TERE!
Well, anyone who knows me knows how much I love mint chocolate, and they don’t have much of it here in Estonia unfortunately...BUT I found some mint chocolate covered almonds today at the Kalev chocolate store and THEY WERE SO GOOD! When we went to the pharmacy, I gave one to the cashier, and she LOVED them too! When I asked if she’d ever want to meet up with us to talk about God (you know, the casual conversation from chocolate to the gospel), she said she has never believed but has just started to believe! So she gave us her number! Miracles can come from mint chocolate everyone :)
All the sisters in Estonia!! This is the most sisters I have ever served with! Awesome quote from Sister Lighten while we talked about conquering the natural woman/man in all of us, "The body speaks louder than your spirit, but the spirit is stronger than your body.”
The work:
- Of the 8 first lessons we had planned for this week, 5 HAPPENED! Miracle! On Wednesday, we had 3 first lessons back to back. And 3 new investigators that day! The first was with a19-year-old girl I had talked with on the bus last week. She brought her boyfriend along to the lesson, and both of them were open to reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it! The young man said the closing prayer and asked God to give him wisdom to know if the Book of Mormon is true. We are meeting again with them tonight! The second first lesson we had on Wednesday was in a cafe with a wonderful young woman (referral from a member in Tallinn). She attends a different church right now! She has been religious in a particular faith her whole life and at the beginning of the meeting, she wasn’t open to changing religions. But by the end of our conversation about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, she was really interested! She even read 3 Nephi 11 from the Book of Mormon right there as we sat in the cafe. And when she found out we have a living prophet on the earth today who holds God’s restored authority (President Russell M. Nelson), she was so excited and wanted to read online the talks he had given. So cool!! Our third first lesson that day went a little differently...the woman was a referral from another member here, and she came to our Christmas service last Sunday! She was very skeptical about the Book of Mormon being the word of God. She said she had already prayed about it and hadn’t gotten an answer. I asked her if she would be wiling to act with the answer she received from God. (For example, would she be willing to change something in her life if she knew the Book of Mormon were true?) She said no. I explained that it is written in the scriptures that God cannot answer her question unless she is willing and ready to act with that knowledge. She said that makes sense, but she is still not ready to act with her knowledge. So I promised her once she is ready to act, God will then answer her question.
- Our two other first lessons this week were with an older woman without an ear and a 15-year-old! The older woman is SO CUTE. She has read the Book of Mormon many times but doesn’t remember anything she reads. Yet she WAITS for the missionaries to come, she loves it so much. It was so cute, and her cat was all over us as we ate some gummy candies she can’t eat because she has no teeth. :)
- The 15-year-old we met with is super cute too! She is the organizer when we go to serve in the old folks’ home here in Tartu. We went to dinner with her this week and mainly got to know her. Õde Nelson did a killer job explaining prayer (in Estonian - we practiced it). And we invited her to meet with us again to talk more about God! She wants to! Blessings.
- ALSO we met with the awesome man last Monday night who I talked with on the bus last week. We met with him twice this week, and he is super excited to learn more!
- ALSO, so every week I have the opportunity to translate here in church, and this week there was a speaker who warned me about how hard her talk was going to be. Actually, multiple people came up to me and warned me about how scared I should be to try and translate her talk (she was going to talk about Estonian history). Well, I prayed REALLY HARD that God would give me the gift of tongues and help me translate her talk. Sure enough, though it was far from perfect and I didn’t catch every word, I was able to translate it and get the message across to everyone. I thanked Heavenly Father for the opportunity to put complete trust in Him, especially in that moment!
- (last) ALSO - Õde Nelson and I recorded, "If You Could Hie to Kolob," this week with super cool harmonies...if any of you want the mp3 of that, let me know and I can send it to you :)
I LOVE YOU FAM!!! (Christmas call)
- Holiday photos from missionaries visiting Tartu this week:
Funnies:
- Õde Nelson made banana bread this week for a Christmas party, and she wrapped it all up and put it on the ground next to a pile of things we had to bring to the party. As we were going to bed, she asked, "Is the door locked?" I went to go check it. It was really dark because the lights were off...well, I checked the door, and it was locked! On my way back to the room, I felt something squish under my foot. I gasped... Õde Nelson: "Don’t tell me that’s the banana bread..." Me: "I am so sorry!!" HAHAHHA we were on the floor laughing so hard!! So, the banana bread had a half footprint in it when we brought it to the party HAHAHAH
- "I hate thinking. It takes too much time." - a member
- Elder Chappell: "Do you believe in Santa Clause?" Member: "It’s complicated."
Mom comment: Looks like all the missionaries
had lots of fun and silly things to do in
packages they got for Christmas;)
Culture:
In front of a famous, tilted Estonian building
This is an Estonian swing!!
Guess which one is mine...
The one that says, "I am God’s daughter" :)
Spiritual thought:
This week at zone conference, we talked about building our own personal temples (check out “Come, Listen to a Prophet’s Voice” at https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/come-listen-to-a-prophets-voice?lang=eng). Meaning, counseling with the Lord about your temple (your testimony) and its blueprints! How does it look? What are its building blocks? What are things you truly have faith in? Christ? The Bible? Commandments? The Book of Mormon? What Christlike attributes (charity, hope, patience, diligence, etc.) make up who you are now and who you want to be? Big questions to ponder.
Today, I finished the Book of Mormon, successfully finishing President Nelson’s challenge to the women of The Church of Jesus Christ to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. This experience has increased my testimony of the Book of Mormon! This morning, I got on my knees and prayed. I prayed to God and asked him in Christ’s name if the Book of Mormon is true. What came to my mind was this - everything good comes from God. What are the good things that have come out of the Book of Mormon in my life? To name just a few: a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, peaceful moments, and powerful moments sharing passages and stories from it with those I love (like with all of you).
So, if all things good come from God, and all these good things have come into my life because of the Book of Mormon, it clicked in my head that that means the Book of Mormon is from God.
I love the Book of Mormon. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am grateful to be His representative for just under 7 months more. (Today marks my 11-month mark of being a missionary...so surreal. I am so grateful.)
Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace. (And happy new year!!)
Õde Smith-Driggs
Moroni 8:16: Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear.
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