Is it possible that summer is already leaving and winter is coming? Already? The night skies are looking differently and temperatures are dropping. No, there’s no snow, not even close, but there is a feeling of change in the air.

Sometimes I sit at home in the evenings and anticipate fall coming and going back to school and being a little busier. Other times I feel like I’m so busy I can’t even stop to breathe & I wonder how I’ll fit anything else into my schedule. Sometimes I sit at home and wonder what in the world I’m doing here in Latvia. Other times I’ll be walking down the street and I forget I’m in a “foreign” country, as it doesn’t feel so foreign anymore. It’s becoming home. People ask me things about America and I forget the answers. They ask me what I miss and I have very little to say.

I’m finding that as long as I have some good friends, I can live most anywhere. That is when the real change here began for me. Not only friends to support me, but friends I can support, and who teach me and help me be more a part of this culture, this people, that help me understand what it is to be Latvian.

A friend was going through a rough time last night. After we prayed for this friend for a while, Chris and I and another friend went to his “hideout” at 11:30 last night. We were there until 2am, all of us just being together, talking, encouraging him, making sure he knew he wasn’t alone and his friends really did care about him. That God loves him so much. We talked about how God designed us for relationships, how even Jesus had friends while he was here. This morning (ok, afternoon) he told us that he was so glad we came, he feels so much better, and he knows he’s not alone. This is not the kind of ministry you can squeeze into a time schedule, but it may be some of the most important kind. I’m not sure when I started to love these friends so much, but I do. I pray for them, I cry over them and sometimes I honestly ask myself if it’s worth it. Is the friendship worth the pain that comes with it? Everytime, the answer is a resounding yes.

I was in Riga last week with the Kings Kids team before they got on the ferry to Sweden, and I bought a Latvian ring. Latvia has many folk symbols and designs, very specific to Latvian culture. Seems most every Latvian had a silver Latvian ring. Chris bought one when we first visited here, and I’ve been looking for one, wanting one. Why? To “fit in”? To feel more a part of this land? To solidify my identity as a Latvian (I am, after all, 1/4 Latvian)? The answer is… maybe. I think if you’re trying to identify with a people inwardly, it doesn’t hurt to do so outwardly, too (within reason, of course). Paul said he became all things to all men that he may win some to Christ. And, we all want to fit in, be accepted. Maybe that’s why when one of my former students saw a picture of me, it felt good to hear her say that I looked to beautiful to be an American… it was obvious I was Latvian. It was nice that some of the people on the Kings Kids team thought I was Latvian. I like it. I like being mistaken as a Latvian, especially since I am Latvian.

Chris is preparing some worship songs for this evening. We’re going to Ieva’s house. She, Chris and Andis will sing for Ieva’s dad, some of these worship songs he likes. Hopefully we’ll be able to really share Christ’s love with him and show him he doesn’t have to feel so empty, that Christ is what he’s longing for.