lativa6

Dear Friends

It doesn't seem possible that time has gone by so quickly since I left home the 14th of May and I am now starting to think of coming home. I have six more weeks in Latvia and then 2 weeks in Britain. I am really torn by emotions when I think about it. I look forward to being back with friends and family and feel the need to be home right now but more than ever I feel the need to be here.

I spent an afternoon yesterday with some of the older women from the Corps discussing the needs here. Needs that I could meet. I feel such a strong urge to stay. We need a Corps Officer here so badly. But it should be someone who could learn the language and could stay a few years. These people really need to see some stability in the Corps' leadership. If I were to stay it would have to be a lifetime commitment. Throughout these ten years the leaders have come and gone very rapidly. The Lord has given me so many miracles in my life but I don't think He will make me ten years younger.

The leadership of the Corps is presently the responsibility of The Regional Commander who has also the responsibility of the whole region.

We discussed a Bible class and I suggested a couple of people for leadership and they all said 'No', They are too young. They don't have any lifetime experiences. and so on. They really want me to stay. There is a real hunger for the Word of God. But all too often, because of the language barrier they have just been told to read certain portions of scripture, with no teaching.

I spoke last Sunday about the necessity for holy living. That Holiness is a gift from God and we must seek it. This almost seemed to be a new concept. So much preaching is geared to Salvation but not much to those who are already saved. We had a wonderful meeting.

But... also, I feel I am needed at home. As usual when things are going well and the Lord is blessing Satan makes himself well known to us. Again in this past two weeks I have felt him attacking my family and therefore I have been hurting.

I am earnestly praying that the Lord will once more lead and I will follow and His Will will be done. I am trusting Him to meet this need and while I get discouraged being so far from home, when things are not going smooth there, I will not let the old devil have the victory.

This is again a time of Celebration in Riga. What a wonderful city this is. And an exciting time in the History to be here.

I have been doing a bit of research for a couple of Home league meetings this week at 2 different centers. Canada is 143 times larger than Latvia. But Latvia is much denser populated with 2.4 Million people. Canada with its vastness only has 30 million people.

One thing I thought was interesting is that we share a common neighbour. Canada has Russia to the north and Latvia has Russia to the east.

This weekend, this country of 2.4 million people have 1.2 million visitors in Riga from all over the world. The city has almost 900,000 people and people have come into the city from all over the country to Celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the founding of Riga in 1201. Every room in the city has been booked for the past 6 months.

I have the T.V. on and keep going to watch it. The streets are crowded in every direction. This city sure knows how to throw a party. It started Thursday evening and ends Sunday evening with things going on continually all over the city. They have closed miles of city streets to traffic. Riga spreads out over a large area and is divided by the wide Daugva River, wider than the Detroit river. There are 4 bridges crossing it and all but one are closed for the week end.

Fortunately this is a country where people walk everywhere.

It's wonderful watching the crowds. A large percentage are in native costume. The streets are wide with many large open squares and these are full of people. There are choirs singing many, many places and the people are all singing along with them. The music is wonderful. There is one large square where 6,000 dancers all in native costume were doing the same dances together. Also the city has wide canals running through it. These have wonderful parks along them. The parks are full and there are lovely barges floating down them with people singing, dancing or acting on them. I saw one a few moments ago that looked like a re-enactment of the crucifixion. It was so beautiful. Another barge had a group of priests in beautiful white robes. I think they were holding a service of some kind. I just learned that there are 31 barges each depicting some moment of history. There are large stages set up in several places with dancing and acting going on.

In the old town there are several places set up for the children to play at different old games. Games as played hundreds of years ago, (weight lifting with tree trunks, this for the men to try. ) also a large area of food that you can go and taste different foods from various places.

I would love to take part in this wonderful celebration but know I can't walk to get there or even to stand around. So I'm watching the t.v. I was really tempted to go down Friday afternoon as there was a tremendous parade of Brass Bands from all over the world. Even one from Michigan USA.

Listening to the conversations of people on the street is great. Every language you can think of.

Yesterday at the bank I had a good talk with a woman from Britain.

Tomorrow I'm going to Drusti. It is their first anniversary. Henrik and Lisbeth are going and I will go with them. I will be speaking for a few minutes, although Henrik is doing the messsage.

Tuesday will be a meeting for the women at Iecava and Thursday another meeting at Bouska. Lisbeth will lead the singing etc. I will be talking to the women and also doing the devotions., ( I'm still not ready ). ( I will be, though.... )

Then Friday the second meeting of the Adult Fellowship.

The first meeting went well and I was pleased although since then we have had to change the time as many people were disappointed that they couldn't be there. So we will meet an hour later so that those who are working will be able to attend. Again I have planned this meeting but this time I've asked the women to do the leading and to select the songs. I will do the talks and also plan a game. Then in September one of the women is hoping to have everything in place for a tour of the T.V. Studio. Her son has some position of importance there. The last meeting will be on the 28th of September and I've told them they must do the whole meeting. I will leave Latvia the next day. The people are quite enthused about this group.

