What is to come???

In the next few weeks to come I will be organizing all the camp stuff, reviewing the good, bad, and ugly of the summer so we can move forward into the next year in a progressive way. Spend a little time just resting, having a staff meeting to see what things are going to start looking like in the future with new leadership and a smaller team, and hopefully spending some quality time with my girls when they all get home from summer trips.

My schedule is quite full in the coming days, weeks and months!!!

August:

10th – the Interns leave for the States
11- 13th Team “combobulating” retreat!
20 – 26th – Coral , a dear friend from Sweden to visit
all other time – follow up, and small group training, with all the local church that were involved in summer camps.

September:

12th – 20th Family vacation
22nd – 27th JV Fall conference in Czech

October:

21st - BACK TO AZ for a few months!!!

We have finished our last camp!!!

This was the fourth and last camp of the summer. This camp was the biggest in number of campers, which is quite exciting seeing that this was the first ever camp for the Baptist Church in Jelgava!!!

All in all we had about 70 people at this last camp. It made for a great last camp. Red Mountain Community Church, from Mesa Arizona was there to connect and help with this camp, and that they did.

Many Kids made decisions to follow Christ for the first time and several have made commitments to follow him in deeper ways. It was an amazing, to say the least!

PICTURES!!!!

I was really excited about this camp from the beginning because Red Mountain is my home church and I knew many of the students coming over so it was like a double blessing being with all the campers and then some of my old youth that I love so dearly from Arizona!

RMCC YOUTH ROCKED KAZDANGAAAA!!!!
Thank you for EVERYTHING you guys did and all you are!!! You poured your GUTS into this and I love you for it!!!
I truly miss each of you!

Here is a link to the RMCC youth group blog of their trip.. it has tons of stories and video of there time in Latvia!! Check it out.. you wont regret it!

The inner struggle…

...I did not expect to be so broken when RMCC got here. My emotions were all over the place as I watched these dear youth that I have watched grow up serving the Lord in such amazing ways and watching them be stretched and grow in so many ways… it made me want to go back to Arizona with them!!!

I found myself for the first time ever questioning my “call” to Latvia! I was experiencing so many blessings being with youth from my own culture and language I kept asking God why he had me in Latvia where I feel so handicapped relationally and spiritually because of language and culture! Not only that, being with some of the girls that I have invested in the past years before I came to Latvia and being able to continue to speak into their lives again had me shook to the core… all I wanted is to be there for them. Yet I knew they were only here for a few short weeks and then return to AZ and I would be here in Latvia… what the heck was God doing to my heart!???

I am still hurting inside as I just said my goodbyes to the Arizona team and I am still shook for sure, yet there is this solid assurance deep inside my heart that I am right where I need to be. And I will continue to trust the Lord that he has me where I am for a reason. But I could defiantly use your prayers as I work through the pain of watching the dear students from Arizona leave and me stay behind and continue to serve here where God has me.

What happens when…

...Your home Church comes and tears your heart in two… wanting to be near to them and wanting to follow Christ and his call for me in Latvia. Then in the midst of that find out that even though you know that God has called you to Latvia to stay he is calling other away from Latvia.

Scott and Lisa just shared with us that it is evident that the time has come for them to return to the states. This has again shook the core of my world. Scott and Lisa Runzo ARE Latvia in so many ways to me. I cannot even start to think abut what Latvia will be for me without them here. I am in a deep inner struggle not wanting them to leave and sooo happy that the Lord has called them home for something he is doing in their life now!!!

Along with loosing the Runzo family we also are loosing another teammate… Mike Kelly has decided to return to the states also.

Please pray for me as I work on accepting this news, and truly trusting the Lord with ALL of me here in Latvia. And for our team to continue to move forward strong and unified.

Please also lift the Runzos and Mike up in prayer as they make the transition from Latvia back to the States and whatever God is calling them to.

Here is a letter from Scott Runzo to explain their decision a little more clearly:

Greetings, Dear Friends!

We have just finished our fourth and last camp for the summer (BIG SIGH!)!! The RMCC team from AZ is still here for a couple of days, so we will be hanging out with them and helping process through all that they experienced last week. It was such an incredible blessing to share our last camp with them! The students did great, the leaders were so supportive, the energy of the camp was high, several students accepted Christ in the end, and many young Christians were encouraged in their own faith as they saw all that happened. It felt just like "old times" in many ways! Thanks so much for your prayers! God was glorified, and we were very blessed to take part in it! (Blog update with pics should be coming shortly)

There's no good way to share this, so we'll just say it - it was a bittersweet camp for us as it seems this will be our last, at least for quite some time. Two very significant things have happened that I feel are the beginnings ofchange for us, and I believe are also directly from the hand of God.

This weekend I officially "passed the baton" as country leader to Kelly Hargan. Kelly is a former youth leader from Fort Collins, CO. He and his wife, Donna, joined our team last fall. Although I believe God sent me to Latvia strategically to begin the work of JV here in this country, I have felt for quite some time that I would not be the person to carry it the next leg of the race. It was a pioneering effort in the beginning that I felt called to, and now that JVA is firmly established as a leading youth training organization here, it's time for a new leader to step in and take it to the next level. I believe that is not my call nor within my giftedness and have been praying and fasting through this past spring and summer as to what God would have us do. I believe Kelly has been called and JV is in full support of this decision. We feel greatly blessed by God in His provision of a godly leader who shares our common vision of "seeing a movement of God among young people of Eastern Europe".

The second big decision we have made is to put our house here in Latvia on the market. Financially for us, this is the best decision we can make right now regarding that. We want you to know that our ministry partners (who feel much more like family to us!) have been so faithful and God has provided for our every need through their generosity!! The cost of living is just so high here right now and the dollar so low, it has been impossible to keep above the red in our ministry account. We are, in fact, currently negative $ 3,000 and have been maintaining that negative balance for several months now - NOT because people aren't giving, but because it's just so expensive to live here, we cannot achieve financial stability. We feel this is a clear sign from God, because we know He could change that situation if He willed it so.

