Tserkov Eesoosa Khreesta cvyateekh posledneekh dnay eesteena! (that's how you pronouce "the Church of Jesus Christ is true!")

Dearest Family,

HAPPY CHRISTMAS WEEK! I sure hope you all have snow by now. It snowed again here, but the snow is just having the hardest time staying; it melted away during another rainstorm. I’m still ok with it, though, because I discovered a leak in both boots and am too stubborn and “whatever” to go out and buy more boots for the last 2 1/2 months. Yay for health!

Sister Uibel was walking down a dry cement ramp. On the second step down she slipped on her right boot, flew up in the air, and landed just SMACK hard on the ground. In front of a group of Russian teens. Oh joy. It hurt like…I dunno. It just hurt a LOT. I had also landed on my left hand and skidded down a few inches on the nail, so now it’s all nice and torn up. Couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. And the back cover of my poor BoM got torn up. Good NIGHT, what a fall! One couldn’t make a more dramatic fall down such a short, DRY ramp. -sigh-

Oh! Kudos again to the media department! First of all, we had Christmas Zone Conference yesterday (hence the no email) and President Boswell had me come up and explain to all the missionaries in Lithuania how my family’s been involved with these new videos. He thinks it’s way cool. I didn’t mind *bragging* about it. Maybe you already knew this dad, but the father of one of the missionaries (Elder Koltko, who’s actually an AP right now) acted in one of the scenes. He WAS one of the wise men, but they changed things because he speaks Hebrew. So they gave him a speaking part…and I’ve completely lost which part it was. Ha. Anyway, the videos look GRRREAT and everyone was impressed.

Also, the short clip “Expressions of Love” on lds.org was used by a Russian member over here in his university English class. He’s 20 years old and just AWESOME. He recently had an assignment at school where he was required to bring a clip of something in English to show to the class and have them ask questions about it. So he decided to use this “Expressions of Love” clip. He said to his class “Alright, I know you’ve all heard crazy things about Mormons. Here’s your chance to ask questions!” He said he was surprised that EVERYONE really liked the clip and the discussion went toward how we believe in celestial, eternal marriages; everyone in his class agreed with the concept, apparently. So look! We have short clips that members want to share with people, including their university English class!

Another fun bit-o-information. Remember Sister Schneidere in Tallinn? The Latvian member on a mini-mission who I trained? The one who likes crab and corn on toast? Well she FINALLY got her mission call! And she’s going to….SALT LAKE CITY, TEMPLE SQUARE! We totally called that or Russia! She’s the THIRD LATVIAN sister to receive her call there in the past few months, and one of the others is actually her best friend. Crazy, huh? Weird thing is that she doesn’t go until May 8th, which is basically her halfway mark. So half her mission is here in the Baltics, and the other half there. Anyway, I told her I would SO come visit her on temple square. We all should!

Speaking of Christmas packages, I got yours! Yay! I was happy to be the only one with a Charlie Brown box We opened the pre-Christmas box and LOVED IT! Oh my goodness, my family is so creative. Dang. Even our landlady who came over to pick up mail was very impressed that my family would spend so much time on something like that. So fun. So I took pictures for you. And what IS that thing you’re all holding? ‘Tis a present? For ME? -gasp!- Why you shouldn’t have! I guess I’ll hear about it on Christmas day, says Mom.

Well, I wish I could tell you something about our investigators, but nothing really happened this week. It was one of those for-some-reason-unproductive-number-wise-and-you’re-afraid-to-give-your-district-leader-the-weekly-stats weeks. Ick. We’ve scheduled caroling and making delicious sugar and gingerbread cookies (I wonder where I got THOSE from) to give to people who we feel could use a little pick-me-up this holiday season. And THANK YOU for your testimony paper to put in BoMs! I loved them! They almost completely made sense! I’ll make some tweaks to them, but will FOR SURE put them in some books and give them away! Thank you very much for that. It was really neat to read it out loud to my companion. I am so blessed to have been born into a family with goodly parents and a brother and sisters who believe, live, and love the gospel. Many missionaries here don’t have that.

MUAH! (Ha dad your ‘Lovio Vermush’ made me laugh)
Sister Uibel

Family-wamily,

-Sigh- Man. Much too many things (?) happening around the holidays. How can I reply to them all?

I LOVED the picture of Jessie and her new little girl! SO weird that she has a kid. Way weird. I knew that girl in 1st grade (Jessica, not her daughter). She and Chuck both look so good and happy!

