SEDA
I promised two days ago to tell you about our Latvian ‘mission field’. We’ll begin with the beautiful town of Seda.
The town was founded in 1952 as the Stalinist architecture suggests, although the state of the buildings would lead one to believe that they predate WWII. The major local industry was the extraction of peat, and during the glory days of Seda, when workers from all over the USSR came to work, the peat extraction enterprise flourished and the Joint stock company "Seda" was formed.
The influx of the thousands of Russian speaking workers immediately stamped its imprint on the area, and to this day remains primarily a Russian speaking majority. Many of the older residents are ethnic Russians living in a ‘foreign’ country, and until 20 years ago occupied by 'their SU military'. Quite naturally, many native Latvian resent the presence of those with Russian roots, regardless of whether they are the 2nd or 3rd generation born in Latvia. And it is only in recent years that these ethnic Russians have been granted full Latvian citizenship. Although some, including The Salvation Army’s Seda leader, is classified ‘stateless’ and is without valid travel documents!
When the peat extraction enterprise ceased some ten years ago the men, and many families, departed Seda in search of work and the promise of a better quality of life. More than a thousand women and children were left behind, along with the elderly and infirmed. And so it remains; the large majority of husbands and fathers have not returned.
Five years ago Captain Sergey and his wife Aizan were appointed to develop TSA’s ministry, and in common with hundreds of towns and villages around the world it was the SA's combined ministry effort of sharing bread for physical strength and the Bread of Life for spiritual strength.
The work began in 2 rooms borrowed from the town, but within weeks they’d outgrown the allocated space and another larger room was offered for the army’s expansion. And, in short time, the entire building became ‘ours’. Our FSAOF Latvian mission teams of 2010 and 2011 renovated the building inside and out, with the more complicated construction work carried out by the Swedish SA Territory, under which the Latvian Region operates.
The Seda ‘outpost’ was recently elevated to ‘corps’ status and on Sundays you’d best come early for a seat in the main hall. On weekdays all the rooms are filled to overflowing with youth of all ages.
LEARNING TO ENJOY BORSCHT
Stir the red cabbage - Add sour cream to taste (and a slice of lemon)
Tear a chunk of dark bread from the loaf
Dunk bread and move quickly to the mouth- place spoon in borscht and see who can slurp the loudest and longest...
In the morning it's where prayers are said in 4 languages; 5 if we call Scottish a proper language ? lol
Then it's a breakfast room
And at night our internet cafe'
And at midnight the blogger's nest!
Today we introduce our Ukrainian team members, Captains Ruslan and Marinna Zuyev. They recently moved to Simferopol and leaving behind them Yalta where they spent four years. Both of them are from Kiev and Ruslan came to the Army shortly after Sven and his then wife ‘opened fire’ in Ukraine. Marinna is a fine vocal soloist and Ruslan a firey evangelist, spending much of his time in developing youth programs. In Yalta, he developed American style baseball for youth with two boys’ teams playing baseball and two girls’ teams playing soft ball. Uniforms and equipment to outfit the two teams are being supplied by Sven’s eldest daughter Katrina and her husband Mike from the USA. Ruslan has introduced the Boy Scout movement to the Crimea peninsula. He also makes an annual missionary journey to India. Traveling with them are their daughter Anna and a young bandsman Ilya Rubin who assists in teaching brass and with the Scout troop. Their new language abilities and enthusiasm have been a great help.
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