Paula In Latvia

Quite Surprising

2011-06-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

When I first came here I brought with me my favorite sprinkler, having no idea if I would ever be able to use it. If I remember correctly it's called a "noodlehead". (See picture to the left) Since setting up our household here in Tilza I have tried to find a way to connect the sprinkler with the hose which comes with no attachments of any sort on either end. Just coulnd't seem to figure it out.

Well today, with sprinker in hand, I went to a small shop here (that seems to have bit of everything) and tried to explain what I wanted. Fortunately there were several men around who just kept trying to fgure it out. So with the help of a younger girl (the owner's daughter, I think) who spoke English and many ideas that were tried, they (now there were 4 men, the shop assistant and the young girl) came up with something that looked like it was going to work so I bought the various parts and pieces giving many expressions of thanks. The owner then decided that he needed to come to my house to see if it was going to work!!! I was quite shocked at his most generous help.

AND IT DOES WORK!

2011-05-25T03:26:00.000-07:00

Most of our older kids from the boarding school who come on Saturdays really liked the "Dance Praise" experience. Some were quite good at it but I didn't really get "into" it.

Sunday morning worship... it's always a surprise to see who is there. We always enjoy having little Angelina, and this Sunday her Aunt Ina was also there.

One day we made bird houses from sticks and a few nails. The results were varied but most enjoyed trying it.

Last days of snow!! We planned some outside activities but we still had some snow to contend with so we adusted our plans. In this picture we made emergency snow shoes and tried them out!! It was kind of crazy but lots of fun. We had also planned to show the kids how you can tell time by the shadow from a stick. Unfortunately the clouds were hiding the sun!

2011-05-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things we have been able to do as a discipleship group is go bowling. The three young girls had never been before and we had a great time. This is Kristine. Alise and Rebeka are in the background. By the end of this month we will have been meeting and studying together for 4 months. We talk about having eXtreme faith and being on a quest for a closer relationship with Jesus. Next week we hope to go swimming a a very new pool in Balvi.

Discipleship

2011-03-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

Pictured below are the three young girls who have started meeting with me (and Līga translating) to learn more from the Word of God about living the way God wants. These girls are so much fun and we are hoping to go on an excursion in a few weeks to help build our relationships. Please pray that they (Rebeka, Alise, and Kristine) will become young women who love Jesus and commit to following Him.

This month it was my turn to teach the class on Prayer for our ladies groups in Tilža and Balvi. As we were talking about what kinds of things for which we can pray, I mentioned that many of you are praying for them as they take this class and build on their knowledge and love for Jesus.

What you can't see in these pictures is Līga who is translating for me.
Without her I couldn't be nearly so involved in the ministry here.

These ladies are from the Balvi class and this last week 16 ladies showed up. What a joy to see their interest.

From Boarding School to Nursing Home

2011-03-01T22:18:00.000-08:00

Our February "one day camp" included a trip to the "pansionats" or nursing home. Our kids used their creative skills to make posters relating to Psalm 139 which were used during our presentation for the approximately 30 residents who came to listen. We had invited some youth from another church to join us and lead the singing. Most of these kids had not been to the pansionats in their city so it was a first for many people. We had explained that it is good to give to others even when we don't have a lot. After our presentation we divided into three groups and went upstairs to visit in the rooms of those who couldn't get out of bed. We gave each of these folks a gift of some muffins which we had made earlier, some fruit and candy. We prayed with those who wanted that and enjoyed talking with others.

Here are two of the boys who went with us. In this picture they are helping in the kitchen with preparations for lunch.

So Much to Tell......

2011-02-02T05:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, this new year has begun with many activities, ministry, discipleship, a missions conference and some very exciting beginnings.

Pastor Marc came to Latvia to teach a week-long class at the Baltic Pastoral Institute in Riga. Then he spent 5 days with us in Tilža. He encouraged and blessed each of us on the team here and was able to observe/participate in all the ministry activities. On Saturday he joined with us as we held our "one-day camp" for the older boarding school kids. We had invited the art teacher from school to come and provide a project that they could all make. The second choice for the day was a "Dance Praise" contest.

He took many pictures!! Just ask him to show you.

Our team has been working through some ideas on discipleship and we are excited to see how God is giving us people to disciple.

The following week we went to Rīga for the Bridge Builders-sponsored "Mission Days" which also had the theme of disciple making.

We have begun to plan for summer camp - again with learning English as our main activity. This year we will have two camps - one for younger kids and one for older. Calvin will be responsible for the English classes at the younger camp. We need at least 4 people to come this year so if anyone is interested, please contact Marc or Carol Andresen (757-8021) at the Calvin office.

Our women's Bible Studies in Tilža and Balvi are going well. Please pray for those of us leading them, that we will know what best to teach at each class and how to encourage the ladies to study every day.

Tilza

Balvi

Happy New Year!

2011-01-11T22:49:00.001-08:00

Just wanted you all to know that I am fine and looking forward to this new year of 2011. I can always tell how much time is passing by my hair. It had been nearly 4 months since my last permanent, so on Monday I took the bus to Balvi and got a new "do" - well, it's not a new style but it sure is nice and curly.

I took the bus because I'm no so sure about driving on the snow and ice. Now days I either have to walk places (which I know is good for me) or get someone from the team to come a pick me up. It's not so convenient but I really don't like being in the ditch!! That already happened again this year. Though I know that walking is good exercise I even have trouble with that when it's so icy. The snow part is OK but we've had a few days of freezing rain, melting and refreezing, etc. so even walking is bit dangerous.

In a few days I will try to "catch up" a bit with the last few months (since my last post) and then let you know of our future hopes and dreams for this year.

Fix-up

2010-09-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

With the help of Aija and Liga and my neighbor, I have been able to paint and re-wallpaper my bedroom. They did all the work and I had the ideas!! Taking off the old paper (three layers!) was quite a project itself. I was able to do that part but it took a long time and then I got into spakling all the cracks. Such fun.

Have ordered a new shade for the window and will figure out some other window treatment that should add some color.

As you probably can see from the pictures, there is a pipe running near the ceiling (at one time it was used for heating) and there is also one near the floor with a radiator under the window. What a job to get this all covered so that it looks nice. They did a great job and I am so happy now. It looks so nice that Liga offered to trade rooms with me.... Then she decided to fix her room, too.

Summer is just about over for us so we haven't much time to finish this project.

A Time to Say Goodbye

2010-09-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Shortly before our vacation Aija learned that she got the job she wanted in Luxembourg as a Nanny. This will give her a chance to make enough money to finish her education.We had good-bye party from the church and other friends. Liga and I took her to the airport. Our other team members, Mo and Wes, met us there and we had our final good-bye. It was hard to see her go but I am so happy that she is getting this experience. We miss her alot. But she will be back in Latvia for a few days in October to take her next class. The whole situation has worked out well for her. The job could last as long as two years.

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Short Holiday

2010-08-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

After camp my roommates and I took a short trip to the Western part of Latvia and spent the night in Kuldiga. None of us had been there and enjoyed getting to see this quaint little city and sights along the way.

The next day we drove to the Sea (Baltic Sea) and played in the water or just looked at the beauty. We stayed at a nice hotel and pampered ourselves a bit.

On the way home we reveled in the scenery and "ooed" and "ahed" and the countryside sights. Summer is a lovely time!!!

Narnia English Camp

2010-08-11T08:17:00.001-07:00

This year's summer camp in Tilza had the theme of Narnia. Everything revolved around the story including the decorations, the English lessons, campfire skits and small group time. The 26 camps (plus 3 day campers) had a lots of fun and were talking about next summer's camp before they even left here. Some kids expressed an interest in knowing Jesus and gave their life to him. It's now time for us to follow up these decisions and find out how they are doing.

Every Day Happenings

2010-06-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

9th class graduation from Tilza school for Liga's brother and four other kids I know.

Tether Ball -Super size!

Another visitor (Jenn, on left) serving in Belarus

Preparing to repair the heating system in the Yellow House

One-day training for camp leaders in Riga

Alise has been helping me learn Latvian for more than a year now.

Maureen (left) and I visiting Tājisia in her apartment.

Izlaidums-Graduation

2010-06-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here is Gatis holding his certificate of graduation from the Boarding School. We are all so glad that he finished. There was no real ceremony because most of the kids had gone home this week when they had planned to have the event. After church yesterday we celebrated with a cake and some words of encouragement.
Gatis went home yesterday (Sunday) to be with family which is always hard for him. He wanted to spend the next three months with us but it just wasn't possible. Please pray that the Lord will protect him from

all form of evil and that we can enourage him over the summer.

Gatis is a special guy to me - he calls me "grandmother" and I enjoy talking with him. He has learned English from just practicing with us.

Time Flies!!

2010-05-31T02:54:00.000-07:00

I always seem to wait too long before updating this blog. Now many things have happened so I will tell about only a few. (Pictures to be added in a day or so)

Prayer Days (April 26-28) - Each year in the Spring Bridge Builders/Partneri sponsors a retreat for Pastors, church leaders, and missionaries. This has been a good time to focus on our relationship with the Lord - and this year was no exception. We have had some good speakers to help direct our thoughts and the music teams help guide our expressions of adoration through songs. Also a favorite for me is making connections with old and new friends!

Visitors
It is not uncommon for us to have many visitor out here in Tilza. Recently we had a couple from Norway who wanted to know more about our ministry. We thoroughly enjoyed our 6 days with them. (Pictured is Hanne Marie bringing us several songs during worship on Sunday.) Then an American couple from Greater Europe Mission came for two days to meet with Wes and Mo Blackmon. This couple is from the Portland area and have the responsibility of what's they called Missionary Care. They meet with each of their missionaries to encourage and help in any way possible. Then we had Mareks and Aija, a Gpysy pastor and his Latvian wife who came out to help present a program for the boarding school kids. They also brought another couple with their young son. (Picture below shows kids after the boarding school event.)

Last Days for Boarding School kids
We had our last good-bye events for the boarding school kids. The older ones went with us on a Saturday to a lake for an afternoon of fun. The younger kids enjoyed some games and special activities after church last Sunday. We will miss these kids over the summer but look forward to being a part of their lives again in the Fall.

Camp
Now we are preparing for an English Camp which will take place in July. Just like last summer we hope to incorporate some of the boarding school kids who can come, along with kids from Tilza and the surrounding areas. A team of college students from California will be with us to teach the English classes using the Narnia story as a basis for the lessons.

I met these two ladies in Balvi. They have just opened a small cafe and when I went to have lunch they were so warm and encouraging. They offered to just give me this pizza!

It's still Winter!!

2010-03-17T03:18:00.000-07:00

One of these days it will be Spring. We continue to have some snow each week. I decided to have this "track" made in our back yard which might help me get some exercise. Today is beautiful with the sun shining brightly and blue skies which could give me a lot of walking time!

Because I had been driving so much, my legs and back were not used to the exercise and even to walk into the center of town was tiring - hence the need for a track. Gatis, a young man of 18 who made this for me, suggests that if I go around 20 times each morning and 20 times each evening that I will get skinny! Well, I doubt that but it should be good for me.

Big Events

2010-02-15T09:53:00.000-08:00

Mission Days
Each year for the last 5 years Bridge Builders/Partners (our office in Riga) has sponsored a conference to encourage people to think and pray about God's heart for the whold world. This year's conference was a huge success. Not only did everything run well and over 300 attended but, most importantly, many were moved to expand their thinking about those who have never heard the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. Some mentioned (on the evaluation) that they had drawn close to the Lord and heard more clearly what He wants for them.
Here are a few faces of those who attended.
We were delighted that so many younger men/women/students participated.

