The joy of meetings (no, really!)

Dear friends in Christ, 

May was a very busy month for us here in Latvia! Not only did we host a group of students from Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne (more on that later), but we also had our first in-person faculty meeting for Luther Academy. 

Now, that may not sound like such an exciting event. No one likes meetings, right? And this meeting lasted for three days! So why was it so important? Because we were actually in person. We gathered together for this, which is not always easy as some of our teachers live in other parts of Europe. In fact, for some of us, it was the first time meeting each other in person. 

During these days, we not only enjoyed fellowship and bonding as brothers and coworkers, but we also set up some important things for the future of the Academy. The faculty will meet at least twice a year for theological debate and discussion, making available written works from these events when deemed helpful or necessary. We defined more clearly our roles within the Academy while recognizing that, at this time, it is still “all hands on deck,” and people need to be available to teach where needed. 

One of the other really interesting parts of that week was my first sauna experience. In the Baltics and Northern Europe, saunas are very popular, and many people include them as an almost weekly event. This sauna was not at all like a sauna in a hotel in the US. The air temperature in the sauna was around 188 degrees! At those temperatures, you can only really be in the room for about 10 minutes, then you go out and wash off and cool down before going back in. After the third or fourth time, while still in the hot room, someone takes small branches that have been soaking in hot water and beats them along your body and limbs. 

It was certainly an interesting experience, but why share this with everyone? Because this is part of our mission work. Sauna is a significant part of the culture here in Latvia, and our Latvian colleague, Jēkabs, was so excited to share this aspect of his culture with us. Learning the culture and participating in it helps our partnerships grow. Thanks be to God for the fellowship and friendship that God continues to develop between the LCMS and the ELCL (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia)! 
 

In Christ’s service,

Pastor Cundiff 

A different kind of short-term mission...

On May 21st, we dove into hosting nine seminary students (7 seminarians and 2 deaconess students) and their professor, Dr. Detlev Schulz, from Concordia Theological Seminary. Along with fellow missionary Chelsea Irwin (currently serving in the Czech Republic), we had the pleasure of showing off this beautiful country.

We had many, many excursions to museums and significant locations in and around Rīga. These included the Rumbula Forest Memorial, the Ghetto and Holocaust Museum, House of the Blackheads (see the info about Saint Maurice below), KGB building, the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, along with many church and castle tours. 

This may sound like a typical “touristy” itinerary, but the main thrust of bringing this group across the globe was not just to sightsee. 

Most Americans are unaware of the long history of Christianity (800 years of Christianity and 500 years of Lutheranism) and the severe oppression due to Nazi and Soviet occupation. Our goal was to bring all this information to light for the American team. To achieve this, Luther Academy graciously allowed us space and lecturers on these various topics. 

The team was also able to meet with students and instructors from both the Latvian and English streams of Luther Academy (in-person and via Zoom, respectively). It was great to see them all interacting, asking questions about their cultures and church bodies, and speaking in several languages, including German and Russian. We were able to show the students how the mission field works in this particular part of the region – through education and the English worship service here in Rīga.

It was phenomenal to engage with this team from Fort Wayne, and we look forward to continued correspondence with them as they progress through their respective programs and out into their ministries. And, who knows…maybe some of them will become missionaries, too!