Priecigus Ziemassvetkus un laimigu jauno gadu!

OR..... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I have been in Ergli for almost an entire week now. i had Christmas Eve with my family, and "Santa" brought me a beautiful silver bracelet. Then we had choir practice before our Christmas service. everyone should be very proud i sang in church choir for the service in latvian. im actually learning a lot. i can read most things in lativan becuz im learning the alphabets sounds. its been so great, i really like it here, i plan on coming back for a longer amount of ttime. i just need to find a more permanent job. so anyways, i spent Christmas with the Roths, and Diaga, Elvis, and daniel. 2 adults, 5 teenagers, 3 children, and 2 guinea pigs. its was a scream. Anna and i make a ginger bread house, then a nativity scene. and dan and katie gave everyone presents. i was amazed. monday i watched all the kids ao that Dan, Katie, Dustin, and Kritine could go on a date. i did the ladies makeup and katies hair. they said that they hada good time so i was pleased. so i officially leave in 6 days, im not impressed. the time has went so fast, well maybe not for mom, but def on my side. as im sure a lot of you figured Danny is already plenty ready to come home. he doesnt like it here too much. but i still think over all he would say that it was a good experience.  i hope when i get home everyone will see the changes God has been doing in me. im so excited to be moving to portland and start out totally fresh and new, and this time be who God wants me to be. If anyone knows of any good churchs for me to check out, leave me a comment of the name and address if possible. please continually keep me in your prayers leaving everything here will not be an easy task. 

                                                                                          Love,                                                                                                                                                                          Alise 

updates... i guess...

 i havent posted since like the beginning of last week i think. sorry. ive just been busy. so last friday Elvis, Guna and i were all incharge of youth meeting for that week. so Elvis and I planned it so we could go swimming at Efja. it was fun but i only have one picture becuz my camera fogged up. about swiiming,,, we had about 10 people say yes they were going to come, only 5 people came, counting Elvis Guna and i. also elvis had just got his hair done (bleached) about 2 weeks before, so he ende up with green hair for half of the week. i forgot my swim suit bottoms, so Elvis ran to his house and got a pair of his shorts. it was slightly embarassing that i had to wear them, and that they basically fit! then we waited for Dustin to come gtet us and take us to ergli. Guna and i stayed out in staff house at camp. we had to clean it on saturday and man the guys ad made it mess. then saturday evening i had Hannah Montana party with the four little girls. it was quite fun and they all looked beautiful! sunday was pretty normal, apart from the fact that the hotel we were meeting at in Ergli kicked us out so we had to take everyone out to camp. What a PAIN! Monday, got up early to be ready for Dustin to come get us. he was 15 mins late, then we were supposed to go get a Christmas tree for Kritines parents, we got stuck in the snow with their hyundi, idk how to spell it, sio that took up the rest of the time (dustin did get us out with the tractor). then we finally left to Riga, to do some shopping and pick up daniel from the airport. by "we" i mean Kristine, Katie, Guna and I. the trip went great, it was good to see someone from home. but Daniel just told me today that he had to stifle his laugh when he saw mw becuz of my hair. I tolf him that it was rude, and if he thought mine was crazy he should see some real Latvian's. Tuesday was Picture day for the kids at school so i went and helped katie get essie and anna ready for school. they looked pretty cute. then us ladies made lunch and plans for the rest of the week. then Guna and i rode the bus home, it was a long, cold ride. then i had to walk home from bus station becuz Diks was in a different town. lets just say it sucked. it was so cold that my eyelashes were frozen and all icy when i got to the house. wednesday, i went to salon helped for a while. then went shopping with Guna and we baked cake and cookies for the party. then we came to my house and cleaned from top to bottom. that was kind of a stressful day. at the party we wrote all the names of the guests that came and picked one for me to do makeup on as a special little surprise. that was fun. then we layed a couple games. one was White Elephant gift exchange, i got pregnancy tests... needless to say i switched those for some candy. :) it was funny though! then i basically cleaned up by myself, but it really wasnt too bad.  

this weekend we will have a special camp/retreat for the faithful bible study attendees, we will go to camp and hang out, cook, eat, sauna, have studies... idk what else, basically hang out. so Diks and i together will be preparing tomorrow. there is a lot of growth to be had here. last thursday Gintis' cousin Zigmunds excepted Christ! and than on sunday he also stood up and basically told everyone his testamony! i am so excited to be involed with the youth group at home, i have lots of sweet (katie) ideas...!

