 
What an incredible joy we experienced during our mission week in Gipka! On June 25, 2004, a team of eleven members traveled from First Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas to Gipka, Latvia to provide construction services and Vacation Bible School at Gipka Baptist Church. The team represented individuals of diverse backgrounds, but shared one common goal. That goal was to assist our friends in Latvia with construction efforts and to teach the children about God's love and how he gave us his son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation.
Chuck Morrow, Ron Watson, Ty McDonald, J.R. and Joycelyn Torres provided the construction work. The Construction Team accomplished many things in five days. A beautiful new wood floor was built in the church sanctuary in addition to the installation of a very needed and welcomed indoor toilet. The church piano was also fully re-furbished by Joe Tom McDonald.
Forty six children from the ages of 3-15 attended the five day VBS School where each day a Bible lesson was taught with reinforcements, Christian songs were learned during the Praise and Worship time and a variety of crafts were made by the children to take home. The Bible lessons started with God's six days of creation, then moved to Christ's birth and his teachings, God's gift of prayer, and finally concluded with Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. A Bible memory verse was also memorized each day. Shirley Watson taught the Bible story and was assisted with reinforcements by Marilyn Hanson. Renee McDonald was the overall coordinator for the week long VBS program.
Rachel and Joe Tom McDonald led the music program while Mandi Hughes oversaw the daily craft sessions. The children enjoyed learning a variety of new songs with active expressions in addition to making creative items such as Indian headbands, prayer journals, beaded friendship pins, prayer necklaces and picture frames for their individual photographs. Each day they left with gifts including red Texas bandanas, Frisbees and a Latvian Bible for each. An Easter Egg Hunt was part of the fun activities used to reinforce the daily Bible verses.
Each morning, 7-10 children would walk to our motel in Roja to carpool with the Mission Team to the church in Gipka. Others camped in tents onsite at the church to ensure their attendance at each day's class. The VBS leaders were always greeted by an exuberant group of students eagerly awaiting our arrival at the church. Routinely, the children were holding hand-picked flowers to welcome the mission team or sometimes waving the Latvia flag, but always excited to open the doors to our two vans.
A "Texas Tradition" snack was introduced every day at refreshment time. The children enjoyed learning first hand about Texas Trail Mix, fruit roll-ups, pop rocks, beef jerky and S'mores. At week's end, the children joyfully participated in breaking a Mexican pińˇ´ˇ in the shape of a Texas boot, full of candy for all to enjoy.
On our first Sunday, we had the opportunity to attend the ordination ceremony for Pastor Gints Pallo's brother, Uges Pallo in Tukums. A large family celebration was held afterwards.
On Tuesday afternoon, a Women's Tea was held in honor of the women in and around the community. On that day Margie Sinquefield, Candy Smith and Tommy Weathersbee, our mission team leaders in Riga, also joined with us to participate in the VBS activities at Gipka. During the tea, each woman shared a brief introduction with the group via the assistance of an interpreter. Felt materials were given to Skaidrite Galmane, leader of the Sisterhood, with an encouragement to establish a puppet ministry for the community. (We learned that felt is not easily available in Latvia and they were very appreciative of this gesture.) Gift bags were given to all who were in attendance. Hot tea and refreshments were also served.
Most evenings we had the pleasure of visiting a nearby sister church for singing, prayer, testimonials and fellowship. These services were rich in spirit and strongly bonded our mission team with this community.
On Thursday afternoon, we had the opportunity to personally meet the Mayor of Roja, and tour the local museum. We were honored to have Ainars Bastics, the Minister of Children's Ministry for Latvia to personally visit the VBS School on Friday to observe the work being accomplished with the children. He was accompanied by Almers Ludviks, Executive Director of Partners Foundation, an affiliate of BBI.
On Friday night, Pastor Pallo's father, Janis Pallo, hosted a service at his church in Mersrags. We were privileged to hear his rich tenor voice as he performed a couple of beautiful songs, including "Jerusalem". Afterwards, the group joined hands in gratitude and prayer on the rocky shores of the Baltic Sea near sunset.
On Saturday, we concluded the week by hosting a celebration service. The Riga mission team and participants, totaling close to 200 people, joined us in the celebration. An orchestra from the Roja School of Music performed a variety of songs throughout the celebration. An outdoor shelter had been jointly built by church volunteers and the Construction Team earlier in the week and was put to good use for the event. Pastor Pallo expressed his deep appreciation for the work done at Gipka by the Richardson Mission Team. He read Ezekiel 36: 26-27 and expressed his feelings of having a "new heart" from the combined experiences of this week. Several others gave testimonials regarding their experiences this week in Gipka.
We ended the celebration by taking a group walk from the Gipka church to the shores of the Baltic Sea. Everyone enjoyed dipping their toes in the frigid waters, taking photos and walking along the beach.
A very emotional good-bye was shared by all at the conclusion of the celebration. Newly formed friendships were the results of all the laughter, smiles and hugs that were the priority of the week. In anticipation of the mission trip, we prepared for many possible barriers to our success. However, due to the warmth of our Latvian friends, we were made to feel at home very quickly and felt that the perceived obstacles did not exist.
Our mission week was enhanced and made successful by several factors. Many individuals acted as volunteer workers in several capacities. Pastor Pallo, and his wife, Airisa, were the best of hosts to our mission team during this very busy week. Olegs Jermolajevs and Pastor Pallo were also our van drivers back and forth from the motel in Roja to all our various daily activities. Pastor Pallo's mother, Zigrida, led a team of women in the kitchen and provided delicious meals at noon each day for the VBS students, workers and construction team.
A team of four interpreters did an awesome job of providing translation for our daily activities, including the Bible lesson, crafts and devotionals. Our interpreters included Olegs and Iveta Jermolajevs, Ilze Lasenberga and Tabita Runce. We are deeply indebted to these individuals for their valuable assistance with our communications throughout the entire week.
We were truly touched by the genuineness and sincerity of the Latvian people. Our mission group frequently commented that we had truly experienced "a little taste of Heaven" this week in Gipka. As a result, we, too, left Latvia with new hearts!
07/12/2004
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