june 20

June 20

 

Today was the day we’ve been planning for...the pastors finally arrived! Some of the ladies at the church in Liepâja came early to prepare coffee, tea, some cookies and other small snacks for the pastors.  After small talk and once all the pastors finally arrived, we were introduced and then Brandon spoke from Matthew 13 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 while Kristine translated for him.  His message briefly was about how the church and it’s pastors need to be rooted in the Gospel or the will not be bearing fruit for the kingdom.  His imagery was the old tree in the front of camp that is very big, but barren and dead because the roots were cut.  Much like this tree, so will the church be if our roots are not laid in truth and the Gospel.  After some time in prayer, the pastors meet until lunch while we helped in the kitchen preparing with Romans and the same ladies from the church.  Lunch was very good with and assortment of chicken, fish, potatoes, cucumber salad, tomatoes, lettuce with cream, and cottage cheese. Dessert consisted of two different types of fruit cakes (one with oranges, and the other with chocolate, something akin to grapes, and poppy seeds - which Latvians seen to enjoy in their pastries) and another special treat that was by far the favorite; fresh picked strawberries and fresh homemade whipped cream…and it tasted simply wonderful. 

 

While the pastors continued meeting after lunch, we did some reading and helped clean up in the kitchen.  After all was finished and the “adults” had left, Romans, Dan and Courtney, and us drove out to the beach to walk around.  It was good to have them with us today (especially since with Courtney here today, and the other women around earlier I haven’t been the only girl over the age of seven!).  But seriously, they are such a comfort and an encouragement to us and to Romans as well and we are so thankful for them!  We had some leftovers from lunch and Dan also cooked some sausage and made mashed potatoes from the boiled potatoes we had earlier to round out our dinner.  After Romans departed, the four of us decided to watch a movie he had left with us, Luther, about the life of Martin Luther.  Tired from a long day, and knowing we have an early start in the morning and a day of traveling, as there is another meeting about the children’s camp and we return to Riga in the afternoon, we decided to turn in for the evening.