Awwww, camping~ Fun fun! Our usual investigators were out of town, so not a lot of news about them. Sis. Lamar came back from her little trip to Parnu on Wednesday. Of course she fell in love with it, so she was a little bummed to come back to Tallinn, especially our area
which just has hundreds of huge apartment buildings.
Estonia just had Temple week last week, so our numbers at church were a just a little fewer, so I actually played the piano in church! Of course I've played in Relief Society, but I haven't had to play for sacrament meeting since my days in Parnu. I tried the organ a little earlier in the week as we were waiting for an appointment when I was with the Russian sisters. Speaking of Russian, I've had to use it so much lately! Sis. Lamar and I knocked one part of a 9-story apartment building and either people weren't home, they ignored us, or they were
Russian! We only talked to 2 Estonians that whole time! We had to do a lot of finding this last week, so that's always very tiring physically, mentally, and spiritually! We're trying to go through some former investigators as of late, and we had a lesson with one old lady last night, and we scheduled another for tonight. English class back on Saturday went really well! We had 3 new students, they're Russian, but they are friends of members, so at least member missionary work is happening! We gotta figure how to get that happen a little more in our branch.
Oh goodness, I'm the next one to come home? Wow, that's interesting! I guess I really am. The nice thing about this summer has been that as soon as the weather gets really hot, it seems to rain a day or two later, so that's kept it nice and reasonable. Some days it switches from sunny to rainy, so it's hard to keep track, especially since we don't normally carry an umbrella along with us, ha ha.
I think my time is almost up here, so gotta go! Sorry this is really lame, but I'm hoping and praying for better things this week! I think it'll happen ;) Thanks so much for the prayers and love. It means a lot to me ;)
Love,
Courtney
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
July 18th, 2011
Hello, everyone!
Unfortunately, this was more of a finding week since some of our lessons fell through and Keili is going on vacation. That's really tiring and makes the days seem a lot longer, but we're trying to stay positive. Soooooo, because it was a finding week, there isn't a lot of interesting news :P I was with Sis. Uibel for exchanges, and it's was pretty much a party being together with her. We helped peel and slice veggies for a wedding for some of the Russian members that was on Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn't even get to go to the wedding because we were helping Anton+Stela as they were moving to their new apartment. Really, it's just an upstairs of an old house, but it's been renovated on the inside. They live right next to some railroad tracks though, so I hope that's not too annoying. That means that now they don't live in our area anymore, but oh well :P All we did to help was just wash a few windows and then assemble the little grill they bought, and then prepare the food for lunch. That was fun, and it made me miss barbecues, ha ha!
We now have a good idea of what is happening for transfers in 2 weeks! I think Sis. Christopher is going to be training after being out in the field for 3 weeks, which probably means I'll be with Sis. Lamar for another 2 transfers (3 months). Therefore, we will probably still be in Tallinn too. I still like it here, but I hope I can make it to again to Tartu sometime! There is some leadership conference in Riga tomorrow, so Sis. Lamar is going down to Parnu to while Sis. Christopher goes to the conference. That means I'll be with the Russians again until Wednesday! Yay~ I love them!
We actually had a different investigator come to church! Anne only stayed for Sacrament meeting, but she enjoyed it, I think. Now we gotta get her teenage kids to come too! She even has a good member friend now too! We need to set up another appointment with her family this week :)
For Preparation Days, we usually go play sports for 2 hours and then e-mail and eat somewhere after that. Today we played soccer again, and I tripped over ball, so I had a nice fall and got the wind knocked out of me, but no pain, no gain, right? :P The main library is closed though, so we have to go to another library, or go to an internet cafe (like right now. This one is tailored to gaming too, but we stray away from that, ha ha) That's so weird to think all those young men are getting back from their missions now! I just realized that we will only have warm weather for another for another 2 months... I don't know if I'm happy or sad about that... ha ha!
Have fun on the camping trip! We've walked through some foresty-parks so it makes me really want to bust out a sleeping bag and roast some marshmallows! Even though we're in a big city, there are some parts where you can escape into nature and relax, so that's nice.
Elder McGavin told me my letter came, but he has yet to give it to me. Sorry there's not much more to tell! Thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so much.
