A little time in Riga

This past weekend our family had the opportunity to travel to Riga, Latvia for a Greater Europe Mission Baltic Regional Conference. The GEM Baltic Region is composed of the Scandinavian countries (Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark), Finland, and the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). We were able to meet other GEM'ers who work in Latvia and Finland (GEM has no workers in the other countries). Our regional director was there with an update from GEM headquarters as to the changing direction of the mission (more on that in another post).

We stayed in a retreat center about 2 hours outside of Riga. It was very nice and relaxing. We experienced our first true Finnish style 'sauna'. Any of you having experienced a dry sauna in an American hotel may think you have as well, but if that is your only experience I can assure you that you have not experienced a true 'sauna'. Latvians follow the Finnish style of sauna in which you enter the sauna sans clothing (so there was no 'mixed bathing' here!) into a room hotter than anything I have yet experienced. Once you sit down and adjust to the heat (i.e., learn how to breathe again) someone pours water on the lava rocks and then it gets about 20-30 degrees hotter! I literally could not breathe for awhile. I don't think I suffered any drain bamage, but I'm not sure, it seemed like a long time without air! Once your skin is nearly baked off, someone takes a makeshift broom and starts whacking you with it. Apparently this is to increase one's circulation, I guess it worked, as I was ready for the next phase...initiation into the Latvian polar bear club. Oh yes, after the baking and the whacking it was time for the frigid dipping. We went down to the dock (with our trunks!) and then went feet first into the freezing cold water until we were totally submerged. After shooting up from the water like a 'flaming (?)' rocket I walked crazily back to the sauna to do it again. After doing this for over an hour (some die hards do this for six!) we retired to a social room for a nice snack of pistachios and drinks. Do I feel more healthy? Oh yes, now if only all of that would make my stomach shrink. Oh well, we have fresh salad again for that purpose. --MM☧

Comments

[Craig Schill]

Wow - that leaves me speechless. Put that in the "they didn't teach us that in seminary" category, huh?

LCCC prays for you often. Blessings --

Pastor Craig

[Granny and Papa Cooper]

Abigail's face looks so cute ...
wow .. it's a wonder it did make you totally sick.. getting hot and then cold !!!
oh, well, that's how the weather is in Okla. Panhandle.. cold one day and hot the next ... anxious to see you all ....
Love you, Granny / Papa

[tim & jenny]

Um, you said the weekend was relaxing?? that sauna sounds like some kind of shock therapy! :)

Seriously, mission conferences are nice... often a chance to go someplace different, get rejuvenated, and be encouraged by fellow missionaries. Hopefully it was truly refreshing for you all.

Always thinking of you and praying for you!

-jenny