2021 ESTONIA MISSION BLOG

August 30, 2021

Ma Olen? Who Am I?

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:8-10, ESV

August 10 to 13 – ESTONIA – The final camp for the 2021 SON Camp Season was held in Estonia. The site of this camp was in the Home of Hope, and it was our first live camp in this location. The story behind this place is beyond the scope of this blog, but we would encourage anyone who is unfamiliar to read about it here: https://tatest.org/home-of-hope/

Pam, Mot, DMC, Mike & Nancy

This year’s team was small, but mighty! It consisted of Mot and Pam Hedges, David Michael Carrillo and Nancy and Mike Wind.

Travel for the Team Members coming from the USA was quite a bit different than in the past, but we all made to Tallinn as planned late Saturday evening.

Nancy & Mike in front of Nomme Rahu Church

We were blessed to have the opportunity to worship at Nomme Rahu church on Sunday. The service was led by Pastor Ove Sander, and we had the opportunity to catch up with old friends and ministry partners.

Mattias Haamer leading a group discussion

A  bus ride later found us in Tartu where we were greeted by Mattias Haamer, the newest member of the Home of Hope Team, and the leader of the Camp from the Estonian side.  The next day, Monday, we were able to meet with Siimon Haamer and Mattias Haamer to prepare for the upcoming camp.  David Michael Carrillo drove up from Latvia and joined us mid-afternoon.

Over the course of the camp, we worked on answering the question, “Who Am I?”. This topic provided the opportunity for much discussion. The camp attendees ranged in age from 13 to 19, and we were able to dig deep into some tough questions.  We also had the opportunity to host a panel discussion with some friends back in the USA: Pastor David and Angela Breidenbach, Kelly Westlund and Pastor Mark Wilhelm.

Panel discussion with Zoom participants from the U.S.

These students amazed us, challenged us and blessed us in so many ways. We receive many mixed messages from the world around us, telling is how we should define ourselves. So what would it look like to base our identity on the way God sees us? Sometimes we don’t even know what is true about us. We were able to dig deeply into these issues with students and really focus on what God says is true about us.