Healing in Liepaja

So, Sunday.... I was feeling so terribly sick before the service that I almost vomited again but it was just dry heaving because all I had to eat Saturday was water, airborn, a power bar and pepto bismol. I had to lay down until an hour before service, then I forced myself to get up and get dressed, shave, eat a bowl of cereal, more airborn, and more peptobismol and 2 childrens Ibroprofen. I told Sergej and his family to pray because I had a terrible headache too and I didn't feel like talking and could hardly carry on a conversation with his kids. You can imagine it's hard enough being emerced in Russian speaking home with a bunch of talkative boys and one screaming 1.5 year old and then feeling sick and knowing I am going to preach in Russian was a lot of pressure to be under. Anyway I went to church by faith, and felt like Job who decided to praise the Lord inspite of how he was feeling even if God didn't heal him. During the worship that Sergej led, I had to sit every other song. Then his deacons got up and shared about the Baptist conference they had just been at with Sergej, I got up to go to the bathroom 2x while they were sharing for 15 minutes each. Then it was my turn, Sergej introduced me and thanked me for coming from so far away and teaching in Russian even while sick and he had the church stretch out their hands torward me and pray for me. So I sang a couple songs and began teaching a similar message as I tought in Ogre and with out realizing it, by the end of the service I felt all better. So after the Sergejs closing prayer, I shouted out, One more thing, I feel 100% better. God has healed me! Sergej said, Are you sure? and His wife Olga looked at me in disbelief because they saw how bad I was feeling before. I said, yes! Let's eat! So we all rejoiced over chai and bulichki. Then we went back to his house and ate chicken and spagetti. I haven't felt sick in my stomach since and my head was fine too.

Liepaja Pictures

See the full Liepaja Album at http://travel.webshots.com/album/557708459kUOhyv?start=28

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.

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???