March Forth! Marssige Edasi!

I had a busy day helping Captain Ave Kalme get her things to her new apartment in Võru, where the Army will open its next corps. There were a few snags, but overall she was able to get everything in place. She doesn't officially begin work there until 20 August, and will be returning to Tallinn shortly to attend some classes. Please keep her in your prayers as she begins this new work.

They already have a corps building for her (something we are so happy about, because it has been difficult for us without one). It is in the basement of a large row of shops in a large concrete building typical of the Soviet era. It needs some work before it is in shape, but it is in a great location in the center of town and has lots of space for a chapel, a kitchen, an office and meeting rooms. I have included some pictures below. We are hoping that we will be so fortunate when we finally have a building of our own.

I spoke with Evelyn, and things are going pretty well at the camp, although she has quite a cold (I could hardly recognize her voice on the phone!). She is doing crafts and Bible study with the children, so that can be quite a challenge with translation. I ask that you also keep her in your prayers as she deals with a cold while also trying to take care of her responsibilities at camp.
--Tim

There is some beautiful woodwork in the larger room that will become the V�ru Corps. The room needs quite a bit of repair before it is usable, but there is plenty of space for an office, classrooms and other programs. The white on the left is a wall that will be torn out to make one big room.

This room, a former second hand shop, is in good condition and can be ready to be used as the chapel in very little time. 

Our holiday time ended nicely. We decided to spend another day in Tallinn rather than travel to Haapsalu, and enjoyed seeing more sights and just relaxing. It rained off and on, so we didn't do as much outside as we had hoped, but we still enjoyed the day.

Now it's back to work! We returned home on Sunday evening, and yesterday morning I took Evelyn, Chris and Peter back to Loksa for moms' and tots' camp. Elizabeth and I went on to regional headquarters, where I had a meeting about the 10-year celebration of the Army in Estonia. So we are back in the thick of it already. While Evelyn is working at camp, I am hoping to finalize our plans for the fall and meet with city officials to work out some of the ideas for helping the homeless and pensioners here. Please pray for us both, that we will be ale to focus on the work that needs to be accomplished and open to God's leading throughout the week.
--Tim

We spent the day in Tallinn and were able to see some sights we have not visited before. The city has a wonderful medieval history and much of the old city, which is more than 500 years old, is still intact. Rain cut our outdoor activities short and chased us into The Museum of Occupation and of the Fight for Freedom, which chronicles the Natzi and Soviet years in Estonia. It was somber but really gave a new perspective on this time period for us as Americans. Here are a few pictures from our day. Above you can see Elizabeth as a knight! 

Posing with some medieval armor in one of the museums are Elizabeth, Peter, Tim, Karl-Gustav, Chris and Maret. 

Here we are standing along one of the old town walls in Tallinn. 

This is a beautiful view of Tallinn taken from the top of the Keik in de K�k tower (peak in the kitchen tower). You can see on the left the Alexander Nevski Orthodox church and on the right the Virgin Tower. 

Yesterday we did quite a bit of driving to visit the towns of Viljandi and Pärnu. But it was worth it as they were both beautiful, with lots of interesting things to see like 500 year old castle ruins. We are staying in Tallinn and touring that city today to have a break from driving. We'll keep you updated.
--Tim

Elizabeth, Karl-Gustav, Chris and Maret on the beautiful suspension bridge in Viljandi. It spanned a deep gorge, and you could feel the bridge wobbling as you walked across it. 

Elizabeth, Chris and Maret on the banks of the old order castle in Viljandi. It overlooks a river with picture postcard beauty. 

In Viljandi, everyone was dwarfed by one of the walls of the old order castle. The expansive courtyard area of the castle is often used for open air dramas now. 

Elizabeth and Peter in Viljandi in front of a statue of the famous Estonian painter Johann K�hler. Seeing this statue was double meaningful for us because we had our pictures taken in front of it two and a half years ago when we visited Estonia for the first time. Also, we have learned that the camp building the Army has in Loksa was the summer home of Johann K�hler. 

