Today was incredible! Gary showed us how to catch the bus to downtown... and then left us to explore all on our own! Don't worry moms, we all stayed together. :)

While we were in Daugavpils, we met lots of people, got some phone numbers and we made plans to meet up again with three different people! We are so excited. We have friends! Yay!

I have no idea how we ever got the courage to talk to anyone. This morning, I kept thinking about Moses being nervous to talk because of his poor speech abilities. I was overcome with emotion with the thought of how much God used Moses, and how much he could use us despite our lack of language skills. Some friends of ours wrote down a verse a day for us to read, and today's was 2 Timothy 1:7-8 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, of love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord." What an appropriate and encouraging verse for our first day out on our own!

The people here are different than Americans, but they are a special people for sure. They are sincere, direct, intelligent and helpful. I have a feeling we will leave here with lifelong friends.

Grace and peace to all of you-- thanks for keeping up with us! Keep us in your prayers!

Funny story of the day:

Cole paid 1 lat (equivalent to about $2) to sit in a massage chair at the mall today. We started talking to a guy (who spoke no English by the way, but gestures and a word here and there will get you a long way!) and Cole's chair stopped the massage. An older Russian lady came up and yelled at him in Russian until he got out of the chair! The older women here are definitely NOT afraid to tell you when you're doing something wrong!