Right now I’m sat in our room in a hotel in Liepaja in Latvia enjoying a holiday with Zoe and the girls. I’ve found it difficult to switch off until yesterday but seem to be a lot better since leaving Riga.
Today we’re off to The Salvation Army’s family camp which is just down the road. I’m particularly looking forward to a concert by a Latvian worship leader and Christian singer Valdis Indrišonoks and of course meeting up with old friends.
Well we woke up this morning to see that the snow that had been falling last night had continued, as promised, to fall and life here at the college has descended into a series of snowball fights!
It’s really strange to have quite so much snow as it’s the first major fall we’ve seen since getting back from Latvia almost 18 months ago! Of course, unlike Latvia the roads are virtually empty, the schools are shut and people are slipping and sliding all over the place! It’s great to see it all though and it’s made me feel more than a little homesick for Riga!
We’ve now been back from Latvia for 6 months and over on her blog Zoe wrote an entry that summed up the things she missed about Latvia and those things she enjoys about being back in the UK. It does seem amazing that we’ve been back this long already as sometimes it only seems like yesterday since I spent almost all my time in Bruninieku iela 10a, which was where we lived, worked and worshipped for almost 6 years.
So where am I today? Well it’s been an interesting few months and I’ve discovered a great deal about myself and about the God who I serve. I’m more certain of my calling now than when we left Latvia and the Lord is continuing to reveal more about what He wants me to do for him. I’m also far more aware of my own failings and the things I need to rely on God for. His Spirit is guiding me and strengthening me and I honestly can’t wait for the opportunities that I’m going to have over the coming months.
That’s me! I’m not one for lists so I won’t even begin to make a list of things I miss about Latvia. I would say though that I miss the friendships that we formed over the years there. It can be a lonely life as a Corps Officer, especially in a traditional corps like the one I am in and there is an expectation that the officer stays at arms length relationship wise. I can’t quite get that one, but it has made me realise how good the friendships were! As for what I am enjoying about being back in the UK, well its as simple as being able to communicate freely with people, both about their lives and about spiritual things. I look forward to many more conversations of these sort over the coming years.
We have arrived safely in England and are now starting to take over the in-law’s house for the next ten days.
On Friday we spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon doing the packing for our holiday, and watching the removal men putting the finishing touches to the packing up of the flat. Around 2:30pm they started to take the 79 boxes/packets/pieces of furniture down the 4 flights of stairs to the lorry. There was an emotional moment as Sian’s bed was taken past our bedroom door and the reality of the situation sunk in!
After we did some of the cleaning that was needed we headed off to Sarah & Aivis’s flat to spend the weekend with them. There was a slightly surreal moment as we realised that our first night in Latvia had been spent on their sofa bed and that we would now be spending our last 3 nights on the self same sofa bed! This was one of a number of closure moments that we have experienced over the last few days.
Most of the weekend was actually spent simply relaxing with Sarah & Aivis which was so nice after the hectic nature of the last couple of weeks. Sian and Josh spent most of the time playing together and this included a 
series of several races down the hall of the flat. Aivis took a number of photos of them and in the one you can see the sheer concentration that they put in before the obligatory “1, 2, 3, GO” command was given.
Going to Riga 1 corps on Sunday was going to be difficult. For me, Riga 1 has been the corps I have spent the longest time at of any corps I’ve soldiered at. With the way officership works this is likely to remain the case until the day I retire! Sian couldn’t quite understand why we were “going back home”. For those who don’t get this, for the last 6 years we’ve lived, worked and worshipped within the same building and for Sian the whole building has been her own supersized house. She’s been equally at home in the flat, Corps, Patverums, and Regional Headquarters!
The meeting itself was really good, if a little noisy from the various children, at times. Both of us got a chance to have a word, mine being a testimony I’ve been trying to give for a couple of weeks now, and Zoe’s being the Smith family farewell message! We were prayed for as a family and for me personally, that settled my mind a little bit more!
Sunday night saw us back at Sarah & Aivis’s and Aivis took a few family pictures for us on both my camera and his own.
Then came Monday. After a hectic morning finalising the repacking of the holiday bags we headed back over to Regional Headquarters for the final little things and the official farewell. A few words were said by our Regional Commander before we had coffee and then we just spending time chatting to people. We did our final bits and pieces and then left for the airport.
