საქართველო

Please pray for me starting tomorrow as i head off to the Republic of Georgia. While by all accounts Georgia is safe, beautiful friendly and ready for tourists, it is nevertheless as far off the beaten path as i have yet gone, and still a country which has two regions not under the control of the government, is in a border stand off with Russia, and plays host to repeated raids from the Chechens who live accross the border in Chechnya

The plan is to see the great Caucausian cities and monasteries, meet locals, enjoy my favorite cuisine in the whole world, get into conversations, mountain hike a bit, see some local churches, find out whats going on there in the realm of linguistics and English teaching, maybe make a cross border excursion into Armenia.

All made possible by AirBaltic, the Latvian airline, and its new 40 LVL flights from Riga-Tbilisi.

If any of you can get to London cheaply, you can now get to the Caucasus (Baku or Tbilisi) from there, via Riga, for under 200 bucks. Not a bad deal eh?

Pray for my Russian to come back

That Jerilyn and i could bless the Georgians and get into good conversations, that demonstrate our willingness to learn, but also our willingness to share about The Gd we serve

The chance to find a good georgian chch

Safety from theft, injury, stupidity, and frustration

May it be done
in jesus' name

Amen

Eesti Vabariik (Republic of Estonia)
ferry to Hiumaa


Rapeseed field. typical may baltic scene


Ok so Estonia has made a better impression on me. Maybe i was too harsh in my thougts about Narva last time; I think partly it was the weather, partly just the reminder of what the Soviet Union did to Estonia. This last week i got to view this country more extensively than I ever had before, and let me tell you- i love Estonia!

Highlights of the 4 day trip:

Climbing inside a 5 story rusted out Soviet conning tower from WWII on a deserted peninsula in Hiumaa

The sun reflecting of the many bays and brightly colored pastel houses under the castle walls in the beautiful city of Haapsalu

Climbing a Soviet Ski Jump in a not altogether comforting state of decay for beautiful views of the windswept forests and hills in the ski resort town of Otepää

The most beautiful spot I have ever yet found in the Baltics, a deserted beach under the pine trees at Surfers paradise, on the westernmost point of the westernmost peninsula on the island of Hiumaa... complete with a refreshing dip in the Baltic in late may

Climbing Europes oldest lighthouse on the Kõpu peninsula in Hiumaa, the thick whitewashed walls brushing against my sides and emerging out onto a beautiful view of the island

Walking around Tallinn at midnight with light bright enough to be able to read a book by- the white nights here are truly amazing, and make up for the darkness that we live most of our lives in in the Baltics.

Rainswept skies, rainbows, tamarack trees with achingly new green needles, old churches, huge erratic boulders, beautiful highways

Latvia had a few well kept secrets too-

Rundale palace, I would have never guessed something like that would be in the Baltics



The restaurant in Valmiera... by far the most delicious restaurant i have ever eaten in, and one of the cheapest. We ate what you would pay 25 dollars for in the states for 2 dollars. I hope it doesnt get discovered!!!


What a great test run for Georgia!

New City

There is an addictive feeling about landing in a new european city, at the train station, or bus station, or airport, and having to figure the city out. You step off the train, and immediately have to figure out what language you are going to work in, how to get the currency, what direction is the old town in, do you buy a bus ticket at a kiosk or on the bus, is metro or bus better. And there are a million things to notice- what are the names of the main squares? what time period was the cathedral built in? how do modern buildings blend with the old? who is on the currency? how are people dressing? what is the racial mix here? what does fast food look like? how much time do i have before my next connection and how much can i see in that amount of time?

Looking at the streetplans with green parks, blue rivers, purple pedestrian zones, yellow main squares.... man it is a huge rush for me. i love exploring.

How many times have i gotten to go and explore a new European city?

Well the list below is of European cities and towns that i have gotten to explore on foot- not just driving through- but really getting to walk around and get a feel for the place.

Ones with an asterix I have spent the night in. Ones with two asterixes, I have spent the night in somebody's home who lives in that city.

Not a bad list over 12 years of European travel, eh?

