While most regularly scheduled activities here in Latvia slow down quite a bit during the summer months (to allow people time to enjoy vacation time while the weather is warm and the sun is shining), our church has tried to maintain a somewhat adjusted rhythm and routine. With the exception of a couple holiday weekends, we’ve continued to meet on Sundays for worship. Luke and I have really enjoyed being able to serve in leading worship for our church, along with a couple other church members. Here is a quick clip of the end of one of our worship songs. The repeated phrase is “Tu esi mans Dievs” or “You are my God.”

In addition to Sunday mornings and Wednesday night small groups, our big event for the summer was our family camp. We were hoping to do a 2-3 day camp at a place with cabins for families, but for several reasons the location didn’t work out, so we had to change plans and move it to a location closer to home. We decided to just do a (very) full Saturday day camp. However, the men really wanted to do the camp experience and camp in tents. The site was about 20 kilometers away, so on Friday afternoon, the five guys drove out to the camp, set up their tents and dropped off all their stuff, and then drove back home to hike the 20 kilometers to where they had set everything up! Might seem a little purposeless until you understand how important being out in nature is to our Latvian friends. Any excuse to spend 5 or 6 hours hiking in the woods is a good one! They finally got to the camp a little before midnight and then the women and children joined them the next morning.

We spent a wonderful day of retreat with the 10 or so families from our church. We spent the morning talking through and praising God for what he has done over the past year and looking toward the future to plan for the coming year. After lunch and some swimming in a pond, we reconvened for a mini marriage/family seminar where two couples in our church shared their experiences and how God has worked in their families and marriages.

Our meals were cooked over an open fire by a sweet niece of one of our church members. She spent the very warm day making enough food to serve around 40 people when you include all the kids! We had Plov (a meat/rice dish similar to chicken bog for those of you in the deep South) and fresh vegetable salads for lunch and sausages and veggies for dinner. Snacks throughout the day were fresh berries (gooseberries, black currants, and blueberries) that everyone brought from their own forest berry picking adventures!

The highlight of the day was a worship service and baptism by the pond. We had the privilege of being able to see a dear sister in Christ baptized and then worshipping the Lord together. Please pray that the Lord would continue to “add to our number day by day those who are being saved” (Acts 2:47).