Our LST team has arrived safely, repairs in our kitchen have begun once again and Camp Balchyoca 2005 is only a memory now.

Our week at camp was full of God’s blessing as close to 150 people were brought together to work, play, sing, fellowship and soak up insights from His Word. We had an amazing team of servants. Those who came in from the States, the resident missionaries and the nationals worked together in an awesome way. We spent the week talking about ‘Hidden Treasure’ … and I, like Mary, treasured up in my heart so many of the scenes of the week.

It was precious to see Russians, Estonians, and Americans loving and hugging on each other, to see our own Oksana ministering to the needs of her handicapped campers, to see Nikolai enthusiastically sharing the message of ‘real treasure’, to see Jaime take on her job as camp photographer with eyes as tender as her heart, to see Geoff leading singing (with a little miniature Geoff at his side), to see ... God working.

Brandi taught a class each day and was in charge of afternoon and evening activities. He kept busy most of the week and even though he was not in his usual ‘director’ role, I saw God using him to minister over and over. I just love stepping back and watching him as he touches the hearts of young people with his gentle heart and silly antics. If you’ve never experienced Brandi’s version of the “Itty Bitty Box” song, you’ve truly missed out!

Most of my duties were “pre-camp”, so I was able to enjoy some precious one-on-one time with a few of our Tartu girls, share hearts, laughter, vision and lots of really strong coffee with fellow workers in the Kingdom and sit in on a daily ladies class. Our focus for the week was the "Treasure of Encouragement”. Indeed, encouragement is a great and wonderful treasure that is so often lacking. We were reminded that our words are like gifts that we give one another and I couldn’t help remembering the words in Ephesians 4:29, 30 …

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only

what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God …”

I realize how many times my heart has been broken by the hurtful or insensitive words of others and then am challenged that sometimes my own words, have not only NOT been used for building others up but have also ‘grieved the Holy Spirit of God’. What a heartbreaking thought, to grieve God’s spirit, and what an indictment against all that I say I stand for. I pray that God will help me, the one sent here as an example of His love, to see others through His eyes and not with my own clouded and human vision.

May God bless us all with His vision as we serve in every place!

Just a quick entry to let everyone know we have returned safely from camp. We had a great week! The weather was beautiful and sunny ... and God blessed our time there so much. We are pooped but are on the run making our final preparations for the LST team that is to arrive in just a couple of days. Can't wait to tell you all about our great week at camp. Will try to get that on site in the next few days.

We are praising God for the protection of our LST team who were in London during the time of the explosions there. They are safe and we are so thankful for that. Our prayers continue for those who were injured and for the families of those who were killed.

Please pray for our friends and several members of our family who are in the path of Hurricane Dennis. We have special friends and many brothers/sisters in Christ in the Gulf Shores, Alabama area (this is where the church is that sponsored our work to Zhelesnogorsk, Russia in 2001). My parents are in the New Orleans area and our daughter, Amber, and family are in the Lake Charles, LA area. We are watching prayerfully as the storm decides its course. Your prayers for protection are most appreciated.

God Bless, pj

Things have been a buzz in the Kendall household this week. We've been on 'high speed' getting ready for Camp Balchyoca (our Estonian bible camp that begins on Sunday, July 3) and trying to finish up our preparations for the Let's Start Talking team that arrives just a couple of days after we return from camp. It seems we have been meeting each other coming and going but we are excited about the weeks ahead.

Kayli was able to attend her LTC (Leadership Training for Christ) Award's Party in Tallinn on Thursday. Crystal, one of the interns from Tallinn, was such a wonderful help in getting her there. She came in on the bus on Wednesday night and rode the bus back with Kayli on Thursday so she could attend.  Kayli was awarded her official LTC t-shirt and 4 gold medals for the areas she participated in ... bible reading, chorus, puppets, and live-drama.

We took a quick trip to Tallinn on Friday for our last camp meeting before we head out on Sunday. Tanel, Evelin and Oksana, who will be acting as junior counselors at camp, went along with us. We enjoyed a great day ... we spent some precious time with our fellow missionaries in Tallinn, The Langston's and then joined the Bank's family, along with the huge crew that are staying at their house, for fajitas and chips before going to our meeting. There are several who have come from Texas to aid us at camp; young folks to do some teaching and counseling ... and some 'not so young' folks to help us with the teaching and crafts. We had  35 staff members; Americans, Estonians and Russians in attendance and a wonderful time of fellowship to set the stage for a great camp this week.

