Well folks, this is the end of a wonderful adventure. Lots of tears, hugs, smiles and laughs have been shared these past few days. Amazing how Heavenly Father had to send me to the other side of the world to meet some of my closest friends and "family" (I'm adopting them :) in the Baltics of all places. One of the coolest experiences here at the end of my mission is pondering and seeing all of the blessings promised to me fulfilled, or else in the process of being fulfilled.
Fortunately, Elder Broby is also from Arizona (Yuma!), so I'm sure he's flying into Phoenix Sky Harbor. Nice to know I'm not traveling alone ;) There are 13 missionaries departing with me, that's a good-sized group!
Last week's highlights include: FHE at the Branch President's home; getting a good amount of snow last week after I told you it may not come, buuuuuut it melted away too quickly, xP ; teaching Keili again (and we have an appointment this week too!); teaching my DJ investigator, Tauno (so COOL). We're meeting him again this week too. He'll actually be in L.A. in March and he wants to come out to see me and "We can go to church together!" he told me excitedly. He's like a little kid ;); teaching Anne and seeing her son Martin on TV for a minute or two (random); going to Pärnu for Game Night on Friday; and visiting Triinu Sepp's family again.
Last week's lowlights(?): Not finding a nativity for Mom; scrambling to find last-minute gifts (sorry if I don't get you one! know that I still love you~), not having a car so I can squeeze in more visits into my schedule xP; Uhhh, I may have to make time to finish packing, hehehe.
I like breakfast, but don't bend over backwards and make things too difficult on yourselves, you've got a busy day. But if you REALLY want to do it, I'll help out too. I'm getting excited for those humongous hugs waiting for me :D
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Happy Birthday Ryan! Love you, big bro!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
December 5, 2011
I'm actually glad to hear it's cold back home because then I can actually use some of my scarves and coat still! I love it~ Still no real sign of snow here, but the ground was a little icy this morning. Little slippy already! I've heard some predictions that snow may not really come until after Christmas, sad day! I was hoping to at least a bit 'fore I go.
Good to know school stuff is all cleared and ready to go! You are miracle workers~ The Sepps were so thrilled to help us out. They are such gems! Night school.....meh. Not too excited about that, but maybe I'll just have to suck it up for this semester, 'cause then it looks like all the business credits will be done in one semester, leaving me with basically just electives until graduation. That's nice to think about :)
I'll really try to locate a nativity. That may be hard to find, but if there are any here in Estonia, I'd be sure they'll be in Old Town. There's a little Christmas fair in the main plaza, I've seen it from afar, but haven't walked around to see what's at the booths. I'll see if I can get some tips on nativity whereabouts from members... call in the favors! I'll be going to Pärnu actually this Friday, and I talked to a member down there about the bunny hats. She said she think she saw them at a shopping center, so I'll check that out!
It's interesting to give people an ultimatum because then they'll actually find, or make time to meet with you, hahaha! I've been texting and calling some investigators and less-actives in order to meet, so we already have a few appointments almost every day this week. It's been really fun meeting with these people whom I've grown really close with over the last few months here. I bore a one minute testimony in sacrament meeting, and then the branch president asked Elder Broby to share his too since he's leaving as well. Funny thing is, we haven't heard if we're actually speaking next Sunday...? Does that mean we're off the hook? Honestly speaking, I have never been asked to speak in sacrament meeting. I've only just rarely testified on Fast Sundays so that it's the members' chance to shine. That's really odd :P This past week was amazing, and this week looks to be the same! Thanks for all of the love and prayers! I'm enjoying every moment.
Love,
Courtney
Good to know school stuff is all cleared and ready to go! You are miracle workers~ The Sepps were so thrilled to help us out. They are such gems! Night school.....meh. Not too excited about that, but maybe I'll just have to suck it up for this semester, 'cause then it looks like all the business credits will be done in one semester, leaving me with basically just electives until graduation. That's nice to think about :)
I'll really try to locate a nativity. That may be hard to find, but if there are any here in Estonia, I'd be sure they'll be in Old Town. There's a little Christmas fair in the main plaza, I've seen it from afar, but haven't walked around to see what's at the booths. I'll see if I can get some tips on nativity whereabouts from members... call in the favors! I'll be going to Pärnu actually this Friday, and I talked to a member down there about the bunny hats. She said she think she saw them at a shopping center, so I'll check that out!
It's interesting to give people an ultimatum because then they'll actually find, or make time to meet with you, hahaha! I've been texting and calling some investigators and less-actives in order to meet, so we already have a few appointments almost every day this week. It's been really fun meeting with these people whom I've grown really close with over the last few months here. I bore a one minute testimony in sacrament meeting, and then the branch president asked Elder Broby to share his too since he's leaving as well. Funny thing is, we haven't heard if we're actually speaking next Sunday...? Does that mean we're off the hook? Honestly speaking, I have never been asked to speak in sacrament meeting. I've only just rarely testified on Fast Sundays so that it's the members' chance to shine. That's really odd :P This past week was amazing, and this week looks to be the same! Thanks for all of the love and prayers! I'm enjoying every moment.
Love,
Courtney
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
November 29, 2011
Hi everyone!
Thanksgiving turned out great! It's amazing to see how we missionaries can manage to pull out a full-on Thanksgiving dinner. The pumpkin pie I made needed to be baked a while longer, oops. But hey, not too bad for not having a recipe. I'm still kinda proud of myself, haha! We watched 17 Miracles, which was the second time I've seen it in 2 weeks. It's a pretty good film! Definitely makes you more appreciative of pioneer ancestors. :) Last week, we did family night with Keili and her cousin Maris came with her husband too. Keili made a superb chicken salad. Like a real American salad with actual lettuce. Oi, it was delicious. Estonians don't really make leafy salads, so that was a treat! Later that night, I realized I accidentally took home their version of Uno so we had to return it to her a few night later. When we did, we just played a few rounds with her and son Remo, and invited her to church, but she couldn't make it :/ She BETTER come the next 2 Sundays! She sorta promised me, so I'll try to use that to convince her to make sure and be there this week. We couldn't meet with Wentao last week because he had lab work to do for school. We've got some finding to do this week because the investigators we have are... well, non-existant now? They tend to get busy and then contact just sorta fizzles out... *sigh*, but oh well. That's what an Area book is for! Other news, I may be doing an exchange in Pärnu by the end of this week, for old time's sake :)
Yesterday was an amazing zone conference. Quite a finale, possibly one of the best I've attended. By the end, I was feeling pretty woozy (sp?), tired, and had a killer headache from tons of tears, but still awesome! Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy was present with his wife, (they also spoke Sunday here in Tallinn). Surprisingly, Sis. Lawrence's presentation was probably the best part too! She spoke of the the house of Israel, its scattering and gathering and how it's that "believing blood" in the modern descendents that draws them to the Gospel and church. The amount of instruction we received in that hour or so felt like the equivalent of an entire semester of Institute xP Mind-blowing!!! Everybody was just in shock and awe. I couldn't help but think about Dad throughout, because I know he'd love this stuff. Don't worry, Dad, we'll talk. ;) Also from Zone Conference, we received our Estonian Triple Combinations!!! Got 'em before the members too. They are really lovely and will be a great help to the branches and members. This made all of the Russians jealous because they don't have Russian triples yet, but hey, at least they actually had D&C...
Sounds like you had a productive week with all the holiday preparations! I've already been listening to Christmas music for a long time, hehehe :) It hasn't snowed since last P-Day, just really rainy and windy. I'd give it another week, at this rate. But hey, some folks have told me it's not uncommon to have relatively snowless (less-snow?) winters, here. Kinda hard to believe, if you ask me, but now it's really got me wondering! Sorry to give you such a headache with the back-to-school issues. I will get to work a.s.a.p. Oh boy, dealing with logistical stuff is especially difficult long-distance. xP
Hope to give you some more amazing stories next week! Love you all so much.
Love,
Courtney
Thanksgiving turned out great! It's amazing to see how we missionaries can manage to pull out a full-on Thanksgiving dinner. The pumpkin pie I made needed to be baked a while longer, oops. But hey, not too bad for not having a recipe. I'm still kinda proud of myself, haha! We watched 17 Miracles, which was the second time I've seen it in 2 weeks. It's a pretty good film! Definitely makes you more appreciative of pioneer ancestors. :) Last week, we did family night with Keili and her cousin Maris came with her husband too. Keili made a superb chicken salad. Like a real American salad with actual lettuce. Oi, it was delicious. Estonians don't really make leafy salads, so that was a treat! Later that night, I realized I accidentally took home their version of Uno so we had to return it to her a few night later. When we did, we just played a few rounds with her and son Remo, and invited her to church, but she couldn't make it :/ She BETTER come the next 2 Sundays! She sorta promised me, so I'll try to use that to convince her to make sure and be there this week. We couldn't meet with Wentao last week because he had lab work to do for school. We've got some finding to do this week because the investigators we have are... well, non-existant now? They tend to get busy and then contact just sorta fizzles out... *sigh*, but oh well. That's what an Area book is for! Other news, I may be doing an exchange in Pärnu by the end of this week, for old time's sake :)
Yesterday was an amazing zone conference. Quite a finale, possibly one of the best I've attended. By the end, I was feeling pretty woozy (sp?), tired, and had a killer headache from tons of tears, but still awesome! Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy was present with his wife, (they also spoke Sunday here in Tallinn). Surprisingly, Sis. Lawrence's presentation was probably the best part too! She spoke of the the house of Israel, its scattering and gathering and how it's that "believing blood" in the modern descendents that draws them to the Gospel and church. The amount of instruction we received in that hour or so felt like the equivalent of an entire semester of Institute xP Mind-blowing!!! Everybody was just in shock and awe. I couldn't help but think about Dad throughout, because I know he'd love this stuff. Don't worry, Dad, we'll talk. ;) Also from Zone Conference, we received our Estonian Triple Combinations!!! Got 'em before the members too. They are really lovely and will be a great help to the branches and members. This made all of the Russians jealous because they don't have Russian triples yet, but hey, at least they actually had D&C...
Sounds like you had a productive week with all the holiday preparations! I've already been listening to Christmas music for a long time, hehehe :) It hasn't snowed since last P-Day, just really rainy and windy. I'd give it another week, at this rate. But hey, some folks have told me it's not uncommon to have relatively snowless (less-snow?) winters, here. Kinda hard to believe, if you ask me, but now it's really got me wondering! Sorry to give you such a headache with the back-to-school issues. I will get to work a.s.a.p. Oh boy, dealing with logistical stuff is especially difficult long-distance. xP
Hope to give you some more amazing stories next week! Love you all so much.
Love,
Courtney
Monday, November 21, 2011
November 21, 2011
Hey, fam!
HAHAHA that is so peculiar, that you ALL have come down with colds because I got hit pretty hard with one this week as well! Oops, this is no laughing matter, sorry :P Kinda creepy to think about actually. It's like we're still connected...even halfway across the world~ Either that, or someone left my voodoo doll around the house so it caught the germs too, lol. I kid, I kid. ;P I've got my strength back now, so we're off to work this week! OH, and today marks the first snowfall, YAY!!!! I was starting to get a little worried if it didn't snow before Thanksgiving, haha. Today is really nice and gentle, pretty to watch the snow fall. I'm just hoping we don't have a blizzard on Thanksgiving like last year. That's when the snow fell and finally stayed on the ground until Spring. We've had a nice long, lovely Fall, so I can't complain.
Anywho, my sickness and Sis. Nef's hip problems sorta put us out of comission this past week, but things are looking up for us now! Tonight, we're doing FHE with Keili and her son~ And her member cousin, Maris and hubby Matthew are coming too! w00t! We want to ease back into teaching her, so if tonight goes well, that could be possible :) Wentao is still a cool investigator, but we had to cancel our appointment with him because we couldn't get a member or fellow sister missionary to come to our aid. Then he got sick and couldn't come to church, but he called just before church started and apologized sincerely. He's a really nice kid, so when he gets feeling better, we'll meet and hopefully we can invite him to be baptized on Dec. 24th! That's our plan, and I think he really wants to learn.
Back on Wednesday, we did service for a member family whose home burned down several years ago. They converted their garage into their home and have slowly added rooms to it over time. Our whole district spent 4 hours scavenging for whole bricks, (re-used to make a wall), and throwing branches and wood planks into piles to keep and to throw-away. We got nice and dirty, but it was so much fun! I think mostly because it was fun just chatting and laughing away with my district. We're rather nerdy too, so that's even more better. We talked about a lot of Star Wars that day, ha ha ha! We were able to make a large improvement on their property with just a few hours and a few extra hands. It still looks a lot like the aftermath did, but it's slightly more organized now :)
I think my companionship is in charge of the pumpkin pie and stuffing for Thanksgiving. I was given a pumpkin a while ago from a member, buuuuut I have yet to use it so I hope it's still edible... looks decent from the outside, haha. Next week in Zone Conference on Monday, the 28th, so we'll have P-day on Tuesday. Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy will be at our church meetings on Sunday and at Zone Conference so that's exhilarating news too! One member came up to me after hearing the announcement in sacrament meeting just to explain to me the joy she's experiencing that a general authority is coming next week! She felt so blessed that the Lord is paying our branch a little extra attention and she was so excited to prepare the remainder of the week for Sunday. Yup. That was humbling. :) I love Sundays. It's so necessary to have the Sabbath to rejuvenate your spirit and to get you pumped for life. Even after a crummy week, you come out feeling so much better, at least I do here. That's one thing I think I'll miss, for sure. I love the dear members here and hearing their testimonies is so powerful. I'll have to make sure to keep my church worship in the future just as great. Really, it'll be a good as you make it.
I told you a little about Sis. Nef a week or so ago, so I'll let you look that up! But to add, she's the oldest of 4 kids, attends BYU-Idaho for elementary education, but she'd like to live in a nicer, warmer climate, much like her home near Fresno, Cali. (Hehe, she got called to serve here too :P) She's actually thought a lot about possibly transferring to ASU or at least working as a teacher in AZ, so that's neato! On Saturday, during our break from English class, Elder Downey revealed to us the Estonian triple combination which he stole from his last trip to Riga! Ok, so he had permisssion, but still, it's just as pretty as our English scriptures, if not more~ All it's really missing are the tabs! And might as well say the Bible too, because it has a sort of a combined bible dictionary/topical guide in the back. The mission will be gifting us the nicer copies, so that's grand. The members can buy those, or a simple hardbound copy (the branch has already ordered them, but not here yet. WHY IS IS TAKING SO LOOOOOOOONG??). I think that's about it for news this week. Thanks for the prayers and love. Good to know you're benefiting from it too ;)
Kalli kalli! (hug hug!)
Courtney
P.S. I just browsed a class or two for availability. They're filling up! Hope that gets worked out soon.
HAHAHA that is so peculiar, that you ALL have come down with colds because I got hit pretty hard with one this week as well! Oops, this is no laughing matter, sorry :P Kinda creepy to think about actually. It's like we're still connected...even halfway across the world~ Either that, or someone left my voodoo doll around the house so it caught the germs too, lol. I kid, I kid. ;P I've got my strength back now, so we're off to work this week! OH, and today marks the first snowfall, YAY!!!! I was starting to get a little worried if it didn't snow before Thanksgiving, haha. Today is really nice and gentle, pretty to watch the snow fall. I'm just hoping we don't have a blizzard on Thanksgiving like last year. That's when the snow fell and finally stayed on the ground until Spring. We've had a nice long, lovely Fall, so I can't complain.
Anywho, my sickness and Sis. Nef's hip problems sorta put us out of comission this past week, but things are looking up for us now! Tonight, we're doing FHE with Keili and her son~ And her member cousin, Maris and hubby Matthew are coming too! w00t! We want to ease back into teaching her, so if tonight goes well, that could be possible :) Wentao is still a cool investigator, but we had to cancel our appointment with him because we couldn't get a member or fellow sister missionary to come to our aid. Then he got sick and couldn't come to church, but he called just before church started and apologized sincerely. He's a really nice kid, so when he gets feeling better, we'll meet and hopefully we can invite him to be baptized on Dec. 24th! That's our plan, and I think he really wants to learn.
Back on Wednesday, we did service for a member family whose home burned down several years ago. They converted their garage into their home and have slowly added rooms to it over time. Our whole district spent 4 hours scavenging for whole bricks, (re-used to make a wall), and throwing branches and wood planks into piles to keep and to throw-away. We got nice and dirty, but it was so much fun! I think mostly because it was fun just chatting and laughing away with my district. We're rather nerdy too, so that's even more better. We talked about a lot of Star Wars that day, ha ha ha! We were able to make a large improvement on their property with just a few hours and a few extra hands. It still looks a lot like the aftermath did, but it's slightly more organized now :)
I think my companionship is in charge of the pumpkin pie and stuffing for Thanksgiving. I was given a pumpkin a while ago from a member, buuuuut I have yet to use it so I hope it's still edible... looks decent from the outside, haha. Next week in Zone Conference on Monday, the 28th, so we'll have P-day on Tuesday. Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy will be at our church meetings on Sunday and at Zone Conference so that's exhilarating news too! One member came up to me after hearing the announcement in sacrament meeting just to explain to me the joy she's experiencing that a general authority is coming next week! She felt so blessed that the Lord is paying our branch a little extra attention and she was so excited to prepare the remainder of the week for Sunday. Yup. That was humbling. :) I love Sundays. It's so necessary to have the Sabbath to rejuvenate your spirit and to get you pumped for life. Even after a crummy week, you come out feeling so much better, at least I do here. That's one thing I think I'll miss, for sure. I love the dear members here and hearing their testimonies is so powerful. I'll have to make sure to keep my church worship in the future just as great. Really, it'll be a good as you make it.
