2000 / 2001

Greetings from Tartu

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

Dear Friends of the Tartu Family Radio!

This scripture came to my heart as I started to write this annual letter to share with you the events of the last two years. It is exactly reaching out to other nations that was the main aim in both 2000 and 2001, and God's guidance, help and presence was so real in the process. Even now, as Mare and I are having a rest before retiring for the night, with two radios at our bedside, it is difficult to believe that the Word of God is radiating to different nations right here, next to us, from a tiny village of Kavastu near Tartu. Two years ago we had nothing but hypotheses based on engineers' calculations and drawings concerning the reach of the signal of the would-be transmitting station; today, however, we have responses from real listeners from Finland, Sweden, Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Poland, Germany and elsewhere. A. Misnik of Byelorussia writes: "I had heard rumors for quite a while that the Family Radio was going to broadcast on 1035 kHz, but now I want to congratulate you on coming on the air." Sergei Rogov writes from Lithuania: "Although I am not a believer, I find your station's programs interesting." Galina Hartihainen writes from Finland: "Your broadcasts move me to tears. How good it is to be able to hear the Word of God in my mother tongue again." Johan Berglund of Sweden writes: "I was really surprised and very glad to hear the Family Radio on 1035 kHz. The signal is very stable and pure, unlike those from many other European stations." Praise God for that! God has also blessed and guided the work of the Family Radio at home, in Estonia. In fact, the two services cannot be separated from each other because they are one evangelistic effort aimed at winning souls to the Lord as long as we have been given the time of grace.

New Equipment, Remote Forest Clearing and Five Years of the Tartu Family Radio

The spring of 2000 at the Tartu Family Radio had a somewhat unusual start. For a week, no other programs were sent on the air than beautiful and peaceful music. No, it was not that we were lazy, or went on strike, or that there was a technical failure. It was that we were in the process of transferring to a new automated system. The development of technology in general and the computers in particular had been so rapid that our beloved and laborious blue-screen Digilink 2 installed in 1994 had to give way to a new Wavestation software, which is much more flexible and capable yet occasionally more capricious, too. The main benefits for the listener were a considerable improvement in the technical quality of programs and a wider choice of music; for the own employees, however, the new system meant conversion training and a considerable period of adaptation. Today, however, I can positively assert that the modernization has been worth the pain in every respect.
In February, I saw for the first time the tract of land assigned to the future AM transmitting station in the village of Pajukurmu, a few miles from the village of Kavastu. I went to see it with a geological staff who was to take the necessary soil samples there. The distance seemed very long and the road became ever narrower until it petered out in a lonely forest clearing. The short and gloomy day of Estonian winter was fading, darkness was gaining ground, and controversial thoughts filled the mind. Is it really the right spot? Does God really want us to establish such a powerful tool of outreach in such a forlorn place? Am I myself strong enough? And on and on and on. The soil sample was not taken either, for in such deep snow, even the truck equipped with a drill specifically suited for geological works would have been stuck. However, God reassured me. A silent voice in my heart said, "You just act and let me lead." And so it went on according to His will and under His blessing. Before His power, the wall of bureaucracy collapsed, and all the paperwork progressed smoothly. The sales contract was executed; the tract was measured and entered in the register of real estate as property of the Tartu Family Radio; the soil samples were taken, etc. Everything fitted in too well to be just a series of coincidences. When I received from the US the drawing depicting a tract of land suitable for erecting a 250 m mast and placed it on the map of our tract it was a perfect fit. This was a clear sign to assure us that we were on the right track and that we just need to go on.
In March 2000, the Tartu Family Radio had its 5th anniversary. We celebrated it with the newspaper "Eesti Kirik" [Estonian Church], which had its 10th anniversary. On this occasion, we held a joint Christian media conference in Tartu titled "Out from Isolation". It was attended by representatives of different Christian denominations as well as members of the Estonian Parliament. At that conference, we searched for better opportunities for the voice of the church to be heard in society, primarily through media channels. Similarly, the Family Radio Days, a regular event in April, laid new foundations for dialogue with several governmental institutions.

