I cut my "potato hair"!

TERE!!

I asked my friend this week what color my hair was, and she said, "It’s something we Estonians call 'potato hair.'" HAHAHA. Well coincidentally this happened to be the week I spontaneously decided to cut my hair a lot shorter for kicks and giggles! So, I cut my “potato hair”! ALSO, I became friends with my hairdresser and taught her all about Jesus Christ...she gave us her number and wants to meet up! Miracles from hair cuts, my friends!

The work:

Our young investigator who prayed for the first time with us last week is doing well!! We read Joseph Smith’s testimony from the introduction to the Book of Mormon because she had some questions about Joseph Smith. We were able to testify to her about Joseph Smith, and she received a lot of answers to her questions. And she has been praying by herself!! HUGE DEAL!! :)

Also one of our investigators taught us how to crochet this week!! Ma ei oska hahahahah. Afterward, we talked about prayer. This whole time, we thought that she hadn’t been praying because it made her uncomfortable. WELL, we found out that she HAS been praying, just in her head because she feels uncomfortable speaking out loud!! It is totally OK not to pray out loud!! Hahah so we went back and apologized when we realized that we were trying to help her with something she was already doing and didn’t need help with. We missionaries are not perfect teachers, let’s just say that :)

Well, all but one of those three investigators last week are still doing well...the one who said she would read 20 pages a day of the Book of Mormon no longer wants to meet with us :/ We went over, and it felt like a spiritual battle trying to help her to understand how important baptism is with God’s authority...we were pulling out all sorts of scriptures and sharing powerful testimonies. But still at the end she said she did not want to leave the faith that her mother was in. Super sad not to have her join our branch, but we tried our best to teach with the Spirit and with love. I hope she at least felt God’s love when we met with her. And who knows, maybe she will pick up the Book of Mormon again in 5 years and give it another shot! For now, I’m grateful to have been part of her journey.

We got another amazing new investigator this week!! Õde Tullis talked with her on the bus back in July. Then when we were a trio in August, we saw her go into a meat store, so we decided to go in and talk to her. She gave us her address, and FINALLY we were able to go by this week. She let us right in! She told us her Dad had actually met with missionaries before, but he passed away just days after we saw her at the meat store in August. Anyway, we ended up teaching her all about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end, we knelt together to say a prayer. She had never prayed before, so I said the prayer to show her how we normally pray (talking freely, from our hearts, to our Heavenly Father who hears us as we pray to Him.). When I prayed, I felt to ask God to send her father and mother (both passed away) to her (in a dream) to tell her that what we are teaching her is true. That was a very powerful prayer. I know that in God’s own timing, He will answer that prayer and send her father and mother (angels in her life) to her. :) 

Our investigator showed us 

a really old Bible in old Estonian!!

Culture:

They do not celebrate Thanksgiving here, but Black Friday started only last year! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving in America!! 

Thanks for sending our homemade yams recipe Mom! 

It was a slice of home! Happy Thanksgiving! 

(Shout out to Niva, Lori’s mom, for the yams!)

Thanksgiving party at our friend’s house! There were about ten to fifteen 
17-year-olds there...and guess what!? 

I had talked to many of them on the busses before!! :)

Many Estonians, if they have any belief in a higher being (or even if they don’t believe in anything actually) go to church for Christmas. Because of this wonderful opportunity to invite as many people as possible to our Christmas church service, we printed out little invitations to our December 23 Christmas church service, and we have been giving them to literally EVERYONE we pass! We counted the other day, and we average giving out about 40 invitations per day. WOOT WOOT CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!

Funny:

We line danced with one of our members waiting for our bus hahahahah. She is a professional line dancer!!

“Leafing” in the moment LOL.

Spiritual thought:

This week, I was asked to speak in church about having faith to find new people to teach. As I thought about this, I realized that having faith to find more people stems from the same faith that I have in Jesus Christ. It’s another branch on the same tree, so to speak. 

I thought about my life motto. Well, I have 2 life mottos. The first is, "I am a daughter of God. He loves me and I love him." I say that out loud to myself every day. :) My 2nd life motto is Proverbs 3:5-6 from the Bible. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." I memorized this scripture in 7th grade when I was going through a rough time and people weren’t being very nice to me at school. When I memorized this scripture and reflected on it, it brought me a lot of peace, comfort, and strength. It still does. 

