News from Tallinn - The Mid-Summer Update

Midsummer falls on the 23rd June in Estonia - and the holiday of Jaanipäev (St John's Day) is a two day event and is probably the biggest party of the year.

Though we missed the bonfire, we did hang out as a group on the beach, watching the sunset late in the day and letting off our own (less than successful!) lantern.  The photo below was taken quite late:

Since the last update, Mia has finished school - her school broke up on the 6th June, though she went to a summer camp for a week from 17th June.  This was with a friend from church.  The photo below shows Mia on her last day of school, which seems to be as big an event as the first day, standing next to her two class teachers and her PE teacher.  As also mentioned last time, at the end of May we traveled back briefly to the Stockport Family Church weekend away, which was held over the bank holiday weekend.  It provided once again a great time, spending lots of quality time with old and new friends alike.  Two years ago, at the last one they held, Mia managed to make a really good friend, and break her arm.  Thankfully arm unharmed this time, and friendship continued!  Anya too was making friends.  It was great for us to be in a context of wider fellowship, worship and the opportunity to step out in spiritual gifts, something that has continued since coming home.

Arriving back in Tallinn at the beginning of June, we had the first of a steady flow of visitors already arrived.  Wei-Jin, originally from Malaysia, but living in Cambridge, UK, was here for about 3 weeks, and it was good getting to know him, show him some of the sites (though in the few days before we'd seen him, he'd already seen a bit of the Old Town and done a day trip to Helsinki!), and share a bit of who we are as a church plant and what the vision is.

As it proved with others that would follow, just having some extra folks around for our gathering events helped give that sense of something bigger, a direction we are certainly keen to head into!

Not long had he left (he only actually stayed with us for about 5 nights during his time here) we had family friends from Finland come and stay, a family of four who came down for the Jaanipäev weekend.  They joined us on the beach for the Sunday night gathering on the evening of the 23rd itself.

Leaving on the Tuesday, with Rachel's birthday on the Thursday, little did Rachel know at the time but a surprise was in store - a big one at that!  Offering to get the sheets washed and things clean again, though there were no visitors due (as far as she knew), I was able to put the final touches on a plan that I'd thought up some months before.

Kate Tolhurst, is one of Rachel's closest and dearest friends, and for some years has been working in Uganda with orphans and special needs children at New Hope Uganda.  Their last time they saw each other, ironically in Tallinn on a short weekend as the obvious meeting point (Rachel from St Petersburg, Kate from the UK), whilst Rachel was looking at rental flats in January 2012, they'd not spent any real length of time together for years, each of our UK trips being at times when the other was abroad.  So the plan was that Kate would come for a surprise visit for her birthday, and that's how things worked out!  Rachel opened the front door, only to find her best friend standing there, a friend she was unsure when she'd see next!

Kate was with us for a week, leaving yesterday.  Already planned before her confirmation, was the visit last weekend of a UK based pastor who was in the middle of his two month sabbatical.  Adrian Horner, from Open Door Church in Kettering, UK, had wanted to connect with some international settings in the Catalyst network of churches.  We'd been in touch for a couple of months planning the details, and Adrian arrived from 28th June to 1st July.  He was able to share at our Vision Sunday that we held on Sunday 30th June, our biggest yet.

And the visitors didn't end there - unable to meet a guy passing through Tallinn from St Petersburg on his way home, we did have another such person who we did meet up with - Flic from Hope Church in St Petersburg, who was literally picked up by Rachel on her way to the airport (to drop off Kate) and then came back to us.  Flic was herself dropped off at the airport last night, due for a holiday in England this summer.

There is a small pause in guests, with our next special guest due being Dave Henson, who comes for a night on Monday 15th July.

Estonian Churches Growing Desire to plant more Estonian churches

Last time round I mentioned about attending a church planting conference here in Tallinn.  Relationally it was really good, and personally great to see and hear, and feel, a hunger for church multiplication.  A New York church leader, Tim Keller, was quoted at the conference with something of the following: In a study he'd done, in cities where few new churches are being planted, ALL churches are in decline.  In cities where some churches are being planted, then most churches are about stable.  But in cities where lots of churches are being planted, then ALL churches are on the increase.

And that kind of summed things up for me, and for all the leaders there, whether representing the majority established churches, or the good number of plants, or soon to be plants, it seemed to envision the desire and need for lots of churches to be planted right across Estonia and even beyond.  There were several denominational leaders from Estonia and Latvia present.

And of course, as one of the new church plants in Tallinn, we are a part of all this!

Serving Local Churches

A great honour that recently happened was being asked to speak at a local church, Praise Chapel, as they moved into their new, bigger venue.  We went as a team on 21st May, and before I spoke, I really felt I needed to leave time for the prophetic, and not sharing what I was bringing, opened things up to the team to bring some words, having prompted them a few days before, saying I would give them time to share.  I had no idea if anything would be brought, or if things started flowing, whether I'd have time to speak after!  What was so encouraging was that all of the words totally linked into what I was about (and went onto) share!  One word even included a phrase, which word for word, was my third point!  And that was one of now three contexts, in this last month, that as a group we've had space to step out in the prophetic, and each time a good number of words have flowed.  I'm really encouraged.

A young Estonian/American couple are still very excited about joining us at the end of August, as they move from America.  They will really fit in well with this prophetic culture that is developing, and I'm personally looking forward to getting to know them both.

