"Faith is the most powerful thing!

TERE!!

The work:

I learned a lot about faith this week. The faith to move mountains. 

There were two girls that wanted to get baptized this week that needed permission from their moms (because they were under 18 years old). For various reasons, both of their mothers this week refused to give permission for them to be baptized. We fasted and prayed as a district and companionship more than I have ever fasted and prayed before. For the three days leading up the baptism on Saturday (we compare them to the story of the three attempts Nephi and his brothers made to get the plates from Laban in the Book of Mormon), we had moments of revelation and diligent studying to find out God’s will for these two girls. We set up meetings with both of the mothers on Friday afternoon at 3 and 4 pm. We sent out a text to all the members in Estonia and the missionaries all across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to "gather an army" of faithful saints fasting and praying for these mothers to give permission to their daughters to be baptized into the Lord’s true Kingdom on the earth! We had people text us back from Riga, Tartu, Pärnu, and Tallinn, all saying they would be specifically fasting and praying with us from 3-5 pm on Friday. Well, the long awaited meeting came, and we met with the 17-year-old's mother at 3 pm. It ended up being 2 hours long (don’t worry, we let the other mom know we would be late). After much discussion and testifying to the mother, she still said no. We were devastated. We cried. Our 17-year-old investigator cried. So many others were devastated. Yet, we have to respect others' ability to choose, and her mother chose not to give permission for her daughter's baptism. We then went to the other mother's home (the mother of the 10-year-old we have been teaching for many weeks). We answered a few of her questions regarding God’s authority to baptize and why people need to be baptized again with God’s authority, and after only 5 minutes, she was fine again and said she would let her daughter get baptized. We were so excited! After her baptism, the 10-year-old got up in front of everyone and said, "Thank you for coming. I felt an unforgettable feeling today!!"

Obviously, attending the baptism service that she was supposed to be a part of was hard for our 17-year-old friend, but she said, "We still have faith! We still have faith!" And it is true. I learned a lot from this experience about trusting in God and still having faith in Him no matter the outcome. We as a companionship and district grew so close together (especially Elder Mateer, the Russian elder that was very involved in this process), all growing faith in God’s miracles. We have prayed together and cried together and have done everything we could to help our friend get baptized. But when we asked her what she learned from all of it, she said, "I learned that faith is the most powerful thing." That statement is so profound and so true. Sometimes when we pray and fast and do everything we know how to do, the outcome is still not what we desire. But God's timing is perfect. Perhaps our 17-year-old friend will continue to share her testimony with her mother and family, and they will all eventually want to be baptized WITH her! Only God knows. But we all grew our faith in God this week. We have come out on the other side stronger disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Two more people this week set dates when they want to be baptized! One of them is from Africa, and one is from India. The woman from Africa has been studying here for 4 months. We met her at the bus stop. While I was getting her number, Sister Mischenko accidentally got on the bus and drove away hahahaha, but don’t worry, we all got back together again, and we got this woman’s number! Win win! Growing up in Africa, this wonderful woman went to church every week. She bounced around to multiple different churches. Since moving to Estonia, she said, "I have not been to church because I am waiting for God to tell me which church to go to." Well, dear friend, we have your answer! Come and see the Lord’s kingdom of God on earth! :) 