So, what does this scripture teach us? 

1. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.

How can we trust Him? Well, how can you learn to trust anyone? It starts with love. 1 Nephi 11:17 in the Book of Mormon teaches, “I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.” Heavenly Father loves us. I know that is true!!

If you don’t feel like you have a relationship with God or you are just starting to grow one, don’t expect that trust to come immediately. Just like with any relationship, trust comes with time. Think about your spouse or best friend...did you trust them completely the very first time you met them? The very first time you shook their hand and said hello? Probably not! That trust developed over time...and it came with experiences you have had together. Trust in God works the same way, I have realized. And the way you can develop trust in God is by praying to Him every day and reading His words in the scriptures. I promise as a servant of Jesus Christ that if you do those things every day, you will feel yourself trusting Heavenly Father more.

2. Lean not unto thine own understanding.

Pretty simple, I think. We are imperfect, yet God is perfect. So we need to be humble and realize we don’t know everything. God knows everything :)

3. In all thy ways acknowledge him. 

One way I try to do this is by writing in my journal one way I saw the Lord’s hand in my life that day. I have done this every day for 2 years now, and I can testify that my eyes have opened to all the many ways that God’s hand is in my life. If you are doubting whether God is truly invested in your life, or even if you just want to try looking for His hand in your life more, try writing down one way you see His hand per day! :)

4. (This is a promise.) He shall direct thy paths. 

That is a pretty big promise! He is promising to guide us and lead us to people to help. He is promising to guide us in our personal decisions of where to go to school, where to work, etc. As it says in 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." I have seen this promise fulfilled every day as I strive to fulfill steps 1-3 :)

So, how can we have faith in anything? Whether that is having faith in finding new people to teach, faith in knowing if God is actually there in our lives, faith in seeing God’s hand in our life, faith in believing that God is guiding us...? By trusting Him. By humbling ourselves to Him. By acknowledging and thanking Him for His hand in our lives.

When we do these things, our faith will naturally grow and the Lord will guide our paths...and we will finally be able to recognize that guidance.

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace. :)

Õde Smith-Driggs

Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Are we on the "path" God needs us to be on?

TERE!! This week, I prayed in Estonian again in my sleep, but is anyone really surprised about that at this point?

Exchange with Õde Nelson!

The work:

4 NEW PEOPLE TO TEACH this week!! The first woman is about 65 years old. We met her a few months ago when we helped her niece and nephew clear moss out of their driveway. We went back to see if we could come teach her, and she invited us to come back the next day! When we met, she called us "angels" with a "pure mission." We invited her to be baptized after teaching her about the restoration, and she said she would read and study more and let us know. When we asked her how much of the Book of Mormon she would be willing to read every day, she said, "Mmmm...I think 20 pages a day should be good." Haha HOLY COW! That means she would finish the whole book in one month. Näeme! :)

The second woman is a 12th grader in high school, wanting to be a doctor. We met her on the bus a few months ago, and she is finally able to meet because her schedule calmed down. When we asked her about her religious background, she explained that one time when she was young, she was invited to a camp and there was a storm and everyone got together and said a prayer. She felt a special spirit as they prayed. And everyone in the camp ended up being safe! Besides that, she didn’t have many experiences with God. She asked us how our faith leads our every day life, and we were able to explain the restoration of the gospel to answer her questions. We also explained how the knowledge of our identities as daughters of Heavenly Father truly leads our every day lives. I am so grateful we know we are daughters of God. She said the closing prayer (her first time praying herself), and in the prayer she said she had received answers, and we had all grown together! Afterwards, she looked up and was so taken aback by how she felt. She said she felt a rush of peace and just a big feeling come over her as she prayed. We explained that was the Holy Ghost! She said, "Lahe." Which means, "Cool!" Hahahaha she is awesome.

The next new person we started teaching is about 70 years old! The old people here in Estonian are amazing...they are still walking around and doing active things until they are about 90 years old...only then do they kind of slow down. When I ask our babushkas in the branch what their secret is to staying so active, they just say, "You have to keep moving! You have to keep moving!!" Hahah so this 70-year-old we are teaching is moving for sure :) We met her at a bus stop last week. Very sweet. She talked for a long time about all the different churches she has been to, and we kept listening for ways to tie it in to the restoration of the gospel. We eventually were able to explain the Book of Mormon, and she accepted it gladly! She thanked us as we gave it to her and called it a "suur asi" or "big thing" we were giving her. She is coming to church next Sunday (and she happens to know one of the members already!).