Alaverdi, Armenia
Altheim(Alb), Germany
*Amsterdam, Netherlands
Arromanches, France
Avignon, France
Bacharach, Germany
Bari, Italy
*Berlin, Germany
Binz, Germany
Bled, Slovenija
*Borjomi, Georgia
Bratislava, Slovakia
Buyukada, Turkey
Cavtat, Croatia
*Cesis, Latvia
**Cologne, Germany
**Dubrovnik, Croatia
**Dublin, Ireland
Druskininkiai, Lithuania
**Frankenthal, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
**Freiburg, Germany
*Friedrichshafen, Germany
Gardabani, Georgia
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
**Giessen, Germany
Hamburg, Germany
Happsalu, Estonia
Heidelberg, Germany
**Heilbronn, Germany
Helsingborg, Sweden
**Helsinki, Finland
*Helsinor, Denmark
*Herceg Novi, Montenegro
*Innsbruck, Austria
*Interlaken, Switzerland
**Istanbul, Turkey
*Kardla, Estonia
Karlsruhe, Germany
Kaunas, Lithuania
**Kazbegi, Georgia
Klagenfurt, Austria
**Klaipeda, Lithuania
*Kobenhavn, Denmark
Koblenz, Germany
Kotor, Montenegro
*Krakow, Poland
Kretinga, Lithuania
*Kuresaare, Estonia
*Kiev, Ukraine
**Lezhe, Albania
**Liepaja, Latvia
Lindau, Germany
*Ljubljana, Slovenija
**London, UK
*Lucerne, Switzerland
Ludwigsburg, Germany
**L’viv, Ukraine
*Mainz, Germany
Mannheim, Germany
Mont St. Michel, France
*Mostar, Bosnia Hercegovina
M'ts'kheta, Georgia
*Munich, Germany
*Narva, Estonia
*Nimes, France
*Nurnberg, Germany
Nykoping, Sweden
Oostende, Belgium
Palanga, Lithuania
*Paris, France
Parnu, Estonia
Pescara, Italy
*Prague, Czech Republic
*Regensburg, Germany
*Riga, Latvia
Rijeka, Croatia
**Rivne, Ukraine
Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, Germany
Schwaebisch Gmuend, Germany
*Schwaebisch Hall, Germany
Shkodra, Albania
Siauliai, Lithuania
*Sigulda, Latvia
*Slav’sko, Ukraine
*Starnberg, Germnay
**Stralsund, Germany
**Strasbourg, France
*Stockholm, Sweden
*Stuttgart, Germany
Sveksna, Lithuania
**Tallinn, Estonia
Tartu, Estonia
*Taize/Ameugny, France
**T'bilisi, Georgia
**Tirana, Albania
*Ulm, Germany
Vaduz, Liechtenstein
*Valmiera, Latvia
**Vanadzor, Armenia
*Veliki Lyubin, Ukraine
*Vilnius, Lithuania
**Wermelskirchen, Germany
*Warsaw, Poland
Wien, Austria
**Yerevan, Armenia
Zdolbunov, Ukraine
**Zolotonosha, Ukraine
**Zurich, Switzerland

What am I getting myself into??? My new "village"!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aweigend

other peoples pictures of the Gauja till i can find our own ones :)

Gauja

Last week i went canoeing on the Gauja River in Latvia. It is one of the most wild rivers in Europe (with the exception of the rivers in northern sweden and finland, which are too cold to canoe in May for sure- Latvia was stretching it). Basically it was the perfect combination of things- I forgot how much these things are essential to life:

Blooming lilac trees in the spring
Smelling honeysuckle flowers drooping over the sidewalk
Floating beneath ancient sandstone cliffs with a Panamanian hat to keep out the sun, while sipping from a box of cheap spanish wine
Conversations about God and the inticracies of relationship and what conversion really means over a campfire, roasting gobs of mini-marshmellows to make S(elga s)'mores
Riding on lazy Latvian trains through the pine forests
Speaking Russian every once in a while

Thank you Js for the random little things you rain down around us

Praying

Last night my friends Rasa Ieva Donatas and Vaidas came over to pray for Klaipeda and the youth of the city.

It was such an amazing time.... we prayed for two hours, and the time just flew by.... it hit me too than i can pray for two hours in Lithuanian and follow everything that is going in, and even pray in Lithuanian myself now. I'm so thankful for the investment i put in language learning early on.

Praying with those dear broliai ir seseri klaipedeciai for this place i realize how much my heart has put down roots here, and how sad i am to think about leaving- in fact even though i know i am leaving, i havent really thought about it yet. It 100% feels like i will coming back here in the fall.