Izlaidumi - Graduations

This past week two of our good friends (Inita, and Liene) finished their studies at universities (one is Riga and one in Rezekne) and received their diplomas at special ceremonies.

I was priviledged to attend both and help them celebrate. Both women went to school and worked, plus took care of family responsibilities. It was a joy to thank the Lord with them for all the work and finances needed to finish.

Winter Activities

2010-01-25T02:56:00.001-08:00

Making Advent wreaths

Enjoying the Snow!!

Bible Studies and discussions

Preparing the music for worship

Another "Catch Up" Entry

2010-01-04T01:43:00.000-08:00

November was busy with more Latvian lessons, boarding school kids, Sunday worship services and getting ready for winter. One day I decided to go for a drive "just to see some places nearby" and really enjoyed the trip. One idea came to me while driving through several cities. Perhaps some of our team members will take a trip once a month to a different city or town just to pray for the people there. We do want our focus to be more than just Tilža so this might be a good way to keep the vision in mind.

December snow storms arrived and it has been snowing most every day since with a slight break to warm things up a bit and turn everything to ice. My snow and ice driving experience is so minimal that I am really not much help in making trips to Balvi or even around Tilža. I have gotten stuck three times (my car is very small and light) so Līga had to get out and push!

Several weeks ago we got a truck load of humanitarian aid from England and we have been finding places for the stuff ever since. Right now most of it is stored in the church. Included were some boxes of foodwhich we distributed in packages right before Christmas. This picture to the left is Zoja and Mo. Zoja's two sons became followers of Christ this past year and are growing in their relationship with Him. Pray for Zoja to do the same.

Back Home in Tilza

2009-11-03T06:53:00.001-08:00

These folks (plus a few others not pictured) all helped me celebrate my home coming on Saturday. It is good to be back - my bed is especially comfortable - and now the work begins. It seems like lots of things happened while I was gone - including some new people coming to church. This last Sunday there were 22 here for worship, communion, and fellowship. Of these, only 3 were non-Latvian. We had several people come who had not been here before and with the help of a friend, I had a chance to talk with one of those people for quite a long time. Vilma is the mother of two grade-school aged girls and they seemed to have a very special time while with us.

I appreciate all your love and prayers. Thanks so much for being a part of my life and ministry here.

Love, Paula

Last Sunday at Calvin

2009-10-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken at the "Taste & Tour of Tilza" Event on Sunday.

I am grateful to all who participated in events and who gave me a chance to tell about my life so far in Tilza. Thanks so much.

BACK IN LATVIA

I arrived in Riga as scheduled on Wednesday and am planning to be here until Saturday when I will drive out to Tilza. I am already hearing some great news about the Tilza church - new believers, lots of activity, great worship. Will tell you all more when I see for myself!!

Where Am I?

2009-09-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Once again I really need to catch up here with what's happening for me.

JUNE - Most of my time was spent preparing for Tilza's Challenge Camp which was held in JULY. Five people from Calvin came to Tilza and we really did challenge the 15 kids who participated. The schedule was different from most camps that our Latvian staff had helped with before so we all worked hard to keep communication going. It seems that the Lord was challenging all of us. All didn't go as expected but it did go well - and six of the campers asked Jesus to be the Lord of their life. We rejoiced with the Angles!!
AUGUST - I flew back to Corvallis on August 3rd. Egija Logina, a young friend from Latvia, and one of our camp staff members, traveled with me. Egija spent a month visiting Corvallis friends and seeing some of the sights in Oregon. I spent most of August being refreshed, making appointments for the Fall, taking a quick trip to So. California for a high school reunion, and preparing for the next two months.
I plan to be here until the last week of October. Am trying to seeing see people in small groups and share how the Lord is working in our ministry in Tilza.

Worship

2009-05-31T09:11:00.001-07:00

Most recently we we have been delighted that some of the youth from the board school have joined us for worship. One Sunday we had 32 people (our normal is about 15 or so), and the following Sunday we were 42!! This number included 17 from the boarding school, three neighbors who usually don't come, and several members who have not been around for awhile. The kids from the boarding school have been helping to lead worship and read the scriptures. It is great to see how open to the Lord they are. Some of these same kids will likely be able to come this summer when our Calvin team comes to Tilza for Adventure Camp.

Pictured at left is Maureen (in the middle). She and her husband, Wes, have joined our team. They originally came out to Tilza because Wes was working on learning Latvian and we had the best place to do that.

Wes and I are still having class three mornings a week and for both of us progress is still pretty slow. But my roommate, Liga, is a patient teacher. Most every day now, we try to read from the Bible and we are finding that it helps alot.

Surprise!!

2009-05-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

One day my young friend, Janis, who lives in Riga, brought me six cans of Dr. Pepper. He had heard me say that it's one thing I miss when I'm in Latvia. I hadn't seen it in any of the stores but he found some and brought it out to Tilza for me.

A week later we had a contest and he said if I win he will bring me some more Dr. Pepper, but if he wins, I would let him drive my car. He won!

Singing at the Pensionat

2009-05-18T02:44:00.000-07:00

Shortly after I returned to Tilza, our team and some of the kids from the Internat Skola(boarding school) went to the Balvi Pensioners' Home where we sang, prayed, and gave a Bible message. As is usual for me, I tried to speak with some of the folks there and did get some information about them. But I couldn't understand one lady and I thought her friend said she only spoke Russian so I called Dan over and asked him to talk with her. It turns out that she didn't speak Russian but was using Latgalian (a Latvian dialect) instead!!
In the top picture is Pastor Mihaels and his wife Vonda from the Balvi Baptist Church singing a song in Russian. The middle picture shows our team preparing to sing Blessed Assurance in Latvian, Russian, and English!! Below are some of the residents at the Pensionat.

Prayer Days: Forgiveness

2009-05-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

The hotel where Prayer Days was held.

Any time set aside for prayer and worship is valuable and last week's time away to be renewed, to learn, and to reflect was no exception. We heard some excellent teaching about the need for forgiveness and had time in small groups and alone to reflect and go deeper with the Lord in this area that is so vital to the vibrant Christian Life.

Our times of worshiping the Lord through music and art were also especially meaningful and were such excellent ways to express our joy to the Lord.

Checking in for the three days are Bridge Builders missionaries, Dan Roth and Marvin Pittman. Vineta Zale (L) and the other Partners' office staff organized and made sure everything went well at this retreat.

We had the opportunity to experience a Prayer Labarynth, enjoy times of meeting new folks or renewing friendships, and take walks to the beach on the Baltic Sea.

A Wedding

2009-04-25T06:21:00.001-07:00

Inita and Andrejs got married yesterday and I was able to attend the civil ceremony and enjoy a time of celebrating afterwards. Inita's mother, Maija (my neighbor in Tilza) and I enjoyed catching up a bit before and after the ceremony.

Arrived in Latvia-April 22

2009-04-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday this week I arrived back in Latvia. The trip was good- with an overnight stop in London.
Will be here in Riga for a few more days and then will attend a prayer conference sponsored by Bridge Builders/Partneri. It's called Prayer Days and is specifically for pastors and other leaders in the churches from all over Latvia. I expect it to be an excellent time of renewal and revival.

All is Well-April 6

2009-04-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

It is now six weeks since my surgery and all seems to be going well. I still get tired in the evening but am learning that that is to be expected.I will be returning to Latvia on April 20th. Am looking forward to having people from Calvin spend about two weeks in Tilza (and other places) as we run an adventure camp and visit with the Tilža folks. Will give more details as the time gets closer.

Post Surgery

2009-03-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

I did have my surgery on February 19 as planned but the doctor was not able to do it laparoscopically because of an attached fibriod which was in a difficult location. I spent three days in the hospital and have since been staying with our church's Parish Nurse, Judy Kraft.

The pathology report came back good. There was only a slight invasion of cancer cells in the uterus lining and it had not spread anywhere else. There is no need for radiation or other treatment!

So, now I am taking it easy each day with short outings or walks and cutting back on pain medication. Not sure when, exactly, I will return to Latvia but I hope it will be the end of April. That should give me enough time to regain my strength.

Thanks to everyone for all your love and prayers. I've had lots of calls, cards, and visitors which are making the days go by quickly!

PS: the picture of me was taken just two days ago.

Most Recent Update

2009-02-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

There is a bit of confusion on the numbering of these updates but I can't seem to figure out how to put them in order (see below) because I didn't post them in the right order!! Oh Well...

Now, on a more serious note. Right before Christmas I learned that I had some indications of possible uterine cancer. I went to Riga for more tests the first week in January to have a polyp removed and the tests came back indicating that it was cancerous. I immediately (three days later) flew back to Corvallis where I was able to see a doctor the next day. He read the report from my Latvian doctor and has read the results of an MRI which I had last week. Things seem to be in the early stages and so I have surgery scheduled for February 19. Since there doesn't seem to be any spreading beyond the uterus the doctor will do a laparoscopic surgery.

How am I doing? Well, I FEEL fine - no pain or anything like that. I am glad that this is in the early stages and may not need radiation after the hysterectomy. BUT, no one ever wants to hear the word "cancer" and it is still a bit scary though the chances of a good outcome are quite positive. Please pray for peace in my heart. I know the Lord is in control.

One difficulty about coming home is that I don't have insurance. I am working with the hospital about the costs since there may be some funds available for those with special needs. One way to cut some costs is to keep from spending the night in the hospital. I don't know if that will be possible but I have several good nurse friends who are willing to take care of me during the first weeks of recovery.

I can't begin to tell you how loved I feel and blessed to experience the outpouring of love and care for me. How grateful I am!!

Update # 3

2009-02-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

Right after Christmas we usually have a team of people from Holland come to Eastern Latvia for an outreach event. This year their focus was more in the Madona/Ergli area (two hours from us). I stayed home to take keep the fires going, etc. at the church property and Yellow House where we have been staying. Dan and Katie and family were in England visiting grandparents and Katie's friends. All the others went to help witht the outreach. It was a smaller group of Dutch folks this year but it seemed to go quite well - with some opportunities for followup.

Update #1

2009-02-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas we had two opportunities to celebrate. The first was Vikors' baptism which took place at the pool of the Ergli Hotel. Three others were also baptized. Vikors, who is Gintis' cousin, became a Christian last Spring. He and Gintis have been working at Eagles Wings Camp and have become a part of the newly formed Ergli church. They both attend Bible studies and youth meetings.

Gintis celebrated his 18th birthday with lots of friends from the Ergli area and all of us from Tilza. Katie had made a slide show of his life and we all had dinner at the hotel in Ergli.

Update #2 - Christmas

2009-02-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, I am so very far behind in keeping this blog up to date (sounds like sometime I said not too long ago :) .

The Christmas season was so good this year. I remember feeling really under the weather last year and couln't even go for Christmas Dinner to some friends' house. But this year I was feeling fine.

We had a special Christmas event for each of our groups of boarding school kids. It was fun and a nice way to start the holiday before they left school for the break. For the younger kids I was supposed to read the Christmas story (in Latvian, of course) and it was rather slow going. Two of the kids decided to help me by coming up and finishing the story!! We knew that it might be hard for the understand my pronounciation so had planned to ask a few questions to see if they understood. One question was: "What did the Angel say to the shepherds? One little boy said the Angel shouted "God bless Latvia!" So much for the 'well-known Christmas story'.