In Latvia, on the calendar each day are several names. The days of the year have names. When your name coincides with the name day it's a real celebration. My name day is the 31st of August. Because it is the first name day I've ever had everyone is having a lot of fun preparing for it. It will be a time of flowers and chocolates and gifts. I told my girls not to forget the presents and I have a gift sitting in front of me from Vicki that I have to wait to open on the 31st of August. My name here is Vilma. There is no 'W' in the Latvian language. When I asked why they said ' We don't need it'. So I'm called Vilma.. Paterson almost sounds like Paterson, but not quite.

This country has many wonderful customs that I am thoroughly enjoying. The people are warm and wonderful and a very happy people. So much has changed in the last ten years since they got their independence. Everything was grey, dark, dismal and hopeless, so I'm told. Even the buildings were very dark with the dirt of many years. Over the past few years there has been a real effort made to 'clean up' the city. The buildings are being cleaned and restored. People that have come here recently who were here even five years ago talk about how wonderful the changes are. There are still many people really hurting. The economy is extremely poor. The wages are so low and the money doesn't cover the needs. But there is hope now where there wasn't just a few years ago.

One thing I couldn't understand and I talked to a young man about this week. This country was really oppressed under the Soviet and even the German regimes and I haven't seen any bitterness towards these people. I have never heard any complaining or anything. But I was talking to Johney this week. He is 19 years old and a wonderful young man. He said.. " Oh, it's there, not as bad as it was, but certainly just hidden from view." It flares up often between the young people.

Let me tell you a bit about Johney.. His name is Jaunice ( Pronounced , Yawnis). John grew up this past 10 years at the S.A. Children's Home.

There are a lot of homeless children living on the streets here in Latvia. The home situations are very bad due to Drugs and Alcoholism and frequently the children are put out on the streets to fend for themselves. The police will frequently pick up these kids and put them in jail overnight but the next day they are out on their own again. About 10 years ago, just after the S.A. came to Latvia, the police arrived at the door with 10 young boys. These kids had been picked up over and over again and been jailed. They would steal to feed themselves and had no place to go. The Police asked the Army if they could look after them for a few days until other arrangements could be made. So they said yes and made room in the headquarters building. That was 10 years ago and we still have those 10 boys, plus 20 more. Just this past year we opened the Leontines Gorksas Children's Home and added the additional 20 children. It's no longer just a boys home but houses boys and girls. This has been a major adjustment for these original group of boys. They had become a family and they now have to accept more children, plus girls. But it has worked out well. I have spent a lot of time there and it is a real home for these children. They still are receiving street kids from the police.

Now about Jaunice. Wednesday I spent most of the day with Johney. We talked about all kinds of things. His English is excellent. He is now 19 and should be out on his own but the only home and family he has is at the Children's Home. Last year he left to go to Sweden to the Salvation Army High School there. He is going back on Monday for his second year. The woman who worked with these boys from the very start tells me his life story is 'Hell'. But what a wonderful young man he has become. So very intelligent. He has such high goals. He wants to become a lawyer working in International Law. I spoke with the Administrator of the home and asked what are the possibilities of this happening. There is absolutely no money that I can see that would be necessary for that much schooling.

She tells me that if his marks are high enough there is some Government funding if he qualifies that might let him get this education. I pray that he will qualify and will be able to reach these goals he has set for himself. He has come such a long way. it would be wonderful to see him really become established.

The one thing I see everyday is that there are not the opportunities for the people to have real careers where they can get ahead. They are lucky to get some kind of job that will let them barely exist. Of course I realize that I see the poorer people in society here and my thinking is prejudiced by this. The people who are working here in the building are mostly connected to the corps and expect the Army to look out for them by providing employment. I can see where the amount of work done by them could be done by half of them. The jobs have been made to meet the need. It is annoying at times when we see jobs that are not being done, and people sitting around visiting. The Andersens are frustrated by this but it will be very difficult to change.

One of the changes in my life has been that after raising 2 girls I have spent most of my time in ministry with women and of late, young women. But here I am spending my time with a lot of young men. The Lord has opened up doors where I have been able to spend time individually with these young men talking to them and praying for them and really enjoying their company.

It has been good to see some real dramatic changes in some of them. Truly God has been so good to me.

Before I came over here it was my constant prayer that if I came I would make a difference in someone's life. For a while during July I began to wonder if I had done anything of value or not. But through this month I have had so much affirmation that truly the Lord did have a purpose for me coming here. I am praising Him for this.

Only eternity will reveal what a work the Lord has done through me being in Latvia at this time.

As usual, this letter is very long. There are so many stories I could tell you and share with you, but I had better quit for now.

God Bless and Keep each one of you,

Love, Wilma

Home Back Next Update 1 Update 2 Pictures

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws