21 July 2025, 8:00 a.m. MDT
Estonian folk music swelled around Lance McGavin as he watched the sun break through the rain clouds and shine down on some 110,000 people gathered in Tallinn, Estonia, for the Estonian Song Festival.
Near tears, McGavin proudly joined 31,000 other performers to sing in Estonian — the language he learned on his mission 16 years ago.
His mission left an indelible mark on him, and he had finally achieved his longtime goal of performing in the Estonian Song Festival — but not without divine help, he said.
Lance McGavin snaps a photo while onstage during the Estonian Song Festival at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn, Estonia, July 6, 2025. | Provided by Lance McGavin Embracing the culture
While serving a mission in Estonia from 2009 to 2011, McGavin developed a deep love for Estonian culture. He even met the president of Estonia while there.
“Even though I have no Estonian heritage, I felt like I had kind of adopted this Estonian heritage as my own,” he said.
It was in preparation for his mission that he learned about the Estonian Song Festival, a four-day festival of traditional song and dance celebrating Estonian identity.
“This whole song festival thing is really their way of exhibiting their freedom,” McGavin said, explaining that the small nation had been under the control of many different countries throughout history.
Lance McGavin, second from the right, with his parents, Myra and Scott McGavin; wife, Hailey McGavin; and kids Jett and Avery McGavin pause for a photo with folk dancers during the Estonian Dance Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, July 4, 2025. | Provided by Lance McGavin Because the song festival happens every five years, McGavin wasn’t able to witness it during his mission. He returned to Estonia in 2014 to see the festival in person.
McGavin had a deep desire to participate in the festival himself and knew people from other countries were occasionally invited to participate in the song festival, but he wasn’t sure how to make that happen.
No coincidences
Fast-forward to 2024: McGavin met a group of Estonians in New York who happened to be practicing for the 2025 festival. They invited him to join their choir and travel to Estonia to perform with them.
“It was like a dream come true,” he said. “My wife and I decided that we would make it work, whatever it took, so that I could have this amazing experience.”
Former missionary Lance McGavin, back center, poses with the New York Estonian Mixed Choir at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn, Estonia, July 5, 2025. | Provided by Lance McGavin The choir was based in New York, but McGavin was living in Florida, so he made arrangements to practice the songs remotely.
McGavin said meeting the Estonian choir in New York was a tender mercy.
“God knows us. He knows our desires,” he said. “I don’t think any of it was a coincidence.”
A full-circle moment
Earlier this month, the time came for McGavin to travel to Estonia with his wife, his parents and two of his children.
The song festival kicked off on July 5 with an eight-hour parade of all the performers marching through the streets of Estonia. McGavin described it as a “full-circle moment.”
Lance McGavin waves while walking in the Estonian Song Festival parade with other choir members from the New York Estonian Mixed Choir in Tallinn, Estonia, July 5, 2025. | Provided by Lance McGavin “It seems like I was just there as the missionary, contacting and getting to know people and barely knew the language,” he said. “And now here I am marching towards the song festival grounds.”
Over the next two days, singers from various choirs performed Estonian folk music from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m.
When McGavin’s choir took the stage on July 6 at 7 p.m., the night was nowhere near finished.
McGavin said the audience chanted for an encore after every song, resulting in his choir singing all 12 of their songs twice. He said they were onstage until about 10:30.
Nearly 110,000 people gather at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds to participate in the Estonian Song Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, July 6, 2025. | Provided by Lance McGavin Sowing and harvesting
For McGavin, this trip wasn’t just about a song festival.
“In these types of experiences, I’ve sought to glorify God in a sense,” he said.
When natives asked McGavin how he knows the Estonian language — which he’s kept up on since his mission — he took the opportunity to tell them about his mission experience.
“I do think I did have an effect on people in that way,” he said. “Just, you know, planting little seeds.”
Lance McGavin smiles with Estonian conductor Hirvo Surva following the Estonian Song Festival at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in Tallinn, Estonia, July 6, 2025. | Provided by Lance McGavin Besides planting new seeds, McGavin also had the opportunity to see the fruits of his mission labors during this trip.
“When I was a missionary, there were a lot of seeds that were planted that at the time I was like, ‘What did I really accomplish on a mission?’” he said. “But coming back 16 years later, I’m seeing how some of these seeds have bloomed and the ripple effect they had.”
McGavin specifically mentioned learning that a woman he taught ended up being baptized and inviting a friend to church. That friend was baptized and eventually married the branch president.
“It was a really big testimony boost for me too,” he said. “Just to see how the Lord works in mysterious ways.”
Former missionary Lance McGavin and his family visit the Pärnu Branch in Pärnu, Estonia, June 29, 2025. | Provided by Lance McGavin A lifelong mission
McGavin feels confident that his connection to Estonia doesn’t end here, because of the effort he’s made to stay in touch with people from his mission. He encouraged others to do the same.
“You can still continue to, in a way, serve your mission the rest of your life,” he said, “and still touch people’s lives.”