Palestinians in the sauna

And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

I am sitting in a nearby cafe shop with wireless internt to write the last couple of words before heading to bed.
Today people are still just flying in and so it was a free day to do whatever you wanted. We spent couple of hours in the center of the city, wandering around without any purpose and direction.
On thing that is really confusing for me is to figure out what religion or nationality are the native people that i meet on the streets - arabs, jews, orthodox greek or armenian. The only easy target to spot is american church tourist. And there are a lot of them.

I have a new head cover

Are thes jewish or palestinian guys - im not sure.

I just had one of the most memorable sauna experiences. After delicious dinner i decided to test out the spa in the hotel. I met 4 palestinian guys in the turkish sauna. They were middle aged and very hairy. They didnt speak a lot of english and i spoke none of the arab. But we had fun communicatin. After explaing me all their names (Suz means horse in hebrew and rabbit in arab for example) they rubbed eachother with sope and started massaging each other. After that we headed to the hot tub. It was a small hot tub and there were 5 of us. I also understood that you can not be a true arab if you dont have 12 kids. And then they talked about their different lives, but i could not figure out what they meant by that.
Tomorrow we have to get up at 6am. So time to walk through the warm and dark night back to the hotel.
Shalom.

Shalom

After a smooth day of travelling we made it to our hotel at 4:20am. We were the first ones to arrive from the whole 200 people that will be here for the GYI summit the next 11 days. It was great to finally get some sleep in nice beds. We had a great time in the plane with Märt (director of Going UP and my brother) and Mihkel (director of Freedom youth movement) talking for hours about ministry in Estonia.

In Schiphol airport: Mihkel meditating in the meditation room (while the arabs were praying towards meka in the background)

View from my window

I have to say that although outside the hotel looks very fancy, inside it is in a typical mediterranian style, where everything is not in very tidy and fixed up. But thats the south.

The conference will start this evening and before that we had couple of hours to swing by the center of Jerusalem. It is hot and sunny - just like the middle of summer in Estonia (sometimes). Quite a differece from the snowy Estonia :)

I am really looking forward to the next days, as we will be following Jesus' footsteps in this holy land and city. Jesus on location - that is the theme for the days. My prayer is that the person and work of Jesus would become more real to me.

PS In the hotel internet access is so costly (230EEK per day) that i have to figure out some other ways to be connected every once in a while.

Shadow and sun

We havent had a real winter this year in Estonia. Except the 3 days in the beginning of January when it was quite cold. But other than that it has felt like the gray-muddy-dark fall has been extended from 3 months to 6.
On some expetional days we can see the sun though. Here are some pictures of Estonian winter 2008:

Bright sun shining through the trees creating a light tunnel

This is the longest shadow i have ever had

Journey with the Message

Both Anna and I started this year a journey through the Bible using the Message. It is the first time for me to read the Bible through in english.
For my simplified verbal english skills the Message "translation" is a great thing. I love the richness of the language.

One sentence that has been haunting me for a week now:
"..., for by this time the name of Jesus was on everyone’s lips." (Mark 6:14)

Wouldnt that be great! Thats what i desire for Tartu and Estonia.

The other great verse is from the Psalms 84
"And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel"

I love the missional foundation of that verse!

Brother Barry

If you feel down or tired then you might want to listen Brother Barry preach!

Here’s the link

The worst day of the week

Here is a piece of trivia for you - do you know what is the worst day of the week for pastor?

It is Monday! Thats when you feel most drained and empty. Overwhelmed by problems and challenges.

This Monday morning i really felt that way.
On days like that i start to compare the size of the vision with the current reality and it feels so out of proportion. I look at the number of people coming to church and feel discouraged. I look at the challenges that don't seem to resolve and feel worried. I think about the sermon that i preached the day before and wish that it would have been shorter and more convincing, not so informational but rather transormational.

These are the thought that were running in my mind this Monday morning. Even though i know that Risttee church is Jesus's and He is the one building it and I am replacable and priviledged to give my best in this season of my life.

But then we had the Monday morning staff meeting.
And I was filled again with new strength and joy to continue.
Spending time with the team, seeing them pouring their lives into the vision of seeing God start a movement in our city and country was what i needed.

I am so thankful for the team on both sides of the Atlantic.

Emma's first sauna experience

Yesterday Emma, our dear precious daughter, had her first sauna experience.
She was sitting bravely in a 100C heat. After 5 seconds she got too hot though and started whining. But on the lower level of the sauna bench she was doing just fine. It was a proud moment for daddy!

After a revitalizing sauna experience she had tons of fun in the bathtub, kissing the reflection of herself in the mirror and kicking and splashing like her life was dependant on that.