wait...I thought this was the easy day

Alright, to fill you in, we all have nicknames now, and Missy's has changed. We decided since Zippy is our team leader all our names should rhyme, sort of like the 7 dwarfs. So Missy is Skippy (still because of the long legs), Marilene is Yippee, for obvious reasons, Victoria is Drippy, because she's such a weepy puddle, Vicki is Trippy because of her coordination adventures, Marty is Nippy because she carries around a huge bottle of Purell everywhere, I'm Quippy, from the blogs, and Russ is Doc. It was sure nice to just sleep until we woke up, with no real agenda, though. But then, what a day! We walked to Old Town, which for your information, is totally different than driving, and if Zippy is giving you driving directions from only walking there, watch out, because you can walk the wrong way down a one way street, and down a path, and up stairs, etc. You get the idea, right? I think we may have done Russ and Marty in by doing all that walking. I hope they've got something left for one more day. The person who hates shopping the most (me) ended up with the most bags. Old Town is very quaint, and flowers everywhere, and beautiful views, and more lunch talk we're not allowed to repeat. It rained on us off and on, but that didn't stop us! There must have been 10 weddings within a span of 4 hours; they appear to have the tradition of driving in car caravans around town and honking their horns for several minutes. I do have to tell you that this has been an incredible team to serve with. God had His hand in the selection process, because we each had very unique and valuable gifts to contribute to the tasks we had to accomplish. Carolyn's leadership was top notch, and none of us could believe this was her first time to lead a team. Victoria's huge heart of love drew children and adults alike to her side. Marilene's ability to always be cheerful and make sure everyone's needs are met is absolutely amazing. Vicki's wonderful talent with children kept them engaged and having tons and tons of fun. Russ was invaluable in the assessment of needs of the facility and getting the 'messy' stuff done. Missy is playful and organized, so she was great with the kids and helped keep notes for future teams. Marty's servant heart enabled her to do much of the behind the scenes work that you don't usually notice, until it's not done. I was able to open doors with my music that enabled the love of God to be shared with many. And unless everyone's tired of me and I just don't know it, we have gelled as a family and are still enjoying each other every bit as much, if not more, than we did at the start of the trip. I'm pleasantly surprised that we're not even annoyed at each other after this much time. God is good! Tomorrow is worship in Estonian, worship in Russian, both at the Baltic Mission Center, a trip to the Lighthouse and a visit to Generation 2. Then packing and a tiny amount of sleep, then head home early Monday morning! Can't wait to see you all in person again, to share all the stories there hasn't been time to type!

