June 12-17th, 2001 in Tartu, Estonia
Part I
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The ladies having too much fun!
It never
got totally dark at night at this time of
Ambassador
University graduates Jeremy and
The city of Tartu with special summer activities
Dr.
Mairi Leppmets in front of the
Dr. Mari Leppmets with one of her fellow doctors
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Helge Mägi with Katrin
Kassik in the background.
Koidu Üpruss
At Tartu Rotary Club
Friday June 15th.
Main building of Tartu University
Tartu Coat of Arms |
I arrived Tuesday afternoon, June 12th after flying from Chicago to Newark to Stockholm to Tallinn and then taking the bus for 120 miles to Tartu. in southeastern Estonia.
I first called ailing Margit Kaljas to see how she was doing. She has been ill since before the Fall Festival. She had more tests done as was greatly concerned because her red blood cell count is very low.
I tried to call some people, but was not able to reach anyone right away. I walked through the city toward Emajõe Kool and found Helle Rooma at the arch footbridge. We walked over to her mother's home and had a good talk.
I tried to stay awake for the remainder of the day and try to get my time change on track as quickly as possible.
While having come to Estonia many times, this is the first time I've been here in the summer time near the longest day of the year. It never really gets fully dark at night as we are so far north. The weather was cold and windy when I arrived with the temperature in the high 40's. It was colder than at Feast time, but the weather dramatically improved the third day I was here. Then the streets filled with hundreds of people and one could see many many people sitting at outdoor tables enjoying the sunshine.
I was asked to deliver some money from a friend in Indianapolis to a young man who was the editor of the Seventh Day Adventist newsletter. Tartu is the headquarters of the SDA church in Estonia. My friend in Indianapolis's father was the head of the SDA church before World War II and fled the country when the Russians invaded. He came to the hotel Wednesday morning and we talked some. I found that he worked for Pere Raadio where we want to advertise the Good News magazine and where I had plans to visit the same afternoon. A nice coincidence...one of several seeming coincidences.
Then at 11:45 I met the young couple who graduated from Ambassador University who work for the Peace Corps in Tartu. I took them to lunch at the Taverna, one of my favorite cellar restaurants off the city square. Their names are Jeremy and Myra Stokes who were very interesting to talk to.
Then I met with Dr. Mairi Leppmets, a medical doctor called me who had come to some of our Festival meetings. We went for a cup of coffee at the Wilde. She was very talkative. She then drove me to her doctor's building which to me was very impressive. She owns 60% of the operation and it has treatment rooms that are all very new-looking, stylish and tasteful. She had treatment for feet, for skin, and massage. It really looked very professional and Scandinavian-like. She really wants to upgrade her medical specialty to Physical Medicine. She would have to study for three years in the US. This is an emerging field in Estonia and she would really like to a pioneer in it for Estonia.
She drove me out to Pere Raadio where I met with Mara Pavlik, the director as I had last fall. The radio station people, too, were very kind. They said how they had made an interesting program from the interview they had with Bob Fahey and me. They are willing to advertise the Good News magazine 3 times a day at 7:45 8:45 and 9:45 am for the two week stretches. I gave her a script. With Peter Eddington I'm getting an email address for people to write to like estonia@ucg.org to subscribe. We had a wonderful conversation and I gave them one of my Indiana books with lots of pictures of my home state.
Every evening we are holding Bible Studies and Wednesday was the first one. First Zoya Reiko came. It was good to see her. Then Helge...what a trooper. She's in for the whole week from way out in the country. Then Ell, Katrin, Koidu and Mariina.the translator.
We had a VERY GOOD Bible Study on I Corinthians. We went through the first three chapters which really has a lot of useful information about the mind and spirit. Also, instruction about getting along and the most important aspects of the Gospel which is Christ and Him crucified and our accepting what He did for us. This is salvation and the power to live our lives now. I mentioned that Paul was concerned that the Corinthians who had said they were Christians were not acting that way. That didn't make sense to Paul. I said the same is true here. When they have accepted Christ, there is an expectation of Christian performance. Anyway, we studied for about an hour and a half. Then talked some and then Koidu, Katrin, Mariina, and Ell went to the River cafe just a block from the hotel. The weather was very unpleasant, but really had a good time at the River Cafe.
On Thursday afternoon Henrikas came in by bus from Lithuania. It was good to see him and we got together right away and talked. We held our second Bible Study Thursday evening. Henrikas spoke about the 13th chapter of I Corinthians, about love. I spoke about spiritual gifts in I Corinthians 12. We had some lively discussion afterwards. This is the most discussion and questions that we've had in our Bible Studies. The Estonians tend not to ask many questions, but Ell has become the questions asker that inspires others to ask questions, too.
Henrikas was very tired because he left Lithuania the night before at midnight. He had a six hour layover in Riga, Latvia and then came in to Tartu at 3:30 pm. Then the Bible Study.
On Friday morning Henrikas and I had breakfast together. Then I went to Anne Schotter's Kristlik Kodu (Christian Home). It was Anne's birthday and her son Avo came down from Tallinn for the day. We talked about an hour and a half.
From there I went to the University Cafe for a Rotary Club meeting. There was another guest whose name was David from Yorkshire, England as well. I was surprised to be met by the mayor of Tartu who asked both of us guests to sit at his table. We talked for an hour. I told him a lot about my work in Tartu with Church and with helping Emajõe Kool. I told him that I hoped that our Rotary Club back in the Indiana could work with their Rotary Club to help Kristlik Kodu. He was very gracious. He even translated the main speaker's speech to both me and David.
After Rotary I met Ell Visnapuu on the street and we went to the bank to straighten out a few matters about the Church bank account. And it was almost time for Bible Study again.
The Pallas Hotell is kind to let us use the conference room every night for free. They have been so good to us for the Fall Festival and with our other needs.
At Bible Study Henrikas covered I Corinthians 15 and I talked about being all things to all men and not causing offense, women's hair and other subjects from I Corinthians 8-11.
Then we all went to the Taverna where we celebrated Helge's birthday and had a fun evening of fellowship. On Sabbath we will have services at 1:30 pm. This has been a great visit to Estonia. On Sunday morning I fly from Tallinn to Moscow and then Kiev where I'll be visiting the Ukraine Revival Center for Disabled Children that Maurice Frohn have been working with for the past five years.
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