With these two big changes happening right now, we feel moved by God to look towards new direction in our lives as a family. There are other indicators in our lives such as Andris’ special education needs, which make it clear we need to look towards a move back to the states and new ministry opportunities there.

This has been a very long, very painful, and very extensive process for both Lisa and me. Hearing God's call to leave the foreign mission field has been much, much, much more difficult than hearing His call to go. We have been forced time and time again to go to Him, to recognize that this has always been HIS Kingdom work and not ours, and to trust that His direction (Will) is good, pleasing, and perfect (Romans 12).

So, what does this all look like?

· We are still Josiah Venture missionaries working and living on support in Latvia currently

· Lisa and I will continue doing ministry during this transition time, discipling and mentoring youth leaders, as well as helping in the transition

· We are praying that the house sells and will be wrapping up ministry, delegating ministry responsibilities accordingly, and settling back in the states by Spring 2009

· I will continue working on my Bible degree through Moody Bible on-line, as well as seeking what direction God would have us go

· We will be actively seeking where the Lord is calling us in His Kingdom work, and we greatly appreciate your prayers for us during this time!

I cannot stress enough how difficult these decisions have been for us. We still need your prayers and support greatly! The enemy would love for us to begin the process of leaving with our heads hanging in defeat, forgetting the many lives that have been transformed by the love of Christ through the work here. This is NOT of God. It has been an incredible privilege to take part in HIS Kingdom work here in Latvia, and we are confident that the work will continue on far after we leave. Part of our souls has become Latvian, and we are different people because of it. We are grateful to God for this incredible chapter written by the author and perfecter of our faith, and we look forward with great anticipation for what He will write next! And we are so blessed and grateful to you for standing with us throughout this journey!

Please feel free to contact us, as we know you may have many questions. Life and ministry will certainly move forward here, and we will keep you clearly informed throughout this whole transition.

We thank you for your continued prayers and support in these crucial months ahead!

In Him,

Scott A. Runzo

Third round….

This third week of camps was amazing. We had a team from Texas here to help with Vilandes Church. It was a great week! Texas was full of love and ENERGY!!! They blessed us all with all they brought to our camp.
This camp did not start out like other in the past. We actually only had 5 kids registered and at camp when camp was suppose to start! We were freaking out! how the heck do you do a camp for 5 kids and 20 leaders!!!
Well, the Lord had His plan al along!
Because of the small numbers we decided to split up the leaders and half of them would be sent out into the small town community where we were having the camps, just to build relationships and hang out with the locals.
Something we should have been thinking about from the beginning! It was a great move and tons of locals started coming out and just hanging out and talking with us. We had some basketball games with the local guys and crafts with the kids, and just hung out with the girls and the community! It was great! I am looking forward to see what the Lord has planned for next week and the continuation of those relationships!
Not only that but by the end of the first night 17 campers had trickled in and we were ready for camp too!!!
Spirits were low that first day and Satan did a number on us when it came to uniting all the teams. But through the Lords Grace and love we were able to mend brokenness and move forward in unexplainable love for each other! After that first day, there was a major shift and you could feel the lord working on everyone, not just the campers!
I was blessed to see not just one but two leaders on from Texas and one form Latvia share their testimonies and share breakthroughs that had just happened over that week!
It is beautiful to see that these camps are not just to reach the campers for Christ, but he is truly doing a work in each one of us along the way!!!

I sat with one of my dear friends who volunteered for this camp and we came to the beautiful conclusion that if we as leaders are not being moved and changed daily by the lord we cannot move students anywhere. There is no walking alongside someone in there faith if you are not walking yourself!!!

This camp was a true blessing to see EVERYONE moving in their walk with the Lord!

2nd done... on to the 3rd!

We have just finished our 2nd camp! This Camp was a camp for Kuldiga Baptist Church. Kuldiga is a small town in Latvia that we have been working with for over two years now. Faith Church in Fort Collins Colorado came to partner for the second year in a row with Kuldiga and the outcome was straight from the Lord!!!

This camp was full of energy and building relationships, new and old! It was an amazing camp for everyone involved! I was so deeply blessed to watch as the Lord moved throughout this week. We had 20 students from Kuldiga at he camp, a fourth of those not really wanting to be there at the beginning and some that had returned from last years camp.

We played crazy games, danced, sang, prayed, laughed, cried, and grew closer to Jesus together through long days and nights, full of spending our energy building into these students.

One student in particular made me smile. He was a 13-year-old kid who was very clear at the beginning of camp that it was not his choice to be there and that his parents had forced him to come so he could learn English! Two nights in we played a night game and he unfortunately ran his teeth into the elbow of one of the leaders and knocked his front teeth out! He had to go home that night. We were all very sad to see him go because we all started to see him warm up to the camp and to us.
When he got home to his mom that night, the story that came back to us from one of the leaders from Kuldiga was this; they said that when he got home full of blood and missing teeth, he looked at his mom and begged her, “ Mamma, Please let me go back. I promise I wont bust anything else, just please let me go back!”
Less than 24 hours later he was back and welcomed by the whole camp!!! Needless to say he felt something at that camp that was real and he did not want to let go of it!!! Praise Jesus!

Thank you for your continued prayers as we move into week 3 and our 3rd camp of the summer.This one is with a Church in Riga, Vilandes Baptist Church with whom we have been working with for over three years. They will be partnered with Richardson Baptist Church from Texas. Richardson Baptist has been a sister church to Vilandes for many years and in the past two summers have brought a youth team to help with their Summer camp! It will be an excited week!