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

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

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

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

May 2, 2011

Ooh boy, things have been pretty hectic this week, but so far so good in Tallinn. The Pärnu Elders have been taking the liberty of staying at our apartment there and eating our food, but oh well. Our new place here is like ye olde standard Estonian 2 room apartment. It's certainly tinier than the Pärnu South apartment and it was previously inhabited by an old grandma. Oh yes, it shows, ha ha ha ha. The Perrys, the missionary couple here in Tallinn, went to sign the lease and the owner didn't expect us to move in so quickly so the apartment was in pretty bad shape, cleaning-wise. The Perrys spent probably 7 hours just cleaning the kitchen on Wednesday. When we arrived on Thursday morning, we spent maybe 2 hours cleaning everything in the bathroom. The floor is still really gross so we might just chuck the rubbery covering on it and buy some new rugs or something. Perhaps the Perrys were a little desperate to get the apartment, but oh well. It's a missionary apartment. They're not always the prettiest places, but they're functional. Like for example, my bed could certainly be used for a trampoline, it's that bouncy! We're dying to try out some of the pieces from granny's several tea sets too :) And with the Russian sisters just a 10 minute walk away, there's definitely going to be fun things in the future!

President Dance just wanted to move us up here so we could get this area somewhat established before the new sisters arrive. We had to pack all of our belongings since one of us will be staying here to train while the other will go back to Pärnu or Tartu. I know sisters haven't been there (Tartu) in over a year. There might be hints that I'll be here, but there's still a week before transfers. The weather's been colder here than in Pärnu :P Must be that cold, nothern wind from the sea. We haven't been left with many investigators to work with, or much of an area book for that matter, so we're pretty much starting from scratch with this area. Yay for being whitewashed~ It's a little daunting, but so far it's been fun. We have the area of Mustamäe and Haabersti, so like south-western Tallinn. I think Mustamäe is kinda 50/50 when it comes to Russian and Estonian. Last night we went to do some knocking for about 2 hours at the far end of Haabersti. Lovely place!! I haven't seen nice houses of that size in well, almost a year, ha ha.

Miracle of today was that on our way to the library on the tram, we noticed a black man out the window who got of the tram. I always get excited when I see signs of diversity here :P Anyway, he stood in front of where we sat and he was just looking at us. I'd wanted to say something and then he asked in English if we were from some church. He'd seen my nametag! He's from Nigeria and he remembers a branch from his home town and had some good impressions of it. He's very religious and just wants to help his wife (an Estonian and sitting in front of us :) learn about Christ. So we gave them a contact card, a Book of Mormon, and we got their phone number. Aziz told us that he's looking forward to our call to meet in the future! And they'd like to come to church too! We had missed our stop because we were talking to him, but he also admitted that our conversation made his family miss his stop as well, ha ha ha! Wow, what a tender mercy from the Lord!

I don't have the mailing address for our mailbox in Tallinn yet. I'll get working on that. We still did an exchange on Friday, so Sis. G came with me to do service with the ward at the Zoo on Friday while Sis. LeDuc chilled with Sis. Dawson and Sis. Wrigley (who has had foot problems lately and can't do much) We'll be helping them out more this week so at least all of the sisters can get some equal time to get out there and work.

As far as the Mother's Day call, you can call me when it's evening time, therefore early morning for me. Sis. LeDuc's fam is going to call us during our night time. Maybe you could call me at around 7am? I don't know what time that'd be for you. Thanks for the prayers. I think it's working :)

Love,
Courtney

P.S.I actually can't really go and check on my e-mail so easily, but since it was an emergency, I got permission :)