Lots of errands and last minute things to do today but we just had to find a few hours to go to the "Hansa Days" Celebration that is here in Tartu for the weekend. The "Hansa Day" Celebration is a festival that began in the Middle Ages to encourage trade among about 200 European cities. It has been held every year since (except for during the Soviet Occupation) and brings in many foreigners to share their city's special tastes and arts. We had a great time experiencing folk dances/singing, watching all kinds of handicrafts being made (Kayli even got to make a beeswax candle), shopping and eating yummy cultural foods. We even brought home a beautiful handmade basket made right here in Estonia.

I'm off to finish up laundry and packing ... prayerfully, we'll get some sleep tonight. Of course, that seldom happens the night before camp starts so we're not counting on it!

Tomorrow we'll have worship at 11 a.m., eat some lunch together and head to Tallinn to meet the bus out to camp. We'll be back late on July 8. Our LST team arrives on the 12th, so we'll be hitting the ground in Tartu running when we return. We've got a busy summer ahead but we're really looking forward to seeing God do amazing things with the plan He has set in place.

Please pray that God will produce much fruit during our bible camp and that we will all be affective tools for bringing more into His Kingdom.

Talk to you when we get back.

God Bless,

The Kendall Klan

P.S. Thank you all for your continued prayers for our grandbabies and our son, Dustin. They are on the road to recovery and Dustin is doing much better. He did have to have a tooth removed and still needs root canals on 3 teeth but thankfully didn't end up needing jaw surgery. We're all thankful for that. Please continue to pray for him. His Army unit is once again making preparations to go to Iraq. It looks like this will be coming about in the near future.

The last couple of days have been a bit of a challenge as the difficulties with our flat repairs continue. Our repairs began again about 10 days ago and we've been living out of our hallway kitchen since then ... and eating out a lot. It looked as if though we'd have our kitchen finished by week's end and would be on our way to repairs in the study very soon. It doesn't look like that is to be.

Our landlord has a big building/remodel project going on right now, so the repairman who did our previous work was not available when we started up again. The fellow he sent has done a good job in repairing the wall and ceiling damage that was done by the water. Unfortunately, he apparently was not really skilled in 'decorating' type work. He's done an unsatisfactory job on the cabinet repairs and the job he's done on the wallpaper has been just ... bad. Because it was not done properly, he ended up without enough wallpaper so he began to piece it together mish-mash. There is really no way to save it so it will have to be removed and re-done. Since the paper came from the States, we've had to re-order a new pattern and begin again. It now looks like the cabinets may have to be removed to properly repair the damage on those. And ... there will be no repairman available until after July 10 to start repairs again. What this means is that only the kitchen will be repaired before the end of July. With those arriving for our summer campaigns, as well as others coming to investigate the work here, the additional repairs will most likely have to wait until after September 1. This is difficult for me as I so desire to get my 'home' in order and move on to the more important reasons for our being here.

In my frustration and my weariness over this prolonged irritation, God reminds my heart that the home I should so strongly desire is not contained within 4 cement walls or built on a piece of earthly ground. My home is where His grace and mercy abound  ... and the wallpaper that it contains is truth and love.

"Jesus replied, 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.

My Father will love him, and we will come to him

and make our home with him.'"      John 14:23

pj

Today was a day of celebration for Tanel, one of our special young men. He has really struggled with his academics and we've spent many months praying hard for him and his ability to finish this year of school. Today ... he graduated! He will now be ready to move on to a technical school of some kind. Unfortunately, that may mean we will lose him to Tallinn to attend the school he is hoping to get into. That will indeed be a loss for the rest of us in Tartu.

Tanel and his big sister, Evelyn, came to the church here a few years ago as children alone. Without a mother in Estonia, Evelyn took on the responsibility, at 14 years old, to care for her 12 year old brother, Tanel. They were embraced by the church here and cared for well. They have 'grown up' at the church here both physically and spiritually and were precious to the hearts of the missionaries before us.

Since our arrival in December, they have become precious to our hearts as well. Evelyn is an amazing young woman and has taken on the many responsibilities of attending her own technical school and running a household, in addition to, assisting her aunt who has suffered much tragedy in the last 3 years. Evelyn and Tanel are both faithful in their attendance and fellowship with the church. Tanel is our official preparer of communion and takes his job very seriously.