We had a wonderful Christmas eve dinner event with the team and others from the community which ended with another reading of the Christmas Story from the Bible. This time Kaspars, our pastor, did the reading. Christmas morning I went to be with the Roth family. There was lots of excitment with three little ones opening presents, playing games, and eating a delicious meal. We also celebrated my birthday which is the 26th

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving Dinner this year was quite fun. The food was good - pork and lamb roasts, mashed potatoes and gravy, cooked cabbage, 4 different salads, cransberry sauce and for dessert, three kinds of pies - pumpkin, apple, and peach. A very happy time was had by all 26 of us. Only three were from the US, the others from England, Sweden, and Latvia. We sat at two large tables with name places to give a good variety of people at each table and so that the families could each sit together.

After dinner each table was given a bag with 12 items that the whole group had to use to plan a skit about the first Thanksgiving in America. Everyone at the table needed to be included in the skit. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time and American history will never be the same - especially because one table's narrator was a Brit!!

Other parts of the evening included telling what we were thankful for this past year. One young man told about how he became a Christian this year. Each of us put our list of thankfulness on a paper hand and then attached it to a "tree" that we could put on the wall. Later we sang songs of praise and prayed.

This past week

2008-11-24T05:46:00.000-08:00

NATO Sammit
That's NATO Summit Latvian style! Several years ago when Latvia hosted the NATO Summit in Riga, several young adults decided to meet out here in Tilza at the same time and hold a spiritual "summit" of their own. This year my roommate, Aija, got everybody together for a reunion of the Summit to encourage each person in their faith walk with Jesus. The discussions, onversa-tions and worship were good for everyone - including those of us
who were just on the sidelines. Of course, as with all retreat-type events there was plenty of time to enjoy some recreation. I had introduced the game of Skip-bo to Aija and she taught everyone to play while they were here.

Last night most of our team went to the little city of Ergli where Eagles Wings camp is located. A group of believers there has decided to start a new church so they don't have to drive the half hour or so to Madona for church services.

Approximated 35 adults and 10-12 children attended with several from the Madona church offering some special music. We had a very good time of worship, though I wasn't feeling very well. It was a long, cold, snowy, windy drive there in the church van (which is rather drafty) but I'm glad we could participate in this new venture.
Our group headed home fairly soon after the service and got back in good time. Kaspars is a great driver so no worries. But there and back we did have to stop more than once to clear the ice from the
windshield wipers.

It's a good thing we left when we did because the Roths were not able to get out just an hour or so later due to all the snow on the road. They are still not home but may be able to get out tomorrow.

This morning this is what my car looked like. I had not had to drive to Ergli so it collected lots of the white stuff. During the day yesterday I had already cleared the snow twice in order to make several short trips. I'm sure not used to this kind of snow build-up in such a short time.

It won't be long - floors are mostly in

2008-11-17T02:32:00.000-08:00

The floor is coming along in our house. I suppose little will change in these next few days because we are celebrating Latvian Independence Day - with a four-day holiday. So far we have rough floors in each of the bedrooms and the livingroom. Kitchen still needs some work! We may decide to put in a new sink and counter so that will take some figuring and going to Balvi to look for what we need. Most likely we can get something ready-made. Not sure what the cost will be so - please pray that we can get a good deal.

Today we have snow!! The first snow for this winter season. Not much of it but, as usual, it is beautiful to watch come down and then things have a covering of white that is so picturesque.

I probably have said before, but it never ceases to surprise me the number and variety of people we have who use the Baptist Church facilites - especially the Yellow House. This weekend I knew that some young high school and college age men and women would be here for a retreat that my roommate, Aija, coordinated. It's a very relaxed and informal time of encouraging each other to seek the Lord with their whole hearts and keep walking in faith.
The night before this group arrived, however, a family came to stay for the holidays - Armands & Signe and their three children. No one has said why they came - maybe just to enjoy renewing friendships with Kaspars and Liene, Dan and Katie, etc. and have a nice time away from Riga for a few days.

We have been having some excellent times with the kids from the boarding school each weekend. The older kids (5th-9th class) spend time with us on Saturday mornings. Activities usuallly include cooking something, outdoor skills, table games, etc. On Sunday the younger ones come over (1st - 4th class) for Sunday School. We divide into small groups by age using lots of activities like singing, games, Bible stories, memorizing scripture, crafts, etc. to learn some important truths from God's Word.

My SMALL Car

2008-11-11T07:50:00.001-08:00

My little Polo is soooo small.... I can almost pick it up and take it anywhere. :)

When seen from a different perspective, God's perspective, I get a whole different idea about about my life and it's problems. Right now I feel very much that I am kept safe in His Hands.

New Floors

2008-11-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

After three weeks now I went to look at how the work is coming on our new floors in our house. As you can see, it could easily be another three weeks before we can move back in.

This first picture is taken from the front door looking into the kitchen. We had to take out the sink and counter and cupboard and might end up having to replace it.

This second picture is my room. Will be glad when it's all done and we can get back to living at home. We are staying at the "Yellow House" on the church property. I'm so glad to have such a nice place "to wait" while we have to be out of our place.

New Car!!

2008-11-10T06:23:00.001-08:00

This cute little thing is a 2001 VW Polo with 100,000 kilometers on it. I got a very good deal on it. The man who sold it to me is from England and his wife is Latvian. They attend one of the largest Baptist Churches in Riga. They wanted to sell it to a missionary to help with the ministry. Last week I went to visit them again while I was in Riga for the Latvian Lational Prayer Breakfast. Today I had winter tires put on and I guess that makes me ready for snow - although we haven't had any yet. Still can ride my bicycle around some - but I am finding it hard to do when I know how easy it is to jump in the car.

The Blog Promise

2008-10-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

"I promise to keep this blog updated regularly - without fail." Well, when you have a blog maybe you don't actually make that promise but it seems like that's what I wanted to do. But here it is - a month has gone by and I haven't added a thing.

So much is happening every day that I just don't seem to get to it.

We have had some great days of serving the Lord with our skills, abilities, and, through His Love, given to those around us . We have made some plans for future activities and we have spent much time in prayer. As I get back to filling in what is happening (later this month) I will give more details.

Next time I will add a picture of the car the Lord provided for me. Don't ask me too many details about it - I just know it's a very pretty blue!!!

Our landlord says he will start this week to put in a new floor in the whole house. He would like us to help pay for labor. Please pray for wisdom as we deal with him about it.

A Baptism

2008-09-15T04:44:00.000-07:00

On September 7 I went with our church to a small lake for the baptism of two people. Calle is from Sweden but now lives in Latvia. He spends his time working and helping folks in Tilža or Ergli. He grew up going to church in Sweden but never had much time for "religion" as an adult. He began attending church with us a number of years ago and just recently gave his life completely to the Lord. He then asked Kaspars if he could be baptized.

The other person baptized last week was 15 year old Marija whose father is the Baptist pastor in Balvi. Marija has spent many hours with us in Tilža and worked at camps in Ergli during the summer.

The lake is about 10 minutes from Tilža so we "stuffed" everyone in cars and drove to the lake where the weather turned out perfect for such an occasion. People from Ergli/Madona church wanted to be there for Calle and people from the Balvi church were there for Marija and then most everyone from the Tilza church came.

After Calle and Marija gave their testimony, Kaspars baptized them and we sang a few songs. Then the whole company returned to the Yellow House in Tilža for worship, communion, and fellowship. For me, it was one of the sweetest times of love and joy. Gifts and flowers, prayers and singing made every moment special. Then, of course, we had a meal together.

Hair Update!

2008-09-07T23:04:00.001-07:00

There's not really much significance in a hair do. Sometimes you like them, sometimes you don't. Somtimes other people like them, sometimes they don't. But I thought since so many people made comments from my last prayer letter about my most recent "do" that I would give a bit more information - and a couple more pictures!

The latest

I was born with straight hair and there was a time (in the 60's) when that was very good - long and straight. I was a teenager and kept it that way into my 20s. As I entered my 30s the hair got shorter and I would have a "body perm" to give it a fuller look. Through all these years I have never liked spending time "fixing" my hair - it was always such a bother.

My attempts

Then some time in my late 30s I found that I could get a real tight perm and leave it if I didn't want to spend time every morning trying to make it look 'just right'. So, from that time on (with two exceptions) I have kept my hair that way.

Curly

When I arrived in Latvia I wasn't sure if I could get it permed tight enough to keep it like I wanted but I did find someome who could to it in Riga. This last time, however, my regular lady was not there so I had someone else do it. As I said in my letter, I tried to tell her what I wanted but she spoke Russian and I can barely speak Latvian, let alone Russian. So she decided to just cut it nice and short. Now, don't get me wrong. I LIKED they way it looked when she finished - but even she had to spend more than an hour

combing, brushing, back combing, putting on a lot of mousse and hair spray to get it "just so". And I knew that I would never be able to do that again.

Now, if it were just a matter of time, effort, and ability, I suppose I could change my ways. But the real problem these days is that when I need to curl my hair or use the hair dryer my thumb hurts too much (still). So, now it isn't just a matter of liking my hair or not, I NEED to get it curly again to save time, energy, and keep my thumb happy. And, last of all, it's a lot better when you can't wash your hair every day - curliness hides a lot of things!

The Storks have left

2008-08-12T05:25:00.001-07:00

There are many ways to note that summer is coming to a close but for me this year it's been to observe that the storks are gone. For the last three weeks they have been restless, flying around most of the day. I was noting how those "little" babies were not so little anymore and they all seemed to be practicing for the long journey south towards Northern Africa for the winter.

The end of the summer also means that school is about to begin again and many teachers, adminstrators and other workers are back getting things ready. Here in Tilza the kids also take part in getting things ready. Each student has to work at the school for several days each summer. Not sure what all they do have observed kids cleaning, digging in the flower beds, and generally making things look nice.

I am looking forward to the Fall as it will be time to start language class again. I have learned lots over the summer but am still finding it hard to understand when someone is speaking to me and asks questions. Please pray that I will have "ears to hear"!!

What can a sweatshirt tell you?

2008-08-12T03:59:00.000-07:00

Notice anything unusual about these pictures? -- Something they have in common?

In each one I am wearing my ACORN sweatshirt! All of these picures were taken this sumer. It really has been rather cool and quite often windy.

Besides the fact that I really like this sweatshirt - the way it feels
and looks, etc., the main reason I wear it is because it reminds of the Acorn Center in Corvallis where people are becoming adjusted to a new life - one where they have to learn a new language and new ways of doing things. Now I have a great deal more understanding of their situation and am happy that the Acorn Center exists to express the love of God in a tangible way.

The first picture was taken when my sister was here and we were making a big effort to clean out some of the rooms in the church and put things in order. Though you can't really tell from the picture - I am sorting the pieces to a flannelgraph set that Calvin church sent to the Tilza church a number of years ago. In the process of cleaning we found the book with all the stories that go with it.

In the second picture I am trying some of my Latvian with Ina the shopkeeper at the largest shop in town. She is also a neighbor of ours, just behind our property.

The third and fourth pictures are from several exploratory bike rides around Tilza when Lorrie was here. We would go out most every day and pray for the town and just learn what was here.

Lorrie was often taking pictures of animals becasue her grandchilden would be inerested but sometimes she would get a shot of me.

The last picture is of another shopkeeper who was so very helpful in working through some language exercises with me.

Birthday Celebration

2008-08-06T01:48:00.001-07:00

Monday was Daniels Donis' birthday. As you can see, he is now 5 years old. His mom and Dad (Pastor Kaspars and Liene) had a nice party for him out side at the campfire area.

First we ate some delicious crab salad and potato chips and juice(which Daniels served us). Then several "kids" blew bubbles trying to see who could make the biggest one and which would last the longest.

After cake and ice cream we played games and everybody got these great masks/glasses in varieties of color!

A nice time was had by all!! Daniels especially liked one gift that was a set of pens to be used for drawing -- but he found it more fun to use them to put little dots all over his arm.

