at today’s stop on our shoes for orphan souls mission to latvia, i met a great kid.
mariks is 12 years old, full of questions, and trying to be as full of english as possible.
this young boy, living in an orphanage in the latvian countryside, is actually quite a “man of the world.”
mariks has already been to the USA thanks to an agreement between the latvian social service agencies and an atlanta, georgia-based ministry.
athough buckner isn’t involved in this kind of program yet, it is an opportunity for children to travel to the USA for up to a month, and stay with an american family.
mariks is going to atlanta for christmas. Continue reading ‘for mariks, it’s christmas in georgia’
How pervasive is American influence around the world? Well…there’s our style, our sports icons, our music, our politics, and our……….cartoons? I recorded this brief clip in my hotel room in Liepaja. The German Spongebob sounds ’scarily’ like his American brother…do sponges have brothers?
spongebob in german
today, i talked to the teenage boys and girls at the jelgava city orphanage.
the translators told me that these young men and women were into everything. yes…everything.
later in the evening, i went upstairs to spend some time with the 9-12 year-old boys. the difference was staggering. the translators for buckner visit this orphanage multiple times per month…and they began one year ago. Continue reading ‘a few years may mean all the difference’
all of the following songs are in russian, the predominate language spoken in the area of the old soviet naval port built during the cold war. the area, once top secret, held 23,000 soviet army and navy forces and support personnel…now 8,000 are squatting in the deteriorating buildings. the light in this dark place is the light of the gospel church, pastored by sergei graukusa.
if jesus is in my boat, i can smile - even in the storm
praise for jesus, who creates everything for us…it is all beautiful, because of him
2 different roads we can take in life…one is ours…the other is his
today, i returned to light of the gospel church in liepaja, latvia. pastor sergei graukusa ministers in a drug, alcohol, and gang-infested area of 8,000 inhabitants known as the naval port.
at one time, this area had 23,000 red navy and army inhabitants, and was one of the most secret locations on earth (unless you owned a spy satellite or are tom clancy).
now, pastor sergei stands with buckner international trying to turn back the tide.
one little girl stole my heart today. she’s about 9, with a wonderful smile, and a bubbly personality. Continue reading ‘a light in the darkness’
quite a day, this rainy monday in liepaja, latvia..it’s 10:30pm here..the body is tired, and the brain is buzzing..
let’s start with the tough part of the day first…i gave it 3 good tries with the teenage boys at the liepaja city orphanage today. i tried 3 different paths to insert the gospel into our time together…it didn’t work well, and then they went out for their cigarette break. (did i mention this isn’t a christian orphanage?)
frustrating? yes. did they know that will, candace and i cared? i sure hope so. i know i paint a wonderful picture on the air of these trips…and they are. but sometimes, you can’t win a battle in a 4-hour visit. lord, help us if nothing else to have planted some seeds…in your name…amen.
before the orphanage visit today, we walked down the street a block to the sv. trisvienibas katedrale. (st. trinity cathedral)
…no, not a theology problem there…just a translation problem. anda, my translator, told me the more literal meaning would be “holy trinity cathedral”…
anyway, the church built in 1758, has an organ with 7,000 pipes, and beautiful gold leaf everywhere on the altar. even more remarkable…this place is still standing after the nazis and red army occupations. (yea, god!) Continue reading ‘a tough crowd, a new friend, and a good friend’
when you’re so far from home, (4,399 miles if you drew a straight line!) it is so nice to hear something familiar…and so it was sunday morning at st. matthew’s church in riga.
the ability to sing amazing grace with our latvian brothers and sisters was wonderful. what made it fascinating was watching our lips move in english, while right behind us, the latvians were singing in their native language.
it was a wonderful reminder that someday we will all be worshipping in a universal language at the throne…and that the things that seem to divide us, like language…really don’t divide us all that much. Continue reading ’st. matthew’s church and my buddy ediys’
hello from riga, latvia…i’m here with a team from buckner international visiting orphanages and baby homes. this is my second time here, and to be honest, i never thought i’d have the honor of coming back.
our orphange visit today went really well…i’m with the older boys - meaning teenagers. they’re basically unadoptable, and they come from very difficult home situations, so as you might imagine, they’re tough guys…or at least that’s how they perceive themselves. you wouldn’t believe what a great spiritual lesson there can be in playing a game of “jenga”…i’ll have to tell you about it sometime. (by the way, trash-talk between competitive teenage boys is an international sport…at least we taught them the international symbol for “loser” 
Continue reading ‘a lesson in freedom’
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