Another batch of pictures. The descriptions (for most) are in the previous email post.
ENJOY!!
ENJOY!!
Another batch of pictures. I believe the descriptions are in the previous email post.
ENJOY!!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Pictures Again!
Another batch of pictures. I believe the descriptions are in the previous email post.
February 21, 2011 President's Day
Hey everyone!
My birthday was great! While bowling, I at least scored over 100 on the second game so...yay? Ha ha! I got the package on the exact day, perfect!! Thanks so much! Everything fits fine :)
Aili and Ülo's wedding was great! Sis. LeDuc and I gifted them a generic version of Jenga, which they were thrilled about! We've played it with them a few times when we've done FHE with them and so we knew how much they liked it :) Nelly (RS President) was at a loss for words because of how pretty Aili looked, ha ha ha ha. She wouldn't stop talking about it! I uploaded a few pictures of the wedding and other things. Speaking of cakes, we ate SOOOOO much cake at the wedding!! There were several varities so of course we had to try some of each! The cakes here aren't as sweet so I guess in that way, we didn't feel as bad for eating so much, hehehe. One of the members said she probably should fast the following day because she ate so much :P One other interesting thing that happened was that we saw a young woman at the wedding whom we knocked into and taught a short lesson to almost a month ago. That was a surprise! She was suprised to see us too. We were a little afraid to talk to her until around the end of the wedding. Apparently Aili is an acquaintance of hers from work or something. We're thinking of going to pay her a visit maybe this week or the next :)
The district president (like a stake president?) and his wife came down from Tallinn to perform the wedding and to speak at church on Sunday. After church they gave us a little tower (made of a toilet paper roll and clay) that their boys made with an Estonian flag sticking out the top and a Kalev 'Estonia' chocolate bar (YUMMY) in honor of the 24th of February. That day is Estonia's independence day (the original, when they first became their own country. There's a 2nd independence day in the summer when the USSR fell).
The other good news for this week is that a man whom the Elders had been teaching was baptized last Wednesday! His wife is a semi-active member, so we're praying that his conversion will be a blessing to the family. Other than that though, there hasn't been much else to report about.
Transfers were last week. We're still in Pärnu~ I'm kinda bummed that Elder Barney was transferred up to Tallinn. He's the last one left of my very first transfer here. Sis. LeDuc and I agree that he'd make a good bishop in the future, dunno why ;) Elder Baird has come down from Tallinn to be Elder Aardema's companion. He's definitely much shorter than Barney was, but he's a good teacher too. He's got about 3 months or so until he finishes his mission. I don't know much about him, but he does like to ask a lot of questions to get to know people. Almost like interrogating, he he :)
Tonight, we're doing FHE with the 1st counselor's family. Sergei is also the branch mission leader, so we know him pretty well from our weekly meetings with him. He is solid as a ROCK in the church. His wife just doesn't really understand gospel things. We were thinking of talking about Jesus as the Bread of Life. Hopefully we can make it simple enough for his wife, and two little kids to understand as well. We plan to play some games and maybe make a box cake that Sis. Aitken left here :)
Last week was certainly cold and slippery~ We're still layering a lot, but folks say things will start warming back up by the end of the week, yay! We've been having a rough time finding service opportunities lately :/ Nobody will let us help them! We find this perplexing since there are so many poor people here, wouldn't you want some free help?! Some other people have told us to wait until spring or summer. Normally we would help Saima with things at her house, but since there's snow, there's no work to do in the yard yet. So fam and friends I need some help here. We could use some ideas on how to find, or even finding people to teach. I know how much of a smart, clever, experienced bunch you are ;)
Lots of love,
Courtney
My birthday was great! While bowling, I at least scored over 100 on the second game so...yay? Ha ha! I got the package on the exact day, perfect!! Thanks so much! Everything fits fine :)
Aili and Ülo's wedding was great! Sis. LeDuc and I gifted them a generic version of Jenga, which they were thrilled about! We've played it with them a few times when we've done FHE with them and so we knew how much they liked it :) Nelly (RS President) was at a loss for words because of how pretty Aili looked, ha ha ha ha. She wouldn't stop talking about it! I uploaded a few pictures of the wedding and other things. Speaking of cakes, we ate SOOOOO much cake at the wedding!! There were several varities so of course we had to try some of each! The cakes here aren't as sweet so I guess in that way, we didn't feel as bad for eating so much, hehehe. One of the members said she probably should fast the following day because she ate so much :P One other interesting thing that happened was that we saw a young woman at the wedding whom we knocked into and taught a short lesson to almost a month ago. That was a surprise! She was suprised to see us too. We were a little afraid to talk to her until around the end of the wedding. Apparently Aili is an acquaintance of hers from work or something. We're thinking of going to pay her a visit maybe this week or the next :)
The district president (like a stake president?) and his wife came down from Tallinn to perform the wedding and to speak at church on Sunday. After church they gave us a little tower (made of a toilet paper roll and clay) that their boys made with an Estonian flag sticking out the top and a Kalev 'Estonia' chocolate bar (YUMMY) in honor of the 24th of February. That day is Estonia's independence day (the original, when they first became their own country. There's a 2nd independence day in the summer when the USSR fell).