How are all the family Christmas parties and gatherings? We’ve got some good news as far as parties are concerned here in Vilnius. I think I told you already, but the branches liked our missionary Thanksgiving activity so much that they’re doing the same thing for Christmas. Twice. Once this Saturday for a combined Lithuanian-Russian branch activity, and once on the 30th for just the Russian branch. Our elders told us that the President really trusts us with activities now. And get this–they gave US assignments this time! YESS! They’re planning themselves! Missions here in Eastern Europe are as much about teaching members as they are about teaching investigators.

We just got our holiday schedule, and I’m pretty sure it’s exactly the same schedule as President Dance sent us last year. My brain remembered certain sentences. So the Skype thing just isn’t going to work, sadly Our mission just isn’t equipped to handle Skype calls for missionaries. So it will be just the regular call. Which is just as good I’ll email you our phone number and the time to call next week. Yay! Two weeks until I can hear your beautiful voices! Oh–I have not yet received your packages, but I’m assuming that’s because they’ll bring mail down for our Christmas zone conference on the 19th.

Sister Hoggard goes home this week. I’ll miss her. Transfers are tomorrow! Pretty sure I’m staying ’til the end though. We’ll see if we get a third sister again or if we stay in a two-some.

Oh hey, I know EXACTLY what you’re talking about when you say giant Estonian “sing-in”. When I was up there in Tallinn with the Estonian sisters, we taught a woman who showed us one of those events on YouTube. Looked huge, and way fun. If Becca and Rachel want a fun Estonian pop song, listen to Koit Toome’s “Maleestusid” (spelled something like that) It’s a good one. I had an Estonian girl write down the lyrics to the chorus, so now I can sing it correctly in Estonian. I’ll bring the words home of course.

I’m really excited to start this new transfer with new goals, one of them being “talk with everyone”. That’s been one of the hardest things for me to do on my mission (isn’t it for almost everyone?), which is strange because I usually love talking with people. But I’m ready to start seeing miracles and to find a family! Sister Stout and I are ready to find a family who’s ready to accept the gospel, and we’re ready to work for it!

We’ve also started “14 Days of Christmas”, during which we give acts of service and small, meaningful gifts to 14 members (actives and less actives) and investigators.

Miracle: Our investigator Svetlana came to all three hours of church yesterday! We pulled the “Sister Hoggard is going home and wants you to hear her speak” card, and she came! I expected her to leave after sacrament meeting–oh me of little faith–but she stayed. And even more miraculous was that the Relief Society acknowledged her, had her introduce herself, and several women spoke with her and even hugged her after church. YAY for member involvement without the missionaries having to nudge!

Well family, I love you tons! Can’t wait to talk to you! Miss you SO MUCH this holiday season. It snowed several times this week, but then the snow melted. There’s still green grass around. Try to serve others, and you’ll find yourselves MUCH happier than if you hadn’t.

-Sister Uibel

WoOT! I got emails from the whole family! Yay! That just made my week

Hey guess what? Remember my pictures from LAST winter here in Vilnius? Well, things are exactly the same except…there’s no snow. STILL! Absolutely none. A lot of the grass is still greenish, even. We’ve had rain storms, but nothing more. Yay! As missionaries who have to be out and about regardless of the weather, we are really enjoying this snow-free year. As I said before, I’d be completely fine if the snow held off until the 23rd…

…Speaking of the 23rd, it’s the day before the day before we speak FACE TO FACE with one another! Russian actually has one word for “the day before yesterday”. Kinda nice. Yay for Christmas calls! It came fast. This year is going SO much faster than last year did. And yes, I DID mean to write “face to face”. Here’s the beautiful reason why: President Boswell emailed the mission today to tell us that WE CAN USE SKYPE THIS CHRISTMAS! Agh! How cool?! Finally! It’s to help relieve the cost of a call across the Atlantic (and then some). I’ve talked to several missionaries about it, and we’re all a little leery…weery…not weary..dang it, what’s the word? Wary? That might be it. We’re all a little WARY of using it, though, because let’s face it. SEEING family at Christmas is quite a bit harder than just talking on the phone. Also, we need to find a place to use Skype. We’re not allowed to use members’ computers, so I may end up asking our senior couple, Elder and Sister Flake for their computer (they’ll probably Skype families earlier Christmas day). ANYWAY, if things work out smoothly, I’ll let you know the Skype steps next week. If it’s too much of a hassle or if the comp doesn’t feel like seeing the family, I’ll just give you the phone information for normal calls. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see you on Christmas, but remember that I’ll only have about 2 months after that and it’s already hard to focus.