Another great encouragement, and yet more of God working behind the scenes, was going over and chatting with a small group of young Estonian's at our local beach.  One guy, who later I was to find out was not yet 15, really is growing in God, and though only a young Christian, knows God has called him to church plant.  Having spent all of Sunday night, after our Vision Sunday, with him and answering his questions, he feels that Hope:Tallinn is the place God wants him to grow in and wants to get involved with things from now on.  So we are encouraged to see that local people, who are invested deeper in life here than we are, are beginning to sense God encouraging them to get involved with what we are starting.

Family are continuing to do well.  I think in the last update I suggested how things might 'quieten' down for Rachel and her teaching, and while the hours of teaching no longer clash with dinnertime and bedtime, she has picked up about as many new students as those that she was teaching who have stopped for the summer.  And with both Mia and Anya now off for the summer, we are having to plan time carefully!

Next Monday for 4 nights we are managing to get away just outside of Tallinn.  Please pray for a great rest, for strong family memories and fun together, and especially for recharged batteries.  I'm already aware that this Autumn is going to be a busy period of increased growth, but there are two months of summer to go before that of course!

New Conference - Riga 19th - 22nd July.

Girl's playing 'Dentist' on the balcony

One thing that I will be going to later this month, in which I am also speaking at, is a conference in Riga organised by Matt and his team in the Riga church plant, as part of the Relational Mission sphere of churches.  It's a great chance to hear about church planting in this region, to get a taste for cross culture life, and visit a great city like Riga.  There will be a number of folks coming over from the UK - if you are interested, please get in touch.  The conference itself is free, you just need to get the flights and accommodation - all the information you need is found here.  Do let me know if you are coming!

Finally - our Beach Day this Sunday

This Sunday we are hanging out on the beach, and inviting everyone that we're in contact with to join us.  Please pray for great community, as we look to develop the Hope:Tallinn community, share our lives and enjoy the great Estonian summer together.  Here's our flyer for the event - why not come join us for the weekend!

Thanks so much for reading, for your prayers and such encouraging support.

There are going to be loads of really exciting things happening over the months ahead, so we'll do our best at keeping you updated on all of these as they happen.

Tallinn Update: The Gathering Phase

The weeks have raced by already and so much has happened!  Like I've said many times, when the most is happening, you tend to have the least time to share about it with others!  
And that's part of church plant life, and life in a new culture really.  Sometimes you are on top of things - other times (which seem like the majority, especially in the first year) you are just taken along by life, doing what needs to be done, going from one place to the next....


It's now September.  School has started.  This happened on the 1st September, which like in Russia, is the start of the school year, and even though that was a Saturday this year, that didn't change things!  
In the short video you can see Mia being called up, where she received her Estonian language school book and her cap...she was just a little nervous, she told us after!
She then had her first lesson, which gave us time to meet some parents.  September 1st was also our 11th wedding anniversary, but like the previous four years, it does get a little swallowed by school (oh, and the fact that September 2nd is also Mia's birthday!).  We actually went back to the home of one of Mia's class mates after the events on Saturday.  They are an American family, very new to Tallinn, and also here to church plant.  You can see four more photo's from Mia's first day, including her answer to prayer uniform, by clicking here.

As mentioned in my last post, we had a few days exploring some of Estonia in August.  One day we went about 45km west along a coastal area that has stunning cliffs (picture 1), beaches (5) and a waterfall (2), as well as stumbling across a great Spa hotel that just happened to be on 'Happy Hour' at the time we arrived, which meant we could go swimming for half the price!  I couldn't help notice the conference facilities (that could host more than 400 people) and think "One day, we'll fill this..."

We also went a little east of Tallinn on another day and found (we think) the highest waterfall in Estonia, that actually freezes in winter (Pictures 3 & 4).

We also had Kev Jones over for the day from Helsinki.  Kev and his family had been in the Finnish capital for the month of August getting to know the place.  They are now aiming to move there permanently sometime in Spring 2013 to plant a church.  As well as being a prophetic call over Hope Church in St Petersburg, personally the nearby capital cities were part of what God impressed upon me when He spoke about us moving to Tallinn

So it's on the back of the prophetic that I've been building relationships, with the view to encouraging what God is about to do in these nearby cities.
So it was a great day showing Kev around, talking about how things have gone for us here, praying together.  We are excited to see what happens through them all in Helsinki in the years to come.

We also had Dave & Hannah Henson with us for a long weekend, actually arriving the day after Kev Jones was here (which was then followed by our friends Chip & Helen with their two children arriving on the plane the Henson's flew back on!).  
Dave's mobility issues following the serious back operation he'd had, meant we did less rushing around and more talking about things, which was also a real blessing.
Gathering together on the Sunday afternoon with those already involved, it was great to be released into this season of gathering others.  Taking the lead from Jesus, who gathered and taught to crowds before calling out from those same crowds his disciples, we are now setting out to do the same, with a emphasis on gathering, and not a 'religious' meeting.  So using meals (Taste the Nations starts this Sunday!) twice a month plus another gathering event (eg we played volleyball last week), we'll end the month with a Vision Sunday, which will give some teaching and come back to the big thing we are called to.  
Midweek we'll be praying together (with the first prayer meeting happening tonight!).

Elena arrived at ours early on Sunday morning from St Petersburg - she is looking to join the church plant and is here finding out about a job - she should hear today so please pray that something comes through.  She doesn't yet speak English (she will work in a Russian kindergarten) but has a great heart for Tallinn.

