Saying Goodbye to LCC

I'm just a few minutes away from walking out of my apartment and dorm that was home for July. I can't say that I'm feeling too much emotion, but that is probably because I'm too tired to feel any. I've had 4 hours of sleep since I woke up Friday morning (it's 5:30 am Sunday morning here).

I am definitely going to miss this place, but have a feeling that I will return to LCC again at some point in my life. The school stands in stark contrast to the culture here, and I was able to just get a glimpse of the impact it makes on students' lives while I was here.

Pray for safe travel for me on Monday. I'm looking forward to getting some sleep the next few days.

Swinging a U-ey

The title has to do with a change in my attitudes and feelings throughout the day/last 18 hours. It's 4 am and I'm going to bed, so I can send students off at 5:45 am, but I wanted to write because I'm so very excited. I just finished a great conversation with 3 students about their experience at SLI, and it helped solidify my question of whether I/we made an impact in the lives of the SLI students. I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the answer is yes. What we did the past 3 weeks was absolutely counter-cultural. So much so, that the students couldn't help but notice a difference in the way the teachers/staff work, play, and live. I likely may never see the fruit of the seeds that were planted here, but I know that lives were changed. Thanks to all who provided prayer support and financial support to make this a reality. I can say that your gifts and sacrifice have made a great impact for the Kingdom.

There will be more thoughts and reflections to come, but for now I'm going to bed. Thanks again to everyone who sacrificed to make this a reality for me. I love you all very much.

A Relaxing 3 Days

Just when I thought I couldn't go on, I found myself receiving a 3 day break of sorts. The last few days I have really been able to relax, refresh, and rejuvenate for the home stretch run this week. A friend let me borrow his bike, so Friday I rode 30 km* to a city north of Klaipeda called Palanga. The bike trail was awesome and nearly all of it was through the forest. It was a beautiful, relaxing ride. Palanga is a very touristy city, with beautiful beaches and a lot of shops, etc. I didn't spend a lot of time there, but I hung out in a park for a while and checked out some famous buildings, statues, gardens, etc... The city is full of all kinds of folk lore. Here is a grotto, which is at the base of a sand dune that honors a priestess on top. Ironic, huh.
This reminded me of Notre Dame (can't wait for football season)

The main thing was that I was simply able to get away and clear my head for an afternoon. I was able to have some quality reading time and allowed myself to slow down enough to do some reflecting on my experience.

Saturday and Sunday were more of the same; A lot of relaxing, going to the beach and hanging out/playing games with my boss, his wife and a couple of LCC staffers.
One of those is Tim Wolter, a man who taught at LCC for a year and a half back in '06-'07. I have spent a lot of time with him in the last 24 hours, and have had numerous interactions with him throughout the month. I have come to respect and admire him and his wisdom. He is a very humble, discerning, and meek man who loves the Lord and I have been blessed to have learned from him. What a great reminder and encouragement to constantly be pursuing Jesus; A life lived like that impacts so many people. Thanks Tim for your example.

*After riding over 60 km for the day, I have a very sore butt (my fault for not biking before I came)

Late Nights

There have only been a few nights where I have gone to bed before 1. That has been for numerous reasons, but I've found that most of my relationships here have been built during these late hours. Tonight is no exception. I just got done hanging out with my co-RD and one of our RAs, who also happens to be on night duty tonight. We thought it would be appropriate to eat some ice cream while relaxing and talking at the front desk. I feel like all I do here is eat (have I mentioned this before). What's funny is as I'm typing this, Vesia just brought me some traditional bread with this yogurt/cream/cottage cheese on it*. It literally never stops.

Veslava a.k.a. Vesia, Inga, one of our RAs, and I enjoying some carmel ice cream.

*It sounds disgusting, but people kill over this stuff... and now I understand why.

Stonewalled and Broken

Last Thursday evening I had a head to head collision with Eastern European culture and I came out of the night frustrated, exhausted... BROKEN! The theme of the week for the 4 different discussion/bible/movie groups we have for the students was on relationships. The second half of the week we focused on romantic relationships. Thursday at a group called 'Crossroads,' we discussed dating, marriage, and sex. There was a range of views and ideas about the topics, but most of the students resonated with each other at the core of their beliefs.