Evelyn was like a proud mom today as she stood beside Tanel to celebrate his accomplishment. We were blessed to be asked to be a part of that celebration. We felt proud too!

After graduation, we were invited to join Evelyn, Tanel and their aunt's family for an Estonian 'BBQ'. We enjoyed shaslokk (kabobs), grilled chicken, homemade potato salad (Estonian style), kringel (braided sweet bread) and a great time romping with the kids. Brandi and I attempted to play a little basketball and soccer. It's been just a little while since we tried doing something like that. It took a little while for the children to warm up to us but they seemed to have a good time even with these old folks. And, in her usual way, Kayli was like the pied-piper with all them following her and begging her to come and play. She has already been invited to return tomorrow .. smile.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children of God.   1 Jn. 3:1

Today is Father's Day and our 29th Anniversary. Wow ~ 29 years!

Suddenly, I'm realizing that a lot of time has passed since that June-teenth evening when two very young and naive people walked down the aisle and said 'I do'. Lots of things have changed since that day ... mostly our clothes sizes and our hair styles (well, at least some of us still have hair to style). We surely had no idea then what challenges we would face later ... nor did we comprehend the many blessings we would receive. Among those blessings are our most precious gifts ... our 6 terrific children and the 5 beautiful grandchildren that have followed. It's hard to believe that there could be any more than this and yet, here we are .. still running the race (ok, walking the race) and continuing to look for the prizes along the path. Can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the next 29 years!

We've had a very international weekend.

Kayli and Siki spent the day together yesterday so Brandi and I could have the day to ourselves. That's not something we've had the luxury of enjoying much since our arrival in Tartu. We had a great day. We walked through the old town square ~ Raekoja Plats ~ enjoyed lunch at a sidewalk 'French' cafe, had coffee and pastries, perused the books at the University bookstore, strolled through some beautiful botanical gardens, then headed for Tartu's version of the 'mall'. We did a bit of window shopping, ate dinner at a little 'Italian' spot and then went to a good, old-fashioned, romantic 'shoot-em-up' movie. smile. When we got home, I quickly changed out of my jeans into my elastic-waist sweat pants because I couldn't breath anymore from all the food I'd eaten all day long!

Today , in honor of Father's day, we took dad out to lunch for 'Chinese' food  and then he treated Kayli to her choice of afternoon entertainment. Her choice ... the movie 'Madagascar'. The animated movie was in English with Estonian and Russian subtitles. Seemed kind of funny to have a theatre full of little children watching a movie in a language they didn't understand, with sub-titles they couldn't read. Could be the reason we were the only people in the theatre that appeared  to understand the humor of those cute little animal characters. smile

We had a good group of folks at worship tonight and a challenging lesson on our response to the generosity of our God. We enjoyed some fellowship, counsel, and laughter with several before heading out to do a little grocery shopping with a couple of the girls from church.

I'm not sure how you measure the effectiveness of time spent visiting with someone who has just found out they have cancer or reassuring someone who is struggling in their marriage or taking someone across town to a grocery store to see if they have just the 'right' kind of sausage they are looking for but I know it feels good to be here doing it.

Our weekend has been filled with tastes from all over the world but we are thankful that we live in Estonia. If my kids and grandkids were with me (and I could understand what these people were saying),  I'd think I was already in Heaven!

"My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love,

so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding,

in order that they may know the mystery of God,

namely Christ."   Col. 2:2

May we always remember our purpose.

pj

The past couple of days have been full. Despite the fact that one of us is always tied to our little abode during the time the repairman is here, we've managed to stay pretty busy.

