An Ode to Autum

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
-Elizabeth Lawrence

Autumn is crisp days and cool nights, a time to curl up around the dancing flames and sink into a good book.
– John Sinor

This park has become one of my favorite places to go the last couple weeks. There is a mall not to far from my flat and they just got a kiosk that has to go coffee! I was very excited about it! Especially since they have mochas because most coffee shops don't serve mochas. Anyways, I love getting a to go coffee and then going to this park and walking through the leaves, breathing in the smell of autumn, and then sitting and watch people pass by. It very peaceful and reminds me of Oregon.

In The Name of Jesus

On Friday we had our day with the Lord for October. It was much needed! I ended up reading through the book, "In the Name of Jesus," by Henri Nouwen. I definitely recommend it. He states;

God loves us not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love and has choosen us to proclaim that love as the true source of all human life.

It is easy for me to get caught up in efficiency and accomplishments and start acting like I'm saved by works and not by grace. Being here, I have had to let go of my relevant self and realize that God has called me here and He isn't going to use me based on my accomplishments or competence, but He is going to use me in my weaknesses, because this is where His power is perfected in my life. This is where true success is found.
I am here to love these people and share with them Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To offer what has been given to me; love, grace, mercy, peace, freedom.......

The mystery of ministry is that I have been chosen to make my own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God.

ALPHA COURSE!

Last week Tiana and I started an Alpha Course in one of the dorms here. I can't tell you how exciting that is! Two girls signed up, saying the were interested in doing an alpha course, but I didn't really think they knew what they were signing up for. It is a 10 week course on the basics of Christian faith so surely these girls that we just met don't understand what they are getting into. :) Me of little faith! The first night was amazing! We had it in the girls dorm room and they invited their suite mate. They are just the sweetest girls and so much fun!
The topic was "Christianity: Boring, Untrue, Irrelevant?" The discussion that followed the DVD was fantastic! The girls are thinkers and had some great questions and insight.
I am so excited about this week! The theme this week is "Who is Jesus?" Can't wait to see what God does tonight!
We had some fun on the Mac! :)

Animated Bible Reading......

Every Thursday we, as a team, have Bible Study and prayer. We are starting a study on Judges so our last Bible Study, Peter wanted us to ready through Judges together. However, when we read he wanted us to read with excitement, animation, and with different voices. At first I was thinking, "oh man, I stink at this kind of thing. Plus, is anyone really going to get into it?" Well, Peter started us off and he read with vigor, zeal, and passion. He made the story come alive. As we went around the room everyone used their announcers voice and got into the reading. When we came to Judges 5, where Deborah sings of her victory over Sisera, it was Matt's turn. He sang the whole thing! It was great! If you ever wanted to now what Deborah's song sounded like, it had a farmer joe with a banjo kinda melody. :) I loved it! It was so much fun and refreshing to read the Word of God in community with zest and liveliness. I would encourage you to try it! It may feel awkward and weird at first, but once you get past that, you feel like you are able to step into the story and partake in what is happening. :)

First Agape Meeting!

Last Wednesday we had our first Agape Meeting of the school year! Jason and Peter did a great job planning a Film Festival! We watch 3 short films and would have a discussion after each one. The students brought great insight into the discussions. Speaking of students, 12 came! All but one were from surveys we did when the summer team was here! It was incredible! Four of the students signed up saying they would be interested in doing a Bible Study and 3 students signed up saying they would be
interested in doing an Alpha Course which is learning about Christianity.
PRAISE GOD!! It was a fun and encouraging evening!

Go Lithuania!!

During the European Basketball Championship we had some girls over to watch the game with us. It was the night Lithuania played Croatia and of course Lithuania won! WooHoo!!












Tiana, Laura, Monika, Akvyla

Up and running again......

We had a summer team come for two weeks at the end of August/beginning of September. They were an amazing group of people! Left to right- Bob, Anita, Paddy, Erin, Noah, and Julie. God used them in incredible ways here; not only in reaching the students, but also being a huge encouragement to us. Thank you, P-Town Team!



