On Wednesday we had an amazing time of worship and prayer for the city. It was so powerful and really reminded me that the key to seeing change has to have intercession as the start, end, and middle!
In the afternoon we headed out to get to know some of the history of the city and do some sightseeing. We took the lift to the top of the Radisson SAS building where we had a spectacular view of the city. Then we went into the Greek Orthodox Church. It was stunning! It always makes me think how much the people who built the churches must have loved God, making something so beautiful. As we left the church I was also struck by great contrast. On the steps of the church a disabled lady was begging, and it made me think of Jesus, and how He went to the poor and interacted with them and was where they were... and in a sense this lady begging outside the church made me think of how much the church (i.e. people who are part of the church) doesn’t bring in the poor, or those who don’t fit in, or the broken, or the messed up... how much “convenience” is more important. And I thought of myself, and how I so much of the time am always filtering what I am “willing to do” or use my time for, through how it will affect me. And then I started to think what the life of that lady is like... sitting begging at the church, but she wasn’t even pushy. She just sat there and it seemed like she’d almost given up. As we were walking along I prayed for God to break in and bring justice in her life. And as we were walking on to our next destination I noticed so many others in the same area begging or just sitting with their dogs on the pavement. And I wondered what God feels when He sees the situation and how He sees each one of them...
Our walk that day continued. Riga is so beautiful! Amazing architecture and lots of parks and green areas. We walked down to the river, and although I did feel a tad windblown, it was nice to sit by the river for a bit. At one point we saw this huge statue in a glass thing of a huge man holding a baby. Curious to know what it was all about I read the sign explaining who it was. Apparently there is a legend about this man who would carry people from one side of the river to the other. One day he heard a baby crying. He picked it up and started to carry it to the other side, but grew tired so returned to his shack. When he woke in the morning he found a chest of gold where he had laid the baby, and that money was used to build Riga. An interesting legend.
After a cup of coffee at a Kafejniza we went to “Cilipica” for dinner. It’s a pizza place that has some other stuff too. I had pancakes (i.e. European ones) filled with cheese and ham and a delicious grapefruit juice. It was really nice. Then we headed to the train station to join with the YWAM staff for a prayer walk.
YWAM Riga has a prayer project where they want to cover the entire city in prayer in 3 years. Every other week they head out to one of the micro-regions to pray. We took the train to an area I can’t remember the name of and just walked around praying. It was a very calm area and good to pray and see. A mixture of wealthier and poorer people I imagine, and also road signs in both Russian and Latvian. It was a good time!
Yesterday was a more intense day. After a lovely breakfast together with pancakes (American ones this time) and eggs, we got a few things done, before we went on the tram to a children’s home. It was a beautiful building and the staff were incredibly nice! A very good home it seemed like. We did human trafficking prevention to the teenagers who lived there. It was a small group, but they were amazingly responsive. When asked if they knew anything about human trafficking, one girl shared about how the sister of someone she knew had been taken at age 11 and used as a sex slave for 2 years. My heart was really impacted by how real human trafficking was, even to this girl. It was a great time of being able to explain to these kids about the issue, but also practically teach them what to be aware of and how to stay safe, especially when travelling abroad (which some of them probably will). It brought so much hope to my heart. Hope, both in seeing what a great place they were living in, but even more seeing how they really took in the information and knowing that because we went there, these kids will probably not end up drawn into trafficking themselves, and hopefully they will “spread the word” to others they know.
After a bit of time to rest and eat (a delicious meal of Penne Rustica) back at the apartment, we again headed out. This time by car and with a different purpose. We drove to the areas where there is a lot of street prostitution to pray. It was quite a different experience, and from so much hope at the orphanage, this was full of hopelessness. As we drove and prayed and looked, we wanted to see the reality, but also see what God sees when He looks at the areas and the girls. It was really tough to see the girls we saw. They looked rough, hopeless, and most of them weren’t even “beautiful”, yet one moment they were standing on the street corners, the next moment they were gone. Probably picked up by a car driving by. As we drove and prayed, and even as we got back, my heart was stirred up. The human response is to think that there is no hope and that it’s impossible to see change. The response when I look to God is that there is hope!! As long as there is life there is hope. And He is so jealous to see these girls not only get off the streets, but also that they be restored, that their hearts and souls, and that they see themselves as He sees them, and can live in freedom and fullness of life.
Sitting here I still feel sober by the reality we saw yesterday, and I know that even if I’m leaving this place in a few days, I will carry part of God’s heart for this place in my heart. I know that when I pray for the girls in this city I will remember the faces of those I saw, and that it will no longer be “the girls in prostitution in Latvia”, but it will be the ones I saw that will stir my heart to partner with God’s heart, to see freedom come to them and those they represent.
