You're already in the high 90s??!? Wow. Today (finally) is absolutely gorgeous~ I think I might ditch the boots and leggings soon. Wearing pants under skirts for the last, well, 5 months or so
might take some adjusting to go without, he he! It's also strange to see how the sidewalks seem to grow nowadays. Were they really that big before the snow? I dunno. I'm glad to hear all is going well back home!
I got the package last week, woo hoo! The Starburst jelly beans didn't last long though, ha ha ha. They were just sooooo goooood. Like a burst of flavor in your mouth (hence the name? lol) Now that's American candy for ya ;D
We have Zone conference in Tallinn on Friday and I think some Emeritus member of the Seventy is doing a broadcast on Sunday. General Conference was great! We'll watch the rest of it in English this week or in the following weeks. We actually had 3 investigators come to at least one of the sessions! 2 of them are men that have baptismal dates, one for the 30th this month, but we still have a lot to teach them. The hard thing with Jüri is that we're experiencing some
resistance from some of the branch members who don't feel comfortable about him. We need a fellow lady member to teach him with us, but some declined or couldn't make it so we had to have the Elders help us teach. I think there are rumors going around about Jüri, which may or
may not be true, but I think he's trying to change. We'll be able to tell by how well he keeps his commitments when we teach him next time.
Now for some good news! Turns out Sis. Aitken was misdiagnosed and she actually just has Mononucleosis, hence the extreme fatigue. So, I guess once she can keep up a missionary's schedule for a full week, then she'll be ok to come back. I would think she'd come back here
since she's already learned some Estonian. Elder Aardema went back to Tartu, so now Elder Elmer is here and this is Elder Baird's last transfer. For today's p-day, we'll be playing tennis with the Elders and one of their English students, so we're excited for that :) Gah, I can't think of what else to write about!! Sorry fam! I get pressured and then my mind goes blank >.< But I hope you know I love you so much. You're such a great strength and support to me!
This joke's for you Ryan: What is a Russian's favorite movie? Horror Show!
Much love,
Courtney
P.S. Just so you know, my release date is December 9th. I've known for about a month now but I forgot to tell you :P
Monday, April 4, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
March 28, 2011 End of March
Hey hey!
I'm jealous of your weather right now. Ours can't seem to make up its mind! Winter doesn't seem to want to give up on its icy grasp just yet. It looks all nice and sunny in the morning, and then 15 minutes after we leave our apartment, it gets windy and snows. :? I don't get it. We had sort of a blizzard this morning but I think it might be kinda partially sunny right now.
The exchange was really fun! It was kind of nice to see a little more of the town. I didn't eat anything much different in Tallinn because we just made our own food :) Sis. Hoggard, who was down with Sis. LeDuc in Pärnu during the exchange, was the one with all the money, haha. I'm the one who takes care of the finances (yay for mah bankin' skillz~!) but we just made spaghetti and ate lots of toast and cereal. There are 3 Russian sisters in Tallinn, so thankfully they have enough beds for me to get one too. Sis. Grineviciute (sp?) is on a mini-mission (young adult member from Lithuania) but now we helped her do some of her paperwork for a full-time mission! She'll be serving here in the Baltics, Russian-speaking since she can't go anywhere else since she needs her braces on for like 3 years, (yikes) but also yay! We'll see more of her in the future! The time she's spent on the mini-mission will count to her total service time. I arrivedTuesday night so we tried to give a birthday card to an inactive but she wasn't home. On Wednesday, I got to sit through a missionary coordination meeting all in Russian (the Elders were worried I was getting blasted with the language, ha ha. I wish I at least knew some grammar basics so I could have learned more from this but oh well :P ) lucky me, hehe. After that, we make a big lunch and played a few rounds of Skip-Bo and Phase 10 (imported for Sis.
Hoggard's b-day a few weeks back :) Went to the church for a meeting with a young member and set off the alarm because Sis. Tanner forgot the code, ha ha ha! That was fun. Aaaaaaand to end that night, we taught an old man who knew some Estonian so I taught the first bit of the Plan of Salvation, but then I let them do the rest of the talking. It was a good, but looooong lesson so I tried to stay awake by the end of it, he he. Thursday was just back to Pärnu and we also did our weekly planning that day. Oh yeah! The 24th marked Sis. LeDuc's anniversary on her mission. WOW.
