"Ma olen jumala ilus laps. Ta armastab mind. Ma armastan Teda."

TERE FRIENDS AND FAM! Love you all so much! Thank you for all the continued support! Spring is officially HERE in Estonia...it is still kind of light outside when we go to bed at 10:30 pm, and the sun comes up around 4 am :)

The work:

The biggest thing I am continually learning is how important it is to know our identity as children of God. To anyone reading this right now...You are a child of a God in heaven, a heavenly father, who loves you. He wants nothing more than a relationship with you, his daughter or son. He pours blessings into your life when you ask, and he is always there to comfort you and give you guidance when you ask for it. 

I would like to share some of my experiences this week as I shared the simple truth of our identity as children of God with the people of Estonia:

• We went over to a less active member’s house, read 4 Nephi 1:15 with her, and told her that she is a beautiful daughter of God, and that he loves her. We went around in a circle and said individually, "Ma olen jumala ilus tütar. Ta armastab mind. Ma armastan Teda." ("I am God’s beautiful daughter. He loves me. I love him.") We went around the circle multiple times. She would say the phrase and keep adding things like, "And He helps me. And He is always there for me," etc. It was a very sweet experience. 

• One of our investigators had a really hard time this week, and she went missing for a little while last night. We prayed and went looking for her. The Spirit led every one of our steps. I’ve never had one of those experiences where you are going solely off of promptings, but friends...it was one of those times. Miracle after miracle. We ended up finding her pretty quickly and calming her down. We talked with her for a long time, and can you guess what she needed to hear? "Ma olen jumala ilus tütar. Ta armastab mind. Ma armastan teda." We sang "I Am a Child of God" together, and she is feeling much better. 

• We had a first lesson with a new investigator, and the very first thing we taught her was that God is her loving Heavenly Father and that she is his beloved daughter. Her eyes sparkled with tears as I said to her, "Sa oled jumala ilus tütar. Ta armastab sind." 

• We were in a lesson with the elders and a man we had recently taught. The man has given up a lot of things and has been on the edge of getting baptized many times, but he has just not taken the leap of faith yet. But in this lesson, we simply testified that he is a son of a God who loves him. After I testified about the phrase, "Ma olen jumala ilus laps. Ta armastab mind. Ma armastan teda," it was quiet. The Spirit was so strong. Then Elder Krommenhoek extended the baptismal invitation and the man accepted. 

• One of our investigators loves studying everything about the church she can find. Every time we see her, we tell her, "Sa oled jumala ilus tütar. Ta armastab sind. Sa armastad teda." Yesterday, we handed her a Personal Progress book, which is simply a book for young women to learn more about their individual worth. She started crying as we shared with her that the purpose of the book is to help teach her that "Sa oled jumala ilus tütar. Ta armastab sind. Sa armastad teda." She is so excited to study it!!

The point is, my friends, our identity as children of God is so so important. And I am grateful to share that message with people on the street, in buses, and in homes here in Estonia.

• In other news, we went to a member’s house this weekend to weed her garden (thought of my mom the whole time and all her gardening analogies:). The member showed us all the places she goes to feel peace in nature. We are the first missionaries she has ever had over to her house, so it was really special to bond with her and see her home. 

The funnies:

• Soooo anyone who has been on a mission or is on a mission knows that there are many things about yourself that you don’t realize you do until you are living with a companion 24/7, and they tell you those things that you do! Well, one of the things I do that I didn’t even realize (don’t know how I didn’t realize this), is that I talk to animals. A lot. I’m pretty sure I have contacted on the street multiple pigeons, dogs, cats...you name it. This week, it was a ladybug. It landed on my bag, and I just said, "Noh, tere tere, ladybug! Kas te tahate teada jumalast??" ("Well, hello hello ladybug! Do you want to know about God??") Hahahah, it flew away pretty quickly. 

Hello ladybug:)

• Last week in Tallinn, we put a Book of Mormon in Russian and Estonian in a broken fridge outside the national library. (This fridge is a free mini “book loaning and borrowing location.”) This week, we had to go back to Tallinn, and we checked the fridge and guess what?? Both the Books of Mormon were gone!! 

• Elder Rau shoved three pieces of cake in his mouth on the bus...#taitselõpp

 I love these three people with my whole heart.

• May 4th was Star Wars day in America, but no one celebrates it here haha. But Õde Tullis and I celebrated it as much as we could...Õde Tullis even put two buns in her hair!! #maythefourthbewithyou 

Who needs "the force" when you have 

the Book of Mormon??

The culture:

• Estonians say "jah" and answer questions sometimes all while breathing in...I don’t know how to describe it. But just try saying a word out loud, but breathe in while doing it...that’s how Estonians talk sometimes!! Haha

• Everyone wears slippers when they are in their houses. At a less active member's house, she gave me slippers to wear...they were the most adorable slippers ever hahahaha.

Spiritual thought:

Friends, first I want to clarify something I said last week. I said that people ask why I am happy all the time, and I answer that it is because I try to follow God’s commandments and trust God. While my answer is still true, I just want to clarify that I am not happy all the time haha. I cried this week. I was frustrated. I was scared. I was tired. Of course I was. Who isn’t? But I have realized that you can feel all those feelings while still feeling peace. And that peace only comes through and with the Savior Jesus Christ. 

This week, I was thinking a lot about maintaining eternal perspective. I have a hard time enjoying the moments I am in sometimes because I get so focused on the future. I get worried about what is ahead instead of focusing on what beautiful things are happening right now. 

Sometimes, especially on missions, it is hard to enjoy every day instead of just "get through" every day. As I studied this this week, I realized a couple things: 

1. Maintaining an eternal perspective simply means trusting that the Lord will help everything work out. 

2. God has prepared a package of experiences for us to learn from each day. Focusing on the here and now instead of thinking about everything that needs to happen in the future allows us to learn from the here and now.

So my invitation for you all this week is something I am going to be doing this week as well! I invite you to pray for the ability to enjoy and to learn from every day, instead of just getting through the day. Let’s pray to see the package of experiences God prepares for us. 

You are a beautiful child of God. He loves you. :)

Sa oled jumala ilus laps. Ta armastab sind. 

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.

Õde Smith-Driggs

"If we love God, all the other commandments come naturally." - Õde Tullis