Nelly's prayers were indeed answered and the sisters are still here in Pärnu! However, the big news for this week is that our trio's now down to 2 :( President Dance called Wednesday morning saying that Sis. Aitken had to come down to Riga that night and then start flying back to America the next day. Because the doctors here can't figure out what the problem is, they're going to try doctors back home. I don't know how soon she'll be able to come back either, but we're praying that it's just at the end of this transfer which is at the end of February. She's just taking a vacation ;) It's definitely quieter around the apartment without her and she's surely missed in the branch, but Sis. LeDuc and I will keep the work going until she gets back. So, for her last day, we walked out onto the frozen Baltic Sea (finally) and then did some shopping. Funny thing is that we had 2 young Jehovah's Witnesses knock on our apartment right as we were leaving for the bus station on Wednesday night. Once they saw Sis. LeDuc's nametag, they started to exit, ha ha. They left us with a booklet, but we missed our chance to give them a Book of Mormon in return. ARGH! Now they know where we live, ha ha ha.
Thankfully, I received some letters and pictures from Marily, Mark and the kiddos and Stacey so that lifted my spirits back up. The pictures were soooooo pwecious and Stacey's letter was long and full of laughter!! Oh gosh, my family is the best~ I'm excited to hear that Veronica has a letter for me too! It's been a while :)
We were awoken at midnight on New Year's by oodles of fireworks that people were lighting up all around our apartment and around the bay. I'm glad we had to be inside, because it didn't look all that safe outside, ha ha! It was really cool to see how many there were though. On New Year's Eve, we shoveled out Saima's house and then blew the last of our Estonian Kroons on a frozen pizza and some pear ice cream. (First time I've tried it. Yummy~) I fell asleep early that night because I contracted a cold over the weekend, but it's mostly gone now.
We taught Liidia on Saturday with Bro. Tšekmarjov. He's the first counselor and probably one of the scriptorian's of the ward. He was able to answer her questions, but she still won't read a lot of the Book of Mormon on her own. I don't know if future lessons we should turn them into reading sessions or what. Sis. LeDuc and I just need to go through former investigators and find new people to teach. I think the Elders might have some baptismal candidates though, so that's exciting. We started implementing a "missionary moment" like we did in RS in the single's ward back home, so I hope that will get the members excited to help us out.
Well, that's all for this week. We're going to go do some sledding now, w00t! Oh yeah, and Stacey told me my old co-worker Amanda had her baby! I'm super happy about that! Love you lots! I was grateful that several of the pictures Marily sent had other members of the fam too :) I'll be praying for uncle Gary. Thanks for the hugs and kisses!
Love,
Courtney
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, December 27, 2010
December 27, 2010 Merry Christmas
Hello Fam!
It was so fun to get to hear from you!! I hope the call wasn't lacking in any way. You all seemed to have a super Christmas, and Stacey and Shauna told me about the fun they had :) I don't know if I'll have much to say in this e-mail since I talked to you on Saturday! It's crazy to think I've already served 1/3 of my mission. The MTC kind of seems like a long time ago, but it doesn't feel like I've been away for very long. My first Christmas away from home was hopefully one of my last, ha ha ha! It was rather boring, but we reminisced a lot about family traditions and Christmases past, made some yummy food, and burned through a lot of candles :D
The Christmas lights were a nice touch, but they only lasted until a few days before Christmas because they all burnt out. The high-voltage doesn't let them last a long time, but it was very enjoyable for the short time we had them! It actually starts getting dark around here by 4pm. I think that causes Estonians to want to go to sleep earlier because it's just dark, hehe. Sister LeFevre actually e-mailed me last week with just a little update that she's going to school in January and is looking for a job, but they still can't figure what's with her legs and they're still trying a lot of things.
