Pictures from Sunday morning tea date with my big brother S.
Cafe Werner. Just mentioning it in case any of you should visit me one day. :)
9/16/2013
9/15/2013
So it has begun.
Officially it all began already from the 1st of September. And there's stuff you can do from a distance, plans you need to make with your senior pastor and all that. But there's nothing compared to standing in a pulpit and for the first time sharing the Word with your congregation. And nothing like hugging your old friends and these elderly ladies who love you to bits, welcoming and being welcomed. It was a lovely and heart-warming experience yesterday. And I've got a lot of love for these people in my heart, I can tell that.
But what really made the day was the fact that my own family was here with me yesterday. That my mom felt good enough to come, that my dad canceled his own preaching appointment to be here, and that my older brother cared enough to travel for three hours early on Sabbath morning to support me. I've got, oh, the most awesome fam a girl could want!
And then in the evening I visited our good church friends with a bunch of people. We talked theology and listened to music and made some ourselves. And as it came clear that I needed an update on young and talented Estonian actors and comedians, we watched funny stuff late in the evening - me, my brother, and uhmmm... three of my church elders. Some great people in my church, hehe. :)
Some official-looking pictures from yesterday. It won't get any more official than that in my blog, I promise.
Officially it all began already from the 1st of September. And there's stuff you can do from a distance, plans you need to make with your senior pastor and all that. But there's nothing compared to standing in a pulpit and for the first time sharing the Word with your congregation. And nothing like hugging your old friends and these elderly ladies who love you to bits, welcoming and being welcomed. It was a lovely and heart-warming experience yesterday. And I've got a lot of love for these people in my heart, I can tell that.
But what really made the day was the fact that my own family was here with me yesterday. That my mom felt good enough to come, that my dad canceled his own preaching appointment to be here, and that my older brother cared enough to travel for three hours early on Sabbath morning to support me. I've got, oh, the most awesome fam a girl could want!
And then in the evening I visited our good church friends with a bunch of people. We talked theology and listened to music and made some ourselves. And as it came clear that I needed an update on young and talented Estonian actors and comedians, we watched funny stuff late in the evening - me, my brother, and uhmmm... three of my church elders. Some great people in my church, hehe. :)
Some official-looking pictures from yesterday. It won't get any more official than that in my blog, I promise.
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| Pastors who prayed the prayer of blessing and who welcomed me in their midst. |
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| The fam. My younger brother is missing. |
9/12/2013
I have mixed feelings when I think of my weekend in Newbold. I feel like I was constantly torn, trying to spend time with everyone, sneaking out to see my dear friends. The conference was really nice, don't get me wrong, I'm just not sure my heart was always where my body was. There was always someone on my mind, someone I wanted to talk a little longer, someone I felt I couldn't spend as much time with as I wanted. Oh well, I'll be back in mid October and then I'll have time for longer walks and longer conversations. And for more tea. :)
There was one thing though that truly made this weekend a weekend to remember. One memory that will shine the brightest in my soul. It was completely unplanned (as the best things in life often are), almost like a coincident. I sat down with four ladies, with four beautiful and faithful and strong ladies I very much look up to. And although I really hadn't planned it, a dam broke down in me and suddenly all the hurt and pain and all the injustice recently done to me poured out. They listened to me in complete silence, they couldn't believe the things I was telling them. And I kept talking and talking and I hold nothing back because I couldn't any longer. I wept like I hadn't done for quite some time, and they wept with me. And then they put their hands on me and prayed for me and pleaded God on my behalf, and they anointed me with their tears and ordained me with their hands and blessings. And it was the most beautiful moment I could imagine.
Thus I was ordained. For this what the ordination is for me - sending someone on their way and to their ministry with love and encouragement and authority, acknowledging their calling, their gifts and their uniqueness.
And if this is the only ordination I will ever receive, so be it.