Sheryl Bob

Friday is cry day

Today we very sadly left Parnu, our new second home. It was really tough saying goodbye to Kuuli, especially, because she's become such a good friend. I hope we get to cross paths soon again. We left 10 minutes early, much to Russ's surprise, traveling with 7 women. (OK, apparently I've been spelling Kulli's name wrong all week, too. Forgive me!) We got to Camp Gideon about 11:30 or so, and I've been corrected many times about its location...it's on the Gulf of Finland. It's actually only about 50 or 60 miles to Finland (or I may be wrong again, it could be kilometers, I'm all confused). The setting at camp is beautiful, but some of the buildings need a lot of work. That's why we keep coming back! We had lunch there...food of questionable origin and content. We're not allowed to say some words anymore because of the connotation with lunch there! Some of us did stick our toes into the water on the beach, and it was much colder than the Gulf of Riga at Parnu. I'm not sure why...I'll have to look into that when I get back and have time. Feel free to offer answers, then I won't have to do any work! :) While driving across the entire country in one day, we saw several storks, but always individually, not in a flock, and I expected them to be by water, I don't know why. Apparently, all babies come from Estonia originally, and Marilene says babies are small because storks are not really as big as the cartoon ones. We saw several moose crossing signs, but didn't see a moose. At one 'rest stop', the bathrooms were labelled rather questionably, with only triangles pointing different directions. Imagine 8 people staring at one door, then another, then the first, then the other...for several minutes. I'm not sure who the first brave one was, or maybe they just waited for someone else to come out! On the drive, I saw one very old windmill without its wings, but saw several newer windmills, like I've seen in California. And I swear I saw two fish crossing signs! Nobody believes me, though...We got to Tallinn around 3:30, checked into the hotel, unpacked the rental vans, ran to the store for chocolate and coffee, almost ended up on a ferry to Finland by mistake, almost got the rental car towed by mistake, went the wrong way on a one way street by mistake (no traffic coming, thank goodness)...when you have absolutely no clue or context to a language, driving can be difficult! I haven't had problems until today, because we've not spent any time in a big city. Oh, well! We turned the vans in in one piece, and full of gas! Three of us got separated from the rest of the group, and couldn't find them, and they never showed up at the place we arranged to eat dinner, but we had a great meal, and I hear them now, they've found their way back to the hotel. I'm sure they had an adventure! Tomorrow is tourist day! We'll go to Old Town and shop and stuff and I don't know what else. I'd like to visit the radio tower (I don't know what the actual name of it is) but it's where Estonia achieved its independence from the Soviet Union. Fascinating story from what I've heard, but I'll share it with you when I know more firsthand, so I don't get any facts misconstrued or unremembered. Missy's new name is Longlegs, and she and Zippy tend to end up well ahead of the rest of the group when we're walking. All week long, we've been referring to Artur at Camp Gideon, who was supposed to meet us today. All week long, Vicki thought we were saying "our tour" and just leaving off the word 'guide'...she didn't realize that was his name. We had a great laugh at that one. Vicki did, however, get very tired of her children in the van, with cries of "Are we there yet?" and "She's touching me!". We were disciplined appropriately. And then separated. Marty has been trying to read all the labels of the food we buy, and every label seems to say the same thing. In her words, "unpronoucable word, unpronoucable word". Reminds me of Tom's way of reading the Bible..."hard word, hard word". OK, so, I found out that there are TWO restaurants with the same name with 5 or 6 blocks of each other on the same street, and the other group was waiting politely at the other one, wondering why we never showed up, but not eating because they didn't want to be rude. Aren't they thoughtful? OUR meal was WONDERFUL!! Our starving lost children are safely home and eating bread crumbs left over at the hotel. :) Alright, back to the team. We had a wonderful tour of Rakvere accidentally on the way to Camp Gideon, thanks to Russ's copilot holding the map upside down. But it was a beautiful detour! We got to see a castle. Again, don't know how much computer time we'll get, so more later...?

