Our first few days

On our way over the Atlantic, Donna turned to me and said “Well, everything we have done over the past months has been to get ready to leave for Latvia. Now we are almost there, now what?” Getting on the airplane marked a very significant point in our journey. The support was raised, training was done, good-byes were said. For the past months, all of our energy was directed to preparation. That is done. We were prepared as well (or as poorly) as we were going to be. Our next step in the journey was actually to step onto Latvian soil.

Scott and Lisa Runzo made that next step very easy and comfortable. We were picked up at the airport and welcomed into their home for a delicious family meal. They had prepared our temporary housing with flowers and some supplies. We are warm and comfortable! We are staying in this vacant home of a previous missionary, vacant except for a bed, picnic table, and our suitcases. Pretty sweet, huh?

Then armed with a map and a full tank of diesel (good if you plan on getting lost), we headed out Friday and Saturday to make some exciting purchases. We are now the proud owners of a European coffee pot, toaster, Brita, and even an iron. This may seem mundane to you, but this is really big stuff for us! After all, can you imagine me without a coffee pot? And we did all this in an environment that is so, so different from anything we are accustomed to. We have gotten very bold with the question “do you speak English?”


Our big adventure today was to venture out without a car, using public transportation, into the city to buy groceries. It is always interesting to taste things and see if you purchased anything like you intended. All that seemed so easy and automatic at home takes so much brainpower now!

Yesterday (Sunday), we attended church with the Runzos and saw a few people that we had worked with on our summer trips. Afterwards, we headed out for a genuine Latvian experience celebrating the Autumn season at an open air museum. Beautiful, centuries old buildings, ethnic food, music and dance combined to give us a taste of old Latvia. The lady in the chicken hat was my personal favorite.

Today, we were in our first staff meeting, woohoo! We were welcomed in by all and enjoyed getting to know these people better. We mostly listened and are eager to figure out how we fit into the team. What we have learned, or rather had reinforced, was that our primary responsibility right now is to get settled, learn the language, and learn how to live in Latvia. We set out tomorrow to complete paperwork and procedures for our permanent residency (including a chest x-ray for tuberculosis) and see a few apartments. We will do all this on public transportation, so if we find an apartment, pray that we will be able to find it again. Our love to all of you!