Stockmann rocks, man!

Dude, I like totally stood at Stockmann today. It was all like, gnarly and awesome dude. It was groovy. I was all like “Sweet!” and the other dude was all like “Awesome!” and I was all like “Dude…” And then we were both totally like “Whoa!” Not really. Though those 4 sentences sound really funny if you read them out loud, dude. But anyway, I know you love hearing about me collecting money at Stockmann so I’ll try to tell you all about it. The only problem is that I don’t remember any of the interesting stuff. I know there were a few times when I was like “I need to write this down, that was awesome” but because I was busy doing other things I couldn’t write things down. And I know I thought of some really witty sentence but now I can’t remember! No! Anyway, I’ll do my best to point out some highlights.

The biggest highlight is that I did the best of anyone that day, as far as amount of money. And standing for 3 hours in full uniform makes me deserve it! I actually had a really good day today. Normally nobody gives any money and I stand there getting more and more bored until to relieve the monotony I start counting the number of people in between those who give me money. The only problem is that once I get into the hundreds I start getting pretty depressed. But today I never got that bored. I decided to start praying for people, something I’ve done before but have usually gotten bored of. But today it was actually quite interesting, because people with limps, or screaming kids, or nasty scowls, or some other anything kept walking by and giving me a reason to pray for them. It was quite exciting. One of my favorite people whenever I’m standing at Stockmann is the security guard. Last year some other company bought Falck, and it seems their first move was to fire all the guards I recognized. So I had a nice new guard today. He was a rather tall and gangly fellow with glasses, but despite that I could tell he had some hidden inner strength behind what might not seem the proper physique for a security guard. And I think I saw what that hidden strength was. He was nice. When some guys laughed at me (I’m used to it, I do look pretty funny in that hat) he quickly looked over at me with genuine concern, causing me to give him a quick smile and he gave me a respectful nod in return. And when people walked past him, rather than scowl menacingly like so many other guards, he’d give them a respectful little nod and a small smile. And when one lady set off the alarm because one of the things she bought didn’t register as being paid for, he talked with her nicely, joking and helping her rather than being a jerk when she’d done nothing wrong. I swear I have never seen a nicer security guard! It’s funny that he made such an impression on me when we never talked, but I guess this is just another case of actions speaking louder than words.

When collecting money at Stockmann I have two goals. Most people think there’s only one, but in reality there are two. The first goal of course is to collect as much money as possible to support the work of our beloved Salvation Army. The second goal, and the one which I often think is more important, is letting people know we’re there. The Salvation Army hasn’t been in Estonia very long, less than 15 years, and so we’re pretty much unknown, unlike in America or England where we are known and respected. So I always have a pile of “Mis on Päästearmee?” (“What is The Salvation Army?”) papers ready to hand and give one to anyone who asks or gives money. And that’s actually primarily what I do when at Stockmann. I went through a ton of papers today, and people actually were reading them! There have been times when I give someone a paper and watch as they throw it into the trash. But today I saw everyone I gave a paper to actually reading it! And one very special time a woman came up to me and said, “The Salvation Army right?” and commenced putting in money, then when I tried to give her a paper she said, “No, thank you. I know what you do. God bless you.” That was cool.

But there’s one thing I’m still kicking myself for. The guy I mentioned earlier who laughed was quite interesting. It’s not unusual to be laughed at when I’m in uniform, I got laughed at at least 5 times today, and that’s just the laughs I saw. But this guy was different. He was about my age and as he walked past with his 2 buddies he gave out this harsh, cruel laugh. One of those laughs that leaves no doubt in your mind that they are laughing at you, and not with you. I don’t know how to describe this laugh other than thoroughly unpleasant. But I didn’t mind, I just smiled and put two fingers to the visor of my hat in a quick salute. I’m sure the guy didn’t have any animosity towards me, so I didn’t hold his laughing against him. The world needs more laughter, so a day when someone can laugh because of me is a day well spent. But then I did something very stupid later. Because my laughing friend was such a joker as he walked out with a bag of gummy bears he asked me if I wanted one. And without thinking how much I really like gummy bears, and how good that gummy bear would taste after two hours of standing, I automatically laughed and said no thank you. Why didn’t I take a gummy bear! Now I’ve got like a gummy bear craving! Dang it, I’ll need to go buy some.

Another interesting thing that happened was that someone bowed to me. He walked in kind of slowly and then stopped and looked at me. Then he went to the other side of the room and looked at me some more. Then he slowly walked up to me and bowed, low, from the waist. For a second I was shocked, and so I did the only thing I could think of. I threw a true Salvation Army salute, pointing to heaven, and, not sure how to say “To God be the glory” in Estonian, I just said “Ei, Jumalale.” or “No, to God.” and I pretty sure he understood. Then he smiled at me and left.

And I think that just about sums up all the excitement. I’m pretty sure there was more, but I don’t remember. If I do I’ll write it later! But I have some prayer requests, because I believe so many of my readers are Christians. First of all please pray that some of these people I talked to today come to the corps! On the paper I gave them is the address, and Tiit (A fellow soldier who stood) says he invited one lady. So let’s pray we get some now people! Also, tomorrow (Tuesday, which will be today by the time you read this) will be quite an interesting day for me. My dad is off to Finland early in the morning and then my mom is off to Narva in the afternoon. I have 2 hours at Stockmann at then babysitting until late that night. Plus, getting some school and housework done would be nice. So please pray for me that I can have the patience and skill to juggle it all. Thanks, good night!