Reed Review Online

We're In!

2010-02-04T17:38:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone!

Just a quick note to let you know that we are back in our "California House". We started referring to our house that way when we were explaining to Nate about where we "used" to live while we were in Latvia. The name just stuck. Our address again is: 7686 Alta Vista, Highland, CA 92346. Our home phone number remains: 951-837-4697. The rest of our contact information can be found in the left column of the blog.

While most of our belongings are in, we still have some things in Phoenix and Latvia, it will take us a little while to get re-settled. Please pray for us as we continue to work through our reintegration into Stateside life,get settled back into our home,and that God would reveal His plan for Paul's job situation.

Thanks for you love prayers and encouragement!

9:19

2010-01-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

Had a great day at the start of a new Bible Fellowship group for Young Adults 23+ called 9:19 at Immanuel Baptist Church. It feels great to be back teaching again on a regular basis. I also had a good time jetting over to the Branch Church for their first "official" Sunday as an independent church. It has been a good day.

In 9:19 we began a study of Philippians by looking at the account of the start of the church in Philippi from the Book of Acts. I am excited about digging in and drinking deeply from the well spring of God's Word!

Hope you had a great Sunday, the first of many great Sundays in 2010!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Sunny Southern California,

That’s right; we are still in Southern California. To make a long story short, after much discussion, prayer and consultation, the decision has been made that we will not be returning to the international field. The primary concern expressed by Paul’s doctors is related to the cumulative effect on Paul’s back of both weather and travel in the area where we were serving. At this point, Paul is doing well. On October 29th Paul had a “nerve ablation” procedure. In essence, a pain management specialist inserted a small electrode in three spots in Paul’s back and used high frequency radio waves to “burn” nerve endings in these areas. While he is still not “pain free”, this procedure has resulted in a tremendous amount of relief. Paul is now much more active and energetic. He can even give Nate piggy-back rides!

This has led us to another rather big decision to move back into our home in Highland, California. The family that has been renting the house has chosen to find another house and will be vacating at the end of January. Our current address is: 626 North Dearborn, Spc 103, Redlands, CA 92374. As of February 1st we will be receiving mail at our Highland address: 7686 Alta Vista, Highland, CA 92346. We are planning to take a week or two to clean, prepare and move into the house. We should be completely back in the house by February 13th.

So much has happened in the last few months it would take a lengthy letter to communicate it all. As this is a Christmas letter, and we understand that you all will be receiving lots cards and letters this season, let us simply say that God has been faithful in every way - from providing a safe and comfortable place to stay, to cars for us to drive, to a scholarship for Nate at preschool, to lots of toys for Nate to play with while we were waiting to retrieve our household goods from storage. In addition, Kathy was rehired at Prime Line Products in the position she was working before we left for Latvia. Not only was she rehired but they offered her the same telecommuting terms which means she will do much of her work from home and has flexibility in her schedule. We have always felt that this was important for Nate.

While we are praising God for His marvelous provision there are still needs we will have moving forward. The most critical is a job for Paul. He is actively seeking a job and has several applications out. There are also many friends “keeping an eye out” and forwarding his resume as the opportunity arises. Another major issue we will need to deal with is vehicles. Amazingly, God has already provided one car (and a very nice car at that) through the generosity of a friend but with us both needing to work we will need another vehicle as well. This also means that we will need to secure insurance for both the vehicles and for our house.

We so much appreciate all the love, encouragement and support we have received since our return to the States. We are looking forward to what God has for us in this latest season of our lives. We also look forward to seeing and spending time with friends and family. We covet your prayers as we re-integrate into life in the USA.

May God bless you with a wonderful Christmas and a terrific New Year!

Love,

Paul, Kathy & Nate

Living in the USA

2009-05-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Our time in the USA has been interesting to say the least. God has provided for all of our needs and we continue to praise Him. My recovery has not gone as well or as quickly as I would like. I continue to have physical therapy twice a week with an exercise regimen I do twice a day at home. We just heard today that our medical leave has been extended at least until August 8th. This is to facilitate diagnostic and treatment options.