I was especially glad that the mosquitos were not a bother. Often they can be so bad that it would be hard to eat outside

Life at home.

2008-08-04T02:04:00.000-07:00

While the girls have been gone this past week I was busy doing summer-type things: cleaning, mowing the yard, trimming the edges and exploring our property. In the winter one doesn't feel much like looking into all the nooks and crannies to find out what's there.

Our fruit trees (apple and cherry) are abundantly productive and we are able to enjoy the results. We did nothing to keep these trees growing well but now I can see that they are in need of some tender loving care. That would mostly be trimming - about which I know nothing. But I have learned from others that this is not the time to do such things. Anybody wanto to come next February/March to help with that task? :) We have 4 apple trees and those small green apples are delicious. So I think I will try to make some applesauce.

Berries are also abundant in our neighbor's yard. We have red currants, black currants, raspberries, and something else which I don't recognize.

Several friends came over and helped pick and I learned that it isn't hard to make jam from most of these berries so maybe I'll do a little of that, too.

I find it rather funny that I even want to try doing these types of things because I never even thought about doing them in Corvallis - or anywhere else I've ever lived. But one is never too old to learn.

Still enjoying short rides on my bicycle most every day. The weather is perfect: cool and mostly cloudy!!

Summer

2008-07-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

You may remember my language helper, Kristine. Last summer when I first started with learning Latvian, Kristine and her brother and two sisters and some friends all wanted to help me so we met every other day at the school. The only one who continued to come was Kristine, so we have been meeting once a week all year. She never forgets - and calls me when she can't make it. She doesn't speak English which is really good because it keeps me from falling back to what is easy.

When my roommates are around, we seem to have lots of company - and sometimes they stay for dinner and for the night. Pictured left to right are: my roommate, Liga, Egija, from Riga, my roommate, Aija, Maria from Balvi, and Liga's twin sister, Aija, who lives in Riga. All spent the night except Egija whose grandmother lives in Tilza.

This week everyone from our team is helping with a camp in Ergli (about two hours from here) so I am holding down the fort so to speak. So far there haven't been any emergencies!! Please pray with me that the kids at the camp (two went from Tilza) will hear about God's Love and come to know His Love through Jesus Christ the Lord.

Adventures in Riga

2008-07-05T04:42:00.001-07:00

As I was preparing to write this post, I started looking for all my pictures of Lorrie and me in Riga. But it seems that I must have let her take all the pictures -- perhaps she will send me some.
We took the opportunity to take a "Riga Tours" bus ride around the city and become informed about many historical and cultural bits of information about Riga and Latvia. I now am much more appreciative of the different styles of buildings there. Now I will be able enjoy looking up more!! It's helpful to know what you're looking for!
There are many parks to relax in and "people watch" which Lorrie and I did quite often. Another highlight was the open air Ethnographic Museum. We had no idea that it was so big and so only saw a small portion of it. We both love historical things and did our best to keep the centuries straight - let's see 17th century - that's the 1800's, etc.
Things are changing lots in Riga, too. While taking another tour (this time by boat on the Daugava Riva), we could see how the skyline is now dotted with tall skyscrapers, a new bridge, and many buildings being renovated.
The only downside to our whole time was that Lor had a pinched nerve in her back and shoulder which needed medical attention. We spent most of Monday looking for several clinics, finding a hospital and spending hours waiting. Now we have some really great stories to tell. :)

Estonia

2008-06-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

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.

My sister is here!!

2008-06-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Painting the Yellow House

2008-05-27T02:59:00.001-07:00

The Yellow House is a large, three storey building on the
Tilža Baptist church property that originaly was a hospital. When I first came to Tilža in 1999 it had not been used in years and needed lots of work to make it a place for ministry activities. Since then it has been remodeled, repainted and made quite comfortable for group activities, retreats, weekend guests, and even worship services.

The first time it was painted yellow and it looked
nice but in recent years the paint had worn off and
it needed to be done again. About six weeks ago the
project got started. Paint and other supplies were
purchased in Riga, Balvi and Tilža, scaffolding was
rented in Balvi and we were ready to go.

All the old paint was sanded off. The first "coat" was an anticeptic, then a white primer was put on and all the cracks filled in with an acrylic that could be painted over. Next came two coats of
beautiful yellow paint. All the window frames
were also repainted white.

The process took the full-time work of 5 people (Dan, Kaspars, Gintis, Aija, and Līga) for about 10 days. Others helped as they could. We had only one slight mishap. While Katie was holding the ladder for Dan, his can of paint fell and hit her. The bump wasn't so bad but she had paint all over!!

I wasn't part of the work crew but did spend a good deal of time
watching the children while their parents were working.

If you want to come out for a visit -- just give us a call!!

Creativity!!

2008-05-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

Each week in Sunday School we have one or two activities to help the kids get involved with the story so they can remember what they learned -- and something about the application of the Word of God to their lives.

Here you see what some of the kids made from "Plasticine" when we asked them to make something that they might find in heaven.

The next week we asked them to draw or make something that showed what God wants them to do.

This picture is a re-enactment of the Prodigal Son story, which we told to describe how much God, the Father, loves each of us.

These kids are wonderful.

Sundays

2008-04-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday is different - really different. First Sundays we usually have communion together and last Sunday was no different. In the afternoon we have Sunday School and this particular Sunday, Eriks (see picture) received Jesus as his savior. After the service Kaspars, our pastor, asked if I would like to go to Balvi to visit one of our members who is in the hospital. I said sure. I didn't realize, however, that meant we would first go to the Balvi Baptist church worship service at 4:00. It is a very small church and most everything is in Russian.

When the service was over, the pastor and his wife went with us to the hospital. This picture shows us with plastic "footies" now required by the hospital for any visitors. Not sure why - but we needed them before we could go into the room to see Melanija. She (and the 4 other ladies in her room) was very happy to see us. We sang songs, prayed and had a good time of visiting. I introduced myself to each of the ladies before we left and told them I would be praying.

Today our service included only Latvian speaking folks - except me. All other foreigners were away! So I ddn't have anything translated - just tried to see if I could get what was going on. At least I found the right scripture passage we were reading.

Here is a picture from our friendship gathering after the serivice. My roommate, Liga (on the left), her twin sister, Aija, and their mother, Olga. Ogla recently became a believer!

Grandmas' Day at Kindergarten!

2008-04-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

Last month I got to be "grandma" at the kindergarten for the grandmother's day celebration. Thought I would share some of the pictures I took.

The children sang special songs and danced. Then the grandmas were "invited" to dance, too!! It was a lot of fun.

Spring is here!!

2008-03-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

Just look at these pictures - you would never know that it's Spring. It has snowed most every day for almost two weeks. I'm glad our wood stove is working well.

I had started to ride my bike and was really enjoying being able to get around so quickly - as compared to walking... then it started snowing. Now my bike is stored away for again.

Our woodshed is just outside our back door but with the snow a little over two feet deep in some spots, it takes a bit of work to get out and back. Then the plastic covering the window in the shed gave way and now the wood has a white covering!

Nancy Kelley comes to visit

2008-02-18T00:55:00.001-08:00

During the second week of language classes Nancy Kelley came out to Tilza for a visit. She was able to get a ride with the students from Riga and got to know a bit more about them on the 4-hr drive out here - and then back!

I was really looking forward to spending some time with Nancy

and was delighfully encouraged by her cheerful and careful

listening skills. Our time of prayer together brought brought much calm assurance of the Lord's working in my life and the ministry here.

Nancy also blessed me by taking the material I had over the window and made it into curtains!! She is quite good at this sort of thing and very fast.

She even offered to make a few additions to the curtains in the Yellow House and so took those back to Riga with her to finish the project there.

As a special blessing (for her and us), Nancy participated in the Latvian classes with us.

Second Latvian Class Begins-January 23

2008-02-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

I am now taking the second "term" of our Latvian class here in Tilza. We also have three folks coming out from Riga each week. the schedule is the same as last Fall. We have class on Wed, Thurs, Fri from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We have been doing some review and some new material but no matter what it is, Katie seems to come up with creative ways to present the information and for us to practice. This time I am using these materials when I meet with my language helper, Kristine, and sometimes when I go visit my neighbor, Inguta.

I need a lot of practice listening to people talk. We do have some listening drills during class but I also try more and to understand what Kaspars is saying during the sermon on Sundays and I try not to "tune out" when others are speaking Latvian with each other. We also got our TV hooked up so now I can also listen to the news which is quite helpful.

Mission Days-January 10-12, 2008

2008-02-17T09:22:00.001-08:00

Latvia’s third annual Mission Days took place the second week of January at the Agenksalns Baptist Church in Riga. Some 200 attended, most younger than 25, representing Lutherans, Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Reformed, Catholic and Adventist churches. The theme, “Blessed to be a Blessing” was taken from Genesis 12 where God clearly shows his heart for the nations.

I had the opportunity to explain our "prayer room" for the Mission Days conference. Even though the room in the tower of Agenskalns Baptist church was quite cold, one could look out over the city of Riga and pray for those who are yet to know Jesus. Also, on the walls of the room were reminders to pray for people groups around the world. Individual prayer requests were brought to the table in the room and any who came in could also pray for those. It was a very encouraging experience for me.

Let Me Catch Up!!

2008-02-16T11:36:00.001-08:00

So many things have happened these last couple of month and now I need to see if I can tell what's been going on!!!

Dutch ministry to Gulbene

During the last week of December and the first week of January, a church from Amsterdam sent 23 short-term missionaries to join with 22 youth and leaders from the Madona Baptist church to share the Love of God with the people in the small city of Gulbene. Our team hosted these folks here in Tilza. They divided into small teams each day to visit homes and pray for people -- and leaving some candy. When they found folks in need of food they also delivered a bag of groceries. Each household was then invited to an outreach event at the end of the week. Songs, skits, testimonies and a gospel presentation were a part of this event.

Most of this time I stayed in Tilza and helped watch kids which was very "behind the scenes" work but quite necessary because the young ones couldn't be with the others every day. The days were quite cold - snow and ice. In the evening the youth went ice skating on our little pond.

Here are a couple of pictures of the event.

A whole truck load of clothes were shipped to Gulbene the week before the outreach took place. Clothes were given out on two of the days. The Dutch folks also brought blankets and other gifts for the Gulbene hospital. One day some of the people visited kids and older folks who were in the hospital.

The teams seemed to work well together and in the evening we heard reports of each days' opportunities.

Aija, Liga,, Kaspars, Dan and Katie all helped with translation for teams and other work as needed. For example Katie went with one of the young girls (and her mother) to the Balvi hospital because she had gotten quite ill. The girl ended up staying there for 5 days - not a fun thing at all.

Back in our house!

2008-01-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

Home Sweet Home

Many of you had heard that we were having sewer system problems and therefore couldn't stay at home. This situation last for 6 weeks. I praise the Lord that we could stay in the "Yellow House" on the church property but we are all happy to be in our little red house on Brivibas iela. The picture here of me is in the Yellow House kitchen, but the pictures of Liga and Aija are in the kitchen of our place.

During the six weeks of being away, lots of things happened. First, on

Saturday, December 15th our team went caroling and visited people we

thought could use some extra encouragment. We went to 12 homes and had a delightful time. Next we celebrated Christmas on Sunday the 16th with our SundaySchool kids and some other Tilza folks.

I wasn't feeling great on Christmas Day and day after so I stayed inTilza while the others on the team went to various places. Apparently, I really needed the rest.

Then for about 10 days we hosted some folks from Holland and the youth group from Madona (about 2 hours from here) as we all participated in an outreach to another town called Gulbene.

There is so much to tell about that event and I am hoping to make some pictures available here so will post again soon, I hope!!

