Sometimes things work out well, like puzzle pieces falling into the right place. There were some pieces that fell exactly where they were suppose to last week for me. We have a church house on Saaremaa island which is being rebuilt and renovated these days. The guy who works there had sent couple of invites to pastors mailing list, saying that they'd be very grateful for anyone who could go and help them. I had had it on my heart for quite some time to go there but I always had too much to do, either in the office or in Tartu. But when I hit the bottom two weeks ago I knew I had to leave the city for a while, no matter what. I didn't care how much office work I had, I needed a break. So I let P. know that I'd come, and M., another friend a colleague was also there for the whole week so we ended up having a decent group there. Already when I got on a bus on Monday evening for a 4 hour bus ride, I had a feeling this was going to do me good. And I was right. I did me good. I got to spend three days away from my office table and laptop and emails and sermons. And I got to spend these days with great people. Jesus only knows how much I needed their company and how much I appreciated the homely feeling and fellowship. We worked upstairs for the better part of the day, then ate together at P's place and had the youth prayer week meetings in the evenings. Slept on the floor in the church hall. Such simple life! On my way back to the mainland on Thursday evening I welled up. Partly because I didn't want to come back to Tallinn, partly because I was so grateful for that precious time with my friends. I was like, Thank you, Jesus! Obviously, that time didn't mend my broken heart but it filled it with love the way I hadn't experienced for quite some time.

When it comes to P. and M., it's all a bit funny and complicated - they are my friends, they are my colleagues, and on top of that, they are my students. There's almost too many layers to these relationships so at times I feel slightly awkward as I'm not sure which layer is more important than the other. Like. We went out for some pizza on Thursday right before I had to leave and in the middle of laughing and other topics I had to ask them how they were coping with their homiletics practice they have this semester. They were, Oh no, Mervi has turned into a lecturer now! Lol. If I remember it correctly, it was the only time I asked about their studies. I prefer other layers taking precedence...

Insulating the ceiling with MM. "Capable young women" as we used to joke. :)

Pizza evening with MM, M. and P. Unfortunately, P's wife couldn't join us.