Living in the USA

Hello Everyone!

Our time in the USA has been interesting to say the least. God has provided for all of our needs and we continue to praise Him. My recovery has not gone as well or as quickly as I would like. I continue to have physical therapy twice a week with an exercise regimen I do twice a day at home. We just heard today that our medical leave has been extended at least until August 8th. This is to facilitate diagnostic and treatment options.

Even in the midst of the struggle midst of the struggle God is faithful. There is a Casting Crowns song, "Praise You In This Storm", on Christian radio that has really ministered to me lately. The lyrics of the chorus are;

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm.

That's what I am doing and that's what I believe. No matter what I will remain faithful to my Lord. There is amazing comfort in knowing that "all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose." Both those conditions apply to me.

I hope that this finds all is well with you and yours. Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you.

Still seeking to serve,

Paul

Family

Hello Everyone!

It has been awhile since I posted. Here is a snapshot of what has been happening. We left Latvia intending to return to the States for a few weeks to participate in our niece's wedding. While here I went to see the doctor who was my family doctor before leaving California. He has some concerns about my level of pain and continuing back difficulties. He advised me to stay here for a few months, get some physical therapy and perhaps some further diagnostics for my back. The IMB agreed and so we are settled in temporary housing in Redlands, CA for the time being. I will see my doctor again Monday and I am waiting to hear from the physical therapist to begin PT.

What I really wanted to talk about today is "family". We have had the joy of spending time with our earthly families since we have been home. Kathy's sister and brother-in-law have been wonderful. They were extremely gracious as we stayed in their home for three weeks. They have loved us, cared for us and encouraged us. Nate also had the opportunity to get to know and play with his cousin Landyn.

We also had the chance to see my family. It was great to catch up. Even though we had not seen each other in over a year we still felt comfortable and loved around them.

The Bible talks about us being "members of one Body". Today I am thinking of this as being part of a big "extended family". We have been amazed at how much God has used our extended spiritual family to meet our needs. No matter where we have been, whether in Africa, in the USA, in Latvia, or anywhere else in the world, God has worked through our Christian family to meet our needs.

When we were preparing to move to Latvia our church family walked alongside us to help us get everything done that needed to be done. When we arrived in Latvia our Latvian brothers and sisters in Christ immediately reached out to us and secured an apartment for us. Our Latvian family continued to make sure that we had everything we needed from internet to transportation to accompanying us to the immigration office.

Now we have returned to the States to try to get my back issues dealt with. Through our extended spiritual family He has provided housing, transportation, household goods among other things. In addition, we have enjoyed the reconnecting with this spiritual family. I cannot tell you how many times we have heard (sincerely expressed) the words, "If you need anything, please call."

I am always humbled by God's grace to me, that "while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me." However, more and more I find myself amazed not simply by what Christ saved me from but what He saved me to. We are truly blessed to be His children and to share His love in our great big extended family!

P.s. - Please take note of our new contact information. I will try to keep this information as up to date as possible during this time of transition.

The Latest

Hello Everyone,

I know it has been awhile since I posted. We have been in midst of transition and have been waiting until we got a little settled before I updated everyone. Here is what has been happening:

As you all know I have been dealing with serious back issues since last June which included major back surgery in August. On of the complications of my back issues and surgery was "facet joint inflammation" which the surgeon attributed primarily to climate. This led to the surgeon's strong recommendation that we relocate.

After a couple of months of discussion the decision was made for us to relocate to Macedonia. In a future post I will go into more detail regarding the position in Macedonia. During this time we were planning to return to the States to participate in the wedding of Kathy's niece. Because we were going to the States it was decided that we should go ahead and transition directly from the States to the new assignment. This part of the decision was communicated to us just 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave for Phoenix. We suddenly went from packing for a vacation to packing for a move. Our belongings in Latvia (most of our personal goods have remained in storage in the USA pending a permanent address, but that's another story) are now in storage in Riga and a friend will arrange shipping for us when the time comes.

