February 2011

Labukai!

Well first off I'll start by saying that I'm now in the city of Vilnius as a Zone Leader. I’ve enjoyed the new area and responsibilities. But I won’t lie, I was pretty sad leaving Klaipeda. I really had grown to love that little branch and especially all of the members there. There is such a huge difference between that branch and the two here in Vilnius, like night and day; going from about, 20-25 in attendance to about 70 in the Lithuanian Branch and the same in the Russian branch. Oh and it's pretty great here for two other reasons: 1- My whole MTC group is serving in this city with me, pretty crazy how that all works out haha. 2- There are sweet amazing members here and they're way cool. They even remembered me from the one transfer I was here last summer so it was a nice little "welcome home" in a sense.

We continue to have some pretty funny/crazy experiences;

1-We were knocking a stairwell and this older lady blew up on us telling us it was a "night of mourning" and to leave the people alone as one of there big poets passed away this week. He was about the equivalent to our Dr. Suess, This guy must have been a national hero type. They hung the Lith. flag with black ribbons the next day and shut down the city center

2- We were on the bus to go knocking and all of the sudden there is just this way way loud thud on the window right by my seat. It was an old man whacking the window with his cane haha. I guess he was mad the bus driver left him, the driver never stopped, or maybe he was hitting it because he saw me hahaha??? Who knows? But needless to say it scared me when it happened haha just caught me way off guard.

3-Our Church gave wheelchairs (150) to a medical group. We sang for them at the event. It was a very special experience. There really are a bunch of humble people here. It was a great event and I liked seeing that side of the people here that doesn’t seem to come out to much when we try approaching them at first haha. It was great.

4-This last week has been a pretty awesome one to say the least!! The best news; we have been teaching a part member family and on Tuesday night, their grandfather asked to speak to us alone. He said He's been thinking about it a lot lately and would like to be taught and baptized! It's awesome haha he's just the cutest old guy. He's very sharp for an 88 yrs old man and he's done great at remembering all that we've taught him. He's been to church a number of times, but just hasn’t felt the need to be baptized until now. So Saturday the March 5^th , Vitalijus "Dedukas" Skluitas will be baptized and confirmed a member of the church :)! This is huge for us here in the Baltics as convert baptisms are so hard to come by. We've been blessed to stay busy. We’ve met with some new investigators and have had some great lessons. We continually get kicked out of the domes (apartments) by angry people. I hadn't run out of a dome till last night. I guess we just scare some Russian people or something. But like I said we are grateful for the work and everything is dandy :).

We travel to Riga (Latvia) twice a month for ZL Council Training and our mini exchanges. Although it's no fun not understanding Latvian, it’s still great to meet with the other missionaries

Well, I think that is about it for this month. It was an eventful month, but, I'm pretty sure every month has been. Haha. Sometimes I forget I'm not in America and that I'm right by Russia. Then I hear or see something and it brings me back haha. I'm thankful for the great memories that we have all shared together! I love you all and I’m so grateful for the examples and great influences you all have been and continue to be in my life as you serve so faithfully! I look up to you all HAVE A GREAT MONTH EVERYONE!!!!

Su meile kaip visada,

Elder Jeffrey John Manning –The Baltic Mission-