Time is just flying by! We're back to being a duo and now Sis. Uibel is training Sis. Hanks here in Tallinn. We already miss her, especially since most everyone we talked with last night was Russian :P But hey, that doesn't stop us from getting the Russian sisters a couple of potential people to contact, and one was a member referral too. They really owe us, ha ha ha.
Well Jaanipäev came and went. It wasn't that eventful for us, unless if you count some great baking mishaps! We thought we'd make cookies and/or brownies to give to some less-actives and members. We knew many would probably not be home, but we thought we'd try to brighten their day (it was cloudy that day). Let's just say, now we know what NOT to do for next time. It doesn't help that we have a gas oven, and we haven't used it much yet, so we haven't figured out how well it bakes things. We only met with 3 people, but it was a good experience. We have been walking soooooo much in our area this last week. I wonder how many miles we've racked up...?
Keili was still with her relatives on Sunday, so she didn't make it to church, but I called her yesterday and she said "Did you miss me?!" Of course we did! We'll be teaching her tomorrow night :D We originally thought of teaching the Plan of Salvation, but we might just ask her the baptismal interview questions and show her how she's really ready, so let's set a date.
Last night we contacted a young mom and her 6 year old son at a park before we started to head home. The kid really liked the pictures at the front of the Book of Mormon! They were really cute and we got a return appointment for tonight at the church, so I'm really excited for that. They were definitely a mini-miracle for us!
We have Zone Conference on Saturday with the new President Boswell. Exciting! We're really going to miss the Dances, but it's been great to serve with them. They told us to look them up on Facebook after the mission, ha ha! Sis. Lamar is getting REALLY antsy for us to leave, so I gotta keep this short, again. I'm trying to teach her how to be patient, hehe. Thanks for all the love and support. I hope the scorpions stop bothering you! Mosquitoes are really annoying here :P
Love you lots,
Courtney
Monday, June 27, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
June 20, 2011
Awwwww, corn on the cob!!! I don't believe that exists here in Estonia. That would be just perfect for our 4th of July P-day bash that we're planning ;) I'm not sure how we'll get a grill just yet, but we're working on it! Grandma Smithson told me about your mishaps while at Schneph's Farm, so I'm sorry to hear that, but I guess you have a fun time..? Ha ha ha!
Ooh buddy! 100 degree weather! It's cooled down enough here that I had to use a jacket a little this week. We had a little birthday celebration for Elder Barney at a member's house and it rained, but that didn't stop the fun :) Tonight, we'll be doing FHE with Keili, our progressing investigator, and her 5 year old son! I'm excited for that. She's really great and loves church, but she still hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet. We can tell that she's really starting to trust us now though, so that's a good thing.
This week is Estonia's "Jaanipäev" and there's not going to be a special work schedule for that, so we're trying to figure out what to do for those days. I know lots of people will simply be drinking and partying, so I doubt they'd feel up to listening to a spiritual thought :P That just means more drunk guys we'll have to deal with. Somehow they seem to have an attraction to my companion, hehe. Maybe we'll just spend some time with members this week. I don't know yet. That's so sad to hear about Bishop Sandstrom [being released], but he was really fantastic! I really admired him and how well he could relate to us single adults.
I'm so so so sorry that this e-mail is really lackluster and short! I spent too long writing back to Stacey and Shauna's combined e-mail :P Those goofy girls, ha ha ha! Love 'em! Now we gotta run and eat, so I love you all! Thanks for the dear prayers on our behalf. You're so wonderful!
Love,
Courtney
Ooh buddy! 100 degree weather! It's cooled down enough here that I had to use a jacket a little this week. We had a little birthday celebration for Elder Barney at a member's house and it rained, but that didn't stop the fun :) Tonight, we'll be doing FHE with Keili, our progressing investigator, and her 5 year old son! I'm excited for that. She's really great and loves church, but she still hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet. We can tell that she's really starting to trust us now though, so that's a good thing.
This week is Estonia's "Jaanipäev" and there's not going to be a special work schedule for that, so we're trying to figure out what to do for those days. I know lots of people will simply be drinking and partying, so I doubt they'd feel up to listening to a spiritual thought :P That just means more drunk guys we'll have to deal with. Somehow they seem to have an attraction to my companion, hehe. Maybe we'll just spend some time with members this week. I don't know yet. That's so sad to hear about Bishop Sandstrom [being released], but he was really fantastic! I really admired him and how well he could relate to us single adults.
I'm so so so sorry that this e-mail is really lackluster and short! I spent too long writing back to Stacey and Shauna's combined e-mail :P Those goofy girls, ha ha ha! Love 'em! Now we gotta run and eat, so I love you all! Thanks for the dear prayers on our behalf. You're so wonderful!
Love,
Courtney
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
June 14, 2011
Busy, busy busy!! So far, it looks like this will end up being very busy as well. Since we're in a "zebra" companionship (2 Estonian, 1 Russian), we have to balance our appointments. We've been blessed with some little miracles, especially since some members have been helping us with referrals. That doesn't happen very often here ;) We met last week with the cousin of a convert of 2 years and she came again to church on Sunday! We invited her to be baptized on the first lesson, but she wants to be more sure of her decision. I have faith that she will one day join the church :) Her cousin, Maris, explained that she's had a lot of hard times and she's a single mom with a son, but she thinks her new "ward family" will be very good for Keili (investigator). We're meeting her tomorrow night :) Last night, we met with the neighbor of a long time member of the church here. We have a follow-appointment for Thursday night! We're a little afraid for our appointment we have tonight at a Russian member's house. This member told Sis. Uibel that we coming over so we and the branch president could teach some Jehovah's Witnesses about the need for modern prophets, wow 0.0 Odd invitation, hehehe. We don't want to confront them at all, so if it gets into a fight, then that'll be the end of that. :P
I got the package on Saturday because the Elders in center are the only ones with the mailbox key :P Thanks for the jelly beans! We've eaten through most of the special red fruits kind, but I haven't touched the regular bag yet. I wore one of the pins at Zone Conference yesterday too :) President and Sister Dance mostly just
explained their story of how they were called to the mission and how they were interviewed by Elder Hales and President Monson (before he became prophet). All of the missionaries were also asked to bear their testimonies and so that brought a great spirit into the meeting. They also explained that the new mission president will arrive on June 30th and that he'll immediately start a mission tour, so we're
scheduled to have another zone conference on July 2nd with the new President Boswell. This might've been the last time that I'll see the Dances. We're all so appreciative for their service and respect them greatly.
