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