During the afternoons we would split up in teams of 2 and go do surveys. Jen organized about 650 gift bags for us to give to the students that we met while we were in the dorms. We gave away about 500 of them! I get so excited just thinking about how many students heard the gospel and/or experienced the love of Christ last week!



Our first event of the week was a suppose to be Field Games outside, but God had other plans. It ended up pouring Monday night so we ended up meeting in a pub that is on the main university street by KTU (Kaunas Technology University). It was a perfect place because the European Basketball Championship started last week so we played pool and then the guys got to watch the game with the students. That night 16 guys came! That is unheard of! It is always girls and maybe 1 or 2 guys.

This is Tadas. He is a student that came 3 out of the 4 nights.









The second night we went to a bowling alley, but there was some misunderstanding and we could bowl as a huge group. However, the second floor of the bowling alley was all pool tables so we played pool again! This time there were about 20 guys!!




The third night we had a scavenger hunt around the city the P-Town Team planned. We split up into 4 teams and hand an hour a half to find certain things around the center. This photo we had to find Anita at a statue and put on clothes and have our picture taken.




We had to buy a Kebabi and share it amongst the team.
Jen and I took this task very seriously! :)










Here is our team. We got 2nd place. :)







Then we went to a pub called Fortas and watched the basketball game. The last night everyone was invited to Tiana and I's flat for games and a slid show of the week. There were 13 students that came! It was a great time to have one on one conversations and to start building some friendships.

A day in the life of me

My amazing mother had been putting together a love package for me which had many names; "Fun Box," "Giggle Box," "Enjoyment Chest," "Laughing Box," etc. You get the idea, it was suppose to make me laugh and joyful. She was very excited about this package that when she went to mail it she made sure it would get here as soon as possible.
It came in a week which is VERY surprising. I had to go to the center post office to pick it up which is about a mile or so from my flat. I found the "special package" post office which is down an ally, in the back, up some stairs and then you open a door and it is about a 5 X 5 closet that you stand in to get your special packages. :)
It took the lady about 10 minutes to find the package and I had to sign for it and then she showed me a piece of paper that said I had to pay to get the package since it went through customs so I handed her my debit card and she told me we don't except them. I ended up having to walk around to try and find a ATM, I finally found one. As I was standing at the ATM, it started pouring. After I got money I ran into a store and bought an umbrella and then headed back to the ally.
Package in hand, I started my mile walk back home, hoping that the rain would let up. It didn't. It just started raining harder. So here I am, in a T-shirt, flip-flops, and Capri's with a package walking down the prestige catwalk of Kaunas called Laisves Street, in the pouring rain. I wish I would have counted all the looks I got. I could only imagine what I looked like to the Lithuanian. Their looks just put me over the top, I started laughing. By this time I had to stop and put the box down because I was laughing so hard I couldn't move.
I was half way home and I stepped in a puddle and at the same time a car went by and splashed water on me. I ended taking my flip-flops off and walking barefoot the rest of the way because they wouldn't stay on my feet. Now I was a real sight. :)
I couldn't wait to get home to call my mother and tell her that her packaged lived up to it's name even before I opened it!

Flat Stanley

This is me and Stanley. He is a pretty good looking lad, isn't he? My nephew's class made flat stanleys and mailed him to different places. The goal was to see how many different places Stanley could travel to. He came and visited me all the way over here in Lithuania so I figured the least I could do was take the guy on a date. We walked around and I showed him some cool places in Kaunas. We even decided to document our travels.
He is a quite guy and a great listener! He flew back home a week ago. I sure will miss him!
P.S. I'M STILL ALIVE! Hopefully I will get a couple more posts on here about the last couple weeks!

Driving!!!

Wooohooo! I got to drive yesterday!! It has been 8 months since I have drove a car! I was really excited so I thought I would share that with you! I drove to the grocery store! It made it a lot easier too because I didn't have to carry my groceries home.
Oh, I am working on the directions for the Family Game. It is quite difficult to explain so I am doing my best. I will post it soon!