It's really scary to hear about that forest fire back home. I wish I could send some of the rain that's fallen these last 2 days to you! We're kinda grateful it's cooled down a little this weekend. The folks here say it's usually not this hot for another 2-3 weeks. And yes, it's light outside. Like all the time. It looks about the same from when we go to bed as we wake up. We still see kids out playing and it's 9 o'clock, ha ha ha! On the longest day of the year, June 23rd, is also Estonia's largest holiday, Jaanipäev. (St. John's/midsummer's day). Sis. LeDuc said she took a picture last year at midnight on Jaanipäev and it the sun was still far from the horizon.
I'm not sure about any new clothes I need need yet. We browsed at the mall a little today, but I didn't buy anything. I happened to buy a new skirt when I was in Lithuania 2 weeks ago, so yay for something new to wear~ This Friday is Elder Barney's birthday, so a Triinu (a member) invited us to her family's home for a BBQ, yahoo! We'll try to bring a young investigator along with us too. The other day we went to Hesburger, and they have a limited time Arizona burger so I ordered that ;) I had to! It was pretty good, ha ha!
Time to wrap this up now. Thanks for all the love and prayers! I'm seeing the blessings, however small they are :) Oh yeah, and Happy Fathers' Day!!! Can't forget that! You're so wonderful, Dad. :D
Lots of love,
Courtney
I got the package on Saturday because the Elders in center are the only ones with the mailbox key :P Thanks for the jelly beans! We've eaten through most of the special red fruits kind, but I haven't touched the regular bag yet. I wore one of the pins at Zone Conference yesterday too :) President and Sister Dance mostly just
explained their story of how they were called to the mission and how they were interviewed by Elder Hales and President Monson (before he became prophet). All of the missionaries were also asked to bear their testimonies and so that brought a great spirit into the meeting. They also explained that the new mission president will arrive on June 30th and that he'll immediately start a mission tour, so we're
scheduled to have another zone conference on July 2nd with the new President Boswell. This might've been the last time that I'll see the Dances. We're all so appreciative for their service and respect them greatly.
It's really scary to hear about that forest fire back home. I wish I could send some of the rain that's fallen these last 2 days to you! We're kinda grateful it's cooled down a little this weekend. The folks here say it's usually not this hot for another 2-3 weeks. And yes, it's light outside. Like all the time. It looks about the same from when we go to bed as we wake up. We still see kids out playing and it's 9 o'clock, ha ha ha! On the longest day of the year, June 23rd, is also Estonia's largest holiday, Jaanipäev. (St. John's/midsummer's day). Sis. LeDuc said she took a picture last year at midnight on Jaanipäev and it the sun was still far from the horizon.
I'm not sure about any new clothes I need need yet. We browsed at the mall a little today, but I didn't buy anything. I happened to buy a new skirt when I was in Lithuania 2 weeks ago, so yay for something new to wear~ This Friday is Elder Barney's birthday, so a Triinu (a member) invited us to her family's home for a BBQ, yahoo! We'll try to bring a young investigator along with us too. The other day we went to Hesburger, and they have a limited time Arizona burger so I ordered that ;) I had to! It was pretty good, ha ha!
Time to wrap this up now. Thanks for all the love and prayers! I'm seeing the blessings, however small they are :) Oh yeah, and Happy Fathers' Day!!! Can't forget that! You're so wonderful, Dad. :D
Lots of love,
Courtney
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
June 7, 2011
I'm glad to hear your Memorial Day celebration was lovely! This week has been full of amazing and unexpected things! For example, on Monday night, we called the Russian sisters and they said that since Sis. G was leaving for the MTC in England, she had to go down to Vilnius, Lithuania before then for an appointment with her orthodontist...AND I GOT TO ACCOMPANY HER. WOOHOOOOOO~!!! I never thought I'd ever make it down there, but I guess the Assistants saidthat they thought they'd keep Sis. Uibel and Sis. Lamar up here in Tallinn so they could take care of things in both Russian and Estonian for the days we would be gone. So, Wednesday afternoon, Sis. Grineviciute and I rode down to Riga, spent the night with the Russian sisters there, then went to the bus station early in the morning for our 7am bus to Vilnius. When we arrived, we went straight to her appointment. I sat there waiting for about half an hour and then Sis.G came out and I asked "...That's it? You're done??" We traveled 2 days and 8+ hours on a bus for a half hour appointment, ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, well, I won't complain, because we had a fun time. She got permission from Pres. Dance to visit her family and home to pack more things for the MTC. I slept on her bed for a little as she gathered things. We were actually a little afraid we wouldn't get in because only her grandma was home, and she has hearing problems (and we didn't have a phone), but thankfully she heard enough of our banging on the door to let us in :) Her parents came home and Sis. G's mom prepared us some food as we went to go get some last minute shopping done. When we returned we ate something like breaded chicken with cheese and some rice that her mother cooked for us.