Well, I’m glad you enjoyed the pictures! I enjoyed yours! All the news of temple trips and concerts and dates and major film releases and dad getting not enough sleep is so exciting! (except for dad). I wish I could see this interesting new red & purple tree. Send pictures! I’m all for new things. I may or may not be sending my Christmas present to you all home with my companion Sister Hoggard (HOE-guard). She goes back home to Salt Lake City on the 16th, next week. She said if she has room in her suitcase she can bring your presents home and deliver them to you. Much cheaper. And faster. So we’ll see.

Oh boy. The mall has started Christmas music now. Elder Hyer told me that Taylor Swift’s “Last Christmas” was on just minutes before I arrived. GAAHHH they have the same compilation CD as last year! NOOOoOooOOooooo….

More missionary-like news (what I wrote to President Boswell this week):
We had a miracle! We found a new investigator! Svetlana, age 45ish, came to our English class on her own last week. I didn’t recognize her, thinking she must’ve attended another level and was just trying ours out. She ended up coming to our double-branch Thanksgiving activity the same day, on a 3 hour notice. During the activity I spoke with her. She told me that she really enjoyed the activity, that there’s such a good feeling among the people. Yesterday she came to class again, and we pulled her afterwards for a lesson. She was GREAT! We talked about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. She said that she believed it’s completely possible for God and Christ to have appeared to Joseph Smith. When we had her read Moroni 10:3–5, she paused after every verse and said “..Yes, that’s true. Completely correct.” She even said the closing prayer at the end, opening with “Dear Heavenly Father” and closing with “in the name of Jesus Christ..” We think she pays attention to how we pray in English class because we hadn’t told her how to pray yet. Before our lesson she inquired about “group gospel lessons”, to which I replied that we had none; missionary lessons are just one-on-one. But last night the Spirit reminded me of INSTITUTE that our branch holds every Wednesday! So we’re going to call her today and tell her about that. She didn’t accept a baptismal date because she wants to read the Book of Mormon completely through so she can be sure that EVERYTHING in it is true. We don’t mind that she wants to read the whole thing

Still working with Svetlana Rusak (the president’s wife). Hopefully we’ll have a lesson with her this week.

I still continue to look at my “ways to improve” sticky note daily. It really helps me review the day not only according to measurable goals but according to my BEING a missionary, not just doing missionary things. In accordance with that, I’ve also decided that I want to make my time more productive. I take two full pages of potential investigator numbers from our area book to keep in my bag. When we have several minutes of down time between appointments I start at the top of the page and work my way down. It really helps me feel like I’m using every moment of the Lord’s time effectively.

Thank you again for the wonderful words at zone conference! We all loved it so much, and continue to talk about what we learned during companion study. Sister Lawrence’s words about finding specific people really help the rejections roll off our backs (“Eh, it was just some Gentile…” ) I love being a missionary! I love the language! I love the people!

Sister Uibel

Well hi family!

Hmm. I don’t really feel like typing much today. So I won’t! Ha! Agency! But I WILL send you some awesome pictures of our recent Thanksgiving activity. It gave me a heart attack at first, planning it all. We only found one turkey so we had to cook two mini chickens and some turkey fillet as well. Way annoying. Anyway, we expected and hoped for around 40 people. Guess how many came? SEVENTY! Yes, 7-0. It was crazy. Our bobbing for apples and eat-doughnuts-off-a-string-without-hands were huge hits. We had so much food, too. It was wonderful. So here are pictures. I wonder where I got the idea for the paper turkey?…:) Some pictures are from our Halloween party in Tallinn, too.

IT STILL HASN’T SNOWED! Well, it snowed once a couple of weeks ago, but melted the same day. It’s just been pouring sheets of rain. Cold, cold, wind. But now snow! It has all the natives puzzled. We’re completely fine with it. If we could hold the snow back until December 23d we’d be perfectly happy. It doesn’t quite feel like the holiday season, though. All the Christmas decorations are up everywhere, but until it snows it won’t feel complete.

We get to wake up at 5am on Wednesday to be at the teaching center at 6:30 to drive to Kaunas for Zone Conference with Elder Lawrence (Presidency of the Seventy? Area Presidency? Who knows. I sure don’t).

I’ve had several more natives compliment me on my accent-less Russian. It’s nice to hear, but I feel bad because it’s usually right in front of the companions. And like true Russians, they usually say something like “You speak with a great accent! For these two it’s obviously harder though. They need a lot of practice.” -sigh- Tact, people. Tact.

Well, I love you family! I’m so happy everyone’s spending time together. Thanksgiving sounded like a blast! We went to KFC in the local mall as a district. Their medium-size meals are like America’s kids meals.

