Today, the team traveled to Tallinn (the largest city and the capitol) for our R&R and debrief day. As has been true of past trips, this day included a lot of walking around the old town Tallinn area (which is like a "little Prague") and hanging out with a couple of our Estonian friends for the last time.
Today was a little different... this weekend is the weekend of the "every other year" Estonian song festival, which is a festival of song and dance in Tallinn that commemorates the nation's independence from the Soviet Union and the fact that they sung their way to freedom. A few of us from the team went to today's events, which was the dance festival, and watched many youth dance crews demonstrate their national pride through dance. It was very cool - I had to think that over 3,000 students danced in today's festival show. I wish I could have been out there tomorrow (but we leave for the States, so no can do) because the Sunday Song Festival show features (actually headlines) a 20,000 voice Estonian choir in which many of our students and friends will be part of. I don't know about you, but getting to listen to a 20,000 voice choir just sounds pretty freakin' awesome.
Getting to see multiple dance crews... each highly coordinated and awesomely orchestrated... each the size of the Fighting Texas Aggie band... each dancing in national pride for Estonia... each decorated colorfully and costumed in a highly decorative fashion... was amazing. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience and I'm glad that I took time away from sleep to see it :-).
It is also an answer to my prayers... the prayers that I get to see God breathing life into a culture... I got to see a lot of that in the lives of the students we spent time with at camp (more to come), and I got to see that in a huge way tonight. There is a spark of life in Estonia... and there is a small crew of Christ-followers whose lives are shining brightly in this country that are the future... and I'm happy to have seen God use us in a small way to lead them closer to the source of life, the author of salvation, and the hope for all humanity.
And this is just the beginning, I believe.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Day 2 - RYL Camp "Recycle Your Questions"
Kevin and I are staying at Oliver's house (we stayed at some of the Estonian students' houses this year... really cool)... I wake up, the sun is shining brightly into the window as if it were 2pm in Atlanta on a perfectly cloudless day, Kevin, who was sleeping on the floor near the fish tank, was not there... so I thought I SEVERELY overslept and I started to rush to get my clothes on to get ready. Kevin looks up from behind the couch where I was sleeping (where he had moved to) and asked, "What are you doing? It's 4 in the morning!"
I stopped to check my watch... it was 3:40am. I doublechecked... uh, yeah.
Me: "I'm going back to bed."
Yes... the sun doesn't REALLY go down in Estonia this time of year. Oh yeah.
So we finally get up and get packed up for camp. The Estonian leaders met students in the square out by the park and the American team (that would be us for the scorekeepers) went to Risttee to meet our students and get introduced. The students met us as we each exited the green room to Facebook pictures of us that Daniel had found (with the exception of BethAnn who doesn't have a Facebook account)
The day was entitled "Recycle Your Questions" and the activities were posed around getting us to think about the questions we ask, whether they are questions that really answer what's burning in our hearts, and the ultimate question that Jesus asked about Himself.
So - we left Risttee to go to the Tartu courthouse in which we had to solve a murder case by asking an accused and two key witnesses questions about the case and determine whether the person was guilty or not guilty. One team (Kevin's) found him guilty and the rest of us found him not guilty, so when we had to come up with our team names, Kevin's team decided to name themselves "Team Guilty" in honor of the verdict :).
We were Team Zooville... it was a creative collaboration that would take too much time to explain, but we had the most fun with our team name, I think.
We then went to a castle that was owned by a German landlord that was not very popular during his day and slept on the third floor to protect himself from angry peasants that wanted to kill him (hmmmm... what a life, eh?). Finishing up, we arrived on our first day at a Baptist church in a small tourist town where we laid for the night and had our first "conversations" (this was our debrief time where we processed the events of the day, the challenges, and talked about the Recycling idea for the day... in this case recycling our questions about life.
This was a really good intro day... I definitely discovered that I had a great team and was looking forward to the rest of the week.
The following day in this town (we didn't travel for day 2) was going to be a little more challenging :)....
