WE'RE HERE!!!!!!!! (the boring part)

Ok so what seemed like FOREVER we finally arrived in Tartu. Here's what went down. You'll have to bare with me because the keyboard has really strange keys!

Our flight from Dallas to Atlanta was probably the worst flying experience of our lives. Our seats were right next to one of the back engines. We couldn't hear each other talk and it felt like our seats were vibrating the entire time. We were SO glad the flight was only a little under two hours!

We landed in Atlanta 15 minutes early which was good because we had to take the subway to our terminal. There were military men and women everywhere so it was really neat to see them. We boarded our flight and, luckily, we were all in the same row! I was on the very end and I sat next to a girl from Sweden. At first I didn't think she spoke English so I didn't talk to her. She was crying for the first part of the flight so I just began to pray that God would somehow allow me to communicate with her. During the last twenty minutes she told me she was just pretending and that she really spoke English so we had a nice little chat.

After landing in Stockholm, we were picked up by the biggest taxi I've ever seen and he took us to the ship where Linden and Janice, the Estonian missionaries, stowed our luggage. We then went on our very own tour of Stockholm. Now, when I say "own tour" I mean Linden tried to get us to old town. We only got confused a few times! We rode the Metro to some other part of town where we saw all kinds of old buildings and the palace of the King and Queen of Sweden. After taking way too long grabbing a bite to eat we had to book it back to the ship. We ended up getting off the Metro and seriously power walking to the port. It was a little stressful but we made it!

The cruise was unbelievable! For all of you out there who thought we were just taking a ferry ride, you were seriously mistaken! It had a casino and restaurant, spas, stores and a cafeteria! Of course, we were all so exhausted we didn't really get to see much of the ship, just the upper deck where we took pictures of us leaving the port!

This morning we had planned on waking up at 7:30 Swedish time, however at 3 this morning Jennie and I were wide awake, so we went and explored the ship. We didn't find much, but we did find a place to get hot tea. So we sat for a while and then headed back to our room and waited for everyone else to wake up. The other ladies woke up at 7:30, except it was actually 8:30 because Estonia is an hour ahead of Sweden (who would have thought!). At 10:00 EVERYONE of the boat had to exit at the port. Do you know how long it takes to get hundreds of Swedish people out of one door? A very long, frustrating time!

So we drove two and half hours in what is called "The Queer Bus". it's a bright yellow, really old minibus. We were styling to say the very least! So then we got to Salem Baptist Church, where we will be calling home for the next few days, and settled in.

This evening we had a training/meeting for all the Estonian helpers for the week. It was really cool to meet all of them. The girls that are helping with VBS all speak English and are in high school. They are so fun and SO excited to get the week started!!


To be continued...