Nicaragua 2

Well I am not so sure what to write today - just another week of a

beautiful work. I´ve got my struggles - plenty to work on - but I´ve
already seen how the Lord has helped me to become stronger. This is a
lesson of patience mostly right now haha. So one question I got.. what
do we eat? Pretty much carbs and some sort of fruit juice. It´s funny,
you´ll have a meal of beans, rice, bread, and they will also give you
tortillas. Bread is my favorite thing here though - super delicious.
They have these things called Picos that they don´t even have in other
Central American countries and they are to die for. My goal is to
learn how to make them so I am not depressed when I return to the
states where they are not. What else have I noticed here.. well first
off, whole families will ride one motorcycle at a time - I just saw
one pass by with a dad driving, a kid on his lap, his wife behind him,
holding a toddler. Also, few people can say my name. ¨Hermana.....
Como??¨ as in, what? How do you say that? hahah. So far I have many
apellidos (last names): Rickstine, Ristin, Ramstein, Rizstein, Rizzin,
Erippestein and more.

We have another baptism this weekend, her name is Anali and she is
older and a very nice, classy lady. She really just is at peace and it
is great to see the gospel bloom within her life. Next weekend (or the
one after? I´m unsure.. everyone speaks in spanish here hahah) we will
be doing baptisms in the ocean. It is a first for Leon and it will be
verrry cool to see. We have a couple that may be getting baptised
then, but we will first be having a wedding for them. Pretty awesome.

The members are good here, you can really tell a difference in their
lives versus other folks. They are just at peace and happy and really
have a strong hope and happiness about the future. The spirit really
does make a difference in the lives of people, as well as within our
lessons and success as missionaries. If the spirit is not there, you
cannot do anything. You come to learn real quick that not much else
matters if you haven´t prepared an atmosphere in which the Lord can
teach. That is the real quest. When you do that, and when you are
obedient to His commandments, the Lord shows you the way and can help in many ways that you may not think possible. I love it! Welll, talk
to you later!

First Pictures from the Field!

Courtney sent these pictures last week, and being a little slow, I (Mom) just realized I should post them. I'm guessing at the labels as she just sent them as files--hopefully she will qualify them in a future email. I will correct them as needed. The story of the first baptism served as a memorable one for Hna. Rippstein. Apparently, the girl was terrified of putting her face in the water, and subsequently required many tries....Eventually, success!

Tania, First Baptism in Leon, Nicaragua--the first Saturday Hna. Rippstein was there.

Biggest Cathedral in Leon, Nicaragua

Hnas. Rippstein and Platero

Kittens that share the house Courtney lives in

Courtney's first "home" in Leon, Nicaragua

p.s. OK, so I have now corrected the labels on these pics as directed by today's email from Courtney. Hopefully I got everything right!

NICARAGUA 1

Mon, August 23, 2010 5:03:05 PM

Well first things first.. I´m in Nicaragua. Yes, I´m alive. And yes, I
already have great tanlines. It was very hard for me leaving my
friends and familiarity and other things but they don´t really matter
right now. My focus is the mission at hand. Right now I am in Leon. My
companion´s name is Hna Platero, from El Salvador. I live with a
grandma, her granddaughter, and her adopted niece. The granddaughter,
Elbita, is a HOOT! A lot of personality in one tiny package haha. We
have pets too - 2 cats, a parrot, and after 5 days in the area I
discovered we also have baby kittens. Love it! The weather here is
like Houston, except it doesn´t rain as often, and it doesn´t rain as
hard. Turns out that I know the son of my ward´s bishop, from the CCM.
His son went to Retalhuleu, with the rest of my district. It´s pretty
cool cuz he was the Nicaraguan who I said looked like uncle Spencer. I
always called him Elder Tio - its pretty cool how even though I´m in
Nicaragua, the world is still small hahaha. I really don´t know what
to write about so if anyone has questions, feel free to ask my mom to
send them to me :)

