December prayer requests

1. For our family's continued good health and safety during the winter (it is freezing).
2. For Brenten's Russian Bible studies (at Ogres evangelical church) that God's Spirit would continue to work through His word in the hearts of His people. Pray that they would become more grounded in the Scriptures and grow deeper in love with Jesus.
3. For open doors for another Bible Study in a nearby city, for confirmation about where He wants us to plant Calvary Chapel in Latvia.
4. For more effectiveness in evangelism, that more people would be changed by the power of God in the gospel.
5. For a CCMB trip to Latvia, that God would lead a team and prepare them to help us evangelize next summer.

Happy Independance Day

We had a great view of the fireworks in Ogre on Latvian Independance Day (November 18). On this video you will hear Caleb sing happy birthday to Latvia. I also added the official national anthem of Latvia which would translate to "God bless Latvia". After the show, Caleb said, "I like living in Latvia." So, happy independance day and may God bless Latvia! Amen.

Romans Bible Study

We are continuing to study Romans on Sunday mornings. Next we will look at Romans 6:15-23. You can see the transparency above, contrasting living under the law and living under grace. I haven't had time to post new devotional videos lately (it takes time to prep, film, edit, translate, subtitle, finalize and upload), but I do hope to continue overviewing Romans for our blog readers. . . .
In an effort to improve this blog, I am experimenting with linking scripture references to ebible.com so if you move the mouse over the link you should see the scripture. Try it here (John 3:16).

Elles lielākais noslēpums (Hell's Best Kept Secret)

We had Ray Comfort's message "Hells Best Kept Secret" translated into Latvian in order to equip believers here to share the gospel with us. Below is the opening paragraph and a link to the document. Neither English or Latvian are copyrighted, so feel free to share it with anyone you think would benifit. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhnfnc49_25fnr5hf

• Elles lielākais noslēpums - Rejs Komforts.
• Ieklausies Elles lielākajā noslēpumā (1/2)

Septiņdesmito gadu beigās, Dievs Savā žēlastībā atvēra man ceļojošu kalpošanu. Kad sāku braukāt, es atklāju, ka man ir pieejami materiāli par draudžu augšanu; šausmās es atklāju, ka kādi 80 līdz 90% no cilvēkiem, kas bija apņēmušies dzīvot Kristum, vēlāk atkrita no ticības. Tā sakot, modernā evaņģelizācija ar savām metodēm katriem 80 līdz 90 no simts lēmumiem priekš Kristus liek būt par atkritējiem.
Pastāstīšu jums vēl vairāk. 1991. gadā, ražas desmitgades pirmajā gadā, lielākajā konfesijā ASV tika pieņemti 294 000 lēmumi atdot dzīvi Kristum. Vienā gadā šajā lielākajā konfesijā, pie kuras piederēja 11 500 draudzes, tika pieņemti 294 000 lēmumi atdot dzīvi Kristum. Diemžēl vēlāk dievkalpojumos varēja sastapt tikai 14 000, tas nozīmē, ka par pārējiem 280 000 nekas nebija zināms; un šāds ir normāls modernās evaņģelizācijas iznākums, ko es atklāju septiņdesmito gadu beigās un kas mani tiešām uztrauca. Es sāku īpaši studēt Pāvila vēstuli Romiešiem, un it īpaši, kā evaņģēliju sludināja tādi cilvēki kā Spērdžens, Veslijs, Mūdijs, Finijs, Vitfīlds, Luters, un citi, ko Dievs lietoja vēl daudz vēlāk, un es atklāju, ka viņi izmantoja kādu principu, ko modernā evaņģelizācija gandrīz pilnībā atmet. Es sāku mācīt šo principu. Mani uzaicināja uz mūsu kalpošanas centru Dienvidkalifornijā Belflaueras pilsētā, lai es īpaši šai draudzei mācītu šo principu. Tad uz kādiem trīs gadiem viss bija noklusis, līdz es saņēmu telefona zvanu no Bila Gotharda, kas šo mācību bija redzējis video ierakstā. Viņš man noorganizēja lidojumu uz San Hosē Ziemeļkalifornijā, es tur runāju tūkstotim mācītāju. Tad 1992. gadā viņš video ierakstu parādīja 30 000 mācītājiem. Togad man piezvanīja Deivids Vilkersons no Ņujorkas. Viņš zvanīja no savas mašīnas. (Viņš braucot bija klausījies šo mācību un zvanīja no sava auto telefona.) Nekavējoties viņš mani uzaicināja no Losandželosas un 3000 jūdžu attālo Ņujorku, lai es nolasītu stundu garo mācību viņa draudzē, viņš to uzskatīja par tik svarīgu. Un nesen es dzirdēju, ka kāds mācītājs šo ierakstu kasetē bija noklausījies 250 reizes. Es ļoti priecātos, ja tu noklausītos kaut vienreiz šo mācību, kas saucas „Elles lielākais noslēpums”. vairāk