I told you a little about Sis. Nef a week or so ago, so I'll let you look that up! But to add, she's the oldest of 4 kids, attends BYU-Idaho for elementary education, but she'd like to live in a nicer, warmer climate, much like her home near Fresno, Cali. (Hehe, she got called to serve here too :P) She's actually thought a lot about possibly transferring to ASU or at least working as a teacher in AZ, so that's neato! On Saturday, during our break from English class, Elder Downey revealed to us the Estonian triple combination which he stole from his last trip to Riga! Ok, so he had permisssion, but still, it's just as pretty as our English scriptures, if not more~ All it's really missing are the tabs! And might as well say the Bible too, because it has a sort of a combined bible dictionary/topical guide in the back. The mission will be gifting us the nicer copies, so that's grand. The members can buy those, or a simple hardbound copy (the branch has already ordered them, but not here yet. WHY IS IS TAKING SO LOOOOOOOONG??). I think that's about it for news this week. Thanks for the prayers and love. Good to know you're benefiting from it too ;)
Kalli kalli! (hug hug!)
Courtney
P.S. I just browsed a class or two for availability. They're filling up! Hope that gets worked out soon.
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 14, 2011
Boy, those kiddos really know how to party at Grandma's house!! I've been telling Sis. Nef stories of my memories at Grandma's and they were wonderful too, just in a different way, I suppose. Like jumping on the old trampoline, sleeping in Brigham beds, and driving up and down the driveway in the Power Wheels Jeep (with Flame decals!), and hammering nails in odd pieces of wood, just to name a few. Oohhhhh, those were the days~
Last week's game of Risk 2210 was intense, and I probably could have done a little better at the end, had I not accidentally nuked my own territories. I guess that's what I get for trying to control Asia. This week, we plan to play a customized version of Settlers of Zarahemla. I haven't played Settlers for well, over a year and a half, so we'll see how it goes. Apparently Elder Lord and Elder Jenkins customized their game months ago so that it mimics the Seafarers expansion set. This new game playing phase makes Preparation Days a little more fun-filled and plus it's great bonding time. Or maybe it disrupts our district's unity...? ;)
Onto more worthy news, I started to teach my first Chinese person last week! Yay! He's a new student at the technical university and he actually started talking to us on the bus last week. He says he's buddhist, but he really wants to learn more about Jesus Christ and he's really willing to come to our church activities. He came to sacrament meeting yesterday, and he'll be joining us at the Perrys' house for family night tonight! He's a good kid, so I'm excited to see his progression in the gospel. We plan to invite him to be baptized next time we meet. Also worth noting is that I talked to Maris at church and she said that she thinks Keili seems really positive toward the church again, so we should call her sometime to meet or invite her to something. I think all she needed was some space to think things over, and even her 5 year-old son has been asking when are they going to go to church. Last week, I sorted through TONS of teaching records to pull out all of the families I could find. We've prayed and fasted that we can find people ready to be baptized by the end of the year, because our branch president want us to really work towards that yearly goal for the branch. I think Wentao, (the Chinese student) is a really good possibility, and Keili could be too, if she realizes this is the right place for her and little Remo. As for sad news, recent convert Ivo is not so pleased with being a member, so I think that's why we haven't heard from him so seen him for so long. One of the branch counselors finally met with him last night, so the branch president told me the news. I guess he felt his progression a little to rushed so now he's thinking twice about his decision. We're praying he won't make any poor, rash decisions and have his records removed. Well that puts a damper on things, but all we can really do is pray and try to show our love, if he'll let us.
Sorry it's short, but well, that's all I've got. Love you lots!
Love,
Courtney
Last week's game of Risk 2210 was intense, and I probably could have done a little better at the end, had I not accidentally nuked my own territories. I guess that's what I get for trying to control Asia. This week, we plan to play a customized version of Settlers of Zarahemla. I haven't played Settlers for well, over a year and a half, so we'll see how it goes. Apparently Elder Lord and Elder Jenkins customized their game months ago so that it mimics the Seafarers expansion set. This new game playing phase makes Preparation Days a little more fun-filled and plus it's great bonding time. Or maybe it disrupts our district's unity...? ;)
Onto more worthy news, I started to teach my first Chinese person last week! Yay! He's a new student at the technical university and he actually started talking to us on the bus last week. He says he's buddhist, but he really wants to learn more about Jesus Christ and he's really willing to come to our church activities. He came to sacrament meeting yesterday, and he'll be joining us at the Perrys' house for family night tonight! He's a good kid, so I'm excited to see his progression in the gospel. We plan to invite him to be baptized next time we meet. Also worth noting is that I talked to Maris at church and she said that she thinks Keili seems really positive toward the church again, so we should call her sometime to meet or invite her to something. I think all she needed was some space to think things over, and even her 5 year-old son has been asking when are they going to go to church. Last week, I sorted through TONS of teaching records to pull out all of the families I could find. We've prayed and fasted that we can find people ready to be baptized by the end of the year, because our branch president want us to really work towards that yearly goal for the branch. I think Wentao, (the Chinese student) is a really good possibility, and Keili could be too, if she realizes this is the right place for her and little Remo. As for sad news, recent convert Ivo is not so pleased with being a member, so I think that's why we haven't heard from him so seen him for so long. One of the branch counselors finally met with him last night, so the branch president told me the news. I guess he felt his progression a little to rushed so now he's thinking twice about his decision. We're praying he won't make any poor, rash decisions and have his records removed. Well that puts a damper on things, but all we can really do is pray and try to show our love, if he'll let us.
Sorry it's short, but well, that's all I've got. Love you lots!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7, 2011
Well....still here :) Sis. Lamar went down to Pärnu to be in a trio with Sis. Christopher and trainee Sis. Robinson and Sis. Nef came up to Tallinn. She is from Fresno (actually Clovis), California, has been here since August, the oldest of 4 kids, and a redhead :) I'm gonna miss that little goober, Sis. Lamar, ha ha.
Last week, Pres. Boswell wanted us to attend some "town hall" for U.S. citizens in Tallinn, put on by the U.S. Embassy. It was interesting and kinda fun really. The Ambassador spoke for a bit and then it was open for any sort of questions. After the meeting was like a social and I talked to perhaps the number 2 guy at the Embassy for a bit. He said he was learning Estonian, so Elder McGavin and I were talking to him about it. He's only been learning for a year, but our missionaries are better with a year into the language ;) Yet another testimony builder to me. Well, then again, he's sort of in an English bubble more than we are. I gotta say, the best part was overhearing two southerners talking about BBQ afterward. The lady was from South Carolina, but she actually prefers North Carolinan barbeque, but of course she's not allowed to say that at home, HAHAHAHAHA. Oh yes, I <3 America~ I relayed that story to Sis. Uibel and we had a good laugh about it on the trolley home. We're thinking of "BBQ tour 2012". ;) Sis. Uibel was transferred to Vilnius, Lithuania, and Sis. Dawson came in her place, whom I also love very much. She was here the first 2 weeks I moved to Tallinn, over 6 months ago now. Sis. Dawson hurt her foot a bit ago, so she is not allowed to stand on it for a long time, so last night, I went out with Sis. Hanks and Sis. Shnedere (ok, now I really need to ask her how to spell it!). Sis. Hanks and I sang the 12 Days of Christmas while waiting for a bus to go home. :) That reminded me of the 12 Days of Kwanzaa. I've been trying to quote some, and although I'm a tad rusty now, I can still get some laughs out of 'em!
I'm off to go start a game of Risk 2210 now! I say "start" because there's no where we're going to finish it in 3 or so hours. Sorry it's pretty short this week. But rest assured, life's been all fun and good recently! Things are going pretty well in the branch too, so if we work with them, we can expect some miracles. Thanks for all the lovin'~
Love,
Courtney
Last week, Pres. Boswell wanted us to attend some "town hall" for U.S. citizens in Tallinn, put on by the U.S. Embassy. It was interesting and kinda fun really. The Ambassador spoke for a bit and then it was open for any sort of questions. After the meeting was like a social and I talked to perhaps the number 2 guy at the Embassy for a bit. He said he was learning Estonian, so Elder McGavin and I were talking to him about it. He's only been learning for a year, but our missionaries are better with a year into the language ;) Yet another testimony builder to me. Well, then again, he's sort of in an English bubble more than we are. I gotta say, the best part was overhearing two southerners talking about BBQ afterward. The lady was from South Carolina, but she actually prefers North Carolinan barbeque, but of course she's not allowed to say that at home, HAHAHAHAHA. Oh yes, I <3 America~ I relayed that story to Sis. Uibel and we had a good laugh about it on the trolley home. We're thinking of "BBQ tour 2012". ;) Sis. Uibel was transferred to Vilnius, Lithuania, and Sis. Dawson came in her place, whom I also love very much. She was here the first 2 weeks I moved to Tallinn, over 6 months ago now. Sis. Dawson hurt her foot a bit ago, so she is not allowed to stand on it for a long time, so last night, I went out with Sis. Hanks and Sis. Shnedere (ok, now I really need to ask her how to spell it!). Sis. Hanks and I sang the 12 Days of Christmas while waiting for a bus to go home. :) That reminded me of the 12 Days of Kwanzaa. I've been trying to quote some, and although I'm a tad rusty now, I can still get some laughs out of 'em!
I'm off to go start a game of Risk 2210 now! I say "start" because there's no where we're going to finish it in 3 or so hours. Sorry it's pretty short this week. But rest assured, life's been all fun and good recently! Things are going pretty well in the branch too, so if we work with them, we can expect some miracles. Thanks for all the lovin'~
Love,
Courtney
Monday, October 31, 2011
October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!
I got the package last week, THANK YOU!! I've already gotten a couple of compliments on the cool scarves ;) Plus they're nice and warm. Tonight, we'll be joining the branch president's family for dinner and FHE, so that should be fantastic. Maybe we'll take some Halloween napkins that an old lady gave to us, ha ha! I saw them in her apartment and I asked where she got them, but then she gave them to me, he he, oops!
It's kind of hard to believe that this is Elder McGavin's last week. He spoke in church yesterday and invited a lot of people to come, and come they did! He had about 7-8 investigators at church! AND, the attendance at sacrament meeting was numbered at 98!!! Nearly every seat was filled! I think the turnout excited everyone there. In addition, more good news is that we FINALLY HAVE A BRANCH MISSION LEADER NOW!!!!! YAY!!!! He's actually an American who's moved here with his wife for school and they'll be here for 2 years. They're both groovy people! We try to teach his wife Estonian almost every week too. The members have their temple week happening now, and one of the members in our area should be going for his endowment, I believe!! He's really excited and we challenged him to give away a Liahona soon. Hopefully his time at the temple will get him even more excited to share that :)
As far as investigators go, meh, it's not really going anywhere at the moment, so we're working on finding some new folks to teach. Been contacting some former investigators too. We have yet to hear about anything for transfers yet, so we'll probably find out tonight. Well, it'd have to be that way so that arrangements can be made for whoever is training to go down to Riga on Wednesday. Sis. Lamar really wants to train, and I think she should too :) I'd love to still be with her next transfer so then it'll be like 3 generations of sister missionaries! It's amazing what some time, patience, love, understanding and honesty will do for a relationship. Last night, Sis. Lamar and I both agreed that had we split up as companions after our 2nd transfer, we still would dislike each other, he he. Now we're great friends! And that's what makes the work more fun, (and bearable too!)
Yesterday I also got DearElder letter from Bishop Andrews. He told me of some missionary efforts going on in our own ward, plus something about a Phoenix area mormon.org media blitz. That sounds nifty. What does that entail, exactly? Everybody's just making profiles? Mass Facebook, Twitter posts?
Thanks for your testimony, Mom. I've thought a lot about my dear parents recently, and how fortunate and blessed I am to have you. Thank you for everything.
Lots of love,
Courtney
P.S. do I have any holds preventing me from registering yet? Sometimes they want you to meet with an advisor before, and then they'll release the hold
I got the package last week, THANK YOU!! I've already gotten a couple of compliments on the cool scarves ;) Plus they're nice and warm. Tonight, we'll be joining the branch president's family for dinner and FHE, so that should be fantastic. Maybe we'll take some Halloween napkins that an old lady gave to us, ha ha! I saw them in her apartment and I asked where she got them, but then she gave them to me, he he, oops!
It's kind of hard to believe that this is Elder McGavin's last week. He spoke in church yesterday and invited a lot of people to come, and come they did! He had about 7-8 investigators at church! AND, the attendance at sacrament meeting was numbered at 98!!! Nearly every seat was filled! I think the turnout excited everyone there. In addition, more good news is that we FINALLY HAVE A BRANCH MISSION LEADER NOW!!!!! YAY!!!! He's actually an American who's moved here with his wife for school and they'll be here for 2 years. They're both groovy people! We try to teach his wife Estonian almost every week too. The members have their temple week happening now, and one of the members in our area should be going for his endowment, I believe!! He's really excited and we challenged him to give away a Liahona soon. Hopefully his time at the temple will get him even more excited to share that :)
As far as investigators go, meh, it's not really going anywhere at the moment, so we're working on finding some new folks to teach. Been contacting some former investigators too. We have yet to hear about anything for transfers yet, so we'll probably find out tonight. Well, it'd have to be that way so that arrangements can be made for whoever is training to go down to Riga on Wednesday. Sis. Lamar really wants to train, and I think she should too :) I'd love to still be with her next transfer so then it'll be like 3 generations of sister missionaries! It's amazing what some time, patience, love, understanding and honesty will do for a relationship. Last night, Sis. Lamar and I both agreed that had we split up as companions after our 2nd transfer, we still would dislike each other, he he. Now we're great friends! And that's what makes the work more fun, (and bearable too!)
Yesterday I also got DearElder letter from Bishop Andrews. He told me of some missionary efforts going on in our own ward, plus something about a Phoenix area mormon.org media blitz. That sounds nifty. What does that entail, exactly? Everybody's just making profiles? Mass Facebook, Twitter posts?
Thanks for your testimony, Mom. I've thought a lot about my dear parents recently, and how fortunate and blessed I am to have you. Thank you for everything.
Lots of love,
Courtney
P.S. do I have any holds preventing me from registering yet? Sometimes they want you to meet with an advisor before, and then they'll release the hold
Monday, October 24, 2011
October 24, 2011
The trees are so colorful now and there are leaves all over the ground. I love Fall~
We've been going through a huge pile of former investigator sheets and some Elders dumped on us, so that'll keep us busy for a long time. Last night, we found out that 2 of them we had listed had been dead for a few years. Well, that takes care of that! Now future missionaries don't have to worry about whether or not to contact them! One of our recent investigators met with missionaries one time 3 years ago, but then dropped out of contact. Heino, creates dentures and is very believing, and he has some interesting ideas and views about religion. Some of his ideas are spot on with us, but I foresee some struggles with the Word of Wisdom. I wouldn't say he's addicted to these substances, but he doesn't see why God only revealed this 200 years ago to Joseph Smith when civilizations have been using tobacco and alcohol even for medicinal purposes for thousands of years, etc. Well, we'll see how that turns out at our next appointment this week~ His poor wife has some sort of leg problems so she can't get around well, but she sat in quietly as we chatted. She's not really sure what she believes, but she seemed sweet and listened quietly.
We dropped some cookies off to people last week, and we even stopped by to see Keili whom we taught over the summer. We talked for a good while and she seems to be doing ok, just really really busy with work. She did mention how she's recently thought that she should come to church and surprise us sometime ;) I think she was glad that we came, so maybe sometime we can teach her again before I go.
Sis. Lamar and I are supposed to be working with one of the Family History experts in the branch to put on a Family History night that we can advertise in the paper. The only downside is that we don't really know how to coordinate this, plus our specialist has been out of town for a few weeks, so we haven't made any progress. We were thinking of doing it at the end of November, so hopefully we can still churn this out. Ideas, anyone?
Mom, you're obviously not a hindrance to cramping my e-mail time. It's usually me responding to Stacey or Shauna, and then plus my companion's lack of patience, ha ha! ;P OH AND GOOD NEWS FOR DAD!! I finally found out where that piano factory is that you told me to look for! I have yet to see it with my own eyes, but I know which area it's in, and the address, Kungla 41. Funny thing is that I found this out while visiting with a member. I mentioned that you were a piano tuner and she said we worked for that factory as a secretary! Fancy that! ;D I haven't gotten the package yet, but I assume that I'll be able to pick it up after District Meeting tomorrow. Or maybe even today, if I bug Elder McGavin for the mail key. He's going home next week! So is Elder Lane (from our stake!) That's weird. People here are starting to freak out that I'm not far behind too. I can't believe it's already been 6 months in Tallinn. I don't think I want to leave now :P This transfer is actually 7 weeks long, so the new transfer starts in the middle of next week. Sis. Lamar is starting to worry about having to train or move. The wait to find out is killing her, ha ha! I love Pärnu, but I would like to see Tallinn's Old Town at Christmas time. Plus, I'm just finally starting to get to know some of the members better here. Pluuuuuus, I'm feeling too lazy to pack up my stuff just yet ;) Well, that's it for now!! Thanks for all of the love and prayers. And thanks in advance for the package too!
Much love,
Courtney
We've been going through a huge pile of former investigator sheets and some Elders dumped on us, so that'll keep us busy for a long time. Last night, we found out that 2 of them we had listed had been dead for a few years. Well, that takes care of that! Now future missionaries don't have to worry about whether or not to contact them! One of our recent investigators met with missionaries one time 3 years ago, but then dropped out of contact. Heino, creates dentures and is very believing, and he has some interesting ideas and views about religion. Some of his ideas are spot on with us, but I foresee some struggles with the Word of Wisdom. I wouldn't say he's addicted to these substances, but he doesn't see why God only revealed this 200 years ago to Joseph Smith when civilizations have been using tobacco and alcohol even for medicinal purposes for thousands of years, etc. Well, we'll see how that turns out at our next appointment this week~ His poor wife has some sort of leg problems so she can't get around well, but she sat in quietly as we chatted. She's not really sure what she believes, but she seemed sweet and listened quietly.