Even in the midst of the struggle midst of the struggle God is faithful. There is a Casting Crowns song, "Praise You In This Storm", on Christian radio that has really ministered to me lately. The lyrics of the chorus are;

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm.

That's what I am doing and that's what I believe. No matter what I will remain faithful to my Lord. There is amazing comfort in knowing that "all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose." Both those conditions apply to me.

I hope that this finds all is well with you and yours. Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you.

Still seeking to serve,

Paul

Family

2009-04-15T20:28:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!

It has been awhile since I posted. Here is a snapshot of what has been happening. We left Latvia intending to return to the States for a few weeks to participate in our niece's wedding. While here I went to see the doctor who was my family doctor before leaving California. He has some concerns about my level of pain and continuing back difficulties. He advised me to stay here for a few months, get some physical therapy and perhaps some further diagnostics for my back. The IMB agreed and so we are settled in temporary housing in Redlands, CA for the time being. I will see my doctor again Monday and I am waiting to hear from the physical therapist to begin PT.

What I really wanted to talk about today is "family". We have had the joy of spending time with our earthly families since we have been home. Kathy's sister and brother-in-law have been wonderful. They were extremely gracious as we stayed in their home for three weeks. They have loved us, cared for us and encouraged us. Nate also had the opportunity to get to know and play with his cousin Landyn.

We also had the chance to see my family. It was great to catch up. Even though we had not seen each other in over a year we still felt comfortable and loved around them.

The Bible talks about us being "members of one Body". Today I am thinking of this as being part of a big "extended family". We have been amazed at how much God has used our extended spiritual family to meet our needs. No matter where we have been, whether in Africa, in the USA, in Latvia, or anywhere else in the world, God has worked through our Christian family to meet our needs.

When we were preparing to move to Latvia our church family walked alongside us to help us get everything done that needed to be done. When we arrived in Latvia our Latvian brothers and sisters in Christ immediately reached out to us and secured an apartment for us. Our Latvian family continued to make sure that we had everything we needed from internet to transportation to accompanying us to the immigration office.

Now we have returned to the States to try to get my back issues dealt with. Through our extended spiritual family He has provided housing, transportation, household goods among other things. In addition, we have enjoyed the reconnecting with this spiritual family. I cannot tell you how many times we have heard (sincerely expressed) the words, "If you need anything, please call."

I am always humbled by God's grace to me, that "while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me." However, more and more I find myself amazed not simply by what Christ saved me from but what He saved me to. We are truly blessed to be His children and to share His love in our great big extended family!

P.s. - Please take note of our new contact information. I will try to keep this information as up to date as possible during this time of transition.

The Latest

2009-03-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I know it has been awhile since I posted. We have been in midst of transition and have been waiting until we got a little settled before I updated everyone. Here is what has been happening:

As you all know I have been dealing with serious back issues since last June which included major back surgery in August. On of the complications of my back issues and surgery was "facet joint inflammation" which the surgeon attributed primarily to climate. This led to the surgeon's strong recommendation that we relocate.

After a couple of months of discussion the decision was made for us to relocate to Macedonia. In a future post I will go into more detail regarding the position in Macedonia. During this time we were planning to return to the States to participate in the wedding of Kathy's niece. Because we were going to the States it was decided that we should go ahead and transition directly from the States to the new assignment. This part of the decision was communicated to us just 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave for Phoenix. We suddenly went from packing for a vacation to packing for a move. Our belongings in Latvia (most of our personal goods have remained in storage in the USA pending a permanent address, but that's another story) are now in storage in Riga and a friend will arrange shipping for us when the time comes.

We traveled to the States and had the opportunity to spend a few days in Southern California before the wedding in Phoenix. While is Highland, CA, I took the opportunity to visit my previous family doctor to get his opinion and some anti-inflammatory medication. My doctor was very concerned about my level of pain this far post operative. While he thinks much of my pain may still be related to climate he recommended that we remain in the States for three months to have physical therapy, remain on the anti-inflammatory medication and see in the climate does allow for significant improvement in my condition. If there is not significant improvement then he would want to do further diagnostics and perhaps refer me to another ortho/spine specialist. We sent these recommendations on to our medical department and heard on Friday that they agree with the recommendations.

