Skip to main content

Day of departure.

So here were are, final hours in Riga, Latvia. It’s been a great weekend. Church was great, although a tad challenging to listen for English in the midst of Latvian and Russian, but wonderful worship and wonderful people!

The weather was cold and church lasted a long time, so we ended up not going the museum. Instead we popped to the cinema, before cooking a delicious pesto and chicken lasagne (which we’re eating the leftovers of for lunch today).

This morning I headed out early to get some fresh croissants and flowers for breakfast since it is Lysette’s birthday (the girl we’re visiting). It was great to be able to have breakfast with her, especially since she has work today and we don’t get to see her much. After breakfast I went to a little cafe close by and had some coffee, tea, and a sweet pastry thing with ricotta cheese and jam inside (it was interesting). I am sharing a bit with a DTS outreach team on Wednesday about intercession and justice, and wanted to start preparing a bit for that. It was really relaxing to sit in the cafe, do my preparation, and in a small way be part of a Monday morning in Riga.

Now I’m packed and hoping my luggage is the right weight. In a minute we’ll have lunch and then in not too long we head off for the bus to the airport. We get in to Amsterdam this evening. It feels like we’ve been here for ages, yet like we just got here. Time has gone so quickly. I am in a bit of a swirl, but that’s ok. It’ll be good to make a schedule for my last two and a bit weeks in Amsterdam, and I hope that that time will bring me clarity and peace about the way I’m to walk.

Popular posts from this blog

Preparing for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the 17th of May. But for any Norwegian, this particular date isn't like any other date in the year, it's the 4th of July of Norway. And this year I am actually here. However, some preparations had to be done to get ready for tomorrow. One was getting my national costume down from the loft. I got it a few days ago and tried it on. It's a wee bit tight, but I think it'll be fine. This evening I ironed (or rather started ironing) the blouse which is hand embroydered and made of linnen (so those of you who have a clue about fabrics, know that linnen is the opposite of no-crease material). And the second part of the preparation was polishing the silver. I tried the "foil-in-hot-water-with-salt" method, but I don't think it worked too well. I did a bit of polishing with toothpaste after that and it looks alright. At the end of the day I'm the only one who will notice the level of polishedness of my silver. I have also got my camera on charging re...
Read more

On the move again...

As I walked wheeling the trolley containing two suitcases and a rucksack (belonging to my middle brother who has bought himself a new one) I felt tears stinging in my eyes and threatening to push their way out. I suddenly felt so very small and the airport so very big. I’d got off my 45 minute flight from Sola to Oslo, got my bags from the baggage claim (the airline I flew with lets you decide how many bags of luggage you want to take against a small fee, and so I was able to bring not one suitcase weighing 20 kilos, but a suitcase and a rucksack), bought my train ticket for the last leg of my journey, and was walking along in search of a cup of coffee and a waffle to kill the half hour till the train. Walking along I caught myself thinking about this new stage in life. I wondered why this move up to the YWAM base here in Norway seemed so huge, when moving to Brazil obviously was a bigger move, at least further away. And then it occurred to me that when I’d been travelling back and for...
Read more

It’s been one week.

A week ago we were sitting at work talking about how quickly the Corona situation was escalating. News of closed gyms and limited gatherings were there, and we were wondering what now. Only the day before we’d been open, and while taking the hygiene precautions and reminding each other to not hug or shake hands, there was a sense of support in each other, and normality was still there. Then suddenly it all changed. From being a crisis in China and Asia, then Italy, it had well and truly arrived in Norway. Friday morning we sat in our staff meeting. News of the closing of all schools and kindergartens for two weeks had come the evening before. We sat there with so many questions and few answers. The one thing we knew for sure was that this was a time to be available and present. A time to be proactive, and to make sure our people knew that we were there even if we weren’t open. That day we made many phone calls and sent messages and emails. Some were worried and needed reassurance,...
Read more