This afternoon I helped my friends lead worship again at the Baptist Church. This was the last service for the orphans’ camp. The leaders gave everyone opportunity to respond to God’s invitation of a relationship with Him through Jesus. As I played “I surrender… all to you… all to you” I was amazed to watch almost everyone come forward to pray & receive the Lord into their lives… even the drunk guy who happened to have wandered in earlier.
A sure sign of a move of God is what I call “wholesale reconciliation” when people just drop all barriers & repent to one another. I saw this happen with many people between whom I knew of hurts & issues… even with Agnese! It was amazing. I saw one teen guy, who normally is Mr. Debonnaire, all prim & proper & put together, bawling his eyes out with steady streams of tears flowing down his face, as he hugged one young orphan boy next to him.
Everyone on our worship team was on their knees while we worshipped because God was so present in that little old Baptist church today. Ieva was even trying not to cry as she continued to sing.
When Lydia & I got home, just as I turned off the car, a steady soaking rain began to fall. There were no dodging these drops. Lydia moved her tomato plants out to the edge of the balcony to take advantage of the shower. I’m so thankful to God for His mercy that rains down on us new every morning.
When you’re friends with teenagers, you need to realize that you will play a part in tragedies… ones of which I am so glad I’ve outgrown! Tonight was the musicians’ night. Arta, Kristine & I had decided to throw out the usual routine of singing worship songs at the beginning because all the songs that we know are so popular & so oversung. We wanted a break. So we decided to only have us sing songs that we had each written. Well, 5 minutes before the start of the evening, Arta came to me & told me that she & Kristine had changed their minds & would I, along with my Baptist youth friends be willing to lead worship. Umm…. yeah… sure… why not.
So Andis, Peteris, Ieva & I pulled together 3 songs that we know very well & we led worship for about 15 minutes. It was so awesome… except for Agnese. She walked in late, saw us playing & got mad that we didn’t “wait for her”. She then basically shunned Ieva, which caused Ieva to get really upset to the point of tears eventually. I gave Agnese a good talking to, but we’ll see if that has made a difference. I’ve just realized… Agnese is JUST LIKE MY MOTHER!! AHHHHHH!
Aside from that, it was an incredibly awesome evening. At midnight, we sang happy birthday to Ieva since it’s her 18th. Then, in overstated Latvian traditional style, we grabbed a 4-seat bench & put her on it & lifted her up & down one time for each year of her age. It was quite funny. Oh my gosh, I love that little girl!
We also wrote on papers on what we truly like about each person who came… but only if we knew that person. I think it really helped people to feel more comfortable, & I’m hoping it will have a lasting effect to the point that these younger musicians will feel more confident to share their abilities with others. I was able to finally have a little conversation with Ilze, as well. She’s a good friend of Arta’s who’s not yet a believer, but I think she is really close. I think it won’t be long before she realizes how much the Creator of the universe is in love with her & wants to have a personal relationship with her. I’m praying!!
My wife bought some sausage. Normally, that’s a good thing, since Latvia seems to have a pretty decent tradition of varied kinds. However, I didn’t know that sausage could actually taste like an old house. Bleh.
Cheers,
~t
We went camping. Our choice place was Sigulda. It’s one of the most beautiful places in Latvia where there are actually hills & trees. I’m quite fond of both. Somehow we managed to find a camping spot by a lake below what was once THE bobsled/luge training track of the Soviet Union. You can see it in the background of the image below where Ieva & Peteris are sparring with quarterstaves made from obliging dead trees.
It was an idea I had while Peteris & I were gathering firewood. Below he & I demonstrated how I could be beaten every time! Peteris is a natural at anything he does.
During our one full day we went to the Turaida Castle where it’s in the process of being restored. It’s not much of anything to see really, as castles go, but the view is amazing from the top of the one rebuilt tower. We took some photos of the group while there. This one in the field of tiny daisies with the castle in the background is my favorite.
The Crew
The guys
The Divas
Yes, we had a lot of fun. However, I had a recurrence of all kinds of junk. Even though these guys speak English really well, they spoke a lot of Latvian, which is an excellent thing… especially since we’re in Latvia! The problem was that I couldn’t get many of their jokes because I just didn’t understand the words. This became a source of major frustration to me, which kicked in my “turtle” reflex of closing myself off. It unfortunately caused a lot of tension in the group, which I regret. I didn’t know how to express it, but I’ve since apologized to them & plan to explain to them what happened. I once wrote a paper on a similar experience I had in the first year of living in the Czech Republic. This time wasn’t nearly as dramatic as that one, but it still hurt. But in true-friend fashion, these teens have loved me back “into the fold” as it were & I love them more & more every day.~t
