schedule for the next few months

the summer and camps are well on their way. things are about to get semi-busy...

• april 12-16: co-teaching a "creative lesson planning" class at riga international bible institute
  
• april 16: riga fusion concert
  
• april 17: latvian church team training
  
• april 26-28: "prayer days"
• april 29-may 1: "izaicinājums 2010" church planting conference
  
• may 5-9: josiah venture spring conference
  
• may 15: master's college team arrives
  
• may 26-june 2: josiah venture intern training
  
• june 13-june 19: master's/liepa camp
  
• june 25-july 1: camp term #1 (faith/kuldīga & faith/centrs camps)
• july 11-18: camp term #2 (red mountain/rīta zvaigzne & red mountain/vangaži camps)
  
• july 24-july 31: camp term #3 (canyon del oro/tukums & shiloh/grobiņa camps)
  
• august 4-5: intern debriefing
• august ??-??: my personal debriefing/vacation :)
  

...all that to say, i need your help! i am a weak human being who cannot accomplish much in my own strength. instead, i want to see God do His all-powerful/good/sovereign/loving thing in these next few months! would you join me in asking Him to work in each of these events/conferences/camps? i believe there is power when people gather together to pray for a common purpose.

so, will you pray with me?

walking on water

so i learned how to walk on water the other day. no big deal.

the river was frozen, but i still walked on it! jealous?

the homies, lucka & katka, came through latvia and got to walk on the daugava too. lucky czechs!

reason why latvia is the bomb #17: reading through the Bible

as many of you know, i have been reading through the Bible with two of my best friends in latvia, kitija and krista matula. i think of these girls as my "little latvian sisters" because they have become very dear to me, to the point where they feel like family.

at our last fall conference, another josiah venture missionary challenged me to find some latvian guys to read through the Bible with. after a few unsuccessful attempts with guys here, i approached kitija and krista with the same idea. they immediately agreed and around mid-september we started meeting every week.

our original plan was to read through the entire Bible in four months, but because of the two months that i was in the states, we decided to push back the finishing date another two months to march 20th. it is looking like we will not meet our goal of finishing in time, but in this case i think the ending date comes secondary. i have learned a lot from these two girls over the past 5+ months and it has been a pleasure to study the Bible with them. God's Word has changed me and i have been blessed with a front row seat to see how He is working in their lives too. it has been the best Bible study that i have ever been a part of! i am very thankful for that!

how about eight months? ok, deal.

uncle joe!

got this email from carly on march 4th...

Guess what?!

-Carly & Rob :o)

youtube of the month: march

the marshmallow test

these kids are hilarious!

free audiobooks

dietrich bonhoeffer's classic, 'the cost of discipleship' is available as a free audio book download for the month of march! download it here.

you can also download "fifty reasons why Jesus came to die" by john piper as a free audio book at the same link!

did i mention that they were FREE?

get the knowledge people!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just got a call at 5:30am, with some of the best news ive ever heard in my life! dont know if im allowed to say anything about it yet, but it is a HUUUUUUUUGE answer to prayer!!!!!!! thank you LORD!

youth ministry course (cont.)

night #4 - on thursday we taught on "prayerful dependence" and the "communication of God's word." both of these sections are not only applicable in ministry, but also to the christian life. prayer has been one thing i have observed that latvian christians do VERY well. over the past two years i have spent many hours in prayer with latvians and have been blessed to hear their hearts for the Lord. i think the challenge for latvia, and for all of us, is to follow-up our prayers with action.

night #5 - there were a few times during the week when i was discouraged that kelly and i were not getting the message across well. but on last night of class that all went out the window! the students presented us with gifts to say "thank you" and blessed us with some kind words. one of the ladies even read us a poem that she wrote for kelly and i! regardless of what i felt about the class, it was obvious that the students appreciated it. praise God!

i am thankful for the relationships that were formed this week and i am trusting that God built His Kingdom. it was a great experience to get to teach with kelly and i am already looking forward to our next class in april! we appreciate your prayers!!!

