What every person should know!!

TERE!!!! Kuidas teil läheb?? Loodan, et kõik läheb hästi teie eludes :) I LOVE YOU ALL!

The work:

• What an amazing week!! First of all, we got a new rule from our wonderful mission president to speak only in ESTONIAN from 9 am to 9 pm. It has been SO MUCH FUN!! Õde Tullis, Õde Durfee, and I have loved learning how to express ourselves in only Estonian for 12 hours a day. Ongi nii lõbus!! It’s weird to speak English now hahahaha. I’m grateful for my mission president and for his telling us to take on this challenge because it has made for a stretching, SUPER fun experience! :)

• Õde Tullis moves up to Tallinn to train a new missionary coming in, and I will miss her dearly. But Õde Durfee and I will be staying here in Pärnu to continue the Lord’s work! How I love these dear companions of mine! 

• We got THREE wonderful new investigators this week!! The first woman we had seen around a lot, and Õde Tullis had given her a pamphlet. But we finally set up an appointment with her! When we went over to her house, she pulled out a Book of Mormon (not knowing that that was the book we are sharing with everyone here and the book we love and believe to be God’s word), and she asked us, "What do you all think of this book? Have you seen it before?" Our jaws dropped, and we said of course we knew what that was!! She continued and said someone had moved away and left it there so she found it. It was SO amazing to be able to explain to her what the Book of Mormon was and to hear that already she had started to read it a bit and loved it. When we went back the next day, she told us she wants to read it and pray every day! Her 8-year-old cute granddaughter was there when we taught her the first time, and it was amazing to teach them both how to pray and to hear them pray together for the first time. Õde Tullis gave the girl a picture of Christ, and the girl put it right above her bed immediately :) The next day, we stopped by their house and gave the little girl a children’s Book of Mormon (a simpler version with pictures), and she embraced it and said she would read it! We heard the next day that she brought it to SCHOOL with her because she loves it so much!! How cute it that?? I am so grateful to work with these two prepared, elect people here in Pärnu!

• We also met with an AMAZING 14-year-old girl. I met her on the bus last week, and she told me she believes in Christ. We found out when we met up that she has 4 younger sisters, and she and her whole family go to church every Sunday, and they all believe in Christ!! That is a HUGE DEAL here in Estonia!! Estonia is the least religious country IN THE WORLD, yet her whole FAMILY is religious!! We are so excited about teaching her...and she was SO excited to hear that there is more information about Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon! Her face lit up when we gave it to her! She read and prayed about it later and told us she feels like it is all true. She is so excited to share it with her family! They weren’t able to come to church this Sunday because they had visitors, but they should all come next week! HUGE DEAL! I am so grateful!

• Our district went biking last week, and we went to a Thai/Indian restaurant this week...we are all such good friends! I am grateful to find good friends while doing the work of the Lord. Elder Rau and Elder Widmann move up to Tallinn tomorrow with Õde Tullis. Täitsa lõpp! :)

Culture:

• On your birthday, if you want, people can put you up on a chair and then lift you into the air the number of years old you are turning! :)

• My favorite word I learned this week is "kaasa elama." It means "to cheer on," but the literally definition is "to live along with." I love that!! 

Funnies: 

The fridge broke so it was in the middle of the kitchen for a while (for various reasons) before the landlord could fix it :)

When you're cleaning windows but don't want to fall out!

Spiritual thought:

The Spirit taught me something this week that I can’t wait to share with all of you! This phrase came into my head this week, and I want to share it because I feel very strongly that is it something every person should know!: Be OK with not doing everything. Do your best to love and serve with the knowledge you have, and expect God to take care of the rest. He will!

It is so simple!! And it is what I live by just put into words! :) Yet the question is...How do we "do our best?"

Well, in 3 Nephi 12:13 in the Book of Mormon (and Matthew 5:13 in the Bible), it says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men." I looked up what Christ meant by "salt," and it means "example." 

Similarly, in 3 Nephi 12:16 in the Book of Mormon (and Matthew 5:16 in the Bible), it says, “Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." "Light," in this case also means "example." So, Christ is asking us to be an example for Him! 

So, how can we be examples? 

I read a list this week of the "100+ ways to do missionary work," and I realized that THAT is how we can all be examples to those around us! I am going to list out many of those ways here, and I encourage you all to consider picking 2 things on this list you could try this week!

• Have an uplifting scripture, thought, or quote in your social media bio
• Use the temple or Christ as your phone background
• Put something on your work desk that shows your beliefs
• Invite friends or less actives to devotionals or firesides
• Provide your home as a place missionaries can bring and teach an investigator
• Know how to use the Gospel Library app (GET the Gospel Library app if you don’t already have it!!)
• Include lds.org in your email signature
• Create a Facebook page for your branch or ward
• Follow apostles on social media and share their messages
• Read the Book of Mormon in public
• Find a name to take to the temple
• Bring friends to dinner and invite the missionaries
• Meet your neighbors
• Pray for courage
• SMILE! Show people how HAPPY you are!
• Share mission stories
• Pray for specific people daily
• Visit someone who just gave birth, lost a loved one, moved to a new home, or needs support
• Encourage members to contact previous missionaries who served in their area
• Choose 1 scripture to ponder/memorize each week
• Offer rides to less actives and friends to and from church
• Read Elder Oaks’ talk, "Sharing the Restored Gospel," (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/sharing-the-restored-gospel?lang=eng)
• Fast and pray for missionary opportunities
• Email a missionary or write them a hand-written letter (we love that :) )
• Stop by a friend’s house on the way home from school to visit about life for 5-10 minutes.

Ühesõnaga, THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO DO MISSIONARY WORK! 

Missionary work is simply inviting others to come unto Christ, including yourself :)

So if you would like to, please pick 2 things on this list to try this week! And email me if you have time next week and let me know how it went!

I love you all!  Always remember...God’s blessings are conditional, but His LOVE isn’t :)

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.

Õde Smith-Driggs

3 Nephi 12:10-12: “And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.