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 ;)