Thursday Evening
Today was mostly a travel day. We packed up everything from the hotel in Riga and headed west toward Liepaja and the Baltic Sea. We made a stop along the way at Rundale Palace, an 18th century Russian ducal palace. We enjoyed a tour of the palace and beautiful gardens, and learned a little more about the history of the country. We got to see the opulence of the palace, but also many works of art and period costumes. The palace itself was in poor repair after the occupation, so the Latvian people have done an amazing job of restoring it. I don't have the interior pictures from Richard's camera yet, but here's a look outside...
After we left the palace, we headed to Kuldiga. We stopped on the way for a very cultural experience... convenience store hot dogs. They were great! Tasty mustard, with an interesting tube-like bread. We had quite a debate about how they get the bread to be like that. Anyway, I digress...
Kuldiga was a quaint-looking town with many old buildings and a distinctly original feel to it. We went to the church and met one of the lay leaders there, as the pastor was unavailable. The pastor drives an hour from Liepaja to get to Kuldiga. The church owns part of a building, the rest of which is apartments owned by different people. They have a worship space, Sunday School and fellowship rooms. They are partnered with three small UMC congregations in Tennessee, who have helped them with renovations.
The congregation is small. They seem to have difficulty getting adults interested in coming to church. Many parents send their children to Sunday School, but never come to church themselves. It's a real problem because once the children grow and go away to school, they never come back... and there are no adults left to mentor the next generation. Prayers are needed for this church's growth and success in reaching a population that is largely alcoholic.
We were supposed to visit the church at Paplaka today, but the lay person who was supposed to get us access to the church's meeting room (which is actually in the City Hall) was unavailable. We would have only been able to drive by the building and not see inside... so we decided not to make the trip down there. Instead, we came on to Liepaja and checked into the hotel, had an hour of down-time, a relaxing dinner in the hotel restaurant and met to discuss what tomorrow would bring.
I want you to know that we appreciate your prayers. Do you have questions? What would you like to know about the trip? John will be preaching about our trip on Sunday, September 29. If you have specific questions, e-mail them to me (melissiam@fumcg.org ) or to John ( johnm@fumcg.org ) and we'll get them when we get home!
A little something for Pastor Kristine...
After we left the palace, we headed to Kuldiga. We stopped on the way for a very cultural experience... convenience store hot dogs. They were great! Tasty mustard, with an interesting tube-like bread. We had quite a debate about how they get the bread to be like that. Anyway, I digress...
Kuldiga was a quaint-looking town with many old buildings and a distinctly original feel to it. We went to the church and met one of the lay leaders there, as the pastor was unavailable. The pastor drives an hour from Liepaja to get to Kuldiga. The church owns part of a building, the rest of which is apartments owned by different people. They have a worship space, Sunday School and fellowship rooms. They are partnered with three small UMC congregations in Tennessee, who have helped them with renovations.
The congregation is small. They seem to have difficulty getting adults interested in coming to church. Many parents send their children to Sunday School, but never come to church themselves. It's a real problem because once the children grow and go away to school, they never come back... and there are no adults left to mentor the next generation. Prayers are needed for this church's growth and success in reaching a population that is largely alcoholic.
We were supposed to visit the church at Paplaka today, but the lay person who was supposed to get us access to the church's meeting room (which is actually in the City Hall) was unavailable. We would have only been able to drive by the building and not see inside... so we decided not to make the trip down there. Instead, we came on to Liepaja and checked into the hotel, had an hour of down-time, a relaxing dinner in the hotel restaurant and met to discuss what tomorrow would bring.
I want you to know that we appreciate your prayers. Do you have questions? What would you like to know about the trip? John will be preaching about our trip on Sunday, September 29. If you have specific questions, e-mail them to me (melissiam@fumcg.org ) or to John ( johnm@fumcg.org ) and we'll get them when we get home!
A little something for Pastor Kristine...
Comments
Post a Comment