A Tale of Two Lives by Mirdza Hayden

A Tale of Two Lives

By: Arlene Pavasars

Dedication Dedicated to my three children: Mirdza Kristina, John Miervaldis and Modris James. Also to my grandchildren – Emmanuel, Emily, Ziedite, Ethan and Izabella – and to my stepgrandsons – Dana Jr. and Dylan

Introduction As I begin to write this book about our two lives, my prayer is that all that is written will be to the glory and honor of our wonderful Lord and Savior who has led us and protected us all these years; the One who has given us a purpose for living. We have been richly blessed and pray that all who read this book will also be blessed in the same measure.

Chapter 1 Life and Death It was cold and windy in Chicago as George Voelz drove his beautiful wife Josephine to the hospital. The young couple – George 27 and his wife Josephine Signorelli only 20 – had been married three years now and it was time for the birth of their first child. Unfortunately, what should have been the happiest moment of their lives turned out to be the most tragic for George.

As George paced back and forth eagerly awaiting the birth of his child, the doctor appeared with news for which he was not in the least prepared. He told him that he had a healthy baby girl, but also that his beloved wife had died. The doctor’s words resonated in George’s head: “I’m sorry! I couldn’t save them both – Josephine had hemorrhaged so much and the baby was in danger of dying also. I’m so sorry!” One can only imagine what George was thinking at that time, but it probably was something like, “But why couldn’t you save my wife! We could have had another baby later.” But there was nothing to be done anymore. The catholic priest was called in for the last rights for Josephine and the baby was immediately baptized with the name Arlene Joan.

George’s mother, Mary Voelz, was chosen to care for the baby as George had to work. He had studied in a technical school and wanted to be an engineer, but because of the Great Depression going on at that time, he couldn’t continue to study and he worked in his Uncle John’s business shoveling coal. He had little time for his baby daughter, who grew up to be very spoiled under Grandma Voelz’s care.

Arlene can still remember throwing herself on the floor, kicking and screaming until Grandma would give her a piece of candy or whatever it was she wanted at that particular time. Arlene also remembers when she was 2 or 3 that her father picked her up from the floor and laid her down on the bed, holding her hands and feet until she stopped screaming and fighting him. After that, her father seemed like the villain and her grandmother the savior.

Josephine Signorelli, who had come to the U.S at age 5 with her sister Phyllis and her brother Sam, had finished high school in Chicago. She had a good

friend, Vivian Steinbeigle, who graduated with her and they continued to work together sewing in a curtain factory. When Josephine got pregnant, Vivian had written in Josephine’s memory book, “Please have a girl for me.” After Josephine’s death, Vivian felt a special bond to her baby and would often visit Arlene, her grandma and her dad, George. These visits developed into a special friendship and dating and when Arlene was almost 3 ½ George and Vivian were married.

George now had a better job and had been able to save up some money to purchase a large lot in southwest Chicago. It was in an area that at the time was called Robert’s Park; it is now part of Oak Lawn. He designed and built a one-story house with a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, and later added two more floors to it. He sold part of his lot to his sister and family and another part to Vivian’s brother’s family, and between the three men and the older boys they built homes for their families.

Arlene had happy memories of playing with her cousins on either side of their home – especially with Shirley and Iris, who were closest to her age. On the long summer nights they would play ‘kick the can’ and ‘cowboys and Indians’. During the weekends they would play baseball on the empty lot nearby by; in the winters they would go skating on a nearby pond that would freeze over. She also remembered dad packing them up in the car on Saturdays and taking them to the movies or out to get icecream at Dairy Queen.

There were also some unhappy memories. She remembers vividly how George and Vivian would fight over which church to go to and about other problems. Dad had been raised Lutheran, but had promised to raise his children Catholic so that they would be able to be married in the Catholic Church. Vivian was Catholic, just like Josephine had been, so she insisted on carrying out her friend’s wishes.

Arlene especially remembers when she was about 5 that there was a terrible fight between her stepmom Vivian and her dad. She was hiding under the table, holding her ears, as her dad shouted at her mother, who was throwing dishes at him. As the dishes flew through the air, she remembers feeling that she was the cause of their argument; it’s a memory that would never leave her mind.

There were also two occasions where Arlene remembers being punished for bad behavior. While playing on the sand pile by the house, Arlene had a fight with her cousin Iris and hit her on the head with a brick, causing her to be taken to the emergency room to get stitches. The other incident took place with her cousin Shirley, who had secretly bought some matches for the two of them to play with. They both knew this was forbidden so they hid in the lot behind the Lutheran Church on the corner. The grass was high there so no one could see them. They had blown out the matches and put them in the dirt. After they finished the box and were starting back home, they smelled smoke. When they looked back, they saw that the back of the church yard was in flames! Someone called the fire department and put out the fire before it reached the Pastor’s car parked in the front! No damage was done except on the back of the pants of the two cousins as they were given some hard swats by their parents at home.

The girl cousins had a sewing club with Aunt Betty, who taught them to crochet and embroider. Dad had a wood-working club and made a stage and benches so that they and the cousins could put on plays for their friends in the neighborhood. They sold tickets and popcorn for the plays and would have 30 to 40 children and adults come to the performances.

As was mentioned, there was a problem with the intermarriage of a Catholic woman (Vivian) and a Lutheran man (George). At first they would take Arlene to the Catholic Church one Sunday and to the Lutheran one the next. After a while they didn’t go to either one of them. One Sunday morning, Arlene was out playing when she heard singing coming from the Lutheran church on the corner. She went in and stayed for Sunday School. When she arrived home, she informed her parents that she was going to attend Sunday School at the corner church because she loved the singing and stories about Jesus. Her parents agreed and every Sunday after that she went to Sunday School. At first she went alone, but later started taking her two younger sisters with her – Sherry and Georgia.

Arlene wanted to go to the public school when she was 5, but since her 6 th birthday wasn’t until the end of November, they wouldn’t let her enter the first grade; there was no Kindergarten at that time. Mom Vivian checked into the Catholic school and they agreed to accept her.

Arlene loved the teacher at the Catholic school, who was a nun, and she learned all her prayers and said she would like to be a teacher-nun someday. However, unexpected things happened to her that made her change her mind. That year, she became ill with measles, mumps, chicken pox and whooping cough and she ended up failing first grade! When it came time for school in the fall, Arlene refused to go back to the Catholic school because she would be behind her group of friends, therefore she was enrolled in the public school near their house. At this school she fell in love with her first grade teacher, Miss Goetzke, and decided that she definitely wanted to be a teacher. After that, her favorite game was sitting her sister Sherry down at a little table and with a little blackboard, teaching her how to read and write. There was only one bad memory from that public school year: she learned some swear words and mom took care of that by washing her mouth out with soap.

Chapter 2

Wartime Viesturs Pavasars was born April 25th, 1936, in Riga, Latvia, the oldest of three boys. Andris was 1 ½ years younger, and Dainis came two years later. They lived in a large apartment in Riga, where his father had his doctor’s office also. They had a happy childhood, traveling out to his mother Lidija’s family’s place in Ergli, a small country town where the Bluaumanis family lived on a farm, as well as Lidija’s father who lived on a nearby farm. Rudolf Blaumanis, an uncle of Lidija’s, was a famous author and playwriter. They spent their summers by the Baltic Sea or another lake by Riga.

In 1943, when the Russians were moving into Latvia from the east and the Germans from the west, bombs were falling on Riga, destroying 800-year-old churches and buildings. Viesturs remembered running to the underground with his family with bombs falling at the nearby park all around. The three boys thought it was fun hiding there even though their parents had different feelings.

In 1944, when the German army took his dad, Dr. Pavasars off with them as their army doctor, his mom quickly came back from their summer vacation home at the lake and packed up to leave Riga. It was dangerous for her and her sons to stay now. If the Russians got there first, the family could be sent to Siberia. So many people were leaving Riga by boat or by train that it was going to be almost impossible for her to get her three little boys out of there. Each boy with his backpack of belongings and Lidija with a small suitcase pushed their way to the train station. People were saying that this was the last train out and were frantic to get on. When they got close to the train, Lidija realized how impossible it would be to get the boys and suitcases on. She told the story of how a tall blonde man was standing by the door of the train and lifted each boy up to the train and then her and even found seats for them. When she looked around, he was gone. After settling the boys in their seats, she went through all the cars of the train wanting to thank the kind man, but was nowhere to be found. She was certain he was God’s angel sent to help them.

The train traveled to Poland where the Pavasars had to walk with many others to find somewhere to stay. They told of the wonderful Polish farm homes that

took in families as they traveled west. When the war finally ended, they were sent to the American zone of Germany. They were very thankful to be in this zone because the Russian zone would have meant Siberia for them.

It was difficult for Doctor Raimunds Pavasars to get reunited with this family as he was suspected of being a Nazi since he was the German army doctor. However, they finally did reunite as a family in Lubec, a German camp, and Raimunds Pavasars became the Latvian camp’s doctor. There were teachers and other professional people in this camp so small businesses sprung up and the children were able to go to school daily in Latvian and German.

The care packages that came from the U.S were real blessings and people planted their family gardens. Since the Pavasars family didn’t smoke, they could trade the cigarettes that came in the care package for food products.

Viesturs and his brothers attended Sunday School and knew God’s commandments – one of them being “Thou shall not steal”. He told of the time he stole three cobs of corn from the nearby farm and eating them to satisfy their hunger, in spite of their feelings of guilt.

The most difficult situation was to live with three other families in the same big room, divided only by curtains. Lidija told the story of cooking oatmeal in a big pot and wrapping it with towels to keep their feet warm in the unheated rooms. They ended up living seven years in this camp before help came and a new life began.

Chapter 3 School Years Arlene’s desire to be a teacher continued as she progressed in Justice School. Because she was the oldest and tallest in her grade, she was often chosen to help the slower students as a teacher-helper. She can remember being sent out to the hall to sit as she was caught talking too much to her neighbors when the teacher was trying to explain something. She was so humiliated and bored sitting outside that she resolved to be quiet in class.

By the time Arlene was in fourth grade, she was a head taller than her classmates and the teachers decided to allow her to skip fifth grade and start sixth the following year. She continued to do well in school and graduated from eighth grade as Valedictorian of her class. She especially invited her first grade teacher to attend the ceremony, and she did.

Arlene had two bad memories of those days at Justice School. Her cousin Dan was a year ahead of her in school and was the one who told her that Vivian wasn’t her real mother. She was already 8 and nobody had really explained about her mother who had died. She hardly knew the Italian side of the family as they had only visited once or twice a year. Cousin Dan was always teasing her about something and she wasn’t sure that she could believe him. When she asked mom Vivian about this, she patiently explained to her about her mother’s death and their friendship. Her father had never wanted to talk about her mom Josephine so Arlene never asked him anymore. It was always easier for her to talk to her mom Vivian. After finding out the truth, Arlene began to feel like ‘Cinderella’. She was the eldest so she had to help more than her younger sisters.: take out the garbage, hang out the clothes, dust, set the table, etc. She began to see (or imagine) that her Dad and Mom loved her two sisters more than they loved her. This came to a head when she was in sixth grade and Mom had taken her shopping for a winter coat. Both of them had liked the brown coat that they bought but Dad started a fight with them about why they didn’t buy the blue or green one. Arlene got so angry at her Dad and shouted at him and locked herself in the bathroom. Dad insisted she come out and apologize but she refused (for what seemed like hours) until Mom came in and convinced her to come out and apologize. She kept the coat and her relationship with her dad got worse. “Could it be that her dad really hated her because she had caused the death of her mother?”

The other big problem was in the seventh grade. The teacher was teaching about evolution and Arlene was in confirmation class at church studying about creation. She raised her hand to comment that evolution was only a theory and that she believed in the Bible’s story of creation. The teacher became furious and when Arlene explained evolution on her final test but said she didn’t agree with that theory, she was given a ‘D’ in science, with straight ‘A’s in all her other subjects.

One thing Arlene always remembered about her parents was their care for old relatives. Uncle Johnny died in their one-story home. He had diabetes and gangrene set in one of his feet and in his legs. Later, when Grandma Voelz and Grandma Steinbeigle became too old to take care of themselves, Dad built another small apartment building to take care of them themselves. Dad build another small apartment building where our vegetable garden had been so each one could have their own space. They were both cranky and could not get along with each other or anyone else. Only Grandma Voelz was nice to Arlene, perhaps remembering those first three and a half years taking care of her. Arlene cried at Grandma Voelz’s funeral – mostly because she wasn’t sure that she would go to heaven. Now she realizes that only God knows the final destination of each person and sometimes there are surprises!

Later on, when Arlene’s family moved to Wisconsin, Dad and Mom took in Dad’s Aunt Ricka, then 85 years old, and took care of her until she died at age 102. Aunt Ricka was so loving and caring for their care. In her last days she couldn’t remember anything else but the Lord’s Prayer in German, which she prayed every night before sleeping.

When Arlene started high school, she transitioned into Argo High School. This was a difficult transition for her at first as there were 200 in her freshman class, compared to only 30 in her eighth grade class at Justice School. She continued to be an ‘A’ student, except for her typing class (she went from an A to a C by the end of the year so didn’t take typing class anymore). The second year they had to choose subjects according to whether they were going to College or wanted the technical courses. Arlene chose college-bound classes and Spanish (instead of Latin). She really enjoyed learning the new language and became president of the Spanish Club.

Her good grades in Argo continued and she became active in her school activities. She was in Drama, was co-editor of the weekly newspaper, etc. and again graduated as Valedictorian of the class of 1952, with a scholarship to Illinois State Normal, a teacher’s college in Normal, Illinois. Again, her first grade teacher, Miss Goetzke (now Miss Williamson), was there to congratulate her and cheer her onward! One of her classmates summed up her high school: “everybody’s friend – nobody’s girlfriend”. She had a few crushes on some of the athletes but hadn’t had a date when she graduated at 17!

