First Week in Tilza
Arrived in Tilza on Saturday, January 12th at a little after 4:00p.m. – while it was still light. Kaspars, the Tilza Baptist pastor who came to get me, said we would not be stopping at my place (which we drove right past), because Liene, his wife, was fixing dinner for all of us - Kaspars, Liene, their two boys Davids and Daniels, Aija Fedodova (one of my roommates), Calle from Sweden, David Kingdon, from Scotland (both of whom do a lot of work around here), and me. Had a typical meal of potatoes with gravy, meat balls, sausages, and salad with drinks – juice and tea.
Dan and Katie Roth are in England for a bit of a holiday – until Tuesday.
At about 6:00 Kaspars and David went to fetch a bed for me while Aija got some linens. We then came here to the house where Aija and my othter roommate, Liga Avotina have been living. I had already heard the story that there was a fire here in the kitchen due to a poster coming off the wall and hitting a candle. But things have been painted since then and it’s not obvious. Aija and Liga are now sharing a room and I have the other bedroom. There is one chest of drawers (white) and several white shelves. A very sheer curtain is over the window – but it does need a real one. There is no closet, lamp or desk as yet. So there are a few things we need to get tomorrow or in the near future.
Probably the most troublesome thing is that there is a cat living here. “Simba” is her name and she is young and quite frisky. But I don’t like cats in the house – getting on and into everything. Not sure how we will work this out. Can keep my door shut so she can’t come in but that also means that it will get cold in here at night.
Day 2
Fell out of bed some time in the night. It seems that this is a rather narrow bed and when I turned over I found myself on the floor. This morning I moved the bed against the wall to keep it from happening again! Woke up early and made a cup of tea but went back to bed as there was nothing really to do (it’s dark until about 8:00). Listened to my music all night – 9 hours worth. Not sure why I did that but it was rather comforting, somehow. Spent some time reading the Word. At about 9:00 Aija fixed breakfast – scrambled eggs with some kind of sausage and onions. I added a little cheese which I brought from Riga. At about 9:25 we headed for church. Church was at 10:00. David led us in singing – I knew the songs’ melodies but few of the Latvian words. What surprised me was that I did sense the Spirit touch my spirit. We used Psalm 40 to pray through and pray about. Kaspars led us in a devotional on Acts the first part of chapter 9 – through verse 21.
It began to snow while we were eating lunch. Aija started soup for dinner. I finished cutting potatoes and carrots and cleaned up and put a little more wood on the fire, while Aija headed to church for Sunday School which starts at 2:00. About 2:15 I headed over and was wondering if anyone would be there because it was still snowing and rather a cold walk. I was soaked by the time I got there. Liene has the younger class which had about 20 kids and I spent my time with them. These kids are all from the boarding school and it’s quite easy to see that they love to have the attention of anyone who smiles at them. It’s obvious that Liene really loves the teaching and helping these kids. Aija and David have the older class and there were about 7 or so in that group.
At 3:30 I went to Kaspars’ place to send an email to the church since at our place we won’t have any internet access for awhile. Talked with Kaspars for a bit. He was looking after the kids while Liene was doing Sunday School. I walked home about 4:30 and it was getting dark. The walk didn’t even seem as hard this time but it wasn’t raining or snowing.
Got home in time to put more wood on the fire – I will have to learn how to go get it. It’s out in a shed in the back. Aija started cooking the soup when she got home (and she brought me some blankets and a curtain which I put up with thumb tacks that I happened to find in my room) and I went to invite Maija and Jolanta for supper. I set the table and made sure we had a few things needed for guests. But I learned that we don’t have any napkins because they got burned in the fire. Aija didn’t particularly seem to think that we needed them. Our guests came over about 6:15 and we had a nice time conversing. After dinner we played cards. I lost every time. Really not quite sure how to play even yet.
Day 3 (Monday) January 15, 2007
We went to Rezekne, a small city about an hours’ drive from here. Liene needed to go there to take some tests for school, David had to pick up some equipment being repaired, I needed to go to the bank and Aija needed to do some shopping. We picked up Liga, my other roommate there. She came by train from Riga.
When we got home Liga immediately started cleaning up and cooking something for dinner. It really felt good to have her here and made things very pleasant. I went to the shop here to get an extension chord with three plug spots and a lamp. Didn’t have enough money (as I had only planned to buy the chord) so walked back home and went again. It still isn’t what I would call easy walking but certainly better than a week ago. We had dinner and a “house meeting”. We talked about cooking, cleaning, food buying, schedules, spiritual encouragement for one another, etc. I also mentioned that I would like to ask them lots of questions about Tilza, being Latvian, etc.- for them to be my Cultural Insiders.