There is Snow in Latvia

This is the day that Caleb has been waiting for the last 2 years. Finally, a chance to throw snowballs at Daddy. And there was enough snow on the ground to build a snowman and make snow angels.







We also went for a drive to the near by town of Ikskile. We are praying about starting a Bible study there too. There are many private houses in Ikskile (as opposed to apartment buildings).
And we found a nice park for the kids. And don't forget Lily, not as excited to be out in the cold, but she still enjoyed getting out.

October 31 Alternative

What is there for kids to do on October 31 in Latvia?

1. Get dressed as the dead and go out with friends to get candy or do pranks on people.
2. Nothing. Sit at home and be bothered by mobs coming to your door.
3. Or, celebrate good instead of evil at the missionaries house: free food, lots of candy, Christian music, fun and games.
   

The Bible says, "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) And "Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:2) So, we decided to host an alternative to Halloween for the kids from our childrens ministry, we called it "Reformation Day" and we explained how Martin Luther was a Christian who changed history by challenging evil in his generation and stood up for good. We encouraged the kids to glorify God not the devil and to celebrate life not death and to seek good not evil.



We provided Hot dogs, chips, cola and plenty of candy so that they wouldn't be tempted to go trick or treating. Our games included a pinjata, Uno, guess how many M&M's are in a jar, bobbing for apples and who could make their balloons stick to the ceiling after rubbing it on your head and finally. We connected our camera to a monitor so they could see themselves dance along with the David Crowder Band, singing "Your a Revolutionary Love" and "O Praise Him" and now we have this action packed video to show you:






October 31 Reformation Fun

Sunday Services

We had a full service (about 45 people) at the Russian church at 10 am and I taught from Romans 5:12-21. It was a difficult passage to teach in Russian but they everyone was gracious and said they understood in spite of my many grammatical mistakes and bad pronunciation of the long unusual words in the text. Where mistakes abound, grace abounds much more and I am growing through the whole process - hopefully others are truly growing in their faith too.

Our evening home fellowship went very well, 4 people came this time, praise the Lord. This was a great opportunity to share our vision for church planting from Acts 2:42, Ephesians 4:11ff, 1Peter 2:2, and other verses. I taught in Russian and we had a good time praising the Lord in English. Next time I hope to be prepared to sing in Latvian too.

November Thanksgiving and Prayer

Here is an update for the missions prayer teams:

1. Thank God for providing a minivan that enables us to go preach the gospel in other cities. Pray for the people in Ogre, Cesis and Riga who received tracts and heard the gospel, that God would open their minds and hearts to respond.
2. Thank God for the excitement of understandng more and more in both Latvian and Russian languages. Brenten is now teaching Sunday morning without a traslator. Continue to pray for a translator but pray even more that we will become fluent in both languages - this is vital for everything we do.
3. Thank God for the gifts from CCMB which came early for Christmas but just in time for the cold season (it started snowing today!) We are blessed to be warm, well fed and our ears filled with the sounds of new praise and worship CD's. God is so gracious!
4. Thank God for working here and giving us hope that He is going to do much more than we can ask or imagine! (Eph 3:20) Pray as the Spirit leads you for Latvia.

"Continue earnestly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak." (Colossians 4:2-4)