We dropped some cookies off to people last week, and we even stopped by to see Keili whom we taught over the summer. We talked for a good while and she seems to be doing ok, just really really busy with work. She did mention how she's recently thought that she should come to church and surprise us sometime ;) I think she was glad that we came, so maybe sometime we can teach her again before I go.
Sis. Lamar and I are supposed to be working with one of the Family History experts in the branch to put on a Family History night that we can advertise in the paper. The only downside is that we don't really know how to coordinate this, plus our specialist has been out of town for a few weeks, so we haven't made any progress. We were thinking of doing it at the end of November, so hopefully we can still churn this out. Ideas, anyone?
Mom, you're obviously not a hindrance to cramping my e-mail time. It's usually me responding to Stacey or Shauna, and then plus my companion's lack of patience, ha ha! ;P OH AND GOOD NEWS FOR DAD!! I finally found out where that piano factory is that you told me to look for! I have yet to see it with my own eyes, but I know which area it's in, and the address, Kungla 41. Funny thing is that I found this out while visiting with a member. I mentioned that you were a piano tuner and she said we worked for that factory as a secretary! Fancy that! ;D I haven't gotten the package yet, but I assume that I'll be able to pick it up after District Meeting tomorrow. Or maybe even today, if I bug Elder McGavin for the mail key. He's going home next week! So is Elder Lane (from our stake!) That's weird. People here are starting to freak out that I'm not far behind too. I can't believe it's already been 6 months in Tallinn. I don't think I want to leave now :P This transfer is actually 7 weeks long, so the new transfer starts in the middle of next week. Sis. Lamar is starting to worry about having to train or move. The wait to find out is killing her, ha ha! I love Pärnu, but I would like to see Tallinn's Old Town at Christmas time. Plus, I'm just finally starting to get to know some of the members better here. Pluuuuuus, I'm feeling too lazy to pack up my stuff just yet ;) Well, that's it for now!! Thanks for all of the love and prayers. And thanks in advance for the package too!
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, October 17, 2011
October 17, 2011
Hiya fam!
Sorry there's not going to be very much to talk about this week, because really, it's all quite a blur. Sort of a roller coaster of events and emotions, but things are looking on the upside now. We lost a promising new investigator, but thankfully the love of our members has filled that hole in our hearts, and then some. Zone conference was also really grand and we watched some more General Conference, although we've still not watched 2-3 sessions. We're taking the slow route, I guess, ha ha. I guess it gives more time for contemplation, reflection, etc.
Back on Friday, we went to a member's little summer house outside of Tallinn and we spent the entire day gathering apples (mostly off the ground, ha ha) and making fresh apple juice! It looked a little sketchy with all the floaties and whatnot, but it tasted soooooo gooooooood~ We took a bottle of fresh juice home and then she boiled the rest and brought some more too us the day after. Now we have a nice collection of apples, apple juice, jam, and pickles from 2 members in our refrigerator. I guess we're gotta make a lot of apple crisp this week!
We had a good lesson last night with Anne and taught her about the Sabbath. Thank goodness we had a member there too, that was a big help. I hope we can get our hands on the triples in Estonian before I'm gone. I don't know how, but we're talking about it as a district. I'm tempted about the idea of pigeon rolling. Our porch on our apartment is infested with them, although we're trying some funny ways to keep them away. Well, that's all I got! Love you lots, and I'm looking forward to that package! ;)
Love,
Courtney
Sorry there's not going to be very much to talk about this week, because really, it's all quite a blur. Sort of a roller coaster of events and emotions, but things are looking on the upside now. We lost a promising new investigator, but thankfully the love of our members has filled that hole in our hearts, and then some. Zone conference was also really grand and we watched some more General Conference, although we've still not watched 2-3 sessions. We're taking the slow route, I guess, ha ha. I guess it gives more time for contemplation, reflection, etc.
Back on Friday, we went to a member's little summer house outside of Tallinn and we spent the entire day gathering apples (mostly off the ground, ha ha) and making fresh apple juice! It looked a little sketchy with all the floaties and whatnot, but it tasted soooooo gooooooood~ We took a bottle of fresh juice home and then she boiled the rest and brought some more too us the day after. Now we have a nice collection of apples, apple juice, jam, and pickles from 2 members in our refrigerator. I guess we're gotta make a lot of apple crisp this week!
We had a good lesson last night with Anne and taught her about the Sabbath. Thank goodness we had a member there too, that was a big help. I hope we can get our hands on the triples in Estonian before I'm gone. I don't know how, but we're talking about it as a district. I'm tempted about the idea of pigeon rolling. Our porch on our apartment is infested with them, although we're trying some funny ways to keep them away. Well, that's all I got! Love you lots, and I'm looking forward to that package! ;)
Love,
Courtney
Monday, October 10, 2011
October 10, 2011
It's nice to hear everyone's busy, yet happy! I just got that little package from the ward YW today, but have yet to open it. It says there's candy inside. *fist pump* YES. Today's P-day has been a little different, but nice and chill. The Pärnu district came up to Tallinn a day early for Zone Conference tomorrow. Sis. Nef needed to buy a coat so, that was the main reason. We swapped companions and I shopped with Sis. Nef, but she found her coat so quickly so we had a lot of down time while the other missionaries played sports. Today's weather is not quite as lovely as in AZ! It's overcast, misty, and windy and last I checked it was 8 celcius (about 45-46F) Already a tad nippy! I like the cold air on my cheeks, though :) The trees are really pretty with their fall colors now.
Last week, we got together as a district (there's 8 of us) to watch General Conference DVDS that the mission sent to us. The DVDs were mis-formatted, or something, so it didn't work there, but instead, we crashed at the Perrys' place to watch conference on their laptop. That was a brilliant idea, because after we started to watch it, they snuck out to go get us some food to eat, and even more interesting was that they bought some chicken from a stand near a mall, and we had just listened to Elder Cornish's talk where he mentioned fried chicken! Yay~ We missionaries were all a little taken aback, yet really thankful because we didn't expect them to spoil us that much. Sis. Perry said Elder Perry nearly cried when he got to the cash register and saw the total, ha ha ha! This week, we will be watching conference on the big screen at the Nõmme Elders' place ;)
Yesterday, a dear sweet old sister pulled Sis. Lamar and I into the church's kitchen to give us some handknit socks/booties. There's super cute and colorful! She said it's starting to get cold, so she thought of us. We thanked her greatly, but she just said that she was simply fulfilling the Lord's will :) Also this past week, I tried a cake recipe that a member gave us. Turned out better than I thought, although the berries we used were sour, so we don't dare share it with others :P We thought we'd make it for the baptism which occurred on Saturday, but Sis. Lamar insisted we just take some snicker doodles instead. That's usually what we bake since they're easy and yield a lot.
There were some other things I intended to include in today's e-mail.... but alas, I've seemed to have left my planner at home xP We didn't really teach any of our regular investigators this week, but every day, we've been adding new potentials to the list. Not much has been progressing on the side of Less-Active work recently, but we're still trying! Hopefully we'll get some inspiration on how to help that more at tomorrow's zone conference. Oh yeah, and big news for Estonia! After years and years, the D&C is finally available in Estonian!!!! The members are all so excited :D It probably could have been finished earlier, but they were also working on a new translation of the Book of Mormon too. The triple combination's haven't made it here yet, but it's on the internet now to read and order. I want to get my hands on a copy, a.s.a.p.
Well, that's all from me! I hope you're all happy and healthy! Thanks for the lovin'~
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Haven't sent the letter off yet because I need something from my mission president. Tomorrow is zone conference, so hopefully I'll get something tomorrow. Where do I send my letter to? E-mail to you and then you send it? Oh, and I need my Student ID #, not my username.
Last week, we got together as a district (there's 8 of us) to watch General Conference DVDS that the mission sent to us. The DVDs were mis-formatted, or something, so it didn't work there, but instead, we crashed at the Perrys' place to watch conference on their laptop. That was a brilliant idea, because after we started to watch it, they snuck out to go get us some food to eat, and even more interesting was that they bought some chicken from a stand near a mall, and we had just listened to Elder Cornish's talk where he mentioned fried chicken! Yay~ We missionaries were all a little taken aback, yet really thankful because we didn't expect them to spoil us that much. Sis. Perry said Elder Perry nearly cried when he got to the cash register and saw the total, ha ha ha! This week, we will be watching conference on the big screen at the Nõmme Elders' place ;)
Yesterday, a dear sweet old sister pulled Sis. Lamar and I into the church's kitchen to give us some handknit socks/booties. There's super cute and colorful! She said it's starting to get cold, so she thought of us. We thanked her greatly, but she just said that she was simply fulfilling the Lord's will :) Also this past week, I tried a cake recipe that a member gave us. Turned out better than I thought, although the berries we used were sour, so we don't dare share it with others :P We thought we'd make it for the baptism which occurred on Saturday, but Sis. Lamar insisted we just take some snicker doodles instead. That's usually what we bake since they're easy and yield a lot.
There were some other things I intended to include in today's e-mail.... but alas, I've seemed to have left my planner at home xP We didn't really teach any of our regular investigators this week, but every day, we've been adding new potentials to the list. Not much has been progressing on the side of Less-Active work recently, but we're still trying! Hopefully we'll get some inspiration on how to help that more at tomorrow's zone conference. Oh yeah, and big news for Estonia! After years and years, the D&C is finally available in Estonian!!!! The members are all so excited :D It probably could have been finished earlier, but they were also working on a new translation of the Book of Mormon too. The triple combination's haven't made it here yet, but it's on the internet now to read and order. I want to get my hands on a copy, a.s.a.p.
Well, that's all from me! I hope you're all happy and healthy! Thanks for the lovin'~
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Haven't sent the letter off yet because I need something from my mission president. Tomorrow is zone conference, so hopefully I'll get something tomorrow. Where do I send my letter to? E-mail to you and then you send it? Oh, and I need my Student ID #, not my username.
Monday, October 3, 2011
October 3, 2011
Conference was spectacular! President Monson seems to get a little goofier as time goes on, ha ha! And so many temple announcements too! That rumor I heard of a temple in Paris came true ;) France and Italy better bank in on the tourism that will be coming when the temples there have their Open Houses! Our Conference schedule went a little something like this: Saturday, RS broadcast 5-7pm, Sat. Morn. Session 7-9pm (live). Sunday, Priesthood 12-2pm, Sat. Aft. Session 3-5, and then Sunday's morning session 7-9pm(live). This time, we were blessed to have audio devices so we could listen in English (I listened half-English, half-Estonian. Kind of depended on who was translating, :). We will still, however, watch conference in the next 2-3 district meetings. I was really impressed how much emphasis was put on the youth using technology to further the work of the Lord. There was also a lot of emphasis on using scriptures too. I basically summed up Elder Scott's talk to be "Scriptures are our friends!" :D In between sessions on Sunday, we missionaries put together our own pot luck for the members. Thank goodness we made so much food, because they ate ALL OF IT. They were all so very thankful and so we felt good that we could share and serve them.
I'm not really sure what else to report on since General Conference outshines everything else we did this week, he he. We had some interesting teaching opportunities this week that have Sis. Lamar and I really trying to improve our teaching to people's needs and understanding. We knocked into a young mom 2 weeks ago, and met with her last week. She invited her brother to come sit in on the lesson too, but I hope we'll have another chance to teach the both of them. I guess everything's sort of just tootin' along now. Plus now I'm pressured to finish this e-mail by my companion because I took too much time doing other work on the compy. Oops, lol. So, I apologize you have to suffer this week with a lame e-mail. Hopefully some other noteworthy and miraculous things will happen this week as we apply what we've learned from conference! Thanks for all the prayers and support!
Hugs and kisses,
Courtney
I'm not really sure what else to report on since General Conference outshines everything else we did this week, he he. We had some interesting teaching opportunities this week that have Sis. Lamar and I really trying to improve our teaching to people's needs and understanding. We knocked into a young mom 2 weeks ago, and met with her last week. She invited her brother to come sit in on the lesson too, but I hope we'll have another chance to teach the both of them. I guess everything's sort of just tootin' along now. Plus now I'm pressured to finish this e-mail by my companion because I took too much time doing other work on the compy. Oops, lol. So, I apologize you have to suffer this week with a lame e-mail. Hopefully some other noteworthy and miraculous things will happen this week as we apply what we've learned from conference! Thanks for all the prayers and support!
Hugs and kisses,
Courtney
Monday, September 26, 2011
September 26, 2011
Hello loved ones!
Yay for new babies in the family!!! Good thing he came a little early too, so that probably put Lachelle at ease. Shauna sent me pictures :D Oh, about Kara, Noel thankfully notified me of that about a month back or so. I just got Kara's wedding announcement last week because it was sent to Pärnu. That is so funny! Her new husband was actually in Symphony with me and Noel, Jake, etc. :) And she was so excited to learn French to go to Montreal too! Ha ha ha!
Grilled pizzas sound so delicious right now.... Often we missionaries go to eat before coming to the library, but not today, so now I'm STARVING. I rocked it during the last half of Gatorball today, so I got lots of high-fives from the Elders, ;) I actually scored maybe 4 goals today! w00t. Sisters are kind of like wildcards, I guess. Some weeks we do really well, others, not so much, hehehe.
We finally got the schedule for Conference this weekend, so it looks like we'll live at the church on Saturday and Sunday :) The final session will be shown the following weekend after Sacrament meeting. I've been reading the September Liahona lately too, so that's getting me all sorts of excited as well! Among other news, tea consumption has been exponential throughout the month of September, and it doesn't show signs of letting up... (tried to make that sound like some forecast, lol) Everybody we visit now offers us some. It's that time of year again~ Speaking of forecast, I'm sure it's been cloudy and rainy nearly every day for the last 2 weeks. One particular day last week was very... misty? The drops were so small, it just felt like the clouds were constantly spitting in your face. x( I took down my coats so Sis. Lamar could try them on and see what she wants to look for. How did I survive with those last winter??? I don't knooooooooow. Heavenly Father sure does watch over his missionaries :) Anywho, last Friday we joined the youth for a game of Ultimate Frisbee. It took them a while to get the hang of it, but I think they enjoyed themselves :)
Last week had some great little miracles, and some upsets too, and even this all happens daily. But you learn to shrug it off and you sorta forget it all in the morning after a good 8 hours of sleep :) That's what I look forward to nowadays, ha ha! Thanks for all the love! You're the greatest!
Love,
Courtney
P.S. For ASU, I don't remember my ID # any more. You got that? I'll try to get working on that letter this week. Maybe I'll write the rough draft, then type it next week?
Yay for new babies in the family!!! Good thing he came a little early too, so that probably put Lachelle at ease. Shauna sent me pictures :D Oh, about Kara, Noel thankfully notified me of that about a month back or so. I just got Kara's wedding announcement last week because it was sent to Pärnu. That is so funny! Her new husband was actually in Symphony with me and Noel, Jake, etc. :) And she was so excited to learn French to go to Montreal too! Ha ha ha!
Grilled pizzas sound so delicious right now.... Often we missionaries go to eat before coming to the library, but not today, so now I'm STARVING. I rocked it during the last half of Gatorball today, so I got lots of high-fives from the Elders, ;) I actually scored maybe 4 goals today! w00t. Sisters are kind of like wildcards, I guess. Some weeks we do really well, others, not so much, hehehe.
We finally got the schedule for Conference this weekend, so it looks like we'll live at the church on Saturday and Sunday :) The final session will be shown the following weekend after Sacrament meeting. I've been reading the September Liahona lately too, so that's getting me all sorts of excited as well! Among other news, tea consumption has been exponential throughout the month of September, and it doesn't show signs of letting up... (tried to make that sound like some forecast, lol) Everybody we visit now offers us some. It's that time of year again~ Speaking of forecast, I'm sure it's been cloudy and rainy nearly every day for the last 2 weeks. One particular day last week was very... misty? The drops were so small, it just felt like the clouds were constantly spitting in your face. x( I took down my coats so Sis. Lamar could try them on and see what she wants to look for. How did I survive with those last winter??? I don't knooooooooow. Heavenly Father sure does watch over his missionaries :) Anywho, last Friday we joined the youth for a game of Ultimate Frisbee. It took them a while to get the hang of it, but I think they enjoyed themselves :)
Last week had some great little miracles, and some upsets too, and even this all happens daily. But you learn to shrug it off and you sorta forget it all in the morning after a good 8 hours of sleep :) That's what I look forward to nowadays, ha ha! Thanks for all the love! You're the greatest!
Love,
Courtney
P.S. For ASU, I don't remember my ID # any more. You got that? I'll try to get working on that letter this week. Maybe I'll write the rough draft, then type it next week?
Monday, September 19, 2011
September 19, 2011
Tere, mu kallikesed!! (Hi my little dears!)
This week's e-mail may be relatively short because I actually sent you a voice recording! w00t w00t! I always forget I have that feature to use, but I was reminded of it yesterday because a few Elders use it quite frequently. So, that takes care of having to write down a lot of details for some of the little miracles we had this week :) I don't know if that's the smarter or lazier way to go, ha ha ha.
Well, Sis. Lamar and I are still here in Tallinn! (And so are the Russian sisters too! :) We're in for the long haul. It's interesting how my mission has been almost equally split between maybe 2 companions. Variety is hard to come by when you only have 4 Estonian-speaking sisters, but meh, we're becoming better friends as the time passes. I told Sis. Lamar that I apologize in advance if I kill her by the end of this transfer, though, ha ha! :P We've has some minor little quarrels lately, but it's mostly me just being stupid. Yeah, that's probably why.
