It is an amazing story of God's hand moving and planning ahead of them throughout their trip.
My First Trip To Latvia
It is impossible to put into a few words how magnificent God worked in and through the mission team as we went to Lejasstrazdi, Latvija to work in the orphanage there. Therefore, I have decided to write down all that I witnessed during that week on the mission field so God may be glorified.
The team lifted off from DFW airport on Saturday afternoon around 5:15 p.m. for a long journey to the mission field. The trip included the flight from DFW to Atlanta, GA for a two hour layover. From there we flew to Amsterdam to a 6 hour layover and finally a trip to Riga, Latvia where we arrived on Sunday night around 11pm. After spending the night in Riga at our hotel, we were transported to the orphanage in Lejasstrazdi to begin our week there.
The God part began as soon as we landed in Riga. As I cleared the tunnel I see a couple holding a sign with Suzie Miller’s name on it. She was one of our team members. She had sent an email to an organization to be left unnamed about needing Latvian language bibles but never heard back from anyone. Yet, we get off the plane and there stands a couple we had never met before and may never meet again this side of heaven with a sack of hard back bibles in the Latvian language. They did not introduce themselves but merely handed Suzie the bibles and drifted off.
When we arrived on Monday at the orphanage, (after a stop at Remi, which is the Latvian version of a Wal-Mart ), we hit the ground running, getting our luggage stowed into our sleeping quarters and almost immediately sitting down to a delicious lunch of soup and breads. Just a side note: I loved everything they served at the orphanage. Now, I know they feed little better and most likely larger amounts of food while we are there but it is pretty much the same foods the orphans eat. I even liked the cold beet soup, and I HATE beets!!! Shortly after lunch, we began Vacation Bible School in an abbreviated format for the first day with just a time of recreation and getting to know the kids. We mostly spent time with the kids. Those who had been before became reacquainted with the ones that had been there in the past and catching up on those who had left the orphanage. The team ended the day with a trip to the lake and swimming with the kids and having our late night devotional together.
Tuesday morning began with a team meeting and prayer time followed by a wonderful breakfast. We began day two of VBS shortly afterward followed by recreation time. Again we made a trip to the lake for a swim with the kids that evening after dinner. Just a note, it is about 2.5 miles to the lake, walking on a gravel road and the kids either wear flip flops or are barefooted. They have the toughest feet imaginable!!! One evening on the way back from the lake I saw one of the older boy’s running back on the gravel barefooted!!! Not to leave out important details, during the non VBS times we also made repeated trips to the Viekels which is Latvian for store. The store is a very small place not much bigger than a room in a house filled with all kinds of things in a very small space. Most importantly, they sell ice cream, chips and cokes which all of us repeatedly purchased for the kids. Yes, we do spoil them somewhat while we are there. It is also important to note that we are the only church group going to the orphanage at Lejasstrazdi. Some of the orphanages are visited by several groups per year but we are the Light of the Gospel to this orphanage.
On Wednesday morning during my morning quiet time, God led me to speak to 2 of the kid’s one on one with the interpreters. One, Kaspars, has been worked on for four years. He has constantly said no to the gospel. He is a very disturbed little boy. He again said no but I left the door open to a later encounter. Then, I saw the other child God spoke to me about. Her name is Laura. Her mom died in childbirth with twins. Shortly afterward in grief and despair her father committed suicide. She had been in a foster home for a while but for some reason requested to go back to the orphanage, maybe as a divine intervention that we might meet her and share Christ with her. Upon sharing the plan of salvation with her via the interpreter, she accepted Jesus as her Savior and wanted to be baptized. We got permission from the director of the orphanage and made plans to baptize her the following evening at the lake.
On Thursday, we were led to divide the children into four groups by age and gender to better allow us to share with them on their level. Aaron and I ended up with Kaspars, Nakita and Olegs. Nakita disappears looking for a book about Jesus he remembered having. Kaspars and Olegs set about to be good hosts in their living quarters we were in by making us hot drinks from fruit paste. Well, Olegs was being a good host, I think Kaspars was just trying to distract from listening to the Holy Spirit. Olegs was being very receptive but then Kaspars kept insisting to him and us that God was stupid. We tried to explain that God was not stupid but He was all knowing, even knowing our hearts and thoughts. Upon his convincing Olegs to agree with him, we decided to wait for another opportunity to work with him.