Sheryl Bob

Wednesday on the Gulf of Riga

Have I told you we've discovered Estonian chocolate? We just can't get enough of it, so be prepared for an extra 5 lbs per person. Ice cream is actually a necessity, not a luxury, because it's the only really cold thing here (so maybe we should make that about 7 or 8 lbs!). They apparently don't believe in ice, or don't really like it, because it's very hard or next to impossible to find in the stores, and you have to ask for it specifically in a restaurant, and then they only bring you a few pieces. And they don't have ice cube trays, just these plastic bag things that are hard to fill. And the refrigerators don't get as cold as ours. Listen to me whine! Other than that, the country is perfect! :) Today we had almost 60 kids for VBS!! We were running around setting up craft stations at the last minute, but it was great! The smiles seem to get bigger and given more readily every day, and they just love when you remember their names - I think they have a sense of how hard it is for us to pronounce them and then commit to memory. We had even more adults come today than yesterday, and they stayed for most of the time, too. We're praying that all these people continue to come to events at the church, that will lead them to services at the church, that will lead them to Christ. This afternoon we went to the orphanage for a bell concert and to hang out with kids. We brought beanie babies for them, too. Not a big turnout, but that's OK. A couple of the kids there had been at VBS today, so that was great make a second connection with them. They seem to have a good life there, and they get lots of 'stuff' from people who want to make charitable contributions, but they don't get interaction with the same people on a regular basis, other than the teachers/house workers. One girl (she came to VBS with her 2 siblings) seems very sad all the time, and hardly ever speaks except to her brother/sister. She looks like the oldest of the 3, so we wonder what their home life was like, and what responsibilities she feels for the others. I'm sure there are many stories there, and things that only God knows how to heal. Please continue to pray for them. I hope they can find a way to connect with Agape regularly to get that 'love fix' that they seem to need so desperately. Tomorrow is the last day of VBS, then a concert in the evening, with each group of handbell kids playing their song, my duet with Rauno, etc. We of course hope for even more kids tomorrow. Kuuli and Meeli have been pleasantly surprised that most of the kids who came on Monday have come every day again, and we keep adding more new kids. Yay! Carolyn gave us bad news today...Monday we leave the hotel at 4:15 AM (yes, AM), have a 2 hour flight to Brussels, and then we're not supposed to sleep the rest of the trip in order to get back on USA time. Bummer! Oh, well, I don't have to worry about that for another few days. Please keep Vicki and Missy especially in your prayers, as their kids start school tomorrow and the moms are sad that they're not there for that. Speaking of Vicki, she wins the prize for losing the most stuff, but not on the trip here, just since we've been here in Parnu, at one place, where we eat, sleep and work all in the same building. At least so far she hasn't lost her mind. And here's a word of advice: don't say anything funny around Carolyn when she's drinking water, or at least wear waterproof clothing. This afternoon I saw Russ sitting down, watching Josep (an 18 year old Paul Newman look alike who does work around the church for free, just because he loves the church) do some tile work that we all thought Russ was going to do....hmmm.... Missy and Marilene have become my bell boys...bell roadies...bell caddies - I like that one! They tell me I have to say something bad about me, since I've tattled on them, so I will tell you that I'm ALWAYS the last one to breakfast. So much the last one, that I'm eating by myself, and they're waiting to have the prayer until my cereal is finished so it doesn't get soggy. We're going to have to find a white-chocolate-covered-almond supplier for Victoria's breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack and all those between meal times, too. And Mom Marty doesn't want us to eat ice cream at 4:00 because it will spoil our dinner. Plus she fusses at Russ and me for not eating our vegetables. Oh, mom! Oh! I have to tell you something funny about our trip to the orphanage. Marika is a 28 year old blind girl who is the youth leader for Agape. She went with us to the orphanage, along with her friend Moira. We wandered around trying to find the right building, the right entrance, the right room, until Marika said, "It's this way" and she led us back down the stairs, outside and around to exactly the right place. Then she got in the van with Marilene and I and gave us driving directions to the closest entrance to unload the bells. She doesn't speak English, so Moira interpreted for her. I don't know if it's more irony or a picture of God...someone who sees and speaks the polar opposite of you showing you the way. Ah, Lord God!

More later...

