For the month of April we were given the challenge of Unsung Heroes in Latvia. Teams that are assigned Unsung Heroes go into the country and find contacts for future world race teams to partner with. They also find people that are furthering the kingdom and hear their stories in order to retell them.
In my previous blog I described the way in which we came into contact with our first few unsung heroes. I suggest you read that as well as my teammates blogs to get a complete view of what we found going on in Riga for the Kingdom. Here are a few more that I personally connected with. Interesting enough, both of these contacts also came about by following the trail from our very first contact.
Daniel Pedraza is a long time missionary from Argentina. Five years ago him and a team of like-minded ministers started a bible school called the Baltic School of Ministry. They have a campus 45 minutes outside of Riga. The campus is able to hold 20 young people that are willing to give up a year of there lives to find God’s calling on their lives. (Sounds familiar right, maybe like the world race?) These young people live and eat on campus. They are in classes 8 hours a day being taught by ministers from all over the world. Each teacher comes for a week and lectures on a certain topic for the week. The teachers volunteer their time and pay for their own transportation. They come because they have the call on their lives to raise up disciples in the nations. The Baltic School of Ministry is rising up a new generation of soldiers for the Kingdom in the Baltic states. Unsung Hero number 4.
On our last Sunday in Riga, Jesse and I stepped into Apustulu CelšChurch in Riga. There were only 15 to 20 people there and about half of them were American. They sang their music in Latvian, Russian, and English. From first glance it wasn’t much. Sometimes it is truly amazing how God can do amazing things out of something that seems so small. You see this church was not just this church. Each person at this meeting had home groups that they went to during the week. Each person was discipling a group of ten to twenty people. This one church was spread out all across Latvia making disciples. That is when I met Mark Shutes and his team, Scott Carpenter and Kyle Christian. Mark and his team are missionaries to the former Soviet Union. The former Soviet Union covers almost half of Asia and Europe and contained 15 different countries. They are constantly on the move making disciples and raising up leaders in each country they visit from Estonia to Kazakhstan. When I see them I envision the apostles, reaching and teaching and changing nations thru discipleship. Taking to heart Matthew 28:19 that says “Therefore go and make disciples of ALL nations”. All this is done using Riga as a base. Unsung Hero number 5.
It has been such an encouragement to be in Latvia. I have heard the history of how God has worked here in years past. I have experienced God working here in the present thru us and thru the people we have worked with. Finally, I have been able to see the His future work thru the vision of all the people here faithfully putting their trust in Jesus.
One more unofficial Unsung Hero. Part of being assigned unsung heroes is that you have to figure out your own lodging and food, which are often taken care of by hosts in other countries.
We arrived into Riga, the capital of Latvia, not really knowing what to expect. We knew that we had a place to stay for one night but after that we would have to find a place. We were homeless. Our first night their we walked into Vilandes Baptist church to stay the night in one of their Sunday school rooms. That night the pastors son, Toms, not only gave us a place to stay but brought us pizzas as well. After just getting in from Africa this was huge to us. He did more then we ever hoped for. Somehow we new that we were going to end up back there eventually. Actually we ended up back there sooner then we thought.
We spent one night in a hostel to explore options but the very next day we were given the ok to go back to Vilandes church. From there we met the whole crew that lives and/or works at the church. This community of people continually gave of themselves without any hesitation. They gave us food and fellowship, took us to a Latvian basketball game, gave one of us drum lessons, and consistently showed us a love that could only come from Jesus. They even agreed to lead worship for our world race squad with just 20 minutes notice. To me they embodied where it says in Matthew 25:35 that “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” since they welcomed us with arms wide open. Throughout the month this community became much more then just a contact, or a place to stay, they became our family and Vilandes baptist church became our home away from home. Janis, Valters, Toms, Tabita, Mikus and their parents were our first and last Unsung Heroes in Latvia.
