Another look out my window

Before you saw a look out my window... well the view is changing. This was several weeks ago, and the tree turned green almost over night.

Easter Night

I have had a lot of trouble with Blogger, but i hope that this works. These are a few photos from the Easter night celebration at the Jesus Church with the youth there.

We talked about the passover meal, and one of the guys explained the meanings behind each food and action.

After it hit midnight and turned Easter, we celebrated, and then changed the paraments in the church, and took out all the dark decorations, replacing them with white and bright ones.

My friend Seila and I at Easter night.

Happy Easter!

or in Latvian...

Priecīgas Lieldienas!

I pray that you have a blessed Easter celebration!

Seeing a little more of this great place

A Stork between Sigulda and Riga. :)

Castle in Sigulda

Cave in Sigulda

Turaida Castle

Church and prayer/meditation labrynth in Krimulda.

The white dunes at the bay of Riga in Saulkrasti

A church in Kuldiga

River and bridge in Kuldiga

I have been quite blessed by the friendships that have developed and grown since I moved here. Latvia is a small country with a lot to love about it. Especially as the weather warms up and as the days get a bit longer, there is also opportunity to see more of the country and get outside of Riga a bit more. One friend here has been so wonderful in making this possible. She plans out an idea for a place that is interesting and we make a day trip on a free Saturday. We have done this twice now, first a trip to Kuldiga, and the second one which was just last weekend was to Sigulda. They have both been such great trips, as we make several stops along the way at various intriguing sites. I thought I might share a few photos of the adventures, and thus share with anyone who hasn't seen Latvia with their own eyes a little bit of the beautiful country that I call home right now.

Listening to God's Nudging...

Throughout the last several months the idea to start a young adult Bible study has continually been coming up. Last week especially there were several things that really made me think about it again. Then on Monday morning I got an email that mentioned a Bible study again, and I finally threw my hands up and said "OK God- I'll do it!!!" Before I had kept thinking about it, what it should be like, where it should be, what we could study, etc. etc... well- on Monday it was like God was giving that nudge a little bit harder this time, and none of those details that were getting in the way could allow me to let it be put off any longer. I began texting and facebooking people (yes- Latvia is just like the USA in that way) and Monday night we had the first of what I hope will be a weekly Bible study from here on out. It would really be great if it got to be established enough, and the people would bond together that they would continue it even after I would leave. I realized that the thing standing in the way of this happening sooner was not getting everything "worked out" and in order, but me and (though subconscious as it might have been) my lack of trust that God would be the one leading it, not me. I am really happy that things have started up, and God finally sat me down and said "Now see here, Julia!"

Our first topic of study is "Promises"... :)

Youth Evening in Dubulti

At the seminar my professor Tim Rippstein and I led on youth ministry a couple of weeks ago, we met a wonderful young woman named Ilze. She is the youth leader at a church in Dubulti, Latvia. I was filled with excitement when she invited me to come to their youth evening and speak. We figured out which Saturday it would work for both of us and thus last night I met Ilze and we headed to Dubulti. After just a short train ride, we were at the church's fellowship building and setting things up. It was a wonderful evening of fellowship, discussion, learning, and praise. We spoke about Jesus's time in the wilderness, why He did it, what it would have been like, what we can learn from it, what it means to spend time recognizing our sin, and thus even more fully understand our need for the perfect savior Jesus Christ. When we were singing at the end of the evening, I was blessed by the inclusion of English words to the songs- we would sing each song in Latvian, then in English, then the chorus in Latvian again! It was so wonderful to meet more of my brothers and sisters in Latvia, and share this special evening together. It was truly blessed.

A Supervisor Visit

As a DCE Intern I have an 'On-site Supervisor' and a 'University Supervisor'. My DCE professor Tim Rippstein is my University supervisor. Since it was spring break back at CUNE, Tim was able to fly on over to Latvia to visit and do some evaluations, check in on how things are going, and to help me to understand where to go from here. During this visit Tim and I led a seminar at the youth center in Riga which ended up being quite nice, and has already opened up more opportunities for me to contribute to the community. The seminar was about youth ministry. It presented things to consider, helpful ideas and methods for planning bible studies or messages. We also had a lot of meetings and discussions in days following. The last days of Tim's time in Latvia was in a town called Saldus. We connected with St. Gregor's mission center and both taught the lessons for the students there for 3 days and 2 of the evenings Tim did presentations on family, passing on the faith, parenting and relationships which were open to the Saldus community. We were also blessed to meet many, many wonderful people and visit a small town call Pampāļi, where a Lutheran pastor is really sharing his heart and his dreams to help the community there.

This experience was quite interesting for me. Along with participating in the events themselves, I was able to get some administrative experience before hand, as I planned and prepared in advance.

Tim getting ready to begin the presentation in the evening for the Saldus community. The young lady in black is Inese and was our wonderful translator. The pastor who is introducing the evening is from the local Lutheran Church.

Here is a photo of about 1/3 or 1/4 of the group that attended the evening presentations.

In this photo I'm at the front desk in the classroom as we took some time to reflect on and write down a few thoughts on our lesson for the day regarding love. God's love, our response to Him and then to each other, incorporating the 5 love languages.

What's that? Julia can teach? Ready and willing!

Here's a snap shot of four of the joyful little girls that we were able to spend some time with in Pampāļi. The pastor involved in this community has spent a lot of time and energy getting this children's center up and running. They have a chapel space downstairs and upstairs there is a play room of sorts where children can come after school. It is a safe place for them to have fun, be kids and in some cases escape for a little while from the difficult situations at home. The center also holds donated clothing and other items for families that are experiencing hard times. There are dreams and committed hearts to continue this ministry further with a church, more diaconal ministry and maybe even some opportunities for employment.