Rigan respect

2734 kilometers, Riga, Latvia

We have finally arrived in Riga, which pretty much is halfway on our journey back to Stockholm. Haven't had much access to Internet, so updating has been slow.

It was sad to leave Ralf, Basti and Kaddi in the Neubrandenburg community, as well as Tabea who traveled eight hours just to hang out with us for a few days (and generously helping us fund our journey). However we learned a lot there. We have learned that using playstation Songstar with your morning voice is quite embarrising. I learned that going "all in" on Texas hold em on a pair of nines is a bad idea. I learned that German's are belivers in a hearty breakfast, which I love immensly.

We prayed with our friends in the area they are hoping to live soon: a poor and neglected part of Neubrandenburg. Was really inspiring to hear their dreams, their determination to seem them fulfilled, and their long term perspective. Really had a sense of potential around all that, and looking forward to see where they end up.

When crossing over to Poland our luck turned. At our first campsite, we woke up to see Blues' front window spray painted by some punk kid. *sigh* Happily it came off without too much trouble. The next day we stayed at a fancy four star camp site (never been to one of those, so we had to try it, using some money the Neubrandenburg gang generously tithed to us) and when we woke up, someone had broken into Misty and Scot's car and nicked their laptop, ipod, nice camera, their kids toys, wallet, and other stuff. Great start of the day. Sweden beating Greece 2-0 cheered me up a bit. No effect on the Bower's mood, however, as England didn't even make the Euro cup. Lot of talk, no action is all I have to say to that. Best league in the world, no results when it comes to the crunch.

Dispite this we all manage to move on and feeling that God hadn't forsaken us after all, we whizzed on to Lithuania. Yesterday we visited the hill of crosses, which is a hill of tens of thousands of crosses which was a rallying point of lithuanian resistance during the sovjet era. At one point the KGB had spies their daily, and at one point burnt a whole bunch of crosses. Had a bit of a pray their, realizing that the fight against oppression isn't over, but it now is of a different kind, asking God to raise up freedom fighters again. Good.

Today we traveled in to Riga, all feeling a tad travel-weary. However, sitting in Mr. Blues, having a few beers (Resa drinking an odd cherry-choco-cider i'm quite suspicious of) makes all things better. A day of rest and exploration of Riga awaits tomorrow.