Seven volunteers from Washington work hard at the Baltic Pastoral Institute

by Ruth York
posted March 2008

SEATTLE, WA – Seven Americans, three engineers, a housewife, a missionary, a former journalist, and a seminary grad went to Latvia to scrape off paint from a 100-year-old ceiling, board up doorways, open new ones, carry sacks of concrete down four flights of stairs and carry plasterboard back up. 

Aleksandrs, Sergeys and Maris, the construction workers, became curious. “You must not have enough jobs in your own country. Do you need extra money? Why are you doing this?”  

The Americans answered, “No, that is not the case, and we even used our own money to come here.” That really got their attention. The word also spread to office workers and others working in the large Baptist Union Building about the crazy Americans.

What an open door! We are Christians and we came here to share Christ’s love with them and to serve them. The main purpose of the trip was to support the Baltic Pastoral Institute that recently opened its doors in the same building we were working in with 13 bright young men as students who passionately want to serve Christ as pastors or in a Christian ministry. We interacted with the men, encouraged them and sometimes sat in their classroom. Some of the students would come and eat lunch with us.  One young man said he was at the Institute because he saw a poster that said: Looking for men who dare to be obedient to God’s Word. 

There are lots of beautiful church buildings in Latvia but very few pastors.  In the next 10 years many pastors will retire so it is necessary for the church to develop new leaders with new strengths and techniques to reach a new generation in the growing secular climate. 

The Baltic Pastoral Institute has been developed to fill Latvia’s present and future spiritual needs.   Some of the staff will be “honorary instructors” such as our pastor, Jim Amandus; Don Richardson, author of Peace Child; and others.  

We were part of the team that went to Riga from February 1-16 to work on additional classrooms and office space.  What a privilege it was to share our time, talents and resources with the future spiritual leaders of Latvia. 

Ruth York for the Latvia Team – Sam and Marti Gaffney, Paul Moore, John and Kelly Morgan, Larry and Ruth York. 

29 February 2008

 In spite of the rain and cold, our team began a journey with a fascinating walk through the Old Town.

 ....on one of Chuck Kelley's famous guided tours in Old Town Riga.  We are in front of the Swedish Gate, built in 1699. Did you know that the largest city of Sweden was once Riga???

 We then warmed up in the apartment of Chuck and Nancy Kelley, each sharing our personal journeys and hopes for the trip.

 Chuck and Nancy in their apartment in Riga. In the background are Chuck's paintings.

 Marti Gaffney, Paul Moore and Kelly Morgan inspecting "dinner" at the grocery store.  Does anyone like oxtail soup?  Looks like the vote is "nay" two out of three.

 Larry York and Sam Gaffney setting new floor joists for the new Baltic Pastoral Institute office at the Baptist Union headquarters.

 Ever smiling, Kelley Morris worked side by side with the men.

 Larry and Sam found this old newspaper behind the wallpaper they removed while doing the remodel.  Neither one of them could read Russian... maybe there was a secret message in it. 

 Latvia has been occupied for foreign powers for most of her history. The War Museum in Riga graphically displays each of the occupations and the Latvian struggle for freedom. Here is a photo of John Morgan at one of the displays.

 At the end of the week the BPI staff and students hosted a pizza luncheon. We learned more about the students and they learned more about our team and why we came to serve.

 Peteris Sprogis is the head of the Baptist Union and the Director of the Baltic Pastoral Institute. Since he wears "many hats" we gave him another one at the farewell lunch. It is a "traveling trophy" especially if the owner has a motorcyle or a convertible.

 Peter was entertaining us by trying on his new hat - a gift from the Highlands church team. 

 Larry and Ruth York, Paul Moore, Marti and Sam Gaffney and John and Kelly Morgan in Riga during an appreciation lunch. They were presented with flowers by the BPI students.