The Uttermost Parts of the Earth

New Site

2010-03-01T15:43:00.003-05:00

We are upgrading! We have decided with so many open doors and opportunities God has provided for us, it is time to go with something with permanency to it. Our blog is now located at www.thehelffamily.com. We thank all of you who have followed our journey and ask you continue supporting us in missions work. On the new site, you can subscribe and receive updated posts by email.

We will be writing an update on the upcoming missions trip as well. We ask you continue praying for the team and if you are interested in going, let us know. There are all sorts of needs - prayer, being on the team, financial, material support, etc.

Thank you again for all of your prayers and encouragement!

A Motivation

2010-02-10T13:15:00.000-05:00

***UPDATE - Below is the second post we made to this blog. I am bumping this to the top for a simple reminder. Right now we are seeing record snowfall and cold temps. As a reminder of what "extreme" is, Europe has faced even colder temps and more snow. To put this in perspective, please watch the video below again - as before, note the hardships these streetkids are facing. And then add to that the weather conditions they are facing. As with children in areas that suffered natural disasters, these children need our prayers and our help.***

A few weeks ago, we ate dinner with a family who are missionaries to St. Petersburg, Russia. They have a calling for orphans and have worked with a few orphanages in the city's metro area. We were given a video and told that it was powerful. We were also cautioned on how graphic it was. We took it home and watched it. This video is an emotional stab in the heart. I told Brooke if there was ever a motivation this was it. I also said if anyone ever questions us as to our purpose or motivation, let them watch this video. I highly encourage you to watch this video with an open but guarded heart. This is happening. And all over the world. But in this case, this happens in a region where hope either is eroding or non-existent for many. This video takes place in Moscow, Russia but could be anywhere in the former Soviet republics - anywhere in the world for that matter. It is our desire to bring hope to the hopeless - a simple message. God is hope.

DISCLAIMER - This is subtitled. And there is language as well. Do not watch around your children. So please watch this and tell others of this as well.

Summer Mission Trip To Latvia

2010-02-08T21:42:00.003-05:00

This summer I am planning on a return to Latvia - this time a full fledged mission trip with the organization we went through last September. Difference is this time we are going with members of that organization and anyone else with a calling to go.

The tentative dates are June 17th through July 1st with costs being between $2500-$3000 per person. Hopefully this cost will be reduced. If you feel a calling to go, to help, or any other way of being a part of this trip let me know. I know with times being tough there is a financial limitation in going. Please pray for those who are and who might go on this trip.

If the group is large enough, we are hoping to split into three teams and have one as a construction team and the other two as outreach teams ministering to the kids in several children's homes. With budgets being cut, these homes are being forced to either make due or find creative ways to keep basic maintenance or stock. Basic repairs to bathrooms, tiling work, and handyman repairs are in need at several locations. The outreach group will focus on VBS programs and community outreach to those in need. For those who kept up with our family's trip last year, we plan on taking a group back to Ziles, the Salvation Army home in Riga, meeting with Helen with Hope for Children, and to Liepaja. We are hoping to have a community type event mixed in with the VBS and to make a trip into Karosta to do some outreach to street kids and a prayer walk.

In addition, we hope to cram as many supplies as we can in our 'extra' luggage for this trip. Socks, shoes, vitamins, toothbrushes and toothpaste, lice shampoo, shampoo, soap, as well as school supplies, candy, and toys will try to find a way in our bags - this is the much needed effort to replenish what is most needed among their supplies.

I have included a link of some of the pictures from last September's trip. Many of those faces will be seen on this trip. It is our hope and prayer to give these kids not only material needs but the message of hope and love that Christ teaches. Not only will these orphans be reached but countless others we cross paths will as well. And I assure you each person involved in this trip from going, to prayer, financing, driving, buying, etc. will be touched as well.

If you wish to help in any way, please let me know. Not only is there a need in cost for the trip but the items listed below are needed as well:

-More team members
-Individual's cost
-Cost for materials
-Donation of vitamins, personal hygiene products, candy, shoes, socks, small toys, school supplies, etc. (remember luggage sized items)
-Extra suitcases
-Buddy passes or Skymiles from Delta
-Prayer

God bless!

Could You Support?

2010-01-30T11:08:00.002-05:00

We recently observed the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It is not a day I hold in honor by any means. This is a day that many of those in the Pro-Life community gather to promise to work that year on laws, awareness, etc. regarding the issue of life. And with that, the focus comes solely around to the issue of abortion. But in the grand scheme of things, being "Pro-Life" is much more than the abortion issue. Life as we understand it begins at conception and in physical form ends at death. So to truly be "Pro-Life" we must address the issues regarding life from as the saying goes "womb to tomb".

With that, I have thought a lot about how we call for an end to abortion. But what happens when a single mother, especially a young single mother, promises to birth this child? Many times there are situations that these women are chastised, outcast, persecuted by friends and family, and left to fend for themselves. An extreme element says they brought this on themselves and therefore must pay the consequences for this. But I ask, as Christians who hold the "Pro-Life" view, is this the Christlike behavior we must display? Are we so righteous to say do not abort but then leave the mother to fend for herself? You must carry the baby to term but after that you are on your own. We don't want a life terminated but have no regard for what happens after that.

As a testimony to my own life, I am a child conceived and born out of wedlock. I refuse the title of illegitimate. I am a legitimate child of God like anyone else. But the title still is used by many and it hurts. Let's say I did not come into the world under the ideal moral circumstances. My mother's doctor told her that because of the times, her job, and the hardships she faced being a single mother he offered 'fatherly' advice to abort me. It was the best thing to do. But my mother chose to birth me. She was chastised. She was an outcast. Just one year after Roe v. Wade, she had pressure to take the easy way out and resume life as if there were no consequences. She could have quietly chose to abort and not face embarrassment, shame, looks, whispers, etc. She did birth me and lived 5 years as a single mom working full time and trying to find childcare for me. It was not easy. She had help but it was limited. She faced hardships. In applying for a job she was told a single mother with a child born under questionable circumstances was a high risk hire. Family did not come out and say anything but the feelings of pity, etc. were always subtle.

Where am I going with this? I am not trying to turn this post into a "Life vs. Choice" battle or to focus solely on the abortion issue. And I hope I do not lose anyone reading the blog on one side or the other on this issue. Stay with me here. Those of you following the blog and close to us know that we have a heart and calling for missions work in Latvia especially with orphans. Looking at the big picture, the issue with orphans is a circular one. Many orphans leave and typically repeat the cycle that brought them there to begin with - young mother and father with no money have children under great strain which turns to an abusive home - drugs, alcohol, etc. Their children are given up or taken and the cycle carries on. It even goes as far as young women, even girls, getting pregnant with no one to help. In Latvia, the economy is all but in shambles. Social services are typically the first things cut. Families have little money to begin with so to help a family member is making a dire situation even worse.

So living these beginnings really burdens my heart. My mother raised me for 5 years. But even with the hardships she faced (and overcame no doubt with pain) there were safety nets. There was family even if they gave reluctant support. She did have a job. Many of these girls and women in Latvia, where our heart is, do not have that chance.

It is with this that I have felt a calling to do something for these women. Helen, the missionary we stayed with while in Riga, operates a day center for kids in the area. She has told me about the situation for many young single mothers she knows. Because of economic hardships many young, single mothers with no help are left with few options. The number of babies being abandoned at hospitals is on the rise. A mother gives up her child because she cannot provide food, shelter, and clothing. Where is the help? The government has cut services because of financial hardships. So who can stop this?

Brooke and I have discussed having a yard sale again in the Spring where people donate items they do not need or want. All proceeds would then go to Helen's organization to help these young mothers and children in need. This is aid that will go towards groceries, diapers, formula, electricity, rent, doctor visits, etc. We are praying for a location to collect donations and a location to have the sale.

This is an effort to give life a chance to succeed. This is work to give mothers a chance to be with their children - to keep them and raise them. This is an effort to prevent what several sources have said is an epidemic at hospitals of babies being dropped off because of complete economic hardship and inability to raise these children. We've done yard sales to raise funds before but this one is different for me. It combines something of my past with something close to our hearts. And it came together listening to the sermon this past Sunday morning. In the reading from the second half of Acts, verse 45 references the believers selling their possessions and giving to those in need. While this is not the same level of the early Church, this is a start. People are giving up personal items and the sale of these items goes to help mothers and children in need. Acts 2:45 meets modern day. So pray for this cause - for God to open doors in preparation, location, and donation. This is a drop in the bucket on the issue and in one corner of the world. But salvation and grace started off in Bethlehem. It went to Galilee and then Jerusalem. Today Christ's message of hope, love, and salvation is global. Help me spread a message of hope, love, and compassion to those who need it and watch this grow. I hope and pray a few children helped here will only cause this to grow in the future as well.

Seek Him First This Year

2010-01-24T14:51:00.000-05:00

It has been quite a while since our last post. Much has happened since then. I’ve had so many ideas for blog posts but never found the time to type them out. One of the things impacting me most about this new year has been my time and how much of it is spent on focusing on God. New Years comes and we make our resolutions. Odds are that they don’t even make it past the first week much less February. I thought about mine over and over. Priority on family. Pay down debt. Get in shape. You know – the usual. But again, days pass and we get tied up in the ‘routine of life’ and those resolutions get broken. I kept coming back to this one point. Put God first. I thought about Luke 12:31. Seek God first and everything else will basically follow. This is not “get close to God in order to get blessings”. It’s about God being what matters.

In this past year I have seen that. Build and better your relationship with God and life falls into place. It’s not that you do that in order for life to fall into place. This is the result of simply drawing closer to our Father. And with that comes our time and our priorities. I try hard to reexamine mine constantly. And it is a battle. We look at our schedules. Between work, school, kids’ sports events, etc. when do we have time for anything else? But look at our week. We have 168 hours in a week. Some spend 40 plus working. If we sleep 6 hours a day that is 42 hours of sleep. The other half is us constantly being on the go. And somewhere in there we throw in a 2 hour average of time at church. And then we return to our busy schedules doing other things. If that 2 hours is all we give God we give him 1% of our week. That is 99% of our week devoted to something besides God.

Looking deeper into this, how much focus and priority do we give to God? Are we making Him known in our lives? Do others in that daily routine see God in us? I am not a betting man but I am willing to say that our friends and neighbors know who our favorite sports team is, our favorite TV show is, or who we are politically supportive of. We sure will don the colors of our favorite college and drive hours to tailgate and then file in to watch that team bring in the W. We will stand in line for hours to get the tickets to the new hottest movie or singer coming to town. We will go all over the state waving signs in support of our favorite political candidate. Point is to compare just how much a priority these things are in our lives compared to the couple of hours on Sunday and maybe a 30 second prayer each night before bed. How intense are we for God compared to being intense for other things? Do we go around wearing a shirt with a Bible verse cheering at the top of our lungs “Yeah Jesus!” Well, you get my point. Is it obvious for ourselves that God is priority in our lives? Is it obvious for others who look at us to see God as a priority? Ask someone what they think is the top three things in your life that rule your daily routine.

This is my resolution this year. Seek God first. Make him top priority in my life. Nothing else matters. But this will not be easy. Satan will make sure your path is obstructed. He has the tools he needs to distract us. Jobs, bills, home repair, events for the kids, etc. are all means to distract. TV, music, internet, and gadgets are as well. Pray, fast, and get in the Word. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Sergeis is here!

2009-12-14T22:32:00.003-05:00

Today is Day 1 of Sergeis being with us for one month! He arrived in Atlanta at about 1:00AM this morning. We went to sleep around 4:00 and woke up around 10:30. :) So far we've stayed home and played outside. We did have a large amount of visitors today, though. We visited with Mandy and Kaitlyn outside and then later with Johnny and Jesse--other kids from our neighborhood. Then Jack and Stephanie brought over Anya, Faith, Caleb, Katya, Kristina and Zhenya! Later, Sam and Nick came to see Sergeis for a few minutes. And then I made pelmini for dinner (it didn't turn out as wondefully as I had hoped--it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either) and Tricia and her children and hosted child came over--5 kids in all! So we've had a busy day of meeting and greeting and getting to know one another again! We all just love him and he loves us and it is great for him to be here again!! Keep us in your prayers!

143,000,000 Video

2009-11-09T14:04:00.000-05:00

143,000,000

2009-11-09T09:49:00.003-05:00

There are 143 million orphans in our world. 500,000 of them are in the foster care system of the United States. Out of those 500,000 kids, 130,000 of them are adoptable. Did you also know that 70% of those that are homeless in the US are people who have aged out of the foster care system and have nowhere to go?
Here’s another number: 400,000. That’s how many Christian churches are in the U.S. If only 3 families in each church stepped up to adopt one of the 130,000 children waiting for a forever family here in the United States, there would be no more waiting children here. And it would actually take less than 3 families per church because some of those children would come as siblings to the same family. And if only 1.25 people in every Christian church in America stepped up to foster a child, then every foster child in America would have a Christian home to belong to while they needed it. Surely, that is doable! Especially since there are some churches where 100 or more families have stepped up to meet the need!

Let’s tackle the bigger number now. 143 million orphans in the world. Obviously not all of them are adoptable but a lot of them are. If 5 families from each Christian church in America adopted only one child, 2 million children would have a forever family. But let’s carry this to the rest of the world. Data from different sources states that there are between one and two BILLION Christians in the world. That is the number of orphans times 13!! Surely out of 2 billion people, there would be 143 million people willing to step up and follow God’s Word to care for orphans by either adopting, sponsoring or building a relationship with the orphans in this world and eradicate this crisis!!

I watched the Cry of the Orphan’s campaign on Orphan Sunday (November 8) that was done to promote awareness of the orphan crisis in the world. There were good speakers and good singers who all have a heart for there to be no more orphans in the world. I believe it was Jedd Medefind, executive director of Christian Alliance for Orphans, who said, “Love for orphans transforms.” He is right. You can’t stay the same after the experience of caring for one of these children. I think we all desire to help an orphan so we can help better THEIR lives when in reality it is our lives that are changed tremendously in the process. We become forever connected with all orphans in the world. We become people who won’t rest until we’ve done all we can to try to help as many as we can. We develop a love for a country or countries where we’ve met an orphan. We attempt to provide education and financial help for families with young children so that they won’t have a reason to give their children into government care due to an inability to care for their children. We develop orphan ministries within our church or separately from the church for all these things. We go on mission trips where we are once again changed in an awesome way and develop an even greater desire to be used by God to help change the world. Love for orphans does, indeed, transform.

