Hello!
Raissa (the Russian lady) completely spaced on our Monday FHE, so we moved it to Tuesday at the same time. We invited the Elders to come along, but they had to come a few minutes later. There were about a dozen people (regulars at the soup kitchen, methinks) there whom she'd invited to come listen to us talk about ourselves, why we're here, what we do, etc. To be honest, we were a bit intimidated since they told us to sit, eat cookies and start talking, ha ha. So we talked for a few minutes about our normal lives and then Raissa was giving us hints of where to go to next in our presentation (they were silent...). Just about when I started talking about how the Priesthood was restored through Joseph Smith, the Elders popped in and then I directed the attention to them. I don't know if the folks felt like they should be easy on our Estonian and not ask any questions, but once Elder Barney started talking, that's when all the crazy questions started popping up, ha ha ha ha! Sometimes, it got a little intense and the conversation started to drag on for quite a while, but eventually we passed around our homemade brownies and started playing Uno with them. Actually while the others were doing that, I gave 2 Book of Mormons to and taught two men about it. Apparently one of them had been in prison for about 14 years, but says he found God 13 years ago :) Fun times! When it was time for us to head home, Raissa told us to come back when we can. Now about that Raissa woman.... we discovered the following day that she's actually and inactive member!!!!! Wow, that made us feel rather dense! That explains so much! Anyway, I hope that we can go back sometime soon, and hopefully we can get her coming back to church.
Zone conference in Tallinn was really great. We talked a lot about faith, about how it procedes the miracles and it's a principle of action and power. This P-day has been very low-key. Elder Aardema is under house arrest because he called Sis. Dance saying he had a fever so we made the Elders some chicken soup this morning and took it to them before coming to write e-mails. I've had a fever the last 2 days, but I'm over it now. Just pretty tired and sluggish still :P
This upcoming game night, there's going to be a short play that some of the members have been putting together, so I hope it will be a decent finding activity if they invite they're friends to come. Recently, Aili has been begging us to come to her and Bro. Raid's stretching sessions at the church, ha ha. Normally we'd decline, but she has a friend that comes, so I kinda tried to throw in a little scriptural thought at the end how stretching is like learning, so if you don't keep learning about spiritual things, then your testimony becomes weak. Once you stretch, then the next time you can stretch a little bit further. You get the idea. She wants us to come tonight, but we'll see if I feel up to it.
Sis. Aitken FINALLY wrote us today to say that she's been diagnosed with typhoid fever. Egads, that's dreadful. She has to be completely well for a month before she comes back, so she may not be able to get back here in March like she was hoping. I'm glad that we know now, though. The members have really been bugging us with questions about it so now we finally have and answer! Sis. Aitken's Estonian friend Kätlin is going to cut our hair on my birthday, for free! (since she's learning!) I'm excited for that.
You taught me well! (and there's still much for me to learn from ya ;) Don't freeze your toesies and nosies off! Put a hat on!! (the old ladies scold us with that all the time :P)
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, February 7, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
January 31, 2011
Glad to hear the birthdays went well! I'll have to make up for not sending any love your way and send a good amount of white Lion bars or something! We've been having some really beautiful, sunny days. It's reminded me a lot of home, even if I have to wear some more clothing
here :)
Here' the most exciting news of the week: AILI (our newest convert!) IS GETTIN' HITCHED TO THE BRANCH PRESIDENT ON FEBRUARY 19TH!!!! OMGOODNESS SO ESSITIN'!!!!!! We have a wedding to plan for now!!!! The Elders bumped into Ülo (branch president) on Monday night and he spilled the beans to them so they called us that night with the news. The following day, Aili called us herself to invite us over to help "shovel some snow" although there wasn't a whole lot to do. We knew what she wanted to tell us, so we tried to play dumb about it :D Oh this is going to be so good for the branch! They're in their 60's and they're both so cute together. We missionaries have actually been wondering how long it'd take since we could tell that they definitely had a relationship~
Last week's preparation day consisted of an intense, 3-4 hour game of Risk. It was my first time ever playing (technically I played a few times back in the day on the PS1 with Colby, but I was 10 or so, so that doesn't count :) I nearly won, but I got a little greedy capturing territories and so I spread myself thin, allowing Elder Barney to wipe me out the next turn after he got a load of
reinforcements! Ha ha ha! I miss some of those intense strategy games. I'd be down for playing it today too. We might do a little sledding after lunch with some of the young members and then head back to the church to play some games :D Tonight, we planned an FHE with the Russian mafia *ahem* the people at that store. Reisa/Raisa? (the Russian lady) was totally down for us coming over and said we could do it in the cafeteria behind the store. The shop they run is kinda
DI-style I think, so we're going to share scriptures on service and play some games. The Elders and Janeli are coming too, so it should be really fun.