As she looked back on those years she remembered one great obstacle: Their first T.V set! As she tried to study for her Physics exam, the rest of the family was gathered together watching “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “I love Lucy”.

Chapter 4 School in Germany Viesturs and his brothers were good students and did well in school in Germany. For a while they were in a boarding school, where things were stricter and more books were available for them than in camp. The boys had a famous piano teacher from Latvia who taught them piano lessons. Viesturs and his brother Andris presented duets on the piano for a concert.

After seven years, when Viesturs was ready for high school, an offer from the Latvian Lutheran Church in Connecticut came to sponsor them in Connecticut. People from the church met them at Ellis Island and had a small furnished home for them by the ocean. In time, Doctor Pavasars became certified to work at the Veteranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital in Connecticut and so they moved to a larger apartment over there.

Viesturs had studied some English but found it difficult to spell and speak clearly. He was more advanced in mathematics, history and science coming from the German schools but English needed a lot of work. He quickly improved and was on the honor roll by the end of his first year. It was a small school, and even smaller freshman class, so easily made friends with all his classmates. Those who are still alive of his classmates still have a class reunion every summer.

Viestursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; family becamse active in the Latvian Church and Viesturs danced in the Latvian fold dancer group. It was known that his uncle and grandfather had been pastors in Latvia and they looked at Viesturs as a possible candidate for a future pastor. He was active in the young peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s group, but really had not considered being a pastor. He wanted to be an engineer.

Chapter 5 University Days Because of her scholarship to Illinois State Teacher’s College in Normal, Illinois, Arlene would live independently on campus. Her parents drove her to the train station and she looked forward to her new adventure! She doesn’t remember her parents looking sad as she departed, only giving her suggestions about what to do and what not to in this new chapter of her life.

The dormitory had room for two – each with their own bed and desk. Her roommate was Lois Hoffman, who was a farm girl with whom it was easy to get along. The two of them also had other friends. Arlene made new friends in the Lutheran Club.

At the end of the year they had a banquet and they presented a play. Arlene met her fist boyfriend here – George Resh, a student at the Methodist College. He was in the pre-ministerial section as he wanted to be a pastor. They sat next to each other at the banquet and discussed many things. He too lived in Chicago so the made plans to see each other in the summer.

On their first date, George brought his younger brother along who was the same age as Arlene’s sister Sherry. The four had a good time at an amusement park and made plans for further dates. When school started up again in the fall, Arlene invited George to the homecoming dance.

One night after Arlene and George had a date at the movies, Arlene came home crying. Her new roommate, Lee, asked if George had done something to her. Arlene replied that he hadn’t. She said that the movie they had seen, “The Robe”, had shown her what it meant to be a Christian – to be ready to give your life rather than deny Jesus. She began to have doubts about her faith and it was a time of rededication and saying, “Yes, Lord, you are the most important in my life. I would rather die than deny you.”

Arlene realized that George was wanting a more serious relationship and she didn’t want that as she still had two years at the University. So they both

decided to concentrate on their studies and not date for a while. A couple of months later George’s father called to say that George was in the hospital with an asthma attack. Arlene went to visit him. A few days later another call came saying that George had died of a throat cancer the size of a golf ball. Seeing the faith of George’s family at the funeral convinced Arlene that death isn’t our end; heaven in our hope!

During her Sophmore year, Arlene’s parents decided to sell their Chicago home and move to Wisconsin, where her dad could begin a new job as Chief Engineer of Burlington Mills. They remodeled their summer cottage on Whitewater Lake and made it winter-proof. Her Dad informed Arlene that she would have to transfer to Whitewater State Teacher’s College to finish her last two years. The family had many expenses due to moving and remodeling so she would have to live at home and travel on the bus with her two sisters.

Arlene was sad to leave her independent life and good friends in Normal, but adjusted well to the new home. She worked part-time at a fancy restaurant called “Green Shutters” and made good tips for personal expenses. She also was able to keep up her good grade average and graduate in 1956, at the age of 21, with honors. Of course, she invited Mrs Williamson, her first grade teacher, and she was able to attend her graduation in Whitewater.

Every change in our lives brings blessings and so it was for the Voelz family. Dad, mom and their daughters attended the little Lutheran Church on Whitewater Lake in the summer and the same church in the town of Whitewater in the winters. Mom decided she wanted to become Lutheran like the rest of the family and so she went through Confirmation class; later on Georgia, the youngest, was confirmed - both of them by Pastor Sigwalt. The Lord hears and answers prayer!

Chapter 6 Army and University: Death and Life All three of the Pavasars boys received their U.S citizenship by joining the U.S. armed forces. Viesturs joined the Marines and was fortunate to do only office work after his basic training. During his first six months of office work, he started to smoke as that was the only way to leave his work – for a “smoke break”! He began coughing and having chest pains and they decided that he had tuberculosis. So for the next year he was in a T.B sanatorium, getting treatment – a hard time for a young man with many plans for his future!

During one of his treatments, a long tube was inserted in his windpipe to examine his lungs. Viesturs said he could feel his spirit rising and was looking down at the doctors trying to revive him and saying “Hurry! He’s dead – get the paddles” He felt he was dead and felt no pain – only peace. When the doctors brought him back to life, he knew for sure what he always had read about – the separation of body and soul – a new dimension of life that few get to experiment before their final death. Now he knew it was true and wanted to share it with others. Maybe God did want him to become a pastor!

During the rest of his time in the sanatorium, he read the Bible from cover to cover with new insight and meaning for his life. When he was finally declared free of T.B, he enrolled in the University of Connecticut in Engineering and Philosophy. He had to have a four year degree before he could enroll in the Lutheran Seminary. His pension from the U.S Marines helped pay for his studies and he continued to be active in the Latvian Lutheran Church, as well as the Christian organization in the University – Intervarsity Christian Fellowship as well as the Lutheran Club. He had groups of friends in both places, but no special romance.

*****Something worth mentioning during his seminary years was the fact that he was very persistent in spite of what others believed he was capable of. He told Arlene, and many years later also talked about it to their daughter when she was going through a hard time in high school, that the Dean told him, looking at this grade point average, that he would never make it; that he would never be able to graduate. Viesturs proved him wrong by walking out of his

office and working real hard in all his classes and was able to graduate with his class.****** When he graduated from the University, he moved to Minnesota and began his studies at the Lutheran Seminary in St Paul. Around that same time, his father was transferred to the Veteran’s Hospital in Tomah, Wisconsin, and the family moved there. Viesturs stayed in the Seminary, though.

Viesturs worked part-time as he finished Seminary and did his internship in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he worked with the Young People. He had also been working with the youth in the Latvian church in St. Paul during his seminary days. He was always busy with work and studies so he didn’t find time to date much. He told of talking to Harold Olson, who was working in Colombia as a missionary and doing postgraduate work at the seminary. Viesturs shared his sadness over some girl that had broken his heart and Pastor Olson told him, “When God closes one door, he always opens a better one.” Little did these two know where they would meet again!

Chapter 7 Miss Voelz – Teacher After graduation, Arlene received a job to teach third grade in Hoard School, located in Fort Atkinson, which was about 20 miles away from their home in Whitewater Lake. Her dad helped her choose her first car – a beautiful light green 1956 Chevrolet, which she shared with three others who lived in Whitewater and they in turn helped pay for gas costs. She enjoyed driving except for the icy curvy roads in the winter. One wintery day she drove her dad to the train station and as she returned to pick up her teacher friends, she slipped off the icy road into a snowy farmers’ field. When she came to a stop and walked around the car to see the damage, she noticed that all four wheels had barbed wire fence around them. What to do? As she looked around she saw a gas station but since this was before cell phones, she had to walk there. Fortunately, the gas station had a tow truck and they cut the barbed wire off and towed the car to the highway. Thanks to the Lord, there was no damage to the tires as she was able to drive to work – she was just a bit late.

Arlene really loved her first year of teaching in Fort Atkinson! Since she had taught Sunday School since she was 14 and had student teaching at the University, she felt at ease with the students. Both the superintendent of school and her Principal were Christians, so they had no objection to starting the day with prayer and having Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrated in a Christian way. Since it was election year, they had their own mock-election and voted for the class officers. Every week they had a class meeting and made the rules of behavior and plans for class activities. This plan formed self-discipline and made teaching easier.

Arlene met at lunch time with two Christian high school teachers and one night a week with another older teacher in her home. She also kept up with her Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (IVF) group in Whitewater. During her two years at Hoard School, she attended some IVF weekend camps at Lake Geneva. There she met a friend, Jim Newing, and corresponded with him for a while until he wrote a letter saying that he was getting engaged. This news brought tears to her eyes since she had considered Jim as a possible mate. Afterwards she dated another IVF friend who was studying agriculture and wanted to be a

pig farmer. As kindly as possible, she told him that she didn’t want to waste his money and her time anymore and they stopped dating.

During the summer of 1957, Billy Graham was the speaker for an IVF meeting at Illinois in Champaign. There were more than 5,000 attending and the last night Billy spoke on World Missions. At the end of the sermon, he asked everyone to stand if they felt the Holy Spirit calling them to the mission field. Arlene remembers not wanting to stand up even though she felt a call to serve in that way. As she help on to her chair, she felt the Holy Spirit pulling her up and she finally gave in and stood with tears flowing down and the thought in her mind, “I don’t want to be a missionary – I love my teaching!”

The next year of teaching began and Arlene was happy working with her new group of third graders. The University sent student teachers to observe and participate in her class. She had to help them organize and teach a subject, and at the end send a report and grade for each practice teacher. She continued to teach Sunday school in Whitewater and was happy later on to find out that one of her students had become a pastor. She also continued attended the IVF camps at Lake Geneva. A speaker included in his Bible study a statement that many mission fields were needing “non-professional” missionaries who would to serve as nurses, builders, teachers…. When she heard the word “teachers”, Arlene felt a light bulb come on – of course she could be both a teacher and a missionary – that is what the Holy Spirit was saying to her in the campaign! After the Bible study, Arlene talked with the speaker and he gave her a list of schools in foreign countries who were needing teachers. She prayed and then wrote to schools in Spain, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Spain was her first choice as she had always dreamed of a trip around Europe.

Weeks went by and she didn’t get any replies to the letters she had sent out. Finally, just before she had to sign to continue her contract in Fort Atkinson, she received a letter from Colegio Nueva Granada, an English-Spanish speaking school in Bogota, Colombia. After talking with the Superintendendant and the Principal about the possibility of a leave of absence for the two-year contract in Bogota, they agreed and Arlene wrote her letter of acceptance to the school in Colombia.

Chapter 8

Viesturs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; California After graduation from the Seminary, Viesturs was ordained by the Latvian Lutheran Church in Exile and also by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. This meant that he was eligible for calls in either church. He had a call from a church in California and drove out there with all his belongings only to find out that they had received someone else already. Disappointed, he just decided to take the opportunity to start a graduate degree in Berkeley University, not allowing discouragement to get the best of him.

During his time there, he dated a Latvian girl and thought that she would make a good future wife for him. At the same time, Viesturs was thinking and praying about going as a missionary. There was a Latvian-German-Spanish speaking church in Caracas, Venezuela, that he was interested in but they already had their Latvian pastor. Viesturs had studied Spanish in the University and so he wanted to go to a Spanish-speaking country. When he told his girlfriend about his desire to go to a mission field, she quickly replied that he would have to go alone. That ended the romance immediately!

Shortly afterwards he received a letter from the Missionary Association in Colombia, asking if he would accept a call to Bogota, Colombia. After prayer about the matter, he accepted the call and got ready for his journey to a new country and a brand new life.

pig farmer. As kindly as possible, she told him that she didn’t want to waste his money and her time anymore and they stopped dating.

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Bogota, Colombia Arlene arrived in Bogota after a sad good-bye from her parents. They were worried about the dangers in Colombia and her dad bought and insurance policy in case she never came back. The fact that Arlene had only a two-year contract eased the situation.

The secretary in Nueva Granada, the school where she would be teaching, met Arlene at El Dorado airport and took her to her new home. She would be living with two other teachers but each had their own bedroom. Tinike, who was a refugee from Holland, taught Kindergarten, and Lorraine, from the U.S, taught third grade. The school bus picked up the three teachers along with the children and took them to the school every school day.

This was a school for wealthy kids – from the embassy, oil companies, and rich Colombians who wanted their children to be bilingual. Arlene remembers that one rich Colombian girl had spilled her milk on the floor and she clapped her hands, saying “Teacher, clean this up!” Arlene patiently explained to her that she was her teacher, not the maid, and that in first grade she would have to clean up her own messes. The little girl was indignant but cleaned up the milk as instructed.

Arlene was amazed at the intelligence of the children, who learned to read in both languages very quickly. The Spanish teacher worked with them only for one hour and the rest of the time had to be only in English. Since Spanish is completely phonic and English spelling is not, some children had problems at first.

Arlene was a creative teacher and did lots of fun projects and songs. They raised Fluffy, their classroom pet, and wrote stories about her. As she began to lay eggs, they decided to get a husband for Fluffy and they named him Churchill. The school built a pen for the two ducks and more and more eggs began to appear but none hatched. Finally they had to get a new husband for Fluffy and Mrs. Churchill.

