letter from Latvia
My Spring trip to Latvia coincided with the Ice Hockey World Championships. Ice Hockey is a big deal in Latvia, so we readjusted our lunch break in our School of Preachers seminar to fit in watching the first quarter of Latvia’s semi-final against Canada.
We saw Latvia score once, but after that they suffered a heavy defeat. The next day sadness turned to joy when tiny Latvia beat the mighty USA in the bronze medal play-offs. The Latvian Parliament met in special session on that Sunday evening and agreed, a few minutes before midnight, to declare the following day a bank holiday! The next morning tens of thousands of people gathered around the Freedom Monument in the centre of Riga to greet the national team. The last time I witnessed crowds like that in Riga was when President Bill Clinton visited in June 1994. When he said ‘Brivibas’ (Freedom) there was a huge cheer, and another when he said: ‘Never again will hostile foreign troops occupy Baltic soil’!
'Many evangelistic opportunities'
One of the ways that freedom has become a feature in Latvian society is the opening of its borders to international students from the four corners of the earth. This has brought many evangelistic opportunities. It was a great joy to be invited to an open-air baptism service by Andis Miezitis, the pastor of Grace Church in Riga. It was encouraging to stand on the riverbank and witness the clear and joyful testimony of a mature student from Afghanistan, who had recently come to faith.
I also met Liene Alpēn, born in a non-Christian family in rural Latvia. Some Bible lessons at school made her want to be part of a Christian community. At university in Riga she encountered the local Agape student’s group, who talked to her about how to know and follow Jesus. After her studies, Liene got married and started to serve the church in a small village in Latvia, evangelising through hospitality. When the time came to leave, they prayed about what to do next. In the same week they discovered that the Agape LV team had prayed for a new staff worker for writing and communication. Both sets of prayers were answered. Liene’s role is to be a bridge between Agape and people looking for resources that can help them grow in their faith.