Love,
Courtney
Unfortunately, this was more of a finding week since some of our lessons fell through and Keili is going on vacation. That's really tiring and makes the days seem a lot longer, but we're trying to stay positive. Soooooo, because it was a finding week, there isn't a lot of interesting news :P I was with Sis. Uibel for exchanges, and it's was pretty much a party being together with her. We helped peel and slice veggies for a wedding for some of the Russian members that was on Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn't even get to go to the wedding because we were helping Anton+Stela as they were moving to their new apartment. Really, it's just an upstairs of an old house, but it's been renovated on the inside. They live right next to some railroad tracks though, so I hope that's not too annoying. That means that now they don't live in our area anymore, but oh well :P All we did to help was just wash a few windows and then assemble the little grill they bought, and then prepare the food for lunch. That was fun, and it made me miss barbecues, ha ha!
We now have a good idea of what is happening for transfers in 2 weeks! I think Sis. Christopher is going to be training after being out in the field for 3 weeks, which probably means I'll be with Sis. Lamar for another 2 transfers (3 months). Therefore, we will probably still be in Tallinn too. I still like it here, but I hope I can make it to again to Tartu sometime! There is some leadership conference in Riga tomorrow, so Sis. Lamar is going down to Parnu to while Sis. Christopher goes to the conference. That means I'll be with the Russians again until Wednesday! Yay~ I love them!
We actually had a different investigator come to church! Anne only stayed for Sacrament meeting, but she enjoyed it, I think. Now we gotta get her teenage kids to come too! She even has a good member friend now too! We need to set up another appointment with her family this week :)
For Preparation Days, we usually go play sports for 2 hours and then e-mail and eat somewhere after that. Today we played soccer again, and I tripped over ball, so I had a nice fall and got the wind knocked out of me, but no pain, no gain, right? :P The main library is closed though, so we have to go to another library, or go to an internet cafe (like right now. This one is tailored to gaming too, but we stray away from that, ha ha) That's so weird to think all those young men are getting back from their missions now! I just realized that we will only have warm weather for another for another 2 months... I don't know if I'm happy or sad about that... ha ha!
Have fun on the camping trip! We've walked through some foresty-parks so it makes me really want to bust out a sleeping bag and roast some marshmallows! Even though we're in a big city, there are some parts where you can escape into nature and relax, so that's nice.
Elder McGavin told me my letter came, but he has yet to give it to me. Sorry there's not much more to tell! Thanks for all the love and prayers! I love you all so much.
Love,
Courtney
Monday, July 11, 2011
July 11, 2011
Hello family!! (and friends too~)
Dad showed me the insane pictures of the dust storm. CRAZY. That's so scary!! Things have been rather pleasant this last week, although we didn't have a lot of lessons this week like we'd planned. The problem is that tons of people are taking their month vacations now, so they'll be out of the country, or gone to the countryside, and we can't get ahold of them until mid-August. x( Keili was really busy covering another person's stuff at work this week, but we're accompanying her at the Perrys' house for FHE tonight. We also have an appointment for Wednesday. She doesn't really feel comfortable with us inviting members to come teach with us, but we hope that we can help her get some friends tonight, so that she'll let us bring them along.
We had a lesson with a family last Wednesday, and a member couple was going to come teach (they live in the same building), but that family wasn't home and wasn't answering their phone, so we went back to the members' apartment and looked at their wedding pics (they were married on Jan. 1st this year :) and drank some Sea Buckthorn juice. Anton had to look that one up on the computer for us, ha ha. It was interesting, but tasty with some honey. The Kilks are such a cute couple~ Anton was only baptized in February and Stela is sooooooo gorgeous~ I'll have to take a pic the next time we meet with them :) That same evening, we went contacting in a nearby park and there we met a lady who had lived in the U.S. for 10 years working mostly in Kentucky with horses, RANDOM! She was really cool, and when she said some English words, there was a heavy Southern accent, hehehe. It was so funny when she said "Gimme a kiss!" to her adorable little 3 year old, who was actually adopted from the U.S. I knew her child couldn't have been from Estonia because she was a cute little black girl :) The little girl now speaks Estonian, but she still understands English and will say some random English words like "bicycles!" We taught them a lesson on a bench, and I hope we can meet with them again soon! I know she wants to move to Canada to go back to work with horses, so our chances may be slim, but we'll see.