There was one thing though that truly made this weekend a weekend to remember. One memory that will shine the brightest in my soul. It was completely unplanned (as the best things in life often are), almost like a coincident. I sat down with four ladies, with four beautiful and faithful and strong ladies I very much look up to. And although I really hadn't planned it, a dam broke down in me and suddenly all the hurt and pain and all the injustice recently done to me poured out. They listened to me in complete silence, they couldn't believe the things I was telling them. And I kept talking and talking and I hold nothing back because I couldn't any longer. I wept like I hadn't done for quite some time, and they wept with me. And then they put their hands on me and prayed for me and pleaded God on my behalf, and they anointed me with their tears and ordained me with their hands and blessings. And it was the most beautiful moment I could imagine.
Thus I was ordained. For this what the ordination is for me - sending someone on their way and to their ministry with love and encouragement and authority, acknowledging their calling, their gifts and their uniqueness.
And if this is the only ordination I will ever receive, so be it.
9/10/2013
Just a few days ago I heard a short melody that reminded me a lot of
Adiemus. It brought back some precious memories from my radio times, I
often took my Adiemus' CD with me and played it. For those who don't
know - Adiemus is Finnish awesomeness, a strange mix of Northern voices
and Southern-sounding melodies, all put together by brilliant composer
Karl Jenkins. So today's tune is Adiemus' song Adiemus from their album
Songs of Sanctuary. Brilliant. And unique.
--
I'll share my emotions from last weekend in Newbold as soon as I've survived my moving madness and have time to catch my breath. Tomorrow I'm moving to Tartu. Blah.
--
I'll share my emotions from last weekend in Newbold as soon as I've survived my moving madness and have time to catch my breath. Tomorrow I'm moving to Tartu. Blah.
9/04/2013
 | ||||
| The birdwatcher. My dad. |
The thing is that I'm a topographic idiot - I only need about 200 meters to get lost in the woods (so don't ever trust me when I say I know the right way, unless it's one of my hometowns I'm talking about). Like seriously. Once I got lost on my way from a lake to parking lot after a swim, and it couldn't have been more than 200 meters between those two. But my dad has proven to be a topographic genius (one of his traits I haven't inherited) and with him I can run around woods for hours and hours, never having to worry whether he'll get us out of the woods and whether he'll find our car or not. Just like yesterday. We got the whole family to the nearby forest and while others picked berries, I went on a mushroom hunt with my dad. We were all over the place, walking backwards and forward, in circles, kilometers away from our car. And not even once I got a worrying thought in my head. I knew he knew the way, even though I didn't have a slightest clue where we were. And of course he didn't let me down - after our two hour hunt and after a bucket full of mushrooms we walked straight back to our car. As usual.
Talking about trust.
I should write a sermon about it.
--
Other than that - my mom has been scheduled her first chemotherapy session. It will be a long and hard fight. But she fights and we fight with her. And if God fights for us, we'll win.
9/02/2013
Tuesday's Tune
I noticed an interesting phenomenon a few days ago - I've almost stopped listening to music. It's very strange because usually I listen to a lot of stuff, all the time. Music is just essential to my existence. But I guess it's a time of silence in my life now. I don't know how else to explain it.
So there are only very few handpicked songs that make it to the soundtrack of my life right now. That Bobby McFerrin's song which I posted a few weeks ago is one of them. The other one is Ben Taylor's version of By Your Side. It's really Sade's song but for some strange reason the original version has never spoken to me the way this cover has. There are evenings when the last thing I do before going to sleep is to listen to this song. I don't know if it was written as a spiritual song - and honestly, I don't care - but for me it's very much spiritual. I've heard God's voice speaking to me through that song. There are mornings and noons and late evenings when I just need to hear Him telling me,
You think I'd leave your side, baby
You know me better than that
Think I'd leave you down on your knees
I wouldn't do that
So there are only very few handpicked songs that make it to the soundtrack of my life right now. That Bobby McFerrin's song which I posted a few weeks ago is one of them. The other one is Ben Taylor's version of By Your Side. It's really Sade's song but for some strange reason the original version has never spoken to me the way this cover has. There are evenings when the last thing I do before going to sleep is to listen to this song. I don't know if it was written as a spiritual song - and honestly, I don't care - but for me it's very much spiritual. I've heard God's voice speaking to me through that song. There are mornings and noons and late evenings when I just need to hear Him telling me,
You think I'd leave your side, baby
You know me better than that
Think I'd leave you down on your knees
I wouldn't do that
9/01/2013
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