Lithuanian Independence Day

Rasa & Vytautas KTU faculties flags.

Celebrating Independence Day in another country is a very interesting experience. For example it was not my plan to go out to celebrate the day as I had made plans to practice Lithuanian language with my friend Rasa. We did get to practicing language, but not until after the morning festivities.
The celebration for Independence took place in Freedom Square. Freedom square is like a central meeting place where the history and art museum are located. The square was filled with people by noon that had come marching with their flags. The flags signify political parties, student faculty groups, and more. There will be local voting coming soon. Once everyone arrived, even the Mayor of Kaunas, there was the hanging of a flag (a red and black flag), singing the national anthem amongst other songs, listening to various speakers, watching fighter jets fly overhead, listening to a professor play the bells and a moment of silence. The most interesting part of this celebration was the fact that Lithuanians were simply being Lithuanians. Singing, rejoicing, and even a few were dancing. At the end of the ceremony a man holding a couple hundred balloons let them go into the sky. The balloons were the same colors as the Lithuanian flag. They signified the freedom and the cost that many had to pay for their freedom. Watching them let go was really amazing to see.
Sometimes this is the best part and the most challenging part of ministry here in Kaunas. That being that you really don’t know what you are getting yourself into. While I had thought I was going to language, I was getting into a celebration. Life is a little bit different than what we often expect it to be and many of us can relate to that. The biggest question is how will we respond? In faith? In doing life my own way? Even the little things in life here count! I count it a blessing to be reminded of the little things and of the big things that God is doing in and through our ministry.

Our team had many highlights this past week (see below for more details) but we almost missed out on one very important time with students. Thursday was the day for our team's second Dinner & Discussion. As Matt and I made preparations Thursday afternoon we began to wonder if we should call it off. Everything that could go wrong in our preparations did go wrong. No one on our team had heard back from any of our student friends so we weren't sure if anyone was even going to show up. It had already been a long work day, Matt was getting sick, he had to walk to three different stores to get the ingredients he needed for dinner. . .you get the picture. So, I began to wonder if it would be better if we just called it off - I called each of the team members to see if they had heard back from any of their students - still nothing. I called Matt to see what he thought. I quickly figured out that his frustration level was pretty high (and it takes a lot to get him to that point). And then he said this, "Everything inside me wants to call tonight off - I feel crummy and everything is going wrong. . . but that makes me wonder if that means that something very special is going to happen tonight." As soon as he said that, I knew he was right. . .I married a very wise man! And something special did happen. Three students came. Two of them we knew, the third was a friend of theirs. This friend is not a believer but very open to developing relationships with us - and is looking forward to coming back to our dinners in the future! We are all really looking forward to getting to know her better and and are excited about what God has planned for this outreach. And to think - we almost missed out on this opportunity. Matt was right - there was too much going wrong for us to call it off - the Lord did have something special in store for us. Here are a few of the highlights from the rest of our week: Monday we spent the day with the Lord. Tuesday, after staff meeting Peter and Jen planned a very special Valentine's Eve team dinner. Wednesday we had a wonderful time prayer-walking in the downtown area. Friday was independence day so all Lithuania got the day off (always fun to have a little break). Today we enjoyed a home made dinner at Renatta's parents house. (Renatta is Agape's Lithuanian Director.) After dinner we even took a walk across the lake near their house - yes, over the frozen lake.

God is in Control

The new semester started on February 1st and we are so excited to be here at the beginning of the semester.
We had our mid-year conference last week and i think we have all returned with a great expectancy of how God is going to work.
Some specific prayer requests we have this week are:
- Pray that we can find good language tutors and really consistently practice our Lithuanian
- On Tuesdays/Wednesdays we typically are on Campus doing prayer walks or surveys - please pray that we can meet students and start relationships from these surveys. Also that we can get permission to be in the dorms.
- On Thursday Feb. 8th we have our 1st "Dinner & Discussion" night. This is an outreach where we invite students we know to come over for dinner and discuss spiritual topics in a home setting. Please pray that God will encourage students to come to this weekly event.
- Our International English Corner (IEC) will begin next week. We pray this is a way to meet students and help them practically with conversational English. Pray we have wisdom as how to advertise & promote this.





We returned from Spain to find that winter had finally come to Kaunas! This was while on a prayer walk at KTU. It was COLD. (20's)

Regarding Spain, I will share one specific story of how God encouraged me:
On the final night they had a special extended time of musical worship. Most of our team came down a little late so we went to the back of the room to stand. We couldn't see the lyrics up on the wall very well. So, we were all standing there and earlier many of our team had a strong feeling of anxiety/fear - most likely spiritual warfare. So we were in the back, singing, listening, etc. and this young father come in and stands in front of us. I was unintentionally observing him and his son. The music was really loud and had a good beat, so i see the boy take off his shoes and step on his dad's shoes (both of them were facing the stage). The dad was dancing and moving the boys arms and legs with his own.
This is what my thought process was: man, why does this guy have to stand right in front of us...we totally can't see the lyrics, arrrr....then as i observed the boy and his father: ahh, that is sweet....that son is having a great time with his dad, man, his dad really doesn't know how to dance at all...he has no idea what he is doing.....then God's voice came into my head...'But I know what I'm doing Jen'. Just like that. Simple, straightforward, clear. It made my hard heart soften and i worshipped my Father, who does know what He is doing in our lives. He is in control. He is the one holding our arms and legs and moving us to His beat....we are along for the ride and we CAN TRUST HIM. It was a beautiful moment.