Before accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are also orphans. The Bible tells us we have become adopted as sons and daughters of God. (Ephesians 1:4.) Without Jesus, we are orphans who are alone in this world, even if we have loving earthly parents. As orphans we walk through this life and its hardships alone, hurting, confused, angry, crying out for someone to help us. But Jesus promises in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” God has provided a way for us to have a Heavenly Father who will never leave us nor forsake us. Through Jesus Christ, we gain a family and are no longer alone during the hard times. We have Someone to cry out to when we need help. We gain a joy that cannot be measured! This is the most important adoption that will ever take place and it is open to ALL who believe and accept Jesus as their Savior! Orphans are close to God’s heart because we are His adopted children!! Orphans, those without earthly parents, are close to God’s heart because one of the best ways to come to know our Heavenly Father is through an earthly one! When we have godly parents who model for us family, love and a Christ-like attitude, it is more likely for a child to come to know and accept their Heavenly Father. The Bible speaks often of helping the orphans throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Law of the Old Testament commands those who follow God to care for the orphans by providing for them. Examples of adoption are scattered throughout the Old Testament. The New Testament speaks of orphans as well. James 1:27 tells that pure religion is to care for the widows and orphans. As Christians, we are told to help the orphans and not only are we told this by God, but we should WANT to care for the orphans the way God cares for us as orphans! On the broadcast last night, a couple spoke who adopted a child and I loved what they had to say. The husband said that they are now living parables of what God’s done for us through Christ!! How awesome and true!!

We are not all called to adopt and that is okay. There are millions of orphans who, for one reason or another, cannot be adopted. However, these children still need forever families. They need someone who cares for them. They need someone to write letters to them. They need phone calls, birthday gifts, Christmas gifts…they need a relationship with someone who will share Jesus with them in a real way. They need Christians who will live out in their everyday lives what they say that they believe in church on Sundays. These kids need hope…and we can help provide that for them.

Genesis 1:2 tells of a “darkness over the surface of the deep.” As God is creating the world, there was darkness. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3) God brought light into darkness at creation and he now calls us to do the same. Matthew 5:14-15 says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither does a person light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, he puts it on a lampstand where it gives light to everyone in the house.” WE ARE LIGHT! We are called to shine into the darkness with the love of Christ! 143 million orphans is a dark place in our world. But with 2 billion Christians, we ought to be able to shine so that dark place no longer exists!! Those verses in Matthew are clear. We are not to “hide” our light by staying in our comfortable lives, our comfortable churches, constantly receiving but never giving. We are called to let our lights shine so that it affects EVERYONE we meet! Since there is no need for light where it is already bright, we should be taking our light to those dark places and brighten them up!!

So, what are you waiting for? Why are you waiting? There are 143,000,000 who are running out of time to wait on us. You can’t help them all on your own; you can help one, two or maybe even a few more. But TOGETHER we can help them all! Together, we can bring the 143,000,000 to ZERO. So, get out there and shine your light! A little bit of light can make a big difference!!

(If you would like to know how you can help, you can either email me at brooke@inhissight.org, click on our links to the left for different ways to help, or read back through our other posts for different organizations you can support.)

Hosting 2009

2009-10-27T21:22:00.002-04:00

We are once again hosting Sergeis for Christmas this year! We are so excited to have him in our home again and to be able to reconnect with him during this holiday season. As we await our adoption process to begin, it is wonderful to know he can at least visit with us for a few weeks. Please pray for us and Sergeis before, during and after our hosting. We don't have exact dates, but he will be here sometime in mid-December and leave sometime in mid-January. Pray for everything involved in hosting--our emotions, finances, logistics, etc. It will be extremely hard to send him back to Latvia at the end of this hosting....much harder than last time. But as hard as it will be on us, it will be 100x harder on him when he leaves to go back to a place where he has no family to love him and comfort him during his sadness.

Thank you for your continued support and love!!

But the workers are few....

2009-09-28T07:09:00.002-04:00

Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. The He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

Matthew 9:36-38

Jesus said these words after traveling "through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synogogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healling every kind of disease and every kind of sickness." (Matt 9:35)

These words are how I feel about Latvia. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. This verse is true for almost all places all over the world. The harvest is plentiful everywhere across the world. And the workers are few almost everywhere across the world...except the U.S. Here the workers are many. But in every other place in the world, there simply aren't enough workers. Here there are churches on every corner and in between. Can you imagine driving through towns without seeing a church? Probably not because that doesn't happen here. Praise God for the church here in America. Now if the church (the body of Christ) would only take His message to the rest of the world!

There is a post on facebook today from Helen, the lady we stayed with in Riga. Her secretary is leaving today for England. Helen's post read, "Tomorrow, she'll be one of the mass exodus of people leaving Latvia looking for a better life."
Times are tough. People are leaving in droves for other countries with better opportunities. Yes, times are tough in America too, but people are still COMING here searching for better opportunities. And one of those opportunities is hearing the good news of Jesus! Every country deserves that chance. The people of every country are worthy of help.
We've mentioned several ways you can help the people of Latvia...hosting, sponsoring a child through Latvian Angels, donating to the One-A-Week project through Simple Obedience, taking a mission trip there and seeing for yourself....there are many others as well.
What if you don't feel called to help Latvia? That is fine--but our challenge to you is to seek out God's guidance of where you ARE to help, because we are all called to help somewhere--it may be in another country or it may be in your own backyard. But I can guarantee you that God is not asking you to sit idle and do nothing.

"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him who they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?" Romans 10:14

You don't have to have a seminary degree or stand behind a pulpit to be a "preacher." Jesus' command to "Go" and share the gospel was for every believer, not a select few. You've already been given an invitation by God Himself to help bring in His harvest--how will you RSVP?

Latvian Angles Project

2009-09-24T07:57:00.002-04:00

I'd like to encourage everyone reading this blog to please visit this website:

http://latvianangelproject.org/.

Craig said in one of his last posts that we have mentioned several ways to get involved in missions within Latvia and this is one that doesn't involve much money. This organization works with children's homes in Latvia to provide sponsors for the children. These sponsors send a Christmas gift (items that can fit into a 2 gallon ziplock bag--you pay for the items in the bag and the organization sends it there) to a child, pray for them daily, write letters or emails to them and can even send gifts at other times of the year if they so choose. The point is to pray over the kids and build a relationship with them. You can be the only family they will ever have...and it will mean the world to them. Our goal for this Christmas is to add 2 new children's homes to this project for a total of 246 kids sponspored. That's 246 sponsors needed if everyone only sponsors one child but with the minmal costs involved here many can sponsor more than one. Please consider sponsoring a child and making an eternal difference in their lives!!

More Thoughts

2009-09-23T21:25:00.001-04:00

This was a profound learning trip for me. We lived a mini version of a missionary family beyond just the mission trip aspect. We lived in an apartment in the middle of the city we worked in. We shopped the local stores, we went to church, we walked the cities, we lived a daily life in addition to doing mission work per se. I know this was condensed and didn’t give all possibilities we would normally face, but we did experience life on our own in a foreign country. Our kids stood up remarkably well. God answered prayers in watching over them. They said repeatedly how much they liked it and even wanted to stay. Eileen made me proud volunteering on her own to go to children’s church in a Russian church we went to last Sunday. She did not understand the words but understood the meaning and purpose.

Before leaving, I was nervous about the ignorance of the language and being able to fit in and adjust. Amazingly throughout the trip I felt like I belonged and not out of place. Driving was not a problem. Going grocery shopping was not a problem. And church was not a problem either.
I know we have a calling to help orphans. But God has really put a focus on even the lesser in this group – those who will more than likely remain in the homes until they age out and those who come up in homes with parents who do not fulfill the role. It is great for those who get adopted. As we pursue adopting Sergeis I cannot downplay this. But what of those who are left behind or do not even make it in to begin with? Most of these kids will never have the chance of being in a committed family. From legal redtape, to mental or physical issues, to complications over siblings causing ineligibility a majority are never given a chance. The ones who never even make it into a home typically keep the cycle going or could wind up dead – their mark only being a statistic. This group is often overlooked.

It is our hope and prayer that those who followed our blog and feel God tugging at your heart about orphans will think and pray about what God revealed to us. Not everyone is called to do work for orphans. But God has compelled us to not neglect them either. You do not have to go on a trip. You do not have to adopt. You do not have to spend hundreds of dollars. We’ve tried to mention various causes to support. Throughout the blog over the past two weeks, organizations have been mentioned and websites have been linked. I will try to update that list to make it easy to find. But if you feel called or just want to help in any way, please look these causes over. If these are not your calling, please look for any other cause to support. We’ve listed groups that host children, those who are adopting children, those who take needed supplies and clothing to them, those who organize trips, etc. You can donate time, cash, and goods. Some only ask you serve as a penpal. Christ gave all including his life for us. What can we give in return? Five minutes for a letter? A day for volunteering locally? Fostering? Hosting for 4 weeks? Adopting? Buying a pair of shoes or food? Helping a missionary or missions group? God made orphans a priority along with widows, mentioned both in the Old and New Testaments. It doesn’t take much to help and both compassion and love are free.

Catching Up...

2009-09-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

Well I’ve been behind on posting anything to the blog. We had a whirlwind experience going from Liepaja to Riga. We had no internet access. And within a few hours of putting my head on my very own pillow at home I was back to work. I will try to condense my thoughts on the Riga leg as briefly as possible – “I” and “briefly” do not fit well together for me.

It was very difficult for me to leave Liepaja. This area has a profound hold on me. Yes Sergeis is there but there are other things tugging at me as well. I’ve mentioned Karosta before. This place will continue to draw me in. There is much despair and suffering in this town. Scars of decades of issues still show. In the shadow of an ornate Russian Orthodox church kids were begging for money and fighting about the vices to spend it on.

We drove out and saw what reminds me of a northern industrial town suffering from the economic problems here in America. Buildings and factories abandoned and faces blank walking down the street. Leaving the city we saw a change immediately. As if a line were drawn at the city limits, the forest appeared. The countryside is beautiful but not like here in America. Towns are few and far between and you can go miles (well kilometers) with no houses. Then comes Riga. The closer into the city you go you see a timeline of Latvia. The outskirts are covered in Western ads and new buildings. The middle ring is filled with sterile but aged Communist era flats. And then the Old City – beautiful buildings from yesteryear that are in serious disrepair. Most are being renovated but you see neglect immediately on the surface.

While in Riga we were graciously hosted by Helen who runs Hope For Children working with street kids and really organizing a day center concept for these kids. We got to meet some of the kids there and hear some of their stories. Most come from abusive, alcoholic families. They live in poor homes with little if any running water. One young man lives in a car. Helen has provided a safe, Christian environment for these kids to have a place to just escape their problems. This offers them another solution besides drugs, alcohol, or suicide – thus helping to stop a vicious cycle in this country. The stories are heartbreaking but the turnaround is amazing. God has used Helen in a remarkable way to shine a light in a very dark corner of this city. Showing us pictures of some of the kids as they get older, Helen gave us positive updates on many of the now adults. A few have become workers there. Others opt for foster care. Those touched by Christian love and charity have chosen to use what God gave them – a second chance – and work to turn around the lives of others. I did some DIY work there – painting, plumbing, and electrical work. Nice to learn about some 220 wiring. I was very nervous getting into panels and wiring that were ‘slightly’ different than that here. Getting shocked stays in the US. And they have Home Depot, well actually it is just called Depo. I take for granted the ease and variety of things we can get to do repairs and upgrades here.

We went out to dinner with Arturs and Vlad – two host kids from the same program as Sergeis. We know Arturs very well from him staying with a family from our church. We knew we had to get pictures for those back home who know and love him. And in typical Arturs attitude, he smiled and slyly posed. We think he just wanted to meet us at a place called Lido. We told him we would take him to dinner and Brooke found out he had already eaten. Brooke asked him if he would want to eat again. He got his signature smile, nodded, and headed for the entrance. We had a good time with Arturs and Vlad. Vlad was shy but did talk. Arturs seemed thrilled to have a fanclub of three kids screaming his name. He had his audience from America. We left with hugs – I offered to shake his hand. He told me he’d rather have “one of these” and held out his arms for a hug. The tough Latvian exterior broken…

We went to the “Ziles” children’s home last Saturday. Brooke mentioned about taking the bikes to the three boys there. They were hilarious. They tried to be all manly, not showing emotion. But the kid on Christmas morning came through. It did not take much to break through what we’ve been told is a tough exterior in Latvia. Dace, the director, gave us a tour of the school and the village itself. We saw so many possibilities in this place. Dace hinted at a future group coming back to have a lakeside party with the kids. There is a lake and a park or grassy field with soccer goals, beach volleyball, etc. set up. I’m envisioning an outside VBS and a closing party American summer style – cookouts, games, fellowship, and even fireworks from a nearby store. It would be a great event for the kids from the children’s home and a great way to get the local community involved as well. Any volunteers?

We also visited a Salvation Army children’s home in Riga. Ilga, the director, was amazing in telling us a deeper story into the orphan situation in Latvia. It is truly sad to hear how budget cuts in government and an economic downturn affect these children. This home is funded 30% by the Salvation Army and 70% by the government. With donations down, the Salvation Army has made cutbacks. And the Latvian government has encouraged these homes to seek private and foreign sponsors to help meet basic needs like shoes, clothes, toiletries, etc. Ilga mentioned a project called Latvian Angels that we highly recommend you look into. It is a great and much needed cause now more than ever. When growing kids who walk everywhere are limited to $10-20 a year for shoes, they depend on charity.

I wanted to say much more about this Riga leg of the trip. All I can say is that Riga faces the same issues of the rest of the country but the people there have done a better job of coating the despair in material goods. What money they have they pour into clothes and cars. You see a change with cars as you come into the city – from the old beat up Zhigulis of Communist days to high dollar BMW’s and Mercedes. Many can live in housing project like conditions but own a nice car they sunk all of their money into. It’s what many chose to do. In the rush to be like America they have taken a false impression and run with it. Materialism and the love of many questionable things have tried to fill the void in their lives. You see Madonna and Marilyn Manson posters plastered all over poles, bus stops, etc. Kids in these orphanages learn about America and life from watching action movies. Their language and attitudes reflect it. A vicious cycle builds on the hopelessness that carried over from Communism. Parents drink themselves to misery and abuse or neglect their kids who then run away. These kids drop out of school and resort to drugs and alcohol themselves. Soon they steal to survive. Girls get pregnant and give kids up to orphanages. These kids then grow up repeating the cycle.

