This two-part diary by Tina Engelbart describes missions taken by UCG ministers and members in March/April and June 1999 to give spiritual support to our brethren in faraway Estonia.
We thank all who sacrificed to take take these long journeys in the spirit of helping. Special thanks to elder John and Hazel Lambert of New York without whose vision and sacrifice we could not accomplished nearly all that we have. In September of 1999 forty people in the United States and United Kingdom will join the Estonians and deacon Henrikas Klovas from Lithuania to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in Tartu.
- Victor Kubik
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Part two - Pentecost Trip
Thursday, March 25, 1999
Johnny and Hazel Lambert picked me up in Haledon, NJ at my brothers home and off we went to the airport. The plan was to park the car at the motel by the airport where we would stay Sunday night on our return since we would arrive at 10 p.m. It turned out we barely made it by the 1 hour deadline before an international flight because of the extremely heavy afternoon traffic.
Upon finally reaching the airport, Hazel went to the gate to confirm our seats and Johnny and I went to park the car. When we returned to the ticket counter, they had just given our seats away and were in the process of giving our tickets away. The flight had been oversold. Juta Kulbin was there from California, who speaks Estonian and helps with translating, and so was Bryant Lambert, the Lamberts’ son who is running the translation equipment and playing the hymns for church services. He agreed to come on a later flight and was able to received an $800 travel voucher. We couldn’t do that because of the arrangements that had to be made in Estonia before the Sabbath. So, after a lot of negotiating by Hazel, Juta and I got the last two seats – barely, and finally we were on our way to Estonia.
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Friday, March 26, 1999
We arrived in Copenhagen uneventfully and then connected with our Estonia Air flight to Tallinn. As we approached the runway, we saw the ground was covered in a blanket of snow. But at least the sun was shining. We landed at an old Russian army airport in Tallinn since the regular airport is being renovated and enlarged. They say it should be finished this fall. Juta met some of her friends at the airport and we went to get our luggage. We found 10 pieces – one box was missing. It was the box with the sound and translation equipment. The official at the airport seemed to know that it didn’t arrive. They promised to send it via taxi to our hotel.
We took a taxi to the bus with our 10 pieces of luggage and rode to Tartu. We arrived in front of our hotel about 4 :30 p.m. We are staying at the Pallas Hotel in the middle of town. It is a very modern hotel and so new that it isn’t even totally completed yet – the elevator only goes to the 4th floor, and our rooms are on the fifth. This hotel is owned by the same people who owned the Taru where the Feast of Tabernacles was held last year. That building was sold and they moved to this brand new one. However, there are a few minuses as far the Feast is concerned. Their conference room is extremely small and is located on the top floor accessible only by a narrow spiral staircase. The rooms are very nice, newer and cleaner than the Taru. The bathrooms are very nice with colored marble tile on the walls. Because it is so new, the rooms are slightly more expensive than last year, and because we can’t meet there, we won’t be able to have our meals in the restaurant here. Breakfast, however, is included in the price.
Bryant arrived around 7 p.m. after having gone through Oslo and Stockholm, and we were ready to have dinner in the restaurant at the Pallas. I had fish stuffed with mixed seafood. After checking several times to make sure the stuffing was all right, it came with a variety of shell fish, including a small octopus leg! Oh, well. Then it was off to bed at 11 p.m.
Saturday, March 27, 1999
We awoke around 8 a.m. But after no sleep on the plane, we slept another two hours to 10 a.m. Johnnie Lambert told us the missing box arrived at 5 a.m. It turns out that the box was held up at customs and opened because of the suspicious looking contents in it.
We had a wonderful breakfast at the restaurant. – a small cup of the very strong Estonian coffee was enough to wake anyone up, black and white bread, a hard boiled egg, a large glass of orange juice, a large glass of yogurt – a more liquid form than what we are used to – and a nice slab of bacon and a beef and pork cutlet which we politely sent back.
Then we went to the Werner Café where our services were scheduled for 1 p.m. We had been trying to reach them ever since we arrived to confirm, but we were unable to. Everyone was waiting outside. It turns out our table and room were given away because they thought we weren’t interested in coming, and at 3:30 p.m. the President of Estonia was expected. I guess he had precedent over us. So, where could we meet for Sabbath service? Johnnie and I went back to our hotel. There were no chairs for the conference room. But there was a balcony in the restaurant. We negotiated a meal there and got the room for free. It worked out fine for an emergency. We had 13 people attending – 8 Estonians and 5 Americans. Johnnie gave a sermon entitled " Four Tools of a Christian – the first one being prayer and the importance of it. Mariina Viia, a theology student at the Tartu University, and fluent in several languages, translated simultaneously to the Estonians who had on headphones which had arrived that morning.
