june 15

Today is Sunday and has been a wonderful day! We went to church this morning in Liapaja and there was a man there who translated for us the whole sermon and the prayers and it was much needed. Yanis, our translator for the day, was very helpful and translated for the church when we went up to talk a little. They gave us flowers after the service, the same type of flowers that Agate and I picked, and by the time we left we had a whole bouquet of them. Aftr the sevice we had a time of fellowship in a little chapel off of the sanctuary with coffee and tea and small crackers and such with the congregation and sang more songs and talked at little more about the church here in Latvia and back home in the States. They are so welcoming to us! After we left the church Romans and Ingmars took us around town and we got to see the whole city. We went to the Russian part of the city and saw an incredible Orthodox church, and an old prison in the area. Dinner was great tonight in this cute little place downtown. We then walked around by the river and saw a basketball tournament outside and some speed boats on the river and even a strongest man competition. It was a fun festival that was going on! We took a stroll down the peir over the Baltic Sea and it was breathtaking! We walked around a took lots of pictures (which I will post when we return to Riga) of the city and were even able to go up to the tallest part of the city up in this church tower which was really cool. We are at Romans house right now and are having coffee and blueberry cake and just talking and it's great fellowship. This is so different than any typical mission trip, but the Lord is really working here and growing our relationship with Romans and Ingmars and our talks are growing even deeper. I hope we can be used to touch the lives of the people here and serve along side of our brothers and sisters to better the Kingdom!

We will be at Camp Wesley until the 21st so we may have interent only once more here in Liapaja but we will keep writing every night and post the days alltogether when we get internet then, but all is well with us and we are doing great! Your prayers are felt and we can't begin to express our thanks for them...