I stopped to check my watch... it was 3:40am. I doublechecked... uh, yeah.
Me: "I'm going back to bed."
Yes... the sun doesn't REALLY go down in Estonia this time of year. Oh yeah.
So we finally get up and get packed up for camp. The Estonian leaders met students in the square out by the park and the American team (that would be us for the scorekeepers) went to Risttee to meet our students and get introduced. The students met us as we each exited the green room to Facebook pictures of us that Daniel had found (with the exception of BethAnn who doesn't have a Facebook account)
The day was entitled "Recycle Your Questions" and the activities were posed around getting us to think about the questions we ask, whether they are questions that really answer what's burning in our hearts, and the ultimate question that Jesus asked about Himself.
So - we left Risttee to go to the Tartu courthouse in which we had to solve a murder case by asking an accused and two key witnesses questions about the case and determine whether the person was guilty or not guilty. One team (Kevin's) found him guilty and the rest of us found him not guilty, so when we had to come up with our team names, Kevin's team decided to name themselves "Team Guilty" in honor of the verdict :).
We were Team Zooville... it was a creative collaboration that would take too much time to explain, but we had the most fun with our team name, I think.
We then went to a castle that was owned by a German landlord that was not very popular during his day and slept on the third floor to protect himself from angry peasants that wanted to kill him (hmmmm... what a life, eh?). Finishing up, we arrived on our first day at a Baptist church in a small tourist town where we laid for the night and had our first "conversations" (this was our debrief time where we processed the events of the day, the challenges, and talked about the Recycling idea for the day... in this case recycling our questions about life.
This was a really good intro day... I definitely discovered that I had a great team and was looking forward to the rest of the week.
The following day in this town (we didn't travel for day 2) was going to be a little more challenging :)....
Day 1 - Training Day
It was a great thing that I didn't have wifi throughout the trip, but the negative is that I'm coming up with these posts from memory which many of you know is not great. haha.
Saturday after we arrived was our training day for the camp, in which we spent the morning at the Risttee offices talking about the logistics of the camp and what we could expect, including a little cultural training and worship time. Betti led us in some singing before camp - she was a student during my English Camp in 2008 and not yet a leader at the time and now she has really stepped up as a leader not only in singing but also in leading people to know God and worship him with their hearts. This is really cool.
And then... part of the cultural training, which included blindfolding the six of us Americans up and introducing us to a little Estonian food. It was a good thing that they blindfolded us because there was some crazy stuff they made us try, including "gelatin meat" which looks unappealing to me and after trying it... it was. I couldn't get it down... I tried, but as soon as my brain tried to tell my mouth to swallow my stomach went into "reject sequence" and I managed to use up my napkin early because the gelatin meat was the second thing they made us try, and we had six samples on our agenda. Fortunately, the last four weren't so bad, and the fourth was a cheesecakey chocolate bar which is one of my favorite candies from Estonia so I was glad to end on a high note.
We finished up the day with hanging with our Estonian hosts and the guys went to sauna at Peep's place and some of the guys that were going to camp hung with us. It was a good time. Sauna is where the world slows down, and it was a good time.
And... I slept great that night, which was really needed given how little sleep I was going to get at camp :)
Saturday after we arrived was our training day for the camp, in which we spent the morning at the Risttee offices talking about the logistics of the camp and what we could expect, including a little cultural training and worship time. Betti led us in some singing before camp - she was a student during my English Camp in 2008 and not yet a leader at the time and now she has really stepped up as a leader not only in singing but also in leading people to know God and worship him with their hearts. This is really cool.
And then... part of the cultural training, which included blindfolding the six of us Americans up and introducing us to a little Estonian food. It was a good thing that they blindfolded us because there was some crazy stuff they made us try, including "gelatin meat" which looks unappealing to me and after trying it... it was. I couldn't get it down... I tried, but as soon as my brain tried to tell my mouth to swallow my stomach went into "reject sequence" and I managed to use up my napkin early because the gelatin meat was the second thing they made us try, and we had six samples on our agenda. Fortunately, the last four weren't so bad, and the fourth was a cheesecakey chocolate bar which is one of my favorite candies from Estonia so I was glad to end on a high note.