The Gathering Season - so with thoughts of this new season fresh in our mind, we hit the busy school weekend and new school week, and have been struck by how many people we are meeting!  Rachel especially, who has been picking Mia up, has had some great conversations at the school with a number of parents.  There are about two or three international and Estonian families who have expressed an interest in church.   
At our local bus stop as well, she met another mum with her daughter.  Mia pointed out she was wearing the same uniform, so Mia showed the girl her logo and they became friends just like that.  This girl has started in the other class in her year (there are two classes each year that take children from 7 years old all the way up to graduation age!).  This is a Russian speaking girl and mother, and having met them again today (Mia holding hands with this girl and chatting away in Russian) they are already talking about taking it in turns to take the girls in.
Jesus said "Put down your nets" and in just doing so, the act of obedience, they caught a great catch.  And so it seems, just positioning ourselves to start gathering, God is already gathering people to be caught up in the crowd, from which a church will emerge.....it's going to be an exciting season.

 It has been an intense week already, even if it's only Wednesday.  Getting Mia ready for school (which included an evening of double covering all her books!) we've had to very quickly work out what we need to do.  
With Estonia being a very cyber country, it means the school has it's own e-school, where as parents we need to register and once signed in it shows us homework for Mia, the teacher sends us messages as well as getting other notifications.
There is also the contact information for all the other parents and access to enroll in after school clubs and sports.   
The academic day is relatively short at the moment, with Mia's latest class finishing at around two, but yesterday, having done her swimming and ballet trial, she didn't leave until gone 5 - needless to say, both Mia and Anya, not to mention Rachel, have been very tired!

Please pray for them - Mia does love school now (despite the tears on Monday morning stating she didn't want to leave us - this was contrasted by moans that same evening saying she wish she was still at school as she loved it so much!)  Anya has also been 'difficult' this week....but she is making great progress with her potty training.  It's impossible to know the effect all this change is having on their behaviour, and what is just bad behaviour!  Much grace needed at times - thankfully much grace is always available, when we remember to ask for it!

Much more to come soon!

Also coming up;
Church planting series - hear from friends around the world also planting churches (at various phases).  First up, Chris Taylor in The Hague, Holland.

Four Years In.....and counting.....

July 2008 - Leaving the UK

Feb 2012 - Leaving St Petersburg

Dates and timing are important - I think so anyway.  It's good to reflect on what has happened, and when you hit certain dates, like today, it's really good to declare all the things that God has done.


It's been four years since we flew out from Manchester airport, via Heathrow, for St Petersburg, Russia.

March 2012 - Boxes arrive (and remain packed) to our
rental flat in Tallinn

In those four years we have done three major moves - the first being to St Petersburg, of course, when stepping out onto the tarmac at the airport, it was my first time I'd ever been to that city - quite a way to do it!
And then, three years and seven months on, we moved again - another move, another nation - to Tallinn, the Capital of Estonia. 

July 2012 - Boxes arrive (and get unpacked!) at permanent
home in Tallinn! With the help of friends from Elava Vee.

Here we spent five months in our rental flat, getting documentation ready and having just a little hassle from the banks trying to arrange the home loan we needed, before, finally, ending our four years of renting by moving into our permanent home - with no more moves again for a long long time, we hope!  
Moving so often and so far has proved a great way to 'de-clutter' ourselves, each move providing the opportunity to give away items too big to transport - from sofa's, TV and beds, to a washing machine and garden furniture.  That meant when moving from furnished rental properties, we had quite a few gaps that we've had fun replacing!  We managed this only by selling our UK house a couple of months ago, and once the mortgage was paid off (thankfully this was relatively small), and another loan paid back, there was still a little to make these essential purchases - we look forward to things settling down so that we know where we stand with our cashflow - but having seen all that God has done these last four years, we have total trust and confidence that it's all safely in His hands, anyway!

Setting up base camp - What is exciting, and why we are where we are now living, is it was God that showed us this flat, and dared us to believe Him that we could get it, not just to be a blessing to our family (though it is that as well, because God is a good God and simply loves to bless) but so that it would be (one of the) great venues to help facilitate the church plant here in Tallinn.  We look forward to hosting many things, to putting up many visitors, to having many people over for food, which starts tonight, actually!  God has given us a haven because He knows all the things that are to come, and at the end of the day, some days especially, I sense we are going to need a haven to recharge our batteries in.

Of course, the significant part of these last four years was being a part of the great church plant team that started Hope Church, St Peteresburg - which in just over a months time will be celebrating it's third birthday and is already gathering well over 100 adults on a Sunday.  Arriving on the 1st August and joining Dave & Hannah Henson, who had themselves just arrived a few days before, little did any of us know as to what would soon unfold over the coming months, and now years.  What was clear, even back then, was that God had spoken over the future church in St Petersburg and said that it would plant into Tallinn.  So I guess, to some degree, it's not a total surprise that we are now in Tallinn!

As well as the three moves, there has, of course, been the need to learn new languages - Russian is still a work in progress, though very proficient now, and Estonian - well, we've started at least!  We thought Russian was hard - Estonian is in it's own level of complexity, matched only with Finnish, these two languages themselves being quite closely related.  So please pray for us that we would also pick up Estonian, and, come the next four years, maybe could also then write that we are a little more proficient too with this difficult but beautiful language.

Welcome to our new flat - 3rd floor on the left
Postal address;
Helme 16/2, 39
Tallinn
10614
Estonia

Mia and Anya enjoying the balcony, outdoor space at home that we've not had in the last four years.