The bottom line of this that we are going to be staying in the Highland/Redlands area for the time being. When we have further contact information I will post it. Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's clear direction and timing in our lives. We are thankful for an agency that puts such a high priority on our health and well being. We also hope to have opportunity to see many of you during this unexpected extension of our time in the States.

Simple Lessons

2009-02-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

We had been in Prague, Czech Republic, for five days at a special conference with colleagues, all of us having been on the field for around a year. Most of the people attending this conference had also been in orientation with us so it was a wonderful time of catching up and fellowship. Now it was time to return to Riga.

We were told that a shuttle van would be there to take us to the airport at 9:00. We were also told that it would be best if we were "at the curb" at that time for our pick up. There were four of our colleagues who were to take the same shuttle. Nate was anxious so we went out to the "curb" early while our friends waited in the hotel lobby for the shuttle to arrive.

We had only been standing there for a few minutes when one of our friends came out to tell us that there had been some sort of mix up and the shuttle would not be coming. I asked how would we get to the airport, and our friend said, "I don't know. The lady at the office just said the shuttle wasn't coming and she would work on how to get us to the airport."

As we went into the lobby God prompted me that this was a good teachable moment for Nate. We tell Nate all the time that we can stop and pray for anything. So when we were inside and Nate had gone to sit with his two "aunts" (our colleagues here are referred to as aunt and uncle to make it a little easier for the kids) I explained to Nate that the shuttle wasn't coming. I asked him what we should do. Nate said, "I don't know, what?" I replied, "I think you should pray to God and ask Him to send us a taxi or van to take us to the airport." Immediately, Nate folded his hands, bowed his head and said, "Dear God, could you please send us a taxi to take us to the airport. Amen." I thought, "This is good because whenever our ride to the airport comes we can thank God and Nate would see God answer his prayers."

Moments later I had one of those "Oh ye of little faith" moments. Within five minutes of Nate's prayer a taxi driver walked into the lobby, over to our group and said,"Pol Rid?" I looked somewhat in amazement and said, "Paul Reed?" "Yes", said the driver. "I take you to the airport." I looked over to my precious little son and said, "Nate, God sent us a taxi. What should we do now?" Nate bowed his head and said, "Thank you God for sending a taxi for us. Amen" Once again I was amazed and humbled by my son's believing faith.

Lauris Zukulis

2009-02-03T02:47:00.000-08:00

In the southeastern part of Latvia there is a region called Latgale. This region has a long history of independence and was only incorporated into Latvia proper by a treaty in 1920. Some would say that Latgalian in a dialect of Latvian. Others would say that because Latgalian has its’ own standardized written form that it is a separate and distinct language. The Latgale region has a large ethnically Russian population especially in the city of Daugavpils, but most Latgalians would consider themselves to separate from this group as well. The region is strongly Catholic by confession and fiercely independent.

For many years, in fact, for generations both Latvian and Russian speaking Latvian Baptists have attempted to start evangelical Baptist churches in this region. None of these efforts have succeeded. The consensus of opinion has been that this is primarily due to the fact that all of these efforts have been attempted by non-Latgalians. In addition, none of these efforts have been attempted in the Latgalian language. This lack of church planting success in an area of such need has led to a long and passionate prayer effort. Now, in the 2009 class of BPI students, we believe God has begun to answer these prayers.

Lauris Zukulis is one of our 2009 students. He has come to faith out of a Catholic background. He is a gifted artist and is passionate about sharing the gospel. There are two other things that we are praising God for in bringing Lauris to study and prepare for ministry here at BPI. You see, Lauris is Latgalian and believes that God is calling him to start the first Baptist church in the Latgalian language!

