For many people the moment when their relationships with Jesus started is very clear and set. I was thinking and exploring my life - looking for this special moment - and I could not find a trace of a "strike of a lightning". But then I remembered watching a TV program and hearing an invitation to repeat a special prayer that "would change your life forever", they said.
I did not know anything about Jesus, but I repeated those words and ... nothing really happened. No thunder and no miracles. I was kind of disappointed. Now I know what happened there, and now I see the Lord pulling and pulling me slowly towards him. This took place sometime in the nineties, and He is still pulling me closer and closer.
I was the most usual Soviet child growing up in the most usual Soviet family. I had loving parents and a sister six years younger than me. I spent my days in the beautiful small town of Talsi, playing with neighbor boys, riding bicycles to get the first green apples in strange gardens, and in the winter, being a goalkeeper when we played ice hockey in the yard.
My dad took me as a little assistant when he did repairs on the car, and that was a big joy to be around. This passion for technical things is still in me, and sometimes I feel strange to be so different from others in the female world. My parents were and still are engineers. So from childhood on I knew that I would go to school, then to high school and then to University - there was no other way. And I did.
In between, there were years of being a good Lenin child in the first years of school, then being a Pioneer and Comsomol. During communism, there were stages you could climb of ideological stairs starting from the first school years. Ideally you would end up becoming a party member of the communist party, the only party there was.
In the first year of the school you became a Lenin child or October child, and had a small pin to carry - a star with the picture of Lenin's childhood picture in the middle. Then, in about 5th grade you became the Pioneer, carried a red cloth around your neck and a pin - a star with the picture of Lenin (grown up) in the middle and a flame above it.
Then, in the 8th grade or so you got in the Comsomol (if you translate it from the Russian abbreviation it is "The communistic youth"), and had a small pin in the form of a red flag with the face of Lenin on it. Then you could possibly become a party member after being a good Comsomol member and working very actively in the society.
Here are the words of a Pioneer song which was so popular during those times:
Higher rise our campfire!
We are pioneers - children of workers!
The years of light are approaching
And the motto of the pioneer is - we are always ready!
In a cheerful march with a cheerful song
We are following the Comsomol.
The years of light are approaching
And the motto of the pioneer is - we are always ready!
We are raising the red flag
Workers' children - follow us!
The years of light are approaching
And the motto of the pioneer is - we are always ready!
I was planning on studying economics during my last year of high school, but then I suddenly changed my mind and started my studies in the Faculty of Foreign languages, Department of German language and literature.
Because of the studies I had to leave Talsi and my parents, at least for the biggest part of the week, and start to live in a students' hostel in Riga, which was an amazing experience for me. But it was lots of fun as well, and it was also a place where I first met Guntis, who has been my husband now for more than 11 years. When I had one more year to go at the University, Una was born. It was not easy, but after having a year off of studies I wrote my Bachelor paper and got my degree in German Philology.
Today Una is already 11, and my little one - Anda - is 5 years old. I have a wonderful family, great colleagues and a life full of challenges and possibilities to change the world for the better. And I know there is only One to thank for all this - our Father in Heaven.
I have worked with BBI since September 2000 as the Office Administrator for Partners Foundation in Riga. There are some days when I come to work and get the most unusual questions in my mail, and then it is a fun to give surprising answers back to people.
A big part of my job is to make many people and churches in Latvia happy, because I am the one who transfers the money donated by people in America to people in Latvia. Many of those are anxiously waiting for this money to come, because otherwise life would be much harder for them.
Being an Office Administrator also means that you are more or less involved in all of the projects of the organization, and this is good because life and work never get boring. My job involves all kinds of bookings, writing, translation and interpreting, taking care of the office and Chuck' s apartment in Riga, receipts and payments - many small but important details that fill up my day, and wonderful colleagues on both sides of the Ocean who make working a joy.
Last revised November, 2004
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