Back on Saturday, we cancelled English class so we could participate in the branch's service project day. This day was actually district-wide, so each branch was doing little service projects all around Estonia. Sis. Lamar and I were grouped with the cute lil' ol' Relief Society President and we were dropped off at our service location in the Nõmme area of Tallinn. All we did was just clean a couple windows for this 83-year-old lady named Silvi, but she was oh so grateful for us being there. There were so many tears shed and so many thanks and praises to the Lord during our visit. The project really could've taken 1 hour, but we were there for 4 0.0 That was mostly due to Silvi and Luule (RS pres.) talking away and looking at pictures. Silvi had a really awesome trip journal of when she and her husband traveled all around south-eastern Europe and hiked several mountains in or near Hungary. There were pictures that went with every entry! It was super cool, and it inspired me to try that some time in the future :) Silvi was so over-joyed to have us there, she even clapped her hands with excitement when Luule suggested that we sisters pay her another visit in the future, lol. I don't think I've ever received that sort of reaction before. If we do go to visit her this week, we'll take the Nõmme Elders with us so we can pass her off to them.
Other than that, we've had some good lessons with members this week, active and less-active. We taught a few investigators, and even invited 2 of them to be baptized, but they say they're too old to change (they're not that old). Boy, the excuses you hear on a mission are probably the most lame, EVAR. Anyway, really, I think this just means that Sis. Lamar and I have some finding to do, because nothing's really coming out of the investigators we have... That's kind of disappointing considering we thought we had some good young potential with a few of them. Well, that's just another joy of missionary work! You learn how to cope with disappointment on a whole new level.
This past week was sooooooooooo rainy, windy, and stormy!!! Yesterday was finally lovely again, but it's back to dark and rainy today. And oh my goodness, the sun goes down before 8PM now!! That's so strange ;P We'll have to go buy our reflectors soon so we can hang them from our bags or coats, yay~ Oh yeah, and I finally busted out my coats from my suitcase, just so Sis. Lamar could try them on for size. I should get those dry cleaned before I have to use them again...
Wow, I'm glad I didn't miss out on your dinner party, ha ha! I'm so excited for General Conference in a few weeks. We had District Conference yesterday, but it was just broadcasted to the other branches so that wasn't as fun, but the talks and testimonies were so great. Thanks for all the love and support!
Love,
Courtney
This week's e-mail may be relatively short because I actually sent you a voice recording! w00t w00t! I always forget I have that feature to use, but I was reminded of it yesterday because a few Elders use it quite frequently. So, that takes care of having to write down a lot of details for some of the little miracles we had this week :) I don't know if that's the smarter or lazier way to go, ha ha ha.
Well, Sis. Lamar and I are still here in Tallinn! (And so are the Russian sisters too! :) We're in for the long haul. It's interesting how my mission has been almost equally split between maybe 2 companions. Variety is hard to come by when you only have 4 Estonian-speaking sisters, but meh, we're becoming better friends as the time passes. I told Sis. Lamar that I apologize in advance if I kill her by the end of this transfer, though, ha ha! :P We've has some minor little quarrels lately, but it's mostly me just being stupid. Yeah, that's probably why.
Back on Saturday, we cancelled English class so we could participate in the branch's service project day. This day was actually district-wide, so each branch was doing little service projects all around Estonia. Sis. Lamar and I were grouped with the cute lil' ol' Relief Society President and we were dropped off at our service location in the Nõmme area of Tallinn. All we did was just clean a couple windows for this 83-year-old lady named Silvi, but she was oh so grateful for us being there. There were so many tears shed and so many thanks and praises to the Lord during our visit. The project really could've taken 1 hour, but we were there for 4 0.0 That was mostly due to Silvi and Luule (RS pres.) talking away and looking at pictures. Silvi had a really awesome trip journal of when she and her husband traveled all around south-eastern Europe and hiked several mountains in or near Hungary. There were pictures that went with every entry! It was super cool, and it inspired me to try that some time in the future :) Silvi was so over-joyed to have us there, she even clapped her hands with excitement when Luule suggested that we sisters pay her another visit in the future, lol. I don't think I've ever received that sort of reaction before. If we do go to visit her this week, we'll take the Nõmme Elders with us so we can pass her off to them.
Other than that, we've had some good lessons with members this week, active and less-active. We taught a few investigators, and even invited 2 of them to be baptized, but they say they're too old to change (they're not that old). Boy, the excuses you hear on a mission are probably the most lame, EVAR. Anyway, really, I think this just means that Sis. Lamar and I have some finding to do, because nothing's really coming out of the investigators we have... That's kind of disappointing considering we thought we had some good young potential with a few of them. Well, that's just another joy of missionary work! You learn how to cope with disappointment on a whole new level.
This past week was sooooooooooo rainy, windy, and stormy!!! Yesterday was finally lovely again, but it's back to dark and rainy today. And oh my goodness, the sun goes down before 8PM now!! That's so strange ;P We'll have to go buy our reflectors soon so we can hang them from our bags or coats, yay~ Oh yeah, and I finally busted out my coats from my suitcase, just so Sis. Lamar could try them on for size. I should get those dry cleaned before I have to use them again...
Wow, I'm glad I didn't miss out on your dinner party, ha ha! I'm so excited for General Conference in a few weeks. We had District Conference yesterday, but it was just broadcasted to the other branches so that wasn't as fun, but the talks and testimonies were so great. Thanks for all the love and support!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, September 12, 2011
September 12, 2011
Hey,hey!
Wow, the ward back home is still growing?!? How many more LDS folks can we fit into that area??
Uh, yes, please let me know what I need to do about going back to ASU. I thought they said something about me sending them a letter or whatever at least 2 months before I'm back, I don't know if that means before the semester, or about the time I get back to the U.S. The change in my release date was dictated more by the MTC as far as scheduling incoming and departing missionaries I guess. This next transfer will be 7 weeks long, and then the one after that will be the normal 6 weeks. We have transfers this week, so we still don't know where we're going to be yet. The sisters in Pärnu right now think that the newish Sis. Nef could come up to Tallinn to be with Sis. Lamar, and so I'd go back down to Pärnu. I love that apartment, and the members, but I think I may want to stay here, at least one more transfer. Meh, we'll see what happens! Sis. Lamar is sort of freaking out now with the thought that she'd been in charge if she's left here with a new sister, ha ha ha! She only knows where some of the busses go and she's been here almost as long as me! Thank goodness I'm pretty good at directions. :P
This week, I had the special opportunity to ride in an old Lada (a.k.a. Zhiguli, or something like that), twice! This particular model was 25 or so years old, so it's a relic from the Soviet era. A member gave us a ride home after dinner at the Perrys' on Friday night, and we also hitched a ride after church. Then she gave us a gigantic bag of apples, which we're still trying to figure out what to do with. We made a little applesauce, ate a few, and even gave a dozen or so to the Russian sisters and we still have a lot left over. It's still nice that people consider that the missionaries could use some food though. :)
Back on Saturday, we still taught English class, even though the Russians cancelled their's for a branch activity they were doing that same day. Before class started, there was a young Russian man who came in and I thought he wanted to know about English class. Thankfully, we had a member there who could speak Russian, because we actually found out that he wanted to know about our church services. I called up one of the missionaries and had them talk about that. And he really did come to church yesterday! This could be like one of those random, but miraculous stories that we get sometimes in the mission where somebody waltzes into the church on their own!
Tonight, we have a lesson with a less-active member, so I hope that goes well. We've never talked to him before, so we'll just get to know him and learn of his experiences. Pres. Boswell has asked us to leave a blessing on each home we visit, but we don't always meet the people we teach in their homes. Sometimes they won't let us, hehe. At least our lesson tonight will be though!
Do I feel like I've grown a lot on my mission? That's a question that I think almost everyone asks, ha ha! Boy, I sure hope so! You'd kinda hope that with all this time and money spent that you'd get what you'd pay for and more, right?! ;) Sometimes I feel like a totally different person, and at other times, I still feel like just plain ol' me. But overall, yes, I feel like I've grown and been stretched and have found out what I'm good at and what I'm not so good at. It's a very humbling experience, and I'm learning how to better work with others and of course, rely more on our Heavenly Father and the Savior. A mission is almost like a huge testing ground for life where you can try out new things and see how well they do or do not work out, ha ha. Or like the Church's "finishing school". Sis. Lamar and I had a long pillow talk about this last week. She decided that she wanted to be really honest and she admitted some of her frustrations that she had with me, but she's over it now and she's really thankful that she could learn from me. I feel likewise about her too. Having a companion 24/7 helps to reveal some personal issues, problems, or quirks that you have that you never realized you had before! But, being honest, open, and humble about it really helps find solutions to work it out. Marriage prep, anyone? Ha ha ha ha! :P I feel like I've learned about a lot of good skills for life while on a mission. I certainly have a lot more to learn though! Perhaps ya'll would be better judges of how much I've really changed (or not)! I also feel more sure about who I am and who I want to be, and become, etc.
Thanks for all of the love! I love you all so dearly~
Love,
Courtney
P. S. I forgot to mention that we have a Estonia-wide service day on Saturday with all the members and then District conference on Sunday! w00t w00t. General Conference will be here before you know it ;)
Wow, the ward back home is still growing?!? How many more LDS folks can we fit into that area??
Uh, yes, please let me know what I need to do about going back to ASU. I thought they said something about me sending them a letter or whatever at least 2 months before I'm back, I don't know if that means before the semester, or about the time I get back to the U.S. The change in my release date was dictated more by the MTC as far as scheduling incoming and departing missionaries I guess. This next transfer will be 7 weeks long, and then the one after that will be the normal 6 weeks. We have transfers this week, so we still don't know where we're going to be yet. The sisters in Pärnu right now think that the newish Sis. Nef could come up to Tallinn to be with Sis. Lamar, and so I'd go back down to Pärnu. I love that apartment, and the members, but I think I may want to stay here, at least one more transfer. Meh, we'll see what happens! Sis. Lamar is sort of freaking out now with the thought that she'd been in charge if she's left here with a new sister, ha ha ha! She only knows where some of the busses go and she's been here almost as long as me! Thank goodness I'm pretty good at directions. :P
This week, I had the special opportunity to ride in an old Lada (a.k.a. Zhiguli, or something like that), twice! This particular model was 25 or so years old, so it's a relic from the Soviet era. A member gave us a ride home after dinner at the Perrys' on Friday night, and we also hitched a ride after church. Then she gave us a gigantic bag of apples, which we're still trying to figure out what to do with. We made a little applesauce, ate a few, and even gave a dozen or so to the Russian sisters and we still have a lot left over. It's still nice that people consider that the missionaries could use some food though. :)
Back on Saturday, we still taught English class, even though the Russians cancelled their's for a branch activity they were doing that same day. Before class started, there was a young Russian man who came in and I thought he wanted to know about English class. Thankfully, we had a member there who could speak Russian, because we actually found out that he wanted to know about our church services. I called up one of the missionaries and had them talk about that. And he really did come to church yesterday! This could be like one of those random, but miraculous stories that we get sometimes in the mission where somebody waltzes into the church on their own!
Tonight, we have a lesson with a less-active member, so I hope that goes well. We've never talked to him before, so we'll just get to know him and learn of his experiences. Pres. Boswell has asked us to leave a blessing on each home we visit, but we don't always meet the people we teach in their homes. Sometimes they won't let us, hehe. At least our lesson tonight will be though!
Do I feel like I've grown a lot on my mission? That's a question that I think almost everyone asks, ha ha! Boy, I sure hope so! You'd kinda hope that with all this time and money spent that you'd get what you'd pay for and more, right?! ;) Sometimes I feel like a totally different person, and at other times, I still feel like just plain ol' me. But overall, yes, I feel like I've grown and been stretched and have found out what I'm good at and what I'm not so good at. It's a very humbling experience, and I'm learning how to better work with others and of course, rely more on our Heavenly Father and the Savior. A mission is almost like a huge testing ground for life where you can try out new things and see how well they do or do not work out, ha ha. Or like the Church's "finishing school". Sis. Lamar and I had a long pillow talk about this last week. She decided that she wanted to be really honest and she admitted some of her frustrations that she had with me, but she's over it now and she's really thankful that she could learn from me. I feel likewise about her too. Having a companion 24/7 helps to reveal some personal issues, problems, or quirks that you have that you never realized you had before! But, being honest, open, and humble about it really helps find solutions to work it out. Marriage prep, anyone? Ha ha ha ha! :P I feel like I've learned about a lot of good skills for life while on a mission. I certainly have a lot more to learn though! Perhaps ya'll would be better judges of how much I've really changed (or not)! I also feel more sure about who I am and who I want to be, and become, etc.
Thanks for all of the love! I love you all so dearly~
Love,
Courtney
P. S. I forgot to mention that we have a Estonia-wide service day on Saturday with all the members and then District conference on Sunday! w00t w00t. General Conference will be here before you know it ;)
Monday, September 5, 2011
September 5, 2011
Howdy howdy, Fam and Friends!
Yesterday and today have been absolutely gorgeous, weather wise~ No Labor Day here, but the 1st of September is a national holiday because that's when all the kiddos go back to school. Sis. S (native Latvian, but also Russian mini-missionary) had to go to Latvia to get her health tests and things done so she could complete her missionary application. So, Sis. Uibel came to chill with us for 2 days. Always a pleasure! It would have been more fun if we taught more lessons though, because we were stood up by almost all of the lessons we had at the church xP I don't know if having lessons scheduled at the church building is like more of an excuse for folks, NOT to show up... because usually we don't know their addresses if we just contacted them on the street and got a phone number.
As for working with less-actives, we've made contact with a lot of them, but haven't really been able to teach many of them yet. Many people have no valid phone number on file, just an address, but they're usually not home, so I guess we have to keep stalking some of them. Who knows, maybe they don't even live there anymore. We missionaries are mostly just collecting information so we can clean up the ward list because there is a lot of wrong information on it. Some less-actives might even seem impossible to find if they moved or don't have a working phone number (people change numbers here a lot, it seems), so we've sorta joked about having members do some internet stalking or something to try and locate these people. That sounds like something I'd enjoy doing, but alas, as a missionary, I have very limited internet access :P That could potentially be a very good resource though.
Anne came to church yesterday and so did a less-active member or two that are in our area! Slowly, we're seeing some improvement. We're really trying to work on our teaching skills and we realized that we have a lot we can work on. I really don't know what else to say, and now it's time to jet. Sorry!
Happy Birthday to all the birthday kids and thanks for all of the prayers and support!!
Lots of love,
Courtney
P.S. The mission president just issued an e-mail for the missionaries leaving the same time as me. My release date is actually Dec. 16th, just so you're aware.
Yesterday and today have been absolutely gorgeous, weather wise~ No Labor Day here, but the 1st of September is a national holiday because that's when all the kiddos go back to school. Sis. S (native Latvian, but also Russian mini-missionary) had to go to Latvia to get her health tests and things done so she could complete her missionary application. So, Sis. Uibel came to chill with us for 2 days. Always a pleasure! It would have been more fun if we taught more lessons though, because we were stood up by almost all of the lessons we had at the church xP I don't know if having lessons scheduled at the church building is like more of an excuse for folks, NOT to show up... because usually we don't know their addresses if we just contacted them on the street and got a phone number.
As for working with less-actives, we've made contact with a lot of them, but haven't really been able to teach many of them yet. Many people have no valid phone number on file, just an address, but they're usually not home, so I guess we have to keep stalking some of them. Who knows, maybe they don't even live there anymore. We missionaries are mostly just collecting information so we can clean up the ward list because there is a lot of wrong information on it. Some less-actives might even seem impossible to find if they moved or don't have a working phone number (people change numbers here a lot, it seems), so we've sorta joked about having members do some internet stalking or something to try and locate these people. That sounds like something I'd enjoy doing, but alas, as a missionary, I have very limited internet access :P That could potentially be a very good resource though.
Anne came to church yesterday and so did a less-active member or two that are in our area! Slowly, we're seeing some improvement. We're really trying to work on our teaching skills and we realized that we have a lot we can work on. I really don't know what else to say, and now it's time to jet. Sorry!
Happy Birthday to all the birthday kids and thanks for all of the prayers and support!!
Lots of love,
Courtney
P.S. The mission president just issued an e-mail for the missionaries leaving the same time as me. My release date is actually Dec. 16th, just so you're aware.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
August 29, 2011
With this new focus on working with less-active and active members, that's what we spent most of our time with this past week. A lot of it was wandering around finding addresses and trying to stop by at apartments because the phone numbers are bad. There are several people in our area that have seemed to vanish because we have no good, current contact information for them :/ I don't know if some of the members would still keep in contact with them. We got jaked by a less-active and we'd planned for the branch president to come with, so since that fell through, he invited us to his place for a soup dinner with his family! That was so nice :) We had several other appointments that were no-shows, so that's always disappointing, but meh, that's missionary work.
It's so strange to think Sis. LeDuc is home now! At least she's going right back to school, so that'll keep her busy. Chances are that I'll be in Tallinn for at least one more transfer, probably with Sis. Lamar again too. The new training program wants new missionaries to be with their trainers for 2 transfers and Sis. Christopher and Sis. Nef are in their 1st transfer together.
Last night, we had a birthday dinner for Elder Broby, which was pretty nice. Elders McGavin and Nielson made all of the food and there was 7up chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots and kool-aid like beverages. Brownies and ice cream were for dessert! After that, we had a nice lesson on the Plan of Salvation with some less-actives, who both made it to sacrament meeting earlier that day. :) Yahoo! Actually, we had 4 less-actives from our area at church!
