March Forth! Marssige Edasi!

We woke up to our first snow of the season this morning! Just a light dusting, but enough to brighten up a dark (almost) winter day.

We have had some kids sleeping over this week because it is school vacation. Today they are going back home to Kavastu (except for Maret, we need her help!). But first they will help Chris shovel the sidewalk!

Tomorrow we will go to Tallinn for the big 10-year-anniversary celebration. Karl-Gustav has agreed to go, and we are so happy about that! He originally didn't want to because it is his mother's birthday on Sunday (she died in August).

My heart is aching that we still don't have the homeless day center up and running, and here it is the first snow! Another organization has started a "day center" of sorts, three mornings a week of classes, that will only run until the end of the year. So at least we know people do have some option of a place to go during the day. But it is not enough! So please pray that the contract comes back from the Army's lawyers soon, and that everything is approved for us to move forward.

Tim is lighting our morning fire. Those of you new to the blog might not realize that our main source of heat is a wood furnace. Elizabeth just came upstairs to get dressed and said, "It's so wonderful smelling the fire burning and seeing the snow outside!"

We have lots and lots to do today, and Thursday-Sunday will be super busy days for us. We would really appreciate it if you could rally the troops to especially be in prayer for us at this time!

Here are some snowy songs that we will be singing this weekend:

Such love, pure as the whitest snow;
Such love, weeps for the shame I know;
Such love, paying the debt I owe;
Oh Jesus, such love.

by Graham Kendrick
(This is "Su Arm" -- can mean "your grace" in Estonian, and is sort of our theme song for the homeless shelter. We sing it there often and they really enjoy it.)

Would you be whiter, yes, whiter than snow?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood!
Sin stains are lost in its life-giving flow;
There's wonderful power in the blood!

by Lewis Edgar Jones

Whiter than the snow! Whiter than the snow!
Wash me in the blood of the Lamb,
And I shall be whiter than snow.

by E.R. Latta

"Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." (Psalm 51:7)

"Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the spirit of his masters." (Proverbs 25:13)

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." (Isaiah 1:18)

Evelyn

Check it out:

http://organizedchristmas.com/countdown.html

Sorry we haven't been blogging very faithfully lately. If you really get desperate to hear from us, you can always send us an e-mail and remind us to blog!

Anyway, here's a quick update on various stuff, in no particular order.

Please pray for Tim today (Sat. 22 Oct.). He is in Tallinn with six kids (Chris, Elizabeth, Karl-Gustav, Andrei, Liis, Maret). His main responsibility is to drive a Salvation Army group from Staines, England, around Tallinn. But we thought that since he was going, these kids might as well enjoy the chance to meet some Salvationists from other parts of Estonia and Europe!

We finally got the contract on the building from the city on Friday (yesterday). So Tim has brought it to Tallinn with him, and now it needs to be looked at by folks at RHQ in Tallinn and THQ in Helsinki. Please pray that this process goes smoothly and quickly!

Next weekend is the big 10-year-anniversary celebration of the Army's return to Estonia (having been forced to leave in 1940). Our TC from USA East is coming, and it is a pretty big deal. We've all been working quite hard on various aspects of it, and I have to say I will be glad when it is over! But I do think that it will be a great weekend; please be in prayer that God is glorified!

Today is the wedding of my cousin Jenn Groff. So please pray for her and her parents and her new husband, Dave. I'm sorry to have to miss such an important family event, especially a happy one after we have had so many funerals the past few years.

Our noortekoosolek (youth meeting, teen night) has been going really well. We've been exploring the question of what is a Christian, and will be using ArmyBarmy's SA100 to help us find some good answers! These kids are all recruits, all 14 (well, except Chris, who is 15 and already a soldier!) and all quite eager to learn what this it's really all about. It's a hugely scary thing for us, because for many of them we are the only model of Christianity that they see on a regular basis, and for all of them we are the only model of Salvationism that they see. There is very much the feeling that we have got to get this right the first time! They all know that we plan to enroll senior soldiers at Easter, and they all hope to be among that number! (We are also hoping to have a junior soldier enrollment at Christmas.)

Our friends from the homeless shelter continue to challenge us and break our hearts. This Sunday we will be focusing Luke 18:10-14 because of a question that Mari raised about James 5:16. Many of the people we see on Sunday nights at the shelter are alcoholics, and some also have mental health issues. I am madly in love with all of them -- OUR PEOPLE!

It's getting cold here now, and everyone is talking about how soon it will snow, and the shortening of days. We've got to get this homeless day center up and running soon! Please pray!

