Skype Sunday

We've been using Skype for a couple years. Today we got a lot of good use out of it! We talked to Suzanna's family for a while in the afternoon. Luke got to show off his new tree climbing tricks, and Emmelise got to sit up in front of the computer and do her jibber-jabber thing. She's been sitting up really well now on her own for the last week or two. She'll still occasionally tip over, so rest easy that in the picture below, I'm holding on to her to keep her steady.

Emmelise sitting up like a big girl, talking to Nauna and Ashly on Skype!

What they saw in Utah.

That night as I was working on a blog post (a new hobby of mine!), with our Skype account still active and logged on, I got a call from Maire Akerta, an Estonian I taught and knew very well when I was on my mission in Estonia from 2004-2006. Perhaps I'll blog more about Maire another time and some of the interesting and fun memories and experiences of teaching and baptizing her. But cutting to the chase, I had not seen nor spoken to Maire since July 2006, days before I left the field and traveled back to the States. I had an email address for her which was soon deactivated, and when I sent a letter to her home address, I got an email reply from the new tenant, informing me that they didn't know anything about Maire or where she had gone. I was afraid I had lost all contact with her and have wondered many times over the years whether I'd ever be able to find her again. Google searches turned up nothing, and I knew there weren't many other connections besides former missionaries and one or two members who had also lost contact with her.

Then last month when we were in Utah, I dug through an old mission box and found a letter she had written to me, shortly before I came home in the summer of 2006. She had included an email address that I hadn't previously used (and must have forgotten about at the time), so I fired off a quick note, hoping that maybe this address was still in use. I didn't get one of those automated "delivery failed because this isn't a real email address" replies that I've seen before, so I was at least hopeful. But then I forgot about it and didn't think much of it until about a week ago I got a reply from her! She was brief in her response, mentioning a few of the bigger events that have happened in her life since we last spoke in 2006, but she did ask to Skype. Sunday turned out to be the best day for us to do it, so tonight (Monday morning for her) we got to Skype for about 30 minutes before she had to head off for the day! In the course of conversation, she mentioned that she hadn't seen my email initially and had some 70 unread emails or so in her inbox. She was going to clean it out but then noticed my message there.

It was great to catch up with her for a few minutes, and we agreed to talk again next Sunday for a few more minutes. Maybe this time she'll get to see the kids in person! Suzanna did step in and say "Hello" or rather, "Tere! Kuidas laheb?" (Hi! How's it going?) before we hung up.

It was a Skype Sunday for sure.

msh