With the sports camps finishing on Thursday night, the USA team has been as busy as ever.
On Friday, the men went to the Cesis Boys' Prison for some basketball and devotional time. We have always been treated with respect there and have not had any problems. A new captain was in charge this year and he is even more receptive to us working inside than ever.
We played a couple of games of basketball (winning of course! they allow the boys to smoke so maybe it had something to do with conditioning...). Steve Gowan and Steve Akin sang a couple of songs and then Chase explained the similarities of prison and a life without Christ. Pastor Olegs was there to translate and at the end one young man accepted Jesus as his savior. For a young man to make a decision, he has to do it very publicly. Since it is a prison, the ones that want to know more have to stay sitting down and the rest are allowed to go back to their activities. There is no hiding that decision from the others in the prison. This really takes a strong and legitimate commitment to make such a stand.
The new captain very much wants us to return to work with the young men in some sort of sports program. They have a few basketballs and volleyballs but that's about it. We are to meet for lunch soon to map out the details.
The girls meanwhile were at an orphanage on the outskirts of town. Since it was summer there were only about 8 kids there (all teenagers) but I think their capacity is about 25. They are transitioning from national support to local financial support and are hurting. There are many needs: remodeling, teaching, age-out care and of course, financial. The administrators were very interested in working cooperatively to find enough shoes, backpacks, etc. for the kids. It is my understanding that the public schools do not furnish the textbooks so the students at the orphanages spend a large amount of their allotment on school supplies.
From talking with our girls, they very much enjoyed the day and wish they had time to go back. Olegs and I will look to see if there is a way to get the Cesis Baptist Church involved more directly in the future.
Saturday was the sightseeing day for the trip. We took an early bus to Riga (about 2-hours away) and after an electric tram ride, we ate at the Lido. This is a great Latvian style restaurant made to look like an old village. Lots of good (and new) food and sights to see.
Another bus took us to Old Town Riga. Fantastic architecture; buildings that are centuries old; nationalities of all sorts; war memorials to so many soldiers, wars and conflicts; you actually need several days to see it all.
The group met back up and we returned to Cesis on the train. Besides, Six Flags it was probably several of the team members first train ride. We had a great time and everyone returned safe.
Today (Sunday) we are about to have a full day of worship and fellowship. We will meet first at Raiskums, a lake a few kilometers from the Cesis. There will be an outdoor baptismal service at 11:00. I believe 5 or 6 will be baptised. The temperature at night has been around 50-degrees for several days and never above 74 in the afternoon. It will be interesting to see how cold (warm?) the water is.
After the baptism, we will return to Cesis for lunch. At 2:30 we will have regular church service and I think our team will be involved in the music and possibly preaching. At 5:00p we travel to the outskirts of Cesis for a celebration with other Baptist churches in this region. In our previous stays here I've never participated in a fellowship this large. I'm sure looking forward to the fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, pinto beans, home-made ice-cream .........oh, wait a minute, I think today it will be baked vista, pasta and cheese salad, griezi, karbonade, kutletes and saldejums. Well, they are Baptists! I'm sure we will have plenty to eat.
No pictures today. We have been moving to our new flat during all of this and just haven't had time. More tomorrow ....
Chau!
Mark
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