Well, I do real missionary work now with real people. I have also
begun brainstorming about a few ways we can step up the organization
of the wards and meetings and missionary program here, and I´m excited
to move forward with a few ideas and activities. My self-esteem about
my spanish has risen a little bit after talking to the elders that
were in Provo for 9 weeks. I feel a bit more prepared hahah but at the
same time I don´t understand much. There is a lot of talking done
through my expressions and my hands hahaha. But that is okay. All I
have to do is be obedient, create an atmosphere wherein the spirit can
teach, and then the Lord will take care of the rest. I have gained a
new level of gratitude and humility after being in a 3rd world country
- I have no reason to complain about anything. I am very thankful to
have been born into the circumstances I was and to have the
opportunities that I have. I have also gained a testimony of patient
diligence - paciligencia (No, its not a real word) and the fruits of
that combined with faith. The Lord wants us to be successful.

By the way - a shout out of congrats at the weddings of John Gregory,
Tash Reeves, and their spouses! Felicitaciones!

Yours forever,
Hna Courtney Rippstein

Mom's Update....

Courtney went into Nicaragua this past Monday (August 16). We waited all week hoping to hear from her, but I'm sure she was super busy getting settled, adjusted, and started. Finally, on Friday we received a phone call from Nicaragua. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, actually!), nobody answered the phone and so we got a message on the answering machine. (This was fortunate because we can all listen to it over and over and try to understand the whole message!) I'm pretty sure the message was from Courtney's Mission President's wife. She says she doesn't speak English very well. That combined with the poor quality of the message make it hard to get the total message. However, we DID understand the critical parts--Courtney is safely in Nicaragua now and Sis. Arredondo (I think that is her name) promised they are going to take good care of her! Not that I had any doubts about that, but as a mom it is reassuring to hear. The message also said something about "Monday" and that "it" would make Courtney happy, so I'm hoping that she was telling us that Mondays are Courtney's p-days. That said, hopefully we'll hear from her TOMORROW! The important thing is she has arrived in her official mission FINALLY and is beginning the next phase of her adventure--the MISSION FIELD at last! I will post her update as soon as I get it. In the meantime, thanks for keeping her in your prayers and if you ever have a few minutes and would like to drop her a line, I know she would LOVE it!

Guatemala FINAL

Wed., August 11, 2010

So... I become a full-blown missionary in like what.. 5 days? Weird.
It is strange to think of entering the mission field. Like it hasn't
exactly hit me yet. But it will. Earlier this week I hadn't wanted to
go out just yet. I just wanted to stay here for a week or two more.
Which is strange to me but yea. Then, we went and did street contacts
again. Im not as far as others in my Spanish but I am still doing good
at a great rate. I didn't think I was as far as I was till I went and
did these contacts. My problem - and I know this is weird and against
the usual norm, but I am weird and against the usual norm I guess haha
- is that I can speak much better than I can understand. I can
generally get across an idea that I need to, but my problem was that
when people speak, it's like a whole long word of no understanding.
But when we did contacts, I could pretty much understand most of what
was said and actually contribute more this time. I don't know if we
touched anyone's souls that day, but at least to me it was a
confirmation that I am ready for the field.

As much as I don't know, I don't believe I could learn much more from
this place. It is time to move on to the next phase. And I'll be going
to a new country again! It will be interesting to see the differences.
I know I am ready and that now is the time to move on to the next
thing and to begin to help real people instead of fake practice
investigators. Kind of scary at the same time but I know that if I
continue to follow the Lord then He will direct my paths, so long as I
do my part.

gtg bye

Guatemala!...whatever week this is

Note: Courtney goes to Nicaragua on Monday, August 16, 2010.

Okay so let me start this one off right by saying HAPPY
ANNIVERSARY!!!!! .. to all celebrating but mainly my parents and my
bestie, INGA! Congrats, you made it again! haha. Also, belated
birthdays - because i'm so awful - to Inga and to Aunt Annette and
Kerri. As well as feliz cumpleanos to my dear Nana! and aunt Ali and
Morgan.

Well I can finally say that the times that I feel like I have to make
sure my cell phone is on silent when we're doing something spiritual
is almost gone. I think I only get the feeling like once or twice a
week now. Hahah. Thought yall might get a kick out of that. Things are
great at the CCM as always - crazy schedules, crazy responsibilities
with my new calling, but hey it's all good. It's an experience for
sure!