I don’t mean to talk down Latvia. It is a remarkable country that has overcome many things over decades, if not centuries. But my heart is for a people who Christians prayed for decades to survive Communism. Well they did. But the scars remain and they still need help with understanding freedom. And with the freedom in political terms also comes spiritual freedom. Voids exist. And they are trying to be filled with excess, selfish desires, and quick fixes to overcome problems lingering through generations. God showed us the lowest but also the best. In order to see the best, I got my hands dirty – literally. Serving and obeying God is not always a clean job. We are subject to low behavior, working in dirty conditions, and seeing some of the worst of humanity. We sweat and we cry. We also laugh, sing, and praise. While most of us tend to do something for the reward of say money, serving God has rewards far greater – we know we are secure in our salvation and will be with Him for eternity. But in the meantime, the rewards of seeing an orphan happy for a bike provided by a host family from America are greater than all others. Seeing kids smile while I made balloon animals was worth it. Seeing a 16 year old boy reject a handshake for a hug instead was worth it. Seeing my 7 year old daughter having the time of her life running around with a 6 year old she could not understand was worth it. God’s plan and love transcended nations and languages. I walk away broken hearted but inspired by what has been done already and what can be done just by simply doing what Christ asked us to do – love your neighbor as yourself. In this case, it was loving some kids who were rejected by others. What we did was a drop in the bucket of what needs to be done. But God does not ask us to save the world. He has given that already. We are only to testify to what He has done for us and what He can do for others. This is done in word and deed. This trip was not a start for us but hopefully God has used it as a start for others. As the song says ‘greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done.’ Don’t save the world, just tell the world.

One-A-Week Project

2009-09-23T12:41:00.002-04:00

For those reading our latest blog posts, you have heard about the economic crisis in Latvia. It is much worse there than here. Also there is no government assistance programs to help struggling families or families with a job loss like there are here. When there are budget cuts in the government (and there are huge cuts going on all the time right now) the children's homes (and therefore the children) suffer because of it. Simple Obedience (the ministry we went to Latvia through) has come up with a way to help the orphanages and day centers that are being hit hard with the crisis there. It's called the One-A-Week Project and you can get more info about it by clicking here:
http://www.simpleobedience.org/One-A-Week.html.

It's a very simple, easy, and inexpensive way to help orphans. All you do is buy the one item you select from the list each week as you do your normal grocery shopping for 3 months. At the end of 3 months you have developed a stockpile we can then send to an orphanage in need. This only means a few extra dollars (at most) each week to you but it will mean tons of help and the love of Christ being shared in a real way with the staff and children at these orphanages. Please take a look at the link above and decide which item you'd like to help provide and then send Jennifer an email through the link on that web page and let her know.

Thanks in advance to everyone who helps!!

A friend's post

2009-09-23T06:10:00.002-04:00

A friend who is in Riga right now adopting had this to say about the situation in Latvia. I thought it was really good and wanted to share it to convey to you how hard it is there:

Everywhere we go, we hear about the economic crisis here in Latvia. Meeting Sandra's brother, it was the first thing he asked us. Aric and Sandra have shared some about it as well. Today, during our meeting with Daina (the attorney) and Aya (the Orphan Court Social Worker) we talked more about the effects of it. People are moving out of the country because they can't find work here. Daina's son has moved to England. Aya's son and friends bought an old bus to get themselves to Switzerland in hopes of finding a job. More and more families are losing their jobs, turning to alcohol and drugs to drown out their pain, and the children end up suffering... more and more taken from families. What used to be a one month backlog is now 3months in the Orphan Court (for terminating parental rights). It's very sad. Even the traffic in the city has diminished they say... Used to be that everyone had a car and drove to/from work. Now, there is hardly any traffic. We've noticed that for a city, there really is not much traffic! The SW explained that the Orphan Court has had many changes/cuts (as we've also heard from Sandra) and she is not sure if she will even have a job come January. Sandra has talked of how they've had many pay cuts and many friends have no jobs. In Latvia, there is no unemployment or Social Security. The only hospital in Bauska, where Sandra was born, has been closed as of Sept. 1 because of budget cuts. People must travel 60km to Riga for a hospital - not good if you are in need of emergency care! It makes us thankful for how good we have it back home, but sad for so many people here.

Our last few days in Riga

2009-09-22T21:50:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned yet that we had awesome weather the entire time we were in Latvia? It appears that all the rain Latvia normally gets, got dumped in Atlanta instead while we were gone!! But seriously, the weather was awesome. It only rained twice and only during the night while we slept!

Friday, Helen and Craig went to the Depo store (like Home Depot) to get the supplies needed for the projects at the day center. The kids and I hung out at the apartment while they did this. Then Helen took Craig to the day center so he could get started on everything. I won’t go into much detail on this since I wasn’t there. I’ll let Craig do it. But he did good work with what time he had. There is MUCH more that needs to be done here that will take lots of time and money to complete.
Helen then came back to the apartment to pick up me and the kids to take us to get bikes for the 3 boys at the Ziles orphanage who came on the hosting program and whose host parents sent money for bikes. We went to a bike store owned by Christian man and he gave us a huge discount on the brand new bikes for these boys! The bikes are really great!! Also while out, Helen took me to a Christian book store inside of the Laba Vests (Good news) church near the bike shop. They had all sorts of books, music, and dvd’s in Russian and Latvian. I even found the whole set of Narnia in Russian but I couldn’t afford to buy it on this trip! J This church was offering a jumpy thing for kids outside that Eileen got to do.
We then went to the day center and joined Craig. I helped paint a little—the walls are now a bright cheery yellow! Well, really not so bright as the yellow was a pale yellow but it really brightened up the place! Someone had brought a huge sack of apples picked from an apple tree near their home—they were delicious! Someone also brought 9 loaves of bread and 9 liters of milk as donations to give away. Helen wondered how they would give it all away before it went bad, but God sent people her way that afternoon who desperately needed bread and milk!! J
We left the center to walk back to Helen’s apartment to get ready for dinner with Arturs and Vlad!!! We went to Lidos (wow—awesome food!) and found the boys waiting on us! When Arturs saw us, he smiled so big and his whole face just brightened with happiness! He couldn’t believe we were all there! Vlad was very shy and reserved at first but started to laugh and talk towards the end. Vlad was very excited about the presents his adoptive mother sent with us and grateful for them. He also smiled a HUGE smile when he got to hear his mom’s voice on the phone during dinner when she called our cell phone!! We spent a couple of hours with them and invited them to church with us on Sunday which they said they would come. (They didn’t but I received a text message from Arturs saying they couldn’t find it. I gave him Helen’s phone number and told him to try to go next week. It’s a great church for youth!!)
Saturday, a guy from Helen’s church drove us in the church bus (a little bigger than our mini bus we had rented for Liepaja) about 2 ½ hours outside of Riga to go to an orphanage to deliver the bikes. We spent a long time there being treated wonderfully!! Dace, the director, has such a loving heart for these kids that are there. There are about 16 kids here most of the time and they are taught how to do things that are necessary when they leave the orphanage one day. Most of all though, they are showed such love and care by the staff here. Dace thanked us and all families willing to host children because she sees the positive effects in their lives when they return to Latvia after having lived with a loving family for 4 weeks. We were able to have a “question and answer” time with the kids. We asked them questions and they asked us questions. Very neat! We also did balloon animals—okay, Craig did and then we let the kids take turns trying! It was a really awesome time and the kids and staff laughed so much! We took a tour of the town and the school the kids attend—it is so beautiful! I know the pictures will never do it justice but I hope they will convey some of the beauty that is there! The school is the former home of a Duke of some sort and is very ornate. The kids got to pick cranberries and then eat them—boy they were bitter!! J Eileen made a wonderful friend, named Kitija. You will see them together in nearly all the pictures from that day! Kitija is 6 and has a 4 year old brother named Aleksejs who is a doll! Before we left, we presented the 3 boys with their brand new bikes! They didn’t know they were getting them and they were surprised and excited! They took rides up and down the drive on them while we videod! When we left our new friends at Ziles that day, there was a very warm goodbye with hugs! Addie ran up to Aleksejs and Martens (3 years old) and gave them huge hugs!! We are encouraged by this group of kids and especially the loving staff that cares for them. We hope that more of the kids we met can come on this hosting program either at Christmas or next summer.
On Sunday we went to Helen’s church. It is a Russian church with a Pentecostal background that is now Baptist. Confused? J It was an awesome time of worship! Helen helped to translate some of it for us. The songs were wonderful and uplifting and some of them we knew the English words for! After the beginning songs, Eileen went to kids worship with the other kids. It is still in Russian and she had someone who could translate stuff for her. She had a blast and even won a baby doll that she now carries around for making a bracelet of some sort. I recommend anyone visiting Riga for adoption or any reason, go to that church! (Email me and I’ll tell you where and when it is!)
Sunday evening, Craig and I went to another orphanage run by the Salvation Army. Ilga, the director, is a wonderful lady who was so happy for us to be here. There have been several kids hosted and adopted from this orphanage and hopes of many more to be hosted and/or adopted. She talked with us a lot about the children there—they have room for only 24 kids and they are full right now. She has a genuine love for each child there. Many of these children are not available for adoption but would greatly benefit from a hosting experience in a loving family. There is also a program going on where families can sponsor a child and send gifts and emails/letters back and forth and basically be a child’s family from afar. I will be finding out more information about this program so let me know if you are interested. I know many of you may not be able to host or adopt for various reasons, but might love to help out this way!
One bit of information we found out is that the children are in great need of shoes. When asked what the children’s homes needed they said the one thing they don’t need are stuffed animals, but they pretty much need everything else, especially shoes. One orphanage was only given 8 lats per child for shoes for the whole year. 8 lats won’t even buy a pair of shoes that are new and the used pairs do not last a whole year. (The new ones don’t either, for that matter, especially since a child’s foot grows so fast!) Latvia’s economy is way worse than ours. The government funds that support a lot of these orphanages are being majorly cut. The private orphanages are also having a rough time as those organizations depend on donations and with times being tough all over the world, people aren’t giving as much or not at all. If you would like to help with shoes (even hand me down shoes) or other necessities such as shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes, etc, please let me know. We are hoping to be able to give these orphanages help they really need. They do so much to help the children when no one else will. When money fails to come in, it’s the children who suffer as well as the staff whose salaries (which are hardly anything anyway) are cut back.
We arrived home at 1:00 AM this morning and our bodies are still on Latvian time. Getting adjusted back to the time will take awhile, I think. Getting adjusted to not being in Latvia will take awhile as well. We all miss it very much. Please continue to pray for us as we adjust back to being here and continue on with life as “normal” while our hearts are still in Latvia.
Thanks for reading and keeping up with our blog and pictures. There is no way to convey everything we saw and felt and did while we were there but I hope we have been able to give you a glimpse into our time and into the people and places of a country we love. (Stay tuned--probably tomorrow--for Craig's updated blog posts.)

First Days In Riga

2009-09-22T21:10:00.001-04:00

We are ending our second day in Riga. We drove into Riga yesterday around noon. Thankfully Helen’s apartment is a super easy drive! Thanks to a really good map book and google we found it without a single problem!

After we settled in a had lunch, Craig and Helen took the rental van back to the airport and turned it in. So we are now riding with Helen or walking. We do have the option of taking trams or buses, but with our lack of language skills, we are hesitant to try this! We went to one of the day centers that Helen runs. Hope for Children is a really neat place for kids to come to receive food, clothes, and a place of retreat during the day and/or after school. These children have one or both parents at home but their home environment is not good. Most have parents who are alcoholics or abusive. Just today there was a girl who didn’t want to leave due to abuse and another who is living in a car and using all the money her family has for gas to heat the car at night. (It is already cold at night here in Latvia.) Sometimes the kids will keep their clothes or anything of value at the day centers because otherwise their parents will sell them to get money in order to buy alcohol. Times are really tough right now in Latvia. I know they are hard in America with the “recession” going on but imagine that 20 times worse or more. Everyone is suffering from it and many are turning to alcohol in order to escape from the reality of the hardships. The day center provides these children with a place to escape to—a place free from abuse, alcohol and other hardships they encounter and when they come they receive much love and care and they learn about Jesus. The center we’ve visited both yesterday and today is in need of much repair work. Craig is currently working on fixing some things that need fixing. (Don’t ask me what—I don’t know much about that sort of thing. Something in the bathroom, something to do with a light fixture…I dunno. Lol) But there is much to be done that we will not get to. Actually there is an awful lot to be done.

I have been humbled and saddened at hearing the stories of these children. We all have our problems, but when I think of the problems I have in light of what these mere children face, my problems are tiny in comparison. I am saddened to think that parents can detach somehow from that strong bond I have with my children and turn to abusing their children or using their money for alcohol while their children go hungry. I am encouraged though that there are places like the Hope for Children center that can teach these children there is HOPE and His name is Jesus and that Jesus is bigger than this economy, bigger than the alcoholism and bigger than the terrible things they must face each day. I pray that they will always turn to Him in times of trouble instead of to something that is detrimental and hurtful to them or others.

Riga is a very big city. I think there are something like 3 million people in all of Latvia. 1 million of them live in Riga. There are just people everywhere. It scares me to think that there are kids I know and love (from the hosting programs) that are allowed to roam the streets here any time of day or night with no supervision and no one that would even know where they are and what they are doing. I won’t let my kids let go of my hand (or Craig’s hand) or get more than a couple inches away from me and yet there are other kids just free to be and go wherever. I hope and pray that all of the kids of this city who need it can find a place like Hope for Children. Helen and the rest of the women who help there do beautiful work in the lives of these kids.

Helen is a wonderful woman. She is from the UK originally but has lived in Riga for 18 years. She felt such a strong call from God to come to Latvia that she came on an almost empty plane when there was shooting going on from the Soviets. Latvia was still under the USSR when she came here. She has a beautiful heart and is such a godly woman.

We went to a museum today that is in an old powder tower that went through much of Latvia’s history under the occupation of many different countries. It’s amazing to me to see some of the artifacts that are there. I’ve never seen anything so old before because our country doesn’t have that long of a history. The buildings here are old! We saw one today—built by the Germans during one of the times they controlled Latvia—that was originally built in 1334 and was renovated in 1999. 1334!!!! Can you imagine?? Also, inside that museum we saw where the Soviets began to take over Latvia—it was in Liepaja. There was a diarama depicting the scene and I stood there in awe because, although most of the buildings had changed, some had not and I knew exactly the spot they were showing. In the diorama (Craig did take a picture, if you look at them) up close is the canal and far off in the background of the picture is where Karosta is and Sergeis’ orphanage, obviously not the orphanage at that time and you couldn’t see exact buildings in the diorama, but it was that general area. I almost couldn’t pull myself away and I wanted to cry looking at beautiful Liepaja broken and smoking from fires.

We walked into Old Riga today. Simply gorgeous! Very European and very old (hence the name…) We walked towards the freedom monument where 2 soldiers stand guard. This monument is TALL and celebrates the freedom Latvia now has as an independent nation. We ate lunch at McDonald’s---yes we apparently traveled half way around the world to eat at the golden arches. Sigh. We saw the Riga fortifications. We saw many ornate cathedrals. And all the streets are cobblestone in this area of Riga. We walked and walked and walked some more. We walked all the way to the day center (it’s not a close walk, it’s quite a hike) and went the wrong direction on the street it’s on and walked for what seemed like miles before we figured out that wasn’t right. So then we had to walk back! All the while, Craig is carrying a sleeping Addie and I’m carrying a sleeping Merrick and Eileen is complaining that she’s tired. Poor thing, I know she was. Then Merrick wakes up and has the nerve to say “I’m tired of walking!” Well I was NOT in the mood for that! I thought, you little stinker! You’re being carried! I’M doing all the work! J It’s a good thing he’s so cute!!

