Prayer Requests

Last night I had to say goodbye to my dog, Star, for the last time over a FaceTime call. Please keep my mom in your prayers, as she had to go alone to the vet (my brother is out of town). 

Her last moments were happy and peaceful; the last time I saw her she was eating a happy meal in my mom's backseat, freshly bathed, with her nails painted bright pink, in honor of the nail painting ritual she and I developed when I was 6. She had her huge smile on, and I wouldn't have wanted to see her for the last time any other way. 

As sad as I am, camp planning must continue. MK, Justin, Meelis and I will be driving to the opposite end of Estonia today to visit our campsites for Lift Kamp; I'm excited for the long, beautiful drive. I would promise to post pictures of the campsites after I get home today, but I don't want any campers who read my blog to have our beautiful locations spoiled for them (:

Please begin praying for KOMA (The Estonian branch of Josiah Venture) as they begin their first small group leader training for camp of the summer. My roommate, as well as my good friend and fellow American, Grant Middleton, will be attending training today, and will start camp tomorrow afternoon! Please pray for them, along with the other small group leaders, that they will be given wisdom, patience, energy, and a love for the youth that they will be leading in their English camps this next week. Please pray that the minds of the campers are open and that their hearts are receptive to what they will learn about our Lord this week. 

My first camp in Estonia, Kohila English camp 2012, completely changed my life. That week brought me a whole new level closer to understanding God's love for me, and helped me realize that no matter what happens to me in life, it's all part of his plan to bless me. I pray that the Americans here can experience the same feeling I have, and that this will open new doors for them as it has for me.

Will update again soon!

Here's a little bit of what camp planning looks like with MK....very organized jah?

Update

Hey all,
Sorry I haven't been updating recently. I haven't been spending much time in the apartment aside from sleeping, so this is the first real down time I've had in a while.
We've been doing a lot more camp planning, and will be visiting the 3 camp sites/resorts we've chosen this weekend so that we can begin planning for games ad other activities.
I celebrated my first Jaanipaev (St. John's Day) this Monday night, which consisted of lots of yummy food, a bonfire, running back and forth between the sauna and pond, and getting about 1.5 hours of sleep total. Definitely better than 4th of July or anything of that nature in the states, in my opinion!
Lots of prayer requests at this time. First, that Justin, MK, Liivi and myself can stay on track with camp planning and get all of our arrangements squared away soon, as we only have about 3 weeks until camp. Secondly, for all of the English Camps that will be starting this next week. Please pray for blessing over the days the Americans are here and at the camps, and that the youth are open to what the leadership teams have to tell them about what a life in Jesus can offer them.
Thirdly, I have a more personal request. My Golden Retriever, Star, whom I picked out at the age of four, has been diagnosed with 2 tumors near her spleen. She's just turned 15 years old, which is a considerably old age for Goldens to live, and has had issues with arthritis for the past 2 years or so. The vet has advised my mom to put her down within these next few days, since she is too old to recover from the surgery it would require to remove the tumors, so I'll ever see her again. I don't remember any part of my life before she was in it, and it breaks my heart completely to know that when I return home, I won't be greeted by her big goofy smile at the door. My mom facilitated a FaceTime call for us last night, and as tired as she was, she seemed to perk up when she saw the phone screen, though I'm not sure she could hear anything I was saying to her. Please pray for peace for my heart these next few days as I try to keep going with all of the work I have here while mourning the loss of my lifelong best friend, and please pray for my family back home as they go through the process of putting her down and preparing her burial. Pets are considered people in my house, and this is the 2nd dog we've lost in the past year and a half.
I will try to update more frequently these next few weeks.

Update: 11-16

Lately it's been a lot of camp and event planning, as well as budgeting and making arrangements for the American North Point team. Right now our biggest concern is having enough  money for the places we want to stay during the camp, since we sleep at a different location every night. So far the ones we like are sort of spread out, which makes transportation between resorts/camp sites expensive. So prayers that the places we're looking at will be affordable for us would be greatly appreciated. 

You'd never think it was summer here judging by the weather. The low for today was 39, and the high was only 52...plus it looks like rain for the next week. Will definitely be keeping this in mind while packing next summer. 

Other than weather, all is well here! Really enjoying time away from the petty "issues" of everyday like back in the states. I'm really glad I'm not spending my summer back home, not doing much. I'm so ready to be transitioning from high schooler life into a more independent state.

Only time I've really missed the states in when I heard that Chipotle is now offering tofu..... 2 months to wait felt like 2 years in that moment....