Please pray with us as we train, equip and encourage Lauris to follow God’s call. Pray that Lauris would be strengthened in this pursuit and that God will provide the resources he needs to launch a church planting church in the Latgale Region!

The Easy Way and The Hard Way

2009-01-19T08:53:00.000-08:00

It is a cliche from Hollywood cop movies. A policeman is interrogating a suspect. The policeman leans forward and says; “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” We have experienced this when it comes to learning about and living in a new culture. We experienced doing things the “easy” way, by reading, watching and spending time with friends. We have also experienced that sometimes we learn the “hard” way.

Our hearts sank as we approached our parked car and saw yet ANOTHER ticket on the window. Just as in the three previous occurrences, we had no idea what we had done wrong. (Would you know, for example, that you cannot park across from a T-intersection??) Finding out is completely humbling – we show our ticket to a Latvian friend or colleague and ask him/her to explain what it says. Then we take the ticket to the post office, where we pay all of our bills, and smile politely as the clerk processes our payment. We can only imagine what is said after we leave!

We have some American friends who were publicly chastised for letting their children run on the grass in the park. Who knew that you were supposed to keep your children on the sidewalks, in a park, with wide expanses of inviting green grass? So, in an urban environment dominated by apartment buildings, where ARE children supposed to run and play if they can’t run on the grass in the park? We still wonder about things like this and are so grateful God provided an apartment outside of the city center so Nate can run in the woods behind our apartment building.

We had arranged to meet some friends for dinner on New Year’s Eve at a local complex with a huge restaurant and amusement center. We were surprised by the lack of traffic which enabled us to arrive a half hour early. As we walked around while waiting for our friends, we noticed the lights were being turned off. Everything was shutting down at 6 pm! We called our friends and they suggested we meet at a nearby McDonald’s. Two minutes later our friends phoned back and said that McDonald’s was also closing, so we should rendezvous back at their apartment. These folks have been here nearly 10 years and they had no idea that most establishments closed so early on New Year’s Eve.

It was Christmas Eve and we had intended to go to the only English Christmas Eve service in the city. Our hearts sank again as we approached our parked car, in our secure underground parking facility, and saw that the car had been vandalized. The front passenger window was gone and shattered glass was everywhere. Our plans immediately changed once we saw the car. How do you handle things like this here? What police bureau do you contact? In this culture everyone celebrates Christmas with their family on Christmas Eve, so how do you even find answers to these questions when you don’t want to intrude on someone’s holiday?

Yes, sometimes we learn about culture the hard way. Many times this happens through some violation – either by us or to us. In either case, it is a rough way to gain knowledge. However, God continues to demonstrate His grace in even these situations. This was evident on Christmas Eve when Paul went back down to the car to take photos and an inventory of what was stolen. An English-speaking neighbor, who happened to be down there at the same time, noticed him doing this. It turned out that her car had also been broken into. She had already contacted the police, officers had already been on-site, and had noted the damage to our vehicle. She provided the police station phone number and said the police were awaiting our call. Sure enough, when Paul called and got an English-speaking person, he heard, “Oh, you’re the owner of the Honda!” An English-speaking police officer came with the detective to lead us through the reporting process. With both the neighbor and the police officer Paul was able to demonstrate God’s grace and forgiveness as he focused on the blessings of the season.

These experiences remind us of our walk with Jesus Christ. We often have opportunity to learn and grow the easy way, through reading the Word and taking to heart the example of others. We also have the opportunity to learn the hard way. Sometimes this is due to our own ignorance or foolish choices. Sometimes this is due to actions and circumstances beyond our control. Whether easy or hard, we must strive to remember that in every circumstance, in every situation, God will “cause all things to work together for good, for those who love Him, for those called according to His purpose.” Not every situation or event will be good but we can confidently claim God’s sovereign grace in them all. This allows us to be joyful and thankful in, and in spite of, all that this life brings us.

