Learning Latvian

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.