Visit to Lithuania

A view on a walk in Kaunas, Lithuania

Our morning devotional group. Fun, spiritual and friends.

Awesome street!!!

This is a beautiful building on the center of town.

Statues are big in Europe.

A river runs through Kaunas, Lithuania.

Beautiful Kaunas, Lithuania.

This is our street right out of our hotel. Notice the narrow sidewalks and the cobble streets.

Lithuania felt like a little bit of heaven compared to Russia. Elder Sartori even said he noticed right away how much better the water was. We arrived in the capital city, Vilnius, Lithuania, then rode a bus to Kaunas, Lithuania. We stayed in the old part of town, the original town and found it quaint with cobblestone streets and sidewalks right next to the building and only about 30 inches wide! Our CES training is invaluable and we are so thankful for every minute we learned. The other Senior Couples are amazing!! We learned much from all they shared and all the things they do in their respective missions (Baltic States Mission, Russia St. Petersburg Mission, Russia Rostov Mission, Russia Novasibirsk Mission, Russia Ekaterinburg Mission, Russia Moscow Mission, Armenia Mission, and I really can't remember the other ones.) We sat at the feet of Henry Kosak the CES East Europe Area Director and his assistant, Sergei Seminov. Fine spiritual giants who tried to help us constantly with the vision of the Seminary and Institute Programs. Our lives have reached a new spiritual plane under their teaching and directions. We were able to get up early and go walking and take pictures. We were able to catch a few minutes here and there and so this was a spiritual feast with a little travel mixed in.

Moscow - Red Square

We went in this building with a fountain in it and found that it went on and on and on!!!

We did not have time to go in any of the buildings, but one...it was okay.

These two pictures below and on the side, show the massiveness of Red Square in Moscow. Cool buildings!!

So we had this wonderful Senior Couples Conference planned in Lithuania June 8-12. We learned first hand how big Russia is and how big this area is. We left Khabarovsk on Monday the 8th, flew all day and still arrived in Moscow Monday morning!!...I think. I don't think I'd better try to explain time changes and everything, just know that there was 30 + hours of travel (fly, bus, fly again and bus again!!) We fared quite well, we were blessed with little to no jet lag!! MISSIONARIES ARE DEFINITELY BLESSED CONSTANTLY WITH MUCH! So, we arrive in Moscow and have an 8 hour layover. They had given us good instructions of bus and metro if we wanted to go into the center and see 'Red Square'. The said, "..however, everyone gets lost so plan plenty of time so you don't miss your flight." This did not scare us! We and another couple went on the adventure!! We rode a bus for 40 minutes, then hopped on the subway. We asked young people along the way for directions and help. (Young people in Russia like to talk English to us) Everyone was very helpful and we were able to make our excursion without getting lost!! :) Enjoy the pictures of 'Red Square', then we will write about Lithuania.

Spring is getting wet!

We guess that our Spring is just like home - wet! The plants are loving it. The Datchas are loving it and of course the people think it is great for their Datchas. We had our last S & I 'graduation' (we cannot legally call it graduation because of Russian law....it should be referred to as S & I accomplishment or something like that!) when we flew to Usserisk, Russia. The students were happy that we could go to their program...then we became the program!! It is always fun to see the many young people who are many of the stalwarts of the branches. They do not have Seminary or Institute at their schools, so it is taught in a home or the church just like in many other missionary areas in the world. We get to visit them and talk to and train the teachers. This is our primary assignment of our mission - working with CES, the students and the teachers. Our six branches require airplane flying to them or riding the train to visit them. They have good people in them.

A Special Young Man

We want to introduce you to an amazing young man. His name is Daniel and he lives in China. He has been studying in Khabarovsk and we met him when he came to English Club. After attending several meetings, he began asking many ?'s and the missionaries set up an appointment to teach him in our home. We were only able to meet with him once as he was leaving to go home for the summer. He will return to university in November. The elders found a Book of Mormon in Chinese...actually they found two. One in the 'old' language and one in a more understandable one to these students. Daniel and I exchanged e-mails and I wrote to him recently. He answered with the following: "Miss everyone at English Club. I am still reading the Book of Mormon. This book tells me how to manage my life and myself. I have learned alot. I want to read more. The more I read, the more questions I have. I am looking forward to dicuss them with you and solve in person. I need time to think how to explain in English. I will send e-mail to you to explain my ?'s later." AMAZING!! A young man can pick up this marvelous book, read it and deduct that it tells us how to manage our lives and ourselves!!! To all our family and friends...we testify to the truthfulness of Daniel's words! The Book of Mormon will tell us how to live, how to improve, how to manage our lives so we can be happy. We encourage you to read КАШДИ ДЕН (EVERY DAY) so your lives may be led, guided and enriched! We are all busy! We each have 24 hours in a day. Please ask yourself, "What am I doing with mine? Am I closer to my Heavenly Father today than yesterday?" We promise you that these ideas/suggestions will enrich your life and bless your life. Just one verse a day will make a difference!!
We love you, we pray for you, we miss seeing you...may our Heavenly Father guide you and may you feel His love.

SEMINARY-INSTITUTE GRADUATIONS

Here is a picture of Genya. He is from our city (Khabarvosk). He received an Institute certificate this day. He has been called to serve a mission in Rostov Russia. Most all Russian missionaries serve a mini mission before going on their 2 year mission. Genya lives in Khabarvosk, but is now serving a mini mission in Vladivostok. He actually goes and lives with the full time missionaries and goes out with them every day. It is just like a real mission, but usually only last for 6 to 12 weeks. It is great training. Maybe we ought to do this in America????

We attended the Graduation Exercises for the Vladivostok and Nahodka branch students. The exercises were held in Vladivostok, which is about 400 miles south of Khavarovsk. It was great because Brother Drachyov, our CES Director, surprised the students with the caps and gowns. We have 5 branches in our mission, and most of them only have 4 or 5 students in their classes. The teachers are great and very devoted. We love them.

Notice the wood carvings on the left side of the picture.

Spring green trees.

These are cool fountains.

These pictures show the beauty of Khabarovsk, Russia.

Spring is great!