Pepper Sprayed and My 1 Year Mark

Hello Everyone!

The Version: Happy one year to me! Crazy to think everything from here on will be my last. Like today is my last January 17th on a mission. Tomorrow will be my last January 18th on a mission. Days will start going a lot faster. They are already fast but I know they're going to start whizzing by. On to the story that is probably the craziest thing that's happened on my mission so far. Me and Elder Key were walking home from a teaching appointment and this drunk guy started cussing us out in Russian. Hmmm, does Elder Smith know Russian swear words... Don't worry about it, it was an accident. Anyways, we speed up our pace but lo and behold, so does the drunk guy. He keeps yelling and is asking us why we're not responding to him. We briefly turn to him and tell him, "sorry we don't understand what you're saying. We don't speak Russian or Lithuanian." We knew what he was saying but we were thinking now would be a clutch time to have a language barrier. Unfortunately he also spoke English, darn it. So then he keeps yelling and asks us where we're from and why we're from. I think our mistake was responding to him at all. We told him we're Americans and he immediately whips out an aerosol can and sprays me and Elder Key. I took the brunt of the spray because Elder key was on my left and the drunk guy was on my right. I inhaled a bunch of it and the rest got on my coat and the right side of my face. We ran away from him and we were so speedy that he couldn't catch us. Then he walked into the woods and disappeared. The pepper spray must have been super weak sauce but it was definitely uncomfortable. At first, we were just really surprised, maybe the adrenaline numbed some of the pain, who knows, but at first it didn't really hurt. After a couple minutes though my eye really started to hurt. it got worse and worse until I just couldn't see out of my right eye and it was swollen and red. We ran the rest of the way home and I got into the shower and started rinsing my eye out in the shower. It kept getting worse and I was probably in the shower for about 15 minutes and then our mission doctor told us we should go to the ER and get it checked out. So we called a taxi and zoomed over to the hospital and they checked it all. Luckily nothing was wrong, they mainly washed it out for me and examined it for permanent damage (which there was none of).

Some things I learned from this experience:

1. I don't mean to start a political war, so I apologize in advance. The whole ER visit cost 34 euro which was cool. I don't claim to know a lot about Lithuanian politics, I just thought it was dope that it only cost 34 euro. Please don't write me hatemail.

2. We can't confirm what he sprayed me with was pepper spray, but if it was pepper spray, Lithuania was some weak sauce pepper spray. That or pepper spray is over-hyped. I think I got the watered down version. Not complaining, but just saying....

3. My companion can really pull through when it counts. He figured out everything with the insurance and the taxi and the hospital appointment and calling everyone and their dog, all while I was crying in the shower, hahaha.

4. Drunk guys=the worst

Some other fun things:

- There's this super funny guy named Vainius who we had a couple lessons with. We couldn't tell how sane he was but he kept inviting us over and making us dinner. We chose to stop meeting with him because he would always steer the conversation and make some super racist or sexist remarks. We think he mainly wanted us to come to his house so he can talk to Americans.

- Darius is still planning to be baptized next month! We're super excited. He's taking a trip to India with his girlfriend and we're reqlly hoping they'll get engaged on the trip. He knows he has to be married or stop living with his girlfriend before he gets baptized. We think this trip they'll get engaged and then get married soon after.

- Another guy who's getting baptized this month in our branch got tricked into being a part of a pyramid scheme selling pills and other health supplements.

- ER room in Lithuanian has a funny sounding name when you translate it to English. "Skubi Pagalba" just means "hurry help"

- I got the nicest compliment from a member in our ward. She told me that my Lithuanian was doing super well at the language and that I can understand everything she says. It's getting better and I can talk to people casually, uncomfortably at times but casually. Members have started speaking in Lithuanian to me instead of just English. It's amazing!

- I bought a trenchcoat at a thriftshop for 0.30 €. Best deal ever.

Spiritual Thought:

I came across this scripture a few days. 2 Nephi 4:17-20. Starting in verse 17 and I'll skip to verse 19&20:

"O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities...nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support."

I thought this was a great example of how we should view our flaws. Instead of self-deprication or thinking that that he'll never measure up, Nephi recognizes his flaws and then turns himself to God for strength. "Come as your are, a loving Father says to each of us, but he adds don't plan to stay as you are." (Jeffrey R Holland). Think about where you turn as a source for strength in your times of weakness and shortcoming. Do you involve God is helping you become better? He'll help you change, and if you don't know what to change he'll help you figure that out too.

Ciao,

Vyresnysis Smitas