Taking a Risk

Recently the question of whether we'd ever taken a risk came up in a conversation -

to which my initial response would be, 

not really - I don't think I'm much of a risk taker.

But then, I remembered some trips, one of which we went on exactly 20 years ago.

It began with the idea that before our kids were all grown up, 

we wanted to do a family service project overseas somewhere.

We checked out options such as Haiti and Bulgaria 

ending up with an opportunity in Lithuania where volunteers were needed to

renovate an old army barrack into dormitories for a Christian College.

For a family whose calendar was always shock-full of activities it was very strange to keep six weeks of the summer completely blank and trust that it would all come together. At the end of June we were packed up and ready to leave home for a place and work that was quite unknown to us. I know I have mentioned this trip briefly in the past and written about the wonderful couple who was in charge of the project here.

The city we worked in, Klaipeda, is a port city on the Baltic Sea. We could walk down to the shore from where we stayed with other volunteers. The Lithuania Christian College Foundation had rented one whole floor of an apartment, across the street from the re-construction site. It was typical of other apartments in the area, with one communal kitchen per floor and a tiny elevator you could never quite trust to make it up or down.

The apartment we stayed in was not as run down as this one down the street, but signs of the  post- communistic era were still visible everywhere.

It was sad to see the state a country can be left in when people have limited motivation or hope. The barracks that were to become dormitories for students (and  now are) needed insulation, plumbing, electrical work and basic finishing before anyone could be asked to live in there. Volunteers came and went to do the part that they felt gifted in. When we were there, the insulation and dry wall went in. Ben was eleven at the time and loved going to the site with his dad every morning.

I had been under the impression that I'd be involved at the site as well, but on the first night there I was asked if I would like to take charge of the meals in that one tiny kitchen to serve the workers. Go figure! Yes, this may seem to make sense now, but this was then. Cooking for the group of up to twenty five workers with limited supplies was the first challenge. The second challenge was that of having to walk to the market almost every day to pick up groceries, keeping in mind that I did not know the language.

The meat department left a lot to be desired. I cooked the meat well. 

The dry goods department was sparse to say the least.
The bakery . . . let's just say there was none . . .
and I learned to knead bread by hand.

Here, at the table, which was set up in a cleared out bedroom beside the kitchen, we ate breakfast, lunch and supper with the volunteers which consisted of a group from Switzerland, and a few single men from Manitoba, one of whom offered to make porridge every morning. Those who know me know that I'm not a morning person, so this was very sweet.
There were so many variables that came together, details we saw had been orchestrated by One who knew us well. The Swiss Mennonite couple, overseeing their youth group, spoke hardly any English but we spoke their language. The teen aged kids, were a fun bunch that our girls enjoyed being with and, to add just one more bonus, the couple had a boy almost the same age as our Ben. These boys had so much fun playing hockey on the job site and games in the evenings . . . they hardly noticed they did not speak the same language!

On weekends, we had free time to go to the beach or do some touring.

Storks were seen in abundance along this road.

Besides the physical work, there were baseball games with the summer college students,

church services and opportunities to serve with music.

I share this today with fond memories of a time we took a risk.

 It was most likely one of our very best summers

as we experienced the joy of simply working together as a family

and realizing that it is in giving that we receive.