The Summer of Building

In the summer of 2000, a major construction effort was launched at Kavastu. Before Midsummer Day, our old friend the mast-builder Jim Hulse arrived, along with his son Christopher, who had the funny nickname of Boo. They became the first guests of the brand-new hotel rooms established at the local dairy. When it appeared in spring that the traditional lodgings of our American builders would no longer be available because the kitchen had been rented out, Tiit Veeber, a good friend and supporter of the Tartu Family Radio, decided to establish a few accommodations at Kavastu, at the dairy owned by him, which was considerably closer to the building site. At an unbelievable speed, 10 bedrooms, a kitchen and a dining hall were completed on the 3rd floor of the Kavastu dairy. The building teams that subsequently arrived first from California and then from Colorado erected both the mast and the transmitting building on the forest clearing bearing the name of the transmitting mast in just 6 weeks, in spite of the frequent rain and the squelchy soil. The showers of rain, however, alternated with the smiling sun, which again and again projected a broad band of rainbow on the firmament to remind us of the covenant contracted between God and its creation in the days of Noah. The building process, which had commenced even before the arrival of the American teams with the fortification of the access road, culminated with the triumphant hoisting up of the uppermost detail of the mast. A large crowd had gathered on the building site to participate in the event, including ministers representing the majority of the Christian denominations in Estonia. Jointly, hands were laid on the top module of the mast, and blessing was prayed on the seed-sowing work of the new radio service. For myself, the summer of 2000 denoted incessant paperwork at the Tartu customs examination point to clear 8 containers full of materials and equipment. In addition, the delivery of local materials needed to be organized, as did the installation of electricity and water lines. The daily work at the building site was led by Jim Carlson, Steven George and Taavi Kaups. The mast erection works were, naturally, under the command of Jim Hulse. At this point, it would be unfair to unmention the morale-boosting role of Tiit's gigantic dog Klenn, who promptly became the builders' favorite despite Tiit's "concern" that Klenn's already scarce fur would wear off completely under the heavy stroking.
Although the focus of the summer of 2000 was on construction at Kavastu, the program-producing activities at the studios of the Tartu Family Radio situated in the building of the Higher Theological Seminary did not stop for a second. Lauri Beekmann, himself a student of the Seminary, became a new doer in the radio ministry. He launched a live program "Speak with me", which within the space of two hours offered the listeners the opportunity of phoning to the studio and airing their questions and opinions to the radio audience. For each broadcast, Lauri also planned a studio guest - a Christian minister - who together with him was to seek solutions to the listeners' questions as well as to pray for them. This kind of intercessory broadcast was long awaited by the listeners, as evidenced by the super-rapturous welcome to the program. The program "Speak with me" promptly became the most popular one at the Tartu Family Radio, winning the widest audience. Also in August, the Tartu Family Radio launched the collection campaign "One [Estonian] kroon a day for the Tartu Family Radio" to activate the listeners to donate for this important branch of Christian evangelism. This project, too, was abundantly blessed by God, and donations from Estonia soon covered almost a half of monthly needs.