Our American-style cookies we baked for English class were a total hit! Everybody wants the recipe, and we just thought they're pretty average :P We baked all the cookies because we had a special spiritual thought, combined with the Elders' class. Everyone had the chance to take a cookie. For each cookie, Elder Aardema had to pay price of 10 push ups. Some people started to deny taking one, but he still had to do the push ups. This is meant to represent the Savior's sacrifice for us. He still payed for our sins even if we don't accept and use the Atonement and enjoy its blessings. That night, we and the Elders got on a bus that took us about 20 minutes
outside of Pärnu to Uulu, where an investigator lives. We had a swell time! He's been wanting us to come visit him for quite some time. Ain wasn't able to get baptized before because he wasn't married to his "life partner" but now she's moved out so we're going to help him work towards baptism again. The only thing is that he really wants to get baptized in the river, so that means he might wait until June :/ We'll see about that... Since I'm the pianist in the branch, Ain is super amazed at my skills, lol. He has 2 accordions and he kept shoving different songs at me that he wanted me to try but I've never played one before, so I've got a lot of practicing to do! It was totally fun though.
We had a few new lessons from knocking a little bit earlier in the week. We tried calling one back last night, but she said maybe next week we could meet again. Yesterday, I was surprised to see a member from the Tallinn branch down here with a friend. Her friend lives out of Pärnu maybe 30 minutes by car, but she said she really liked our church (she doesn't like where she goes at the moment). It's just difficult for her to come in the winter, but thankfully there's maybe
1 1/2 months left of that. I think she technically lives on the Elders' side, but maybe they'll give her to us ;)
Well, that's all the interesting news for this week! Sister LeDuc has been a little under the weather the last couple of days, but she should be back to normal in a day or two, methinks. Thanks for all the love, hugs, and kisses!
Love,
Courtney
here :)
Here' the most exciting news of the week: AILI (our newest convert!) IS GETTIN' HITCHED TO THE BRANCH PRESIDENT ON FEBRUARY 19TH!!!! OMGOODNESS SO ESSITIN'!!!!!! We have a wedding to plan for now!!!! The Elders bumped into Ülo (branch president) on Monday night and he spilled the beans to them so they called us that night with the news. The following day, Aili called us herself to invite us over to help "shovel some snow" although there wasn't a whole lot to do. We knew what she wanted to tell us, so we tried to play dumb about it :D Oh this is going to be so good for the branch! They're in their 60's and they're both so cute together. We missionaries have actually been wondering how long it'd take since we could tell that they definitely had a relationship~
Last week's preparation day consisted of an intense, 3-4 hour game of Risk. It was my first time ever playing (technically I played a few times back in the day on the PS1 with Colby, but I was 10 or so, so that doesn't count :) I nearly won, but I got a little greedy capturing territories and so I spread myself thin, allowing Elder Barney to wipe me out the next turn after he got a load of
reinforcements! Ha ha ha! I miss some of those intense strategy games. I'd be down for playing it today too. We might do a little sledding after lunch with some of the young members and then head back to the church to play some games :D Tonight, we planned an FHE with the Russian mafia *ahem* the people at that store. Reisa/Raisa? (the Russian lady) was totally down for us coming over and said we could do it in the cafeteria behind the store. The shop they run is kinda
DI-style I think, so we're going to share scriptures on service and play some games. The Elders and Janeli are coming too, so it should be really fun.
Our American-style cookies we baked for English class were a total hit! Everybody wants the recipe, and we just thought they're pretty average :P We baked all the cookies because we had a special spiritual thought, combined with the Elders' class. Everyone had the chance to take a cookie. For each cookie, Elder Aardema had to pay price of 10 push ups. Some people started to deny taking one, but he still had to do the push ups. This is meant to represent the Savior's sacrifice for us. He still payed for our sins even if we don't accept and use the Atonement and enjoy its blessings. That night, we and the Elders got on a bus that took us about 20 minutes
outside of Pärnu to Uulu, where an investigator lives. We had a swell time! He's been wanting us to come visit him for quite some time. Ain wasn't able to get baptized before because he wasn't married to his "life partner" but now she's moved out so we're going to help him work towards baptism again. The only thing is that he really wants to get baptized in the river, so that means he might wait until June :/ We'll see about that... Since I'm the pianist in the branch, Ain is super amazed at my skills, lol. He has 2 accordions and he kept shoving different songs at me that he wanted me to try but I've never played one before, so I've got a lot of practicing to do! It was totally fun though.