At President Rusak’s request we’re waiting a few days to call and set up another appointment with him and his wife. He’s going to talk to her and see if she’d be willing to have us over again. So we’ll see where that goes soon.
I made some personal goals for myself based off of something I read in Preach My Gospel. In chapter one, the book lists several points to consider when determining whether or not I’ve been a successful missionary. I’ve done well on several points, but on a few others the Holy Ghost lovingly whispered that I could do better. So I wrote those points down on a sticky note and put them in my planner to remember and work on them daily. What’s a goal set if you don’t even remember it?

Hey guess what? You can call me in less than 4 weeks!
Love Sister Uibel

FAMILY!

Well hi. Can I just say that I appreciate that you have the ability to write like you speak? Makes your emails much more meaningful. And interesting to read.

Well, where do I start? Missionary work keeps going and going and going and going….like a bunny I know. Johno’s homecoming and the family sounded GREAT!

Well, Vilnius is Vilnius. It’s just fine this time around. It’s only snowed once so far; a light dusting, really. I’m ok with that. This time last year there was a LOT more snow. I’m ok with putting it off for a while. Oh hey! Major mark for me coming up: On November 24th, THANKSGIVING DAY, I will celebrate my year in the field. Woot! I remember seeing other sisters hit their year in the field and thinking they were so old. We think we’ve seen the last of the sky, too. Haven’t seen it for a week and a half now, so the Baltic cloud cover has begun. I may not see the sky before I leave, now that I think of it. Weird. Vilnius is also THE FOGGIEST city I’ve even seen. It’s ridiculous.

I am unofficially in charge of our double-branch Thanksgiving day activity this Saturday. Little freaked out. Hope there’s enough food. My companionship is in charge of the turkeys. That’s right, that WAS the plural form. The only problems we see ahead are FINDING turkeys. We’ve only seen one small one, wrapped in bacon and stuffed with nuts, and it costs my first born child. Who comes up with that? Who thinks “You know what this turkey needs? Bacon.” Anyway, if worst comes to worst we’re just going to get pre-made chicken at KFC. Yes, there is a KFC here in Vilnius. They have no root beer, though, nor do they have mashed potatoes and corn. So we gave it a 6 out of 10.

We had a wonderful lesson with Laima and the Lithuanan elders last night (it was a pass-off lesson). We watched the Restoration video and then bore our testimonies afterward. The spirit was definitely present. The only funny thing happened when the elders committed her to baptism (in Lithuanian of course). We hadn’t told them that WE were going to commit her–we assumed they’d just follow our lead–but like good elders they invited her to baptism on the first lesson. However, I missed the English translation from Elder Rich, so when I spoke again in Russian I invited her to be baptized…again. Ha. Only afterward I learned that she’d already been asked. Woops. But she took it well, and we all left on a really good note. Her concern was that she’s already baptized, but that can be cleared up. She’s wonderful, and said a terrific prayer at the end after we taught her how to pray. She kept saying in broken English that we’re so young and beautiful. Ha.

The situation with our branch president’s wife is interesting. After our lesson with her, President told one of our elders that it was a great lesson. Granted, when I asked if she wanted to know if this church is true she said no; she’s a typical Russian woman–puts up a tough, indifferent front. I told her that we understand–if it’s true, that means that we have to change and do something, and that can be scary. My companion sister Stout is a wonderful example of a Catholic (like her) who decided to accept the church not long ago. This time she actually sat and listened during most of the lesson; I hear that hasn’t happened before. And President was calm and listened himself, when he’s been known to dominate missionary lessons. Because anger is a secondary emotion, we took her lashing out as a sign that something struck a chord. Anyway, President wants us back again to teach this week. But I’m not sure if she’d be so happy to have us back, or to LISTEN. We don’t want to cause marital friction. Hmm…

I’ll definitely take and send pictures of our Thanksgiving activity. For ACTUAL Thanksgiving day, I think our district is going out to KFC or something. Yay for holidays on the mission haha

Love you TONS and TONSER,
Sister Uibel

FAMILY! Here comes a big email. You ready?

My goodness. So much going on. Where do I start? First of all, I’m very sorry to hear about Uncle Larry’s death. Please give everyone a giant hug and kiss for me at the funeral, and travel safely. Death is a strange thing as a missionary. You feel sad, but the sure knowledge that the Plan of Salvation is in motion, even this very moment, calms any raw, pained emotion. I’ll pray for the family extra hard this week.

