June 1st, 2013: Day 6

Today was excellent - would have been completely prefect, except I've been working pretty hard to keep a head cold and a fever away. i woke up after 7 hours of solid sleep, which is much more than what I normally get at school, but I still felt exhausted. As soon as we got in the van to drive to Estonia, I was asleep for a good 2 hours.

At our pit stop right before the border, I bought 1.5 liters of water - it was gone right before we got into Estonia - about 5 minutes later. That was then followed by a 2nd 2-hour nap, which seemed to help for a while.

When we got to Tallinn, we went to Bethel church. (This was the church last year that I was able to give extra funds to thanks to my generous donors!) They run a children's shelter, both a day center (after school program,) and a rehabilitation home. The improvements from just last year alone are AMAZING!!

2012

2013

The director was so happy with the improvements and has high hopes for the future of her kids, and she believes they have the power to make a difference in Estonia.

Our prayers for these once-hopeless children as they grow and learn and mature into young, productive adults are greatly appreciated by Miriam, the director.

Once we got checked into our hotel, the "kids" in the group went into "Old Town," the main tourist attraction in Tallinn. About halfway through our adventure, I started to feel a bit dizzy and shaky, so I downed another 1.5 liters of water, which sort of helped. The group stopped for a marvelous dinner, mostly of pasta, and we ha a nice time chatting and relaxing. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was shot. A nice warm shower, some juice and meds in my system, and I'm good for the night. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll feel better - makes it harder to enjoy the trip when I feel like this... :/