By 6:30, we were back on a bus to Riga, and got there just before 10:30. We started to worry because we didn't see the Dances show up for a while, but finally Sis. Dance came racing into the bus station. Strangely, she was by herself, but she explained that she was busy vacuuming the car out because the General Authorities would be there for the weekend and then she got carried away and lost track of time and then remembered about us sisters waiting at the station! Half way to the bus station, Pres. Dance called her to ask where she went because he thought that they'd go together, but she just left him in the dust, HA HA HA HA!!! That was funny :) Sis. G was set apart that night and then we slept (better yet, napped) at the mission home from midnight until 4 when we had to wake up to get ready to take her to the airport. The Jacques came to pick us up and as we were at the airport, checking in Sis. G's bag, they told us something was wrong with her ticket. Somehow it was reserved, but never paid for...? Anyway, we had to buy her a new one so she could get to England. Once she was on her merry way, I ate breakfast at the Jacques' apartment until it was my turn to go to the bus station for my 8am bus back to Tallinn. Funny thing was, I rode back with Elder Pack (Russian) since he got stuck in Riga after a meeting because he forgot his passport and they wouldn't let him on the bus. So, his companion had to cargo bus it to him and he spent a few extra days in Riga, lol. Rather than sleeping, we ended up talking the entire time back up to Tallinn. It's about a 4 1/2 hour bus ride :P Elder Pack is a chatty one, ha ha.
I kinda wish I just stayed in Riga for the weekend because then we went on back for Mission Conference yesterday. Our bus left at 5:30, and after the conference and lunch, we came back and arrived in Tallinn after 8. I've been pretty exhausted the last week, but it's been fun. Rackin' up the frequent rider miles much? :D Mission conference was absolutely splendid, albeit unpleasantly warm. It shows in all the pictures I took from yesterday, he he. Elders Clayton and Lawrence from the Seventy came, accompanied by their wives. We all had an opportunity to shake their hands and greet them. I realized that we'll have a new mission president by next month. Woooooooow. That'll be an interesting change. The Dances have been fabulous in their service here. Pres. Dance is certainly a very inspired and humble leader.
Our trio with Sis. Uibel has already been a blast. We actually have a lot of appointments set up for this week, and most promising is that actually a member set one up for us with her cousin who came to church on Sunday! We'll be meeting with them tomorrow night. Last week, we also received a referral from another member, and a young teen member randomly called us up on Saturday to possibly teach her friend before she left for England for a month, but that didn't work out. Still ok though. That's quite amazing. Member missionary work is definitely the way to go!
I haven't gotten the package yet because the zone leaders have those keys and they're lazy and only check once, maybe twice a week if we're lucky. xP Normally they'd have mail for us at district meeting, but since we're having preparation day today, we probably won't have it this week. I'll have to call them about that...
Things are looking on the bright side now that it's summer! Let's hope and pray it stays like this for a while :) Thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so dearly.
Kisses,
Courtney
By 6:30, we were back on a bus to Riga, and got there just before 10:30. We started to worry because we didn't see the Dances show up for a while, but finally Sis. Dance came racing into the bus station. Strangely, she was by herself, but she explained that she was busy vacuuming the car out because the General Authorities would be there for the weekend and then she got carried away and lost track of time and then remembered about us sisters waiting at the station! Half way to the bus station, Pres. Dance called her to ask where she went because he thought that they'd go together, but she just left him in the dust, HA HA HA HA!!! That was funny :) Sis. G was set apart that night and then we slept (better yet, napped) at the mission home from midnight until 4 when we had to wake up to get ready to take her to the airport. The Jacques came to pick us up and as we were at the airport, checking in Sis. G's bag, they told us something was wrong with her ticket. Somehow it was reserved, but never paid for...? Anyway, we had to buy her a new one so she could get to England. Once she was on her merry way, I ate breakfast at the Jacques' apartment until it was my turn to go to the bus station for my 8am bus back to Tallinn. Funny thing was, I rode back with Elder Pack (Russian) since he got stuck in Riga after a meeting because he forgot his passport and they wouldn't let him on the bus. So, his companion had to cargo bus it to him and he spent a few extra days in Riga, lol. Rather than sleeping, we ended up talking the entire time back up to Tallinn. It's about a 4 1/2 hour bus ride :P Elder Pack is a chatty one, ha ha.
I kinda wish I just stayed in Riga for the weekend because then we went on back for Mission Conference yesterday. Our bus left at 5:30, and after the conference and lunch, we came back and arrived in Tallinn after 8. I've been pretty exhausted the last week, but it's been fun. Rackin' up the frequent rider miles much? :D Mission conference was absolutely splendid, albeit unpleasantly warm. It shows in all the pictures I took from yesterday, he he. Elders Clayton and Lawrence from the Seventy came, accompanied by their wives. We all had an opportunity to shake their hands and greet them. I realized that we'll have a new mission president by next month. Woooooooow. That'll be an interesting change. The Dances have been fabulous in their service here. Pres. Dance is certainly a very inspired and humble leader.
Our trio with Sis. Uibel has already been a blast. We actually have a lot of appointments set up for this week, and most promising is that actually a member set one up for us with her cousin who came to church on Sunday! We'll be meeting with them tomorrow night. Last week, we also received a referral from another member, and a young teen member randomly called us up on Saturday to possibly teach her friend before she left for England for a month, but that didn't work out. Still ok though. That's quite amazing. Member missionary work is definitely the way to go!
I haven't gotten the package yet because the zone leaders have those keys and they're lazy and only check once, maybe twice a week if we're lucky. xP Normally they'd have mail for us at district meeting, but since we're having preparation day today, we probably won't have it this week. I'll have to call them about that...
Things are looking on the bright side now that it's summer! Let's hope and pray it stays like this for a while :) Thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so dearly.
