You know you've been here too long when 22 degrees Fahrenheit sounds like a lovely warm day, ha ha ha! I think I'm starting to acclimate a bit because I was sweatin' like crazy on the way home from the store this morning. Well, we were carrying a lot of food and trekkin' through fresh snow too, ha ha. Today is not as cold as it was at the start of last week. I finally starting busting out my "Hot Chilly's" thermal pants this past week and they're working like a charm so far. I'm crossing my fingers I won't have to double up on them half way through January :P
And yes! I finally got that package last Thursday and everything was accounted for. Sheesh, it took a month to get here, but it was well worth the wait. I could definitely feel the love radiating from the box :D The scarves and hats were adorable and they're warm, so send my thanks along to those who made them :) I'm guessing the 3 corn bags were for each of us so I gave one to each of the companions as part of my Christmas gift to them. They were also thankful for the Brite Crawlers, measuring cups, and the Peanut Butter M&Ms, but they haven't dug into those yet! The U.S. post has some restrictions on foreign mail coming in for Christmas time, so I can't send stuff over 500 grams until the 9th or something, so my gifts to you may be late :/ Not cool. Probably terrorist warnings. As far as shipping food, I asked Sis. A and she said call her mom, lol.
Bye bye Kroon. Euro's coming to town at the start of the new year. Should I even bother bringing some kroon-age home? I've got a couple of coins which are pretty much worthless anyway. Meh, I guess I could look at pictures on the internet. That's so cool that you get to watch Rachel directing Westwood's Canticle in Carols this year. I used to watch her sing in it! I'm glad Annessa is going on a mission! I always thought she'd be one to go :)
Aili's all set for her baptism on Saturday! The branch hasn't had a baptism for 3 months, so this is a boost for morale. We're doing a little family home evening thing with her tonight, so I'm happy for that :) We escorted Liidia to and from game night on Friday, so that was fun. She asked us for her help in moving some wood from her shed into her house since her son or whoever was sick with a bad cough. We always were ask her if she needed help with anything after we teach her lessons, but I'm glad she finally took us up on our offer! I took that as a sign that her heart is softening ever so slowly :) We tried inviting an "eternal investigator" to baptism too, but she kept trying to divert the conversation and kept making the same ol' excuses, so that was disappointing. She's totally ready, but is too afraid to act. Heck, she's been coming to church since it was started here in Pärnu like 6 years ago. She's known about the church longer than practically all of the other active members. Oh well. We keep trying. Silly old people...
On Wednesday, we were treated to a buffet lunch at a hotel with some wealthy Finnish members. They came to church for Sacrament meeting and always invite the missionaries to eat with them. They come to the hotel and spa here like twice a year because it's much cheaper than in Finland. Sister Tomson (sp?) spoke English well and told us of her travels all around the world. We definitely ate our fill and were very grateful. They know we tend to eat a lot because we never know when we'll get our next warm meal, ha ha ha! The man that was with us is actually one of the sealers in the Helsinki Temple. Cool!
I'm getting excited for Zone Conference next week in Tallinn. I wonder if they'll have us stay with the Russian-speaking sisters they just put up there... We've been coming up with some ideas to help spread the Christmas cheer and the gospel this holiday season. Been prayin' for some Christmas miracles, especially since we need to build an investigator pool. Maybe we'll sing some carols as a branch out on the street or near the shopping areas and hand out pamphlets as a part of our Christmas party next Friday. I'd totally be down for that! Well, that's pretty much all the big news for this week! Thanks for the love and prayers. I feel it :)
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
November 29, 2010 Thanksgiving
It's been a super week! Haven't really had any luck or opportunities to find new people to teach, but Aili has accepted baptism on the 11th of December! She's very willing to learn about the gospel and I'd say the members have taken the responsibility of doing most of the teaching :) The Elders also have a baptism for the 18th. This'll be exciting for the branch! We made a companionship goal 2-3 weeks ago that we wanted 2 baptisms within a month span. We remembered this goal last night and we've planned to confront some "eternal investigators" this week and challenge them to baptism after we have a small testimony meeting with them. That's definitely the optimal way to invite the spirit to touch people's hearts. A lot of testifying has been softening Liidia's heart a little bit at a time each time we go back to visit. She's opened up a lot to us and is reading a little bit of the Book of Mormon at a time, but I don't know if she's keen on continually coming to our church each week. We keep inviting her to events though.
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Tuesday since Elder Hortin was flying out on Thursday to go back home. It's crazy to think he's home now. We miss him already, haha! Sis. LeDuc had the pleasure of cleanin' the innards while I held a flash light and Sis. Aitken was making the pie crust early in the morning. Sis. A chronicled the whole life of the turkey from cleaning, brining, cooking, basting, and eating, lol. It took a lot of time preparing the meal, so it made us even more thankful for our dear mothers back home. Sis. A also invited her friend Kätlin to come and feast with us since she had lived in America for a bit. Sis. Aitken's mom sent a can of pumpkin pie filling, but the pie wasn't ready to eat until after we got back from English class that night. We shared some with Merit and Janeli and they enjoyed the pie greatly! (Although, it sure doesn't touch your homemade squash pie, Mama!)
It snowed from Tuesday to Thursday so we had a "white" Thanksgiving! It's been clear and sunny this weekend, but it's certainly a wee bit nippy out now!! I checked the weather report on the newspaper rack in the post office this morning and it's like, 7 degrees fahrenheit today!!! As we went to the grocery store, my breath froze to my hair and gave it a lovely frosted look so the companions had to take a picture, haha! I also had my first casualty of the season the other day (i.e. I slipped and fell on my bum). I guess the missionaries like to keep a "fall" count :D Friday was game night and we played some way fun tag game that I'm going to have to teach you some time! Aili even brought her granddaughter, and I know they enjoyed it :) The kids kept wanting me to play tag with them and they WORE ME OUT! We always get such a workout after game night, ha ha ha!
On Saturday was some sort of Relief Society enrichment activity where there were two short talks about the Word of Wisdom and then the rest of the time was filled with singing songs and eating lunch and chatting around a big table. It was really fun to just listen to them tells stories and laugh :) Oh goodness~these ladies are just the cutest!
I got a letter from cousin Chaz this week since I sent him a postcard a few weeks ago. He seems to be doing well, so I'm proud of him! Still no package though!! Sis. Aitken could've sworn it would have been here on Friday because her packages senses were tingling. I'm pretty sure it'll turn up finally this week... Mom, I was thinking about how I should handwrite some more letters. Now that winter is coming there's no real good reason to stay out for Preparation Days, so I'll try to repent and send some handwritten love your way! I'll be sending home a package, but it might be a little late since I'm only sending it this week :/
We're finally going to go to McDonald's today. Yup, that's right! Pärnu is now a legit town since there's a McD's. They built it about 2-3 months ago, but I haven't gone there yet since it's at the edge of town on the Elder's side of the river. Today's e-mail from President Dance reminded us of the upcoming Christmas phone calls from home! You can call our cell phone between 7-10pm (our time) and the phone calls are to last 30-40 minutes. We'll probably have to create a family call list with the 3 of us, so let me know which time is optimal for you and I'll let you know when to call exactly ;) Also, we have training in Tallinn again on the 13-14th of December, so P-day is going to be on Wednesday that week.