We finished up the day with hanging with our Estonian hosts and the guys went to sauna at Peep's place and some of the guys that were going to camp hung with us. It was a good time. Sauna is where the world slows down, and it was a good time.
And... I slept great that night, which was really needed given how little sleep I was going to get at camp :)
What an adventure!
I can't wait to share with you more about the awesome trip that we've had so far! It is Friday, we have just completed our debrief at the Risttee offices and have a little free time before the Recycle Your Life Camp afterparty. For those of you that have been to an English Camp with our Estonian friends before and know some of the crazy things that can happen at the afterparty, you can pray for us six Americans now :).
God has definitely been working in the lives of not only the students but in ours as well. I want to share a little more but I need to piece it together into something more than just a summary "Hey, camp was great y'all" kind of post. So, more to come.
For tonight, though... the big win for the afterparty is to really make sure that the students we have had the privilege of spending time with this week get connected in some way so that the conversations and journeys that were started or that big steps were taken as a result of continue in the context of family and community. I can tell you, from my experience here this week, that God has really blessed the "missional" vision that our friends in Estonia have at Risttee Church in Tartu, and these communities have enabled people to grow closer together in life giving relationships and closer in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
More news to come, including some snippets from camp. It was truly an adventure.
God has definitely been working in the lives of not only the students but in ours as well. I want to share a little more but I need to piece it together into something more than just a summary "Hey, camp was great y'all" kind of post. So, more to come.
For tonight, though... the big win for the afterparty is to really make sure that the students we have had the privilege of spending time with this week get connected in some way so that the conversations and journeys that were started or that big steps were taken as a result of continue in the context of family and community. I can tell you, from my experience here this week, that God has really blessed the "missional" vision that our friends in Estonia have at Risttee Church in Tartu, and these communities have enabled people to grow closer together in life giving relationships and closer in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
More news to come, including some snippets from camp. It was truly an adventure.
Friday, June 24, 2011
We made it!
Anyone following the travel drama on Facebook or Twitter last night knows that we had quite an adventure getting here.
Reminiscent of a recent trip I had from Seattle for work a week and a half before, the plane that was supposed to take us to Prague for our connecting flight to Tallinn did not show up to the gate, and our flight to Prague was delayed out multiple times for "maintenance" reasons. This was causing us a little bit of concern because we only really had a 2 hour layover scheduled in Prague - good if your flights are on time, but in the situation we found ourselves in a little nerve racking.
Eventually, Delta pulls a "new" (one of us commented that it may have been the original Delta 767 plane purchased from Boeing) plane out to fly us to Prague and we eventually take off at 8:15pm (or 2 1/2 hours after we were scheduled to leave). From that point, and my Facebook status of "pray for us!", we knew that our chances of catching our original connection were somewhere between "slim" and "none." But we trusted that God would enable us to get there, and I knew from experience that what we think of as "Plan B" in many times is God's "Plan A" because he isn't so much concerned about our smooth travel as in our trusting completely in Him.
Anyways - short story. I fall asleep and wake up about an hour before we land in Prague. We land at the airport exactly 15 minutes before our Tallinn flight is scheduled to take off, and it takes us a long time to get off the plane. With the walking through the airport and having to go through security, I'm looking forward to day full of airports and strange transfer flights. And then we walk off the plane....
And greeting us is a cute little blonde Czech girl from the airline with a sign reading "Tallinn 9" with an escort from Czech Airways that tells us to follow him and he'll get us to our flight. He gives us passes to rush us through security and Czech Airways holds the flight for us, and we board our scheduled flight to Tallinn. The pilot did mention as they were taking off: "Sorry about the delay, we held the flight because some Americans were late." Ha Ha. Good times.