There wasn't anything said, or any ideas or philosophies thrown out that I had never heard before, but it was something else that broke me. It was the fact that the students don't comprehend that there is a different way to do relationships. It hurt to see so many young people settle for the lies Satan has bombarded them with, but I came away realizing that I often do the same thing. It may not be with relationships, but I settle for comfort, complacency, and selfish desires way too often. I'm not immune to Satan's lies, none of us are, but it twists my heart every time I see their destruction first hand.

I realize this is a pretty raw reflection that hopefully I can expound on in more detail when I get home. It's been very hard to process these types of things while in Klaipeda because the days just seem to be flying by, and the experiences keep adding up. Continue to pray for the hearts of these students.

Utter Exhaustion

I literally don't remember ever being this drained. It's so far beyond tired, I can't believe I can keep my eyes open to write this. All that to say, I LOVE THIS PLACE! Unfortunately, I haven't had time to sit down and write some of what I've been learning, but hopefully I will have some time in the next few days. Until then check out the Summer Language Institute (SLI) blog for a brief glance at some of the programming, etc. that I've been doing. There isn't much substance to the written portions of the blog, but it is an easy way to communicate with students, so we use it to summarize an event with pictures and advertise for upcoming res life stuff. Peace and Love to all.

Learning, Learning, and more Learning

I feel like the theme for me since I've arrived in Klaipeda has been learning. The learning has ranged from learning about the culture, to learning Lithuanian, Russian, and LCC history and Catholic and Orthodox history, to learning part of a new language, to learning about myself. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I have made some great friends as well that I have already learned enormously from. Majia, Allison, and Emas have challenged me quite a bit already through the great conversations we have nearly everyday. At the very least I will say that I have been humbled by them all and I am so thankful for that. They are truly seeking the Lord and it has been an incredible blessing to have them to connect with. I'm sure I will write more on them later on.

There isn't much that has really surprised me about this place, but I will tell you that it has been an incredible experience thus far. The Summer Language Institute is intense for everyone involved (the students, the teachers, and the res life staff), so I feel like we are on the go 24-7. I feel nearly run ragged, which is good, because the sooner I can empty my tank and switch to God's, the better.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the culture is somewhat cold and closed, so it takes some good trust with someone before you can dig into heart issues and issues of life/faith/theology. Last night however, was one of those breakthrough nights with a student, actually one of my RAs. Please pray for her as she searches for the Truth. And please pray for the rest of the students, that their hearts would be softened to God's message to them, however, he may choose to reach them.

The First Few Days...

The last couple of days have been a combination of training, getting to know the other summer faculty and staff, and orienting myself to the university and surrounding areas in Klaipeda. Thus far, my experience has been very exciting and positive. However, I'm ready to get students here on Sat. and start the summer term next week.

Here are a few things I've learned in the last couple of days:

1. I absolutely love other cultures. There is so much to learn from those who are different from you. You also realize you have much more in common with other peoples than what you thought. After all, we're all human.

2. There isn't much food I don't like, and Lithuanian food* falls in the 'like' category.

3. Completing even the smallest tasks in another culture is a very rewarding feeling. Tuesday, I went to the grocery store all by myself** and got a lot of food. I achieved my goal of not speaking a word of English the whole time***. It was fun and provided a great sense of accomplishment. I was reminded of the Dominican a little bit b/c of the feeling I got.

4. Lithuania is an increasingly developing country, but there is still this blanket that kind of covers it, holding it back if you will. The best word that captures it is probably hopelessness. It obviously stems from a skewed worldview, but it affects the day to day pragmatic approach to life that people take. There are definitely many layers to unravel before you get to the underlying worldview with the Lithuanian people, and I suspect I will encounter this a lot with my students.

5. Old****, spunky people are fun to be around.

6. My time here is going to fly, but I'll try to update this as much as possible.

Keep praying for me when you think about it.


*Lithuanian food is very cheap, especially at restaurants, and I've taken full advantage of that fact. I may be coming back a few pounds heavier. Right now I'm making myself dinner consisting of deli sandwiches and cepilinai.

**Of course I had a couple cheat sheets with me to ensure I was getting pork instead of eel, or milk instead of sour milk, but that's beside the point

***Granted, I didn't speak at all, but still... it's something right?

****Is that PC?