Week 34- Tut Tut, Looks like Rain

 Hello Everybody,

Short Version: The fall rainy season is starting. Sometimes there is a continual rain that goes all day and makes me feel like a vegetable in the produce aisle that gets that slight, yet continual shower of mist. Our friend Ignas is still progressing. We sang the Star Spangled Banner with him this week because he wanted to show us how he knew the words and the music to our National Anthem. Now me and Elder Sieverts need to learn the Lithuanian anthem. 

Long Version: This week went by super fast. We were bouncy around from appointment to appointment, which makes things a lot more fun. There's nothing worse than having no lessons and no appointments because that means we have to do Facebook all day. Ugh. 

     We started running Facebook ads in Lithuania and they did super well. (Shoutout to Alan Cicotte). The basically generated 50 self referrals so that's what kept us so busy. Excluding last week, I have received 1 referral since being in all of Lithuania. So to get 50 referrals in 1 week was super crazy. 

     I found out why people wear trench coats this week too. After walking around a jacket that stops at my waist all week, I found your thighs get completely SOAKED when it's raining constantly. 

     We had a lot of service this week too. We helped an older couple move furniture around there apartment because they're painting. We accidentally put a big dent in their wall while we were moving a giant bookshelf. Whoopsies. Even free labor comes with a price apparently. We also traveled way out to the boonies of Vilnius where everywhere has a little cabin with a garden. It reminded me of Grandpa Smith's cabin. We swept and mopped the entire house but we only made it through the first layer. It is still very dusty and gross inside but we gave it our best shot. He also showed us how to exercise correctly. He has no credentials and his ideas were pretty out there. We were told, in order to get a full body work out well we run we need to shake our hips, twist our shoulders, turn our head back and forth, all while running. He demonstrated for us and then we tried it out. Needless to say, I will be using this to my advantage and if I have a massive six pack when I get home, you'll know why. 

     Elder Sieverts and I seemed to really turn a corner with the language recently. We were able to have a full conversation with a taxi cab driver and actually understood him when he asked questions. We started memorizing a scripture every day in Lithuanian and it's been super useful to have short little phrases in the back of your mind to insert into a conversation when appropriate. 

     There were also a few really awesome opportunities to share the Book of Mormon with people on the street. Teaching is honestly what makes a mission satisfying. Learning a full-body workout and other parts of being in Lithuania is fun and all, but teaching is what makes it worth it to stay here. 

     Today I was thinking about Jesus' example given in Acts 10:38 where it talks about him "[going] about doing good." He didn't have to round up his multitudes, they followed him. He went about healing and comforting others and the power of the Holy Ghost went with him, allowing others to recognize that there was something different about him. There are so many good little nuggets of in the Bible. I didn't read much other than Matt, Mark, Luke and John before the mission but there's a lot more there than you think. Weekly challenge: Find a good Bible verse (not in the four synoptic gospels this week) and then share it with someone. 

Viso gero,

Elder Smitas