Hotel Kantri Tartu

... from English speaking countries (mostly UK) and even a few Americans. This is the only time other than in Vilnius where I have seen Americans on this trip.

I opt for a Crepe café. I start with the cheese soup (to try something different) which was a mistake. I was sick for the night. I went straight back to the hostel where I was sick for most of the night (no, it was not alcohol). At least I had a private room.

I was lucky enough to have a light week of classes after coming back from Germany and Latvia, partially because of the "Student/Spring Days" festival happening this entire week. Only one class on both Monday and Tuesday, so I was able to catch up on some sleep and participate in the festivities a little bit. Monday night was the opening ceremony and a gigantic singing festival at the bowl/valley where we used to sled when there was snow, and I've never seen so many people in the ...

... that locals call "skinheads" or "hooligans," but they're not the type of people most Americans would think of. OK, yeah, a hooligan in America is basically an unruly kid, but in most of Europe they're the equivalent the really rowdy punk kids who get drunk and go vandalize things. The major crime here, though, is that they'll yell drunken obscenities at you, especially if they find out you're a foreigner. Also, the weather in general is just awesome. It's been cold by Tennessee and West ...

Well, the Poland trip has now been postponed. We didn't feel like we had done enough research and put enough time into planning it, so we're putting it off for a couple of weeks. I still have a nice long weekend, but now it looks like I'm doing a couple of more random things. Probably going on a day trip to a city named Parnu, and maybe another day trip to Tallinn. Tuesday is the Estonian Independence Day and I'm sure there will be plenty of things to do then. I don't have class until ...

... Australia. No problem coming home from the prison. Gave German the Russian a call and he showed up quickly. On the drive back into town he talked about how eBAY and how he just bought a laptop computer using PayPal and cool that was. I gave German a copy of the Good News and the translated articles both in Estonian and Russian. I told him it would be good to subscribe to them. He seemed appreciative ...

... who has the telephone. Valdur has translated four booklets for us and is now working on Jesus Christ: The Real Story. I have a little bit about Valdur on my Web site - including his address for those who would like to write to him at http://kubik.org/prison/vesingi.htm Valdur still has to serve 13 year and won't be out until he's 66 years old. He found out about the Church through the Good News magazine which was left in the ...

... After dinner we gathered in a circle to have discussion about the Church, the Bible and other questions. People also told the story about their coming to understand the Bible and its relevance to them. The stories were touching and moving. There had to be lots of translation in motion as everything that was said had to be translated into Latvian and Estonian. Questions covered subjects such as what is the difference between ...

... period known as the Feast of Tabernacles. We keep the Holy Days that Jesus Christ kept with the disciples during the early part of the church. So, this Holy Day period is essentially a spiritua renewal for our members around the world. Our church has about 40 different sites ranging in size from 50 people (Estonia) to around 2000 people (several different sites). So, you may see some ...

... Courtesy of the two town guides I had on hand, I was able to locate a local Georgian place - a cuisine that I haven't had the pleasure to taste in years. I couldn't pass up that opportunity, and since they took credit cards, I knew I could take a relative "splurge" (well, it was cheaper than Tallinn's restaurants, but still not dirt cheap). And, sure enough, it was an absolutely smashing meal: a bit of khachapuri (the much ...

... to do this from start to finish....from promotion to mailing out from here. Now we go to the Tartu Prison - Vangla and visit prisoner Valdur Vesingi. He is 52 years old and has served six years of a 20 year sentence. In the chapel he found a Good News. He contacted us and Johnnie Lambert has been visiting him every time he comes to Estonia. We took the taxi again to the prison on the ...