As we got in the car to head to the Eindhoven
airport I felt a sense of excitement. Excitement to be going to the beautiful
city of Riga, and excitement of what the next 10 days would be.
We arrived safely at the small airport of Eindhoven, having survived the erratic windscreen wipers of the van which seemed to think there was rain to be wiped off the screen in the midst blazing sunshine.
After a couple of hours on the plane (with the most uncomfortable airplane seats in my time of flying) we landed in Riga. Having been a tad concerned by the weather report as we took off (“the temperature in Riga is 10 degrees Celsius and rain”), I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was warm sunshine and a temperature of mid 20s. Beautiful!
As I stepped off the plane I had such a feeling of freedom. Probably partially because I was out of the crammed full plane, but it was more than that. It was that sense of freedom where you almost feel like you’ve held your breath and can finally breathe out again. Freedom where the intensity of the past months of so much happening (good and challenging) in Amsterdam is more at a distance. Freedom by the expectation that for the next ten days the demands on me will be less.
We got our luggage and were greeted by Lysette, before getting on the bus to the city. As our outreach team of 10 (Shine students and Lighthouse staff and volunteers) piled onto the bus with our luggage and laughter and smiles, I was reminded of how people don’t smile a lot here, and it delighted my heart that even in the first minutes of coming, we were already spreading joy, at least indirectly by just smiling.
Sitting on the bus and taking in the scenery I was remembering how this nation too was once part of the Soviet Union, and how now they are free. And I prayed that the people would step into that inheritance. So often we remain captive even when freedom is available.
The team was safely installed in the YWAM apartment, and after dinner I headed back to the Freedom61 apartment where I was going to stay. The drive here and just being able to dial down and catch up with Lysette again reminded me of the sensation of freedom I had encountered earlier.
And so here I am sat in the quiet apartment. The sun has finally set and although it is dark outside, the familiar sounds of voices, car doors shutting, and cars driving past can be heard through the open windows (providing natural air to cool the apartment down). Voices of people who are living and enjoying their evening. Cars probably taking people home to wherever they live. And as I sit here and reflect, I feel at peace and free. Free to just be. Free to listen. And free to hear what God wants to speak to me while I am here.
And what better place to meditate on freedom, than in a place where the women working with Freedom61 are committed to go to the dark places where women are not free, and invite them to step into true Freedom.