laupäev, august 21, 2004
Of Camp, Cars, Colds, and Crying
We spent the week at Camp Loksa, the Salvation Army camp here for the Estonia Region. There are 33 beds in the big cabin/house, and they were all full! We had three babies (one three months old, Peter who is five-and-a-half-months old, and one a year-and-a-half old), six officers, and kids from Tallinn who spoke Estonian, Narva who spoke Russian, and of course us oddballs who spoke English. It was a lot of late nights, but we had so much fun! It really made us long to have a corps of our own and our own people.
The kids were SO good! They ranged in age from 8-18, and took responsibility to wash the dishes, clean the bathrooms, etc. One of the most amazing things to us was a group of boys, ages 13-15, who were constantly begging to hold Peter! Each one was given the honorary title of "suur vend" (big brother). Chris was glad to be relieved of some of his own big-brother duties and just hang out with other teens for a week.
Elizabeth was thrilled to be a camper for the first time. She slept in a room with eight other girls, sleeping on the top bunk and sitting with her friends (never her parents!) at mealtimes. We have often heard of cousin DeBrekah going to Camp Sebago, so it was wonderful for Elizabeth to have this experience as well.
When the time came to leave camp, we were the last to get in our van to drive away. But it would not start! Thank God for cell phones. We were able to call some of the people who had left minutes before, and they came back to help us. We pulled the two vans up close to each other and tried using jumper cables, but the battery did not seem to be the problem. Mario (the Estonian cadet) went with Tim to a garage, but of course it was closed because it was a holiday, Re-Independence Day.
Then I remembered that one of our friends in Tartu knows someone whose father pastors a church in Loksa. What luck! This guy (who speaks English -- his parents do not) was actually in Loksa visiting his family for the holiday! And, he had a friend who was a mechanic! So, long story short, we used our bridgebuilding skills so well honed in Chester, and got the help we needed.
This would have been a stressful situation even in America, where we could have called AAA or gone to a garage that would be open even on a holiday. We are so grateful that God came to our rescue!
For those of you so inclined, the problem was the starter, which had to be replaced. We got the van back by 2:00 the next afternoon, which never would have happened in America!
After staying up late at night and having to get up early in the morning for a week, we were all exhausted. After being exposed to lots of new people in Narva and then Loksa, the kids all got colds. Peter is really suffering the worst. It is hard to nurse with a stuffy nose! Last night, Peter cried hysterically for two hours straight. Finally, at midnight, he just fell asleep from exhaustion. Fortunately (?) we have had some experience with this, as he had colic for about a month beginning when he was three weeks old. But it was still heartbreaking!
We decided to come to Tallinn tonight, which is only an hour from camp, rather than driving all the way back to Tartu. This means that Chris was able to spend some more time with his friends this evening, and we will be able to attend the Tallinn Kopli Corps tomorrow.
Please e-mail us! We would love to hear from you!
Evelyn Clark
Kapten
The kids were SO good! They ranged in age from 8-18, and took responsibility to wash the dishes, clean the bathrooms, etc. One of the most amazing things to us was a group of boys, ages 13-15, who were constantly begging to hold Peter! Each one was given the honorary title of "suur vend" (big brother). Chris was glad to be relieved of some of his own big-brother duties and just hang out with other teens for a week.
Elizabeth was thrilled to be a camper for the first time. She slept in a room with eight other girls, sleeping on the top bunk and sitting with her friends (never her parents!) at mealtimes. We have often heard of cousin DeBrekah going to Camp Sebago, so it was wonderful for Elizabeth to have this experience as well.
When the time came to leave camp, we were the last to get in our van to drive away. But it would not start! Thank God for cell phones. We were able to call some of the people who had left minutes before, and they came back to help us. We pulled the two vans up close to each other and tried using jumper cables, but the battery did not seem to be the problem. Mario (the Estonian cadet) went with Tim to a garage, but of course it was closed because it was a holiday, Re-Independence Day.
Then I remembered that one of our friends in Tartu knows someone whose father pastors a church in Loksa. What luck! This guy (who speaks English -- his parents do not) was actually in Loksa visiting his family for the holiday! And, he had a friend who was a mechanic! So, long story short, we used our bridgebuilding skills so well honed in Chester, and got the help we needed.
This would have been a stressful situation even in America, where we could have called AAA or gone to a garage that would be open even on a holiday. We are so grateful that God came to our rescue!
For those of you so inclined, the problem was the starter, which had to be replaced. We got the van back by 2:00 the next afternoon, which never would have happened in America!
After staying up late at night and having to get up early in the morning for a week, we were all exhausted. After being exposed to lots of new people in Narva and then Loksa, the kids all got colds. Peter is really suffering the worst. It is hard to nurse with a stuffy nose! Last night, Peter cried hysterically for two hours straight. Finally, at midnight, he just fell asleep from exhaustion. Fortunately (?) we have had some experience with this, as he had colic for about a month beginning when he was three weeks old. But it was still heartbreaking!
We decided to come to Tallinn tonight, which is only an hour from camp, rather than driving all the way back to Tartu. This means that Chris was able to spend some more time with his friends this evening, and we will be able to attend the Tallinn Kopli Corps tomorrow.
Please e-mail us! We would love to hear from you!
Evelyn Clark
Kapten