What's been great over this time is all the great cultural stuff you pick up - like savory pancakes (which we are cooking again tonight) and how the Russian's cook шашлык (shasklik) on the BBQ - and we did that last night as well!

Life in another culture (or two) certainly isn't all bad!  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  We feel all the better for having experienced what we have - it's vital that when you enter a new culture, you engage in it and, in time, actually learn to enjoy and appreciate it too.

Mia was two years and eleven months old when we left England, so has now spent more of her life abroad than in the UK - home is a fluid term for someone now so used to moving around.  Anya, at three months old when we flew her back to Russia, doesn't know what it is like to live anywhere other than where she is now - at nearly two and a half, it'll be Estonia, and therefore Tallinn, that shapes her childhood years - and this excites us, to see how their outlook and lives will grow and change with this different upbringing to mine or Rachels.  Anya is doing well, talking lots - she's very funny!  It's hard to know how things are effecting her, if indeed they are - she is a loving and sociable little lady.  Mia is also a very outward girl (nearly 7 year old!)  And last night, while reading Acts chapter 10 with her, she then asked if she could be filled with the Holy Spirit like they were in Acts - so we both prayed with her, and after she started crying and saying how it's a shame Jesus had to die for her, and why couldn't there have been a lamb!  


And it was four years ago since this blog was launched - we arrived in Russia with Microsoft email addresses and a blog, yet in our flat neither worked - so we started again on Google.  And three years ago I turned on the option on the blog to record the statistics as to who was reading the blog from where - and this has grown to be a huge encouragement - as we've seen people standing with us.  As our sole means of communication now, it's great to have seen a huge jump in readers since we made the move to Tallinn.  In fact, of the over 8000 viewers on this blog since July 2009, 52.5% of these have been in the last five months, since our move to Tallinn - that's an average of 859 per month!  And the top 10 countries are (in order from 1-10) UK, USA, Russia, Estonia, Ukraine, Australia, South Africa, Germany, Latvia and Finland.  These make up 90% of the following, with South America and the Far East making most of the rest.  So where ever you are reading this from, thank you!  Thank you for praying for us, for walking with us, for joining us on this journey.  We are just four years in...there is a long way to go yet!


Unity. Team. Spirit.  Three words that came out of an afternoon seeking God for what shape the church plant will take - more on that later - some photo's of the coastal scenes captured on that sunny July day are here.


News Flash -  This Friday (3rd August) we are being given a car!  A real answer to prayer, and though the bus system is very good (and we'll continue to use it as much as possible) a car will just give us some extra freedom, as well as making doing the shopping lots easier!  Friday is also the date when, 13 years previously, God first spoke to me about the former Soviet Union (yet more 'dates' and more on that next time!).
This Saturday 4th August, until Tuesday 7th August, filming starts for our episode on House Hunters International!  We've seen the schedule now, and as well as being lots of fun, we hope, it's clearly four busy days of filming!  We're also trying to organise a BBQ on Saturday night for the three families so far with us in the church plant, exciting seeing a team come together....


Prayer Points;

• That these days of filming will be smooth, fun and above all, glorifying to God and what He is doing with us in Tallinn.  It's also potentially a very good profile raiser for the church plant as well as my novel.
• That our families of those in the church plant would settle quickly into our new homes and be ready for an exciting Autumn.
• That our Estonian language learning ability would be given favour by God.
• That what God has done in these last four years would be nothing, compared with what He is about to do!

Stay connected - there are loads of ways of staying in touch with this blog - 'Join this site' by clicking on the button at the bottom of the right hand column, subscribe by email by entering your address in the box at the top or feeds from the site again on the right hand column.

Coming soon; 

September onwards -  More regular entries as life settles into more of a rhythm.

Church Planting series - where I look to dispel the myths, with lots of input from other city church plants we are in relationship with.  Don't miss it!

Contact Details;

Address: Helme 16/2, 39, Tallinn, 10614, Estonia

Email: timinrussia@gmail.com (timintallinn@gmail.com currently disabled by google!)

Facebook Group: God Loves Tallinn

Cherry Picking (Tim's novel) FB page

For regular or one off gifts please contact our 

UK base church who are administering this for us: 

finance@stockportfamilychurch.org.uk

Tallinn Summertime Update - Part 2 - Moving into a new phase

 It's been longer than I hoped since the last short update, but here is another.
One thing that surprised us when we first moved to Russia nearly 4 years ago now was getting to March time and there being no Spring!  We'd prepared for the dark and the cold of Winter, but it hadn't occurred to us that other season's might be effected (all we knew was how it was in England - human nature tells you that this is therefore normal for all!)  Ha ha.  We laugh now about it.  Tallinn has an almost identical climate to St Petersburg, though thankfully maybe just a little less damp atmosphere which really makes it hard in cold, and hot weather.  So in Tallinn, the flowers are still out, and because of the great sunshine we've had, helped by the long nights, things really do come alive at this time of year.  The streets are busy, we've always noticed a healthy outdoors attitude by many that get to call Tallinn home - and this is certainly something we want to get into too!  Mia (pictured left) loves smelling and exploring the various flowers on show around the many parks here.