Unexpected Difficulties

At the building site, the work went on. In late summer, we hosted the third team of builders, some of whom had come for the second time that year. It was on his second trip to Estonia that a severe disease hit Woody Hausauer. He was taken to the intensive care unit of the Maarjamõisa Hospital in Tartu with blood vessel thrombosis. It was a great shock to everybody, for our friends were ignorant of the level of medical care in Estonian hospitals; and for Estonian doctors, too, English-speaking people were no daily patients. Praise God, neither side had to be disappointed. Following a few consultations, the Estonian doctors diagnosed Woody's disease and started treatment. In a couple of days, Woody's wife Rosie arrived, giving another boost to the healing process through her presence and support. With the Lord's help, Woody was released from the hospital in a couple of weeks and could start the journey home.
In the fall of 2000, the enemy was able to frustrate us with one more unpleasant surprise. Once, while casually checking the radio frequencies, I discovered that instead of the low background noise on the 612 kHz band assigned to us there was someone speaking in a strange language. I found out that the same frequency had been put into use in Lithuania. No functionary was able to give us an adequate explanation of why such a thing had happened. It was a severe moral blow to many, since all of a sudden part of their work had become meaningless. I remember the sullen-faced Jim Hulse in front of the transmitting building disassembling the number 612 made of reinforcement steel. The faith of many in the successful completion of the project was shaken. It was also eroded by the split between the then president Endel Meiusi and the rest of the board members of the Tartu Family Radio, which had developed already at the start of the building project and grew ever wider since.
Time went on and the golden fall was followed by the first snow. Most of the Americans had left, only Tom Carrels, whose artistic spirit desired to see Estonia robed in snow, had remained in the transmitting building to deal with works requiring completion. Before Christmastime he also left. The Christmas season, as always, brought a lot of extra work with special programs, several stressful and unproductive meetings with Endel, a Christmas party around the dinner table with employees and volunteers, and there it came, the year 2001. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs made the Tartu Family Radio a Christmas present by assigning the 88,2 MHz frequency to our new relay station in Ahtme, northeast Estonia.

New Possibilities

The first innovation of 2001 was the first live broadcast over the internet of a service from St. Paul's Lutheran Church. This innovative idea was authored by Priit Humal, an information technologist and the chairman of the board of Tartu St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Previously, he had organized the establishment of a small studio at St. Paul's Church. At first, the possibility of broadcasting sound with CD-quality over the internet in real time seemed unlikely to me. However, when the bells of St. Paul's Church started to chime on the Family Radio wavelength, all doubts were dispelled. The new opportunity soon started to attract the interest of other churches. Thus, Calvary and Salem, two Baptist churches in Tartu, started to consider the possibilities of acquiring recording and transmitting equipment at their sanctuaries. The need for using radio as an evangelistic tool was further confirmed by the fact that several people had come to Christ by just listening to the Family Radio broadcasts. This thing gave me new strength and faith, and I seemed to behold light at the end of the tunnel again. After several rounds of negotiations and letter exchanges with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Board of Communications, these institutions were ready to change the former frequency on the medium-wave broadcasting license to 1035 kHz using a simplified procedure. This gave both our American friends and us a new chance to bring the AM project to completion. It was a great reassurance of faith for us all, even though it involved great financial expenses and one more summer of building to adjust the mast to the new frequency. There were also changes at the board of the Family Radio, with Joel Luhamets being elected new president of the Tartu Family Radio Corporation at the meeting of February 15, 2001.
In spring Mare and I had a wonderful opportunity to visit the United States and see several friends. The beautiful home of Dr. Carlson near Modesto became a rallying point for "Estophiles", or people who had been to Estonia, mostly more than once. There, plans for the coming summer were discussed, with the focus on the great challenge – the launch of a Russian-language service at the Tartu Family Radio by the coming fall. There, we also heard of a great sign – the decision of Billy Graham's mission organization to donate a 50 kW transmitter. The doubts of the previous fall were gone and the desire to bring the uncompleted things to completion was great. During our visit, we visited several churches in California, where we were given the opportunity to speak about both the competed and the uncompleted works.
While we were away, a festive meeting was held at Tartu Salem Baptist Church to celebrate the end of the first season of the program "Speak with me". The meeting was attended by 400 people, who had come to meet the employees of the Family Radio. The new and spacious church building was so packed with people that there was no room for standing, let alone sitting. The attendees later shared that they experienced a virtually tangible presence of God's Holy Spirit, in which the interdenominational differences were bedimmed, giving way to undivided thanksgiving to our Lord. Thanks to Him that the Family Radio has become such a unifying force between people.

