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| Dear Friends and Family, | ||||||||
| The Grand Adventure is over. Or is it ? I have left Latvia and am now in Scotland, but every other word out of my mouth is about Latvia. I'm having to try and be quiet so I don't make my Scottish Family tired of hearing about Latvia. However, my heart and my mind is so full of what I have left behind. | ||||||||
| God has been so very good to me. This has been one of the happiest periods of my lifetime. I have had such a great time. The people were so loving and kind to me that I will miss them for a very long time. It doesn't seem at all possible that I have been there and returned and the work for me over there is finished. I will still be praying and thinking and telling everyone I meet about Latvia and asking for their prayers for the work that is continuing in that beautiful country. | ||||||||
| The work is continuing on with a vibrant young team of people dedicated to the task. I believe God's leading and His timing has been wonderful. I had a job to do and I believe that God did use me and had a purpose for my time in Latvia. The timing was good for me to be there when I was and now the timing is right for me to leave. And while I leave a part of my heart behind in Latvia, I leave with a wonderful sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. | ||||||||
| Lisbeth and Henrik Andersen and their three children, Andreas, Maria and my special friend five year old Lukas, will always hold a special place in my heart. They are working so hard and have vision for the work of the Kingdom in that country. Henrik and Lisbeth are the Regional Commanders. I love them like they are my family. Sarah and Aivis are such a wonderful bright young couple. Sarah is the Youth Officer and is doing a great work with the young people in the country. She is a beautiful happy young woman, an excellent example to the youth. Her husband Aivis, a Latvian, works for the Navigators but is a great support to Sarah and to all who are working for the Salvation Army in Latvia. And now another young couple, Zoëë and Graeme Smith, have arrived from England for the next three years for a special project with the street kids. The will be a great addition to the Headquarters team. There are also a number of Latvian people employed at Headquarters. Please keep these people, as well as the Leaders who are working throughout the country, continually in your prayers. | ||||||||
| When I felt the Lord leading me to go, I could see no purpose in it. I felt there was nothing I could do that was worthwhile and wondered what the Lord had in mind for me. I knew that in order to be happy I had to trust Him and be obedient, but I did go with a lot of misgivings. I was tempted to think that perhaps the Lord wasn't leading, that it was just me looking for something different to do. | ||||||||
| I now know without a shadow of a doubt that He had a purpose and a plan that was realized by my going to Latvia for the past 4 months and a week. | ||||||||
| I prayed that I would make a difference in someone's life by being there. When I left I was told many times what a difference I had made during my time there. .... Give to Jesus Glory! | ||||||||
| Now... I will tell you about the final days in Latvia. | ||||||||
| Sunday the 15th of September was another day of travel and visiting institutions. Through the country and stopping at some very scenic places. Did I want to take a cable car across a very large valley to a castle ? One look at the height and the length and the answer was, "No I don't think we have time." | ||||||||
| We visited Cesis Crises Centre and had a tour of the premises and coffee with the Leader, Ada. This is a home for people who have no place to go and no money. They are allowed to stay three months and are assisted to find a place to stay and something to do. There are men, women and children and even released prisoners. | ||||||||
| From there we visited Skangal. This is a beautiful place that the Army has. It was once the country home of very wealthy Swedish people, the family of one of the Prime Ministers of Sweden. During the Occupation, the Soviets took this place over and used and abused it. After they left, the family gave it to the Army to become a children's home and school. It has cost millions of Krone to repair and refurbish it but what a showplace! The main house is like a museum. Then there is a very modern and well equipped schoolhouse, a home for the children and various barns etc. as it covers several acres of farmland. This is farmed and the produce shared with the various Army centres. | ||||||||
| Ingemar and Margerita Wolf, a couple from Sweden who have taken a leave from their jobs are running Skangal for the next two years. I really enjoyed meeting these people. They both speak fluent English which was a treat for me. They are intelligent and lovely people. They stayed in my flat once, we met at different times, and then on the Sunday they provided us with a lovely dinner. They then traveled with us to Drusti to the night meeting. | ||||||||
| Dianna led the meeting at Drusti and I played the piano for the service and then gave the message. I had led the Bible Study the last time I was there and used part of the 23rd Psalm. So again I used another verse and spoke on the topic, " Through a dark Valley ". One of the things I said was that they had come, after many years, through a very dark valley, but now they were starting to see the light shining through, while I was going home to a different world than I had left and perhaps we are just starting to enter into a very dark valley. I reminded them that no matter what comes, or how dark the valley, we do not need to fear when we have Jesus to walk with us through the valley. | ||||||||