The fourth person we are starting to teach is another older woman! I wasn’t there for the impromptu first lesson because I was on an exchange in Tallinn, but Õde Tullis and Õde Durfee taught her about the plan of salvation, and we are going back this week. Super fun that Õde Tullis was there, because actually all three of us first talked to this woman while she was working in her garden back in August when Õde Tullis, Õde Durfee, and I were in a trio!

The sun shone!

Other than the four new people we are teaching this week, so many other great things happened! One day, we had a lesson scheduled so we put on our coats, said a prayer, and walked out the door. Our person for the lesson texted us and cancelled as we were walking down our steps. So we walked back up, took off our coats, and started language study! As I was saying my opening prayer to start language study, I felt strongly we needed to be outside right then instead. I told Sister Durfee. She is like Nephi, so she was totally willing to go outside again. We put on our coats again, prayed again, and left the house! In that next hour, we found 4 new potential people to teach, 2 of them being families. I am so grateful God placed those people in our path!! 

We watercolored again with one of our less active members! A month or so ago, we invited her to tell herself every day out loud, "I am a beautiful daughter of God. He loves me," just as I tell myself every day out loud. As we met with her this week, it was AMAZING to hear her testify to us that she knows she is a daughter of God who loves her. She said that whenever anyone says anything mean or when negative thoughts come into her head, she tells herself she is a daughter of God and He loves her. 

We went with a branch member to meet with a less active member this week. We read the talk "Three Sisters" by Elder Uchtdorf (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/10/three-sisters?lang=eng). Then we all wrote down one thing that made us mad, one thing that made us sad, and one thing that made us glad. In the lesson, the Spirit told me to rip up the two things I wrote down that made me mad and sad. The member gasped as I ripped it up, it was so intense ;) The point was the show that the things that make us sad and mad in life don’t matter in the long run, and we can give those things to Christ and be done with it! Throw them away and don’t leave room in your soul for old, expired junk! :)

Last week, I mentioned that we were going to be interviewed by a girl (the girl we saw miraculously as we were running in the morning). Well, that was on Saturday, and it was so fun to testify, testify, testify to her!! And she recorded all of it! She will write a paper about what we talked about and send it to us. I’m going to have some fun and translate it into English, so if anyone wants to read it, let me know and I will send it to you! :)

Culture:

• An important thing to realize about Estonians (especially older Estonians), is that not even 30 years ago, worshiping and going to church was forbidden by the Soviet Union. So many people I talk to do not want to accept religion in their lives because they grew up in the time when it was forbidden to even speak about God or even have a Christmas tree. Knowing where these people are coming from helps me have more empathy for them as I teach them and talk to them about Christ...the good thing is this...worshipping is no longer forbidden here! And I rejoice in that! More than that, I rejoice in Christ and rejoice that because of Him, these Estonians can one day all be filled with His light.

• Blood sausage is a big thing to eat here during Christmas time, and I had it for my first time this week! No one tell me what is in it, ok?  I don’t want to think about what I am eating....

• Fun fact: 911 here (police number) is 112. 

People give you slippers to wear in their house so your feet stay warm. Most of the time, the slippers are hand made!

Funny:

Me: (while trying to talk to a more closed off person) "What makes you happy?" Her: "Closed off people." 

Hahahahah well normally that would be the end of the conversation, but I didn’t take that no for an answer! I learned about her (she works at a printing company!), and invited her to English class :) Turns out she wasn’t so closed off after all!

Spiritual thought:

"O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!" (Alma 29:1) I have never connected with this scripture more than right now. I wish I could talk to every person I pass by about the joy that comes from repenting, and trusting and loving our Heavenly Father!

BUT, "Why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?" (Alma 29:6)

The thing is, God has not called me to cry repentance to every single person I see (thousands during a day). He knows that’s impossible; I know that is impossible. But He HAS called me to cry repentance and spread His love to those He places in my path. Sometimes, the person is literally right in front of me during a lesson. Sometimes, the Lord’s "path" is 20 feet to the right, and I have to be listening to the Spirit to know who to talk to 20 feet to the right. Sometimes, the Lord’s "path" is at the front of the bus as I stand at the back. When that happens, I have to act and move so I am where God needs me to be to talk to the people God needs me to talk to.