Last week we went to the mercado, which is like this underground 4
level market where you can get all kinds of goodies. It was
interesting, as well as was the ancient ruin museum we went to and
this huge carved relief map of Belize and Guatemala. It was just good
to have a field trip I think. Nothing too exciting, but it felt good.
We did walk in a mall then too, which was a nicer mall than any i've
been to in the states, and that was totally strange. Now that Im
feeling totally hip and out of fashion.... just kidding haha it was
weird being in a place like that again though. My favorite part of the
day was when we were bussing out there, all of the sudden we ran into
this HUGE street party and the cars had to go around it and there were
like these Latino clowns EVERYWHERE. It was cool and kind of creepy at
times. Hna Roney was like, 'This is the BEST day of my life!' hahah it
was just awesome. They had like a marching band and all sorts of stuff
and the mission president had no idea what it was soooooo we just
figure it's some sort of clown festival? No idea, but it was exciting.
I was enthused haha.

Because of lack of real different news guess what?? There are Latino
versions of a lot of ppl here that really makes me smile sometimes.
There is a Latino uncle Spencer - who I call Elder Tio - elder uncle -
which is pretty sweet. He is about 2 feet shorter however haha. Then
there is a Latina Shannon - which is totally weird and uncanny. She
looks exactly the same, but she's a Latina version. Its intense. Then
there are also some that remind me a lot of old roommates Ive had.
Then there is a North American - that's what we are called down here -
elder who is like an LDS version of my friend Ian, and there are two
elders that are like my companion and I. Except, hers is a little bit
more goofy and mine is a little less weird than I am. Anyways, just
thought Id bring that up.

Anyways my district is improving a lot and we are learning more about
many things every day. My spanish is improving, when I remember to
push myself. My problem is I can do anything, so long as I can get
past my first hurdle which is myself. I have to have a motivation to
improve myself by my own means, not by anyone else. Life is simple,
it's just not easy. Life can be hard. Confusion is hard. Lack of
knowledge, motivation, and/or inspiration is hard. It is difficult at
times to continue on to the next things. But that is what we have to
do. And that is what we can do. And the Lord is with us every step of
the way - he reaches our reaching. With God, opportunities are for
everyone, we just have to reach for it. All the help we need is
already out there - we just need to recognize it and realize we need
to make the decision to apply it. Anyways - gotta run on to the next
big thing :)

Yours forever - Hna Rippstein

Okay so this week has been crazy! My comp and I were just called to be
coordinating sisters over all the hermanas in the CCM. They will be
getting the biggest group ever here, and it is our responsibility -
well, one of them - to figure out where they will be staying. they
arrive tomorrow. Intense. This calling was only just created and I
look forward to the opportunity to use my major for something actually
important. It´s going to be an interesting ride.

Also, starting after this email, I begin to speak only spanish for the
next 16 or so months. I´m constantly surprising myself with what I can
remember and such. I mean, I can actually formulate sentences!! I can
teach in spanish! The harder part for me is hearing and understanding.
I have a problem with hearing - i´m going to ask the doc to take a
look at my ears next time he´s here haha.

Mom, I want to tell you I eat all of my vegetables at every meal.
Okay.. except when it´s beets. I hate those. But even cooked
vegetables I eat, which is amazing to me. Course we´re supposed to
completely clear our plates as a mission rule, but still. Idk what
they put on them but they aren´t completely discusting the way they
make them I guess! Also they have these juiceboxes that have liquid
yogurt - Likigurt they are called - that I absolutely love!! My fave
flavor is apple haha. The food is actually reaallly good. I had steak
yesterday for the first time and it was grand.

To those of you with challenges out there - I want you to know that
the Lord loves you and although things may seem bleak, you can get
through this. 1 Nep chapter 3 verse 7. He will provide a way. He loves
you and he does have a plan for you. This too shall pass and I know
that you are strong. I love you all and I am always a Dear Elder or
letter away. My love and prayers are with you, even if I don´t have
much time to write letters and such. Know that all things are for your
own experience and shall be for thy good. The work is good. Keep your
testimony strong!! LOVE

hna rippstein