-Sheryl Bob

Tuesday in Estonia

I figured it was easier to say the day than remember how long we've been here! Today was Day 2 of VBS, and we had more kids than yesterday! Around 45...many of the kids went home yesterday and talked it up among their friends. It was such a joy to see swarms of kids arriving - in their blue VBS T-shirts! We wondered if they would wear them the whole week. The theme for VBS this week is Noah's ark, but focusing on the boat as God's provision/protection, not the animals part. They put a big paper ark up on the wall in the sanctuary, and yesterday each child put their name on a fish and put it on the wall; today every child put their name on a piece of fabric that will become the sail by morning (Meeli is sewing all the pieces together...by hand! What a muti-talented woman!). They have some very creative ideas, and the children love having their very own name in full view of everyone. The kids are so well behaved, and love just being together, and practicing their English with the Americans. Still many, many smiling faces. We got to have tea and then dinner with Ullas & Meeli, and that was very enlightening. We talked a lot about the history and culture of Estonia in general and their church here in specific. Fascinating! Tomorrow we will be visiting an orphanage, but the only way to 'sneak us in' is for me to do a bell concert. So right after VBS, we'll be packing up the bells and going to the orphanage. We've been looking forward to that for weeks. According to Kuuli, most of the children there are not true orphans, but are children that have been taken out of the home by the government because the mother is an alcoholic. The parents have to pay a fine to get their children back, but they don't have the money because they spend it on drink. The government stops short by assessing fines and taking the kids away, but doesn't provide any means of treatment to get the adults out of this cycle. This means that many of the kids spend much of their childhood there, and are unadoptable because the parents are still living. Very sad! Needless to say, they deal with some difficult behavior problems there. Please pray for these people... Well, today was hotter and therefore more tiring than it has been, and we each seemed to have our own little (very minor) draining issues today, so I'm signing off. Marilene and Vicki continue to provide the giggles we so desperately need when we're worn out, Russ and Marty seem to be working longer hours than the rest of us, Victoria can't get enough hugs from the kids and their grandmothers, Missy has not stopped smiling since we got here, Carolyn zips from one task to another faster than anyone I've ever seen, and people seem to think I speak the language for some reason. Go figure! More later!

Love,
Sheryl Bob

Greetings from Parnu

Hope you all are staying somewhat cool in that Oklahoma August heat! It is warmer than usual here also, but still much cooler than you are experiencing. It's Saturday evening and we just returned from eating outside at a quaint sidewalk cafe. Then, back to the church to help Sheryl Bob set up her handbells for tomorrow morning's church service. She is playing 2-3 solos - what a amazing God-given talent!!!!!

I think we're all ready for a good night's sleep, but everyone is doing very well. After a wonderful tour in London (which included fish & chips), we caught our fly to Tallinn (capital of Estonia.) Arrived to our hotel room about 1:00 last night. Our rental vans are very nice - a bright, cheery red!

Thanks for your prayers - we are all feeling well, all the luggage arrived, no problems with any of our connections, etc., etc. As we encounter people in this lovely city, it is quite apparent the need so many have for Jesus in their lives. How fortunate we are to have the peace & joy of Christ in our lives!!

God bless you all!!
Marilene Long

Day 3 in Estonia

Today was the first day of VBS, and we had about 35 kids this morning, about the number they expected for the first day. Each child got a T-shirt, which completely overwhelmed them at first...that was a huge gift for these kids, and they didn't want to put them on at first...wanted to take them home and show their parents. But Kuuli and the others encouraged them to go ahead and wear them for the day, and hopefully the rest of the week, so we ended up with a room full of blue shirts...it was a great sight! We had fun playing outside, they heard the story of Noah and learned of God's protection with the ark (the Estonian language does not have a word for 'ark'...they just say boat.) We brought little wooden arks made by Dean Cox for them to color today, and they loved that. Then we broke into small groups; they could pick between games outside, art or handbells. My group of handbell kids learned really fast...they learned to play a song they knew (VBS theme song for the day), and I taught them a song in English and how to play it. Supposed to be a 30 minute session, and I thought it would be pushing it to teach them two brand new songs in that time, but they were so quick, I had time left over! Somehow, it was our two klutzes, Vicki and Marilene, who were elected to demonstrate the 3-legged race. You can guess what happened! In the big group at the end, my kids performed their English song, which they loved...each day's handbell group will also perform in a concert on Thursday night. Many, many happy smiling faces...hopefully they'll tell their friends and bring some more with them tomorrow. I think the grownups had just as much fun as the kids, too. The chime choir director asked me if I could do anything with one of her former ringers, who is a very talented musician, and loved the chimes, but is too old now to play in their choir (he's 16). Rauno is amazing! He came over at 4:00, and we worked on a duet that we will perform Thursday night. Then later this afternoon we went to the beach (Gulf of Riga), and I was surprised at how warm the water was. Kuuli explained that it's because it's a sea, not an ocean. Then dinner, team meeting, and here I am! What have we learned so far? Missy has learned that Spanish doesn't really work here, Marty found out that potato salad is to spread on bread, I found out that I can't read the traffic signs, but I don't think I've gone the wrong way down a one way street yet, Marilene has found a new use for the laptop case, Carolyn found out that we should probably tell people when we're going to stand in their front yard and borrow their wifi, Victoria learned that if she doesn't have enough to do, Russ will put her to work in the basement, Russ apparently learned how to paint without getting his clothes dirty, and Vicki has discovered how to make cleaning the yard of pinecones a game for the children! Can't wait until tomorrow...what a great trip this has been already!