The Spirit is funny sometimes though. I can’t tell you how many times I have received a prompting to sit next to someone on a bus, only to have that person not want to talk, make fun of me, etc. But like I talked about last week, God sometimes gives us promptings only to "check our connection with him." It comes to us to follow those promptings no matter what, trusting that those promptings put us on the "path" God needs us to be on. 

I find it a joy and a privilege to serve Heavenly Father as Jesus Christ’s representative right now. I want to echo the words of Ammon:

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things." (Alma 26:12)

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace. 

Õde Smith-Driggs

Psalms 25:15: "Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord!"

USKUMATU!

TERE!! The title of this email means, "Unbelievable!" It is the title of my email because this week truly was USKUMATU! Can’t wait to tell you about it! First, yesterday it was Father’s Day in Estonia :) So happy Father’s Day Dad!! Glad I get to celebrate you as my dad TWICE this year! Love you :)

Zone Conference

The work:

8 a.m. Wednesday morning. Holy cow. Ok well actually, it started at 7:42 a.m. Wednesday morning when Õde Durfee said a prayer before we went outside to go running. She asked in her prayer to help us find someone or see someone we knew as we were running. Because the bridge where we normally run is empty of people, I suggested after hearing her prayer that we run on the main road, the way we haven’t gone running for months. Well, seeing someone we knew was on both of our minds. Sure enough, we saw a girl who has cute 60’s glasses and a beautiful pink scarf. I have become friends with her on the bus over the past few weeks. Well, we ran toward her and said, "Hey! How are you?" We slowed down and she said she was doing well! She then immediately said, before we ran away, that she was doing a report on religious people in school and asked if she could interview us next week. She asked for our contact information and everything! Oh my goodness, we ran away thanking Heavenly Father and expressing praise to Him that He made everything line up just the way it did so He could answer our prayer. I realized from that experience how important the prayers we say are as we leave the house each day! Heavenly Father listens to our prayers, friends!

Well, the miraculous day didn’t end there. We left the house on the 10:16 bus with the intent to visit 2 new less active members we discovered. But on our way there, we stopped to visit an older female investigator. She was so happily surprised to see us, and it meant so much to her as we just sat and listened to her stories for a bit. I really felt like we were doing what Jesus would do as we listened with love. After that, we were nearby a former investigator’s house, so Õde Durfee suggested we go stop by. Well, he came outside looking pretty bad..pretty hungover. He was sober, but we could still smell alcohol on his breath. He apologized for his state and said for the past 8 days, he had been drinking 5 liters of beer a day. 5 liters. Uskumatu. He said he decided in that moment when we came over to quit. He said he was not proud of the fact that he had been drinking so much, and he said he wanted to be a man and change. It was amazing to testify to him that God sent us there to let him know that God loves him, and that he is God’s son. He said he would look in the mirror and say, "I am God’s son, and He loves me." He also decided himself that he was going to call his dad that night and start reaching out to his family members again. He said, "Thanks to you and your smiles, I am starting to think that maybe someone is thinking I am important. Maybe somebody cares." Oh wow. And I had studied that morning about people who were "awakened to a remembrance of their duty [to God]" (Alma 4:3) when they realized God’s judgements were upon them because of their iniquities...we saw that in action. We watched our friend "awake to a remembrance of his duty," and he is choosing to turn his life around. 

The miraculous morning still did not stop there! That was only at about 12 pm! :) 

We visited kuldsekodu and visited another former investigator. We listened to her talk for a while, and she told us very sweetly at the end to thank our parents for the way they raised us. She said very many sincere things that brought honest tears to my eyes. So Mom and Dad, that woman in an apartment in Pärnu, Estonia thanks you :) I thank you too. 

You’d think that was it for all the miracles from this week, but NO!! I was on a bus to the town Sindi. Well, I tried to sit next to one girl - I asked three times, "Can I sit here?" and she just didn’t respond. Well, I knew if I just sat there anyway, she wouldn’t end up responding to me at all. So I asked another girl if I could sit next to her, and she said, “Of course!” The Spirit told me to wait one bus stop before I started talking to her. So, I waited. After one bus stop, I complimented her purse, then we started chatting! Well, after a few sentences, she said, 

"Are you a Christian?" 