The other woman we also met at the bus stop! She is from India. Her husband lives in India, and they have been living apart for over a year. They have tried to work out the money and resources for him to come to Estonia, but they have tried with no success. When we met, she said she had heard about the Book of Mormon, but wanted to know more. She said, "I want any book that talks about Jesus Christ!!" She is fascinated and amazed at the beautiful truth that after Jesus visited Jerusalem (like written about in the Bible), He also went and visited His other people all around the world. It makes sense, doesn’t it? God loves all His children, so why would He just send Jesus Christ, His perfect and only begotten Son, to only Jerusalem? When Jesus says in the Bible, "I have other sheep which are not of this fold," He is saying that there are more children of God in other parts of the world! Of course! This woman from India said, "That is so beautiful. That is so beautiful." She loves the chapter 3 Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon because in that chapter (when He comes to the Americas and teaches the people there just like the people in Jerusalem), He teaches the same things as in the New Testament! "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever!" When we called her on Tuesday, the soonest she could see us was on Saturday at the baptismal service. She said she was so excited to meet and just get a Book of Mormon and start studying it. When she came on Saturday, I presented her the Book of Mormon, and she took it from my hands so gratefully. She met many people at the baptismal service and after-party, and I ended up teaching her all about the Book of Mormon (where it comes from and why we read it) while we were standing there eating borsht and cake! :) I gave her the document, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" to read (10/10 recommend: https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng&old=true), and she used it as her Book of Mormon bookmark. She told her husband over the phone last night everything that we had discussed about the Book of Mormon. We met with her the next day, and she said she had gone home and put the Book of Mormon open on her table right next to the open Bible on her table. She said she already considers it the word of God, so she doesn’t even want to call it a "book" because it is so much more than just a book. When she prayed to God to confirm with Him and ask if the Book of Mormon is also His words, she opened her eyes and read a verse that talked all about truth. She took that as her answer from God that the Book of Mormon is also the word of God. When she told us that, we read with her the last 2 paragraphs in the Book of Mormon:

“We invite all [people] everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost.” (See Moroni 10:3-5.)

“Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the MEessiah.” (Introduction to the Book of Mormon)

When we asked her what she then knows if she already knows the Book of Mormon is true, she said, "I know Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth and I know that the second coming of the Messiah is coming soon!!" We said, "Yes! So do you want to be baptized in the Lord’s kingdom established on the earth?" she said, "Yes of course!! Why do you think I am here!! I’ve just been waiting for you to ask me! Heavens, if I knew the Book of Mormon was the word of God and didn’t act and change because of that knowledge, that would be pointless!" Our jaws dropped. We were so excited! There were high-fives all around. :) She then said, "OK well I have one thing to say...I want to be baptized with my husband." Our jaws dropped again. Of course we can make that happen!! We bring families into this, the Lord’s true kingdom on earth! As we talked about the logistics of teaching her husband at the same time as her (through Skype), I gasped out loud because a very specific promise came into my mind that I needed to share with her. I promised her that if she faithfully set a date with her husband when they could be baptized together, then God would work miracles to help him come to Estonia. There are so many legal reasons why he shouldn’t be able to make it here within the next 6 months or so, but I felt very specifically that we needed to promise her that if they acted in faith, God would work a miracle. I shared with her an experience my family and I had in Ukraine many years ago when we needed to get a certain document that should have taken 6 months to 1 year to get, but because we followed God’s specific instruction, even though it may have seemed crazy, we got the document in one day. God truly is a God of miracles. She talked to her husband on the phone about which date to set for their baptism, then texted later that night and said, "...we have decided the date to be on the 10th of May. Let God's will be done..." Amazing. They have such strong faith in God. After she texted us that, she called a few hours later and described that already something happened with their money situation...i didn’t understand completely but either a fee was reduced or a deadline was changed. So God is already making miracles happen.

After all, "Faith is the most powerful thing!"

Funnies:

On Monday night, our mission president called US and said, "All of us are just waiting at the office for your Monday night 8:30 call to tell us one more person who has exercised their faith to set a baptismal date! Where is your call??" Hahahahaha we said, "Don’t worry president, we are asking some more people tomorrow if they will be baptized, so we will let you know." That was literally the only reason president was calling. I love president hahahah.

Culture:

It is bad luck here if you shake hands or hug through a doorway.

Every sunrise and sunset, the national anthem is played in the city as the Estonian flag is raised onto the tower in Old Town. Our view from our apartment looks out to that flag, and every day I look at it so grateful to be here at this point in my life. On Sunday, Estonia celebrated its 101st birthday! Palju õnne!

Spiritual thought:

Mark 14:36: "And Jesus said (as He was suffering for our sins in the garden of Gethsemane), Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt."

Truly all things are possible with God. If we trust in His timing, we can feel peace no matter the outcome of our faithful pursuits.

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.

Õde Smith-Driggs

Alma 6:6 - “Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God.”  