The other good news for this week is that a man whom the Elders had been teaching was baptized last Wednesday! His wife is a semi-active member, so we're praying that his conversion will be a blessing to the family. Other than that though, there hasn't been much else to report about.
Transfers were last week. We're still in Pärnu~ I'm kinda bummed that Elder Barney was transferred up to Tallinn. He's the last one left of my very first transfer here. Sis. LeDuc and I agree that he'd make a good bishop in the future, dunno why ;) Elder Baird has come down from Tallinn to be Elder Aardema's companion. He's definitely much shorter than Barney was, but he's a good teacher too. He's got about 3 months or so until he finishes his mission. I don't know much about him, but he does like to ask a lot of questions to get to know people. Almost like interrogating, he he :)
Tonight, we're doing FHE with the 1st counselor's family. Sergei is also the branch mission leader, so we know him pretty well from our weekly meetings with him. He is solid as a ROCK in the church. His wife just doesn't really understand gospel things. We were thinking of talking about Jesus as the Bread of Life. Hopefully we can make it simple enough for his wife, and two little kids to understand as well. We plan to play some games and maybe make a box cake that Sis. Aitken left here :)
Last week was certainly cold and slippery~ We're still layering a lot, but folks say things will start warming back up by the end of the week, yay! We've been having a rough time finding service opportunities lately :/ Nobody will let us help them! We find this perplexing since there are so many poor people here, wouldn't you want some free help?! Some other people have told us to wait until spring or summer. Normally we would help Saima with things at her house, but since there's snow, there's no work to do in the yard yet. So fam and friends I need some help here. We could use some ideas on how to find, or even finding people to teach. I know how much of a smart, clever, experienced bunch you are ;)
Lots of love,
Courtney
Monday, February 14, 2011
February 14, 2011 Happy Birthday
Beloved Family and Friends!
GAAAAAAAAAAH~~!!!!! LACHELLE'S HAVING A BABY!!!1!11! I'm so essited xD
I didn't recieve any of your packages yet, but I got the shirts and divinity nut rolls and several cards from Grandma and Carol. That was really thoughtful, and yummy! I have 3 rolls left :) With "Friend Day" (Valentine's in Estonia), the end of English classes, and my birthday, Sis. LeDuc and I have been loaded up with lots of chocolate lately so there's no need to buy anymore for quite some time! Valentine's Day isn't really big here since it's only been celebrated within the last 20 years, but I think they just give chocolate to friends, (pretty much what they do for every other holiday here, methinks, :P) We're going to go bowling today for my birthday, and tomorrow I'm getting my haircut so I'm really excited. It's already been a super birthday! :D
I'm sorry to hear that Dad isn't feeling so well! Actually, this last week has been pretty bad for us too since when I finally started to feel decent enough to go work, then Sis. LeDuc came down hard with a fever and chills. It's like our Pärnu district was plagued with something, ha ha! So we were pretty much out of commission for almost a week. Now we gotta catch up! We made a huge batch of sugar cookies for Game Night and our English class, complete with pink frosting for Valentine's~ As soon as we started to pass around the cookies and then set them on the table, Saima started mentioning how these would be great with prunes on top. WUT?!?!11 NOOOOOOO. DON'T DESECRATE OUR AMERICAN SUGAR COOKIES WITH YOUR NASTY PRUNES!!!1!!!11!! But sure enough, she asked Zoja to bust the prunes from the closet (for Primary?) and then they placed one on top of each of our pretty pink cookies remaining on the tray. Ugh, that's so Estonian... The Elders were especially in an outrage because they're doing a no-sweets challenge with a couple who's trying to work on the Word of Wisdom. We Sisters haven't been helping them with that lately, ha ha ha. Needless to say, our cookies were a big hit!
