spring conference & slovakia

we just got back from our annual spring conference in the czech republic.

it was very exciting to be with so many other missionaries who are ministering in this area of the world.

we heard some amazing teaching from our leader dave patty, and guest speaker ray pritchard.

both speakers spoke truth to my current situation and offered much encouragement through God's Word. it couldnt have come at a better time.

after the conference fletch and i visited mike sullivan, a missionary friend of ours, and who lives in czech and works in slovakia.



mike gave us a quick tour of a few parts of slovakia... and contrary to what the name suggests, its a beautiful country!

we hiked through a place they call "slovak paradise."





it was like any other hiking trail, but there were also parts where you had to climb up a bunch of ladders to get to the next part of the trail.


heres me on one of the ladders trying to show how high i was... but all you can see is my head! haha.

we also spent some time around the tatry mountains, which were also beautiful.

overall, it was an amazing trip.

on to the summer...

LTV Cribs pt. 2

heres a video tour of our new crib (pardon my blair witch project camera skills)

parents visit

my parents visit was very refreshing for me and came at just the right time

i got to show them around downtown riga (the capital of latvia) and here are the parents standing next to the freedom statue in the centre

in front of doma cathedral

my dad standing next to an advertisement for the conference he spoke at

we also visited a small town called cēsis, and here we are standing next to their freedom monument

my mom outside of st. johns church in cēsis (which was closed)

while we were in cēsis we also toured an old 13th century castle

my dad getting into "trouble"

fletch was kind enough to drive us around for the day in cēsis

it was pretty hard for me to say goodbye to my parents again, but i am definitely thankful to have had the chance to see them again!

team latvia

here we are (minus scott)

front row from l to r: me, fletch, lisa, liva
back row from l to r: jaycee, toms, mike, kelly, donna, martina, lelde

110,880 minutes

here i am in estonia, after turning in my application for residency, completely oblivious to what was about to happen over the next 77 days...

1,848 hours after i applied for residency, i became a resident of the republic of latvia! thank the Lord!

the application and approval process was one of the most testing and draining periods of my life. at times i found myself doubting God's faithfulness and doubting that this day would ever come. well, surprise, surprise, God came through! as He always does.

now that it is over i find myself relieved and humbled by God's goodness. i was encouraged by the amount of support that our team received from the Body of Christ over the past few months. so a big THANKS to all of you!

worship

i stole this quote off of one of my friends. i thought it was an interesting thought for the day...

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions
exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions,
because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over and the countless
millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God,
missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship
abides forever.
Worship, therefore is the fuel and goal in missions. It's the goal of
missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the
white-hot enjoyment of God's glory. The goal of missions is the gladness
of the people in the the greatness of God. Worship is the fuel of
missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in
preaching. You can't commend what you don't cherish. Missions begins and
ends in worship."

John Piper --- Let the Nations Be Glad

philippians 1:6

i see so much potential for God to work in this country. one of the first weeks i was here i visited a youth group for a winter/christmas party. throughout the party there were around 30 people in the room. i had heard that they were also having an all night prayer meeting in the same room after the party ended. as the party was coming to an end a few hours later, i noticed a lot of young people trickling in the door. by the time the prayer meeting started, i was blown away to see the number of people in the room double! let me say that again... the number of youth in the room doubled after the party... to spend all night praying!!! how often do you get to see that? standing room only... for a prayer meeting?!?!!? crazy. i came away that night encouraged to see so many young people seeking the Lord.

may God continue His good work in latvia. amen.

fame is so fleeting

a friend of mine gave me season tickets to the barons games. the barons are a professional latvian basketball team and between the first and third quarters of their games they let people shoot half court shots. if someone makes it, then they get a free car to drive for a month...

well, as the first quarter ended i watched as all of this was taking place (as pictured in the background between the guy akwardly shooting the ball and the gentleman in the green) and sarcastically made the comment that "i could make that." well, my friend who gave me the tickets was sitting down the row and heard me and because she works for the team she quickly got up and set me up to shoot at the end of the third quarter. great. that gave me plenty of time to sit and think about the shot and get nervous. the third quarter finally came around and a few of us guys walked out onto the court before they realized they had no balls for us to shoot with. we waited around for about 30 seconds before they eventually got balls out for us to shoot with. thats when everything went crazy... it became a mad rush to get a ball and shoot.

i got a ball and calmly took my first shot. on target, but a little short.

i got another ball and shot again. a little closer.

as i went to grab a third ball i caught an elbow to the face! no joke. these guys were not messing around. fortunately for me, this was my third shot and by that time i was dialed in... weight, distance, wind, humidity... everything.

i let go of the ball and then sat and watched as it sailed through the air. it felt good.

it hit off the back of the rim.

as i turned around to grab another ball, the crowd went crazy. the guy behind me had made his shot! nuts.

i bet it was that same guy who elbowed me in the face... jerk! haha.

maybe next time...

suicide rates

i got a sobering email from scott runzo (our country leader here in latvia) this morning. this email had rankings for the top ten suicide rates per country and four out of the top five countries were all in eastern europe. more proof that this area of the world is in desperate need of a Savior! please keep our team in your prayers as we minister in this area of the world.

Highest Suicide Rates in the World
Rank Country Suicides per 100,000 inhabitants per year
1 Lithuania 42.0
2 Russia 37.4
3 Belarus 35.0
4 Latvia 34.3
5 Estonia 33.2
6 Hungaryk 32.1
7 Slovenia 30.9
8 Ukraine 29.4
9 Kazakhstan 28.7
10 Finland 24.3

Source: BBC

-12 degrees celsius?!?!!?

i never knew it got this cold on planet earth. the dark side of the moon? maybe. but earth? nope. well unfortunately, for me and the rest of the latvian population, it does. i thought my body was going to quit on me when i was waiting for the tram yesterday! the worst part is that people here love to tell me that it hasnt even gotten cold yet! haha. ive begun to realize that "cold" is a very relative term.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Jesus is the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

so what will you give Him on His birthday???

LTV Cribs pt. 1

heres a sneak peak (get it? fletch is peaking out the window...? haha. lame, i know) at our room.

now i know what you are probably thinking... does it get any better than the pink window shades?!?!! well the answer is yes, it does... in the form of green 1970's russian wallpaper, which is beautifully accented by a red and black floor rug. mind you, all these came with our room. they would certainly not be our first choice. i have to be honest though, part of me like how ridiculous our room looks. its growing on me.

with our room we wanted to contrast the modern look of ikea with the decorating style of communist russia. i think we succeeded.

and as you can see, these are all completely candid shots of me and fletch (fletch and i?) in our room. we just happened to be in all of them... and doing perfectly normal things, like peaking out a window and reading a cookbook.

our beautiful entryway.

well, there you have it. a quick glimpse at where we live.

[note: im pretty sure you picked up on my sarcasm throughout this post. but i do want to be careful because, though i am making light of our living situation, we have a roof over our heads in a great location, lots of space, and an overall great living situation. and for all that i am VERY thankful to live where we live. we just wanted to have a little fun with it. hopefully, ill be able to put up a video with a full tour of the house soon. hold tight.]