THANK YOU FRIENDS FOR YOUR HELP IN FASTING AND OFFERING MIGHTY PRAYERS!

ROAR LIKE LIONS!

TERE!! 

HOLY COW, what a wonderful week!!! I am so so grateful for the opportunity we have as missionaries to Skype our families more often. Missionary work in Tallinn right now is ON FIRE, and I am excited to share my experiences with my family to also get THEM on fire! Today as we Skyped, I told them names of investigators to pray for and stories about those people, and already my family is feeling more of a connection to the people and work here in Estonia. I’m so excited to continue sharing with them the joys of missionary work! "Bring the mission into the home, not the home into the mission." [Thanks Uncle Paul!]

The work:

3 PEOPLE ARE GETTING BAPTIZED HERE ON SATURDAY!!! AND 2 MORE ARE GETTING BAPTIZED NEXT SATURDAY! We are pumped. The Lord’s work is truly hastening here in eastern Europe. I can’t wait to tell you all about these people we have been working with!

• One of the girls getting baptized this Saturday is 17 years old. The elders met her in Subway about a week ago. We went ice skating with her last Monday, got to know her, set up a meeting for that night and taught her about the Book of Mormon. She said, "Wow, I have been thinking about these sorts of questions about God for a while now, and you just brought the answers to me!" When we explained to her the importance of ACTING with the faith she is starting to grow, we invited her to be baptized with that faith. She said yes! We promised God would answer her sincere question to know if the Book of Mormon was true, if Joseph Smith was a prophet, and if this Church is the true church of God on earth. When we asked when she would like to be baptized once having received an answer from God about the truthfulness of what we are teaching, she said, "Hmmmm...next Monday? So a week from now?" Our jaws dropped. "Wow! Yes! Well, we have a few friends getting baptized next Saturday. [Five days later than the Monday she requested.] Would that work?" "Yes!" HOLY COW. She is so prepared! We have met with her almost every day this week, and she has such sincere questions, and we point her to the scriptures for her answers. We are so grateful to be part of her journey towards Christ.

• The other girl getting baptized this week is the 10-year-old we have been working with for the past few weeks! She came to church again this week with us, and she loved it. We were running late to church because we had to go pick her up, and when we waited at the bus stop with her, we huddled all together and said a prayer, asking God to provide a fast way to church for us. Not only did we make it to church EARLY, but a less active member came onto the bus just one stop later! He was on his way to church! Miracle!

• The other girl getting baptized is one of the elders’ investigators. She is SO cool. She taught me how to fashionably tie my scarf :)

• Our Ukrainian friend also came to church on Sunday! 

• Aaaaand ANOTHER woman wants to be baptized!! I met her on Wednesday doing district contacting (meaning we split up in one area of the park, and just try to stop people and talk to them about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!). We talked about angels (she believes in angels). I taught her about the Book of Mormon, and she set up to meet on Friday morning because she really wanted the Book of Mormon. When we met on Friday, she said her husband had passed away one year ago, but she still feels a deep connection with him. I told her he was there in that moment with us. :) She said, "A little while ago, if you would have approached me on the street, I would have said no. But very recently, I have been feeling ready to accept new things. You are offering me a better life, and now I am ready to accept it. It was not a coincidence we met on the street! I am finally ready for this!" She wants to be baptized on March 2nd. She has been reading and praying already and is excited to learn more!

• On my exchange with Sister Durfee, we stopped a lady and started to say, "Hello! We are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ, and today we are asking, what brings you peace?" Before we could finish our sentence, she said, "Are you going to tell me Jesus Christ was a woman??" We were so confused. "No...?" we said, kind of chuckling to ourselves. Once she realized that was not what we were trying to do, she was ready to listen to our question and message. When we asked when she wanted to meet up and talk more, she said, "What are you doing right now?" It was 8:15 p.m., and we were just on our way home. "Nothing!" we said. "Well then let’s go to that cafe and talk more!" So she bought us peppermint tea, and we taught her the restoration. She accepted all of it, and we will be meeting with her again next week! :) God places people in our path, and we are so grateful!