People keep wanting to give us fruits and veggies to eat! It's kind of annoying sometimes, ha ha ha. We scored tons of plums and apples and we don't know what to do with them all. Maybe make applesauce?
I got some letters from cousin Chaz, and Noel this week, yay! I also just got a letter from an MTC friend serving in the San Diego mission and she said she went on exchanges with Maureen Davis a few weeks back! Boy, what a small world! She thought it was cool to make that connection. :) Sis. Uibel gets to come chill with us for 2 days this week since her companions have to go to Latvia, so I'm looking forward to that! We're actually going to go out to eat today, just sisters only. I don't know if the Elders are just jealous, but they said we can only do that just once a transfer, ha ha. Good thing a new transfer starts in about 2 weeks ;P Golly, I'm almost in my last 2 transfers... what???
So, here's my fail DVD player quote of the week! *written on back of player* " HIGH TEMP. CAUTION Please do not put it in the sun directly or near to the instrument in kitchen! They may change its shape or color, its surface can become hot if it worked long time, but this is not abort."
That's all I got this week! Thanks for all of the love and prayers!
Love,
Courtney
It's so strange to think Sis. LeDuc is home now! At least she's going right back to school, so that'll keep her busy. Chances are that I'll be in Tallinn for at least one more transfer, probably with Sis. Lamar again too. The new training program wants new missionaries to be with their trainers for 2 transfers and Sis. Christopher and Sis. Nef are in their 1st transfer together.
Last night, we had a birthday dinner for Elder Broby, which was pretty nice. Elders McGavin and Nielson made all of the food and there was 7up chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots and kool-aid like beverages. Brownies and ice cream were for dessert! After that, we had a nice lesson on the Plan of Salvation with some less-actives, who both made it to sacrament meeting earlier that day. :) Yahoo! Actually, we had 4 less-actives from our area at church!
People keep wanting to give us fruits and veggies to eat! It's kind of annoying sometimes, ha ha ha. We scored tons of plums and apples and we don't know what to do with them all. Maybe make applesauce?
I got some letters from cousin Chaz, and Noel this week, yay! I also just got a letter from an MTC friend serving in the San Diego mission and she said she went on exchanges with Maureen Davis a few weeks back! Boy, what a small world! She thought it was cool to make that connection. :) Sis. Uibel gets to come chill with us for 2 days this week since her companions have to go to Latvia, so I'm looking forward to that! We're actually going to go out to eat today, just sisters only. I don't know if the Elders are just jealous, but they said we can only do that just once a transfer, ha ha. Good thing a new transfer starts in about 2 weeks ;P Golly, I'm almost in my last 2 transfers... what???
So, here's my fail DVD player quote of the week! *written on back of player* " HIGH TEMP. CAUTION Please do not put it in the sun directly or near to the instrument in kitchen! They may change its shape or color, its surface can become hot if it worked long time, but this is not abort."
That's all I got this week! Thanks for all of the love and prayers!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, August 22, 2011
Monday August 22nd, 2011
All is well and good around these parts! We've had some fun things to do lately, so that helps to pump us up and enjoy our work a little more. Last Thursday, we actually had 5 lessons planned with investigators, and less-active members. I don't think I've ever had that many scheduled appointments in one day. In the Baltics, that's pretty good! So, I hope that's a sign that things are improving :)
Friday was exchanges with the Pärnu sisters! Sis. LeDuc leaves for Riga on Wednesday, and the back to the States on Thursday! That's so weird. Since she and I were together in Pärnu on Friday, it was just like old times, and it almost made me feel like I supposed to go with her, ha ha! Alas, my time has not yet come, but it is soon enough, goodness gracious! Time flies~ (they same the same thing in Estonian too :)
On Saturday, we came back up to Tallinn for zone conference, which was fantastic!! Pres. Boswell wants us to contact all of the members in our areas by October 23rd or somewhere around there. He wants us to make that our new focus, to teach all of the the lessons they learned before baptism. He actually hopes that this won't be finished before all of us leave the field! I'm hoping to get some more instruction and ideas on how to go about this, and working with members to accomplish at tomorrow's district meeting. After zone conference, most of the Estonian missionaries crashed at Kompressor for some yummy pancakes. They're deceptively filling. At zone conference, we were also given DVD players so we can watch the District, missionary training videos during our study or meal times. What's almost better than that was the hilarious instruction manual with it's poorly written Engrish. Here are some good ones:
-"After buying the DVD (player), please read the operations and other instruction of user manual carefully, the incorrect use will cause the damage of health and loose of wealth." That sounds like a proverb.
- "Note: avoid of the liquid of LCD screen touch body directly, when it was broken, the liquid has touched the skin, please wash your skin by mass water at least 15 minutes." Mass water??
Stay tuned for more, I just ran out of time today to list more ;) Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers. You're the greatest!!!!!
Lots of love,
Courtney
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday August 15th, 2011
Yeah, I'm not entirely sure how some afford to live here and have long vacations, and summer homes, etc., especially when they complain about how little they earn. Hmmmm, go figure... Anyway, you'd almost think it's already Fall time here. It's been rather cool so in the mornings, I feel like it's time to go back to school. I think someone told me it's supposed to go back up to the low 80s later this week, ha ha. I hope y'all aren't dying back at home.
I don't know if it was our fault or what, but we're not going to teach Keili anymore for a while. Her member cousin finally came back from her month with her husband's family in the States so we asked her to call Keili and invite her to church. Maris (member) said that Keili just wasn't sure if this is what she's looking for, although we know she really enjoyed it only 2 months ago. I don't know what the deal is, if we were too persistant with following up on her while she was out of town, invited members to her house to teach with us, or a myriad of other things. When there are disappointments, all sorts of questions and theories pop up. Whatever it may be, we're just going to give her some space and still make her cookies or something from time to time. Maris is sure she'll come back, one day. Poor lil' Sis. Lamar is still pretty heartbroken about it. I think she was affected the worst. But, there's still hope! We had a great lesson with a guy last week, and we happened to see him on the street last week, and we saw Anne this morning on our way to sports. Last Saturday was her birthday, so she said she couldn't make it to church, but I know she wants to come again. Now we just got to get her to read more (and her son too!)
We had exchanges with the Russian sisters last week so I got to be with Sis. Hanks and Sis. Schnaidere (uh, spelling? I have no clue, but she's a mini missionary from Latvia :) I even got them a Russian lady to call whom I contacted on the bus. I keep half-joking with them that it seems like my job since I've been in Tallinn is to find the Russians people to teach. Half-joking. Lol. Surprisingly, we got a call from the sister missionaries down in Pärnu right after the exchange we had and they said that that we're doing another one, this time with them! I think I'm going back to Pärnu on Friday so I can be there with Sis. LeDuc, and we're going to do game night with the branch too! Awww, like old times~ We have zone conference on Saturday so we're going to come up to Tallinn early that morning. Sis. LeDuc only has about 10 or so days left! Egads! That's absurd. Anyway, it's probably better she's going straight from the mission right back into school at BYU.
Other than that, I'm not sure what else to mention... oh yeah! I scored 3 goals at Gatorball today! w00t! I think that's the first time I ever scored. Well, thanks to some great assists from Sis. Hanks ;) We also made our own chili con carne concoction last week that turned out pretty well with baked potatoes. Maybe we'll try that again this week. We should come up with some new meal ideas... we're kinda getting stuck in a rut, hehehe. Mom, I love how you always mention food in your emails. It makes me yearn for some good ol' homestyle cookin'.
Well, that's enough of that. Thanks for all the love and support, loved ones! You're the greatest!!! Thanks for the hugs and kisses too ;)
Love,
Courtney
Monday, August 8, 2011
Monday August 8th, 2011
This morning, Sis. Lamar and I got haircuts, well mine was just a slight trim. But yay, for soft, flowy, hair! We've got a bunch of new missionaries in Tallinn now, mostly in the Russian district though. Even a mini-missionary is joining the Russian sisters! She's from Latvia, but knows Russian and English well. I have to ask her how to write her name ;P
Great work, Mom! That's nice that sister knew she could turn to you for help. Our mission president also wants us to work with our branch president and council to work with less-actives and part-member families. Mostly, it's just been us doing it on our own, so I wonder what our district will try to do differently to help with that. We've been working with some less-actives, and it's slowly working. I think what helps is having them to member missionary work, so they're more prone to come with a friend they wish to introduce to the church. One of them should have been there on Sunday, but he's reaaaaaaaaly laaaaaaaaazy, and he's promised us so many times. At least we got him to come about 2 weeks ago. We got a round of high-fives for that from the Elders at the following district meeting, he he he.
Keili did come back to town, but she said she wasn't sure when she could meet. We had some other appointments set up this past week, but some of them got sick. Sometimes I wonder if they feel as sick as they say they do... So! We're praying for a happy, healthy week! We've done a lot of contacting, and a little bit of knocking. Last night we found a great couple and a young mom that said we could come back. The Russian Sisters are now teaching a young man we knocked into and got his phone number. He's been to church twice and has a baptismal date! I wish we had a good progressing investigator like that for ourselves, but oh well, I guess we're really working for the same team after all ;) We taught an old man from our English class on Saturday and he was the only person we invited who came to church. I don't know why he keeps coming to class since he's seeing little to no progress with his language, but maybe he's been prepared for a greater purpose :)
Last week's double FHEs were a blast! We were fed so much food! The Branch President's family even surprised us by busting out some homemade root beer floats!! Oh goodness, that was dreamy~ Apparently Elder Lane gave him the root beer extract ;) It's almost strange now to look out the window before bed and see the street lights back on at night, ha ha. Within 2 months, it'll probably starting becoming really dark. Oh boy~
The primary religion is Lutheran, with Russian Orthodox coming in 2nd and a good number of Baptists, Pentecostals too.
Thanks so much for the prayers and fasting on my behalf. It's been a better week, not exactly sure how. It's sure been exhausting at times! Uhhhhh.... I am all out of ideas of what to right now of what to write. Buuuuuut I love you all so so much! You're the greatest. Thanks for everything!
Love,
Courtney
Great work, Mom! That's nice that sister knew she could turn to you for help. Our mission president also wants us to work with our branch president and council to work with less-actives and part-member families. Mostly, it's just been us doing it on our own, so I wonder what our district will try to do differently to help with that. We've been working with some less-actives, and it's slowly working. I think what helps is having them to member missionary work, so they're more prone to come with a friend they wish to introduce to the church. One of them should have been there on Sunday, but he's reaaaaaaaaly laaaaaaaaazy, and he's promised us so many times. At least we got him to come about 2 weeks ago. We got a round of high-fives for that from the Elders at the following district meeting, he he he.
Keili did come back to town, but she said she wasn't sure when she could meet. We had some other appointments set up this past week, but some of them got sick. Sometimes I wonder if they feel as sick as they say they do... So! We're praying for a happy, healthy week! We've done a lot of contacting, and a little bit of knocking. Last night we found a great couple and a young mom that said we could come back. The Russian Sisters are now teaching a young man we knocked into and got his phone number. He's been to church twice and has a baptismal date! I wish we had a good progressing investigator like that for ourselves, but oh well, I guess we're really working for the same team after all ;) We taught an old man from our English class on Saturday and he was the only person we invited who came to church. I don't know why he keeps coming to class since he's seeing little to no progress with his language, but maybe he's been prepared for a greater purpose :)
Last week's double FHEs were a blast! We were fed so much food! The Branch President's family even surprised us by busting out some homemade root beer floats!! Oh goodness, that was dreamy~ Apparently Elder Lane gave him the root beer extract ;) It's almost strange now to look out the window before bed and see the street lights back on at night, ha ha. Within 2 months, it'll probably starting becoming really dark. Oh boy~
The primary religion is Lutheran, with Russian Orthodox coming in 2nd and a good number of Baptists, Pentecostals too.
Thanks so much for the prayers and fasting on my behalf. It's been a better week, not exactly sure how. It's sure been exhausting at times! Uhhhhh.... I am all out of ideas of what to right now of what to write. Buuuuuut I love you all so so much! You're the greatest. Thanks for everything!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday August 1st, 2011
LOTS OF RAIN, recently! We talked to a less-active member last night and she said that on Saturday, they got a month's worth of rain. Wish I could send a little your way! Today is beautiful though, and The Perrys, our senior couple, said that this week is forecasted to just be sunny. If it's like today, then I'd like it. :)
Today has been super fun! We went to Skypark a huge, trampoline/indoor playground place. It's more for kids, so it was pretty funny when a dozen or so adults took over the trampolines for a time, but when we migrated to the jungle gym, the kids rushed back ;) We even played out some war scenarios with foam balls and air turrets, and we used the plastic balls for grenades! It was very intense and tiring, ha ha ha. To finish it off, most everyone tried on the sumo suits and we had wrestling matches. I only watched :) Afterward, we ate some pancakes at Kompressor. Tonight we're doing FHE with the Branch President's cute little family! We also wanted to meet with another family this week, and dear Sister informed me that they're actually doing FHE on Tuesday night since she'll be out of town, so we're having back-to-back FHEs this week! Woohoo!
We didn't have any of our own investigators at church yesterday, but we saw a friend of a man whom we've taught once and invited him to church, and he came (after he finished his cigarette, lol) He stayed for all 3 hours and has a teaching appointment with the Elders :) Now that it's finally August, people will start migrating back into the city over the next few weeks so we can finally get some lessons and progressing investigators.
Transfers happen on Thursday. That means Elder Barney is leaving! So strange, especially since he was the last remaining member of my very first district here. I think there may be a lot of changes among the Elders here too. Who knows, since we have a new mission president now. A mini-missionary from Latvia is coming up to be with the Russian sisters this transfer, so that'll put them in a trio. I hope we can borrow one of them a couple of times to go knocking some day. That way we cover more ground, hehe ;) We've been contacting a lot of people on the streets and have met some cool people, but haven't been able to meet with them again yet. We're also trying to go through former investigators. Pres. Boswell wants us to focus on working with the Branch President and the branch council to find people to teach, so I hope we have a good lesson tonight with his family.
Not sure what else to write at the moment, so it's ta-ta for now! I love you all so dearly~!!
Love,
Courtney
Today has been super fun! We went to Skypark a huge, trampoline/indoor playground place. It's more for kids, so it was pretty funny when a dozen or so adults took over the trampolines for a time, but when we migrated to the jungle gym, the kids rushed back ;) We even played out some war scenarios with foam balls and air turrets, and we used the plastic balls for grenades! It was very intense and tiring, ha ha ha. To finish it off, most everyone tried on the sumo suits and we had wrestling matches. I only watched :) Afterward, we ate some pancakes at Kompressor. Tonight we're doing FHE with the Branch President's cute little family! We also wanted to meet with another family this week, and dear Sister informed me that they're actually doing FHE on Tuesday night since she'll be out of town, so we're having back-to-back FHEs this week! Woohoo!
We didn't have any of our own investigators at church yesterday, but we saw a friend of a man whom we've taught once and invited him to church, and he came (after he finished his cigarette, lol) He stayed for all 3 hours and has a teaching appointment with the Elders :) Now that it's finally August, people will start migrating back into the city over the next few weeks so we can finally get some lessons and progressing investigators.
Transfers happen on Thursday. That means Elder Barney is leaving! So strange, especially since he was the last remaining member of my very first district here. I think there may be a lot of changes among the Elders here too. Who knows, since we have a new mission president now. A mini-missionary from Latvia is coming up to be with the Russian sisters this transfer, so that'll put them in a trio. I hope we can borrow one of them a couple of times to go knocking some day. That way we cover more ground, hehe ;) We've been contacting a lot of people on the streets and have met some cool people, but haven't been able to meet with them again yet. We're also trying to go through former investigators. Pres. Boswell wants us to focus on working with the Branch President and the branch council to find people to teach, so I hope we have a good lesson tonight with his family.
Not sure what else to write at the moment, so it's ta-ta for now! I love you all so dearly~!!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday July 25th, 2011
Awwww, camping~ Fun fun! Our usual investigators were out of town, so not a lot of news about them. Sis. Lamar came back from her little trip to Parnu on Wednesday. Of course she fell in love with it, so she was a little bummed to come back to Tallinn, especially our area
which just has hundreds of huge apartment buildings.
Estonia just had Temple week last week, so our numbers at church were a just a little fewer, so I actually played the piano in church! Of course I've played in Relief Society, but I haven't had to play for sacrament meeting since my days in Parnu. I tried the organ a little earlier in the week as we were waiting for an appointment when I was with the Russian sisters. Speaking of Russian, I've had to use it so much lately! Sis. Lamar and I knocked one part of a 9-story apartment building and either people weren't home, they ignored us, or they were
Russian! We only talked to 2 Estonians that whole time! We had to do a lot of finding this last week, so that's always very tiring physically, mentally, and spiritually! We're trying to go through some former investigators as of late, and we had a lesson with one old lady last night, and we scheduled another for tonight. English class back on Saturday went really well! We had 3 new students, they're Russian, but they are friends of members, so at least member missionary work is happening! We gotta figure how to get that happen a little more in our branch.
Oh goodness, I'm the next one to come home? Wow, that's interesting! I guess I really am. The nice thing about this summer has been that as soon as the weather gets really hot, it seems to rain a day or two later, so that's kept it nice and reasonable. Some days it switches from sunny to rainy, so it's hard to keep track, especially since we don't normally carry an umbrella along with us, ha ha.
I think my time is almost up here, so gotta go! Sorry this is really lame, but I'm hoping and praying for better things this week! I think it'll happen ;) Thanks so much for the prayers and love. It means a lot to me ;)
Love,
Courtney
which just has hundreds of huge apartment buildings.