Well, I think that's it for this week! It sounds like you had a splendid Thanksgiving, as usual. I know being away from home has definitely caused me to ponder a little more about all that I have to be grateful for ;) I love you all so dearly.
Much love,
Courtney
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Tuesday since Elder Hortin was flying out on Thursday to go back home. It's crazy to think he's home now. We miss him already, haha! Sis. LeDuc had the pleasure of cleanin' the innards while I held a flash light and Sis. Aitken was making the pie crust early in the morning. Sis. A chronicled the whole life of the turkey from cleaning, brining, cooking, basting, and eating, lol. It took a lot of time preparing the meal, so it made us even more thankful for our dear mothers back home. Sis. A also invited her friend Kätlin to come and feast with us since she had lived in America for a bit. Sis. Aitken's mom sent a can of pumpkin pie filling, but the pie wasn't ready to eat until after we got back from English class that night. We shared some with Merit and Janeli and they enjoyed the pie greatly! (Although, it sure doesn't touch your homemade squash pie, Mama!)
It snowed from Tuesday to Thursday so we had a "white" Thanksgiving! It's been clear and sunny this weekend, but it's certainly a wee bit nippy out now!! I checked the weather report on the newspaper rack in the post office this morning and it's like, 7 degrees fahrenheit today!!! As we went to the grocery store, my breath froze to my hair and gave it a lovely frosted look so the companions had to take a picture, haha! I also had my first casualty of the season the other day (i.e. I slipped and fell on my bum). I guess the missionaries like to keep a "fall" count :D Friday was game night and we played some way fun tag game that I'm going to have to teach you some time! Aili even brought her granddaughter, and I know they enjoyed it :) The kids kept wanting me to play tag with them and they WORE ME OUT! We always get such a workout after game night, ha ha ha!
On Saturday was some sort of Relief Society enrichment activity where there were two short talks about the Word of Wisdom and then the rest of the time was filled with singing songs and eating lunch and chatting around a big table. It was really fun to just listen to them tells stories and laugh :) Oh goodness~these ladies are just the cutest!
I got a letter from cousin Chaz this week since I sent him a postcard a few weeks ago. He seems to be doing well, so I'm proud of him! Still no package though!! Sis. Aitken could've sworn it would have been here on Friday because her packages senses were tingling. I'm pretty sure it'll turn up finally this week... Mom, I was thinking about how I should handwrite some more letters. Now that winter is coming there's no real good reason to stay out for Preparation Days, so I'll try to repent and send some handwritten love your way! I'll be sending home a package, but it might be a little late since I'm only sending it this week :/
We're finally going to go to McDonald's today. Yup, that's right! Pärnu is now a legit town since there's a McD's. They built it about 2-3 months ago, but I haven't gone there yet since it's at the edge of town on the Elder's side of the river. Today's e-mail from President Dance reminded us of the upcoming Christmas phone calls from home! You can call our cell phone between 7-10pm (our time) and the phone calls are to last 30-40 minutes. We'll probably have to create a family call list with the 3 of us, so let me know which time is optimal for you and I'll let you know when to call exactly ;) Also, we have training in Tallinn again on the 13-14th of December, so P-day is going to be on Wednesday that week.
Well, I think that's it for this week! It sounds like you had a splendid Thanksgiving, as usual. I know being away from home has definitely caused me to ponder a little more about all that I have to be grateful for ;) I love you all so dearly.
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, November 22, 2010
Email November 22, 2010 Thanksgiving preparations
Sorry to say that I don't have the package, yet! Methinks it'll arrive tomorrow. I know Sis. Aitken likes using flat rate boxes so she can stuff as many items in a box that she can. We did find a turkey last week, so we'll start baking it today for tomorrow's feast :) We're going to invite Sis. Aitken's Estonian friend Kätlin to come.
We actually had a snow storm on Thursday, but we we're inside a car and buildings most of the time since we had to go to Tallinn for Zone Conference. We rented a van for the day since we had to drive up really early in the morning to get there by 8am. Halfway there, the driver's music changed from soundtracks to some Fleetwood Mac, so that kinda woke me up, haha. Sis. LeDuc and I sorta jammed out quietly in the back seat to classic rock. Prolly shouldn't have done that:P Elder Scwitzer of the Seventy taught us about all the convincing evidence that proves that the Book of Mormon could not have been written by an uneducated young man in the 1800s. Also, we should use it as our main source for handling objections that people might have about the church. Our investigator Aili is progressing pretty well I think. We'll try to get a baptismal date for her this week when we meet. The best thing is that she has made good friends with the members, so they'll be a good support when we invite her to come unto Christ.
Last week, the landlord had some guys take away our fridge because it was leaking stuff in the back. The next day, they brought a brand new Whirlpool. It's so nice and big~ Last p-day we went to Pärnu's "mini zoo" which is pretty much a a reptile house in a basement. I got to hold a boa constrictor until he started getting tangled up around me so I had the owner hand it off to the other missionaries. There were lots of poisonous snakes and he even had an alligator too. Fun stuff! Sis. Aitken's been sick since Thursday so we didn't venture out to do much finding this week. I had to have Merit come be my temporary companion so I could go help at English class and game night.
As far as Christmas things....I dunno know what I would like! The problem is that I don't know what I need since it isn't freezing cold yet and it takes like 2 weeks for packages to get here so by that time, it'll be after Christmas :P I guess some blouses would be nice. Or maybe you could just give me some money and I'll go do the shopping. Sorry, I ran out of time for this e-mail! The others are getting hungry for some lunch, plus it's Elder Hortin's last p-day so we'll have to find something to do.
Thanks for the love and prayers!
Courtney
We actually had a snow storm on Thursday, but we we're inside a car and buildings most of the time since we had to go to Tallinn for Zone Conference. We rented a van for the day since we had to drive up really early in the morning to get there by 8am. Halfway there, the driver's music changed from soundtracks to some Fleetwood Mac, so that kinda woke me up, haha. Sis. LeDuc and I sorta jammed out quietly in the back seat to classic rock. Prolly shouldn't have done that:P Elder Scwitzer of the Seventy taught us about all the convincing evidence that proves that the Book of Mormon could not have been written by an uneducated young man in the 1800s. Also, we should use it as our main source for handling objections that people might have about the church. Our investigator Aili is progressing pretty well I think. We'll try to get a baptismal date for her this week when we meet. The best thing is that she has made good friends with the members, so they'll be a good support when we invite her to come unto Christ.
