My Trip To Latvia

By Sarah Sprecher

This summer I was blessed with the opportunity to travel across the world to the country of Latvia. Latvia is a small country off the coast of the Baltic Sea, near Russia. While over there, we had the wonderful opportunity to work with children in an orphanage.

One of our activities was to run a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for any of the orphan kids interested in attending. There were kids from ages four to eighteen. It was a very precious time that we got to spend with these children. The first day we were suppose to start at the orphanage there was a church from the area that was doing games and crafts with the little kids, so we helped them and played with the older kids. Sunday, we took some of the older children to a local Baptist church and then for a day of bowling. Monday, we started our first session of VBS; the theme for the week was Diving In. My group had boys ages nine to twelve. We spent the entire week learning about water, like how Jesus calmed the storm, the woman at the well, how Peter caught lots of fish after Jesus told him to cast his net on the other side of the boat, and a few other stories dealing with water. One thing that was really touching was the last day; we handed out Bibles; that we had highlighted certain verses in, to each child in our group. The boys were so happy to get them. One of the boys came back to us after all the others had gone and said that he was very thankful for us being there, teaching him about Jesus.

All the games we played also involved water, which was rather fun because it was very hot out! The kids enjoyed the water games as well, especially when they got us wet. Several games involved throwing sponges and water balloons. By the end of the week, it became more of a game to see who could get the Americans the wettest. One game we played was called Penguin, we had the older kids put a younger kid in a towel and run with them around a cone and back. One boy in my group must have liked this game a lot because the rest of the day he kept coming up to us saying Penguin Penguin, it was very cute.

The kids also did crafts. They decorated flip flops to wear to our beach outing on Wednesday. They made foam fish necklaces and put a Bible verse on it. They also made book marks and flip flop key chains. We sang songs at the beginning of every morning. We sang Deep and Wide, Fishers of Men, Yes Jesus Loves Me, and the chorus to He Knows My Name. Watching those kids do the motions to the songs was adorable. One morning the toddlers came up to sing with us. I will never forget one of my favorite little boys coming over to help me do motions to Deep and Wide and holding him during worship.

This mission’s trip was very different than the others I’ve been on. On this one, we worked entirely with the children and spent every moment we could with them. This trip has showed me that I have more of a heart for missions than I realized. The relationships I made with two special children I will never forget. One little girl became my little water buddy when we went to the Sea and on the way home she feel asleep on my lap. The last day we were there, she and I spent the majority of the afternoon playing with a beach ball and running around. When I went to say goodbye to her she just stared at me with her beautiful blue eyes and adorable smile and would not let go of me. The little boy I mentioned earlier that was helping me with the songs also became my little buddy and we would blow bubbles forever. He loved to be held and have me run around with him. I have a special place for all these children in my heart, I will never forget them and hope one day to see them again.