JOHNO COMES HOME THIS FRIDAY!! I’ve been thinking about it all week, and telling the missionaries around me. They don’t seem as excited as I am, though I can’t imagine why. And here’s the funny thing. I was telling my *new* (gasp!) companions just yesterday that I thought about telling you to make a life-size cardboard cut-out of me to take to the airport. But I didn’t need to tell you; dad informed me about your plans to print out my picture to take to the airport! Ha! YAY! Send pictures immediately!! But you know that. Man, I love that little guy. I miss him so much and I’m SO proud of him. SO PROUD! Prouder than any older sister could be of a younger brother. Give him an EXTRA big bear-hug-that-will-knock-him-over-his-luggage for me. I also want pictures of my two beautiful sisters at their dance date! Dance dates are so much fun. But you have to dance at the dance. None of this standing in a circle-group off to one side of the room playing with cell phones. Put the stuff down and DANCE!

Well, would you like to know where in the world I am? Meh…is it REALLY that important as long as you know I’m in the Lord’s hands? Sadly, I am not opening a new Baltic village to the gospel as I wanted. But I AM in a place I have been before. Dad guesses Latvia, eh? Hmm…(Monty Python lethargic prince-son voice) Well I’ll tell you…

I. Am. In. VILNIUS.

Yes, that’s right. Vilnius, Lithuania. The Town of Past-Time Terror. The Field of my Former Freak-out. I’m even emailing at the SAME EXACT PLACE as I did almost a year ago. I think I’m even sitting in the same chair, facing the same furniture store on the second floor of this mall called Akropolis. However, they are NOT playing Taylor Swift’s “Last Christmas”. Yet.

AGH I’M IN VILNIUS! With Sister Hoggard (I served with her my last transfer in Riga) and Sister Stout from Maryland. She was baptized 3 years ago and kicked out by her family for attending BYU-I. She is a wonderful missionary, SO SWEET, and I’m excited to serve with her. Not going to lie–being here is still giving me a little heart attack. I keep getting smacked in the face with views of familiar contacting places, domes, stores, etc. The only difference now is that there’s no snow quite yet. BUT. Good news. We have a new apartment. The old, wooden, dark and depressing apartment is gone after a flood caused by the neighbors upstairs. We now have a much more modern, cozy, nice apartment on the OTHER side of the church. Instead of traveling home from the church to the left, we now go to the right, towards the sunset. I find it somewhat symbolic. I’m coming from a completely different Lizzie this time around. Er, Sister Uibel. It’s strange, because the majority of my district I’ve never served with before. I’m sad because I knew my old district REALLY well. They were some of my best friends on my mission. But now there’s getting used to different people, different faces, different senses of humor, etc. It’s a little stressful, but so has every new area been. The stress will leave soon.

I’m still getting over my sadness of leaving Tallinn. I REALLY didn’t want to, to be completely honest, but I had felt several days before transfer calls that it was going to happen. I cried quite a bit before leaving, during the travel down to Vilnius, and after arriving. But things are better now. I also feel a difference in myself that I can’t quite point out.

I made it through 3 “recovery” transfers in Riga, and then 4 amazing transfers in Tallinn that forced me to work harder than I had before that point. And I remember thinking to myself almost exactly a year ago: “IF I make it through this, IF I ever come back to Vilnius, I’m going to do it right.” And so I am. I’ve been contacting people more on the way than I have during any other time on my mission. I’m ready to get involved with the members and serve them and love them with all my heart. I’m ready to support our branch president and to help his wonderful wife accept the gospel (President Boswell told me in a personal email that that’s one of the reasons he sent me down here, to help the Spirit convert our president’s wife). At church yesterday several members recognized me, and I recognized all of them. Talk about deja vu.

And I LOVE missionary work! My mission has instilled in me a sense of urgency, we’ll call it, that will drive me to continue doing missionary work for the rest of my life. I will always be a missionary. And these last 3 transfers in Vilnius (I’m guessing that’s how my mission will end) will pass much more quickly than the first one did. And for that reason I’m going to work HARD! And I’m going to do it happily! And in a spirit of unity with my companions! And with hand warmers! I prayed for the president during transfer time to receive revelation as to where I should be put, because only an assignment from the Lord would make me accept a transfer from Tallinn to Vilnius.

Have a wonderful, EXCITING week! Oh, and dad. Nice work on the Russian. It was really good Russian. Google Translate keeps getting better and better nowadays. I’ll send more details and pictures as they come; I’ve seen a couple of promising graffiti sights that say “Calm Down!” and “Rigor Mortis”. Ha.

Sister Uibel

Hello again, family,

BA HA HAHAHA!! OH my goodness. Mom. Dad. LOVVVED the Halloween costumes! So creative! So well done! So Uibel! Wow. A+.