I hate not having internet access here at the flat. It’s hard to stay in touch. I am writing this blog post in word and when Craig gets back (if he’s not too terribly tired) I’m sending him out to find a wifi spot to post this. If he is tired (which is very probable) I will have him do it in the morning. The kids are watching Aristocats right now. They are very silent so they may all be asleep. I hope they are! It’s been a long, tiring day today!

Thank you for keeping up with the blog! Please continue to pray for us and our finances as we finish out our trip. Pray for the light of Jesus to shine through us to others as we are here!

To market, To market....

2009-09-15T16:05:00.002-04:00

While we were waiting on Sergeis to get here, Eileen and I walked to the market. I was excited by this experience. I've never been to an outdoor market before. But on the short walk there, school was letting out and we were behind a couple of boys with backpacks. One backpack had a skull and crossbones picture with devil horns on the skull. Underneath it said "King of Devil: Who Dares?" It made me sad to see this evil picture that someone thinks is cool. I prayed for him and wondered, If this is breaking my heart so much and I don't even know this boy--how much more is it breaking God's heart who knows and loves him intimately?

The market made me smile...most of the ladies selling the vegetables and fruits were friendly and smiling and very forgiving of my lack of language skills! I managed to buy 3 tomatoes, 2 carrots, an onion, a clove of garlic and a jar of honey all with pointing and holding up fingers and a "paldies" thrown in there for good measure. (That means thank you, by the way.) Buying the amber jewelry from the very quiet, seemingly disabled man was a little more interesting as he wanted us to try on everything. But at least he wrote down prices for us! :)

We said goodbye to Sergeis tonight. Full of emotions. He said he doesn't want to stay in Latvia. He wants to go to America with us. He doesn't want to go to school here anymore...he wants me to be his teacher. :) We've told him the adoption process will be a long one but we will pray for him and do everything within our power to help it move as fast as possible. We explained some of the process to him trying to get him to understand how long it would take. Please be in prayer for him because his separation from us will be harder and seem longer to him than to us because we are still living life as a family and he is the one away from us, on his own and going through difficult situations everyday.

Our last day in Liepaja has me filled with sadness. We really love it here. We love the people we've met and we even love the ones we haven't met. With all it's issues, this really is a beautiful city and I can see what it could be with some help. Please pray for the people of this city and especially the kids we've met who need a family.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Riga. Pray for safe travels!

Streaming Thoughts On A Slower Day

2009-09-14T15:54:00.003-04:00

Walking into the downtown area and along the area just inside the beachfront something really hit me. I see lots of parks, playgrounds, and actual buildings but very few people. There are vacant buildings either boarded up or just left as is. Entire playgrounds are left as they were maybe a decade ago. One I saw was fenced in. Swings, see-saws, etc. were just weathering, unreachable past the fence. I walked to see the "Olympic Stadium" only to see a high but rusted fence and boarded up front gate. The park nearby was filled only with what looked like crows. A few of the buildings nearby were in the same shape - hollow and empty. If you ever thought about what it would be like after the Rapture, this has a similar feel about it. It feels like a major chunk of the population has been plucked out and the rest of society has just gone about their business. I think of the Left Behind series with this.

We took some candid pictures of a few of the parks around. One has the kids just leaving school. It is strange to see even the youngest of kids just walking around the city with no adults watching them. Those Americans living in the suburbs or rural areas could never imagine their kids getting around in urban areas on their own - school, park, friends' homes, etc. You will also see many of the seniors in the parks. Even those who can barely get around are always in the park. They gather near the fountains and talk to others. Many are alone and just find a place of solitude - not hard to find - and spend a moment watching the others around them. The weathered faces tell of hard times. I regret not knowing the language well enough to sit down and talk with them. I'm sure they have endless stories of personal and national history they've witnessed.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Liepaja. Then it is off to Riga to work with Helen with some day centers and orphanages there. We found several videos in Russian and Latvian of a cartoon about King David. We have microwave popcorn to have a movie night with as many groups as we can. We have a couple of these videos we plan on leaving with any groups we do this for. We are looking forward to all of the work ahead with these kids in Riga but we are sad to leave Liepaja and Karosta behind. God used these days as ones to prick our hearts and give us perspective on the people. We have made new friends and got reacquainted with old friends. We pray for the last day and any unfinished work we still have here. Keep praying for the kids here at Sergeis' orphanage. We're excited for those like Rebeka and Roberts who will soon be in America with their forever families. But there are more in the orphanage who will not have this chance. We pray for any future ministry that works with those left behind. And we pray for those who never even make it to an orphanage to begin with. Seeing kids standing outside of a church begging for money only to be used for cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs from passers by is hard to grasp. There is work to be done. And God is the architect of this plan. We just have to be the obedient tools ready to work.

Day 5

2009-09-14T15:33:00.002-04:00

Today was a laid back sort of day. We slept in (way too long actually) and stayed in our apartment for awhile with the kids. Then we walked to get pictures of the outside of the church we went to yesterday. We also walked to an outdoor market very near the church. This was a really neat sight for me to see. We will shop there tomorrow for things we need!! I am excited about this!

Sergeis arrived around 2:30. He was alone and for this, I am glad. We needed time with him being part of our family. We went to the park, played, rode the go-carts and then walked to a huge statue. The sculpture at the top is a memorial to all those lost at sea. But there is a plaque near the bottom that is a memorial to an American Navy plane crew shot down near the coast of Liepaja in 1950. Very beautiful sight.

From here, the boys went back to the apartment and the girls walked along the beach back to the apartment looking for sea shells and amber. :) It was very peaceful and there were not many people on the beach.

When we were all together at the apartment, we had dinner and then set Sergeis up with a Facebook profile! :) Then we took him back to the orphanage for the night. Our children cry and ask for him every night when he has to go back. They all say they want Sergeis to stay at our house and be their brother. We gave Sergeis a new backpack and some new clothes to take back to the orphanage as well as some fun things to do and then necessary items like toothpaste, toothbrush and deoderant. He was very appreciative of his new things.
I think we needed today to work through everything we experienced yesterday. I know we've prayed an awful lot! I'm sure there's something I'm leaving out from today but I am determined to go to bed soon instead of at 1:00AM. :)
One more thing--because Papa wants to know--Gas is .66 lats per liter here which is about equal to almost $4/gallon. That is for diesel. We drive the mini bus which takes diesel and is a manual transmission. Apparently the combination of manual transmission and diesel allows for incredible gas mileage!! We have driven ALL over and haven't even gone below half a tank of gas yet. We would've had to fill up twice back home already. Seriously. Plus, people here drive less. They walk lots more and ride bikes.

Also, Craig and I were just talking about the differences in our posts. I am giving the more everyday experiences and detailed what we did today and Craig is giving the emotional aspect of our days. (Seems our personalities have switched!! haha) But as I was just explaining to him, I am still trying to process everything I'm feeling and don't know how to get it into words. This is my first overseas mission trip. Craig has had other experiences and can better put into words his feelings. For me, I'm still taking it all in and trying to give you a glimpse into our day and that we are really just living life here---but there is a greater purpose to it.
Thanks for reading....and stay tuned for Craig's post, which will, I'm sure be one to cause you to reach for the tissue! :) hahahahaha

Karosta - the war port

2009-09-14T06:02:00.001-04:00

I am first going to say I apologize for anything that repeats or overlaps what Brooke has posted. We’ve seen much of the same but through different eyes. And like Brooke, I am full of emotions. Words cannot describe our hearts' feelings. Yesterday we went to a Baptist church here in Liepaja. Nora showed us and brought Sergeis and Oskars. It had been Viktors with us but Sergeis surprised us with someone new. He is trying to be an advocate for his friends. He knows Aleks is now in America with his family and wants the same for the others. It was nice to have a group of three from the orphanage come to church with us. I saw Sergeis trying to explain to Oskars what was going on with praying and singing. Nora helped us with understanding where the pastor was preaching from. In another language, we still understood the hymns, praise songs, and sermon. As we left, an older lady pulled Nora to the side and commented on how good it was to see such a large family in Latvia. Anything over 2-3 kids is unheard of and we had five of us, Sergeis, Oskars, and Nora. Nora explained we were not one big family but a few from the orphanage with one being adopted. The lady then said how great that was as well. She told Nora she would be praying for God’s love for our family and for these kids. This service was the first time I saw true smiles from the heart from a group of people.

We then ate lunch and went to Nora’s apartment. Brooke has already talked about Nora in her posts. Driving to Karosta was an experience. You see a change in atmosphere in the drive. The change is very obvious as you come into Karosta. The ‘city’ itself is about a third of Liepaja. It is a naval port dating back to Tsar Alexander III. There were many coastal fortifications built during the wars. When the Soviets invaded, they made this their naval base. They turned Liepaja into a sealed base and made it primarily Russian ethnically. It became a submarine base during the Cold War. When the Soviet Union fell and Latvia regained independence, the Russians took much of the base with them and left shells of buildings and many of the ethnic Russians stationed at the base and retired from years of previous service. Many buildings were left to nature. Trees have grown up and the old barracks are hollow shells. There are a few that live there now. Most are Russians with some Latvians now in the area. The pictures we took do not do this place justice. You feel differently here. You walk up to this immaculate Russian Orthodox church and have little kids from Merrick’s age to Sergeis’ age begging for money. Someone gave them some and they all hovered like a pack of wild dogs fighting over the money and what they would spend it on. Sergeis and Nora explained that they would by cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs and to not give them any. I have read that this was common here. Seeing it was heartbreaking. We walked around seeing the flats (fromer barracks) with some being shells and left to nature and some being a roof to those still living here. They could look out their window and see one hollow building, one lived in, and buildings once extravagant left to nature. Kids were in what was left of a playground digging in sandy soil mixed with tires flinging the dirt at each other for laughs.

It is hard to convey what this place is. It is difficult to compare to something in America because of the different circumstances. And it is difficult to describe every detail here because of the pride of the people. If I gave every detail it could easily be offensive to those who live here. No one asks for pity or help. But you can see that as they walk through life dealing the way Communism impacted them, they are missing something in their hearts. Nora told us the people in Karosta are cold, hard, and typically unapproachable. This is definitely a post-modern place. We are beyond a quick door-to-door outreach. It will take much time, prayer, and building relationships in this city. This requires a complete reliance on God’s touch and the Holy Spirit ministering to these people. As I told some others, I felt like a tourist just taking in the sites until this point. Karosta definitely pricked my heart and I feel connected to this place. I grew up watching the last of the Cold War. I remember praying, along with others, for the fall of Communism. I remember ’91 and the fall of the USSR. Christians rejoiced over the fall of such anti-Christian mentalities. Almost 20 years later we still see the scars of this era. In this town alone you see the lingering effects. Russians walked away with substance and left many of their own behind. Latvians have a resentment from being controlled by Russians. Many deeply resent each other. Those left here are given non-citizen status and for the most part left to fend for themselves. Then the transition to a free society brings with it the vices of western culture. “Sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll” pervades among the younger culture. This is a “Paul” mission field more than a “Peter” one. We pray that in the short time we are here that God uses us to open doors. Perhaps we are here to pave the way for others. Perhaps we are here to just tell others and open opportunities for others to come as well. We do not know. We know God has brought us here for a reason and know that we must be obedient to His will and to testify about what we have seen. Again, sorry for any overlaps. And I know that these words and pictures cannot fully convey what we have seen. Just open your heart and listen to see if any of this is something the Holy Spirit wants you to hear.

Day 4 in Latvia

2009-09-13T18:11:00.001-04:00

I am so full of emotions tonight that I don’t even know where to begin or how to put them into words. Our day began by going to a Latvian Baptist church here in Liepaja. We walked the 5 blocks or so, all the while listening to the church bells (at a different church) call out to the town to go to church. It seems as if most ignore that call. The church we went to is beautiful and seems old. I think it used to be another denomination but it is now a Baptist church. Nora, Sergeis and his friend Oskars came with us to church. The service began with the choir singing in the balcony behind us. Even though I couldn’t understand the words, it sounded so….pure. I don’t know if they were really good singers or if the building just lent itself to really good acoustics but either way, it sounded like angels singing! Then the band (which consisted of a keyboard player, guitar player, saxophone player, a drummer and 2 singers) got up and sang a couple of songs. Then there was prayer and a reading from the Psalms. Then the choir sang again and then the preacher began to preach from somewhere in Luke. It was at this time I had to leave with Merrick and Addie because they were being disruptive. L I know I didn’t understand anything that was said, but I still wanted to be in there. Sergeis and Oskars were taken to a kids church type thing and they seemed to enjoy themselves. I hope they behaved! Eileen stayed with Craig in church. (I think she slept but that’s alright.)
After the service, Nora said that a lady came up to her and said she was praying for our family because we have a big family and those aren’t common in Latvia. Nora explained to her where we were from and that all the kids weren’t ours. She still said she was praying for us for what we are doing and our family is still big so she’d pray more. J We walked back to our apartment and had a mixture of leftovers for lunch. Then we took a drive to Karosta with Nora leading the way.