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Johnnie Lambert also brought 10 loose leaf hymnals which were translated from the the English into Estonian by Leo Cardiff. Juta Kulbin of the Redlands, CA and Jude Seiker of the Elmira, NY Churches set the Estonian words to music and Jude donated the song pages and covers. One side is the Estonian hymn and on the other side the English. So the Estonians are now able to worship God in song in their own language. We will be able to have more made by the Feast.
In spite of the loud music which we asked them to turn down, and the smoke which was wafting up from downstairs, we had a very enjoyable and profitable Sabbath.
We had a quick soup for dinner back in the hotel restaurant and then a Bible Study in
the Lamberts’ room which lasted 3 hours. All in all a very profitable day.
Sunday, March 28, 1999
Had a wonderful breakfast at the Pallas. Hardboiled egg, cheese, a glass of liquid yogurt, orange juice, their delicious black and white bread with jam, and, of course, the very strong Estonian coffee--which we all needed to combat jet lag.
For lunch Luule had all five of us over for lunch. And one of the dishes was marinated herring with green onions sticking out of its mouth. Delicious.
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We are still trying to find a place for the Estonians to meet for Sabbath service. Before this they always met at Luule’s apartment and she provided most of the refreshments. But to get everything ready for the meeting, including the food, put an awful lot of pressure on Luule every week. And even though she is more than happy to host the services, her Sabbath day was definitely infringed upon.
So, we met Margit in the late afternoon. She knew of a fraternity house that may have some rooms available for rent. We walked over, and the room had possibilities. It was housed in an old 18th century style building with very high ceilings and in need of a coat of paint. Later we found out that our request was denied.
By around 9 p.m. we got hungry and tried to find a place still open on a Sunday night.
The only one was the Wilde Pub – an Irish Pub in Tartu. It had the usual pub décor
with pictures of famous Estonian authors on the wall with a few Irish thrown in for good
measure. It’s a place where students go and it was interesting to experience.
Monday, March 29, 1999
One of our goals was to check out all the possible meeting sites for both the Feast of Tabernacles, Sabbath Services and perhaps a public lecture. So Luule had some places lined up for us to see. The first place we went to was called The Auditorium. It seemed like a distinct possibility. But it is a dance hall and bar (it has the odor and carpet stains to prove it) and it has a reputation as such. We didn’t feel that would be a good way for the church to be known.
For lunch we went to the Püssiroohukelder Restaurant to see if we couldn’t use it for the Feast of Tabernacles. It is an old fortress like building from the 16th century, which was used to store ammunition. In Estonian it means the Gun Powder Cellar. In the past two years we had used for dinners for all the Feast goers, and it always turned out well. But this time we wanted to see if it were suitable also for services at Tabernacles. It is rather dark inside and very medieval looking. But they are doing extensive renovations this summer and we were promised it would be much lighter. So, it is another possible for the future.
Then we went to the Werner Café where we met Olga Aasov, the manager with whom arrangement had been made for the Feast of Tabernacles meetings. Since our previous Sabbath fiasco, we didn’t have high hopes. But she seemed to want us and we decided to give it a try for the First Day of Unleavened Bread.
It was available for 10 a.m.
Tuesday, March 30, 1999
Today we went to see Tartu’s newest and most modern skyscraper, the
Estikol. It is 
a magnificent looking all glass building of oval shape. It is used basically for offices,
but on the top floor, the 13th, there is a conference room that can be rented.
It seats about 80 people and has royal blue chairs and chrome appointments. The walls are
picture windows on three oval sides showing magnificent views of the city of Tartu. It was
breathtaking! Besides being very expensive, though, there was another problem. There is
only one toilet for women and one toilet for men. However, our guide also pointed out an
"asset" we may have overlooked. Right next to the conference room is a gigantic
sauna. I don’t know how suitable that would be for church services.
The next stop was the Barclay Hotell. It is one of most elegant hotels in Tartu, and one of the most expensive. They do have a nice sized conference room. The church had tried twice to see about renting it, and twice we were denied. This time we had an appointment arranged for us by the hotel manager of the Pallas who had made all the arrangements for our meetings last fall at the Hotel Taru.
The conference room seats 60. However, they also are renovating and expanding it and by the time they are finished it should seat 80. It has a beautiful lectern. Johnnie Lambert couldn’t wait to try it out. The room would be very suitable for the meetings, but the meals are too expensive.
The name of the hotel struck me as a strange one for Estonia. In checking into it, I found out it was named after Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly. The Russians called him Michael, Prince Bogdanovich. He was born in Livonia of a Scottish family, which had settled in Russia in the 17th century. fought against Napoleon and received the rank of lieutenant general.. After fighting the Swedes in Finland he was made minister of war of Russia. In 1815 he invaded France as commander-in-chief of the Russian army and was made a prince at the close of the war. He died in 1818, and although he never lived in Tartu, he did have an estate close by. His statue is in a small park right in front of the hotel. And, as mentioned in last year’s diary, this hotel was used as the headquarters for the Red Army staff.