Mysterious Game called "Family"

In answer to a comment (Matt), I will describe how to play Family:
You have a facilitator who directs and runs the game, but does not play.
Everyone gets a piece of paper and thinks of someone famous that everyone would know and writes it on the slip of paper, not revealing their answer. (I.G.-Actor/Actress, Athlete, Some one in government, Fictional Character, etc)
Then the facilitator collects the slips and reads through them twice and then chooses someone to start the game.
Goal:
To be the head of the family and then have everyone join your family so you become the Grandfather and win.
Objective:
To guess which person wrote what. If you guess right, that person becomes a part of your family and then you work together to guess other people's answers. When you guess wrong the next person in the circle goes.
For example, say I put on my slip of paper Snow White and someone guessed that I put Snow White. I then would go over and "join" their family. This goes on until everyone is in the same family and the head of the family wins.
This game isn't that difficult, but hard to explain. If you know how to play the game and noticed I left something out or didn't explain well, PLEASE leave a comment.
If you don't understand something, just ask and I will try to explain better!

This is a picture from our Dinner and Discussion night. Once a month we just have a game night and hanging out time. This was after we played a game called "Family."

Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

This weekend I hung out with one of my friends. Her name is Ramunė or Daisy. :) I met her through a survey and we hit it off right away. She was the only survey I did that day, I ended up talking to her for 2 hours. She is a very sweet girl with a great heart. She is very open to the Gospel and wanted to go to church with me this last weekend, but wasn't able to make it. However, we ended up hanging out most of the day anyways. Here are some pictures from our time!

This is one of my many weak points

I do realize that it has been over a month since I have posted a blog and I apologize for this. I wish I could promise you that I would write something everyweek with tons of pictures, but frankly I am horrible at keeping this thing up and running. I will try my best to atleast let you know I am alive and kicking every couple weeks. That is the best I can do, then IF I start posting more it will be a treat! :)
So, in the meantime... here are some pictures from the last month! :)

Ah, True Colors Come Out Behind Close Doors!

This is what ends up happening after a long day of work!

Here are some pictures from Spain. It was a joy to be able to see a sunset again! I forgot how beautiful they are.

Spain

This last week I was at Campus Crusades' mid-year conference for STINTers. It was great to be able to see the sunshine and wear flip-flops! The first day I was there I went out to a view point above the mediterrianian. I climbed over and walked out to the edge and sat there for over an hour watching, listening, and praising God for His amazing creation! It was a great comfort to my heart because it reminded me of my time at ECOLA and where I fell in love with the Lord. Now I am back and ready to hit the ground running with the coming semester. I believe God is gearing up to do something big and I am excited to see what that is.

Christmas was a beautiful day with sunshine which is a rarity so we decided to take advantage of it! We had ourselves a little photo shoot.
Christmas was good, but it didn't feel like Christmas. We hung out, played games, ate, laughed, and had a great time of fellowship, but it just felt like any other team night. It amazed me how I can know the true meaning of Christmas, but what makes Christmas feel like Christmas is familiarity. The pattern or practices that I associate with the event of Christmas. The congnitive content attached to the event is how I determine it's reality to me. I thought a lot about this during Christmas Eve and Christmas. I realized that I get caught up in the experience of Christmas that I don't meditate on the reason for the day. The conclusion that I came to is that I got to celebrate Jesus' birthday not Christmas the event.
It was hard to be away from my family and the traditions of Christmas with in my family, but having to spend Christmas away I couldn't have asked to celebrate it with better people! I praise God for the blessing this team is and continues to be!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I pray that you will have a very blessed holiday season. One that is full of laughter joy, fellowship with remembrance and reflection of our King!
LINKSMŲ ŠVENTŲ KALĖDŲ! LAIMINGŲ NAUJŲ METŲ! ( "Happy Holy Christmas! Happy New Year!)