Hello from Valga, Estonia!
My team has arrived in Valga, Estonia and we are starting to get a grip on the community. First and foremost we learned from our host is that internet is basically viewed as a human right in Estonia. Every park, bus, public place, streets, anywhere should have free internet! Woohoo! I thought it was a tad overstated by our host until I visited the local information center in Valga and picked up the magazine Ten Reasons Why Estonia Stands Out from the Crowd.
1. Shell Patterns – unique vertical patterns on women skirts
2. Normaalne! – aka “Cool” or “Normal” …popular phrase around town
3. Think Green – wholesome ingredients and organic farming
4. Midsummer Day – aka Summer Solstice where it is sunny for 19 hours
5. Sauna – magical place (future blog on this part of culture)
6. WiFi you! – virtually the whole country has wireless internet coverage, mostly free
7. International Estonians – this is the place Skype was created!
8. Old Town Meets New Cities – a mix of old European buildings with new glass steel structures
9. Estohype – known for their models Carmen Kiss, Karmen Pedaru, and Tiiu Kuik
10. Unique Culture and Festivals – over 50 major festivals a year
I know random list…you can’t make this stuff up but it is in their own magazine.
More serious note Zealous Love is staying in a quaint 3 room apartment directly across from our ministry location called The Living Room! The Living Room is a cafe style church currently opened Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The team goal is to have the cafe open more often, provide/invite kids better place to hang out after school, and share the Gospel!
It is a tall order considering it is the least religious country in the world, and not talked about much here. Also this area is turned off from people coming in and “cramming” an outside religion on the country. There is also a mix of Russian, Latvians, and Estonians in this area, oh and lets not forget about the Gypsy community too. So many factors for such a small town, but there is HOPE!
HOPE in the fact the VICTORY has already been WON! Excitement in the fact that ALL results are from Jesus! This community is going to be set on FIRE for Christ not because of our efforts but rather Christ working through US!
These next two months are going to be crazy! Excited about the things to come as we reach out to middle/high school age students! Thankfully the younger generation knows English too! More details about our ministry outreach events are coming SOON!
Here is the link to the Victoria Falls photos https://plus.google.com/photos/107282943816308544941/albums/5973946308932844353