Kisses,
Courtney
Monday, May 30, 2011
May 30, 2011
Dearly beloved,
I had my first ride in an ambulance today! :D Whee~ Let's hope that'll be the only one too! Poor Sis. LeDuc hurt her knee quite badly while we were playing sports with the other missionaries, and we were going to suck it up to go in a taxi, but then the workers at the sports complex went ahead and called the ambulance, ha ha. The competition was getting rather intense since today we had a couple more players than usual. The Pärnu district stayed overnight after District Conference (like Stake Conference) so that the new missionaries could take care of I.D./visa/whatever work today. Since Sis. Lamar and Sis. Christopher had to do that, I went with Sis. LeDuc to the hospital. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and they still didn't really do a whole lot for her, but now she's on crutches. At least we met a really awesome couple who spoke English because he's from Italy and she's Estonian! He too, hurt his foot after he decided to play just 5 more minutes with his son, ha ha ha! Sis. LeDuc got their info while we got her crutches and x-ray developed, so I think they may actually live in our proselyting area here in Tallinn, yay~
My next 2 preparation days will be on Tuesdays, because on the 6th we'll be in Riga for Mission Conference and then the 13th will be zone conference here in Tallinn. Lots of fun events to look forward too! Recently, I've been thinking a lot about our Staycation and looking at the pictures of that on my camera since that happened a year ago now. It's almost unbelieveable! We found out that July 4th falls on preparation day, so we missionaries are going to have to plan something fun. One of the Russian sisters, Sis. Uibel (pronounced Yu-bel. Strange, I know!) started making an American questionnaire to see how American you really are. I helped her with it when we did exchanges on Thursday :) It's still a month away, so we've got time to work on it, but I'm pretty fond of the first question. Maybe not quite American history persay, but "How many thingamabobs does Ariel have?" :P Go ahead and sing the song!
We ate dinner with some members and the Perrys last week, and so I think we'll try to schedule another appointment this week. It was really lovely. Tonight we have family night with the branch president and his cute little family. District conference yesterday was really grand! President Dance spoke about how many people say that their family is their #1 priority. He'd like to rephrase that as "the salvation of my family is my #1 priority". When we understand that, then we look at the world very differently. Simply spending time with family won't save them. That comes through serving others, fulfilling callings and responsibilites and covenants. (Good work, big bro, in helping your ward members :) He cited examples of Lehi and President Monson in working for their family's salvation. I hope the members can take that to heart in helping their own families. There are many amazing members, but many of their children are straying from the strait and narrow. I don't know if it's because they're afraid of influencing their children's agency too much? Everything that inviteth and enticeth to do good is from God.
Well, I hope you all have another lovely week! Rumors are going around that this week will finally heat up, so I'm excited for that :)
Thanks for all the prayers and love.
Much love,
Courtney
I had my first ride in an ambulance today! :D Whee~ Let's hope that'll be the only one too! Poor Sis. LeDuc hurt her knee quite badly while we were playing sports with the other missionaries, and we were going to suck it up to go in a taxi, but then the workers at the sports complex went ahead and called the ambulance, ha ha. The competition was getting rather intense since today we had a couple more players than usual. The Pärnu district stayed overnight after District Conference (like Stake Conference) so that the new missionaries could take care of I.D./visa/whatever work today. Since Sis. Lamar and Sis. Christopher had to do that, I went with Sis. LeDuc to the hospital. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and they still didn't really do a whole lot for her, but now she's on crutches. At least we met a really awesome couple who spoke English because he's from Italy and she's Estonian! He too, hurt his foot after he decided to play just 5 more minutes with his son, ha ha ha! Sis. LeDuc got their info while we got her crutches and x-ray developed, so I think they may actually live in our proselyting area here in Tallinn, yay~
My next 2 preparation days will be on Tuesdays, because on the 6th we'll be in Riga for Mission Conference and then the 13th will be zone conference here in Tallinn. Lots of fun events to look forward too! Recently, I've been thinking a lot about our Staycation and looking at the pictures of that on my camera since that happened a year ago now. It's almost unbelieveable! We found out that July 4th falls on preparation day, so we missionaries are going to have to plan something fun. One of the Russian sisters, Sis. Uibel (pronounced Yu-bel. Strange, I know!) started making an American questionnaire to see how American you really are. I helped her with it when we did exchanges on Thursday :) It's still a month away, so we've got time to work on it, but I'm pretty fond of the first question. Maybe not quite American history persay, but "How many thingamabobs does Ariel have?" :P Go ahead and sing the song!
We ate dinner with some members and the Perrys last week, and so I think we'll try to schedule another appointment this week. It was really lovely. Tonight we have family night with the branch president and his cute little family. District conference yesterday was really grand! President Dance spoke about how many people say that their family is their #1 priority. He'd like to rephrase that as "the salvation of my family is my #1 priority". When we understand that, then we look at the world very differently. Simply spending time with family won't save them. That comes through serving others, fulfilling callings and responsibilites and covenants. (Good work, big bro, in helping your ward members :) He cited examples of Lehi and President Monson in working for their family's salvation. I hope the members can take that to heart in helping their own families. There are many amazing members, but many of their children are straying from the strait and narrow. I don't know if it's because they're afraid of influencing their children's agency too much? Everything that inviteth and enticeth to do good is from God.
Well, I hope you all have another lovely week! Rumors are going around that this week will finally heat up, so I'm excited for that :)
Thanks for all the prayers and love.
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, May 23, 2011
May 23, 2011
Ahhhhhh, Heather's wedding!!! It's sounds like it was completely fun and lovely~ I got over most of the sickness, but I'm sorta left with a stuffy nose now. Not so fun, especially since it's finally starting to seem like summer. This weekend was perfect for the basketball tournament (lasted for 5 HOURS because of 8, 3-member teams :P Still way fun, even if my team didn't do so well), but now we're drying in the library from the lots of rain that's been pouring since this morning.
