Well folks, this is the end of a wonderful adventure. Lots of tears, hugs, smiles and laughs have been shared these past few days. Amazing how Heavenly Father had to send me to the other side of the world to meet some of my closest friends and "family" (I'm adopting them :) in the Baltics of all places. One of the coolest experiences here at the end of my mission is pondering and seeing all of the blessings promised to me fulfilled, or else in the process of being fulfilled.
Fortunately, Elder Broby is also from Arizona (Yuma!), so I'm sure he's flying into Phoenix Sky Harbor. Nice to know I'm not traveling alone ;) There are 13 missionaries departing with me, that's a good-sized group!
Last week's highlights include: FHE at the Branch President's home; getting a good amount of snow last week after I told you it may not come, buuuuuut it melted away too quickly, xP ; teaching Keili again (and we have an appointment this week too!); teaching my DJ investigator, Tauno (so COOL). We're meeting him again this week too. He'll actually be in L.A. in March and he wants to come out to see me and "We can go to church together!" he told me excitedly. He's like a little kid ;); teaching Anne and seeing her son Martin on TV for a minute or two (random); going to Pärnu for Game Night on Friday; and visiting Triinu Sepp's family again.
Last week's lowlights(?): Not finding a nativity for Mom; scrambling to find last-minute gifts (sorry if I don't get you one! know that I still love you~), not having a car so I can squeeze in more visits into my schedule xP; Uhhh, I may have to make time to finish packing, hehehe.
I like breakfast, but don't bend over backwards and make things too difficult on yourselves, you've got a busy day. But if you REALLY want to do it, I'll help out too. I'm getting excited for those humongous hugs waiting for me :D
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Happy Birthday Ryan! Love you, big bro!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
December 5, 2011
I'm actually glad to hear it's cold back home because then I can actually use some of my scarves and coat still! I love it~ Still no real sign of snow here, but the ground was a little icy this morning. Little slippy already! I've heard some predictions that snow may not really come until after Christmas, sad day! I was hoping to at least a bit 'fore I go.
Good to know school stuff is all cleared and ready to go! You are miracle workers~ The Sepps were so thrilled to help us out. They are such gems! Night school.....meh. Not too excited about that, but maybe I'll just have to suck it up for this semester, 'cause then it looks like all the business credits will be done in one semester, leaving me with basically just electives until graduation. That's nice to think about :)
I'll really try to locate a nativity. That may be hard to find, but if there are any here in Estonia, I'd be sure they'll be in Old Town. There's a little Christmas fair in the main plaza, I've seen it from afar, but haven't walked around to see what's at the booths. I'll see if I can get some tips on nativity whereabouts from members... call in the favors! I'll be going to Pärnu actually this Friday, and I talked to a member down there about the bunny hats. She said she think she saw them at a shopping center, so I'll check that out!
It's interesting to give people an ultimatum because then they'll actually find, or make time to meet with you, hahaha! I've been texting and calling some investigators and less-actives in order to meet, so we already have a few appointments almost every day this week. It's been really fun meeting with these people whom I've grown really close with over the last few months here. I bore a one minute testimony in sacrament meeting, and then the branch president asked Elder Broby to share his too since he's leaving as well. Funny thing is, we haven't heard if we're actually speaking next Sunday...? Does that mean we're off the hook? Honestly speaking, I have never been asked to speak in sacrament meeting. I've only just rarely testified on Fast Sundays so that it's the members' chance to shine. That's really odd :P This past week was amazing, and this week looks to be the same! Thanks for all of the love and prayers! I'm enjoying every moment.
Love,
Courtney
Good to know school stuff is all cleared and ready to go! You are miracle workers~ The Sepps were so thrilled to help us out. They are such gems! Night school.....meh. Not too excited about that, but maybe I'll just have to suck it up for this semester, 'cause then it looks like all the business credits will be done in one semester, leaving me with basically just electives until graduation. That's nice to think about :)
I'll really try to locate a nativity. That may be hard to find, but if there are any here in Estonia, I'd be sure they'll be in Old Town. There's a little Christmas fair in the main plaza, I've seen it from afar, but haven't walked around to see what's at the booths. I'll see if I can get some tips on nativity whereabouts from members... call in the favors! I'll be going to Pärnu actually this Friday, and I talked to a member down there about the bunny hats. She said she think she saw them at a shopping center, so I'll check that out!
It's interesting to give people an ultimatum because then they'll actually find, or make time to meet with you, hahaha! I've been texting and calling some investigators and less-actives in order to meet, so we already have a few appointments almost every day this week. It's been really fun meeting with these people whom I've grown really close with over the last few months here. I bore a one minute testimony in sacrament meeting, and then the branch president asked Elder Broby to share his too since he's leaving as well. Funny thing is, we haven't heard if we're actually speaking next Sunday...? Does that mean we're off the hook? Honestly speaking, I have never been asked to speak in sacrament meeting. I've only just rarely testified on Fast Sundays so that it's the members' chance to shine. That's really odd :P This past week was amazing, and this week looks to be the same! Thanks for all of the love and prayers! I'm enjoying every moment.
Love,
Courtney
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
November 29, 2011
Hi everyone!