Friday was neat since we had all of our district's investigators with baptismal dates in attendance! We were celebrating the 70th birthday of one of the members so there was a LOT of food (which we conveniently used the leftovers for the following day's RS birthday event :) We also were celebrating Elder Aardema's birthday. After game night, we did an impromptu lesson with our 2 investigators (Ain and Jüri) and 2 members about the Book of Mormon which went very well.
We've found out that President Dance is doing transfer calls this evening, so methinks that means a lot of changes in the mission...? Elder Aardema predicts we'll be here just one more transfer and then move when the new sisters arrive. I think so too, but we'll see~
I think those comments about Lithuania could be said for the Baltic states in general, actually. The poor folks just aren't very used to being open and friendly. They kept to themselves during the Soviet time and that's still an ongoing trait, I'd say. Pärnu might be a little more of an exception, perhaps because they're accustomed to lots of summer visitors. We've been lucky to meet a lot of nice people, but we've still met angry, or unpolite people. Saturday night we had 2 people yell at us telling us to "leave them be. Nobody wants to hear what we have to say" Sure it's a downer, but it fades over time. What hurts more is that they have absolutely no idea that
giving us just 10 minutes could eternally change their lives for the better. "No time" is often an excuse that we get. Do we really not have enough time in our lives to allow God to bless us?
I'm really excited for General Conference this weekend! I think we'll watch it all in Estonian first with the members and then get together to watch it in English later on. Last night I read some of the March Liahona before bed and I really liked it :) Thanks for all the love, support and words of comfort and cheer!!
Hugs and kisses!
Courtney
I'm jealous of your weather right now. Ours can't seem to make up its mind! Winter doesn't seem to want to give up on its icy grasp just yet. It looks all nice and sunny in the morning, and then 15 minutes after we leave our apartment, it gets windy and snows. :? I don't get it. We had sort of a blizzard this morning but I think it might be kinda partially sunny right now.
The exchange was really fun! It was kind of nice to see a little more of the town. I didn't eat anything much different in Tallinn because we just made our own food :) Sis. Hoggard, who was down with Sis. LeDuc in Pärnu during the exchange, was the one with all the money, haha. I'm the one who takes care of the finances (yay for mah bankin' skillz~!) but we just made spaghetti and ate lots of toast and cereal. There are 3 Russian sisters in Tallinn, so thankfully they have enough beds for me to get one too. Sis. Grineviciute (sp?) is on a mini-mission (young adult member from Lithuania) but now we helped her do some of her paperwork for a full-time mission! She'll be serving here in the Baltics, Russian-speaking since she can't go anywhere else since she needs her braces on for like 3 years, (yikes) but also yay! We'll see more of her in the future! The time she's spent on the mini-mission will count to her total service time. I arrivedTuesday night so we tried to give a birthday card to an inactive but she wasn't home. On Wednesday, I got to sit through a missionary coordination meeting all in Russian (the Elders were worried I was getting blasted with the language, ha ha. I wish I at least knew some grammar basics so I could have learned more from this but oh well :P ) lucky me, hehe. After that, we make a big lunch and played a few rounds of Skip-Bo and Phase 10 (imported for Sis.
Hoggard's b-day a few weeks back :) Went to the church for a meeting with a young member and set off the alarm because Sis. Tanner forgot the code, ha ha ha! That was fun. Aaaaaaand to end that night, we taught an old man who knew some Estonian so I taught the first bit of the Plan of Salvation, but then I let them do the rest of the talking. It was a good, but looooong lesson so I tried to stay awake by the end of it, he he. Thursday was just back to Pärnu and we also did our weekly planning that day. Oh yeah! The 24th marked Sis. LeDuc's anniversary on her mission. WOW.
Friday was neat since we had all of our district's investigators with baptismal dates in attendance! We were celebrating the 70th birthday of one of the members so there was a LOT of food (which we conveniently used the leftovers for the following day's RS birthday event :) We also were celebrating Elder Aardema's birthday. After game night, we did an impromptu lesson with our 2 investigators (Ain and Jüri) and 2 members about the Book of Mormon which went very well.
