Change Is In the Airformerly "Lydia's Latvian Blog."

Who knew bowling could be such a physical sport?

Friday was a free day for us. Thursday was a holiday here so the school cancelled classes on Friday as well.

A while ago some of us were talking about bowling and I mentioned how much I liked it, though I hadn’t been in quite some time. It worked out for everyone, so on Friday Chris and I joined Ieva, Agnese, Peteris & Andis at the bowling lanes in Talsi. I didn’t know exactly what to expect. Of course, if someone says, “Hey, let’s go bowling” and we’re in the US, then sure, I know what it will basically be like, but I’ve learned that kind of logic doesn’t carry over to other countries. In fact, I learned this when we lived in Czech and we went bowling. Turned out it was quite different, with 9 pins in a diamond shape rather than 10 in a triangle. The balls were also more like shot-put balls that you held in your palm and rolled. Quite different.

I was told it was American style bowling in Talsi, but I was still hesitant. Well, we all met up at the sports center and Andis took us downstairs (and alley in the basement?). I walked in a laughed in delight! It was so American! It was an American alley, albeit there were only 2 lanes. We were the only ones there save the few that worked there.

Andis, Chris and I were the only ones who had gone bowling before. Peteris said something about going once in the woods… yet he turned out to be the bowling king! His frame, he got a spare. This was not looking good for any of the rest of us. It turned out he won the first game with something like a 115. Hmmm….

It was fun trying to show “Princess” Agnese how to lay the ball down and not drop it. I became her “confidence” and had to be standing on the back of the lane with her when it was her turn.

Poor Ieva was sick, but just didn’t want to stay home and miss out, so she came anyway. She such a good sport!

Chris didn’t have the best game… by his own admission, he was trying to hard. When he finally gave up, he did pretty well!

The second game got a bit competitive between Peteris, Andis and me. We were really close until the 10th frame and Andis got his first strike… and a spare… and ended up winning at 130 or so.

The only sad part was that my camera batteries died with the first picture. Grrr!

We all had so much fun. It was so great to just hang out and be real. I was so refreshed, not having to be “something”, like “the teacher” or “the missionary” or even “the responsible adult” or whatever. I was just me, and having fun with friends.

Oh yeah, and the physical part… it took me a while to figure out why I was sore but it has to be from bowling… gotta find a lighter ball.

It’s hard to believe that just a month ago it was dark already. But here it is, 9pm and this is what we have…

In reality, we’ll have light until after 10pm already… later this summer, it should be dark around midnight.

It’s so beautiful. Not only are we getting some amazing sunsets, but they’re in a completely different place than this winter. I find in facinating. I love weather… now, if we could just get a respectible thunderstorm here…

Chris says that I make interesting problems for myself. It’s possible, I suppose. My “problem” for tonight… I need to post some journals from my 9th grade, especially since I told them I was doing it. So, these are some I picked from different times over the semester. (Note: These are not edited so you can get an idea of their level of understand as well.)

 My favorite music

I like worship music the best. I am a christian and I want to worship God. I myself play in a worship team. I play a guitar and sometimes also a violine. The music we play is joyful, alive and with good rythum.

 

 Art

I like art because art is very interesting and colorful. But my friends don’t like art because they think are is boring. They better like computers. But I think music is better than art because music is very cool. If someone buy ticket to art galery I would go.

 

 Art

I am interested in art. Paintings are charming, something beyond description. If I would have a opportunity I would go to see artist works, paintings. That person who makes the painting have done a big job, he possible have put his heart in it. I like to see how artists draw their fillingd and thoughts, how they see thw World. It is fantastic to be able to make these incredible works. I make myself some art but my work are not very good. Well, I’m still learning…

I’m always so proud of my students!

I can’t begin to put into a short blog entry what this weekend was like for me. It was some of the most fun and encouragement I’ve had in a long time.

We didn’t go down until Sunday, and made it in time for the evening service. It was so encouraging for me to see people I knew, my students, there. I’m getting so used to being “alone” that it was a real blessing. I say “alone” because, in fact, that’s not usually the case, but due to language barriers and being somewhat shy, I often feel alone. But this weekend was different. The worship and the message (so really, the whole service) was still in Latvian, this cryptic language I still don’t understand, but the feeling was different. Ieva was awesome and translated the message Sunday night for me. I could tell it was a challenge for her, and almost exhausted her English “word count” (vocabulary) but it made such a difference for me. I had some great conversations with others, in English with some Latvian thrown in for flavor. We went to the beach Sunday night after the service… I think the goal was to catch the sunset, but I think we missed it by about 1/2 an hour. It was still beautiful, and we had such fun. I had a blast hanging with these young adults and not having to be their teacher!

Of the band members, I’m married to one of them (*smile*) and Agnese goes to a different school. Otherwise, Peteris is in my 10th grade class and Ieva & Andis are in my 11th grade class. It hit me at one point that Chris and I are, in fact, old enough to be the parents of some of them, but it didn’t matter. We still had a blast, and they have a special place in my heart.

Other students of mine were there this weekend, too, and I was blessed to see them in worship and praying with & for each other… things I don’t see in class.

The highlight for me was Sunday night, though. Valdis Indorsonoks came and led worship, which was great. (It’s always fun to tell people we know him… he’s on staff with YWAM and we’ve spent time together at different times. To us, he’s just Valdis… but to others, he’s THE most famous Latvian Christian musician, and people are almost in awe of him sometimes. It’s fun!) Yet, that wasn’t the best part…

But after the message, the band got up and sang during the alter call. They sang the Latvian version of “I Surrender”.

I’m giving you my heart and all that is within

I lay it all down, for the sake of you, my King

I’m giving you my dreams, I’m laying down my rights

I’m giving up my pride, for the promise of new life

And I surrender, all to you, all to you…

Just watching them in complete worship and awe of their God… it blessed me so much. I saw them go from signing and leading others to complete abandon and focus on God. I was so proud of them and honored to be a part of them in one way or another.

Though we didn’t have a lot of extra time, what time we did have we spent with Juris & Kristine. They fed us and housed us and encouraged us. After the service (and the Xenos / Valdis concert in the city that night that they went to) we met back at their apartment. Valdis and his son came over as well, as they were staying there that night, too. We all had a fun and a relaxing time chatting and hanging out. I hadn’t realized how much I missed being in actual English conversation.

I’m so thankful for this weekend. It’s late, I’m tired and I have school tomorrow. (Just finished writing the 12th grade English test…) In spite of all of that, I’m so glad I went.

Check on the pics from the weekend on our website!