Imagine, if you will, eating a breakfast of small pillows of chocolate.  If you can imagine that, then for sure you can imagine a zebra wearing a dress carrying a jump rope (see picture).  

I first experienced this cereal on our first mission here while attending a mission-wide youth conference (see the link here ). I saw this while shopping the other day and decided that I must take one home for additional study (it's all academic, I assure you).  I cut one in half for all to see. 

Yes, that is chocolate stuffed inside every square.  After some intense study, I can assure you that in spite of its near zero nutritional value, it produces a calming influence.

We had a chance to visit the Estonian Museum of Occupation (Vabamu).  This museum chronicles the lives of

Estonians while being occupied by a foreign power.  As you may suspect, the Soviet occupation had devastating effects on lives of normal people.  If you were well connected in government or politics or education, you were the first ones to be rounded up.  If you weren't executed, you would be sent away to Siberia.  Many never did return, having died in captivity.  In spite of these, and many other difficulties, most Estonians stayed true to the hope that their homeland would someday be free again.  On a different day, we visited the KGB prison cells.  This gave us a whole new level of understanding of how Satan dehumanizes through physical and mental abuse so that people lose hope.  These were dark times and people were fearful to speak of anything with their neighbors for fear of being accused of being a collaborator.  The stigma of that fearful way of life is still evident today.  However, the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is flickering here and beginning to turn into something bright and wonderful. The younger generation will turn the key, not so much to close the door on Estonia's dark history, but to unlock the door to a wave of enlightenment that can only come from people following the covenant path. 

At the entrance: A tribute to those who were only given a few minutes to pack a single suitcase before being sent to Siberia

Video display of survivor stories about escaping, being sent away or had lost family members.

Soviet propaganda posters on a Russian star with Stalin gazing on.

One of only a few boats that actually made it to Finland while trying to escape.

A description of the KGB prison

One of many cells, cold and dark

One of the many steel prison doors

People were stuffed into this broom closet, sometimes for days, just to wear them down.

A board to leave your sentiments about freedom

But never again.  Estonians are very patriotic and love their freedom.  Today just happens to be their independence day and it is marked with military parades and speeches and a lot of national pride.  It is a national holiday, even Google knows.

Most places are closed.  A big cake was presented for all to eat right after church today.

We had two baptisms on Saturday.  Again, it was held at the Radisson Olümpia Hotel. 

View of the Tallinn cityscape from the top

It was a sweet experience.  Our dear Õde Smith-Driggs who is an accomplished singer, was asked to sing at the service.  As the intro finished,  Õde Smith-Driggs, with her angel voice, began to sing "I'm Trying to be like Jesus" in Estonian.  As the lilt of her voice caressed our ears, the Spirit came rushing in and I watched at how profoundly it affected our new convert, Mairi, as she wept during the whole song.  Is it any wonder why angels sing?  A song can create a conduit for the Spirit to speak and to testify.  Certain musical chords, when sung, sometimes fill me with a nostalgic and homesick feeling . . . almost a memory of a far away home where such music was once enjoyed.  Tears will most certainly follow.

Missionaries and their converts

First, Mairi

and then Alicia

Afterwards, a celebration at our apartment

With homemade apple pie with their names written on it.  Can you read them?

So at some point this past week, we went on a date to Pizza Americana.  They have a Route 66 theme to the place with pizzas for each state where Route 66 passes through.  We opted for the good 'ole American style burger.  Sadly, our eyes were bigger than our bellies and we had to take some of it home.  Yes, it was very good.

In Estonia, Valentines Day is called: Head Sõbrapäeva! (Happy Friend's Day).  This year I made a cherry cheesecake for the Institute class.  Pie filling like we have in the U.S. is not a thing here, so I bought some bottled cherries and made my own.  Graham crackers are not a thing here also, so I found some oat cookies (which taste remarkably like graham crackers) and made my own.  The Estonian way is to make do with what you have, and they have done so for hundreds of years.

First cherry cheesecake

Tallinn Institute Class

Nothing says love like a protein bar made with crickets.  We found these bars at the food bank. As you can see, they are guaranteed to have at least 15 crickets in each bar. I'm not sure where they are made (couldn't be Estonia, the cold would have killed the crickets off long ago).  Actually, they come from Finland so they must have access to a cricket ranch.  I can just see the wranglers now as they round up these little critters

For our own Valentine celebration, we decided to visit Haku, a Japanese restaurant very close to our apartment.  Why there?  One of our adorable YSA ladies works there and we wanted to visit with her where she works.  We had roast duck (it was really good) and a Japanese hot pot (a pot with meat, broth and an assortment of vegetables and some really long noodles the thickness of a pencil.

Enjoying some time with Maria O.

We've all seen a treehouse and we've probably built one or been in one, but this one was very interesting, right in the center of town.  It was a clever design to make the steel support look like a tree.  These are just some of the interesting things we see while waiting for the tram.

