A full brain!

Wow! I've been on brain overload most of this week. It's been an exhausting, challenging and rewarding week. Sunday evening we hosted 7 cadets and Herve Cachelin from Switzerland overnight. It was fun to take them to Old Riga, talk about shared experiences of training and cadet life and have a good Lido meal. Monday was a holiday but I was up and taking them to the airport at 7:30. My intent was to work all day but I just couldn't. I crashed for the first half of the day. Later on I worked for several hours on a writing assignment for Barefoot Ministries (www.barefootministries.com). They are a left over connection from my TYS days and I love keeping that relationship even in a small way. Tuesday morning I was up early preparing for our Leaders' Day. I gave a presentation about calling and candidates. I've been reading a great book, "The Call" by Os Guiness. It's one of the books that's been on my 'to read someday' shelf and I thought it would be good help for my work with candidates here. It turns out to be a good refresher for me to as I look at what God is calling me to and where. My term is up next summer and I have to make a decision in the fall (or sooner) so I need some help. If you are trying to find out where God is leading you for the first time or the hundredth, this book might help. I'll put some quotes up later. After a long but good day with our leaders, I came home to study for Doctrine and Homiletics (preaching class.) Four hours of studying (which really wasn't enough but was all I could do) and then to sleep so I could teach for six hours on Wednesday. The teaching was tough. Lots of misunderstandings in Doctrine class but we got through it. Homiletics is hard because we are learning how to study the Bible inductively. Several of the methods are hard for me to explain and demonstrate because I don't understand Latvian grammar. It's fun but sometimes frustrating. I could use Linda Himes' help! By last night I was brain dead. All I could do was watch a movie and think about what else I should do. Today was another holiday (Latvia has a lot of Independence days) and I took it as one. I went with Veronika, Dana and their parents, Marina and Nikolai to a deer park in the country. Dana's friend's family owns and runs it. It was so nice. We walked and fed the deer. Then we sat in the sun and talked and relaxed. I needed a stress free, enjoyable day and that's what we had. I'll post pictures later. Much more I could tell about this week, but I need to sleep and you've probably read enough!