Dec. 17

Thank you for your comments and words of encouragement! They mean a lot to me.

I am in Aseri again tonight. I seem to be traveling back and forth a lot. Aseri is about 80 miles (roughly) from Tallinn. It's about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Again we stopped on the way from Tallinn to Aseri at Viktor's house in Kerah. Raja made lunch - macaroni with meatballs and some sort of sauce. It was good. Of course they keep offering you more and more food and I have to turn them down because I am so stuffed. Then they offer you chi (tea) and/or coffee and when I only want water they look at me like I am crazy! :)

I arrived in Aseri sometime around 3:45ish and went directly to the church to work with the children at the after school program. Of course I cannot help with homework, but I can play memory (with the cards with pictures that are up-side down and you flip 2 at a time and have to remember where pictures are). I also could color and make crafts that Ira had planned. The kids also sang Jingle Bells in Russian. After I sang it in English while we made crafts and the kids had fun mimicking me - actually it was quite entertaining. They of course had no clue as to what they were saying!

It also struck me today how poor Aseri is. Yes, I noticed it before, but especially after spending 2 days in Tallinn - outside of Tallinn to be more exact. There is no comparison! No wonder so many people leave the small villages for work or to move there. The little girl - Marina - pictured to the right, has worn the same clothes all week. Of course its cold outside, but some apartments are chilly too. You generally cannot flush toilet paper in the toilets - you must throw it in the trash. Thry have gone from 4 markets in town to 2. There are now only 120 kids at the public school - I think there were over 200 early last year when I came. BUT the people are so warm and make you feel so welcome! They would give you the shirt off their back - and they have given me food and more food! I wonder sometimes if they can afford it - but I don't think they would want it any other way.

I am enjoying their company and feel so blessed to be allowed this opportunity to see how my brothers and sisters across the world live. It gives me a bigger picture of who God is - with my 'american-colored' glasses taken off for a moment to see the world differently. I ask our Lord to let me see with His eyes - for then and only then will I see what God will reveal.

Tonight a group of us ate at Tatianna's again. (And I do apologize for my spelling!) Tonight we had meat - maybe beef? - with some sort of cream sauce on rice. There were pickles and pickled tomatoes. Quite tasty. As always there is bread. Oh, I don't think I've mentioned the bread here? Yummy! That's the only word. It's sore bought sliced 'sandwich' bread, but oh so good and hearty. I don't really know how to describe it, but if you ever get to eat Russian bread, do it! For dessert she made these scone-type things. She said they are made from tomatoes. She also had swwets - cookies and candy. They like their chocolate here!!

Oh yea, for breakfast I ate my eggs sunny-side up. I liked them. :)

This Saturday the church is throwing a party for the children in Sunday School and the after school program. Ira and I will make preparations tomorrow. We are cooking and making some of the salad concoctions that they make. Let's hope the fish is not involved! :) At least I will learn how to make one salad. And when I say salad, I say that with no other word to describe this food. I look at it and couldn't tell you what is in it - or them (there are many concoctions). All I know is that you would have to see them to understand. They are not bad, just different.

Well, I need some sleep. Oh, and it is very cold here. When you walk outside your nosehair freezes. No joke. It is quite uncomfortable. And I even tried clearing my nse with a tissue, but any moisture makes it worse. :) haha.

God bless you my friends!
- Rachel

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe." - Ephesians 1:17-19