We traveled to the States and had the opportunity to spend a few days in Southern California before the wedding in Phoenix. While is Highland, CA, I took the opportunity to visit my previous family doctor to get his opinion and some anti-inflammatory medication. My doctor was very concerned about my level of pain this far post operative. While he thinks much of my pain may still be related to climate he recommended that we remain in the States for three months to have physical therapy, remain on the anti-inflammatory medication and see in the climate does allow for significant improvement in my condition. If there is not significant improvement then he would want to do further diagnostics and perhaps refer me to another ortho/spine specialist. We sent these recommendations on to our medical department and heard on Friday that they agree with the recommendations.

The bottom line of this that we are going to be staying in the Highland/Redlands area for the time being. When we have further contact information I will post it. Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's clear direction and timing in our lives. We are thankful for an agency that puts such a high priority on our health and well being. We also hope to have opportunity to see many of you during this unexpected extension of our time in the States.

Simple Lessons

We had been in Prague, Czech Republic, for five days at a special conference with colleagues, all of us having been on the field for around a year. Most of the people attending this conference had also been in orientation with us so it was a wonderful time of catching up and fellowship. Now it was time to return to Riga.

We were told that a shuttle van would be there to take us to the airport at 9:00. We were also told that it would be best if we were "at the curb" at that time for our pick up. There were four of our colleagues who were to take the same shuttle. Nate was anxious so we went out to the "curb" early while our friends waited in the hotel lobby for the shuttle to arrive.

We had only been standing there for a few minutes when one of our friends came out to tell us that there had been some sort of mix up and the shuttle would not be coming. I asked how would we get to the airport, and our friend said, "I don't know. The lady at the office just said the shuttle wasn't coming and she would work on how to get us to the airport."

As we went into the lobby God prompted me that this was a good teachable moment for Nate. We tell Nate all the time that we can stop and pray for anything. So when we were inside and Nate had gone to sit with his two "aunts" (our colleagues here are referred to as aunt and uncle to make it a little easier for the kids) I explained to Nate that the shuttle wasn't coming. I asked him what we should do. Nate said, "I don't know, what?" I replied, "I think you should pray to God and ask Him to send us a taxi or van to take us to the airport." Immediately, Nate folded his hands, bowed his head and said, "Dear God, could you please send us a taxi to take us to the airport. Amen." I thought, "This is good because whenever our ride to the airport comes we can thank God and Nate would see God answer his prayers."

Moments later I had one of those "Oh ye of little faith" moments. Within five minutes of Nate's prayer a taxi driver walked into the lobby, over to our group and said,"Pol Rid?" I looked somewhat in amazement and said, "Paul Reed?" "Yes", said the driver. "I take you to the airport." I looked over to my precious little son and said, "Nate, God sent us a taxi. What should we do now?" Nate bowed his head and said, "Thank you God for sending a taxi for us. Amen" Once again I was amazed and humbled by my son's believing faith.

Lauris Zukulis

In the southeastern part of Latvia there is a region called Latgale. This region has a long history of independence and was only incorporated into Latvia proper by a treaty in 1920. Some would say that Latgalian in a dialect of Latvian. Others would say that because Latgalian has its’ own standardized written form that it is a separate and distinct language. The Latgale region has a large ethnically Russian population especially in the city of Daugavpils, but most Latgalians would consider themselves to separate from this group as well. The region is strongly Catholic by confession and fiercely independent.

For many years, in fact, for generations both Latvian and Russian speaking Latvian Baptists have attempted to start evangelical Baptist churches in this region. None of these efforts have succeeded. The consensus of opinion has been that this is primarily due to the fact that all of these efforts have been attempted by non-Latgalians. In addition, none of these efforts have been attempted in the Latgalian language. This lack of church planting success in an area of such need has led to a long and passionate prayer effort. Now, in the 2009 class of BPI students, we believe God has begun to answer these prayers.

Lauris Zukulis is one of our 2009 students. He has come to faith out of a Catholic background. He is a gifted artist and is passionate about sharing the gospel. There are two other things that we are praising God for in bringing Lauris to study and prepare for ministry here at BPI. You see, Lauris is Latgalian and believes that God is calling him to start the first Baptist church in the Latgalian language!