In P�rnu we saw the old city gate, which is called the Tallinn City Gate, but also is called Carl Gustav's gate, so we had to get a picture with everyone in front of it since Karl Gustav has partial ownership :-) 

Today for our vacation we are beginning a three-day road trip to see some of the sights around Estonia. It will be the five of us, plus Karl-Gustav and our friend Maret. We will visit Viljandi and Pärnu today, and spend the night in Tallinn. Then we will spend the day seeing Tallinn (we usually only ever see the Kopli Corps!) and the following day go to Haapsalu. Finally, we will end up back in Tallinn and go to the corps before heading back to Tartu.

Please pray that this will be the time of rest that we need, as well as a time of discovery and family togetherness.
--Tim

Yesterday we began our vacation. We decided to spend the week doing day trips around Estonia seeing the various places we have heard about. Because the country is roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire together, this is not a difficult thing to do.

We started in Narva because we were already there on Sunday to do the worship service. We had planned to go to several places, but after spending the morning in Narva, decided to only visit the town of Kohtla-Järva. It is the fourth largest city in Estonia, and since it is in the northeast only around 60 km from Narva, we figured is was a great time to check it out. It was unlike any place else I've been to so far in Estonia.

Every Estonian city has its remnants of the Soviet era: big ugly concrete apartment buildings scattered here and there, maybe some rusty iron bridges that are starting to crumble. But overall, Estonian cities tended to retain their character despite the years of occupation. Kohtla-Järva is completely different.

It was a small town prior to World War II. After that, the Soviets decided to build it up as an industrial center because of the oil shale that can be found there. That is why the city's size blossomed. But because of this, it was Soviet planners who built up the city and their goal always seemed to be to make things feel intimidatingly large and imposing. As we drove around, it was like stepping back in time. There were row after row of the unsightly concrete apartment buildings (common enough in other towns, but Soviet none the less), huge buildings with expansive areas in front that seem to serve no other purpose than to look impressive, a large, glorious monument to the oil shale miners, big factory buildings that stood in ruins. It was an amazing and depressing sight to see. Many buildings appeared to be abandoned. Those that weren't were not well maintained. Everything looked utilitarian and bleak. It really weighed on me to see the place. We even saw the culture house (theatre) that was built in the early 50s, and it still had the hammer and sickle carved over the door. I have included a few pictures below to give you an idea of how it looked (you can click on them for a larger view).

From what I've been able to learn about the town, most of its nearly 50,000 residents work in the oil shale industry, but that has been in decline. Most people speak Russian, not Estonian, and according to one web site I found, "Of the town’s population, 19 939 are Estonian citizens, 6363 Russian citizens, and there are 20 366 stateless persons. 296 people hold some other country’s citizenship, and the citizenship of 715 persons is unknown." That means more than half of the population, as stateless persons, have no citizenship and only limited rights!

I believe that when God is ready for The Salvation Army to expand again here in Estonia, this will likely be a place to go. These are Army people. The place made such a deep impression on me I just had to blog about it.

Please pray for the people of Kohtla-Järve today.
--Tim

The large culture house in Kohtla-J�rve. Outside the paint is pealing and the brickwork is chipping here and there, but Elizabeth and I sneaked a peak inside and it is an impressive theatre, with wonderful woodwork and large staircases. 

Up close, you can still see the hammer and sickle of the Soviet builders of the culture house. 

A huge sculpute stands in tribute to the oil shale miners of Kohtla-J�rve. 

We had a busy weekend with some ups and downs. We were back in Narva again and, as always, enjoyed the fellowship with our Russian-speaking friends there. Because our vacation time begins today, we spent the night in Narva at the officers' quarters (they are on homeland furlough in America) so that we could see some sights the next day.