Ivo's baptism on Saturday went smoothly, and actually it turned out nicer than I anticipated. I was afraid there wouldn't been a big turnout since we had a branch event in the morning, but other missionaries brought some investigators along too. I ended up giving the 5 minute talk on the Holy Ghost since I couldn't get any other members to do it, haha. Ivo is excited to learn more from us through retention lessons, although I think he has a firm understanding of the doctrine already. The few times we've met to teach, he practically taught us with his responses to questions we were asking him. As far as that amazing family we found, we haven't been able to get in touch with them!! It's really sad! I don't know if she's just been busy or simply avoiding us :/ We'll keep praying for her that we can meet, because now we can't have her scheduled for baptism since it's been a while and she hasn't been taught again or come to church, etc. That means we still don't really have anybody to teach right now, so Sis. Lamar and I have lots of finding to do. I should probably start working on my Russian because I got those missionaries 5 phone numbers this week with my broken, BROKEN, Russian. I'm just hoping that they'll be returning the favors some how, or that there will be some miracles out of those contacts ;)
We'll be doing a dinner appointment at the Perrys' apartment (missionary couple) with some members in our area. This just gives the Perrys a chance to get to know the members and work more with them. We're the translators, and so that means we get some food too!
I'm sorry I don't have any other fun miracles to share. At least not anything big yet ;) There are definitely small ones that go unnoticed. Like for example, we went to randomly visit an inactive member, and he's going to come to church on Sunday! He's really a great man, he just knows he's a little disobedient. We talked a little about Chuck Norris though. Oh yes. That was hilarious! This weekend is District conference so I'm excited to see the members from all over Estonia, and the other missionaries too! On June 6th will be a mission-wide conference in Riga, so that'll be really nifty as well.
Thanks for all the love and support, family and friends. You mean so much to me.
Love,
Courtney
Ivo's baptism on Saturday went smoothly, and actually it turned out nicer than I anticipated. I was afraid there wouldn't been a big turnout since we had a branch event in the morning, but other missionaries brought some investigators along too. I ended up giving the 5 minute talk on the Holy Ghost since I couldn't get any other members to do it, haha. Ivo is excited to learn more from us through retention lessons, although I think he has a firm understanding of the doctrine already. The few times we've met to teach, he practically taught us with his responses to questions we were asking him. As far as that amazing family we found, we haven't been able to get in touch with them!! It's really sad! I don't know if she's just been busy or simply avoiding us :/ We'll keep praying for her that we can meet, because now we can't have her scheduled for baptism since it's been a while and she hasn't been taught again or come to church, etc. That means we still don't really have anybody to teach right now, so Sis. Lamar and I have lots of finding to do. I should probably start working on my Russian because I got those missionaries 5 phone numbers this week with my broken, BROKEN, Russian. I'm just hoping that they'll be returning the favors some how, or that there will be some miracles out of those contacts ;)
We'll be doing a dinner appointment at the Perrys' apartment (missionary couple) with some members in our area. This just gives the Perrys a chance to get to know the members and work more with them. We're the translators, and so that means we get some food too!
I'm sorry I don't have any other fun miracles to share. At least not anything big yet ;) There are definitely small ones that go unnoticed. Like for example, we went to randomly visit an inactive member, and he's going to come to church on Sunday! He's really a great man, he just knows he's a little disobedient. We talked a little about Chuck Norris though. Oh yes. That was hilarious! This weekend is District conference so I'm excited to see the members from all over Estonia, and the other missionaries too! On June 6th will be a mission-wide conference in Riga, so that'll be really nifty as well.
Thanks for all the love and support, family and friends. You mean so much to me.
Love,
Courtney
Monday, May 16, 2011
May 16, 2011
Awww, that was a cute story of playtime at Grandma's~ I wish I could get my hands on some Berry Crunch cereal for that size and price. My favorite cereal only lasts me about 4 bowlfuls (sp?), ha ha.
Well, I suppose the news is that I'm here in Tallinn with Sis. Lamar from Camdenton, Missouri. Sis. LeDuc is training Sis. Christopher back in Pärnu. We rode down to Riga on a bus Wednesday afternoon, so we arrived there a 5 in the evening and split up and did some things with the Latvian sisters and the met back at their apartment to sleep there for the night. Early Thursday morning, we had a Trainers' meeting where we discussed some of the new training material, straight from the MTC this year. The new program includes an extra hour of companion study and is geared towards helping new missionaries be prepared to train after being in the field for 12 weeks, if need be. Sis. Lamar told me that the next group in the MTC will have 2 Elder and 2 Sisters so she or Sis. Christopher could very well be training! That means we'll have 6 sisters at the beginning of August, so 2 trios? That'd be fun! Sis. LeDuc got permission from President Dance to leave mid-transfer so she could fly straight back to Utah to go to school, and that'll happen at the end of August. Interesting stuff~
Church would've been much more enjoyable if I wasn't sick xP I came down with a fever and a sore throat on Saturday night and I was about ready to ditch out on church, but I didn't want Sis. Lamar to miss her first Sunday. I mainly tried to sit in the back away from people aaaaaaand also so I could get some shut eye. After church, I asked for a blessing from Elder Broby. I'm doing a little better now, but I'm still really tired and somewhat achy :/ Being sick on a mission is the pits, and I especially feel bad for Sis. Lamar because she's stuck with me right now! She's so gung-ho at the moment (coming straight out of the MTC) so anytime we have to be inside is probably just eating at her. Well, hopefully she won't have to deal with more seriously ill companions, like I did.
This Saturday is the branch's annual basketball tournament! Fun fun! I know I used to be an aspiring basketball star in my days as a wee one, but I probably have no skills left in me, ha ha ha! Saturday is also important because our investigator Ivo is getting baptized. He just had his interview last night, so he's good to go ;) We were supposed to teach Sirli back on Tuesday, but she got sick and I sent her a text Saturday night, but she hasn't responded. :/ She still hasn't come to church yet, so if we ever do meet with her again, we'll probably have to push back her baptismal date.