youth ministry course (cont.)

night #1 - was full of surprises... i managed to get my car stuck in the snow twice on the way to the institute... this of course made us late for our first day of class... we arrived at the institute expecting to have around 10 students, and only five of them showed up... most of the five that came were not even directly involved in youth ministry... this put kelly and i in scramble mode to try and make the class applicable to everyone... even with all the surprises, the first night went pretty well! praise the Lord!

night #2 - was a pretty big "hurdle" for me. those who know me well, know that i am not much of a talker. so, the idea of teaching for three hours was not something that i was super comfortable with. we did not get through all the material that we had planned, but i taught for almost 2.5 hours... which is a new world record for me haha! another cool thing is that five more students showed up. a very good night again! praise God!

night #3 - for the first half of class, kelly and i decided to have our students observe "fusion." we thought it would be a good idea to expose the class to a new way of contacting youth who would normally never step foot in a church. fusion is a ministry that uses popular music to reach young people for Christ. the ministry is the result of a fusion camp we did this past summer. there were around 20 kids in the summer camp and it has now grown to 30-35 students who gather every wednesday night for "rock choir" practice. they periodically have concerts to prepare for and in the meantime they are hearing God's Truth on a weekly basis. our class left half-way through the fusion practice and headed back to the institute for some q&a time. it was great to hear their feedback from their experience. one of the ladies in the class said that seeing and experiencing fusion for one hour was much more valuable than a weeks worth of sitting in a classroom and talking about ministry! pretty cool to hear, but a little damaging to the ego haha! thank you Jesus!

through our preparation for the class and teaching, i have sensed a lot of spiritual opposition. i know that is usually a good indicator that God is doing something Good, so i am thankful for that! and i am thankful for your prayers! lets keep praying!

youth ministry course

kelly and i are teaching every night this week, from 18:00-21:00. i feel completely "in over my head," but i know that is usually a good place to be! it removes any illusion in my head that something Good will come out of this week as a result of my own strength or knowledge.

if you think about it, please pray! i want to see God work mightily this week.

1 chronicles 16:8-36

Psalm of Thanksgiving

⁸Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.
⁹Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
Speak of all His wonders.
¹⁰Glory in His holy name;
Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.
¹¹Seek the LORD and His strength;
Seek His face continually.
¹²Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,
¹³O seed of Israel His servant,
Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
¹⁴He is the LORD our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
¹⁵Remember His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,
¹⁶The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac.
¹⁷He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
¹⁸Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan,
As the portion of your inheritance."
¹⁹When they were only a few in number,
Very few, and strangers in it,
²⁰And they wandered about from nation to nation,
And from one kingdom to another people,
²¹He permitted no man to oppress them,
And He reproved kings for their sakes, saying,
²²"Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm."
²³Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
²⁴Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
²⁵For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;
He also is to be feared above all gods.
²⁶For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the LORD made the heavens.
²⁷Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and joy are in His place.
²⁸Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
²⁹Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him;
Worship the LORD in holy array.
³⁰Tremble before Him, all the earth;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
³¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
And let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."
³²Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
³³Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD;
For He is coming to judge the earth.
³⁴O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
³⁵Then say, "Save us, O God of our salvation,
And gather us and deliver us from the nations,
To give thanks to Your holy name,
And glory in Your praise."
³⁶Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
From everlasting even to everlasting
Then all the people said, "Amen," and praised the LORD.

"like, whoa!"
-black rob

reason why latvia is the bomb #16: monday nights

every monday night, our team gathers together at kelly & donna's flat for dinner and Bible study. it is usually the best part of my week!

The Word. prayer. fellowship. thanksgiving. delicious food.

does it get any better than that?

i always leave monday nights encouraged by how God is using each of us where He has us! He is doing amazing things through this team and i am blessed to be a part of that. i have grown to love each team member dearly and i am so thankful for them!!! thank you Lord!