We had a few new lessons from knocking a little bit earlier in the week. We tried calling one back last night, but she said maybe next week we could meet again. Yesterday, I was surprised to see a member from the Tallinn branch down here with a friend. Her friend lives out of Pärnu maybe 30 minutes by car, but she said she really liked our church (she doesn't like where she goes at the moment). It's just difficult for her to come in the winter, but thankfully there's maybe
1 1/2 months left of that. I think she technically lives on the Elders' side, but maybe they'll give her to us ;)
Well, that's all the interesting news for this week! Sister LeDuc has been a little under the weather the last couple of days, but she should be back to normal in a day or two, methinks. Thanks for all the love, hugs, and kisses!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, January 24, 2011
January 23, 2011
Hey, hey fam!
Happy Birthday Mom!!! (Tomorrow!) Or in Estonian, that'd be "Palju õnne sünnipäevaks!" Sorry I haven't sent you anything for it :/ Goodness, not even a card! XP By the way, I remember showing a recent picture of you that Marily sent me to one of the members and
they were amazed at how young you looked. Not kidding :D I'm glad you like the white Lion bars though! There a fairly new flavor, but I like them too. Actually, it's been quite a while since I last had one. I need to fix that :) A lot of the candies are in English on the front and then in tons of languages on the back. Last week, I had the European equivalent of an Almond Joy... except it was missing the almond..so where's the joy in that?! Hehehehehe :P Rachel's going to
Hong Kong?!?! Is she Cantonese-speaking then? So cool! No word from Sis. Aitken yet though... I wonder if Pres. and Sis. Dance know what's happening. Oh that's right, we have Zone conference next Thursday, February 3rd. I don't know if we have a set temperature limit for our mission (for determining if it's too cold to tract). We've wondered about it, but thankfully is hasn't been completely miserable...at least not yet! We'll see :) I think in the winter, missionaries mostly like to go knock the huge apartment buildings so if they can get into a stairwell, they'll have a warm place to knock a dozen or so doors.
I got a letter from cousin Chaz this week. He's still just a goof, but he seems to be doing all right and enjoying it, so I'm happy for that. How's Brian doing in Germany? Mark and Marily also sent me a b-day package and I went ahead and opened because I read it had a t-shirt and earrings... I wanted them :) The shirt is especially cute because it says "Somebody in Mesa love me" Awwwww, pwecious~ They even sent me some decorations, but we'll put those up when that time comes :)
We played tennis last P-day, so that was fun, although I'm pretty terrible at it. I'll be honest, having a district of 2 Elders and 2 Sisters does make everything kinda seem like a double date..which is kinda awkward... but at least Elder Barney and Elder Aardema are really fun. Wednesday was kind of a mini-miracle day for us because we finally got a hold of an inactive who's often in and out of the hospital. We committed her to read with the branch for their Book of Mormon challenge and we'll try to visit with her again this week. After that we went to a second-hand store where a lady works at, whom we contacted a month ago. We tried to go during the holidays, but she was really busy. On Wednesday, we went in and her co-worker/boss?, a stern-looking Russian lady told us to sit and chat. We were a little nervous, but it turns out she had attended our church a long time ago when there were still Russian missionaries here and she said she really admired some of our characteristics. We kept waiting for her to say some big objection...but it never came! I think she'd reallylike to come to see what our church is like now. As we chatted, a shopper came to check out and she asked us about the Book of Mormon. She said she has read the Bible a lot so she feels she has it pretty memorized and she's read the Koran too, but she's wanted to read the Book of Mormon. *GASP* Yes!! We gave her one on the spot and she was about to dig out her wallet again to pay us but we insisted that it was free. Sheesh, that place was like a jackpot or something! I hope we can contact them again soon because we didn't get their phone numbers, but they have our contact cards... I think it helped that we baked a lot of cookies to give to people that day! Maybe we'll have to do that more often. Bake our way into peoples' hearts~
Friday was game night and Aili brought 2 of her grandkids. Kadri is 8 and Indrek (who's living in her apartment now) is like 17 or something. He kinda seemed like a punk the first time we met him, but he seemed to really enjoy himself at the game night so we felt kinda bad for judging him. We had the Sonntagg family from Tallinn come down so that was really fun! They're actually Americans, he works in the Embassy up there, but he was recently put in the Mission
presidency, even though they'll be moving in a few months. They have5 kids so they helped fill in the congregation since a lot of the ladies were sick this week and couldn't attend. I even helped translate for Sis. Sonntagg and some of the kids in primary :) And we even found out that she grew up in Mesa, went to Mt. View and lived in the Groves. So yeah, right across Brown from us!! Small world~ha ha !