Estonia just had Temple week last week, so our numbers at church were a just a little fewer, so I actually played the piano in church! Of course I've played in Relief Society, but I haven't had to play for sacrament meeting since my days in Parnu. I tried the organ a little earlier in the week as we were waiting for an appointment when I was with the Russian sisters. Speaking of Russian, I've had to use it so much lately! Sis. Lamar and I knocked one part of a 9-story apartment building and either people weren't home, they ignored us, or they were
Russian! We only talked to 2 Estonians that whole time! We had to do a lot of finding this last week, so that's always very tiring physically, mentally, and spiritually! We're trying to go through some former investigators as of late, and we had a lesson with one old lady last night, and we scheduled another for tonight. English class back on Saturday went really well! We had 3 new students, they're Russian, but they are friends of members, so at least member missionary work is happening! We gotta figure how to get that happen a little more in our branch.
Oh goodness, I'm the next one to come home? Wow, that's interesting! I guess I really am. The nice thing about this summer has been that as soon as the weather gets really hot, it seems to rain a day or two later, so that's kept it nice and reasonable. Some days it switches from sunny to rainy, so it's hard to keep track, especially since we don't normally carry an umbrella along with us, ha ha.
I think my time is almost up here, so gotta go! Sorry this is really lame, but I'm hoping and praying for better things this week! I think it'll happen ;) Thanks so much for the prayers and love. It means a lot to me ;)
Love,
Courtney
Monday, July 18, 2011
July 18th, 2011
Hello, everyone!
Unfortunately, this was more of a finding week since some of our lessons fell through and Keili is going on vacation. That's really tiring and makes the days seem a lot longer, but we're trying to stay positive. Soooooo, because it was a finding week, there isn't a lot of interesting news :P I was with Sis. Uibel for exchanges, and it's was pretty much a party being together with her. We helped peel and slice veggies for a wedding for some of the Russian members that was on Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn't even get to go to the wedding because we were helping Anton+Stela as they were moving to their new apartment. Really, it's just an upstairs of an old house, but it's been renovated on the inside. They live right next to some railroad tracks though, so I hope that's not too annoying. That means that now they don't live in our area anymore, but oh well :P All we did to help was just wash a few windows and then assemble the little grill they bought, and then prepare the food for lunch. That was fun, and it made me miss barbecues, ha ha!
We now have a good idea of what is happening for transfers in 2 weeks! I think Sis. Christopher is going to be training after being out in the field for 3 weeks, which probably means I'll be with Sis. Lamar for another 2 transfers (3 months). Therefore, we will probably still be in Tallinn too. I still like it here, but I hope I can make it to again to Tartu sometime! There is some leadership conference in Riga tomorrow, so Sis. Lamar is going down to Parnu to while Sis. Christopher goes to the conference. That means I'll be with the Russians again until Wednesday! Yay~ I love them!
We actually had a different investigator come to church! Anne only stayed for Sacrament meeting, but she enjoyed it, I think. Now we gotta get her teenage kids to come too! She even has a good member friend now too! We need to set up another appointment with her family this week :)
For Preparation Days, we usually go play sports for 2 hours and then e-mail and eat somewhere after that. Today we played soccer again, and I tripped over ball, so I had a nice fall and got the wind knocked out of me, but no pain, no gain, right? :P The main library is closed though, so we have to go to another library, or go to an internet cafe (like right now. This one is tailored to gaming too, but we stray away from that, ha ha) That's so weird to think all those young men are getting back from their missions now! I just realized that we will only have warm weather for another for another 2 months... I don't know if I'm happy or sad about that... ha ha!
Have fun on the camping trip! We've walked through some foresty-parks so it makes me really want to bust out a sleeping bag and roast some marshmallows! Even though we're in a big city, there are some parts where you can escape into nature and relax, so that's nice.
Elder McGavin told me my letter came, but he has yet to give it to me. Sorry there's not much more to tell! Thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so much.
Love,
Courtney
Unfortunately, this was more of a finding week since some of our lessons fell through and Keili is going on vacation. That's really tiring and makes the days seem a lot longer, but we're trying to stay positive. Soooooo, because it was a finding week, there isn't a lot of interesting news :P I was with Sis. Uibel for exchanges, and it's was pretty much a party being together with her. We helped peel and slice veggies for a wedding for some of the Russian members that was on Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn't even get to go to the wedding because we were helping Anton+Stela as they were moving to their new apartment. Really, it's just an upstairs of an old house, but it's been renovated on the inside. They live right next to some railroad tracks though, so I hope that's not too annoying. That means that now they don't live in our area anymore, but oh well :P All we did to help was just wash a few windows and then assemble the little grill they bought, and then prepare the food for lunch. That was fun, and it made me miss barbecues, ha ha!
We now have a good idea of what is happening for transfers in 2 weeks! I think Sis. Christopher is going to be training after being out in the field for 3 weeks, which probably means I'll be with Sis. Lamar for another 2 transfers (3 months). Therefore, we will probably still be in Tallinn too. I still like it here, but I hope I can make it to again to Tartu sometime! There is some leadership conference in Riga tomorrow, so Sis. Lamar is going down to Parnu to while Sis. Christopher goes to the conference. That means I'll be with the Russians again until Wednesday! Yay~ I love them!
We actually had a different investigator come to church! Anne only stayed for Sacrament meeting, but she enjoyed it, I think. Now we gotta get her teenage kids to come too! She even has a good member friend now too! We need to set up another appointment with her family this week :)
For Preparation Days, we usually go play sports for 2 hours and then e-mail and eat somewhere after that. Today we played soccer again, and I tripped over ball, so I had a nice fall and got the wind knocked out of me, but no pain, no gain, right? :P The main library is closed though, so we have to go to another library, or go to an internet cafe (like right now. This one is tailored to gaming too, but we stray away from that, ha ha) That's so weird to think all those young men are getting back from their missions now! I just realized that we will only have warm weather for another for another 2 months... I don't know if I'm happy or sad about that... ha ha!
Have fun on the camping trip! We've walked through some foresty-parks so it makes me really want to bust out a sleeping bag and roast some marshmallows! Even though we're in a big city, there are some parts where you can escape into nature and relax, so that's nice.
Elder McGavin told me my letter came, but he has yet to give it to me. Sorry there's not much more to tell! Thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so much.
Love,
Courtney
Monday, July 11, 2011
July 11, 2011
Hello family!! (and friends too~)
Dad showed me the insane pictures of the dust storm. CRAZY. That's so scary!! Things have been rather pleasant this last week, although we didn't have a lot of lessons this week like we'd planned. The problem is that tons of people are taking their month vacations now, so they'll be out of the country, or gone to the countryside, and we can't get ahold of them until mid-August. x( Keili was really busy covering another person's stuff at work this week, but we're accompanying her at the Perrys' house for FHE tonight. We also have an appointment for Wednesday. She doesn't really feel comfortable with us inviting members to come teach with us, but we hope that we can help her get some friends tonight, so that she'll let us bring them along.
We had a lesson with a family last Wednesday, and a member couple was going to come teach (they live in the same building), but that family wasn't home and wasn't answering their phone, so we went back to the members' apartment and looked at their wedding pics (they were married on Jan. 1st this year :) and drank some Sea Buckthorn juice. Anton had to look that one up on the computer for us, ha ha. It was interesting, but tasty with some honey. The Kilks are such a cute couple~ Anton was only baptized in February and Stela is sooooooo gorgeous~ I'll have to take a pic the next time we meet with them :) That same evening, we went contacting in a nearby park and there we met a lady who had lived in the U.S. for 10 years working mostly in Kentucky with horses, RANDOM! She was really cool, and when she said some English words, there was a heavy Southern accent, hehehe. It was so funny when she said "Gimme a kiss!" to her adorable little 3 year old, who was actually adopted from the U.S. I knew her child couldn't have been from Estonia because she was a cute little black girl :) The little girl now speaks Estonian, but she still understands English and will say some random English words like "bicycles!" We taught them a lesson on a bench, and I hope we can meet with them again soon! I know she wants to move to Canada to go back to work with horses, so our chances may be slim, but we'll see.
Mark's family sent me some great letters and pictures! Everyone thinks my nephews are so handsome and cute! I just hope my own future children will be as cute, hehehe ;) I don't really know what else to write about since not much happened this week. We had to do a lot of finding because we couldn't get any appointments with people. I hope this week will turn out a little better. I know we have exchanges with the Russian sisters this Thursday, and I think it's gonna be Sis. Uibel and I together, meaning that our trainees are going to be on their own for a little. I can't wait to hear how that goes, ha ha ha! Sis. Lamar is not good with directions at all so I'm afraid they'll get lost a lot, :P
Thanks for all the prayers and love! You're the greatest!
Courtney
Dad showed me the insane pictures of the dust storm. CRAZY. That's so scary!! Things have been rather pleasant this last week, although we didn't have a lot of lessons this week like we'd planned. The problem is that tons of people are taking their month vacations now, so they'll be out of the country, or gone to the countryside, and we can't get ahold of them until mid-August. x( Keili was really busy covering another person's stuff at work this week, but we're accompanying her at the Perrys' house for FHE tonight. We also have an appointment for Wednesday. She doesn't really feel comfortable with us inviting members to come teach with us, but we hope that we can help her get some friends tonight, so that she'll let us bring them along.
We had a lesson with a family last Wednesday, and a member couple was going to come teach (they live in the same building), but that family wasn't home and wasn't answering their phone, so we went back to the members' apartment and looked at their wedding pics (they were married on Jan. 1st this year :) and drank some Sea Buckthorn juice. Anton had to look that one up on the computer for us, ha ha. It was interesting, but tasty with some honey. The Kilks are such a cute couple~ Anton was only baptized in February and Stela is sooooooo gorgeous~ I'll have to take a pic the next time we meet with them :) That same evening, we went contacting in a nearby park and there we met a lady who had lived in the U.S. for 10 years working mostly in Kentucky with horses, RANDOM! She was really cool, and when she said some English words, there was a heavy Southern accent, hehehe. It was so funny when she said "Gimme a kiss!" to her adorable little 3 year old, who was actually adopted from the U.S. I knew her child couldn't have been from Estonia because she was a cute little black girl :) The little girl now speaks Estonian, but she still understands English and will say some random English words like "bicycles!" We taught them a lesson on a bench, and I hope we can meet with them again soon! I know she wants to move to Canada to go back to work with horses, so our chances may be slim, but we'll see.
Mark's family sent me some great letters and pictures! Everyone thinks my nephews are so handsome and cute! I just hope my own future children will be as cute, hehehe ;) I don't really know what else to write about since not much happened this week. We had to do a lot of finding because we couldn't get any appointments with people. I hope this week will turn out a little better. I know we have exchanges with the Russian sisters this Thursday, and I think it's gonna be Sis. Uibel and I together, meaning that our trainees are going to be on their own for a little. I can't wait to hear how that goes, ha ha ha! Sis. Lamar is not good with directions at all so I'm afraid they'll get lost a lot, :P
Thanks for all the prayers and love! You're the greatest!
Courtney
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy 4th of July, 2011
GOD BLESS AMERICA, MY HOME SWEET HOOOOOOME~
Wooooooweeee, I'm plum-tuckered out! Well, we ditched the BBQ idea because Elder McGavin came up with the idea of renting bikes for today, so we took a really long ride along the coast. Thank goodness it was overcast, but my skin is still slightly pinkish. It's been getting rather warm and muggy around here this last week. It makes for nice and sweaty public transportation rides because there's no a/c and not much air coming through the windows either xP For example, on Friday night, all of the Estonian missionaries from Tallinn and Pärnu went to attend the Youth Song and Dance Festival. Estonian's are very proud of their song festivals. They had hundreds of kids and teenagers singing and dancing, and it was neat to see that. I guess the MAIN song festival is in 2 years. Ok, back to the idea of public transportation. Riding to and back from the festival was just like a sauna, if not worse. On the trolley ride home, a group of young kids was smooshed up in the front with us and one of the kiddos said that nobody dares getting on the trolly because it's like a graveyard in here. Ohohohohohohoho, children can be a riot sometimes~ Sis. LeDuc and I had a good laugh at that!
I received a letter from Sis. Sally Sue Nelson back home. It was really sweet (and Mom, she mentioned you were a really great RS president!!) We had a zone conference with the Boswells on Saturday. I like them a lot already! President Boswell is quite funny. Odd thing is that while he was teaching us, he used a scripture that I
happened to read in personal study that same morning! And it's in a not-so-common spot too, so that made it even more amazing. 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Strange, right? I've been reading the New Testament on-and-off and I just happened to come across that and even shared that with my companion in our study time together that morning. We had short interviews with President and Sister Boswell on Sunday morning before church (which now starts at 11, yay~), just so they could quickly meet us. We'll have longer interviews at some later time in the month, I believe.
We taught Keili twice this last week, and she's great. I think she's just afraid of committing to a date simply because she's afraid of messing up, she thinks she's weak. I think she's just shy ;) We went back to an apartment that Sis. Lamar knocked on over a month ago when she was on exchanges with the Russians, and we set a return appointment with the man's wife and taught them later that week! They're really nice and we'll be teaching them again on Wednesday. Maybe we found ourselves a family to teach, because they have a 9 year old son too.
Anne of Green Gables?!?!? Ha ha ha ha ha! I don't think I've watched much past the 3rd video. I remember there was one random day that I decided to watch it with Stacey. We laughed a lot. We didn't realize Anne was that ridiculous when we watched it as children ;P Nice choice, Mom.
Time is just flying by~ It's really strange to think that the only remaining member of my first ever district, Elder Barney, is leaving in a month now. Gah, that means I have 5?!?!? Weeeeeeird. Our recent business has been making time seem like such a blur.
Well, that's pretty much all I've got for today! I love you all so much!
Love,
Courtney
Wooooooweeee, I'm plum-tuckered out! Well, we ditched the BBQ idea because Elder McGavin came up with the idea of renting bikes for today, so we took a really long ride along the coast. Thank goodness it was overcast, but my skin is still slightly pinkish. It's been getting rather warm and muggy around here this last week. It makes for nice and sweaty public transportation rides because there's no a/c and not much air coming through the windows either xP For example, on Friday night, all of the Estonian missionaries from Tallinn and Pärnu went to attend the Youth Song and Dance Festival. Estonian's are very proud of their song festivals. They had hundreds of kids and teenagers singing and dancing, and it was neat to see that. I guess the MAIN song festival is in 2 years. Ok, back to the idea of public transportation. Riding to and back from the festival was just like a sauna, if not worse. On the trolley ride home, a group of young kids was smooshed up in the front with us and one of the kiddos said that nobody dares getting on the trolly because it's like a graveyard in here. Ohohohohohohoho, children can be a riot sometimes~ Sis. LeDuc and I had a good laugh at that!
I received a letter from Sis. Sally Sue Nelson back home. It was really sweet (and Mom, she mentioned you were a really great RS president!!) We had a zone conference with the Boswells on Saturday. I like them a lot already! President Boswell is quite funny. Odd thing is that while he was teaching us, he used a scripture that I
happened to read in personal study that same morning! And it's in a not-so-common spot too, so that made it even more amazing. 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Strange, right? I've been reading the New Testament on-and-off and I just happened to come across that and even shared that with my companion in our study time together that morning. We had short interviews with President and Sister Boswell on Sunday morning before church (which now starts at 11, yay~), just so they could quickly meet us. We'll have longer interviews at some later time in the month, I believe.
We taught Keili twice this last week, and she's great. I think she's just afraid of committing to a date simply because she's afraid of messing up, she thinks she's weak. I think she's just shy ;) We went back to an apartment that Sis. Lamar knocked on over a month ago when she was on exchanges with the Russians, and we set a return appointment with the man's wife and taught them later that week! They're really nice and we'll be teaching them again on Wednesday. Maybe we found ourselves a family to teach, because they have a 9 year old son too.
Anne of Green Gables?!?!? Ha ha ha ha ha! I don't think I've watched much past the 3rd video. I remember there was one random day that I decided to watch it with Stacey. We laughed a lot. We didn't realize Anne was that ridiculous when we watched it as children ;P Nice choice, Mom.
Time is just flying by~ It's really strange to think that the only remaining member of my first ever district, Elder Barney, is leaving in a month now. Gah, that means I have 5?!?!? Weeeeeeird. Our recent business has been making time seem like such a blur.
Well, that's pretty much all I've got for today! I love you all so much!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, June 27, 2011
June 27, 2011
Time is just flying by! We're back to being a duo and now Sis. Uibel is training Sis. Hanks here in Tallinn. We already miss her, especially since most everyone we talked with last night was Russian :P But hey, that doesn't stop us from getting the Russian sisters a couple of potential people to contact, and one was a member referral too. They really owe us, ha ha ha.
Well Jaanipäev came and went. It wasn't that eventful for us, unless if you count some great baking mishaps! We thought we'd make cookies and/or brownies to give to some less-actives and members. We knew many would probably not be home, but we thought we'd try to brighten their day (it was cloudy that day). Let's just say, now we know what NOT to do for next time. It doesn't help that we have a gas oven, and we haven't used it much yet, so we haven't figured out how well it bakes things. We only met with 3 people, but it was a good experience. We have been walking soooooo much in our area this last week. I wonder how many miles we've racked up...?
Keili was still with her relatives on Sunday, so she didn't make it to church, but I called her yesterday and she said "Did you miss me?!" Of course we did! We'll be teaching her tomorrow night :D We originally thought of teaching the Plan of Salvation, but we might just ask her the baptismal interview questions and show her how she's really ready, so let's set a date.
Last night we contacted a young mom and her 6 year old son at a park before we started to head home. The kid really liked the pictures at the front of the Book of Mormon! They were really cute and we got a return appointment for tonight at the church, so I'm really excited for that. They were definitely a mini-miracle for us!
