Another Wedding, and the Baptisms Continue...

Mon, October 25, 2010 4:43:28 PM

Just a few snapshots from the "lighter side" of Courtney's life:

Ever the party girl, Hna. Rippstein helps celebrate

Hna. Platero's birthday a week or so ago!

Fruit is becoming a favorite food--and this papaya

is huuuuuge, she says!

Anyone who knows Courtney knows that she loves Disney

almost as much as she loves her real family! So, she has been

pleasantly surprised that Disney seems to be a fave in

Nicaragua, too--and is, as she says, "everywhere."

The companions--Hnas. Rippstein and Platero

Now the weekly update, in her words:

Well, we had another wedding and two baptisms this weekend which was pretty dang swell. This family just makes me so happy. The spirit and happiness that emanates from their home is intoxicating. I love it. As missionary as it sounds, the spirit is always so strong with them. 3 have been baptized, then these two, and we are working with 3 more from the family as well. This week we also met Johan, a young adult hand-prepared by God for this message. This is what he has been waiting for, searching for. We answer the questions he brings to our lessons without even knowing it beforehand. This is an answer to prayers. I love our discussions with him.. he is full of questions and a thirst to learn. He has a very powerful story, too personal to share here, but I can tell you that the Lord saved him and encircled him about in His arms and brought him here in this moment, right now for a reason. And I can’t express how blessed I feel to be able to be a part of this experience and work. The spirit of God is an amazing thing, and I hope ya’ll don’t forget it! (me too!)

Also, this week a family of investigators asked me to pray in English. I was like.. YES! In my mind and was excited for the opportunity, but when it came time I just.. couldn’t pray in English! Ha. I couldn’t think of words or where to go and I still used a few Spanish words on accident-- hahaha. If this is how I am right now I shudder to think how lost I will be in 14 months.. It was just ridiculous. Also today we are in normal clothes out in public (usually we just stay at the church or something) and it feels really weird. I feel different. I think I may have a little bit of a rough restart when I come home hahaha.

OK my thought of the day.. these things have kind of come up in the last week with situations here amongst the people. Here goes.. okay, so I figure the Lord has something for us to learn, and when we choose to ignore his promptings and the things we know we should do, sometimes He has to resort to teaching us by experience because we denied what would have been real wisdom. Whatever our reasons were, they don’t seem to matter when we come to that devastating moment of regret for not acting when we should have. It’s like Elder Holland said, Whatever we were thinking, we weren’t thinking of Christ. Every Sunday we pledge to take upon ourselves His name and promise to always remember Him. Could you imagine Christ doing all the same things you do every day? What do you think He´d do different? All of us, no matter where we are or who we are or what we are doing, need to work a little harder at remembering Him. Let’s together work a little harder at being a little better. Someday we will have to account to Jesus Christ what we have done with His name. I hope that day I will not feel pain because of the way I lived my life and the things I did.

Freedom of choice brings responsibilities for our choices. Our choices ALWAYS affect something else. And we never know how soon it will be too late. If you´ve made a mistake, seek to fix it! If it is a big mistake or seems outside your ability to control, go to one of the many fine bishops of the church. I promise they can help and that God wants to be able to help you. The next step is yours. Trust your bishops. They can help you. Go to them; don’t let pride (in any form) keep you away. I am not saying this because I am a missionary or a goody two shoes Mormon or because I want you to get caught or win some battle or to take sides with parents. I am saying this because in the past I lived how I wanted to, I did things I am not proud of, and I suffered the consequences of my choices. And it was hard, but eventually I did go to a bishop for help, and he helped me. I am also saying this because it is true. The counsel with bishops (in whatever thing) has helped countless people who believed they were stuck or lost causes, who didn´t know of any attainable solution. It has also helped to avoid even greater pain that would have followed if actions had persisted. That is why bishops are here. I know they are called of God to be there to help and serve each of you. And you can trust in that.

Don´t become a lost cause. Don’t let anything stand in your way and put off true happiness for any amount of time. As part of the plan the Lord has for us, we´ll experience trials and sorrows and we will make mistakes. But we can also repent and be forgiven, which is a gift from the Lord. He suffered so we would not have to. The pain we feel is unnecessary and with His help we can move past it. Don’t let your mistakes define who you are. Don’t let them defile the name you have taken upon you. It is only too late if you think it is. Never allow your agency to be compromised in any manner. We cannot function the way the Lord needs us if we are not worthy or obedient to His commandments. The ONLY reason we have commandments is because He loves us and truly wants our happiness. You do have the option of breaking them if you want. You can. It is your choice. But I promise there is not much down that road, only artificial, temporary happiness. The world often thinks our beliefs are outdated, unpopular and even impossible. The world cannot see past its own nose. It cannot see the ultimate blessings. Only by letting go of the world can we truly possess what is real. Sure it can be a daunting task. Faith must be sought after and developed; it is not free, given without thought, action or choice. But TRUST in the Lord! Seek it! Like our other choices in life, we are responsible for finding and building faith, and we are also responsible for not having it. Life won’t turn out exactly the way we expect. Life is the way it is. It is how you handle it that makes the difference. With faith we can overcome whatever obstacles are put in our way, honestly! Choose faith over pessimism, doubt and other dampers of spirit. Refocus your view on what matters most and do something good with His name. You have more power than you know.