Our time here is like a dream - being in another world.  We have much in common here but many things are very different, and that's what makes living here so interesting.  If you think that this might be a thing you could do in the future, plan for it.  If the future is right now, then make it happen by allowing the Lord to open doors for you.  Step one, start your application.  Since the Lord is NOT resource bound, the things that you think will hold you back will melt away.  It is a principle of faith.  Here is a link (Senior Mission Types) to whet your appetite.

Breaking the Fast with . . . Borscht

Every Fast Sunday, we have a traditional meal at our place for the YSA to "Break the Fast".  Our guest last Sunday was a man visiting from Ukraine.  He is being taught by the Russian sisters.  Since Sister M. (also from Ukraine) is assigned here, she took it upon herself to treat us to some authentic Ukrainian borscht.  We had never had it before and found it colorful and tasted of home-made goodness.  It is made from potatoes, onion, garlic, beets, carrots, cabbage and tomatoes.  Throw in some chicken for the meat.  It took lots of peeling, chopping and sauteing.  Here are a few pictures.

In case you were wondering, that is sour cream, not whipped cream.

Sister M., serving as chef

Sister G. chopping the garlic, Iris is supervising

All the veggie roots get cooked together

Sister G. adding garlic to the cabbage

Everyone enjoying the warm soup

On Monday, we traveled to Tartu again to meet with the Politsei (Police) to apply for a residency card.  Think of waiting in line at the MVD but with half the space. This time we had appointments.  Still had to wait as we had to fill out forms about our past lives and all our children and their addresses.  However, we did prevail and we spent some time with the young Elders who translated for us.  We went to Old Town and found this famous statue of a couple under an umbrella.

Statue of a couple under an umbrella

Yes, they are kissing

Õde Allred in Old Town with young Elders

Typical architecture of the old days

We had a nice visit this week from a former missionary, L. Panfilov, from Ukraine.  He recently married a Returned Missionary from Moscow and now lives there.  He has a sales jobs working for a friend and making businesses connections in the Baltic area.  They may move to Tallinn this year.  We sure hope so.

Visiting with L. Panfilov

We were a little under the weather this week and stayed inside to rest and heal.  However, by Saturday, we were feeling much better and decided to treat ourselves to some outside activity.  Wouldn't you know, there was a snowman building contest at Kadriorg Park (for more information about the Kadriorg Palace, click the link here).  Each contestant was given a big cube of frozen snow to start with.  Since it had started to drizzle earlier, there were few contestants, but we were determined to see the artistry of the few hardy souls that came out.  Most of what we could tell, it was a family affair with children and babies lending a hand in the design.

A "cube" of snow to start with

It's a family affair

This was our favorite

Next year, we are going to enter the contest with the YSA.  Maybe carve an Angel Moroni?

It was the week of the piggies

This has been an unusual week.  Let the picture here say it for me.  I won't mention how I did this to my toes,

but let's just say that I should be more careful taking off my pajamas. Who knew, right?  Since this was how it started, my week could only go up from there.  And so it did. Later that day, we were involved with giving a woman (just recently moved from Canada) a blessing of health.  We shared our meal with her.  She is of Estonian heritage and already speaks the language.

            

Tuesday found us trudging through the snow to help clean a missionary  apartment that was being closed.  It didn't pass the initial inspection, so the young Elders called in the expert, Õde Allred.  I came along to carry the buckets of cleaning supplies.  Our children, who were all taught how to clean, can vouch that their mother can be fussy about cleaning EVERYTHING. She had the troops marshalled and put to work. Two or three hours later, the place was shining like the top of the Chrysler Building.  We found out later that the inspection passed and the landlady was very impressed.  We have some very thankful Elders for that bit of education.

We have a sister serving here who is from Ukraine.  I got to wondering if maybe she or someone from her family might remember Ken and Tina Ray when they served in the Donetsk Mission a few years ago.  I mentioned her to the Rays and sure enough, they knew her as a child when her single mother, at the time, brought her to a Singles Conference that the Rays had organized.  In the church, the world is small.  But wait, there's more.  There is another sister serving here who is from Utah and I 

happened to notice that one of her Face Book friends was our son Caleb.    I suspected that maybe she knew Caleb when he taught at the singing entertainers camp put on by the BYU Young Ambassadors each summer.  Sure enough, he remembered her.

It is the Chinese New Year this week and there are lots of displays and colorful things showing up downtown.  Although it is the year of the pig, we still have to have a dragon, right?  There was an ice sculpture of a pig and people would pass by and press a coin into the ice.  I'm not sure why but it may have to do with hoping for good luck in the new year.  There was candy making and other activities.  

On Saturday, our mission president organized a "mission prep" conference for all mission age youth in Estonia (16-24).  Õde Allred and I were asked to give a presentation on how to recognize the influence of the Holy Ghost and receive answers to prayers.  The branch president, mission president and his counselor and the district president all spoke about preparing for, during and after a mission.  I think it went well and it got a lot of people thinking. Pizza was delivered afterwards.

Incidentally, if you are interested in reading the blog I wrote while on our first mission to Estonia, you can click the link here.