ephesiansfiveoneandtwo

4/26/10

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!

4/19/10

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!

4/17/10

random youtube

this gives me the creeps!

but somehow it is still hilarious to me...

4/16/10

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.

4/4/10

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!!!

4/3/10

youtube of the month: april

batman!

3/28/10

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?

3/27/10

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!

3/17/10

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.