I can’t believe Johno goes home in 11 days. I think about it almost every day now. Not gonna lie, it makes me trunky. Bleck. Which is why I can’t wait for the change that’s coming up this week. TRANSFERS! Yay! And they’re gonna be huge. All the trainees must be separated from their trainers, which includes our entire district. I want to stay in Tallinn here for at least one more transfer, but I’m ready to have new companions. And a new district. New just helps the energy kick back up. Everything’s been the same for me for the past 3 transfers, sooo…yeah. Anyway, I’m really nervous. You’ll find out next week, of course, which country I’m in.

Last Friday we had a Halloween party! Scary room, bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving, costumes, etc. The works. I was REALLY praying for members and investigators to come, because we worked HARD on that thing. I made orange muffins with a brown sugar/cinnamon crunchy glaze on top. I’m becoming quite the little cookie cook Everyone loved them. I even made Anton and his friend Misha laugh really hard while they were eating them. It makes me so happy to realize that I can make teenage Russian boys laugh hard.

Anyway, more non-members than members came. And the non-members were the ones dressed up! And my companionship got 13 of them there! Woot! It went really well, and everyone enjoyed it. Several people told me that it was the first time they’d ever seen pumpkin carving before. So sad. I’ll have to send you some pictures of THAT fun thing. Yay!
Well, our one investigator Vadim (Vuh-DEEM) is still doing well. Came to church for the second time yesterday, and came to play sports with us today. He just doesn’t want to give up coffee or tea. -Sigh- So he needs a testimony. He’s a little slow at reading the Book of Mormon, but he’s a good guy.

Now that I think about it, I sometimes hope I get transferred to a new city. But not back to Riga. Or to Vilnius, even. I want to go in a zebra with the Estonian sisters in Parnu or open some new, random city! Come on, President! Lemme open a new city! Or go to Jelgava in Latvia where the Russian elders just opened a transfer ago! I got a lot of pictures yesterday with branch members just in case. Agh! I wonder what will happen!

Well, what else? Oh! I’m so glad that you sent me a picture of pregnant little Jessie! I was hoping I’d get one of those before the baby came! She doesn’t even look that pregnant, either. I’m ok with having my kids take violin from her. Shoot, I MYSELF kind of want to take violin from her.

Well darling dearest family, I love you tons. Stay healthy. Stay close to the Spirit. Pray for me to stay focused, because WOW is it hard when the work is slow and your brother goes home next week. But I only have 3 transfers left, so it’ll go fast. Love you like my Latvian companion loves crab on her toast-and-too-much-butter for breakfast.

Hugs and kisses from Tallinn, Estonia (maybe the last time?!)

Sister Uibel

Hi family!

Well, it’s officially Fall. Actually, it’s been officially Fall for a few weeks. It’s been misting all day. Not raining, but misting. Little annoying.

I’m back from Parnu! And it was amazing. I loved it so much, I called my zone leaders and asked for an extension.

>Elizabeth spent three days in the coastal town of Parnu working with other Sisters.

Tee hee. I didn’t know if they ever granted extensions, but they gave me one! I was there from Monday evening until Thursday morning.

I almost didn’t want to leave. Amazing what a new place and fresh faces can do for you. Also had some fun experiences, like the Elders being chased at night through a forest by a group of 8-10 Russian men. I wonder where I’ll go after this transfer. There’s still a month left; I don’t know if I want to stay in Tallinn after that or not. Hmm. I think I’d rather have 2 transfers in Vilnius, not 3.

We watched General Conference this weekend! I understand the Russian SO much more than I did last April. Made me happy. It was a little disappointing, though. Only 3 women came to the Relief Society broadcast. There were more missionaries (7) than members for the second session. Yesterday for the 3rd session a TON of people came, because conference was scheduled during normal church hours. Afterwards, we missionaries fed both branches. Chili, cornbread, apple crisp and apple cider, and salad. And then for some dumb reason they all LEFT afterward, not staying for the 4th session! -Sigh- So once again, there were more missionaries than members for the 4th session. We’ll watch the final session next Sunday. President Monson is so funny. All the talks about technology and youth and spreading news of the church made me think about Becca and Rachel.

Oh! Crazy story! So yesterday between sessions, as our branches were eating and mingling together, the church news program was playing. Wasn’t watching at all until I glanced at the TV and saw DAD SPEAKING! AAAGHH! I practically dropped my food! I said “AGH! That’s my Dad!” People in the room were a little startled and said “What?” I pointed again and started jumping up and down, like a mature adult. “That’s my dad! That’s him!” All the members and some missionaries hurried around the TV with me and asked me what was going on (with the whole Jerusalem set thing). SO SO cool! So several members and missionaries got to see you, dad! Made me homesick for about 5 minutes haha I just kept staring at the TV, waiting for you to come on again. Very cool.