A Platero Cumpleanos

Mon, October 18, 2010 4:20:54 PM

So first off.... HAPPPPPYYYYYY BIIIIRRRRTHDAYYYYYYY FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS KYYYLLLLEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.. of course I didn’t forget :)

So this week is Platero week. Hna. P’s birthday is today and so I am not going to lie, I have been living well as well hahahaha. We have had gifts and super good food and already 3 cakes.. There will be another tonight. I was caked out after the first but it is all good. It is really nice it is for her to be in this area for her birthday because she has been here forever haha. But anyways.. Wish her happy birthday from the States! She turns 25! Also... I celebrated my 4 month mark on the mission, and my half birthday is Wednesday. Feel free to send gifts ;)

Also want to take a minute to talk to all of you out there who have problems. Especially within the family relationships. It is my opinion that you can solve most problems with communication.. so many families and relationships dissolve because of issues that could have been resolved much earlier. All they need is just a little more communication; to talk about things and work together to resolve issues instead of bad actions that just degrade the relationship and prolong unhappiness. First, I’m going to suggest what preach my gospel says - paraphrased - which is a companionship inventory. This is especially useful when you are around someone a lot, like a roommate or spouse. Begin with prayer - I suggest asking for guidance, an open heart and to be prepared to take constructive criticism. Discuss the strength of your relationship with your companion. Discuss any challenges that may be keeping your relationship from being unified or whatever other challenges you’re having. Resolve conflicts (gonna touch more on this later). Share with your companion what you think his or her strengths are. Ask for suggestions on how you can improve... and don’t only ask for advice. Take it and utilize it as well. If needed, set goals that will improve your relationship. Conclude with prayer.

So how does one just resolve a conflict? First, identify your problem and unmet needs. Describe your problem and needs in a non-attacking way. During this part, reveal as much as possible of RELEVANT thoughts and feelings. These can help more than you know. Every person is different, believe it or not. Don’t take for granted that they must know how you feel. A big problem is that you can have two people that are screaming their opinions and everything at each other (openly or not) but both are on different wavelengths. The person is more likely to understand why things are going the way they are if you explain; you will be more open with each other, and you will grow closer because you expressed it. Then actually consider your partner’s point of view. Do not blow it off or assume it is wrong just because it isn’t your way of doing things, because it is very real to them and by doing that, you would just make things worse. Focus on the WHY - why they may feel the way they feel. It is actually possible that in all of this, you may have to change a little bit. Negotiate a solution with that person that you BOTH honestly agree is in the best interests of all, and, most importantly, follow up on that solution. I guarantee you’ll have a much better chance of solving the problem at hand.

Any relationship of any depth will have conflict. Are you going to keep it clean or dirty? If the conflict is handled dirtily, it won’t help anything even if you do ´win´. The contentious conflict could, given the time, destroy the relationship. When the conflict is clean and you work together it can strengthen your relationship and help it grow. If there is no potential positive outcome of the fight, then there is no point. Another helpful thing to do is use I language, as in me-I not seeing-eye. For example, use ´I feel this..´ instead of ´you are, you this, you that’. ‘ You’ language is attacking, a language of judgment, and usually all you’ll get in response is a defensive reaction. ‘ I’ language is less conflicting and hey guess what? Your perception of other people and what they do is flawed so by using ‘you’ language, the entire statement is flawed ‘cuz it’s from your point of view. What you see is NOT always (and usually isn’t) what is going on. You know yourself more, making ‘I’ language the superior decision.

Remember when dealing with conflict, you are dealing with people. We have free agency, which means that other people can make decisions that affect you. How will you handle it? Sometimes all you get is the peace that comes from knowing you’ve done everything you could. ´Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.´ Remember, anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. The Lord has a purpose in requiring us to overcome challenges. The Lord can help us in anything if we have faith in Him. I love you all!

Birthday Cake: There is a tradition in Nicaragua that after the song and all, the birthday person takes a bite out of the uncut cake. Since it was Hna. Platero's birthday, this is her first bite....

Of course, being friends as well as companions,

the cake eventually gets shared....

Another cake for Hna. Platero. All in all, there were either three or

four cakes in celebration of Hna. Platero's birthday.

Happy 25!! (And Happy Half-Birthday to Courtney on Oct. 20).