Thanksgiving turned out great! It's amazing to see how we missionaries can manage to pull out a full-on Thanksgiving dinner. The pumpkin pie I made needed to be baked a while longer, oops. But hey, not too bad for not having a recipe. I'm still kinda proud of myself, haha! We watched 17 Miracles, which was the second time I've seen it in 2 weeks. It's a pretty good film! Definitely makes you more appreciative of pioneer ancestors. :) Last week, we did family night with Keili and her cousin Maris came with her husband too. Keili made a superb chicken salad. Like a real American salad with actual lettuce. Oi, it was delicious. Estonians don't really make leafy salads, so that was a treat! Later that night, I realized I accidentally took home their version of Uno so we had to return it to her a few night later. When we did, we just played a few rounds with her and son Remo, and invited her to church, but she couldn't make it :/ She BETTER come the next 2 Sundays! She sorta promised me, so I'll try to use that to convince her to make sure and be there this week. We couldn't meet with Wentao last week because he had lab work to do for school. We've got some finding to do this week because the investigators we have are... well, non-existant now? They tend to get busy and then contact just sorta fizzles out... *sigh*, but oh well. That's what an Area book is for! Other news, I may be doing an exchange in Pärnu by the end of this week, for old time's sake :)
Yesterday was an amazing zone conference. Quite a finale, possibly one of the best I've attended. By the end, I was feeling pretty woozy (sp?), tired, and had a killer headache from tons of tears, but still awesome! Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy was present with his wife, (they also spoke Sunday here in Tallinn). Surprisingly, Sis. Lawrence's presentation was probably the best part too! She spoke of the the house of Israel, its scattering and gathering and how it's that "believing blood" in the modern descendents that draws them to the Gospel and church. The amount of instruction we received in that hour or so felt like the equivalent of an entire semester of Institute xP Mind-blowing!!! Everybody was just in shock and awe. I couldn't help but think about Dad throughout, because I know he'd love this stuff. Don't worry, Dad, we'll talk. ;) Also from Zone Conference, we received our Estonian Triple Combinations!!! Got 'em before the members too. They are really lovely and will be a great help to the branches and members. This made all of the Russians jealous because they don't have Russian triples yet, but hey, at least they actually had D&C...
Sounds like you had a productive week with all the holiday preparations! I've already been listening to Christmas music for a long time, hehehe :) It hasn't snowed since last P-Day, just really rainy and windy. I'd give it another week, at this rate. But hey, some folks have told me it's not uncommon to have relatively snowless (less-snow?) winters, here. Kinda hard to believe, if you ask me, but now it's really got me wondering! Sorry to give you such a headache with the back-to-school issues. I will get to work a.s.a.p. Oh boy, dealing with logistical stuff is especially difficult long-distance. xP
Hope to give you some more amazing stories next week! Love you all so much.
Love,
Courtney
Thanksgiving turned out great! It's amazing to see how we missionaries can manage to pull out a full-on Thanksgiving dinner. The pumpkin pie I made needed to be baked a while longer, oops. But hey, not too bad for not having a recipe. I'm still kinda proud of myself, haha! We watched 17 Miracles, which was the second time I've seen it in 2 weeks. It's a pretty good film! Definitely makes you more appreciative of pioneer ancestors. :) Last week, we did family night with Keili and her cousin Maris came with her husband too. Keili made a superb chicken salad. Like a real American salad with actual lettuce. Oi, it was delicious. Estonians don't really make leafy salads, so that was a treat! Later that night, I realized I accidentally took home their version of Uno so we had to return it to her a few night later. When we did, we just played a few rounds with her and son Remo, and invited her to church, but she couldn't make it :/ She BETTER come the next 2 Sundays! She sorta promised me, so I'll try to use that to convince her to make sure and be there this week. We couldn't meet with Wentao last week because he had lab work to do for school. We've got some finding to do this week because the investigators we have are... well, non-existant now? They tend to get busy and then contact just sorta fizzles out... *sigh*, but oh well. That's what an Area book is for! Other news, I may be doing an exchange in Pärnu by the end of this week, for old time's sake :)
Yesterday was an amazing zone conference. Quite a finale, possibly one of the best I've attended. By the end, I was feeling pretty woozy (sp?), tired, and had a killer headache from tons of tears, but still awesome! Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy was present with his wife, (they also spoke Sunday here in Tallinn). Surprisingly, Sis. Lawrence's presentation was probably the best part too! She spoke of the the house of Israel, its scattering and gathering and how it's that "believing blood" in the modern descendents that draws them to the Gospel and church. The amount of instruction we received in that hour or so felt like the equivalent of an entire semester of Institute xP Mind-blowing!!! Everybody was just in shock and awe. I couldn't help but think about Dad throughout, because I know he'd love this stuff. Don't worry, Dad, we'll talk. ;) Also from Zone Conference, we received our Estonian Triple Combinations!!! Got 'em before the members too. They are really lovely and will be a great help to the branches and members. This made all of the Russians jealous because they don't have Russian triples yet, but hey, at least they actually had D&C...
Sounds like you had a productive week with all the holiday preparations! I've already been listening to Christmas music for a long time, hehehe :) It hasn't snowed since last P-Day, just really rainy and windy. I'd give it another week, at this rate. But hey, some folks have told me it's not uncommon to have relatively snowless (less-snow?) winters, here. Kinda hard to believe, if you ask me, but now it's really got me wondering! Sorry to give you such a headache with the back-to-school issues. I will get to work a.s.a.p. Oh boy, dealing with logistical stuff is especially difficult long-distance. xP
Hope to give you some more amazing stories next week! Love you all so much.
Love,
Courtney
Monday, November 21, 2011
November 21, 2011
Hey, fam!
HAHAHA that is so peculiar, that you ALL have come down with colds because I got hit pretty hard with one this week as well! Oops, this is no laughing matter, sorry :P Kinda creepy to think about actually. It's like we're still connected...even halfway across the world~ Either that, or someone left my voodoo doll around the house so it caught the germs too, lol. I kid, I kid. ;P I've got my strength back now, so we're off to work this week! OH, and today marks the first snowfall, YAY!!!! I was starting to get a little worried if it didn't snow before Thanksgiving, haha. Today is really nice and gentle, pretty to watch the snow fall. I'm just hoping we don't have a blizzard on Thanksgiving like last year. That's when the snow fell and finally stayed on the ground until Spring. We've had a nice long, lovely Fall, so I can't complain.
