Home Rebuilding, Women's Shelter, November 2008
The Lord taught that through our unity in Christ, all the world could come to know Him. In the work of rebuilding a derelict building in Latvia, truly brothers and sisters from all over the world have come together in a project which has so many stamps of Divine blessing upon it. Over the last 2 weeks, we've been truly blessed to have an example of true unity in Christ, with various brethren and sisters taking time out from busy lives in England to come over and labour in the work. Brother Guy Kieser from Bracknell, Stuart White, Mark Leadbetter and Chris Swift from Maidenhead, and brothers Tim and Simon Dickinson from Chesterfield have been labouring long hours along with our very dear deaf brothers and sisters Vladimir, Maruta, Diana and Janis in order to try to get the home ready for final inspection by the building authorities. We still have a long way to go, and absolutely anyone who has any DIY ability is warmly welcome to come over and join in a future working bee. You don't have to be a master electrician like Guy, a bathroom specialist like Stuart, a superman builder like Mark... there are plenty of less specialized things to do.
The joy of the deaf family was wonderful to behold. We read Scripture, broke bread, worked, laughed and ate together, our bond in Christ a great help to overcoming all barriers of language, background and hearing / speaking disability. It was especially moving to watch the family discuss the Bible chapters together in their own form of sign language.
We're especially grateful to Maidenhead ecclesia for the gift of a keyboard- here's sister Liga playing it before the breaking of bread meeting:
We hope the following pictures reflect the spirit of hard work, fellowship and joy in Christ which there has been in that home for the past 2 weeks:
Here's Br Chris finishing off shelving to contain the Bible School bedding- much of it donated by brethren and sisters from Maidenhead ecclesia, and the shelves were made from material kindly sent over by bro Paul Jones in France.
Deaf Br Vladimir helping Br Mark unload wood; Tim and Simon at work; cleaning sewers
We're all geared up for the next Baltic Bible weekend this next weekend, God willing, to which we already have more people wishing to attend than we can accomodate. You can read first hand impressions from two of the workers as an appendix to this report, below.
This Sunday at the Riga ecclesia, we learnt of that one of our sisters living at the public women's shelter has been thrown out. The women are only allowed to stay there a certain number of nights in any given period. And some really have nowhere to go. They're not alcoholics or druggies, these are women whom the economic situation and lack of family support have driven into a position where they can't afford to rent anywhere, so they have nowhere to live. In a previous carelink we warned of the difficulties which would arise from a lowering of the minimum wage and deregulation of house rental prices in Eastern European states- and this is the fruit of it. One other sister recorded on her mobile phone the verbal abuse our sister suffered, and her being ejected from the shelter despite begging to stay. No video, just sound [in Russian]. You can view it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wxUP2TXkLw
Please do pray for our sisters and for us as we try to help them.
Here's a note from Sis Cindy:
"There are some sisters whom we're buying regular basic medications for- e.g. an anaemic sister with a poor diet who's breast feeding and needs good quality vitamin and iron tablets; an older sister with osteoporosis who needs calcium tablets. Whilst not expensive in themselves, buying regular stocks of these things all adds up. Would anyone be able to send some over, or the funds to buy them over here? It might be something which children of brothers and sisters might consider. Please email me at cindy@apollo.lv if you're able to help, thanks so much!".
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks
Having spent a weekend helping develop the facilities at the Latvian Bible School building, I feel it’s been a privilege to be involved in this aspect of the Lord’s work. It’s been humbling to meet those local people who have now become my brothers and sisters in the family of God and who have joined so many on the road to the Kingdom. I look forward to being able to return and contribute in other worthwhile ways and in the meantime will encourage others to pray for and support the work that Duncan and Cindy have commited themselves to.
With love in the Fellowship we have through Jesus,
Stuart White, Maidenhead, England.
Although it was a flying visit for just 2 days it has been a blessing to be part of a work group able to contribute to the preaching work being done in Latvia, and there is plenty of work to be done both practical and spiritual. We managed to install a new hot water cylinder, install some outside lighting and a few other jobs around the building but more importantly we got to meet and get to know some loving Latvian brothers and sisters. We pray for God's blessing on the work being done here and for Him to send workers to help with the great harvest in Latvia.
Guy Kieser, Bracknell, England