I went to church with Geidy-Ly who was down here visiting the branch. She's from Pärnu and was baptized last March, but now she lives an hour from Tallinn, but she travels down here often to visit. The other sisters stayed inside on Sunday so I feel bad since that was the second Sunday they've had to miss in a row. Like the missionaries, now all the members in Estonia (and probably all throughout the mission) have been asked to do a Book of Mormon reading challenge from the 1st of January until April 30th because May 1st is a district conference and there will be an added spirit for that. I'm excited to have the members joining us in reading, although it's not at a faster pace like us. After church, the Elders came to see how we were doing and they gave a blessing to Sis. Aitken. Sis. Dance called to talk to us last night to see how we're all doing. She's going to call Sis. Aitken again later today. Transfers are coming this week, so I wonder what they're going to do with her... We keep praying for her and her family told her that her brother's entire mission is doing a fast for her (he's nearing the end of his service in the Scotland/Ireland mission).
I hope you like the goodies I sent to you. They should be getting there this week, I'd guess. I'm really thankful to have a few new things in my wardrobe! It's nice to have a little more variety :) Only the turtlenecks seems a little big, but maybe they'll shrink a bit. As for socks, it doesn't really matter what they're like. I'll try looking for some. If the others are feeling up to it, I may look around at some other boots too. The past few days, my boots seem to be fine. I think some furry insoles I bought last week might be helping a little more now.
What are you doing for New Year's? Going to try to go out shooting or hiking and biking again? People are already practicing launching off fireworks nearby our apartment. Elder Barney told me that if we're here for New Year's we'll get to see tons of people firing them all around our house, so that's something to look forward to. Sorry there's not much else to report on this week! I love you a lot, and I'm thankful for all the support!
Love,
Courtney
It was so fun to get to hear from you!! I hope the call wasn't lacking in any way. You all seemed to have a super Christmas, and Stacey and Shauna told me about the fun they had :) I don't know if I'll have much to say in this e-mail since I talked to you on Saturday! It's crazy to think I've already served 1/3 of my mission. The MTC kind of seems like a long time ago, but it doesn't feel like I've been away for very long. My first Christmas away from home was hopefully one of my last, ha ha ha! It was rather boring, but we reminisced a lot about family traditions and Christmases past, made some yummy food, and burned through a lot of candles :D
The Christmas lights were a nice touch, but they only lasted until a few days before Christmas because they all burnt out. The high-voltage doesn't let them last a long time, but it was very enjoyable for the short time we had them! It actually starts getting dark around here by 4pm. I think that causes Estonians to want to go to sleep earlier because it's just dark, hehe. Sister LeFevre actually e-mailed me last week with just a little update that she's going to school in January and is looking for a job, but they still can't figure what's with her legs and they're still trying a lot of things.
I went to church with Geidy-Ly who was down here visiting the branch. She's from Pärnu and was baptized last March, but now she lives an hour from Tallinn, but she travels down here often to visit. The other sisters stayed inside on Sunday so I feel bad since that was the second Sunday they've had to miss in a row. Like the missionaries, now all the members in Estonia (and probably all throughout the mission) have been asked to do a Book of Mormon reading challenge from the 1st of January until April 30th because May 1st is a district conference and there will be an added spirit for that. I'm excited to have the members joining us in reading, although it's not at a faster pace like us. After church, the Elders came to see how we were doing and they gave a blessing to Sis. Aitken. Sis. Dance called to talk to us last night to see how we're all doing. She's going to call Sis. Aitken again later today. Transfers are coming this week, so I wonder what they're going to do with her... We keep praying for her and her family told her that her brother's entire mission is doing a fast for her (he's nearing the end of his service in the Scotland/Ireland mission).
I hope you like the goodies I sent to you. They should be getting there this week, I'd guess. I'm really thankful to have a few new things in my wardrobe! It's nice to have a little more variety :) Only the turtlenecks seems a little big, but maybe they'll shrink a bit. As for socks, it doesn't really matter what they're like. I'll try looking for some. If the others are feeling up to it, I may look around at some other boots too. The past few days, my boots seem to be fine. I think some furry insoles I bought last week might be helping a little more now.
