This weeks blog is going to be about our upcoming Easter outreach. Traditionally within Lithuania their are a couple of times a year when students are much more open in-regards to spiritual conversations. Easter being on of those times we are planning a special night around the theme of “How Easter saved my life”.

Using an idea from a church in the U.S. we are going to break our evening into two parts. The first part will be people sharing their testimonies including our very own Jason. We are then going to share the biblical story of easter, show a 5 min video using scenes from Passion of Christ, and have a time of contemplative thought. After we finish the testimonies we will enter a period of celebration by having a delicious meal.

It is our prayer that God would really speak to the students during this night and then on through their Easter holiday. We would really appreciate your prayers. The event will be on Tuesday April 3rd the day before the students return to their home towns to celebrate.

Peter

Shedding Layers.

How many leaves do you unfold?
How many places will you walk to?
If you were blind what color would you dream in?
If you could not hear would music sound the same in your heart?

What to do when it is no longer a world you speak to and people who listen?
How do you unite in care when you walk different ways?

You wear the shoes that seat the same sores.
You root the foot of one next to you.
Another day, another one to one another.

Lighter feathers in my jacket pocket.
Sun shines on the faces lifted up and on the hair of those slanted down.
Smiles return. Arm and arm couples.
The smell of pungent wind from god knows where?
Broken windows
Broken hearts
Pain like the shedding river overflows its banks.
Water rises
Eyes hold back
Reflected ripples
Standing tall and straight
Walking somewhere
To my broken bridge

Who will plant a tree?
Who will water the sun?

Where is the Majesty?

Soften hearts, like soften snow.
Hard hearts like melting rivers.
Each need not a thing
Like what the river wants to flow.
Snapshots of micro-second moments.

What do you hear? What do you see?

Rocks are crying out in isolation.
Words of God coming face to face.
Speak for the first time.
Breathe for the first time.
Enter into life for a new time.

Spires behold heaven like everyday concrete jungles.
Bricks built by hand and tested by time.
Adored by many eyes yet spurned by weather and wind.
Like frost on the trees leaves a biting cold.
Hearts heat the frost in search of footsteps to follow.
Behind, before on the way.

People see life in many different ways. It’s like looking into a kaleidoscope to view splintered glass and each piece represents the rainbow of descriptions of the world. As I have thought about our ministry, team, and how God is working here in Kaunas I wrote this poem. I know for many of you it seems vague and hard to understand instead of telling you a story about life this week, but I will trust that if you will desire to see deeper you will ponder this picture. I have spent some time recently reading a book by Henri Nouwen called In the Name of Jesus and highly recommend it. One of the things that has become increasingly clear to me is the need to share in life the layers of my own life. May you know that God is working through our team as we shed our own layers of our heart to each other and to those in need of a warm coat.

God is Working

(from left to right , bottom to top, Algis, Giedrius, Rasa, and Tadas)

This is one group of friends that is being pursued by our team. God has definitely been softening their hearts and is opening doors for the Gospel. For example when I first met Tadas, after sharing my testimony, he told me he was agnostic and had no need for God. Recently we were hangin' out and got on the topic of Jews. I told him a story about Abraham, and he got excited and asked me to tell him more stories from the Bible. I am leaving a lot of the story out, but the point I am trying to make is this:

• It is common for us to meet people who have no interest in God
• We pray that God would open Hearts and change this cultural apathy
• God Answers

God is Working!

When I first came to Kaunas surveys just didn't work. Recently we were given permission to go into the dorms to do surveys and we found out that they do work. There are still students that have no interest, but most are fine with sitting down and filling out a survey with some pretty tuff questions about God, Life, and Jesus Christ. The Gospel is being shared and now we pray that God would move Hearts to respond to His Good News.

Our weekly Dinner and Discussion night is growing. This last week there were more Lithuanians than Americans, which was awesome. We talked about Purpose and success, and had a wonderful meal together. Afterward our tutor, Dalia, asked Matt, "Why Christianity," and we had a wonderful conversation about the differences between major religions. Works vs Grace.

What else is happening?

Well, we have a weekly International English Corner (IEC) which we are praying will catch on.

So far not many students have come. There needs to be a couple key students that will regularly come and bring friends. Maybe this week?

There is a group of Mormon Missionaries that are being met with weekly. These discussions are progressing well. Please pray for the Truth to set them Free. Their names are Chris, Chase, and Jake.

It has been an exciting couple of weeks for the Kaunas team. We have seen God work in so many ways lately. Here are a few...

First, is that we have been given full access to the Dorms at both KTU and VDU. This means that the priests who are the chaplains at the perspective universities have given the their stamp of approval for our ministry and permission to talk to students in the dorms. This is important because its not easy to actually get into a dorm to do surveys without proper reason and documentation. Speaking of surveys, they have been going great. We have had some great experiences lately as we have talked to many students about spiritual questions. In fact Kellie even had a girl in one dorm get so excited that she took Kellie to all her friends rooms to ask them the survey questions. That's just one of the sweet stories we've had lately.

Second, God has also put some amazing women (Valda & Irma) in key roles at the universities we are working with. They are the assistants to the priests and help with pastoral care of thousands of students. They are both excited about what we are doing and very supportive. Irma has even allowed us to use a room at VDU for the conversational English event that we are starting. Its called IEC (International English Corner) and we had the first meeting this last week. It is a great way we can practically help students learn English since many students go to America to work during the summers. It also allows a natural way to build relationships with them.

Lastly, is the dinner and discussion that Sharon and I are hosting at our apartment on Thursday nights. We just had our 4th one and it was great. Its been a slow start but students are coming and bringing their friends. We basically just hang out and eat dinner together for an hour and then discuss a relevant topic. Students seem to dig it and God seems to be using it so we are excited to see what will happen.

In fact we are all really excited to see what will happen this semester. I think God wanted to get to a point where we realize that its not up to us and our genius plans, but instead that this ministry will succeed through prayer and simple obedience to things He has put in front of us right now. So please keep praying, I know its easy to forget or not share in the excitement when you're not over here, but God is answering your prayers and they are vital.

Here is a picture of the first IEC event.

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.