I'm a little behind after travel day to Liepaja, but finally posting part 2 from our first days in Latvia…
The day after the adventure of taking our teammate to the hospital just so happened to be Easter.
We are new in this country and don't know where to go to church for Easter Sunday.
But just as the Lord would have it… the reason the people we met were at the hospital the night before is because one of them accidently stapled his finger while decorating their church for Easter Sunday service. Not to mention, they were about to leave when the front desk called them back to fill out one more piece of paper. As they are working on that, we walk in. A couple minutes later and we would have missed them. I love how the Lord orchestrates everything in His perfect timing!
They invited us for Easter morning and we gladly accepted. We were so thankful to have a local church to worship at for Easter… and now we don't even have to awkwardly walk into a church and not know anyone!
Easter Sunday… we wake up and 19 of us from our squad set out to find this church. A 10 minute tram ride and a short walk later we walk into a beautiful old church building. We are greeted warmly and offered hot coffee and tea! Our new friend Tabita and her younger brother come up to the balcony with us and translate the service into English.
19 from our squad with our new friends Tabita and Toms
We listen to classical music, watch an awesome Easter video and witness 4 people be baptized!
After church they ask us to stay for refreshments. European pastries?! Yes please! After 6 months in Asia and 3 months in Africa I think I am in heaven!
I make my way through cake, cinnamon rolls and cookies as I walk around meeting the other church members and talking to them about the events from the previous night. I find our that while we are with Tabita and Toms, they text everyone back at church about what is going on and they all pray for us 🙂
As we are getting to know the people at this church they notice a couple of us have on sandals. We have been in a tropical climate for the past 9 months and we were not prepared for the snow that Latvia had waiting on us. Most all of us are under dressed for the weather.
Before we know it, a couple of the members emerge with shoes in their hands! Just like that, they give us shoes. We are humbled by their kindness.
Before we leave they invite us back for dinner.
"There's 48 of us… do you know that?"
"Yeah, that's no problem. Be here at 6"
At 6 we return to the church for dinner. All 48 of us… (minus our teammate who was still in the hospital at the time. But she is all better now praise the Lord!) They have prepared us a delicious dinner of something like beef stroganoff for dinner and crepe's and jam for dessert. Some of the best food we have had in a while.
While we are eating they inform us that they have gathered up some winter clothes for us to look through. After dinner we file upstairs to see what they have. They have shoes, coats, hats, gloves, jeans, shirts, sweaters, etc. They outfit all 48 of us for winter!
How does that happen in a matter of a few hours? Only by the Lord working through His body of believers. "Shar[ing] with the Lord's people who are in need. Practic[ing] hospitality" Romans 12:13
Two more awesome things happened from this divine meeting…
They offer their sanctuary to us for a place to worship together and also their baptismal so that 6 of us can be baptized on Easter Sunday.
I was one of those 6 people. I was baptized when I was younger, but it was before I truly understood the gospel and committed to follow Christ. I had wanted to be baptized for a while but wasn't sure when to do it, but as I watched the 4 people be baptized that morning at church, the thought crossed my mind again. So when they offered for us to use their church that night, I knew it was the perfect opportunity on Easter Sunday!
The Lord reminded me again, in a huge way, that He takes care of His children and He used the people at Vilandes Baptist Church in Riga Latvia to take care of us this week. This will go down as one of my all time favorite Easters!
Me in my new boots, sweater, hat and gloves!
