open house and dedication. I wish we had the same in Estonia! I heard it was kinda like that when the Helsinki, Finland temple was finished a few years ago. Watching conference has given me some new courage though. Heavenly Father has ordained me to do this work and has promised blessings if I just get out there and work. Gotta get going now!
Love,
Courtney
I can't believe September is over now too. I don't know if I've accomplished much in the last month either. Next week is already the end of the transfer, so I'm wondering where I'll end up next week. I still think I'll be in Pärnu though, but who knows! Good luck family, with the house cleanup! You all seem to be keeping yourselves really busy, but happy :D WOW, Dad's truck still lives!!! That's quite a feat!
I happened to see the Sunday morning conference session in English. We'll be watching the rest later this week. Watching conference in Estonian made it kinda rough to focus on all the time, but well, I tried to be attentive and be an example to the members. The max we had for a session was about 10 people. We watched the translated version via internet which was wirelessly transmitted from the computer upstairs to the tv downstairs in the tiny chapel. It was a little rough to get a good signal, but well, we tried. On Saturday night, we were watching a session and there were only like 4 members there and then the 4 of us missionaries. The signal was freezing so they decided to go up to the branch presidency office where the computers are and then watch it there since there were so few of us. All the brethren went upstairs and just when Sis. LeFevre and I were thinking of just going home, but we saw Sis. Lashenko (sp?) sitting on the couch, looking rather sad. We asked her if she was going to go up the stairs to watch but she said something like she was afraid of going up, I think because of her health or she was afraid she'd fall. So, I went up the stairs, asked the Elders to turn up the speakers a bit more and then we listened to conference on the couch in the lobby with her. She pulled out a bunch of photos of missionaries who served in Pärnu and some who came back to visit after their mission. She told us how she keeps in contact with them through Facebook. I told her I'd do the same. I'm really glad we stayed, and I think she was too :D
Most of the appointments we had set up cancelled or didn't show, so we're praying for a better week. We have one tonight, and hopefully we can finally contact a referral that a member gave us a few weeks ago. We've gone over there 3 times and they haven't been home xP That's so amazing to hear about the Kiev Temple open house and dedication. I wish we had the same in Estonia! I heard it was kinda like that when the Helsinki, Finland temple was finished a few years ago. Watching conference has given me some new courage though. Heavenly Father has ordained me to do this work and has promised blessings if I just get out there and work. Gotta get going now!
Love,
Courtney
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