What are you doing for New Year's? Going to try to go out shooting or hiking and biking again? People are already practicing launching off fireworks nearby our apartment. Elder Barney told me that if we're here for New Year's we'll get to see tons of people firing them all around our house, so that's something to look forward to. Sorry there's not much else to report on this week! I love you a lot, and I'm thankful for all the support!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, December 20, 2010
December 20, 2010 One more week
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! RÕÕMSAID JÕULE!! HÄID PÜHI!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD (jk, lol)
I checked the weather forecast for the week and it looks like we'll have a snowy Christmas day! We've been long overdue for a good snowfall. It's like, been a week, ha ha ha. The streets are clear from snow, so that's just boring (plus they've been dumping truckfuls of it on a dirt patch just across the street from our window view). 'Twas a lazy week last week since we had to sit in to let Sis. Aitken rest. (president's orders) We even had to miss church yesterday :( But now we've finally got some members lined up for the next few days to help us out by babysitting/proselyting. Boy, oh boy, do we have all the old ladies worryin' up a storm now!!! They're all calling us now "is she still sick? Does she have a fever?!?" (everyone asked that x) No, it's not a fever (probably a good thing too. Who knows what they do for homemade fever remedies...) One of the old sisters tried to come visit us Saturday night, but there were tons of miscommunication on how to find our apartment so she ended up further down the street from where we were. Um yeah, BIG mix-up that made us feel terrible, but that's all I'm allowed to say about that now. My companions don't want me to speak about it, ha ha ha!
I've seen some Christmas lights, but I've seen a lot of these almost menorah type things in windows celebrating the advent of Christmas. Päkapikks (pron: pack-a-peekk They're little elves/gnomes? Sounds like a pokemon name too, haha) put candy in children's shoes starting the 28th of November until Christmas. We've got 'em in our apartment too~ It's really just Sis. Aitken, though :) Maybe now Estonians are getting Christmas trees, but I don't know where they buy them... There aren't corner Christmas tree lots like in America. We had our branch Christmas party on Friday night, so we had a Christmas concert and the missionaries sang a few carols in English. Afterward, we watched some stick-pull, tug-of-war, type matches as we waited for Jõuluvana (Santa Claus lit: Christmas..old...?? I dun get it..) Everybody brought a small gift and put it in a bag and wrote our names on a list before the party. When Jõuluvana arrived, we read the names down the list and the person was summoned to come receive a gift. I don't know if this is an Estonian thing, but each person had to recite some poem or sing a song to Jõuluvana before they could receive their gift. I sang a boisterous "Santa Claus is coming to town" with a little help from the other missionaries in the back of the room :D Nelly loved that~ Aili brought her granddaughter, Kadri, who's taken quite a liking to me. Unfortunately, that meant that she unceasingly tried to poke and tickle me and any chance she could. Not cool, but she's pretty fun :) For Christmas eve and day, we're supposed to be out serving, and spreading Christmas cheer until about 6 when we have to be back in our apartments where we just get to study about Christ and do the phone calls for the rest of the night.
I was actually wondering when the ward would be sending some missionary love :) As for the phone call, I guess I could have a little privacy, if needed. I was just thinking most of the time it'd just be on speakerphone so my companions could join, but I could step into one of the rooms if need be. We have a 3 room apartment. One room's the office/study, the other is sorta Sis. Aitken's closet, hehe. We all have to sleep in the same room so we have our beds mushed into the largest bedroom. It kinda looks like we have sleepovers every day :P
40 weddings in a single day at the temple, shoot! That's ridiculous! Totally sounds like Stacey to go at the decorating like that. She's a champ~ Hopefully, now that the decorations are finished, she'll finally send me that letter that she's been postponing since October... >.> Oh yes, I'm callin' you out, sis. The cornish pasties and nut rolls sound scrumptious. I sorta botched some fried rice last night, but Sis. Aitken says I'm learning to cook, ha ha ha. It was still good tasty though :)
Looking forward to talking to you on Christmas!
