Sister Nina, May 2006
The Latvian Bible School is attended by many faithful brothers
and sisters, some of whom are subsistence farmers. We had a note
from sister Nina, that she couldn't come because her farm had
burnt down. Duncan, Marcus, Nick and Rachel dashed over to
Eastern Latvia to see our sister as soon as the School ended. We
arrived at her place, which is off any tarmac road, to find her
at work in the field, putting up earth around her potatoe plants
with her bare hands as her hoe and other implements had been
burnt. Nina is typical of many in this area, given a patch of
land on a former collective farm to work, storing her harvest
over the Winter, and basically working until she drops. Many die
of cold and weakness each year. Their lives are bound up with the
land and their few animals. Our sister has to walk about 10 km to
the nearest shop, and has very little money anyway to buy
anything. Despite that, she reads Scripture faithfully and prays
constantly. We found that her barn had burnt down to the ground
completely.
The remains of Sister Nina's barn
She explained how she drew water from the well and threw it on
the flames but the wind was strong. She heard her cow, calves and
chickens die in the flames whilst she vainly tried to pour
buckets of water on the blaze. She's totally traumatized by
the whole experience. She frequently burst into prayer, and was
deeply appreciative of the clothes, food and cash we were able to
leave with her. She explained how the flames came within a metre
of the shed where her other potatoes are:
She explained how the flames came within a metre of the
shed
Here's a picture of Nina's remaining pile of potatoes,
which is all she had to eat until the potatoe plants can be
harvested later in the Summer:
Nina's remaining pile of potatoes
To see such a faithful, lonely sister, clearly very
spiritually minded, in such a state of loss was really tragic.
She has a habit of quite naturally bursting into prayer in her
shed :
bursting into prayer in her shed
We don't like sharing such emotional photos as the
following, but we do so because we wish to share with you her
sense of loss and tragedy and invite your prayers for her. She
still has a place to sleep, but she is left with a small pile of
potatoes in another shed that wasn't burnt. She offered to
boil some for us, which was very touching. It was really hard not
to weep with those that weep.
She's getting on as best she can, working the land by hand
and planting what she can to make use of the short growing season
that's now coming up.
What we'd like to do is try to build a shed for her in which
she can keep some goats and chickens. Otherwise, she has only
potatoes to eat. The goats and chickens would give her milk, meat
and eggs to eat. She also needs a spade and hoe and knives at the
very least. It was just so tragic to see her working the earth
with her bare hands.
So please do spare some prayers for Nina as she sits traumatized
in her shed, reading the Bible, praying, crying, and, as she
says, realizing that in any case she is getting older and weaker
and is moving towards the end of her current walk with the
Lord:
Obviously there are financial issues involved in helping our
sister. We're still resolving what is best to do- to buy a
kit shed and erect it ourselves [any labourers welcome!], pay
someone to put something up for her, and which animals and at
what age to get for her. Short of visiting her on site,
communication is difficult; without a 4WD vehicle it would've
been hard to even get to her, and the usual way is to walk over
the fields. Any suggestions, donations or practical help really
will be appreciated.
With love from your brothers and sisters of CCM