Busy days

wow! The days since I last posted anything about life in Latvia have been very full and exhausting. Some of them great and some of them I'd rather forget. I'll try to concentrate on the good days. The first Sunday in November was a Spiritual Day with the cadets. The Larssons were with us all day and we had a really good time. They both spoke in the morning, we went to lunch and then in the afternoon I asked the cadets to tell a little about themselves. As I listened I was so proud of them. Each of them spoke confidently, honestly and maturely. They have all grown in many ways and this was one evidence of that. Tuesday was the first leaders' day with the Larssons and again, it was a good day. For some reason I was feeling stressed - I think a little worried about how everyone would feel and thinking I was responsible to make it all right - of course, not my problem! And it was fine. I was also working out the details for the cadets' Christmas Assignments which seemed to fall apart in one moment and then came back together even better than I hoped in the next. Chris Larsson hadn't seen me stressed before so was not sure about me, but now she knows it happens and we all survived! That evening Johnny Kleman came from Sweden for a few days with us. We ate out a lot while he was here, which was great for a few days but eventually I just wanted to stay home and have a nice, simple meal. On Wednesday I told the cadets where they will be for their practical training in December. They all seemed OK, even excited, so that was a relief. And their corps officers are excited, too - that's really good! Here are their assignments, in case you want to pray for them:

Arturs - Bauska
Velta - Riga 2
Sergejs - Seda (an outpost of the Liepa corps which is Russian speaking)
Ilona - Liepa and Drusti outpost

While Johnny was here, he taught a seminar about the Salvationist and the Sacraments. A few leaders joined the cadets for this day. It was a tough day with translation. It took longer than Johnny expected so he didn't get to really spend time on the important issues. But, we have his notes and some other resources. When the cadets come back in January we will take it up again. We also had another meeting of the training program committee. It was excellent. I love this group and they were very expressive and helpful this time. Usually I talk most of the time, but I tried to get them to talk more and I think they did. I'm hoping to add Chris Larsson to this committee. We all went to lunch at my favorite (or one of them) restaurant which serves a variety of foreign foods, including Indian. I'm not a big curry fan, but they have good food here. If you come, I'll take you there! A couple of days this week also included coffee with Chris. We are getting quite accustomed to afternoon coffee breaks at various shops.

Saturday afternoon I watched Manuela (3+months) for Guna, as Andre was in the hospital. She wouldn't let me put her down for the first hour. I didn't really mind holding her and bouncing, I love babies! On Sunday I actually got to go to Riga 1 and was mobbed by the girls. They are so good for my ego! Sarah preached an excellent sermon from the book of Ruth. After church, I took Larssons to the Lido near us, the one I like the best.

Last week was a bit stressful with the cadets, worried about final homework projects and exams. A few times I felt like the last 10 months had been completely ineffective. This week it all went much better - the last week of the term! Tuesday in Homiletics we (Sarah and I) had the cadets give an Introduction and Illustration from a sermon. We videotaped them (only to find out later it didn't work). They weren't crazy about that or about evaluating themselves. But the truth is they all have improved, some a lot. None of them are bad preachers and a few will be really good as they continue to get experience and learn some additional methods. It was an encouraging morning for us and I think for them. Again I was encouraged on Wednesday morning as Guna and I listened to their presentations on the 11th Doctrine. On the whole, they were prepared, confident and intelligent. All good things!

In other areas of work, I've also been busy. I've been helping to plan the Larssons' welcome meeting for next Thursday - that was Monday's meeting. On Tuesday a few of us met with someone who is volunteering to help us in our work with the government. He also has a missiology degree from Fuller and so I'm very interested in talking with him about helping us by doing some teaching. Wednesday we had our first Strategy Force meeting with Larssons. It was good and I believe we wil continue to move in the right direction, especially with corps planting and development. And Thursday (today) Goran and I met with the pastor of the Intl. Bible Church and his mission supervisor. It was supposed to be a quick hello and coffee but was really good and inspiring, so went on for about an hour. They are very interested in supporting our church planting vision. And both of them are American so it was nice for me not to have to be so careful about my language. They understood me the first time! (this has been one of those weeks for failing to communicate - very frustrating.) So, lots happening - my 'to do' list just gets longer without time to cross anything off. And the cadets can't understand why I'm so excited about them leaving for a month!

Tried to post pictures but it didn't work. I'll try again later.