"Yes!" 

"I am too! I noticed your name tag immediately and gasped. When you sat next to me, I felt like we had some sort of connection from the Holy Ghost. I was going to say, ‘Be blessed' or something to you if you left before we talked, because I seriously felt like I was sitting next to a very spiritual person. My spirit inside me recognized the spirit inside you." 

By that point, my jaw was literally on the floor, I was so amazed! she shared with me many spiritual experiences she has had. Her entire family (many siblings and extended family) is religious (a HUGE deal in the least religious country in the world). They read the Bible together as a family! I pulled out the Book of Mormon from my bag, explained to her what it was, shared one of my favorite verses, and she loved it! We talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost, and I explained simply that that gift is something we receive after being baptized with God’s authority - the authority only in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She asked if I believed there were more gifts God has given us besides the gift of the Holy Ghost. I said of course there were! I opened to Moroni 10 in the Book of Mormon, and she read out loud many of the verses that talk about all the gifts that come from God (Moroni 10:8-18 - a great section in the Book of Mormon! 10/10 would recommend, as my dear Melissa Boam would say!!). The girl had to rush off the bus soon after that, but I gave her the Book of Mormon. When I offered it to her, her face lit up and she hugged me! I invited her and her whole family to church the next day. Super sad because she had to rush off the bus before I could get her number, but at least now she has the precious Book of Mormon and our number, so please pray as I do that she calls us to talk more about it!! :)

Along with all that, we had zone conference this week! 

Also funny story...I talked with a young girl on the bus yesterday. When I said I was from America, she said, "I know! We talked last winter in April when you first got here. You complimented my boots!" I was so surprised she remembered! As we kept talking, she said, "Your Estonian is so much better now." HAHAHA. She told me that in April we had talked in English. Anyway, I thought that was really cool that she remember talking 7 months ago! And that’s not the first time that’s happened! Many have said to me after I start talking to them, "Oh yeah, we talked 5 months ago." Or like someone said yesterday, "Look! I’m wearing a leopard coat instead of the red coat you complimented last time we talked!" Hahaha oh I love my bus friends in this small town of Pärnu :)

Õde Durfee surprised me with a late celebration of my halfway mark! Oh how I love dear Õde Durfee!

Funnies:

Well, I prayed in Estonian in my sleep AGAIN this week. My poor companions have woken up too many times to me praying out loud on my knees in Estonian in the middle of the night...I’d say this will be the last time, aga ma ei saa seda lubada. ;)

Also SUPER funny moment this week happened on a bus (what doesn’t happen on the bus, honestly? :) ). I talked to a wonderful woman, and just before I needed to get off the bus, she started crying to me because she was coming from visiting her mom in the hospital...well, we needed to get off the bus, but I offered some consoling words and said I know she could still find happiness and I gave her our number. As I rushed off, the doors started to close, and I put my foot in the door to stop it from closing, but the doors just closed on my foot and the bus drove away HAHAHAH. I busted up laughing as my foot was awkwardly stuck in the door as the bus drove to the next stop. The woman I had just talked to noticed I was stuck and was like, "Oh my gosh!! Does that hurt??" I was just laughing and said I was fine. I said I wanted to come back and sit next to her and keep talking, but I was stuck lol. It was just a very awkward 1 minute bus ride being stuck in the door. Well... at least the woman’s mind was taken off her mom for a second as she watched a missionary's foot get stuck in the door LOL.

Culture:

It starts getting dark here around 3:30 or 4 pm, and when it is not dark, it is cloudy and we can’t see the sun! So winter is officially upon us :)

Bowling on p-day!

Estonians celebrate a day called mardipäev, and that holiday was on Saturday! It is kind of like Halloween...kids here dress up in black and go from door to door singing the "mardi" song...dancing and singing, then offering good luck to the person by throwing rice in their hallway. Only after they have done all that do the adults give them candy. So listen up American kiddos- Estonian kiddos have to work for their candy here! ;) We went to our dear old grandma member’s house, danced and sang part of the song and threw a closed bag of rice in her hallway (so the rice wouldn’t get everywhere). She gave us cookies, and we sat and chatted :) I love her and Estonian holidays!!

