Sunday-Monday

Labdien! We started off Sunday with a beautiful Church service, it was almost entirely in Latvian, but Pastor Schuschke printed out the verses used in the message in English so we could pick up on what they were talking about. They sang beautifully as always and a few of us got to sit next to Latvian friends that helped translate. After Church we went to Lido, a group favorite that has traditional Latvian food and a few outdoor attractions. After lunch we visited Jurmala, (translation: sea shore) and walked around the shops and swam in the Baltic, which was absolutely freezing, but worth it. During this excursion Pastor Vinovskis and the Coes took a separate trip to see Pastor's mother's childhood home. After that exhausting day it was time to get down to business preparing for camp. We were all so excited as we got everything in order to teach our classes. We continued our devotions on Philemon and discussed all the reasons to be a Christian and all of the blessings we find in our lives because of our faith in God. Then we went to bed ready for the next day!
Monday morning the team woke up, ate breakfast and the kids started trickling in. We began the day by testing each of their English skills, at the end of the test they received a score that determined their class. There was one preschool class, one beginning level class, two intermediate classes, one advanced class, and one class offered to older adults that didn't know very much English. We all sat and sang a few songs together after lunch and then broke off into our classes. The Bible lesson for today was the birth of Jesus which many kids understood well because of Christmas. After about two hours of lessons the children broke into two groups, recreation and crafts, for the next two hours. They enjoyed kickball, and in crafts everyone loved making crosses. Finally we closed with a few more songs and a Bible message and sent them home. After our team sat down and took a breath for a few minutes we had dinner and then went outside for devotions. It was an interesting devotion because it ended up raining outside, so all 26 people there to listen pulled chairs into one tent. We were very close while discussing building each other up, and learning from the book of Philemon how to refresh your own faith and that of those around you. After that we all went inside to celebrate the special events of the day: 1. Jim and Sharon Coe's 35th wedding anniversary! 2. Pastor Schuschke's 12th year of ordination! It was a wonderful celebration full of reminiscing in both English and Latvian! After a long day full of joy we are all looking forward to tomorrow to continue sharing the Gospel and spending time with our Latvian friends and students.