Fasting...

today is December 11th, its getting closer and closer to my time to leave. It's sad to think about becuz i really love my life here. i have great friends and "famliy" and both are surrounding the life at church. I can here thinking i would be working mostly with Dan and Katie, but the reality of it is that i actually spend very little time with them and i help more here in Madona. For those of you who dont know, Dan and Katie just moved from Tilza to Ergli, where Dustin and Kristine Peterson live. In Erlgi they have a church, and thats also where Eagle's Wings camp is. But they also have a ministry in Madona a larger town that is about 45 miles away. Diks and Initina live here in Madona, Diks basically run the church here by himself. becuz of space, and timing issues, when i first got here i stayed here in Madona with a family i didnt know and only Diks speaks english. But as things changed problems were fixed, i had the opportunity to move to ergli, only thing was is i didnt want to. so i stayed here to continue working with the youth, and helping out Diks. sometimes i feel like im not helping enough, but everytime i ask he says im doing fine and he will ask me for help if he needs it. basically my main job here is to help with the youth, everyday out of my week i am spending with different kids who i am encouraging in the Lord. Its been great. there is so much growth going on here. Last night we had a guy get saved. and this was miracle becuz he had always been very opposing to the church, God or anything related. So working here in the church stuff is Dan, Katie, Dustin, Kristine, Guna, and me. Marvin was part of the group but he left. so these people are busy, becuz their IT! On wednesday nights we have our ladies Bible study, we finished our talk about Perfection vs. Excellence. then we spent time in groups listening to God and praying for one another. Katie and Kristine love it when im around becuz they can have an english group. anyways so in our groups we were supposed to quietly listen for God to tell us one problem or sin in our lives that he would like us to work on. then we share it with the group, then we the other people in the group listen for what God wants them to tell you, then they pray it into your heart so you remember it. well my issue is this, i have a hard time hearing Him speak. i realized after being here for a little while that i struggle with this. i was never taught to just sit and listen, so i have just felt like a didnt know what i was doing. UGH! its been kind of a struggle for me. so Katie and Kristine both shared some amazing things which God told them for me. I have grown so much spiritually being here. but obviously im still only 18 and still have forever to go. but i have definately have felt God working in me and through me during my time here. and to any people reading my blog who maybe dont believe in God or believe there is a God, but dont know Him or have a personal relationship with Him. God is real, and He is there you just have to take time to notice Him working, becuz He does, ad i hope reading this blog you are able to see that. on a different note. this last tuesday at our youth Bible study Diks asked everyone to take a day out of the week and fast. I didnt know this until last night at Guna's names day party (which went great by the way), so i am fasting today. i think it all must have got lost in translation that or they just forgot to tell me. i have not spent the entire time in prayer, i just havent, i had some other things to get done also. but i am excited to hear about all that God did in the lives of the other kids come tuesday. lately in my reading time ive been hoping around, ive been in 1st Timothy, then Esther, the psalms, then 2nd Tim, then Titus, then Philemon. idk ive read lots of interesting passages...i really am having a hard time thinking of any i should have wrote them down! GOSH LYS! well heres something, its not great though. 1 Timothy 2:5 "And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules." NKJV God even cars about how we play sports. its kind of crazy how he thought of everything. love to everyone reading this i miss you all and will be so happy to see you!

random pictures from the last week!

The first week in December!

it was a busy one for starters... 

Monday(Pirmdeina): Guna and i had an errand running day, just went all over town doing things we dont normally have time for. Mondays are all the church leaders day off, well supposedly, people like Dustin&Kristine, Dan&Katie, and Diks, and im kind of in that group... not sure why lol. so i also try to sleep-in, do laundry, clean my room/the rest of the house, spend more time with God, and look at my schedule for the week.

