A newbiew dumb question

Just keep following the tutorial.

In step 9, you will publish the collection in the server side.

And then use this in your client side.

this.subscribe('parties', () => {
  this.parties = Parties.find();
}, true);

This can make sure it always has value.

Also in a real world app, you need subscribe the data in the Service instead of Component.

Once you have enough Angular 2 feeling. You can read Subscribe data in Service using RxJS 5.