Christmas in Latvia

2008-12-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

We’ve spent our first Christmas season in Latvia. It is interesting to see how different cultures celebrate the holidays. Here there are similar decorations: trees with ornaments and lights, wreaths, etc. However, many people decorate trees outside so they also still prominently sell wax candles and candle holders with which to light your trees. Most trees are much smaller because so many people live in apartments. Fresh trees are available generally the week before Christmas as many have a tradition of decorating their trees on Christmas Eve.

Here are some other Latvian traditions:

- Family gatherings are usually held on the day of Christmas Eve and gifts are
opened then.

- Christmas music is playing in all of the malls. We often heard English tracks,
including Bing Crosby’s rendition of White Christmas. We recognize many tunes even when the lyrics are Latvian. They also openly hand out liquor samples in grocery stores as you are shopping.

- Santa looks the same, but when he shows up at a party here in “the land that
sings” (as Latvia is called), each child must sing a song to receive a gift from
Santa. Nate sang Jingle Bells (wonderfully of course) in English when Santa was at his preschool party.

- Gingerbread houses and cookies in all shapes are the featured baked goods.

- You cannot find boxes of Christmas cards. Christmas cards or postcards are sold individually – a testament to the cultural norm of tight and small circles of friends.

- There are very few nativity sets or scenes or even Christmas books about the first Christmas.

At the Reed house on Christmas Day, we were able to share our meal with some colleagues from Russia who came to Riga while trying to resolve some visa issues. Although we didn’t know them prior to this, we were so glad they had Christmas with us instead of spending the whole day in a hotel room.

We had a beautiful white Christmas and Nate has thoroughly enjoyed his first experiences with sledding.

It’s been a different season for us, a less frenetic one because we haven’t had all of the Christmas production rehearsals and performances, parties, socials, and other festivities that usually filled our December calendar. However, the salient theme of Christmas remains the same regardless of our location: celebrating the birth of a Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord!

Living in Our Hearts

2008-12-10T00:33:00.000-08:00

Paul was gone the night of November 21, 2008. He was attending a retreat for prospective students interested in the Baltic Pastoral Institute. Nate and I were going through his normal bedtime routine: pick up toys, go potty, get into pajamas, brush teeth, read 2 books, read a Bible story and pray. However, this night Nate had a question right after we finished reading the Bible story. The conversation went like this:

Nate: “Mama, does Jesus live in Daddy’s heart?”
Mom: “Yes.”
Nate: “Does Jesus live in your heart?”
Mom: “Yes.”
Nate: “Does Jesus live in my heart?”
Mom: “Not yet.”
Nate: “I want Jesus to live in my heart, too.”
Mom: “Then you need to ask Him to come into your heart.”
Nate: “Mommy, can you ask for me?”
Mom: “No, honey. You need to ask Him to come into your own heart. First, you have to admit that you do things that are wrong, things that God doesn’t like. Then you ask Jesus to come in and change you.”
Nate: (immediately) “Thank You, God. (All of Nate's prayers start with Thank You, God.) I know I do things that make You sad. Please come into my heart and make me a good boy.”

Then he paused for a long moment, smiled, looked up at me and declared, “He came in.”

Now I don’t pretend to understand all of what was going in on the heart of our little boy. This was an unexpected exchange. Although talk about God and Jesus is a regular occurrence, we had not at all stressed any kind of personal decision Nate had to make. We’re not even sure where he got the phrase “live in your heart”. I’m grateful Jesus can read Nate’s heart and knows exactly what he is thinking and believing.

Jesus taught that you must receive the kingdom of God like a child (Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17). That child-like faith is precious. We’re not sure how much Nate understands but we believe that this is a significant spiritual event for Nate. It is obvious to us that God is at work in our young son’s life and that is a cause for rejoicing.

How would you answer Nate if he asked you, “Does Jesus live in your heart?” Becoming a follower of Christ is the most important and eternal decision a person can make. If you would like to know more about making this decision please contact us. We count it a joy and privilege to walk alongside those who choose to follow Christ.