Anita (a baptism from about 6 weeks or so ago)'s other daughter

is getting married and baptized!

Courtney's not sure what this spiky fruit is called, but it tastes

like grapes, she says. Even though she doesn't know

what it's called, it's one of her favorite fruits....

The spiky fruit has a huge pit in the middle that you can't eat.

The picture does make you wonder about the texture of the fruit, huh?

Courtney and some "delicious food". The marks on her shirt are

apparently from the "gasiosa"--what they call soda in Nicaragua....

"I have a fan cuz it's hot"....

Walking by Faith

Mon, October 11, 2010 5:27:37 PM

This week we baptized a teenager named Alexandra. When we first met with her we promised that if she did all of her part, she would be ready to be baptized on the 16th. Things were going well and she had a lot of hope but then issues happened with her family. They wouldn´t allow her to be baptized in the church and a lot of other stuff like that. Then later she cancelled all of this week before her date for other reasons and stuff and though we had an appt with her for Friday, we had eliminated her in our minds as a valid option for this Saturday. We were more thinking.. someday soon maybe then, and we had forgotten the promise we´d made. Friday she didn´t have time for a lesson and an interview so our district leader Elder Clark went ahead and interviewed her. And still at this time I had no idea what was going on - after all, it was all in Spanish. I thought that he was just touching base with her to see if we would be able to continue to have lessons with her. Up till about the last 5 minutes of the interview, it wasn´t happening. Then they prayed and guess what? She got her answer. She was to be baptized at 2 o´clock the next day; we were so excited and peaceful at the same time, humbled cuz the Lord taught us a lesson - to have faith in Him and the fact that He fulfills promises. He had prepared her just in time to be baptized. But then.. the baptism was cancelled and postponed for the next day. I wondered why the Lord would have it that way.. one day off? I settled that maybe it was just His will and perhaps it was just the being ready, not actually the ordinance itself. So we go off to other investigators, kind of bummed a little bit but still feeling good that she would be baptized Sunday. We had just made an appt with one of our other investigators when one of our ward missionaries comes running up ¨Hermanas! Alexandra is in the church right now and so is Mosiah! (<-- the teen to baptize her) It´s time to baptize right now!´ (In Spanish of course). And so we run to the church, put together a program with the youth that were there for mutual, and she was baptized. On the 16th. Lesson 2. I felt bad for forgetting the Lord.. a second time. He works in mysterious ways, always with purpose. I am thankful for His patience in me and for the opportunity to be taught every day.

Today I´m going to talk just a second about faith. Yes, you´ve probably heard it all, but oh well. Tough cookies. Go Facebook or something if you don´t want to hear it. We´ve been teaching many who are waiting for a sign to be baptized. This reminds me of something I heard in the MTC, talking about Jesus Christ, ´He asked me to come to the edge, and I wouldn´t. He asked me again to come to the edge, and I still wouldn´t. He asked me to come to the edge once more, and I did. And He pushed me. And I flew.´ There are many things we´ve learned about faith this week. None of it is new, but it has given us a new level of testimony in this principle. Faith is a principle of action. We know through the scriptures that testimonies don´t come until after a test of our faith (Ether 12:6). There are many scriptures and words of prophets that testify of this. So what are we waiting for? We have to act according to our faith so that the Lord can trust us with His mysteries - so that we can receive personal revelation and be guided in our difficulties. The Lord will help us, but do you think He should just reveal everything to someone who won´t even do anything to seek Him?

We are saved by the grace of God, but only after we have done everything we can do (1 Nephi 25:23), not through our words only or stagnant belief. And so I hope to encourage those out there to not just wait for things to come your way. Acting in faith is like a catalyst for bringing happiness faster. And we are that we might have joy. Most of the time we probably aren´t going to realize all the things the Lord´s done for us until afterwards. I know that if we walk by faith and trust in the promises the Lord has given us, the Lord will bless us beyond what we can comprehend. And after you receive an answer, trust the Lord. He will see it through.

Love you all!

Alexandra and her "Hermanas"

Hna. Platero, Alexandra, Hna. Rippstein, & Mosiah

Hnas. Platero & Rippstein, Alexandra & Mosiah, and ???

Courtney likes her fruit?!! (Someone should tell her it

tastes better if it's peeled and cored first....)

Conferencia General

Mon, October 4, 2010 6:01:45 PM

1st things 1st - I am in Leon and so is my companion Hna Platero. She will have served the entire first half of her mission here in Leon this transfer. Who knows how long I will be here? hahaha. I’m okay with that though. I am also glad that we can just continue on with the work here instead of having to readjust to a new companion and teaching style. Also it doesn’t hurt that we get along!

