pühapäev, august 08, 2004
Tartu Corps Today & in the Future
We had the first meeting of the Tartu Corps today. We decided to stay home and have a family worship time :-)
It was fun. We sang some songs along with a kids' Sunday School tape we just got in the shipment; we sang some songs in Estonian that Evelyn and the kids had learned when they were part of a Vacation Bible School here; we prayed and we read the story in Matthew 14:22-33 of when Jesus and Peter walked on the water. I was really glad we had this time together. We plan to have a worship time each day now, rotating who plans the day between the four of us who can talk (Peter can have his time later).
Tomorrow begins my first work week since school ended. It feels odd in a way because the classes gave a real rhythm to my day, and now I need to find a new pattern to follow. I have a long list of things I want to accomplish in the coming week, but it feels so different because I have the freedom to completely set the direction of what I do (or don't) that I didn't have in an established corps like Chester. Evelyn has said before that building relationships is our main job right now, and we've already seen some of these. I'm looking forward to the surprising relationships I expect will come along in the future.
I ran into Hans-Peter from my class when we were taking a walk through town tonight. We chatted for a while and he asked me how many more soldiers would be coming in to help start the work here. I told him that we are it; anything else that happens will be developed locally with people who are from the community. Although something tells me that this should feel overwhelming, I actually find it exciting that the leaders and doers of the Tartu Corps are already here--we just haven't met them yet!
--Tim
It was fun. We sang some songs along with a kids' Sunday School tape we just got in the shipment; we sang some songs in Estonian that Evelyn and the kids had learned when they were part of a Vacation Bible School here; we prayed and we read the story in Matthew 14:22-33 of when Jesus and Peter walked on the water. I was really glad we had this time together. We plan to have a worship time each day now, rotating who plans the day between the four of us who can talk (Peter can have his time later).
Tomorrow begins my first work week since school ended. It feels odd in a way because the classes gave a real rhythm to my day, and now I need to find a new pattern to follow. I have a long list of things I want to accomplish in the coming week, but it feels so different because I have the freedom to completely set the direction of what I do (or don't) that I didn't have in an established corps like Chester. Evelyn has said before that building relationships is our main job right now, and we've already seen some of these. I'm looking forward to the surprising relationships I expect will come along in the future.
I ran into Hans-Peter from my class when we were taking a walk through town tonight. We chatted for a while and he asked me how many more soldiers would be coming in to help start the work here. I told him that we are it; anything else that happens will be developed locally with people who are from the community. Although something tells me that this should feel overwhelming, I actually find it exciting that the leaders and doers of the Tartu Corps are already here--we just haven't met them yet!
--Tim