What do I say about Karosta? I had many emotions at this place. We first went to see Nora’s apartment that she will move in the coming week. It is the only renovated building in the whole area. It’s actually very nice. (The pictures of the 2-tone orangey colored building is hers.) Her apartment is one room and a kitchen and bathroom, but it is nice and it seems incredibly safe for her to live in. I was very glad to see that.
The whole area of Karosta is filled with run down building that contain flats and then even more run down buildings that contain nothing except trash and empty alcohol bottles and stuff. In my short term observation there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to which buildings are vacant and which are inhabited. This whole area is a former Soviet military base and actually dates back 100 years. You can tell the buildings that were put up during the Soviet years because they are gray and simple and the ones that were put up before that because they have more detail to them. The area has been through 2 World Wars and you can see the effects in some of our pictures.
In the center of the desolation stands an immaculate Russian Orthodox church. It towers above the rest of the buildings and almost seems to stand proud in the face of the poverty below. It is this kind of thing that makes me so mad. Churches like these have long “taken” money from the people in towns that hold them. They tell the people that if they give money to the church then they can be forgiven this or that sin. They tell them it is their duty to the Church to give. The freedom found in Jesus Christ is not found here. There is nothing but oppression and bondage to a system of rules that have to be followed to assure you of where you will spend eternity. Unfortunately, for those that follow this instead of a relationship with Jesus, they won’t spend it where they expect. As we were passing by the church, we saw a small group of kids running around—some with no shirts and all looking pretty dirty. Someone coming out of the church gave them some money and they ran around the corner of the fence that we were passing. They were arguing and trying to yank the money out of the other’s hands. One was crying. I frantically searched my pockets for money to give to them and realized I had not put any money in my jeans before leaving the apartment and I immediately felt so sad. I asked Sergeis and Oskars if they were arguing about money and what was going on exactly. Sergeis said, “Yes they argue over money.” He made a disgusted face and said “But they are saying they use it for….” And he made a motion of drinking alcohol and sniffing something. My eyes began to tear up and I realized what pain they must be in to beg for money only to use it on things that will not fulfill them. It was a heartbreaking sight….
We continued our walk around Karosta. You can see the beauty of the nature surrounding the city. You can see how beautiful it once was and could be again with some time, money and the love of Jesus poured into it to change the people’s hearts and minds and souls. There were no smiles here in this place. A good many of the people who live here are ethnic Russians who were left to fend for themselves after the fall of the Soviet Union. They have no Latvian citizenship and therefore can get no assistance from the government. As if that weren’t enough, Russia only lets (back) in a small number of citizens per year, so they can’t go back to Russia. Even if they could, many of them have children born in Latvia who are Latvian citizens who wouldn’t be allowed to go to Russia so they are stuck. Stuck in a cycle that is hard to break and can only be broken by our Lord Jesus who has come to bind up the broken hearted and set the captives free. It is within the outskirts of this area (but still within the area) that the orphanage lies. It is here that my son goes to sleep every night. It is here that many other children we have met will live out their lives without someone stepping in to show them love.
The beach at Karosta is a pretty place even though it is all ruins of past wars. It is full of rocks that have broken from the ruins and washed up on the sand. So much so, you can dig for a really long time (just ask Eileen) and not find the sand! The rocks are all different colors and washed so smooth from the waves. The kids really enjoyed digging through and finding their favorite ones.

After Karosta we dropped Nora off and headed back to our apartment where I made pelmini. Well, it was frozen, so all I had to do was boil it….but hey—it counts as “making” a meal in my book. Pelmini is a Latvian food that I can best describe as a type of meatball inside of a dumpling. You can either boil or fry them and serve them with sour cream and some type of seasoning. Sergeis, of course, ate his with about a cup of ketchup. All I have to say to that is “phooey!” After dinner we took Sergeis and Oskars back to the orphanage. We will see him tomorrow after school.
I have enjoyed spending time with him again. It is really neat to be in Latvia with him even if it’s only for a few days. He knows this city like the back of his hand and is proud to show us his knowledge of how to get places.
Pray for us as we work through our emotions of the day. Karosta was hard for us but also a blessing to see. I am also incredibly burdened for Oskars to have a family. There are a lot of details I need before I can really start advocating for him, but suffice it to say that if I could fit him in my suitcase, I’d take him home! I am too young to adopt him by about a month or we’d be praying hard about that! Please pray with me for him and a family. He and Sergeis asked me to find him a family. Sigh…Pray for Nora too as she prepares to move into her flat this week. I am so thankful she spent her day with us showing us around and so we could get to know her better!
I know this has been long and if you’re still reading at this point, I applaud you. I am trying to get as much on “paper” as I can because I don’t want to forget a minute of this trip. I feel like I walk through so much of life without paying attention to details. I don’t want to do that this trip. I want to remember everything.
It’s after 1:00AM here so I am retiring for the night!! Take a look at the gigantic photo album from Day 4. Sergeis and Oskars took an awful lot of these pictures along with Eileen because they had one of the cameras for most of the day. We actually deleted about the same amount of pics as we kept!! Enjoy and good night!!

Day 3

2009-09-12T14:58:00.002-04:00

Well we woke up at a decent hour this morning! Between 7:00 and 8:00. :)

Sergeis knocked on our window at about 10:30ish and he brought a friend--Viktors. Viktors is also 11 and such a pleasant boy! He is smaller than Sergeis so I thought he was younger than him. He's a very quiet boy but polite and helpful. He seemed very comfortable with little kids.

The kids watched some old Transformer cartoons on our laptop for awhile and then we walked to the park. The first thing we did was walk through the park to the beach. You'd never know that our apartment was so close to the beach. There aren't hotels and it's not built up or commercialized in any way. The trees just end where the sand begins. Then it is a very wide sandy beach that leads to beautiful water! There are hardly any people on the beach. Again it is the untouched, unspoiled beauty I spoke of yesterday. It's hard to describe and I'm sure our pictures won't do it justice, but it was very pretty and peaceful to be there. After the kids got sufficiently sandy and had found enough shells, we walked back to the park and our 3 kids played on a really awesome playground, complete with "pirate ship" like play set among other things. The 2 older boys rented those go-carts again and drove all over the place. While doing this they rescued a cat falling out of a tree!!! Seriously--this poor little kitten must have lost its balance and it was falling and Viktors ran about 50 feet and jumped to save this pretty kitten. They carried it around with them from then on. We also saw a horse and buggy that I assume was to tour the area. I wanted to know how much that cost but had no clue how to ask!! :) We walked back to the apartment and I had to be the bad guy and tell them they couldn't bring the cat inside! They were okay and let the cat go across the street. It hung out ALL day. (They ended up taking it back to the orphanage with them tonight....hope they don't get in too much trouble.)

We came back inside and watched more tv while I made macaroni and cheese, which tasted funny because I didnt have butter or milk to go in it. But the kids still ate it like it was the best stuff on earth. Eileen said it tasted better, but it really didn't! It was missing flavor. (We now have milk and butter so our next round of mac-n-cheese should be better!)

After lunch we drove out to the orphanage. I have seen many pictures but they didn't really do justice to the orphanage. The building is clearly very old....we aren't sure if it was maybe a hospital or possibly barracks. I am thinking the latter because there were all the concrete "foundations" of weird shapes where it looked like something used to be. I thought maybe ammo was stored there or something...it reminded me of the shapes of the old buildings in Charleston that were used to store ammo. Something about the shape of it was important in case of explosion. Also there was a huge concrete bunker on the property that was locked. The inside of the orphanage has been made to look very nice. There is a "sunroom" where there are all sorts of ferns and other plants when you walk in. There is also a common room in the middle with wood floors that I know is used for different things--today is had gymnastics stuff set up in it and the boys were flipping all over the place! We were given a tour of Nora's group. They have their own common room with a tv and computer and then there are bedrooms off of that which they share with 2-4 other girls. Nora wouldn't let us see her room because she said it's a mess since she's getting ready to move. She did say she found furniture for her apartment. She said it's not nice at all but she can use it. She said she needs to find a car to move it and I offered for us to help her in our bus. She declined, but I will offer our help again tomorrow when we see her. I hope she will let us help her. She seemed almost embarrassed when I offered. I thought maybe she didn't want us to see her apartment but she said she'd show it to us so I'm not really sure. She also showed us her guinea pig which is black and she named him the Latvian word for "Blacky"..."Blacky" is the name of her summer host family's guinea pig!! I thought that was sweet. Her hampster had just died she said. It seems that each group and sometimes more than one person in the group has a hamster or something similar. Sergeis gave us a tour of his group and his bedroom. There really is nothing fancy about the bedrooms. Very simple but the boys do their best to make their space theirs. They each have their own things next to their beds and Sergeis enjoyed showing me a stuffed animal that talked that sits on a shelf next to his bed. Viktors is in Sergeis' room with him along with another boy.

We got to see Rebeka also, but not Robbie. He was asleep. Rebeka is excited to be coming to America forever but sad to leave her friends. Her parents will get here on Wednesday (I believe) and then 2 weeks after that, they will take them home!! Hooray!

We met Kristine in person, finally, after having talked with her many times through Skype. This girl is skin and bones. She seriously needs someone to fatten her up! She is cute though and very giggly! She has her hair cut short with it a little longer in the front and it is crimped. I also met one of her little brothers, Matiss. He is 5 and such a cutie pie!!! I didn't meet her other brother, Leo. He is 9. I really hope someone comes along to host this precious group of kids. Kristine is 13 (although she looks a lot younger) and super sweet. She needs a mom to take her in and teach her about Christ!! She needs a dad to take her in and love her. She needs parents to teach her that God loves her (and she needs to them tell her she can't have a boyfriend until she's 25!!!) :) (For those that don't know, she is supposedly Sergeis' girlfriend---he now says he has 2 girlfriends---he is not listening to me!) :)

The orphanage is set up to be nice but Sergeis is a different person there. He seems to put on a tough exterior when he's really just a little boy who wants to be loved. I'm not sure he wants us to go back but I'm very glad we were able to get a glimpse into his life over the last 2 years. We really want to see where his school is and where he lived before the orphanage, but I don't know how much he will show us.

During the trip to the orphanage, he and I had an opportunity to talk about his life there. He says he doesn't like it, the big boys are "stupid and mean." He said he wants to come with us in America. Since Ginta and Diana want us to talk with him about adoption, I brought it up at what seemed like a God-given time. I told him that we want to adopt him and live with us forever and did he know this? He said yes. I said, "Would you like us to adopt you, Sergeis?" He said with a big voice and relief and happiness, "YES!" Oh how my heart was happy and I almost couldn't think of the sadness all around me. So we will proceed with our homestudy when we return home and I have a new drive to get him HOME soon!! I also have a new drive to help get these other kids I met today home. There are children here who are longing for love and don't know where to find it. They live a tough life. The boys seem especially to have it hard. If you can find it in your heart to host a child (or 2 or 3) please email me and I will talk with you about some that I have met.

After the orphanage, we came back to the apartment and Craig and the 3 oldest went bowling at the park. I stayed back with the 2 little ones because they had not gotten really great naps! Then we went to eat at Cili's Pizza! Yumm-O! Sergeis and Viktor ate a whole pizza and calzone each!! Growing boys!! We, of course, have left overs. Then we took the boys (and their cat) back to the orphanage where I was once again told "I love you Mommy." Happy sigh....

Tomorrow we plan to go to church. Nora, Sergeis and Viktor are supposed to come with us. Hopefully, they'll know how to get there and what time it starts because we can't find the website anywhere for the baptist church here in Liepaja that we were told about! :) Sergeis is a great navigator though. He knows exactly where to go and what to do for everywhere we go! It seems he gets around this city an awful lot!

Well once again, it's almost midnight so I need to get to bed. I feel like I'm leaving a ton of things out including our emotions. Maybe I can blog at a decent hour tomorrow and express our feelings of our journey thus far a little better. Thanks for reading and until tomorrow---GOOD NIGHT!!!

Instant Perspectives

2009-09-12T02:54:00.000-04:00

In being constantly on the go over the past few days, we’ve had little chance to get a good sideline perspective of the country so far. We have noticed a few things that are obvious though. One thing I noticed just driving through half of the country is that the people are more out and about than we are in America. We usually only see the kids out in the streets playing back home. Here there are all ages walking around. Adults are out walking around talking to each other. Many also bike around which is a common mode of transportation to begin with. There just seems to be more public interaction and outdoor living than back home.

I can also tell there is an “old” way and a new “way” of thinking and living. Just seeing the newspapers, the clothing, music, and even among television programming, you see a distinct line among the older and younger generations with their thinking. Many of the older people seem to be pining for the old days – more traditionalists. Some television shows seem to look back at the way life was perhaps 20 plus years ago. The younger generations have their versions of MTV, ESPN, and the modern cartoons we have in America. This group has definitely bought in to the “decadent West” to use an old phrase from these parts.

With regards to mission work, this brings up the two distinct areas of ‘modern’ and ‘post-modern’ thinking. You really have one group that is older, traditional, set in their ways, and lives in black and white terms while the other is younger, open to anything, many shades of gray thinking. I know this is a broad generalization but with two days in and giving an instant response, this is really what I see. I’m sure many things will change the longer we stay here. And there are many things I saw comparable to Romania. Communism still has scars here. The old, bland flats are giving way to brighter colors, billboards appealing to the young. It is a major transition. As with the modern/post-modern transition elsewhere, you have to make sure the message of the Gospel remains true AND you have to maintain a delivery that speaks to this transition. We are excited about what we’ve seen and what God has in store for us. The harvest is definitely plenty.

Day Two

2009-09-11T16:51:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure exactly where to start! Day Two has been a whirlwind of events!

For starters, we slept until 10:00 this morning when there was a knock on our bedroom door from Chris making sure we were going to wake up!! :) So we were rushed from that point to eat breakfast, get driving training in for Craig and eat lunch to leave their house. We left later than planned but we still made it to Liepaja just after 5:00! I was initially worried about the driving here by ourselves, but Chris and Lydia took our map book (well Jennifer's map book that we borrowed--thank you!!) and put post it notes with street names and directions for us to follow! It was so helpful and really easy to get here! We only took one wrong turn and ended up driving through Kuldiga, but we found our way back to the road we needed to be on! I'm glad we took that wrong turn, though, because Kuldiga is beautiful!! Naturally I didn't get any pictures though because I was the navigator and trying to help Craig find our way. You'll just have to trust me! :)

Our drive to Liepaja was....peaceful. This is a beautiful country. It seems untouched and unspoiled, until you get to a major city. All the little towns are "blink and you miss" towns. But those are the ones that are just beautiful. They have cobblestone streets going through them and it just looks very European. When you aren't in a town you are either driving through evergreen forests or field after field after field of hay or gardens, etc. There are no fences to obstruct the views. Some cows or goats are tied (with a long rope) to posts but some are just able to roam free. I'm not sure why they don't roam into the street....maybe they do sometimes, but thankfully--not today! The weather was gorgeous today--a few clouds in a bright blue sky. And when I say bright, I mean BRIGHT! We were both wishing for sunglasses. By the time we made it to Liepaja, I had a huge headache from the sun! I know this sounds crazy, but the clouds seemed more defined here...almost as if we were closer to them. Maybe there is less polution in the air and things are just more clear. I don't know. I just know that Craig and I were very awed by the beauty. Just before entering Kuldiga there is a bridge over a river with a waterfall on one side. Boy, I wish we would've had time to stop and take pictures....I think the ones I got didn't turn out, but it was a beautiful sight to behold. Oh, there are also more people that are out of their houses here. In America, we keep ourselves cooped up....here they get out. More people ride bikes as well to get where they need to go. I even saw one lady, maybe in her 60's riding a bike down the road with what looked like some sort of "greens" in the basket on the front of her bike!

