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
Monday, June 27, 2011
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
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