We have Zone Conference on Saturday with the new President Boswell. Exciting! We're really going to miss the Dances, but it's been great to serve with them. They told us to look them up on Facebook after the mission, ha ha! Sis. Lamar is getting REALLY antsy for us to leave, so I gotta keep this short, again. I'm trying to teach her how to be patient, hehe. Thanks for all the love and support. I hope the scorpions stop bothering you! Mosquitoes are really annoying here :P
Love you lots,
Courtney
Well Jaanipäev came and went. It wasn't that eventful for us, unless if you count some great baking mishaps! We thought we'd make cookies and/or brownies to give to some less-actives and members. We knew many would probably not be home, but we thought we'd try to brighten their day (it was cloudy that day). Let's just say, now we know what NOT to do for next time. It doesn't help that we have a gas oven, and we haven't used it much yet, so we haven't figured out how well it bakes things. We only met with 3 people, but it was a good experience. We have been walking soooooo much in our area this last week. I wonder how many miles we've racked up...?
Keili was still with her relatives on Sunday, so she didn't make it to church, but I called her yesterday and she said "Did you miss me?!" Of course we did! We'll be teaching her tomorrow night :D We originally thought of teaching the Plan of Salvation, but we might just ask her the baptismal interview questions and show her how she's really ready, so let's set a date.
Last night we contacted a young mom and her 6 year old son at a park before we started to head home. The kid really liked the pictures at the front of the Book of Mormon! They were really cute and we got a return appointment for tonight at the church, so I'm really excited for that. They were definitely a mini-miracle for us!
We have Zone Conference on Saturday with the new President Boswell. Exciting! We're really going to miss the Dances, but it's been great to serve with them. They told us to look them up on Facebook after the mission, ha ha! Sis. Lamar is getting REALLY antsy for us to leave, so I gotta keep this short, again. I'm trying to teach her how to be patient, hehe. Thanks for all the love and support. I hope the scorpions stop bothering you! Mosquitoes are really annoying here :P
Love you lots,
Courtney
Monday, June 20, 2011
June 20, 2011
Awwwww, corn on the cob!!! I don't believe that exists here in Estonia. That would be just perfect for our 4th of July P-day bash that we're planning ;) I'm not sure how we'll get a grill just yet, but we're working on it! Grandma Smithson told me about your mishaps while at Schneph's Farm, so I'm sorry to hear that, but I guess you have a fun time..? Ha ha ha!
Ooh buddy! 100 degree weather! It's cooled down enough here that I had to use a jacket a little this week. We had a little birthday celebration for Elder Barney at a member's house and it rained, but that didn't stop the fun :) Tonight, we'll be doing FHE with Keili, our progressing investigator, and her 5 year old son! I'm excited for that. She's really great and loves church, but she still hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet. We can tell that she's really starting to trust us now though, so that's a good thing.
This week is Estonia's "Jaanipäev" and there's not going to be a special work schedule for that, so we're trying to figure out what to do for those days. I know lots of people will simply be drinking and partying, so I doubt they'd feel up to listening to a spiritual thought :P That just means more drunk guys we'll have to deal with. Somehow they seem to have an attraction to my companion, hehe. Maybe we'll just spend some time with members this week. I don't know yet. That's so sad to hear about Bishop Sandstrom [being released], but he was really fantastic! I really admired him and how well he could relate to us single adults.
I'm so so so sorry that this e-mail is really lackluster and short! I spent too long writing back to Stacey and Shauna's combined e-mail :P Those goofy girls, ha ha ha! Love 'em! Now we gotta run and eat, so I love you all! Thanks for the dear prayers on our behalf. You're so wonderful!
Love,
Courtney
Ooh buddy! 100 degree weather! It's cooled down enough here that I had to use a jacket a little this week. We had a little birthday celebration for Elder Barney at a member's house and it rained, but that didn't stop the fun :) Tonight, we'll be doing FHE with Keili, our progressing investigator, and her 5 year old son! I'm excited for that. She's really great and loves church, but she still hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet. We can tell that she's really starting to trust us now though, so that's a good thing.
This week is Estonia's "Jaanipäev" and there's not going to be a special work schedule for that, so we're trying to figure out what to do for those days. I know lots of people will simply be drinking and partying, so I doubt they'd feel up to listening to a spiritual thought :P That just means more drunk guys we'll have to deal with. Somehow they seem to have an attraction to my companion, hehe. Maybe we'll just spend some time with members this week. I don't know yet. That's so sad to hear about Bishop Sandstrom [being released], but he was really fantastic! I really admired him and how well he could relate to us single adults.
I'm so so so sorry that this e-mail is really lackluster and short! I spent too long writing back to Stacey and Shauna's combined e-mail :P Those goofy girls, ha ha ha! Love 'em! Now we gotta run and eat, so I love you all! Thanks for the dear prayers on our behalf. You're so wonderful!
Love,
Courtney
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
June 14, 2011
Busy, busy busy!! So far, it looks like this will end up being very busy as well. Since we're in a "zebra" companionship (2 Estonian, 1 Russian), we have to balance our appointments. We've been blessed with some little miracles, especially since some members have been helping us with referrals. That doesn't happen very often here ;) We met last week with the cousin of a convert of 2 years and she came again to church on Sunday! We invited her to be baptized on the first lesson, but she wants to be more sure of her decision. I have faith that she will one day join the church :) Her cousin, Maris, explained that she's had a lot of hard times and she's a single mom with a son, but she thinks her new "ward family" will be very good for Keili (investigator). We're meeting her tomorrow night :) Last night, we met with the neighbor of a long time member of the church here. We have a follow-appointment for Thursday night! We're a little afraid for our appointment we have tonight at a Russian member's house. This member told Sis. Uibel that we coming over so we and the branch president could teach some Jehovah's Witnesses about the need for modern prophets, wow 0.0 Odd invitation, hehehe. We don't want to confront them at all, so if it gets into a fight, then that'll be the end of that. :P
I got the package on Saturday because the Elders in center are the only ones with the mailbox key :P Thanks for the jelly beans! We've eaten through most of the special red fruits kind, but I haven't touched the regular bag yet. I wore one of the pins at Zone Conference yesterday too :) President and Sister Dance mostly just
explained their story of how they were called to the mission and how they were interviewed by Elder Hales and President Monson (before he became prophet). All of the missionaries were also asked to bear their testimonies and so that brought a great spirit into the meeting. They also explained that the new mission president will arrive on June 30th and that he'll immediately start a mission tour, so we're
scheduled to have another zone conference on July 2nd with the new President Boswell. This might've been the last time that I'll see the Dances. We're all so appreciative for their service and respect them greatly.
It's really scary to hear about that forest fire back home. I wish I could send some of the rain that's fallen these last 2 days to you! We're kinda grateful it's cooled down a little this weekend. The folks here say it's usually not this hot for another 2-3 weeks. And yes, it's light outside. Like all the time. It looks about the same from when we go to bed as we wake up. We still see kids out playing and it's 9 o'clock, ha ha ha! On the longest day of the year, June 23rd, is also Estonia's largest holiday, Jaanipäev. (St. John's/midsummer's day). Sis. LeDuc said she took a picture last year at midnight on Jaanipäev and it the sun was still far from the horizon.
I'm not sure about any new clothes I need need yet. We browsed at the mall a little today, but I didn't buy anything. I happened to buy a new skirt when I was in Lithuania 2 weeks ago, so yay for something new to wear~ This Friday is Elder Barney's birthday, so a Triinu (a member) invited us to her family's home for a BBQ, yahoo! We'll try to bring a young investigator along with us too. The other day we went to Hesburger, and they have a limited time Arizona burger so I ordered that ;) I had to! It was pretty good, ha ha!
Time to wrap this up now. Thanks for all the love and prayers! I'm seeing the blessings, however small they are :) Oh yeah, and Happy Fathers' Day!!! Can't forget that! You're so wonderful, Dad. :D
Lots of love,
Courtney
I got the package on Saturday because the Elders in center are the only ones with the mailbox key :P Thanks for the jelly beans! We've eaten through most of the special red fruits kind, but I haven't touched the regular bag yet. I wore one of the pins at Zone Conference yesterday too :) President and Sister Dance mostly just
explained their story of how they were called to the mission and how they were interviewed by Elder Hales and President Monson (before he became prophet). All of the missionaries were also asked to bear their testimonies and so that brought a great spirit into the meeting. They also explained that the new mission president will arrive on June 30th and that he'll immediately start a mission tour, so we're
scheduled to have another zone conference on July 2nd with the new President Boswell. This might've been the last time that I'll see the Dances. We're all so appreciative for their service and respect them greatly.
It's really scary to hear about that forest fire back home. I wish I could send some of the rain that's fallen these last 2 days to you! We're kinda grateful it's cooled down a little this weekend. The folks here say it's usually not this hot for another 2-3 weeks. And yes, it's light outside. Like all the time. It looks about the same from when we go to bed as we wake up. We still see kids out playing and it's 9 o'clock, ha ha ha! On the longest day of the year, June 23rd, is also Estonia's largest holiday, Jaanipäev. (St. John's/midsummer's day). Sis. LeDuc said she took a picture last year at midnight on Jaanipäev and it the sun was still far from the horizon.
I'm not sure about any new clothes I need need yet. We browsed at the mall a little today, but I didn't buy anything. I happened to buy a new skirt when I was in Lithuania 2 weeks ago, so yay for something new to wear~ This Friday is Elder Barney's birthday, so a Triinu (a member) invited us to her family's home for a BBQ, yahoo! We'll try to bring a young investigator along with us too. The other day we went to Hesburger, and they have a limited time Arizona burger so I ordered that ;) I had to! It was pretty good, ha ha!
Time to wrap this up now. Thanks for all the love and prayers! I'm seeing the blessings, however small they are :) Oh yeah, and Happy Fathers' Day!!! Can't forget that! You're so wonderful, Dad. :D
Lots of love,
Courtney
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
June 7, 2011
I'm glad to hear your Memorial Day celebration was lovely! This week has been full of amazing and unexpected things! For example, on Monday night, we called the Russian sisters and they said that since Sis. G was leaving for the MTC in England, she had to go down to Vilnius, Lithuania before then for an appointment with her orthodontist...AND I GOT TO ACCOMPANY HER. WOOHOOOOOO~!!! I never thought I'd ever make it down there, but I guess the Assistants saidthat they thought they'd keep Sis. Uibel and Sis. Lamar up here in Tallinn so they could take care of things in both Russian and Estonian for the days we would be gone. So, Wednesday afternoon, Sis. Grineviciute and I rode down to Riga, spent the night with the Russian sisters there, then went to the bus station early in the morning for our 7am bus to Vilnius. When we arrived, we went straight to her appointment. I sat there waiting for about half an hour and then Sis.G came out and I asked "...That's it? You're done??" We traveled 2 days and 8+ hours on a bus for a half hour appointment, ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, well, I won't complain, because we had a fun time. She got permission from Pres. Dance to visit her family and home to pack more things for the MTC. I slept on her bed for a little as she gathered things. We were actually a little afraid we wouldn't get in because only her grandma was home, and she has hearing problems (and we didn't have a phone), but thankfully she heard enough of our banging on the door to let us in :) Her parents came home and Sis. G's mom prepared us some food as we went to go get some last minute shopping done. When we returned we ate something like breaded chicken with cheese and some rice that her mother cooked for us.
By 6:30, we were back on a bus to Riga, and got there just before 10:30. We started to worry because we didn't see the Dances show up for a while, but finally Sis. Dance came racing into the bus station. Strangely, she was by herself, but she explained that she was busy vacuuming the car out because the General Authorities would be there for the weekend and then she got carried away and lost track of time and then remembered about us sisters waiting at the station! Half way to the bus station, Pres. Dance called her to ask where she went because he thought that they'd go together, but she just left him in the dust, HA HA HA HA!!! That was funny :) Sis. G was set apart that night and then we slept (better yet, napped) at the mission home from midnight until 4 when we had to wake up to get ready to take her to the airport. The Jacques came to pick us up and as we were at the airport, checking in Sis. G's bag, they told us something was wrong with her ticket. Somehow it was reserved, but never paid for...? Anyway, we had to buy her a new one so she could get to England. Once she was on her merry way, I ate breakfast at the Jacques' apartment until it was my turn to go to the bus station for my 8am bus back to Tallinn. Funny thing was, I rode back with Elder Pack (Russian) since he got stuck in Riga after a meeting because he forgot his passport and they wouldn't let him on the bus. So, his companion had to cargo bus it to him and he spent a few extra days in Riga, lol. Rather than sleeping, we ended up talking the entire time back up to Tallinn. It's about a 4 1/2 hour bus ride :P Elder Pack is a chatty one, ha ha.
I kinda wish I just stayed in Riga for the weekend because then we went on back for Mission Conference yesterday. Our bus left at 5:30, and after the conference and lunch, we came back and arrived in Tallinn after 8. I've been pretty exhausted the last week, but it's been fun. Rackin' up the frequent rider miles much? :D Mission conference was absolutely splendid, albeit unpleasantly warm. It shows in all the pictures I took from yesterday, he he. Elders Clayton and Lawrence from the Seventy came, accompanied by their wives. We all had an opportunity to shake their hands and greet them. I realized that we'll have a new mission president by next month. Woooooooow. That'll be an interesting change. The Dances have been fabulous in their service here. Pres. Dance is certainly a very inspired and humble leader.
Our trio with Sis. Uibel has already been a blast. We actually have a lot of appointments set up for this week, and most promising is that actually a member set one up for us with her cousin who came to church on Sunday! We'll be meeting with them tomorrow night. Last week, we also received a referral from another member, and a young teen member randomly called us up on Saturday to possibly teach her friend before she left for England for a month, but that didn't work out. Still ok though. That's quite amazing. Member missionary work is definitely the way to go!
I haven't gotten the package yet because the zone leaders have those keys and they're lazy and only check once, maybe twice a week if we're lucky. xP Normally they'd have mail for us at district meeting, but since we're having preparation day today, we probably won't have it this week. I'll have to call them about that...
Things are looking on the bright side now that it's summer! Let's hope and pray it stays like this for a while :) Thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so dearly.
Kisses,
Courtney
By 6:30, we were back on a bus to Riga, and got there just before 10:30. We started to worry because we didn't see the Dances show up for a while, but finally Sis. Dance came racing into the bus station. Strangely, she was by herself, but she explained that she was busy vacuuming the car out because the General Authorities would be there for the weekend and then she got carried away and lost track of time and then remembered about us sisters waiting at the station! Half way to the bus station, Pres. Dance called her to ask where she went because he thought that they'd go together, but she just left him in the dust, HA HA HA HA!!! That was funny :) Sis. G was set apart that night and then we slept (better yet, napped) at the mission home from midnight until 4 when we had to wake up to get ready to take her to the airport. The Jacques came to pick us up and as we were at the airport, checking in Sis. G's bag, they told us something was wrong with her ticket. Somehow it was reserved, but never paid for...? Anyway, we had to buy her a new one so she could get to England. Once she was on her merry way, I ate breakfast at the Jacques' apartment until it was my turn to go to the bus station for my 8am bus back to Tallinn. Funny thing was, I rode back with Elder Pack (Russian) since he got stuck in Riga after a meeting because he forgot his passport and they wouldn't let him on the bus. So, his companion had to cargo bus it to him and he spent a few extra days in Riga, lol. Rather than sleeping, we ended up talking the entire time back up to Tallinn. It's about a 4 1/2 hour bus ride :P Elder Pack is a chatty one, ha ha.
I kinda wish I just stayed in Riga for the weekend because then we went on back for Mission Conference yesterday. Our bus left at 5:30, and after the conference and lunch, we came back and arrived in Tallinn after 8. I've been pretty exhausted the last week, but it's been fun. Rackin' up the frequent rider miles much? :D Mission conference was absolutely splendid, albeit unpleasantly warm. It shows in all the pictures I took from yesterday, he he. Elders Clayton and Lawrence from the Seventy came, accompanied by their wives. We all had an opportunity to shake their hands and greet them. I realized that we'll have a new mission president by next month. Woooooooow. That'll be an interesting change. The Dances have been fabulous in their service here. Pres. Dance is certainly a very inspired and humble leader.
Our trio with Sis. Uibel has already been a blast. We actually have a lot of appointments set up for this week, and most promising is that actually a member set one up for us with her cousin who came to church on Sunday! We'll be meeting with them tomorrow night. Last week, we also received a referral from another member, and a young teen member randomly called us up on Saturday to possibly teach her friend before she left for England for a month, but that didn't work out. Still ok though. That's quite amazing. Member missionary work is definitely the way to go!
I haven't gotten the package yet because the zone leaders have those keys and they're lazy and only check once, maybe twice a week if we're lucky. xP Normally they'd have mail for us at district meeting, but since we're having preparation day today, we probably won't have it this week. I'll have to call them about that...
Things are looking on the bright side now that it's summer! Let's hope and pray it stays like this for a while :) Thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so dearly.
