june 29

June 29

This morning for church there were two groups going to two different places. One group went to Liepâja and the other went to Tashi which is a smaller church and where we went.  The church is actually in more of a house on the second floor where they have a room for worship and then a room for fellowship.  It felt like family.  We did a lot of singing, together and a few solos.  The music director played the guitar and was joined by two other ladies and then sang a solo and the music was beautiful.  She is a very talented musician!  The group from Alabama sang “Better is One Day” while Brain (one of the youth in their group) played the guitar.  Brain also did a song solo, which was pretty awesome.  Brandon preached and Laura translated and it was a very good message.  The pastor had read Psalm 84 and Brandon referenced it so it was really cool to see how the Lord is connecting us hearts and minds to one body ready to worship and serve Him.  We had fellowship time afterwards with snacks and tea of course but we got a surprise as well.  Some of the young mothers had made these knit socks/slippers and they gave each of us that were there a pair.  They are so fun!

After church we met up with the other half of the group in Liepâja and had lunch downtown before walking around for just a bit and making a pit stop at the Rimi (supermarket) before heading back to camp.  Dinner was pasta and sauce that was homemade from a real Italian recipe (Dan’s mom is Italian) and it was delicious. Some of the girls from the team were able to help out a little in the kitchen before dinner so we had the guys clean up after dinner to even things out.  Ingmars graduated from his specialty school in carpentry the other day so we had a small celebration for him with cake to say congratulations!  We still had a few more projects to do before all of the campers arrived so Brandon helped Ingmars with some things while Courtney and I help Maria with some decorations in the sanctuary.  Poor Trevor has been kind of sick so we tried to let him rest a bit while the house was still kind of quiet. 

Side note on the sleeping arrangements: In one room there are six female leaders (four on two air mattress and Courtney and I on the floor).  In the “living room” there are four male leaders (Brandon on the couch, Trevor on a cot, Yanis on an air mattress, and when Dan returns tomorrow he will be on the floor).  In another small room Joe and his son Jim are both on cots.  A few more of the leaders may be sleeping upstairs after tomorrow. In the back of the sanctuary the team form Alabama is staying on air mattresses and mats.  The groups that are arriving tomorrow will be in tents in the barn and in the yard just past the apple orchard.

Some of leaders watched the final of the Euro Cup (Spain vs. Germany) so that was really good, especially since Spain won :). Courtney and I were the only girls, so at halftime we organized the craft stuff and were very productive.  It was just Courtney, Laura and I in our room so we chatted a little before bed and before the dog came a decided to sleep with us, and snore…very loud…all night long.