Dieve palaimink musu Klaipeda, palaimink jaunima, kuris cia gyvena, palamink visus klaipedecius, ypac vaikinius, kad uzaugtu nauja genaracija krykscioniskuju lyderiu tame mieste. Issaugok visas baznycias, ir meldziausi kad bazynicios cia arciau dirbtu, viena su kitomis, kad pastatyti tavo karalyste tame tarpe.

god i dont want to run from this place just to pursue novelty, if you want me to return here, let me know how and when please

Eurovizija!!

One of the most informative things i have encountered in my time here is the Eurovision SOng Contest, by far the highlight of May for European countries, especially i imagine, in eastern and central Europe.

Basically each country picks a new band to represent their country at the European Finals. The countries who scored in the top 10 places the previous year get an automatic bye to the finals, and the other countreis have to compete in a semi-final round. Europeans all vote by SMS (a message on the cell phone) who they think is the best country, but you can't vote for your own country. The top 14 of that round join the 10 automatic finalists to form the final round; a night of pure cheesy but interesting entretainment when 24 of the Council of Europe's countries battle each other for the title of Eurovision song contest finalists. Some previous winners that i have heard of before were Nana Mouskouri, ABBA, Lulu and Celine Dion.

My favorite part is when they call all the capitals of the countries at the end, collecting the votes from each city, waiting to see which band will emerge as the winner. The hosts basically call a country like, Liechtenstein, and them some smartly dressed young guy greets the host in their language (this year it was Greek) and then awards their points, "Ve from Liechtenstein gif our tvelf points to Svitzerland!". It is done on the electoral system, so a country like Andorra or Malta has as much points to award as does Russia or Turkey.

It is a real lesson in European politics as well as tastes. Why would Ireland award its 12 points to Lithuania? The huge Lithuanian community in Dublin has something to do with that! Why would Germany give its 12 points to Turkey? The same reason you can buy Doner kebab on every corner in Germany's big cities. Why would Greece vote for Armenia and Armenia for Greece? They are united by a common factor: Their hatred of Turkey! Its no surprise that Estonia votes for Finland, and if Belarus didn't give its 12 points to Russia, i think Lukashenko would personally track down everyone who voted for a decadent capitalist nation seeking to destroy the great Belarussian state, and throw all those people in jail.

The history of triple entendres and triple alliances is still alive and well in europe, and influences even our pop music :)

I hosted a big euro-vision party, with thai meatballs, couscous, a cornucopia of lithuanian snacks, and a floor crowded with students and alumni from all over europe cheering on their countries. i love those moments- playng a host is my favorite thing almost.

Who won this years contest? A bunch of Finns dressed up like monsters from Halloween XII singe "Hard Rock Hallelujah". Who'd have thunk it.

check it out at www.eurovision.tv

Savartinas


Today i went to the Savartinas, or the much less fancy sounding English word: the dump. In Klaipeda's dump live around 100 people in houses they have built themselves, and making a living however they can from selling things or finding temporary work. I really didn't want to go earlier today, but pretty much you have to admit- if Js lived in Klaipeda probably the first people he would have gone to spend time with are those people living on the trash mountains.

It was pretty standard short-term missions fare; deliver food to the people, sing Xn songs (mostly in Russian, as I heard that people were mostly russian there, only to discover that there were way more Lithuanian speakers... i need to learn more lithuanian worship songs by heart), and meet and great people and hear their stories. THe Salv'n Army (Isganymo Armija) has a regular ministry to these people with weekly services and all. We went under their aegis. What surprised me the most was the people- these are people who are so easy to dismiss, to forget about and ignore. In fact the EU has passed legislation requiring that these people move out of the dump, out of the only home they have ever known. But these people were very thankful and appreciative, eager to tell their story, eager to share about their lives, ask questions of us, even eager to try to sing along and listen to the songs that i was trying to play in a language i kind of know, on a guitar that was kind of in tune, and a voiced straining to be loud enough that all people on that grassy hilltop might hear it.

These are real people with real stories and beautiful to Gd, as cheesy as it sounds to say that, and i am thankful that i had that opportunity. I wasn't shocked or disturbed by the poverty ( i dont really know yet what that says about me) or the dirtiness of people's hands or clothes. I guess the next time i hear on the news that it is -20 degrees in Klaipeda, i will have some new faces to pray for and think about and hope that Gd is taking care of.

