Sunday in Latvia began in worship at St. Martin Luther Church. Raimonds was one of the pastors leading the service, and as the morning went on the room filled with faces we recognized — people from camps in previous years, here again, glad to see us and glad to be remembered.

That’s the part that stays with me. There’s a kind of mission trip that arrives, makes a big splash, feels good for a week, and leaves little behind. This was the opposite. Standing in that church, greeting people we’ve known across past summers, I was reminded that the work that lasts is the slow, relational kind. We move at the speed of relationships here at SON.

None of that is something we manufactured. The Lord has been at work in these lives long before any of us boarded a plane, and He’ll go on working long after we fly home. We aren’t bringing Him to Latvia. He was already here. We’re simply being folded into what He’s already doing.

After lunch we visited a museum and spent time learning about a piece of local Latvian history. It matters to us to understand the place we’ve been welcomed into — to receive before we presume to give. Daina was with us for that, and then for the big task of the day: heading out to the school in Strikī to set up for Monday.

We didn’t just arrange tables and chairs. Before we left, we stopped and worshiped together in that space, praying over the week ahead and over every student who’ll walk through the doors. This week we’ll be in the Scriptures together, walking through the life of David under the theme “Living in Hope.” It seemed right to ask God to plant that hope in us first.

Then, fittingly, we went out for Latvian-style pizza.

Tomorrow it begins. Would you pray with us this week? Pray for the students God is already drawing toward Himself. Pray for Daina, Raimonds, and our Latvian partners who carry this ministry all year long, not just for the week we’re here. And pray for our team — that we’d join the work humbly, with open hands.

Blessings, Mark.