Estonia

Greetings from the Baltic country of Estonia! As the sun sets today I've completed my first week here. Only a week ago at this time I flying high and fast over "somewhere". In the early morning Friday, when it was still midnight in Nebraska, I was hurrying through Passport Control in Stockholm; going through security AGAIN; hurrying to a different part of the terminal and arriving at the gate just in time to board the Estonian Airlines plane for the one hour flight on to Tallinn. It's such a wonderful feeling to come out of the passenger area and find friends with smiling faces, open arms and willing hands waiting!

Jet lag took over for awhile after lunch, but went away sufficiently to enable me to participate in the class that came in the evening for a little English and a Bible study. The fellowship meeting Sunday morning was a highlight, and we also had a Gospel Meeting in the afternoon. On Monday evening, a different group came for English and the Bible. So, what else? Lets see.....I've gone to the shopping center a couple times with Kathy, my co-worker. Wednesday evening we went out of the city to "somewhere else" for a Gospel Meeting in an apartment where a lady and her two young sons live.

Today was a bigger adventure. Breakfast at 6:30. On the road for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Tartu by 7:00, a class and Bible there at 10:00, lunch at an interesting restaurant that looked like it might once-upon-a-time have been a wine cellar, and then on the road back to Tallinn. It was dark when we started. Dawn began pink above the horizon that turned golden as daylight increased, but it was three quarters of an hour before the sun actually popped up at 8:45. The direction to Tartu is southeast by the map, but as I watched the sunrise, I thought we were going straight east! Interesting to me that here the sun seems to rise in the south! It doesn't get very high in the sky this time of year, either.

The impressive thing in the scenery here is the snow. Everything, everywhere, is covered with
snow. It covers the land in a flat, white blanket. It lays on every roof. It's spread like thick icing on bushes and on evergreens. The river is frozen and covered with snow. As to the weather, it is cold....just plain COLD. It stings the face as one walks. It comes up through the floor in the vehicle and chills the feet. It makes one feel very thankful to get back home, to enjoy the comfort of something hot to drink. Really, though, it is not quite as cold as Nebraska was the week or two before I came. If this was Nebraska, all that snow would be blown about into drifts! Looking out the window as we rode along, the lines of the old poem came to mind:

The snow had begun in the gloaming, and busily all the night,
had been heaping field and highway with a silence deep and white.
Every pine and fir and hemlock wore ermine too dear for an earle,
and the poorest twig on the elm tree was ridged inch deep with pearl.

I'm glad for the opportunity, for the privilege, to help with the work of the Gospel here. As the weeks unfold, showing scenes still hidden, I'll try to do better at keeping you up-to-date. If you have questions for me to answer, please leave your name and e-mail address.