If anyone wants to understand why I have a heart for Europe, and what Js would have to offer young Europeans, I recommend you watch the movie

"L'auberge Espanol" (the spanish hostel)

It is basically i thought a fairly accurate portrayal of the lives of "typical" young Western europeans, based on my experiences here. A French Erasmus student (it was so funny seeing how the Erasmus program was depicted here) moves in with a Belgian girl, a Dane, a Spanish girl , an English girl, an Italian guy and a German guy in a small apartment in the Barrio Antico in Barcelona. Hilarity ensues of course, as well as raising issues about what it means to be a new European.

The thing that moved me the most though was really how the characters in this show were just living for love and sex and the next party and friendship, and these are the highest goals they are chasing after. The deep deep truth of Chst, which speaks to the inmost and deepest part of ourselves, the restoration of the connection with our creator, the power Js has to forge deep friendships rooted in Him, the beauty of His Truth about our Sexuality and its true purpose, love that is not self-interested but self-sacrificing, placing the eternal things above the ephemeral pleasures and stimuli that last but a moment, and leave people feeling emptier than before.... the Truth, in a word, was conspiculously absent from the lives of those characters.

It made me hunger to show young Europeans that there is more to Gods plan for our sexuality than just hook ups, there is more to life than just getting a good job or finding a "true love", that there is a greater story we are all invited to take part in, that faithfulness and honesty and sincerity are not old-fashioned, that friendship is based on more than just having things in common or going through some experiences together, that there is pain involved in divorce, and casual sex, and homosexual experimentation, and a life whose high point is going out to the clubs.

It may come across judgmental for me to say these things, but basically watching that film made me long to point to a way that is bigger than myself, and more powerful than myself, and the answer to every deep question stitched into our fragile human hearts.

Immigration

I picked up two professors from the Vilnius airport last friday and they asked me what is my view on the "immigration problem"

My answer was "what immigration problem?"

No seriously. I read on BBC that people in the US are all mad because someone translated Star Spangled Banner into spanish.

I seriously do not see what is the problem with that, and why anyone would care.

Yesterday my friend Fabian was turned down for a visa by our hardworking INS officers. He just wanted to visit friends in Minnesota who had even bought him a plane ticket! It was just a dream to see America and to spend time volunteering with a church there.

And they turned him down for no reason- he had all the documents in place.

Seriously seeing immigration from this side of the ocean will really make you change your viewpoint.

Every American is an immigrant from somewhere. Europeans benefitted from a time of realtively lax immigration laws. Isn' t it a bit racist to say "its ok for Europeans to have unrestricted immigration to the US, but as soon as it starts being Mexicans and Asians, then we should pull up the ladder after us"?

Todays immigrants also want to learn English. The biggest opponents to bilingual education are immigrants themselves, who desperately want their children to learn English. Many of the people trying to move to the US could write a much better essay in English than the average american could. remember too that it took the Europans often a couple generations to learn English when they first moved to the US.

ANd why should everyone have to learn English, and the lazy Americans go throughout the world just expecting everyone to know their language? I think immigrants to the US should learn ENglish yes, but i think Americans should learn Spanish as well. Spanish is the first language of 16% of our population after all.

In Finland swedes are only 5% of the population, yet over half of the finnish population can speak Swedish. THey are commited to honoring and respecting their minority populations.

It is WAAAAAY harder for a Finn to learn Swedish than an American to learn Spanish. After all Spanish is the easiest language in the world for English speakers to learn.

Nevermind the fact that states such as California Texas Arizona New Mexico and COlorado are only part of the United States because we sent an invasion army and surrounded Mexico City and threatened to burn it to the ground unless they ceded us those lands. The areas were most Spanish-speaking immigrants live were forcibly taken from Mexico anyway, and were in Mexican hands way longer than they have been in American hands. Look it up: it is called the Mexican Cession

It only makes everyones life more interesting and colorful to speak many languages and have a multi-lingual society.

America- no sea racista! Dije no a racisma! Commenca a apprender espanol! Es bueno para tu futuro y para el futuro de las genercaiones siguantes tambien!

(Pardon my Spanish, it is my 6th language, and has suffered in the time i have not been living in the states, as i have been concentrating on learning other languages)

My dream for America is that hard working people will freely be able to visit and work in the United States, the same way that Americans are able to freely visit other countries.