This last week in our Book of Mormon reading challenge was fantastic! I even read a little ahead because it was hard for me to stop. I think I read from the end of 2 Nephi until Mosiah. I'm starting to get a little underline crazy because there are so many examples of the faith, charity, and diligence in the scriptures.
Well, it's about time for me to go now! Thanks for all the love and updates! You're the greatest.
Much love,
Courtney
Happy Birthday Mom!!! (Tomorrow!) Or in Estonian, that'd be "Palju õnne sünnipäevaks!" Sorry I haven't sent you anything for it :/ Goodness, not even a card! XP By the way, I remember showing a recent picture of you that Marily sent me to one of the members and
they were amazed at how young you looked. Not kidding :D I'm glad you like the white Lion bars though! There a fairly new flavor, but I like them too. Actually, it's been quite a while since I last had one. I need to fix that :) A lot of the candies are in English on the front and then in tons of languages on the back. Last week, I had the European equivalent of an Almond Joy... except it was missing the almond..so where's the joy in that?! Hehehehehe :P Rachel's going to
Hong Kong?!?! Is she Cantonese-speaking then? So cool! No word from Sis. Aitken yet though... I wonder if Pres. and Sis. Dance know what's happening. Oh that's right, we have Zone conference next Thursday, February 3rd. I don't know if we have a set temperature limit for our mission (for determining if it's too cold to tract). We've wondered about it, but thankfully is hasn't been completely miserable...at least not yet! We'll see :) I think in the winter, missionaries mostly like to go knock the huge apartment buildings so if they can get into a stairwell, they'll have a warm place to knock a dozen or so doors.
I got a letter from cousin Chaz this week. He's still just a goof, but he seems to be doing all right and enjoying it, so I'm happy for that. How's Brian doing in Germany? Mark and Marily also sent me a b-day package and I went ahead and opened because I read it had a t-shirt and earrings... I wanted them :) The shirt is especially cute because it says "Somebody in Mesa love me" Awwwww, pwecious~ They even sent me some decorations, but we'll put those up when that time comes :)
We played tennis last P-day, so that was fun, although I'm pretty terrible at it. I'll be honest, having a district of 2 Elders and 2 Sisters does make everything kinda seem like a double date..which is kinda awkward... but at least Elder Barney and Elder Aardema are really fun. Wednesday was kind of a mini-miracle day for us because we finally got a hold of an inactive who's often in and out of the hospital. We committed her to read with the branch for their Book of Mormon challenge and we'll try to visit with her again this week. After that we went to a second-hand store where a lady works at, whom we contacted a month ago. We tried to go during the holidays, but she was really busy. On Wednesday, we went in and her co-worker/boss?, a stern-looking Russian lady told us to sit and chat. We were a little nervous, but it turns out she had attended our church a long time ago when there were still Russian missionaries here and she said she really admired some of our characteristics. We kept waiting for her to say some big objection...but it never came! I think she'd reallylike to come to see what our church is like now. As we chatted, a shopper came to check out and she asked us about the Book of Mormon. She said she has read the Bible a lot so she feels she has it pretty memorized and she's read the Koran too, but she's wanted to read the Book of Mormon. *GASP* Yes!! We gave her one on the spot and she was about to dig out her wallet again to pay us but we insisted that it was free. Sheesh, that place was like a jackpot or something! I hope we can contact them again soon because we didn't get their phone numbers, but they have our contact cards... I think it helped that we baked a lot of cookies to give to people that day! Maybe we'll have to do that more often. Bake our way into peoples' hearts~
Friday was game night and Aili brought 2 of her grandkids. Kadri is 8 and Indrek (who's living in her apartment now) is like 17 or something. He kinda seemed like a punk the first time we met him, but he seemed to really enjoy himself at the game night so we felt kinda bad for judging him. We had the Sonntagg family from Tallinn come down so that was really fun! They're actually Americans, he works in the Embassy up there, but he was recently put in the Mission
presidency, even though they'll be moving in a few months. They have5 kids so they helped fill in the congregation since a lot of the ladies were sick this week and couldn't attend. I even helped translate for Sis. Sonntagg and some of the kids in primary :) And we even found out that she grew up in Mesa, went to Mt. View and lived in the Groves. So yeah, right across Brown from us!! Small world~ha ha !