The first Sunday in Bogota, Arlene went to the Union Church on the corner of her block. All was in English and she joined the choir that would practice for The Messiah at Christmas time. She was also asked to teach religion for the first two grades at Nueva Granada. This was a before-school class where children could choose – protestant, catholic or jewish classes, or to come later instead

The second Sunday, Arlene decided to attend a Spanish-speaking Lutheran church, El Redentor, and this was where life really began for her! She could understand most of the sermon, given by Missionary Harold Olson and when the congregation sang “Living for Jesus” (in Spanish, of course) her eyes were filled with tears and she knew this would be her church from now on.

After the church service ended, Belva Nelson, a 45-year old single missionary, came up and introduced Arlene to people, and then invited her to lunch and to the weekly Bible study and prayer time at Ardtfeld and Hilder Morck’s house. She was asked to be in the church choir and she agreed since they had rehearsals on a different night for The Messiah practices at Union church.

Since she only taught at Nueva Granada until 3:30, there was time for Arlene to go with Belva on some of her visits to the sick and poor members of the church. Pastor Pausanias Wilches and his wife also invited their members, but were happy for Belva’s help. Also Helen Danielson, one of the older missionaries, held Bible studies and visited new members. Harold and Opal Olson were in charge of the Bible Institute, where there was a boarding home for girls and boys, mostly teenagers. All the missionaries had classes at the Bible Institute because they had to flee the mountain congregations in the 50s during the political and religious persecution going on in Colombia. Churches were burned, young leaders and Pastors were imprisoned, stones were thrown at missionaries as they walked down the streets, etc. However, what seemed like the destruction of the Lutheran Church in Colombia turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The people fled to Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, where it was safer and the Bible Institute was formed with the young leaders of the churches from the mountains and the plains. The older leaders stayed on their land and remained faithful to their Lord and His church.

In Bogota, small churches in the homes developed into larger ones and they added schools to it; for example, San Lucas in Ciudad Kennedy (on the south

side) and San Pablo. The largest church in Bogota, El Redentor, grew rapidly with many young people. On Sunday afternoons there could be more than 80 at the youth meeting at church! Belva worked with the youth and helped form a National Youth Group called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Castillo Fuerteâ&#x20AC;?. Arlene always attended the meetings and made new friends. Among them were the Corzo family - Leticia (who became her Spanish teacher), and her brothers Jorge, Alfonso and Pedro, from the mountain congregation in El Cocuy - and the Pineros family from Bogota, and many others. The Castillo Fuerte group elected officers and Arlene was elected treasurer. The four officers traveled to visit congregations all around Colombia and this way Arlene became acquainted with the churches and young people in cities like Sogamoso, Socota and El Cocuy. As she was able to communicate more, she really got to know and love the people in this country. That is why, after her two years were up and she said good-bye to her friends, she knew that one day she would be back.

Chapter 10

Back in the U.S Arlene went back to teaching third grade in Fort Atkinson. She taught her third graders Spanish and presented their Christmas play with the children speaking Spanish and singing “Noche de Paz” (Silent Night).

After Christmas, Arlene received a letter from the ELCA mission board saying that the missionaries and the Colombian church would like her to go back to Colombia to replace Belva Nerlien, ho had to go back to the States to take care of her mother, who was very ill. Arlene wrote back immediately saying that she planned to go back to Colombia as a teacher in Nueva Granada and help out with church as she had before. She didn’t feel qualified to be a missionary as she had never been to a Bible Institute or Seminary. The mission board wrote back just as quickly – “Please pray about this!”

Arlene began to pray about the possibility to going to Colombia as a missionary, but all kinds of excuses for not going came into her mind: “If I go as a missionary to Colombia I will be an old maid like those who are there now: Belva Nerlien, Helen, Joyce and Cornelia, who worked in the school in the town of Sogamoso. I want to get married someday.” “I’m not qualified to be a missionary”. And the reasons to not go went on. After a while of struggling and praying, Arlene finally wrote back “yes” to the call. She didn’t mention anything to her parents as she knew this would mean many years living away from her family, not just two years like before. It would be extra hard for them this time as her sister Sherry had gone off to California to visit her boyfriend, Fred, who was in the Navy there. They had just received a letter saying that she decided to stay there and that they had decided to marry – both were 21! So Arlene kept this news to herself until almost the end of the school year. When she finally broke the news to her parents, it was a family disaster- Dad began shouting at her that she was a fanatic, that she had lost her mind, etc, and Mom was crying. The Lord gave Arlene peace and all she answered was “I know it’s God’s will.” Dad shouted out again, “How can you know God’s will?! Who do you think you are?”

Things were tense around home for a while until the Sunday Arlene was consecrated as a missionary in the church in Whitewater and she gave her

farewell speech on Luke 14:26 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x153;If people come to me and are not ready to abandon their fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers, and sisters, as well as their own lives, they cannot be my disciples.â&#x20AC;? She truly loved her parents and sisters and the church in Whitewater, but she had to obey God and do His will. He had to be first in her life.

There was a going-away party for Arlene as she left for Bogota to begin another chapter in her life.

Chapter 11

Back to Colombia Arlene’s flight back to Colombia had a lay-over in Mexico City and so she visited some of the old ruins and the surrounding of the hotel. That evening, as she knelt by her bed to pray, she began to feel so inadequate for this missionary call and she cried to the Lord for His help and guidance. As she prayed, a new language began to come from her mouth and a wonderful feeling of joy and peace came over her – and most importantly, complete assurance that the Lord would be with her every step of the way on this journey.

Her new home in Bogota was shared with Helen Danielson, an older missionary than Belva. She immediately sat Arlene down and informed her of the things to do and not do as a missionary. They each had their own bedroom but they shared their kitchen with a Colombian couple who lived in the back of the house. Helen had her own schedule as the visitation person for El Redentor; Arlene spent her day at the Bible Institute teaching classes so usually had her lunch there and only fixed breakfast and dinner at home. Helen liked to cook her own food and eat separately so they didn’t have much time together.

Arlene’s mother wrote every week, but letters took two weeks to get to Colombia; Arlene tried to write her mom once a week also. In December, Arlene received the bad news that president Kennedy had been assassinated, and also that her cousin Iris committed suicide. They had been drinking to celebrate Thanksgiving and Iris and taken her Policeman husband’s gun and shot herself. At the beginning of the following year came the news of the burning down of Old Main, where Arlene had graduated. Arlene wrote her family that the U.S seemed more dangerous than Colombia!

During Arlene’s first year of teaching, she came down with hepatitis B and was in a Christian clinic for a month. She was very depressed and cried out to the Lord again: “Why did you bring me back to Colombia where I have no family to help me and I can’t teach now?!” As she prayed, she saw a vision of Colombia burning and crying out for help and the Lord spoke saying that she was needed there and was not alone; that He would always be with her – even to the end. After the first week in the hospital, she began to see the love of the Christian nurses and doctors and of the other missionaries and her new Colombian

church family. She began to sing and pray as she read several Christian books that helped her spiritually to relax and let the Great Healer do His work. The question “Why do bad things happen to Christians?” was answered as she now knew that we can only identify with people’s illnesses and problems if we have experienced what they are going through. She had never been in a hospital before, so now she knew what it was like and would be able to identify with others easier.

Since the Presbyterian School in Bogota had agreed to receive the Bible Institute’s graduates and certify them for college, the attendance at the Bible Institute dropped, so it was decided to send the girls to boarding school in Sogamoso and help the boys attend the Presbyterian school that was not government-approved. Arlene was to live in Sogamoso the next year and teach in the girls’ high school. She had been named the secretary of the Mission group so she still would travel to Bogota once a month for the meeting.

Some new married missionaries had recently arrived: The Jacobsons, the Amodts, the Brands and the Westmans. Also, one single missionary, Walt Ludvigson. Everyone was trying to pair Arlene and Walt off, but it didn’t work. Arlene really loved the Colombians, and Walt was always criticizing them. They did go out a couple of times but that didn’t change the atmosphere – not even a date to see “The Sound of Music”.

When the letter arrived at the missionary meeting offering the services of Viesturs Pavasars, Secretary Arlene was told to answer the letter saying the missionary group enthusiastically agreed with the coming of the new missionary Viesturs Pavasars.

Joyce, Cornie and Arlene were getting ready for a visit from Belva Nerlien, who had come back to Colombia to pick up some things that she had left behind. Belva wanted to visit Sogamoso and El Cocuy, where she had worked before. It was her idea to invite the new missionary, Viesturs Pavasars (now called “don Victor” in Colombia). Arlene had also been named as the Director of the Colombian Lutheran schools and she had to visit and sign report cards, so it was decided that the three of them – Belva, Arlene and Victor – would travel in the mission jeep to El Cocuy.

The Sogamoso missionaries had dressed in their Sunday best to receive Belva and don Victor. Arlene had her high heels on and when she greeted Victor, she was not impressed in the least bit –he was shorter than her and he had a funny mustache. When she put on her low shoes and they started traveling together, her opinion of him changed, though. Victor was very easy to talk with and really liked the Colombians, and they responded well to him. His dark hair and complexion and his brown eyes even made him look like a Colombian. He was studying Spanish, even though he had two years in college, and Arlene was now in her fourth year in Colombia so she was able to understand and converse with him without problems.

On their first day in El Cocuy Arlene was up early – at 6:00, as usual – and was surprised to see Victor outside studying his Spanish book. She asked if he needed some help and he said he did, with a friendly grin. As they sat there studying, sparks seemed to fly between them; that night as they looked at the beautiful El Cocuy moon and stars with his telescope, ideas were stirring in both of them.

When they arrived back in Sogamoso, Victor went off with Mario Jacobson to see the town. When they got back, he announced that he had bought a picture at the art exhibit and wanted the girls to see it. Cornie and Joyce reacted negatively and asked “What is it?!” He asked them what they thought it was – No answer. When he asked Arlene, she told him her thoughts – that it was God’s light coming into the dark world through Jesus and she painted out the cross that was drawn on top. Victor didn’t say any more but afterwards told Arlene that the picture was his psychological test for her and that he was amazed that both of them saw the exact same thing in that abstract painting.

To make a long story short, Victor and Arlene met in June, were engaged in October, and married in December of the same year – 1966. Arlene had just turned 31 and Victor was 30. Before they could get married in the Lutheran Church, though, they had to be married civilly, before a judge, to have their wedding considered legal. This took place in Sogamoso, and the beautiful church wedding was in the “El Redentor” church in Bogota, on December 27 th. Arlene stayed at the Jacobson’s until the wedding and reception. Victor’s mother, father, and two brothers all flew in for the wedding, but only Arlene’s sister Georgia came. Her mom and dad were afraid to fly, and Sherry and Fred now had small children. So, Harold Olson took the place of Arlene’s dad and walked her down the aisle.

After the 7:00 p.m wedding, they held a reception in the basement of the El Redentor church. All the missionaries helped out by serving the cake and punch to the over 300 people who attended the service. Arlene remembers that at around 8:30 her new husband came up to her and loudly proclaimed, “We’ve gotta get going! It’s way past our bedtime!”. Arlene chuckled and wondered how many people had heard this proclamation. However, soon after that they took off and stayed at the Hotel Tequendama; the next morning they left for a wonderful one-week honeymoon in Cartagena and then moved into Victor’s small apartment in Bogota.

Shortly after they returned from their honeymoon, the Colombian Lutheran Church had their yearly assembly to decide the placement of the pastors. It was decided that since Victor also knew German, and there was a Germanspeaking Lutheran church in Cali, he would be the perfect one to start a new Spanish-speaking church over in this city. So, Arlene and Victor realized that this city would now become their new home for the next five years.

Chapter 12

Hand in Hand – Cali, Colombia Missionary Walt Ludvigson (now called Orlando by the Colombians) was now the president of the Colombian Lutheran Church. He took Arlene and Victor to Cali to look for a house, where they could begin the new mission. They first visited the German pastor, thinking they might be able to start a Spanish service in the German Church building. The German pastor pulled out a map of Cali and pointed to a new neighborhood (called La Flora) which was located on the opposite side of the city, so the three missionaries started looking for a house there.

They found a house that had a large living room that could be divided between a chapel and sitting place for Bible studies. There were also four bedrooms – two could be used for Victor’s office and one for Sunday School. It was located in a high middle class area with lower middle class homes across the canal. There was a kitchen and dining room, plus a large patio for hanging clothes; there was also a maid’s room further back. Since Victor and Arlene would be doing a lot of visitation, they decided to hire a maid and her little sister; Carmen was only 18 and Patricia was 6. They were a great help in keeping everything clean and Carmen was a good cook. Both the girls liked attending Sunday school and church when those were started.

Victor at first wanted to wear his black shirt with clerical collar as he and Arlene walked hand in hand around the neighborhood introducing themselves. However, since people were always whispering about the priest and his girlfriend, Victor decided to change his pastor’s clothes for a short sleeve white shirt and tie.

At first Victor and Arlene attended Sunday services at the Episcopal church, which was just beginning in Cali as well. Pastor Pineda and Victor decided to have a radio program and give a Bible message and invite people to both churches. When the services began in the Lutheran church, the Pinedas attended also. At first, though, there were no church services on Sundays, only weekly Bible studies, where many were invited but few attended. When there was an interest in a home, Victor and Arlene would return to that house and have a short reading and prayer. Sometimes there was more interest and they

also would come to the Bible Study. A German couple asked Victor to prepare their two teenage boys for confirmation and they began attending Sunday services. Another U.S family was working in Cali began attending also. After a while, a few people from the neighborhood started coming and attendance grew to around 30. Victor and Arlene planned a retreat in the mountains where it was cool and about 20 people came. This was a popular event, so they repeated it every year during their five-year stay in Cali.

