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First Baptist Church

MISSION: CESIS Cesis Baptist Church


Athens, Texas Cesis, Latvia

 MISSION NEWSLETTER 2007—2008

October 15, 2007 Volume 1, No. 5

Cesis Orphanage Closes Down


In Latvia, most of the or- for a short period of time, They will just pack up what few belongings they have
phanages are the responsi- we had already begun to and move on down the road. This means changing
bility of the local govern- develop some great rela- schools, friends, etc. Most of us have faced moves like
ment council. As such, tionships. You have to ad- this in our life-time but we probably had a family sup-
financial decisions some- mire these kids (10-18 years port system. Most of the kids that we have become
times impact the children old) that have had such a friends with will be close enough that we can possibly
greatly. The Cesis orphan- tough time in life already. visit them. We hope they will keep in contact with us
age that we and invite us to
have been work- visit in their new
ing with has home. Please
had the threat continue to pray
of closing for for them as they
some time but make this move
now it is a real- to their new loca-
ity. All of the tion. These
kids will be youngsters in-
placed in an- clude: Kasparas,
other home by Janis, Linda,
the 17th of Guido, Gunars,
October. For Sandis, Toms,
Laura and me Janis O., Ugis,
that means that and Daniels.
our work in this
children’s home
is done. Even
though we have
only been going

Winter Weather Arrives


From a mild summer, to a beau- have a wood-burning heater for our well. We will see who can out-wait the
tiful fall, we have now moved only source of heat but it does a other when it really gets cold and one of
into the beginnings of winter. It great job. We have a woodshed in us is going to have to get up early in the
is now dropping almost to the the backyard of our apartment com- morning and get the fire going. We have
32 degree mark on some nights. plex and we restock our wood-box found some re-sale shops that offer
There has been some snow each day. It is not quite like walking clothes more suited to this climate, so it
about 100 miles north of us, so over to the thermostat and starting looks like we are going to be dressed
we can expect some soon. We the central heat but we are adjusting warmly.
Fall Festival and In-Gathering
We have been trying to do more time for the church to come to- hope they enjoyed it enough to con-
‘total’ church fellowships and one gether for a meal and fellowship; it tinue doing something similar in
idea that came up was to have com- was also a time for a gathering of the following months. It is a little
bination fall festival, thanksgiving, fresh and canned vegetables to be more difficult here because the
and in-gathering. This first festival taken to the needy. There is a prob- church building we use has no fel-
was held on Sunday, Oct. 14. Every- lem here of not enough food for lowship hall or areas that can be
one in Latvia seems to have a gar- some people so this is a great way to used for meals. We had to borrow
den of some size, even the apart- get them some much needed nutri- another congregation’s hall for this
ment dwellers. They obviously have tious food and for the people of the event. Here are some of the photos
‘green-thumbs’ as they produce church to show their thanks for the from the event:
some of the best vegetables any- many blessings God has provided.
where. Just as in Texas, most of During the festival, the people en-
these gardeners have more than joyed games, having their pictures
they can use, so not only was this a taken and some great food. We

Aiga, Pastor Olegs, Pa- Peteris and Inese Scare-


Gaida talking it over
tricks and Laura crow

Youth Meetings — Wednesdays!


The Cesis Youth brownies, Bible lesson. We have a translator avail-
meetings con- (which they able that helps us with the language
tinue to grow and haven’t had when needed. We have talked about
we have seen before) chips, trying to find a room that we could rent
some very posi- dips, etc. for for the meetings as it gets cramped in
tive signs from them. They our flat at times. The kids seem to like
our youth. We are just like it however, so we will continue here for
are now averaging all teen-agers, awhile. If (when!) we grow larger we will
over 15 students always hun- have to move. The church we meet in
each Wednesday gry. When for regular services is not an option
night. Most we finish the because it also has wood heat. If the
nights we will begin with food, one of wood heater is not fired up for quite a
some sort of game or Youth meeting . . . us will pre- few hours it will be too cold to meet
physical activity. Laura sent a short there. We have a couple of options we
always has cookies, devotional or will be exploring.

Page 2 Mission: CESIS


Ladies Bible Study
The Ladies’ Bible Study meets each their own lives. It is always a blessing for
Tuesday at our flat. It is a great group us to host this group in our home.
of women that are becoming closer as
they study God’s word. Most of the
studies so far have been from the book
CONTACT INFORMATION
of Philippians. Laura teaches through a
translator, using pictures, written text MARK & LAURA WIMBERLEY
and Bible verses. Most of the group is MWimberley2005@yahoo.com
from Cesis Baptist Church so they are
also able to plan future events that the BLOG:
church is to be involved in. From these www.cesislatvia.blogspot.com
meetings they have begun to be more PICTURES: Ladies Bible Study . . .
open to the idea of servant-evangelism
http://picasaweb.google.com/MBerley
and helping others. Several of these
ladies have overcome such hardship in

Cesis Baptist Church: Pastor Olegs and Iveta


Cesis Baptist Church is led by Pastor employee of the church. He must have
Olegs Jermolajevs. Officially becoming another job that will provide his finan-
the pastor in January of 2006, he leads cial support. Along with being the
the church while also holding down a church leader, Olegs fills the usual roles
full-time job at the Latvian Seminary. that sometimes are held by other minis-
There are not enough preachers to ters in US churches. You can find him
cover the churches of Latvia so on leading worship music, directing Sun-
many Sundays Olegs will preach in at day School, organizing events, counsel-
least two different congregations. This ing and any thing else the church and
is very common in Latvia as well as the its people need. Cesis is very fortunate Olegs, Iveta & Roberts
idea that the pastor is not a full-time to have a man of his ability as its pastor.

Some pictures of our work, our friends, our town . . .

Ladies’ Bible Study

Summer campers in 3-
on-3 tournament

Castle Park Lake — in


the fall

Volume 1, No. 5 Page 3


Fall Pictures of Cesis, Latvia

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