Praising God for His love and grace,

Kathy (for Paul & Nate too)

A Busy Couple of Weeks

2008-12-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me in Latvia. One of our key leaders who does a lot of teaching for BPI was scheduled to teach four sessions at the end of November. Some things came up that caused him to remain in the States during that time so I was called on to teach during those four sessions. I taught two sessions of Understanding World View and two sessions on Understanding Other Faith Belief Systems. I enjoyed teaching and got good feedback from the students.

I also spent two days with perspective students for our next class at BPI. It was great to meet these men and get to know them a little bit. It appears our next class will be a little smaller but I believe that we have some great men coming in. It looks like we have at least three men who have expressed a call to church planting. Two of these have already identified places they believe God is calling them. Both of the towns they have talked about are high priority locations in the Baptist Union’s plan for church planting.

On December 1st I led a one day “Transition Retreat” for our current students. These students will complete their first year of BPI on December 18th. They will transition to full time ministry in January. I wanted to highlight some of the ministry that they will enter into. One of our students will immediately begin working on a new church plant. He has a vision to see 10,000 people hear the gospel in 5 years! Two other students have been called as pastors to “revitalization” work in churches that have a strong history but have declined significantly in that last few years. One of these students also plans to start a home group next summer in another part of Latvia. He hopes that a new church plant will be launched out of this home group in 2010. Another two students are beginning a ministry called “Another Option”. Their vision is to work in partnership with a local church to reach 14-18 year olds in the neighborhood. Another student plans to work through his position as a youth pastor to develop a region wide youth network aimed at reaching unchurched young people. Another student will be directing the Baptist Union’s Resource Center. This young man plans to work through the next several months to strengthen the existing Latvian churches by making church resources available. These are just some of the things that our students will be doing.

An area of prayer is that over the next six weeks or so I need to meet with each of these students. During the December 1st retreat they outlined a transition plan. In essence this is a strategic plan for the next 6-12 months. I will be working with them to develop these plans and begin to implement them. My desire is that God will make His plan clear to them and they will be encouraged to follow that direction. This first class of BPI will be the beginning of the work toward a church planting movement in Latvia. I hope to walk alongside them, especially during these first few months as they begin ministry.

On the home front all is well. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving meal with some colleagues. We are looking toward a good time at Nate’s 4th Birthday Party on Saturday. We have invited five kids that Nate has met to come over and join us. There was an exciting development in Nate’s spiritual life that I will ask Kathy to write a post about in the next few days. I return to Budapest for a follow up with my surgeon on the 18th. I still experience pain everyday which makes it difficult to function at times. We continue to work through what this means and what adjustments we need to make in life and ministry.

Hope all is well with you and that the holiday season has begun with a sense of God’s peace and presence.

Seeking to serve,

Paul

More Snow...

2008-11-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

Well... we have officially survived our first real winter storm in Latvia! For about 12 hours, Sunday afternoon to Monday morning, there was heavy blowing snow with near white out conditions. Here are a couple of shots of the door leading to our balcony.

The snow was very thick and there were a lot of drifts that were a few feet deep. When we got up looking out the window the roads looked pretty bad. However, Riga is a city that is used to winter and snow. The city recovered quickly and everything was running smoothly, if slowly, by mid-morning. My tram ride to BPI was a little longer than usual when a tanker truck tried to make turn onto a small road and got stuck straddling the tram track.

On an up note, I got some new Nike's. Just so you understand I am also attaching another picture. And for those friends who are in warmer climes I thought you might enjoy the line up of our new standard footwear.

One final note regarding our "little man" Nate. In celebration of Latvian Independence Day Nate's preschool had a concert. We were told that the required dress was "concert black apparel". After several attempts at understanding European sizes we finally found, I hope you will agree, just the right outfit. Here is a picture of Nate on the morning of the concert.

I hope this finds that all is well with you! Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!

Paul, Kathy & Nate

Snow, Snow, Snow

2008-11-19T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yes everyone - we have snow! Last night into this morning we had our first snow. When we woke up Nate was so excited to see the blanket of white on everything. All he wanted to do was go play in it. On the way to school he said (several times), "We've never had snow like this!" or "This is a really snowy day!" This afternoon after school he got his chance and had a good time playing in the snow in the woods.