We've found out that President Dance is doing transfer calls this evening, so methinks that means a lot of changes in the mission...? Elder Aardema predicts we'll be here just one more transfer and then move when the new sisters arrive. I think so too, but we'll see~
I think those comments about Lithuania could be said for the Baltic states in general, actually. The poor folks just aren't very used to being open and friendly. They kept to themselves during the Soviet time and that's still an ongoing trait, I'd say. Pärnu might be a little more of an exception, perhaps because they're accustomed to lots of summer visitors. We've been lucky to meet a lot of nice people, but we've still met angry, or unpolite people. Saturday night we had 2 people yell at us telling us to "leave them be. Nobody wants to hear what we have to say" Sure it's a downer, but it fades over time. What hurts more is that they have absolutely no idea that
giving us just 10 minutes could eternally change their lives for the better. "No time" is often an excuse that we get. Do we really not have enough time in our lives to allow God to bless us?
I'm really excited for General Conference this weekend! I think we'll watch it all in Estonian first with the members and then get together to watch it in English later on. Last night I read some of the March Liahona before bed and I really liked it :) Thanks for all the love, support and words of comfort and cheer!!
Hugs and kisses!
Courtney
Monday, March 21, 2011
March 21, 2011 Orange Blossoms
Greetings, loved ones!
Sooooo, this week has been pretty spiffy! Sisters' Conference was a good boost of girl power or something like that :) It was nice to get acquainted and re-acquainted with all the sisters in the mission. Apparently Sis. LeDuc and I are kinda legendary now~ Some of the sisters kept remarking how they'd heard about all the trials sisters have been having in Estonia. It's confirmed now that we'll have 2 sisters coming in May, so only one more transfer until we have to train! Sounds kinda nerve-racking, but well, I'm sure it'll work out just fine.
We're doing exchanges with the Russian sisters this week, so we're excited for that. I'll be heading up to Tallinn tomorrow night to be with Sis. Tanner and Sis. G (don't want to butcher her last name. It's pronounced something like Grinyevechyutye :P) and Sis. LeDuc is coming back here with Sis. Hoggard. The exchange should last until about Thursday morning, so I'm happy about a lil' trip!
Speakin' of trips, today was AWESOME. An English student drove us to Kihnu, an island that's 40 km away from Pärnu. How'd we get there? WE DROVE ON THE ICE. ON THE OCEAN. OH YES. Kinda one-in-a-lifetime-y since he told us that some years there isn't enough ice to safely drive cars on it. The island only has 600-700 residents, but it has its own unique culture so we checked out the local museum there. We got some fun pictures, but you'll have to wait
a little longer to see those :P
Last week the Elders got a baptismal date for a man who actually lives on our side of town so they've handed him off to us. Funny thing was that on our way to go meet him at the church, a slightly drunk man actually started talking to us and so Sis. LeDuc's friendly greeting had him following us around like a lost puppy :P I called the Elders to tell them we were late and that we had a friend, and they said to go ahead and bring him. We took him to the church and he joined in on our lesson about the Word of Wisdom (go fig!) which was actually pretty good since the investigator was kinda teaching this man too. President Dance came to interview us on his way up to Tallinn on Saturday and he sorta chastised us for that, oops~ Another miracle that day was that a lady had randomly walked into the church that morning and happened to find the branch president there with the Elders. She lives in an apartment building nearby and thought she'd come check it out. She's a cute old lady and they invited her to come to game night, which she did and she was really good about participating too! Vilma didn't show for church like we thought she would though, so that was a little disappointing. I hope she didn't get sick.
Much love,
Courtney
Sooooo, this week has been pretty spiffy! Sisters' Conference was a good boost of girl power or something like that :) It was nice to get acquainted and re-acquainted with all the sisters in the mission. Apparently Sis. LeDuc and I are kinda legendary now~ Some of the sisters kept remarking how they'd heard about all the trials sisters have been having in Estonia. It's confirmed now that we'll have 2 sisters coming in May, so only one more transfer until we have to train! Sounds kinda nerve-racking, but well, I'm sure it'll work out just fine.
We're doing exchanges with the Russian sisters this week, so we're excited for that. I'll be heading up to Tallinn tomorrow night to be with Sis. Tanner and Sis. G (don't want to butcher her last name. It's pronounced something like Grinyevechyutye :P) and Sis. LeDuc is coming back here with Sis. Hoggard. The exchange should last until about Thursday morning, so I'm happy about a lil' trip!
