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Johnnie Lambert's Report from Estonia, Latvia,
Finland and Sweden
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Expanding Our Reach
Sacrifice is required in order to be a true
Christian. Choosing between friendship and truth is
necessary for many. Sacrificial choice is
particularly required in most of Eastern Europe and
Scandinavia where there are only a few called and
chosen at this time. That was my central thought as
I sat down to write this article for the eNews.
Arriving in Tartu, Estonia, on 26 May, I knew there
would be new challenges. There would be the usual
1,000 envelopes with booklets and Bible Study Course
Lessons to be mailed out to people in seven
different countries. Since my wife Hazel would
arrive five days later, I would have plenty of good
help with the mailings. Also, senior pastor Victor
Kubik had commissioned me to travel throughout a
segment of Scandinavia, visiting scattered members
and interested persons. That would be the "new
challenge, " and as with all new things, there would
be a learning curve.
Ever helpful Toomas Schvak had arranged for me to
see Valdur Vesingi at the Tartu Prison on 31 May.
Toomas completed his research and began to write his
Ph. D. thesis while we were here. Since Valdur may
have only one visit per month, it was necessary to
"shoehorn" the first visit into May if there would
be two visits on this trip. In the twelve years
Valdur has been in prison, church members have been
his only visitors. Many members have written to him
also, so that is very helpful to him. Valdur chose
Truth; he has faithfully translated seven booklets
into Estonian. Like Valdur, Toomas also spent a lot
of lonely hours during the last ten years
contributing to the Truth of God in Estonian,
without remuneration. You will find his name
(translator or editor) on every publication and Good
News article which has been translated into
Estonian. Sacrifice exemplified by both.
Tallinn member Artur Aleksandrov happily agreed to
meet us on the Island of Saaremaa to visit Tiiu
Polding, a prospective member. Artur took a day off
from his job, and traveled four hours each way on
the bus in order to translate for us on 6 June. It
was not an easy day. On 10 June, he came to Tartu,
and the three of us went to Smiltene for the
Pentecost weekend.
The Church in Smiltene is the one place in this part
of Eastern Europe where there is a support group.
But in the three years since that Church began
departing from traditional Christianity,
approximately half of the members have left the
Church. There is a support group, but sacrifice is
still required there. The time spent with these
Latvian Christians was pleasant, peaceful, joyful,
and spiritually profitable. The proper kind of
sacrifice pays dividends.
Our editorial and publication group has a new
volunteer, Irma Faulkner. Irma speaks Estonian. In
addition to helping me with correspondence, she will
do preliminary edits on new booklets. Since Imbi
Kuusksalu has three booklets translated for
publication, this will be very helpful. These
ladies, Carolyn, Judy, Natasha, now Irma, are the
horses pulling the wagon.
Natasha Weatherhead who works at the home office in
Cincinnati has produced two new booklets in Russian,
and spent a week in New York learning to use Corel
Publisher, the program for publishing our
literature. As with Toomas, Natasha is the keystone
for the Russian work. These people produce the
tangible product which makes everyone else's efforts
fruitful. Long hours into the night characterize
this all volunteer effort.
The new learning curve began after Hazel returned to
New York on 22 June. I left Tartu on a 2:50 AM bus
for the Tallinn Airport. At 8:30 AM, I was in
Copenhagen. I visited an interesting lady there,
Louise, for six hours beginning at 10 AM. After two
hours of Bible Study, she took me to the center of
Copenhagen for a visit to the botanical garden and
the art gallery. At the botanical garden, Louise
stood under a fig tree visually prophesying about
the coming Kingdom of God.
After Copenhagen, the next stop was far to the north
in Luleå,
Sweden. In Luleå,
at this time of the year, there is no night. I
awakened at 1:30 AM to discover very bright
daylight.
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Klogay and Margaret Doh |
From Luleå,
I went to Kemi, Finland. There, I spent a day, at
their apartment, with Margaret and Klogay Doh,
Burmese immigrants to Finland. Everyone will be
happy to know we were able to work out arrangements
for them to attend the Feast of Tabernacles at
Saaremaa. We spent hours discussing Bible subjects.
Their hospitality was excellent, and really
appreciated. One note: Please pray for Margaret. She
has a broken arm which has not been healing. The
doctors have told her that if it is not improved
very soon, they must do surgery.
From Kemi, the next stop was Helsinki to visit a
newly interested person, Jay Nanje and family. Due
to faulty information and non functioning of my cell
phone, we failed to connect. Since Helsinki is not
too far from Estonia, we will try again in August.
That was the learning curve. Now that I have my
"feet wet" we will see what God has in store for the
future. I come back to the beginning and central
thought, "Sacrifice is required to be a true
Christian.
- by Johnnie Lambert |
