Perfect ending to a wonderful week in Riga

Good friends and a beautiful city.  

 Mauro and Julia Martinez

 Mauro, Nathasha, Sherry 

 Built in 1335 restored in 1999

 Charming little side streets

 Spring is evident in the outside cafe's.....it was too cold to sit out but it was inviting. 

 Coffee is a work of art at Double coffee

 Surprise party from Danny and Damaris Pedraza - turning 66 isn't so bad. 

Danny, Nadine, Damaris, Julia, Mauro, Natasha

Thank you friends for a wonderful ending to our week in Latvia.  

Heading home today so please pray for traveling safety. 

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

Humbled, Amazed, Speechless

We finished our week of teaching at BSM and the words above describe us.  Words cannot describe adequately how God answered prayer this week. If you remember we had asked God to bring life to the hearts of the young people through the teachings, not just head knowledge.  Well He sure did answer us above and beyond our wildest dreams.  All we can do is Praise Him and do a Happy Dance.

Today we did role plays which is the most fun for me since it is where we can see if our students understood what was taught. They did amazingly well. We spent a lot of time laughing that is for sure. Those of you who know me, Sherry, know that I love to dramatize stuff so I played it up a lot.  I was even able to work up a tear or two while playing my part.  But this is where the amazing thing happened some of the students started to cry.......the Holy Spirit was telling their story through the role play.  At the end we were privileged to minister one on one to several of them.  We have done a lot of counseling this week because the different teaching have touched places in their lives.

During chapel the students gave testimonies and at the end laid hands on PW and me and prayed for us and our ministry. It was quite humbling but wonderful.

This afternoon we are going to Riga to site see which will be fun.  With Pw having been so sick last week we did not get to do much of that so I will take more pictures to post in the morning before we leave to fly home.

This has been an amazing week and we have seen God meet us in our weakness and do wonderful things. Thank you so much for praying for us, thank you to our family for graciously letting us come and for our church family for sending us off with love.  You are all such a gift to us.

Much love,
PW and Sherry

 Students standing in line turning in their homework so they get credit. This counted for 20% of their grade. The assignment was to look up and list the put offs and put ons of scripture and then to make a plan to overcome a sin in their own lives.  They said they loved this assignment.

 I am roleplaying a rebellious 17yr. old girl who is being counseled by the class.  

 Our class minus 3 students who had to leave early.  

Sure love all of you.

 Pw surprised Sherry during chapel with these lovely roses and a card and candy while the class sung Happy Birthday. My birthday is Saturday and we will be traveling.  It was quite embarrassing and romantically sweet. 

The class presented us with this mug with scripture on it and a card as a thank you. 

We are so overwhelmed with Gods love we are speechless.  

Thank you to all at BSM..it is our honor to serve you as teachers each year. 

Day 4 - Thursday

Whew today sure was a long one. We taught 7 sessions today.  Getting to the Heart, Process of Change, Giving Hope, Put off and Put on, and various other spontaneous topics as the Holy Spirit led.
Can you imagine the poor students having to concentrate and learn all this stuff?  It is the end of the year so they are very tired. But PTL they are attentive and ask really good questions about each topic so we know they are listening.

They have their test tomorrow so please pray for them to do well.

We have done a lot of counseling this trip which is unusual. We are thanking the Father for the lives we are able to touch through His word.

 This is my almost 100% healed man of God as he prepares for todays lessons. 

 Anna Potapova is the cook at the school. She prepares amazing food on her small budget. 

 These are our amazing translators.  The girls are the Latvian translators the boys are the Russian translators. 

From left to right back row: Dima, Sasha, Adre

From left to right front row: Anna, Elza, Ilza, Lauma

We thank God for the gifting of these young people. They work twice as hard as we do. 

 Natlaia Antonicheva - The School Secretary and mother to the students.  

 Mauro Martinez - Dean of the School

 Former students Erland and Veronika from class of 2011.

They are now in full time ministry and said that the things we taught are still coming to mind today. 

 Natasha with a statue having fun.

 Bridge locks placed here by young couples getting married. 

 Palace of Catherine the Great from Russia built in 1735. She never lived here. 

 Beautiful Birch tree forest. Very common in Latvia.

Much Love, 

Pw and Sherry

Day 3 - Wed.

Today was a short day of teaching since the young people had sports this morning.  But the time we spent with them was profitable.  PW taught the peace and joy principle and I taught a session on gathering information to help with counseling sessions.  

PW met with one young man at the end of lunch and then I met with a young woman this evening.  The teachings open up insights for them on why they do what they do.  It is a healing time for many as they listen and then work on dealing with the things that they thought they would have to live with.   This is our favorite part of doing these teachings.  We have seen over and over again the sufficiency of Scripture in the lives of God's people.

Natasha, who is the secretary for the school, took me on a wonderful walk this morning while PW slept since he was still not feeling well. Today has been a bad day for him as far as the way he feels.  We have concluded that what is wrong with him is that he picked up the flu virus that is going around.  Anyway, sleep and plenty of fluids is the only way to go with this unless the Lord heals him quickly.

Below is the only picture I took today, it is of the students having a party. At the end of the day they decided to have pop corn and a contest to see who had the most bible knowledge.  The laughter could be heard into our room. Sorry it is so dark, but at least you can see that they enjoy spending time together.

Much love,
PW and Sherry

Day two '

Today started very early for us.  Up at 6 and class starting at 8:45.  We are loving this class. The students are so much fun.

