New Prayer Request
For Chris as he has his annual health check-ups
For us as we start a new Risttee missional community
For Risttee as we continue to grow, learn, and mature about what is the gospel really?

The season of fall has come quickly...
Well it seems that fall decided to come overnight. We went from our super record breaking warm temperatures to cold, windy, and rainy. Already over the past 2 weeks the leaves are starting to put on their display of an amazing artist. There is color everywhere. I understood the change of seasons last week when I came out from home and saw my breath in the morning air. Luckily, these past few days the sun has begun to shine a bit. There are still though the diehards sitting outside the cafes with their coats and hats on sipping on their espressos soaking in the last few moments of warmth from the sun.
For us the reality is now that fall is hear, winter is right around the corner. I know I was not here last year, but many are hoping winter will be a little less harsh.

Answered Prayer Request
For Liina as she begins her residency on 1 Sept.
Liina is settling into her residency program. She has really enjoyed the doctor and team that she is working with. It will just take some time as she begins to take all of her book knowledge and translate it into real experiences. It is kind of a small world for her as she is studying under Peep's (Peep is pastor of Risttee church, my close friend, or you can say my boss) mom who is a amazing family doctor. I know this was an answer to prayer because Dr. Saar really loves and cares about her patients. She always wants the best for them. I can say this also from experience as she is my family doctor and has taken care of me through out all of my medical needs these past few years. I know Liina really appreciates working for a doctor who wants to help her learn and grow.

For Chris as he continues to focus his role at Risttee church
With my role it is still in process. I am still working on the program side of our Sunday morning gatherings. With now being caught up with things, this is not taking all of my time each week. Lately, I have been able to help produce some videos for our services and also do some graphic design for some things coming up in the future. We are also working on a new website, and are in the process of launching our missional community groups over the next couple of weeks. You can say there is always something that needs worked on.

For us as we begin to reach out to the needs of our neighbors, community, and city.
Personally, two weeks ago God answered this prayer in some interesting ways. I finally had a conversation with my neighbor who lives on the same floor as us. Liina and I were down at one of the playgrounds in town watching our friend's kids. I saw our neighbor there and said hello. After several minutes of strange looks, she walked over and said hello and then asked me if I was her neighbor. Luckily, I did not say what I was thinking "Um yep, I am the strange guy that lives right next door and has been saying hello to you these past 5 years." We simple started a conversation and found out she has a lot of things in common with Liina. They are from the same town and went to the same school. We don't know where this will lead but are in continued prayer to see if she would be open to coming over for dinner sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Two days after that conversation another neighbor passed us in our stairway and said hello to us and also told us welcome back. We admit this was another shocking moment. Maybe we need to leave more often and come back for our neighbors to notice us. At least we realize now all these years that when our neighbors pretended to be invisible as we passed by, they really did see us and hear us. But if that was not enough, I was walking to work and a different neighbor was outside waiting for a ride. I said hello like always, but was sure I would get the normal response of deer in headlights look. Nope, shocked again. She said hello and I even got a smile with it. Wow! God has been so good. Thank you for all of your prayers. It has taken so long to make any breakthrough with our neighbors, but maybe there is finally a glimmer of hope. Maybe the door has finally cracked open enough we can peek in.

Answering a new need...
Our church is expanding to help take care of a new need. We are realizing as a church there is another sub-culture in our city especially with the University. We found out there are over 600 international students who are attending this year. The couple that was helping be a spiritual light to this group has recently moved away. In the past we have been involved a little bit because we offer english translation at Risttee. We have a FM transmitter so international people can sit anywhere in the audience with headphones and feel part of the church. They don't have to feel that they are ever interrupting the church service. We don't want them to be only sunday attenders, but we want to help them connect and feel part of the Risttee family. So Liina and I are helping start a new missional community group that will be english based. It will be interesting as it will be a group mixed with estonians and international people. As we start the group this week, we will already have people from Germany, Cameroon, China, Japan, and Canada. It shall be an interesting group as we help them continue to grow with their walk with God over next year they are here. You can be in prayer for us we begin to listen and figure out what their needs are so that Liina and I can shepherd them and help them feel like they have a family away from home. We are excited about this new journey as God gave us a picture of what this looks like in Africa as we worked with a very international community of people with Hands at Work. Another way that God was preparing us for what lies ahead for us here in Estonia.

Bear Week...
Our church had Bear week last week, which is an annual outreach to the university students. It is a week filled with free food, crazy city games, evening board game nights, and a cafe. We had a small team from Atlanta come and help us. I know that many contacts were made and the team has some amazing conversations as students waited in line. I believe we handed out over 1,250 pancakes, 500 cups of hot chocolate, and 300 cups of coffee. We hope that this was a blessing to many students as there are over 20,000 students attending the different universities in Tartu. Click here for Pictures.

Thanks...
Again, we can't say thank you enough for your continued prayers. Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to follow God's leading in our lives here in Tartu, Estonia.

Sincerely,
Chris & Liina