Report of the June 12-22, 2014 Mission Trip To Riga, Kuldiga and Leipaja Latvia
by Jim Hayes We have been involved in the “In Mission Together” Program since 2006 when we formed a covenant relationship with the members of the Kuldiga UMC in Latvia. The recent trip I was on represents the sixth time we have either visited Kuldiga or helped bring their members to visit us. Members of the Kuldiga partnership are Norris, Sinking Springs, Wears Valley and Maryville First UMC. On June 22 we returned from Latvia with a team of four persons. Three of the team are members of the Maryville First UMC. While in Latvia we: Attended the christening of Vivita’s baby Charlotte. Vivita has been the minister at Kuldiga and is now on maternity leave. Visit with our friends at Kuldiga UMC. Several of the ministers near Kuldiga have been filling in while the minister is on maternity leave. We found that this situation is not good for the church and learned that they need a full-time minister who lives in Kuldiga. Jim Hayes preached last Sunday at the Kuldiga church and led a Bible study about the Holy Spirit. The other team members worked with youth at the church on prayer beads. Last Monday we looked at eight apartments that could be purchased for the Kuldiga minister. Members of the church leadership and our team settled on a renovated apartment that will cost 14,500 Euros. We have about $15,000 in the Ervins Fund and will need to raise about $5,000 to help Kuldiga purchase the apartment. Our partner churches will begin working on this effort in July. Members of the Kuldiga church rented a van and drove us to several historical and cultural sites in the area. We had a picnic at the farm of a church member before leaving Kuldiga. The team drove to Leipija and Wesley Camp where we stayed for five nights in the Holston House. While there we removed furniture, cleaned and painted the floor of an auditorium, cut grass, burned brush piles, and cleaned the showers. All of this was to prepare the Camp for the summer camping season. Vivita and her husband provided us dinner in her home in Leipija and led us on a tour of Leipija. We visited a Soviet era military prison, a beautiful Russian Orthodox Church, and shopped. On Sunday, 6/21/14 we meet with Gita Mednis, the Latvia DS about our trip and discussed the purchase of the Kuldiga apartment. We found that she would be retiring this year at the mandatory retirement age of 72. While in Latvia, we gave the Kuldiga church $2,000 from the four partner churches to help them replace their heating system. We gave Inese Budnika, the director of Wesley Camp $1,950 from Norris UMC that we had raised to make improvements at the Camp. Jim Hayes, for the Kuldiga Partners |
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