When we finally made it Liepaja it was quite a contrast to the rest of the country. Other than Riga (and we were only at the airport--not really in the city) Liepaja is the first major city we've been to in Latvia. There are people and buildings everywhere. Some of the buildings look newer but most seem older. The building near Sergeis' busstop said "1897" on the front of it. Some of the buildings are empty and run down, and others seem full of life. We had barely made it to our apartment when Ginta brought Sergeis and Nora to see us!!! Definitely the highlight of our day! I wrote a note to the orphanage director asking for permission to visit with him while we are in Liepaja. He does have to go back to the orphanage at night but he can spend the days with us this weekend and after school on Monday and Tuesday if he wishes--he does! :)

I talked with Ginta about the money I had for Nora that the Shelton's gave to me to give to her. Ginta explained to her what it needed to be used for and Nora just started crying. For those of you who don't know, Nora is 18 and is leaving the orphanage to stay in a flat. She didn't have enough money to get things she needed to furnish the flat and her host parents from the past summer sent some with me to help her out. Nora was so grateful and a little embarrassed to be crying! She will be moving out of the orphanage into her flat in one week. Please be in prayer for her as she adjusts to this new responsibility. She is still in highschool, as kids graduate a year later in than in the States. She will have to pay for food and utilities on her own, which means she will need to find a job and maintain her grades at school. She is sad to be leaving and I think overwhelmed with all of it. She will be living in Karosta and has offered to show us around that city. (Something we have really hoped to do while we are here!) She is also going to go to church with us and Sergeis on Sunday! I am so happy to spend more time with this wonderful girl. I hope we can share some hope with her and remind her she is loved!!

Sergeis---reuniting with him was really wonderful! He was his quiet self at first. But after a few minutes he warmed up really easily and it was like we were all never apart! The kids and he went right into playing and being brothers and sisters like it was just natural. Sergeis called me Mommy and helped me fix Ramen noodles--his choice for dinner tonight. When I told him I was so happy to see him again, he smiled and said, "I am too." As I left him at the bus stop (my stomach is in knots just thinking about him being on his own) I hugged him and asked if he would be okay by himself. I told him I love him and he said, "I love you too." :) :) :) Not, "Ja, I know" or "me too" or all the things he typically says, but "I love you too." My heart jumped with joy! He wrestled around with Merrick and Daddy and chased Eileen, Merrick and Addie and they chased him. Then we went to the park that is about a block from our apartment. We haven't seen the whole thing yet, but it is awesome! There are HUGE green spaces with beautiful trees in a walking path. There is a place you rent things that look like go-carts but you peddle them like a bike. We rented a few---just so it's clear, I am incredibly out of shape and my thighs will be aching tomorrow--and we only rented them for 10 minutes! There is a fountain (maybe more than one) that is pretty and artwork--sculptures of sorts--all over the park. Tomorrow we will explore the play area. I've seen pictures from a previous adopting family--tons of play areas of all sizes. Even a pirate ship to play on!! We are excited about that. I also wonder why on earth we don't have parks like this in America??!!

I will say, a lot of the people here don't smile when you pass them, even if you smile at them. I smile anyway and pray for them. But I haven't met anyone unfriendly so far!

Craig and I think that Merrick must have expected Latvia to be a different planet. Before we came to Liepaja and we talked about being in Latvia, he would say "No we aren't, Sergeis isn't here." When explaining to him that he lives in a different part of Latvia from where we were, he says, "Is he in a different Latvia? Are there 2 Latvias?" So cute. Now that we are here and with Sergeis he still said this isn't Latvia. I'm not sure what he expected exactly. Maybe something completely different than home? I don't really know. But he is cute!!

Eileen has enjoyed seeing Sergeis again as well. She likes having someone bigger to play with. She started to get a little jealous because Merrick kept wanting to talk to Sergeis at dinner but she got over it quickly and just joined in the conversation. By the time we were leaving him at the bus stop, she was almost in tears, "Mom, we can't leave him!" (must be the mom in her too) "I don't want him to go!" I assured all the children he would be back in the morning and they calmed down. I overheard her and Merrick talking later and the conversation went something like this:
Merrick: "I really like Sergeis. He's our friend."
Eileen: "Me, too. But he's our brother, not our friend."
M: "Nah-uh...he's our friend too."
E: "Well, yes he is. But we hosted him and he lived with us and he's our brother AND our friend."
M: "Yes."

They are too cute!

Addie is just being Addie. She joins in the play with the big kids when we wants, and then leaves the playing when she wants. She did get left out of the go-cart riding though. She had to stay behind with Craig and she cried and cried until he pushed her on Sergeis' scooter. Poor thing. Tomorrow I think we will get the 6-seater cart so all of us can ride. That's an interesting sight!

Craig is a wonderful stick shift driver!!! He really did so well getting us here! And he's a fast learner. Chris taught him how to drive the car and most of the road signs and things to know/watch out for in driving within Latvia and Craig remembered them on our 3 hour drive!! Rules are different here and Craig knew what to do! He is awesome! He is great at getting Sergeis out of his quiet shell but Sergeis tends to not warm up to Craig as fast as the rest of us. I know it stems from not knowing his father, but pray for their "reconnection" to be fast as well since our time with him is limited to a few days.

I have set up "house" for the 5 nights we will be here. Our apartment is beautiful! It seems very contempory and I really like it. I think of Ikea when I look around. I told Craig tonight we need to live in an apartment like this. It is small, but big enough. It's impossible to have too many things cause there's no where for them to go. It's very efficient. The kitchen is so small I can pretty much reach everything without having to get up from the table! There is no dishwasher and a limited # of dishes so you are forced to clean them right after you use them, so there's no mess in the kitchen either! :) (Oh and for any of the Bob Bailey's crew reading this, I was excited--yes I know, I'm a dork--to see a Franke sink in the kitchen. I was washing dishes and thinking what a nice sink this is when I looked at the logo and said, "Well no wonder it's nice!")

Well, I think I've covered just about everything I wanted to cover. I hope to be able to think clearly enough tomorrow to have something really profound to read! :)

We are hoping to visit the orphanage this weekend sometime, but it is up to Sergeis when. Ginta (his social worker) said he can take us there when we/he wants to go. She also said Rebeka knows we are here and wants to see us! It's after midnight here so I am going to get in the bed!! Good night!!!

We are here!!!

2009-09-10T09:52:00.002-04:00

We made it to Latvia today safe and sound! Our flights were great...very smooth sailing for the most part. We hit some turbulance on our flight over the Atlantic but it wasn't too bad. I think I prayed the whole way. And I know I had people praying for me and us because I FELT the prayers!!
We have arrived at our home for the first day/night we are here. Tomorrow we will drive to Liepaja and check into our apartment and then see Sergeis! Very exciting! He has a wonderful social worker, named Ginta, who is bringing him and Nora to meet us even though she is on vacation!!

I really wanted to write this post to say that I have the best kids in the world. They are real troopers. We had the occasional argument and tempers but they did so incredibly well for our long travel time! They were great on the planes, obeyed in the airports and just kept an air of excitement about the whole thing!

I cried tears of joy when our plane landed in Latvia. I can't believe I'm here. It all seem so surreal still.

We are all tired from all the travel with not much sleep but we are trying to stay awake until bedtime here to get our bodies used to the new time. Our rental car company gave us a free upgrade to a minibus. It has 9 seats and lots of room for our luggage! Chris is giving Craig tips and pointers on driving and will also give him hands on lessons today/tomorrow! Hooray for American friends here! Chris also helped me at the grocery store today cause I didnt know what anything was!! :)

Latvia is a beautiful country. We passed fields and more fields on the way here. Pretty, old houses with lots of character. And I'm sitting at Chris and Lydia's dining room table (in one of those pretty old houses with lots of character) typing to you from EUROPE drinking peppermint tea with honey!! The kids are outside with Craig and Chris playing and burning off some of the energy they accumulated from plane rides. I'm not real sure where they get all that energy....

I did fine on the plane rides. I was nervous and I didn't eat because of the nervousness but I didn't have the panic attacks I thought I might have and the flights were really good! Thank you for your prayers!! I'm sure Craig will have more to update later as well as pictures, but I will leave you with a few prayer requests!

Brooke

Prayer Requests:

*Thank God for His protection and provision for us on our flights to Latvia!!
*Pray that we adjust quickly to the new time.
*Pray for our drive to Liepaja tomorrow as we will be on our own.
*Pray for our time with Sergeis.

Here We Go!

2009-09-09T06:54:00.000-04:00

Well this is it! Today is the day we go to Latvia. We’ve prepared and packed and hope that we have everything we need. The kids are thrilled to go on the plane. Merrick wakes up each day saying “Let’s go to Latvia!” They are all excited about going to meet new friends in the orphanages. It amazes me how mature Merrick and Eileen have been in this process. They know why we are going and really want to help in their own way. It’s a great feeling as a parent to see your kids have a missions heart and a desire to spread the Gospel and to help others.

I don’t want to overlap anything that Brooke has said. But this has been an amazing journey and we have not even begun the flight. God has opened doors financially and with people placed in our path. Friends we’ve known for years and new friends we have made during this journey have exceeded beyond understanding in helping us. This trip is truly God’s plan and watching it come to fruition has been a great faith builder.

I’ve been reading several chapters about Paul’s missionary journeys and Matthew 10 just to get the New Testament mindset of missions. It truly was a “drop everything you’re doing and go to some unknown place” mentality. Matthew 10 has Jesus spelling out how the Disciples were to carry themselves in their missions journeys. Seeing how they had to rely on the hospitality of others shows complete faith in God for providing them food and shelter – their only needs on the journey. We have seen this take place constantly in this process. It’s hard to give that complete faith when you take your kids on ANY trip. You worry about everything – food, money, a place to stay, safety. But the point in this process is that when God calls us to do something we first obey, and second rely on Him to provide what we need for His calling. This has been difficult. Money for the trip and passports coming in this past Saturday are two good examples of our faith being tested. But time and time again, God showed His will and His being in control.

And so this journey begins. We hope that the words we put on this blog over the next two weeks are ones of encouragement to others. My own desire is to see evangelism and discipleship increase. I also hope there is a greater desire to help orphans, regardless where in the world they are. Many can be adopted but many more are left behind in orphanages. Even more are on the streets continuing a vicious cycle. Our desire is to be an encouragement to those who have no chance of being back with birth parents or adoptive ones. Journey with us. God bless! -- Craig

Almost time!

2009-09-08T17:03:00.003-04:00

Well we are down to the wire now! The kids are really excited to be leaving tomorrow. I am excited and nervous all at the same time! We did find out that we can check our car seats for no additional cost, which is a blessing. I purchased the FAA Cares restraint system for Merrick and Addie for the airplane ride which will be so much easier than lugging 2 car seats, carry-ons and kids onto the plane!! :) They fit into our carry-ons.

At this point we are just trying to manipulate all our stuff into the luggage to make it fit and not exceed the weight limit of 50 lbs! Since Delta is charging us per bag, we have decided to try to fit everything into 4 bags instead of 5. This is a little difficult, but I think we will be able to do it--even taking Sergeis his scooter!

Prayer Requests for the next 2 days:

*For our attitudes to reflect Christ even in the stress, tiredness and last minute packing
*For safe flights and for Brooke to not be scared of the flying. ;)
*For the children to remain calm, quiet and obedient during the long flights.
*For all of us to be able to get some sleep while on our overnight flight.
*For a smooth entry into Latvia (going through customs, getting all our bags--none getting lost, and meeting up with Chris, who will drive our rental car to his home in Valdemarpils)

We will update as soon as we can after we arrive on Thursday!! Thank you for your support and for your prayers!

Brooke

Yard Sale

2009-08-30T17:15:00.002-04:00

Well the yard sale was a HUGE success! We had people donate tons of items for us to sell, we had people praying for the sale to go well and I had the best helpers to get things sorted and put out for people to buy! Thank you to everyone who participated in any way! I especially want to thank those who spent their Saturday helping me all or most of the day!

We raised $1075.95 yesterday at our sale! Praise God for it all! Only He could've done it! I am exhausted but it was all worth it!

Just wanted to give everyone an update and say thank you!!!!!

17 Days and Counting

2009-08-24T09:25:00.002-04:00

Well, we leave in 17 days! We are so excited! The kids ask everyday how many more days until we leave!
I just wanted to remind everyone that our yard sale which benefits our mission trip will be held on this Saturday August 29 at Christ Community Church in Monroe, GA. We will be at the church to accept drop off donations for the yard sale on Thursday and Friday evening from about 5:30--8:30. If you need to come another time, let us know and I can arrange for someone to be there to help you unload your stuff. We would really appreciate any donations. We would love to get some more "big" items such as furniture and things that would attract attention from the street for people to stop so let me know if you have anything!

Thank you for all of your support!!

Prayer Requests:
Pray for Craig as he is out of town with work until September 2. (He has been gone since August 17.)

Pray for the funds for our trip to keep coming in.

Pray for the hearts of the people in Latvia we will come into contact with--that God will go before us and prepare them for His saving message!

Challenge!!

2009-08-11T11:27:00.001-04:00

We are issuing a challenge to everyone reading this blog! If you have ever been on a mission trip, whether foreign or domestic, we challenge you to give $30 towards our mission trip!! God has so much for us to do while we are there and we can't wait to see how He will provide for us to get there!!
We leave in less than a month! For a tax deductible donation, please make your checks payable to Simple Obedience Ministries, Attn: Jennifer Peters, 1939 Saffron Plum Lane, Orlando FL 32828 and put MT-0909Helf in the memo field.

Thank you in advance for helping us go!!

News!

2009-08-06T12:35:00.002-04:00

It has been some time since we’ve last posted on the blog. Much has happened since the last post – while I was in Romania. God lit a fire and I came back to help Brooke out with Reach the Nations. She planned to be a team coach with this ministry taking place at Truth Tabernacle over off of Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain. I offered to help and was soon a drill coach for basketball. My knowledge of basketball is limited but God used the opportunity for me to connect with many kids through this. Many of these kids had much in common with my own childhood. I look back and see how God places us in areas of ministry where we can be best utilized. Our own experiences and backgrounds are used by God to witness, counsel, and build relationships with others.

This entire process is truly a step by step process. God has taken us one step at a time towards showing us the next step. We have a tendency to want to see the grand picture. But two things typically happen when a grand picture is revealed – we see all and try to alter it in some way OR we just miss out on what God is showing us with his plan. In our case, we can look back at each step and truly see God in control of our lives.

So this brings us to our next step – God has opened doors for us to go on a family mission trip to Latvia starting September 9th. This will more than likely be a two week trip taking us to several places in Latvia. We will go to Jelgava to visit a children’s home for mistreated, abused, and/or abandoned children from the area (www.thesparrowsnest.org). This home serves two main purposes – to rescue children as well as rehabilitate families. Hope For Children in Riga is a ministry that reaches out to children of the same background and offers them medical aid, food, clothing, shelter, and love (www.hope.lv).

