Visiting Liepaja (march 7-12)

(Wednessday) Last night I arrived in Liepaja, met Sergej's family (his wife and all 5 kids and 2 Grandparents) and had dinner at their house which is pretty poor but homie, we had bread with mayonnaise and sliced tomatoes and rice on the side. I gave them the gifts we bought in the states, they all tried the peanut butter and Sees candy. Then we went to their Baptist church where there was a meeting for members (a committee of some kind) to talk and plan. We sat around a big table and talked about finances (the book keeper read what came in and what was spent), privatization (buying the building they are renting now), planning for a fast (shared opinions about which day was best), Sergej suggested others take part in leading worship. at the end, Sergej encouraged to think about how the church can be used to reach the lost and save sinners.
I finally slept through the night, they have a comfy couch and I was tired from not sleeping the night before.
(Thursday) This morning, they served the Starbucks coffee I gave them but they made it like instant coffee (just add hot water) you can imagine how that tastes. They said they liked it though, it's how they usually make coffee. I said I would buy thema a coffee maker which may have offended them, they had one but it broke. But I did like the hard boiled eggs and bread with butter and salami for breakfast. Lunch was the best though, potato and mushroom soup with a dab of sour cream. I contributed my peach juice and orange juice, which they all enjoyed. Today happens to be Women's Day (which actually isn't an official holiday in Latvia but it is in Russia so they carry that tradition over from Soviet times. I didn't have flowers to give but the juice was a special to Sergej's wife and his mother who joined us for lunch. She was sick at home with a virus yesterday and least 2 out of 5 boys are sick too and stayed home from school today. Pray I don't get it too!
Today, I walked to the beach with his oldest son Max (19) and there were no bees! We did find some amber on the beach. Cool! I am going to start a collection. I'll try to send some pictures soon. Now it's time for me to go to their church. I'm going to play drums.
Tonight I will be taking part in the bible discussion of Hebrews 7 and on Sunday I will teach again in Russian. Please pray even more because I wont have any translator.
FUTURE PLANS
I have already told Sergej how God provided a place for us already and we are going to move to Ogre, it's a little sad to tell him we won't be living in Liepaja but he accepts it as God's will. I still do want to visit and help him evangelize more people in the future and we are praying about some common ministry to this end. We'll see how often I can get here, it is 300 kilometers (200 miles) from Ogre.
Anyway, I have to go now. Please write me.