Arlene taught Sunday school and Vacation Bible School and always presented a play for the parents and church members at Christmas time. There was a United Evangelical campaign and the churches divided the city in zones for visitation and follow-up after the campaign. Arlene and Victor had many interesting experiences during their visits. One lady slammed the door in their faces saying that the Jehovah Witnesses had just been there and had told her that her newborn baby wouldn’t live very long because they world was coming to an end! Pavasars explained through a closed door that the Jehovah Witnesses were a sect but that we were Christians and believed that only God knows when the world would end. She finally reopened the door and let them in. Another time, two teenagers explained that they were forbidden to enter another church that was not Catholic but that it had been very nice to talk to us “non-Christians”. Pastor Victor explained that we too were Christians and believe in the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Colombia was definitely still in the pre-reformation period. The mass in Latin, the Bible could be read only by priests, payment for baptisms, funeral masses, etc.

In spite of all the difficulties, the church grew and when Mirdza Kristina, who was born in 1969, was baptized, even the local Rabi came and sat in the first row among the other 50 attending. (Victor became friends with this young Rabi who sold kosher meat at the nearby market.) Victor’s brother Andris also flew in and attended Mirdza’s baptism and became her Godfather, and afterwards the two brothers traveled to El Cocuy.

By the time Victor and Arlene’s second child came along and was baptized in 1971, a baby boy who they named John Miervaldis, it was almost time for them to travel back to the U.S on furlough – a leave of absence that is granted to all missionaries, as well as those in the military, after a certain period of service time. The mission had bought a lot of land for future construction of a bigger church, and Pastor Aristarco Silva came to Cali to replace the Pavasars in the new mission church once they left.

Chapter 13

Adapting to the U.S The Pavasars couple traveled to the U.S with Mirdza being 1 ½ and John one two months old; they also traveled with Pepito, their little parakeet. When they arrived in Miami, where they went through Customs, immigration gave them problems because the bird hadn’t been checked by a veterinarian. They finally let him through by paying an airport doctor.

California was their first stop to visit their sponsor church in San Pedro. Pastor Larry Christensen and family welcomed them, and Victor preached at the Sunday service; the sermon was very uplifting. They were able to stay in California to relax for a few days before traveling to St Paul, Minnesota, where Victor would begin his Master’s thesis in Mariology.

When they arrived to the missionary apartments near the Lutheran Seminary in St Paul, it was decided that, since they were staying for a year, they would stay in a second-floor apartment. Arlene had to wash clothes in the basement so she would take Mirdza and John in his buggy down with her each time she did this. When they arrived in the summer, they rented a car so that Victor could travel to their sponsor churches around the U.S. Sometimes Arlene would travel with him, along with the children, but may times Arlene would just stay home and wheel the two kids to the church near the seminary.

When winter arrived, it was much harder for Arlene since she had to dress the children with heavy clothes and push the walker through the snow. Arlene remembered that this was one of the most difficult times of their marriage. Victor was so busy studying, writing his thesis, travelling to the sponsor churches, etc, that he rarely had time for his wife and small kids! She also remembers that there were some wonderful times they had together, like the evening family devotions before the kids were put to bed. Those were happy moments because Mirdza loved to sing and John would be smiley and trying to babble along with the songs. After singing, they both sat quietly as their parents read from the beautiful picture stories of the Bible that Victor’s brother Dainis, John’s Godfather, had given him. Dr and Mrs. Pavasars, Victor’s parents, were thrilled when they celebrated Christmas with their only grandchildren!

Finally, spring arrived and things were easier. John was now walking and was able to play more with his sister now. They loved going to a nearby park and come down the slide, chase the birds, and see other children. Victor’s thesis was approved and he got his Master’s Degree. It was now time to return “home” to Colombia – this time for five years in another city – Sogamoso.

Chapter 14

Sogamoso A Lutheran school had been built in Sogamoso with a boarding section for those students who fled during the time of the persecution of evangelicals in the plains and mountain churches. A chapel was built in the school for school services and was also used on Sundays for the families â&#x20AC;&#x201C; many of whom had also fled from their homes. They had built two apartments for the Pastor, where missionaries Harold and Opal Olson had lived before moving to Bucaramanga to begin a new mission. The other apartment on the second floor was where Arlene, Joyce and Cornie had lived. Joyce was the Principal of the school and Cornie taught English and other classes in the high school section. Now Arlene decided not to teach, except for Sunday school classes so that she could devote time to the children and vacation with Victor. She attended the Ladiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; meeting, joined the choir, etc and she took the position of counsellor for the girls and Victor was counsellor for the boys (as the school was now for both boys and girls and had all 12 grades). Victor also taught religion in the 12 th grade and Arlene helped out with the weekly chapel times.

Shortly after the Pavasars arrived, both Joyce and Cornelia retired from Colombia and Pastor Brand and his wife and two children, Mike and Krista, arrived. Dale became the new rector of the school and he and Phyllis taught some English and religion classes at the school. They had their third child in Sogamoso. Both the Brand and the Pavasars children enjoyed playing with Ruth Stella and Raul Lopez, whose parents were caretakers of the school; they lived in a small apartment by the basketball court. The Brands went back to the States shortly after their first term and Jose Ayala became the new rector and lived in the same second floor apartment as the Brands had lived. They also had two children, Fernando and Ildze, and later came Ludvigs and Andrea.

The yearly assembly with delegates from all the Lutheran churches in Colombia was held in Sogamoso. That was a busy time for all the ladies preparing meals and attending meetings, etc. After lunch one day, Arlene noticed that all the delegates were pointing upward towards the roof of the school. When she looked up, she saw her son, little Johnny, jumping along the rooftop and the other friends applauding him from the window. Victor dashed up the three flights of stairs just in time to catch Johnny as he attempted to jump from the roof to the balcony of their apartment. Just one more example of how the good Lord protected our family in Colombia!

Viesturs and Arlene had a kindergarten for Mirdza and Johnny since the school didn’t have one. Viesturs taught them to read and write in Latvian and Arlene taught them in English. At 5, both the kids knew how to read and write in all three languages – Latvian, English and Spanish. Both Spanish and Latvian are phonetic so were easier to learn than English’s weird spelling. Since the children weren’t in regular school, the four of them would take Mondays off and go to the Hot Springs in Paipa or Iza, when Viesturs was not traveling to Socota or Paz del Rio. Viesturs taught the children to swim and both he and Arlene had fun in playing in the park with them.

Arlene’s sister Georgia was in Bogota teaching at Nueva Granada and came to visit them in Sogamoso.

The ladies group in Sogamos was very active and at Christmas time they would take presents to the children who were in the hospital. In 1975 there were two babies – a boy and a girl – left by their parents who said they couldn’t take care of them. Arlene excitedly told Elizabeth, a member of the church, about the babies as she and her husband Alvaro had been married seven years without being able to have children. Elizabeth went with Arlene to see the babies. The little girl had already been adopted beautiful chubby little boy was still there. Elizabeth was all excited to take the baby home, by Alvaro said “No! If we can’t have our own, I don’t want any; I don’t want someone else’s baby.”

Arlene came home sad about the baby and Viesturs said, “Let’s take him! We can take care of another child.” Arlene was more hesitant. Soon the children would be in school – John would start first grade in February since he already knew how to read, and Mirdza would be in second grade – and she would have more time to work in the church and school. Plus, she wasn’t sure she could love this baby as much as she loved her own. Viesturs urged her to pray about it and as she did she realized her own selfishness. So, after a few days, they went back to the hospital to see if the baby was still there. The nurses were delighted that someone wanted the baby as he was too big for the crib and he cried a lot. They sent the Pavasars to the Family Welfare judge, who was also thrilled with the idea of them taking the baby. He said that they could take the baby right away and he would see that the papers would come through quickly. So, the next day Victor and Arlene arrived home with a baby dressed in some of Johnny’s old baby clothes- much to the surprise of his new sister and brother. It was also a surprise for the other students, teachers and church members.

Everyone was happy with the new 6-month-old baby boy who was baptized soon after with the name Modris James Pavasars.

Pastor Viesturs (Victor) told the story of Modris (Jim)’s baptism. When they had brought him back from the hospital he would always scream and cry loudly when he wanted to eat. Since the family always prayed before meals, he would continue to cry during the prayer. At lunchtime after the baptism, it was totally different! He sat quietly during the prayer. Victor happily commented, “See how the Holy Spirit can change people?”

Victor was also in charge of the Mission in Paz del Rio and Socota. When Mirdza and John said good bye to him as he left to go to those places for several weeks at a time, they would always cry. He decided to take Mirdza, the oldest, first on one of his trips, and then took John as he traveled to Socota for a week. They said they had fun but they never cried when he left after that.

Pastor Victor had also started a Selite group (Seminary by Extension) to train the leaders of the congregations to teach the Bible and lead services while he was traveling elsewhere. Arlene was part of this group and was happy that she was finally getting her Bible schooling that she was missing.

The five-year term in Sogamoso passed quickly and as they said good bye to their friends there, they look forward to a summer leave in the States.

Chapter 15

Back in the U.S On this leave, the Pavasars were to stay at the Missionary apartments at Luther seminary, but first they visited the church in San Pedro, California. Mirdza and John sang Jesus loves me in all three languages – Spanish, English and Latvian – and the people clapped loudly. Victor preached in the morning, and in the afternoon they had a family communion service. Everyone sat and meditated on Bible passages and confessed their sins to the Lord, then would go forwards and kneel as a family for communion and a blessing for the children. When they prayed for the Pavasars family, the deacon was helping the pastor stopped and prayed for Jimmy for a long time and then said to us that he needed special prayer but he wasn’t sure why.

Arlene flew with John and Mirdza for her sister Sherry son Steve’s wedding, and Victor took Jimmy to St Paul for his appointment to become an American citizen. While in St Paul for physical exams, it was discovered that Jimmy needed a heart operation. The duct between his heart and lungs hadn’t closed as it should and the blood was going to his lungs; therefore, they needed to operate on him right away. (That was the reason the pastor’s assistant said he needed special prayer; the Lord had revealed that to him, though he hadn’t revealed the entire situation to him) Arlene remembers sitting in the hospital all night watching her youngest son with tubes and wires connecting him to machines. She remembers the long hours sitting there and praying, “Lord, could I ever love any child more than this?” Jimmy recuperated quickly and came running out of the hospital on the third day!

That summer there was a missionary retreat on a college campus in St Paul. There were interesting Bible studies and services for the adults and many activities for the children of all ages. The children presented a musical of Daniel and the Lion’s Den and all three of the children were able to participate.

Harold and Opal Olson had left Colombia and now lived at a retirement apartment near the seminary; the Pavasars enjoyed meeting up with them for picnics and games of miniature golf with them. They also had time for bowling and other activities between their trips to visit sponsor congregations in Minnesota and North Dakota.

The Pavasars spent one week at Viesturs’ parents’ house – Dr. Raimunds and Mrs Lidija Pavasars – in Appleton, WI, where they had bought a house. Lidija was teaching Russian part-time at the University, even though she was in her 80s, and Raimunds worked part-time at the Veteran’s Hospital. Arlene’s parents were now both retired after selling their home on Whitewater Lake and were now living in Lake Geneva, where the Pavasars visited them for a few days. They also got to see Arlene’s sister Georgia, who was teaching in Rockford, IL, once again.

The summer in the U.S went by quickly! Soon the Pavasars were flying back to Bogota once again, and then to Bucaramanga, the city where they would spend their next five-year term.

Chapter 16

Bucaramanga Harold and Opal Olson had retired and gone back to the U.S to spend their retirement years, but they left a budding congregation meeting in their garage in Bucaramanga. There were only five or six confirmed members, but also 20 to 25 who came to Sunday morning service. Opal had done a wonderful job visiting people with her husband Harold and had started a ladies’ Bible study every week with 10-12 ladies meeting in their homes. This made it easy for the Pavasars to continue the work in Bucaramanga; soon after, many of the visitors and ladies from Opal’s group got confirmed and the garage chapel became too small for the 30 to 40 now attending.

The church council decided to tear down the wall between the garage and the living room and thus double the church size. This also meant constructing a larger second floor area so that the Pavasars could have a living room and two more bedrooms. The members’ offerings were used for the construction and the congregation took pride in their new church and parsonage.

Sunday school, and especially Vacation Bible School, brought many neighbor children into the church. The yearly Christmas plays, written by Arlene, were always a big success with overflow attendance. A yearly congregational Retreat was held in the hilly area above the city and new people accepted to come, wanting to get away from the heat of the city in January.

School began in February with Mirdza going into third grade and Johnny into second; Jimmy started kindergarten and learned to read very quickly. They attended the Presbyterian School called Colegio Americano. The classes were all in Spanish with only one hour of English a day. Mirdza was first in her class and John did very well also, in spite of talking too much with his friend Julio Palencia. The Palencias – Hildebrando and Norma and their two children, Angelica and Julio, had moved to Bucaramanga from the church in Bogota that Arlene had attended – El Redentor – as did another family: the Doncels. Both these families became members of the church in Bucaramanga.

Pastor Victor began a Selite class again for the leaders and soon had helpers for leading the services or preaching when he would have to travel. Arlene was

happy to have this new “Bible School”, and learned so much from Victor, who was a real Bible expert and a wonderful teacher, as he made his students think and participate in class.

During their time in Bucaramanga, Arlene’s sister Georgia came to visit them and they spent their week of vacation in Cartagena, where Arlene and Victor had their honeymoon. A year or so later, Arlene received a sad call from Georgia from the U.S. She said she had just had a hysterectomy and was in the hospital. Arlene remembers sitting on the stairs crying and asking God to take care of her sister. She would have liked so much to have been able to just hop on a plane and be with her “baby” sister, but knew that she could not do that. She asked the Lord to provide someone to help Georgia in her depression. Later, a letter from Georgia arrived saying that she had been in a three-bed hospital room and that there was an elderly missionary lady from Africa on one side of her bed and the wife of a Lutheran minister on the other side. How amazingly our Lord answers prayers!! Soon after that, Georgia went to Cameroon for a two-year missionary trip to teach missionary children and had many wonderful memories.