The organization we are going through is called Simple Obedience Ministries (www.simpleobedience.org). They are a ministry that offers a hosting program focusing on Latvian orphans. They also work with sending mission teams to Latvia to help current ministries on the ground there. They work with Skrunda Baptist Church and numerous other groups and organizations in the region.

While we are there we are hoping to travel to Valdemarpils to meet with the YWAM Latvia leadership. We have built wonderful relationships with the team there and want to meet them personally to thank them for their advice and prayers. If time and God allows we will also visit Talsi Christian School and Talsi Baptist Church (www.talsichristianschool.com). God has done amazing things with both of these and we want to see firsthand what is going on there. And last but not least we plan to visit Liepaja. This town holds a great attachment for us with the orphanage for Sergeis, Rebeka, and Roberts. We plan on going to see Sergeis and hopefully meeting the other kids we have met on hosting and on Skype. This area is one of need. One area I hope we can visit is Karosta. It is a former Soviet naval base. When the USSR collapsed and the last Russian Navy crews pulled out, the place was left to fend for itself. Most of the area is neglected with old flat-style barracks left to ruins. Many of those who live there are ethnic Russians who many call ‘people without a country’. Many have no citizenship with Latvia or Russia. The area is a haven for abuse, crime, drugs, and overall neglect. There is an issue with abandoned street kids. This is an area needing to hear God’s Word.

Like with the Romania trip, we do not know what God has in store for us. We only go to answer God’s calling and leave it to the Holy Spirit to show us what to do. Like Isaiah, God calls us and we just say ‘here am I Lord!’ We ask for your prayers and support in this process. Please look at the above links of the groups we plan to work with during this trip. God is doing great things in this country. If you wish to support us in this trip, you can send a tax deductible donation to:

Simple Obedience Ministries
Attn: Jennifer Peters
1939 Saffron Plum Lane
Orlando FL 32828

Simple Obedience is a Georgia 501(c)3 ministry. Please include the code # MT-0909Helf in the Memo field of the check. We are also having a yard sale on August 29th at Christ Community Church in Monroe off of 138. We are taking any donations you may have. Please let us know if you have items we can sell by emailing brooke@inhissight.org.

We thank you for your continued support and prayers in this. We are witnessing God’s amazing work all over the world!

America 101

2009-07-10T17:14:00.003-04:00

This past Monday, Precious in His Sight partnered with New Horizons for Children to host the America 101 class for our side of town for all the host kids here from Russia, Latvia and Ukraine. We had 13 children come to the class. While there, we ate a lunch of pizza and a delicious flag cake made by Stephanie. We also had 4 arts and crafts stations set up for the kids to paint, draw, and just be creative! They all had a blast and we had a contest for most creative, most original, etc etc. Towards the end of class Stephanie and a couple of the chaperones started painting faces! This, possibly, could have been the favorite thing of the kids. :) Some of the children's artwork will serve as centerpieces at the First Annual Charity Auction on July 18th and some will be auctioned off. All proceeds will go to benefit New Horizons for Children to help more children find families and learn about Christ.
We had so much fun seeing kids we love and meeting new ones! We got to just love on them and make some memories for them and us!

Reach the Nations

2009-07-10T16:41:00.004-04:00

"Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised..."
1 Chronicles 16: 24-25

This week (Tues-Fri) we participated in a ministry called Reach the Nations in Stone Mountain, GA. This has been a summer ministry and will continue until school starts, I believe. This week (and the next couple of weeks) was a sports camp with devotions each day. Kids were brought in from the area and included many different nationalities. We had kids from Nepal, Bhutan, Tanzania, Iraq as well as kids raised here in America. It was an awesome time of fellowship and getting to know these amazing kids! Each day there were basketball and soccer drills and "games." If you played soccer one day, you played basketball the next. After the drills, we had a time of devotion. My group grew from 6 kids on the first day to about 13 or 14 kids each day thereafter. Our devotion time was my favorite part. For some of these kids, it very well could have been their first time hearing the Word of God. Some of these kids had not been in America very long and come from families of other faiths. I can only hope that we have planted a seed this week and that those who come in the next 2 weeks can continue to water that seed and help it to grow.

I almost missed this opportunity. When asked if I wanted to help out, my words were "I'll pray about it and let you know" when I fully intended to say no. I am not a sports person. :) I know nothing about sports and honestly don't really like them. So why in the world would I want to participate in a sports camp. The whole idea of it is way outside of my comfort zone. But then I was convicted that I needed to let go of that comfort zone and get outside of it! :) So I committed to helping and brought Craig along with me. I am SO glad that I decided to go! This was a wonderful week and I haven't stopped smiling much! We took the Word to the Nations!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are waiting for God to lead us to where He wants us to go. In the meantime, we feel like we're right where God wants us and to quote a song I love that's out right now. "I will serve you while I'm waiting; I will worship while I'm waiting on your Lord."

See the link to the left for pictures from this week!

Brooke

Here is a video, as well, done by Shannon Ramsey who has organized the Reach the Nations events!

The Long Goodbye

2009-07-03T12:18:00.001-04:00

Well this is it – Day Seven. It’s the last day of the trip. We spent the day doing some shopping in the market, visiting a Hungarian Catholic Church, and then back to the first village we visited earlier in the week. There we got to dedicate a finished home worked on by several teams that came in this summer. We had a short devotional, Bro. Dan sang a hymn, and then handed the keys over to Ibolia and her family. She was in tears and speechless. You can tell genuine gratitude in her eyes. We only hope this serves as an example to the others in the village. There is talk of maybe building a pavilion or actual building to house a church for the Gypsy village. We pray this can be built in the near future. We also fed the village some hot dogs we cooked over a fire we built. It was in true Baptist form with everyone gathering at the mention of food. Faces often seen with sadness and a loss of hope instantly changed to smiles. After we ate, we spent some fellowship time with the families there. Most of us chased kids around or had kids piled on top of us. The lucky few just held the babies. Leaving this village was truly difficult. We each became attached to the village – mainly having a little group of kids that stayed with each of us. Waving goodbye was VERY hard to do. There is so much work to be done here. The harvest truly is plentiful, even just here in this corner of Romania.

Now we say goodbye and begin packing. The question is where do we go from here? Each one of us had different reasons or motivations for coming here. I do not know if those reasons were met. I can say each of us in this group have grown both as people and as Christians. In just a short amount of time our faith has grown. I speak for myself in saying God has used this experience to clarify many questions I’ve had with my purpose. With my own calling to missions, I have seen God’s work, God’s fulfillment, and God’s vision taking place here. This was a guide and an encouragement to me. My own doubts and fears have really been overcome. Before this trip, I was looking at an endpoint of ‘training’ to be a full time missionary. Now I see we as Christians cannot wait. We cannot put things on hold. We cannot put the priority and command Christ gave on hold for some endpoint scenario. There is work to be done. There is work to be done in my family, in my neighborhood, in Monroe, Loganville, Walton County, etc. Christ gave us a command that involves sharing, witnessing, and discipling. It does not take money, a building, a bus, literature, etc. to simply share His good news. Words that come from our mouths are free. But an addition to that is building relationships with people. Christ gave us this example seeing how He walked the cities and villages. He went to weddings, dinners, or just told stories to people based in the Word. Seeing this firsthand here in Romania shows how love, that is spoken of so much in the New Testament, is the greatest resource and commodity we as Christians have. It tore down walls. It tore down cultural divides. It tore down bigotry here. It tore down poverty and oppression.

As I mentioned before, we are accountable for what God has revealed to us here. I am praying so hard that this powerful message and example is taken by our group back home to our little corner of Walton County and is continued to be used by God to do HIS will. I am also praying so hard for the Bruski family for what they are doing through God’s guidance here. We all have much work to do. This family has given their lives to live for Christ and to serve others through Him. They face obstacles at every turn. But they persevere in Christ who gives each of us strength to overcome ANYTHING. We have seen much overcome here. Now we go back to those who are materially much better off than Romanians and Gypsies. The question we now face is are those back home in our area SPIRITUALLY better off? It is now our calling to test that. We come back ready to continue serving God in the ways He guides us. Isaiah 6:8
Craig

Day Five from Day Six's Perspective

2009-07-01T17:53:00.000-04:00

It's now Thursday here. Well first thing’s first – through a technological miracle we now have Charlie and Selena’s pics up. Theirs covers the trip from the beginning. It’s difficult balancing out a laptop to cover updating two different blogs, uploading pictures, talking to family on Skype, and talking to family on MagicJack. We’ve done remarkably well getting everyone in to contact someone back home.

I have so much to say and know I cannot remember all of it. I have tried to stick with some theme or main idea but there is something new and inspiring constantly occurring here. One thing you’ll notice in the pictures is how there is some Biblical theme popping up everywhere here. The grapevines with the vine and the branches, the sheep and shepherds, and today with the mud and straw being made into bricks. God has amazingly intertwined His word into the daily lives here.

Another thing that amazes me is the way the people still find some way to summarize life here to press on even in these conditions. An 80 year old man named John told me “if you don’t grow old, you die.” He gave me many blessings on my life as I talked to him about his. He was burdened by guilt over something he did as a child – steal cookies. He also drank heavily later in life. But he is a Christian and I told him Christ has forgiven him all of those sins and there is nothing left to burden us. We are free. Stories of our past sins are not for guilt – they are for testimony over what Christ has done to change our lives. Even a criminal nailed to a cross beside Jesus, moments from death, received forgiveness. There is no excuse – no sins – that can be used to keep someone from accepting Jesus. Many say they did too many things in their younger years that keep Jesus from WANTING to forgive them. That is not the case. All have sinned but anyone who asks for forgiveness may receive that forgiveness.

We spent time in a Gypsy village called Dobresti. The Bruskis set up a water system some time ago where storage tanks held water and led down a pipe through the village for the people to use at five points. Vandalism and petty fights with jealousy causes many to break or damage the system. We checked today and thank God the spigots were in great shape. Then we spent time with the kids, met some of the families, and had a mini-VBS. This was the most poverty stricken village we have seen with many of the younger children running around with little or even no clothes on at all. The water they wash clothes in and play in is mixed with sewage. I see so much of the Samaritan people of the Bible in the Gypsies. They are truly the outcasts – some brought on their own and much brought on by Romanians. Regardless, Jesus made sure he spent time preaching to them – note the story in John of the woman at the well and the mention of Samaria in the Great Commission. We could easily find a similar woman at the well here – no different than the story in John.

We also had our last service with the orphans tonight. It was very emotional. We each stood up to tell what being a disciple was about. It requires sacrifices, getting out of comfort zones, loving others, drawing closer to God, and listening to God. The kids joined us in songs sung in both English and Romanian. Again, so much of God comes through where it sounds heavenly with mixed languages.

Again, I could mention more. But the last thought is one that we’ve all talked about repeatedly – we are responsible for what we’ve learned and seen here. Our eyes have been opened God has impressed this on our hearts. What we do with this when we get back is key. Do we apply this wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to our lives back in America? Does it last a few weeks after we get back? Or is this embedded in our hearts to witness to everyone we can back home? I’ve mentioned this before – a book by W. Oscar Thompson called Concentric Circles of Concern mentions how it is easy to do great work with people we will never see again. But if we cannot do these same deeds with those next door, across the street, in the next cubicle at work, or the person in line behind us at Wal-Mart, we are missing the point. My prayer is that this fire, this wisdom, this experience is taken back to Monroe, Loganville, Walton County, and beyond.

Days Two and Three

2009-06-30T01:27:00.003-04:00

The pics we uploaded cover days two and three. Sunday we had "Church in the Basement" with some of the Gypsy kids. It was amazing to hear praise songs in Romanian and English. We also visited the two pieces of property the Bruski's are looking at buying. While we were looking, everyone in the village who ever thought about selling their land came out offering it. Aaron said this was amazing since just a little while back they could not find ANY land for sale.

Monday was spent at the Minor Center and Maternity Center in the first half. We held a VBS - crafts, puppets, songs, and games. It was great to see kids with so little to hope for light up with just a little love and time spent from Americans. The second half was at government housing - similar to a highrise housing project in America. We delivered some groceries to a few families the Bruski's work with and held a VBS there as well. Kids came out of every direction. Some of us played soccer with the kids only to watch them bring 'ringers' in to kill us with their skills. We stood our own and made new friends. Then we gave out a book containing Mark and Acts. Kids came collecting these books of the Bible in Romanian and taking them back home.

Our eyes and hearts were humbled and we have seen the vision God has given the Bruski's and much of the work they have already done to impact this corner of Romania. Enjoy the pics and see what God is doing here.

Also, please pray for Paige Bruski. They have received some medical test results that have the family concerned. Due to family medical history, they are praying for a clean bill of health for her. God is the Great Physician. He has healed us from the greatest illness of all - sin. Nothing else in our lives can come close to being beyond His control. Just keep the whole family in your prayers during this time.

God bless -
Craig

Day One

2009-06-27T16:17:00.002-04:00

Well Day One, at least the first full day, is complete. We slept in to get over the jet lag and time zone issues. We went to a Gypsy village made up of predominantly Hungarian speaking Gypsies. It was an eye-openning experience to see the lives of a group of people treated as complete outcasts by those around them. Not only are they Gypsies but Hungarian speaking in Romania.

Through sponsorships of several American families and other donations, we took a grocery bag full of staples to a few families there. The families would take us in and show us their homes and other family members. We also took some candy for the kids who were thrilled to see us there. Aaron says they are used to Americans coming and know they get something when Americans come. It was still a blessing to see these kids treasuring things that our kids back home take for granted.

The thing that struck me most was seeing the concept of servant evangelism in action. Having outsiders come in to give them food, candy, and a couple of hours having the kids climb all over us (literally for a few of us) is a powerful witnessing tool. Just caring and spending time with them opens doors. The same compassion Christ showed for people like the Samaritan woman at the well is what we should always show. It truly does make a difference to outwardly show having Christ in our hearts.

Another thing I was reminded of is how our behavior as being a Christian impacts others. I went inside a house that one of the children wanted me to see. Inside the family was gathered around eating some of the food we brought. There was a TV showing some music videos that were questionable to say the least. The boy pointed at the TV and smiled, motioning me to come in to watch. I waved my hand and shook my head politely, and stepped out of the room. The matriarch of the family, a senior who lost her husband back in May, noticed my discomfort. She spouted off something in Hungarian to the family which I knew was something about offending me and to turn off the TV. The TV went off and she came out calling me to come back into their living room (keep in mind this house literally only has two rooms and had at least ten people living there). She changed the tone and took me around the house showing me pictures of family and deceased relatives. I understood this as welcoming me in their home and trusting me and not wanting to offend me. We 'talked' a little while longer before I had to make my way back to the group.