Singing “Savior, Redeemer of My Soul” for a talent show.

Spiritual thought:

I learned a very valuable lesson this week about following God’s subtle promptings. As we were walking into our apartment, I saw a mom with her stroller a little ways away and felt to talk to her, but I didn’t know how to do it without being awkward. I started apologizing to God for not following the prompting. Then I remembered that sinning (in this case, directly ignoring a prompting) and saying to yourself, "I’ll just repent for this later," is a mockery before God and a mockery of Christ’s Atonement. When that realization hit me, I turned around and said to Õde Durfee, "I feel like we should talk to that mom. How can we not awkwardly start a conversation with her...?" Hahah well we just went for it, knowing it would probably be awkward no matter what. Well, that mom was Russian. We gave her a card, and I talked to her in Russian for a bit and when we left, she walked away and starting reading the brochure as she walked away with her baby. 

Sometimes, my friends, God gives us promptings to simply check our spiritual connection with Him. Like, "Are you still listening?" He knew that woman was Russian and that we wouldn’t be able to speak for long because I don’t know that much Russian. But He gave me that prompting so I could have this learning experience. He gave me that prompting to check our connection with each other. 

I pray that all of us can be more aware of even the littlest promptings God gives us. As we strive to follow those promptings, I promise our connection to Heavenly Father will become stronger. 

I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and I am so grateful to be here representing Jesus Christ. I am very imperfect, but I am grateful God works with me anyway to help bless His children here in Estonia.

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.

Õde Smith-Driggs

Alma 18:32 - And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning.

P.S. For my dear missionary friends - Mosiah 18:3 talks about Alma the Elder. It said that "as many as would hear his word he did teach." I have found 2 interpretations for this scripture: 

1. (the more obvious interpretation I think) As many as he would and could directly talk to that would listen to him...he taught! 

2. (interesting take on it...) The Spirit taught all who were in earshot of Alma’s words. 

My fellow missionaries, the testimonies we bear on buses and streets and in hallways are for all in earshot. So don’t whisper on buses because it is more culturally acceptable. Talk with your bold voice. Talk even louder than normal! Because that is your opportunity to teach 15-20 people who are around you. That’s a whole lot of God’s children being blessed by your testimony...not just the person sitting directly next to you :) 

I love you all and pray for you! Keep up the good work!

"Knowing about God" vs. "Knowing God"

TERE!! 

The work:

• So I have been here in Pärnu for a little over 7 months now. What a blessing! Most missionaries in the world don’t get to stay in the same area for more than 3 months or so...but since there are only 2 areas in Estonia open for sister missionaries right now and only 4 sisters in Estonia total, we have the blessing of serving in one area for a long time! The reason I am saying this is because this week I had the opportunity to see some miracles happen from experiences I had in Pärnu back in April and May of this year when I first arrived! 

Examples:

• Õde Tullis and I gave a Book of Mormon with our testimonies written in it to a girl we became friends with who then moved to America for the summer. We gave her the Book of Mormon before she left and encouraged her to read it. Well, she spent all summer in America and came back, and we finally set up to get lunch again this week and guess what?? She read the Book of Mormon!! And she liked it!! We are meeting up this week to read it together! I am grateful that I got to be here at the beginning when we gave her the book and now to be with her as she starts reading it even more. 

• We met a few times here with a member’s mom back in April. But after a while, she stopped answering our calls. But a few weeks ago, she miraculously answered the phone and set up to meet with us again. Well, she speaks Russian, a little English, and a little Estonian. We asked our mission president (whose first language is Russian) to come to the lesson. We also asked a member who speaks Russian and English and Estonian to come to the lesson to translate for us. That lesson was AMAZING, and since then, we have met with her 3 more times in the last 2 weeks. She absolutely loves the Book of Mormon. She dives into its pages. When we ask her to read a verse out loud, she normally reads that verse and then just keeps reading because it is so interesting! :) Last time, we asked her what it would mean to her if she knew the Book of Mormon were true and God’s word. She said she would read it all day long without eating or sleeping! She LOVES it!  She also prayed for the first time in our lesson with us. So amazing. And it is fun to still have a few opportunities here and there to use the Russian I learned when I lived in Ukraine a few months ago! 