Graduation!!

2007-12-20T04:05:00.000-08:00

Last Friday we celebrated the completion of our 10 week Latvian Language course. Here Katie Roth and Liga Avotina (our teachers) are giving me my diploma.

I may not have been the quickest and brightest student but "I was faithful!" -- didn't miss any classes. :)

It was fun to give special thanks to those who made the classes possible - so we gave flowers to our teachers and those who did a lot of other work - fixing lunch every day, taking care of Katie's kids (little Esther is pictured here), cleaning rooms, etc.

Left to right - Liga, Aija, Katie & Esther, Liene.

An Evening of Bowling

2007-12-10T05:05:00.000-08:00

Katie, Liene, and Me!

Ministry comes in many shapes and sizes -- including an opportunity to go bowling!! One evening the ladies Bible Study group from a church in our area invited us to go bowling.

It was a dark, cold, snowy evening and the alley was more than an hour away but what fun we had. We were a group of over 20 women, most of whom had little experience with the sport! All the ladies seemed to have a great time. I haven't been bowling for more than a year so was quite tired and sore by the end of the evening.

As you can see from the picture below, the place was quite new and with all the modern "trappings" - colored lights on the pins, the whole room was blue and the machines keeping score were quite fun - with all the caricatures - people cheering when there was a strike or spare, etc.

It is still one of my dreams (and I mean a crazy dream) that we could have a bowling alley in Tilza!!

Learning Latvian

2007-11-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

Our Latvian classes start at 9:00 a.m. every Wed., Thur. and Fri. and we finish at 1:00 p.m. Some afternoons we also get to practice what we know with students or others around town.

Classes are never dull. We often practice our lessons in teams of two or all together with active "games" to keep us thinking. Here we are are trying to remember what "profession" we have and throwing a ball from one to another. In Latvian words often change endings depending on their use in a sentence, so for example my name (or job as a clerk which would be a "pardeveja") could change to "pardevejai" or pardeveju" depending on if that person was doing the acting or receiving the action. For those of you language buffs - the differences depend on whether it is in the nominative case, accusative case or genitive case!!) Anyway, these activities help us understand what we heard in the lesson.

I am grateful for so much help as I get settled here in Tilza. The language is so important and my brain really needs to be trained to think differently. At Sunday School I can now tell the kids to sit down and listen. I know the names for scissors, pencils, paper, write, draw, Jesus (Jezus), God, etc. so can be of some help these days. Liga still has to do most of the work and translate for me as well.

Please continue to pray for my ability to remember what I learn and to be able to pronounce some of the difficult sounds.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

Dave and Maurine cut the "turkey" - we called them "Tilza Turkeys" which were 6 chickens with stuffing!!

Everybody brought something to share and our plates were quite full. We had mashed potatoes & gravy, cranberry jelly, yams, corn, carrots with honey and ginger, olives (green stuffed & black), tomatoes with garlic topping, a special Swedish dish (fish), tomatoe and cucumber salad, and beet salad . For drinks we had four kinds of soda and tea and coffee. All especially enjoyed the pumpkin pies and apple cruble with ice cream for dessert.

As you can tell, we had a delicious meal with lots of friends. Some of you may have known already that we had 5 Americans, 2 Canadians, one Brit, one Scot, one Swede and the rest were Latvians -26 people in all.

Everyone served themselves in the kitchen after singing first a Latvian song of Thanks and then an English one, then prayer for the meal.

After dinner we had a wonderful time of sharing how thankful we are and for what. The kids sang a little song with the help of Wes who remembered the song from his childhood and taught it to the 7 children who were there.

As is usual after a big meal, we sat around and visited for a long time then had a special time of singing and worshiping the Lord.

Youth Meetings

2007-11-16T09:00:00.001-08:00

Each week on Thursday evenings we start our Youth Meetings with some great games that get
everybody involved. The Bible teaching time is central to the evening and most often Kaspars gives the message. Through the Fall we are discussion the life of Abraham. Discussion is then either in small groups or sometimes the group stays together to get an idea what everybody is thinking. Refreshments are served and then the everyone stays around for table games and other activities until it's time to end the evening. We usually start at 5:00 and end at 8:00.

Pray that God's Word will be a strong influence in the lives of about 15 students who have been coming regularly this year. Pictured above are Ginta and Sanija playing Monopoly (all the streets are ones from Riga!!) and below is Maigurs who has come for the last several years.

Serving together with Bridge Builders, International and Calvin Presbyterian Church in Corvallis, Oregon.

Ko tu dari?

2007-11-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

"What are you doing?" In Latvian: "Ko [koo.ah] tu [to] dari [d.are.ee]?" Questions are good for language learning. But, of course, it's helpful to know just what the person might be saying when they answer!!! I asked the question above to some young boys playing in a stream and they proceeded to tell me a whole paragraph worth and I didn't understand a thing. But at least they knew what I was asking and gave an answer.

This week in Latvian class one of the students said that when you're learning a language you will make a million mistakes so you might as well get started! We get to make lots of mistakes without feeling stupid. Everyone in class is really motivated so one girl asked today if we could have more homework! Yikes! I do think that's a good thing but now I will have more to do in the evenings and on weekends.

Last night after the youth meeting some young girls needed a ride home. One of them lives quite far out of Tilza so I thought I would try asking some questions as we drove out there. These were questions we had worked on during the day in class. I did understand most of her answers and felt quite successful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's starting to get cold here and we need to keep a fire going in our house most of the time. I will always be grateful for my Girl Scout experiences where I learned about building fires and keeping them going. I have found that it takes about 5 -8 good sized logs to keep things nice and warm for the evening and through the night. If it's cold in the morning none of us wants to get out of bed and get the fire going again.

A Brief Holiday

2007-10-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

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.

Pastors' Retreat

2007-09-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

This past weekend (Friday and Saturday) we hosted a retreat for Baptist pastors and their spouses. Our facility, appropriately called 'The Yellow House', is great for such events. Kaspars and Liene participated as well as helped to put on the event. The rest of us took responsibility for the food, cleaning, some child care, and other such items. It was a lot of work but I think everyone had a good time. The Baptist Bishop came out from Riga to speak to the group several times, giving updates on what's happening and encouraging all to trust God for big things.

Our teammate, Dave, returned this weekend also. It is great to now have everyone together. Sunday afternoons are a good time for catching up and good conversation so we invited Dave over for lunch and found out about his time in Scotland.

This coming week I am expecting to get hooked up to a high speed internet service (using dial-up at the moment) and that should be both less expensive and much easier to get larger files that people send. Right now pictures take forever to receive. Getting this set up only happened because Katie was able to help me - actually she did all the talking and arranging. Now when they call this week to let me know which day and what time they are coming - I hope Katie is around to talk with them!! :)

Saturday, September 8, 2007

2007-09-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

Prayer
Today we walked around town and prayed as we went. Our team has decided that we would do this once a month on Saturday mornings. Aija, Liga, and I started from our house, while the two families started from theirs. Even though I often couldn’t understand what was being said, I could sense in my spirit how meaningful it was to be in agreement about God being honored and glorified in this place. We prayed for the needs of people and that they would be spiritually hungry and seek the Lord with all their heart.
We covered most of the city in just over an hour and met up with the others in the center of Tilza – everyone seemed to think it was time for an ice cream!! We had perfect weather – sunny but cool.

Our House
Our home is becoming more cozy all the time. The girls put new wall paper in the living room last week and we have borrowed furniture that is a little more comfortable. A new floor lamp adds a nice touch. I was able to do a little touch up painting in the kitchen this afternoon while the girls went to clean the church for worship tomorrow. We are enjoying a quite evening now.
Last night we hosted the ladies’ prayer group which is usually just the women on our team but a young high school girl, Zane, was able to join us which was very encouraging. Many of the young people have asked when we will start our Youth Program/Bible Study. We look forward to getting started in October.

Week of August 26-September 1, 2007

2007-09-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Roths Return
Dan and Katie returned from the US where they spent the last three months. The day after their arrival Katie was taking the older two children to the doctor to get their certificates so they can start kindergarten.
Doctor Visit
I asked if I could go along so that I could get signed up with their doctor because they seem to like her. That process was fairly simple but when she started asking questions and checking my health, she quickly recognized that I was quite “under the weather” with my allergy-induced asthma. She was concerned that there were other problems. She gave me a prescription and also had me go over to the hospital for an X-ray. The result is that I do have bronchitis also. Please pray for a quick recovery and patience as I wait!
Another Source of Help
My sister was very helpful last week because she told me about using a Sun Rider product called “Sun Breeze” . It has really made a difference in subduing my cough and letting me get some good nights of sleep. So, thanks, Lorrie.

A Wonderful Wedding

2007-08-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, August 18, my friend, Solveiga, got married. She was a beautiful bride and the day turned out to be perfect. It started to rain, however, during the ceremony but it cleared up right on time as we all went outside to meet and greet everyone and take pictures. There were many traditional activities during the rest of the afternoon. Most of these activities included a bit of walking and often some food...

The church was located not far from Riga and the countryside was lovely. Things started at 2:00 p.m. and we left about 10:00. A wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of their lives together.

Love to Learn

2007-08-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

The time I spent in Valmiera was excellent. Each class brought new ideas and lecturers who are professionals in their field of study or work. The content, of course, was very good, but most of all I learned a great deal more about Latvia today - and what people are thinkng about the future here. These thoughts are helping me to consider how best to relate to the youth in our program here in Tilza.

It seems that Vidzeme University would be a good place for some of our students to go if they are interested in the fields of communication, PR and Media. For those from our church who are interested in going to a Christian College, I also learned more about a place in Lithuania that would be good. Each of these schools has scholarships for those who might need it.

Summer School ended on Friday with a wonderful celebration. Each student got a certificate of completion from Latvia's Minister of Education who came out from Riga for the event. We each had a chance to introduce ourselves, tell what we do, what we had learned from the course, etc.

Eleven of us from six different countries completed the language course which was the most import part for me. We had two very good teachers for these morning classes. Because the class was relatively small, we had lots of opportunity to practice the lessons and repeat the words often. We were given a lot of material that I can use for the future because there just wasn't enough time to cover it all. Now I have plenty to keep me busy.

Summer School

2007-08-14T04:01:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Valmiera, Latvia.
For one week now I have been attending classes at the Baltic International Summer School (BISS, http://biss.va.lv) which are giving me insight into Latvian culture and language. When I first chose this course I thought it would be intensive Latvian classes. But I learned that the language component was only a part of what we would be learning -- and I have been enjoying it all.
Classes begin at 8:15 and end at 4:30 with usually an hour and a half for lunch. Latvian classes are first then we have two lectures on subjects pertaining to communication, PR, and the future of media. It has been quite helpful to hear from lectures from all over the world but I have been particulary interested in hearing from those who are Latvian.
The afternoon is usually a workshop which helps to make things a bit more practical. Evenings are devoted to activities which are also informative and a lot of fun.
I, of course, am older than most people here - including the professors/lecturers but it is great to be with those who stimulate my thinking.
Many pieces of information can now be put together which I think could help me, our team in Tilza, or young students from our church who may be making choices for the future.
Some of my favorite classes (other than Lavtian) have been:

* blogging

* use of radio and the internet

* writing for on-line media - a workshop

Our language studies have been going at a perfect pace for me. Every day I get to use what we learn in shops, restaurants, and on the bus.

Sunday, July 15th

2007-07-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

A beatiful day in Balvi - by the Lake and in the park. Aija and I spent an hour or so wandering around last Sunday. This fountain is new and there was this wonderful inflatable play structure.

