The Salvation Army opened the Patvērums Childrens Day Centre in March 2002 to provide a safe environment for underprivileged children from the local community in Riga.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
The first 'Prayer Hour'
Yesterday we held the first 'Prayer Hour' and we are very please to say it was a success!
We were naturally uncertain as to whether any children or parents would attend and if so how it would go but we should have had more faith! In total 4 children and 1 parent attended the hour and Inese was very pleased with how it all went. Using the prayer room really added to the experience as you can really feel God's presence there and with all the pictures and objects around to aid you in prayer the children especially found it a comfortable place to be!
Tomorrow is the first of our 'Talk hours' so we hope and pray that will go just as well!
Last week the staff and I meet for the day to have a planning and goal setting meeting. It was wonderful to be able to sit around the table and share our thoughts about Patverums. Many ideas came out of the day including new summer plans, goals for each of the small groups (+14, parents and boys) as well as some new ventures! One of these is a 'Talk Hour' and 'Prayer Hour'.
Our thoughts are that twice a week we run a 'Talk Hour' where the children can meet with one of our social workers (Dace or Inga) and talk! So often the children start to share things but because of the nature of the centre; lots of activity, noise and people coming in and out, the children aren't able to always get the quality time they would like. By having a 'Talk Hour' in a separate room we hope to improve this and so provide the children with more help and support.
The 'Prayer Hour' will, to start with, run for one hour once a week and will be lead by Inese. The idea is similar to the 'Talk Hour' but it is also open to parents. In the past few weeks we have had 2 parents ask for prayer so we hope that having an hour when any of the children or parents can come and receive it will help them greatly. We also hope that this will encourage those children who do have faith in Christ to find out more about Him and how to live a Christian life.
This is a new idea for us and Riga 1 corps have kindly agreed to let us use their prayer room for these drop-in times. We hope and pray that this will help the children and parents that we work with.
After a very cold weekend the temperature is raising! The children returned to school yesterday and all seem to be well, thank you Lord!
Unfortunately on Sunday evening our cook, Irena was admitted to hospital with abdominal pains. At the moment we still do not know what is wrong but she is comfortable and hopes to be home shortly. Please pray for a speedy recovery!
This meant that yesterday Inese and I were in charge of the cooking!! The children seemed to enjoy it and most plates were cleared so I don't think we did too badly, lets hope the same can be said for todays lunch!
'Record low temperature was registered in Riga this morning for January 20 - minus 27 degrees Celsius at 5a.m.' was reported in the News website LETA in Latvia today! On Thursday the temperature in Latvia dropped dramatically and when the temperature goes below -25C all schools are closed but we decided that is was important for us to stay open!
We have had 14 children attend the centre in past 2 days; this showed us that we made the right decision. All the children have heating of some sort at home but the fact that they can come and receive a hot meal and be in a warm environment has proven very important.
Please pray for them over the weekend that they will keep safe as many play outside during the weekends and the weather is not due to improve until Monday. As I type the centre is about to close and it's -22C feels like -32C outside!!
This week Patverums closed for the day to allow the staff to attend a seminar organised by the The Salvation Army’s Training and Education Centre.
The seminar was an Introduction to The Salvation Army (TSA) and was open to all Army employees with the purpose of teaching them more about the organisation that they work for! It consisted of the history (which Graeme taught!!) and characteristics of TSA, the Vision and Mission of TSA in Latvia and Integrated mission.
They really seemed to enjoy the day and when we talked about what they had heard they were quick to tell me different pieces of information! A day well spent!
This years Christmas party was a little different, we felt that after 3 years of having the same format it was time for a change!
So, this year the staff and a group of children worked very hard to put on a puppet show called 'The Red Boots'. A traditional story about a shoemaker, Hans, who keeps himself away from all the Christmas festivities but then is visited by an angel who tells him that he will receive the greatest gift of all this Christmas - a gift from God! As the story unfolds, Hans learns the joys of sharing and friendship, and finally is able to give someone else a gift when he realizes that God has indeed given him a Gift!
The staff and children made all the puppets and scenery and spent a lot of time rehearsing. The show went really well and those parents there really seemed to enjoy it.
Of course no party is complete with food and games, so the rest of the afternoon we spent having fun! We had some tradition party games and some not so traditional but it was great to see children and adults alike enjoying themselves.
We finished by sitting around the Christmas tree handing out presents. This year we bought all the children a book - each one chosen to fit the child/teenagers interests.
By 6.30pm all our guests had gone home but the staff and I were busy cleaning up and ready for a rest :-)
It was lovely to have everyone together and to be able to celebrate Christmas and share the gospel with the children and their families.