We spent the weekend in Tallinn, Estonia. Some of the BPI students had met some leadership from Estonian churches at a conference in the Czech Republic. Those leaders arranged for all of our students to be invited and hosted for the Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Conference in Tallinn. The Estonian churches paid all of our conference fees, provided lodging for the students and covered the lunch meal that was not part of the conference. It was a great conference and they even took up a special offering to assist Latvian churches to have a Leadership Conference in Latvia.

I would ask you to pray especially for Latvia this week. Yesterday Latvia celebrated the 90th anniversary of becoming an independent nation. Apparently Old Riga and the surrounding area were packed with people. As the snow fell there was a huge fireworks show. I would ask you to pray that a wave of true freedom, freedom from sin and freedom of eternal life, would sweep through this nation. Only in Jesus Christ will the Latvians find peace and fulfillment.

Seeking to serve,

Paul, Kathy & Nate

Treats or Jokes

2008-11-05T02:05:00.001-08:00

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to write today about imported holidays here, one in particular. As we moved through October we noticed in Rimi, a sort of mini super Wal Mart store, where we do a lot of shopping, a few costumes, make-up and ceramic pumpkins. Of course we knew what this was about but not too many Latvians seemed to know, or for that matter be very interested.

On the night of the 31st we had just sat down to dinner went he doorbell began to ring frantically. I went to the door and was greeted by one of the children that I had seen around the complex dressed like a princess. She began to explain to me in Latvian why she was dressed that way. There were three other children in the hallway one of which was dressed like a bunny. Bunny was holding the one basket that they all seemed to be sharing. When I got that "I don't have the slightest idea what you are saying" look on my face, Bunny held up the basket and very seriously said, "Treats or jokes!" Then Princess said, "It's Halloween night!"

Fortunately Kathy had purchased a couple of packages of Skittles to do a project with Nate. I went to the cabinet, got the Skittles and when I went back to the door, dropped them into the basket. "Paldies!" Princess and Bunny said in unison. Since we are at the end of the hallway after my contribution they all ran toward the elevator.

As I returned to my dinner I wondered what I would see on the next imported holiday, "Valentine's Day"!

Hope the fall has been good as we celebrate the Lord's blessings.

Seeking to serve,

Paul, Kathy & Nate

Voting from Overseas

2008-10-31T00:59:00.000-07:00

When you live overseas you become very aware of your citizenship and the privileges that are bestowed with that citizenship. As a guest in this country, we have few, if any, “rights”. We can’t open a bank account or sign a contract for phone service, Internet, etc. To do those things you have to have a “personal code number”, which is issued only to citizens or to those granted permission to live here with residency visas. We just received our one-year residency visas yesterday and can just now, after six months, operate more freely. It is clear, however, that as non-citizens we can never fully participate in this society.

When confronted with these realities on a daily basis, the privileges associated with citizenship become even more valued. We have both always been diligent to vote. Living ten time zones away in a different culture only increased our determination to vote in the US elections. We made the arrangements to have our ballots mailed to us at our overseas address. When they had still not arrived by October 20th, we contacted the Registrar of Voters office and were able to receive the ballots via email! We faxed our ballots back today. (For obvious reasons, when you fax your ballots in you have to sign a waiver to a secret ballot.) The Registrar of Voters even sent an email confirming receipt of our ballots, stating everything looked in order and that our ballots were being forwarded for counting.

We are grateful for the technology that allows us to vote from overseas. We appreciate the service received from the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters office – they were great! But most of all, we are thankful to be citizens of a free country holding open elections. We hope you exercise your privilege to vote also.

This also reminds us that we are citizens of an even greater Kingdom. We should be just as determined to exercise our privileges of that citizenship. Prayer, ministry, service and sharing the gospel are all privileges that we should exercise each day as God gives us the opportunity. As we hope that you exercise your privilege as a citizen of the USA we also hope that you will, and encourage you to, exercise your privileges as a child of God.

Seeking to serve,

Paul, Kathy & Nate

Things you probably won't see...

