reede, aprill 29, 2005
More help!
It's amazing how God keeps opening doors for us in unexpected ways.
Today a man came to the door and wanted to speak to me. His first language was Russian, which I don't know at all, and he knew a bit of Estonian, but we simply weren't able to talk. I called Ermo and put the two of them on the phone together and when they were done Ermo told me that the man wanted to meet with me and that he could be there in around 30 minutes to translate. I hoped the man would want to come back, but he wanted to wait so I invited him in for tea. If there were a video camera, it would have made for funny viewing. Using my little Estonian, I offered him tea and cookies (tee ja küpsid) and we sat together in the kitchen trying to make small talk. I apologized (in English) for not knowing Russian or Estonian. He let me know that he studied English in school but knew only a handful of phrases. Then he showed me that he could count to 12 in English, then he said the English alphabet (Russian uses Cyrillic and in Estonian the letters are pronounced differently). We were like two pre-schoolers showing each other what we knew! This didn't last too long, however, and much of the time was spent in silence, with only the noise of sipping and swallowing tea and the crunching of cookies.
Finally, Ermo arrived. When we could finally talk I found that the man, Igor, is a student at the Methodist seminary in Tallinn. He lives in Tartu and needs to do a social work related practicum for his degree. He had spoken with the lady I met on Tuesday at the Russian language prayer meeting and she recommended he see me! It is amazing how God brings all things together. After hearing what he needs to do, I feel that he could do this with us here in Tartu and with the work that will be taking place in Võru. It is amazing the capable helpers God is bringing alongside us. I can't wait to see how things work out!
--Tim
Today a man came to the door and wanted to speak to me. His first language was Russian, which I don't know at all, and he knew a bit of Estonian, but we simply weren't able to talk. I called Ermo and put the two of them on the phone together and when they were done Ermo told me that the man wanted to meet with me and that he could be there in around 30 minutes to translate. I hoped the man would want to come back, but he wanted to wait so I invited him in for tea. If there were a video camera, it would have made for funny viewing. Using my little Estonian, I offered him tea and cookies (tee ja küpsid) and we sat together in the kitchen trying to make small talk. I apologized (in English) for not knowing Russian or Estonian. He let me know that he studied English in school but knew only a handful of phrases. Then he showed me that he could count to 12 in English, then he said the English alphabet (Russian uses Cyrillic and in Estonian the letters are pronounced differently). We were like two pre-schoolers showing each other what we knew! This didn't last too long, however, and much of the time was spent in silence, with only the noise of sipping and swallowing tea and the crunching of cookies.
Finally, Ermo arrived. When we could finally talk I found that the man, Igor, is a student at the Methodist seminary in Tallinn. He lives in Tartu and needs to do a social work related practicum for his degree. He had spoken with the lady I met on Tuesday at the Russian language prayer meeting and she recommended he see me! It is amazing how God brings all things together. After hearing what he needs to do, I feel that he could do this with us here in Tartu and with the work that will be taking place in Võru. It is amazing the capable helpers God is bringing alongside us. I can't wait to see how things work out!
--Tim
