A Sending...

This post is in honor of Kathleen, the intern who preceded me here in Riga.

We had about a half year of overlap, for which I am very thankful for. We have known each other for 6 years now, and I am blessed to call her my friend. Kathleen has helped me to learn the culture of Latvia, shared some of her favorite things, introduced me to many people, and is now in the last moments of the final "handing off" of the role of DCE intern to Riga to me as she prepares to move back to the US. I know people will be thrilled to have her back, but I wouldn't mind keeping her here for a little while longer either. It's really not that I am unsure about being the only intern here and having to much to do-that i will all be just fine... I'm just going to miss my friend. Please keep Kathleen in your prayers as she transitions back to life in the States, as she says goodbye to many people here that she loves deeply, and as the next chapter in life awaits.

There and back again...

After my long "silence" on this blog, I post today February 16th- my nameday! I mentioned in the last post about a Latvian tradition of celebrating names days, and figure I might as well explain a bit about it as today I celebrated mine. This is a tradition many European countries observe in various degrees or have in the past. Many countries used to celebrate name days in connection with Saint's days, though this practice is not found as much any longer. Each country has it's own variation of the concept but for Latvia it goes as follows... The most common names in Latvia are assigned to specific dates which remain the same every year. If your name doesn't have a day then you celebrate it on the day that is for all the other names that don't have days. On your name day, the tradition of getting flowers, sweets or small gifts are possibilities, or you may get visitors and the fun part about names days is that the visit can be without invitation or even warning! Today I was given a beautiful flower from my dear friend and co-intern Kathleen, various well-wishes from friends here, I baked chocolate chip cookies and then in the evening I went to an art class and did an oil pastel drawing of a musical instrument still life. It was my first time actually making any art around other people besides my family since studying art at Concordia. What a great day!

This post is titled "There and back again" for two reasons. The first is that I love the book "the Hobbit" and second is that I had an excuse to us that name because I was briefly back in the United States for the DCE midyear conference and a short, but lovely visit with my family.

The conference was for all of the interns that are out right now and served as an opportunity to reconnect with other's in similar ministry settings, have meetings about our futures as full-time educational church workers, cover some technicalities of church work, as well as debrief, evaluate and refocus on the ministries that each of us are connected to. My visit with my family was very nice, though of course it was hard to say "see-you-later" again, and I could not believe how quickly the time passed. This time coming to Latvia it was easier on my heart because I knew that I was coming back to people that I missed and that I love as well. It is not exactly warm in Latvia, though it is warmer than it was in Minnesota- but the sun has begun to share it's face with us once again. I am so happy to have the sun shining through my window and on the streets. It puts a smile on my face and joy in my heart. So, there you have it an update on what I have been up to... a journey "there and back again".