Exchange with Sister Durfee! We talked to over 100 people, had over 35 meaningful conversations, 
14 phone numbers, and 7 lessons! CRAZY!!

• On Thursday, we decided to spend most of the day just contacting people on the street. We pumped ourselves up and got really excited and were almost screaming out of excitement as we walked out the door. I have never been more excited to go out and talk to people about Jesus Christ and His restored gospel!!! We prayed to be able to find a family that day. Guess what? We talked to a mom playing with her kids at a tram stop, and we went over to their house that very night and taught them about the Book of Mormon! God answered our prayer that day by providing us a family to teach! The sweetest moment in that lesson was at the very end. Their 7 year old son looked up to me and said softly, "Kas sa tõesti räägid Jumalaga?...Do you really talk with God?" I bent down to meet his eye level and said, "Yes, I do. And you can too by praying to Him. He loves you. You are His son." He nodded and smiled. :) It was a very tender moment when I truly came to realize why Jesus Christ tells us to "be as little children."

• A really cool moment happened on Friday night. We were doing district contacting. I stopped one girl with cool green eye shadow. We ended up having a really cool conversation, and I taught her all about the Book of Mormon standing on the street. We set up a meeting for the next morning at her house. For some reason, I felt I needed to give her the Book of Mormon right then. Usually we don’t just give out the Book of Mormon on the street because they are more expensive to print than, say, a pamphlet you can give to someone who is interested. But, just like Nephi says when God commands him to write about his experiences: “Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.  But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words.” (1 Nephi 9:5-6) I decided to follow the prompting from God and give her the Book of Mormon on the street. She thanked me sincerely, and said she would read the introduction to the book before our meeting the next morning. That night, she texted and said her parents would not allow us to come over and teach her. Very sad. But I realized in that moment that God knew that our meeting the next morning would never happen. God knew that she needed the Book of Mormon right then because she wouldn’t get it the next morning. Follow the little promptings, friends! God knows better than you do!

• On top of ALL THAT, we opened our mouths 365 times this week, and had 136 meaningful conversations!!!! We feel the fire of missionary work!!

Funnies:

• Our Ukrainian friend was listening to a bad song with really bad lyrics, so I was like, "niet, niet niet (no, no, no)," and I started to think of other songs I could show him that had better lyrics. The first songs that came to my head were the songs I have personally recorded and performed that are on Spotify and my YouTube channel. He didn’t have Spotify, so I pulled up my YouTube channel and showed him the song I had sung about Jesus Christ. He STARTED DANCING IN THE STREET, and singing along with an opera voice HAHAHAH. 

• After walking out of our lesson on Monday with the 17-year-old who wanted to be baptized a week later...Sister Mishchenko: "If I were not a member [of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], I would get drunk right now, but instead I will take ice cream whole night!" HAHAHA you could say we were pretty excited after that lesson. (We had another dance party and called our mission president like we're supposed to...and now we are adding a gratitude prayer into our post-baptismal date lesson traditions.)

• We talked with a young man on the street who had marijuana in his hand. He wanted to grow a relationship with God. We got his number, and as we were walking away, he threw his marijuana in the trash :) YES!!!

Culture:

On Tuesday, we woke up to beautiful snow.

But now, it is SO WARM in Estonia! The snow has melted almost entirely, and I have switched to my smaller coat and smaller boots!

"Pomegranate" in Estonian means "grenade apple" hahahaha.

This week was "Sõbrapäev!" It’s the Estonian’s version of Valentine’s Day. It means, "Friends Day," and everyone gives their friends chocolate and flowers!! :)

These little robot machines deliver food to people.

We went to an American diner with a less active this week. 

I love America!

Spiritual thought:

I have finished reading all the October 2018 General Conference talks and have been reviewing the list of 2 things every day I learned from the talks. As I have been pondering, I have made a list of 2 columns - how I have improved, and how I still need to improve. It has been a great process celebrating how I have improved and making plans to improve even more! I hope you all have been studying the General Conference talks from October 2018 in preparation for April 2019’s General Conference! It will be a great one!! 

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.

Love you all!

Õde Smith-Driggs

Phillipians 4:11-13: Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Baptisms are on the horizon!