Pille and I had some more time yesterday to work on language. We're meeting a couple of times a week .. on Mondays and Wednesdays. We had stopped our lessons and were just attending our Monday night beginner's class because Pille thought she would be gone for most of the summer working. She's a tour guide to wonderful places like France, Norway, and Spain. For various reasons, her scheduled tours have fallen through, so we are taking advantage of our unexpected time together and getting back to serious work on the language. I'm so thankful to have her here to help me with that (even though she's a ruthless taskmaster ) and she's such a blessing in so many other ways. She is great with Kayli and we all just enjoy laughing and spending time together. I keep telling her that God is keeping her here for my benefit so I won't be too lonely. She's says she's okay with that cause she loves me. Of course! After all, what's not to love???? smile

I also had some prayer time with a group of English speaking ladies I've met. Some of them are here in Tartu to carry out some sort of ministry, a couple are married to Estonians and a couple are here for other work purposes. We meet together every other Wednesday evening and just share what's going on in our lives and ministry, then pray for each other. It is a great blessing to have sweet fellowship with women who love the Lord and are willing to listen to the sharing of concerns, hurts, inadequacies and joyful praises for every little step of progress made. We usually meet from about 7:30 p.m. to around midnight. Last night we ended a little earlier and I was home before dark ... about  11:30 p.m.

Though we don't have as many sunny days as I'd like and the warm ones are too few as well, we do have light until the wee hours of morning. It never really gets dark, dark ... but the sun goes down close to midnight. By 3:30 a.m. we nearly have daylight flowing in our windows. We brought those little mask thingies to put over our eyes but we just can't seem to get used to them. We just pull the edges of our sheets over our eyes and pretend we are taking an afternoon nap. We know that it will be way too soon before our days are long and dark once again, so we are feeling grateful for the long summer days while we have them.

Today Brandi had to take the Mazda to the auto shop for it's annual inspection. They do things so differently here. It cost almost $40 to have it inspected and they gave Brandi a list of repairs needed before the inspection would be finalized. The car is over 12 years old, so you can imagine it's not exactly in tip-top shape. The problem is ... there is only one guy who Brandi can talk to about these particular repairs and he's on vacation. So, he's got an appointment to have it looked at on the 28th of the month. For now, we have this little form that says we are working on getting the car inspected but it's not finished yet. They say it will keep us out of trouble if stopped by the police and we're so glad for that.

Got to talk to Jared on 'S.K.Y.P.E.' today. S.K.Y.P.E. is a computer program that allows us to talk to each other for free. That has been a great blessing for our family who have computers and has given us the opportunity to visit more than we would be able to otherwise. Jared and I enjoyed laughing about all the things he's encountered in the Ukraine since his arrival and all the old memories that have come back to him with his new experiences. We talked about the markets, the smells, the foods and the wonderful people. He's having a great time and God is doing great things with him in that ministry. He says he might get to visit us for Thanksgiving and stay long enough to give me a birthday hug on Dec. 1 before returning to his work. We're all excited at the prospect of his visit.

Brandi and I have spent a lot of reflection time these past few weeks as we continue to seek God's clear direction for our focus of ministry here. There are so many  needs and no way to meet them all. We are fervently asking for God's vision, as well as, the strength and courage to be His instruments for seeing that vision come to pass.

We stand on the promise from Exodus 15:13 that declares:

"In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling"

Things are going well here in Estonia, though it has been difficult to be here instead of closer to where the family is when they are ill.

Dustin did not have surgery as planned yesterday morning. They have put him on a strain of antibiotics to get him stronger and will re-assess his need for jaw surgery in about a week. He had one tooth pulled yesterday and will need to have root canals on 3 other teeth before the jaw surgery can be performed. His root canals are scheduled on June 30 ... his 21st Birthday!! Not the best birthday present, I'm thinking.

He has been put on 'medical leave' for 10 days and is unable to do anything. He had hoped to be put to work doing something, even filing, but the dr. says "no" to all activity. That could be a difficult order for him to carry out since he's not exactly good at 'doing nothing'. Right now, it looks like he will be there for 3+ weeks to take care of all the needed procedures and healing time.

We were so blessed to have a connection with the church in Albuquerque ... a wonderful preacher who had offered to visit Dustin and take care of anything he needed! The CEO of the Air Force hospital is a member of that congregation and was working on getting us information about what was going on with Dustin. It would have been a wonderful blessing if Dustin was actually IN ALBUQUERQUE!! It turns out that Dustin is at Ft. Bliss in EL Paso, Texas and not in Albuquerque. Don't know why he thought that is where they took him but .... anyway. We are chocking up his momentary 'blondeness' to his high fever and the great amount of pain he's in .

