Week 5

So far, we have been in Latvia for 5 weeks. We have inspected almost all of the Methodist Churches and church related facilities. We have gone to church services at 5 of the 10 churches. (And have plans to go to a sixth church for services on Sunday.) I thought people would like to hear a few of my observations.

Latvians are a kind courteous people with strong rural roots. The fact that their largest national events are their national choir and folk dance festivals should tell you something.

It has been hard for Latvia to completely put 50 years of communist rule behind them, but, all things considered, they are actually doing amazingly well. The same would apply to the Methodist Church in Latvia. The three large churches that they got back in the early 1990’s, two in Riga and one in Liepaja, attest to the fact that there was a vibrant Methodist Church in Latvia in the 1940’s. To me, the Methodist Church has had two big struggles to overcome. The first is the fact that most things cost at least as much here as they do in the States, if not more, sometimes quite a bit. This combined with the fact that the per capita income in Latvia is 60% less than it is in the United States does not leave a lot left over at the end of the month for the average person. The second is the fact that the Methodist Church in Latvia had to almost start from scratch. After Latvia got its independence from Russia, there was just a handful of Latvians that did most of the work to restart their previous congregations. As you also know in the States things move slow in churches. But they have a close church family and have lots of kids and youth participating in church, as well as many young ministers. Like any other growing church family they also have some growing pains and one of them is how to deal with their current buildings. Most of their buildings have some kind of heating problem. Today, the standard has changed. Young people don’t expect to sit in cold churches any longer and old buildings generally cost quite a bit more to heat.

I apologize that I have not taken more pictures at church services or during fellowship.

I did take some tourist pictures, if you plan to visit Latvia. Clarence and I had Friday off so we rented a car from a local rental person, off the internet, and drove to two of the big tourist sites in Latvia – Turaida Castle and Rundale Palace. As you can see for yourself both were very impressive.