Anywho, my sickness and Sis. Nef's hip problems sorta put us out of comission this past week, but things are looking up for us now! Tonight, we're doing FHE with Keili and her son~ And her member cousin, Maris and hubby Matthew are coming too! w00t! We want to ease back into teaching her, so if tonight goes well, that could be possible :) Wentao is still a cool investigator, but we had to cancel our appointment with him because we couldn't get a member or fellow sister missionary to come to our aid. Then he got sick and couldn't come to church, but he called just before church started and apologized sincerely. He's a really nice kid, so when he gets feeling better, we'll meet and hopefully we can invite him to be baptized on Dec. 24th! That's our plan, and I think he really wants to learn.
Back on Wednesday, we did service for a member family whose home burned down several years ago. They converted their garage into their home and have slowly added rooms to it over time. Our whole district spent 4 hours scavenging for whole bricks, (re-used to make a wall), and throwing branches and wood planks into piles to keep and to throw-away. We got nice and dirty, but it was so much fun! I think mostly because it was fun just chatting and laughing away with my district. We're rather nerdy too, so that's even more better. We talked about a lot of Star Wars that day, ha ha ha! We were able to make a large improvement on their property with just a few hours and a few extra hands. It still looks a lot like the aftermath did, but it's slightly more organized now :)
I think my companionship is in charge of the pumpkin pie and stuffing for Thanksgiving. I was given a pumpkin a while ago from a member, buuuuut I have yet to use it so I hope it's still edible... looks decent from the outside, haha. Next week in Zone Conference on Monday, the 28th, so we'll have P-day on Tuesday. Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy will be at our church meetings on Sunday and at Zone Conference so that's exhilarating news too! One member came up to me after hearing the announcement in sacrament meeting just to explain to me the joy she's experiencing that a general authority is coming next week! She felt so blessed that the Lord is paying our branch a little extra attention and she was so excited to prepare the remainder of the week for Sunday. Yup. That was humbling. :) I love Sundays. It's so necessary to have the Sabbath to rejuvenate your spirit and to get you pumped for life. Even after a crummy week, you come out feeling so much better, at least I do here. That's one thing I think I'll miss, for sure. I love the dear members here and hearing their testimonies is so powerful. I'll have to make sure to keep my church worship in the future just as great. Really, it'll be a good as you make it.
I told you a little about Sis. Nef a week or so ago, so I'll let you look that up! But to add, she's the oldest of 4 kids, attends BYU-Idaho for elementary education, but she'd like to live in a nicer, warmer climate, much like her home near Fresno, Cali. (Hehe, she got called to serve here too :P) She's actually thought a lot about possibly transferring to ASU or at least working as a teacher in AZ, so that's neato! On Saturday, during our break from English class, Elder Downey revealed to us the Estonian triple combination which he stole from his last trip to Riga! Ok, so he had permisssion, but still, it's just as pretty as our English scriptures, if not more~ All it's really missing are the tabs! And might as well say the Bible too, because it has a sort of a combined bible dictionary/topical guide in the back. The mission will be gifting us the nicer copies, so that's grand. The members can buy those, or a simple hardbound copy (the branch has already ordered them, but not here yet. WHY IS IS TAKING SO LOOOOOOOONG??). I think that's about it for news this week. Thanks for the prayers and love. Good to know you're benefiting from it too ;)
Kalli kalli! (hug hug!)
Courtney
P.S. I just browsed a class or two for availability. They're filling up! Hope that gets worked out soon.
HAHAHA that is so peculiar, that you ALL have come down with colds because I got hit pretty hard with one this week as well! Oops, this is no laughing matter, sorry :P Kinda creepy to think about actually. It's like we're still connected...even halfway across the world~ Either that, or someone left my voodoo doll around the house so it caught the germs too, lol. I kid, I kid. ;P I've got my strength back now, so we're off to work this week! OH, and today marks the first snowfall, YAY!!!! I was starting to get a little worried if it didn't snow before Thanksgiving, haha. Today is really nice and gentle, pretty to watch the snow fall. I'm just hoping we don't have a blizzard on Thanksgiving like last year. That's when the snow fell and finally stayed on the ground until Spring. We've had a nice long, lovely Fall, so I can't complain.
Anywho, my sickness and Sis. Nef's hip problems sorta put us out of comission this past week, but things are looking up for us now! Tonight, we're doing FHE with Keili and her son~ And her member cousin, Maris and hubby Matthew are coming too! w00t! We want to ease back into teaching her, so if tonight goes well, that could be possible :) Wentao is still a cool investigator, but we had to cancel our appointment with him because we couldn't get a member or fellow sister missionary to come to our aid. Then he got sick and couldn't come to church, but he called just before church started and apologized sincerely. He's a really nice kid, so when he gets feeling better, we'll meet and hopefully we can invite him to be baptized on Dec. 24th! That's our plan, and I think he really wants to learn.
Back on Wednesday, we did service for a member family whose home burned down several years ago. They converted their garage into their home and have slowly added rooms to it over time. Our whole district spent 4 hours scavenging for whole bricks, (re-used to make a wall), and throwing branches and wood planks into piles to keep and to throw-away. We got nice and dirty, but it was so much fun! I think mostly because it was fun just chatting and laughing away with my district. We're rather nerdy too, so that's even more better. We talked about a lot of Star Wars that day, ha ha ha! We were able to make a large improvement on their property with just a few hours and a few extra hands. It still looks a lot like the aftermath did, but it's slightly more organized now :)
I think my companionship is in charge of the pumpkin pie and stuffing for Thanksgiving. I was given a pumpkin a while ago from a member, buuuuut I have yet to use it so I hope it's still edible... looks decent from the outside, haha. Next week in Zone Conference on Monday, the 28th, so we'll have P-day on Tuesday. Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the Seventy will be at our church meetings on Sunday and at Zone Conference so that's exhilarating news too! One member came up to me after hearing the announcement in sacrament meeting just to explain to me the joy she's experiencing that a general authority is coming next week! She felt so blessed that the Lord is paying our branch a little extra attention and she was so excited to prepare the remainder of the week for Sunday. Yup. That was humbling. :) I love Sundays. It's so necessary to have the Sabbath to rejuvenate your spirit and to get you pumped for life. Even after a crummy week, you come out feeling so much better, at least I do here. That's one thing I think I'll miss, for sure. I love the dear members here and hearing their testimonies is so powerful. I'll have to make sure to keep my church worship in the future just as great. Really, it'll be a good as you make it.
