Nothing helps writer's block like having questions to answer! I had a couple of questions from the comments on my last post that I'll answer here.
Crissy asked, "If you had to pick a favorite of the countries that you've lived in, what would it be?"
Right away my answer to this was Estonia; I love it here! But the more I thought about that the less sure I became. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy Estonia, but I had to ask myself, do I really like it more than other places I've lived? In my true over-analytical style I thought this one to death and finally came up with a conclusion. Everywhere we've lived has been my favorite at the time. Even Jerusalem to a point was my "favorite" while we were there. There were things about Israel that I most certainly did not like, but it was way up there on the "cool factor". What it boils down is best summed up by Philippians 4:11, "...for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." You will always be happiest in the middle of God's will... no matter where that takes you! But in fairness to Crissy's question, she did say, "If you had to", so then my answer would be Estonia. But if you ask me again when our time here is over, that answer just might change!
Becky asked, "I'm curious why you didn't have more friends in Jerusalem. Is there a larger set of Christian English speakers there in Estonia? I saw that lots of people in Israel speak English, so the difference must be a church. Is that it?"
There is a deep, spiritual reason for this, and a more simple, obvious one. Spiritually speaking, I believe God was giving us a time "in the desert" to draw closer to Him, and also closer as a family. I'm not sure that I took full advantage of this time like I could have, I know I spent some of it at pity-parties, but I'm thankful for the opportunity.
More practically speaking though, there was just a lack of like-minded people to be friends with. We had an Independent Fundamental KJV Bible Believing Baptist church to attend, but the only other lady in that church speaks Arabic and we had to communicate through her children that spoke English. That and the fact that she lived in the forbidden West Bank of Jerusalem really hindered our getting together!
Here in Estonia we have our good friends, Mike & Penny that we've known for about 10 years. They, in turn, have introduced us to other people, like Denise and her family, that have also become good friends. The Lord has really blessed us with lots of fellowship and we are so thankful.
Thank you for the questions, ladies!
- Pam--in America
- "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." Proverbs 25:25 This blog began while living overseas (hence the title). We lived in Japan, Israel, and Estonia; you can read about some of those adventures in my older posts. For now, God has placed us back in the U.S.A. The location may not be as exotic or exciting but I truly believe that the happiest place you can be is in God's will. And we are one happy family!
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7 comments:
That was interesting to read. Love the new header, btw!
We should all be content with what God has given us and where he has placed us. Thanks for the reminder!
I really liked the Q&A session with Pam! =) Thanks for sharing! I have a question for you too, but it pertains to your other blog so I'll hop on over there and ask you.
Now is that all it took!
I have a TON of questions...that'll keep you with us for a while! hee hee
1. What's your latest sewing project?
2. Did you make the cinnamon popcorn yet?
3. What recipe did you like the best in the cookbook, I sent you?
4.Has your daughter made any new projects?
5. How's that cross stitch project coming along...way back in Israel?
I am so happy as I've said before that you are enjoying so much about Estonia!
Hugs..
HOPE~
Estonia looks beautiful, I would love to visit there sometime. Will you all be pcs'ing soon?
Liz, I've answered your question on my other blog... thanks for the jump start over there ;)
Hope.... I'll get to some of your questions on another post (thanks).. to answer two of them now; no, he hasn't tried the popcorn yet... maybe this weekend! From the cookbook, I like a certain person's Swiss Casserole! Penny gave me some Swiss cheese and when I saw that recipe I knew we would like it; and we did :)
Crystal~ we have a little less than a year left... and for once that's a sad countdown!!
So I'm kind of slow catching back up to your blog. If you ever make your way down to Warsaw, be sure to give us a call. We have a guest room. But then, if you do come down, you probably have some really nice place to stay since your dh works for the gov't....
Anyway, interesting about the church in Jerusalem. I've been to Israel two times and enjoyed it very much the tension in the whole country felt so thick--it was like you could cut the air with a knife.
My husband is now in Israel on a dig for a month. My oldest daughter is with him. They are thoroughly enjoying it. They visited Masada and En Gedi last weekend.
Are you working with missionaries there in Estonia? If so, could you send me a link to their church/website, any info about them. We like to keep in contact with missionaries in our part of the world. We are ind. Baptists, however, we do use a Polish Bible at church (and not an English version.)
If your missionary friends have teenage kids, sometimes they have a need of fellowship too, and I wanted to make sure they know about a teen retreat for MKs of American missionaries of ind. fundamental Baptist missionaries held in Spain every year. The link is http://www.aierdi.org/Missionary_Teen_Retreats.htm
My kids have only gone for the last two times, but it has really met a need in their lives. I'm trying to let more missionaries know about it in our part of the world since most of the kids come from western Europe. Our kids flew in from Poland and thoroughly enjoyed it. They met other MKs from Scotland and Spain, Hungary, etc.
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