An hour and a half later, we are meeting Innar in Tallinn. Okay, we do not have our bags, but who cares about bags... we are in ESTONIA... ON TIME... AS SCHEDULED. Based on Delta's delays and my recent history, this should not have happened.
Now you can't tell me that God doesn't have something awesome cooked up for us at this camp!
So, anyways we finish our day with a BBQ at Craig Hamner's house and right now I'm writing this blog from Daniel's house and am about to shower and get some much needed rest. We are going through training for the camp tomorrow and on Sunday will be starting our adventure. I'm excited!
Now, all that needs to happen is for our bags to arrive tomorrow :-).
Reminiscent of a recent trip I had from Seattle for work a week and a half before, the plane that was supposed to take us to Prague for our connecting flight to Tallinn did not show up to the gate, and our flight to Prague was delayed out multiple times for "maintenance" reasons. This was causing us a little bit of concern because we only really had a 2 hour layover scheduled in Prague - good if your flights are on time, but in the situation we found ourselves in a little nerve racking.
Eventually, Delta pulls a "new" (one of us commented that it may have been the original Delta 767 plane purchased from Boeing) plane out to fly us to Prague and we eventually take off at 8:15pm (or 2 1/2 hours after we were scheduled to leave). From that point, and my Facebook status of "pray for us!", we knew that our chances of catching our original connection were somewhere between "slim" and "none." But we trusted that God would enable us to get there, and I knew from experience that what we think of as "Plan B" in many times is God's "Plan A" because he isn't so much concerned about our smooth travel as in our trusting completely in Him.
Anyways - short story. I fall asleep and wake up about an hour before we land in Prague. We land at the airport exactly 15 minutes before our Tallinn flight is scheduled to take off, and it takes us a long time to get off the plane. With the walking through the airport and having to go through security, I'm looking forward to day full of airports and strange transfer flights. And then we walk off the plane....
And greeting us is a cute little blonde Czech girl from the airline with a sign reading "Tallinn 9" with an escort from Czech Airways that tells us to follow him and he'll get us to our flight. He gives us passes to rush us through security and Czech Airways holds the flight for us, and we board our scheduled flight to Tallinn. The pilot did mention as they were taking off: "Sorry about the delay, we held the flight because some Americans were late." Ha Ha. Good times.
An hour and a half later, we are meeting Innar in Tallinn. Okay, we do not have our bags, but who cares about bags... we are in ESTONIA... ON TIME... AS SCHEDULED. Based on Delta's delays and my recent history, this should not have happened.
Now you can't tell me that God doesn't have something awesome cooked up for us at this camp!
So, anyways we finish our day with a BBQ at Craig Hamner's house and right now I'm writing this blog from Daniel's house and am about to shower and get some much needed rest. We are going through training for the camp tomorrow and on Sunday will be starting our adventure. I'm excited!
Now, all that needs to happen is for our bags to arrive tomorrow :-).
Thursday, June 23, 2011
We leave today :-)
Hey everyone... keep us in your prayers as we fly out today.
Instead of writing something with my prayer requests, I opted to do a video blog today. This is my first attempt at iMovie and it was a little weird looking at myself record this, but I believe I got my thoughts out okay :-)
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I can't wait to tell you about what God's going to do through this trip!!!
Ciao!
Instead of writing something with my prayer requests, I opted to do a video blog today. This is my first attempt at iMovie and it was a little weird looking at myself record this, but I believe I got my thoughts out okay :-)
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I can't wait to tell you about what God's going to do through this trip!!!
Ciao!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Recycle
The trip is 8 days away, and I'm finally getting a new blog post in.
How to start it?
Maybe like Snoopy, I can start with:
"It was a dark and stormy night"
Actually, that part is true. It IS a dark and stormy night tonight. I'm not making that part up.
Perhaps a status report is in order, last weekend we met with some other folks that have been to Estonia before to pray for our journey. Three weekends ago, we escaped Atlanta for a weekend to the beach at Hilton Head, thanks to Kevin's grandfather for donating his one bedroom, one bath condo for 6 singles for the two days. 6 people - one bathroom - that's a lesson in flexibility there.