Last week, the landlord had some guys take away our fridge because it was leaking stuff in the back. The next day, they brought a brand new Whirlpool. It's so nice and big~ Last p-day we went to Pärnu's "mini zoo" which is pretty much a a reptile house in a basement. I got to hold a boa constrictor until he started getting tangled up around me so I had the owner hand it off to the other missionaries. There were lots of poisonous snakes and he even had an alligator too. Fun stuff! Sis. Aitken's been sick since Thursday so we didn't venture out to do much finding this week. I had to have Merit come be my temporary companion so I could go help at English class and game night.
As far as Christmas things....I dunno know what I would like! The problem is that I don't know what I need since it isn't freezing cold yet and it takes like 2 weeks for packages to get here so by that time, it'll be after Christmas :P I guess some blouses would be nice. Or maybe you could just give me some money and I'll go do the shopping. Sorry, I ran out of time for this e-mail! The others are getting hungry for some lunch, plus it's Elder Hortin's last p-day so we'll have to find something to do.
Thanks for the love and prayers!
Courtney
Monday, November 15, 2010
Email November 15, 2010
Howdy friends and fam!
I didn't have a chance to check the post office before coming to the library, but we will stop by there after I write this :) I got a letter from Heather and Noel this week. Noel even wrote her's on some mighty T-Rex paper from like, Spencer's 6th or 7th birthday party. Yes, they still kept it around, ha ha ha! It was fun to hear some news about friends like Maureen Davis and Caitlin Porter getting mission
calls :)
As far meeting the young man from the stake who's Latvian-speaking, if there's a Russian-speaking sister who's been switched to Estonian, then maybe they'd come to the mission at the same time and I could meet him when we pick her up from the mission home, but who knows howsoon we'll be able to get another sister here. We think it won't be until April :P
Sis. Aitken is still pretty sensitive to some foods, or at least just dairy (which is so prominent here x). Pretty much all she eats now is chicken, tomatoes, and pears. We went to do some service at Saima's house on Saturday and she cooked us some rice and veggies. There was probably some butter in it because that made
Sis. A's tummy a little upset. Sis. LeDuc is actually from New Jersey, she just goes to school at BYU. She studies marine biology and dreams of living in
Australia :) For being out in the field most, she has the most problems with the language, but I'm sure Heavenly Father needs her here for her sincere love for people, even people she's just met!
Next week, we'll try cooking our own Thanksgiving meal, but it'll be on Tuesday or Wednesday since Elder Hortin is leaving the mission on Thursday. Sis. Aitken's mom sent her some cans and spices and things so we could make a decent meal. Now we just need to figure out where to get a turkey... If you send me recipes, it'll be easier through e-mail. We do most of our own cooking, but people we visit often try
to feed us little pastries, tea, or pancakes (Estonian pancakes are a little more like crepes). One member, Vilma has invited us over for dinner a few times though. Her son (just turned 40 :) is the branch secretary and he's the only active member with a car. . everyone else uses buses or bikes. Every time we come, Vilma fills the the little table with too much food :) I'm sure she'll have us over one last time before Elder Hortin leaves.
At Friday game night, Nelly interrogated me and the other missionaries about who rang her doorbell and left socks for her a week ago. Oh my goodness, it was sooooooo DIFFICULT to keep my mouth shut about it!!! xP "Ütle ausalt, ütle ausalt!" ("say it honestly!") she repeatedly told me! Her cute little squeaky voice and eyes~ Oh it was so hard!! xD We finally got to chat with Aili and her member friend Tiia a little after church. She's come 4 times to church already and we
haven't even taught her a realy lesson yet! We have an appointment with them tomorrow morning. Liidia also came to church, but had to leave immediately after sacrament meeting so we didn't get a chance to talk to her about it. We have Zone Conference up in Tallinn on Thursday, so I'm getting excited for that. Pres. and Sis. Dance and the Tartu Elders came to Pärnu last Thursday to have some training
about goal setting and planning.
I'm still thinking about what I could really use for Christmas. Hopefully I can figure it out soon for ya! Thanks for the prayers family. I know there are people who are being prepared to hear this message, it's just a little more difficult to "hunt them out of the holes of the rocks" ;) Not quite like the "fishing" work in Latin America, Philippines, etc. (think Jeremiah 16:16.) We're still not very experienced at this stuff, but we're learning together.
Love,
Courtney
I didn't have a chance to check the post office before coming to the library, but we will stop by there after I write this :) I got a letter from Heather and Noel this week. Noel even wrote her's on some mighty T-Rex paper from like, Spencer's 6th or 7th birthday party. Yes, they still kept it around, ha ha ha! It was fun to hear some news about friends like Maureen Davis and Caitlin Porter getting mission
calls :)
As far meeting the young man from the stake who's Latvian-speaking, if there's a Russian-speaking sister who's been switched to Estonian, then maybe they'd come to the mission at the same time and I could meet him when we pick her up from the mission home, but who knows howsoon we'll be able to get another sister here. We think it won't be until April :P
Sis. Aitken is still pretty sensitive to some foods, or at least just dairy (which is so prominent here x). Pretty much all she eats now is chicken, tomatoes, and pears. We went to do some service at Saima's house on Saturday and she cooked us some rice and veggies. There was probably some butter in it because that made
Sis. A's tummy a little upset. Sis. LeDuc is actually from New Jersey, she just goes to school at BYU. She studies marine biology and dreams of living in
Australia :) For being out in the field most, she has the most problems with the language, but I'm sure Heavenly Father needs her here for her sincere love for people, even people she's just met!
Next week, we'll try cooking our own Thanksgiving meal, but it'll be on Tuesday or Wednesday since Elder Hortin is leaving the mission on Thursday. Sis. Aitken's mom sent her some cans and spices and things so we could make a decent meal. Now we just need to figure out where to get a turkey... If you send me recipes, it'll be easier through e-mail. We do most of our own cooking, but people we visit often try
to feed us little pastries, tea, or pancakes (Estonian pancakes are a little more like crepes). One member, Vilma has invited us over for dinner a few times though. Her son (just turned 40 :) is the branch secretary and he's the only active member with a car. . everyone else uses buses or bikes. Every time we come, Vilma fills the the little table with too much food :) I'm sure she'll have us over one last time before Elder Hortin leaves.
At Friday game night, Nelly interrogated me and the other missionaries about who rang her doorbell and left socks for her a week ago. Oh my goodness, it was sooooooo DIFFICULT to keep my mouth shut about it!!! xP "Ütle ausalt, ütle ausalt!" ("say it honestly!") she repeatedly told me! Her cute little squeaky voice and eyes~ Oh it was so hard!! xD We finally got to chat with Aili and her member friend Tiia a little after church. She's come 4 times to church already and we
haven't even taught her a realy lesson yet! We have an appointment with them tomorrow morning. Liidia also came to church, but had to leave immediately after sacrament meeting so we didn't get a chance to talk to her about it. We have Zone Conference up in Tallinn on Thursday, so I'm getting excited for that. Pres. and Sis. Dance and the Tartu Elders came to Pärnu last Thursday to have some training
about goal setting and planning.
