Adjusting....

I recently had a conversation the other day with a woman from my church. We talked about life here in Latvia and she asked me many questions. When I told her that I had "adjusted" to life in Latvia, she saw that as a negative thing. I have thought a lot about this and decided todays post would be about just that, adjusting. I decided to look up the definition of adjusting and this is what I found.  

Adjusting:

1.To adapt or conform, as to new conditions

2.To achieve a psychological balance with regard to one's external environment, one's needs, and the demands of others.

Let me put this conversation in context for you. She asked me if living in Latvia was hard for me. I smiled and with hesitation said, "Yes, but I am adjusting to life here". She then probed more and wanted to understand what I meant. So I proceeded to tell her that yes, there are hard moments, there are hard times, and last year there were a couple of hard months. But, I am adjusting to life in Latvia and it is getting better. I started to explain about my home church, South Community Church, and how community based it is. Every Sunday you are greeted with smiling faces, hugs, at least a minute of "quality time" in service, a meal together afterwards and you felt like you were a part of a great church family. Every week I was with my church family almost daily from worship practice, small group, youth group, being a nanny, not to mention the deep friendships I have. My life was filled with great community that challenged me, encouraged me, laughed with me, cried with me, and grew with me as we grew closer to God. My community group was a solid group of people that LOVED to spend time together. Even in our busy crazy lives, we knew that our group was a safe place to come, be vulnerable, be encouraged, and grow in God's Word. At the age of 25, I had found a church family that many go their whole lives searching for. But, this is not America and this is not SCC. I am living in a culture that is shaped by its past. I am living in a culture of people that has been depressed and oppressed by the Russians and Germans. I am living in a culture that doesn't smile very often and doesn't trust very easily. I am now living in a culture that is the exact opposite of life at SCC. That is something I need to adjust to. Of course, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying SCC is perfect and Latvia stinks, what I am saying is I need to adjust. Life looks different now than it did before. Let's talk about this culture. This past summer, I took a visiting friend to the occupation musuem. If you know me, you know that history is not really my thing, but my dear friend loves history so I decided we should go. I am so glad we did. I learned so many things about the Latvian people that I was able to gain a lot of perspective on the culture even today. So many times people came here promising help, only to make conditions worse. People came to offer freedom and all these great things but only gave enslavement and fear. People promised to bring about change for the good, only to once again bring change for the worse. Families were uprooted and sent packing to remote places in Russia. Familes were stripped of their belongings, their homes, their identities and forced to conform to communism. With each failed attempt at help, the more hardened hearts became. With each broken promise, came a heart of dispair. People were forced to live lives a certain way and felt no sense of freedom in anything. They would even communicate with whispers in their own homes as to not be heard by the wrong people or their neighbors. I couldn't imagine living a life like that but I can see the repercussions of it today. Still it is hard to earn the turst of a National. It is hard to bring a promise of hope and true freedom in Jesus, because it seems that you belong to a cult and they want nothing to do with it. It is hard to bring the idea of community to a place that wants to be so private. It is hard, but it is worth it! It may be hard but Jesus has still asked me to be faithful. So yes, there are times where I feel alone. The lack of 20 somethings in my city doesn't help either because there are no universities and no real job opportunites in the small town of Kuldiga. I would attend church on Sundays and almost feel invisible at times. I would say hi to some people and maybe 20% of the time get a response back. I am new. I am different. I am an outsider and I need to earn their trust. I have had to make the biggest adjustment of them all, going from being completely surrounded by great community to feeling almost invisible in my church. I have had to adjust. I have had to learn to rely even more on my relationship with Jesus. I have learned to be even more assertive in asking those dear to me for help. I have adjusted to living in an introverted culture by graciously loving like Jesus would. Trying my best to love without expecting anything in return. I am still adjusting and still learning but I know the reward is great! Now please, don't read this and think life is terrible here because it is not. As many of you know, I have have seen the great reward of perserverance in building relationships. Even though it may be hard to earn the trust of a National, once you do, it's the best feeling there is. I have a very dear friend who has been great in helping me adjust. In the past year, we have grown so close together we can almost know what each other is thinking in any given situation. It took me awhile to gain her trust, even as a believer, but the months of waiting, being vulnerable to her, and letting her see my weakest moments has brought about one of the greatest friendships of my short 26 years of life. We have had moments in the past year that I will remember for a lifetime. The best part about it is, I feel like we are just beginning our friendship but have known each other for years. I have seen the impact on my students as well. God is bringing about change to Latvia. Even as I adjust to Latvian culture and bring Jesus to the hard place, He is working to help them adjust to living a life that reflects Him. I have seen small changes in the church here. Slowly but surely God is working and for that I praise Him! Adjusting is not a bad thing. I believe adjusting, when done in a way that brings Glory to God, is exactly what our world needs. I can't expect to move to another country and demand the people to conform and meet my needs. I need to expect that God will give me the grace, patience, and love to adjust to those who need to hear about His love and redemption. As I adjust to living in another culture I need to live out 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 "To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some." If I want to help win the Latvians to Christ, then I need to adjust to life here and become like the Latvians. I promise you, it is an adjustment worth making and I have no regrets. I love the life God has given me here and I know that I know, I am exactly where God wants me. :)