Saturday, June 28, 2008

Estonia

Lorrie and I just spent two days in Tallinn, Estonia (a four and a half hour bus ride from Riga). Had fun looking around another ancient city that has become quite mixed with the modern. We stayed in a wonderful hotel very near the "old town" section. We enjoyed the city tours (3 of them for one hour each) and slowly walking along the various streets. The Lord blessed us with fantastic weather and many wonderful "coincidences" for which we were extremely thankful.
When I get back to Tilza I will add a few pictures here.


I'm back in Tilza now but here are a couple of pictures from Estonia -- as promised.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

My sister is here!!




After spending a little over a week in Germany with our German "sister", Ilona, my sister, Lorrie came with me to Latvia and we are having a great time.


Pictured here is Lorrie in our kitchen. I usually cook for us and she is a great dish washer.







Every day we ride our bikes around Tilza so that she can get a good idea of where I live and we have been praying for all the people here.









This second picture is on a path leading from a main road over to the church. This path also goes by the boarding school (picture three).












We have completed a major project while Lorrie is here: cleaning up several rooms at the church which has Sunday School materials, books and other materials for adults (in Latvian, Russian, English, Swedish, and German), and clothes which can be given away to people in need.





Everything is now cleaned, sorted, and in quite usable order. Lorrie is a wonderful worker and has great ideas about how to organize.



The fourth picture here (of me) is from today as we fnished putting the last things away in the church. We often use the church for Sunday School as well as for worship services.



This has been such a great and encouraging time for me. Lorrie has blessed me so much. She loves to learn about and meet people. She is interested in lots of things, will try new things-like food, and has learned some Latvian - including a children's song to take back home for her grandkids. I know she misses her family back at home so much (husband, kids, and grandkids), I aprreciate her willingness to spend this time with me.

We can and do pray about everything - how I love my sister!! We will go to Riga tomorrow and then on a quick visit to Estonia before she heads home.