I'm still thinking about what I could really use for Christmas. Hopefully I can figure it out soon for ya! Thanks for the prayers family. I know there are people who are being prepared to hear this message, it's just a little more difficult to "hunt them out of the holes of the rocks" ;) Not quite like the "fishing" work in Latin America, Philippines, etc. (think Jeremiah 16:16.) We're still not very experienced at this stuff, but we're learning together.
Love,
Courtney
Monday, November 8, 2010
Email November 8, 2010
Courtney Smith Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 3:25 AM
It snowed a wee bit last night so that there's some crunchiness to your step on the sidewalks, but it's mostly melted now.
Is there anything you want for Christmas? The other sisters have been picking up things to send home, but I don't know what to get for ya'll. I'll look for a nativity, but I doubt they'll put those out (if they have them at all) until it's actually close to Christmas :)
Things with Liidia might be ok now. We paid her a random visit to drop off some cake and she insisted on serving us some tea and snacks before we left. She told us she's coming to church on Sunday, so we'll visit her again this week to make sure she's set for that commitment. We've been helping Maive with English tutoring for a while now. She's a mother of 9 (yeah, that doesn't really happen in Estonia) and comes to church but is not a member because she's actually not married. We've read 2 Nephi 31 about why baptism is so important and invited her to be baptized and she said yes! However, we didn't set an actual date because the lesson ended awkwardly because she had to get going :/ I'm not sure what her "life partner" thinks about marriage so that's something that we're praying can happen as we try to set a baptism date. The marriage papers have to be in 30 in advance and the church can pretty much pay for the whole thing and do it really cheap, we just need to get them legal. We want to start teaching some of the kids too. Plans to teach Maria fell through last week, so we need to teach her this week.
At game night, we had a doughnut eating contest where the contestant had to eat a doughnut on a string that somebody else was holding in front of their face. Sis. Aitken was holding, I was eating...and I came in dead last, HAHAHA!!! Sis. Aitken was laughing so hard that the doughnut kept moving too much that I couldn't get a solid bite at it :P Oh, the frustration, hahaha! At the party, Sis. Aitken also noticed the RS president's socks were quite hole-y so she felt compelled to donate some socks that her mother just sent her. So how'd we do it secretly? Door bell ditch, of course! We placed the socks in a bag and put it in front of the door, rang, and then ran around to the neighbors apartment. We heard her say something, but she never came to the door. So, attempt numba 2. Failed. As I went to check and try again one last time, the neighbor's lamp came on and they started to come out of the door so I quickly darted around a wall. Boy, was I scared!!! If they actually stepped out 15 ft from the doorway they would have found me guiltily hiding in a corner! They came out yelling "Who's running around out here?!?!?!" Apparently the walls are very thin or something :P They shouted angrily in Estonian and Russian for a minute or two, and then Nelly FINALLY opened her door to see the ruckus. They talked about how the doorbell rang, and she asked who it was, but nobody answered. And then the neighbor noticed the socks and the voice changed as they realized it was a gift. Nelly asked if the neighbor saw a man or woman, and the neighbor said it was a man. Oh goody. I'm glad I look like a man in a dark coat and skirt! :D Maybe door bell ditching is best used in America, hehehe.
On Wednesday, we got a phone call from a young man who has been selling books in America for several summers and actually knocked into Sis. Aitken's family back in September. That girl's got the oddest connections to Estonians! He promised her mom he'd visit us one day, so while he was in Pärnu for the day (he's from Tartu), he gave us a phone call, picked us up in his BMW and took us to the church for a nice chat. He's quite a young businessman, but he was able to give us contacting ideas. He seems open to learning about the church and knew a lot about Mormon culture from selling books in Utah. He just travels around world a lot, so it'd be hard to pin him down for some lessons. I'm hoping for some more little miracles this week!
Love you lots,
Courtney
It snowed a wee bit last night so that there's some crunchiness to your step on the sidewalks, but it's mostly melted now.
Is there anything you want for Christmas? The other sisters have been picking up things to send home, but I don't know what to get for ya'll. I'll look for a nativity, but I doubt they'll put those out (if they have them at all) until it's actually close to Christmas :)
Things with Liidia might be ok now. We paid her a random visit to drop off some cake and she insisted on serving us some tea and snacks before we left. She told us she's coming to church on Sunday, so we'll visit her again this week to make sure she's set for that commitment. We've been helping Maive with English tutoring for a while now. She's a mother of 9 (yeah, that doesn't really happen in Estonia) and comes to church but is not a member because she's actually not married. We've read 2 Nephi 31 about why baptism is so important and invited her to be baptized and she said yes! However, we didn't set an actual date because the lesson ended awkwardly because she had to get going :/ I'm not sure what her "life partner" thinks about marriage so that's something that we're praying can happen as we try to set a baptism date. The marriage papers have to be in 30 in advance and the church can pretty much pay for the whole thing and do it really cheap, we just need to get them legal. We want to start teaching some of the kids too. Plans to teach Maria fell through last week, so we need to teach her this week.
At game night, we had a doughnut eating contest where the contestant had to eat a doughnut on a string that somebody else was holding in front of their face. Sis. Aitken was holding, I was eating...and I came in dead last, HAHAHA!!! Sis. Aitken was laughing so hard that the doughnut kept moving too much that I couldn't get a solid bite at it :P Oh, the frustration, hahaha! At the party, Sis. Aitken also noticed the RS president's socks were quite hole-y so she felt compelled to donate some socks that her mother just sent her. So how'd we do it secretly? Door bell ditch, of course! We placed the socks in a bag and put it in front of the door, rang, and then ran around to the neighbors apartment. We heard her say something, but she never came to the door. So, attempt numba 2. Failed. As I went to check and try again one last time, the neighbor's lamp came on and they started to come out of the door so I quickly darted around a wall. Boy, was I scared!!! If they actually stepped out 15 ft from the doorway they would have found me guiltily hiding in a corner! They came out yelling "Who's running around out here?!?!?!" Apparently the walls are very thin or something :P They shouted angrily in Estonian and Russian for a minute or two, and then Nelly FINALLY opened her door to see the ruckus. They talked about how the doorbell rang, and she asked who it was, but nobody answered. And then the neighbor noticed the socks and the voice changed as they realized it was a gift. Nelly asked if the neighbor saw a man or woman, and the neighbor said it was a man. Oh goody. I'm glad I look like a man in a dark coat and skirt! :D Maybe door bell ditching is best used in America, hehehe.