Mark's family sent me some great letters and pictures! Everyone thinks my nephews are so handsome and cute! I just hope my own future children will be as cute, hehehe ;) I don't really know what else to write about since not much happened this week. We had to do a lot of finding because we couldn't get any appointments with people. I hope this week will turn out a little better. I know we have exchanges with the Russian sisters this Thursday, and I think it's gonna be Sis. Uibel and I together, meaning that our trainees are going to be on their own for a little. I can't wait to hear how that goes, ha ha ha! Sis. Lamar is not good with directions at all so I'm afraid they'll get lost a lot, :P
Thanks for all the prayers and love! You're the greatest!
Courtney
Dad showed me the insane pictures of the dust storm. CRAZY. That's so scary!! Things have been rather pleasant this last week, although we didn't have a lot of lessons this week like we'd planned. The problem is that tons of people are taking their month vacations now, so they'll be out of the country, or gone to the countryside, and we can't get ahold of them until mid-August. x( Keili was really busy covering another person's stuff at work this week, but we're accompanying her at the Perrys' house for FHE tonight. We also have an appointment for Wednesday. She doesn't really feel comfortable with us inviting members to come teach with us, but we hope that we can help her get some friends tonight, so that she'll let us bring them along.
We had a lesson with a family last Wednesday, and a member couple was going to come teach (they live in the same building), but that family wasn't home and wasn't answering their phone, so we went back to the members' apartment and looked at their wedding pics (they were married on Jan. 1st this year :) and drank some Sea Buckthorn juice. Anton had to look that one up on the computer for us, ha ha. It was interesting, but tasty with some honey. The Kilks are such a cute couple~ Anton was only baptized in February and Stela is sooooooo gorgeous~ I'll have to take a pic the next time we meet with them :) That same evening, we went contacting in a nearby park and there we met a lady who had lived in the U.S. for 10 years working mostly in Kentucky with horses, RANDOM! She was really cool, and when she said some English words, there was a heavy Southern accent, hehehe. It was so funny when she said "Gimme a kiss!" to her adorable little 3 year old, who was actually adopted from the U.S. I knew her child couldn't have been from Estonia because she was a cute little black girl :) The little girl now speaks Estonian, but she still understands English and will say some random English words like "bicycles!" We taught them a lesson on a bench, and I hope we can meet with them again soon! I know she wants to move to Canada to go back to work with horses, so our chances may be slim, but we'll see.
Mark's family sent me some great letters and pictures! Everyone thinks my nephews are so handsome and cute! I just hope my own future children will be as cute, hehehe ;) I don't really know what else to write about since not much happened this week. We had to do a lot of finding because we couldn't get any appointments with people. I hope this week will turn out a little better. I know we have exchanges with the Russian sisters this Thursday, and I think it's gonna be Sis. Uibel and I together, meaning that our trainees are going to be on their own for a little. I can't wait to hear how that goes, ha ha ha! Sis. Lamar is not good with directions at all so I'm afraid they'll get lost a lot, :P
Thanks for all the prayers and love! You're the greatest!
Courtney
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy 4th of July, 2011
GOD BLESS AMERICA, MY HOME SWEET HOOOOOOME~
Wooooooweeee, I'm plum-tuckered out! Well, we ditched the BBQ idea because Elder McGavin came up with the idea of renting bikes for today, so we took a really long ride along the coast. Thank goodness it was overcast, but my skin is still slightly pinkish. It's been getting rather warm and muggy around here this last week. It makes for nice and sweaty public transportation rides because there's no a/c and not much air coming through the windows either xP For example, on Friday night, all of the Estonian missionaries from Tallinn and Pärnu went to attend the Youth Song and Dance Festival. Estonian's are very proud of their song festivals. They had hundreds of kids and teenagers singing and dancing, and it was neat to see that. I guess the MAIN song festival is in 2 years. Ok, back to the idea of public transportation. Riding to and back from the festival was just like a sauna, if not worse. On the trolley ride home, a group of young kids was smooshed up in the front with us and one of the kiddos said that nobody dares getting on the trolly because it's like a graveyard in here. Ohohohohohohoho, children can be a riot sometimes~ Sis. LeDuc and I had a good laugh at that!