Kisses,
Courtney
Monday, May 30, 2011
May 30, 2011
Dearly beloved,
I had my first ride in an ambulance today! :D Whee~ Let's hope that'll be the only one too! Poor Sis. LeDuc hurt her knee quite badly while we were playing sports with the other missionaries, and we were going to suck it up to go in a taxi, but then the workers at the sports complex went ahead and called the ambulance, ha ha. The competition was getting rather intense since today we had a couple more players than usual. The Pärnu district stayed overnight after District Conference (like Stake Conference) so that the new missionaries could take care of I.D./visa/whatever work today. Since Sis. Lamar and Sis. Christopher had to do that, I went with Sis. LeDuc to the hospital. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and they still didn't really do a whole lot for her, but now she's on crutches. At least we met a really awesome couple who spoke English because he's from Italy and she's Estonian! He too, hurt his foot after he decided to play just 5 more minutes with his son, ha ha ha! Sis. LeDuc got their info while we got her crutches and x-ray developed, so I think they may actually live in our proselyting area here in Tallinn, yay~
My next 2 preparation days will be on Tuesdays, because on the 6th we'll be in Riga for Mission Conference and then the 13th will be zone conference here in Tallinn. Lots of fun events to look forward too! Recently, I've been thinking a lot about our Staycation and looking at the pictures of that on my camera since that happened a year ago now. It's almost unbelieveable! We found out that July 4th falls on preparation day, so we missionaries are going to have to plan something fun. One of the Russian sisters, Sis. Uibel (pronounced Yu-bel. Strange, I know!) started making an American questionnaire to see how American you really are. I helped her with it when we did exchanges on Thursday :) It's still a month away, so we've got time to work on it, but I'm pretty fond of the first question. Maybe not quite American history persay, but "How many thingamabobs does Ariel have?" :P Go ahead and sing the song!
We ate dinner with some members and the Perrys last week, and so I think we'll try to schedule another appointment this week. It was really lovely. Tonight we have family night with the branch president and his cute little family. District conference yesterday was really grand! President Dance spoke about how many people say that their family is their #1 priority. He'd like to rephrase that as "the salvation of my family is my #1 priority". When we understand that, then we look at the world very differently. Simply spending time with family won't save them. That comes through serving others, fulfilling callings and responsibilites and covenants. (Good work, big bro, in helping your ward members :) He cited examples of Lehi and President Monson in working for their family's salvation. I hope the members can take that to heart in helping their own families. There are many amazing members, but many of their children are straying from the strait and narrow. I don't know if it's because they're afraid of influencing their children's agency too much? Everything that inviteth and enticeth to do good is from God.
Well, I hope you all have another lovely week! Rumors are going around that this week will finally heat up, so I'm excited for that :)
Thanks for all the prayers and love.
Much love,
Courtney
I had my first ride in an ambulance today! :D Whee~ Let's hope that'll be the only one too! Poor Sis. LeDuc hurt her knee quite badly while we were playing sports with the other missionaries, and we were going to suck it up to go in a taxi, but then the workers at the sports complex went ahead and called the ambulance, ha ha. The competition was getting rather intense since today we had a couple more players than usual. The Pärnu district stayed overnight after District Conference (like Stake Conference) so that the new missionaries could take care of I.D./visa/whatever work today. Since Sis. Lamar and Sis. Christopher had to do that, I went with Sis. LeDuc to the hospital. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and they still didn't really do a whole lot for her, but now she's on crutches. At least we met a really awesome couple who spoke English because he's from Italy and she's Estonian! He too, hurt his foot after he decided to play just 5 more minutes with his son, ha ha ha! Sis. LeDuc got their info while we got her crutches and x-ray developed, so I think they may actually live in our proselyting area here in Tallinn, yay~
My next 2 preparation days will be on Tuesdays, because on the 6th we'll be in Riga for Mission Conference and then the 13th will be zone conference here in Tallinn. Lots of fun events to look forward too! Recently, I've been thinking a lot about our Staycation and looking at the pictures of that on my camera since that happened a year ago now. It's almost unbelieveable! We found out that July 4th falls on preparation day, so we missionaries are going to have to plan something fun. One of the Russian sisters, Sis. Uibel (pronounced Yu-bel. Strange, I know!) started making an American questionnaire to see how American you really are. I helped her with it when we did exchanges on Thursday :) It's still a month away, so we've got time to work on it, but I'm pretty fond of the first question. Maybe not quite American history persay, but "How many thingamabobs does Ariel have?" :P Go ahead and sing the song!
We ate dinner with some members and the Perrys last week, and so I think we'll try to schedule another appointment this week. It was really lovely. Tonight we have family night with the branch president and his cute little family. District conference yesterday was really grand! President Dance spoke about how many people say that their family is their #1 priority. He'd like to rephrase that as "the salvation of my family is my #1 priority". When we understand that, then we look at the world very differently. Simply spending time with family won't save them. That comes through serving others, fulfilling callings and responsibilites and covenants. (Good work, big bro, in helping your ward members :) He cited examples of Lehi and President Monson in working for their family's salvation. I hope the members can take that to heart in helping their own families. There are many amazing members, but many of their children are straying from the strait and narrow. I don't know if it's because they're afraid of influencing their children's agency too much? Everything that inviteth and enticeth to do good is from God.
Well, I hope you all have another lovely week! Rumors are going around that this week will finally heat up, so I'm excited for that :)
Thanks for all the prayers and love.
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, May 23, 2011
May 23, 2011
Ahhhhhh, Heather's wedding!!! It's sounds like it was completely fun and lovely~ I got over most of the sickness, but I'm sorta left with a stuffy nose now. Not so fun, especially since it's finally starting to seem like summer. This weekend was perfect for the basketball tournament (lasted for 5 HOURS because of 8, 3-member teams :P Still way fun, even if my team didn't do so well), but now we're drying in the library from the lots of rain that's been pouring since this morning.
Ivo's baptism on Saturday went smoothly, and actually it turned out nicer than I anticipated. I was afraid there wouldn't been a big turnout since we had a branch event in the morning, but other missionaries brought some investigators along too. I ended up giving the 5 minute talk on the Holy Ghost since I couldn't get any other members to do it, haha. Ivo is excited to learn more from us through retention lessons, although I think he has a firm understanding of the doctrine already. The few times we've met to teach, he practically taught us with his responses to questions we were asking him. As far as that amazing family we found, we haven't been able to get in touch with them!! It's really sad! I don't know if she's just been busy or simply avoiding us :/ We'll keep praying for her that we can meet, because now we can't have her scheduled for baptism since it's been a while and she hasn't been taught again or come to church, etc. That means we still don't really have anybody to teach right now, so Sis. Lamar and I have lots of finding to do. I should probably start working on my Russian because I got those missionaries 5 phone numbers this week with my broken, BROKEN, Russian. I'm just hoping that they'll be returning the favors some how, or that there will be some miracles out of those contacts ;)
We'll be doing a dinner appointment at the Perrys' apartment (missionary couple) with some members in our area. This just gives the Perrys a chance to get to know the members and work more with them. We're the translators, and so that means we get some food too!
I'm sorry I don't have any other fun miracles to share. At least not anything big yet ;) There are definitely small ones that go unnoticed. Like for example, we went to randomly visit an inactive member, and he's going to come to church on Sunday! He's really a great man, he just knows he's a little disobedient. We talked a little about Chuck Norris though. Oh yes. That was hilarious! This weekend is District conference so I'm excited to see the members from all over Estonia, and the other missionaries too! On June 6th will be a mission-wide conference in Riga, so that'll be really nifty as well.
Thanks for all the love and support, family and friends. You mean so much to me.
Love,
Courtney
Ivo's baptism on Saturday went smoothly, and actually it turned out nicer than I anticipated. I was afraid there wouldn't been a big turnout since we had a branch event in the morning, but other missionaries brought some investigators along too. I ended up giving the 5 minute talk on the Holy Ghost since I couldn't get any other members to do it, haha. Ivo is excited to learn more from us through retention lessons, although I think he has a firm understanding of the doctrine already. The few times we've met to teach, he practically taught us with his responses to questions we were asking him. As far as that amazing family we found, we haven't been able to get in touch with them!! It's really sad! I don't know if she's just been busy or simply avoiding us :/ We'll keep praying for her that we can meet, because now we can't have her scheduled for baptism since it's been a while and she hasn't been taught again or come to church, etc. That means we still don't really have anybody to teach right now, so Sis. Lamar and I have lots of finding to do. I should probably start working on my Russian because I got those missionaries 5 phone numbers this week with my broken, BROKEN, Russian. I'm just hoping that they'll be returning the favors some how, or that there will be some miracles out of those contacts ;)
We'll be doing a dinner appointment at the Perrys' apartment (missionary couple) with some members in our area. This just gives the Perrys a chance to get to know the members and work more with them. We're the translators, and so that means we get some food too!
I'm sorry I don't have any other fun miracles to share. At least not anything big yet ;) There are definitely small ones that go unnoticed. Like for example, we went to randomly visit an inactive member, and he's going to come to church on Sunday! He's really a great man, he just knows he's a little disobedient. We talked a little about Chuck Norris though. Oh yes. That was hilarious! This weekend is District conference so I'm excited to see the members from all over Estonia, and the other missionaries too! On June 6th will be a mission-wide conference in Riga, so that'll be really nifty as well.
Thanks for all the love and support, family and friends. You mean so much to me.
Love,
Courtney
Monday, May 16, 2011
May 16, 2011
Awww, that was a cute story of playtime at Grandma's~ I wish I could get my hands on some Berry Crunch cereal for that size and price. My favorite cereal only lasts me about 4 bowlfuls (sp?), ha ha.
Well, I suppose the news is that I'm here in Tallinn with Sis. Lamar from Camdenton, Missouri. Sis. LeDuc is training Sis. Christopher back in Pärnu. We rode down to Riga on a bus Wednesday afternoon, so we arrived there a 5 in the evening and split up and did some things with the Latvian sisters and the met back at their apartment to sleep there for the night. Early Thursday morning, we had a Trainers' meeting where we discussed some of the new training material, straight from the MTC this year. The new program includes an extra hour of companion study and is geared towards helping new missionaries be prepared to train after being in the field for 12 weeks, if need be. Sis. Lamar told me that the next group in the MTC will have 2 Elder and 2 Sisters so she or Sis. Christopher could very well be training! That means we'll have 6 sisters at the beginning of August, so 2 trios? That'd be fun! Sis. LeDuc got permission from President Dance to leave mid-transfer so she could fly straight back to Utah to go to school, and that'll happen at the end of August. Interesting stuff~
Church would've been much more enjoyable if I wasn't sick xP I came down with a fever and a sore throat on Saturday night and I was about ready to ditch out on church, but I didn't want Sis. Lamar to miss her first Sunday. I mainly tried to sit in the back away from people aaaaaaand also so I could get some shut eye. After church, I asked for a blessing from Elder Broby. I'm doing a little better now, but I'm still really tired and somewhat achy :/ Being sick on a mission is the pits, and I especially feel bad for Sis. Lamar because she's stuck with me right now! She's so gung-ho at the moment (coming straight out of the MTC) so anytime we have to be inside is probably just eating at her. Well, hopefully she won't have to deal with more seriously ill companions, like I did.
This Saturday is the branch's annual basketball tournament! Fun fun! I know I used to be an aspiring basketball star in my days as a wee one, but I probably have no skills left in me, ha ha ha! Saturday is also important because our investigator Ivo is getting baptized. He just had his interview last night, so he's good to go ;) We were supposed to teach Sirli back on Tuesday, but she got sick and I sent her a text Saturday night, but she hasn't responded. :/ She still hasn't come to church yet, so if we ever do meet with her again, we'll probably have to push back her baptismal date.
Boy, this is a really lame e-mail, buuuuuuut that's all of the interesting news that I have :/ Let's pray for some miracles this next week! Thanks for all the love and support!! Oh yeah, and here's my new address:
Sister Courtney Smith
P/K 3379
10156 Tallinn
Estonia
Love you so much!
Courtney
Well, I suppose the news is that I'm here in Tallinn with Sis. Lamar from Camdenton, Missouri. Sis. LeDuc is training Sis. Christopher back in Pärnu. We rode down to Riga on a bus Wednesday afternoon, so we arrived there a 5 in the evening and split up and did some things with the Latvian sisters and the met back at their apartment to sleep there for the night. Early Thursday morning, we had a Trainers' meeting where we discussed some of the new training material, straight from the MTC this year. The new program includes an extra hour of companion study and is geared towards helping new missionaries be prepared to train after being in the field for 12 weeks, if need be. Sis. Lamar told me that the next group in the MTC will have 2 Elder and 2 Sisters so she or Sis. Christopher could very well be training! That means we'll have 6 sisters at the beginning of August, so 2 trios? That'd be fun! Sis. LeDuc got permission from President Dance to leave mid-transfer so she could fly straight back to Utah to go to school, and that'll happen at the end of August. Interesting stuff~
Church would've been much more enjoyable if I wasn't sick xP I came down with a fever and a sore throat on Saturday night and I was about ready to ditch out on church, but I didn't want Sis. Lamar to miss her first Sunday. I mainly tried to sit in the back away from people aaaaaaand also so I could get some shut eye. After church, I asked for a blessing from Elder Broby. I'm doing a little better now, but I'm still really tired and somewhat achy :/ Being sick on a mission is the pits, and I especially feel bad for Sis. Lamar because she's stuck with me right now! She's so gung-ho at the moment (coming straight out of the MTC) so anytime we have to be inside is probably just eating at her. Well, hopefully she won't have to deal with more seriously ill companions, like I did.
This Saturday is the branch's annual basketball tournament! Fun fun! I know I used to be an aspiring basketball star in my days as a wee one, but I probably have no skills left in me, ha ha ha! Saturday is also important because our investigator Ivo is getting baptized. He just had his interview last night, so he's good to go ;) We were supposed to teach Sirli back on Tuesday, but she got sick and I sent her a text Saturday night, but she hasn't responded. :/ She still hasn't come to church yet, so if we ever do meet with her again, we'll probably have to push back her baptismal date.
Boy, this is a really lame e-mail, buuuuuuut that's all of the interesting news that I have :/ Let's pray for some miracles this next week! Thanks for all the love and support!! Oh yeah, and here's my new address:
Sister Courtney Smith
P/K 3379
10156 Tallinn
Estonia
Love you so much!
Courtney
Monday, May 9, 2011
May 9, 2011
Yay for Mother's Day calls!!! Except, immediately after I hung up, I realized that I forgot to bear my testimony in Estonian. Ha ha ha, oops~ Well, I guess you'll just have to wait a little longer to hear that. That was my second and last phone call I'll have on the mission. Wowzers! About the "like", it's come from talking with missionaries and telling crazy stories too much, ha ha! At least I don't say it when I speak Estonian! Some missionaries say "nagu" all the time, and it's rather distracting, at least for me :P I'm sure you feel the same way, he he he!!!
It was nice to hear all of your voices! The "cinco-cinco-cinco" was really cute :) Church yesterday was just great. Our investigator couldn't make it, but we'll have an appointment with her tomorrow night and a member offered her home for us to teach, so I hope we can do it there! Today's and Yesterday's weather has been gorgeous! We don't need any sort of jackets, and it's been nice to soak in some warmth and sunlight! I just hope that when it's really hot here, that it will be only for a short time. I can't imagine enduring hot weather without AC. Well, we still have a ways until that gets here, so moving on~
I don't think I have much to report on today since I told you most of the latest news on the phone already. Transfers calls will be no later than Tuesday night, but I'm already getting nervous for that! I'm excited to get a new companion and with the new training module that we have, that means we'll be together for at least 2 transfers (3 months). This new training would have been nice for Sis. LeDuc and I to have when we first got here to Estonia because supposedly it prepares you to train after only being in the field for 12 weeks. I was just thinking, I might have to train for the remainder of my mission... Am I ready for this?? Perhaps I'll never think so, but I was talking it over with Sis. Wrigley (Russian sister going home this week) and she said that it's amazing to see how the Lord helps you, in a way, to step up to that responsibility. Sis. LeDuc is going to be a great trainer, although she still worries with the language. I'm sure it'll turn out fine for me too :)
I've tried to keep half of my things packed, just in case I have to move, but I'll still have to re-situate things, ha ha. At least since we know we won't be opening a new apartment, wherever we end up, hopefully that means we won't have to take random cleaning/apartment supplies along with us. That made the move from Pärnu a rather interesting one :P Well, it's about time for me to get going now! Gotta go get some pancakes at Kompressor! Yummy~ Thanks for all the love and prayers! You're the bestest ;D
Love,
Courtney
It was nice to hear all of your voices! The "cinco-cinco-cinco" was really cute :) Church yesterday was just great. Our investigator couldn't make it, but we'll have an appointment with her tomorrow night and a member offered her home for us to teach, so I hope we can do it there! Today's and Yesterday's weather has been gorgeous! We don't need any sort of jackets, and it's been nice to soak in some warmth and sunlight! I just hope that when it's really hot here, that it will be only for a short time. I can't imagine enduring hot weather without AC. Well, we still have a ways until that gets here, so moving on~
I don't think I have much to report on today since I told you most of the latest news on the phone already. Transfers calls will be no later than Tuesday night, but I'm already getting nervous for that! I'm excited to get a new companion and with the new training module that we have, that means we'll be together for at least 2 transfers (3 months). This new training would have been nice for Sis. LeDuc and I to have when we first got here to Estonia because supposedly it prepares you to train after only being in the field for 12 weeks. I was just thinking, I might have to train for the remainder of my mission... Am I ready for this?? Perhaps I'll never think so, but I was talking it over with Sis. Wrigley (Russian sister going home this week) and she said that it's amazing to see how the Lord helps you, in a way, to step up to that responsibility. Sis. LeDuc is going to be a great trainer, although she still worries with the language. I'm sure it'll turn out fine for me too :)
I've tried to keep half of my things packed, just in case I have to move, but I'll still have to re-situate things, ha ha. At least since we know we won't be opening a new apartment, wherever we end up, hopefully that means we won't have to take random cleaning/apartment supplies along with us. That made the move from Pärnu a rather interesting one :P Well, it's about time for me to get going now! Gotta go get some pancakes at Kompressor! Yummy~ Thanks for all the love and prayers! You're the bestest ;D
Love,
Courtney
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