This last week in our Book of Mormon reading challenge was fantastic! I even read a little ahead because it was hard for me to stop. I think I read from the end of 2 Nephi until Mosiah. I'm starting to get a little underline crazy because there are so many examples of the faith, charity, and diligence in the scriptures.
Well, it's about time for me to go now! Thanks for all the love and updates! You're the greatest.
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, January 17, 2011
January 17, 2011
Hey Howdy Hey!!
Glad to hear the package finally made it after a MONTH >.> Yes, the bunny hats are the fun winter accessory this year! The Mesikäpp (means "honey paw") and the white chocolate with the strawberries and cookie bits are some bars that I like. Chelsea's going to Rome?!?!? I got a letter from Noel and Heather this week and they mentioned that she'd be getting her call soon. That's so amazing! I have a high school friend serving there, and they should know each other, so that'd be way cool if they met up. That's a bummer that she has to wait for almost half a year to get to the MTC, though! Is Maureen just English-speaking then? Still cool, she's going to San Diego :)
We actually have noticed that it is getting a little lighter now, but it's not light out past 4:30 yet. Apparently we're gaining 3 minutes of light a day, at least that's what Elder Aardema told us. Last night it snowed, but it warmed up past the freezing point for today so now it's misty and raining. What?! Silly weather. The new boots I bought were a lot cheaper than the other ones and a little bulkier, but they're still fashionable and functional. They're holding up well so far. We have a washing machine in our apartment, but Estonia doesn't believe in dryers so we have to use big drying racks. That means some of our clothes may feel a little more like cardboard when you first put it on, but well, just gotta deal with it. Sis. LeDuc and I were actually fantasizing the other day about when we'll get to use dryers in the future. Mmmm that warm, soft, fragrant feeling of pulling towels out of the dryer~ Moving on...
Last week at McDonald's, we made it just in time for the 80's Power Hour or something of the sort on the French music video channel that was playing in the tv's. 80's French pop music videos are TERRIBLE, HAHAHAHAHA! We were enjoying our fries and McFlurries in sheer
amazement of how obscure they were. At least Michael Jackson's "Thriller" put them to shame right as we were leaving. Ok, well, that's an odd one too, but whatever :P For today, we're going to check out the indoor tennis hall, methinks. I will probably play horribly, but we thought we should try and get some excercise besides running for buses, ha ha.
We're still rather rusty teaching our English class, but oh well. It's pretty much our first time and they haven't revised a curriculum yet so we're trying to put it together on our own. Still trying to figure how to best use it as a source for finding people who are prepared to receive the gospel. There are some people that I feel are ready though.
Ok, Aili RAWKS. Yesterday in Sunday School, Elder Barney got up to do our missionary moment. He gave some statistics about how much more effective member missionary work is than knocking on doors and asked for a member to volunteer to hand out a Joseph Smith pamphlet. I turned around to give the members a staredown since there was some hesitation, and then Aili stands up excitedly (with a tiny bit of encouragement from Sis. LeDuc :). I was thinking "OH MY GOODNESS YOU'RE MARVELOUS. OUR NEWEST CONVERT, ONLY 1 MONTH!!!" That's how you can tell somebody's really converted. They want to share the
gospel :D After Sunday School, Elder Barney and I were talking about it and he felt exactly the same way. He was starting to get a little impatient with the members just before she stood and so he wanted to say "There, you see! She's putting you all to shame!" Silly Elder :P We're praying that her experience went well.
