Latvia in Pictures

WHO?
Me, my uncle Bob, Anna, James, Mitchell and John Carl


Our amazing group! I didn't know any of them, other than Bob, before the trip, but I consider myself blessed to have been included in their merry band!








WHAT?
A Worship Workshop for leaders of the Latvian United Methodist Church. We spent four days teaching the workshop and spent the rest of our time in the Baltic States traveling and sightseeing!

Preparing for Worship. I sang! I was very nervous at first because everyone else in the band is a very talented musician, but during our time there the Lord gave me more confidence. By the end, I may not have been singing better, but I was certainly singing louder!







WHERE?
The workshop was at Wesley Camp -- near Liepaja, Latvia. Only a ten minute walk from the Baltic Sea!


The Alabama group with our new Latvian friends! I would tell you their names, but there's no way I could spell them correctly!













Later, during the sightseeing part of our trip, we spent a few hours at the Hill of Crosses near Siauliai, Lithuania. This monument to Christianity possibly began as early as the 1800s, but it gained more significance during the Soviet occupation, when the Soviets tried to remove the crosses, even bulldozing the hill three times! The Lithuanians and other Christians always came back to replace the crosses, and today there are more than 200,000 crosses on the hill!























Mitchell placed a cross for his church in Tuscaloosa, and we had a mini-prayer service to consecrate it.





















This was the view from our hotel room in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. A beautiful and interesting city with very little nightlife. :-D
One of the most unusual and disconcerting characteristics of the Baltic states is the daylight. In the summer the sun doesn't down until 11 PM or midnight, and then it "bounces" right back up! Our schedules got very mixed up because of this. I think I took this picture at around 10:00 PM!






















One of the most special parts of our trip was meeting Ceara Randall, the newborn daughter of missionaries Dan and Courtney Randall. She was only ten days old when we met her! She is such a precious gift from God. Her parents' blog is linked on the side of this page.




Some more favorite memories from the trip:
Nocturnal Eyepluckers (aka storks)
Kefirs (think liquid sour cream). Delish! :P
Mitchell's "tuberculosis"
Anna thinking John Carl's foot was a pigeon and nearly upsetting the restaurant table
A much-needed fancy steak dinner
Staying up late chatting about past, present and future
Singing at the orphanage in Siauliai
Getting lost in every city we visited, made fun by the boys and their goofy accents (Hello, lady!)
The Angels, "WhiteBread" and the MultiLux
Being street performers for a few hours and making about $2 (if that)
Adventures on Frankfurt, Germany's public transportation system
Getting to know new friends and having new experiences

I've written about the Who, What, and Where. What about the WHY?
WHY ELSE BUT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD?
It didn't hurt that it was super fun, too!


Want to see more pictures? Try here and here.