best. day. ever.

It sure didn't seem like it was going to be the best day ever. We were rudely forced out of our hostel room by some drunken Irishman and were left with several hours to kill before church and nothing to do. We wandered around until the grocery store opened so we could get some famed Estonian apple yogurt for breakfast, then wandered around a park and a beach-side path until it was time for church. That's when things got good.

One of the (many) reasons I love Daugavpils is that, being the last sister in that city and actually having some converts there, people remember me. It makes me feel like my time here wasn't a waste. Surely no on in Riga would really remember me, one of the reasons it doesn't feel like home. I didn't really expect much of a welcome in Tallinn, but I loved the branch here a lot, so I was excited to come anyway. I was excited to find sister missionaries here, since the shortage had left sisters only in Riga. When I introduced myself, the first sister said, "You're sister Norris!?!?" And then she proceeded to introduce me to her companions, "This is Sister NORRIS!" I couldn't figure out what the fuss was all about, surely the members don't remember me enough to rave about me. Then one sister asked me, "Do you remember Nadezhda?"

Pft. Do I remember Nadezhda. The Nadezhda that was the most golden investigaor that I'd ever had my whole mission, that slipped through the cracks after I left? The Nadezhda that I asked all the missionaries I could get ahold of about but none knew who I was talking about, the one I desperately wanted to find myself, but whose address I couldn't seem to remember? Yes, I remember her. I remember her well and frequently.

"She's getting baptized in two weeks. She talks about you all the time. She'll be here today." And she's bringing a friend. And her daughter is really warming up to us. The good news just kept coming. It was so AMAZING! When Nadezhda showed up, it took her a second to recognize me, but the she gasped and hugged me. I held her tight for as long as I dared, but she still wasn't ready to let me go. When she finally did, her eyes were red like she might cry and she said, "I prayed that you'd come to me, that we'd find each other." Then she invited me to her baptism, which I simply cannot attend. If only I had known. If I had come to the Baltics two weeks later, I could have seen Nadezhda and Luba Chebotariova baptized.

Then member Maxim drove us around to see beaches and waterfalls and forests around Tallinn. Free transportation, free entertainment, good company. Great news. Best. Day. Ever.