Liidia's heart seems to be softening a little bit. We started to run out of ideas of what to teach her and didn't have a solid plan before we left for her house, but we did pray for the Spirit. She told us that she did actually read a few chapters, and then she asked me what I had read that day. I was reading in 2 Nephi 9, which talks about some of the Plan of Salvation, and so we went ahead and taught her with that. Sis. LeDuc asked her if she thought the Book of Mormon could be the word of God (we've asked this a lot already), and this time, without getting quite as defensive, she said that these were truths that we had read in the chapter. We took that as evidence that the Spirit is slowly working on her heart. She's very grateful that we come and read scriptures with her because she's alone and loves to talk about the Savior. We just can't get her to come to church yet because she says it's slippery and her church is closer xP
Sis. LeDuc and I are FAR from being awesome missionaries. I feel like both of us have pretty much been kicked to the curb and therefore have to figure out how this stuff works on our own. But hey, we're learning. All I can say is, the sisters who'll be coming in May better be super grateful that they have the best trainers in the world ;D Time to get going now. Thanks for all the love. I love you so much!
Much love,
Courtney
Glad to hear the package finally made it after a MONTH >.> Yes, the bunny hats are the fun winter accessory this year! The Mesikäpp (means "honey paw") and the white chocolate with the strawberries and cookie bits are some bars that I like. Chelsea's going to Rome?!?!? I got a letter from Noel and Heather this week and they mentioned that she'd be getting her call soon. That's so amazing! I have a high school friend serving there, and they should know each other, so that'd be way cool if they met up. That's a bummer that she has to wait for almost half a year to get to the MTC, though! Is Maureen just English-speaking then? Still cool, she's going to San Diego :)
We actually have noticed that it is getting a little lighter now, but it's not light out past 4:30 yet. Apparently we're gaining 3 minutes of light a day, at least that's what Elder Aardema told us. Last night it snowed, but it warmed up past the freezing point for today so now it's misty and raining. What?! Silly weather. The new boots I bought were a lot cheaper than the other ones and a little bulkier, but they're still fashionable and functional. They're holding up well so far. We have a washing machine in our apartment, but Estonia doesn't believe in dryers so we have to use big drying racks. That means some of our clothes may feel a little more like cardboard when you first put it on, but well, just gotta deal with it. Sis. LeDuc and I were actually fantasizing the other day about when we'll get to use dryers in the future. Mmmm that warm, soft, fragrant feeling of pulling towels out of the dryer~ Moving on...
Last week at McDonald's, we made it just in time for the 80's Power Hour or something of the sort on the French music video channel that was playing in the tv's. 80's French pop music videos are TERRIBLE, HAHAHAHAHA! We were enjoying our fries and McFlurries in sheer
amazement of how obscure they were. At least Michael Jackson's "Thriller" put them to shame right as we were leaving. Ok, well, that's an odd one too, but whatever :P For today, we're going to check out the indoor tennis hall, methinks. I will probably play horribly, but we thought we should try and get some excercise besides running for buses, ha ha.
We're still rather rusty teaching our English class, but oh well. It's pretty much our first time and they haven't revised a curriculum yet so we're trying to put it together on our own. Still trying to figure how to best use it as a source for finding people who are prepared to receive the gospel. There are some people that I feel are ready though.
Ok, Aili RAWKS. Yesterday in Sunday School, Elder Barney got up to do our missionary moment. He gave some statistics about how much more effective member missionary work is than knocking on doors and asked for a member to volunteer to hand out a Joseph Smith pamphlet. I turned around to give the members a staredown since there was some hesitation, and then Aili stands up excitedly (with a tiny bit of encouragement from Sis. LeDuc :). I was thinking "OH MY GOODNESS YOU'RE MARVELOUS. OUR NEWEST CONVERT, ONLY 1 MONTH!!!" That's how you can tell somebody's really converted. They want to share the
gospel :D After Sunday School, Elder Barney and I were talking about it and he felt exactly the same way. He was starting to get a little impatient with the members just before she stood and so he wanted to say "There, you see! She's putting you all to shame!" Silly Elder :P We're praying that her experience went well.
Liidia's heart seems to be softening a little bit. We started to run out of ideas of what to teach her and didn't have a solid plan before we left for her house, but we did pray for the Spirit. She told us that she did actually read a few chapters, and then she asked me what I had read that day. I was reading in 2 Nephi 9, which talks about some of the Plan of Salvation, and so we went ahead and taught her with that. Sis. LeDuc asked her if she thought the Book of Mormon could be the word of God (we've asked this a lot already), and this time, without getting quite as defensive, she said that these were truths that we had read in the chapter. We took that as evidence that the Spirit is slowly working on her heart. She's very grateful that we come and read scriptures with her because she's alone and loves to talk about the Savior. We just can't get her to come to church yet because she says it's slippery and her church is closer xP
Sis. LeDuc and I are FAR from being awesome missionaries. I feel like both of us have pretty much been kicked to the curb and therefore have to figure out how this stuff works on our own. But hey, we're learning. All I can say is, the sisters who'll be coming in May better be super grateful that they have the best trainers in the world ;D Time to get going now. Thanks for all the love. I love you so much!