The point of that was to really show how as Christians, we typically go along to get along in the world. But we are called to be separated from this world. People notice this behavior. WE think it makes us look prudish and cower to the world. But we are called to separate ourselves from the behavior of the world - and in doing so the world takes notice. In a little Gypsy village in Romania, God reminded me how this can impact one single family. And it did. Everyone changed their demeanor and they welcomed me in and told me all about their family. Simple obedience of God overrides the fear we may have in offending someone or fearing looking prudish or weak. In this example, God reminded me how we are a light to the world and people can see Him through us. What power God has in a simple reminder.

Here Am I, Send Me!

2009-06-23T07:51:00.002-04:00

As I get ready to depart on Thursday, I am trying to prepare both the tangible items and my spiritual self. In getting ready for the full time missions status, I've read numerous verses on missions, preparing to go, the Great Commission, and others. In my mind, I take on this role of planning and organizing - wanting to have something substantive planned like a devotion, sermon, VBS, etc. My work experience is to have a plan that makes the most of time there and accomplishes many things.

And then I go back to the Bible. Are we really asked to get this organized and structured? Do we need to stress ourselves out over these details? God is only asking we be a messenger and to show love to others. I think about Isaiah 6:8 where God's people are in serious need of a lecturing. God asks who will carry out this message to His people. Isaish's response was "Here am I, send me!" There was no "I have a plan God!" or anything else added to it. God did the work and only required someone to speak the word to the people.

Read all four Gospel versions of the Great Commission as well as the one in Acts. We are to witness and disciple. Acts 1:8 states that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that the witnessing to the world will take place. We go as servants to carry out His commission. It does not require intense, stressful planning. We just remain obedient and humble servants to Him and He will guide us in what we need to do. It could be a simple gesture, a smile, helping in a garden, helping build a house, bringing baby clothes to a new mother, or just shaking the hand of someone who is an ethnic outcast. Think about the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus spoke to her. Not only was it unheard of for a Jew to converse with a Samaritan but it was unheard of for a man and woman on unfamiliar terms to speak in this manner as well. A simple conversation led to a woman hearing the Gospel and a village also being impacted as well.

We do not know what God has in store for us in Romania. We definitely know this trip will change our lives. We know God is using a family from Loganville, GA to do great things. We know He can take a group of six people from Woodlake Baptist Church and do great things as well. We can only go in obedience and just answer the call as Isaiah did knowing that God has already prepared the way. He always does His part. We are now ready to do our part.

Showers of Blessings

2009-06-22T13:13:00.003-04:00

Saturday, we had a yard sale to raise money for Craig's upcoming mission trip to Romania. Our goal was set at $300 although we hadn't told anyone that amount. The sale went extremely well. We had tons of people stop and lots of people buy things. One lady, in particular though, will forever stick in my mind.

In a natural course of conversation Saturday, I would tell just about everyone what we were trying to raise money for. This one lady was so excited to hear about Craig's trip and our upcoming plans for missions. She was so happy to hear about what God is doing in our lives. She said she would pray Ezekial 34:26 over us--that we would receive showers of blessings. She said this 3 times. Then she also said to look up Numbers 6:24-26. Before she left, she said again, "I will pray for showers of blessings for you. In fact, I will pray for a double blessing for you." She asked my name and said she would pray.

Here are the verses she gave me:

Ezekial 34:26
I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.

Number 6:24-26
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Wow--she doesn't know us and yet she prayed for God's blessing to be poured down on us in showers and for God to give us peace. She also prayed for double blessing...and we got it, in financial terms anyhow.
We made a little over $300 at our garage sale Saturday. Well, yesterday 2 different people have given us money that together total $300. :) We were not in any way expecting that--in fact one of the checks was from someone we didn't even know was back in the States and didn't know they even knew Craig was going on a mission trip!! God is soooo good!

I am so thankful to that lady for praying double blessings on us! She will probably never know how she blessed us just by giving me that Scripture and then praying for us. I, probably, will never know her name! But this is just another example of how we never know how our words and prayers will affect someone else. We should seize every opportunity to share Christ's love because it will ALWAYS have a tremendous effect! Prayers never go unanswered. The Word of God never comes back void.

Thank you Jesus!!!!!!!!

Brooke

YWAM Atlanta

2009-06-20T09:21:00.002-04:00

Last night the family went to a community cookout at the YWAM Atlanta base in Loganville. We had the best time. The team there has carried out prayer walks through the nearby subdivisions for some time and meeting with many of the neighbors. They held this event to bring people together and build relationships. It was a great time spent with the team and those who came. Many of those who came were children and teenagers. I jumped in with the group for some volleyball and football and realized just how out of shape I was. But it was fun.

I never realized just how diverse this area is. The neighborhoods nearby have an international feel to them. Many are from Africa and Latin America. Others are Americans who are well traveled. It was awesome to get the international flavor and seeing a preview of Heaven where God's children of all backgrounds will be.

It definitely put me in a foreign missions mindset. It also made me think of the hardships many peoples face in their home countries. We take our freedoms and our worship here for granted. Just a simple prayer or gathering of Christians together can bring imprisonment or even death for many around the world. People risk their lives boldly or flee to the US to just be able to worship. If it came to facing death, I wonder how Christians in our country would respond?

In the fun we took the kids to show them the grounds. They loved the place. We also met more of the staff as well. And we really feel like God is pointing us to going here for DTS. We keep praying for sure answers from God as far as timing now. God is laying the groundwork for us piece by piece. It has been amazing to watch this process unfold for us.

Missions In Romania

2009-06-20T09:14:00.002-04:00

It was last minute to say the least but next Thursday the 25th I will be going to Romania on a 10 day mission trip. We have 6 total people from church going to help the Bruski family from Loganville, GA. Their mission (www.Beliefinmotion.org) focuses on Gypsy villages and orphans near the city of Oradea, Romania near the Hungarian border. Both Aaron and Robin have been an encouragement to us as far as full time missions go.

We leave on the 25th and come back July 4th. I fully believe this will be a humbling experience and a reflective trip timing July 4th perfectly - realizing our political freedoms but keeping in mind that spiritual freedom supercedes everything including poverty, tyranny, etc. Pray for our team and all teams that travel to Romania this summer.

Family Mission Statement

2009-05-05T14:49:00.002-04:00

In the last post, Craig mentioned some of the books he had to read for his evangelism class. I also read most of these books. One that I'm not sure he mentioned was Family to Family. This book encourages families to make a family mission statement and to live by that statement. It asks to get each family member involved, if possible. Obviously, 2 of our kids are too young to understand, but we did get Eileen's help in making our statement. Some of her responses to the questions asked were pretty funny. For instance, one question was "What word would someone else use to describe your family?" and she responded, "Poor." It made me laugh out loud!! Anyhow, she provided (from memory) the Micah 6:8 verse--which was a very important addition to our statement and I was glad we included her in this process!
Here is our statement--it is a "living" statement, so it can be changed if we need to and as the children grow older and God calls us to different things.

As we impress the Word of God upon our hearts and strive to live the way our God wants us to, our family will treat each other fairly, love each other and those we meet faithfully, and share Christ with those whom God puts in our path. By taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, we will care for those less fortunate than ourselves, including widows, orphans, and the poor by taking the saving message of Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth.

Micah 6:8, Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 2 Corinthians 10:5b, James 1:27, Acts 1:8

I encourage y'all to make your own family or personal mission statements. Check out the book Family to Family. It's very encouraging to live out the Great Commission in your everyday life!

Brooke

Reflections

2009-05-04T16:58:00.002-04:00

This week is finals week for school. Finding time to post has been impossible. And posting now in the most hectic week of the past few months seems highly unlikely. But I wanted to just take a moment to reflect on one of my classes and the purpose of this whole calling.

I am taking an evangelism class. Well it is a contemporary evangelism class to be precise. I've read endless books for the class all focusing on our calling to spread the Word. Basically, it's beyond just a calling. It is a command. And most people see spreading the Gospel as something unique to missionaries. We tend to disconnect going out to evangelize as something only for a person or couple traveling to some remote jungle or village across the globe. The Great Commission is found in all four Gospels and the book of Acts. We are to witness and disciple - this is consistent in all four accounts. And it is not limited to a few people or some full-time missionary. We all are called. Of course each person is not called to go to Africa or Southeast Asia either. We are called to "Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth". This goes from our front door on out.

And something that is often confused among Christians with evangelism is "saving" someone. WE are not saving people. The Holy Spirit is. Our job is solely to tell others. We may be rejected. We may be cussed out. Or have doors slammed in our faces. All God wants us to do is talk about what he has done for us and can do for others. Part of this is something called "Servanthood Evangelism". This concept is something that should come natural to a Christian but has been widely ignored. You basically show what Christ has changed in your life by living it and showing it. Express random acts of kindness. Compliment people. Help those in need. Be there for people. Visit them in hospitals or at home when sick. Care for the needy. Help those who stumble or experience bad times. It's basically the concept of practicing what we preach. People are impacted profoundly by this. Someone in need would expect a Christian to knock on their door and tell them what they did to deserve this and that they brought this on themselves. Try helping them out and give them advice and encouragement. Simply put, show the same attitudes Christ did.

This is what brings us to the whole call to missions for us. It's not just straight 'preaching' that missionaries or those who support them do. They act out their faith as well as speak on it. And this is what we want to do for orphans. This is one of the most neglected groups in society. The ones who are 'lucky' enough to make it into an orphanage are wards of the state. This is an area often not funded well enough to truly give the children what they need. Workers are stretched thin and are often giving their entire lives to do what they can. And we want to help.

We don't expect to save every orphan in every orphanage. But one person brings more attention to a cause than no one at all. A family brings more. A church supporting that family does even more. Soon the focus grows. It's not an expectation to solve a problem overnight. It is picking a point and starting there - all based on God's leading us to that point. We do this because we are called and compelled to do so. We also do this because it is a calling close to our heart. We have seen and heard the stories from orphans. These children need love. They need hope. And it is our desire to show them what hope - what God has done for us and can do for them. It can be words and it just as well can be actions. But it is ultimately the Holy Spirit. We will do our part.

So after some ramblings and a short sermon, the point is that I've been impacted by this class to really look at our purpose as Christians. We often sit in our nice churches and think "well there's nothing to worry about since I'm saved so I'll just stay here and do the usual functions." I've really seen in my readings how God calls each Christian to move out of the front door of the church into his Jerusalem, or Judea, or Samaria, or even to the uttermost parts of the earth and simply share the Word in word and in action. It does not take a full-time preacher or missionary or evangelist to do this. And it does not take a seminary degree either. Just read Share Jesus Without Fear, or Concentric Circles of Concern, or Unexpected Journey, or Radically Unchurched, or The Art of Personal Evangelism. The only requirement needed for this position is being saved. If this is you, God has a job for you to do.

An Important Note

2009-03-19T15:20:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since we've posted due to a lack of time lately. We've been fighting colds, my mom has had health problems, and this is a transition period between the mini-mesters for seminary. But there is an important announcement I wanted to make before a deadline hit.

One of the driving points to us getting involved with missions work has been our experiences with hosting three orphans from Latvia. We've been hosting through a Georgia based group called New Horizons For Children. For the summer program they have added children from Ukraine for the first time. If you've ever wanted to host an orphan in your home for approximately 5 weeks, this is a great program to do so with. If you were unsure about hosting but would love to help cover the costs for a child to come here, New Horizons is a 501(c)3 non-profit seeking tax deductible donations. Your donations could help another family host a child this summer.

If you have any questions, please visit www.NewHorizonsForChildren.org for more info. Deadlines for hosting applications are 4/1 for Russia, 4/10 for Ukraine, and 5/1 for Latvia. We've hosted three children and can say these kids have made our family better. We hope that we've impacted them for the better as well.

The Great Commission

2009-02-03T18:09:00.002-05:00

I know for the very first post you are supposed to make a powerful statement that sums up everything. I can offer a testimony of my life and what got me to this point. That will have to do. When I was in high school I witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. I grew up thinking of the military and doing my part to save the world from Communism. Our school district offered Russian through a magnet school program and I was soon on my way to playing my part.

Our church had some literature from the international offices of the denomination and it focused on this new "harvest" of the former Warsaw Pact nations especially the former Soviet Union. Our pastor talked about how Christians had prayed for decades for this day to come and that our job was not finished. I wasn't sure what he meant. Acts 1:8 kept coming up. I kept hearing about the Great Commission. God was working on my heart even as a teenager for this region. Trips to the area would come up through school, church, etc. and I felt God calling me to focus on this area. I ignored it. I went on about my life.

Fast forward 17 years, a marriage, and three children later, things began moving at a fast pace. Over the past year, every single excuse I ever made in my life about going to the missions field, much less the former Soviet Union began changing or disappearing. Add to this that close friends of ours hosted a Russian orphan last Christmas. We learned about a GA based hosting organization for Latvian and Russian orphans. After getting attached to this 10 year old and watching our friends begin the adoption process, Brooke and I decided to host as well. We hosted a sibling pair from Latvia and our hearts were changed. Through hosting them we met a 10 year old Latvian boy we hosted this Christmas. For those journeys we have blogs as well...in the interest of time and my tendencies to be wordy. Connection to the region excuse - gone. We managed to smartly work down debt from stupid mistakes - debt that hinders or prevents anyone from going overseas. On October 31, I lost my job due to company cutbacks and a bad economy. I was brought to my knees.

Humbling is having a wife and three kids and hosting a 10 year old from Latvia at Christmas - the most expensive holiday out there - and losing your job. But God provides. Not only has money been stretched, I've had wonderful friends come through in ways I never thought possible. And we had the best Christmas ever - truly about giving and not in material goods.

That brings us to the present. We have a calling and a heart for Latvia and a focus on orphanages and street children. This is a country we have an emotional attachment to and we have a heart for God's calling on us to take care of the orphans. We are working on our plans to go to Latvia, God willing, in September and attend a DTS (discipleship training school) through an organization called YWAM (link on our page). This training gives us time in the field, schooling we need, and the background needed to go full time if God continues showing us as His path. So we begin raising funds and awareness for this. Doubts already come in with questions like "how in the world can you raise any money in an economy like this?" Well money is no hindrance to God. Our finances show that in many ways. God has already touched many in our lives. And this is HIS calling. He does not give us the calling without preparing the way. In the meantime we continue in prayer. Our friends pray for us. Our church prays for us. We stay in the Word. I am going to seminary now to eventually have a MDiv degree but to definitely have a foundation before going overseas.

So simply put, God has waited on me for over 17 years and the least I can do is wait on Him. We are all called as Christians to spread the good news. It could be a friend, family member, or co-worker all the way to a tribe in the deepest depths of the Amazon or SE Asia. As far as missions go, God may not call you to be a "goer". He may call you to be an "intercessor" - one who prayerfully supports a missionary, or a "sender" - one who financially supports a missionary. The key is to be open to what God has in store for you. It took me almost two decades to heed His call on my own life. So through this blog, we offer our own testimony about this journey. This is our Great Commission.