Today one of the young men was making a joke about PW being old and of course being Americans we laughed because it was done in fun and with respect. Well after the class session was over he humbly came and asked forgiveness saying he was wrong, and that he was so thankful for the wisdom that God had put in PW. This is the caliber of student that we have the privilege to disciple this week.

PW was teaching on counseling the believer today and took one of his famous "bunny trails" which was spirit led because after class another student came to him and asked for counsel because the "bunny trail" was God speaking to him and he needed to talk it through.

God is so faithful.

Please continue to pray for "life" to be given this week not just knowledge, and for PW and his sinus issue.  He is feeling a tad bit better but still not up to par.  But we know whom we believe and we are confident that He can and will heal in His time. Meanwhile this weak vessel is relying on the Holy Spirits strength to do what only He can do anyway.  God is good.

Below are today's pictures.  I hope you enjoy them.

 Double click on this picture and you can read the names of the students and staff of this years class.

 Prayer time for the mission focus country today which was Romania

The sound of voices filled the room as the students all began to pray aloud. 

I Love to hear young people pray and sing.  Our own youth from CCF are meeting tonight to do this very thing as they worship God and then pray together. 

Pw enjoying recreation with one of the young men.  I told them we are going to pray God prompts someone to donate a pool table for next year.  

Break time fellowship.

Much love to you all, 

PW and Sherry

Monday - First Day of School

We arrived her at the Baltic School of Ministry yesterday around 3. We unpacked hurriedly and then took another nap. With PW not feeling well and it being Sunday, we always nap on Sunday afternoon, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

We woke up this morning to the sounds of students arriving and Chapel service beginning. It is so beautiful to hear young people singing praise the Lord in another language. We know the songs in English but for some reason hearing them in Latvian, we forget the English words.  Anyway, since PW was still feeling under the weather, we prayed again for healing and then Lauma, our translator took me to the pharmacy down the road.  This was a new experience for me.  In America as you know you buy the whole box of pills, not here, the pharmacists asks your symptoms and then picks a box and pulls out the number of pills they think you  might need and then they put the box back on the shelf and tells you what the recommended dose is from the back of the box.  So for about $4 we purchased 25 pills.  But I can already see the difference in PW so PTL he is hopefully on the mend.

Our  first class started at 2 and we taught until 5.  PW did a great job laying foundation for the week.  There was a very lively discussion on whether men are born basically good or basically bad.  We love when the students interact and engage like this.  A lot of good teaching comes out of these times.  After class they were thanking him for the teachings.   We already love these students and are looking forward to a week of interaction with them.

Thanks so much for all the prayer coverage. We are feeling the results.

Here are some new pictures for you to enjoy.  Much love, PW and Sherry

 This is supposed to be a video but if you cannot make it work you can see by my face that I was having a really bad hair day today and should have worn the wig.. LOL

 The view out of our little apt. window. The sky was so blue today and the temp around 48.  

 These are some of our students getting settled as class began. A formal picture will come later. 

 Two the girls enjoying down time. 

Playing peek a boo?  

Prayer need

Ok all you prayer warriors, please hit the knees.

PW is coming down with a sinus infection.  Eyes running, nose running, headache, sore throat.  We have no sinus pills or any medicine that would help and they do not sell over the counter here in Latvia.  We believe God can and will heal though so we ask you to stand in faith with us.

We start teaching on Monday and Pw does the first half of the course so it is vital he is able to teach.

Much love,
Sherry

Here are today's pictures:

 This is the lovely dining room at the hotel where he eat breakfast each morning. It feels like being in someone's home.

 Contentment, sitting in a cozy chair in front of a huge picture window.  

 Love this building it is sandwiched in between some modern structures. Notice the bright red door.

 In spite of being sick PW took a walk around the neighborhood with me.. Love this man.

 Spring is everywhere.

 I had taken the glove off to take pictures and had stuck it in my mouth. PW could not resist.

This is a tree lawn. Cool huh?

Riga and jet lag

We have arrived safely at our hotel in  Riga at 1 a.m. Thurs. morning and have major jet lag this time so have slept a lot.  But not so much that we have not gotten out and walked yesterday and today.  We are feeling a bit more alive as the day goes on which is good since we have taken 3 days vacation to rest up before our ministry begins on Monday.  Here are some pictures of our day yesterday and today.

 The architecture is lovely and we just can't help making pictures of the buildings.

 It was cold today but the view is gorgeous in our neighborhood.

 Love these old doors

Pizza shop - the sign says for lovers, losers and champions. 

 Did I say PW loves pizza?  This was his dinner last night.

It is smaller than it looks thankfully. 

 This was my dinner last night.  A grilled chicken breast with melted cheese and almonds over green beans in a butter sauce. Yummy. I love the presentation of the foods here.

 Dessert after pizza - ice cream of course

 My dessert was a little flan with blueberries and raspberry sauce.  It was not sweet so I did not feel too guilty eating it. 

 The parks are full of statues of famous people from centuries ago.

 It was a bad hair day what can I say.  Wig to the rescue. LOL

 Love the Church spire through the trees.

Did I say I loved poppy seed?  This is to die for, poppy seed stuffed Blinchkies with sauce. Oh my. 

Got back to the hotel and walked up and down 7 flights of stairs to work this off. 

We covet your prayers as we take these next 2 days to rest and prepare for next week. Please begin to pray for the students hearts. We don't want to just impart knowledge but life to them.

Much love, 

PW and Sherry