A new phase - What is really exciting is to be on the brink of a new phase to the church plant, which is of course the sole reason we've moved our family from Russia to the capital of Estonia.  Phase 0 was always making the move, settling into our permanent home, starting to learn language, getting schooling sorted, and because of our belief in team, seeing people move here to join us before we started any 'official' church plant activity.  Most of you will know that Mia has been accepted into school, and starts on 1st September.  We've started with language (though have a looong was to go as it's a really hard one!).  This month we will move into our permanent home, which we know will be a great base for all that God will do through us in this part of the world.  And also, on the 27th July, Arnoud & Elisabeth move with their family to join us here in Tallinn.  They are Dutch, and lived in the UK for about 5 and a half years before moving to Valga, southern Estonia, two and a half years ago.  They have three children, the oldest being the same age as Mia.  We are very excited to have them join us and so thankful by how God has started to answer prayers about team.  A Russian girl who is joining us from Hope Church also appears to have an offer for work here in September, so please do pray for her documents to come through (she needs a visa to live here) as well as for Arnoud & Elisabeth's move to be a smooth and easy one.
In Phase 1, which is now just a month or so away, we'll see this small team gathering, praying, seeking God together, while growing in relationship and community and looking to bring others along into that.  We'll be living out the values we want the church to have right from the beginning with the small group that will meet in our flat.  So it's really exciting.


And when God spoke to me about Tallinn, He talked about connecting with the other capital city church plants nearby - and it's exciting to see things growing in relationship in those areas - last night I spoke for a long time with Kevin Jones, who's family are moving to Helsinki, probably early next year, and they are coming for a month in August to explore the city.  He will come over to Tallinn for a day in August and we'll hang out, chat and see what God will do. And tomorrow, Matt Medd from Riga is coming up to stay with us for two nights.  We are really looking forward to spending this time with him, for talking together, encouraging one another and we hope learning from one another.  And this we know is just the start.  I'm planning to go back to St Petersburg in September for a church weekend away, that David Devenish is coming to speak at - I'll need to sort out another visa, but that's the plan.  


We've been really encouraged as well to hear from an American family who have moved to Tallinn for two years.  I met with the guy last night - they have been part of a New Frontiers church in Mexico and it seems want to get involved with us here too.  There have been a few others too looking in.

But life is never dull here!  The other day, just at the junction by our flat, we saw water flooding the street, and people stopping to take photo's.  I went out to investigate and there was already a camera crew there from a local TV news station when I arrived. A huge section of, I'm guessing, the main water main had clearly broken underground somewhere, so that, in many places, the water was pushing up hard and flooding the street.  Pavement and road were just being washed away.  Cars and buses were (usually!) slowly working their way around the worst of it.

And we were recently reminded of the extent to Tallinn being a WiFi city - exploring the beach area near to our new flat, I took a photo of one of the many signs you see, telling you how to get free WiFi, even while sitting on the beach!  How great is that!  ....that might be useful for sermon prep in the years to come...!


Visitors - It's been amazing how many visitors we've had already after just over 4 months - in fact, more than all our time in Russia.  The combination of cheaper flights and no visa certainly being a factor.  Each visitor brings something different - news from St Petersburg, encouragement for the work here, catch up with friends, help with the children.  It's great being part of such a global family of churches.
By the end of August we'd had have 60 days with visitors with us in Tallinn - a pattern of things to come?


And finally, we've mentioned this a while ago but not updated people since - when we arrived in Tallinn, we were contacted by the US TV show House Hunters International.  Well, now plans are more final, and they are coming to film us for one of their episodes on the 4th - 7th August.  We can't say much more now about this, having signed all their release forms, but it's going to be an interesting start to August!

Tallinn Summertime update - Part 1

I'm going to do this in parts so that it makes me write briefer entries, but more frequently!

 We have the keys!  Following on from the last blog entry, we've made great progress with the flat, so much so that we've signed everything at the bank and notary (more on that in a moment), as well as being given the keys last week.  We've now been able to measure up for curtains and start to buy things like a washing machine, which arrived today!  As the kitchen is still to be installed (new flats here come fully finished, minus the kitchen and most light fittings - unlike new flats in Russia, where not even the walls have plaster board on, so it could have been worse for us!).  The kitchen is due to be ready for installation on 23rd July.  As all our items are mainly still in boxes here in the rental flat, we will be moving everything over on Saturday 14th July, that being when we can get some help from some guys at Elava Vee, the local church we've made most contact with so far.  We can then unpack these boxes finally (Rachel still does not have her summer shoes as they are packed somewhere so she only has what she came with, which is a pair of winter boots!)  Therefore, depending on when the kitchen is finished being installed, we will be moving into our permanent (owned!) apartment on the 26th or 27th July!

Anya (pictured on the right) managed to give us a scare on the day we signed at the notary.  Not only did she get a raisin stuck up her nose while we were having the documents translated to us (Rachel managed to sort this out with tweezers and a torch back at the flat) but then, later on that same day, she managed to lock herself in our room using a key, and then couldn't get herself out!  Thankfully, after speaking with her (she was just crying and couldn't have done anything!) I remembered there was another key on our side, and pushing her key out managed to open the door with no damage done (to either the door nor our adventuring two year old!)  


Mia is also doing really well - and very excited about getting the new flat.  Her walk with God has really been strengthened through these last few months, as she's been praying real prayers for difficult situations and then having the joy of seeing things turn out exactly the way she was praying for!  
Last weekend we told Mia we were going to do church at home and she went to bed planning for what she was going to do for children's work with Anya!  She also made a microphone so that she could lead worship, saying to me how I needed to prepare a preach!  It was amazing how involved she was, and true enough, on Sunday she led worship (with Chris Tomlin helping with his CD playing!) and prayed out during this jumping about time before taking Anya out for her lesson on how God loves her!