The church in Gulbene. Kaspars preached last Sunday as they don't have a pastor right now. These are some of the people in Gulbene. We stayed for tea after worship and then headed for Balvi where we participated in the Russian Baptist church service.

Today we worshipped in Tilza. We were very few but I was remembering the scripture which says that when two or three are gathered in the Name of Jesus, He is in our midst.

Daily Schedule

2007-07-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Every day brings something new when it comes to learning a language. I try to practice and study whenever I can but I have also made a schedule that helps keep me on track.

9:00 Walk into town-buy things needed for the day-talk to as many people as possible

10:00 Practice vocabulary
11:00 Practice sentences, reading
12:00 Lunch break
2:00 Practice in town - record any new sounds or words or readings
4:00 Record new material/readings with helpers (see pictures from 7/4/07)
5:00 Review recordings/download to computer
6:00 Dinner, etc

I've been following the schedule this week and it really has helped to be organized and work more diligently on some of the exercises that aren't as much fun.

I am able to record what people say, or ask them to read something to be recorded, on my digital voice recorder. It has many hours of memory. Once the information is downloaded to my computer I can rearrange this into subject matter or certain sounds that need atttention, etc.

Most people are quite happy to help. I try to go to the same places every day. Hopefully I will soon know as much about them as they know about me! Right now I'm doing most of the speaking - or else they start to speak and I'm lost. There is one very difficult sound for me to make (OK, maybe more than one!) and I'm glad I can laugh at myself when trying to work on it.

One thing I want to do pretty soon is to tell my story in church (in Latvian) about how I met Jesus and why I came here. That's going to take some work. :) There are often times when one is asked to say something in a church service, especially if you are a guest, and I would like to be able to say something meaningful.

Well, more next week...

Finding Language Helpers

2007-07-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

July 5th

Here are some of the children helping me to learn Latvian. These pictures were taken inside the school because when we met outside it began to rain. The door was open so we just went inside.

We are really having fun with recording vocabulary and sentences, which I then can put on my computer for further study and practice. Another way people are helping me is that as I go through town, I ask people to help me by reading something in Latvian from a small book which is also translated into English.

As much as possible I try to use what I know here at home. Everyone here speaks English, though, more than I speak Latvian so it's easy to stop trying. One good thing is that all the other native English speakers are gone for the summer.

Here is a picture of my friend, Kristine, and her mom outside their house in Tilza. Her mother loves flowers and has lots of roses in her yard.

Latvia is now home...

2007-06-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

June 30th

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, I am back in Latvia - and have my residence permit! (See picture). As many of you know by now, the flights here were great - even though I was very tired. All my luggage and boxes arrived with me - and in good condition, I think. Haven't opened the boxes yet. Will wait till I get home in Tilza. Everything with the permit

went so well - it took less than 2 hours. But the process was moved along by Vineta Zale from the Partners Office who helped me with everything. It would be hard to know how I could get along without her help. Throughout this move she has been such a blessing to me. In one of my earliest postings back in January, you may have seen that Vineta is the one who found and took me to a dentist when one of my gold crowns fell off.

Another Partners Office friend, Estere, invited me to her home last night for dinner. It was fun to meet her two girls and see the home that she and her husband, Roberts, are fixing up. It's one that has belonged to her family for a long time which was a great story. We took the tram out to the area where she lives then walked a short distance through a beautiful wooded, park-like area that was very peaceful. Here are some pictures I took on the way.

Today I head out to Tilza!

Thank you all for your many prayers and expressions of love. I miss you already but am looking forward to what the future holds - because I know Who Holds the Future!

Love, Paula

Great time with family!

2007-05-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

I have just returned to Oregon from Southern California where I had a chance to visit with family members and friends.

My sister and her family live in Visalia. Lorrie and I had a chance to talk a lot, go through some old pictures, celebrate birthdays (hers and my niece, Michelle's), and talk and deal with some paperwork, and talk, etc. :)

My brother Rob lives in Hemet. He and Patti organized a gathering of other relatives for a great dinner and good visits, and they let me stay at their house. My niece, Wendi, is also in Hemet and we had a great breakfast visit. I suggested that they all make a trip to Latvia some time in the next two years.

On the way north, I stopped to see my aunt in Santa Maria - another good visit. Missed seeing a few other relatives in Santa Barbara because they were in Oregon!!

Also had a chance to talk to and catch up with old Campus Crusade friends in Bakersfield. It was great to find out what everyone is doing these days.

Now, it's time to focus on the the last third of my time here. Please continue to pray for my residence permit - that it will arrive before I leave on June 27th. And pray that I will be wise in what to take with me this time -- and what to ship.

Life in Corvallis

2007-04-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

These last three weeks have gone by very quickly. I am adjusting some to the Corvallis lifestyle but most of my thoughts are about what I need to take with me next time, how people in Tilza are doing, what will I be able to help with when I return, etc.

Most days involve going through boxes and dividing everything into piles: 'throw away', 'give away', f'or the garage sale '(May 4-5), and, 'pack in a suitcase'. Another time-consuming activity is learning how to really use my computer and it's gadgets. Now I am able to post these notes to my blog - but many thanks go to Mark Edwards who did all the posting while I was in Latvia. Have learned a bit about itunes and ipods, webcams, Skype, Excel spreadsheets, and other helpful tools.

Am also wanting to see people as much as possible - mostly so that everyone can ask the questions they most want to know the answers to. I hope to continue some in learning Latvian - there are some Latvian speaking folks in Corvallis, I understand. And am doing as much as possible to finish the application process for my residence permit.

Here is a picture of some young friends. They like Mexican food as much as I do!

Would love to see as many people as possible while I am here.

Give me a call if you want to schedule something.

Upcoming dates

May 4-5 Gararage Sale

May 7-19 Trip to California to see my family

June 2 Friends' wedding in Christmas Valley

June 27 Fly back to Latvia

Today is Easter Sunday! Am hoping - and praying, that all of you are experiencing the joy of Resurrection Life! Blessings to all.

Last Week before Coming Back to Corvallis

2007-03-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

Last week or so…

Wednesday The Youth meeting was very good. We changed the structure a bit, decided to serve dinner first, and most importantly, prayed together as a team about an hour before we started. Kaspars again did a great job of teaching the lesson.

Weekend Went with Kaspars to the Baptist Congress meetings in Riga on Friday. It was good to hear the plans and dreams for church planting, training pastors and reaching out to the youth of Latvia. I went as a representative of the Tilza Baptist Church and appreciated the prayer times, worship, lectures, videos, a great dinner etc.

Matt Unwin came for a visit. He flew in from Ireland late on Friday. He enjoyed Riga on Saturday morning while I finished with meetings. He had rented a car so we then drove out to Tilza. It was fun to have someone new see the ministry. After church and Sunday School the next day he headed back to the airport to catch his plane.

Monday Well, our septic tank needs to be pumped again. Dan had said it would be about every six weeks and sure enough, here it is 6 weeks since the last time. Not sure what I would do without the others to help make these things happen. Someone needs to be here so we can pay the guy. He will probably come on Thursday.

Getting all my things packed. I leave here on Friday morning and will spend the night in Riga. Fly out to Germany on Saturday and then to Portland on Sunday. Where has the time gone?

Wednesday Another good Youth Meeting. I really think the changes we’ve made are helping. We are continuing to teach through the book of Acts with an emphasis on the changes made in Peter’s life. Kyle Jones took the bus out to visit for a couple of days.

Thursday Helped a bit with the kindergarten English classes. Aija and Liga then fixed a delicious, amazing lunch – with guests (Kaspars, Daniels, Dave and Kyle). What a wonderful send off.

Week 9

2007-03-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

Nothing really typical about this week. Tuesdays we normally meet with the Ergli group for Youth outreach planning but since Kaspars went to Riga on church business and Dustin’s group couldn’t make it, we decided to start planning the Wednesday night meeting instead. Dave came over and the four of us spent quite a bit of time digging into the life of Peter. We are going to talk about him in two stages – before Pentecost and after.

Dan and Katie have gone to the US for three weeks. Dan’s brother got married two weeks ago and so they went for that and to spend time with family.

The Youth meeting ended up having less leadership than normal and the teaching didn’t seem to flow very well. We need to plan a little better for next week. The really good thing is that relationships are being built and some are responding to the Gospel.

On Friday I was visiting with Kaspars and Liene and mentioned that I need to get an x-ray for my Residence Permit. Typically, Kaspars said, “Do you want to go to Balvi and do it today?” I said sure – and off we went to the Balvi hospital. The receptionist told us where to go. The technician told me what to do and the whole thing took less than 15 minutes and cost about $5.00!! I’m supposed to go back and pick up the results next week.

On Sunday Aija and Liga met with two of the girls from the boarding school and began to have a follow-up Bible Study. The girls seemed very interested.

Dave left on Thursday for Liepaja and it is so unusual not having him around. Most of the time he leads the music for worship on Sunday mornings but we had to make do without him this time. There were only a few of us who came to the service but Kaspars did an excellent job of teaching the Scripture as usual.

Two weeks from today (Sunday) I will be back in Corvallis.

Week 8

2007-02-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

So, we got to Riga on Tuesday about 7:00 p.m. and had a relaxing evening. Staying at the Hotel Latvija put us in a very central location. This is the same hotel we used during the Hope ’99 event but it has been completely remodeled since then and is now extremely comfortable.

The conference was for American and Latvian churches which have partnerships through Bridge Builders to spend time together learning how to be partners in the Gospel. We got to know each other better and gained understanding of one another’s ways. The schedule allowed lots of time for talking and relationship building. We (the Calvin contingent) are particularly encouraged by our developing relationship with the Tilza folks. They are hard-working and have lots to teach us. They are also looking forward to having us work with them on future projects. Perhaps one of the most significant things for me, however, was to see that I often identified with the Tilza contingent as well as those from Calvin.

Friends exploring Riga
After the conference I stayed in Riga with the Calvin team to follow-up on what we learned, to catch up a bit more on things in Corvallis, to meet with other friends who now live in Riga and getting a few things before returning.

On Sunday we attended two church services. The first was Vilandes Baptist which was within walking distance of the hotel. Marsha and I started off a bit earlier than the others and found ourselves enjoying the beautiful architecture and design of the old buildings along the way as well as other interesting sights. Vilandes is a partner church with a congregation in Richardson, TX. Because the message was brought by an American and translated to Latvian, we didn’t ask them to translate other parts of the service. It was interesting to see how much I understood.

One interesting site on the walk with Marsha

After church, while some of the others went shopping, I headed for the bus station to purchase a ticket for my trip back to Tilza the next morning. Was rather tired by the time I got back as it was quite a walk (but something that wouldn’t have been possible several months ago :).

After a brief rest, we headed for the Reformed Church service which also wasn’t far from the hotel. Maris Dupurs, a Latvian Partners Staff member, is one of the pastors and we met up with him there. This service was translated for me (see the photo) and I almost felt like we were back at Calvin!! The message was terrific and meaningful.

My translator for the Reformed Church service
That evening we had an enjoyable dinner at Chuck’s apartment in the old part of Riga. The next morning, after an early goodbye, I left for the bus station. The ride to Balvi took almost 5 hours but I was able to immediately catch the bus to Tilza. Was glad to be home. The girls had the fire going (of course) but Aija wasn’t feeling well. We talked lots trying to catch up with events of the last few days and week.

Week 7

2007-02-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

Wow, where did the time go? We picked up The Calvin Team on Friday evening and drove to Ergli where we stayed in a very nice hotel. We were not able to stay at Eagle’s Wings camp because another group had rented it but on Saturday morning we got a tour of the camp from Dustin, which really gave us a vision for what he wants to do there. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine summer activities because it’s so cold right now!