They told me their schedules but I doubt if I have it all down. They are busy with ministry a lot already. Most of the day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays are taken up with planning for, preparing and carrying out the Youth Program. Both girls teach other classes and help with Dan & Katie’s family or ministry needs. The women will all get together to pray on Thursday evenings at 6:00. Saturday is typically free I think and Sunday is church, Sunday School and sometimes going to the Balvi worship service.
Things I learned today:
* Time is a different entity here. It doesn’t exactly have the same meaning to me when I have no real control over my schedule, can’t drive myself anywhere, etc.
* Vehicles are so important but not in the way they are at home. You need one that can take a lot of abuse (holes in road, dirt, ice, rocks hitting the windshield), and can keep going even if it isn’t in perfect condition.
* Weather doesn’t stop people from doing things. You go anyway, people walking along the road, etc.
* That one always needs to plan for not having a WC (toilet) very handy.
* Take my flashlight at all times.
* Always save bags, ties, and other such things because you never know when you might need them
Day 4 (January 16, 2007) Tuesday
Woke up at 4:00 and restarted the fire. Went back to bed and slept till about 7:30. Aija fixed “porrage” called Mana for breakfast. It was good and I’m sure I’ll fix it for myself sometimes, too.
Liga told me yesterday that she is 25 and Aija is 20. I can really see maturity in Liga and I am really enjoying them both. Aija has quite a reputation for being a very good cook. We have prayed together before meals and in the evenings which has been good – even if I don’t know what they are saying.
We met up with Kaspars and David for the Youth Program Planning meeting which went until a little after 12:00. We started with a bit of a devotional from Micah, what does the Lord require of us – to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Thy God. Good discussion.
Had some pretty good interaction around the subject for tomorrow’s Youth group. Think it should be good. Spent the next couple of hours at Dan and Katie’s trying to get my email to work or at least get on the squirrel mail and couldn’t. Maybe they can help me tomorrow when they come home.
When I got home Liga was working on a part of the activities for tomorrow night.
I got some more wood then fixed (heated up) dinner – which was leftovers. Afterwards we talked about them being language helpers for me. Not sure either of them has a chunk of time to really do it justice but I may do a shorter version of the LAMP stuff. Read the first chapter and the activities for Day 1 and got some thoughts on cards tonight. Will see what they can help me with tomorrow. They say they don’t want to be paid. Maybe we can come up with a creative plan.
Washed a load of clothes tonight. They had warned me of putting colors with whites but I did it anyway thinking that none of my stuff would fade and, of course, the white things came out pink. Now things are hanging everywhere to dry. Guess we don’t need a dryer:).
Day 5 – Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Worked a bit on what I really want to learn for my first sentences then Liga wrote out the first ones. I also got lots of words for things in the kitchen and plan to put the names on each thing with a 3x5 card.
Liga and I left about 10:30 to go over to Dan & Katie’s. Was able to catch up a little then Aija, Liga and I went to the school to invite kids for Youth Group in the evening. We put up a poster and we also talked to a few kids. I saw Natalie, Madara, Ginta, Ieva, and Laine (youngest of Lolita’s girls).
Had lunch with the Roth household – which today consisted of their 5, Aija, Calle and me. I tried again to get to my email on the web and couldn’t – can’t seem to get Calvin’s webpage either. About 3:00 went over to the Yellow House to help get it ready for the evening. The first kids started coming about 3:30 – mostly boys for the first hour. The meeting actually starts at 5:00. By 4:30 about 15 kids were there. During the meeting (5:00-6:30) we probably had close to 30 – though some came and went. I tried to take pictures of everyone and will try to get names to go with all of them.
The meeting went well with lots of fun activities to catch their attention and to illustrate the subject (importance of the Bible). Aija, Liga, and Dave each led some of these things. Kaspars did a good job of teaching the lesson. As Aija said, it was a bit hard to teach or lead activities with so many but I would say having a lot of kids added some excitement. Tea and cookies were available on each table grouping as we started. Dan translated for Dave and me. There was free time from 6:30 until about 7:15 when we had dinner for anyone who was there and which Aija, Liga, and some of the girls helped fix. Some participated in table games after dinner which was fun to watch. They mostly played cards. Others then played games in the game room.
posted by OregonEdwards @ 8:55 AM
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