Hello Family and Friends:

Prayer Request
For Liina as she begins her residency on 1 Sept.
For Chris as he continues to focus his role at Risttee church
For us as we begin to reach out to the needs of our neighbors, community, and city

An African Summer...
Well as we arrived back to Estonia it was quite rainy and cold compared to the states, but it soon transformed into one of the hottest summers in the last 130 years. You have to realize that our normal high temperatures in the summer are around 80 F but this summer the temperatures ended up being around 95 - 97 F. Yes in the states you have air conditioning just about every you go, but we have never needed before until now. Liina and I ended up buying a little fan to help us sleep through the nights. With this first month back we spent much time with Liina’s family. They were extremely excited to have us back and kind of kidnapped us for awhile. We did not mind, since we stayed in one of their apartments till August since we had rented our apartment out till then. It was nice to relax and get adjusted back to Estonian life. I can’t say that it has been an easy adjustment, but I have an amazing peace about being back. I have missed our church family very much over this past year away.

Living Permit...
As we got back, I needed to fill out paperwork again for my Residency Permit. The system has changed again since we were away. I thought that I did everything that needed to be done according to the website but once we started talking to the migration lady apparently everything I did was wrong and she made sure that I knew I was wrong. We saw that we were getting nowhere fast with this lady and we were not going to get any help from her either. Frustrated we went back and re-did the paperwork how she wanted it done. The next day we went back but had a different lady. From the first moment she said hello we knew that this was going to be a pleasant experience. She was very helpful with us getting everything done exactly how it needed to be. She said I should find out if I get the permit or not in a month or so. Surprisingly less than a week later we received a letter in the mail saying that they granted me a residency permit for 3 years. This was great news knowing that we will not have to go through this process every single year anymore. God shocked us again with his grace.

Only Answer...God
It has been cool for Liina and I to get reconnected with her friends. As they are all transitioning from school to differently residency we have had great conversations. It has been fun to just be with them and hear how their lives are going. Though many of our friends are still quite transient, we are trying to make sure we connect as much as we can when they are in Tartu. We don’t know how God will continue to open the door for us with them, but we see God already working in our friendships and also as we talk about our experiences in Africa. So many times we have tried to explain the unexplainable things that God did there. We simple say it was a God thing. It is cool to see people who don’t believe in God say of course it was a God thing, how else could these things you talk about happen.

What Now?
I know many of you have been asking, so what now? I know that we have not been able to answer that very clearly, but hopefully I can bring a little clarity to you so you know how to continue to pray for us.
Liina will be starting her residency program in family medicine next week starting on the 1 September. At the moment, it looks like it will all work out for her to study in Tartu over this next year. I have to admit that I am very excited that we get to stay together this next year instead of being apart for months at a time as we would have to live in different cities. Now Liina’s second year we will know that we have some months apart but will deal with that when the time comes. For now, we will just enjoy our time together.
As for me, I have decided to stay at Risttee “Crossroads” Church. Again I have found myself entering a situation at the exact moment that I am needed. God has amazing timing with where he has been leading me. It has been great to be back in the office working together with Craig again. If you don’t remember, Craig and I moved to Estonia together 8 years ago now. At the moment, I am working very closely with Peep with creating the series and all that happens on Sunday Mornings. I am helping with the putting the different series together, creating the different element pieces that we want to incorporate, thinking of the set design, technical team, scheduling the bands, set-up and tear down every Sunday, and running the program on Sunday mornings. It has keep me very busy the past couple of weeks as I am in the learning curve again. Another responsibility in September will be getting ready for our missional communities. These are like small groups, but they are more intentional in how they function. As a team we are in the process of transitioning from small groups to missional communities. We are very excited because they have unlimited potential. As always when we are doing something new there is always a learning curve and we know we won’t always get it right. We are thankful for God’s leading. God has really been bringing our team together in some amazing ways. We are excited to see what God will do in September with his church, Risttee church.

Thanks...
We want to again thank everyone that has been praying for us and the decisions that we had to make over these past couple of months. We see that the process of how God took us to Africa and back has been the exact same process of coming back to Estonia and what he clearly wants us to do. As I was talking with Craig last week, life is about hearing God’s little whispers in our ear, then following them in obedience. Though the whisper seems to be small, the impact can is huge. As Liina and I have been following some new whispers from God, we hope to tell you in the future of some new and exciting things God is allowing us to become involved in along with the people he has been bringing into our lives.
Sincerely, Chris & Liina