Johno! Transfers! It’s your last one! Holy cow, that’s weird. I didn’t believe you until I thought about it. Yes, only 6 weeks left. OH! That reminds me of another weird connection. So there’s a less active member here who lives about an hour outside of Tallinn. In about a month she’ll be making another of her regular trips to visit her daughter’s family in AMERICAN FORK, UTAH. Yeah. I was a little shocked. Anyway, she asked the missionaries if there was anything she could take home for us. Ha. Would you like to meet a Russian less active from Tallinn, Estonia? Actually, I don’t think I really have anything for her to take home, so you probably won’t meet her. But what a small world, eh? I asked for the daughter’s name to see if we new them, but the elders didn’t know.

I’m glad Grandma and Grandpa Uibel got my letter! I hope that means Grandpa Uibel and Anita did, too. I’m finishing up Granny’s letter today, too.

I love you family, so so much. I pray for your health and safety every night, and for that of the grandparents too. Keep up the wonderful Uibel work! You’re all amazing! I’m going to go home now, and take a nap..

<3 Sister Uibel

HI FAMILY!

Man, the Jerusalem set keeps getting cooler and cooler. Well, it’s probably all done, but the filming makes it cool. President and Sister Boswell were up here yesterday and told me that they looked it up the other day. “Saw your dad on the internet!” Yeah, I’m pretty proud

Mom–Did you tell me that you teach Primary now? I don’t think you ever told me your new calling, because reading about your primary class was news to me. Ha. You probably DID tell me like a normal person, and in my P-day Daze it went in one eye and out the other. That’s a weird visual.

I’m going to be a little sporadic in this email. Maybe that will make it more fun to read, and it’s easier for me to type.

I have only missed about 5 days of journal writing on my mission! Dad asked me about keeping a journal. Come on, this is LIZZIE you’re talking to. When have I not kept a journal? Anyway, often times I can see how a situation or an experience will be used in the future. I don’t know, but it’s not that hard for me to see how certain things give me needed knowledge and experience. And then I make a mental note: “Oh. Ha. Yep, gonna use THAT later on when my kids act this way…” or “If this certain thing is hard in the future, I can remember how I handled things TODAY and how it wasn’t really that bad…” It’s crazy. Car-azy. My diligence has improved, too. When we do nightly planning, a 3- or 4-hour knocking party is not a big deal anymore. It used to be difficult, but it’s gotten so much better. Thanks to prayer. Thanks to awesome companions. Thanks to support from family and friends back home. And the biggest thanks to my Heavenly Father who knows exactly what’s hard for me and how I feel, but allows me to experience hardship anyway because it’s making me squeaky clean.

Mom, you’re making me hungry with all this talk of foccacia bread and arancini! I thought I was doing well in the cooking department until yesterday when the Estonian elders told us that they often make roast. And chicken parmesan. And all these other $35 plates. And then they asked if I had any good recipes. I told them about my favorite cereal.

My health is pretty much 97% better. There’s always a fatigue factor, but that’s normal. Yay for not having to go to an Estonian hospital! They look way sketchy from the outside.

So yesterday we had a somewhat depressing evening. On Friday a family contacted US after we got off the bus. They said “We’ve seen you for a while and want to join your church. We just want to know more about God.” Um, yeah, sure. I guess we could help with that (major sarcasm). They took a Book of Mormon and a brochure. We got their number. Yesterday we called to make an evening appointment at the church. They agreed to 7pm. At 7:20 they were nowhere to be seen, so we called them. This was the discussion:

“Hello?”
“Hello, is this Vladimir?”
-Hang up-

When we called again, they had turned their phone off. So they probably looked up wrong information on the internet or a friend told them something bad about us. Gah! I despise misinformation. With a passion. For the rest of my life I will never pass on information unless I know it’s absolutely true, and I won’t accept information unless it’s from the SOURCE. Blarg ahrgdjsa gahdfd. Also, we got 3 numbers on Saturday night. All from drunk men, but we take what we can get here in Eastern Europe. Anyway, called them. One was a wrong number (I figured he was too drunk to tell us the right one). One never answers. And a wife answers at the third number, saying that she can’t understand a word we’re saying and she never wants to meet. And we went knocking that night, only to be rejected in several colorful, Russian ways. But, as I wrote in my journal, we all had a surprisingly good attitude. That’s another thing I’ve learned on a mission – letting disappointment and hurt just kind of roll off my back. I’m still not wonderful at it, but I’ve gotten better.