Speakin' of trips, today was AWESOME. An English student drove us to Kihnu, an island that's 40 km away from Pärnu. How'd we get there? WE DROVE ON THE ICE. ON THE OCEAN. OH YES. Kinda one-in-a-lifetime-y since he told us that some years there isn't enough ice to safely drive cars on it. The island only has 600-700 residents, but it has its own unique culture so we checked out the local museum there. We got some fun pictures, but you'll have to wait
a little longer to see those :P
Last week the Elders got a baptismal date for a man who actually lives on our side of town so they've handed him off to us. Funny thing was that on our way to go meet him at the church, a slightly drunk man actually started talking to us and so Sis. LeDuc's friendly greeting had him following us around like a lost puppy :P I called the Elders to tell them we were late and that we had a friend, and they said to go ahead and bring him. We took him to the church and he joined in on our lesson about the Word of Wisdom (go fig!) which was actually pretty good since the investigator was kinda teaching this man too. President Dance came to interview us on his way up to Tallinn on Saturday and he sorta chastised us for that, oops~ Another miracle that day was that a lady had randomly walked into the church that morning and happened to find the branch president there with the Elders. She lives in an apartment building nearby and thought she'd come check it out. She's a cute old lady and they invited her to come to game night, which she did and she was really good about participating too! Vilma didn't show for church like we thought she would though, so that was a little disappointing. I hope she didn't get sick.
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, March 14, 2011
March 14, 2011
Tšau ('ciao' or 'chau') Fam!
I love how you always tell me what you ate for Sunday dinner. It makes me hungry for some home cookin'!! I finally tried making my own Estonian-style pancakes yesterday. They turned out pretty well. I didn't have a recipe and I couldn't remember exactly what measurements Sis. Pruel had showed, so I just put what looked good inside there :P Estonian pancakes are more like crepes, just a little thicker and often fried with a little bit of oil.
Let's see, things that happened this week... Well, we had our apartment checked by the missionary couple who came down from Tallinn for the day. Boy, Sis. Perry checked like every nook and cranny in the kitchen, he he. I guess we still did very well (Sis. LeDuc is kind of a clean-freak :) even though she gave us a whole list of things to do :P We randomly paid a visit to the old lady who fed us lunch several weeks ago. With the help of Kerle (she had been teaching us Estonian right before the visit) we convinced her to come to game night. Not sure if she's ready to try our church out yet, but she lives right next to it, so there's really no excuse ;) Last night, we weren't sure where to go to start doing some knocking so we were just going to hop on the soonest bus. At our bus stop, we saw a lady in a neighboring building whom we'd knocked into but we haven't been able to meet with her since. She was sending off a visitor, who I also know quite well from English classes last fall! What a coincidence!! (or divine help!) Anyway, we had a nice long chat and then we followed her to walk to the seashore and then back. When we finally get to meet with her again, we'd like to teach her the plan of salvation, since her husband passed away 10 years ago and her mother has cancer.
Quite a few of the lessons we had for this past week fell through, but we were able to still meet with some people. We have one investigator with a baptismal date, (his name is Ain :) but that's not until June because he wants to be baptized in the river :) We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon before his baptism, and he's right on schedule so far! He admits that a lot of it is confusing for him, but when we meet with him, we can explain that stuff. He wants me to try playing his accordion too. I'm hoping we can finally get down to his place this week since he lives out of town a bit and we have to take a special bus to get there.
Things are warming up gradually now~ yay! We're going sledding today, so I hope the hills are still good and that they haven't gotten too slushy yet. There are tons of puddles and slush on the sidewalks and paths so dodging them sometimes feels like we're in some Mario game, jumping from one platform to the other :P Sis. LeDuc and I are super pumped to go down to Riga tonight and have Sisters' Conference tomorrow! Yay for road trips! I'm just excited to really meet/see the other sisters throughout the mission. Our companionship feels a little...well..lonely sometimes? Ha ha ha! I mean, we are the only Estonian-speaking sisters in the whole wide world. No pressure, right?