| That week I did a couple of Home League meetings, one at Iecava and the other at Bouska. They both went well. I had no resources with me but I had many things tucked into my Bible that I was able to use and the women seemed very interested. I discovered a Maple Leaf that I had saved. I don't know when I put it there. But was pleased to find it. I had also brought a woven Book mark with Latvia on it, so I went on the Internet and found out some facts about Latvia and Canada and also the S.A. year book, so started out with that. I was pleased with what I found and was able to use. Then I said , of course it's not what we put into our Bibles, but what is written there that is really important, and for the devotions I used the things I had underlined throughout my Bible. | ||||||||
| I managed to send a couple of suitcases back to Canada that week. It cost me over $650.00 to ship them back. When I go again I will travel much lighter. | ||||||||
| One of the women works at the Opera House and had two tickets for me to go the Ballet. So on Friday, Dace and I went to the Opera House. All I can say is WOW !!!! Magnificent. What a great building. I also enjoyed the Ballet. | ||||||||
| The last week was a week of farewells. Sunday morning at the meeting I received a wonderful bouquet of flowers , An Orchid, Red roses, Orange Lily, Carnations, an Apple etc. And some very flattering words of appreciation. | ||||||||
| On Monday, Lisbeth and Evita took me down to the Market. This is the Largest Market in Europe and they, realizing I hadn't been there said I must see it. There are five or six large pavilions covering 14,000 square meters plus 5000 outdoor stands that sell everything you can imagine and more. Really interesting. | ||||||||
| Wednesday was my final day at staff devotions and Henrik again spoke so nicely about my time in Latvia and thanked me for coming. He spoke about my courage and I had to say, It didn't really feel to me like I needed courage. I didn't know where I was going or what would be required of me, but I knew God and trusted Him, so wasn't afraid. They gave me a lovely picture book about Latvia which I will really treasure and enjoy. | ||||||||
| We left after lunch on Wednesday to go to Jurmula for the Leaders Conference. What a treat. We stayed in a beautiful large hotel. Good accommodation wonderful lounge's, good food, etc. And the sessions were really good. Times of teaching, times of sharing and times of worship where the Holy Spirit came and we were all moved and touched. Lots of tears and rejoicing. | ||||||||
| They have had their song book in Latvian for about a year but were limited in what they could use because of the lack of music and many of the songs were unknown. They received the music just prior to the conference so one evening we sat around and sang from the song book and tried to learn new songs. We are so blessed in Canada and in the English speaking world with the wealth of wonderful songs and music we have. | ||||||||
| Again as we left the conference centre there were lots of hugs and kisses as I said good bye to the Leaders from each centre and Corps. Wonderful people who will be remembered in my prayers for a long time. | ||||||||
| Returning to Riga mid afternoon I finished a lot of the packing and went down for the Adult Fellowship meeting. We had a great time with 18 of the adults from the Corps. What a good time we had, lots of fun and good fellowship. This is the group I started in August as I sensed a need for fellowship amongst the seniors in Riga 1 Corps. The theme for the afternoon was 'Choices'. At one time I asked if they wanted to share a choice they had made that had effected their lives. One of the women who I had come to know and love spoke about walking away from her first family, many years ago. She subsequently had another family and a happy life but never got over leaving her first family. I am sorry I never had a chance to talk with her after about this. I was especially close to this group of people and the farewell from them was hard. Lots of tears. Arms full of flowers, chocolates and a video tape of the Riga 800 Song and Dance Festival. | ||||||||
| Later that evening we gathered again for tea/coffee and fellowship up in the Andersen's flat. Lots of fun and a happy time together. Major Maud, Sarah and Aivis, Zoëë and Graeme the Andersens and myself. | ||||||||
| Early the next morning Maud came up and helped close the suitcases and the Andersens and Sarah and Aivis took me to the airport. Zoëë and Graeme came to their door for a final good bye. | ||||||||
| It was very hard to say 'Good Bye', so we didn't. As Christians we don't have to say good bye, just "we'll see you again". | ||||||||
| The flight to Scotland was uneventful. Everything went smooth and I arrived on schedule. I was pleased to see Greta and David waiting for me and also Pat's sister Margaret from Illinois had come over so we could spent this two weeks all together. So this is holiday time. I'm feeling very tired now that I'm here and we are taking it easy, visiting with the family. David and Greta's family are all married. Four live close to Motherwell. One son lives near London in England and we will be going to visit them from Monday to Wednesday, next week. Tomorrow the Motherwell Corps is taking a bus load of people to Blackpool England for the day and we are all going. This is a holiday resort town and I'm looking for a good time, although it will be a very long day. | ||||||||
| And now I say " What's Next?" What ever the Lord has planned will be good. I don't know what I will 'do' when I return home. I have a few speaking engagements lined up to tell about the work in Latvia and I look forward to those opportunities. | ||||||||
| I Trust Him and Know that He is Faithful. I love Him and want to always be obedient to His leading. | ||||||||
| Thank you for the wonderful support you have been to me, for your prayers, your letters and phone calls. I am so grateful to each one of you. | ||||||||
| Love, Wilma | ||||||||
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