If you haven’t figured it out yet or you haven’t felt my exuding excitement: I’M STILL IN LATVIA! The home of endless wildflower fields, great ice cream, even better people, and countless options for ministries and partnerships. I’ve never felt more at home away from good ol’ RVA, so this is a HUGE blessing to get to remain in this country for another month.
This is a blog post written by my dear teammate and friend, Bridget Bernhard, about what Team Vida is up to as we spend another month in Latvia:
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“We are a group of 7 Intelligent American females, conquering the country of Latvia one step at a time. Sleeping in tents, eating anything we can find and simply absorbing as much knowledge as we can from our Papa God.
This month, the team I (Boog) am on (known as team Vida) has been called to do whats known as an Unsung Hero’s month. Now I am sure you are thinking, what in the heck is unsung hero? Let me help you understand.
Unsung Hero [n.]:
Are men and women who are dedicated to serving some of the most impoverished populations in the world, yet rarely receive recognition for their dedication and service. These givers may also live with meager conditions but give consistently from an abundance of God’s love. Their names may not be in history books, their acts unknown to the rest of the world, while unrecognized, they shake a generation and move a culture and ultimately build the Kingdom. (definition taken directly from Adventures website)
My perspective of an unsung hero is someone who does behind the scene work to further the Kingdom of God, in a form of spreading the love of Jesus. So the person and or organization is not generally recognized for its stand out performance, but generally they are treasures that we as racers get to hunt for.
This month looks completely different from the past 6. We have previously gone into each country with a specific contact and host site. Meaning, they welcome us in making sure we know where to purchase groceries and other necessities, as well as have a place to sleep at night and “work” to do each day.
This month, we get to find all of those things on our own. We get to sit in prayer and listen to where the Lord wants us to go, and then move forward into figuring out where we can get groceries, and how we travel around, and do different types of work.
The vision of Unsung Hero month is to connect and network with these heroes in an effort to come alongside them and provide life in their efforts to further the kingdom. Many of the persons we find may be alone, with no community or network for support, and we want to acknowledge the impact of their ministry and provide lift in whatever way possible.
Our goal for this month, is to seek out and meet with Unsung Heroes within the eastern part of Latvia. We are on a treasure hunt for these hidden treasures of people or organizations that need a simple boost of encouragement to continue running forward in their calling. What that looks like for us is something in which I cannot completely explain only because I cannot predict what will happen this month. All I can tell you for sure, is that we trust the Lord and we spend a lot of time praying and seeking His guidance in each decision. We also spend time researching online, making phone calls and setting up appointments with potential heroes. We hope to meet with them and are then able to cast the vision of what we are doing and see if they have any interest in partnering with us.
Basically for this month, we are employees of Adventures in Missions and we get to work for them in finding new host places for any type of mission trip that the organization sends out. Whether thats a team from the World Race (like us) or Passport trip (college students, staying between 1-3 months), Gap year (stay with contact 3 months), Ambassador trips (high schoolers, 2-4 weeks) and Short Term Trips (youth groups/families/adults, stay for 1 week).
We are all incredibly excited to see where the Lord leads us this month and how He will choose to blow our minds in the way He best knows.
Just a quick glimpse of whats already happened (as we started this month on the 1st of July), we moved from where we were staying in Saldus to Riga for a couple of days. We spent some time in the “office” (coffee shop with wifi) and were able to connect with a few contacts given to us by our las host. We also were able to meet up with a Christian Publishing company, take a couple prayer walks and build relationships with a couple tattoo artists. We had dinner in Riga with one contact from Daugavpils (which is south east of Riga) and we will connect with him again later this month. On Friday, we moved North to a little city called Saulkrasti, where one of my teammates found a Lutheran pastor who wanted to meet with us. We have been camping in his lawn for the past couple of nights, and have had an incredible time chatting with him and his congregation. As of right now, we plan to move to Daugavpils tomorrow and create a home base there and do day trips out to other cities as contacts our found (the train is an incredible mode of transportation for us this month).
What we need from you?
Please keep us in your prayers as we walk each minute in obedience to what the Lord has for us. He is LITERALLY guiding our every move in this and it has already been a stretching experience. Pray for our communication to be on point and for our team to remember to love each other through every breathe we take.
So here we continue, hunting for treasures that we know that Lord has for us.”
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Well said, Bridget, my favorite barista, well said.
Each team has a “point person” for Unsung Hero teams, and I was chosen for such a task! Basically I guide the direction of Team Vida and I cast vision and encourage us on the path we choose. It’s a task I do not take lightly and it has already brought me to my knees in a humble stance as I seek the Spirit and yield to the guidance the Lord gives.
My team is one of strong willed righteous women of God who are hungry for seeing more Kingdom expansion. Please be praying for unity in mind and spirit. Pray for energy as we have now entered our seventh month (how did we get here?!). Exhaustion has hit us all – this is the perfect opportunity for Daddy to show off and display his strength and power! My prayer is that we bring glory and encouragement everywhere we step foot this month as we partner with the Spirit to bring Heaven to earth!
“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your inhabitations be stretched out: do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.” – Isaiah 54:2
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, […], that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” – Ephesians 3:14 & 16
