stranded

this morning, 6 of us + 1 leader and our contact (Helina) went to work at a soup kitchen. we walked to the train station and waited but the train didn't come. turns out the train got stuck (we were having a snow storm - actually, we still are). so we had to call a taxi. but it took 2 taxis to get the 8 of us to the soup kitchen. so 4 of us girls went in 1 and then the 2 guys, our leader, and Helina went in the other one (hindsight is 20/20). Helina told our driver the address and we took off first. well, our driver drove to this area of warehouses/run down apartment-like buildings that appeared pretty empty. he kept pointing, saying our place was just down the drive. we had no idea if it was or not, but it didn't look like it. anyway, the car got stuck in the snow so 3 of us girls jumped out and tried to push him out. then a couple fellow Estonians driving by stopped to shovel and push. finally the car got out. the driver didn't speak any english, and we had no clue where we were. but he kept motioning that this was the address. so we got out. and he left.

so here we are, 4 American girls, stranded in the middle of who knows where in a foreign country - in the middle of a blizzard-type snow storm. the good news was, i had a 1/2 snickers bar and enough granola bars and water to last us a couple days. safety first.

we were like - what do we do?? my first answer: an emphatic "PRAY!" so we did. then we talked to the first 2 doors of the apartment building and knocked. no one. we saw someone shoveling snow. asked if she spoke english. nope. we had my phone but i doubted i'd have service, plus i had no one's phone numbers in Estonia. it would do no good. i figured if i could find wi-fi, i could get on facebook and message the living daylights out of everyone on our team, hoping someone would check it. but there was no wi-fi in nowheresville. no surprise.

so we stopped and prayed again. then we saw a woman walking toward us and we asked her if she spoke english. she knew very very VERY little english, but she tried so hard!! we were all laughing a lot, it was cute. we got the message across that we needed her to call a taxi (that was the only solution we could think of - get a taxi to pick us up...although we didn't know our address, but we figured we could at least go somewhere warm...haha). she got her phone out but then she felt so bad because she couldn't remember the number for the taxi! she was adorable. then a younger guy walked by and she yelled at him and he came over - he spoke english! praise the Lord! we asked him if there was a soup kitchen near by. thankfully, he knew exactly what we were talking about and it was just a couple blocks away.

we made it to the soup kitchen, refilled lots of hot tea, served some sour kraut, pork, and yellow potatoes (SO GOOD!). i guess it's a common Estonian Christmas dinner. it was a lot of fun!! hardly anyone spoke english, but the ones that did loved trying to say the few words they knew! one old man kept telling all of us we were really beautiful! :) another nearly definitely creepy man kept looking at me with this creepy smile and he asked one of the Estonian workers something or made some comment and pointed at me and smiled and she slugged him. hahaha :)

because of the snow storm, we couldn't get any taxis to take us home. so we walked to the train track (not very far) and waited, hoping some mode of public transportation would come by. we prayed a lot today. :) a trolly came by and from there we got on a bus and made it home!!!!

it was a hugely memorable Christmas!!!! this morning i asked God if i could feel His presence today in some way. totally did. i loved having to rely on Him today!!! and seeing Him tangibly come thru!!

tonight we are hanging out at Helina's and making pizzas! i got to go to a little grocery store tonight and i got a bag of granola! what a treat!!!!!!!

oh and this morning, while waiting for the taxis, we went in the gas station (they're like American ones!) and Jae bought us all hot chocolate!!! she's the best outreach leader EVER!