What will we be doing during this time?

During STAS, our organization encourages us to spend 30% of the time for renewal and family time, 35% on training, networking, and preparing for our next “term” on the field, 30% on mobilizing and encouraging support for the IMB, and 5% on professional development. Specifically, our plans are:

• We will be visiting family in the following locations: Hendersonville, NC; Fayetteville, AR; Seattle, WA; and Washington, DC. We will be driving to all of these except Seattle!
• We will spend an extended amount of time in Camden, SC, reconnecting with our home/sending church of Malvern Hill Baptist, who has faithfully cared for us, prayed for us, sent many letters/emails/texts, and even sent three families to come and visit us here in Latvia.
• As opportunities arrive, we will speak in churches about the work that God is doing in Latvia and across Europe.
• Because of the COVID restrictions (which are still extremely strict in Latvia – all public and private gatherings outside of one’s own household are prohibited), much of our ministry has moved online for this season. As a result, we will actually be able to continue a few of our ministries while we are gone (e.g. online youth English club).
• We will also continue in our roles as Team Leaders for the families serving in the Baltics. This includes guiding our colleagues in their ministries, leading them both spiritually and logistically, connecting with local partners in Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania, and preparing for the likely addition of two new units to our team in the Summer/Fall of this year.
• We will be participating in a week-long conference held by our organization to support families coming back to the US after a term of service overseas. These are held regularly for all families on Stateside assignment, and usually take place in person at the IMB training center. However, because of Covid, this year the conference will be held virtually.
• Our girls will continue distance learning with their Latvian public school while we are in the US. Schools here went to distance learning at the beginning of the pandemic last March, but because of low case numbers over the summer, our girls were able to go to school in person full-time in September and October and part-time in November and December. However, since the Christmas holidays, schools here have not returned to in-person learning. This means that while our children will not be able to participate in the online class meetings (because of the time difference), they really will not be missing much and will be able to complete their assignments from the US. This will require a good bit of parental direction, especially for our first grader, but we are thankful that the schools are being so considerate of our situation and are willing to work with us to make sure our girls don’t miss anything while we are away.