Week 60- Safe but Stressed (Ukraine Edition)

 Hello Everyone!

Short Version: To start off let me reassure all of you that I am safe. I am still in Lithuania living as before. The mission is ready to relocate us if necessary but for now we're good. This week surely took the cake for the most stressful week of my mission. I really haven't looked at the news or even cared to for my entire mission, but this last week the news was right next door to me and it was all over facebook so I saw it all. I won't go into all of what is happening as I'm assuming everyone at this point is aware to some degree or another with what is going on. It was especially hard to focus on any sort of missionary work during the first 3 days after Russia invaded. Overall, a very emotional, stressful, tired, long week. 

Long Version: I'll give a day by day this week to spice things up a bit.

Monday: Such a good P-day. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened, I just woke up and was having a good day already. I crave waking up energetic hahaha. 

Tuesday: A pretty typical day. Took a bus ride to Riga because my companion had a leadership meeting the next day. That night in Riga we did an activity where we all switched companions for the night. We talked to a ton of people because there are a ton of foreigners in Riga and they're usually way more willing to talk to us. We met John from Norway, shoutout to my ancestors.  

Wednesday: While my companion was in his meeting, I got to hit the town with a Latvian Elder. Hit the town as in trying to  find people to teach. Our main objective while we were outside was to invite as many people to English Night/Game Night. We have business cards that have the information on them and I tried a new tactic. I asked people if they wanted to see a magic trick and then used the business cards in place of playing cards. As you might imagine, most people were a little confused when I pulled out the business cards since every single card is the exact same. They weren't as impressed when I was able to "find" their card, but people would usually give me a pity chuckle and talk to us for a little bit. Also, something I find funny and annoying at the same time is when we ask people if they speak English and they answer with a perfect accent, quickly and tell us "no". I get that they probably just don't want to talk but sometimes people will tell us "no" and then we ask, "wait you understood what I said to you, you know english don't you." So silly of them. 

Thursday: Up until now, I was aware that some Russian troops were at the border of Ukraine and tensions were high but I wasn't giving it much thought. This morning we woke up and we found out Russia had invaded the Ukrainian border. It was surreal and just like "woah, that's crazy I hope it's a short skirmish" etc etc. This is when Facebook blew up with news and everyone panicked. We got to call home which was nice and talk with family to reassure them we are safe. I appreciated that. 

Friday: A normal day until we got a text half way through the day that the entire mission would have a meeting at 9pm over zoom. I thought for sure they'd tell us we were going home because just recently all of the missionaries in Ukraine and Russia were either reassigned to different missions or sent home. That stressed me out a ton not knowing if I'd be leaving, but the meeting was just President Huff telling us that we would be safe and the church is keeping a super close eye on everything happening but for now we'll keep working as usual. After the meeting I was still worried we'd be sent away anyways but was much calmer than before.

Saturday: I woke up and was feeling pretty good about everything. Not too worried, everything seemed regular. Then about lunchtime we get another text that we'll have another meeting at 9pm with the entire mission over Zoom. All the stress from before came back plus a little more. We were told that we were getting 220 euros on our Mission Credit Cards which made this seem super suspicious. We get to the meeting and find out that the 10 oldest missionaries were being sent home. That was a super emotional meeting. I even cried :'( Luckily the rest of us are allowed to stay. I don't really understand why they had to send home some and not the others, I'm as confused as you are. After this meeting though I was not calm like the last time. Just really stressed and worried about what might happen. It was kinda hard to get to sleep to be honest. 

Sunday: Less stressed because sleep is always helpful. However, still kinda stressed and pretty exhausted. We finally have a space to rent out to hold our church meetings in Panevezys. Sadly everyone was sick or busy so Elder Morrissey and I had church with each other. Kinda awkward, kind of a bummer, mostly funny. 

Monday: We had ...a n o t h e r... meeting in Riga so we had to take a bus ride. This time Elder Sieverts came to Riga too and that was my favorite part. We went and got lunch together and just had a blast. 

Tuesday: Combined Zone conference with Latvia. It was pretty good. I seemed a little bit last minute but it was still good. I;m not going to complain because they gave me free hamburgers. And to finsih off this crazy week we took once again a long bus ride to Panevezys. I tried sleeping on the bus but it's the kind of sleep that makes you more tired than you were before, like sleeping in an airport. everything is uncomfortable but you're so tired and your eyes want to close but at least one of your legs in numb and your neck has a crick in it. I was so happy when I got home to sleep in my bed. Pillows are my favorite. 

For now, the country of Lithuania is in a state of emergency, but for now it is precautionary. I'm not so stressed but well, let's hope it stays that way for a long time. It was a heavy week. We found out one of the youth from Vilnius was and I believe still in Ukraine. Another one of the youth's dad was on a trip to Ukraine and got stuck when war broke out. It became immediately personal. It's different feelings than I've had before so that made it particularly hard. Most of the worry is for other people. I'm not super worried about my safety because I know the church is keeping a close eye on me, and theoretically if anything was to happen, I'm super far from any borders so it's SO unlikely anything happens to me. I'm most worried about all these people who are my friends that Lithuania is their home and war is right next door. They've already been through the ringer with Russia, they don't need it again. I feel a little guilty that if war moves to Lithuania, I will leave for my safe home in America and everyone else will stay here and who knows what will happen to them. That's been the heaviest.

Okay enough with that, time for some good news. Savelis, our friend, is so close to being baptized. He actually should be baptized next week if everything goes right. He's so great. Lessons with him used to be a bit painful but I'm starting to enjoy them. I feel more comfortable with him too so speaking to him is more relaxed which helps me speak more freely in Lithuanian.

We're having a big event in Panevezys to introduce the church and the missionaries to hopefully the entire city and it's population, but for sure we're formally inviting the city council and it's representatives. I'm giving a brief introduction to who missionaries are, what our church is all about and why we're in Panevezys. It seems like a press conference in my head but it will probably be more lowkey than that haha. 

I'll leave you with this. It's probably something everyone across the globe could use: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27) Pray for peace, pray for the families in all countries affected by this conflict, let's do lots of praying this week because we need it extra. When it gets too tough to stand, consider kneeling. 

Ciao,

Vyresnysis Smitas