Our introduction to Latvia was memorable.. but not for the right reasons. The weather was miserable, so our first impression of the country was that of a grey, poor country and certainly the outskirts of Riga don't inspire much enthusiasm. The roads were brutal, and looking out the window to see the bus teetering across a temporary bridge under construction wasn't the best for the confidence! We stayed in a great hostel ("Friendly Fun Franks" no less, where you get a free beer on arrival) where we met up with the same English girls from Tallinn, and a couple more (Emily [View Full Entry]

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Hi to all, This is the first post of Jane's Jaunts. Who is Jane? I hear you ask. Well She's the most beautiful georgous woman in the known universe. This blog is something she's been meaning to write for some time now to journalise (if that's a real word) her travels around the world. Unfortunately being so god damn georgous is a full time job, so she got me to do it. Who is me? Well I'm 'Mick' Her trusty and devoted man servant. In some ways you could say I am to Jane what Sherpa Tennsin was to Edmond Hillary. [View Full Entry]

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Latvia - Riga (13 Feb - 15 Feb 2006) “Where the hell is Riga?” That was the first thing Jodie said to me when I suggested we jet off to the Latvian capital for a two day city break. “And why on earth would I want to go there?” was the second. I was prepared for both questions. “Riga is the capital of Latvia. It’s near Russia, and I’ve looked—” “Russia!” said Jodie, clearly incredulous. “You want me to go to Russia in February! No way. Not a chance. I’m not going to bloody Russia.&rdq [View Full Entry]

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We had our first experience with mockers. A group of boys were, sitting in the front row at our last concert whistling at the girls dancing and then making comments and laughing during the preaching. A couple of concerts back we had to deal with children running all over the place. Despite the distraction many youths came up for the alter call. I’ve spoken to 4 different girls who were really inspired by our work and want to work for God in the same manner. They are looking into Jesus Revolution. I really enjoyed being able to just encourage them and [View Full Entry]

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For the past three nights we have been able to stay in one place. Kaspars B's mom has opened up her house to us as a kind of base until we leave Latvia for Lithuanian next Thursday. It is pretty close for us to drive from here to each of our concert locations. Since I last wrote we have had concerts in Malpils (the city we are sleeping in), Lielvarde, and Riga. Today we are traveling to Rezekne for our last concert of the week and then we will have three days off before going to Lithuania. Last night we were [View Full Entry]

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As I updated the previous entries I am sitting in the same café I went to last night with Talitha. Our school visit was cancelled because their schedules are too packed due to school closings the past few days (because it was too cold for them!) so we have off until 1 pm. Since we are free I started the day off with a long PT and some good cheap coffee. I feels so privileged to be here living, truly living a wonderful great adventure. It may not always be easy but I can boldly keep going, knowing God is directing [View Full Entry]

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yes it's minus thirty here in Latvia [View Full Entry]

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After a quick breakfast of porridge and homemade strawberry jam, we all pilled into the vans to return to Latvia. We got to the location of our next concert without any mishaps. It was just a travel day so once we go there we had the day off until a youth meeting at night. Talitha and I went to a café where we each had a cup of hot chocolate and a slice of cake for approximately $4. Then we looked around the cute snow covered town. At the youth meeting (their youth leader is a formed JR Soldier) a few [View Full Entry]

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We spent the night 10 miles from the Russian border so many people speak both Latvian and Russian. We had our first concert in a village of about 2000 people in their community center. I don’t know why but it wasn’t at all like what I expected. It felt like something was missing. Even though there were only 30 people in the audient I don’t think that was the reason. I think for me personally it was my worst performance ever. Thankfully this is not about me but God. I definitely want to do better from now on but I am [View Full Entry]

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After a wonderfullly restful and -- perhaps more importantly -- warm, rest, I woke up ready to take on day two of my trip to this fascinating country. (That is such a cheesy way to start a blog update, but, I mean, how *do* you start a blog update? I struggle with that almost every time I start one of these! Weird eh?) Anywho. My first stop today was Rigas Central Market. You would think that the central market would be in the center, but, as with many European towns, the name has survived passed its accuracy (like in Prague where [View Full Entry]

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