After all Americans, you could have been born an Albanian, as which you would "need a visa to go to the toilet" as my Albanian friend Marian once said.

Americans aren't inherently better than anyone else, nor do we deserve more than the Belarussians Albanians and Moldovans do. Nationalism is a very dangerous thing.

I step off my soapbox now.

Language dork....

I am such a big one.

Ma ei räägu eesti keelt!

In November 2004 I was with my friend Jon in Tallinn, Estonia and we decided to go to the Lutheran mass at the cathedral. We were given a program of the readings and music. Since i didn't know much estonian, and i didn't want to be disruptive during the service. i figured out where the Lord's Prayer was in the program based on the repetition patterns, and began isolating all kinds of Estonian morphemes out of the data. I figured out I would say about 8 sets of case endings, the verbal morphology, the pronomial system, the main christian vocabulary, and by the end of the mass i had a pretty good idea what we were singing about in the responsive choruses in Estonian.

Now i am making little flash cards to start learning the basics of one of the most difficult languages in the world: Georgian (Kartuli)

Georgian has not one, but 6 ejective consonants! It has cases i have never heard of before! i am such a dork. I love learning these new squiggly words beginning with impossible consonant combinations. I kid you not, mtvshkhra is a possible Georgian word.

ბამარჯოგად ერდი შაშლიჩ დუ შეიკლეგა! gamarjobat erti shashlyk tu sheidzleba

I can now order a shashlyk politely in Kartuli. I am ready to go.

Thanks for all of the people who have had to put up with me talking about vowel shifts, bantu gender systems and aboriginal languages over the last 5 years. Thanks for feigning interest.

Its nice to know that there is something you are good at. :)

ბმათლოგდ tänan kiitos paldies ačiū danke merci gracias grazi multumesc спасибо дякую hvala zdravo dekuji дзякуй takk obrigado faleminderit teşekürler

Apology #2

I think i was a little bit too downhearted in my last email. I know not all LCC graduates were abusing alcohol either. It was just the general feel and it was how i was feeling. Just to let you know, i think i want to be honest with my thoughts on this blog. of course at any given moment we can't see all sides of the issue, and often in hindsight we have different understanding. But i am the kind of person i want to own what i am feeling at any given moment, and that is what i was feeling.

I know obviously that not all Lithuanians drink. I also got sad about the alcohol problems even at Michigan State University. I mean we had three drunken riots in the time i was there, for no good reason- i even got tear gassed in my own dorm. So its not that LCC is way worse than anywhere else. its just that i think everywhere in the world, abuse of alcohol makes me sad. people use alcohol to escape or to free themselves from themselves.

this last week has been a great one, and this highly uncharacteristic weather may have had something to do with it! there have been cloudless days in the upper 70s for the whole week. I have gotten to be out in the sun, and to go to the beach like three times this week. The cherry trees are blooming, the chestnut trees will start next week. The new green in Lithuania is something incredible. I almost feel like who took away the real Lithuania and replaced it with this lush verdant sunny country?

We even had a forest fire this week, out on the Curonian spit- you could see helicopters with the buckets for dumping water flying back and forth.

I have had to say a lot of goodbyes this week too. It is hard to keep track anymore of who is even still around. I don't know how many of my friends and students here i will get to see again, but i hope so- one never knows. i have had some random connections with people over the years.

So to all you who live in Lietuva- marvel at the tulip flowers, soak in the sunshine, and make your friendships count this week. For those of you who don't live here, nevermind us while we go enjoy the spring that the rest of the world got two months ago :)

Graduation 2006.



Well another graduation has come and gone. My life has been set by the rythyms of graduation for a long time. More speeches, more awards, more flowers. Maybe that is the thing that sets Lithuanian gradiations apart the most is the flowers.





I said goodbye in the last week to a lot of students- sometimes hurriedly, sometimes in the formal of one final meeting. i think i got to farewell most of the people that i wanted to. Many of the students who just graduated, i will never see again. I can't help but wonder if LCC really changed their lives in anyway. It sure doesn't seem like it sometimes. i wonder if they ever really put together that the reason that we are doing this is because we love jesus, not to build our CVs, or because we are nice, or because we are Americans.

One thing hard about being there is that i wonder often if people see our acts that come out of serving christ and just think it is becase we are nice people, or because thats what americans do.

At the graduation party (the official one) i was feeling pretty discouraged and antisocial. There it was just a reminder to me; the copious amounts of alcohol, the varying states of inebriation, that we can never effect the change we want to see in someones life; only god can do that. Looking around that room that night i felt discouraged... no one would ever guess that these were students from a Xn college. They are even thinking of taking the name Xn out of LCC. Maybe that is a good thing. Each table (of around 4-7) students was equipped with vodka brandy cognac etc...

Students here act like it is their right and responsibility to get drunk. of course they are adults and can do that. I just cant get my head around the fact why people run so often to drunkenness when there are so many better alternatives. in a culture where alcoholism is causing such throrough and devastating problems, it seems like noone has any hesitations about throwing back some hard liquor to have a good time. It is just sad.... it doesnt make me angry... it doesnt make me hopeless.... it just makes me sad.



The contrast was brought home when i went to Skandalas afterwards with some of my latvian friends. At that table were 3 people who had become xns while at LCC beacuse of LCC. The contrast couldnt have been more great. We talked about what Gd was doing in our lives, how we fit in in the grand scheme of life, the importance of xn encouragement, and stood in a circle to pray together for each other one last time (that is until the people in the upstairs apartment started spitting on us).



Why would people ever choose Vodka over Js????

Easter.

People often ask me if i miss my family on holidays, and i do, but sometimes i think it can be a more meaningful interaction with the holiday itself when you do something you aren't used to doing. This year on Christmas i was wandering through the streets of a deserted munich, prayed with an Old Croat woman in an empty church lit up with thousands of candles, talked with a drunk stem-cell researcher who said there is no Gd, and if there was he was going to hell. Walking around that dark city made me think of the dark world that Gd entered as a baby, and what Christmas was really for.

This year for easter, I had a great day! I went to my church (City Church- it is kind of a baptist church, about 200 people or so) and we had an excellent service about the meaning of the cross. Then afterwards we did something really cool. We with some of my best Lithuanian friends bought a cake and cookies and i brought my guitar. We went to visit a family who lives in Melnrage- a seaside suburb of Lithuania. Melnrage during soviet times was GHETTO and full of Gypsy people. Now because it is right on the sea, it is home to millionaires and palaces. That is a very interesting demographic mix in the village. Anyway, this family lives in a small coal heated two room apartment. That is normal for Lithuania, except this famliy has 10 kids!!! 12 people are living in that tiny space. Im sure that live isn't very easy for them- the bathroom was not very good, and there wasn't much around, but they were very hospitable and friendly people!!! We played a lithuanian song for them, talked for a while and wished them happy easter. Then we walked down to the beach and just enjoyed the sun shining on the waves of the Baltic Sea.

Later in the day we had an Easter dinner party. Looking around that room, i felt very emotional, as the people that i pretty much love most in lithuania were gathered into that room. The whole evening was almost all in Lithuanian too, and these are people who aren't as transient as the LCC communtiy, but real Klaipedeciai (Klaipedans). These are my "family" here, and it was great to see how all of us young and single people Gd had taken and given us to each other as a family to serve him.

My friend Emas was there, recently returned from a YWAM discipleship school where he travelled across Asia. He is a VERY encouraging brother to me, and a great friend. i went to visit him in Amsterdam in October.

His fiancee Irma, a student of mine, a sister in christ, and my landlord, was the host, along with her Latvian roomate, Renalda.

My good and long standing friend Adomas was there, as well as my brother Valeri, who goes to my church, and from the very first time i went to that church befriended me in an intentional way- he constantly points me more towards Chst.

My friend Rasa was there, an LCC alumna, with a huge heart for youth ministry- i love the way that she will turn conversations to prayer always, and the way that the youth of klaipeda are a huge burden on her heart. She wants to start some kind of a youth ministry here, and we have been praying about what that might look like.

My two younger brothers Algis and Donatas were there- both huge encouragements to me- guys who love Gd and make me smile every time i see them. Both were pretty involved with YWAM here while it was still going, and i have been especially meeting often with Donatas this spring.

Donatas' girlfriend (and my linguistics student) Sanita was there, as well as a girl named Gintare who is very actively involved in my church.

Anyways i was very blessed to spend Easter dinner with this family, we rolled easter eggs, we sang african american and lithuanian worship songs, we walked to the football stadium and played red rover, we prayed for our city. That was a very great Easter day.