President and Sister Dance came to our branch on Sunday, but the turnout was smaller than expected. Earlier in the week, we invited them to come to eat with us after church, so they accepted and brought the Elders along too. We tidied up the apartment and made Sis. LeDuc's Chicken Paprika. It was fun to eat and chat with them, and President told us some fun bits of news too, like Sisters' Conference next month in Riga, and that we're going to do an exchange next transfer with the Russian sisters! w00t w00t. Oh, and one other secret he let out was that we're having a Mission Conference probably at the start of summer, so that's something to look forward too! President spilled the beans about it because I mentioned that Elder Burr from my stake was coming in soon, although I probably wouldn't have the chance to meet him, then President said "you may get to see him sooner than you think!" :)
We had to drop an investigator this week :/ We taught him with Bro. Tšekmarjov, who was a great help, and we clearly invited to be baptized, but he doesn't want to change and repent right now, so he refused. We'll still occassionally check up on him though, see how he's doing. Last night, we visited a lady whom we knocked into a few weeks back and I think she sees that the Book of Mormon could be true, but she said that she's not sure if this is the right time since she's
busy and her mom, excuses, etc. Me and Sis. LeDuc just testified away about what this knowledge means for us and she agreed to meet again. We need to take a member with us next time so that they can help her see why she needs this NOW in her life.
Transfers are this week, but nobody thinks we'll be whitewashed into a new area yet. Even IF we were transferred though, we're still going to make it to the wedding this weekend! Oh and the Elders have a baptism on the same day, so that's really great for the branch! People have been telling us that this weekend is finally going to get nasty cold, so we'll see how that goes. It's been rather nippy the last few days~ I still think we've lucked out this winter, so I can put up with the bitter cold for a little bit :)
Well, that's all I've got for this week! Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes, and of course all the usual hugs and kisses~
Love you so much,
Courtney
P.S. I suppose I'll have to ask around and see what I can do here then for eye stuff. I'll have to pay out of pocket for it, but from what I've experienced or heard so far with Estonian medicine, it's quite cheap since it's socialized or whatever.
GAAAAAAAAAAH~~!!!!! LACHELLE'S HAVING A BABY!!!1!11! I'm so essited xD
I didn't recieve any of your packages yet, but I got the shirts and divinity nut rolls and several cards from Grandma and Carol. That was really thoughtful, and yummy! I have 3 rolls left :) With "Friend Day" (Valentine's in Estonia), the end of English classes, and my birthday, Sis. LeDuc and I have been loaded up with lots of chocolate lately so there's no need to buy anymore for quite some time! Valentine's Day isn't really big here since it's only been celebrated within the last 20 years, but I think they just give chocolate to friends, (pretty much what they do for every other holiday here, methinks, :P) We're going to go bowling today for my birthday, and tomorrow I'm getting my haircut so I'm really excited. It's already been a super birthday! :D
I'm sorry to hear that Dad isn't feeling so well! Actually, this last week has been pretty bad for us too since when I finally started to feel decent enough to go work, then Sis. LeDuc came down hard with a fever and chills. It's like our Pärnu district was plagued with something, ha ha! So we were pretty much out of commission for almost a week. Now we gotta catch up! We made a huge batch of sugar cookies for Game Night and our English class, complete with pink frosting for Valentine's~ As soon as we started to pass around the cookies and then set them on the table, Saima started mentioning how these would be great with prunes on top. WUT?!?!11 NOOOOOOO. DON'T DESECRATE OUR AMERICAN SUGAR COOKIES WITH YOUR NASTY PRUNES!!!1!!!11!! But sure enough, she asked Zoja to bust the prunes from the closet (for Primary?) and then they placed one on top of each of our pretty pink cookies remaining on the tray. Ugh, that's so Estonian... The Elders were especially in an outrage because they're doing a no-sweets challenge with a couple who's trying to work on the Word of Wisdom. We Sisters haven't been helping them with that lately, ha ha ha. Needless to say, our cookies were a big hit!
