An Estonian Easter

I had the best Easter I could have asked for. To begin the day, the Easter bunny came to our flat. Myself and my 3 roommates all the the same idea-that we would buy each other Easter candy and leave it on the table in the morning for everyone else. We of course all thought that we were the only ones with that idea so we all woke up to a pile of candy on the table from the Easter bunny. It was a fun surprise.



Gifts from the Easter bunny.

For the past month, we have all been going to a non-donominational church called Ristee, which is held on the upper floor of a club. Each week they transform the room by setting up a stage for the band and chairs for the congregation. This church is the only English speaking church and it is a relatively new church. They give us headphones and then there is a translator who translates the sermon into English for us. Most of the songs we sing are in Estonian, so it is fun to try and practice our Estonian. It is a wonderful church and everyone there is so welcoming and friendly. Everyone always comes up to us to introduce themselves and find out more about us. On Easter Sunday we all went to church and we were greeted by some of our new friends who asked us if we would like to come to their house after church to eat. We were so thrilled to be invited. We spent the afternoon talking with the family and learning about Estonia. The family is originally from the United States but they moved to Estonia 14 years ago to do mission work and have been here ever since. We had the most DELICIOUS meal I have had since I have been away from home. They made us ham, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and cooked carrots. It was a feast. I am looking forward to getting to know the Viinalass family better over the next couple months.


What also made my Easter special was receiving a package from home! I opened it up to find it full of Easter candy. But the best part was that there were 2 boxes of DONUTS!! For those of you who don't know, donuts are my favorite things to eat. Sadly, they do not have your typical donut here in Estonia...believe me, I have looked! I have never tasted something so delicious-but I suppose that could be because I have been donut-deprived for so long. Nevertheless, I now have chocolate donuts that I will make last for the rest of my trip.




My Easter package!!