LATVIA, LITHUANIA, AND LUMMIShort term trips, 2010

Two VERY different trips

Lummi: Very familiar,

family atmosphere Highly structured,

most time accounted for

Local church not a major emphasis, but growing

Latvia: New for Chris and

Susan (third trip for Mark)

Very unstructured and relational; much time not accounted for

Local church is major point of contact

Encouragement and support

Latvia Riga is a major city, with over a million inhabitants in the metro area

The first few days were spent in interacting with pastors and families, Carl and Becky Chaplin (MTW missionaries), getting to know our way around

A quick visit with the

President

One of Europe’s Lock

Bridges

We got to know historic Riga, and visit the Latvian Occupation Museum and learn of their turbulent history

Declared independence from USSR in 1991; “atheist” state up to that point, so country is still recovering from that

Mark gave a talk to some Latvian doctors on “Stem cells and human cloning”

Chris attended a youth group event

Susan spent some time with Becky and a British missionary, Ruth

“Family Camp”

During the Jani festival (celebrating the longest day of the year) the church has a retreat

About 125 attended; Susan helped with kids programs, Chris interacted with youth, Mark gave talk on “Stem Cells and Human Cloning”

Camp Family

Camp Family

Lithuania Susan and Chris returned on Saturday, 6/26

Mark went with Carl to Lithuania

New members admitted to Reformed church in Kaunas

Mark gave talk on “Science and Faith”

Church held a “field trip” to Kedainiai (“kə-dine-ee”); early Reformed church in Lithuania (1631); great trip!

Continued to develop relationship with Jonas Ziuka, seminary student and PhD student in plant biology

Kedainiai: Old town; one of oldest reformed churches in Lithuania

Kaunas: Church construction started in 1937, first church service in 1995

Trakai: Please pray for the churches in Latvia and Lithuania

Lummi ReservationBellingham Washington

MTW has been involved in this ministry since 1996, and our family has been involved since 1997

Was very difficult in the beginning; lots of trust issues, limited to construction

White, Strangers, Christians

Lummi 2010 (More opportunities for

ministry)

75 people from churches around the country (and Canada) were present the first week

Focused on home construction and ministry: Vacation Bible

School Working in new

neighborhood Health Fair Senior Center Stommish grounds

Construction In the past few years, Mark

has been involved in kids ministry, but this year another team took responsibility

Buzz Hart, MTW Associate Staff, has served at Lummi since 1997; was not able to attend because of his daughter’s brain tumor (she’s much better) He is typically in charge of

construction Because Mark was not

involved with kids ministry, he was able to take a leadership role in construction along with Lisa Miller, another Associate Staff member

Ministry Each year at Lummi we

have new opportunities to minister in different areas of the reservation We’ve worked in the

MacKinsey neighborhood for at least seven years; developed relationships

Smokehouse Apartments; activities in the afternoons

Health Fair takes place at the high school and involves a number of different booths

Team from Canada came to do a musical presentation

Senior center involved making different crafts

Chris’ Page

San Jose Construction Sports Ministry

Andrea’s Page

One of the best things about this trip is the relationships that are made.

Not only do we make great connections with the Lummi kids, but we make connections with each other.

It’s so awesome to work with other Christians from all over the country and to get to know each other.

Susan’s Week of Wonders

Assisting Tammy with errands and organizing

Visiting Fran and Bill James – flowers and crafts!

Spending the day with Victoria moving (with Andrea)

Ministering to Eli, Paul, his family, and Stephanie

Time for sharing, teaching, reconnecting, and drawing near to God

Christ Church Bellingham

www.christchurchbellingham.org

We were excited to meet and speak with Nate Walker and Trevor Mauss, the pastor and staff worker at Christ Church

Looking forward to working with them in serving the Lummi people.

Next year’s trip will be July 9-16.