On Wednesday, we got a phone call from a young man who has been selling books in America for several summers and actually knocked into Sis. Aitken's family back in September. That girl's got the oddest connections to Estonians! He promised her mom he'd visit us one day, so while he was in Pärnu for the day (he's from Tartu), he gave us a phone call, picked us up in his BMW and took us to the church for a nice chat. He's quite a young businessman, but he was able to give us contacting ideas. He seems open to learning about the church and knew a lot about Mormon culture from selling books in Utah. He just travels around world a lot, so it'd be hard to pin him down for some lessons. I'm hoping for some more little miracles this week!
Love you lots,
Courtney
Monday, November 1, 2010
Email November 1, 2010
We think Sis. Aitken just might be lactose intolerant, or just
allergic to food. Pretty much anything else besides chicken, veggies,
and fruits makes her stomach upset now. The poor dear. We don't
really understand why, but it was a factor in our lack of work
accomplished last week since we couldn't be far from a bathroom. :P
Being inside meant that I had to do a lot of entertaining since I can
beatbox, tell really random stories, etc. We've had a lot of good
laughs :) I think we have Sis. Aitken's diet all sorted out this
week, so now we can get some work done 'round these parts!
I was sort of reminiscing about that (Alma 4th Ward) carnival the other
day... good times! I haven't had to use my boots besides that one day
it snowed. I bought another coat last week since it was on sale. I
already checked to see that it fits under my other coat I brought with
me :) I think I should be set with that. Thankfully, our apartment
here stays pretty cozy so I haven't had to bundle up at night.
Yesterday, President and Sis. Dance came to speak in the Pärnu branch.
It was splendid, and the attendance seemed a little higher than
usual. Afterward, he took the time to interview us individually and
talk to us together as a district to give us pointers to help move the
work along. We couldn't make it to game night, but one of the ladies
from the open house went to that and even came to church yesterday
too! I think Maria's golden, because she's already made good friends
with the members and she seemed to understand everything we discussed
in Sunday School about the 13 articles of faith. We're finally going
to get that appointment with Maria this week and we'll probably invite
her to baptism too! We met with Liidia last week and I think she's
trying to distance herself from us :/ I merely asked her if she'd
pray to know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and she went
off on how the Bible is all she knows and names in the BoM are so
foreign, etc. So, I think we'll give her a little space, but we may
go drop some treats to her this week, or have a member call and invite
her to church and see how she reacts. Her testimony of our Savior is
amazing, if only she'd just try applying her faith to ask and actually
read.
President Dance encouraged us to focus on finding since we don't have
a good sized pool of investigators. He gave us some tips to help us
practice Estonian with the Elders and members since we feel a little
inadequate with the language (me,not so much, but I could use
practice) I finished reading all of Mormoni Raamat (Book of Mormon in
Estonian) last week, yay! Time to start reading it again!
Love you bunches! I can't wait to see what surprises you have in
store for me ;) Thanks for the prayers. Here's hoping for some
miracles this week!
Love,
Courtney
allergic to food. Pretty much anything else besides chicken, veggies,
and fruits makes her stomach upset now. The poor dear. We don't
really understand why, but it was a factor in our lack of work
accomplished last week since we couldn't be far from a bathroom. :P
Being inside meant that I had to do a lot of entertaining since I can
beatbox, tell really random stories, etc. We've had a lot of good
laughs :) I think we have Sis. Aitken's diet all sorted out this
week, so now we can get some work done 'round these parts!
I was sort of reminiscing about that (Alma 4th Ward) carnival the other
day... good times! I haven't had to use my boots besides that one day
it snowed. I bought another coat last week since it was on sale. I
already checked to see that it fits under my other coat I brought with
me :) I think I should be set with that. Thankfully, our apartment
here stays pretty cozy so I haven't had to bundle up at night.
Yesterday, President and Sis. Dance came to speak in the Pärnu branch.
It was splendid, and the attendance seemed a little higher than
usual. Afterward, he took the time to interview us individually and
talk to us together as a district to give us pointers to help move the
work along. We couldn't make it to game night, but one of the ladies
from the open house went to that and even came to church yesterday
too! I think Maria's golden, because she's already made good friends
with the members and she seemed to understand everything we discussed
in Sunday School about the 13 articles of faith. We're finally going
to get that appointment with Maria this week and we'll probably invite
her to baptism too! We met with Liidia last week and I think she's
trying to distance herself from us :/ I merely asked her if she'd
pray to know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and she went
off on how the Bible is all she knows and names in the BoM are so
foreign, etc. So, I think we'll give her a little space, but we may
go drop some treats to her this week, or have a member call and invite
her to church and see how she reacts. Her testimony of our Savior is
amazing, if only she'd just try applying her faith to ask and actually
read.
President Dance encouraged us to focus on finding since we don't have
a good sized pool of investigators. He gave us some tips to help us
practice Estonian with the Elders and members since we feel a little
inadequate with the language (me,not so much, but I could use
practice) I finished reading all of Mormoni Raamat (Book of Mormon in
Estonian) last week, yay! Time to start reading it again!
Love you bunches! I can't wait to see what surprises you have in
store for me ;) Thanks for the prayers. Here's hoping for some
miracles this week!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, October 25, 2010
Fall is almost here 10-25-10
That's good to hear that Heather and Todd finally set a date. I was wondering if they would do it during the Christmas break or else wait until she graduates.
Oddly enough (or miraculously :) Sis. Aitken's Estonian friends she met in America (they lived with her fam while she finished school) now live in Pärnu and they cooked us dinner on Wednesday night. It was so fun being around them, plus they speak English. I hope we can meet with them again this week and teach them some stuff now. Kätlin actually told Sis. Aitken that she wanted to be baptized back when she lived with them in America, but the missionaries they had in were
really poor missionaries :/ I guess we're here to fix that!
"It was even down in the 60s..." Wow, Mom, that sounds like the life right now. On Friday, we had our first, legit snowfall. The week before, the weather had teased us a little by snowing for only 10 minutes. Thank goodness the snowing only lasted until noon on Friday, so it melted away by the afternoon after we helped the members
do a little setting-up for the open house on Saturday. We woke up that morning and were just staring out the windows during our study that morning, dreading about having to don our boots. While setting-up for Saturday, the branch president asked us to perform some songs for the concert that was happening after the open house, so Sis. Aitken had the idea of renting a violin so she could play. We went to the concert hall just right around the corner, but the cheapest violin they had for sale was a piece of junk, but the saleswoman suggested we could go around to the music school on the other side and ask if we could rent one. After going back and forth between various floors, talking to various ladies and teachers, we got to borrow an old violin from a really nice violin teacher! It was just the violin she uses as
she teaches because she has a much nicer, concert instrument at home. We asked if we could pay, but she insisted that we didn't. :D I accompanied Sis. Aitken on the piano with a 2 page rendition of "I Stand All Amazed" since it was quick and easy to learn. We took home one of the keyboards from the church to practice at home with. Lo and behold, the demo song was none other than Rick Astley's "Together
Forever". WIN.
