It is true that God keeps sending us opportunities to help and we will not be able to handle all of them or probably even most of them. This Liepa project however seems to be a rounding out of the help we can offer these girls coming from orphanages. It is true, the government should be handling this, but at this stage in our develpment and all the demands on the scare social network resources, it will be quite a while before the government can expand its outreach.

A transitional house for these girls who have turned 18 and waiting for an apartment, is a logical solution to aid their inclusion into society. I know that we would not have the heart to turn these girls out of the Hope Center once they reach 18 and have no place to go. At the same time, the girls would be taking up space that others need. The Liepa building would be an ideal place for them because it will have a Christian day care center on the first floor. This will give the mothers an opportunity to look for work and start to think and care for themselves and their baby.

GBGM is in the process of purchasing the building. Downstairs will be the Sanctuary for Liepa Russian/Latvian congregations, Sunday School rooms, Christian Day Care center. Upstairs will house the Hope Center.

CESIS HOPE CENTER NEW HOME

Here are some pictures of the brick house that I just wrote about that will be the future home of the Cesis Hope Center. The first picture is of the outside of the house. The next two are of two of the upstairs rooms, the view of the pond and landscape outside of the sauna house next door and the sauna house.

Latvia Mission

Dear Friends,

Just got back home to Riga. I just want to tell all of you how wonderful it was to see old friends and meet and befriend new ones. You made my visit memorable.

Things here continue to develop at a rapid pace. As I said earlier, God just keeps showering us with new opportunities to serve Him.

Yesterday, Dzintra (Hope Center Director) and I drove to the Cesis Hope Center to meet with some social welfare ladies and interview a young pregnant girl needing our services. We discovered that the owners of the house that we are renting for these young girls and babies, need their home vacated in a month. A family emergency has come up and they need their house.

Rigunda, the director of the Cesis Hope Center has found a beautiful property in the country. We went to see the site and I hope to post some pictures of the place if I figure out how to do it.
The house is a large, brick building. The inside has not been finished. It is a 2 story house with a Soviet-style asbestos roof. The first thing that must be done is floors. They were never installed. The roof should be changed and the house insulated both for heat and for sound. It needs plumbing, electricity(a transformer station is close to the house - almost across the road) and heating. The building is so large and the location so gorgeous, that some rooms on the lower floor could be rented out to tourists who wish to spend some time in the country.

Right next to the house is a property consisting of 2 buildings, a house and a sauna house. This property is being offered to us for 3 years rent free as long as we make no major changes to the structures without owner's permission and we carry a 50,000Ls insurance policy on the house. The main house has no indoor bathroom. We would have to install that before the girls move in. The house needs a thorough cleaning and some freshing. The sauna house is 2 story. The bottom floor has a living room, sauna, bathroom and shower. The second floor has bedrooms. The sauna house could house VIM team members coming to work on the Hope Center brick house. There is a pond and gorgeous view. The air is so clean and the peace and quiet so wonderful. The Hope Center plans to buy the brick building and insure the next door property and make use of it for the 3 years that it is offered.

We have a beautiful place for you to come, meet the girls and their babies, help us renovate the rooms and get the house ready for the girls to move in by late fall.

The purchase of the Liepa property continues. The Hope Center has offered to pay some up front faith money to show that we are serious buyers. I will keep you abreast of the latest. If you have not heard, GBGM has released the money for the purchase of the property. It is now just a matter of handling the legal technicalities involved in foreign entities buying property in Latvia.

We have also begun to rethink the use of the Liepa building 2nd floor. Since we will have this big house in the country, perhaps another pressing need can be addressed with the Liepa upstairs. We discovered from the social welfare department, that the girls who are placed in our home will never be welcome back to the orphanage. They must live with us until they are 18 and the orphanage is no longer responsible for them. The Latvian government in theory gives every young person coming out of an orphanage a place to live. Unfortunately there is an acute shortage of available apartments and most often the kids end up on the street with nowhere to live. This is unacceptable under any circumstances but even more so for young women who have loved and cared for their baby and been supported until their 18th birthday. It is now a budding idea that we would use the upstairs of the Liepa building to house the 18 year olds and their babies until their turn comes up on the apartment waiting list. We could set up a small store and teach the girls to sew, knit,crochet, make floral arrangements and etc. to sell and give them some sort of income. As I said, God keeps expanding our opportunities to really make a difference and do all in our power to help keep these babies out of orphanages and in the loving care of their mother.

I have been back in Latvia 3 days and so much has happened. But, will share more tomorrow.

I invite all who wish to share their thoughts, ideas and prayers on this blog site to join in.

My son set this up for us. I hope that it will enable us to be in touch more. To help us to share news of any trips that are being made by VIM teams, dates and etc. I hope that people will use this site to ask questions as well as share their thoughts and experiences.

Next week, a group of Methodists from Oslo, Norway are coming for a visit. June 8th a group of Methodists from Michigan will be spending the day in Riga and joining the Riga 1st choir practice.