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.