At the open house, only 3 non-members showed up, but they have really good potential! Although, we only got phone numbers for 2 of them. One lady said she actually grew up on the plot of land where the church building is so she wanted to see what it was like. 0_0 I don't think anybody actually invited her to come either, but Janeli immediately befriended her and we'll call her about setting an
appointment later this week. The other lady was a co-worker of one of our recent converts and she actually came to church yesterday too!
I did buy some boots, but not some really nice gloves yet. I haven't really needed them yet, thankfully. I asked my companions if there was anything they wanted from America and they just said peanut butter M&Ms, ha ha! I think I might prefer Reese's pieces a little more, but it's all good :) I can't really think of something specific because the chocolate here keeps me pretty content, ha ha! Popcorn (only have indiv. packs here), red vines, mike n'ikes, psh! I dunno! Did I leave any warm sweaters at home? Probably not :P I guess you could send some tights, leggings, socks, etc. Sis. Aitken says I need to let her mom know what I want for Christmas though, ha ha ha! If for whatever reason, the value of goods is over 100 dollars, they'll charge tariffs when I pick it up :P
Gotta run now! The language is coming along just fine for me, and I think now we'll finally have some people to teach this week. Thanks for the love and prayers!
Love,
Courtney
Oddly enough (or miraculously :) Sis. Aitken's Estonian friends she met in America (they lived with her fam while she finished school) now live in Pärnu and they cooked us dinner on Wednesday night. It was so fun being around them, plus they speak English. I hope we can meet with them again this week and teach them some stuff now. Kätlin actually told Sis. Aitken that she wanted to be baptized back when she lived with them in America, but the missionaries they had in were
really poor missionaries :/ I guess we're here to fix that!
"It was even down in the 60s..." Wow, Mom, that sounds like the life right now. On Friday, we had our first, legit snowfall. The week before, the weather had teased us a little by snowing for only 10 minutes. Thank goodness the snowing only lasted until noon on Friday, so it melted away by the afternoon after we helped the members
do a little setting-up for the open house on Saturday. We woke up that morning and were just staring out the windows during our study that morning, dreading about having to don our boots. While setting-up for Saturday, the branch president asked us to perform some songs for the concert that was happening after the open house, so Sis. Aitken had the idea of renting a violin so she could play. We went to the concert hall just right around the corner, but the cheapest violin they had for sale was a piece of junk, but the saleswoman suggested we could go around to the music school on the other side and ask if we could rent one. After going back and forth between various floors, talking to various ladies and teachers, we got to borrow an old violin from a really nice violin teacher! It was just the violin she uses as
she teaches because she has a much nicer, concert instrument at home. We asked if we could pay, but she insisted that we didn't. :D I accompanied Sis. Aitken on the piano with a 2 page rendition of "I Stand All Amazed" since it was quick and easy to learn. We took home one of the keyboards from the church to practice at home with. Lo and behold, the demo song was none other than Rick Astley's "Together
Forever". WIN.
At the open house, only 3 non-members showed up, but they have really good potential! Although, we only got phone numbers for 2 of them. One lady said she actually grew up on the plot of land where the church building is so she wanted to see what it was like. 0_0 I don't think anybody actually invited her to come either, but Janeli immediately befriended her and we'll call her about setting an
appointment later this week. The other lady was a co-worker of one of our recent converts and she actually came to church yesterday too!
I did buy some boots, but not some really nice gloves yet. I haven't really needed them yet, thankfully. I asked my companions if there was anything they wanted from America and they just said peanut butter M&Ms, ha ha! I think I might prefer Reese's pieces a little more, but it's all good :) I can't really think of something specific because the chocolate here keeps me pretty content, ha ha! Popcorn (only have indiv. packs here), red vines, mike n'ikes, psh! I dunno! Did I leave any warm sweaters at home? Probably not :P I guess you could send some tights, leggings, socks, etc. Sis. Aitken says I need to let her mom know what I want for Christmas though, ha ha ha! If for whatever reason, the value of goods is over 100 dollars, they'll charge tariffs when I pick it up :P
Gotta run now! The language is coming along just fine for me, and I think now we'll finally have some people to teach this week. Thanks for the love and prayers!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, October 18, 2010
Email: Figure 8 races 10-18-10
Wowerz, it's been a bit of a crazy week. Lots of changes, but I'm still in Pärnu. Sis. LeFevre did in fact choose to go home, so I got a phone call from President Dance on Monday night saying that Sis. LeDuc and Sis. Aitken were transferring down from Keila to Pärnu the next day and that we are in a trio now. Pärnu sure is lucky. They have all the sister missionaries in all of Estonia ;) And with the time is takes to call a new sister missionary and train in the MTC...well, I'm sure we'll be spending the next 6 months together. It's a pleasure to be back with Sis. Aitken so soon, and Sis. LeDuc is great too. Let's hope we can keep up the greatness! At least we'll all be enduring the winter together, so we should have fun stories to share, ha ha!
Sis. LeFevre and I traveled to Riga again on Tuesday night, then we stayed at the mission home for the night and then dropped Sis. LeFevre off at the Riga airport at about 5:30 for her 7am flight to Brussels. The Jacques droves me back to Pärnu to find Sis. LeDuc and Sis. Aitken all muddy and dirty from exploring near the beach and helping an old lady raking leaves. So they showered up and then it was off to
Steffani's for lunch, paid for by the Jacques :) When we got to the apartment, the whole place was in disarray because of all the stuff the sisters brought with them, plus they were in the midst of DEEP CLEANING. It puts me at ease knowing that our apartment is finally up to suitable living standards. The great thing is that Sis. Aitken and Sis. LeDuc like to clean and cook so that helps the place stay happy and orderly. They bring a great fire, spirit and work ethic, so now that we're finally settled in, we'll get started on those miracles ;)
On Friday, for our service project of the week, all the missionaries met up with Merit and Janeli to go to a dog shelter and walk some of the beasts around. I say beasts because most of them were rather large. I paired up with Janeli and we took big, but peaceful Donovan for a spin around the block. It was kinda fun just walking around and chatting with Janeli. We helped the Young Women make some signs since it was Saima's birthday, which we celebrated at game night. My companions really grew to love Keila, but they're quickly warming up to Pärnu. It's cute to continually hear them say how nice people are on the buses. :)
The open house for the church is actually going to be this Saturday, so maybe tomorrow we'll be helping do some stuff for the Relief Society presentation. I'm not exactly sure about that... Sis. LeDuc had to travel down to Riga with Elder Barney, our district leader for some sort of leadership training until Wednesday night. She nearly missed her bus because we had to taxi back home supa-quick because she forgot her passport xP Turns out our taxi driver actually lives a floor below the Branch President. He was a nice guy :)
The "Hang 10" idea is so cute!! It's funny to hear that it's still prime swimming weather. Saturday was very cold~ It probably didn't help that we walked a bunch outside because we missed some buses or just didn't want to wait for the next one to come :P Today seems like a pleasant autumn day, though. I'm glad the Figure 8 races were a blast!! I had been reminiscing about those good times.
