A Wonderful House Guest

I mentioned briefly in my last post that I had a house guest for a week from Estonia. T. came to Bradenton as a representative from her church in Tallinn. Our church has established a friendship relationship with hers. Three years ago, almost four now, a large group of us went over to visit and to see in what ways we might be of help to them. We decided that it would be good for all the folks in our church to meet someone from over there, and so T. came.

Estonia is a country that was dominated by the Soviets until 1991. Freedom is fairly new to them, and they have made great strides in a short time. Situated on the Baltic Sea, right next to Russia, Estonia is a fairly small country. The people are very friendly and have welcomed us warmly. Tallinn has a walled city, called Old Town, that dates back to 1154. It has become a very popular tourist stop for cruise ships. After I was there in 2003, I had a couple of doctor's visits after my return, and both of the doctors had been in Tallinn that summer.

I mentioned in the last post, that being Baptists, we ate ourselves through the week. The first day that she was here I took her to eat at Riverside Grill that has seating outdoors. Right now in Estonia, there are only four hours of daylight, and so I figured she would enjoy the sun. The next day the pastor and his family took her to the beach for a potluck with friends. The next morning she was taken to the beach again for an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. And it went on and on throughout the week.

I tried to think like a tourist and take her places that would be representative of our city. Mixon's Fruit Farms is a favorite place for tourists. There is a great gift shop there with all kinds of "Florida-ish" type things, as well as very nice gifts. We were able to see how the fruit is brought in, sorted, washed, and packed. You can buy fruit right there, or you can have it shipped.

Later we went to the South Florida Museum where Snooty, the manatee, resides. He's always fun to see. Whitaker, a young manatee, who was injured by a boat's propeller is recuperating there, but he will soon be returned to the wild.

Later in the week, I took her to my father-in-law's house so that she could pick some oranges. Talk about excited! I remember being in Chicago with a group of ladies for a conference once in February when it snowed. Boy, were we excited, and those who see it all the time, looked at us like we were nuts. I reminded my friends that when those people come to Florida, they get all excited about seeing oranges growing, so there's really no difference.

T. publishes Christian books for the believers in Estonia. She is always looking for books which she can get translated into Estonian. It is very expensive, because the damand is not great, and so part of her time is spent raising funds to underwrite these (she calls it "begging for money.")

She said that their winter had been very mild with very little snow. They like the snow because it brightens their days. This is the picture the sent after she got back home. She had a wonderful time while she was here. I believe that she went home with a very good impression of us Americans. She said she was going to have a slide show when she gets home to show everyone. We loved having her here. She said several times that she would like to come back.

A group from our church is going to return this summer to keep our connection with them. Hopefully, I'll be going again.