My call to serve in the Baltic Mission

On the evening of August 28, 2008, much of my family gathered, in person or by phone, for the "reading of the letter." The first response from everyone, after hearing the words "Baltic Mission" was, "Where's that?" I reached for an Encyclopedia, and before I could locate anything, Julie had found it on the computer: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania! Not countries I had ever thought of traveling to, but I felt great excitement. This will be quite an adventure for a 71 year old grandma.

My assignment is to the mission office so I'm thankful I have continued to use the computer these nine years since retirement. The letter didn't indicate whether I will need to learn a language. As I have learned more about these countries, I decided I want to at least try to learn Latvian, as I will be serving in Latvia. I want to be able to understand at least a little when I attend Church meetings.

After a few attempts to connect with the Language Training Center at the MTC, I talked this morning with Maria Thompson who will arrange for me to work with a teacher beginning next week. She told me I will have two hours of homework each day. That will certainly be a challenge!