We shared our stories with each other, and we Skyped with Daniel (the youth leader at Risttee) where we talked a little about the retreat details. And you may have heard the retreat theme if you follow any of us on Facebook. The theme is:
"Recycle your life"
Given what I wrote to my supporters when I started on this fourth journey to Estonia, this camp theme is definitely fitting. And given the theme of our stories, this is what we experientially get to share with the students we are going to be hanging out with. I like the theme, and here's why...
It's what they (and we) need.
Our lives are broken in some way, and we need to exchange it..
For something better.
Something useable.
Something valuable.
Something amazing.
And this is what God does with our lives, our mission, our relationships when we surrender up the broken things that are part of... wait.... are our lives. Like an emptied, disgusting Coke bottle, he takes it...
And transforms it.
And fills it.
And returns something greater than what we gave up.
I'm excited to be talking about this over the course of the week. Imagine not only what can be done with our lives when we surrender up what is ultimately useless, and we get back something infinitely valuable. When we consider that these students are indeed the future leaders of Estonia, imagine what this could mean for a culture.
Exchanging the fear of Soviet past. Exchanging mistrust. Exchanging a life that depends on and ultimately ends with "me"
And getting hope. Getting life. Getting God's blessing.
That is awesome. That is what I'm praying for.
Join me in this... will you be willing to pray bigger than you've ever prayed for Estonia before? Are you willing to pray like you believe that God is as huge as He is.
I am. So let's also recycle our prayer.
That nugget is free :-)
How to start it?
Maybe like Snoopy, I can start with:
"It was a dark and stormy night"
Actually, that part is true. It IS a dark and stormy night tonight. I'm not making that part up.
Perhaps a status report is in order, last weekend we met with some other folks that have been to Estonia before to pray for our journey. Three weekends ago, we escaped Atlanta for a weekend to the beach at Hilton Head, thanks to Kevin's grandfather for donating his one bedroom, one bath condo for 6 singles for the two days. 6 people - one bathroom - that's a lesson in flexibility there.
We shared our stories with each other, and we Skyped with Daniel (the youth leader at Risttee) where we talked a little about the retreat details. And you may have heard the retreat theme if you follow any of us on Facebook. The theme is:
"Recycle your life"
Given what I wrote to my supporters when I started on this fourth journey to Estonia, this camp theme is definitely fitting. And given the theme of our stories, this is what we experientially get to share with the students we are going to be hanging out with. I like the theme, and here's why...
It's what they (and we) need.
Our lives are broken in some way, and we need to exchange it..
For something better.
Something useable.
Something valuable.
Something amazing.
And this is what God does with our lives, our mission, our relationships when we surrender up the broken things that are part of... wait.... are our lives. Like an emptied, disgusting Coke bottle, he takes it...
And transforms it.
And fills it.
And returns something greater than what we gave up.
I'm excited to be talking about this over the course of the week. Imagine not only what can be done with our lives when we surrender up what is ultimately useless, and we get back something infinitely valuable. When we consider that these students are indeed the future leaders of Estonia, imagine what this could mean for a culture.
Exchanging the fear of Soviet past. Exchanging mistrust. Exchanging a life that depends on and ultimately ends with "me"
And getting hope. Getting life. Getting God's blessing.
That is awesome. That is what I'm praying for.
Join me in this... will you be willing to pray bigger than you've ever prayed for Estonia before? Are you willing to pray like you believe that God is as huge as He is.
I am. So let's also recycle our prayer.
That nugget is free :-)
Monday, April 11, 2011
Coming along
Well - the trip is in process right now. We have now met twice (once to celebrate a couple of birthdays, including mine), and I really feel like our team is starting to gel. This may be one of the best mixes of people I've had an opportunity to serve with... three of us have been to Estonia before, one has been to Split a number of times supporting the team out there, and a couple of folks will be making their first journey overseas.