• I gave a Book of Mormon to a woman on a bus back in June, and we saw her again this week and she said she has almost finished reading it! She loves it! Isn’t that awesome?? We should be meeting this week to talk more about it :)

Overall, living in Pärnu for over 7 months (and hopefully many months more!) has provided opportunities for me to see miracles unfold...miracles that just needed time to unfold. :) Also I feel like Pärnu is my Brigham Young University campus..there are so many friends on the busses and in the stores! I wish you could all meet my dear friends - the cashiers, bus station workers, friends on the busses....oh how I love my little town of Pärnu :)

We are peeling fruit for a feast at a member’s house!

• I spent Wednesday in Tallinn with my dear friend Sister Tullis! The legendary Sister Tullis! Funny story - we needed to enter into one of the apartment buildings but didn’t have keys, so we said a prayer: "Heavenly Father, please send someone to open the door for us--" IMMEDIATELY, even before Sister Tullis finished the prayer, she almost got hit by the door swinging open for us by a man coming out from inside. Hahaha we stepped inside and finished the prayer, "Wow, thank you Heavenly Father for sending someone so quickly!..." Hahaha it was awesome :)

• We also had district conference on Sunday! That means that all the members in Estonia got together for a church service. It was overwhelming and surreal to be surrounded by the pioneer members here in Estonia. There were about 150 people there, it was AMAZING!!! I am grateful to know these dear members in this tiny country of only 1.3 million people!

Culture:

• When the road is icy, Estonians spread around tiny rocks instead of salt! Rocks are less expensive and provide for more traction :) Who knew?

• I have also noticed that all the bus drivers here wave to each other!! It doesn’t matter if they personally know each other or not, but they wave to each other! I love that. 

Funny:

• You know how I said that Estonians don’t celebrate Halloween? Well, apparently some do! When Õde Tullis and I were together in Tallinn, we went to old town for dinner, and we walked in on a fire dance party thing! Don’t worry, we took a picture then left pretty quickly because it was kinda scary with everyone in costumes around fire...hahah but it was fun!

• And then we ate a whole bag of candy (all 4 sister missionaries were in Tallinn together for Halloween :)

Improvising a head lamp

Spiritual thought:

I was thinking a lot this week about faith. There are two major parts to faith. Faith in Christ - that He is who He says He is, and faith in yourself - that you are who He says you are. I love what Enos says at the end of his book in the Book of Mormon: "And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen." (Enos 1:27)

Earlier in the chapter, Enos describes his experience growing his relationship with God. If you don’t know his story, I encourage you to go read it! (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/enos/1?lang=eng)  After Enos explains his growing experience and after he explains that he had tried to do everything the Lord told him to do, that is when he says, "I know that in him I shall rest." Enos knew that he would make it back to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s presence. But he wasn’t being cocky and confident in himself, per se. He was confident that he had done God’s will.There is a key difference there. And Enos was then confident that God would keep his end of the bargain so that when Enos died, he would see God’s face, and "he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father." 

So how do we exactly grow that faith? Well, that comes with growing a relationship with Heavenly Father. It says in the Bible, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3) 

What does it mean to "know" God? That is a lifelong pursuit. But I can tell you this - there is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God. 

How do we come to know God? The first step is praying to Him! When we pray to Him, we talk with Him openly, talking from our hearts. When you first start to grow your relationship with God by praying, it might feel kind of awkward. You may feel like you are talking to a wall and no one is actually listening! Well, isn’t that how every relationship starts? Think about your best friend (whether that is your spouse, someone in your neighborhood, a co-worker, etc). When you first started talking with them, wasn’t it just a tad bit awkward? Of course! You are strangers at first, so you both had to talk more and get to know each other more before you could develop a trust and a love...naturally! The same goes with Heavenly Father...but there is one difference. He loves you already. No matter what. And He wants to hear from you! But at the beginning, do not be discouraged if you feel a bit awkward talking to someone you don’t see. I can promise that He is listening and that if you put your trust in Him and just try - just try! - to develop a relationship with Him, you will be able to feel His love more in your life than you already feel it. 

I love you all! 

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.

Õde Smith.Driggs

1 Nephi 11:16-17: And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?  And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.