Summer of Building Again

The arrival of the Hulses announced the beginning of a new summer of building. This time, problems arose in connection with the container holding Jim's workshop, since foodstuffs, which previously had been taken along each year, had all of a sudden acquired the status of "contraband" in light of the new laws. A whole week had to be spent on customs procedures, with intermittent success, meaning that some times we were told we could get the container and the other times that we could not on any condition. Several times the customs officials were little short of sending the container back and consequently ruining the entire building process. In this situation, we could yet again experience His leading. There followed a series of seemingly accidental coincidences, and the outwardly hopeless situation was rescued. Customs snags, however, persisted throughout the summer. In retrospect, it is difficult to understand whether they were coincidental or attributable to a build-up of international tension even before the tragic events in September.
Immediately after the container arrived, preparations were started to erect the signal-directing mast. Again, the excavator dug anchor holes, which devoured tons of concrete to provide support for the signal-directing mast, or, actually, the dismantled top of the main mast. It was a pitiful sight to observe from a couple of miles' distance how the mast, which stood high above the treetops, started to lose height. A journalist began an interview with me with the following question: "Last year we could see the mast from here; where is it now?" All this seemingly senseless work, however, was necessary for the maximal amplification of the useful signal on the new frequency. The first team of volunteers from California was primarily engaged in adjusting the mast to the new frequency. However, the Lord's vineyard is large and provides abundant work for everyone to join in; thus our American friends did outreach among the local population in their spare time. The afternoon of August 4 was gray and rainy, yet there was full action going on in Kavastu Park. Boundaries were marked off, chairs were lined up, popcorn and potato machines were wheeled up, a stage was erected and a movie screen was put up. A FAMILY DAY was in the making. In spite of rain, a large crowd of people gathered. Part of them came from the surrounding villages. One man had walked almost 10 miles for fear of losing the beginning of the movie. The rain stopped shortly. Warm snacks, funny children's games and worship group songs kept the spirits up. The film JESUS gave food for thought for many whose previous contacts with Christianity had been scarce. After the film, an opportunity was given for intercession. In addition, people were invited to the Bible study group to be launched later that same week. The blessing presence of God's Spirit was clearly felt that evening, as well as at all the other times when our friends reached out to the community. Be it scores of children surrounding Connie Hulse or the to date active and ever growing Bible study group, you could always feel a special atmosphere as proof of the goodwill of our far-away friends.

