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