As far as stuff in the package, how about some measuring spoons? I have a feeling Sis. Aitken wants to do a lot of baking. That's one way to get into peoples' hearts! I wonder how they'll take to American style cookies... like if they're too sweet, haha. Yesterday, the Kõivs from the Tallinn branch (he's the branch president) came down to give some excellent talks about living prophets and missionary work. Sis. Kõiv even made this really yummy pumpkin stuff. It was pretty much like pumpkin pie, just more of a cake form rather than a pie. That was a real treat :) I think Sis. LeDuc wants to carve pumpkins next week. I don't really care to make a mess, but she seem really pumped for it. Whoa, I only just realized now that I unintentionally made a pun. 0_0 Anyway...
Yeah, it's still weird thinking that Sis. LeFevre actually went home, but I think she'll be better able to recover. Being with Sis. Aitken and Sis. LeDuc is a blessing though. They're excited to work. Although their Estonian isn't quite as pretty, there's still plenty I can learn from the two of them. :D Things are finally lookin' on the upside!
Much love,
Courtney
Sis. LeFevre and I traveled to Riga again on Tuesday night, then we stayed at the mission home for the night and then dropped Sis. LeFevre off at the Riga airport at about 5:30 for her 7am flight to Brussels. The Jacques droves me back to Pärnu to find Sis. LeDuc and Sis. Aitken all muddy and dirty from exploring near the beach and helping an old lady raking leaves. So they showered up and then it was off to
Steffani's for lunch, paid for by the Jacques :) When we got to the apartment, the whole place was in disarray because of all the stuff the sisters brought with them, plus they were in the midst of DEEP CLEANING. It puts me at ease knowing that our apartment is finally up to suitable living standards. The great thing is that Sis. Aitken and Sis. LeDuc like to clean and cook so that helps the place stay happy and orderly. They bring a great fire, spirit and work ethic, so now that we're finally settled in, we'll get started on those miracles ;)
On Friday, for our service project of the week, all the missionaries met up with Merit and Janeli to go to a dog shelter and walk some of the beasts around. I say beasts because most of them were rather large. I paired up with Janeli and we took big, but peaceful Donovan for a spin around the block. It was kinda fun just walking around and chatting with Janeli. We helped the Young Women make some signs since it was Saima's birthday, which we celebrated at game night. My companions really grew to love Keila, but they're quickly warming up to Pärnu. It's cute to continually hear them say how nice people are on the buses. :)
The open house for the church is actually going to be this Saturday, so maybe tomorrow we'll be helping do some stuff for the Relief Society presentation. I'm not exactly sure about that... Sis. LeDuc had to travel down to Riga with Elder Barney, our district leader for some sort of leadership training until Wednesday night. She nearly missed her bus because we had to taxi back home supa-quick because she forgot her passport xP Turns out our taxi driver actually lives a floor below the Branch President. He was a nice guy :)
The "Hang 10" idea is so cute!! It's funny to hear that it's still prime swimming weather. Saturday was very cold~ It probably didn't help that we walked a bunch outside because we missed some buses or just didn't want to wait for the next one to come :P Today seems like a pleasant autumn day, though. I'm glad the Figure 8 races were a blast!! I had been reminiscing about those good times.
As far as stuff in the package, how about some measuring spoons? I have a feeling Sis. Aitken wants to do a lot of baking. That's one way to get into peoples' hearts! I wonder how they'll take to American style cookies... like if they're too sweet, haha. Yesterday, the Kõivs from the Tallinn branch (he's the branch president) came down to give some excellent talks about living prophets and missionary work. Sis. Kõiv even made this really yummy pumpkin stuff. It was pretty much like pumpkin pie, just more of a cake form rather than a pie. That was a real treat :) I think Sis. LeDuc wants to carve pumpkins next week. I don't really care to make a mess, but she seem really pumped for it. Whoa, I only just realized now that I unintentionally made a pun. 0_0 Anyway...
Yeah, it's still weird thinking that Sis. LeFevre actually went home, but I think she'll be better able to recover. Being with Sis. Aitken and Sis. LeDuc is a blessing though. They're excited to work. Although their Estonian isn't quite as pretty, there's still plenty I can learn from the two of them. :D Things are finally lookin' on the upside!
Much love,
Courtney
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Email: Fall is in full swing! 10-11-10
Holy cow, this coming Saturday marks my 4 month as a missionary (and Stacey's b-day)!! O_O Alrighty, so transfers actually happen this week. It's very much up in the air at this point.
We decided to tromp out to the beach this morning. There is a bunch of brush next to the beach, so we were wandering around, avoiding random cow pies as we tried to find a pathway around the plants that led us to the sea. It was so beautiful since it was about 9:30 this morning. We had a pleasant little jaunt. I only dipped my hand in the water and we took a few pics and then walked back to the bus stop to come to the library.
Last week, we went to visit with some of the old lady members in the branch. They just wanted to invite us over to eat and chat. It was typical Estonian food, but simple and tasty and the company was certainly pleasant. In order to protect their privacy, (and myself from legal complexities) I'll only use their first name if I'm sharing pictures of them. Vilma insisted on showing us ALL her photo albums of previous missionaries and even some of those missionaries' wedding pictures via Facebook, hahaha :P These old ladies are the cutest things ever~ They worry that we're going to get sick because we don't have hats yet!
Next weekend in Pärnu is an open house, so the branch is getting prepared for that. Last year, it miraculously led to the baptism of one of our best members, so we're hoping more miracles come from it. We have 2 investigators now, but we've got to get them to read the Book of Mormon and come to church now so we can get them progressing. Janeli has come out to do a wee bit of contacting with us this last
week. Her peppiness is contagious and we definitely need to figure out how to utilize her more since she helps us with our Estonian and she can relate better to the people, obviously. She's thinking of serving a mini-mission, but's she's not sure how soon she can, just yet. The girl's a missionary machine~!
That's some mighty, crazy weather you've got down there! It's actually been rather pleasant fall weather, just nippy at nightime. Thankfully our apartment is cozy. Usually, weather equates to Christmastime for me, so thoughts of Christmas keep popping into my head even though it's not for another 2 months!
Have fun at the Figure 8 races! I've been reminiscing about the fair lately :) I think I found a pair of boots that I like. They're about 80 smackers (I just hope they still have my size xP) I've seen some nice, leather gloves too, but those are about 20 or so. I may or may not get those today... The country is getting prepped to switch to the Euro come January 1st. Yay~ less bills in our wallets! The only session we haven't seen in English yet is the Relief Society and Sunday Afternoon session. We watched the sunday afternoon session yesterday after sacrament meeting.
Well, I think that's about it for this edition! I'm so grateful for my support team, cheering me on back home. Y'all are the greatest. I think about you all the time because your influences are what have helped me get here.
