August 14, 2007

What’s up guys?

Its been far too long since I’ve sent one of these out. Tonight, on the one hand I’m extremely tired, but on the other hand, I’m eager to let everyone know what’s going on here in Latvia.

LATVIA! Kris and I ran into some severe problems in Estonia. We upset the government and got kicked out of the country (not really). The visa laws in Estonia have recently changed and the changes made it nearly impossible for Kris and me to remain in the country. We would have been forced to buy Estonian health insurance that would cover us for the next two years. That would run us something close to $3,000. On top of that, we would have had to sign an official apartment contract. That would obligate us to pay $2,000 in rent over the next four months with no guarantee of getting our visa.

Needless to say, we don’t have the $5,000 (each) that it would have required to stay in the country. After spending time talking with our contact here, as well as DF back at school, we arrived at the decision to move to Latvia. . Buses will run to and from our apartment through out the day. Actually, we arrived in  today and are spending the night in a really nice hotel.

It was amazing to take shower and enjoy water that didn’t reek of egg yolk. Also, drying off with a nice, clean absorbent towel… that was better than you’ll ever know. It was a hectic day. I didn’t sleep at all last night. There’s been three nights over the past six days when I haven’t slept at all. I’m praying that tonight will bring rest for me.

Last night was our last night in Lagedi. Several of the friends we have made showed up at our apartment door with good bye gifts. By good by gifts I mean this: pigs in a blanket, some amazing layered cake, and we took some pictures together. We also spent time in the evening playing basketball together one last time, as well as swimming in the river. For a semi-final good bye, it went really well. We hope to see them when we take trips every 3 weeks to see our contact.

After getting here today and spending a long time in a realtors office. We were afraid that there would be no place to meet our budget and for a good long while it was seeming that it would end up this way. It didn’t. There were no places within our budget to stay here, but then the realtor we were working with found us a tiny place on the beach . While the summer lasts, this location will put us in the midst of people. I’m looking forward to that. Hopefully there is some beach volleyball in my future.

Our apartment is 10 square meters. We haven’t seen it as of yet. Tomorrow morning we will see, purchase and move in. Hopefully all in one shot.

It’s a little hard to keep my eyes awake so I’m going to throw some pr*yer requests out there:

1.) A really good friend from high school’s dad was in a motorcycle wreck. I’m not sure of his condition at the moment but I know there’s a large blood clot in his brain. Pr*y for them.

2.) My great grandma, she’s 103. She’s not doing the best. But she is 103. Pray for her.

3.) As for myself, it’s rough being here sometimes. If Kris wasn’t here I don’t know that I would make it. Pray for my heart and being here. Kris and I both feel that we were redirected here by G*d- we think He is working out something big here in Latvia.

I’ll stop there for the night. I hope to send out another update before too long to let everyone know a bit more, especially going into a bit more depth on how I am doing spiritually. The B*ble still has been really good… obviously.

Part of our course requirements is starting a B*ble study with the local folks here. We don’t lead the b*ble study but rather we fill the spectator role, especially noting how they interpret some difficult passages in light of their culture.. Since we’re here without any contacts at the moment, pray that we will meet and make friends quickly.

Love you guys-

It is really good to hear from each of you when you have the time.

Adios-

Chris

PS- wasn’t able to send the email yesterday… so we found a place today.  Its 10 minutes walk from a popular beach and an hour bus ride.  It is costing 100 lats a month… that equals $100 per person. So, the place is pretty cheap. The room we’re staying in reflects it. But we are both happy about it. Its behind a house and at one time was a magazine stand. When you walk in there is a 4 ft. by 5 ft. room with a mini-fridge and a propane mini stove. Take two steps and take a right. There you will be greeted by two single beds a 2 ft. pathway between the beds. It’s tiny place but I think we’re in a really good location. And the real estate agent who helped us find our new room, we’re going to spend time with him . We’ve already built a good relationship. It’s exciting.

That’s all for now. Feel free to email, it always does my heart good to hear from folks back home. It hasn’t been so bad today, but more often than not there’s a large part of heart aching for home. Feel free to yarp that. Love you guys, and thank you. -Chris