Five happy years were spent in Bucaramanga, but then the Pavasars had to move on to another city. They left this beautiful city with tears in their eyes – especially the children who had to leave the very special friends they had made. Pastor Pavasars had been elected President/Bishop of the Lutheran Church of Colombia, replacing pastor Gerardo Wilches who had finished his term. This meant moving to Bogota, where they stayed in the large missionary house until the new church office building, and another new chapter in their lives.

Chapter 17

Back to Bogota It was quite a change for the children – moving from the small city where they had lived for five years, Bucaramanga, to the capital of Colombia, Bogota, which had at least eight times as many people. In Bucaramanga they had been able to play on the streets of their neighborhood at all times of the day and night, whereas as in Bogota it was dangerous for them to do so.

The first few months the Pavasars stayed in the Mission house which was now empty after the Morcks went back to Canada because of the illness of their youngest son, Robert. There was a big back yard with a tree house and a swing set and the children played there all the time with their friends Susana and Claudia Garcia, as well as Sandra and Jorge Corzo. Victor decided that it would be good for them to attend the German school, which started in September and went through June, instead of February through November (as most Colombian schools did), so that they could have the same vacation as U.S schools. He arranged for private tutor to come teach them during the day and they really enjoyed learning with her. However, later on he found out that they wouldn’t accept anyone at that school that was born in Germany, or whose parents were German (so their first language was German), so the private lessons were cancelled and the decision was made that the kids would attend The English School, which also started in September.

Attending The English School was especially hard for Mirdza, who was now 13, almost 14, since she had been accustomed to being first in her class and now she was just average. Also, the social class was very different at this school; the kids attending were very rich, whereas the kids in the Colegio Americano were middle class kids. Children of Embassy and Oil Company families, as well as rich Colombians studied in foreign schools like these; since the Pavasars weren’t wealthy, they stood out like a sore thumb and Mirdza felt completely out of place there. Both John and Jim adjusted well, though, and made friends easily.

When the church office building was finished, they moved into the third floor apartment and the old mission house was sold to the Bible Society. Victor had his office on the second floor but had to travel often to visit the other churches and attend international meetings, so he didn’t work there often. While in

office, he attended the Lutheran World Federation meetings in Geneva, Budapest and Japan. His capable young secretary, Rosy Buitrago, handled things while he was gone.

One night when Victor was traveling and the children were sleeping, Arlene received a strange phone call. A man in broken English said “I’m so sorry! Can you forgive me?” Arlene replied, “Who are you and why do you want me to forgive you?” The stranger explained that he and his son had come from the Middle East to fight with the Colombian Guerillas and the Colombian army had killed his son. The guerilla chief told him to take a bomb and put it in from of the church offices because they were “gringos” – foreigners from the U.S – and needed to get of of Colombia. He had the bob and was going to put it under the green jeep that was parked in front of the building. However, when he went to do so, he couldn’t get close to it because he felt an invisible wall surrounding the building. He started asking himself why he should do this – these people had not killed his son! Arlene told him that the invisible fence was the many prayers for their safety and that she forgave him and so did God because he hadn’t used the bomb. He said “Gracias, Gracias!” and hung up. The next morning Arlene went to down and talked to Armenio Pineros who worked in the Development Office and lived in the second floor apartment. She told him about the phone call and he showed her a letter that had been left under the door telling the exact same story he had told Arlene! This is just one of the amazing cases of protection that the Pavasars family experienced in Colombia.

Since Victor was Latvian and Latvia was under Russian control at the time, the guerillas called him “the Russian”. When they saw that the Lutheran Church had schools and other projects to help the poor they would let him pass into their area. One time a car stopped to offer him a ride from one small town to another where he was visiting families that lived in the Plains. When he arrived at the church family’s home, he realized that he had been riding in the car of the head guerilla leader of the area! It was no wonder Arlene prayed an extra amount when Victor was traveling in the Plains and Mountains and tell the children to make them worry. There were no cell phones or even telephones in many areas Victor visited, so he always told Arlene – “No news is good news!”

Whenever Victor traveled to the other churches, he would have a Selite class and take new study books with him. He especially emphasized the importance of lay preparation and participation in the services.

His time in Bogota was mainly spent in his office and with the weekly staff prayer meetings. He would preach at times in Bogota or teach Selite classes. He also worked on his computer writing new texts for Selite.

Arlene and the children attended El Redentor church, where Arlene taught Sunday school, as well as Sunday school in a poor area of the city called Malvinas. She was active with the ladies organization and was a member of the National Sunday School Committee to help plan Sunday School teacher retreats and National Ladies retreats.

The family had yearly vacations and times to return to the U.S (every two years) to visit sponsor congregations. Victor was reelected to another four-year as President of the Lutheran church and continued writing books for Selite, as well as teaching at retreats. He wrote and published study books on Liturgy and one of the book of Jeremiah. He attended meetings with other leaders of Seminary by Extension in South and Central America. When his term was up as President of the church, he was given an office for Selite and he continued working and traveling in this area. The new president of the Lutheran Church (IELCO), Sijifredo Buitrago, and Victor traveled to the Plains to visit the Saliba tribe. Thye stayed a month; Victor started a Selite class with the leaders and Sijifredo led the church services and visited the families. Victor worked with two Salibas who knew both Spanish and Saliba and the three of them were able to translate the Small Catechism and parts of the Bible into Saliba over the course of the next few years. Both books were published and became the first written in the Saliba language!

During their years in Bogota, both Victor and Arlene suffered the death of their parents. Victorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father died in April of 1985.Victor traveled back to Wisconsin and participated in the funeral. He also did the same for his mother, who died in February of 1992 after being in a comma at a hospital in Chicago for several months.

Arleneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s moth Vivian died (when?) in Texas, where they were living in their own apartment near Georgia and her husband Gary. Arlene and Sherry and her husband Fred traveled for the remembrance ceremony in the church. Both parents had wanted to be cremated and their ashes spread near the Lutheran Church at Whitewater Lake. Dad was heartbroken and suffering from heart problems so Arlene and Sherry and Fred stayed a few extra days with him in

his apartment. Before going to bed at night, Fred led the family devotions and they all had tears in their eyes when Dad prayed his own words, which they had never heard him do; it was the first time they heard him praying something other than the Lord’s Prayer. Arlene was especially thankful for this time with her dad, who finally wanted to talk about his wife Josephine and told Arlene that he now knew that it had been the Lord’s will that she had traveled to Colombia as a missionary; he realized that if she had not done so, she would not have met Victor and had her three beautiful children. This truly healed both of their hearts of the memory of the reproof the day Arlene had announced her going to Colombia as a missionary. Almost exactly three months after his wife Vivian’s death, Arlene’s dad also died.

Chapter 18

The Children’s Lives Mirdza finished high school at The English School in Bogota, and then went to Germany for a year to study at a Latvian school in a little town called Munster, thanks to a gift from her Latvian grandparents. It was a difficult parting for Mirdza and her mom, who both cried a lot as she left. She traveled by plane up until Berlin, and then took the bus to Munster, where Victor’s brother Dainis met up with her and took her to his apartment for the night. The next day he took to the Latvian school where she would be boarding for the next year. This also proved to be a difficult adjustment for Mirdza. There were students from the U.S, Germany, Sweden, Canada and many other countries, and they were all surprised that this girl from Colombia could speak and write in Latvian so fluently. She would write to her parents frequently, but never mentioned the difficult time she was having adjusting to this place since she wanted to make her dad believe that everything was just fine and she didn’t want to see ungrateful for the opportunity to be there.

After her year in Germany, she was glad to be back home in Bogota, where she enrolled in the University and studied Pedagogy for 3 semesters. While at a summer missionary retreat with her family, she met up with a girl, whose parents were also missionaries, and she recommended that Mirdza study at the Lutheran Bible Institute of Seattle, Washington, which she ended up doing soon after that and got her fouryear Bachelor’s Degree there in Missiology with emphasis in counselling. Her family traveled to Seattle for Mirdza’s graduation, as well as her marriage to Brett Thomas Bohac, a young man she met in the Bible Institute.

Mirdza and Brett Thomas moved to Chadron, Nebraska, where Mirdza worked as a nursing aid in an elderly home to support Thomas during his last year of studies to get his degree. Unfortunately, the marriage only lasted for two and half years; he announced to her on New Year’s Eve of 1998 that he was going to go to another city to live with a woman he had met on the internet and with whom he thought he had a lot in common. Brokenhearted, confused and angry at God, Mirdza ended up returning to Colombia for about a year, where she worked teaching English as a second language in the Meyer Institute of Bogota. After that, she moved to California, got her divorce from Thomas official by filing the needed papers, and then started working in a Law Office while she studied at Hope International University to get an MBA. However, she was not doing well emotionally and was in and out of relationships with guys she met and she ended up not being able to continue her education after studying for a semester.

During her time in Hope, she met a Mexican guy at a dance that she went to with a family from the church she was attending. He told her that he was getting a divorce from his wife and somehow, after a month of courting Mirdza, ended up making her believe that he loved her intensely and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Long story short, she ended up getting pregnant with his son, but he left her after three months. Even though it was a really hard pregnancy for Mirdza, emotionally speaking, she decided to keep the baby and she named him Emmanuel, as a daily reminded that God was always with her. She felt in her heart that this was the name that God wanted her to give him, instead of Arturo Jr, or any other name for that matter.

Arlene came from Colombia to be with Mirdza for Emmanuel’s birth and stayed in her apartment for a few weeks to help take care of her and the baby. She was not allowed to stay overnight in the hospital when the baby was born, so she had to drive back to the apartment and came back early the next day. Arturo came to visit Mirdza and the baby as well, and stayed for a nice lunch that the hospital had for both of them. While they were eating, she remembers that Arturo’s wife (he ended up not divorcing her, as he said he would) came in screaming at Mirdza and Arturo, causing Arturo to leave. She stayed and insulted both Mirdza and Arlene, then left. Soon after that, Emmanuel was baptized at the Lutheran church, and then Arturo disappeared out of their lives. He reappeared a month before his first birthday, got mad at Mirdza for asking him for money to buy diapers, though he never had given her a penny to care for him, and then disappeared out of their lives for good. Mirdza ended up having to support herself and her baby for the next years as a single mom, and this was very hard for her. However, during this time she learned that God was with her, providing for her. She saw first-hand what it was like to completely depend on God; she realized that naming her son Emmanuel (which means “God with us”) truly was a daily reminder that God was always with her and that He would never forsake her, as he promised in Isaiah 41:10, a verse that became one of her favorites.

When Emmanuel was almost 3, Mirdza married Dana Hayden, a widow with two boys. He was merely divorced at the time; had been separated from her for about five years. She gave her a hard time about raising “her” boys when he proposed to her and she saw that he was getting a new wife. She ended up dying a month before the wedding and so on June 10th 2002, Mirdza went from being a single working mom of one little toddler, to being a stay at home mom for three boys – Emmanuel (nearly 3), Dylan (10) and Dana Jr (11). It was a time of adjustment for the entire blended family!

The next year, Mirdza and Dana rejoiced with the birth of their little girl – Ziedite Elizabeth and the Pavasars were present at her baptism. At the time of the writing of this book (2015), Mirdza and Dana have been married for 13 years. Dana has his own plumbing, heating and air conditioning business and Mirdza is a stay at home mom. She has homeschooled her two children and passionately shares about Young Living

Essential Oils since the products from the company have made a tremendous difference in her family’s life since 2007. She feels God has called her to share about essential oils with others and mentor those who are wanting to start living a healthy lifestyle. Ziedite just finished 6 th grade and Emmanuel is finishing his second year of high school; he was confirmed in the Lutheran church. Mirdza, Emmanuel and Ziedite are very active in this church – the kids go to the youth choir, Mirdza has sung in the adult choir, and both the kids enjoy going to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School (VBS). Emmanuel is now one of the leaders in VBS and Ziedite looks forward to being one of the leaders next year. Emmanuel also attends the youth group there on Sunday nights and will be traveling to the National Youth Gathering in Detroit this year. The two older boys are living and working on their own.

John Miervaldis When he was 17, John played an original piece at his graduation from The English School. He had also played on a volley ball team there and was very active in the youth group at church. He served as President of the National Lutheran Youth Organization for a term.

After graduation from high school, it was mandatory to serve in the Colombian army for a year. This was a worry and a subject of much prayer as it was still dangerous in Colombia, fighting the guerilla groups, now highly financed by the drug mafia. After several months of training, he was chosen to represent Colombia in the Sinai Peninsula International Peace keeping group. His mastery of English, musical skills and activities in sports helped him get chosen. This was a real answer to prayer and a wonderful experience for John as he was able to visit Israel and save money with his good salary.

When he finished his year in the army, he went to Germany to finish for a year at the Latvian school, like Mirdza had done and he had contact with his uncle Dainis, who was also his Godfather. He was active in basketball and other sports and sang with a musical group in his church. Upon his return to Colombia, he entered the university, planning to major in music, and he worked at the Meyer Institute as an English teacher. After finishing his third year at the university, the Pavasars were going back to the U.S for their yearly leave. John decided to pack up all his things and stay in the U.S to finish his degree there, or wherever the Lord led.

