First Update from Eastern Europe

Six of the nine mission team members had an eventful trip to Riga, Latvia. Those of us who went through Amsterdam had a three hour departure delay in Detroit, due to "inaccurate" fuel load readings in one of the fuel tanks. We arrived in Amsterdam at 9:05AM, five minutes before our connection to Riga was scheduled to depart. They rebooked us on the 8:25PM flight and we decided to go visit the sights in Amsterdam. Unfortunately the trains where not running between the airport and the Central Station, because of a computer problem. So, the rest of the day was spent eating and trying to get some sleep. The short version is, our 8:25PM Riga flight left at 10:30PM, we arrived in Riga at 1:30AM and got to bed at 3AM. We delayed our Friday scheduled 8AM departure to 10:00 and headed south to Paplaka. Arrived in Paplaka at 2PM, was given a tour of the Methodist Church by Ruta, church member and Mayor of Paplaka, and started the Seminar at 4:30PM. Thirty-three, mostly women, attended and the seminar lasted until 8:30. The seminar went extremely well, the tears and pain we witnessed during the presentations, affirmed our being there and the need for those to hear the message of AA/Alanon. The seminar was held in a school. On the wall were pictures children had drawn showing there individual expressions of how alcohol affects their family and how they would like to see a non-alcoholic family look. We have the pictures and these children truly understand how alcohol affects their families.

We were treated to a wonderful dinner by the church members and then went to our overnight accommodations for much needed sleep.

This morning the team was invited to a local AA meeting. We spent two hours sharing with a wonderful group of twenty-five and then left for the Hill of Crosses. We placed three crosses at this incredable sight, sang "Truly the presence of the Lord is in this place" and Roger Watson led us in prayer.

We arrived tired but inspired back in Riga at 6:30PM. Tomorrow we leave for Liepa.

Keep us in your prayers.

Bob Williams