Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Head emadepäeva!!

TERE!!!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!! I love you so much!!! I hope all you mothers reading this had a wonderful day yesterday. You sure deserve it. I hope you got breakfast in bed and flowers and chocolates. Most importantly, I hope you were reminded of how much God appreciates you raising His children. You all do such a wonderful job :)

WOW, what a treat it was to Skype my family yesterday. I love you fam!!!!!!! 

The work:

• Honestly, this week was full of twists and turns...we got stranded in Tallinn which was fun! Haha. We had zone conference (where all the missionaries from Estonia get together with our mission president to discuss the missionary work in Estonia), and we were supposed to return to Pärnu after the conference, but all the busses were full! So we spent the night in Tallinn! 

Stranded in Tallinn

• One of my favorite miracles from the week happened on a bus in Tallinn. I sat next to a woman and started talking with her...we started talking about God, and she said she believed He created all things, and He gives us challenges to grow from! We talked about that a little bit and about so many other things. About 30 minutes into the conversation (it was a long bus ride into town haha), a scripture popped into my head that I had studied in my personal study that morning. I pulled out my scriptures, explained a little bit about what the Book of Mormon was, then shared with her the scripture. It is 1 Nephi 17:13: "And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led." When I read that to her, she said, shocked, "Oh my gosh. That is the answer I have been looking for for 4 years!!!" She was so excited. And it was incredible to witness the Book of Mormon answering her question right in front of my eyes. I still humbly reflect on that moment with her...so grateful I got to witness that. I didn’t have an extra Book of Mormon with me at that moment, but she said she wanted one, so we exchanged numbers, and I said I would give her one when we met again. I told her I actually lived in Pärnu (about a 2 hour bus ride from Tallinn), and she said, " I will actually be in Pärnu next weekend! And since it is summer now, I don’t mind going to Pärnu all the time. So we can still meet!" I told her we could Skype too, and she was really excited. We both walked away smiling SO BIG. It was such a wonderful moment. 

The funnies:

• We were talking to a cool woman and got on the same bus she was getting onto, thinking it was our bus. But it took a different route, so after we talked with her and gave her a Book of Mormon and everything, we had to literally SPRINT across town to our next appointment hahahahah. Just imagine two sister missionaries in dresses sprinting down the street, still saying "Tere! Tere!" to everyone we were passing! Hahah and you thought we couldn’t get any weirder ;) 

• I got separated from my companion in Tallinn! Hahaha I was talking to a woman on the bus, looked up, saw my companion get off, then tried to get off...but instead experienced a dramatic moment of me standing there while the doors closed, me inside the bus and my companion outside the bus...we made eye contact and just waved goodbye hahahahah. DONT PANIC, I got off at the next bus stop, and we met half way, but it was just so funny...also it felt so weird to be alone....

• Started talking to a babushka, and she spoke some Estonian and some Russian. I asked her to teach me a Russian word, and as I was trying to pronounce it, the other babushka sitting next to her joined in on the conversation to try to help me pronounce it hahah. They were both saying it over and over again for me to hear it and then were so proud of me when I said it right hahaha. Yay for learning Russian from babushkas on the bus! I saw that same babushka today again, actually! And she taught me some more Russian words :) You could say we are good friends now :)

The culture:

The only thing I can think of for this week is that they say "Kuidas?" meaning "How?" instead of "What?" when they couldn’t hear what you said.  (Sorry this section is kind of boring this week haha...)

Spiritual thought:

I had a realization this week! I was reading in the Book of Mormon and read 1 Nephi 18:3. (“And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did prayoft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.”) When I read that, I was thinking about how God shows himself unto the prophets in the scriptures and how amazing it would be to have God "show" great things unto me like that. Then I read the footnote on "showed." It says, "guidance." 

FRIENDS! Guess what?? God does show himself unto us every day by giving us guidance. That is the way he manifests himself in our lives. Because His guidance is simply His will, and just like 1 Nephi 17:13 talks about - God leads us if we let Him lead us. We don’t have to see Him with our eyes to feel that guidance in our lives. We simply have to trust Him. We simply have to give Him the reigns on our life and let Him steer us to the special promised land He as prepared just for each of us!

I know that Christ lives. I know that because the Spirit has testified that to me. I know He loves you. I know that through Christ, and only through Christ, we can find the peace and strength we need to enjoy this life. Please continue praying for strength. God's got lots of it, and He is willing and ready to share it with you :)

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy! Find peace (through Christ) :)

Õde Smith-Driggs