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Mom, we're missionaries. Of course we have a microwave! ;) Wouldn't a cornbag be pretty heavy to ship though??
We decided to tromp out to the beach this morning. There is a bunch of brush next to the beach, so we were wandering around, avoiding random cow pies as we tried to find a pathway around the plants that led us to the sea. It was so beautiful since it was about 9:30 this morning. We had a pleasant little jaunt. I only dipped my hand in the water and we took a few pics and then walked back to the bus stop to come to the library.
Last week, we went to visit with some of the old lady members in the branch. They just wanted to invite us over to eat and chat. It was typical Estonian food, but simple and tasty and the company was certainly pleasant. In order to protect their privacy, (and myself from legal complexities) I'll only use their first name if I'm sharing pictures of them. Vilma insisted on showing us ALL her photo albums of previous missionaries and even some of those missionaries' wedding pictures via Facebook, hahaha :P These old ladies are the cutest things ever~ They worry that we're going to get sick because we don't have hats yet!
Next weekend in Pärnu is an open house, so the branch is getting prepared for that. Last year, it miraculously led to the baptism of one of our best members, so we're hoping more miracles come from it. We have 2 investigators now, but we've got to get them to read the Book of Mormon and come to church now so we can get them progressing. Janeli has come out to do a wee bit of contacting with us this last
week. Her peppiness is contagious and we definitely need to figure out how to utilize her more since she helps us with our Estonian and she can relate better to the people, obviously. She's thinking of serving a mini-mission, but's she's not sure how soon she can, just yet. The girl's a missionary machine~!
That's some mighty, crazy weather you've got down there! It's actually been rather pleasant fall weather, just nippy at nightime. Thankfully our apartment is cozy. Usually, weather equates to Christmastime for me, so thoughts of Christmas keep popping into my head even though it's not for another 2 months!
Have fun at the Figure 8 races! I've been reminiscing about the fair lately :) I think I found a pair of boots that I like. They're about 80 smackers (I just hope they still have my size xP) I've seen some nice, leather gloves too, but those are about 20 or so. I may or may not get those today... The country is getting prepped to switch to the Euro come January 1st. Yay~ less bills in our wallets! The only session we haven't seen in English yet is the Relief Society and Sunday Afternoon session. We watched the sunday afternoon session yesterday after sacrament meeting.
Well, I think that's about it for this edition! I'm so grateful for my support team, cheering me on back home. Y'all are the greatest. I think about you all the time because your influences are what have helped me get here.
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Mom, we're missionaries. Of course we have a microwave! ;) Wouldn't a cornbag be pretty heavy to ship though??
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Email: September is over! 10-04-10
Hiya fam!
I can't believe September is over now too. I don't know if I've accomplished much in the last month either. Next week is already the end of the transfer, so I'm wondering where I'll end up next week. I still think I'll be in Pärnu though, but who knows! Good luck family, with the house cleanup! You all seem to be keeping yourselves really busy, but happy :D WOW, Dad's truck still lives!!! That's quite a feat!
I happened to see the Sunday morning conference session in English. We'll be watching the rest later this week. Watching conference in Estonian made it kinda rough to focus on all the time, but well, I tried to be attentive and be an example to the members. The max we had for a session was about 10 people. We watched the translated version via internet which was wirelessly transmitted from the computer upstairs to the tv downstairs in the tiny chapel. It was a little rough to get a good signal, but well, we tried. On Saturday night, we were watching a session and there were only like 4 members there and then the 4 of us missionaries. The signal was freezing so they decided to go up to the branch presidency office where the computers are and then watch it there since there were so few of us. All the brethren went upstairs and just when Sis. LeFevre and I were thinking of just going home, but we saw Sis. Lashenko (sp?) sitting on the couch, looking rather sad. We asked her if she was going to go up the stairs to watch but she said something like she was afraid of going up, I think because of her health or she was afraid she'd fall. So, I went up the stairs, asked the Elders to turn up the speakers a bit more and then we listened to conference on the couch in the lobby with her. She pulled out a bunch of photos of missionaries who served in Pärnu and some who came back to visit after their mission. She told us how she keeps in contact with them through Facebook. I told her I'd do the same. I'm really glad we stayed, and I think she was too :D
Most of the appointments we had set up cancelled or didn't show, so we're praying for a better week. We have one tonight, and hopefully we can finally contact a referral that a member gave us a few weeks ago. We've gone over there 3 times and they haven't been home xP That's so amazing to hear about the Kiev Temple open house and dedication. I wish we had the same in Estonia! I heard it was kinda like that when the Helsinki, Finland temple was finished a few years ago. Watching conference has given me some new courage though. Heavenly Father has ordained me to do this work and has promised blessings if I just get out there and work. Gotta get going now!
Love,
Courtney
I can't believe September is over now too. I don't know if I've accomplished much in the last month either. Next week is already the end of the transfer, so I'm wondering where I'll end up next week. I still think I'll be in Pärnu though, but who knows! Good luck family, with the house cleanup! You all seem to be keeping yourselves really busy, but happy :D WOW, Dad's truck still lives!!! That's quite a feat!
I happened to see the Sunday morning conference session in English. We'll be watching the rest later this week. Watching conference in Estonian made it kinda rough to focus on all the time, but well, I tried to be attentive and be an example to the members. The max we had for a session was about 10 people. We watched the translated version via internet which was wirelessly transmitted from the computer upstairs to the tv downstairs in the tiny chapel. It was a little rough to get a good signal, but well, we tried. On Saturday night, we were watching a session and there were only like 4 members there and then the 4 of us missionaries. The signal was freezing so they decided to go up to the branch presidency office where the computers are and then watch it there since there were so few of us. All the brethren went upstairs and just when Sis. LeFevre and I were thinking of just going home, but we saw Sis. Lashenko (sp?) sitting on the couch, looking rather sad. We asked her if she was going to go up the stairs to watch but she said something like she was afraid of going up, I think because of her health or she was afraid she'd fall. So, I went up the stairs, asked the Elders to turn up the speakers a bit more and then we listened to conference on the couch in the lobby with her. She pulled out a bunch of photos of missionaries who served in Pärnu and some who came back to visit after their mission. She told us how she keeps in contact with them through Facebook. I told her I'd do the same. I'm really glad we stayed, and I think she was too :D
Most of the appointments we had set up cancelled or didn't show, so we're praying for a better week. We have one tonight, and hopefully we can finally contact a referral that a member gave us a few weeks ago. We've gone over there 3 times and they haven't been home xP That's so amazing to hear about the Kiev Temple open house and dedication. I wish we had the same in Estonia! I heard it was kinda like that when the Helsinki, Finland temple was finished a few years ago. Watching conference has given me some new courage though. Heavenly Father has ordained me to do this work and has promised blessings if I just get out there and work. Gotta get going now!
Love,
Courtney
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