New Meetinghouse dedicated in Estonia
brief overview of the Church and its beliefs (see
New Meetinghouse dedicated in Estonia

TALLINN, ESTONIA --The Saints in Estonia have been blessed with new beautiful building in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The new building, which was dedicated on 7th of November can seat up to 160 people. It is the first building in Estonia that has been built up from scratch. It took approximately 5 month to build. It is meeting place for two branches in Tallinn - Stroomi and Sule.

This year will be 10 years from beginning of spreading the Restored Gospel in Estonia. First baptisms took place just 10 years ago. What a marvelous gift for that occasion. On November 5-6 there took place an Open House. Many visitors toured the building and got an insight of the teachings of the Church. Among the visitors were also local journalists. The occasion was shown in favorable manner by three local TV stations in their prime News program. The first time true story about the Book of Mormon was told. People watching the News were told that the nickname Mormons comes from the book, which is actually named after one of the ancient prophets, called Mormon. The biggest newspaper in country featured the new building along with brief overview of the Church and its beliefs (see http://www.epl.ee/artikkel.php3?ID=3&grupp=9&kuupaev=1999-11-05). Johann Wondra from the 3rd Quorum of the Seventy dedicated the chapel on Sunday, 7th of November. It was a marvelous meeting, many people with tears in their eyes. They had waited for that day for many years, it was unbelievable that we all stood in that building! Early members recalled that the Church had had so far 9 meeting places, what it had rented during these 10 years. Now we had our own House of worship. In dedicatory prayer President Wondra said: "... We pray that everyone at this place will join us in making it a center of love and of friendship, of an open heart and an outstretched hand..."

The first meeting was held a week earlier, when General Conference Satellite broadcast was viewed. There are currently about 500 members in Estonia, three branches are working in Tallinn and Tartu. 34 missionaries are serving in Estonia. To find out more, please visit the homepage of the Church in Estonia: http://www.uninet.ee/~almar.

Erki Kuiv Stroomi Branch Tallinn Estonia District