TERE!!!

This week, I sang for a man on the street, and we met with people from Nigeria, Vietnam (shout out to Elder Brandon Knight), the Middle East, and France (shout out Elder Ethan Walch and others there in France!). It was a GREAT week!

SHOUT OUT TO MY WARD!! Thank you SO much for this present!! 
I feel your prayers and support, thank you!!

The work:

Two of our investigators want to be BAPTIZED!! They will be baptized next weekend. One of them is a 10-year-old Russian girl. We went out to ice cream this week and travelled to church all together, so she is doing great :) The other is the Ukrainian man we have been meeting with! He is hilarious. In the Baltic Mission, whenever anyone accepts a date to be baptized, we call our mission president. The 10-year-old accepted a baptismal date on Monday night, so we had a dance party to a Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square song, then called our mission president to tell him the good news. The NEXT day, the Ukrainian man accepted a baptismal date. So we had ANOTHER dance party, and called our mission president AGAIN! Hahah he said, "Another one??" We are all so excited! 

We also met with many other people today. We invited many people to be baptized, and many are praying about it! We met with one woman for the first time, and when we asked why she wanted to meet, she said, "I have an interest towards the Book of Mormon...what it is?" Well, you better believe we explained the Book of Mormon! She has already started reading it and loves it. 

COOLEST STORY! Õde Goodell talked to a Vietnamese woman on the tram who invited us to her restaurant. We went that night, and she and her husband (from Italy) talked to us for a while! They made us pizza, and invited us to eat it in their upstairs room (because they don’t have tables for people...it’s a corner cafe). So this is a picture we took in their upstairs room! We met with the woman from Vietnam the next morning at an Asian cafe, and she wants to take the lessons with the missionaries in Vietnam! We are working on getting in touch with missionaries there to Skype with her :)

One of my favorite miracles from this week happened on Saturday. We were waiting outside one of the library rooms, and I heard a young man wearing a cool coat speaking on his phone. The only words I actually heard from the conversation were "church" and "God." I turned to the sisters and said, "He is talking about church and God. We have to talk to him." Unfortunately, he walked back into the quiet library room very quickly, so we couldn’t talk to him. We went downstairs and called people to set up lessons. We started getting our coats to leave, and I headed towards the restroom. Before I went inside the restroom, I looked back at Sister Goodell, and she was making hand signals at me to come back. She pointed with her finger, and I followed her eyes to...guess who?? The young man! He had come downstairs with his friend! They were at the vending machine, so I of course decided to go buy something at the vending machine so I would have a chance to talk to them. :) Long story short, I complimented his coat, and we started talking. He said he was on the way to church for his father’s funeral. He said his mom had died when he was 13. So now he is an orphan. We testified to him he would see them again, and we set up to meet for another day! Amazing that we talked with him just as he was on his way to his own father’s funeral. 

On top of everything, I was really sick this week, so I stayed in bed for a while! 

(Mom comment: She got to watch the movie called "Ephraim's Rescue" about a person who helped save pioneers 
trapped in a snowstorm while crossing the American plains.

Culture:

• In Russian, a "couple minutes" is actually 30 minutes hahahah.

• I’ve never seen a drinking fountain here before...

• Sidewalks are not shoveled, so we slip and slide everywhere!

• The movies are all correct....people wear big furry hats and huge winter coats here!! :)

Funny:

Õde Mischenko thinks herself a rapper..."If we pray, God provides the way!"

Our feet were cold after being outside contacting people, so we ate lunch with our feet in a hot bath :) 
I love my sisters!

Spiritual thought:

I realized something really interesting studying 1 Nephi 4 in the Book of Mormon this week. Nephi and his brothers go back to Jerusalem to get the plates, and that was a hard journey. Nephi had to give his brothers many "pump-up" speeches to encourage them to keep the Lord’s commandments with full purpose of heart! And when Nephi got the plates in Jerusalem from Laban, Laban's servant came back with Nephi. Nephi had to give another "pump up" speech to the servant in order to convince him to go with Nephi and his brothers. 