Third, I need your encouragement. Those that have followed with me through my Estonia journey know that I have a blog from my prior trips that I would love for you to comment on. This blog has been taken out of hibernation and I will be posting in here throughout the preparation for the trip and a few times while I’m in Estonia. Letters and notes are really the #1 way you can encourage and drive me through this journey.
Today, I have been wrapping up my second support request push and I'm really thankful that I'm very close to my goal now (my team is only $5,000 off as of now). The last item is this blog, so that I can get my support information out to anyone on Facebook that may want to support but doesn't know where -or- why to join with the six of us Georgians heading to Estonia to serve students. Here's a little bit of the why and the how :-), as well as a little of my story...
-------------
Beginning in 2007, I have had the opportunity to invest in a community of students in a city halfway across the world that has a vision to influence their culture to know the unconditional & extraordinary love that Christ offers and see it take root in their lives. This group of students lives in Estonia, a nation where when you walk the streets you will see...
- · Alcoholism is rampant and a persistent problem
- · Skepticism and mistrust is the norm
- · Even neighbors living in the same community, or in the adjacent apartment, will not speak to each other
It can be depressing; even though the Soviet empire has left almost 20 years ago, even in a culture as rich in cultural tradition and learning as Estonia is. Somehow, darkness is still there; while Soviet Russia is gone it isn’t giving up its grip easily. One thing that Innar, a Christ-follower working on staff at Risttee and a good friend of many in the Buckhead Church community, told me as I arrived in Tallinn in 2009 during my third trip that stuck with me was this:
“Thank you. For bringing light to this dark place.”
On June 23rd, I have the opportunity to return to Estonia to invest in a group of high school aged students that I had the privilege of pouring my life into in the Summer of 2008 during an English Camp trip. I am joining a team from Atlanta, GA to connect with students in an adventure camp that will allow us an opportunity to connect with these students in a way that a week of strict outreach would not allow, even though I am admittingly a little nervous about some of the crazy things the students may make us do (my team members in 2008 can attest to some of these J).
I am excited about this opportunity to give a week of my life to these students because I believe that through this generation the culture can truly be transformed, and that transformation can start (as it did in the beginning) with a small group of people. What also excites me, and what I’m praying for, is that the Risttee students will invite their friends… friends who need to know the love of Christ, and during this week they will catch it and come closer to experiencing the happiness that comes from this relationship during this Adventure Camp week. I am humbled just to be a small part of that.
This is where I need your help, and invite you to join me in this investment in Estonia.
First, I am responsible for assisting our team reach a support goal of over $16,000 for our team members to participate in this journey. I would be honored if you would assist us through supporting me in my goal to make this trip happen.
You can give through making an online, tax deductable, donation on the GlobalX website. To do so, go to this link: https://ssl.northpoint.org/ssl/globalx/
In the Country box, choose “Estonia”
In the trip box, choose “Estonia Estonia Camp 6/23 – 7/3/2011”
In the participant box, type “Chris Willis”
Thank you J
Second, we need your prayers. Those of you know that have been on mission trips in the past know that if we are to “succeed” in what God has called us to do then we must follow his leading and not do things our way. Pray that we catch His vision for this trip, and we are not just caught up in the “stuff we are going to be doing” on the trip.
Third, I need your encouragement. Those that have followed with me through my Estonia journey know that I have a blog from my prior trips that I would love for you to comment on. This blog has been taken out of hibernation and I will be posting in here throughout the preparation for the trip and a few times while I’m in Estonia. Letters and notes are really the #1 way you can encourage and drive me through this journey.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
So... I'm going back
I'm sure that this is coming as a huge surprise to you, but this summer I will be going back to Estonia to work with our partner in Tartu with students. This will be my fourth journey to this country, and a lot of people, that has become very close to my heart and for some of you reading close to yours as well.
As you may or may not know, I felt called to take a step back after my last trip in 2009, and in that time felt God's calling me to spend an incredible time in Kenya serving an incredible group of people who have a vision for their community and lives and have partnered with 410 Bridge to serve as the enabler in this journey. It was an incredible experience, and in it really caught more of a vision myself for how Risttee and GlobalX partners as well.