2008-06-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Before I moved to Riga, Latvia, I spent most of my life in Southern California. Today as I went through the day I thought of several things that you probably won't see in So Cal in the middle of June. You probably won't see a forth straight day of heavy rain. You probably won't see an explosion of green, as plants rush to take advantage of the short summer. You probably won't see fog from your breath as you leave the mall after early evening shopping. You probably won't see Lays crinkle cut chips on sale, in Dill and Sour Cream flavour of course. You probably won't see a beautiful sunset or red, yellow and orange...at 10:30 p.m.!

As we continue to settle here in Riga we appreciate your prayers for our adjustments to all the big things and little things you probably won't see in Southern California.

Innocent Prayer

2008-06-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

The chairs around the dining table in our apartment have a very narrow base. Nate has a tendency to move around on his chair and sometimes the chair becomes unstable. The other night Nate's chair slid away from him and he fell hitting his cheek on the side of the glass dining table very hard. We immediately put "ice" (a bag of frozen peas which we called "the pea pillow") on his cheek. Even so we were sure that Nate would have a significant bruise on his cheek and perhaps a black eye.

Later that night I was putting Nate to bed. As he laid his head down on the pillow he sat up suddenly, held his cheek, and said, "What is that!?" I told him that his cheek was bruised and it would probably hurt for a while but it would heal. He looked at me and said, "God will heal it?" I said yes. He immediately looked up and said, "God could you please heal my cheek? Could you heal my cheek because I don't want it to hurt. Thank you God." Nate laid down on the not bruised side and fell asleep.

As I went to bed later I prayed that God would answer Nate's prayer and demonstrate His power. In the morning when we all got up Nate was his usual active self. When I got a chance to look at his cheek (trying not to be obvious) there was only the slightest bruise. I asked Nate if it hurt and he said, "Not very much." I told him that God had answered his prayer and his cheek was almost all healed in one night.

I wonder how long it has been since we have felt a need, immediately looked up, prayed and believed God would immediately work. To me that is the innocent prayer of a child, my son Nate.

Its' Broken!

2008-03-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

When Nate took an awkward fall coming off the slide a couple of weeks ago we knew something had happened because he cried hard for a long time. Nate usually cries a little bit and then gets over whatever was going on. When after a day and a half Nate was still complaining of pain we took him to the ER to get checked. They took an x-ray but did not see any fracture. However, the doctor told us that if symptoms persisted that we should follow up with a pediatric orthopedist.

Over the next few days Nate told us the pain was gone. Still, when he was walking and especially when he was running Nate would turn his injured left foot inward. I knew this was not a good sign. We called and got the first available appointment with a pediatric orthopedist which was last Thursday. A resident doctor examined Nate and then the orthopedist examined Nate. There was no pain but the orthopedist still wanted to do another set of x-rays. This new set of x-rays revealed that Nate had broken his first metatarsal. The fracture had already begun to heal but the doctor wanted Nate to be in a cast for three weeks. He should get the cast off April 1st. He has done well. However, the novelty had worn off by the end of the first night when he said, “I want to take this off.” It appears the "itching" has begun becuase Nate said this morning that "an ant" had gotten into his cast. We will be putting up a calendar so he can count off the days until it is removed.

Many of you know that our original plans called for our departure to Latvia on April 3rd. As of now we are officially on “Medical Hold”. After discussing this with the IMB Medical Department and the doctor’s office it looks like we should be able to leave on April 9th. We have asked that the orthopedist call the head of the Medical Department here tomorrow. We should have know as to whether or not we can receive preliminary clearance after that.

Please pray for quick complete healing of Nate’s foot. Also pray that we will be able to make an important meeting that has been scheduled in Riga April 12th through 14th.

As always, we are grateful for your prayer support!

Seeking to serve,

Paul

A Family Picture

2008-03-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

Hi again Everyone,

I hope you enjoy this family picture of us at the International Learning Center. It is a picture we plan to use for our Prayer Cards.

Seeking to serve, Paul