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I would like to share with you an opportunity that awakened consciousness. Once again, my older sister, Vera, her husband Olgerts and I traveled to Latvia. Latvia is the country of our birth. America is the country that has adopted us and among other things, America is the country that has given me among many other blessing an opportunity to share with you a small slice of our trip to Latvia. There are a number of things that we much enjoyed, experienced and survived.
To me one of the highlights of the trip was perhaps awakening consciousness of Elina as well as my own. (Elina is a Godchild to my brother-in-law, Olgerts).
On the third day after our arrival to Latvia, we traveled to the part of the country where we were born. (It is still a disputed part of Latvia; in fact, we were not able to visit the village where my sister Vera and I were born, since it is still under Communist Russia's domination.)
However, we visited the nearby town of Algone. It has a magnificent Catholic Church that is in process of renovation, because in the Soviet times it was used for other purposes than as a house of worship. The name of the church is the same as the town, Algone. While we were touring this beautiful church, I had a conversation with Elina. She was much impressed with the beautiful architecture and its surroundings. It is bordered on both sides with a body of water. It looked glorious. It resembled a monument.
Elina made a statement to me: "Who is that on the cross?" (Her early years were spent in Communist school where any mention of religion is forbidden.) I said, "Why it is Jesus Christ who died for our sins."
"I don't believe that," she said mockingly.
"You need to study The Bible," I replied.
"Oh Bible is just a fairy tale book." That is what she had been taught in Communist government school.
"Oh, no you need to read it seriously," I said.
"Oh sure," she scoffed.
On our trip returning from our visit in Algone, we met with misfortune. We took a shortcut road that Elina's father knew, a road less traveled and full of potholes. On this road, we encountered an accident, and the small Muscovite (Soviet make small car the size of a Mini Cooper) rolled over into the ditch. The car flipped and we were suspended above a creek in a willow tree. Our lives were spared.
Elina the 15-year-old was screaming uncontrollably, as I tried to decide what to do. My older sister Vera informed me that I was standing on top of her head. I tried to reorient myself while trying to calm down Elina. Her father was able to open the driver's door; however, the smallness of the car did not avail for anyone else to be able to exit the vehicle. Reaching over Elina, I was able to roll down the window, the door being lodged against the bank of the ditch. After convincing the young woman to roll out, I asked my sister to follow Elina out of the car while I leaned against the other side to give her room. I followed her. My brother-in-law was in a predicament being six feet tall and pressing 220 pounds. There was no way that he could crawl over the steering wheel, I suggested he try to crawl into the back and try to squeeze through the window. He did succeed.
Since all of us were out safely, my sister Vera wanted to check out the trunk and see if any of the "treasures" we acquired were not broken. I ordered her to get away from the car for it might explode any minute, since Ziedonis had just filled up the tank with gasoline as we prepared for our journey home.
The men objected to my stopping the next vehicle passing by. I stood in the road and did get the attention of a young man traveling in a nice van. After seeing our predicament, he told us that he knew where there was a hospital nearby and he offered to take the women there. The men insisted that they would try to upright the car.
The kind young man took us to a nearby emergency facility. As we approached the emergency shelter, my sister Vera was concerned about her husband, Olgerts, who stayed with the car and with his cousin Ziedonis.
The emergency facility was a simple building with minimal equipment. After the three of us had been attended to and X-rays were taken, my sister informed the attendant that her husband had heart issues and that she was concerned that he might be in trouble. The attendant immediately ordered an ambulance to bring him. The two men had just up righted the car; however, they had no idea where we were. My brother-in-law came to the facility, meanwhile Ziedonis insisted on driving his Muscovite with cracked windshield and all. After examination, Olgerts had only sustained a few scratches; after they were attended to, Olgerts and my sister Vera went to a nearby hospital. Ziedonis insisted on remaining in his car for the night.
Elina worried about having to stay the night at the shelter. She was concerned that she might die from injuries and that no one cared about her. I held her hand tightly and assured her that I cared and so did her parent and above all, God cares about all people. God loves you as well as all people. She insisted that her dad did not love her and that God was punishing her.
While we were in the first-aid center with various bumps and bruises, Elina appeared to be entering shock. As I was standing beside her cot and asked one of the attendants for a blanket, he said, "we have but one and it is worn and threadbare." I replied, "It will do, thank you." I said that she is going into shock and needs to be covered.
As I placed the blanket over her, she said; "Maybe God is punishing me for the way I mocked him while in church, I think I shall be a believer."
I said, "No, God would not do that, but you need to trust in Him and read The Bible."
She said, "I am going to be a believer." Is not that amazing! She has been reading The Bible. After we were examined and were treated for our injuries, it was discovered that Elina had a heart condition for which she was able to receive treatment. There is a reason why things happen the way they do.
Val Hoover, of Marietta, wrote this piece in 2005.