baptism

kitija & krista got baptized yesterday! it was a blessing to witness them making a public confession of Christ as their own Lord & Savior.

janis, thought something was funny...

jaycee & the girls

fletch & the girls

the girls & i

please pray for kitija & krista as they continue to follow Christ & mature in their faith!

youtube of the month: may

nike - the human chain

they always manage to come through with amazing ads

new apartment (cont.)

welcome to LTV cribs - the 2010 "joe brooks" edition

entryway (watch your head... it only took me 24 hours to hit my head HARD)

shower & toilet

kitchen

living room

bedroom

the view from my bedroom window

well, i guess thats it.

thanks for stopping by! feel free to drop in anytime. :)

SUSAN!!!

we added a new member to our josiah venture family today! susan paterson was a summer intern back in 2006 and 2007 and officially arrived in latvia as a full-time Christ-follower on april 30th. we are thrilled to have her as part of our team!!!

the welcoming committee

welcome hugs

susan & her new roommate agnese!

and uhhh... here is jaycee

ps-susan is from canada, please try not to hold that against her. :)

new apartment

i got the keys to my new apartment today!! im planning to clean it up tomorrow and move in when we get back from spring conference. i will put up a few pictures soon. :)

prayer days

i will be "out of the office" for the next two days. i am taking part in an annual meeting of christian leaders in latvia, called "prayer days." its "a time for the nation's spiritual leaders to come together for prayer, refreshment, encouragement, laughter and friendship." i am definitely looking forward to some undistracted time with the Lord!

church leadership meeting

on saturday, we gathered together the leadership teams of six of the churches that we are partnering with this summer.

it was exciting to see everybody in the same room!

gatis looking thrilled :)

our first camp starts on june 13th...

creative lesson planning course

4. 2. 3. 4. 4.

those were the number of students that we had in class every night. haha! again, not quite what we expected, but we tried to make the best of it!

kelly put the class in a good perspective by looking at a few things...

• we were able to continue supporting the riga international bible institute. this was the first year that they have tried to develop their "christian education" program, which focuses more on youth ministry. its a perfect fit, because i know that kelly and i are more than happy to help anyone who wants to equip young christian leaders! :)
• we were able to develop our own materials for the class and get them translated into latvian and russian (thanks to princess po & laimnesis)... which means we can re-use them in the future!
• another upside was that we had a lot more freedom with a smaller class to try things that probably would not have worked with a larger group. in a lot of ways, these students were our "guinea pigs," with the new materials and how we taught the class. somehow, by the grace of God, we got very encouraging feedback on the class!
  
• and on a more personal note, it was great practice for me. i have never taught in a class setting where i was using my own materials. it was a great experience!

thank you for all of your prayers!

random youtube

this gives me the creeps!

but somehow it is still hilarious to me...

what are you doing friday night?

two words... rock. choir.

if you are free and in the area, come check it out!

friday night. lāčplēša iela 37. 19:00.

today is a GREAT day

happy resurrection day/easter!

"Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive."

1 Corinthians 15:12-22 (NASB)

today, i am especially thankful to be in Christ!!!

youtube of the month: april

batman!