CESIS: A year in the life of . . .: June 2010

Monday, June 28, 2010

TOMS' BAPTISM

We met Toms during our first Cesis basketball camp in 2002. I remember him distinctly because we were writing name-tags and we finally had a name that we knew. Actually his name is not pronounced like Tom but like Twoumms. But, since that time he has been a friend each summer and a great help since we moved here over three years ago.

He now works with his father in Norway but makes it back to Cesis about every 2-3 months. We have watched him mature through the youth groups, camps and just daily living. It is always great when you can see a young boy develop into a young man.

Toms professed his faith in Christ several months ago and was ready for believer's baptism. Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day and it could not have been a more perfect event.

Toms had many friends, family and church members show up at Araisi Lake for this important celebration. Most churches in Latvia do not have any facilities for baptisms, so when the weather warms up enough, you travel to the lake or river. After singing several songs, Pastor Olegs said a few words and explained the meaning of being baptized and why it is important in a Christian's life.

As Toms and Olegs went into the water, Landry joined them with his guitar and the two sang 'Amazing Grace'. Olegs performed the ceremony and then Landry and Toms sang the chorus again. I had never seen that done before and it really added a lot.

After the presentation of flowers and good-wishes, the entire troop headed over to another beautiful spot for a picnic and relaxing fellowship.

We are sure that Toms will continue to grow as a Christian and spread the Gospel as he works and lives in a foreign country. We need many more young men in Latvia to step up and be the type of Christian that Toms aspires to be.

God bless you Toms.

Araisi Lake...

Olegs addressing the crowd....

Landry and Toms: 'Amazing Grace'...

Pastor Olegs, Toms and the traditional flowers...

I love these trees....

Gaida - my all time favorite Latvian beauty. She is picking these to make a tea for 'nerves and sleep'.

Fellowship picnic...Latvian food and the all the trimmings.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

JANI DAY

Due to the weather, wedding and other unavoidable circumstances the Jani Day celebration was moved to Inese's house instead of the farm. We still had a good time and enjoyed the Latvian traditional food and a few of the customs. We had a good fire and finished the early morning off with Tom's hot-air balloon. Thanks to our good friends for including us.

Annija weaving the traditional flower head bands...

Inese and Iveta...

Inese, Iveta and Iveta...

Food, fire, friends...

Almost 11:30pm...

Laura and her fashion statement...

Ready for launch....

Take off!

This flew for at least 15 minutes, until we couldn't see it anymore...

Monday, June 21, 2010

SIGULDA

After a good service at Cesis Church, we spent the afternoon in Sigulda. Only a short train ride from Cesis, it has a easy, gentle feel. Our group included our interns, four young people from Cesis and an additional four from Sigulda. Sightseeing in historic churches, ski-lift rides and eating at our favorite cafe kept us busy throughout the day. Landry, our bravest intern, decided to end the day by bungee jumping from the cable car over the Gauja River. Great day with good kids...

LATVIAN GRADUATIONS

USA graduations: cap and gown; pomp and circumstance; tassels; speeches; marching in and out; tossing caps; hugs and kisses; the banned beach balls; yelling when a family member's name is called; standing up and getting that picture no matter who else you are keeping from seeing their child....

Latvian graduations: formal dress; traditional music (lots of music); traditional dance; drama and music aimed at explaining the theme of graduation; flowers; flowers; flowers; no beach balls; nothing loud, just quiet dignity.

Several of our student friends from our church or that we have coached were graduating this past weekend. Latvian ceremonies are completely different than USA. There are no gowns, just nice dark suits and new dresses. Instead of marching in to the football stadium, the students enter as different classes and then it completely loses any resemblance to American celebrations.

The students in Latvia in most schools keep the same group of students in each class. In other words, if you are in class 'B', then your schedule is the same as all of the other students in 'B' class. The good is that you become very close to your classmates because you are with them several hours each day. The bad is that you really do not know many students very well from the rest of the school. But, for graduation, there seems to be a real closeness with each class and its 'home' teacher.

The graduation on Saturday had four classes - 'A' to 'D'. They each come separately into the large Sports Halle. They all end up on the gym floor where they form a circle. They walk around the gym a few times, adding teachers and school officials on each circle.

At the beginning they also have a short drama depicting the senior class motto. It was odd to see a small boat, a ship's captain in full uniform and his band of sailors doing a traditional Latvian dance. Other dancers in full costume soon entered and joined the dancing accompanied by Latvian folk music. It was odd to us but was certainly enjoyed by the Latvians.

Eventually (about 1.5 hours later) the awarding of diplomas began. Several students names are called, they receive their diploma and then they walk to different areas of the gym floor. At a signal from the director, music begins playing and people pour out of the bleachers bearing bouquets of flowers. Every kind of flower imaginable can be seen. We aren't just talking about the girls; even the boys receive flowers from other boys. Some the students received so many flowers they have to lay them beside their chair just so they can receive more. Along with the students receiving flowers, the teachers also were given many bouquets by the teachers and parents.

It is great watching this tradition but it is just a little bit on the slow slide. The festivities began at 4:00p and they finished right at 8:00pm. There were 144 graduates and each enjoyed a few minutes of glory and plenty of flowers.

We always enjoy seeing culture in action; it was a great afternoon but a couple of things really stood out during the ceremonies:

1- There was absolutely no security present. No policeman, no guards, no school police. Who would even attempt to hold something like this in the USA without armed security. It is sad to think that we can't even have an event celebrating graduation without a dozen policemen around.

2- The graduating seniors acted exactly as you would expect young people to act. No "hey world, look at me!", no embarrassing their parents by their antics, no disrespect to their teachers and administrators. Even after four hours they were still quietly enjoying themselves and displaying the dignity one should have at a service like this.

3- The parents acted better than the students. No pushing or shoving to get that special picture. No screaming and yelling when their baby's name was called. It was just quietly being proud of their child. A very refreshing change, indeed. We heard no air horns, clanging cowbells or 'woo, woo, woo'.

Congratulations graduates of 2010