We've continued to build relationships here - and I'll mention more about this in my next update.  We've also been really encouraged by more people feeling God speaking to them about Tallinn - one family from the UK, one girl we know, and also from a family that are just moving to Tallinn - so watch this space for more news as we hear it.


We've also 'bumped' into yet more people who we've had contact with.  This time an American family who I've been in contact with on Facebook for months, but haven't met before.  Rachel met his wife the other week.  In a shop last week we just happened to bump into them - what is extra nice is that I found out that he plays tennis, so now I have someone to play with when things settle down here and we can work out where to play.  They have only been in Tallinn for about 8 months, having moved also from St Petersburg where they had been living for about 3 years.


We've also had lots of visitors - which we'll mention next time I think - from random bikers doing crazy tours around Europe, to Rob & Sarah Walters.  Rob  leads our UK base church in Stockport, England.

We are so thankful for what God has done.  What we have seen so far has been amazing, and a pattern that we hope continues into the life of the church plant - the God of miracles doing miracles!  We've also been reminded recently by how quickly things can change.  The other week, while sitting at the desk working, I heard the crash of metal and noise of a tram colliding with a car, the impact so hard that the tram mounted the pavement.  There was only one driver in the red car, and though taken straight to hospital, had (rather quickly!) jumped out of the car just after the crash.  Praise God nobody was on the pavement at the time!
And just a few metres from this point, at another junction we cross every day, last week an elderly woman was knocked down by a bus and killed.  
So we are thankful that we have a God who is watching over us and keeping us safe while we outwork his plan for us in Tallinn.


And finally, Rachel celebrated her (23rd?) birthday yesterday, which was a wonderful day and lots of fun.  And (shameless plug I know!) it seemed fitting for this to be the day that my novel, Cherry Picking, was published.


This novel is really just another of the amazing sub-plots to have come out of our last four years since we first headed off from England on this amazing, ongoing adventure.
All the information about this book is available here, including how to buy the book, which is now on sale through Amazon in paperback and for the Kindle.  I highly recommend it to you!  (To clarify this, it is not a christian novel - the only christian bit about it is the author!)


We'll put more on here soon, but thanks so much for your encouragements and prayers over these last few months.  We really feel so many of you standing with us, praying with us and backing us - we know we are not alone.


We love Tallinn.  God loves Tallinn.  We're excited to be at the beginning of what is going to be an amazing church plant - and more on that real soon!

News From Tallinn - Early Days...

This was a short 3 minute clip I put together to show a little of Tallinn, and to raise awareness of the challenges there is for the church in Estonia.  Tell me what you think of it when you've watched it!


It's been a busy few days since we last updated you and some quite huge things have happened.  I met with all three banks this last week, and they are all now processing our application, which we should hear about this coming week - please pray for favour from all, that all three would offer something and that at least one of them would be what we were really asking for - which is to borrow the full amount we need.  What was really interesting and again highlighted the lack of general foundation about God and church in many people here, was that in both meetings on Wednesday, I was asked what a Pastor 'did' - and how I was going to plant a church.  One lady asked why people in England give money to us, so asking what she knew about the Christian faith, to which she said 'a little' I stated how the Bible calls us to reach our own area as well as the world.  I said how this was called 'mission' and that these churches and individuals were wanting to partner with us and help us reach new places, so that though they can't personally move, they can be involved.  And she just sat there and said 'oh yes, I see now'.  Amazing!  It looked less like a mortgage appointment and more like a church planting interview!  May God open up more conversations like that!


I also met with another local pastor here on Wednesday - Gabriel - which had been arranged the week before.  He's from LA but leads an Estonian church very near to our flat, and his heart is the same as ours - he's very mission minded!  We'll meet up with them this following week and look forward to getting to know each other more down the years.
The really funny thing was (God thing really!) was that on the day we found out that our new apartment would be ready on 1st May, therefore two months earlier than thought, we started to wonder what options we had on this rented flat, having signed the contract until the end of July.  It seemed, if we were to be fully moved over by mid-June, that we would have a month and a half to have to pay for the rent of this flat.  Rachel had called Brenda, our agent friend, to check, and she then suggested that if she could line up a replacement, then there would be no problems with us leaving early.  And she had a couple in mind....they were a young American couple, leaders from a local church....yes, it was Gabriel and his wife.  So 2 hours before I met him in a city centre cafe (I was at the bank at the time) they were at our flat, looking around - and they really liked it and will move in whenever we are ready!  So praise God - we have instant replacements sorted, and though there will be a little overlap with our new apartment, it won't be that much!


