• Estonia
    2011 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • KINGDOM HALLS URGENTLY NEEDED!

      The first meeting place to be constructed was in Räpina, in southern Estonia, and it served the brothers well for many years. But it was clear that local building efforts would not be able to keep pace with the rapid growth in the number of publishers. The Engineering Office in the Finland branch came to the rescue and started to design Kingdom Halls and office facilities for the Baltic countries. What a delight it was, in 1993, to see the first Kingdom Hall go up in Maardu, to be followed rapidly by many others.

      Presently, in Estonia, there are 33 Kingdom Halls for the 53 congregations. The brothers are happy that they also have two Assembly Halls, one in Tallinn and the other in Tartu, both of which were completed in 1998.

      Longtime Witness, Alexandra Olesyuk, recalls: “We had dreamed of building a Kingdom Hall in Tartu. So when we were asked to go and clear the land where the Kingdom Hall was to be built, I was the first one there to help, although I was 79! I cleaned and carried things. Every time I rode by the Kingdom Hall site on the bus, I cried for joy. And I cried when the hall was completed too.”