Boy, this is a really lame e-mail, buuuuuuut that's all of the interesting news that I have :/ Let's pray for some miracles this next week! Thanks for all the love and support!! Oh yeah, and here's my new address:
Sister Courtney Smith
P/K 3379
10156 Tallinn
Estonia
Love you so much!
Courtney
Well, I suppose the news is that I'm here in Tallinn with Sis. Lamar from Camdenton, Missouri. Sis. LeDuc is training Sis. Christopher back in Pärnu. We rode down to Riga on a bus Wednesday afternoon, so we arrived there a 5 in the evening and split up and did some things with the Latvian sisters and the met back at their apartment to sleep there for the night. Early Thursday morning, we had a Trainers' meeting where we discussed some of the new training material, straight from the MTC this year. The new program includes an extra hour of companion study and is geared towards helping new missionaries be prepared to train after being in the field for 12 weeks, if need be. Sis. Lamar told me that the next group in the MTC will have 2 Elder and 2 Sisters so she or Sis. Christopher could very well be training! That means we'll have 6 sisters at the beginning of August, so 2 trios? That'd be fun! Sis. LeDuc got permission from President Dance to leave mid-transfer so she could fly straight back to Utah to go to school, and that'll happen at the end of August. Interesting stuff~
Church would've been much more enjoyable if I wasn't sick xP I came down with a fever and a sore throat on Saturday night and I was about ready to ditch out on church, but I didn't want Sis. Lamar to miss her first Sunday. I mainly tried to sit in the back away from people aaaaaaand also so I could get some shut eye. After church, I asked for a blessing from Elder Broby. I'm doing a little better now, but I'm still really tired and somewhat achy :/ Being sick on a mission is the pits, and I especially feel bad for Sis. Lamar because she's stuck with me right now! She's so gung-ho at the moment (coming straight out of the MTC) so anytime we have to be inside is probably just eating at her. Well, hopefully she won't have to deal with more seriously ill companions, like I did.
This Saturday is the branch's annual basketball tournament! Fun fun! I know I used to be an aspiring basketball star in my days as a wee one, but I probably have no skills left in me, ha ha ha! Saturday is also important because our investigator Ivo is getting baptized. He just had his interview last night, so he's good to go ;) We were supposed to teach Sirli back on Tuesday, but she got sick and I sent her a text Saturday night, but she hasn't responded. :/ She still hasn't come to church yet, so if we ever do meet with her again, we'll probably have to push back her baptismal date.
Boy, this is a really lame e-mail, buuuuuuut that's all of the interesting news that I have :/ Let's pray for some miracles this next week! Thanks for all the love and support!! Oh yeah, and here's my new address:
Sister Courtney Smith
P/K 3379
10156 Tallinn
Estonia
Love you so much!
Courtney
Monday, May 9, 2011
May 9, 2011
Yay for Mother's Day calls!!! Except, immediately after I hung up, I realized that I forgot to bear my testimony in Estonian. Ha ha ha, oops~ Well, I guess you'll just have to wait a little longer to hear that. That was my second and last phone call I'll have on the mission. Wowzers! About the "like", it's come from talking with missionaries and telling crazy stories too much, ha ha! At least I don't say it when I speak Estonian! Some missionaries say "nagu" all the time, and it's rather distracting, at least for me :P I'm sure you feel the same way, he he he!!!
It was nice to hear all of your voices! The "cinco-cinco-cinco" was really cute :) Church yesterday was just great. Our investigator couldn't make it, but we'll have an appointment with her tomorrow night and a member offered her home for us to teach, so I hope we can do it there! Today's and Yesterday's weather has been gorgeous! We don't need any sort of jackets, and it's been nice to soak in some warmth and sunlight! I just hope that when it's really hot here, that it will be only for a short time. I can't imagine enduring hot weather without AC. Well, we still have a ways until that gets here, so moving on~
I don't think I have much to report on today since I told you most of the latest news on the phone already. Transfers calls will be no later than Tuesday night, but I'm already getting nervous for that! I'm excited to get a new companion and with the new training module that we have, that means we'll be together for at least 2 transfers (3 months). This new training would have been nice for Sis. LeDuc and I to have when we first got here to Estonia because supposedly it prepares you to train after only being in the field for 12 weeks. I was just thinking, I might have to train for the remainder of my mission... Am I ready for this?? Perhaps I'll never think so, but I was talking it over with Sis. Wrigley (Russian sister going home this week) and she said that it's amazing to see how the Lord helps you, in a way, to step up to that responsibility. Sis. LeDuc is going to be a great trainer, although she still worries with the language. I'm sure it'll turn out fine for me too :)
I've tried to keep half of my things packed, just in case I have to move, but I'll still have to re-situate things, ha ha. At least since we know we won't be opening a new apartment, wherever we end up, hopefully that means we won't have to take random cleaning/apartment supplies along with us. That made the move from Pärnu a rather interesting one :P Well, it's about time for me to get going now! Gotta go get some pancakes at Kompressor! Yummy~ Thanks for all the love and prayers! You're the bestest ;D
Love,
Courtney
It was nice to hear all of your voices! The "cinco-cinco-cinco" was really cute :) Church yesterday was just great. Our investigator couldn't make it, but we'll have an appointment with her tomorrow night and a member offered her home for us to teach, so I hope we can do it there! Today's and Yesterday's weather has been gorgeous! We don't need any sort of jackets, and it's been nice to soak in some warmth and sunlight! I just hope that when it's really hot here, that it will be only for a short time. I can't imagine enduring hot weather without AC. Well, we still have a ways until that gets here, so moving on~
