Calvary connections

More devine appointments today, I met with a team from Calvary Chapel Pittsburg and Fredricktown at the end of their 10 day mission trip and was encouraged by the YWAM missionaries that hosted them.

Background: When I first researched Latvia last year, I searched online for "Calvary Chapel" and "Latvia" and found this page about a couple Calvarys who teamed up and took a couple short trips and through YWAM to a Russian Baptist church in the city of Liepia (about 3 hour drive from Riga). So I emailed the pastor and called a couple team members, told them about our plans and found out they were planning to go about the same time. So we said, "Maybe we can meet in Riga on our last day".

This morning the Lord reminded me - Today is their last day! So, I called YWAM to find out where the team from CC Pitsburg and Fredricktown were, I found out they were on their way to the airport. So I jumped in a taxi hoping to see them there (it's a small airport). Timing couldn't have been better, I helped them bring their luggage from their van to the check in counter and spent almost an hour talking with them about what we were doing in Latvia. They had helped a small Russian church with outreach and a Vacation Bible School. Pastor John had done an Inductive Bible Study training with Sergei the Russian pastor, trying to help him to feed the sheep better, not just talking about current events and opinions but digging into the word of God. To those who had been their on previous trips, they seemed a little discouraged at the lack of progress and growth compared with 3 years ago.

They suggested I visit Liepia and encourage pastor Sergei, which I was already interested in doing, but now I see the Lord opening the door. Also seeing them off at the airport was a Russian girl (I'm sorry I forgot her name) who helped translate for the team and has been living in Liepia as a missionary sent from Calvary Chapel Smolensk, Russia. She got my email address and will, talk with Sergei about what day I could come. By the way, her pastor back in CC Smolensk Russia is praying about leading his family to Riga, Latvia to plant a church here too. Perhaps the Lord is preparing a team???