Elena from Hope Church came to Tallinn on Thursday, and we've been showing her around, while helping her find work - we've been looking into kindergarten's, but it seems that the summer is the time when jobs become available - no one is recruiting now, when there are less than two months of school time left.  Maybe the private ones are different, we are yet to find out.  Please pray that her time here is productive.
It was while taking her to see one option on Thursday that we had another funny 'bumping into' someone.  We were at the Rocca al Mare shopping centre, which we are fast growing to really enjoy (there is an M&S Food outlet at reasonable prices!) and I had Mia and Anya with me.  We were just walking around, having come from M&S and a guy stopped me - he was holding out some cosmetic products (I knew he was trying to demonstrate something with the salt in my hands) and I said I was OK - I said I knew some people who did this (thinking of Leo & Shani), yet I didn't recognise these products as the same business, though they were.  After talking for a moment, and unnoticed by me at the time, Shani looks up from the bench nearby and say's hi.  This WAS there outlet in this shopping centre.
I chatted with the guy (he's Estonian) and shared our 'excitement' at finding peanut butter at M&S - he didn't know what it was and asked if I could show him.  Glancing at Shani and checking it was OK, I walked and talked with him to the shop and showed him what it was.  He asked why we were here, and seemed really interested.  Having bought the peanut butter, he got a plastic spoon and proceeded to open it and take a spoonful, even though I was saying that it's best on toast!  He enjoyed the stuff greatly, and thanked me for 'bringing peanut butter in to his life'.  Seriously!
He said he could see an 'energy' in me.  I trust that's a good thing.  He took my details and wants to keep in touch - so we'll see what develops there.  But it just goes to show - God can open up any situation, even excitement about peanut butter at M&S that leads to contact and friendships and....who knows.
But maybe the craziest thing we'd heard came to light on Thursday.
I was on the computer and an instant message came through from a girl in Washington DC.  We'd met Chelsea three years back in Russia and had been in regular contact since.  She now works in a good government role and told us on Friday how she'd been at a conference on Cyber Security and the main speaker was the President of Estonia (another insight into how advanced this nation is in this regard!).  She got to speak to him after, and her message to us was how she'd told him about her good friends the Heath's and how we live in Tallinn now.  So the President of Estonia knows about us living in his country!  It made us laugh a lot!
He's apparently known for inviting people into his house from the streets, so maybe we will bump into him when at Kadriorg Park (which is where his house is, only about a mile from where we live now).  And if we do meet him, we can tell him about our DC friend, and invite him to church in Tallinn....
On Friday evening we had a big call to make of our own.  As many of you know we are selling our UK house.  And the firm putting it on the market for us also gave a cash offer to buy it from us - obviously a lot lower than market value.  We'd asked them to do this and their figure was much less - nearly 40% less than it's value in 2008 when we first moved away.
Our tenants move out on Monday and as Friday came around, we had this real sense that we should just accept this offer, if nothing more came to light, and move on.  Though low, it does just about give us what we need for now.  We also don't like the idea of the house being empty for too long where it is - firstly we have expenses on it, but also it runs a risk of vandalism.
So at 3pm UK time yesterday, I called them and said that we accept their offer.  Once they do an inventory, I think it is just a case of them informing the solicitors and then in 4 to 6 weeks, it should all be done.
So please pray that this process is smooth!


So things continue to move on fast - next week we'll hear from banks, as well as Tim travelling south to meet with some other pastors and church planters.


And we'll update you with the best bits of what happens soon!

The Tallinn Church Plant - Story of the first month

The story of our first month in Tallinn - a series I called 'Breaking New Ground', as I wanted to record the journey of our first month as we look to get started with life in Tallinn, who we met and what we had to get sorted in order to register our arrival - plus a whole lot more, as it turned out!

Below in the BNG links you will find each entry that takes us through the first month.  Below that is a link to the story behind our arrival, looking at the journey and how God got us this far - the first is titled 'Where is Tallinn?' as this is also something many of you might be asking if you've just come across this blog for the first time.


Breaking New Ground - March 2012

BNG - 1

BNG - 2

BNG - 3

BNG - 4

BNG - 5 - The First Week

BNG - 6

BNG - 7

BNG - 8

BNG - 9

BNG - 10 - Two Week's In

BNG - 11

BNG - 12

BNG - 13
BNG - 14
BNG - 15 - 25 Days Later
BNG - 16
BNG - 17
BNG - 18 - End of the First Month

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with our new friends here, leaders of another local church, at their home in Viimsi, which is north of Tallinn - here we tried the traditional Estonian swings!  You stand up to make them go faster - we are told that the locals get it so that they are basically horizontal at the top of the swing!

The Story of Our Journey To Tallinn

We were sent from our wonderful base Hope Church in St Petersburg to plant a new church into Tallinn.  I detailed that transition and how God had first called us in a mini series called Towards Tallinn - and here is that series;
Part 1 - Where is Tallinn?
Part 2 - He's Got Us This Far
Part 3 - A Storm Is Coming
Part 4 - Are You Up For A Challenge

The Original Journey to Russia - Adventures of Faith Series

Four years before moving to Tallinn, we were well on our way to moving to St Petersburg, where we were to join Dave & Hannah Henson at the start of what would become Hope Church.  And at that time, in a series called Adventures of Faith, I covered the whole process, from God first speaking to us, through to the challenges, then leaving the UK, our first insights into life in Russia and then finally after living there for a year and the last one after three years.  So to complete this blog entry, below are links to all these posts, which I hope, along with what's been shared above, will encourage you that you too can go and plant - whether it be the next city or another nation.  God bless you!  And may God go with you!

Part 1 - The Build Up
Part 2 - The Six Month Countdown
Part 3 - The Going
Part 4 - First Impressions
Part 5 - One Year On
Part 6 - Three Years In

Tim & Rachel Heath
Tallinn church plant (a part of New Frontiers and plant from Hope Church in St Petersburg, Russia).