I don't think I have much to report on today since I told you most of the latest news on the phone already. Transfers calls will be no later than Tuesday night, but I'm already getting nervous for that! I'm excited to get a new companion and with the new training module that we have, that means we'll be together for at least 2 transfers (3 months). This new training would have been nice for Sis. LeDuc and I to have when we first got here to Estonia because supposedly it prepares you to train after only being in the field for 12 weeks. I was just thinking, I might have to train for the remainder of my mission... Am I ready for this?? Perhaps I'll never think so, but I was talking it over with Sis. Wrigley (Russian sister going home this week) and she said that it's amazing to see how the Lord helps you, in a way, to step up to that responsibility. Sis. LeDuc is going to be a great trainer, although she still worries with the language. I'm sure it'll turn out fine for me too :)
I've tried to keep half of my things packed, just in case I have to move, but I'll still have to re-situate things, ha ha. At least since we know we won't be opening a new apartment, wherever we end up, hopefully that means we won't have to take random cleaning/apartment supplies along with us. That made the move from Pärnu a rather interesting one :P Well, it's about time for me to get going now! Gotta go get some pancakes at Kompressor! Yummy~ Thanks for all the love and prayers! You're the bestest ;D
Love,
Courtney
Monday, May 2, 2011
May 2, 2011
Ooh boy, things have been pretty hectic this week, but so far so good in Tallinn. The Pärnu Elders have been taking the liberty of staying at our apartment there and eating our food, but oh well. Our new place here is like ye olde standard Estonian 2 room apartment. It's certainly tinier than the Pärnu South apartment and it was previously inhabited by an old grandma. Oh yes, it shows, ha ha ha ha. The Perrys, the missionary couple here in Tallinn, went to sign the lease and the owner didn't expect us to move in so quickly so the apartment was in pretty bad shape, cleaning-wise. The Perrys spent probably 7 hours just cleaning the kitchen on Wednesday. When we arrived on Thursday morning, we spent maybe 2 hours cleaning everything in the bathroom. The floor is still really gross so we might just chuck the rubbery covering on it and buy some new rugs or something. Perhaps the Perrys were a little desperate to get the apartment, but oh well. It's a missionary apartment. They're not always the prettiest places, but they're functional. Like for example, my bed could certainly be used for a trampoline, it's that bouncy! We're dying to try out some of the pieces from granny's several tea sets too :) And with the Russian sisters just a 10 minute walk away, there's definitely going to be fun things in the future!
President Dance just wanted to move us up here so we could get this area somewhat established before the new sisters arrive. We had to pack all of our belongings since one of us will be staying here to train while the other will go back to Pärnu or Tartu. I know sisters haven't been there (Tartu) in over a year. There might be hints that I'll be here, but there's still a week before transfers. The weather's been colder here than in Pärnu :P Must be that cold, nothern wind from the sea. We haven't been left with many investigators to work with, or much of an area book for that matter, so we're pretty much starting from scratch with this area. Yay for being whitewashed~ It's a little daunting, but so far it's been fun. We have the area of Mustamäe and Haabersti, so like south-western Tallinn. I think Mustamäe is kinda 50/50 when it comes to Russian and Estonian. Last night we went to do some knocking for about 2 hours at the far end of Haabersti. Lovely place!! I haven't seen nice houses of that size in well, almost a year, ha ha.
Miracle of today was that on our way to the library on the tram, we noticed a black man out the window who got of the tram. I always get excited when I see signs of diversity here :P Anyway, he stood in front of where we sat and he was just looking at us. I'd wanted to say something and then he asked in English if we were from some church. He'd seen my nametag! He's from Nigeria and he remembers a branch from his home town and had some good impressions of it. He's very religious and just wants to help his wife (an Estonian and sitting in front of us :) learn about Christ. So we gave them a contact card, a Book of Mormon, and we got their phone number. Aziz told us that he's looking forward to our call to meet in the future! And they'd like to come to church too! We had missed our stop because we were talking to him, but he also admitted that our conversation made his family miss his stop as well, ha ha ha! Wow, what a tender mercy from the Lord!
I don't have the mailing address for our mailbox in Tallinn yet. I'll get working on that. We still did an exchange on Friday, so Sis. G came with me to do service with the ward at the Zoo on Friday while Sis. LeDuc chilled with Sis. Dawson and Sis. Wrigley (who has had foot problems lately and can't do much) We'll be helping them out more this week so at least all of the sisters can get some equal time to get out there and work.
As far as the Mother's Day call, you can call me when it's evening time, therefore early morning for me. Sis. LeDuc's fam is going to call us during our night time. Maybe you could call me at around 7am? I don't know what time that'd be for you. Thanks for the prayers. I think it's working :)
Love,
Courtney
P.S.I actually can't really go and check on my e-mail so easily, but since it was an emergency, I got permission :)
President Dance just wanted to move us up here so we could get this area somewhat established before the new sisters arrive. We had to pack all of our belongings since one of us will be staying here to train while the other will go back to Pärnu or Tartu. I know sisters haven't been there (Tartu) in over a year. There might be hints that I'll be here, but there's still a week before transfers. The weather's been colder here than in Pärnu :P Must be that cold, nothern wind from the sea. We haven't been left with many investigators to work with, or much of an area book for that matter, so we're pretty much starting from scratch with this area. Yay for being whitewashed~ It's a little daunting, but so far it's been fun. We have the area of Mustamäe and Haabersti, so like south-western Tallinn. I think Mustamäe is kinda 50/50 when it comes to Russian and Estonian. Last night we went to do some knocking for about 2 hours at the far end of Haabersti. Lovely place!! I haven't seen nice houses of that size in well, almost a year, ha ha.
