My first Christmas... In Riga

As many of you have possibly heard, airports all over Europe were closed due to an abundance of snow. My supervisor and his family were in Ireland, working with the Latvian Lutheran Church in Dublin in the midst of all of this, and ended up stuck there for 5 days longer than expected. This wouldn't have been as big of a deal, but this period of time included Christmas! Saddened by missing half of the team here, we kept one another in our prayers and rearranged our plans.

In Riga, Kathleen and I spend the weekend together. On Christmas Eve we had our English speaking service, and I gave a children's message. There were about 25 people worshiping with us, and celebrating the birth of the Savior. Later than evening we went to a Latvian Christmas music concert at the Dome, where we were able to participate and sing along with eight different christmas hymns. It was quite a nice evening. The rest of the evening was filled with watching the Grinch, snacking on appetizers, listening to Christmas music and playing scrabble. On christmas day I roasted a chicken, and scurried over to Kathleen's apartment and we had a nice lunch together. (as a Lutheran from Minnesota- this reminded me of potlucks, as I covered the chicken and wrapped it in a towel for transport, I know many of you understand this well ☺)In the evening we went to a Christmas play at the Jesus Church and then took a tram out to spend the rest of the evening with another friend. Yesterday we were blessed to be invited to a nice gathering at the home of a family that regularly attend our English Worship on Sundays. Later on in the evening we went to a Christmas ball that was movie themed. Everyone was dressed as different characters from all sorts of movies. Some of them I recognized, but some were from Russian films that I am not familiar with. All in all the weekend was quite nice. It was certainly not what I am used to, but I feel so blessed to have been able to spend the holiday with wonderful people, and I am thankful that God has already put so many wonderful people in my life here in Latvia.

Mark, Rose and their son Philip just got back from Dublin this morning, and I am so happy that they are home. We are planning on celebrating together soon. What a blessed Christmas! I pray that you have had a good Christmas as well!

Me cutting up the Chicken for our Christmas day dinner.

Christmas fellowship! It may have just been the two of us, but we had a nice time and I am so thankful for our celebration together.

In costume at the Christmas Ball.

Can you guess our Characters?

Post your guesses with comments on this blog entry!

Missionary Gathering in Györ, Hungary

Kathleen and I were blessed to be able to join a group of fellow GEO missionaries with LCMS World Mission at a gathering in Györ, Hungary. At this gathering we were able to share experiences and what God is doing all over Eurasia. It was so encouraging to learn about God's work through these wonderful people. It was also very nice to see some familiar faces, as many of those in attendance were people I went to training with in Chicago, back in June. We had a few things in the program that were Christmas-y (i know that's not a word, bear with me), and it was nice to share some of these things together. Unfortunately my camera battery died shortly after arriving in Györ, and I don't have very many photos of the event. I do have a few, and thanks to facebook have been able to enjoy the photos that others captured during our time together.

This is a photo of me and two other missionaries, and four wonderful Hungarian High School Seniors that are students of an EFL teacher/missionary there with World Mission. They showed us around Györ, were able to work on their conversational English skills, and we got to see their city and learn about them. They were wonderful young women. We had a great time with them. While they were showing us around is when my camera died... sorry, i wish i could share more. I basically only have photos of architecture.

An overnight trip to Lithuania

We were blessed to be able to travel south to Lithuania (about a 4 hour drive) and Rose, Kathleen and I were able to visit an orphanage. While there we made advent wreaths, a Christmas tree with ornaments, had a bible study, saw the children's Christmas play, and had a birthday party for Jesus. We also just spent some time with the children and staff. It was sad to leave. We made friends so quickly. These children are so loving, and easy to love- please keep this place and these wonderful people in your prayers!

One of our first activities we planned was to make advent wreaths and talk about how right now we are waiting for Jesus, and each week we add a flame to our wreath to mark when Jesus is born and we celebrate Christmas!

This was the Christmas tree the children made. We brought tissue paper, and some other art supplies, and they constructed a tree and decorations. Some of them were so full of glitter glue, that they were dripping! I will say that between the laughter, joy and love that was put into this project- there could be nothing more beautiful than paper ornaments with oozing glitter glue on them. Believe it or not, there were quite a few more decorations added by the time we were finished.