Everything went really smoothly and after a quick and uneventful flight we arrived at Gatwick to see Zoe’s mum and step-dad, and The Salvation Army’s Overseas Services Secretary, Elizabeth Burns, waiting for us. After a lovely cup of iced latte (paid for by THQ) we loaded up the cars and headed off up the motorway to Taunton, where we finally arrived at 11:40pm.
A long and emotional day was finally over. The reality of our return has not really started to sink in yet. As I write we’ve been back less than 24 hours and both our girls are fast asleep in bed. The next few days will be quite busy, but its nice to be able to relax fully for the first time in weeks.
Well the Latvia adventure is nearly over! In less than a week our stuff will be taken away by the removal company and we will be staying at Sarah’s for 3 nights. Which means in 9 days from now we will be on a plane flying back to England!
Friday was a strange day! We said goodbye to Evie of course and I basically finished up the last but one job that I have to do. Now all I have to do is finalise my ‘brief’ and meet with the Regional Commanders and I will be done here.
We are not the only English people leaving the country. The British Ambassador is also leaving and when I opened my e-mail on Friday I discovered an invite for Zoe & I to go to their residence for a dinner on Wednesday. Our Ambassador and his wife are really nice people, who we have had the privilege of meeting a number of times. They have also been very supportive since finding out about Patverums, so it will be nice to spend some time with them before we leave, even though we will be only 2 amongst quite a number of people.
So our 5 years, 10 months and 13 days are almost over and we’ll have so many memories, and of course will be taking two beautiful girls back to England with us! Not sure how much I’ll get to blog before we leave but I have a few things in the pipeline!
Today sees us with only 5 weeks left in Latvia, and consequently we are seeing the start of the ‘last things’. Yesterday, saw my last sermon at my current corps. During the meeting I realised that I have spent longer as a soldier here than at any other Corps I have ever been in. It really is amazing to look at how much it has changed over the years and to see the potential it has for the future!
I sense that it is on the cusp of something amazing. There seems to be a lot bubbling beneath the surface just waiting for an opportunity to burst forth in the power of the Spirit. I think this is one of the reasons why so many of the foreigners are returning ‘from whence they came’. In order to be really effective those of us who have been a support over the last few years need to leave and others need to step up and take on responsibility. We have already seen that amongst the young people and I suspect that they will be the driving force over the coming years as they seek to follow God’s will for the corps.
The same can be said for the whole Salvation Army in Latvia. We have so much potential here for reaching out to the lost, but need to find our own way. There is a danger that we just import wholesale the methods of the Army, or the Church in general, from other parts of the world and expect to see it achieve the same things here as it has elsewhere. I don’t agree with this! I pray that there will be those who will seek God’s will and follow the path that Jesus has set before the Army here, so that it becomes effective in a way that will reach the people of Latvia.
And so the most significant weekend in my almost 6 years in Latvia is over. Last night we witnessed the commissioning of 6 new officers of The Salvation Army. It was, without doubt, one of the most emotional and inspirational meetings I have ever been in. I’m sure the only commissioning that will ever top this one will be my own! The presence of the Spirit was evident and you felt a sense that there was a smile on the face of God at the obvious enthusiasm and depth of feeling of these 6 covenanted Heralds of the Good News!
This commissioning takes the officer total in Latvia from 8 to 14, and if you exclude the foreigners it makes it from 2 to 8, which is a significant increase. They have been 18 months in training but many more years in preparation and these 6 men and women from God have a mighty task! However, what is very clear is that they believe in a mighty God, through whose Spirit they will be able to accomplish the task He has for them.
The task ahead of them is incredible. 2 will be building up a Russian speaking ministry in Riga which is a city in which more than 50% of the population speak Russian as a first language. 2 will be off to a corps that has shrunk significantly in recent years, but has just moved to a new location and has great potential. 1 will be leaving the city behind and working in two deeply impoverished small towns where the Army is the only expression of the Church. The last will be building up the youth work in Latvia’s second city as well as being involved in developing the Lord’s work through the Army in some of the most impoverished areas of Latvia, along with the current corps officers.
God bless the newest captains of The Salvation Army and God bless His Army in Latvia and across the world!