Miracle of today was that on our way to the library on the tram, we noticed a black man out the window who got of the tram. I always get excited when I see signs of diversity here :P Anyway, he stood in front of where we sat and he was just looking at us. I'd wanted to say something and then he asked in English if we were from some church. He'd seen my nametag! He's from Nigeria and he remembers a branch from his home town and had some good impressions of it. He's very religious and just wants to help his wife (an Estonian and sitting in front of us :) learn about Christ. So we gave them a contact card, a Book of Mormon, and we got their phone number. Aziz told us that he's looking forward to our call to meet in the future! And they'd like to come to church too! We had missed our stop because we were talking to him, but he also admitted that our conversation made his family miss his stop as well, ha ha ha! Wow, what a tender mercy from the Lord!
I don't have the mailing address for our mailbox in Tallinn yet. I'll get working on that. We still did an exchange on Friday, so Sis. G came with me to do service with the ward at the Zoo on Friday while Sis. LeDuc chilled with Sis. Dawson and Sis. Wrigley (who has had foot problems lately and can't do much) We'll be helping them out more this week so at least all of the sisters can get some equal time to get out there and work.
As far as the Mother's Day call, you can call me when it's evening time, therefore early morning for me. Sis. LeDuc's fam is going to call us during our night time. Maybe you could call me at around 7am? I don't know what time that'd be for you. Thanks for the prayers. I think it's working :)
Love,
Courtney
P.S.I actually can't really go and check on my e-mail so easily, but since it was an emergency, I got permission :)
Monday, April 25, 2011
April 25, 2011
Hi fam!
I hope you had a wonderful Easter! And Happy Birthday to Shauna too! Easter here was very beautiful. We made a huge dinner for 10 (missionaries and some members) and it was a lot of work!! Now I better appreciate all that you do Mom! We made a pork roast, corn, a bunny-shaped cake and the Elders brought mashed potatoes.
The weather is just perfect right now. We went with a potential investigator this morning to the forest 30km away and there were some bogs too. The ground was very soft and felt like we were walking on mattresses, ha ha! We climbed to the top of a watch tower and We walked across the highway towards the oceanside to get to her country home. She's preparing to sell it because it's just too much work to keep it up by herself now that she's old. It was so cute~ The house was built some 118 years ago, but she's only owned it for the last 17 years. She did a lot of renovating, but it still looks very reminiscent of the period. I felt like I was in some sort of house turned into a museum, except we could actually touch and explore things, ha ha. After that, we tried to check out the ocean nearby, we saw some swans (?) but there wasn't really a beach so as we wandered around in the brush, we were just tromping around in the marshes and therefore got our shoes, feet, and pants soaked, ha ha ha. Buuuuuut it was still fun :)
Apparently Estonians like to color their eggs with onion peels that they wrap around the egg and then boil it to give it a brownish-yellowish color. Another interesting activity they do is to go around tapping the boiled eggs together to see who's cracks first. It's kinda like rock-paper-scissor fights, but with eggs :) We had a good turn out of people at Game night and several investigators too! The children did a puppet show of the Good Samaritan which was really cute.
It turns out that we didn't have the exchange last week, but it will be Friday of this week. I'll be going up to Tallinn and Sis. LeDuc will be here with Sis. G. I think this is an indicator that I may be moving to Tallinn next transfer. There's a high possibility, but I suppose we should wait for the official word in two or so weeks. Our District Conference (like stake conference for all the members here) has been change from this weekend until the final weekend in May because Elder Schwitzer of the Seventy will be coming from Moscow. I'm kinda bummed because I was looking forward to see everyone, but we'll have to wait some more.
Now that Easter's over, that means that Mother's Day is coming soon and a phone call home too! Better get excited~ I've been reading several Ensign articles lately about Easter and from conferences past. Those have been very uplifting and inspiring be to continually improve.
I love you all sooooooo much!
Love,
Courtney
I hope you had a wonderful Easter! And Happy Birthday to Shauna too! Easter here was very beautiful. We made a huge dinner for 10 (missionaries and some members) and it was a lot of work!! Now I better appreciate all that you do Mom! We made a pork roast, corn, a bunny-shaped cake and the Elders brought mashed potatoes.
The weather is just perfect right now. We went with a potential investigator this morning to the forest 30km away and there were some bogs too. The ground was very soft and felt like we were walking on mattresses, ha ha! We climbed to the top of a watch tower and We walked across the highway towards the oceanside to get to her country home. She's preparing to sell it because it's just too much work to keep it up by herself now that she's old. It was so cute~ The house was built some 118 years ago, but she's only owned it for the last 17 years. She did a lot of renovating, but it still looks very reminiscent of the period. I felt like I was in some sort of house turned into a museum, except we could actually touch and explore things, ha ha. After that, we tried to check out the ocean nearby, we saw some swans (?) but there wasn't really a beach so as we wandered around in the brush, we were just tromping around in the marshes and therefore got our shoes, feet, and pants soaked, ha ha ha. Buuuuuut it was still fun :)
Apparently Estonians like to color their eggs with onion peels that they wrap around the egg and then boil it to give it a brownish-yellowish color. Another interesting activity they do is to go around tapping the boiled eggs together to see who's cracks first. It's kinda like rock-paper-scissor fights, but with eggs :) We had a good turn out of people at Game night and several investigators too! The children did a puppet show of the Good Samaritan which was really cute.
It turns out that we didn't have the exchange last week, but it will be Friday of this week. I'll be going up to Tallinn and Sis. LeDuc will be here with Sis. G. I think this is an indicator that I may be moving to Tallinn next transfer. There's a high possibility, but I suppose we should wait for the official word in two or so weeks. Our District Conference (like stake conference for all the members here) has been change from this weekend until the final weekend in May because Elder Schwitzer of the Seventy will be coming from Moscow. I'm kinda bummed because I was looking forward to see everyone, but we'll have to wait some more.
Now that Easter's over, that means that Mother's Day is coming soon and a phone call home too! Better get excited~ I've been reading several Ensign articles lately about Easter and from conferences past. Those have been very uplifting and inspiring be to continually improve.
I love you all sooooooo much!
Love,
Courtney
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