Palun mulle "hotdog."

Things are blooming, AND green, AND there are leaves on the trees! Yesterday, I took an awesome walk through the park and ended up at the beach. It gave me one of those, "Wow, I live here!" moments. Those are fun.

Now that he's able to recognize a little more Estonian, it's dawned on Josh that half of the football team can't communicate to each other, at all. A third of them are Russians, a third Estonian, and a third English/Dutch, but practice is held solely in Estonian. So, there's a lot of confused looks, shrugs, and pointing. All that, plus two-thirds are learning the game for the first time. But, one way or another, he's getting to know some guys (ironically, many speak English quite well).

Minor victory of the week: Josh ordered a hotdog, entirely in Estonian.

In a few weeks, we'll have our first volunteer team coming to prayer walk sections of the city where we'll be starting our outreach ministry to prostitutes/trafficking victims. At the end of the month, Franklin Graham will be coming to Tallinn for the Hope Crusade. The tickets for that have already sold out, which is totally exciting. Please be in prayer for that, for the football team, and for one specific friend who we're hoping will come.

Funny things happen in Estonia. We were at a park beside the beach in Tallinn, playing basketball with some Estonians and some Finns. We invited a really tall Estonian guy to play with us. Turns out, he was a professional basketball player for the Estonian national team. That's the beauty of living in a small country. You never know who you are going to meet, and how that person might completely dominate you in a "friendly" game of basketball.

Along the line of random encounters, last week we had a really spiritual conversation with a group of Latter Day Saint missionaries from the US. We got the chance to tell them the differences in our two religions, and to share our testimonies of coming to faith.

Otherwise, Josh has been playing some American style football with the (one) Estonian team. He's getting to know the guys, and teaching them a little about the game when opportunities present, (as they don't have a whole lot of experience). Sometimes, as conditioning, they'll put a monstrous, pot-bellied man on their backs and run around with him. Once, a player dropped the football in the huddle and one of the other guys screamed, "FAMBLE!" and initiated a dog pile on the ball. It's all very professional!

Hopefully, in all of our weird activities and chance encounters, we'll get to know a few more people, build some deep relationships, and be presented opportunities to give the reason for the hope that lies within us. That's something to pray for.

Through the wardrobe....

This week, we've felt a little bit like we're living in Narnia before the return of Aslan. No, not in some super spiritual way, although I could go there (but that would really betray how nerdy I am about those books). But, living in Estonia is like being one of the Pevensie kids, walking into Narnia, and meeting Mr. Tumnus, who then tells them that it's been winter in Narnia for a hundred years.

It's been a really long stretch of cold for two people from Louisiana/Texas. Having spent January to March in Richmond, them arriving to a cold April here in Estonia, it's really a shock to the senses. Consistent weather is...weird.

I say all of this to say, we are so ready for some summer and some never ending days. We're told that people come out in droves and lay out in bathing suites on any open piece of grass, anywhere in the city. Plus, the summer warmth is said to make everyone that much more open and willing to talk, even to two strange Americans.

Snowflakes on noses and whiskers on kittens...

Two weeks in, here are a few of our favorite things about Estonia:

1) Public transportation is cool. Between trams and busses, driving is so last season. 

2) Estonians are very orderly people. They don't jaywalk. They don't cross at crosswalks until the light turns green, even if no one is coming. 

3) They eat everything with a knife and fork, including pizza and hamburgers.

4) The language is crazy. Every word has fourteen cases, so it you just add an ending to the base of a word to change its relationship to something else. And many of the words are so close together, like "nagu" is "like" and "nagu" is "face". It changes upon pronunciation and vowel sounds.

Aside from that stuff, hopefully I'll do a far better job in the coming weeks of keeping everyone updated now. As for prayer requests, pray for this Sunday. Easter Sunday is called Egg Day here in Estonia. For many, it will be the only day of the year that they might pop into a church. Pray that the Holy Spirit would stir something up in them, and that they would see the truth and power of His Resurrection. 

Luke 24:5-6, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen!"

To God be the Glory

This week has just been insane. And tiring. And crazy. And whatever else you want to label it.

Thanks, everyone, for praying for Josh's health. He started feeling poorly last Friday,went to a clinic on Monday, felt worse than ever on Wednesday night, went to two specialists yesterday, and had a screening today with a gastrointenologist. Thanks be to God that they found everything was clean and Josh only has a bad infection. We're hoping that the antibiotics will kick in and he'll start feeling better soon. We should have an idea on Monday if he'll be in shape to fly out by Thursday. Please keep praying for him. Josh and I are incredibly relieved, but he's still hurting a good bit. Not to mention, we're REALLY ready to be in Estonia and giving updates on what's going on there!

Otherwise, let me just say that this week was pretty stretching. In trying to take care of Josh and get him where he needed to be, I realized how much self I had been storing up. It wasn't a pretty ephiphany; it's not even pretty to admit it in writing. Early on in the week, I prayed that I would start learning to die to myself and become a servant of others. God took me up on it. What I didn't understand is that death is painful, particularly when there's self involved, and it doesn't wanna go. I don't want to overspiritualize, particularly since I'm not the sick one (just to brag on him, Josh has been an awesome and positive sicko), but I do hope that I'm a step closer to that. I hope I'm closer to walking in stride with the Father. What I know for sure is that God made himself visible to us in how he worked out schedules, how He gave us peace, and how He called others to minister to us in their prayers and kindness. I'm thankful for that.

13 days and counting

Only thirteen days left to go! We don't have a whole lot of news or any really phenomenal stories to relate about a resurrecting phone or defiance of persecution, or anything like that. So, I thought I'd take the time to show you another angle of Estonia. 

I put some pictures up a few weeks ago showing the countryside and the capital city, Tallinn. Take the time to check those out; Estonia really is a beautiful place! Today, I added a video from the LonelyPlanet website that talks a little bit about the city itself. 

My hope is that you can begin developing a mental picture, and it might enable you to pray more specifically. If you will, take a minute and pray for the people and areas mentioned. Pray that, "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them, (Isaiah 9:2)." 

Thanks, continually, for joining in with us on behalf of people that you don't know and might not ever meet (in this life). What a gathering it will be in the next, when they get to see the the faces of those who prayed so diligently for them. 

The Difference in a Day or Two

Sorry to all for missing the blog over the weekend. Last week started with a snow day and ended with sunshine and flip-flops. It was amazing. 

The snow began Sunday night and didn’t stop falling until Monday afternoon. It went a foot deep. We grabbed some sleds and went down the hills directly behind our dorm. It was a great time. One group of people made an igloo big enough for four people to crawl into, and there were several giant, seven foot snowmen built around the campus. It’s the only legitimate snow day I’ve ever had; enough to shut down Louisiana schools for a month. In all the fun, Josh put his phone in the pocket of his jacket and went down a hill. Needless to say, by the time he was emptying his pockets that night there was no phone, but more on that later. By Saturday, though, the weather was back in the eighties, which was just awesome! We’re enjoying one last flip-flop splurge!

Back to the phone, Josh found it at the end of the week. It had been buried under the snow the whole time, but he picked it straight up and dialed his voicemail. Unbelievably, it worked. A small miracle for sure, but God is in the small things.