There are some of the residents of the orphanage that come and go at different times due to outside activities and jobs. One of these was Anna. We had not seen her before Wednesday and then she shows up Thursday at dinner time. We ended up across the table from each other. Now, this is not the typical person I am drawn to but most of us in our normal church situations would think twice about it. She is a very nice looking young lady but with several piercings and a steely look about her. I keep feeling God’s prodding to speak to her and I kept resisting. She starts to get up to leave and I can fight it no longer. I reach my hand across the table and introduce myself. By the way, Tommy in Latvian becomes Tōms. So I say mani sauc Tōms. Which is to say….. My name is Tommy. She introduces herself to me and goes her way. As another divine appointment, on our way walking to the lake that evening for the baptism she is walking beside me. I notice the Riga Marathon jersey she is wearing and ask her about running and transition into the reason we come to the orphanage. We care about them and desire to share with them the reason we care is Jesus cared enough for us to die for our sins. I present the basic plan of salvation and then tell her I will stop rambling on about it so she can think about what I have said. She makes a reply and I ask the interpreter what she said. She said she would like me to keep talking about it. Far be it from me and my big mouth to stay quiet, especially when invited to do so. After arriving at the lake, getting adjusted to the cool water, we begin the baptism service with a short sermonette with our interpreter Elina translating for me. This was done for the benefit of the other people from the area who gathers at the public lake. It amazed me how some of these big tough guys kept inching closer and closer to hear what was being said. I baptize Laura and then question the others from the orphanage if anyone else would like to accept Christ and be baptized. Maris, one of the older boys says he would because he had been saved 2 years ago and wanted to be baptized. When I ask him to come on in he proceeds to cannon ball into the lake beside me!!! Or in their terminology bombuska!!! The kids then swim a while and enjoy their time at the lake. While they were swimming I saw Kaspars and wanted to talk to him again. He was not able to swim because he had a slight fever. He had again tried to be disruptive during the baptism but God was victorious once again. I shared with him that I apologize for disagreeing with him earlier in the day when he told us God is stupid. He got the strangest look on his face. I informed him that God was indeed stupid…..stupid crazy in love with him and wanted him to know how much God did love him. At that, I simply walked away. Anna and I chatted some more about her becoming a Christian on the way back from the lake. We were a little more than halfway back when I hear one of the other interpreters, Lauma. She is only 13 years old but a very mature, Godly young lady who did a marvelous job along with Elina and Aija. Lauma is Aija’s younger sister. As I look in the direction her voice came from, I see her walking towards us from a strange direction with Kaspars. She walks up to us looking for Rick because after we left the lake, Kaspars came looking for her and wanted to know how to accept Jesus as his Savior and now wanted to tell Rick about it. You see, Rick has worked on, witnessed to, and prayed fervently for Kaspars salvation for the past four years. I was sure in my mind that I would be quite capable of holding it together and holding back the tears in Latvia. I was quite fine until I saw the joy in Rick’s face as Kaspars told him about accepting Jesus and pretty much lost my composure. I have always said the only thing that even comes close to the joy of your own salvation experience is the joy of leading someone else to salvation. Another young man Rick had worked with along with several others on our teams from Tate Springs over the past few years was Agnis. Rick and I both had an opportunity to share with Agnis about the need for Salvation in his life but he was hesitant. Even though he is a lean, very strong, muscular young man, he is very shy. He just wanted to make sure if he was going to do it he wanted to truly understand and be able to follow through with his commitment. He stayed behind when we went to the lake for the baptism to think about the things we had said off and on all day. When we returned to the orphanage from the lake, he found Rick and had Rick lead him to salvation, followed by Dace loading the two of them in her car and driving them back to the lake so Rick could baptize Agnis. As I arrived back at the orphanage and went to prepare for our nightly devotion time, I saw Anna coming down the stairs and asked her if she had thought about our discussion anymore and when would she like to discuss it some more? She looks up and says why not right now. She comes back to where I was standing on the second floor and we sit on a pine bench on the landing area of the staircase. As Lauma begins to