Kristian and Band Play at Big Ben Pub

We cannot believe it is Wednesday night, and we are already half way through our time here in Estonia. It is almost midnight Estonia time as I write this, and we just got back from the Big Ben Pub in town where Kristian Stanfill and the band played for a couple of hours. This is the second night they played at Big Ben, and we have seen a great turnout of warm, energetic students from Risttee Church and new students who learned about the event from stopping by one of our early morning breakfast stations or participated in one of the afternoon events that have taken place on campus this week.

I think we are all amazed at the response to the activities planned for this week. There are “repeat customers” to our three breakfast stands and many groups of students who are participating in the different games each afternoon. Some of those same students are coming to the Pub each night.

The interesting thing is that Estonians are very closed at first and don’t readily approach people they do not know, even in a setting where they agree they would like to get to know new students. One of the most engaging and involved students, Helena, was so surprised at how much she enjoyed talking with three girls who came to the Pub last night. She said she has never walked up and introduced herself to anyone (which is unbelievable because she is super fun and warm when you get to know her even a little bit) and would never have done that if Jamey in our group hadn’t started talking to them and invited her to join the conversation. It felt like a small “yay” tonight to see her sitting with those girls again and enjoying getting to know them.

That is our purpose here – to do whatever we can do to support our friends at Risttee Church in their big plans to reach out to the thousands of students in this community. With really busy days that go from 7 a.m. to midnight, we are tired but so energized by the response and the hope of students getting connected to Risttee, because we know they will hear Truth there and experience genuine people who love God. (I know that is a run on sentence but it is late!)

I’m off to bed now. There is so much more to tell, but I just can’t stay awake any longer and 6:30 a.m. will be here soon. Think about us and pray for good weather tomorrow night (around 2 p.m. in Georgia/9 p.m. Estonia time.) We have our big event of the week outside in a park near campus and three bands set up to play with no rain plan!

Catie B.

Kristian and Kerri Stanfill and the rest of the band arrived in Tartu on Tuesday afternoon after enduring the same 19+ hours of travel the rest of the team endured a few days earlier. Despite being worn out and weary from the travel, the band made their first appearance at Big Ben Pub on Tuesday night. I really don't know how they managed it, so I suppose all I can say is "Thank God, literally, for adrenalin", because otherwise, I'm not sure what they accomplished that night would've been possible!

We had a great turn out at the pub and were all excited to finally have the band with us in Estonia. The rest of us had been promoting the band's first appearance at Big Ben on Tuesday night at the breakfast stations and other events on Monday and Tuesday as a band coming from America that played groups like U2 and Cold Play. Much to our surprise, without even so much as one secular song to warm up the crowd, the band jumped right into playing worship music - rock style of course, breaking out "All Because of Jesus" as the second song of the night. While we all love the song, we cringed a little, looking around to see how many people would get up and leave at the mention of Jesus. We were happy and hopeful (and a little relieved) to see that not only did no one leave but they stayed and stayed to continue to listen to Kristian sing songs that clearly praised God and Jesus and all they have to offer in our lives. Apparently, everyone was impressed and appreciative of the bands performance, including a member of a local band who asked who they were and wondered if they had songs on iTunes. Not bad!

The second night at the pub went well also, with a slightly smaller crowd and a few secular cover songs from U2 and others but still plenty of worship songs, camaraderie, and many familiar faces including our new friends from Risttee Church and many of the students we'd met in the week. Tomorrow night, Thursday night, is the big concert near the town square with the band from Risttee and an Estonia band called Crux as openers and Kristian and band as headliners. It should be awesome, though very cold and, as Catie mentioned, hopefully dry!

We are having a great time and continue to have amazing experiences that suggest the impact we are having in our efforts to help Risttee Church reach out to the university students of Tartu. We can't wait to see what else He has in store for all of us!

Love and blessings to all,
Shannon

P.S. For my Daddy and any others who may be wondering, the food here is pretty much like what we eat at home, except maybe the Estonian hamburgers that Rich and Craig picked up at the burger stand down the street from Craig's house as a snack to nourish us after we finished all our prep work for the week's activities. Some of the other Estonian foods we've tried include fried black bread with garlic and garlic sauce and spicy lamb kabobs (YUM!) and some sort of yogurt type shake that was not very cold and quite sour tasting (YUCK!). Otherwise, it has been pasta, pizza, american hamburgers, eggs, bacon, etc. Oh, and very yummy chocolates. :-)