You are Listening to the Russian Service of the Family Radio

End of August saw the arrival of a second team of builders. This time there were specialists in transmitters and radio reception on the team, because the transmitter was to be installed and the entire transmitting center was to be tuned up. For an outsider, it was an unbelievable sight to observe how the transmitter weighing many tons was unloaded from the container and wheeled to the transmitting building. A few more days followed, and Hilmer Swanson, an expert in Harris transmitters, pulled the switch. The resultant hum of ventilators and the warm air soon to fill the room betrayed that the first radio waves had flown into the distance. Tom King, the designer of the mast's coupling system, went all around Estonia taking measurements of the availability and intensity of the signal in different places. Some more tuning, and the broadcasts may start … but, alas, the transmitter itself cannot produce broadcasts. At just the right time, the studio engineer Greg Jardine came in at short notice, "that Canadian", as his American friends had nicknamed him. Previously, I had been able to place an order for the studio equipment with the help of Marvin Steelman, an engineer on the first team. However, due to lack of time the equipment was nothing more than a pile of colorful carton boxes, the contents of which were yet to be assembled. It was very interesting to see each morning how this tangle of boxes and cables had increasingly assumed the likeness of a broadcasting studio. Greg mainly worked at nights, since nighttime facilitated concentration with its peace and quiet and, furthermore, meshed better with his inner clock still struggling to get accustomed to the jetlag. Svetlana and Anton Perevozchikovs, who had been producing Russian-language programs for the Family Radio for several years already, now faced a new and highly responsible field of work. Instead of one hour of broadcasting per week they were now responsible for 24 hours per day, instead of the small audience of Russian-speaking people in Estonia they were now to address half of the huge population of Russia, and instead of being volunteer contributors they were now made full-time producers. On October 3, 2001, all the participants in the project who happened to be in Estonia at that time, as well as all the interested parties, gathered to the new AM studio to witness the airing of the first program. At 12 hours, the call sign of the Russian service was heard: "You are listening to the Family Radio on 1035 kilohertz." The two-year work had borne fruit; the new station had been born.
A few older American brothers found enough time to share their spiritual experience as well. Senior Pastor Dennis Kizzar held lectures on ecumenical work to pastors of Tartu and its environs who had convened to the Family Radio's study for a fellowship day on September 5. The fellowship day yielded quite a few fresh ideas on how to be united in working for God's Kingdom. The pastors expressed a desire that a seminar on the same topic be held the next year, too, to provide them with more practical experience.
However, in the midst of all these good and beautiful things we were reminded once again that this world is still strongly under the influence of the enemy. The September 11 tragedy in New York was a shock to the whole of mankind. In one moment, the ideal of a secure society created by human civilization was in tatters. Everyone was gripped by anxiety. The TV-set on the dairy's hotel section brought to us the CNN clips of terrible destruction in the heart of the big city. More often than before time was taken for prayer, and a candle tied with a black ribbon, which was brought to us by a local farmer, was kept burning in the transmitting building for several days. Yet even the horror scenes on the TV-screen were unable to shake our American friends' faith and fighting spirit. Even clearer became the aim of all Christians – to proclaim the risen Christ however great the Satan's rage.

Family Radio from 1,200 Miles away

After the departure of our American friends we started intensive preparations for the automation of studio work and the transfer to full-sized broadcasting. Sveta and Anton started a search for voluntary contributors and prepared the broadcasting program and serials while I designed the station's call signs and program identifiers and wrote command strings for the automated equipment. All this work may go unnoticed for an outsider yet it can be likened to the construction of a building, where everything needs to be done, from foundation to roof. Beginning from November 12, 2001, the Russian broadcasts of the Family Radio were on the air for 12 hours a day; since December 16, 2001, they were broadcast 24 hours a day. The entire process was not void of some smaller snags and technical problems; however, leaning on the blessing arm of our Heavenly Father and the 7-year FM experience, we have now reached so far as to say that everything was completed at an incredible speed. Before long, we started to receive responses from listeners. To date, the reception range seems unbelievable. The farthest letter arrived from the large Russian city of Tambov, which is situated approximately 600 miles east of Moscow and 1,200 miles from Tartu. The Tambovite thanks us for the broadcasts and notifies that she listens to us with an ordinary radio set. Occasionally, the broadcasts are interfered by the background noise, but otherwise they are audible. For me, it is a genuine miracle of God, and there's a hope in my heart that some day this listener will be able to listen to the broadcasts without any background noise. This will happen after our transmitter capacity will have been raised from 50 kW to 100 kW, as is also provided for in our broadcasting license. However, this is a matter of the future, and, as always, up to our Lord to accomplish.
It is Christmas again. This is the best time for summing up the past and thinking about the future. Yet the best thing we can do is to be still and raise our eyes from our daily chores to Jesus, the Son of God, who came to this earth to give us all an opportunity to have eternal life one day. This is exactly the message the Tartu Family Radio is sending out to its listeners, now already in two languages. Please remain with us and do not grow weary of making intercessions for this branch of evangelism, for this is the support we need again and again, in both our joys and sorrows.
I wish you, my dear friends, a blessed Christmas and a more peaceful new year 2002!

Paavo Pihlak, executive director

Annual of Tartu Family Radio     2000/2001         2002