Sunday Worship in Sloka, Latvia

Team members at church prior to worship

Rev Bert Hitzgrad from Cadenberge, German

Sunday Worship in Sloka

Today we worshiped with fellow believers at the Sloka Lutheran Church, it was a very international service.  Latvian was the predominant language used by Pastor Gusevs, but today's service had a guest minister Rev Bert Hitzgrad from Cadenberge, German preaching the sermon and assisting with the Sacrament of the Table.

One of the unique aspects of the service in Latvia is the custom of coming forward and kneeling at the alter rail and receiving individual absolution by the pastor.

Breakfast at Brinums House in Sloka

We have all our meals at the "Brinums" or "Blessed" house which is used by the church for Sunday School and other church functions will be the center for all our activities this week.  Each morning after breakfast and prior to the day's activity we have a devotion lead by one the Team Members.  Each evening we will have a Bible study lead by team members.

LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN

To give you a taste of the lateness of sun set in the northern Latitudes here are a few pics from the flight from Frankfort (photo 1 - 930 pm) and prior to arrival in Riga at 1150 pm)

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Kendra McNatt, a dear friend from St Luke's, who is currently the DCE at Trinity Lutheran Church in Frankfort met us at the airport and was our tour guide for the time we had between flights.  Please be praying for Kendra as she has recently accepted a Call in Fremont, CA as DCE and will be leaving for her new position over the course of the summer.  Pray that she will complete her service in Frankfort with enthusiasm and grace as she looks forward to the new challenges in California.

The River Main is in the background of the final photo.

Packing for the trip

Tuesday night we packed the teaching supplies and other materials we're taking on our mission trip to Sloka.  

Three more team members will arrive today from Pennsylvania and our final team member will meet us at Orlando airport on Thursday.

Please pray for their safe and uneventful travel today - tomorrow and then for the entire team as we leave from  St  Luke's later Thursday afternoon and  depart at 8pm bound for Frankfort, Germany.  We will spend the day in Frankfort with Kendra McNatt before flying to Riga at 840 pm Friday.

Here are a few photos of our packing session Tuesday evening.
Upper photo row 1 John, Paul, Denny Row 2: Lynette, Connie, Aimee and Anita

We appreciate all your generous support.

The Latvia English Camp (LEC) Team

Final Days of Preparation:

 The Latvia Mission team will be departing on Thursday evening at 8pm and arriving in Frankfort, German the next morning about 10 am.  We will depart Frankfort on Friday evening (we have an 8+ hour layover) and arrived in Riga, Latvia about 10 pm.

Please pray for safety in travel, good health for the team members and the safe arrive of all our bags and teaching supplies.  Please pray for the students with  receptive hearts and minds for the Gospel.

Pray for the team as we spend this evening packing the Team bags with 50 pounds each of supplies and equipment.

We are glad for the safe arrival of Teams member Dennis and Aimee from Alpena, MI last evening.

Team members present at Sunday's commissioning.

Paul Best, LEC Team blogger

Blog post #1

The Latvia Mission team is in the final stages of preparation for our mission trip in early July.  All team members are in the final stages of lesson and activity preparation, we appreciate your prayers for clear thinking as we prepare to go to Latvia.  Thank again for all your generous support

Pictures from one of our planning meetings this spring.

The 2018 Latvia Mission Team

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