Yes, we did hear about the damage in Japan. That's amazing that all the missionaries are well. Now they'll have their hands busy with work to do. I must say, we missionaries here in Estonia often pondered what sort of effect a natural disaster would have on the work here... buuuuut, besides maybe flooding of rivers from melts or rain, I don't think Estonia is at risk for a natural disaster. Well, unless if all the food stores closed for a week or so. Then we'd have a famine, :P Estonians go to the store like everyday to buy maybe 3-4 things, he he.
Gotta go eat some grub and hit the slopes now!
I love you so so so much,
Courtney
Monday, March 7, 2011
March 7, 2011
Hiya family!
WH-WH-WH-WHAT?! Kara Morris is going on a mission now too?!?! I didn't know that, but she'd be super!! Where's she going? I got a belated birthday package from Noel, Kristin and Heather on Friday. Inside was some Golden Grahams, water colors, letters, and a good assortment of candy, yay! It's good to hear about your recent exercise goals. Sis. LeDuc and I will probably make some of our own in a few weeks. Gotta work off that winter weight! We've made some no-bake cookies several times this week and they turned out pretty well, so now we gotta get those recipes for people too :)
Sis. Tanner, a Russian-speaker, came down from Tallinn from Wednesday afternoon until Friday afternoon. We had a really fun time, and we even ate at Steffani's twice while she was here. She was adopted from Russia when she was 10, and she goes back home to Utah at the end of this month. Her older sister (also adopted) served in the Baltics, Russian-speaking a few years ago too! At least we'll get to see Sis. Tanner one last time at Sisters' Conference next week in Riga before she leaves :) We learned a lot from her. It was fun to see her talk to a few of the members in Russian. It made our conversations pretty interesting, ha ha!
Goodness' sake, I can't even think of what else to write about this week. It was kind of like a huge blur :P Some of the stuff I want to write about will take too long, so I should get started on a hand-written letter some..time... I'm a little behind on my journal-writing this week because I've been so pooped out at the end of the day and just slink right into bed. Aaaaaaaannd now I'm running out of time to e-mail now too.
We're going to go meet some of the members for lunch :) Today, we're going back to play badminton, this time to challenge the Elders since they couldn't make it last week. Last week, I ripped my legendary red swishy pants while playing a type of around-the-world game xP Nooooo! It got caught on a small nail sticking out of the wall (it's a VERY old gym) and thank groodness there was a nice mesh layer to protect my leg from being competely exposed, ha ha! I didn't even notice what happened until a participant gasped :P I just busted up laughing!!
I think tonight, Sis. Pruel wants to teach us how to cook something (maybe Estonian pancakes?) tonight, so I'm excited for that. Women's Day is Tuesday this week in Estonia (I think...), so the branch is meeting up that night at the highest hill in Pärnu (really just some bunny hill, like at a ski resort, hehe :) to do some sledding and drink tea or hot chocolate or something. I'm excited for that! I just hope the icy slopes won't be too unkind to my rump :P
We're going to go meet some of the members for lunch :) Today, we're going back to play badminton, this time to challenge the Elders since they couldn't make it last week. Last week, I ripped my legendary red swishy pants while playing a type of around-the-world game xP Nooooo! It got caught on a small nail sticking out of the wall (it's a VERY old gym) and thank groodness there was a nice mesh layer to protect my leg from being competely exposed, ha ha! I didn't even notice what happened until a participant gasped :P I just busted up laughing!!
I think tonight, Sis. Pruel wants to teach us how to cook something (maybe Estonian pancakes?) tonight, so I'm excited for that. Women's Day is Tuesday this week in Estonia (I think...), so the branch is meeting up that night at the highest hill in Pärnu (really just some bunny hill, like at a ski resort, hehe :) to do some sledding and drink tea or hot chocolate or something. I'm excited for that! I just hope the icy slopes won't be too unkind to my rump :P
I love you so so so much!
