Carelinks | Latvia

We continue feeding the ecclesia and friends here and there have been a string of baptisms. One very moving event was the baptism of Alexei, he is the son of Brother Vladimir, a former Red Army officer baptized by Brother Maxim earlier. Vladimir and Alexei had not met since Alexei’s babyhood, 37 years ago. They met by an amazing Divine coincidence, and Vladimir immediately shared the truth with his son. It was a wonderful moment when Alexei was baptized after Bible class. We studied John 19, the crucifixion, and Vladimir read it with emotion and tears such as we have never heard the account read.

Afterwards, we had the baptism and Vladimir wrote in the NEV Bible which we traditionally present to all newly baptized, pictured right. It was a wonderful message, rejoicing with his son and saying that his baptism makes him now more than a son, and that they now have the hope of eternity together, and holding fast to our calling is the greatest thing. We just marvel at how the Lord is working amongst people, making connections and reconnections, and giving abundant blessing to those who humble themselves to come to Him in spirit and truth.

Cindy, Ieva, Evia and little David then went off on a mission trip to Eastern Latvia where again the Lord’s saving and ever supporting hand was evident. Sister Cindy reports as follows:

“We are using a very small car here in Latvia and travelling long distances wouldn’t work well with a fully packed car so I went off with Ieva, Evia and David with some trepidation, leaving Duncan and Daniel in Riga running things.

First stop was sister Valya who was baptized 16 years ago. Really encouraging to see someone so full of the truth, reading her Bible daily and really thrilled to be visited. She is about 3 hours from Riga. We had such a great time with her, reading and breaking bread together, that we were delayed leaving. Our next stop was to visit and baptize Santa, who is really ‘in the middle of nowhere’ right on the Russian border. It’s wonderful how the gospel message can reach such remote locations. I had booked a hotel from the internet and drove to where Google maps said it was, only to find an old farm house down a dirt track. I called the hotelier who then explained how to find his actual location. He met us on the main road so we could follow him - I had no clue where I was going, just following his tail lights in the darkness, farther and farther from the road. We got to his place, a half derelict building. He had clearly run out of resources for finishing his ‘hotel’.

With a couple of dogs barking around us, he let us in, there were of course no other guests. Thankfully the room itself was finished, and we managed to find clean linen in the adjacent room. Ieva and I prayed for safety. I was so glad I had her with me! We all slept together in one room, there was no lock on our door. He slept in another part of the building. All was OK, and morning broke revealing a lovely lake outside, and also how totally isolated this place was.

From there we set off to try to find Santa, who lives in a similarly isolated farmstead. My experience of getting lost in that area the night before now paid off, because Santa lived just the next bus stop along from where we had been. Santa lives with her elderly grandmother, effectively as a subsistence farmer, in a farmstead far from anywhere much. She had contact with our Latvian sister Ilva, who helped her practically and introduced the Gospel to her when she was in the UK. She accepted the Gospel with a thankful and appreciative heart, but wasn't baptized. She returned to Latvia penniless and made her way back to her old grandmothers place, far in the middle of nowhere. Eastern Latvia is now largely depopulated with most younger people working in Riga or in Western Europe. There are virtually no job prospects in such remote locations.

She is really absolutely sincere. I baptized her in a lake and broke bread with her, gave her some money, and some nappies for her toddler. She is far from anywhere and with no money, let alone a car, transport is a real problem. She would like to move to a larger town and work, but finding childcare, a job and a suitable living arrangement is very hard. Please pray for this really sincere new sister. The house she lives in with her grandmother is not much more than a shack, with just a hole in the ground outside for a toilet, no running water, just a well. Living there through the Winter is going to be really difficult, especially since their potato harvest wasn’t very good this year.”

Cindy, Santa and Ieva, and Evia and David at the well, from which Santa has to get all water for her, her toddler and grandmother