Working to expand English offerings in Rīga

Dear friends in Christ,

Greetings to you in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ! We hope that you all had the opportunity to gather together with other faithful believers to remember our Lord’s death and to celebrate his glorious resurrection. We were grateful for the chance to gather with the other missionary families and some other English-speaking guests for the Easter service at St. John’s in Riga.

The missionaries here in Riga are moving forward with plans to bolster the English language mission work going on in the city. We have previously been holding services twice a month, but we have added 5th Sundays now and are looking to expand further. In order to truly plant a congregation, consistency is key. The difficulty that we face is that the Lawsons are currently on home service, and when they get back, we will be going on home service, and the Rajeks will be heading back to the US as Rev. Dr. Rajek moves into his new position as Executive Director of the Office of International Mission. This means that we will be a bit shorthanded while trying to fulfill our larger responsibilities with the Academy. As such, we will start weekly English services in August when everyone has returned to Riga.

These English services are becoming an important element of ministry and outreach, and we want to be more intentional about expanding it. I recently heard from a young man earlier this year who had stopped in for worship while he was traveling; he went home and has become more engaged with our faith and has gotten involved in a mission effort that the LCMS is starting in his home country as well. Further, after our Easter Sunday service, I was approached by a young man who is here for medical school asking to learn more about our faith and desiring to grow as he is able to worship with us in English. One never knows the impact that a single conversation or a few minutes of interaction can have! Of course, we desire more than just a few moments and hope to connect all people with our Lord through Word and Sacrament ministry! Please continue to pray for the outreach of the mission here in Riga, not only with our students at the Academy, but also through the English services as well. 

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Cundiff

A special edition of Carter's Corner

Hello! This month has been wonderful with awesome events such as Easter, two sleepovers, the World Scholar’s Cup, and hanging out with friends. On Easter, we went to our English service, then went to another missionary’s house (the Bobby’s), where I hung out with their younger kids. At the last few English services, there is a young man named Artyom (pronounced Ar-TOOM), who is the son of the Russian-language teacher of another missionary here. He is interested in the faith, so I help him learn the order of service, and he seems to enjoy it. My friend from school had a sleepover at our apartment, and we had a pretty good time. 

Now for the very, very good part: the World Scholars Cup (WSC)! This was single-handedly one of the best events I have ever been to. There were various events. The first thing was a test with 120 questions and had five answer bubbles. If you filled in one bubble and got it right, you would earn one point; if two bubbles were filled in; if three, then one-third of a point, and so on, all the way to five. The next thing was debates. We won two out of three debates. The debate topics were very interesting, 1 about a what-if, 1 about planes, and 1 about flags. Then I had a sleepover at my good friend’s house, and that was really cool. Day 2 of the WSC was also fun. There was a quiz game with you and your team, and you had a buzzer to buzz into one of five answers. After that, there was a talent show (though I didn’t participate in that one), and then there were awards. I got four silver medals and one gold medal. I got my silver medals for 15th place Overall Scholar, 5th place Debate Team, 6th place Challenge Team, and 15th place Debater. My gold medal was for winning the Challenge (that big individual quiz) in Literature and Media. Our school won the most medals, and we all worked very hard for them – no participation medals or trophies here!

Have a wonderful month and God bless!