Meeting the Calvin team at the airport
About noon we left for Tilza having made several stops along the way to see a housing project, buy food, etc. Lunch had been planned for 2:00 but we arrived at 4:00, ate, then went on a prayer walk of Tilza. (Katie Andresen was sick on the way to Tilza which was a concern.) That night we went to the cultural center and Dave taught some Scottish dances. I didn’t stay the whole time as I got rather worn out.

Sunday we had worship, lunch, Sunday School, and some free time. Marc and Marsha went with Kaspars to the Balvi church at 4:00. Monday all day was our day to think, pray and plan together about our sister church partnership. It was a very good time of conversation and planning. We are learning more and more about how Latvians and Americans (& Brits, Scots) can work together.

In the afternoon Katie started feeling bad again and by evening had to be taken to the hospital in Balvi. Katie Roth took them (Marc, of course, went also) and to help with translation. She was admitted – a scary thing in a foreign country but it was good that Marc could be with her. By the next day she was better and we picked them up at the hospital on the way to Riga for a Conference. Like my episode at the hospital, we still don’t know what the cause was.

Week 6

2007-02-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

Well, this week started off great. Nineteen people were in church today (see pictures of some of the folks). Five young children (under 5 years old) were also there but they didn’t pay too much attention!! We had an excellent time of worship, Kaspars did a great job of teaching and there was a wonderful sense of the Spirit moving. After the service we had the Annual Meeting – where communion was celebrated and all business discussed. With a unanimous vote, it was agreed that I could be a member of Tilza Baptist Church!
Maija
Lolita
Elina

Much planning a preparation for the Calvin group which will arrive in Riga on Friday. Kaspars and I will go pick them up. But we have three other things to do first. We will meet with Inita for lunch, go pick up the glass for our stove, and get Marsha so that we can all go to the airport.
One of our trips to Ergli: Left to right Aija, me, Liene

Week 5

2007-02-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Dan Roth and Dustin Peterson went to St. Petersburg, Russia for a 4-day conference on Christian Camping. They said it was very encouraging and vision-building for the work we are doing here.

After much work over 4 or 5 days, Kaspars got our plumbing working again. Of course, I am really grateful that we have a place to go when things are out of order here but it’s nice to be back to “normal” – with one exception. The glass for our stove is ordered and ready but it’s in Riga and we are here. So, next time someone goes to Riga, they will get it for us, I think.

My house: my window is the far right, first floor. Our neighbor, Maija, lives in the white house.

It was very cold this week. At least once our thermometer read -30 Celsius and has stayed in the minus 20 somethings most of the week. How strange it is that one day when it got up to -10 I thought it was rather warm! It’s not really what you would call warm in the house every day but right now (Saturday) it’s great.

This was one of the most beautiful days so far.

This week I taught the lesson for the Youth meeting. It is a challenge to make things relevant and interesting. We have lots of boys – usually between the ages of 14-17 or so. Next week we think will draw more – as it is going to be Valentines Day (which they celebrate here) and we will talk about the difference between sex and love. It’s doubtful that anyone will be bored.

Thursday I went with Liene and Liga to the Kindergarten English classes. What fun. The kids were so interested and very eager to learn. In fact it surprised me how much they already knew. One of the regular teachers for the Tilza class is Ina whom I met in 2002 but have been unable to see again until now. She remembered my visit to their house and invited me to come again. She also suggested that I attend the Lutheran church when the pastor comes next time. That was one of my goals – to meet the pastor – before talking with people in town about Bible Studies. The Lord is directing my path. At the other kindergarten in Vectilza, most of the little ones stayed home because it was so cold. Instead we talked with and taught a group of 8-10 years olds. The principal there remembered me from our Hope ’99 trip when we made a presentation at the school. They are now in a new building across the street from the old one and it’s a very nice place. Like last time, she invited us for tea before leaving. And I thought I was in a hurry to go to Balvi with Katie…..

We really did get a lot of planning done today (Saturday). Spent a good amount of time in the Word, listening to the Lord, and being refreshed by His love for us. We know this is important in order for us to pass along God’s love to others. We are planning for the next 5-7 weeks of Youth Meetings. And also for the time when the four others from Calvin arrive next week.

Today is my Name Day. Everyone has a Name Day here and it’s often more celebrated than a birthday. Or rather other people stop by and give you gifts on your Name Day. For your birthday you invite a few others to a party. At least that’s what I think so far…. J Our neighbor, Maija, came over this evening to celebrate my Name Day and brought a delicious cake/bread and a bag of apples from her trees that she picked this past Fall. We had a great visit (with Liga and Aija translating). Maija’s daughter will be getting married near Christmas Valley in June and the whole family will travel to Oregon. I’m really hoping they can all come to Calvin.

This also happens to be the very day (35 years ago) that I put my faith in Jesus as my Savior. Little did I ever think that it would be my Name Day in Latvia. He knows all my days, all my paths, all my thoughts. Praise be to God.

Week 4

2007-02-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

We had our weekly Youth Planning meeting in Tilza with three from Madonas church attending. The two young guys (in their 30s) who help lead the ministry there are very interested in discipleship and training. It’s encouraging to see their enthusiasm and love for the Lord.

On Thursday, 4 of us went to Riga for a conference on World Missions sponsored by Bridge Builders/Partners Office. Again, I was encouraged to see so many Latvians with a heart to reach out beyond their borders and share the gospel. The vision for this is expanding and what fun to hear them tell of the seminar for helping children learn about missions. Carol Wille from Corvallis was the featured speaker for this part. She did an excellent job. I attended the sessions by Chuck Kelley since it was in English and was being translated! I am even more excited about the possibilities for Tilza. Please pray for revival here… there are quite a few who have made commitments to follow Jesus but are not walking with Him.

Saturday morning I was not feeling well and by noon had a terrible pain in my side and was vomiting. Thankfully, Peter Eisans (a pastor helping with the conference and former Partners staff) called an ambulance and they took me to Emergency. After many tests and questions, they could not determine the cause of the pain. So I got a shot which fixed everything immediately. The doctor (a very good one, indeed) gave me two prescriptions and I’ve been fine. The cost for al of this? 37 Lats which is about $70.00!! I had such good treatment – and according to Dan and Katie Roth, I was in the best hospital in Riga. The Lord does provide. Stayed one more day in Riga just in case anything reoccurred but had no problems. Drove home with Katie – lots of snow.

Driving in Katie’s car is easy compared to the red van which often has problems. Two new tires were just put on the van just before the trip, but as we arrived in Riga one of them was going flat. Thanks to cell phones, we called back to Tilza to find out what best to do. After getting air in it (which in itself was not easy because we didn’t know where the next station would be and we were in new territory for everyone in the van with us), all seemed OK. But for those folks who went home in the van on Saturday there was more tire trouble and alternator troubles. Having left Riga at 7:00, they didn’t get home until 2:00 a.m. It was a long, tiring and very cold night.

Bowl Latvia!

2007-02-03T22:35:00.000-08:00

On Friday afternoon, instead of the conference, I went bowling!

Here I am during one of our meetings at the Yellow House.

Week 3

2007-01-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

Thursday I spent most of the day at home – quite reluctant to go outside because it’s so icy. Washed clothes, cleaned and kept the fire going. The girls went to do other things. In the evening Liene, Katie (and baby Esther) came over to join us for prayer. We prayed, talked, and prayed more for about two hours. I was responsible for leading the group this time and I enjoyed breaking things up a bit (I could understand more) by taking it in sections – Praise, Thanksgiving, confession, and requests.

Friday Dave drove me to Riga in the morning. We left about 8:00 and arrived at the Partners Office about 11:00 which was really good time.

I went with Vineta to the immigration office so I could turn in the papers with my invitation from the Baptist Union, starting the process of getting my permanent resident permit. The woman told us that we couldn’t turn it in because the Baptist Union had not turned in the right paper from the tax office stating that they didn’t owe any taxes. Oh the joys of bureaucracy. Now I will have to try again next week. In the mean time Vineta called Solveiga and they will see what they can do first thing next week.

The second thing I really needed to do while in Riga was to order a piece of glass for our stove. The shop is not really far but I needed someone to go with me and it didn’t work for Dave to come over and take me and no one else was available to go with on the bus. So, didn’t even get that much done.

Everyone went home and I stayed over night at the office again. Couldn’t really get the computer to receive emails there either so am really not sure what the problem is.

When I woke up it had snowed which made the room quite bright even with no lights on. So, the trip home in the snow took about and hour or so longer than the trip in. Aija A came with us and we had a nice conversation. Really appreciate all of Dave’s driving. He says he loves going to Riga so it’s no bother but I still appreciate it.

Playing games on Youth Night

We got back just in time for the outreach event for the Vectilza people. I think we had over 30 people many of whom were kids. The games, songs, introductions, etc. seem to make everyone feel comfortable. The meal was good – and lots of it – which I think the folks appreciated. Things got a little hectic and crazy in the Yellow House after dinner but not terribly unexpected. I’m hoping the adults felt comfortable and glad to be there. I know the kids ended up having a great time. It seems that Liene and Kaspars are very happy about how it went.

On my way to the church Sunday

Sunday: I left early (9:00) to walk to church and made it there in 30 minutes. Guess I am finally getting into this walking. The day was beautiful. It was snowing some but not too windy. It wasn’t quite as slippery and I was able to find that one of my pairs of shoes works rather well in the snow.

The Tilza River, just about frozen

There were only 9 of us at church this morning but I was very happy that most were Latvians – from Tilza. It was great to see a couple of girls (Elina & Laine) who haven’t been to church much lately. Elina talked about wanting to be a lawyer when she finishes school and wants to live in Riga.  But I can understand. She’s in 9th class now! She also told me that she likes to go bowling! So I told her that maybe we should build a bowling alley in Tilza!! One of the guys from the boarding school came also this morning. Apparently Lolita is his “teacher” or housemother and she told him when the church service was so he came! Dave chatted with him a good bit. He is the one who received Christ last Sunday. Katie also told me he came by to visit yesterday and to get some materials to read about Jesus.

After lunch I went to visit Lolita and the girls. Had a very good visit. Lolita said she would come to church next week. I really will be praying that she does. She talked about having me come over for a meal so I said we would invite them too.

Week 2

2007-01-25T07:45:00.000-08:00

Mondays apparently are the days when we are a little bit lighter on the activities. I guess this is normally when we will have some personal time.
Tuesdays are when we meet with the Ergli team to plan combined events for youth and long-range ideas.
Wednesdays we spend most of the day preparing for the evening meeting. This includes cleaning the Yellow House and preparing for dinner, getting stuff for games and activities, as well as preparing the lesson/Bible Study
Thursdays – Aija & Liene teach simple English to a kindergarten in Tilza and one in Vectilza. Katie is having a bookkeeping class at the Yellow House. The women meet in the evening for prayer. David has English classes on Thursdays and Fridays.
Fridays – Kaspars leads a Bible Study in Balvi

Important events this week:
Our septic tank needed to be pumped – Inita mentioned it on Saturday and we could all tell that it was full – water coming out the top. So, I called Katie (Dan had told me yesterday that she would know who to talk with) and we made the arrangement that I would go stay with Jonathan who has a temperature while she went over to school and talked with the boy whose father does the pumping. On the way, I met up with Kaspars who told me he has already asked the guy this morning about doing theirs. The man was still at Tik Tak and so Kaspars made arrangements for him to also come by our place later in the day. So, all is well. It cost us 6 Lats.