Love,
Sheryl Bob

And the latest from Estonia

It's actually hot here...well, not like Tulsa hot, but hot for Estonia, even at this time of year. It's been around 80 degrees during the day, sunny, and with a breeze in the morning and evening, but pretty still in the afternoon. Although we're right on the sea, the humidity is only around 60+%, so it's a comfortable 80 (for me, the cold person on the team...Kuuli is melting!). Our 'dorm rooms' are really nice, but there's no air conditioning, which would have been fine for me if the weather had been what I planned for...and brought clothes for! Oh, well...we're flexible! Today we went to church and I played a couple of solo bell things and Carolyn brought greetings from Asbury. Victoria started crying during my songs (not sure what that means:))and never stopped the whole service. They have rotating preachers (a full time minister, but he doesn't preach every Sunday), so one of the deacons preached today (shouldn't that be 'praught'?). He was very energetic and emotional. The service was wonderful. Afterwards we had lunch with the whole congregation, and a VBS planning meeting after that. Then ice cream (that's a daily requirement here...and it's REALLY good!!) and then Russ made a presentation to the congregation late afternoon. He talked about Asbury's work in Tanzania, both the water wells and medical trips, which inspired Tonu to incite the congregation to mission work. I believe this is one of our goals for our mission trips...that the partner church would receive our help and in turn reach out to another group in need. This is the first trip to Parnu, and already they're thinking on that plane. That's awesome! So far we keep having great food. Tonight we went to a German restaurant, which the first contact teams have raved about, and their recommendation was absolutely on target. We couldn't all fit at one table, so Marty, Russ and I shared a table with Tonu and Kuuli, and learned some fascinating information about the Estonian culture and history. Let's see, so far I haven't crashed the car, Vicki hasn't broken any bones (although she keeps trying to trip on stuff), Marilene and Carolyn didn't suffocate in the back of the van, Victoria hasn't gotten hit by a car while crossing the street with her eyes closed, Russ hasn't come out of his room without permission, Marty hasn't gotten Kuuli to speak Okie, and Missy hasn't slept. But, we still have the week left! VBS starts tomorrow...I can't wait! More later...

Bob
(Sheryl Tomlinson)

Greetings from Parnu

Hope you all are staying somewhat cool in that Oklahoma August heat! It is warmer than usual here also, but still much cooler than you are experiencing. It's Saturday evening and we just returned from eating outside at a quaint sidewalk cafe. Then, back to the church to help Sheryl Bob set up her handbells for tomorrow morning's church service. She is playing 2-3 solos - what a amazing God-given talent!!!!!

I think we're all ready for a good night's sleep, but everyone is doing very well. After a wonderful tour in London (which included fish & chips), we caught our fly to Tallinn (capital of Estonia.) Arrived to our hotel room about 1:00 last night. Our rental vans are very nice - a bright, cheery red!

Thanks for your prayers - we are all feeling well, all the luggage arrived, no problems with any of our connections, etc., etc. As we encounter people in this lovely city, it is quite apparent the need so many have for Jesus in their lives. How fortunate we are to have the peace & joy of Christ in our lives!!

God bless you all!!
Marilene Long