I received a letter from Sis. Sally Sue Nelson back home. It was really sweet (and Mom, she mentioned you were a really great RS president!!) We had a zone conference with the Boswells on Saturday. I like them a lot already! President Boswell is quite funny. Odd thing is that while he was teaching us, he used a scripture that I
happened to read in personal study that same morning! And it's in a not-so-common spot too, so that made it even more amazing. 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Strange, right? I've been reading the New Testament on-and-off and I just happened to come across that and even shared that with my companion in our study time together that morning. We had short interviews with President and Sister Boswell on Sunday morning before church (which now starts at 11, yay~), just so they could quickly meet us. We'll have longer interviews at some later time in the month, I believe.
We taught Keili twice this last week, and she's great. I think she's just afraid of committing to a date simply because she's afraid of messing up, she thinks she's weak. I think she's just shy ;) We went back to an apartment that Sis. Lamar knocked on over a month ago when she was on exchanges with the Russians, and we set a return appointment with the man's wife and taught them later that week! They're really nice and we'll be teaching them again on Wednesday. Maybe we found ourselves a family to teach, because they have a 9 year old son too.
Anne of Green Gables?!?!? Ha ha ha ha ha! I don't think I've watched much past the 3rd video. I remember there was one random day that I decided to watch it with Stacey. We laughed a lot. We didn't realize Anne was that ridiculous when we watched it as children ;P Nice choice, Mom.
Time is just flying by~ It's really strange to think that the only remaining member of my first ever district, Elder Barney, is leaving in a month now. Gah, that means I have 5?!?!? Weeeeeeird. Our recent business has been making time seem like such a blur.
Well, that's pretty much all I've got for today! I love you all so much!
Love,
Courtney
Wooooooweeee, I'm plum-tuckered out! Well, we ditched the BBQ idea because Elder McGavin came up with the idea of renting bikes for today, so we took a really long ride along the coast. Thank goodness it was overcast, but my skin is still slightly pinkish. It's been getting rather warm and muggy around here this last week. It makes for nice and sweaty public transportation rides because there's no a/c and not much air coming through the windows either xP For example, on Friday night, all of the Estonian missionaries from Tallinn and Pärnu went to attend the Youth Song and Dance Festival. Estonian's are very proud of their song festivals. They had hundreds of kids and teenagers singing and dancing, and it was neat to see that. I guess the MAIN song festival is in 2 years. Ok, back to the idea of public transportation. Riding to and back from the festival was just like a sauna, if not worse. On the trolley ride home, a group of young kids was smooshed up in the front with us and one of the kiddos said that nobody dares getting on the trolly because it's like a graveyard in here. Ohohohohohohoho, children can be a riot sometimes~ Sis. LeDuc and I had a good laugh at that!
I received a letter from Sis. Sally Sue Nelson back home. It was really sweet (and Mom, she mentioned you were a really great RS president!!) We had a zone conference with the Boswells on Saturday. I like them a lot already! President Boswell is quite funny. Odd thing is that while he was teaching us, he used a scripture that I
happened to read in personal study that same morning! And it's in a not-so-common spot too, so that made it even more amazing. 1 Thessalonians 1:5. Strange, right? I've been reading the New Testament on-and-off and I just happened to come across that and even shared that with my companion in our study time together that morning. We had short interviews with President and Sister Boswell on Sunday morning before church (which now starts at 11, yay~), just so they could quickly meet us. We'll have longer interviews at some later time in the month, I believe.
We taught Keili twice this last week, and she's great. I think she's just afraid of committing to a date simply because she's afraid of messing up, she thinks she's weak. I think she's just shy ;) We went back to an apartment that Sis. Lamar knocked on over a month ago when she was on exchanges with the Russians, and we set a return appointment with the man's wife and taught them later that week! They're really nice and we'll be teaching them again on Wednesday. Maybe we found ourselves a family to teach, because they have a 9 year old son too.
Anne of Green Gables?!?!? Ha ha ha ha ha! I don't think I've watched much past the 3rd video. I remember there was one random day that I decided to watch it with Stacey. We laughed a lot. We didn't realize Anne was that ridiculous when we watched it as children ;P Nice choice, Mom.
Time is just flying by~ It's really strange to think that the only remaining member of my first ever district, Elder Barney, is leaving in a month now. Gah, that means I have 5?!?!? Weeeeeeird. Our recent business has been making time seem like such a blur.
Well, that's pretty much all I've got for today! I love you all so much!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, June 27, 2011
June 27, 2011
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
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 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
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