While in St. Paul. He went to the Youth Encounter office to visit and visit as was asked to be on ……………team that would be traveling to the U.S, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. He would be the translator for those on the team who didn’t know Spanish. Since the team didn’t begin until later, he first traveled with a bicycle team visiting Lutheran youth groups in the States. There was training for the international

teams and then the five team members – three male and two female – began their visits to churches in the States. Their first stop in South America was Colombia and they would be there for Christmas and the National Youth retreat in January. The Pavasars family hosted the team in their large mission home. What fun to show the team their Colombia/Latvian way to celebrate Christmas! The team also stopped back in Bogota in May and Arlene noticed the relationship between John and Michelle, one of his teammates. They weren’t allowed to date or have any kind of romantic relationship while on team, though. When they finished their year on tour in the States, John presented Michelle with an engagement ring on her birthday in August. John came back to Colombia and worked a year teaching English full time to save up money for their upcoming wedding. Michelle came back for a visit to Colombia during that year and they prayed and discussed about their staying in Colombia or moving to the U.S to work. During this year, John received an offer to be a Deacon and work with the Spanish speaking group that would be set up in the church. He decided to accept the offer and the Pavasars all traveled to California for their wedding on June 14th.

The Pavasars then traveled to St Paul for their missionary retreat and church visitation. John continued on with his Spanish speaking mission and took classes at the Seminary so he could give communion and baptized the children at the services. He trained several of the young people and children to be the church’s musical group with key board, guitar, etc. After….. years a Mexican pastor took over the services and John moved on to get his University degree in Special Education so he could work with severely handicapped children at Hope School in Fullerton. He also worked parttime as music director at Zeyen Lutheran church in Diamond Bar. His wife, Michelle, worked as youth deacon and family deacon at Christ Lutheran in Brea. The family is active in church activities; their daughter Emily will be confirmed next year (2015). They will celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary this year in June.

Modris James Jim finished high school at the top of his class in The English School and was also on the basketball team. His teammates obtained doctor excuses so they wouldn’t have to be in the military service after they graduated, but Jim went for the mandatory year, just as his brother John had done. His military training was harder than John’s in a camp outside of Bogota, in a town called Melgar, where it was very hot. Arlene visited him there on Sundays as Victor had to preach at church. Victor was able to be at the special ceremony of the presentation of arms at the end of the training period. Many prayers went up for Jim that he would be safe. The Lord answered these prayers by letting him become part of the musical group that would visit the towns in Colombia. Since Jim played guitar and sang well, he was eligible to do this; they also wanted to show that the army had people of different backgrounds, including someone who could say a short sentence in their language. Since there were many who had learned

English, Jim raised his hand saying he knew Latvian so he was chosen along with those who spoke other languages – English, French, Italian, Indian, etc.

After finishing his year in the army, Victor wanted Jim (Modris) to have an opportunity to learn more Latvian. In 1993, the two of them traveled to Riga, Latvia, and Jim was enrolled in the University of Riga. Latvia was now free from the Soviet Union since 1991, so it was a lot safer to be there. Victor had gotten Latvian passports for all three of his children; since Arlene was American and they could also have an American passport, and they were all born in Colombia and were Colombian citizen, this meant that they all had three passports – Latvian, American and Colombian.

While in Latvia, Jim attended a Latvian Lutheran church called Jesus Draudze. The church was happy to have Him there as part of their youth group; they helped him find a place to live with one of the church families. Jim wanted to study physics but found it difficult to do so because all of the books were in Russian. So, he attended classes the first semester at the University, and then decided to travel to Russia with a friend. He also visited France and Holland, as well as other countries in Europe. He worked for a while in a pizza restaurant in Denmark while visiting a friend there.

After his year in Latvia, he enrolled in the University Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogota and studied International Relations. He also taught English at the Meyer Institute, and continued to be active in the youth group at El Redentor church. He was elected the treasurer of the National youth group and helped organize the yearly retreat.

During Jim’s last year at the University, the Pavasars decided to retire from Colombia and, since Jim wanted to finish his degree, he stayed on in the Mission house and graduated in March of 2003 at the top of his class. Unfortunately, Victor and Arlene couldn’t come to his graduation because all the family had come the year before for his wedding with Cristina Gonzales Valderama on November 29th, 2002.

The wedding was such a special occasion with all of the Pavasars present and staying at their old Mission home in Bogota. Mirdza had traveled with her young son, Emmanuel, who was then 3, and John and traveled alone. At the wedding in the El Redentor church, Mirdza, John and Cristina’s sisters Constanza and Claudia, all sang with the youth band and Jim and Cristina sang a duet. The reception was beautifully prepared by Arlene’s friend Odalys Yepes.

The day after Jim’s graduation in March 2003, Jimmy and Cristina traveled to California and lived there with Mirdza and Dana for five months. During that time,

Cristina studies English at a nearby college and Jim worked with Dana at Aames, the plumbing company where Dana was working at the time. After the hot summer in California, they packed up the little white car they had bought from Mirdza and they headed east. Their plan was to go to Washington D.C to live and work. When they stopped in Albaquerque at a motel, Jim opened up his computer and found a message from Armenio Pineros, a man from the Lutheran church in Colombia who now resided in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They decided to stop there, stayed at a motel overnight and then contacted the Pineros family, who fully understood their situation. Their daughter Adriana connected them with the Catholic Family Services, where Cristina decided to continue her English education and Jim became a volunteer teacher. These contacts led to others and soon Jim found a permanent job. They loved the climate and atmosphere of their new city, and the mountains reminded them of Bogota. They have now been living there for 12 years.

Their daughter Izabella was born on July 25 th, 2007, and was baptized by her grandfather, Victor, at the same time as her cousin Natalia in a Spanish-English service. It was a special family reunion with the Gonzales Valderama and Pavasars family present, as well as Arleneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sisters Georgia Witt and Sherry Starck.

Both Jim and Cristina have worked hard and have progressed in their jobs. They have bought a home and have settled into their busy life in Colorado Springs. Jim has also received two Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degrees during his time there! They have been active in the Presbyterian Church where Jim and Cristina are deacons. They enjoy their Taekwondo classes, which they attend 3-4 times a week, and all three of them have received their black belts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Izabella at only 7!

Chapter 19

Retirement Years In 1999, when Victor and Arlene announced that they were retiring to the U.S, the Colombian church was surprised. Many had thoughts that their retirement would be in Colombia since they had spent four decades of their lives there. Victor thought it was time to leave as there were many good Colombian leaders to take over and if he stayed, they would continue to depend on him; codependency was not an option. And so the church and individuals started having â&#x20AC;&#x153;despedidasâ&#x20AC;? (going away parties) and inviting the Pavasars to the different areas where they had worked. After all these parties, the Pavasars were 10 to 15 pounds heavier and their suitcases were overweight! When it was time to leave the country, the tears and last goodbyes were very difficult, especially for Arlene. They were the last of the missionaries to leave.

Their first year in the U.S they stayed again in the missionary apartments in St. Paul, near the Lutheran seminary. They had to visit their sponsor congregations and had to have their health exams done. During the exams it was found that Victor had prostate cancer. The doctors said it was very advanced and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t recommend neither chemotherapy nor radiation. He only was given drugs that made him feel very weak and nauseated. They prayed with Arlene and Victor went forward for a healing at the missionary conference that summer. He felt some better and decided to continue taking the drug. He also decided that he would like to go back to Latvia and serve his last years in the country of his birth.

Now that Latvia was fee from the Russians (since 1991), there was a revival in the churches. Many young people were being baptized and confirmed in large groups. There was a real shortage of pastors as many had been killed, sent to Siberia, or escaped to the U.S, Canada and other countries. Viesturs and Arlene prayed about this possible new mission field and decided to accept the challenge that the Lord was showing them. So after visiting their sponsor congregations and family, and saying other sad goodbyes, they were officially retired in 2000 from the ELCA church and packed their suitcases for Latvia to start another new adventure.

Chapter 20

The Dream Trip At the end of August 2001, Viesturs and Arlene left Riga by train to Poland. The Latvian trains were very old and not very comfortable, but from Poland on, the European train system was very modern. Their first stop was in Munster, Germany, at the Latvian school where Mirdza and John had studied. Viesturs’ brother Dainis had arranged for them to stay there as the students had not yet arrived. They spent a few days with Dainis as he showed them around Germany.

From there they again boarded the train and traveled through France and Belgium on their way to Spain, where they would spend several days with Arlene’s Colombian friend, Leonor Salcedo. Leonor had married a Spaniard who had come to live in Colombia for a time. After their marriage, Leonor and her husband left Colombia and lived in Castro, Urdiales, on the northern coast of Spain. They had three daughters and Leonor had named her first born Arlene Janet and had asked Arlene to be her Godmother. By the time Arlene and Viesturs arrived to visit them, Arlene Janet was married and had named here first girl Arlene Janet as well. The two friends had corresponded for years and now it was very special to meet Leonor and family and see this beautiful part of the Spanish coast.

The next train trip led them to Morocco, where Arlene’s friend Susan Bonhoffer met them. Susan had been a volunteer English teacher in the San Lucas church in Colombia, where Arlene had taught religion the last seven years they lived in Bogota. Susan took them to meet her parents who lived in a huge mansion on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. They had tea and talked awhile about her father’s shipping business. They said they wanted us to stay in one of their hotels near the casino at the top of the hill. It ended up being a beautiful five star hotel and after getting settled in, they walked over to the famous casino but didn’t feel like paying 50 dollars to go in and have a look, so they just walked back to the hotel.

The next day, Susan picked them up and took them to see Prince Rainier’s castle and then out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. They spent another night at the hotel and then were off to Italy

The train ride along the Mediterranean coast from Morocco, through France, all the way to Italy, is beautiful with so many boats and water skiers, etc! With the snow-capped Alps to the left, there was always something to admire on their trip to Rome, their first stop in Italy. They had planned to stay three to four days in Rome as there was so much to see there: The Coliseum, the Vatican and other old churches. They took a different sight-seeing trip each day and rode the modern subway system to others places of interest. There were so many interesting museums and ruins that they wished they could stay longer!

Their next train trip took them to Sicily at the toe of Italy’s boot. This was one of the places that Arlene most wanted to see. Aunt Phyllis, her mother Josephine’s sister, had given her a list of names of relatives and their addresses in Enna and she hoped to find some of them.

When the train arrived at the station closest to Sicily, Arlene and Viesturs were surprised that the whole train, by sections, was loaded on to a ferry that crossed over to the island. Then the train was reassembled in Sicily and continue on to Palermo. Aunt Phyllis had told the story about how their mother and her five-year old sister Josephine had stayed at the cheapest hotel that they could find. They were on their way to meet their father’s brother Sam who had gone ahead of them to the U.S. When they checked in at the hotel, they noticed that a man at the desk looked at them in a strange way. Up in their room, they looked out the window and saw some nuns in the window of the convent across the street. The nuns were waving their hands and shaking their heads, saying “no, no”. They finally figured out what the nuns were trying to say to them – that they were staying in a hotel for prostitutes! They pushed quickly locked their door and pushed their furniture up against it. It was a night to remember before leaving for the U.S. the next day!

Viesturs and Arlene changed to another smoother train that was headed to Enna. It was now September and the grape crop had been harvested. It was a cloudy day and Sicily didn’t seem as pretty as Arlene had imagined it to be. They decided to stay in the hotel right near the train station that night and take a cab up to Enna, which was on the top of the hill. Arlene was armed with her list of relatives and the taxi took them from to place, only to find out that the relatives had married or died or weren’t home when Viesturs and Arlene arrived in the cab to visit them. Arlene was disappointed but happy that at least she had seen Enna, the place where her mother had been born. After

dinner at the hotel, they received a phone call from one of the ladies’ on Arlene’s list. Arlene had studied some Italian before traveling and knowing Spanish, which is very similar to Italian, she could easily understand and communicate with this lady, who ended up being one of her aunts. She invited them for lunch the next day, but they had already purchased their train tickets for early departure the next day so did not get to see her. They were scheduled to stay at a hotel in a small town on the coast of Italy and then spend another night in Rome before traveling to Venice, Arlene’s favorite part of Italy. They spent two nights in Venice, traveling from place to place on the canal boats that much cheaper than the gondolas. They enjoyed walking around, shopping and seeing Romeo and Juliet’s home and other sights.

From Venice they traveled to Switzerland and visited the Lutheran World Federation, where Viesturs had been for meetings representing the Colombian church. One of his friends invited them for dinner and they had a ride on the beautiful lake, besides walking around seeing Geneva.

The next train ride took them through the majestic snow-capped Alps into Berlin, Germany. They would never forget this ride and the man who was sitting next to them. He let out a horrible scream “No, no!” as he talked on his cell phone. Then he turned to Arlene and Viesturs saying “Two airplanes just crashed into the twin towers!” It was September 11, 2001! When they arrived in Berlin, it was also sad to see all the destruction that remained there, even this long after the war. A sad ending to a wonderful dream trip.

There were no more stops, except to change trains in Poland as Viesturs had to get to all of his new jobs, which he happily looked forward to since he really enjoyed working.

Chapter 21

Back in Riga Although Viesturs was extremely busy with his new jobs in Riga, there were times of traveling around Latvia, where Viesturs would preach in the churches where there was no full-time pastor. The Latvian countryside pastors would have two or three small-town churches to visit every Sunday. Some of these pastors still had the title of Evangelist and were studying in the Seminary in Viesturs’ classes. The students would invite him to visit their churches and preach on Sundays. Arlene and Viesturs would travel by bus, which worked out really well, except in the snowy winter.

The weekends when Viesturs didn’t have to preach, they would attend Jezus Draudze church in Riga. They church was growing steadily with confirmation classes of 20-25 people twice a year, half of whom had never been baptized before. The groups were mostly young people, who had been forbidden to attend a Christian church during the Russian occupation. It was so heartwarming to see this new life in the church!