I told you a little about Sis. Nef a week or so ago, so I'll let you look that up! But to add, she's the oldest of 4 kids, attends BYU-Idaho for elementary education, but she'd like to live in a nicer, warmer climate, much like her home near Fresno, Cali. (Hehe, she got called to serve here too :P) She's actually thought a lot about possibly transferring to ASU or at least working as a teacher in AZ, so that's neato! On Saturday, during our break from English class, Elder Downey revealed to us the Estonian triple combination which he stole from his last trip to Riga! Ok, so he had permisssion, but still, it's just as pretty as our English scriptures, if not more~ All it's really missing are the tabs! And might as well say the Bible too, because it has a sort of a combined bible dictionary/topical guide in the back. The mission will be gifting us the nicer copies, so that's grand. The members can buy those, or a simple hardbound copy (the branch has already ordered them, but not here yet. WHY IS IS TAKING SO LOOOOOOOONG??). I think that's about it for news this week. Thanks for the prayers and love. Good to know you're benefiting from it too ;)
Kalli kalli! (hug hug!)
Courtney
P.S. I just browsed a class or two for availability. They're filling up! Hope that gets worked out soon.
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 14, 2011
Boy, those kiddos really know how to party at Grandma's house!! I've been telling Sis. Nef stories of my memories at Grandma's and they were wonderful too, just in a different way, I suppose. Like jumping on the old trampoline, sleeping in Brigham beds, and driving up and down the driveway in the Power Wheels Jeep (with Flame decals!), and hammering nails in odd pieces of wood, just to name a few. Oohhhhh, those were the days~
Last week's game of Risk 2210 was intense, and I probably could have done a little better at the end, had I not accidentally nuked my own territories. I guess that's what I get for trying to control Asia. This week, we plan to play a customized version of Settlers of Zarahemla. I haven't played Settlers for well, over a year and a half, so we'll see how it goes. Apparently Elder Lord and Elder Jenkins customized their game months ago so that it mimics the Seafarers expansion set. This new game playing phase makes Preparation Days a little more fun-filled and plus it's great bonding time. Or maybe it disrupts our district's unity...? ;)
Onto more worthy news, I started to teach my first Chinese person last week! Yay! He's a new student at the technical university and he actually started talking to us on the bus last week. He says he's buddhist, but he really wants to learn more about Jesus Christ and he's really willing to come to our church activities. He came to sacrament meeting yesterday, and he'll be joining us at the Perrys' house for family night tonight! He's a good kid, so I'm excited to see his progression in the gospel. We plan to invite him to be baptized next time we meet. Also worth noting is that I talked to Maris at church and she said that she thinks Keili seems really positive toward the church again, so we should call her sometime to meet or invite her to something. I think all she needed was some space to think things over, and even her 5 year-old son has been asking when are they going to go to church. Last week, I sorted through TONS of teaching records to pull out all of the families I could find. We've prayed and fasted that we can find people ready to be baptized by the end of the year, because our branch president want us to really work towards that yearly goal for the branch. I think Wentao, (the Chinese student) is a really good possibility, and Keili could be too, if she realizes this is the right place for her and little Remo. As for sad news, recent convert Ivo is not so pleased with being a member, so I think that's why we haven't heard from him so seen him for so long. One of the branch counselors finally met with him last night, so the branch president told me the news. I guess he felt his progression a little to rushed so now he's thinking twice about his decision. We're praying he won't make any poor, rash decisions and have his records removed. Well that puts a damper on things, but all we can really do is pray and try to show our love, if he'll let us.
Sorry it's short, but well, that's all I've got. Love you lots!
Love,
Courtney
Last week's game of Risk 2210 was intense, and I probably could have done a little better at the end, had I not accidentally nuked my own territories. I guess that's what I get for trying to control Asia. This week, we plan to play a customized version of Settlers of Zarahemla. I haven't played Settlers for well, over a year and a half, so we'll see how it goes. Apparently Elder Lord and Elder Jenkins customized their game months ago so that it mimics the Seafarers expansion set. This new game playing phase makes Preparation Days a little more fun-filled and plus it's great bonding time. Or maybe it disrupts our district's unity...? ;)
Onto more worthy news, I started to teach my first Chinese person last week! Yay! He's a new student at the technical university and he actually started talking to us on the bus last week. He says he's buddhist, but he really wants to learn more about Jesus Christ and he's really willing to come to our church activities. He came to sacrament meeting yesterday, and he'll be joining us at the Perrys' house for family night tonight! He's a good kid, so I'm excited to see his progression in the gospel. We plan to invite him to be baptized next time we meet. Also worth noting is that I talked to Maris at church and she said that she thinks Keili seems really positive toward the church again, so we should call her sometime to meet or invite her to something. I think all she needed was some space to think things over, and even her 5 year-old son has been asking when are they going to go to church. Last week, I sorted through TONS of teaching records to pull out all of the families I could find. We've prayed and fasted that we can find people ready to be baptized by the end of the year, because our branch president want us to really work towards that yearly goal for the branch. I think Wentao, (the Chinese student) is a really good possibility, and Keili could be too, if she realizes this is the right place for her and little Remo. As for sad news, recent convert Ivo is not so pleased with being a member, so I think that's why we haven't heard from him so seen him for so long. One of the branch counselors finally met with him last night, so the branch president told me the news. I guess he felt his progression a little to rushed so now he's thinking twice about his decision. We're praying he won't make any poor, rash decisions and have his records removed. Well that puts a damper on things, but all we can really do is pray and try to show our love, if he'll let us.