So. I was in the same place at the end of this last year. Kenya was amazing. life changing. deeply profound in growing my faith. and... I fell in love with the people. But, no clear call to go back.
So... I'm not sure, do I take a year off? Do I go somewhere else? Waiting on God for direction can be a little frustrating (at least for self-starters like me), because I am 100% on his timetable, and not mine.
And then around late January... looking at the GlobalX trips. I just felt.
Estonia.
English Camp.
And in a process of praying, talking to people at church and over coffee, and stop-and-starts, I am excited to say that I'll be going back to invest in the same group of kids that I had the privilege of pouring my life into in 2008. The only catch is...
It won't be looking like English Camp.
The students are planning out a week of "Adventure Camp" which both scares and excites me. I love new experiences and this will be a new thing for me. At the same time, English Camp was awesome. I won't lie. It was such a great experience investing in these kids... many of whom have stepped up and become leaders in the Risttee community as I found out the year later. This excites me to no end because I know that if positive change can occur in a culture (and I believe that it not only can but in God's grace will) it will happen through this generation that we are investing in this year. Having poured time and energy into this group over the last 4 years, I truly believe that. I wouldn't be in, I believe, if I didn't.
So - I'm sitting here at Starbucks thinking about what I'm going to write to my friends and supporters about this trip, and thought it would be best to let myself do a little stream of consciousness on this blog that has been dormant for a year. I hope that you read the stories from the past, and get excited about what "could be" for the future. Because these students, while they live in a culture that still has many remnants of the darkened world of Soviet communism remaining, have a light in their lives that we want to in some way help to further ignite. And this light... what John calls the "light of men" that lives within them... can spread. And I pray that it will spread, and lighten up a dark world that needs to know hope.
More to come... :-)
As you may or may not know, I felt called to take a step back after my last trip in 2009, and in that time felt God's calling me to spend an incredible time in Kenya serving an incredible group of people who have a vision for their community and lives and have partnered with 410 Bridge to serve as the enabler in this journey. It was an incredible experience, and in it really caught more of a vision myself for how Risttee and GlobalX partners as well.
So. I was in the same place at the end of this last year. Kenya was amazing. life changing. deeply profound in growing my faith. and... I fell in love with the people. But, no clear call to go back.
So... I'm not sure, do I take a year off? Do I go somewhere else? Waiting on God for direction can be a little frustrating (at least for self-starters like me), because I am 100% on his timetable, and not mine.
And then around late January... looking at the GlobalX trips. I just felt.
Estonia.
English Camp.
And in a process of praying, talking to people at church and over coffee, and stop-and-starts, I am excited to say that I'll be going back to invest in the same group of kids that I had the privilege of pouring my life into in 2008. The only catch is...
It won't be looking like English Camp.
The students are planning out a week of "Adventure Camp" which both scares and excites me. I love new experiences and this will be a new thing for me. At the same time, English Camp was awesome. I won't lie. It was such a great experience investing in these kids... many of whom have stepped up and become leaders in the Risttee community as I found out the year later. This excites me to no end because I know that if positive change can occur in a culture (and I believe that it not only can but in God's grace will) it will happen through this generation that we are investing in this year. Having poured time and energy into this group over the last 4 years, I truly believe that. I wouldn't be in, I believe, if I didn't.
So - I'm sitting here at Starbucks thinking about what I'm going to write to my friends and supporters about this trip, and thought it would be best to let myself do a little stream of consciousness on this blog that has been dormant for a year. I hope that you read the stories from the past, and get excited about what "could be" for the future. Because these students, while they live in a culture that still has many remnants of the darkened world of Soviet communism remaining, have a light in their lives that we want to in some way help to further ignite. And this light... what John calls the "light of men" that lives within them... can spread. And I pray that it will spread, and lighten up a dark world that needs to know hope.
More to come... :-)
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