Liepaja Day Center
We started working (who am I kidding… this is not work!) in the day center on Monday. The past two days have been great! The day center doesn’t start until 3, but, on Monday, they had a staff meeting at 2, so we went early with Zanda. Most of the day center staff is from the Baptist church: the pastor’s mother prepares meals, another sweet lady leads the kids in worship and prayer time, and several women help oversee games, Bible study and craft time. The meeting yesterday was a little somber since, right now, it looks like they aren’t going to have funding for next year. I guess a lot of people are cutting back on their giving because of the economic crisis, so Buckner doesn’t have the budget to support the day center for next year. School doesn’t start back up until September, so they are praying (as am I) that funding will come in so they can continue.
The day center officially starts at three, but the kids start coming earlier than that. For the first hour or so, we play outside with the kids… I like playing with the little kids the best (probably because I’m not athletic enough to play with the big kids!). Several of the older children speak some English, so we could communicate enough to understand the games. But really, speaking isn’t necessary… I think hugs and smiles communicate a lot more. At four o’clock, one of the women gathers everyone together and leads the children in a prayer. I need to get a picture of this lady! She has such a sweet presence and gracious manner—she really is a joy to be around. The kids take turns praying before everyone goes inside to wash their hands and eat lunch.
The meal starts with soup and then the kids take their emptied bowls back be refilled with the main course—yesterday, it was beef stroganoff and, today, potatoes and chicken patties with gravy. And don’t forget dessert! Today we had these little candies that are quite popular here: it’s basically fluffy, flavored cream cheese covered in chocolate… yum! For a lot of the children, this is the only hot meal they get. Zanda told us that on Mondays they are especially hungry because they might not get much food at home over the weekend. After everyone has their fill, “the sweet lady” (I need to find out her name!) leads all the kids in song time. They are so precious! They have motions made up for a lot of the songs, so there’s always at least 5 girls up at the front singing with all the dances and hand movements.After that, the children split up into three groups and have Bible lessons, then craft time.
Today, the group I sat with had a lesson about the Good Samaritan. Not that I could understand what was being said, but a picture is worth a thousand words (whether they be Russian, Latvian or English!). I was thinking how today, the “good Samaritan” would be like a Latvian finding a Russian, beaten and robbed, and, instead of leaving him (considering all that Latvians have suffered under Russian/Soviet control), picking him up out of the gutter and offering help and healing. We were talking about our dreams and where we see ourselves in five years at dinner tonight, and Zanda told us that one of her dreams is to build a children’s outreach program. This program would disciple and train young Latvians to witness to other children and, in particular, lead them on mission trips to Russia. Since they already speak Russian and have similar histories with wars and Communism, she thought it would be a great way to reach Russian children with the gospel and foster reconciliation between the people.
A few prayer requests:
…Kristina and Katarina (14 year old twins) are being beaten by their mother. They told Zanda about it yesterday and stayed at her apartment last night, but are back home tonight. Tomorrow, Zanda is going to Latvia’s version of CPS to file a complaint. Especially pray for their protection tonight!
…Funding for the day center. I’ve been here for two days and can see what a huge impact this center has on the kids. It’s changing their lives and offering them hope as they encounter God’s love for them.
…All of the children. Zanda has told us several of their stories and it’s hard for me to understand how they can be so happy when they’ve gone through so much hardship. Some of the kids with the most heartbreaking pasts have such strong faces, so it makes me think that there must be many others who are going through bad stuff right now and just not letting it show.