In the afternoon we headed out to get to know some of the history of the city and do some sightseeing. We took the lift to the top of the Radisson SAS building where we had a spectacular view of the city. Then we went into the Greek Orthodox Church. It was stunning! It always makes me think how much the people who built the churches must have loved God, making something so beautiful. As we left the church I was also struck by great contrast. On the steps of the church a disabled lady was begging, and it made me think of Jesus, and how He went to the poor and interacted with them and was where they were... and in a sense this lady begging outside the church made me think of how much the church (i.e. people who are part of the church) doesn’t bring in the poor, or those who don’t fit in, or the broken, or the messed up... how much “convenience” is more important. And I thought of myself, and how I so much of the time am always filtering what I am “willing to do” or use my time for, through how it will affect me. And then I started to think what the life of that lady is like... sitting begging at the church, but she wasn’t even pushy. She just sat there and it seemed like she’d almost given up. As we were walking along I prayed for God to break in and bring justice in her life. And as we were walking on to our next destination I noticed so many others in the same area begging or just sitting with their dogs on the pavement. And I wondered what God feels when He sees the situation and how He sees each one of them...
Our walk that day continued. Riga is so beautiful! Amazing architecture and lots of parks and green areas. We walked down to the river, and although I did feel a tad windblown, it was nice to sit by the river for a bit. At one point we saw this huge statue in a glass thing of a huge man holding a baby. Curious to know what it was all about I read the sign explaining who it was. Apparently there is a legend about this man who would carry people from one side of the river to the other. One day he heard a baby crying. He picked it up and started to carry it to the other side, but grew tired so returned to his shack. When he woke in the morning he found a chest of gold where he had laid the baby, and that money was used to build Riga. An interesting legend.
After a cup of coffee at a Kafejniza we went to “Cilipica” for dinner. It’s a pizza place that has some other stuff too. I had pancakes (i.e. European ones) filled with cheese and ham and a delicious grapefruit juice. It was really nice. Then we headed to the train station to join with the YWAM staff for a prayer walk.
YWAM Riga has a prayer project where they want to cover the entire city in prayer in 3 years. Every other week they head out to one of the micro-regions to pray. We took the train to an area I can’t remember the name of and just walked around praying. It was a very calm area and good to pray and see. A mixture of wealthier and poorer people I imagine, and also road signs in both Russian and Latvian. It was a good time!
Yesterday was a more intense day. After a lovely breakfast together with pancakes (American ones this time) and eggs, we got a few things done, before we went on the tram to a children’s home. It was a beautiful building and the staff were incredibly nice! A very good home it seemed like. We did human trafficking prevention to the teenagers who lived there. It was a small group, but they were amazingly responsive. When asked if they knew anything about human trafficking, one girl shared about how the sister of someone she knew had been taken at age 11 and used as a sex slave for 2 years. My heart was really impacted by how real human trafficking was, even to this girl. It was a great time of being able to explain to these kids about the issue, but also practically teach them what to be aware of and how to stay safe, especially when travelling abroad (which some of them probably will). It brought so much hope to my heart. Hope, both in seeing what a great place they were living in, but even more seeing how they really took in the information and knowing that because we went there, these kids will probably not end up drawn into trafficking themselves, and hopefully they will “spread the word” to others they know.
After a bit of time to rest and eat (a delicious meal of Penne Rustica) back at the apartment, we again headed out. This time by car and with a different purpose. We drove to the areas where there is a lot of street prostitution to pray. It was quite a different experience, and from so much hope at the orphanage, this was full of hopelessness. As we drove and prayed and looked, we wanted to see the reality, but also see what God sees when He looks at the areas and the girls. It was really tough to see the girls we saw. They looked rough, hopeless, and most of them weren’t even “beautiful”, yet one moment they were standing on the street corners, the next moment they were gone. Probably picked up by a car driving by. As we drove and prayed, and even as we got back, my heart was stirred up. The human response is to think that there is no hope and that it’s impossible to see change. The response when I look to God is that there is hope!! As long as there is life there is hope. And He is so jealous to see these girls not only get off the streets, but also that they be restored, that their hearts and souls, and that they see themselves as He sees them, and can live in freedom and fullness of life.
Sitting here I still feel sober by the reality we saw yesterday, and I know that even if I’m leaving this place in a few days, I will carry part of God’s heart for this place in my heart. I know that when I pray for the girls in this city I will remember the faces of those I saw, and that it will no longer be “the girls in prostitution in Latvia”, but it will be the ones I saw that will stir my heart to partner with God’s heart, to see freedom come to them and those they represent.