Estonia Team on the Move!

June 13, 2022

GOOD-BYE TARTU!

We are sad to leave Tartu, but we are looking forward to the next few days in Tallinn!

Here’s a last look at our last night of camp

Mattias getting a little “help” from the boys

Powerful expression by one of the Ukrainian refugees
DMC doing his thing
Lame jokes work well in Estonian!

CAMP UPDATES

The updates below in day order:

The Estonia Team has just finished up our time in Latvia and are transitioning to our next adventure! We are currently traveling by bus from Latvia to Tartu, Estonia.

ESTONIA TEEN CAMP – DAY ONE!

The Team made it to Tartu and were up and ready for day 1! Our day began with a Team meeting at the Home of Hope. We were joined by Pastor Siimon Haamer and Mattias Haamer and last minute details were worked out.

Pastor Timo and Mike

Several members of the team were able to take a rainy walk to see the dedication of the new bells for the Tartu Maarja Church. The Bells were dedicated in the town square and was well attended despite the weather. Tartu Maarja Church was re-purposed into a gym during the Soviet occupation and the congregation has been working on it’s renovation for many years. The Bell Tower was completely removed by the Soviets but has now been replaced. These bells will be placed into the new tower. Each of the bells has a designation which are, from left to right, Love Hope Mercy and Joy.

Opening Worship
The teens are learning new games
Team Member Penny getting ready for Session 1
We had an extra Ukrainian Refugee join us this evening

Day one of the camp was more than we expected. We started out with a worship service led by Pastor Siimon and Mattias. We then spent some time getting to know each other a bit better before launching into the evening program. We are digging deep into the topic of “Truth” and the students are really engaging with this topic.

Tomorrow, Pastor David will be driving up from Riga, Latvia and will be re-joining the team. We have another great day planned for Day 2 -praying for open hearts, ears, minds and hearts – and for the rain to let up!

ESTONIA TEEN CAMP DAY TWO

Pre Camp gathering
Deep conversation
A new girl from Ukraine joined us today
Pastor David having a conversation in Ukrainian. We were able to patch in some friends from Ukraine to help with translation

Day 2 is in the books! Another great day of camp in Estonia. There was a break in the rain today and we had 5 new attenders! We started the day learning traditional Estonian dances – video evidence of our attempts will follow at a later date.

We dove even deeper into “What is Truth”, and Pastor David tackled the question of “Is the Bible true?”. Lot’s of great discussion and really good questions.

We also did a city-wide scavenger hunt that ended in a lovely park in Tartu. The clues required Estonians and Americans to work together to answer the questions and we all learned a bit more about each other. DMC led us through Evening Prayer Worship in the park while Torin gave his testimony and a devotion.

We are all looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Pastor David leading a session
Evening Prayer Worshipin the park
Torin leading the devotion

ESTONIA TEEN CAMP DAY 4

Tonight was our last night of camp, and what a great finish to an amazing week! We ended the camp by digging into “Living a Life of Truth”. The evening was full of deep conversation, prayer and worship. As you might expect, it is sad to say good-bye. Though we had only a short time together, the relationships that were made will never be forgotten.

Tomorrow we say good-bye to Tartu and head to Tallinn for some meetings and to begin our preparation for returning to the USA.

The Estonia Team – working on their best “Estonian Smile”
A sweet card from a Ukrainian refugee saying thanks to the USA
Pastor David in deep conversation