Kristi has decided not to come and work for us here in Tartu. So now we are working on a job description and speaking to our friends about someone to work for us as translator/assistant. God knows our needs, and we trust Him to provide. But after 15 and a half months working on our own here, we are really feeling the need quite strongly for some help!

Estonian language class continues to be a big source of both frustration and joy. We had a test on Thursday in the class that I take with Chris, but she didn't give us back our results yet. A lot of it was writing words in partitive case, and I was guessing quite a bit on some of them! On the other hand, we had to read a few paragraphs in class yesterday and then answer questions, and I really did understand everything! This felt really good, because we are always reading just one sentence at a time, or very short dialogues. So to read this little story felt so great!

I continue to miss my mother more than I ever thought possible. There is really a lot of grief to work through during that first year after a death!

Vika has been living with us since the end of August, and will be here until 4 Nov. She is attending the University of Tartu, and we know her because she has worked as a translator at the Narva Corps, and translated for us quite often there! She has been a huge help to us with both Estonian and Russian translation here (especially things for the 10-year-anniversary program booklet!) and we are so grateful to God that He brought her to us right when we needed her. But she is going to move into a student dorm with one of her friends, and this will give her the full university experience!

Tim's mother is home from the hospital and seems to be doing quite well. He called her Thursday night. She still hadn't heard the results of her tests (she has colon cancer), and this has been a huge source of anxiety for all of us for two weeks now. Please pray all the usual prayers! It is too close to what was happening with my mother one year ago, so it is hard for me to write about!

Well, this wasn't as quick as I thought it would be, but you certainly got your money's worth this time!

Tell other people about our blog! And write a comment! Please!

And check out the Blog Links and other Links on the left. They're all good stuff.

Evelyn

If you want to send him a card, you will need to send it soon to get it there by his birthday, October 27th!

SPC David M. Smith
96 Transportation Co.
APO AE 09366

B u l l e t i n
E a s t e r n T e r r i t o r i a l H e a d q u a r t e r s

Prayer Concerns
Retired Officers
October 14, 2005

UPDATES:
Major Mrs. Hilda Clark successfully had her surgery. She is recuperating at home and is awaiting results of tests from her doctors.

Elizabeth came home from Lastepäev wearing a bright yellow Juhhei t-shirt and hat. She had a great time! Her friend Etthel is now sleeping over tonight, so we really have a housefull! Here is who we have right now:
Evelyn, Tim, Peter
Elizabeth, Etthel
Veronika, Valeria, Julia, Anneli, Evelin
Chris, Andrei, Kuido, Mihkel (Karl-Gustav is not sleeping here tonight, too noisy!)
Sarah, Liis, Maret
Jaanika, Sigrit

19 people!

We sang "Reign in Me" tonight at Risttee (Cross Way) and I couldn't help but think of many of my friends from Training. Some out of the work now, some newly married, some dealing with floods. Some of our lives have taken major changes that we never could have predicted when we were all cadets together. I am extremely grateful that we are right where we hoped we would be -- serving God as pioneer officers in Eastern Europe.

If you don't get our monthly prayer newsletter and would like to receive it via e-mail, please let us know! (Click the comment button below.)

Evelyn

Elizabeth and I listened to "The Secret Garden" online last night while the gang was at Going Up. (Go to http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/Focus_on_the_Family_Radio_Theatre/Archives.asp and scroll down to the very bottom of the page. OnePlace has lots of great things and we really enjoy it!)

At the end ("Archie, I'm in the garden!"), I started thinking about my mother sitting out in her garden, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the Bible. Then I started thinking about one of her favorite songs, which I am relieved to see we DID sing at her funeral, "In the Garden". She often led the Home League ladies in singing the first verse as part of their prayer time together.

Here are some places you can read the book online:

http://www139.pair.com/read/Frances_Hodgson_Burnett/The_Secret_Garden/

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/BurSecr.html

http://www.online-literature.com/burnett/secretgarden/

I guess I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with this. But it was a great comfort to me to picture that my mother is not dead; she is just out in the Garden. I am sure that one of her first requests of God when she got to heaven was that she might have "a bit of earth" (the phrase Mary uses in the book when she asks her uncle if she can plant seeds somewhere).

Evelyn

Elizabeth has gone to Lastepäev (Children's Day) with her friend Etthel, the little girl who lives across the street, and also Zach Cupery.

http://www.lnk.ee/lp-2005.htm

http://www.ekklesia.ee/?s=366

Please pray for her, as the entire day will be conducted in Estonian!

Also pray for us, as we have 15 teenagers from Kavastu, Narva, Tallinn and Tartu in our house this weekend for Going Up and Risttee!