Chris was not with us because he had been asked to go to the Kopli Corps in Tallinn to help with some dramas they were doing in the Sunday meeting. He and his friend Marit went up on Saturday and spent the day with people there watching a volleyball tournament and going to a Christian rock concert. Then on Sunday they were at the corps taking part in the meeting. During the meeting, someone broke into the car where they had their things and stole their backpacks. Poor Marit lost her clothes, mobile phone and passport. Chris lost several of his favorite shirts, his portable CD player we bought for him in America and his CD wallet with 24 of his favorite CDs in it! He has taken it well overall. He is developing into a mature young man and although this is a difficult thing, he is trying not to be discouraged by it.

So with the good always seems to come challenges. Please especially keep Chris in prayer today.
--Tim

Elizabeth picking cherries from the tree in our back yard. 

Elizabeth with the full bowl of cherries. If you look closely to the right (click on the picture for a bigger view) you can see that there are still many remaining. 

It seems like every time we go into the yard we discover something new. Today, I was walking with Peter in the back yard looking at our apple trees and pear trees, and the different berry bushes that are beginning to show fruit. Then in the back corner I noticed lots of red. We have a cherry tree! I didn't even realize this was there, and the cherries are perfectly ripe. Elizabeth got a bowl and we filled it to the top, and there are still enough left that we can probably do the same again tomorrow! It sometimes feels like we have the garden of Eden in our back yard.

It is just part of the blessing of this house. We are truly grateful to God that He provided the opportunity for us to live here. We will be here for one more year, until the end of June 2006, and then the owners will return from Prague. This is another item to add to your prayers for us. We have no doubt that God will provide a new place just like He did this house, but please pray that we will be listening to His directions and make wise choices as the time grows closer for us to move.
--Tim

Performing a drama titled "The Car" are (front row) Mari and Natasha, (back row) Masha, Caroliina and Chris. 

Elizabeth enjoys free time at the beach with friends Linda and Dima. 

The young boys' singing group: Kirill, Sasha, Ilja and Karl-Gustav. 

Elizabeth and Chris with the singing group. 

During Japan night, the young people work on an activity. They are (clockwise from left): Keit, Elizabeth, Linda, Kristal, Caroliina and Siiri. 

Major Derek Tyrrell leads the band: Tanel, Veese, Eero and Evelyn. 

Major Helen Tyrrell leads the timbrel group: Elizabeth, Kristal, Keit and Christian. 

We are back from camp! We had a wonderful week at Junior Soldier/Music Camp. We were responsible for the Junior Soldier portions and our regional commanders, Majors Derek and Helen Tyrrell, were responsible for the music part. It was great fun and the kids really threw themselves into the camp.

Much of what Evelyn and I did with the kids was basic Junior Soldier prep stuff and Bible study, but Evelyn had been planning this for a while, so there were lots of good activities for the kids, like teams competing with big maps on the wall to see which will be first to fill in all 109 countries where the Army works. The music part went well also. It was especially touching to see this group of young Russian-speaking boys who were as rambunctious as kids that age tend to get, but then they sang together and transformed into little angels!

It is always wonderful to be at the Army's camp in Loksa. It is two blocks from the Gulf of Finland, so each afternoon we all went swimming. The weather cooperated wonderfully; we only had rain one morning and the rest of the time it was sunny and warm, so we often had classes outside.

What was most encouraging was that these kids really took seriously the things we discussed about God, faith and the Army. I think they will take the things they learned back to their corps and we will have a stronger Army in Estonia because of them.

Thank you for your prayers during the week. Like all camps, things didn't always go as planned, but God was working nonetheless. Thanks for being our partners while we were there.
--Tim

Here is where we will be today!

Last night we walked around in uniform and handed out "Mis On" (What Is The Salvation Army?) brochures.

Tim has left for another weekend in Finland. He'll be back after midnight Sunday night, and then early on Monday we all leave for a week at camp and then go to Narva on Sunday!

How can you pray? For all of us not to feel so tired! For good contacts to be made at Hansa Days. For a good time and God's blessings on the Mission Team as they minister at camps in Finland.

Thanks!
Evelyn