In the evening, Pastor came and did chapel with the group. It was neat to be a part of the spiritual instruction/growth that takes place here. I didn't understand much of anything, because it was in Lithuanian, but I did understand "Jesus Christ" and "Amen". It is great that the children are tended to physically, emotionally, and spiritually at this orphanage.

We had the great joy of being able to watch a rehearsal of their Christmas play.

Our birthday party for Jesus was the real deal. We had a cake, balloons, sang "happy birthday" and everything. The children all generally knew the birthday song, which was cute. Some of the younger ones would just sing "ah ah ahhhh" along with the tune if they didn't remember the words.

The Village

A couple of nights last week, Kathleen and I were able to join the youth leadership team from the Jesus Church at a place called the village. It is just a short bus ride outside of Riga. For a whole week the team lives at the village together, leaving to go to their studies or work, and then returning there when they would normally go home. In the evenings they do planning, Bible studies and other things, and they also eat meals together. Kathleen and I were excited to be asked to make one of the meals. We got to share a couple of American things with our Latvian friends. We made Chili, had bread and cheese with it, and then we made chocolate no-bake cookies. (Ovens are not always a common thing to have in a kitchen) What a hit- They loved it! Kathleen led a bible study for us, and we got to help do some planning for the upcoming Christmas ball. What a fun time! I look forward to being more active in ministry with this group!

Independence day and StaroRiga

Thursday was the Latvian independence day, and there were many events; numerous concerts, a flower laying ceremony at the freedom monument, a ceremonial parliament meeting, worship services and fireworks on the Daugava River!

(Unfortunately this is not a photo that I took- I found it online, but I like it because it includes the top of the freedom monument, which is a woman, holding 3 golden stars)

This weekend there is also something called StaroRiga, which is sort of an event where they have different kinds of lights/shows up all over the city. Some are sculptures that are lit, some are images projected onto buildings, not to mention all of the strings of lights in the trees and all of the other types of light related things. Below is a website that you can check out to see some of the lights of StaroRiga!

http://zinas.nra.lv/foto/izklaide/549-staro-riga.htm

Festival of Hope

Please forgive me for the length of time it took me to post about this event! The Ceribas Festivals (Festival of Hope) was an event that was organized and put on by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. It was held at the Riga Arena. The arena is a huge place, but it wasn't big enough to hold all of the people trying to get in! At the festival there was a lot of music including and 800 voice Latvian choir, a Latvian gospel choir, a number Latvian Christian musicians, a guitarist (who looked like a cowboy... must have been American), a couple that travel with the Graham Association, and Michael W. Smith (my personal favorite). There were a few speakers, most notable being Mr. Franklin Graham. This was a 3 day event, with the attendance growing each night, and they began broadcasting it on TV after the first night as well. Overall it was an unforgettable experience. The message of Jesus Christ as the Savior of all was shared with thousands of people. Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in the hearts of those that heard the message at the festival, and that they would connect with other's for fellowship and encouragement.

Franklin Graham and the Latvian translator. Notice all the people in white behind the stage? That is the 800 voice choir!

Michael W. Smith praising God with thousands in Latvia.

Latvia's National Anthem

Text of the anthem of the Republic of Latvia

God, bless Latvia,
Our dearest fatherland,
Do bless Latvia,
Oh, do bless it!

Where Latvian daughters bloom,
Where Latvian sons sing,
Let us dance in happiness there,
In our Latvia!

Here is a link to the song on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UJchtpmpq4&NR=1

I have made it a personal goal to learn the national anthem of Latvia. As I was looking for the music online I also searched its translation. I knew a few key words in Latvian, so I knew a general idea of the content. The song has a neat history (which you can google and find!) and you would not believe how incredible it is to hear it sung. I enjoy it so much that I wanted to share it with you. Along with that I also ask that you might read it as a prayer for the people here.

My first introduction to this anthem was while watching a hockey game on TV- Latvia vs. an American NHL team. Before the game started they did both countries anthems. They played a nice recording of our wonderful American national anthem, and then when I expected to hear the Latvian anthem played a man dressed in formal attire came out onto the ice and directed the entire arena as a choir. I got tears in my eyes! It was so incredible! I was able to attend a Christian Festival of Hope this last weekend (photos to come) and the Latvian national anthem was sung there too. There is a real sense of patriotism here, that I respect and admire greatly.

May God bless both Latvia and the USA, Latvians and Americans.