Liepa – Cesis Trip

Liepa – Cesis Trip

Yesterday, we had a nice trip to Liepa and Cesis to inspect the Methodist Churches in those towns.  In Liepa, the church is on the first floor and the Hope Center on the second floor.  The Hope Center is a residence for unwed mothers.

Seven years ago, the building was a vacant soviet era government building that they renovated to these uses.  It is in nice shape, but the building has high heating bills and they want to know why.

Liepa Methodist Church and Hope Center

 

Inside the Church Sanctuary

The second church we looked at was in Cesis.  The church has only owned the building for a few years.  It is another soviet era building.  The guess was that it was built sometime in the 1970’s.   It has a wood boiler for the heating system and a room next to the boiler room were the fireman can sleep as he keeps the boiler stoked during night. 

   

Cesis Methodist Church

Inside Cesis Church Sanctuary

Between churches we had an hour and a half to kill so we toured the remains of Cesis’s 13^th century castle.  It is hard to envision what life must have been like that long ago. 

One Side of the Cesis Castle

Me Next to the Castle

Our Hosts for the Day - Dinas and Gita

We don’t have fun every day.  Today, we wrote reports all day.

More to come in a few days.  

Kuldiga Weekend

Kuldiga Weekend

We had a whirlwind weekend. Saturday afternoon we went to the Riga 2^nd Methodist Church.  There we met with Kristine Vainovka, and her father, the pastor of the church.  Kristine did the translating.   We started our inspection of the building, but between discussions over coffee and a meal they served us it was soon time to catch of 6:05 bus to Kuldiga. 

Kuldiga is 90 miles due west from Riga, but a 2 ½ hour bus trip.  The town dates back to the 1240's.  There is a small but growing Methodist congregation in Kuldiga.   

Our hostess for the night was Igita Zageri and her family at their farm 10 Km from town. 

 

Sunday, we got a small tour of town, did our inspection of the church, attended the service, had lunch with Pastor Vivita Barenite and barely made it to the station for our 2:30 bus trip back to Riga. 

 

Today, Monday, we have spent most of the day working on our Kuldiga building assessment report.

Below are a few pictures from the weekend.

Zageri Farm House

 Zageri Farm Guest House and Pond

 Mr & Mrs Zageri and Myself

Inside the Kuldiga Church

Outside the Kuldiga Church

 Wednesday will take us on the road again.  I will report after that trip.  Keep checking back.

First Days

First Days

The first few days of any long term work trip are about getting oriented, making sure everything is working, and establishing a plan of work for your stay.  This has included everything from meeting and getting to know the people we will be working with to finding the best place to buy groceries.  It also took us a few days to get our internet working in our apartment.

Here are some pictures from the trip so far:

This is the 1^st Riga Church.  It also holds the Methodist District Offices and some of the staff we are working with.  On our first and second full days we inspected this building.

 

1^st Riga Church

Inside the Sanctuary

Here is Rihards Germans our main go to contact in the District Office, he also oversees maintenance on the building.

Rihards Germans

Here is outside and inside the apartment building where we live.  The building is not on the street.   The blocks are so large that there are often building on the interior of the blocks as well.

Our Apartment Building

 

Inside Our Apartment

Here are a couple of the nicer buildings that we have seen as we go out for walks.

Tomorrow, we start our inspection of the other Methodist Church in Riga – Riga Second – and also travel to Kuldiga for Sunday church services.  While we are in Kuldiga, we will start doing some of the inspection of that church.  I will have more to post when we return.

We are a Team of Two!

 

Clarence Harms - Brillion, WI

Kevin Hein - Montevideo, MN

Co-Renovation Coordinators

Our adventure begins TODAY - Monday, April 15th when we leave Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for the Netherlands and then on to Riga, Latvia for our VIM project.

Our work will be focused on the buildings of nine local congregations in Latvia.  We will inspect the buildings, identify needed repairs, create a work plan and timeline for each site, and investigate/estimate the costs of materials and tolls for each site.   This effort will also look at both short and long-term plans for upkeep and maintenance to ensure that our efforts and recommendations are sustainable.  The over-all purpose for the project is to have excellent plans in place for each of the nine congregations to use with their renovation and upkeep efforts, but mostly for the UMVIM teams as they come to Latvia in late 2013 and 2014.

We will be living in a modest apartment just a few blocks from the offices of the Superintendent of the Methodist Church of Latvia, Reverand Gita Mednis.  Providing additional support and picking us up the airport is Rihard Germans, office manager at district office of Metodistu Baznica.   This “hub” is in the old town of Riga and beautiful architecture will surround us.   We look forward to meeting new friends, traveling throughout the countryside and seeing both small towns, cities, and experiencing the urban life of Latvia as we complete our VIM work.

We are grateful for the support and prayers of our families, friends, and members of our home congregations:   Faith United Methodist Church in Brillion, WI and Montevideo United Methodist Church in Montevideo, MN.