Tuesday(Otrdeina): prayer meeting in Ergli, this week we took Guna and Elvis. Katie did a great job as usual. we had a great time of fellowship with God. Then i babysit for the rest of the afternoon while everybody else has a business meeting. I made a tea party for the girls and jonathan. it was fun. Then at 430 we head back to Madona. and get the house ready for youth Bible study. then afterwards Diks Imi's and i watched a movie, it was dumb. 

Wednesday(Iresdeina): Went treasure Hunting with Guna and another lady. Treasurehunting: you pray for God to show you people to pray for then you go out, find them, and pray with them. we had an amazing time of prayer before hand, but im sad to say that we never did find our treasures... :( but we still did talk to two different people and then excepted information on our church. then we went and had lunch.. which was delicious! and so cheap, its insane what you pay for a full meal here, ok so i got like this big plate of rice chicken and sauce, bread, and a drink for like Lat 2,70. which is about $5. Crazy! then i got a massage, which was great and really cheap also! then i went grocery shopping, and then walked home becuz i have my weekly meetings with Laura and Annija. we cooked, laughed, talked, and just had a great time. Diks half sister Linda was here too so i got to visit with here also so that was cool. her and i are the exact same age! march 1st and we will both turn 19. then i had Ladies Bible study, where Katie and Kristine gave, all of us ladies who helped with the retreat, us roses. they were beautiful and it was so nice. something about latvian's they give flowers for everything,.. i think its nice! Then halfway through bible study i leave to go to volleyball. i played horrible this week, UGH. but it was still fun. i think becuz i was in a silly mood, you know when girls just laugh at everything, so i actually had to try pretty hard to be serious and not annoy all the guys.

Thursday(Ceturtdiena): I got my hair done in the morning, so i was there until almost noon. then Guna and i went and got lunch for Inita and Iresa. and then we went to eat for ourselves. then after that i met Elvis at Rimi and we went grocery shopping becuz that evening we made tacos for Diks and Inita. I dont know what they really thought.., i think it was ok for them, it was great to me! then after dinner we had choir practice... i'm getting much better at singing in latvian, i can read most words now, becuz im learning their alphabet.  

Friday(Piektdeina): Went shopping with Guna at Rimi, to get all the food we would need for youth meeting. Brought it back to her house, started making our lunch. it was like some sort of bean soup, which was good but for the meat she used chicken throats so i decided not to eat the meat. then we baked some really tasty cookie things that took a long time, they were in the shape of mushrooms, squirrels, and little birdies. then i met with Unda for our weekly meeting, which hasnt been so weekly... unfortunately. and we had very good talk.  then we had youth meeting, it was fun, i actually got to participate and my thoughts were well received and appreciated. 

Saturday(Sestdeina): Guna, Elvi, Imi and i all walked all the way out of town, to the forest to collect some greenery to decorate the church with. so we went walking for like and hour and a half. got some tree branches, came back made 3 garlands. hung up some Christmas lights to get the church ready. this sounds like an easy task but it took us like 4 hours, idk why! then i spent the evening with my family, we watched the movie 2012 in russian, that was a real treat! i would like to watch it again so i can actually know whats going on. 

Sunday(Svetdiena): Go to church in Madona, have a three hour choir practice afterwards. come home, eat lunch hang out with my family. go to church in ergli. had great group discussions, again i was able to give some input. got home later, and had very good conversation with Initine(who didnt speak any english when i came), it was so cool! and small Diks he fianlly like me, im so happy about it. 

Monday: stayed home in the beginning of the day, cleaned house, had extra time in the word. i really have just been skipping around, im in 2 Timothy right now. but this morning i also read the book of Esther. then i went out prayer walking for an hour by myself around town. then met Elvis for Dinner to plan out friday's youth meeting (we are going to go swimming)! im excited. 

its taken forever!