So we watched the women’s broadcast but it was in Spanish so you can imagine how much I got out of it. They never translate the music though so it was funny with a whole chapel of women standing to sing and not being able to ‘cuz they don’t understand the words on the screen. Pretty sure I was the only one singing! It was thrilling for me haha. This week I was praying a lot that by some miracle I could understand something out of general conference. I was pretty bummed at the idea that my first conference would be beyond my reach. But guess what? My prayers were answered! YES, they work! Now the Lord did not grant me a perfect understanding of Spanish, but we were able to watch the conference in English! Which turns out to be better anyways because there is much lost in translation.

Anyways, I knew that as a missionary conference was going to be great but I didn’t really understand just how much. The first session of conference blew my mind. Many prayers were answered, it seemed tailored for me, and I could not take enough notes. Also, it didn't hurt that both Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Holland spoke, and they are my favorites to hear from. My favorite talks of the session were by Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Christofferson. If you did not get a chance to watch all the sessions of conference, I highly recommend it. Many just go to Sunday morning session, but it has been my experience that I have learned more personally in the other sessions; you never know in which you are going to receive exactly the guidance you need. I also recommend taking the time to watch them rather than just read them - they show up a few days after wards on lds.org - because there is something that hits you more when you hear a general authority speak.

Anyways but yea.. I felt so good in conference, probably because for once i was so totally and completely focused on it and hungry to learn and hear what the Lord has to say to us. After every session I was taken aback.. ´That was two hours?!´ It flew by!

The words that hit me the most were ´Conference.. is now.. over.´ Excuse me if I sound silly, but I felt in that moment that we had been sitting in a round table discussion, a district meeting with the general authorities and the Lord, counseling and planning together. Touching base with one another and discussing what the next step needs to be... warning each other of possible setbacks and the realities that are along the way for us and those we lead. It seemed to instead say 'Alright, that is all. Now go do it for 6 months and do not fail those you serve, as if we will have a progress meeting then, assess the current standing, and be retrained for the next period and challenges, with new goals.' And boy do I feel responsibility for what I have learned. The Lord expects a lot out of us, because He knows our potential.

Anyways.. the work is good. Sometimes the work (and life in general) is asking the Lord to help with specific things and then thanking Him later for the inspiration to overcome what didn't happen the way we expected. I love you all, I pray for you, and I am still very excited and happy to serve the Lord. Disney cannot make this kind of magic :)

Yours forever,

Hna. Ropin

Courtney in Leon

Hnas. Rippstein and Platero, their ward missionaries (who go

with them to appointments and such), and a girl they live with.

just a quick post....

Mon, September 27, 2010 6:17:39 PM

Just a quick post today, sorry! Okay so apparently there is a hurricane here right? yea the weather is a bit different than usual. Yea... okay so with that, Im on the other coast but still we are feeling the effects. I have zero dry shoes and so my feet hurt day after day cuz thats what happens when your feet are soaked through for so long and it is awful. Feels like knives cutting into my feet. We wade through dirty water to get to all the places we need to and it is raining most of the time. And then we will have dry spells but then it will rain hard core for like 5 minutes and stop again.. so kind of like Houston ahhaha. The sewers are backed up with water and they are spilling over back into the streets cuz there isnt room. So all we have to do is go right through it and try not to think of whats in the water... ewwwww! But hey, its cool. Its all part of the experience!! Im diligently searching for some sort of rain boot but its just not happening hahah. Anyways other than that we aren't seeing too many effects of the hurricane. A bit of wind that can be fun but yea thats all. No biggie. Maybe you guys will get it next??

And I don´t speak Spanish...fluently anyway. It´s constantly a battle of faith to realize that the Lord will use what Spanish I have to help the people and then teach me more along the way. I truly believe theLord will help me and bless me with my Spanish...He already has, but I want so badly to communicate. I think that´s the hardest part.. that no one understands me at all, even when I do speak the language and I just don´t feel like I´m at my full potential. But I´ll get there. I know that. I just have to exercise more patience.

...this is the parrot from the dark side. He tries to bite us all the time and he's just freaking mean and I hate him. Except, if you knock him off his perch with a broom or something, then you can put your finger down and he will just hop on like it's no big deal and he will be happy. But after you put him back up again he will turn right around and try to get you hahaha.

...this is our baptism this week, the mother of the two children baptized at the beach last week. Her name is Diana. I absolutely love her family. The youngest, who I haven't sent a pic of yet, is named Steven and he wins for the cutest child I've ever met and talked to award. Freaking adorable. Anyways, I love this family and I'm very happy for them!!

...my fave cathedral here in Leon; I don't remember what it is called though....

Hna. Platero -n- I at the beach....

...this is our obispo (bishop-I'm never using that word again..obispo is so much cooler!!), Bishop Altamirano. He's pretty much amazing. I have never seen anyone as hardworking as him...he is truly an amazing example of "seek ye first the kingdom of God" and I am very grateful to have him in our ward. He supports us so much. Our ward is amazing and I think a lot of that is because of him....