\u201cWell, nothing,\u201d I say, and I see that larger than life smile for the second time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you want to come to have a sandwich?\u201d he laughs, all teeth, no reservation. Before I have a chance to answer he\u2019s off and I\u2019m following him through the hallways of a building I\u2019ve never been in, going through doors that I\u2019m pretty sure I’m not meant to go through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flavio is in the live band. He doesn\u2019t have to tell me that, I saw it during service. What he tells me, while I eat my promised sandwich, is that he\u2019s from Brazil. What he tells me is how he ended up in Estonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the coming few days I ask Flavio to repeat this story to a number of people we meet because I like it so much. And I\u2019m not talking to thin air, I mean, I\u2019m not crazy. Flavio is there. And we\u2019re there with him because he invited us. After the sandwiches and a great conversation, Flavio asks us to come with some friend to eat at Chi, the restaurant two doors over from church. That\u2019s where he invites us to stay at his house. We can stay on the floor of the living room with our own air mattresses, or we can sleep in his flatmate\u2019s bed if we\u2019re lucky and he\u2019s away. We\u2019re lucky. So we spent the next couple of days in Flavio\u2019s wonderful presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Flavio](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5bd1746fb8f6b247fd4d1aec\/5c1a29c9d771243aed62efd4_EllisPhotography_flavio-2.jpg\")
The story I ask him to repeat is this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Living in Brazil, Flavio one day got this feeling\u2014he calls it God’s direction, you can call it a hunch if you want\u2014that it wasn\u2019t for him anymore. That this was not where the road was taking him. Instead, the road was taking him to Estonia. A country he\u2019d never heard of or had never been to in his life. But he could get a job there, so he went. Two months later, no more job. Flavio didn\u2019t know why and it didn\u2019t much matter. All he knew was that he needed to find something. Then it found him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see, Flavio can sing, and he has that smile we talked about. Put those two together and you\u2019ve got one heck of a showman. So that\u2019s what he ended up doing, singing in a band, in a bar in Tallinn. And he was good at it. That\u2019s not only what he thought of himself, but it was what the crowd showed him. They loved him, and they loved<\/em> that smile. So time after time, Flavio performs and every time the crowd goes wild and of course, the ladies notice. They notice that kind of a thing. They notice that smile. So they throw themselves at him, in all senses but the literal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the end, it just got too hard to say no.\u201d He says. So Flavio quit. He couldn\u2019t handle the temptation and left the job before the temptation got the better of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So now Flavio\u2019s a customer service agent at a cryptocurrency casino. And he loves it. Not because it\u2019s the greatest job on earth, or because he\u2019s all too pleased to work in a casino, but because it means Flavio can learn how to serve. That\u2019s what he wants. It\u2019s his next goal in life, to be able to serve the need of others. Not putting his own needs front and center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this is the guy we got to spend time with. Not only did we laugh with him (and we did that a lot), but we learned from him. From this guy, bigger than two Estonians put together not in size, but in his outlook on life. Being around him just makes you happy. And though your smile will never be as big as Flavio\u2019s, being near his energy sure as anything makes you try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We Flavio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d\u200d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I stand waiting near the bathroom. It\u2019s not the bathroom I\u2019m waiting for, I don\u2019t even think they\u2019re occupied. I\u2019m waiting for Nick. Standing near the bathroom doesn\u2019t make it look like I\u2019m waiting for Nick. If people knew, they might force me to talk with him, and honestly\u2026I wouldn\u2019t know what to say. \u201cWhat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"\n I stand waiting near the bathroom. It\u2019s not the bathroom I\u2019m waiting for, I don\u2019t even think they\u2019re occupied. I\u2019m waiting for Nick. Standing near the bathroom doesn\u2019t make it look like I\u2019m waiting for Nick. If people knew, they might force me to talk with him, and honestly\u2026I wouldn\u2019t know what to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d His voice breaks the stream of thoughts in my head without pardon. Every well-crafted response I\u2019ve made up in case someone comes up and starts to talk to me or, God forbid, Nick comes this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m, eh, I\u2019m waiting.\u201d I stammer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, what are you doing right now<\/em>,\u201d he asks. His name is Flavio. I met him before the service and said I thought his name was amazing. That was the first time I saw his smile. The smile that could heal a broken heart, or at least let you forget about it for a second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, nothing,\u201d I say, and I see that larger than life smile for the second time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you want to come to have a sandwich?\u201d he laughs, all teeth, no reservation. Before I have a chance to answer he\u2019s off and I\u2019m following him through the hallways of a building I\u2019ve never been in, going through doors that I\u2019m pretty sure I'm not meant to go through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flavio is in the live band. He doesn\u2019t have to tell me that, I saw it during service. What he tells me, while I eat my promised sandwich, is that he\u2019s from Brazil. What he tells me is how he ended up in Estonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the coming few days I ask Flavio to repeat this story to a number of people we meet because I like it so much. And I\u2019m not talking to thin air, I mean, I\u2019m not crazy. Flavio is there. And we\u2019re there with him because he invited us. After the sandwiches and a great conversation, Flavio asks us to come with some friend to eat at Chi, the restaurant two doors over from church. That\u2019s where he invites us to stay at his house. We can stay on the floor of the living room with our own air mattresses, or we can sleep in his flatmate\u2019s bed if we\u2019re lucky and he\u2019s away. We\u2019re lucky. So we spent the next couple of days in Flavio\u2019s wonderful presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story I ask him to repeat is this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Living in Brazil, Flavio one day got this feeling\u2014he calls it God's direction, you can call it a hunch if you want\u2014that it wasn\u2019t for him anymore. That this was not where the road was taking him. Instead, the road was taking him to Estonia. A country he\u2019d never heard of or had never been to in his life. But he could get a job there, so he went. Two months later, no more job. Flavio didn\u2019t know why and it didn\u2019t much matter. All he knew was that he needed to find something. Then it found him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You see, Flavio can sing, and he has that smile we talked about. Put those two together and you\u2019ve got one heck of a showman. So that\u2019s what he ended up doing, singing in a band, in a bar in Tallinn. And he was good at it. That\u2019s not only what he thought of himself, but it was what the crowd showed him. They loved him, and they loved<\/em> that smile. So time after time, Flavio performs and every time the crowd goes wild and of course, the ladies notice. They notice that kind of a thing. They notice that smile. So they throw themselves at him, in all senses but the literal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the end, it just got too hard to say no.\u201d He says. So Flavio quit. He couldn\u2019t handle the temptation and left the job before the temptation got the better of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So now Flavio\u2019s a customer service agent at a cryptocurrency casino. And he loves it. Not because it\u2019s the greatest job on earth, or because he\u2019s all too pleased to work in a casino, but because it means Flavio can learn how to serve. That\u2019s what he wants. It\u2019s his next goal in life, to be able to serve the need of others. Not putting his own needs front and center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this is the guy we got to spend time with. Not only did we laugh with him (and we did that a lot), but we learned from him. From this guy, bigger than two Estonians put together not in size, but in his outlook on life. Being around him just makes you happy. And though your smile will never be as big as Flavio\u2019s, being near his energy sure as anything makes you try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We Flavio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200d\u200d<\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"countries":[8],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category-journal","countries-estonia"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Flavio](\"https:\/\/uploads-ssl.webflow.com\/5bd1746fb8f6b247fd4d1aec\/5c18b5e9caac5f4018ead014_EllisPhotography_flavio-16.jpg\")