Courtney
Monday, February 28, 2011
February 28, 2011 End of February
Things are starting to warm up a little more! The temperatures are fluctuating around the freezing point, so that's nice. I hope that means that the nasty sheets of ice on the paths around town will be mostly melted by next week? Ok, maybe it won't happen that quickly, but hey, we can dream :)
Thursday was Estonia's 93rd anniversary of their (first) independence. We met with some of the members at the church that morning to sing the national hymn, and listen to them tell stories and we sang some more song from the hymnbook. One of our eldest members even brought her traditional Estonian garb so I got a picture of that! We tried asking folks if they do anything special for their holiday, but we never got any really good answers. It made me wonder what America's Independence Day would be like in the winter? No more barbecues, watermelon, and corn on the cob!! There might have been a parade here...? If so, I don't know where or when it was. We did see some dirt bike racing on the river. Yes, on the river. They plowed a flat track on the snow the day before and there were a bunch of races going on. That made me miss the Figure 8 races at the fair :)
We only had 8 people in our English class this past week, so that was kind of a bummer since half of them are old students. Maybe next week...? Anyway, we're doing a private lesson with one of them this week.
Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything from Sis. Aitken yet. Some fun stuff for this week is that we will have Sis. Tanner coming down form Tallinn for a few days. I think she's probably one of the most senior Russian-speaking sister missionaries, so that'll be awesome. We already have a referral for her to work with and Raissa (Russian, inactive member) agreed to meet when we have more exact details of when she's getting here and for how long.
One mini-miracle this week was that Sis. LeDuc contacted an old lady on the bus right before we had to go to district meeting and they started talking as if they were old friends! We got off at the same bus stop near the church, and she showed us right to her apartment. She invited us in, but we told her we'd have to come back in 2 hours because we had our meeting to get to so she agreed to that. After our meeting, we go back, and she cooked us a meal for lunch! Perfect
timing since I was getting rather hungry! She was a really sweet lady who had been through a lot and she was really grateful to have met us. She said God must have put us in her path :) She gladly accepted the Book of Mormon, although she's always been Lutheran. We had a return appointment for later in the week, but she called us that night and had to cancel because her daughter was going to come pick her up to go visit relatives, but she wants to meet again!
Gah!! Sorry fam! I ran out of time to tell you more this week, but I hope you all know I love you tremendously! Thanks always for the prayers and love.
Courtney
P.S. Could you tell me Maureen's mailing address when you get it? :)
Thursday was Estonia's 93rd anniversary of their (first) independence. We met with some of the members at the church that morning to sing the national hymn, and listen to them tell stories and we sang some more song from the hymnbook. One of our eldest members even brought her traditional Estonian garb so I got a picture of that! We tried asking folks if they do anything special for their holiday, but we never got any really good answers. It made me wonder what America's Independence Day would be like in the winter? No more barbecues, watermelon, and corn on the cob!! There might have been a parade here...? If so, I don't know where or when it was. We did see some dirt bike racing on the river. Yes, on the river. They plowed a flat track on the snow the day before and there were a bunch of races going on. That made me miss the Figure 8 races at the fair :)
We only had 8 people in our English class this past week, so that was kind of a bummer since half of them are old students. Maybe next week...? Anyway, we're doing a private lesson with one of them this week.
Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything from Sis. Aitken yet. Some fun stuff for this week is that we will have Sis. Tanner coming down form Tallinn for a few days. I think she's probably one of the most senior Russian-speaking sister missionaries, so that'll be awesome. We already have a referral for her to work with and Raissa (Russian, inactive member) agreed to meet when we have more exact details of when she's getting here and for how long.
One mini-miracle this week was that Sis. LeDuc contacted an old lady on the bus right before we had to go to district meeting and they started talking as if they were old friends! We got off at the same bus stop near the church, and she showed us right to her apartment. She invited us in, but we told her we'd have to come back in 2 hours because we had our meeting to get to so she agreed to that. After our meeting, we go back, and she cooked us a meal for lunch! Perfect
timing since I was getting rather hungry! She was a really sweet lady who had been through a lot and she was really grateful to have met us. She said God must have put us in her path :) She gladly accepted the Book of Mormon, although she's always been Lutheran. We had a return appointment for later in the week, but she called us that night and had to cancel because her daughter was going to come pick her up to go visit relatives, but she wants to meet again!
Gah!! Sorry fam! I ran out of time to tell you more this week, but I hope you all know I love you tremendously! Thanks always for the prayers and love.
Courtney
P.S. Could you tell me Maureen's mailing address when you get it? :)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Pictures Again!
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!!!
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