Sorry it's short, but well, that's all I've got. Love you lots!
Love,
Courtney
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7, 2011
Well....still here :) Sis. Lamar went down to Pärnu to be in a trio with Sis. Christopher and trainee Sis. Robinson and Sis. Nef came up to Tallinn. She is from Fresno (actually Clovis), California, has been here since August, the oldest of 4 kids, and a redhead :) I'm gonna miss that little goober, Sis. Lamar, ha ha.
Last week, Pres. Boswell wanted us to attend some "town hall" for U.S. citizens in Tallinn, put on by the U.S. Embassy. It was interesting and kinda fun really. The Ambassador spoke for a bit and then it was open for any sort of questions. After the meeting was like a social and I talked to perhaps the number 2 guy at the Embassy for a bit. He said he was learning Estonian, so Elder McGavin and I were talking to him about it. He's only been learning for a year, but our missionaries are better with a year into the language ;) Yet another testimony builder to me. Well, then again, he's sort of in an English bubble more than we are. I gotta say, the best part was overhearing two southerners talking about BBQ afterward. The lady was from South Carolina, but she actually prefers North Carolinan barbeque, but of course she's not allowed to say that at home, HAHAHAHAHA. Oh yes, I <3 America~ I relayed that story to Sis. Uibel and we had a good laugh about it on the trolley home. We're thinking of "BBQ tour 2012". ;) Sis. Uibel was transferred to Vilnius, Lithuania, and Sis. Dawson came in her place, whom I also love very much. She was here the first 2 weeks I moved to Tallinn, over 6 months ago now. Sis. Dawson hurt her foot a bit ago, so she is not allowed to stand on it for a long time, so last night, I went out with Sis. Hanks and Sis. Shnedere (ok, now I really need to ask her how to spell it!). Sis. Hanks and I sang the 12 Days of Christmas while waiting for a bus to go home. :) That reminded me of the 12 Days of Kwanzaa. I've been trying to quote some, and although I'm a tad rusty now, I can still get some laughs out of 'em!
I'm off to go start a game of Risk 2210 now! I say "start" because there's no where we're going to finish it in 3 or so hours. Sorry it's pretty short this week. But rest assured, life's been all fun and good recently! Things are going pretty well in the branch too, so if we work with them, we can expect some miracles. Thanks for all the lovin'~
Love,
Courtney
Last week, Pres. Boswell wanted us to attend some "town hall" for U.S. citizens in Tallinn, put on by the U.S. Embassy. It was interesting and kinda fun really. The Ambassador spoke for a bit and then it was open for any sort of questions. After the meeting was like a social and I talked to perhaps the number 2 guy at the Embassy for a bit. He said he was learning Estonian, so Elder McGavin and I were talking to him about it. He's only been learning for a year, but our missionaries are better with a year into the language ;) Yet another testimony builder to me. Well, then again, he's sort of in an English bubble more than we are. I gotta say, the best part was overhearing two southerners talking about BBQ afterward. The lady was from South Carolina, but she actually prefers North Carolinan barbeque, but of course she's not allowed to say that at home, HAHAHAHAHA. Oh yes, I <3 America~ I relayed that story to Sis. Uibel and we had a good laugh about it on the trolley home. We're thinking of "BBQ tour 2012". ;) Sis. Uibel was transferred to Vilnius, Lithuania, and Sis. Dawson came in her place, whom I also love very much. She was here the first 2 weeks I moved to Tallinn, over 6 months ago now. Sis. Dawson hurt her foot a bit ago, so she is not allowed to stand on it for a long time, so last night, I went out with Sis. Hanks and Sis. Shnedere (ok, now I really need to ask her how to spell it!). Sis. Hanks and I sang the 12 Days of Christmas while waiting for a bus to go home. :) That reminded me of the 12 Days of Kwanzaa. I've been trying to quote some, and although I'm a tad rusty now, I can still get some laughs out of 'em!
I'm off to go start a game of Risk 2210 now! I say "start" because there's no where we're going to finish it in 3 or so hours. Sorry it's pretty short this week. But rest assured, life's been all fun and good recently! Things are going pretty well in the branch too, so if we work with them, we can expect some miracles. Thanks for all the lovin'~
Love,
Courtney
Monday, October 31, 2011
October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!
I got the package last week, THANK YOU!! I've already gotten a couple of compliments on the cool scarves ;) Plus they're nice and warm. Tonight, we'll be joining the branch president's family for dinner and FHE, so that should be fantastic. Maybe we'll take some Halloween napkins that an old lady gave to us, ha ha! I saw them in her apartment and I asked where she got them, but then she gave them to me, he he, oops!
It's kind of hard to believe that this is Elder McGavin's last week. He spoke in church yesterday and invited a lot of people to come, and come they did! He had about 7-8 investigators at church! AND, the attendance at sacrament meeting was numbered at 98!!! Nearly every seat was filled! I think the turnout excited everyone there. In addition, more good news is that we FINALLY HAVE A BRANCH MISSION LEADER NOW!!!!! YAY!!!! He's actually an American who's moved here with his wife for school and they'll be here for 2 years. They're both groovy people! We try to teach his wife Estonian almost every week too. The members have their temple week happening now, and one of the members in our area should be going for his endowment, I believe!! He's really excited and we challenged him to give away a Liahona soon. Hopefully his time at the temple will get him even more excited to share that :)
As far as investigators go, meh, it's not really going anywhere at the moment, so we're working on finding some new folks to teach. Been contacting some former investigators too. We have yet to hear about anything for transfers yet, so we'll probably find out tonight. Well, it'd have to be that way so that arrangements can be made for whoever is training to go down to Riga on Wednesday. Sis. Lamar really wants to train, and I think she should too :) I'd love to still be with her next transfer so then it'll be like 3 generations of sister missionaries! It's amazing what some time, patience, love, understanding and honesty will do for a relationship. Last night, Sis. Lamar and I both agreed that had we split up as companions after our 2nd transfer, we still would dislike each other, he he. Now we're great friends! And that's what makes the work more fun, (and bearable too!)
