October 9, 2005

 

Hello everyone,

 

Hope you’re not tired of these messages.  There have been quite a few.  

 

In message eight there was error on the length of bus ride from Tallinn to Tartu.  It is two and a half hours, not 30 minutes.  We meant to say two hours and 30 minutes.  

 

Also, as we will be speaking about at the Feast, we will be focusing on preaching the Gospel in Estonia.  We have an amazing team of volunteers who have devoted many many hours of freely given time to translate our message into the Estonian, Russian and Lithuanian languages. You will be meeting some of these people at this Feast.

 

Toomas Schvak and Imbi Kuusksalu have done a tremendous job in making sure that our literature is translated accurately into Estonian. Aleksei Matvejev has been our first line translator into Russian.  He lives in Narva, Estonia.  We also have a church member Basil Kopey who lives in Moscow (he’s an American working as a translator for the government) who helps with the translation along with Natasha Neil Weatherhead in Barbados who does checks.  In the United States Judy Sieker and Carolyn Barker format the translations into their final form. Toomas has started a Baltic web site without even being asked.   Henrikas Klovas has maintained our overall Eastern European site from Lithuania that is linked with the main United Church of God website.  It’s literally a miracle how all this has been maintained.  

 

On the Sabbath we have services that are usually conducted by John Lambert from the United States at 6:00 am to assembled brethren in Tartu and Toomas in Tallinn.  Imbi Kuusksalu spends hours translating messages. 

 

We just wanted you to know some of this before you come.

 

A word about the Aura Water Park that I mentioned in message eight.  Johnnie Lambert has a few more comments.

 

The Aura is a really really nice water park!! And very close to the Pallas. It is just now celebrating its second anniversary.I don't see how it could be much nicer -- but swimsuits with pockets or rivets on the seams not allowed -- and they mean it. Entry to the most expensive section is 100 -- 125 Eeks ($8-10) depending on the time of day. Entry to the "General Admission Bleachers" is probably about $3, but I haven't looked at that in a long time.

 

Toomas Schvak selected the facility on Saarema because it has one of the nicest fitness centers on the Island -- and that means it is really nice. It's one of the things that Scandinavians value highly.

 

That’s it for now.   

 

Victor Kubik