A Brief Holiday

Every Fall in October the schools take a week-long break, so, after 3 weeks, we are also taking a break from normal ministry activities. I really need it for catching up with my Latvian homework and practicing what I've learned.

Right now I'm in Riga where I got a hair cut and permanent!! Though the process was quite different from the way "Patty" in Corvallis does it, I was very pleased that it looks just the same. Now I can go another 3 months without having to think about what to do with my hair every day. This picture was taken in the Parters Office in Riga. That very same day I lost my camera. Don't know if it was stolen or just fell out of my jacket pocket but within two block of the office it was gone! I did loose some very nice pictures. Vineta took this one for me.

The main activity here at the Bridge Builders/Parters Office is preparation for the upcoming Latvian National Prayer Breakfast on November 9. Last year's event was very meaningful - so please pray that this one, also, will be used for God's purposes and encourage leaders of the nation to pray. I will not be attending this event but it is very strategic because Christian groups in Latvia are working together to make it happen. Pray with me that the Lord will be honored and hearts will be moved to seek Him.

Youth Meetings Begin

Before and after our Bible Study lesson each week the kids like to play and "hang out".

Pray that the students will have a clear understanding of the gospel.

Uno and Monopoly are some of the favortie games.

Katie sometimes uses these times for getting the students to record dialogues for our Latvian classes.

Latvian Classes

Last week we started our intensive Latvian course for native English speakers. Katie Roth is making it well worth our time by being very creative in her methods (using all the senses!!) and having us work hard. We have class from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. three days a week. Then in the afternoons we have assignments at the local school or around town.

Shown here are two of the seven students learning with me. About half of us live in Tilza and the others are coming from as far away as Riga (about 250 kilometers).

This "map" shows some types of buildings, offices, etc. in a typical town from which we learned vocabulary and some of the "locative" endings!!

The pictures of Katie's family in a family tree format helped us learn about relationships and prepared us to talk with people (mostly Katie's 6th grade English class) about their families, where they live and what they do.

Sunday School

We started Sunday School last week. Today I took pictures of each of the kids individually and then they wanted to each take a picture of us - then it turned into "everybody get in the picture!"

What do you think? Should I take them all home with me? !!!

They are so much fun! Liga and I have the 6-9 year olds. They come at 2:00 and stay til about 3:30 in the afternoon. We will study about the life of Jesus during this Fall season.