Yesterday I also got DearElder letter from Bishop Andrews. He told me of some missionary efforts going on in our own ward, plus something about a Phoenix area mormon.org media blitz. That sounds nifty. What does that entail, exactly? Everybody's just making profiles? Mass Facebook, Twitter posts?
Thanks for your testimony, Mom. I've thought a lot about my dear parents recently, and how fortunate and blessed I am to have you. Thank you for everything.
Lots of love,
Courtney
P.S. do I have any holds preventing me from registering yet? Sometimes they want you to meet with an advisor before, and then they'll release the hold
I got the package last week, THANK YOU!! I've already gotten a couple of compliments on the cool scarves ;) Plus they're nice and warm. Tonight, we'll be joining the branch president's family for dinner and FHE, so that should be fantastic. Maybe we'll take some Halloween napkins that an old lady gave to us, ha ha! I saw them in her apartment and I asked where she got them, but then she gave them to me, he he, oops!
It's kind of hard to believe that this is Elder McGavin's last week. He spoke in church yesterday and invited a lot of people to come, and come they did! He had about 7-8 investigators at church! AND, the attendance at sacrament meeting was numbered at 98!!! Nearly every seat was filled! I think the turnout excited everyone there. In addition, more good news is that we FINALLY HAVE A BRANCH MISSION LEADER NOW!!!!! YAY!!!! He's actually an American who's moved here with his wife for school and they'll be here for 2 years. They're both groovy people! We try to teach his wife Estonian almost every week too. The members have their temple week happening now, and one of the members in our area should be going for his endowment, I believe!! He's really excited and we challenged him to give away a Liahona soon. Hopefully his time at the temple will get him even more excited to share that :)
As far as investigators go, meh, it's not really going anywhere at the moment, so we're working on finding some new folks to teach. Been contacting some former investigators too. We have yet to hear about anything for transfers yet, so we'll probably find out tonight. Well, it'd have to be that way so that arrangements can be made for whoever is training to go down to Riga on Wednesday. Sis. Lamar really wants to train, and I think she should too :) I'd love to still be with her next transfer so then it'll be like 3 generations of sister missionaries! It's amazing what some time, patience, love, understanding and honesty will do for a relationship. Last night, Sis. Lamar and I both agreed that had we split up as companions after our 2nd transfer, we still would dislike each other, he he. Now we're great friends! And that's what makes the work more fun, (and bearable too!)
Yesterday I also got DearElder letter from Bishop Andrews. He told me of some missionary efforts going on in our own ward, plus something about a Phoenix area mormon.org media blitz. That sounds nifty. What does that entail, exactly? Everybody's just making profiles? Mass Facebook, Twitter posts?
Thanks for your testimony, Mom. I've thought a lot about my dear parents recently, and how fortunate and blessed I am to have you. Thank you for everything.
Lots of love,
Courtney
P.S. do I have any holds preventing me from registering yet? Sometimes they want you to meet with an advisor before, and then they'll release the hold
Monday, October 24, 2011
October 24, 2011
The trees are so colorful now and there are leaves all over the ground. I love Fall~
We've been going through a huge pile of former investigator sheets and some Elders dumped on us, so that'll keep us busy for a long time. Last night, we found out that 2 of them we had listed had been dead for a few years. Well, that takes care of that! Now future missionaries don't have to worry about whether or not to contact them! One of our recent investigators met with missionaries one time 3 years ago, but then dropped out of contact. Heino, creates dentures and is very believing, and he has some interesting ideas and views about religion. Some of his ideas are spot on with us, but I foresee some struggles with the Word of Wisdom. I wouldn't say he's addicted to these substances, but he doesn't see why God only revealed this 200 years ago to Joseph Smith when civilizations have been using tobacco and alcohol even for medicinal purposes for thousands of years, etc. Well, we'll see how that turns out at our next appointment this week~ His poor wife has some sort of leg problems so she can't get around well, but she sat in quietly as we chatted. She's not really sure what she believes, but she seemed sweet and listened quietly.
We dropped some cookies off to people last week, and we even stopped by to see Keili whom we taught over the summer. We talked for a good while and she seems to be doing ok, just really really busy with work. She did mention how she's recently thought that she should come to church and surprise us sometime ;) I think she was glad that we came, so maybe sometime we can teach her again before I go.
Sis. Lamar and I are supposed to be working with one of the Family History experts in the branch to put on a Family History night that we can advertise in the paper. The only downside is that we don't really know how to coordinate this, plus our specialist has been out of town for a few weeks, so we haven't made any progress. We were thinking of doing it at the end of November, so hopefully we can still churn this out. Ideas, anyone?
Mom, you're obviously not a hindrance to cramping my e-mail time. It's usually me responding to Stacey or Shauna, and then plus my companion's lack of patience, ha ha! ;P OH AND GOOD NEWS FOR DAD!! I finally found out where that piano factory is that you told me to look for! I have yet to see it with my own eyes, but I know which area it's in, and the address, Kungla 41. Funny thing is that I found this out while visiting with a member. I mentioned that you were a piano tuner and she said we worked for that factory as a secretary! Fancy that! ;D I haven't gotten the package yet, but I assume that I'll be able to pick it up after District Meeting tomorrow. Or maybe even today, if I bug Elder McGavin for the mail key. He's going home next week! So is Elder Lane (from our stake!) That's weird. People here are starting to freak out that I'm not far behind too. I can't believe it's already been 6 months in Tallinn. I don't think I want to leave now :P This transfer is actually 7 weeks long, so the new transfer starts in the middle of next week. Sis. Lamar is starting to worry about having to train or move. The wait to find out is killing her, ha ha! I love Pärnu, but I would like to see Tallinn's Old Town at Christmas time. Plus, I'm just finally starting to get to know some of the members better here. Pluuuuuus, I'm feeling too lazy to pack up my stuff just yet ;) Well, that's it for now!! Thanks for all of the love and prayers. And thanks in advance for the package too!