interpret for me, one of the smaller girls is tugging on her. She told her she would speak with her in a minute. I asked Lauma if she wanted to just talk or talk about Jesus. She said the little girl wanted to know about Jesus and I immediately sent her on her way. Agnis had just walked up from his baptism and I asked him to interpret for a bit until another interpreter showed up. The irony of this brand new Christian standing there helps me share how to be saved with another person just personifies what Christ wanted us to do. Get saved and get busy!!! Elina, then shows up to help with the translation which was quite helpful since Agnis could understand Anna and talk to her and understand some of what I was saying, he could not tell me for certain what she was asking and saying. Anna’s biggest concern was what she can do to serve God. Oh that we might all have that concern always. God what can I do to serve you Lord? As Elina and I continued to depend on the Holy Spirit and prayerfully answer her many many questions we began to get concerned that we were not getting through to her. Finally, upon being asked WHY NOT accept Christ and be saved she said nothing and asked that I pray the words for her to repeat in Latvian, which of course she did. As you have discerned by now, the Holy Spirit was blowing us away on Thursday with His magnificent changing of lives. Along with all the others that accepted Christ, the new orphanage director, Solvita had been bringing her daughter to work with her to play with the other children. Sonija accepted Christ on Thursday also and received her mother’s blessing to do so. We were concerned going into the orphanage this year. We missed a year, the sweet spirited Helena who was the director had retired and there was this new director that none of us knew or knew anything about. Upon arriving, Solvita made us all feel welcome and interacted constantly with us and the residents of the orphanage. Some of the older girls especially told some of us they could really open up and talk to her. Our last night at dinner, through an interpreter, proceeded to tell us how much she had enjoyed us being there and wished we could stay longer. She is looking forward to us coming again and if we would let her know when and for how long we were coming she would arrange the children’s schedules for the summer around our trip.
On Friday morning we had to leave earlier than they had been serving breakfast. To our surprise, Solvita modified the morning schedule so we would have breakfast once more with the kids. On top of that, Rick had told Agnis that anytime he needed to talk to someone or needed help he could call on Rick and I for help. Little did I know this would include wanting me to get him up at 5:30 a.m. the day we had to leave by 8 a.m. and go running with him. I had gotten to run one morning during the week and it is a beautiful countryside to take in while on a long run. I was just not planning on making another run and having to rush through the shower and finish packing, eat etc. on the day we were leaving. But…to stay true to our commitment I went to his room and got him up for a short run that morning. He showed me some roads I had not even noticed all week and allowed me to see even more of the countryside. After breakfast, we began to load up on the bus as it arrived to take us back to Riga. The kids were most helpful in helping us load our luggage. Then the tears began to flow. It is so hard to see 13-17 year old boys with tears running down their faces because they are so sad we are leaving. Even the director, Solvita was crying as we loaded up to leave. She told us if we would commit to returning next year, she would work on learning English and I told her if she could do that then I would work on learning Latvian as well. I have a strong desire to be able to share with the Latvian people in their own language. Something I have never cared about before is learning any other language. Before leaving, we made sure the older kids that accepted Christ received one of the Latvian language bibles which we signed with a word of encouragement and had translated for them. We also gave one to Solvita the director and left the rest for the use of all the others. On Friday morning we return to Riga, dropping our luggage off at the hotel and take the rest of the day to explore Old Riga and learn about the city and do some souvenir shopping. After spending the night, we arise very early in order to leave the hotel at around 4:30 a.m. to begin the 25 hour trip home. God showed off in an awesome way and I am so thankful He allowed us to witness it. GOd Praise be to Jesus forever more!!! In closing, please keep in mind that this is the trip from my viewpoint. I hope the writing does not show me to be anymore than a vessel for God to pour Himself into. This was a team effort between all of the team members and God Almighty and only God deserves the Glory. I encourage anyone with a desire to make a difference in peoples lives to pray, give and go. You can make a difference.
In Jesus Name
Tommy D
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