Repairs in our kitchen are progressing ... drills are whining, saws are buzzing and dust is flying. Washing dishes in the bathtub brings back memories of our seven months in Alabama where our kitchen sink was in the bathroom. We thought we were getting prepared for a move to Zhelesnogorsk, Russia ... it turns out we were being trained to live in "Repairland, Estonia" .

Ty and Austyn are both down with German Measles. They were together a couple of weeks ago so it looks like they were exposed at the same time. They feel so icky ... bless their little hearts ... Grammy sure wishes she could give them a hug.

Your prayers are so appreciated!

Love to you all ... penny

What a busy day in the Kendall household!!

Repairs have begun once again. The old kitchen is getting a facelift and prayerfully all evidence of the water coming from above will soon be only a memory. Our hallway is playing double-duty as a makeshift kitchen for the next week to 10 days and we will be eating 'take-out' until our new kitchen is in working order. We've actually managed to set up a pretty tidy little work station there with the most important necessities of kitchen life .. the coffee pot and the microwave.

After the kitchen will be the biggest job ... the study. We'll be packing books back up, moving bookshelves, taking down the computer station and trying to find a place in our flat to put it all. Our study is definitely our 'working' room so it will be greatly missed while under construction. We are definitely looking forward to having all the repairs finished. It will be so nice to finally unpack everything and get settled into our little home away from home.

Pille and I spent about 3 hours today working diligently on my Estonian lessons. I think we made good progress but retaining all of it and understanding the umpteen grammar rules still makes me feel like I'm trudging endlessly through a thick field of mud. I don't know if it's my age or if I'm just not that smart. Could be all those kids I've had. You know they say that having children kills your brain cells ... I guess I should have stopped a long time ago since I didn't really have that many to spare.

This evening brought some difficult news of our son, Dustin, who has been on special Army training in Mexico. It seems that he has a tooth that has abscessed and the infection has traveled severely into his jaw bone. He will be flown to Albuquerque, New Mexico for emergency surgery at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. They will need to remove quite a bit of jaw bone and wire his mouth shut for 2 to 3 weeks to promote healing. He will then, we are told, have to have additional surgery when the wires are removed. Providing his surgery goes well and he recovers as hoped, he will return to Mexico about 3 days later, to join his unit there. He is feeling pretty lonely right now and his mom is feeling pretty helpless. Please pray for him ... for his successful surgery and quick recovery. And ... please pray that God will send comfort and peace to him while he's feeling alone.

We also have two grandbabies who are ill. Our grandson, Ty, who is seven months old has contracted German Measles and is feeling horrible. Our granddaughter, Austyn, who is 14 months old has an infected lymph gland at the base of her head that is making her very ill. Please keep these precious little ones in your prayers as well.

We are all feeling very far away from each other right now. This is indeed a time when the surrendering of those things most important to us, is tested. We would appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers for our entire family.

God Bless!  pj

It's almost the end of a very long but enjoyable day for us and close to midnight as I write this entry. Our day was filled with unexpected sunshine and that in itself was a true blessing.

We headed out this morning (Friday) with Pille and Siki, on an excursion to investigate a tiny portion of Estonia. We picked up Riina, who was visiting her aunt in a town called Jõgeva (pronounced Yoog-e-va), along the way to Lake Peipsi. Lake Peipsi is one of the largest lakes in Eastern Europe and it was a beautiful sight today. Our weather was incredibly pleasant at about 65 degrees. We enjoyed a simple sandwich picnic up on a cliff overlooking the lake and then explored some sandstone caves that were tucked in along the water's edge. The breeze made it a bit chilly for most of us to get in the water but that didn't stop Siki and Kayli from enjoying a little wading along the beach. Apparently, Kayli also had to sacrifice herself and wade deeper into the water to rescue one of Pille's floating flip-flops. Hmmm, sounds suspicious to us.

On our way to the lake, we stopped at what was a burough (community) and a castle from the 14th century ... The Laiuse Castle. There are only a few ruins left but we enjoyed romping through the fields, climbing on the rocks, and imagining what it had been like in the medieval days of knights and ladies.

By the time we got back to Tartu, it seemed that there was still too much sunshine to waste, so we treated everyone to our Estonian version of grilled hamburgers and enjoyed a movie marathon together.

We are tuckered out from our day of fun and frolic but are feeling so blessed by the pink on our cheeks and the time we had in sweet fellowship with a few that we've come to love so dearly. Hope you had a great day too.

God Bless!