Surveys..... A Good Time Had By All?

This is Ramunė. A girl I did a survey with for two hours.
She is coming to church with me this weekend!

The first couple months we were here, students were not responsive to surveys or if they were, they never responded to our followup. This was quite discouraging and made us reconsider the idea of surveys; maybe they weren't the way to reach or connect with Kaunas university students.
However after Spain, Peter's heart was burdened with the idea of surveys. He really wanted us to try them again and be on campus every week for a couple hours just doing surveys. So at the start of the new semester we started going every Wednesday to the university dorms to do surveys with the students. Right away God opened up many doors for us to do this with both of the universities, granting us favor in the eyes of the school's pastoral care department.
This two hour chunk of time, every week has been and is usually dreaded by, pretty much, everyone on the team. But God always through this time, provides at least one good conversation with a student if not more. There are some weeks that we leave discouraged, but I can't overlook the fact that God has led us to these dorms and allowed us to do surveys and all the students we have met through them. For example, the Lithuanians that are coming to our Dinner & Discussion night were students that were met through a survey!
Also through surveys, I have met three sweet girls who I have been pursing and hanging out with. One of the girls is even go to church with me this weekend!
I am excited to see God continue to work through these times. All we can do is rely on Him for courage, boldness, and strength to share the Gospel!

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.