Last Post Before Leaving

Responding to several comments and a few suspicious individuals who have wondered if I was really here, I have included several photos this time where I am present. When you see the expressions on my face you will understand why I am reluctant to show my face, in addition, much of the time with the church I had to wear a clerical collar. It feels a little strange to me and looks even funny when I look at the pictures. So for the sake of a little humor, I have included these. In this first picture, we have gathered for dinner with the group that went to the Hill of Crosses. This was one of the best restaurants we found and it had an interesting "Black Forrest" atmosphere to it. Nice accommodations inside, but toilets on the outside in the cold.

Sunday, as you might imagine was one of the best days of all. I'll have to add pictures later when we return as we were too busy to do any photographing. Johanna is sending us some pictures of the service. The church was absolutely packed. There were no more seats anywhere and the young people and children had to sit in the back room and listen through the open door. We had to start late since we were late getting there. Lowell gave an excellent Sunday school lesson even is his time was cut short considerably. Following "Bible study," as they call it, we had a ten minute break before worship begin. This was such a special event; so well planned by the congregation. It began with lots of singing: congregational singing, adult choir, youth choir, and then finally youth and adult choir together. We read the Scripture in both Lithuanian and English and gave the congregation time to lift of prayer concerns of their own. I had a short sermon (Bill said it didn't seem so short to him), and then we shared Holy Communion together. Remejieus, Lowell, and I shared in the Great Thanksgiving and Remejieus and I served the elements. Following worship, everyone put the chairs back along the wall, a table and refreshments were brought out, and we shared a "Love Feast" a weekly practice in their congregation. The Love Feast consisted of good fellowship, cookies, cake, and tea. Following that, can you believe, we went to lunch at the orphanage.

You can see that the gathering was a little tight from this photo. The whole church came, plus some friends from the city council and some members of the Catholic church who had been with us during the week. The room was so full of adults that the children and youth had to eat in an adjacent room. Before eating, the young people entertained us with some songs they use in youth group as Remejieus sister played the guitar.

Following the singing, we had cakes, candy and small sandwiches along with tea and coffee. I love the coffee here because it is always strong. In some places, they just put the grounds in your cup and pour boiling water on top. You stir the coffee and then wait for the grounds to settle in the bottom before drinking it; really good stuff. The sandwiches were spread with butter and then topped with either cheese or a form of sausage and a slice of cucumber. They are all open faced. The point of the meal is not the food, but the fellowship around the food. We found that was often the case. In fact, were didn't even have plates. You just picked up a piece of food and eat it!



You can see how grand the gather was. I am seated with the chairman of the city council, Kestutis Rakauskas, one of the officials who has been so nice to us on our visit. He met with us twice and then attended all of the worship service and the events on Sunday. Though we could not speak each other's language, I felt a lot of support for the church and its ministry. On every occasion he expressed is gratitude for our work in Kybarti.



Following the meal, we toured the orphanage. Bill and Lowell were amazed at the progress that had been made toward the restoration of the orphanage. The rooms were colorful and bright and the dormitories had new beds. There is still a lot to be done, but a lot has been done. You can see readily that the children touch your hearts. Bill is playing with the only girl in the infant area. The young man pictured is a special needs boy that was exceptionally friendly. Of course you can recognize our priest in the middle of one of the rooms.

When we left the orphanage, we visited an association of disabled persons. They help care for over four hundred disabled individuals throughout the county. Believe it or not, they also had refreshments for us. The association has thirty children and youth under their care as well as ten individuals who are completely bed ridden. One of there needs was for five mattresses for these individuals and we were able to provide the money for those through the church at Kybarti.

For our evening meal, Ona, or gracious translator took us to her home for a traditional Lithuanian meal of potato pancakes. It was a great day, our last one in Kybartai. We left this morning for Vilnius and will take our flight home tomorrow morning. I'll add some more information about the meetings and opportunities when I return, so keep reading the blogg for a while as we debrief on the trip. I have to close now for my colleagues are becoming impatient. Pray for them!