Breaking New Ground - End of the First Month

It's the evening of Saturday 31st March 2012 - we've been in Tallinn for one month now and this is the final entry in this BNG series.
So much has happened in this time, that had we not written things down along the way, I think much of it would have been forgotten by now.  As I said in the opening entry, I really felt that it was important to record all that took place - testimony is important after all - in the hope that it would encourage hundreds of others to go and do the same in their own city, nation or nations that they move to!
These last two days have been fun - and very relational.  Yesterday we had the day with a wonderful family, who'd traveled up from Valga, which is 3 hours south of us, on the Latvian border.  It was a very encouraging day - their oldest is just three months older than Mia, so they were getting along great!  They have three children - two girls, 6 and 4, and a totally contented little boy (he was so peaceful!) who is 1.  Though we've been in some written contact before, and I think one Skype call, this was the first time we all met each other for real and it was a really fun day for all - we went onto Tallinn zoo after lunch, many of the animals however were not around - the ones that were excited our girls a lot!  (The funniest point was when Mia, in her excitement, pointed out a Seagull like it was some exotic caged animal!).  They've lived in Estonia for two and a half years and both their girls are already fluent in Estonian, like Mia is in Russian, so it's funny to think that with enough exposure, both Mia and Anya too could be speaking that well by 2015.
Today, on another blue sky but still chilly day in Tallinn, especially with the wind, we had a great time hanging out with Barry and Brenda from EVK.  We went up to their house by bus, which is outside of Tallinn about 14km north, the bus ride taking us past such truly beautiful scenery as well as the sea.  We passed some huge houses (I referred to it being like the Beverly Hills of Tallinn!) and when picked up by Brenda from the nearest bus stop, the 5 minute drive to their little neighbourhood was wonderful - they live in a beautiful house in a small community of about 200 homes - all about 500 metres from the sea.  With the sea on one side, the other three are covered with forest.  Stunning!  It was great hanging out and getting to know each other more - the girls felt so at home with them that it almost got too much!
Barry had mentioned before whether I wanted to do any of their Wednesday night teaching sessions, and chatting that through today I've agreed to take this coming Wednesday's session - I want to start on the book of Ruth and use that great story to cover some practical areas.  I've said it's really four parts so we'll see how this week goes as to whether they ask me back for more....
So that's this first month - there has been so much that has happened, and we have really felt blessed to have been a part of it all.  We feel truly honoured that God has got us this far, and we know what he has started he is well able to complete.
The 'Towards Tallinn' series recorded the challenges we faced leading up to moving here, just as this series has covered the first month.  Of course, the challenges don't stop here - it's through them that we grow the most however.  
These next five months will see some of our biggest challenges come to the focus of our prayers as deadlines approach and things need to get done - and for these I now highlight so that you can pray with us for break-through.  Taking new ground is never easy - you only have to see the battles Israel had to fight to possess their promised land.  And with church planting there is a real spiritual element as well.  Years back I called this blog 'Hearing My Heart' because I wanted it to be a place for that very thing.  That in the written word, it would be a place to truly express who I am and what God has put on my heart to share.
And as a father these realities of faith that we're walking into in these next five months throw me time and again onto God as only he knows the way through.  He could use the sale of our house in the UK to go quickly and well which will provide for most, if not all, of our needs these next few months.  Without a quick sale, or without a good price, we face some challenges - which we really ask you to pray for.  Our moving to Tallinn was always in two stages - this first stage where we are renting, but it's the second stage, moving into a purchased property that offers the stability and permanence, though at a challenge.  In July we have to pay the balance of the purchase for our new flat - having paid 15% already (which was borrowed and needs returning!) we aim to finance most of the rest through a home loan here in Tallinn - but that is likely to at most be 75% of the value - the other 10%, close to twenty thousand euros, we'll need to have found ourselves (again, the quick sale of our UK house should provide both this and the deposit money borrowed).  We have to put the kitchen into the flat, which we have lined up.  We'll also need some furniture, as having rented and moved to two countries these last four years, most of the big items we've given away before each move.  And once moved, though not totally essential, we'd really like a car.
Once again, a quick and decent priced sale of our UK house would basically solve all of these - this isn't me asking for money!  Just your fervent prayer in this house sale situation!
As for those churches and individuals that do support us monthly, or by one off gifts, we thank you so much - this support accounts for about 75% of our income and we really couldn't be here without it - we'd be totally stranded in fact!  And inevitably over these last four years we have seen a drop off in this kind of giving, which is totally natural and normal, but as we start life again, and look to build things here in Tallinn, it might be that there are those around the world that as a family, or as part of a church, do want to start investing a little each month into the work here in Tallinn.  These next 18 months are certainly going to be our most vulnerable time and if, after praying about this, you do feel that there is someway you could get involved in this way, we'd love to hear from you and help you to do that.
You can email me on: timintallinn@gmail.com


So what are our highlights of this first month;
- Meeting Leo and Shani on that first day
- Enjoying our new flat and receiving our furniture here
- 'Bumping' into so many people in the local shop and play-ground
- Getting to know the churches more - 'EVK' and 'Missio' - and the relationships that go with these!
- Meeting with Tiina, an Estonian lady
- Seeing others interested in what is going on here
- Starting our Estonian (which we learn't today was a little old fashioned!)


We thank you all so much for following us on this adventure - this is not the end, nor the beginning of the end - it is merely the end of the beginning.


Tomorrow I will put an entry together that includes all the posts this month, as well as from our journey to Tallinn and our original journey to Russia.  Thanks for reading - and see you in Tallinn soon!