We're in Latvia! Arrived last night around 10pm. We're staying in a hostel in Riga until tomorrow, when the team will take a train to Rezekne and get ready for Zosna Camp. The past couple of days have been a bit of a whirlwind, hence my lack of journal entries. Thursday was supposed to be a day of "rest and prep," doing some tidying up around the hostel and packing for Latvia but otherwise laid back. Instead, it ended up being a full day of pouring concrete for the new basement flooring and also some exterior sections. I'm never opposed to doing some good man-work, but it was slightly inconvenient timing. I feel like I didn't really get a chance to put in some extra prep time that I would have liked to for the Bible studies, campfire coordination and planning, and getting a seminar that I'm leading with Joshua on 'identity' ready to go. Such is life. I think some people were pretty upset that out "free day" ended up getting usurped, but the way I tried to look at it was that I came here, first and foremost, to serve... and if that involves lugging wheelbarrow-fulls of concrete around on a day I had planned to relax, so be it. I'm not sure where the miscommunication was, but that doesn't really concern me. All I needed to do (and, I hope, was able to do) was my job, which more or less consisted of doing the kind of work I love: being outside, doing physically strenuous tasks, and hanging out with some quality fellow workers.

By the end of the day Thursday, I was super-exhausted... after four long, hard days of work I was ready for some well-earned rest. Unfortunately, I didn't end up sleeping particularly well that night - by the time I finished packing up my stuff and eating strawberry shortcake (Thomas and Anina's son, Jacob, had a birthday party, so I of course had to partake of the food and festivities) it was after midnight. And, of course, I had a hard time felling asleep even then, between thinking about the day and also getting all keyed up about leaving for Latvia the next morning. But I did manage to catch a few hours of slumber before the night completely disappeared.

Yesterday was a full day of travel - had a hearty pancake breakfast to kick off the day, sang the Star Spangled Banner before breakfast to commemorate the day, and then hopped on the 9:40 bus out of Skjolden. We arrived at the Oslo airport at 5:30 after a long but beautiful bus ride, got our tickets and made it through security without any hassles (Cody managed to smuggle his small plastic sword through, which he of course was justifiably ecstatic about), and our flight left right on time at 7:30. Arrived in Riga at 10:15 local time (one hour difference), and we finally got to bed around midnight. As usual, I was unable to sleep on either the bus or the plane, but I did get in a solid seven hours last night so I was feeling fairly bright and chipper this morning.

I was talking to Cody for a little while on the bus ride to Oslo, and we both mentioned how thankful we were for each others good attitude over the past 3-4 days of work. I told him that I had just enough willpower to get myself through the day and that I was glad he didn't need me to prop him up and keep him motivated. I've been in situations before where I was doing total crap jobs and had to not only keep myself motivated but also had to be continually pulling and pushing other along as well. not much fun, especially if you're struggling just to make it through the day yourself.

Anyways, we made it to Riga without any trouble, met up with Steve and Debs and the rest of the U.K. team, and made our way (thanks to Steve's guidance) to City Hostel, which is located right in downtown Riga. It's a splendid place - quite a change of pace from Fun Friendly Frank's, where we stayed last year. It's smaller, quieter, no drunken revelers parading around the premises at all hours, and it's in an ideally central location in the city.

We've spent all of today in Riga, seeing the sights... started off the day with a team meeting at 9, talked a little bit about the day, and spent some time looking at Philippians 1 (we'll be going through the book as a team over the next week or so). Beth was leading the discussion, and she posed the question, "What do you long for?" That's a tough one... I've been mulling it over for most of the day. What do I long for? Is it food? Fellowship? Relationships? Companionship? God? I think I need to spend some more time meditating on that question, because it's a doozie, with all sorts of potential ramifications.

Breakfast was great - ate at the pancake house, which makes some of the world's greatest pancakes - and then we walked around and saw some of the city sights. We visited the Freedom Monument, a museum commemorating the long history of Latvia's occupation, strolled through some pretty parks, and then stopped in at an incredibly elaborate and ornate Greek Orthodox church. I could probably fill most of this notebook with though from and related to that church... but suffice it to say that it was very interesting, and a very different style of architecture and worship that your average Protestant would be used to.

I've been trying to watch and observe our team today and try to get a feel for how they'll react as individuals and as a group once we arrive at camp. Frankly, I'm slightly worried, both for a few people and for the team as a whole. I know God can and probably will do some incredible stuff no matter what, but I'm not sure how much we'll be able to accomplish without a clear sense of unity, which up to this point at least seems to be lacking. Maybe it will come... I sure hope it does. The usual equation for unity is something like "(number of days spent together + hours spent doing service projects) / (number of people x (number of different cultures squared))." A positive number should indicate a high potential for unity, and a negative number a low potential. So, according to my calculations... I have no idea. I think we're probably right on the cusp of breaking into some solid positive numbers, but we can't afford to let any personal or cultural differences hinder our ministry at Zosna Camp.

Today has been a weird sort of day for me emotionally. Over the past few years, it seems like God has been creating a heightened awareness in me of pain in other people's lives, which is sort of a mixed blessing. What can you do for someone who's soul is obviously wounded besides pray? I don't know... prayer feels so underwhelming in a situation like that, but at the same time I know it's the best possible reaction. Helplessness may not be a great feeling, but it does allow God greater liberty to work His healing power in our lives.

Spent the afternoon at the beach, which was fantastic. I love the beach... even if the view is slightly degraded due to too many people wearing too little clothing. When there's nothing left to the imagination, the human body becomes slightly less appealing (at least to me). Anyways, it's been another long day, and this is my last night of sleep in a real bed for over a week, so I'm outta here.