Please pray with us as we train, equip and encourage Lauris to follow God’s call. Pray that Lauris would be strengthened in this pursuit and that God will provide the resources he needs to launch a church planting church in the Latgale Region!

The Easy Way and The Hard Way

It is a cliche from Hollywood cop movies. A policeman is interrogating a suspect. The policeman leans forward and says; “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” We have experienced this when it comes to learning about and living in a new culture. We experienced doing things the “easy” way, by reading, watching and spending time with friends. We have also experienced that sometimes we learn the “hard” way.

Our hearts sank as we approached our parked car and saw yet ANOTHER ticket on the window. Just as in the three previous occurrences, we had no idea what we had done wrong. (Would you know, for example, that you cannot park across from a T-intersection??) Finding out is completely humbling – we show our ticket to a Latvian friend or colleague and ask him/her to explain what it says. Then we take the ticket to the post office, where we pay all of our bills, and smile politely as the clerk processes our payment. We can only imagine what is said after we leave!

We have some American friends who were publicly chastised for letting their children run on the grass in the park. Who knew that you were supposed to keep your children on the sidewalks, in a park, with wide expanses of inviting green grass? So, in an urban environment dominated by apartment buildings, where ARE children supposed to run and play if they can’t run on the grass in the park? We still wonder about things like this and are so grateful God provided an apartment outside of the city center so Nate can run in the woods behind our apartment building.

We had arranged to meet some friends for dinner on New Year’s Eve at a local complex with a huge restaurant and amusement center. We were surprised by the lack of traffic which enabled us to arrive a half hour early. As we walked around while waiting for our friends, we noticed the lights were being turned off. Everything was shutting down at 6 pm! We called our friends and they suggested we meet at a nearby McDonald’s. Two minutes later our friends phoned back and said that McDonald’s was also closing, so we should rendezvous back at their apartment. These folks have been here nearly 10 years and they had no idea that most establishments closed so early on New Year’s Eve.

It was Christmas Eve and we had intended to go to the only English Christmas Eve service in the city. Our hearts sank again as we approached our parked car, in our secure underground parking facility, and saw that the car had been vandalized. The front passenger window was gone and shattered glass was everywhere. Our plans immediately changed once we saw the car. How do you handle things like this here? What police bureau do you contact? In this culture everyone celebrates Christmas with their family on Christmas Eve, so how do you even find answers to these questions when you don’t want to intrude on someone’s holiday?

Yes, sometimes we learn about culture the hard way. Many times this happens through some violation – either by us or to us. In either case, it is a rough way to gain knowledge. However, God continues to demonstrate His grace in even these situations. This was evident on Christmas Eve when Paul went back down to the car to take photos and an inventory of what was stolen. An English-speaking neighbor, who happened to be down there at the same time, noticed him doing this. It turned out that her car had also been broken into. She had already contacted the police, officers had already been on-site, and had noted the damage to our vehicle. She provided the police station phone number and said the police were awaiting our call. Sure enough, when Paul called and got an English-speaking person, he heard, “Oh, you’re the owner of the Honda!” An English-speaking police officer came with the detective to lead us through the reporting process. With both the neighbor and the police officer Paul was able to demonstrate God’s grace and forgiveness as he focused on the blessings of the season.

These experiences remind us of our walk with Jesus Christ. We often have opportunity to learn and grow the easy way, through reading the Word and taking to heart the example of others. We also have the opportunity to learn the hard way. Sometimes this is due to our own ignorance or foolish choices. Sometimes this is due to actions and circumstances beyond our control. Whether easy or hard, we must strive to remember that in every circumstance, in every situation, God will “cause all things to work together for good, for those who love Him, for those called according to His purpose.” Not every situation or event will be good but we can confidently claim God’s sovereign grace in them all. This allows us to be joyful and thankful in, and in spite of, all that this life brings us.