camps here we come

here is the summer camp staff...

(from left to right) montis, agnese, arnija, anete, martins, adam, anna, myself, arturs, oskars, and elina, fletch & nigel are not pictured. please pray for us we serve together this summer! may God be glorified. amen.

happy fathers day!!!

it is a tremendous responsibility to be a father. i am especially thankful for my dad, steve brooks, and how he has continued to be faithful to his Father. what a blessing it is to have his example in my life!

good to see

here is a short news clip of people from my church back in the states serving on a mission trip to brazil. it is always good to see how God is working all around the globe!

ywam valdemarpils

this is where our 2nd and 3rd camps will be...

vāgneris

this is where our 1st and 4th camps will be...

ten shekels and a shirt

please download and listen to this very powerful message!

"Ten Shekels and a Shirt" by Paris Reidhead

cookie time!

today i got to bake my favorite kind of cookies with some of my favorite people on the planet. a win-win situation.

"russian smiles" w/ chad & polina

yum.

are you on a mission?

again, very challenging thoughts from francis chan.

"As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, And being satisfied, their heart became proud; Therefore they forgot Me."
Hosea 13:6

intern training

fletch, adam, and i were in the czech republic last week for our annual intern training.

70 josiah venture interns and staff met in vienna to begin "the amazing race."

we broke up into our country teams and spent the next two and a half days racing around vienna, budapest, bratislava; while completing different tasks that led us to the end of the race in malenovice. along the way we got to see a lot of beautiful places.










here is our team, "latviamanda!" amanda joined our team for the amazing race. she is the music intern in czech this summer and she will be joining us in latvia to help with our music camp in july.

it was a blast! the goal of the race was to break down barriers on the teams and to have purposefully stressful situations so that our "true colors" would show. teams will then enter the summer knowing each other and how to work well together.

during the training at malenovice, dave patty spoke on a four characteristics that Jesus wanted His disciples to have before He sent them out. one of the talks was on Matthew 3:6-10; and focused on repentance. in repentance we verbally confess our sin as it is seen in God's eyes, immerse it in the completed work of Christ on the cross, and turn ourselves away from the sin and turn to God. after the talk we spent time praying for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the sin in our lives. i wrote down a laundry list of junk that was in my life, and as i repented of those things i experienced freedom! crazy how that works, huh? im thankful for it!

another highlight from the conference was getting to see a long lost friend, nigel kelly.

nigel was a summer intern the first time i came to latvia in 2001 and now he is studying at dallas theological seminary. he is spending the summer traveling around europe to visit different ministries and see what God is doing in europe and where he might be a good fit. he will be with us in latvia for all of july, so we are excited to have him as part of our camp team. you can read more about his trip here.

youtube of the month: june

this months video is appropriately called "flaming pants dance." the first three or four times i watched it i laughed so hard i was in tears. i am not sure if people will find it as funny as i do, but the utter stupidity of what takes place in this video is mind blowing. hope you enjoy it!