The Latvian student ministry team recently went on a pioneering trip to Jelgava, a regional capital with a population of nearly 63,000 and its own university campus.
Local leader, Baiba Baikovska, tells the story….
“Did you call me? Do you want to come to our youth evening?” Inga asked me while we were waiting in line to buy our train tickets. She works with pupils and is involved with the local Catholic church. This trip was a real adventure for us all! We had already contacted Mārcis and Iluta, a leader in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and my ministry partner, who agreed to pick us up at the station to talk about outreach activities in Jelgava.
On the first evening, we talked about our plans and prayed for the coming days filled with meetings arranged by God with just the right people. One meeting was a Catholic youth gathering. Inga had invited Liene, Andris and I to attend and share about our work with Agape Studenti in Latvia. The presentation included showing the Soularium discussion cards with them and talking about how to use this tool to begin spiritual conversations with students on campus. Inga was pleased with the evening and enthusiastically recommended this approach to the students at the meeting.
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Jurijs, a priest, also attended that evening gathering and asked us to go with him to a meeting with the leader of the Jelgava city government public integration department the following day. We gladly agreed! We had a great meeting where we shared our vision for Agape Studenti and were invited to attend other youth gathering to tell about our work among students. This was not our last visit to Jelgava!
Following that positive encounter, we had a nice meal and talk with our new friend Jurijs. He is one of the key leaders we had prayed about meeting on our first night in Jelgava.
We also visited the Agricultural University to see what that campus is like. Since exams were taking place the week we were there, we did not meet any students, but we prayed for open doors and contacted several professors whom Jurijs had recommended to us.
“I am so happy that we can partner with other to develop the “Agape Studenti” movement so that every student in Jelgava and in all of Latvia has an opportunity to hear the message of Christ!” – Baiba Baiskova
Last Saturday morning, I woke up to the shouts and shrieks of children playing in the park below our apartment. Confused and a little annoyed, I shuffled sleepy-eyed to the window to see what the commotion was about.
Caradonna helped me put into words the process I was experiencing with God. Because we write a message on our bodies, it must be short and impactful. Caradonna helped me find words to convey my experience and encourage others through my message.
"Europe needs more Jesus." - Christian Pichler, speaker at Revive Europe.
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