Nordic / Baltic / Eastern European Newsletter

Short Video about the 2011 Feast of Tabernacles in Estonia - click on arrow to view

The hotel where we all stayed was a Scandinavian spa hotel specializing in pools, baths and massages that our attendees enjoyed. The children really enjoyed the pools.

 

The messages focused on the coming new world, family, respect for human government and the New World coming.

One evening we held a story telling night in which many of those who lived under Communism in the USSR told inspiring stories about their lives and faith in the days of the USSR.

 

For the third year running, a group of 20 Latvians kept the Feast with us. They have adopted our beliefs and we consider them our close spiritual kin.

 

At the last minute a family from Ukraine attended. They are part of the group of hundreds of Sabbatarians we have been visiting and working with for the past 20 years. One major difference between us has been that they had not adopted the annual Holy Days. However, in the past five years many have begun to keep them. On the Feast of Trumpets this past year 100 of them in the modest Khust, Ukraine, church gathered for the Feast of Trumpets. I have previously invited these people to our Feast in Estonia. This time one of their leading members, Ivan Yurishko, called me and said he wanted to come. At first it seemed like a long shot because it normally takes two weeks to get a visa from Ukraine to Estonia. But, he made a 12 hour train journey to Kiev, applied at the Estonian embassy and had his application expedited and made it to Saaremaa just before sunset on the opening night of the Feast.

 

Ivan Yurishko has printed large quantities of our literature in Russian and Swedish that we have sent from Estonia and Sweden. He and his family were definitely absorbed in the activities and spirit of the Feast. He said he wanted to see how we keep the Feast so that they can do likewise next year and already have preliminary plans for Ukrainians to go across the border to Hungary to hold the Feast in 2012.

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Occasionally we are privileged to catch a glimpse of what God is doing. There was one such "behind the scenes" opportunity following the Feast in November.

 

Johnnnie Lambert

In May, we sent The Gospel of the Kingdom to our earliest Estonian subscribers. Returning back to Tartu in August, we had received a letter from A. Tammo, a subscriber since June 2007. Imbi Kuusksalu translated the letter for us. Her analysis was that the letter was very well written and from someone very well educated. A. Tammo wrote, "I have prayed for a very long time for an answer to the meaning of the Kingdom of God. I consider this booklet to be a direct answer to my prayers. I am beginning my own personal study of the subject. I will write you more as I progress."

Since we were having a post-Feast Sabbath service in Tallinn on October 22, we sent a letter inviting some of our subscribers, including A. Tammo, to that meeting. Subsequently, arriving home in Tartu, there was a response letter from A. Tammo written in Estonian. I had to wait for Toomas Schvak to come and translate the letter. A. Tammo wrote, "I want to come both to the Feast of Tabernacles and to the meeting in Tallinn. My personal circumstances will not allow me to do so. I am ninety years old and I am handicapped, so it is not easy for me to go places."

If we had known, we would have arranged a taxi for transportation to the meeting in Tallinn. Mostly we don't know very much about the people to whom we mail literature. In this case, I continue to refer to this person as "A. Tammo" because we do not even know if it is "Mr." or "Ms." I do know that it is my objective on the upcoming February trip to arrange a meeting with A. Tammo. It may be that we have some things to discuss.

 

I thank God for this glimpse "behind the scenes." I thought you might appreciate it as well.

- Johnnie Lambert

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Greetings from Sweden!!

 

Had a wonderful Feast of Tabernacles at the Georg Orts Spa on the Island of Saaremaa, in Estonia. The United Church of God sponsors over 50 sites around the world with Saaremaa being our regional site. While there I had a meeting with Victor Kubik and Johnnie Lambert regarding moving forward here with the job of preaching the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God. As a result I have contacted several local and national newspapers and we are now just finalizing the advert to send to the newspaper for final approval. The advert we are wanting to use offers a subscription to The Good News and the booklet "The Middle East in Bible Prophecy." We are also working on a renewal letter to former subscribers offering them a new free subscription and also the booklet "The Gospel of the Kingdom of God." Your prayers for the success of these efforts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Also a number of our readers have written in regarding the "Kingdom of God Bible seminars," here are some links where you can view them online at http://www.ucg.org/live-event/kingdom-god-bible-seminar/cincinnati-ohio/2011-09-10/ and also here where you can hear those that were conducted across the U.S and in Europe.

 

- Paul Spenser

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United Church of God Website

United Church of God Members Web site

Victor Kubik
3707 Turfway Ct.
Indianapolis, IN 46228
phone: 001 317 216-0802
mobile/sms: 001 317 679-7676