Love,
Courtney
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
December 15, 2010 Christmas Party
Wow, 10 day until Christmas already! And tomorrow marks my 6 month mark :O Unlike the summer-like weather you're currently experiencing, I on the other hand, feel like I live in a snow globe. Once you think the snow is about to settle and everything's all nice and pretty, the darn kiddos gotta shake the thing up again, hehehe (I wanted to save that phrase for a while, but it was totally appropriate this week ;). We had some big snow storms last week, but it hasn't snowed for the last few days. I think the temperature is supposed to dip down to about -20C (4ish in fahrenheit, methinks) on the weekend.
And yes, I did receive the packages last week! Did you send one to the mission home so you wouldn't get in trouble? Ha ha. I think they just do that to make sure that all of the missionaries at least get something for Christmas. The lights were way cute, but we haven't put the window clings up. It's cute that you wrapped all the gifts too, and no, I haven't opened them yet, although Sis. Aitken's been tempting me. I finally got my package off to home on Friday and I airmailed it so it may show up just before or just after Christmas. It's not much, 'cause I figured I could bring home some better things next time around ;)
Sounds like you had fun for Ryan's birthday! I've been thinking about him lately. What a great brother :D Love you lots!! The baptism on Saturday was beautiful and one of the Elders' investigators attended, The Dances (on their way through to Tallinn for conference) and surprisingly a lady from one of the English classes showed up. We sisters have actually eyeing to teach her a lesson, so we talk to her
about it tomorrow. Aili is so good and she was grateful for everyone who attended and who've welcomed her into their branch family. The RS President, Nelly, had me translate to President Dance that she she's praying and begging that the sisters won't be transfered on the 31st(kind of an odd day...). He tried to comfort her and tell her it's God's will, but she's so afraid, lol. She's afraid of everything,
hehehe, but it's good to feel so loved~ The branch is having a Christmas party on Friday and we're hoping the members will bring friends along. We have some ideas for spreading some Christmas cheer and to "go about doing good".
Zone Conference in Tallinn was super. We had to get on bus at 7am, so that left us rather tired for a full day of training, but it went well. We have some new focuses in the mission that I'm excited about. President Dance has asked that we start teaching active members and helping them to fulfil their missionary duties and rather than having English class every Tuesday and Thursday night, we're switching to
Saturday afternoons for 2 hourse so as to free up some prime proselyting time. I was a little worried at first when he started to talk about it, but I could see some good reasonings for it. That'll start after the new year. President also said how the mission will start a Book of Mormon reading challenge on Jan. 1st for 3 months and he asked in every prayer to pray for those "who know not God" (Alma 6:6), that the hearts of the people here will be softened. It was also good to not be the only sisters at conference too, because now there are 2 Russian sisters in Tallinn. There haven't been any for quite a while. Sister Hoggard came in the same time as me, and Sis. Gotchek (sp? dunno, her nametag was in Russian x) is from France and
got an extension so she can stay until February. We stayed at their apartment, but it was coooooold. It's a new missionary apartment, so it's not fully outfitted with enough blankets and things for extra guests, but I managed to be somewhat ok by sleeping with my coat on. The traveling and fatigue did a number on Sis. Aitken so she went with the missionary couple Tuesday morning to get tests done at the
hospital to see if they could find out what's going on. I don't know if they really found anything, but she didn't really want to talk a lot about it, so I didn't pry. Not cool since she had to miss the actual fun things we did on Tuesday. For example, we acted out a Nativity, which was absolutely hilarious, and so was the gift exchange. One of the assistants wrapped up an Elder's bible as a gift and what were the odds, I ended up with it AND I WAS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, HAHAHAHAHAHA. That was a riot! Elder Jenkins said "I was lookin' all over for that!" After Tuesday's festivities, we taxied on back to the bus station and had the Elders watch our things so we could walk to the immigration office or whatever and pick up my visa ID card. Yay, now I'm official~
Yes, I'm staying pretty warm. I think my boots let in a little bit of moisture so I'll have to try and spray them with some waterproofing stuff to see if that helps any. Sometimes if we're walking a lot, my feet will warm up and it's no problem. I have some big wool mittens that were left by other missionaries and they seem pretty warm if I have some little cheapy gloves underneath. I'm excited to see what you
sent me for Christmas. I like clothes :) Thanks so much for all the love and prayers. You're the greatest!
