june 22

June 22

Church this morning was at Riga First United Methodist.  Gita spoke over Matthew 7:1-6, Psalm 119, and Romans 14: 10-20 and talked about not being a stumbling block for others.  Tomorrow is Yanis day (John’s day) and the longest day of the year.  In Latvia they celebrate not just your day of birth but also a day of your name.  Yanis is the most popular male’s name and Liga is the most popular female’s name and it is celebrated on the day after Yanis day.  Since Yanis day falls on the longest day of the year, they figured, why not celebrate and close most everything down and declare a holiday from work and everything else.  The traditional Latvian way to celebrate Yanis day is with cheese, meat, beer and these wreaths made of leaves that you wear on your head.  There are fun and games and the holiday is almost bigger than Christmas here.  We are staying in Riga for the festivities and will be taking the day as a time to relax and rest up for Wesley days. Perhaps a stroll in the park or a picnic with some meat and cheese, however I’m glad to say the later two traditions will be omitted.  After lunch the five of us went to lunch with Rihards and his wife and Daniels at a place nearby the church.  Thankfully making a pitstop at the flat for the cameras and a change of shoes, the five of us headed to the Occupation Museum.

The museum was so much information to take it all at once.  It was mind-blowing to see all of the artifacts from both Soviet occupations of the country and the Nazi occupation.  Photos of the mass deportations and executions were so vivid is describing a past that is rarely taught in the states.  It was so enlightening to see history from this view after never really being exposed to what happened in this country.  To think that in 1991, only 17 short years ago, Latvia finally regained its independence is so hard to grasp.  The pain and the suffering of this nation were incredible.

After this amazing experience we ventured around town and walked to the park and down all the little side streets of town just enjoying the beautiful weather.  We stopped at a little ice-cream shop that was quite refreshing and ran into some other missionaries that Dan and Courtney knew.  The world is so small.  We had to run so as to make sure Hadley (who, if I have yet to mention, is an extremely intelligent man) made it to the bus station, but we were able to meet some other Americans here in Latvia trying to follow the will of God.  After saying our goodbyes to Hadley we went back into town to continue of journey of the gorgeous architecture only to run into our new friends again on our way.  Together we all went back to the park and chatted for a little while before deciding to join for dinner at their flat.   There was a large group of us, and it was so good to be in the company of other believers our age as a few of the group were in college or had just graduated as well.  Grilled cheese sandwiches, chips, homemade cookies, ice and great conversations made the evening.  Being able to talk with other young people who are here for the summer and who understood the same joys and frustrations of being here and what it means to live as a witness in Latvia and do mission work in a short amount of time was such an encouragement and a blessing.  I know for me it was such a blessing to have some more girls around and one of the guys was a Electrical Engineer as well so Brandon had someone to bond with as well!  It was such a great evening! 

Upon returning home, we watched the end of the Spain and Italy match and finally got to watch a shootout.  Spain won on penalties so it was quite exciting for us since we were all for Spain (well Dan was just against Italy and Courtney didn’t like their uniforms, and Brandon didn’t really have a preference, but hey no one wanted Italy to win).  We are all hoping to get a long nights rest and sleep in in the morning so I think it’s time to call it an evening.