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, January 10, 2011
January 10, 2011
Hey everybody!
My Sabbath Day was nice :) And yes, I'm still the main pianist, but I finally suckered Sis. LeDuc into playing for Relief Society from the simplified hymn book. We actually had an investigator come to church (after the Sacrament) and our most recent convert, Aili, gave a short talk. She's so adorable~ The weather has been rather strange this week. Had some nice snow falls in the middle of the week, but on the weekend it was actually a little over the freezing point! I thought I wouldn't see this until March! So last night we had rain and it's been melting away stuff. It's kinda strange see the pavement in some of our normal foot paths, although now we're forced to do some puddle jumping which is difficult with snow banks and whatnot, so my feet are pretty wet from this morning :P It's also revealed some of the really slippery parts of ice underneath, so we still waddle a little around like penguins. I'm sure Winter's just playing a joke on us right now and it'll be back soon enough, but it's kinda nice to get a break. I think I'm acclimating to the weather now. Either that, or now I just don't complain because I think of how it could be a lot worse, hehehe.
Sis. Aitken told me today that she feels like a pin cushion for doctors but she said she's glad she's sick at home and not in Estonia. She's got some tests to do tomorrow, so hopefully they can figure out the problem quickly. I just hope we can get her back a.s.a.p. I think we tried to estimate how many transfers it'll take to get some reinforcement sisters, and I don't think that'll be until May! But, well, it's already the 10th of January, so time'll just fly by anyway.
We've had some mini miracles this week, at least with kind people letting us in while we've gone out to do a little knocking. Earlier in the week was a Pentecostal preacher-type lady who has 6 kids and 8 step-kids (WOW), has read the Book of Mormon, and we chatted about ourselves for a while, but every time we really started to tell her about what makes us different, some sort of little distraction would come up. Agh! She had to go check on something so she left us to talk with her son who's our age and who's got a great American accent. He was really cool, but we had to get going so we had to awkwardly leave before we could tell her bye. We want to stop by and give our thanks for letting us in that snowy night. The following night is went we knocked into Bro. Raid's friend. He's kinda a weird old guy, but maybe we can get him to keep coming. Not sure how interested he is in the gospel, but he took a liking to the hymnbook so we gave him
one. Friday, the Dance's came to Pärnu to give our district some training. We worked on giving people commitments and then they took us to lunch at Steffani's afterward. Before game night, we walked by Aili's apartment and saw her shoveling snow so some trucks could come in and get the snow off the roof. We pitched in with our skirts and helped her get the huge job done quickly. We worked up quite a sweat! English class on Saturday went pretty well and we had a great turnout, 19 people! A lot of them were new faces too. And we actually got them to participate! There were definitely some things we could've done better, but teaching means you're always evaluating, re-evaluating and implementing new ideas. Last night, we tried to visit a former investigator, but he'd just gotten out of the sauna and was only in a towel, AWKWARD~ He said he was alone with the kids, so not that night, so we tried a few more doors. We knocked into a sweet older couple who let us right in. She offered us some baked goods she made that day. Missionaries had gone there in the past, maybe 2 years ago, we guess. It sounds like they'd done some service. They were really sweet and said we can come back anytime. She seems open to learning about other religions, but maybe we can help soften her heart to help her search for more truth.