Love,
Courtney
And yes, I did receive the packages last week! Did you send one to the mission home so you wouldn't get in trouble? Ha ha. I think they just do that to make sure that all of the missionaries at least get something for Christmas. The lights were way cute, but we haven't put the window clings up. It's cute that you wrapped all the gifts too, and no, I haven't opened them yet, although Sis. Aitken's been tempting me. I finally got my package off to home on Friday and I airmailed it so it may show up just before or just after Christmas. It's not much, 'cause I figured I could bring home some better things next time around ;)
Sounds like you had fun for Ryan's birthday! I've been thinking about him lately. What a great brother :D Love you lots!! The baptism on Saturday was beautiful and one of the Elders' investigators attended, The Dances (on their way through to Tallinn for conference) and surprisingly a lady from one of the English classes showed up. We sisters have actually eyeing to teach her a lesson, so we talk to her
about it tomorrow. Aili is so good and she was grateful for everyone who attended and who've welcomed her into their branch family. The RS President, Nelly, had me translate to President Dance that she she's praying and begging that the sisters won't be transfered on the 31st(kind of an odd day...). He tried to comfort her and tell her it's God's will, but she's so afraid, lol. She's afraid of everything,
hehehe, but it's good to feel so loved~ The branch is having a Christmas party on Friday and we're hoping the members will bring friends along. We have some ideas for spreading some Christmas cheer and to "go about doing good".
Zone Conference in Tallinn was super. We had to get on bus at 7am, so that left us rather tired for a full day of training, but it went well. We have some new focuses in the mission that I'm excited about. President Dance has asked that we start teaching active members and helping them to fulfil their missionary duties and rather than having English class every Tuesday and Thursday night, we're switching to
Saturday afternoons for 2 hourse so as to free up some prime proselyting time. I was a little worried at first when he started to talk about it, but I could see some good reasonings for it. That'll start after the new year. President also said how the mission will start a Book of Mormon reading challenge on Jan. 1st for 3 months and he asked in every prayer to pray for those "who know not God" (Alma 6:6), that the hearts of the people here will be softened. It was also good to not be the only sisters at conference too, because now there are 2 Russian sisters in Tallinn. There haven't been any for quite a while. Sister Hoggard came in the same time as me, and Sis. Gotchek (sp? dunno, her nametag was in Russian x) is from France and
got an extension so she can stay until February. We stayed at their apartment, but it was coooooold. It's a new missionary apartment, so it's not fully outfitted with enough blankets and things for extra guests, but I managed to be somewhat ok by sleeping with my coat on. The traveling and fatigue did a number on Sis. Aitken so she went with the missionary couple Tuesday morning to get tests done at the
hospital to see if they could find out what's going on. I don't know if they really found anything, but she didn't really want to talk a lot about it, so I didn't pry. Not cool since she had to miss the actual fun things we did on Tuesday. For example, we acted out a Nativity, which was absolutely hilarious, and so was the gift exchange. One of the assistants wrapped up an Elder's bible as a gift and what were the odds, I ended up with it AND I WAS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO HIM, HAHAHAHAHAHA. That was a riot! Elder Jenkins said "I was lookin' all over for that!" After Tuesday's festivities, we taxied on back to the bus station and had the Elders watch our things so we could walk to the immigration office or whatever and pick up my visa ID card. Yay, now I'm official~
Yes, I'm staying pretty warm. I think my boots let in a little bit of moisture so I'll have to try and spray them with some waterproofing stuff to see if that helps any. Sometimes if we're walking a lot, my feet will warm up and it's no problem. I have some big wool mittens that were left by other missionaries and they seem pretty warm if I have some little cheapy gloves underneath. I'm excited to see what you
sent me for Christmas. I like clothes :) Thanks so much for all the love and prayers. You're the greatest!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, December 6, 2010
December 6, 2010 It's December
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
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, 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
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