September 16, 2007

Kris and I have stumbled upon a wonderful thing called hostels. We’ve heard and looked at them. Last week was our first stay at one. We were left in Riga after not making our bus back home. Ahh… it was wonderful. Twenty dollars a night for both of us, and hot showers. We’ve made plans to start going to one once every two weeks. We’ve also met so many people at the hostel we’ve decided to call our home away from home. Hostels are a congregate for ragtag and bearded travelers from all over. The trade language? English. That’s really convenient given our lack of Latvian or Russian.

There’s nothing like a hot shower after going a month without. It has become too cold here to see the ocean as our giant bath tub. It has rained daily for nearly three weeks. That makes the ocean all the less inviting.

I can’t express how much everyone back home has meant to me. I was really down last update. I was really down. I received so many encouraging messages from back home. Ben Thomas, Jennifer “K” Miller, Kaila Hedger, Andrew Cox, Renee Miller, my aunt Denise, and several more which have meant more than I can express. Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragements. They really have meant the world.

And answers to prayer… the day after I sent the update we met an Irish man at the café near our house. He was given to vodka with a glass of orange Fanta but was an amazing guy. We talked with him for several hours and he introduced us to a Saulkrasti native, Gunar. Gunar is a bigwig for a German construction company that operates all over Europe. He is in charge of all the Baltic States: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

I had the chance to talk to him for a couple hours (and his English is quite good). The topics varied, but HE brought it to rel.after hearing we were m's here. He admitted himself to not be a rel. man by any means but as of late had been asking himself a lot of questions. His entire life he had grown up under Communism which had taught him, “the only thing that is real is what can be seen, touched, smelled.” But as of late, he’d been questioning the unseen and Dad. He has been wondering about Dad and looking for someone to teach or talk to him about Dad.

Oh my… I teared up at that. How beautiful is that? Is this perhaps a divine appointment? I think so. I was vividly reminded of the eunuch in Acts reading from Isaiah. How can folks know if no one is there to teach them? I’m here. We’re here. I think this could wind up being an amazing opportunity- and this man is so influencial with so many connections. Wow… God is good, eh?

Meeting up with Gunar is exactly what my heart needed. Since then Kris has met a younger man in Saulkrasti named Earnest. He was wanting to hang out and also spoke good English. We plan to meet up with him and see where that goes. Pray for that relationship please.

I also have recently caught hold of several books that ought to hold till the end of our time here. The constant rain is nice but annoying. And our shack has a ridiculously hot stove. It turns into an unbearable sauna in about thirty minutes.

That’s all for now. Email me please, I love hearing from you guys.

Adios-

Chris