Arriving in Tartu, Worship at Risttee, and passing out coffee and "kakau"

Hi all... life is good up here in Tartu on a very beautiful and chilly Monday morning (chillier for some more so than others... I found that my blood is not as thin as I believed) Our first morning reaching out to students was very productive... we handed out about 300 ham, cheese, and cucumber (ok... not my thing but they went fast) sandwiches and many more cups of Nescafe coffee and hot chocolate (or "kakau"... however it is spelled - I sure I am not spelling this as it should but how I would say it... I'll give you an update on the spelling later). We found ourselves a spot strategically located near the bridge going into the city center where a lot of students and young professionals will use to walk to class and to their work.

Along with the coffee & kakau, we also handed out a small flyer that advertises "bear week" (or Karunadal 2007) and provides a URL that lists out more details about the events we are hosting during the week and all of the dates, times, and places. The sandwiches & coffee cups we handed out also included a URL for the Karunadal 2007 events... so pray that students check out the website and are attracted to the events we are throwing, especially the concerts. A couple of students that Courtney and I had an opportunity to talk to were really cool... Marco and Li... they really seemed to enjoy talking to us and had that first year amazement with them (wow - college is really hard) - pray that we get more opportunities to see them during the week during the events and passing along the way to class.

Yesterday's worship was really good. I didn't understand a word that anyone was saying in worship (except for Jeesus :-) ), but really was in awe of hearing people genuinely worship in their own language... seeing that the gospel is for the Nations and that He wants every people group to reach out for Him. After worship, we ate lunch with a few of our new Estonian friends and then traveled to Craig (one of the American Risttee pastors)'s house for dinner and to prepare for the events. One of my favorite people from Risttee that I met was a girl named Mareet (excuses for not being able to spell), who was just baptized this year and has an amazing voice... she LOVES to sing and as she was walking to the restaurant with us after church was singing worship songs as she walked. It was cool. She's part of the Going Up (High school ministry) and will be entering college next year, I think. It was really cool to see someone with her passion and zeal for Christ in this church, and hope that God will raise up more like her.

Pictures to come with my next post... Thanks for your prayers and encouragement! :-)

chris <><