Soooo.... about my retreat? It went pretty well, everyone loved it. but as i was warned, most latvian's cant keep to a schedule, so we were at least an hour behind schedule the entire time. The first pictures (going from the bottom of the page working up) are just of the camp and the places we spent the most time. Guna and I planned most of the event, and did are best to see it through. we definately had help from Katie and Kristine but they wanted to let us take the lead, so they tried to stay out of most of it. Guna was in charge of food, I  just helped here and there. Katie and Kristine were going to be teaching. Initina and Iresa were going to give their bit on hair. and I was opening up the weekend and teaching some makeup stuff. besides being late the whole thing went fairly smoothly. we went to sauna, which is much different then what we would have in the states, but I loved it. it was a little odd at first. you know in the movies when someone is in europe somewhere getting a massage, and they are like getting beat (gently of course) with some leafy branches? well they really do that! they have these bunches of birch branches tied together and they dip it in a bucket of water from the lake, right outside, and then hit you with it. its REALLY hot in there so i guess it kind of cools you down idk! but i was given this sort of massage from one of the girls, it was nice i guess. but of course being the only foreigner there everybody thought i was soooo interesting, as usual. so i decided it was hot and i wanted to jump in the lake. its been raining for weeks now, it was probably only like 40 degrees outside. and i waited until i was so hot i almost couldnt stand it anymore i had Guna walk me out to the end of the dock quickly tell me where to jump, and then jumped. it was really incredibly cold, and it hurt pretty bad but yet i think, still worth it. also Kristine does painting to worship music,... she did both the paintings in the pictures. what katie and her talked about was that as women we play many roles, (the first one showed some of the more positive roles... "?") and some positive and some negative. they then played Amy Grants song "How Many Hats?" or something like that i had never heard it before, but then again it did come out the year i was born lol. we then broke up into groups of four and each shared a positive and a negative role we play, and then were also encouraged to tell how we felt about each. It was amazing! God really spoke to me through the other girls, i cried the whole time. I finally let God free me from a lot of guilt and bitterness i had inside. i didnt even realize i was in so much bondage, but when i was forced to face up i realized my problems. many of you who know me well know that im not a soft hearted person, things just dont touch my heart the way the would another girl my age. but God is also working through that. he is softening me up, and i see it all the time, he fills me with this overwheling compassion for people and i get all teary eyed. if i didnt know it was God i would think something was wrong with me. then kristine painted the picture with the masks. we talked about how with each role we play we tend to wear a different mask, but God can help us to remove the masks. so then she painted Jesus holding the girl. the entire time i watched this i cried. all  could think about was how i would feel if Jesus would be holding me, comforting me,... and then i realized he always waiting for us and for so long i just sat next to him never feeling him actually touch my life. and its like now ive finally decided to move from my fathers side to sitting on his lap and its a great feeling.  so monday in technically everyones day off, and i was sooo tired from such a busy week/weekend that i slept in till 930! then i ment Guna in the centre becuz we both just had some errands to run. we also went to church and practiced the latvian song that church choir is singing, yes i am learning to sing a song in latvian, and im not doing to bad either! i got myself an appointment for a massage, becuz my back had really been bothering me, and masages are really cheap here. so i figured its probably ok. monday night i ate chicken heart soup for dinner. yes i ate it and didnt puke. then Diks, Initina and i had some really good conversations about stuff going on here. they are so great i absolutely love them! then tuesday went to Ergli for our weekly prayer meeting, they are always so great, i especially loved todays lesson though, ill try to share about it next time. then i babysit all the kids for the hours after that so they can have there business/weekly scheduling meeting. then we come back home, clean house and get ready for Bible study, have bible study. clean up, watched Final Destination 4 tonight, it was really dumb. then go to bed, and tomorrow i have prayer walk/treasure hunt in the morning with Guna, then massage, then shopping then meeting with Laura and Annija. after choir practice, then ladies biblestudy. then possibly mens volleyball. thurday Elvis and i are making a big mexican dinner for Diks and Initina, then another possible choir practice. i am doing great here. i still love it. thank you for all the prayer! i am happy to say that i am still healthy. also money that people gave to me a lot went towards the ladies retreat, so a big thanx to you! also the t-shirts are looking great, when i get mine ill get some pictures uploaded. love and miss everyone!