More updates about camp planning and other events to come!

Days 8-10

These past few days have been office days.

 Mondays are camp planning/LIFT team meeting days, so Monday morning Justin, MK, Liivi and I met to start planning LIFT KAMP. We've already come up with our theme for the talks, our location for our first night, activity for our first day, somewhat of a general structure as far as small groups/activities, and designed our t-shirts! I'll discuss our topics later as camp gets closer. Later that afternoon we met with some of the kids from our youth group to plan our Lift night for this Friday. 

Tuesday is another office day, so we met with Timo, Peep, and Daniel to talk about what our personal goals are for the summer as far as who we want to invest in and what we'd like to accomplish. We also talked about some of the overall needs of the church and how Justin, MK, and I can contribute to those needs.

After dinner last night I went for a run, and it seemed that everywhere I looked there was brokenness: Men sitting on benches with alcohol bottles lined up , all ready to drink, with a cluster of already emptied ones on their other side. Kids who looked barely old enough to be in high school sharing cigarettes with each other, and several lifeless faces passing by on the sidewalk.

Seeing this sadness reminded me why I'm here. The young generation in this country has so much potential to change the future, provide a happiness that the older generations left over from Soviet times seem to be lacking. My prayer is that someday, this won't be known as one of the most atheistic/agnostic countries in our world.

This afternoon our Lift group will be having a picnic by the river to enjoy the sunshine we're having. Pictures to come (:

I'll be starting a Thursday morning girls bible study/small group soon, so if anyone knows of any online curriculum that I could check out for our group please let me know!

 

UPDATE: Days 3-7

Hello all! Been a little busy, but here's an update about the last few days!
This weekend was Piiblipäevad  (Bible Days) in Tallinn, the capitol. It was a 3 day conference with lots of great music, activities, ect. I had friends to translate most of the sermons for me, so I understood most of what was going on. The messages were about being as close to God, the community, and the lost, as possible. It was so cool to be a part of; it really amazed me to see people who live on the other side of the world from me come together to worship our great God.
Here's a link to a video of the band we had this weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4udPe7OQfw
Here are a few pictures of the city, event, and some old friends!

Today Maria- Kristina (MK), Justin, Liivi and I started camp planning. We've already chosen our topics, our activity and location for our first day/night, and our structure as far as when we will have our talks, small groups, ect. So we've already got our foundation down! About 5 weeks left until camp, so that'll be more than enough time for us to get everything in order. 

More updates to come!

Photos

Here are some photos from my first 2 days!

These are in old Tartu:

Traveling--Day 2

Well, I'm back in Estonia! It's been a busy few days but I've had a bit of down time today to update you all about what I've been up to.
Traveling was a bit hectic; I showed up to the airport to find that my first flight (to Chicago) had been cancelled. However, they were able to put me on another flight that left a little earlier, and since I was traveling alone for the first time they gave my mom a pass to come with me to the gate. All three of my flights went smoothly, but I'm sure I looked like a lost puppy at times in the unfamiliar airports. I got to Tallinn late afternoon and took a bus to Tartu, and finally arrived at about 9:30pm. I was so happily surprised to a big welcoming committee of many my girl friends from last year!
My host family, Beth and Steve, are from America, and have been living here for 3 years now working with YWAM, a missions organization. I also have another roommate, MK, who is a 16 year old Estonian girl. They've all made me feel very welcome and comfortable.
My first full day, Tuesday, I met up with my friend MK (different MK) who is sort of overseeing Justin, who I got to finally meet as well, and myself so that we could get some stuff done such as exchanging money, get Estonian cell phones, and meet with people from Risttee to talk about our summer schedule and activities and camp planning. The rest of my day was pretty relaxed, my friend Marcus from Kohila English camp, my first camp in Estonia, came to visit me, and I spent the night learning new card games with my host family.
Today I had another adjustment day. Spent some time in town with Justin and MK, and spent some time with friends.
Jet lag hasn't been an issue for me, thank goodness.
On Friday I'll be going to Tallinn with some of the girls from the church to Bible Days, which is a weekend-long Christian conference; I'm really excited about it.
As far as prayers go, we will start camp planning next week, and at this point we have nothing, so prayers for our plans to all go smoothly and that we'll get everything put together in time with low stress would be greatly appreciated.
I'll probably be updating here every few days, or whenever I find time!
Once again, thank you so much to everyone who's support made it possible for me to be here. Feeling so so blessed.