Much love,
Courtney
We've been going through a huge pile of former investigator sheets and some Elders dumped on us, so that'll keep us busy for a long time. Last night, we found out that 2 of them we had listed had been dead for a few years. Well, that takes care of that! Now future missionaries don't have to worry about whether or not to contact them! One of our recent investigators met with missionaries one time 3 years ago, but then dropped out of contact. Heino, creates dentures and is very believing, and he has some interesting ideas and views about religion. Some of his ideas are spot on with us, but I foresee some struggles with the Word of Wisdom. I wouldn't say he's addicted to these substances, but he doesn't see why God only revealed this 200 years ago to Joseph Smith when civilizations have been using tobacco and alcohol even for medicinal purposes for thousands of years, etc. Well, we'll see how that turns out at our next appointment this week~ His poor wife has some sort of leg problems so she can't get around well, but she sat in quietly as we chatted. She's not really sure what she believes, but she seemed sweet and listened quietly.
We dropped some cookies off to people last week, and we even stopped by to see Keili whom we taught over the summer. We talked for a good while and she seems to be doing ok, just really really busy with work. She did mention how she's recently thought that she should come to church and surprise us sometime ;) I think she was glad that we came, so maybe sometime we can teach her again before I go.
Sis. Lamar and I are supposed to be working with one of the Family History experts in the branch to put on a Family History night that we can advertise in the paper. The only downside is that we don't really know how to coordinate this, plus our specialist has been out of town for a few weeks, so we haven't made any progress. We were thinking of doing it at the end of November, so hopefully we can still churn this out. Ideas, anyone?
Mom, you're obviously not a hindrance to cramping my e-mail time. It's usually me responding to Stacey or Shauna, and then plus my companion's lack of patience, ha ha! ;P OH AND GOOD NEWS FOR DAD!! I finally found out where that piano factory is that you told me to look for! I have yet to see it with my own eyes, but I know which area it's in, and the address, Kungla 41. Funny thing is that I found this out while visiting with a member. I mentioned that you were a piano tuner and she said we worked for that factory as a secretary! Fancy that! ;D I haven't gotten the package yet, but I assume that I'll be able to pick it up after District Meeting tomorrow. Or maybe even today, if I bug Elder McGavin for the mail key. He's going home next week! So is Elder Lane (from our stake!) That's weird. People here are starting to freak out that I'm not far behind too. I can't believe it's already been 6 months in Tallinn. I don't think I want to leave now :P This transfer is actually 7 weeks long, so the new transfer starts in the middle of next week. Sis. Lamar is starting to worry about having to train or move. The wait to find out is killing her, ha ha! I love Pärnu, but I would like to see Tallinn's Old Town at Christmas time. Plus, I'm just finally starting to get to know some of the members better here. Pluuuuuus, I'm feeling too lazy to pack up my stuff just yet ;) Well, that's it for now!! Thanks for all of the love and prayers. And thanks in advance for the package too!
Much love,
Courtney
Monday, October 17, 2011
October 17, 2011
Hiya fam!
Sorry there's not going to be very much to talk about this week, because really, it's all quite a blur. Sort of a roller coaster of events and emotions, but things are looking on the upside now. We lost a promising new investigator, but thankfully the love of our members has filled that hole in our hearts, and then some. Zone conference was also really grand and we watched some more General Conference, although we've still not watched 2-3 sessions. We're taking the slow route, I guess, ha ha. I guess it gives more time for contemplation, reflection, etc.
Back on Friday, we went to a member's little summer house outside of Tallinn and we spent the entire day gathering apples (mostly off the ground, ha ha) and making fresh apple juice! It looked a little sketchy with all the floaties and whatnot, but it tasted soooooo gooooooood~ We took a bottle of fresh juice home and then she boiled the rest and brought some more too us the day after. Now we have a nice collection of apples, apple juice, jam, and pickles from 2 members in our refrigerator. I guess we're gotta make a lot of apple crisp this week!
We had a good lesson last night with Anne and taught her about the Sabbath. Thank goodness we had a member there too, that was a big help. I hope we can get our hands on the triples in Estonian before I'm gone. I don't know how, but we're talking about it as a district. I'm tempted about the idea of pigeon rolling. Our porch on our apartment is infested with them, although we're trying some funny ways to keep them away. Well, that's all I got! Love you lots, and I'm looking forward to that package! ;)
Love,
Courtney
Sorry there's not going to be very much to talk about this week, because really, it's all quite a blur. Sort of a roller coaster of events and emotions, but things are looking on the upside now. We lost a promising new investigator, but thankfully the love of our members has filled that hole in our hearts, and then some. Zone conference was also really grand and we watched some more General Conference, although we've still not watched 2-3 sessions. We're taking the slow route, I guess, ha ha. I guess it gives more time for contemplation, reflection, etc.
Back on Friday, we went to a member's little summer house outside of Tallinn and we spent the entire day gathering apples (mostly off the ground, ha ha) and making fresh apple juice! It looked a little sketchy with all the floaties and whatnot, but it tasted soooooo gooooooood~ We took a bottle of fresh juice home and then she boiled the rest and brought some more too us the day after. Now we have a nice collection of apples, apple juice, jam, and pickles from 2 members in our refrigerator. I guess we're gotta make a lot of apple crisp this week!