Evelyn

Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. —Estonian proverb

People ask how it is possible for someone to leave their families and dedicate their lives to the work of missions. I think this is best described in the following excerpt from Hudson Taylor's autobiography (p. 52 – 53).

My beloved, now sainted, mother had come to see me off from Liverpool. Never shall I forget that day, nor how she went with me into the little cabin that was to be my home for nearly six long months. With a mother's loving hand she smoothed the little bed. She sat by my side, and joined me in the last hymn that we should sing together before the long parting. We knelt down, and she prayed — the last mother's prayer I was to hear before starting for China. Then notice was given that we must separate, and we had to say good-bye, never expecting to meet on earth again.
For my sake she restrained her feelings as much as possible. We parted; and she went on shore, giving me her blessing! I stood alone on deck, and she followed the ship as we moved towards the dock gates. As we passed through the gates, and the separation really commenced, I shall never forget the cry of anguish wrung from that mother's heart. It went through me like a knife. I never knew so fully, until then, what "God so loved the world" meant. And I am quite sure that my precious mother learned more of the love of God to the perishing in that hour than in all her life before.
Oh, how it must grieve the heart of God when He sees His children indifferent to the needs of that wide world for which His beloved, His only begotten Son died!
"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;
Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
So shall the King desire thy beauty:
For he is thy Lord; and worship thou him."
Praise God, the number is increasing who are finding out the exceeding joys, the wondrous revelations of His mercies, vouchsafed to those who "follow Him," and emptying themselves, leave all in obedience to His great commission.

from A Retrospect by J. Hudson Taylor

Please remember Evelyn's nephew David Michael Smith in your prayers today: "He is going to Kuwait this time. He is leaving today. He is not exactly sure when he'll get there and does not have a mailing address as of yet. He was told is should only be six month."

We had eight young people come for our teen group tonight. They're a really good group and Evelyn has worked hard to have a good program for them each week. Here you see the group gathered in our living room.

Well, we had our first Estonian language test today, and overall I feel that it went well. I know I didn't do perfectly (I forgot how to translate "I am a vegetarian" into Estonian, for example), but the test really showed me where I am strong and where I need work. It will be interesting to see the final result when the test is graded.

Tomorrow I will visit the Rotary Club of Tartu. I was invited by Tartu Deputy Mayor Hannes Aastok to be his guest at the meeting, and hopefully this will lead to my becoming a member in the future. I was a Rotarian in Chester, Pennsylvania, and found it to be an invaluable way to learn about the community and to meet the people who know it best. Please pray for me with this visit, that I will be clear if I should pursue membership or not.

We are also preparing for a visit from our territorial leaders, Colonels Andre and Sylvia Cox, who will come on Saturday. They are the new leaders of the Army in Finland and Estonia, and this is their first visit to Estonia. In the two hours they are here, we will have a chance to meet with them at our house and to show them the building we will use for the homeless day center. We feel that they are good people and are excited about the chance to show them the potential for the Army here in Tartu.
--Tim

Major Mrs. Hilda Clark is scheduled for surgery on Friday, October 7th at the Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune, NJ.
ADDRESS:
1400 Webb St. #45
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
E-Mail:
gordonwclark@juno.com

It's getting clear that winter is just around the corner: Today we had the first fire in our wood furnace.

For those of you who weren't reading our blog last year, I'll tell you about it. In many Estonian homes, like ours, you heat with wood using an ahi (pronounced like aa-he). It is a kind of fireplace that is surrounded by ceramic tile around 8 feet high and 3 feet wide. What we do is build up a big wood fire in the ahi and let it burn for around two hours until there is nothing but glowing coals. Then you close the front door and the flue, which traps the heat. The warmth is absorbed by the tiles and will radiate heat for the next 24 hours or more. It is a really innovative way to heat, and is far cheaper than other forms of heat, like electric or gas. We bought our wood for this year (some really good birch, which burns really easily) at the end of spring when the prices are cheaper and stacked it in our woodshed in preparation for this winter. When the winter is coldest, we do have to supplement with electric heaters in the furthest rooms, but overall our wood furnace keeps us nice and toasty through the season.

Please keep Evelyn and me in prayer tomorrow. We have our first big test in our Estonian language class. A lot of it is based on having the basic grammar of Estonian memorized (really the best way to learn it), and this is Evelyn's strength but my weakness. Please just pray that we will do our best, and far more important than tests, please pray that we will continue to internalize the language so that we can communicate in the way that we know will enrich our work here.
--Tim

On Sunday, we had nine kids for Sunday school, mostly teenagers. It was a lot of fun and they seem like they want to continue coming on Sunday and for our Thursday teen group. In the picture, you see some of the kids in our backyard, where we did the program since the weather is still good.