-Phew!- Well, I love you family! I still can’t keep up with the engagements and the marriages. Weird. I love you and miss you so much! Johno comes home soon! I’m sure this is an obvious statement, but I WANT PICTURES OF THE AIRPORT HOMECOMING. Make him a sign for me. And some balloons. But you don’t really have to MAKE the balloons.

Loves loves loves!
Sister Uibel

P.S. Oh. You’re probably still wondering where I am. This transfer was a quiet one — almost no change on the Russian side of things. I’m still with Sister Hanks, even after training her for 2 transfers (which is uncommon). Still in Tallinn. This transfer is a week longer than usual, so I’ll be here until at least the first week of November. Yay!

Hi Family!

Well, this weekend hasn’t been that productive because I’ve been very sick. Ick. It came on almost suddenly, at 2:30am Friday morning. I had enough strength to go to the branch activity on Saturday, but yesterday was just DEATH. I had a temperature of 103. Mmhmm. Kind of exciting. Sister Boswell said that it sounded like the same sickness that’s been going around the mission. I feel a little better today–been out and about–but I’m still keeping things…calm? Low-key? I don’t know what the English word/phrase is. But dad, while I was at the height of my fever, I kept having anxiety about something we once talked about a few years ago—the feeling of something reeeally really big next to something miniscule. I can’t recreate the feeling when I feel normal, but it’s awfully uncomfortable when it’s there. Haha. Had another dream about seeing 6 or 7 tornadoes in Utah valley from our house again.

Tell Amber I LOVE HER and YES, I did get her letter a couple of weeks ago. And I loved it! And I miss her so much! And I hope she remembers me, because I’m coming home in 4 transfers! Speaking of transfers, the next one is this week. I think I’ve already told you all, but I really don’t want to leave Tallinn quite yet. Especially since my last Sunday here I didn’t even see the members because I was home sick. I’m not ready! I think Sister Hanks will go down to Riga. Sister Schneidere and I will stay up here, and another Russian sister will come up as well (Sister Schneidere will most likely leave on her mission during this next transfer, so I need another companion). Tell you about it next week, I guess.

We’ve had a lot of miracles lately, and a lot of annoyances. Typical mission, I suppose. Miracles: Random people keep calling, asking when our church services start, and then they actually COME! By themselves! Or they show up to Relief Society just because they found one of our cards, and had ridden public transportation for 1 1/2 hours to find the building. Or 20-y-o young men who look like death metal rockers contact the elders and say they’ve watched General Conference talks on YouTube and are ready to “take the challenge” and read the Book of Mormon. In 10 days. Yeah, all true stories. We learned at our last zone conference that 15% of the Baltic Mission baptisms come from “miracles” like that.

I’d tell you about our investigators, but…WE HAVE NONE! Yeah, younger Anton got baptized. And our other investigator who didn’t show up to his baptism has dropped off the face of the planet. No idea where he is. We’ve finally got a new English class FULL of new people — about 10 or 12 — so there are some possibilities there.

Well, for the branch activity we didn’t end up going to an island. No more ferry tickets left. But we went to the woods/beach. Yeah, these great campgrounds come up about 10 feet away from the beach. It was SO BEAUTIFUL! And even more amazing was that, as the members told us, “Finland is 50 miles that way. And Sweden is just 50 miles over there.” Played volleyball on the beach…took great pictures…roasted meat…played card games and tag…it was wonderful. Pretty cold and windy, but very fun. I sat down most of the time because I was sick, but I got some great pictures.

Glad to hear about Grandpa and Anita and how some ward members came to the set! MAN I wanna see that thing live! I’ve got some pictures for Grandpa and Anita, Granny, and for Grandma and Grandpa Covington. Now I just gotta get organized and write the letters during my free time. I pray for them nightly Sister Lamar stayed with me last night while the others took a break from being inside and went to go visit less actives. We talked about all the benefits of being on a mission and about all the things we’ve learned. Holy cow! It’s a big list. Before I decided to serve, I remember thinking “Whatever can be learned ON a mission can be learned OUTSIDE a mission. The difference is just the pace.” Buuut I don’t think that’s as true anymore. I might have learned the things I know now 50 years from now. I am ALL FOR MISSIONS now. It’s weird.

Well family, I love you tons! Keep up the good work! Don’t stress out over school! Or work! Know I love all of you SO SO much!

Oodles of mushy love (ew),
Sister Uibel