Well, I realized an interesting difference in Nephi’s language to "pump up" his brothers and the servant. His brothers had grown up religious, so they had heard about faith their whole lives. So when Nephi was trying to convince them to follow the Lord’s commandments, he used language such as "let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord." (1 Nephi 4:1). That phrase made sense to them because they had heard about faith their whole lives. 

The servant, on the other hand, probably did not grow up "religious," seeing as how his master, Laban (whom he has lived with), may not have been as religious. So we can assume the servant did not know what "faith" even was. So when Nephi was "pumping up" the servant and encouraging and convincing him to come with them, Nephi used language such as, "Shall we not be diligent in keeping the commandments of the Lord?" (1 Nephi 4:34). We can see that Nephi changed his language slightly to meet the servant's needs. The servant may not have understood the concept of faith. But being a servant, he surely understood what diligence and hard work were. So Nephi changed his language to touch the servant’s heart.

Nephi is a  great example of coming to where others are and encouraging and convincing them in their language...a language they will understand.

So if there is someone in your life right now (a child, spouse, friend, grandparent, parent) whom you don’t get along with, evaluate the way you communicate with them. Perhaps the reason they are not responding is because you are not "speaking their language." 

I invite us all to pray to know how to better communicate with each other. We will be blessed for our efforts!

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.

Õde Smith-Driggs

2 Nephi 32:3 - Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

ONE YEAR a joyful missionary!

TERE!!

The work:

My Russian-speaking babe companions :)

Wow, what a wonderful week. Õde Goodell and I celebrated ONE YEAR being missionaries on January 31, 2019!! We are so grateful to be here! We took so many pictures hahaha!

Awkward because we held up "365 days," 
but our camera made it look like "563 days" hahaha.

We tried to make pancakes in the shape of a "1" to celebrate 1 year!

Sister Goodell!! (Sister Mischenko was in another city when this picture was taken...
we didn’t just ditch her hahaha.)

Growing up, I did not want to go on a mission. When I was 18 years old and a freshman at BYU, God told me I needed to serve a mission. I murmured about it, but I decided I would go. I have since repented for murmuring about obeying God’s will for me. The very night He told me I needed to serve a mission, I started sincerely praying for a desire to go. That desire came little by little over the course of a year. One year later (to the day), when I was a sophomore at BYU, I reached 100% desire and excitement to serve a mission. Now, one year after being set apart as a missionary for Jesus Christ, I don’t know why I ever DIDN’T want to serve a mission! Worthily representing my Savior, brother, and best friend, Jesus Christ is the greatest honor I have ever been given. I thank my God every day that I have the opportunity to share His love with His children in Estonia every day. 

To anyone reading this who is considering going on a mission, who has been told by God they must serve a mission, or who is on the verge of deciding not to go on a mission - I invite you to COME AND SEE. Come and experience all that God has to offer you as His beloved missionary and child. Come and see others as God sees them. It is an honor and a blessing. You will be grateful to your God for it! 

I got to see my dear friend Õde Durfee at a combined youth activity and GUESS WHAT? 
She made me this blue hat!! I love you Sister Durfee :)

• We met with our Ukrainian investigator, and encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon. We asked him to pray right then, open the book, and see what God wanted to tell him. He said a prayer and said, "Dear Heavenly Father, please help everything to be OK in my life and in Ukraine." (A little background on that: he has served in the military in Ukraine; his wife and 2-year-old son are still in Ukraine, and he is obviously worried about the war going on there.) He opened the Book of Mormon and read a verse in Alma that talks about God strengthening their armies of war. (!!!) God is so amazing. He answered our investigator’s prayer by reassuring him that He would strengthen the armies in Ukraine. 

• We also met with two investigators (wife and husband) who have depression. They are very kind. The husband speaks Russian, Estonian, and English, and the wife speaks Russian. Sister Mischenko was in Tartu for the day, so it was just Sister Goodell and I teaching. I love teaching with her (and Sister Mischenko) because among the three of us, we can teach in three languages!! And with these two investigators, we taught in all three of the languages. The husband just turned to us and said, "Talk to us about peace. Where can we find peace?" We gave both of them a Book of Mormon, and their faces lit up as they were leafing through its pages.