President and Sister Dance came to our branch on Sunday, but the turnout was smaller than expected. Earlier in the week, we invited them to come to eat with us after church, so they accepted and brought the Elders along too. We tidied up the apartment and made Sis. LeDuc's Chicken Paprika. It was fun to eat and chat with them, and President told us some fun bits of news too, like Sisters' Conference next month in Riga, and that we're going to do an exchange next transfer with the Russian sisters! w00t w00t. Oh, and one other secret he let out was that we're having a Mission Conference probably at the start of summer, so that's something to look forward too! President spilled the beans about it because I mentioned that Elder Burr from my stake was coming in soon, although I probably wouldn't have the chance to meet him, then President said "you may get to see him sooner than you think!" :)
We had to drop an investigator this week :/ We taught him with Bro. Tšekmarjov, who was a great help, and we clearly invited to be baptized, but he doesn't want to change and repent right now, so he refused. We'll still occassionally check up on him though, see how he's doing. Last night, we visited a lady whom we knocked into a few weeks back and I think she sees that the Book of Mormon could be true, but she said that she's not sure if this is the right time since she's
busy and her mom, excuses, etc. Me and Sis. LeDuc just testified away about what this knowledge means for us and she agreed to meet again. We need to take a member with us next time so that they can help her see why she needs this NOW in her life.
Transfers are this week, but nobody thinks we'll be whitewashed into a new area yet. Even IF we were transferred though, we're still going to make it to the wedding this weekend! Oh and the Elders have a baptism on the same day, so that's really great for the branch! People have been telling us that this weekend is finally going to get nasty cold, so we'll see how that goes. It's been rather nippy the last few days~ I still think we've lucked out this winter, so I can put up with the bitter cold for a little bit :)
Well, that's all I've got for this week! Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes, and of course all the usual hugs and kisses~
Love you so much,
Courtney
P.S. I suppose I'll have to ask around and see what I can do here then for eye stuff. I'll have to pay out of pocket for it, but from what I've experienced or heard so far with Estonian medicine, it's quite cheap since it's socialized or whatever.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Pictures!
From Shauna:
Some of you (ahem HEATHER) have been bugging us about posting pictures. Truth be told, I was able to download them over a week ago, but was already working on another photo project so I was a little pixelated-out and put posting these on the back burner. Let me make amends now by posting some of those for you right now. She did not provide me with info about each picture so I'm going to try guessing what's going on, or else totally make it up ;o) ENJOY!
FIRST BAPTISM!!
Sister Aitken, Aili, Sister Smith, Sister LeDuc
A shirt sent to her from Mark, Marily, Dallin, Adam and Owen for Christmas....and YES, several someones in Mesa love you!!!
Some of you (ahem HEATHER) have been bugging us about posting pictures. Truth be told, I was able to download them over a week ago, but was already working on another photo project so I was a little pixelated-out and put posting these on the back burner. Let me make amends now by posting some of those for you right now. She did not provide me with info about each picture so I'm going to try guessing what's going on, or else totally make it up ;o) ENJOY!
FIRST BAPTISM!!
Sister Aitken, Aili, Sister Smith, Sister LeDuc
Mission Christmas Program
I'm guessing...Nativity Scene. Courtney is obviously one of the wise men (in a robe)
The scene is complete with a donkey and a live manger. Don't forget the star (Elder with a yellow square of fabric). They are so resourceful.
I'm guessing...Nativity Scene. Courtney is obviously one of the wise men (in a robe)
The scene is complete with a donkey and a live manger. Don't forget the star (Elder with a yellow square of fabric). They are so resourceful.
Ah! Someone getting into the spirit of the Christmas holiday.
Check out those seat covers...
Check out those seat covers...
Sister LeDuc and Sister Smith
They visited an investigator who worked at a local cemetery.
She took a lot of pictures of it because it really was beautiful, especially with all the snow.
She took a lot of pictures of it because it really was beautiful, especially with all the snow.
A replica of the Christus at one of the grave sites. These are highly adorned plots.
What a lovely picture.
What a lovely picture.
A bit after it snowed. You can see how much snow fell by trying to find the road sign...
It really is a pretty picture too!
It really is a pretty picture too!
I believe this is the view of the Baltic Sea from their apartment.
All of the Pärnu missionaries.
Glad to see the constant snow doesn't dampen their spunky personalities!
Finishing off the last of the pumpkin pie from their Thanksgiving feast.
Apparently Star Wars is a universal language.
Some of the members goofing off at an activity.
Some of the members goofing off at an activity.
A fashion show at another of their activities. Look at those pleats!
A shirt sent to her from Mark, Marily, Dallin, Adam and Owen for Christmas....and YES, several someones in Mesa love you!!!February 7, 2011
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
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, 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
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