We had a good lesson last night with Anne and taught her about the Sabbath. Thank goodness we had a member there too, that was a big help. I hope we can get our hands on the triples in Estonian before I'm gone. I don't know how, but we're talking about it as a district. I'm tempted about the idea of pigeon rolling. Our porch on our apartment is infested with them, although we're trying some funny ways to keep them away. Well, that's all I got! Love you lots, and I'm looking forward to that package! ;)
Love,
Courtney
Monday, October 10, 2011
October 10, 2011
It's nice to hear everyone's busy, yet happy! I just got that little package from the ward YW today, but have yet to open it. It says there's candy inside. *fist pump* YES. Today's P-day has been a little different, but nice and chill. The Pärnu district came up to Tallinn a day early for Zone Conference tomorrow. Sis. Nef needed to buy a coat so, that was the main reason. We swapped companions and I shopped with Sis. Nef, but she found her coat so quickly so we had a lot of down time while the other missionaries played sports. Today's weather is not quite as lovely as in AZ! It's overcast, misty, and windy and last I checked it was 8 celcius (about 45-46F) Already a tad nippy! I like the cold air on my cheeks, though :) The trees are really pretty with their fall colors now.
Last week, we got together as a district (there's 8 of us) to watch General Conference DVDS that the mission sent to us. The DVDs were mis-formatted, or something, so it didn't work there, but instead, we crashed at the Perrys' place to watch conference on their laptop. That was a brilliant idea, because after we started to watch it, they snuck out to go get us some food to eat, and even more interesting was that they bought some chicken from a stand near a mall, and we had just listened to Elder Cornish's talk where he mentioned fried chicken! Yay~ We missionaries were all a little taken aback, yet really thankful because we didn't expect them to spoil us that much. Sis. Perry said Elder Perry nearly cried when he got to the cash register and saw the total, ha ha ha! This week, we will be watching conference on the big screen at the Nõmme Elders' place ;)
Yesterday, a dear sweet old sister pulled Sis. Lamar and I into the church's kitchen to give us some handknit socks/booties. There's super cute and colorful! She said it's starting to get cold, so she thought of us. We thanked her greatly, but she just said that she was simply fulfilling the Lord's will :) Also this past week, I tried a cake recipe that a member gave us. Turned out better than I thought, although the berries we used were sour, so we don't dare share it with others :P We thought we'd make it for the baptism which occurred on Saturday, but Sis. Lamar insisted we just take some snicker doodles instead. That's usually what we bake since they're easy and yield a lot.
There were some other things I intended to include in today's e-mail.... but alas, I've seemed to have left my planner at home xP We didn't really teach any of our regular investigators this week, but every day, we've been adding new potentials to the list. Not much has been progressing on the side of Less-Active work recently, but we're still trying! Hopefully we'll get some inspiration on how to help that more at tomorrow's zone conference. Oh yeah, and big news for Estonia! After years and years, the D&C is finally available in Estonian!!!! The members are all so excited :D It probably could have been finished earlier, but they were also working on a new translation of the Book of Mormon too. The triple combination's haven't made it here yet, but it's on the internet now to read and order. I want to get my hands on a copy, a.s.a.p.
Well, that's all from me! I hope you're all happy and healthy! Thanks for the lovin'~
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Haven't sent the letter off yet because I need something from my mission president. Tomorrow is zone conference, so hopefully I'll get something tomorrow. Where do I send my letter to? E-mail to you and then you send it? Oh, and I need my Student ID #, not my username.
Last week, we got together as a district (there's 8 of us) to watch General Conference DVDS that the mission sent to us. The DVDs were mis-formatted, or something, so it didn't work there, but instead, we crashed at the Perrys' place to watch conference on their laptop. That was a brilliant idea, because after we started to watch it, they snuck out to go get us some food to eat, and even more interesting was that they bought some chicken from a stand near a mall, and we had just listened to Elder Cornish's talk where he mentioned fried chicken! Yay~ We missionaries were all a little taken aback, yet really thankful because we didn't expect them to spoil us that much. Sis. Perry said Elder Perry nearly cried when he got to the cash register and saw the total, ha ha ha! This week, we will be watching conference on the big screen at the Nõmme Elders' place ;)
Yesterday, a dear sweet old sister pulled Sis. Lamar and I into the church's kitchen to give us some handknit socks/booties. There's super cute and colorful! She said it's starting to get cold, so she thought of us. We thanked her greatly, but she just said that she was simply fulfilling the Lord's will :) Also this past week, I tried a cake recipe that a member gave us. Turned out better than I thought, although the berries we used were sour, so we don't dare share it with others :P We thought we'd make it for the baptism which occurred on Saturday, but Sis. Lamar insisted we just take some snicker doodles instead. That's usually what we bake since they're easy and yield a lot.
There were some other things I intended to include in today's e-mail.... but alas, I've seemed to have left my planner at home xP We didn't really teach any of our regular investigators this week, but every day, we've been adding new potentials to the list. Not much has been progressing on the side of Less-Active work recently, but we're still trying! Hopefully we'll get some inspiration on how to help that more at tomorrow's zone conference. Oh yeah, and big news for Estonia! After years and years, the D&C is finally available in Estonian!!!! The members are all so excited :D It probably could have been finished earlier, but they were also working on a new translation of the Book of Mormon too. The triple combination's haven't made it here yet, but it's on the internet now to read and order. I want to get my hands on a copy, a.s.a.p.
Well, that's all from me! I hope you're all happy and healthy! Thanks for the lovin'~
Love,
Courtney
P.S. Haven't sent the letter off yet because I need something from my mission president. Tomorrow is zone conference, so hopefully I'll get something tomorrow. Where do I send my letter to? E-mail to you and then you send it? Oh, and I need my Student ID #, not my username.
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