One Adventure After Another

Thursday, June 16

We finished at the MTC on Wednesday with training from CES.  We finished some last minute chores and then went to the temple for some quiet time.  Thursday was a free day to get ready for our flight on Friday.  We packed bags and weighed them several times.  We were pretty close to the limit on some of them.  We checked out and went to Salt Lake and met Zachary.  While we there, Joseph and his family drove into town on their way to a family reunion in Idaho, so we got to visit with them one last time.

Friday, June 17

Zachary dropped us off at the airport and we made our way through all the checks and x-rays.  We arrived in Chicago just after lunchtime with four hours to kill.  So we walked slowly through the terminal a few times, had lunch and stood in line.  Since this was an international flight, the Feds had dogs to sniff everyone as they boarded.  Since I had been in a suit all day, I think the dog passed out after sniffing me.  We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany about 7:15 AM on Saturday morning.  See how green it is there?  So beautiful.

Frankfurt from the air

Saturday, June 17

After deplaning, we had to get our passports stamped to enter the "EU", European Union.  After a 90 minute wait, we were on a flight to Riga, Latvia.  The sky was overcast all day and we really couldn't see anything but clouds since we passing over Ireland earlier in the day.  At about noon, we arrived in Riga and found the missionaries waiting for us.

Riga Airport

The Assistants took us to the mission office for a few minutes (our mission president was in Lithuania for meetings and couldn't meet us there).  The CES Area Director was there to greet us and to drive us to Tallinn in the car we are to use.  I heard that the drive was lovely with green and lush scenery.  I kinda checked out as I hadn't slept since leaving Salt Lake the day before.  It rained most of the day and when we arrived at our apartment, the zone leader had our keys, we could not open the door (it has three locks on it), and we only two keys.  They called the landlady and she was 90 minutes away, so we all went for lunch.  Afterwards, we met the landlady and she gave us the third key that opened it up.  We slept well that night.

Sunday, June 18

The elders came by and they showed us how to get to the church.

Tallinn Chapel

Inside the Chapel

 It's a small building, but has everything you'd need, just a smaller size or number.  The branch here is comprised of Estonian and Russian speakers, so there is constant translation going on during the meetings.  We wore a receiver while a sister missionary translated.  Kinda cool.  When a Russian speaker spoke, we had a Russian elder translate.  We had the usual meetings, all in Estonian with some help from the missionaries.  I have to admit, the jet-lag was in full force and it was hard to not drift off somewhere.  We had the elders with us to show us the way back.  All of Europe is so old, the roads look like they were made from cow trails and footpaths.  The roads just don't go east-west, north-south.  They can go in every direction you can imagine and change direction suddenly.  If you miss your turn, you can't just turn at the next intersection and find your way back, you may have to go a ways further before you get another place to turn, so you must know where you are going before you start.  A great metaphor for life.

The Rest of the Week

This is the Highlight reel:

• tripped circuit breaker, no electricity all night
• parking ticket
• getting lost more times that one can count on one hand
• Had first YSA FHE at our apartment.  Fun!
• Set off security alarm at the church (who knew?)
• Broke three pieces of furniture
• Performed service/picking up trash
• rode a bus
• Hosting the patriarch while he is here giving blessings (more on that later)
• visited Old Town and had pancakes

It's been a fun and adventurous week, full of wonder and amazement.  Who needs a cruise, when you live where the cruise ships come every day?  This is the life!