Ugh, the package I sent still hasn't showed up?!?!?! So much for paying the extra for air mail >.> I'm sending back a letter and some little treasures for Stacey and Shauna today. That'll be in an
envelope so that should get there at a decent rate... I think the most recent church magazing we have now is from October (buncha cool Temple pics!). We don't have the conference issue Liahona. This last week, I think we mostly subsisted on variations of pasta, but we're craving to make some quesadilla this week. Sledding last P-day was really fun, but I wore jeans with thermals underneath (lol, bad idea) so they got soaked. This morning we went out to Saima's to shovel some snow (we mostly just cheered on the Elders since there were enough shovels :P) and I don't know what else we have planned for today. We might go to McDonald's (oh yes, now it's a luxury~). Sis. LeDuc and I definitely want to do some shopping, especially since we didn't get around to my boot shopping last week. Don't worry, I'll get them today ;)
That's all I got! Thanks for the love and prayers. I am who I am now because of all of you super people cheering me on at home :D
Love always,
Courtney
My Sabbath Day was nice :) And yes, I'm still the main pianist, but I finally suckered Sis. LeDuc into playing for Relief Society from the simplified hymn book. We actually had an investigator come to church (after the Sacrament) and our most recent convert, Aili, gave a short talk. She's so adorable~ The weather has been rather strange this week. Had some nice snow falls in the middle of the week, but on the weekend it was actually a little over the freezing point! I thought I wouldn't see this until March! So last night we had rain and it's been melting away stuff. It's kinda strange see the pavement in some of our normal foot paths, although now we're forced to do some puddle jumping which is difficult with snow banks and whatnot, so my feet are pretty wet from this morning :P It's also revealed some of the really slippery parts of ice underneath, so we still waddle a little around like penguins. I'm sure Winter's just playing a joke on us right now and it'll be back soon enough, but it's kinda nice to get a break. I think I'm acclimating to the weather now. Either that, or now I just don't complain because I think of how it could be a lot worse, hehehe.
Sis. Aitken told me today that she feels like a pin cushion for doctors but she said she's glad she's sick at home and not in Estonia. She's got some tests to do tomorrow, so hopefully they can figure out the problem quickly. I just hope we can get her back a.s.a.p. I think we tried to estimate how many transfers it'll take to get some reinforcement sisters, and I don't think that'll be until May! But, well, it's already the 10th of January, so time'll just fly by anyway.
We've had some mini miracles this week, at least with kind people letting us in while we've gone out to do a little knocking. Earlier in the week was a Pentecostal preacher-type lady who has 6 kids and 8 step-kids (WOW), has read the Book of Mormon, and we chatted about ourselves for a while, but every time we really started to tell her about what makes us different, some sort of little distraction would come up. Agh! She had to go check on something so she left us to talk with her son who's our age and who's got a great American accent. He was really cool, but we had to get going so we had to awkwardly leave before we could tell her bye. We want to stop by and give our thanks for letting us in that snowy night. The following night is went we knocked into Bro. Raid's friend. He's kinda a weird old guy, but maybe we can get him to keep coming. Not sure how interested he is in the gospel, but he took a liking to the hymnbook so we gave him
one. Friday, the Dance's came to Pärnu to give our district some training. We worked on giving people commitments and then they took us to lunch at Steffani's afterward. Before game night, we walked by Aili's apartment and saw her shoveling snow so some trucks could come in and get the snow off the roof. We pitched in with our skirts and helped her get the huge job done quickly. We worked up quite a sweat! English class on Saturday went pretty well and we had a great turnout, 19 people! A lot of them were new faces too. And we actually got them to participate! There were definitely some things we could've done better, but teaching means you're always evaluating, re-evaluating and implementing new ideas. Last night, we tried to visit a former investigator, but he'd just gotten out of the sauna and was only in a towel, AWKWARD~ He said he was alone with the kids, so not that night, so we tried a few more doors. We knocked into a sweet older couple who let us right in. She offered us some baked goods she made that day. Missionaries had gone there in the past, maybe 2 years ago, we guess. It sounds like they'd done some service. They were really sweet and said we can come back anytime. She seems open to learning about other religions, but maybe we can help soften her heart to help her search for more truth.
Ugh, the package I sent still hasn't showed up?!?!?! So much for paying the extra for air mail >.> I'm sending back a letter and some little treasures for Stacey and Shauna today. That'll be in an
envelope so that should get there at a decent rate... I think the most recent church magazing we have now is from October (buncha cool Temple pics!). We don't have the conference issue Liahona. This last week, I think we mostly subsisted on variations of pasta, but we're craving to make some quesadilla this week. Sledding last P-day was really fun, but I wore jeans with thermals underneath (lol, bad idea) so they got soaked. This morning we went out to Saima's to shovel some snow (we mostly just cheered on the Elders since there were enough shovels :P) and I don't know what else we have planned for today. We might go to McDonald's (oh yes, now it's a luxury~). Sis. LeDuc and I definitely want to do some shopping, especially since we didn't get around to my boot shopping last week. Don't worry, I'll get them today ;)
That's all I got! Thanks for the love and prayers. I am who I am now because of all of you super people cheering me on at home :D
Love always,
Courtney
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
January 3, 2011 Happy New Year
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
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
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
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