Aija’s mother (right) and sister (left) visit us

Aija’s mother, Natasha, and sister, Kristine, came (on the bus) Monday morning for a visit. They brought Aija a pretty gift (candle) and delicious cake. We all ate lunch together then they went back to Balvi on the 1:00 bus. While in town Aija picked up a video and we watched it in the evening on my computer. First time I had really tried to do that and I didn’t know how to make the movie go the full-screen. So, with only a 14” computer anyway, this was tiny. But we had fun. We ran it in English and had Russian sub-titles.

First meeting in Ergli Left early Tuesday morning for Eagles’ Wings Camp. The camp is new and still being built but it’s used regularly already. It was a beautiful day with sun shining on the snow and ice. We had our combined meeting of the two teams (Ergli/Madona and Tilza). Besides the 6 of us (Katie and Liene were in Tilza), Dustin and Kristine were the only ones from their team who could come this time. After a time of devotion (which Kaspars led) we mostly discussed the previous activities of the combined group.

The Christmas Valley guys joined us for lunch. Sounds like they are getting quite a bit done on one of the other buildings – sheet rocking, etc.
After the meeting we drove home with a stop in Madona at the Rimi store. I ended up buying a new cell phone. The other one I had was just borrowed from the partners office.

Upcoming outreach event We had a meeting about Saturday’s outreach event for Vectilza people. I need to go to Riga on Friday so will be back just in time for this event on Saturday afternoon

Our house is the red brick one on the right

On my way home I fell because it was so icy. Didn’t really get hurt. But I am a bit hesitant about going out now. Later in the afternoon, Dan and David came in and looked at our stove, which has a cracked glass, and said it was not immediately dangerous but we do need to order a new piece of glass. So, Liga took the measurements and now we can see how to order it from Riga.

At 4:00 I got a ride back to the Yellow House for the Youth meeting. Some of the kids were already there.

Just over 30 kids came. Most are between 8th and 12 grade. Many came because David Baker was there to visit. Two things were a bit different than last week. It didn’t go quite as smoothly but this time the kids weren’t nearly as rowdy and noisy. Several of us talked with one of the boys about his decision last Sunday, to follow Christ. After asking if he had told anyone about his decision he told me that he had talked with one of his teachers who was happy about it. Katie talked with another boy tonight who said he wasn’t ready to make that decision.

The Past Few Days

2007-01-21T16:40:00.000-08:00

Day 6, Thursday, January 18, 2007
My throat was sore all night – sucked on some lozenges and drank water but felt rather tired this morning. Instead of going with Liga and Aija to the kindergarten classes in Tilza and Vectilza, I stayed home and worked on language learning, put the words for things on the objects in the kitchen, and practiced saying them. Washed another load of laundry this morning and since I kept the fire going, most of the things got dry by this evening. Kept drinking tea and water today and taking Tylenol.

Liga came home about noon and later fixed lunch – rice with a mushroom sauce and salad (tomatoes and cucumbers).

Scouted around the front porch today and found some items that we can use – old paper for starting fires, a small box for my drawer to organize things, a bit larger box for the small pieces of wood I brought it to help start fires and some larger pieces, did a bit of chopping to see if I could make some slivers for fire starters.

Dave came over and brought me an old desk that wasn’t being used in the Yellow House – he cleaned it up a bit first. It works perfectly for what I need. A good place to store papers inside. A nice space for the computer and a light on the top. The cord situation isn’t perfect but maybe I can find a way to cover it up so I don’t trip or have to keep moving it each night before bed.

We girls, including Katie, met at our place for prayer in the evening. I will look forward to these weekly prayer times with the women on our team.

Am having a hard time keeping the cat out of my room again tonight so closed the door but that also keeps most of the heat out too.

Day 7 (Friday, January 19, 2007)

Got our first real snow -- a couple of inches -- during the night and it’s rather windy this morning, but a lot melted during the day and now we have ice. Makes it hard to walk. I walked to the store by 8:00 to get a few important items that we needed. Still not feeling very well – coughing, which I think is my allergy-induced asthma, so I started using my inhaler.

Looking outside my back door. Dan and Katie's car.

Katie got me hooked up on their internet (Latnet). We also got our phone working. Spent a good deal of time with Katie helping to prepare for the company we are having this weekend. Five of Dave’s friends from Scotland and 5 guys from Christmas Valley will all be here. I helped Dave put sheets, blankets, pillows, and towels in all the rooms we needed and then just had to come home. I’m really needing to get some sleep.

Now have a child’s tape recorder that Aija and Liga helped put a few sentences on so that I could start my learning program a little more efficiently. It was really funny listening to them try to use such an odd recorder but they finally figured it out and got the sentences on several times.

Day 8 (Saturday, January 20)

Couldn’t sleep much so when I got up about 3:00am I decided to see if Katie’s email would work with our phone since it is now hooked up, and it did. We will be charged for the phone call from here to wherever the Latnet office is. We will just have to pay by the minute which I guess can be expensive.

Worked a little more this morning on language. After the girls left I bundled up and went to the post office and several stores to practice what I had been learning. Right now I can say “Hi, my name is Paula. I am learning the Latvian language. I will live in Tilza for two months and I want to meet all the people.” On the way to the post office I asked two young boys where it (the post office) was and one gave me some instructions which I didn’t really understand but I did recognize something about ‘cars in front’ so I thanked him and went along. I actually knew where it was but wanted to talk to someone. It was cold and snowy again so not many people out on the street.

I was able to use part of my “spiel” at the post office (where four ladies were present). I started with my name and that I would be in Tilza for two months. The first lady said she knew that and did I want my mail at the church. I said no, I am living on Brivibas Street # 46. She said something like “OK”. Then I said my bit about wanting to meet everybody and they each responded by giving me their names. It was such a fun and friendly conversation. And I did buy two stamps. Had a few other conversations on the way home.

After lunch at home I went to Katie’s to see if I could help her with dinner for the crowd in the evening. We didn’t know exactly how many to prepare for. I really was feeling poorly but knew that I needed to keep going. Inita came by and we spent some time talking and working for the dinner. When we started taking food over I met everyone. Sorry that I didn’t take my camera with me. After dinner I got some advice about how to take care of myself and Dan ended up bringing me home.

Aija’s friend, Mara (from Balvi), was here and I thought I recognized her. She was in my group during 2002 camp! She speaks English well and we caught up a bit. I was too tired to talk much.

Day 9 (Sunday, January 21, 2007)

Slept well last night. I was thinking that I would just stay home and rest today. But once I got up I realized that I felt quite well – except that it seems I have a cold.

Aija, Liga, and Mara went on to church earlier than me. It took some time for the church to be prepared for service. The building was warm thanks to Calle’s work this past week – and late last night – in getting the wires redone. Not sure what all that entails but I am really grateful for his abilities and willingness to help. Praise the Lord for gifted people.

The Catholic church is 'on my way' when I'm walking to Tilza Baptist Church

By the time everyone was there we had 27 adults and 5 children. We were about half and half English and Latvian speaking – with some who could do both. The worship was good, and we sensed a blessing from all being together.

After church we all went to the Yellow House for lunch. Only two of the girls left and one other young guy came over. So, we served about 30 including children! What a good time we had. Earlier we had thought Sunday School would have to be cancelled because the kids from the Boarding School couldn’t come, but at the last minute it was on again. So, while that was taking place, the Christmas Valley guys helped me do the dishes then they went for a walk, the Scottish folks went to observe Sunday School, Kaspars took care of his kids, Katie and I talked with Melanija, Biruta and Pavils who were waiting for a ride back to Balvi. When Sunday School was over Kaspars took the Balvi people home. Dave took his friends to Riga to catch the plane. The girls had gone home after teaching Sunday School. After Dan arrived home from preaching in Madona he brought me back to my house. Then I went over to Maija’s. David Baker and 3 Christmas Valleu guys were there. When they left, I stayed briefly to finish my tea with Maija and Jolanta. Maija said she hadn’t been feeling well for the last three days. Inita had come over to our place so we visited awhile. She is going back to Riga in the morning.

First Week in Tilza

2007-01-20T08:55:00.000-08:00

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.
Kaspars Donis - Pastor

My roommates: Liga is on the left and Aija on the right.

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).

Three of the boys from Youth meeting

Madara and Ginta
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.

Ieva

Playing a game of "Electricity"

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.
An illustration for Bible Study!!

New Adventure in Riga

2007-01-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

January 12, 2006

Last night, as I was chewing, one of my gold crowns came off. I immediately e-mailed a few people at home and asked them to pray for getting it fixed quickly and with little trouble.

This morning Vineta called her dentist’s office and they said I could come in at 10:30. This dentist was only about three blocks away and up two flights of stairs! She was able to re-attach the gold, commenting that I probably should have my dentist look at it when I get back to Corvallis. Vineta translated, of course. We were finished in one half hour and back to our plans for the rest of the day! I praise the Lord for His provision. Cost? Seven Lats (almost $13.00) So far, it feels just fine, and just like nothing had happened.

My dentist in Riga and me

From Latvia!

2007-01-11T21:22:00.000-08:00

January 11, 2007

I made it to Riga on a fairly short flight (hour and a half) from Dusseldorf, Germany on Monday (Jan 8). After getting my bags I took a taxi to the Partners Office where I was greeted by Vineta, Lienite, Estere, and Maris. They took me to lunch (at an Italian place) and we spent the rest of the afternoon catching up and talking about details of my plans to live here. Without the Partners Office none of this would be possible. I am very grateful that they have been so kind and helpful.

Since then Vineta and Lienite are working on the process of getting a Permanent Resident Permit for me. It is somewhat complicated but we are also receiving lots of help from the Baptist Union. I walked to that office yesterday and got lost by several blocks – turned the wrong way (and was going to say that I am none worse for wear but that’s not the truth). I never walked anywhere in Corvallis, now we go most places by walking and even if we take a bus we have to walk “just a little ways” to get there. That means lots further than I’m used to and my feet are telling me that they want a rest. I know it’s good for me so I keep going – even if it’s a lot slower than everyone else would go.

Partners office staff L-R Vineta, Lienite, Estere

Most of the nights I am staying in the Partners office – equipped with beds, shower, kitchen, and all things necessary. Stayed last night, however, with Kristine Andrupe who is living in Riga and finishing her dental school training. She will graduate this June and plans to stay in Riga. She is from Tilza and we have known each other since I started coming here in 1999.

I will be going out to Tilza on Saturday. Pastor Kaspars is making a trip to Riga for some church business and will pick me up. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Please continue to pray for my ability to learn Latvian. I have begun to try as I go out each day but not everything has come back that I thought I knew before.

Paula

P.S. There are lots of contrasts on the streets of Riga. I walked along the street close to where I’m staying and found these sights.

First Greetings

2006-12-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Hello to family and friends! Since leaving Corvallis I have spent the last two and half weeks in Germany on a very relaxing vacation which included Christmas, birthday, and New Year’s celebrations. My hosts have been Ilona and Wolfgang Roloff who live in Munchengladbach in the northeastern part of the country and also have an apartment in the Black Forrest where we stayed for 10 days. Haven’t had the snow I was expecting – and in fact, it’s been rather rainy (not unlike Corvallis weather) so we have been inside a lot.

Church we attended on New Year’s Eve

It has been fun to catch up with Ilona who stayed with our family for a year when I was a freshman in college. She and her family (grown sons Jens and Nils) have often been to the States for visits and we (all 5 of our family) have been here now and then. In 2005, Ilona and Wolfgang came to Corvallis to visit Mom about 5 months before she died. She recognized them and they had a good but quick visit.

One of several parties we attended the first week I was here.

I fly tomorrow morning (January 8th) to Riga and will spend a week there before heading to Tilza.

I visited a castle in Munchengladbach

Blessings to all,

Paula