Jezus Draudze decided to start small group Bible studies during the week where members who lived in the same neighborhoods could meet in their homes. Viesturs was chosen as one of the leaders of a group that ended up meeting every Tuesday for over 10 years in their living room! This small group was a big help for Arlene as the 6-8 ladies who met faithfully in their home became Arlene’s best friends. They celebrated birthdays every month and had a tea time after every Bible Study. They were fascinated with Viesturs’ way of asking questions to get them to think about passages and express their opinions, and were patient when Arlene would try to share her opinions in a language in which it was so hard to communicate for her. She developed a method of drawing pictures for each chapter of the Bible Study and showed it when she explained the meaning or asked them to explain. This helped her to be able to speak in Latvian and, in the last years she was in Latvia, she was able to lead the group when Viesturs couldn’t be there; she was even able to lead a Bible Study at the pastors’ wives’ retreat one year!

Even though Viesturs was very busy, he found time to travel with his wife to Estonia, Lithuania, Finland and Sweden when there were breaks of classes. They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in Egypt and their 45 th in

Greece. Every summer they traveled back to Colorado Springs and California to visit their children and grandchildren; they were happy to be there for their births and baptisms of the younger ones. Each summer one of their three children and their family would visit them in Latvia and they enjoyed trips to Ventspils, where they stayed in a hotel and had fun at the large childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s park and at the beach there, and at the one in Riga.

When Viesturs and Arlene at first left the U.S in 2001, they thought they would be living in Latvia for only two or three years! God truly had truly healed Viesturs because he had good health for 11 wonderful years and was able to enjoy his time there and do all that God called him to do doing his â&#x20AC;&#x153;retirementâ&#x20AC;? years.

Chapter 22

Special Trips Around the World Before they were married, both Arlene and Viesturs had sponsored children with Compassion International. Now, as a married couple, they continued with their sponsored kids. This included a monthly sum for each child for their books and uniforms, besides birthday and Christmas gifts. Their present sponsorships were for Juliette in Ruanda and Randy in the Philippines. When they finished high school, their sponsorship would be changed to a younger student, usually from the same country.

During their time in Latvia, Compassion offered sponsorship trips so there could be a direct relationship between the students and their sponsors. The Pavasars were able to travel with a group visiting Ruanda in 2006. This was exciting as Viesturs and Arlene were able to celebrate Juliette’s 15 th birthday with a beautiful buffet at the countryside hotel where they were staying. There was also time for a Safari and a visit to the well-run Compassion office and schools where they left the supplies they had brought from the U.S. At each school, the children sang and danced for them, and also at the churches that were helping with the distribution of support.

In June of 2009 their Compassion trip to the Philippines and Taiwan was called “our trip around the world” as they traveled from Latvia to the Philippines, then California, then back to Latvia, by way of Colorado, Chicago and Frankfurt, Germany. They stopped long enough in California to have their doctor and dentist exams and to visit with Mirdza and John’s families. They also visited Jim and Cristina in Colorado Springs. In the Philippines they were able to visit two of their sponsored boys – Randy, who they had sponsored for 12 years, and Clarence, who they had just begun to sponsor. When they visited the church, they were happy to see Randy singing and playing his guitar with the praise band. When he saw them, he broke out with a big smile and came over to give them a hug. He introduced them to his family, which included his young wife and beautiful newborn son. He invited them to visit their home, where they met his uncle, who had a repair shop for motorcycles and the little taxis that took people around Manila.

When they visited the Compassion office and nearby school, their new boy Clarence came running up to give them a special necklace that the children

had made for their visiting sponsors. Viesturs and Arlene attended their classes, there they were learning English, and Arlene taught them to sing “Jesus Loves Me”. They were also able to visit Clarence’s home, which consisted of one room with a small bathroom, a two-burner electric stove, one double bed and a small couch for the family of seven! There was no refrigerator or T.V, but everything was neat and clean. Clarence’s mother spoke very good English so they could communicate with them.

The Pavasars were also privileged to visit Hawaii in 2004 and take cruises to Mexico and Sweden. They became acquainted with London and Amsterdam as they spent a day or two in these cities since the plane stopped there on their way back to Latvia. Viesturs and Arlene felt blessed with so many wonderful experiences and acquaintances all over the world, and to see how the Lord was completing His promise to take the gospel to “the uttermost parts of the world”

Chapter 23

But Not the End While Viesturs and Arlene were on their 45 th wedding anniversary trip in December of 2001, they received notice of the death of Viesturs’ brother Andris in Riga. They had just come back from a cruise to the Greek Islands and received the email that Andris had died on Christmas Eve- they had not yet finished their vacation in Greece, but knew they needed to get back to Riga to help Lilianna, Andris’ wife. They were fortunate to be able to get their plane tickets changed to the next day and arrived to help Lilianna with the funeral arrangements. Although Lilianna is Catholic, she knew that Andris would want a Lutheran pastor to have the burial service. Livija, the directress of the Deaconess Home of Jezus Draudze, helped Lilianna find a funeral home and a plot in which to bury Andris. Viesturs, Lilianna and Livija picked out the burial plot. The cemetery director said there were three plots in a row and Viesturs said he would like to purchase one of them since he wanted to be buried in Latvia when he died. Lilianna and Arlene were asked if they would like the third one and they answered that they didn’t – they had both thought they would be buried somewhere else.

Pastor Bikse had a short service for Andris in the cemetery chapel and a small group, mostly of Viesturs’and Arlene’s friends, attended. This was a very sad time for Viesturs, just as it has been when he and Andris had traveled to Germany to bury their youngest brother a couple of years before. After Dainis was buried, Andris had come with Viesturs and Arlene to their apartment in Riga since at that time he lived in the United States. When Andris had gone back to the U.S, he and Lilianna decided to come to live in Riga. They sold their home near the Latvian camp, Garezers, in Michigan, and arrived in Riga. They were able to rent an apartment on the first floor of the building where Viesturs and Arlene were living. It was nice to have family there and the two brothers and their wives were now able to celebrate birthdays and holidays together. Andris also enjoyed going to the Thursday Bible Study.

Andris was operated on for prostate problems and after that, his health started to deteriorate. He walked very slowly and had trouble going up the stairs to their second floor apartment where they moved after a few months. He fell while climbing the stairs and was in the hospital when Viesturs and Arlene were in Greece. They had offered to cancel their trip but Andris and Lilianna

said they were sure that he would be fine. He ended up dying at the hospital, though. After the funeral, Viesturs and Arlene continued to visit Lilianna. One day when they were at Lilianna’s apartment, she asked Viesturs to sort through some old photos and take what he wanted. As they walked home afterwards, Viesturs sadly commented that looking at those pictures was like going through his life all over again. After that, Viesturs seemed to rapidly go downhill healthwise. He seemed depressed and had less energy for walking. At a pastor’s meeting he was taken to the hospital urination problems and constipation, which was related to the prostate problem that had developed again. He lost his appetite and energy and went back to the hospital to start dialysis. He was able to go home again, but was told that he had to continue dialysis at the hospital a block from their apartment. This was three times a week from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. With every treatment he seemed weaker and had to begin canceling his classes at the Academy and at the jail. This brought on more depression and he finally said to Arlene, “I don’t know how much longer I can go on!”

The children, who were living in the U.S, were concerned with Viesturs’ health and emailed and talked on the computer with a program called Oovoo. Jim finally decided to travel to Latvia and move us to an apartment on the first floor or one with an elevator, as Viesturs could hardly make it up and down from their fourth floor apartment for his dialysis treatments.

Jim arrived on Friday. On Saturday, he and Arlene helped Viesturs down the stairs and took a taxi to his class to the Academy. He taught for almost two hours, alternating between standing and sitting. Afterwards, the three of them had pizza at a near-by shopping center. On Sunday morning they went to church at Jezus Draudze; Jim and Arlene stood on either side of Viesturs as the three of them received communion. After the service, they took a taxi back home and had lunch at the apartment. The next morning, as Jim and Arlene walked on either side of Viesturs, he fell at the door at the Dialysis Center. Another man came along and helped Jim carry Viesturs in and lay him on the sofa. The nurse came to help they called emergency help, but was too late. With Jim at his feet and Arlene holding his head, he quietly closed his eyes and peacefully died on March 26th, 2012.

Both Arlene and Jim were expecting this to happen and just sat speechless. Arlene could remember what happened next and was so thankful for Jim who

had come to help at this difficult time. Somehow Livija found out and called to say that she would help Jim and Arlene and asked them to not let the funeral parlor at the hospital take over as it would be a lot more expensive this way. Thus, the arrangements were made by Livija and Arlene and Jim. Viesturs would be buried in a similar casket and alongside his brother Andris in the cemetery in which he had been buried three months earlier.

Jim had let Mirdza and John know about Viesturs’ death and they arrived the next day to help make the plans for the funeral in Jezus Draudze. The three decided that Mom was coming back to the States with them, and so they helped her pack up her things during the few days before the funeral. Jim’s wife Cristina and daughter also traveled to Latvia for the funeral and helped out with the packing. Viesturs had left in his will that his book collection was to go to Saldus Lay-leadership school, which had a new library and very few books. The clothes that they didn’t want to keep was packed up separately for the clothing rack at the Deaconesses’ home. Since the apartment was furnished, there wasn’t too much left, other than personal items and souvenirs and pictures, etc.

The funeral was held on March 31st and was very meaningful. Many of the pastors from Riga and other towns stood in lines in their robes on either side of the open casket. Pastor Bikse led the service and preached a Christ-centered sermon which Viesturs would have loved to hear. The three children sang the hymn “How Great Thou Art” – one verse in English, another in Spanish and one in Latvian. There were many of Viesturs’ students, the Bible Study group ladies and others from the Deaconesses Home, as well as members from Jezus Draudze present. You could tell he had been loved and respected by many. There were many people from Colombia that would have also loved to attend, but travel expenses were way too high for them to take such a trip.

At the cemetery there was a procession with the cross and the pastors leading the way to the tomb. Many wreaths and flowers were placed on the tomb with words of gratitude, then the casket was covered. Afterwards there was a lunch for almost 50 people at a very nice restaurant; there were more speeches and words of comfort spoken, ending with the song “This Little Light of Mine”, in Spanish, which Viesturs had taught them! John and then Arlene spoke for the family and expressed their gratitude to those attending and said goodbye to the many that they would not be seeing again.

John and Mirdza had to leave shortly after the funeral, but Jim and family stayed on another week to finish packing up and travel back to Colorado Springs with Arlene. She and Viesturs had already purchased tickets to California for June to visit and get their yearly check-ups done, so Arlene would stay in Colorado Springs with Jim and his family until June. Jim and Cristina helped with the bank and Social Security affairs. Arlene also started some medical exams that showed she had Multiple Myeloma, a very low white cell count, and anemia. Arlene was very thankful for their help, but felt very lonely as everyone was gone all day to work or school. June came and Arlene left for the next chapter of her life. She missed her loving husband, but she knew this was not the end; she would see him again in heaven and, in the meanwhile, life must go on for her. Both Lilianna, Andris’ wife, and Georgia, Arlene’s sister, had lost their spouses and now were depending on the Lord as their only partner to the end. The Lord had said, “I will not leave you as widows or orphans –I will be with you to the end.” Arlene would hold on tight to this verse for comfort.

Chapter 24

California – Emerald Court Since Arlene had doctor and dentist appointments near the motel where she and Victor had stayed every summer, she chose to stay there for a while, with visits to Mirdza and John’s homes. Mirdza had been looking around at Residence Homes and apartments for seniors and had visited seven or eight. She chose the four she liked best that were near her home and took Arlene to see them. Arlene had been praying that the Lord would show her which one to choose. When they arrived at the last one, Emerald Court, she knew that this was the one. The workers and the people who lived there were so happy and content, plus the grounds themselves were beautiful! Arlene felt right at home there; she knew that this was the place in which God wanted her to live. She had to buy all new furniture, a TV, a laptop, etc, so that took a while, but she finally was able to move into her new apartment on the weekend of July 4 th, 2012.

She had been feeling old and tired after Victor’s death, but now she felt young again living with people that were in their 80s, 90s and even 100s. Everyone considered her the baby. Now she knew she had a purpose – to be a helper for the many who were sick and in wheelchairs and walkers, the blind and the hard of hearing. She had so much to be thankful for: she could hear and see still, walk and exercise. There were many opportunities to participate in activities, exercise programs, church and Bible Studies. She participated in most activities and she began reading the many books, now available to her in English. She was asked to help out in the library and even to lead some Bible Studies when the pastors weren’t able to come. She began a new Scrabble group with seven or eight members, a game which helps older people keep their mind alert. She spent every other weekend with John and Mirdza’s families, to attend church with them. She especially enjoyed her days with Mirdza in their swimming pool and playing Scrabble in three languages- English, Latvian and Spanish.

John’s wife Michelle became her secretary at the doctor’s office at St Jude’s Hospital, where she had more physical exams to deal with her Multiple Myeloma. It was discovered that she had colon cancer after a colonoscopy that was performed on her and was operated for this. They cut away a foot of colon and a year later, the colonoscopy showed that it was all healed well. She also needed a left shoulder replacement, which took place in the beginning of the year 2013. Arlene thanked the Lord for the release of the shoulder pain and the new possible movement with the physiotherapy. She had been at peace in both operations as she knew that if death should come, it wouldn’t be the end –she would be with Jesus and her loving husband Victor and all her friends who had gone before her: Belva, Harold and Opal Olson, Andris, etc.

There were still some bucket list trips that Arlene wanted to make: one to Latvia, to put the tombstone on Victor’s grave and to say goodbye to many people, which is something she had not been able to do before leaving so quickly after the funeral; the second trip was to Colombia.