• We have also started counting the amount of times per day we "open our mouths." Then we count how many of those times turned into "meaningful conversations." IT HAS BEEN SO COOL to see how many times we open our mouths to offer salvation and eternal joy to the people of Estonia. Even if they don’t listen, we still did our job as missionaries to open our mouths and try and share it with them. Miraculously, about HALF of our open mouth moments turned into meaningful conversations. And we got SOOO many more phone numbers this week than ever before! God’s work is truly moving forward quickly! I’m so grateful to be a part of it right at the peak of excitement!

• One more quick miracle to mention - after a game night with investigators and members, I was feeling really sick. It was about 8:45 pm, and it was time to go home. I was so sick at that point and couldn’t wait to go to bed and try and recover so we could still go out and preach the gospel the next day. Once we got on the tram, we remembered that we still had to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients for Ukrainian borsch (because our Ukrainian investigator was making us borsch for family night on Sunday, and we couldn’t buy the ingredients on Sunday). I know it sounds silly, but I was so tired and sick and at the point of tears because I just needed to go to bed. BUT, I agreed to go to the grocery store that night so we wouldn’t have to buy groceries on the Sabbath day. We were still sitting on the tram on the way to the grocery store, and the tram stopped at the downtown bus stop. It is so so rare to run into other missionaries on the streets or busses here in Tallinn because there are so few of us, and it is such a big city. BUT GUESS WHO WALKED ONTO THE TRAM? Our district leader, Elder Bunker, Elder Black, and two other members who are dear friends of mine. They saw how sick I looked and immediately offered comfort and offered to give me a priesthood blessing (which I received the next morning by Elder Allred), and above all that, they agreed to go to the grocery store FOR us so I could go home and sleep. I actually started crying then because I knew they were sent from Heavenly Father to offer me comfort and peace...AND they were kind enough to go to the grocery store for us :) Thank you, Heavenly Father!

Funnies:

We were at another investigator’s house, and her son peed his pants...oh well...we cleaned it up for her of course :) 

Also, a hot pad almost caught on fire in the microwave, and a kind, tipsy, older man tried to give me 2 boxes of cupcakes on the tram.

Culture:

One of our investigators wanted to walk around the Chinese new year celebration in Old Town. 
I thought this pig ice sculpture was super cool!

Ducks in the snow! They are all over Tallinn,
and Sister Mischenko gets so excited every time we see them hahaha.

Food bank!!

Some people put blankets on their couches here...like not on the top of their couches all folded up, they lay them out over the cushions. So when you sit down on the couch, you sit down on the blanket on top of the couch.

Spiritual thought:

As I was praying about what I should share with you all today, I found this quote I had never seen before. President Russell M. Nelson told the youth:

“In a coming day, you will present yourself before the Savior.  You will be overwhelmed to the point of tears to be in His holy presence.  You will struggle to find words to thank Him for paying for your sins, for forgiving you of any unkindness toward others, for healing you from the injuries and injustices of this life.  

You will thank Him for strengthening you to do the impossible, for turning your weaknesses into strengths, and for making it possible for you to live with Him and your family forever.  His identity, His Atonement, and His attributes will become personal and real to you.

But you don’t have to wait until then. Choose to be one of His true disciples now. Be one who truly loves Him, who truly wants to serve and lead as He did.”

("Prophets, Leadership, and Divine Law," Worldwide Broadcast for Youth, January 8, 2017)

I testify that Jesus Christ is coming soon. And that day when we will present ourselves before Him is coming sooner than we all think. I can’t wait to embrace my Savior. I can’t wait for Him to wipe the tears from my eyes, look in my eyes, and simply love me. I know He loves all of us so completely and unconditionally. I testify that in order to prepare for His second coming, we must contemplate deeply if there is anything in our lives we need to change. "If there is anything you need to consider, now is the time." I promise if you seek to change and better yourself every day, Christ will help you!

Now is the time, friends!

Trust in the Lord. Choose joy. Find peace.

Õde Smith-Driggs

John 14:23: Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.