Latvia, Our New Home (Riga, Capitol of Latvia)

We left Germany the 10th of May. We were in a hotel for 71 days. We were just about to move into an apartment when we got the call to serve in Latvia, one of our countries for humanitarian. 

With all the big changes we were excited to go but hated to leave the beautiful country of Germany.

Photo taken in Michelstadt, Germany, one of my favorite fairy tale cities. Other favorites were Mespelbrunn, Miltenburg, Karlsruhe, Lindau, and of course the old part of Frankfurt. 
 

We were able to visit our foreign exchange student, Joy, and her family in Switzerland. We hosted her in Arizona during her Junior Year in high school. 

Riga, was the first city we were called to. However, as we were preparing, our calling was changed to Humanitarian in Belarus. We never made it to Latvia until now. 

St. Gertrude's Church is located at the end of our block. This is a photo from the front of our apartment. The church has a history of being built and rebuilt 7 times of either stone or wood. Each invasion, from different countries, during its history destroyed this church. Russia was the only country that did not destroy the church but stole the organ and bells and took them back to Russia. 1866-1869 was the last construction built in stone and brick. 

By the start of the twentieth century St Gertrude's recorded more than 30,000 church members, meeting as three distinct congregations.

The German congregation and the Latvian congregation alternated their services between Sunday morning and Sunday afternoons, and a second Latvian congregation worshipped on Sunday evenings. From 1903 to 1906 a second church was built, now known as St Gertrude New Church, and became the center of the Latvian congregations, leaving Old St Gertrude's as the German-speaking church for Riga.

Wood architecture in Riga was popular and built until the start of World War II. Less than a century ago, there were around 12,000 wooden buildings in Riga, of which approximately 4,000 have survived to this day, the oldest of which was built at the end of the 18th century.

The architecture in Riga is fascinating. Each building is different and has unique window fames, doors, and roof lines. There are many colors of buildings. Each street has their own style between Soviet times and modern. The bottom floors are usually shops, restaurants, convenient stores, or clothing. 

We are starting to use the bus system to get around, but most everything we need is within walking distance.