Jim began to design a tombstone on the computer and sent it to Arlene, as well as to his brother and sister, asking for suggestions. He found a place in Riga that was willing to make it and have it installed before they arrived. He planned Arlene’s and his two weeks there, and arranged to stay in Riga, in Ventspils and in Ergli.

When they arrived in Riga in midSeptember of 2013, they stayed at a two-bedroom apartment that Jim had arranged for them online. The first thing they did was meet Lilianna at the cemetery and were happily surprised to see the tombstone in place, as well as beautiful flowers surrounding it, which had been planted by the ladies from the Deaconesses Home. After church on Sunday, they had coffee with the ladies that had attended the Bible Study group and the next day they traveled to Arlene’s friend Skaidrite’s summer home to say goodbye to her and her daughter Dace. They also had a day at the beach before leaving for the hotel in Ventspils. They invited Lilianna to go with them to Ergli, where there is a museum in honor of Rudolf Blaumanis, an uncles of Viestur’s mother, but she preferred not to do so. However, she invited them to stop by on their way to Ergli and have lunch with her in her home, in which she was then living alone. The trip to Ergli was especially interesting to Jim and Cristina as they had never been there; their daughter Izabella really liked the slides in the children’s park there.

After coming back from Ergli, there was a short service at the gravesite, which Pastor Bikse led. The Bible study group ladies and other friends of Arlene came, so Arlene was able to say a last farewell to all of them.

The following year, 2014, Arlene traveled with her son John to Colombia for 10 days. They stayed at Pastor Sigifredo and his wife Maritza’s home on the El Redentor church grounds. Many friends came to see them and others invited them to lunch or dinner. They made visits with the Pastor to see Gerardo Wilches, whose wife had recently died, and to see the Corzo family. Jorge Corzo had cancer and he died shortly after John and Arlene had returned to the States, so they were thankful that they had been able to see him and visit with him one last time. The ladies from El Redentor had a special reception for Arlene, as did the National Ladies’ Committee. Every day was busy seeing old friends and ex-students who were now the leaders of the church. They attended services in El Redentor and San Lucas churches. One young man at the service in San

Lucas showed her a tiny Bible that he said he had won in her second grade religion classes for learning all the books of the Bible; he had kept it all those years!

The ladies society in Sogamoso, where they visited while in Colombia, invited them for a special lunch with many of the older church members present also. John and Arlene had stopped at Hotel Sochagota in Paipa the night before traveling to Sogamoso; this was special because it was the place where Victor and Arlene would take the family for a day off for swimming in a warm mineral pool, that was naturally heated, as well as horseback riding. On the way to Paipa, they stopped at Puente de Boyaca, the famous battle ground of the war for independence from Spain. Arlene’s family would often stop there on trips from Sogamoso to Bogota.

Pastor Sigifredo let John drive the church’s car for the trip to Sogamoso, as well as to visit some of his old friends in the evenings. Both John and Arlene were so impressed with the love and hospitality expressed to them during their visit. This had been one of those trips Arlene would never forget!

Back at Emerald Court again, the children made plans to celebrate Arlene’s 80 th birthday. Jim and Izabella came to California for the celebration, but Cristina would not come because she had just made two trips to Colombia within two months for the funerals of her father and her grandmother. Arlene’s sister Georgia also came, but her sister Sherry couldn’t because of health problems. Sherry had been in and out of hospital with heart problems, and her husband Fred with eye shots and others problems. The celebration was a special lunch at the Colombian restaurant located in L.A, and then fun at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley, which was about 20 minutes from Mirdza’s; that is where they had the special birthday cake.

Georgia and Arlene decided they needed a sister’s retreat before Georgia left for two years to be the Librarian of the Lutheran Seminary in Kenya. They two sisters traveled to Seattle and stayed at a hotel that they booked near the airport. Sherry came and stayed with them for three days and two nights; the three sisters had time to talk and pray together. They even invited Fred to have lunch with them when they arrived and when they left, but other than that they just spent time alone, just the three girls, and had a fantastic time remembering old times, and just being together making new memories.

Chapter 25

Colorado Springs As this book was being written, Arlene sat for hours vividly remembering and busily writing its contents by hand in her notebook. She had come to Colorado Springs to see Jim, Cristina and Izabella (only 7 years old) get their Black Belts in Tae Kwon Do at the ceremony on Saturday May 5 th, 2015. All three performed the tests and Jim received a special award for his service to Tae Kwon Do. Since all three of them go off to work every day, these 10 days in Colorado would be the perfect time to write her story about her 80 years of life in three continents!

Now, as she finishes writing this last chapter of her book, she wants to thank and praise her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for giving His life and making her a child of God. She thanks God the Father for creating so many wonderful brothers and sisters in Colombia, Latvia and the United States; for His beautiful creation in all the countries that the Pavasars were able to visit. Thanks and praise also to the Holy Spirit, who lives in the hearts of His people and gives each one purpose and peace in their lives. May our Precious Lord â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Father, Son and Holy Spirit â&#x20AC;&#x201C; be honored by this book and the lives of His people!

Arlene’s Final Days on Earth

This last chapter is written by her daughter, Mirdza Hayden. Arlene told Mirdza that if she didn’t finish writing the book, that she s to do so. This chapter will tell briefly of her final months, weeks and days on earth, through her eyes.

First of all, a reminder to everyone reading this book: God didn't design our parents to live on this earth with us forever - He gave them to us to care for us when we are born and as we are growing up, and to help prepare us for life, independently of them (and that is just one of the tasks God has for them). Once their work is done, they deserve the rest for a job well done. Now both my parents are enjoying that wonderful eternal rest in the presence of the Lord. No better place to retire; better than any resort on earth! --------------When Arlene got back from Colorado, she had no idea her health would start changing dramatically a few months later. She accepted the position of Presidency at Emerald Court, but a lady with whom she prayed had told her that though she knew God wanted her to accept this position, the year would be very hard for her. Arlene took the position and realized it truly was the hardest year she had ever had in her life.

After what was supposed to be a minor surgery under her eye in October of 2015, there were many complications. Arlene’s health quickly started spiraling down. Her immune system got shot way down and she started getting infection after infection. She recovered pretty well after her first stay in the hospital and then several weeks St Elizabeth rehabilitation center, but not completely. Her legs were still very weak and she kept on getting gastrointestinal infections for which they prescribed all different kinds of antibiotics. Her body got extremely weak and fragile.

She was able to live in her apartment at Emerald Court for a little while, but ended up needing more help at night, and then also during the day. She got to attend Easter breakfast and church service with me and my family at Our Redeemer Lutheran church, but for three weeks she needed a lot of help; she was no longer able to live on her own. She started with just help at night, and then ended up needed help 24 hours a day. She ended up giving up her position as President, though she didn’t really wanted to do that.

Arlene slept all day the third Sunday after Easter. The caregiver called my brother John and told her that she had developed a cough and had been sleeping all day. John let me know and both of us rushed over there. When I arrived at Emerald Court, John told me he had called 911 and they ended up taking her to the hospital to be checked out, though, according to the paramedics, she was doing a lot better than when they first arrived (I told them I had applied some Eucalyptus essential oil on her and they replied, “oh, so that’s the scent! Yeah, she seems to be doing better, but since she is on this bed, let’s wheel her to the ambulance and have her checked out at the hospital”). Unfortunately, but not to my surprise, Arlene got much weaker in the hospital and we thought that was to be the end.

A few days after being in the hospital, during one of my daily morning visits, she told me of a dream she had that night. She said that in that dream she heard someone say that she had been chosen to live, to which she replied with a sour look on her face, “Why me?” That was the end of her dream. The question was never answered but she accepted the fact that she was to live, not knowing how much longer, but told the Lord and everyone else that she was ready to go to heaven whenever the Lord wanted to take her to her eternal home. I can picture her singing the last verse of “How Great Thou Art”, which says: “When Christ shall come in shouts of acclamation and take me home, what JOY shall fill my heart; then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim ‘My God, how great though art’.” She truly yearned for that day! A few days later she was released to a rehab center because the hospital felt there wasn’t anything else they could do for her there.

At Park Regency rehab center, mom slowly recovered for a little while. She got to enjoy a whole week with her sister Georgia, who flew in from Africa to visit her. They laughed, talked, ate strawberries, and reminisced about the days when they were little girls. A few weeks later, some of her friends from her missionary days in Colombia came down from Canada – Alicia (Morck) and her husband Max. They spent the week in California and visited her every day, reminiscing good times and singing songs she enjoyed. Her sister Sherry called every morning on my cell phone, taking advantage of my daily morning visits,, and was thrilled every time mom’s voice was strong enough and they could talk for a while; sometimes it was a whole 5 to 10 minutes, but most times only a minute or two, many times in a mumbled voice. At those times, I would talk to her let her know how she was doing.

She was in Park Regency for five weeks, almost six. The bedsore on her back got worse – they couldn’t get it down from stage three– and she developed sores on both of her legs. Her entire body was chronically inflamed – legs and stomach especially. She could not control her bowels or urine flow at all and needed to be turned every two hours to change position and to check to see if needed changing. She hated that! Plus, it hurt her a lot when she was turned; she didn’t

feel safe and she said some of the people that turned her were very rough with her. There were days that she could eat on her own, but most days she needed help with eating and drinking. Her favorite meal was breakfast, and she said the rest didn’t really taste that good to her. Finally, he doctor in charge of her at Park Regency said they felt that the intervention they were giving her was not helping and that he recommend that we put her on hospice so she could get the rest her body needed. That is what we tried to do, but it was a lot more complicated than we thought it would be. Even though the doctors had said she needed rest, she was still woken up every two hours and it got to the point when I would come in the mornings and when I first talked to her she would have this sour look on her face and say “Now what???” I would let her know it was me, she looked intently at my face trying to focus, then smiled and said “Oh, so it is. I’m glad you are here!”

I would come every morning at 6:30 to be with her for breakfast and stay there at least until 9 or 9:30, but sometimes it was until 10 or 11. We would read her devotional, but she was no longer able to write in her book; her eyes were getting worse and worse every day, so she would on occasion have me write in it, but mostly we just read and they she would pray. She no longer desired to play Scrabble, her favorite game, which we had gotten into the habit of playing in English, Latvian and Spanish every week. I would just help her feel comfortable and peaceful, which is what I felt the Lord wanted me to do. My brother John would visit her in the evenings and my brother Jim would fly in from Colorado any chance he could, sometimes alone, and sometimes with his wife and daughter.

Looking back now, the last month or so of my mom’s life was just granted to us on his “permissible will” because we could not let her go emotionally. There was a lot of strife as to what was the best way to care for her, prolonging her life here on earth, when it was obvious that her life was torturous and her days were endless while in the rehab center. My mom never desired her life to be prolonged and every day in her prayers she said she was ready to go whenever he wanted to take her. Finally, the Lord had to remove all of us and allowed only John to remain with her and be with her during her final hours. He wisely chose not to have an IV stuck in her arm and allowed her to go where she desired all along – to heaven. He thanked her for all she had done for us and accepted God’s will. She was taken May 17th, the day I was celebrating my husband’s and my anniversary; we had taken a 4-day cruise a couple of days before her death, though part of me did not want to go. I know God removed me for a reason.

One major thing I have learned during this time of mourning is that God always knows best. Sometimes things happen in his “permissible will”, but that usually only happens when we just can’t immediately accept His “perfect will”. It’s important that we learn to accept His perfect will

as soon as possible, though. In the long run we will actually be saved from a lot of suffering, and save others from the same.

I don’t know if my mom is still resting, or if she is enjoying walks with my dad again, and singing in the heavenly choir or with a bunch of little kids, but I know that she is happy. She is in the place she desired to be for weeks before the Lord chose to finally take her! As I said at the beginning of this chapter - God didn't design our parents to live on this earth with us forever He gave them to us to care for us when we are born and as we are growing up, and to prepare us for life, independently of them. Once their work is done, they deserve the rest for a job well done. There is no better place to retire!

My mom wanted to be cremated and my brothers and I honored her wishes. When I got back from the cruise on Thursday morning, I called my pastor and he agreed to meet up with us that afternoon. We set the Memorial Service for two days from them – Saturday, May 21 st, at 3 p.m – which was to be a celebration of her life here on earth. We had a final viewing of her body on Thursday, before the cremation took place the next day; there was no longer any inflammation of her body. John and James picked up the ashes the next day, along with James’s wife Cristina, and brought them over to the church. Several people attended the service, more than we thought would attend, actually, and all went very well. James and I sang a song – “Nearer, Oh God, to Thee” – and John played the piano. My son 16 year old son sang and played a song in her honor with the guitar. Each of us gave a little speech, in order of age, and the pastor gave a short encouraging sermon. We took her ashes up to deserted area in a park in Orange on Sunday evening, at 7 p.m. A friend of John’s, who is a manager of that park and was honored to help us out in this way, took up us up in his truck before sunset. The way up was absolutely gorgeous – it reminded me of the mountains in Colombia, on the way up to the little cities called Socota and El Cocuy, which my mom enjoyed visiting when she lived in Colombia. After about a 30-minute drive up on the bumpy road, we got out and went up on some rocks, facing the sunset. John gave each had a cup with some of the ashes and, when we all had some, we let them fall out into the wind. We finished right when the sun set, a beautiful imagery of my mom’s life ending, but yet rising in a different place.

Mom will be missed immensely (just as my dad has been missed) by people all over the world who were privileged to get to know her – not only her family. However, we know that God will continue to fill us with the peace and strength we need to continue the journey without her, until the day the rest of us get to go to our home in heaven as well. What a wonderful reunion that will be! May God keep us in His love and peace until that day arrives.