Saturday

Here are some more pictures

1. Russian Orthodox Church

2. Mid-summer Day Celebration with the Olevista Church on the Baltic sea coast

3. Mid-Summer Day Celebration with the Olevista Church

4. Praise the Lord

5. Boat on the Baltic Sea

Saturday pic's

Here are some pictures of what yesterday was like.

1. Radio interview. Me and Oleg

2. Old Tallinn

3. Town Plaza

4. Hari Krishna

5. Old Tallinn from the highest hill. The white steeple on right is Oleviste Church.

Tallinn

Saturday June 23, 2007
What a day. We started the day by going to….. Wait the day actually started at 4 in the morning. That’s when this bright light came streaming into my room. It was like being in a spot light. I took off my blindfold (yes that’s right, and now you know why) and looked at the clock…4:15 AM. I looked out the window and sure enough there it was, already up. Now back to my story… we got to the Oleviste Church around 10:00 with Heldur and I was interviewed on the radio station there. Then it was off sighting seeing until 5:00. At that time we headed out to the country where the church was going to celebrate Midsummer Day. Besides what I mentioned yesterday about the day it is also St. John’s Day. They had a whole special day named after me!
I was asked to give a greeting there. I guess there were around 150-175 people there. It was quite a drive out there. And it was right on the water too.
After the church celebration we drove back to Tallinn and after driving around for awhile we found another celebration that was open to the public. They had a rock band playing, people dancing, and the bonfire. We didn’t get there until about 11:45 or so. it’s after 12, or should I say 0:00 and I have to say, it’s still a bit on the twilight side. Also there is music all around.
I’ll post this tonight and then put pictures up tomorrow sometime. I took a lot of pictures today. I have to see which ones I want to post tomorrow….er I mean this afternoon.
John

TALLINN

June 22, 2007
My trip to Tallinn was a very easy one. It was non-stop from Vienna to Tallinn.
The Tallinn terminal was very new and most of the signs were in both Estonian and English which made it easy to get around.
After waiting for my luggage to arrive I went out and Heldur met me. He had a student with him. Oleg had just come in from Belarus, Heldur drove us to the church from the airport. The church is almost 700 years old. During the 1950’s the Communists put several Christian denominations together and said that they were all to use this building. Since then they have been getting along fine! And so is the church. Here are some pictures of the outside of the church. I’ll have more of the inside as the week progresses. [church pic above]
The church is in old Tallinn, so we walked around and found a place to eat lunch. After lunch we went sight-seeing. It’s a very pretty city. The weather was just perfect as you can see from some of the pictures.
Right now it’s 7:18 PM and the position of the sun makes it look like it’s about 2 in the afternoon.
Tomorrow is Midsummer Day. It’s a National holiday in which everyone celebrates by gathering around public bonfires lit at night. It’s also a day that the Estonians call Victory Day. It 1919 the Estonians forces defeated the German forces at the Battle of Vonnu. On that day Estonia became an independent country. So there is a celebrative spirit around the city now.
The church is setting a bonfire tomorrow night, so I’m going to be going to that.
Enjoy the pictures of Tallinn.

Austria

Alex got us to the airport in time with no problems. The flight was good, but it was packed. Every seat was full. Pam had an aisle and I had a window. we were hoping for an empty seat between us, but that didn't happen. There was a high school men's choir from the Elder School out of Cincinnati. There were about 80 in the choir and then parents and friends also came along. Nice bunch of guys. The guy in between us was in the choir.
We got to Vienna about 8:40 AM. Robert was here to pick us up. When we got to the haus it felt like we really hadn't been gone all that long. Because we are over here around the same time every year, it really feels like home.
I got my tickets for my in country trips. I fly out Friday morning for Tallinn (by way of Frankfort - never been there before). Then I'm back here the next Friday and fly out on Saturday for Sofia. That will be interesting. I've always gone from one country to the next without coming back to Austria first.
The weather is a bit on the hot and humid side over here right now!
I meet with Brent tomorrow to talk about worship teams and leadership issues. He's a worship leader here in Vienna at the church where Rob Prokup is the minister.
Well that's about it for today.
We're here and we're tired!
John

Conference

This week I'm with Pam at a library conference in Grand Rapids. So, I have some time on my hands during the day. Since being in Grand Rapids I had the chance to go to several Christian Publishing houses. Baker Book Discount house is right down the corner from me. I picked up Emerging Worship by Dan Kimball, The Worshiping Artist by Rory Noland and Worship 365. I started reading Worshipthreesixtyfive by David M. Edwards. The subtitle is The Power Of A Worshiping Life. It's a very good read and he is bring out some some very good ideas and thoughts. His premise is about living a life of worship. Worship is a biblical principle for everyday life. Go David!!
I think I have enough books to read and keep me busy for awhile.
jts

coming up

This coming Sunday Pam and I fly to Michigan. Pam has a Christian Librarian Conference to go to. The conference is in Grand Rapids at Cornerstone University. While she is at the conference I'll be hitting the different Christian book publishers that are in Grand Rapids. I'm hoping to find some books on worship that I can use as reference material for the class.