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Henrikas, our deacon from Lithuania, arrived at 3 p.m., and t hat evening the Passover service was held in the Lamberts’ room at the hotel. A total of 9 took the Passover – 4 Americans and 5 Estonians. Bryant Lambert, the Lambert’s son accompanied us on the portable piano that they brought. Ylo Maaring had ordered a big box of matzos from Israel and gave everyone a package. Bryant Lambert, the Lamberts’ son, accompanied us on the portable piano, which they had brought all the way from New York State, and Mariina translated the services.
Wednesday, March 31, 1999
We woke up at 7:30 a.m. and had breakfast. Then the ladies met Luule for some shopping. By the time we finished, it was lunchtime. Luule took us to a wonderful café (in Estonian it’s called a kovik) that had just opened up in an old bank building. The owner buys her meat from Luule. The food there was absolutely delicious and only cost 30 EEKs (or $2.10) – salmon, potatoes, sautéed cauliflower, beet salad. and a very delicious fresh black bread. It was the last day we could have that for a while. Then we took a taxi to the flea market and shopped around. The men went to finalize plans for the Feast. Mr. Kubik had approved the Barclay.
We’re still trying to find a hall for Sabbath services. At 7:00 p.m. we went to the restaurant called the Fourth Step for Night Much to Be Observed. Zoya came. It was nice to see her again. We had to be out by 9 p.m. Because one of our people arrived 8:50 and had her meal then, it made us late which made the waiters extremely unhappy.
Thursday, April 1, 1999
We had our morning holy day services at the Werner’s, a very elegant restaurant. They let us meet for free because we had our noon meal there. Eleven people attended, plus Marina, our translator. Unfortunately, Hazel Lambert was unable to come because she got very sick. It was a wonderful service. The Estonians sang from their new Estonian hymnal for the first time and Bryant Lambert accompanied us on the keyboard. Tina translated for Henrikas ‘s sermonette from the Russian into English. He spoke on setting up a memorial to yourself. That night we had a Bible Study in the Lamberts’ hotel room. It was a video called, "The Bible, the Indestructible Book." It showed how many people suffered and lost their lives in order for us to be able to have the Holy Bible. Once again we had two translations going—from English into Estonian by Margit and Juta and from English into Russian by Tina.
Friday, April 2, 1999
Our arrangements for a room for Sabbath Services fell through. So we asked our hotel (the Pallas) if we could use the conference room for Saturday. It’s located at the very top floor and can be reached only by a narrow spiral staircase. The hotel is an extremely modern glass and chrome building with modern art type decorations. It seems as if they let a group of modern art painters loose to see what they could come up with. Some of the stuff is pretty psychedelic. They are giving us the room rent-free. The Pallas staff, especially Ms. Iris Allorg (all of them were from last year’s Taru hotel) go out of their way to accommodate us and it is greatly appreciated.
We find that it is very difficult to get any business done today since it is Good Friday and most of the business people are off and the businesses are closed.
Saturday, April l 3, 1999
We had our Sabbath services in the "upper room" (the conference room on the top floor of the Pallas). Ylo gave the sermonette on the meaning of the ingredients of unleavened bread – flour, salt, water, and oil. And Johnnie Lambert spoke about healing since one of the ladies requested anointing for her headaches. After services, the ladies had brought food for lunch, and what a wonderful array it was. Salted herring, sauerkraut, the best roasted chicken in Tartu, and all sort of other delicacies with Ylo’s Israeli matzos. Helga had brought a wonderful currant drink that she made herself with currants out of her garden. Delicious!
After services, Johnnie had made a sermon tape for the Estonian brethren to
play on the last Holy Day since we wouldn’t be there. We said a tearful
farewell to our Estonian brethren 
and left for home very early the next morning.
Luule was there to meet our taxi to say good-bye, and she brought a big banner
that said in English "I Love You."
It is always hard to leave after being there for a week, cramming so much into a few days and getting to know these wonderful people each time a little better. We must keep them in our prayers. They have no local pastor to minister to them. They have no literature in their language; they aren’t even able to have Sabbath Services each week. When they do, it is only when Henrikas Klovas comes from Lithuania who speaks to them in Russian, which then has to be translated into Estonian Some of the spiritual and Biblical concepts, which we take for granted and assume everyone knows, are difficult for them to grasp, especially when it gets translated from a foreign language. We need to beseech God to provide them with a local shepherd who can teach them God’s Word on a regular weekly basis.
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Part two - Pentecost Trip