Sarabeth Waller

Estonia
Website
Donate

Estonia is a small country, about 1/5 the size of Minnesota with just 1.3 million people. About 400,000 of them live in Tallinn, the city we live and work in. Estonia is one of the least religious countries in the world. Only 14 percent believe religion has any influence on their lives, and less than 1 percent are Evangelical Christian (Pentecostal, Baptist, or Methodist). After centuries of various occupations, Estonia was established as a country in 1918, but Soviet and Nazi occupations would follow. Estonia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The country is around 70 percent Estonian and 20 percent Russian, although some border cities are up to 90 percent Russian. Despite such a difficult past, Estonia leads the way technologically. Skype, Pipedrive, and Wise were all born in Estonia, and it's not uncommon to see delivery robots pass by on the sidewalk.

First Mission

My first missions experience was in the summer of 2014. I went to Tallinn to visit a friend who was a missionary associate there. Although I was mostly just on vacation, I was able to help with events like Focus Church’s first kids camp (largely staffed by volunteers from Eden Prairie Assembly of God).

Becoming a Missionary

I will try to make a very long story short! I was not called from a young age. I actually went to college to be a journalist, and spent six years as a newspaper reporter near my hometown in Missouri. By the fall of 2013, I felt it was time to move on to something else and began applying for reporting jobs in neighboring states. But my home church held a missions convention in the spring of 2014, and that’s when I realized I needed to at least consider missions. It was quite a leap. I didn’t have a passport. I’d never been on a plane, even for a domestic flight. I’d never been on a missions trip, even in the U.S. I was initially drawn to Poland and contacted missionaries there, who invited me to visit them. I also talked with my friend Shannon Huett (now Kiprits), who was the only missionary I knew personally. She invited me to visit her. I knew I would have difficulty getting off work (by that time my company had me working as a reporter at a daily newspaper and editor of a weekly), and that I would tempted to come back to the security of that after my trip. So shortly before I left, I quit! I visited Krakow and loved Poland. I was invited to join the team there. But I was also invited to join the team in Tallinn. And although I went to scope out Poland, when I got home all I could think or talk about was church planting in Estonia! I applied to be an MA shortly after I returned home. After the application process and itinerating, I left in December 2015 for one year in Tallinn.

Focus

Church Plant Team Member with Focus Church in Tallinn, Estonia. Estonia is one of the least religious countries in the world, but our team's vision is to "change the spiritual destiny of Estonia." My broad title reflects my willingness to serve where needed; my roles have included young adults ministry leader, children's ministry leader, and marketing manager. As I prepare for a second term, I anticipate more emphasis on training others (namely Estonians) to serve and lead.