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.
Friday, July 28, 2006
STAFF!
To be totally honest I wasn't looking forward to this week! Irena, the centre's cook, was still of on holiday and so was Inese which left just Vineta and me to prepare food and run the centre. I phoned around to see if people could volunteer but no one could really give me concrete answers!
So Monday came but so did Misha!! He has been working as Ian & Jon's translator for the past 5 weeks and so had been working in Patverums with the playscheme, boys week etc and has found himself enjoying the work! Once again, and I don't know why I'm surprised, but God has provided for us! Misha not only has worked with us this week but has agreed to work through the whole of August, a real answer to pray. This means that I have cover for Vineta's holiday and for our second overnight trip and he's a guy!! This gets double points :-)
I am still in need of a permanent replacement for Dace and so in a few weeks time I will start advertise again. I pray that this time we will have some interest in the position. As far as this week has been with the children it's gone by without any problems which is wonderful and I think the children have enjoyed having a relaxing week although I can see that some of the boys are missing Ian & Jon!
Next week all staff are back plus we have a new volunteer coming to work with us. Her name is Madara and is a law student. She saw our advert and came to see me last week. She's new to us and so we pray that she will quickly feel at home and enjoy working with the children.
God's provision for the centre is amazing and on days when I wonder about our work it makes me sit up and realise that there is a place for Patvērums and that He wants us to carry on His work with these children and families!
On Thursday morning at 8am we all gathered at Riga bus station armed with sleeping bags, camp mats and much more for our 2 day trip to Liepaja.
We had a great time and in many ways relaxing (as it can be with 11 children)! We didn't have any activities planned other than spending time on the beach and at the nearby park areas.
Below are some photo's from the days away. I'll post more later this week and tell you a bit more about what we got up to!
The kristine's manage to get a free ride after talking nicely to the young men in charge of the karts! Girls really....
I think the sea might be a tad chilly!
Fun on the beach
Anyone brave enough for a dip????
This is what boys look like on a long bus ride home having had only a few hours sleep and LOTS of sugar!
Last week was BOY'S WEEK which was led by Ian and Jon from the US with Misha their translator. The sun continued to shine which meant they were able to be outside doing loads of different actvities.
The day started with putting on their 'war paint' and each day had a theme such as leadership, and perserverance.
The guys organised a variety of challenges, games and sports for them to take part in. The only thing that let the week down was the low turn out, they had an average of only 4 boys each day but over the week 9 different boys came, having said that all of the boys that came need postive male role models and it did them no harm at all being part of a small all-male group for the week!
The girls (and that included myself and the rest of the Patverums staff) we told to keep away, so much so that they had their own MAN'S TABLE at lunchtime! I did manage to sneek a peak a few times though. The pictures below were taken by Evie and it shows their daily work out led by Jon who's an ex-marine!!!
They also watched some 'Manly' videos over the week including the great film 'Men of honour' which help them learn more about the qualities of being a man. The guys developed on this by sharing with them what it is to be a Godly man.
I'm so pleased that this week took place and hope that it will hold a lasting memory for the boys.
While others play a ball game in the shade :-) It's time for the dance lesson (in +30c temperatures!!) Fun out on the playground But sometimes it all gets a bit too much!
Last week was playscheme week! We had a great 5 day even though it was extremely HOT, we packed loads into the 5 days.
Each day we had around 30-35 children attend aging from 6-16! There were children from Patverums, the corps and some totally new ones which we were especially pleased about.
We started each day with an hour and a half in the hall playing games, singing worship songs, watching part of the film 'The lion, the witch and the wardrobe', then we had a short 'God spot' relating to the film and the themes in it. Then it was group time and the children completed various tasks and activities. Considering this was a very structured part of the day the children responded really well to it. After that it was sports or crafts! The children had the opportunity to have a go at silk and glass painting, making lion cushions, playing football, basketball and even sword fighting!!
On Thursday Sarah (Riga 1 corps leader) offered the children the chance to 'choose to be on the winning side' and become Christians. This was an exciting time and for me the highlight to the whole week. After her talk she gave the children to opportunity to repeat after her a prayer to become a Christian. Many responded and some for the first time!! Yeap there were angels in Heaven celebrating!!! Later in the day we got into groups and gave the children chance to share what had happened in the morning. Some children said that it had made them think about past promises they had made and said that it had had more of an impact on them this time. Others that it was the first time they had prayed like that and there was at least one of them from Patverums!
On Friday we finished the week by inviting the parents to come for an hours presentation to show and share some of the things we had done. At least 11 came which was wonderful and we were so pleased to be able to show them what their child(ren) had achieved during the week.
So what's next! Well, it's now important that we follow up on the children who made first time decisions or renewed old ones. Not easy as for some reason the normal day to day life of Patverums doesn't always lend itself when it comes to disciplining the children in their faith, but I pray that God will give us opportunities to do so in the coming days, weeks and months!
Thank you to those of you who were praying for us! We had a great time which God clearly blessed and protected!
