Labas Visiems!

This week was fantastic. Elder Whicker and I really focused on having faith that people would stop and talk with us as we were out and about and having at least one lesson every day, which is not the easiest to accomplish, when you only have one investigator, but is achievable and makes each day much more wonderful.

Anyway, Monday we bought the beginnings of winter clothing because the previous week had been rather chilly, not to bad for me, but the other elders were complaining a wee bit, haha. Then we went to a member's house and ate/made ceppelinai, which was quite the experience. To make them you grate the potatoes into a mash, using the round bumpy side of the cheese grater that I never knew what it was for, and then squeeze, the starch out of the mash, using a cloth, then you scoop out the starch from the liquid mix it back into the mash and create football shaped things, putting little balls of meat in the middle. Then you steam them and eat. So delicious. I know you are all probably dying to try them after that fabulous description, but I promise they are fantastic.

A sad note this week, a recently baptized family with three daughters, that essentially created the young women's organization, moved to England where their father had recently found a solid job. Finding work seems to be a giant problem for people here and they often complain to us about it, when we contact them, usually including something about America being some type of promised land where everyone will always have work and gold bricks. Oh well.

Ainis is so incredible, he luckily does not have any heart problems, but will probably not be getting baptized this week, because his mother is not super keen on the idea, and as an underage youth, he needs parental permission. We met with him twice this week and both times started the lesson with a question and then he gave like a textbook perfect answer and bore a little testimony of what he knows to be true. Hopefully his mother will soften her heart and allow him to be baptized. He has started to read all of the Liahonas that are in Lithuanian, completely of his own accord, which is a huge sign for us of his level of commitment to learning and following the gospel.

We taught our English class words for books and movies and then one of the questions we wanted them to answer was "Who is your favorite superhero?" Thinking that it would provide a little enjoyment and just make class more fun. To our surprise, everyone just told us that superheroes are only for children, so they don't really have one, making us feel rather ridiculous, but we did get some amusing answers such as: Shrek, Rocky, Dumbledore, James Bond, The Terminator, my Mom, and a couple actual superheroes like Spiderman and Hancock, who kinda counts. Just surprising the reaction that people had here, Elder Whicker and I decided it was leftover Russian influence of stamping out imagination, but who knows.

Had some interesting conversations this week, one was very good with a 17 yr old kid named Danas, who was open, but not really interested past a first lesson, he did say who would read the Book of Mormon, though, so there's hope. A man talked to us about Christ and wine and bacteria and water and alcohol or something that we didn't really understand, but he had some good thoughts as well and was quite nice. Also talked to an old man who said he was Catholic, but then talked about the whole conception of Christ being nonsense and then rambled about atoms and the Sun, so we kindly thanked him for his time and walked on. My favorite though was a man sitting on a bench who asked us in English as we passed "What do you think about communism?" Which we then talked about for a few minutes with him.

The weather this past week was beautiful, but today is cloudy and rainy, so not as convenient, but still has its own type of beauty and joy. The trees are starting to change colors and leaves are beginning to fall, which makes me excited and realize how much I love the look of autumn. Well, hope school goes well for you all and you just relax a bit. Remember like I said earlier to find joy in where you are because there's no reason for you to not and it will make you happier, I know.

Lithuania is wonderful. I love the people, culture, language, everything. I know that the Church is Christ's church restored again to the earth. I have felt the joy that living according to its teachings brings and desire for all people to have that same joy. Thanks for your writings adn prayers. I pray for you always.

Love,

Vyresnysis Conor Hilton

Labas Visiems!

First, I apologize for this being late. We had some training meetings in Kaunas and so our preparation day was moved to Wednesday, so here it is.

Yes, I have moved clear across the country, it's about a four hour drive from Vilnius to Klaipeda, which we made a few times this week, but more about that later. Today we're actually going to go to a dolphin show, since we are right by the ocean. It's also interesting being here, since everyone is basically employed in the sailing world in some sort. A lot of ship engineers, sailors, and other people working for those companies.

This week started off beautifully. We were contacting and talked to an old man, who called us šiaunouliai, which is roughly translated as 'good-jobbers' because we are learning Lithuanian, mentioning how the Russians have been here for years and still don't speak Lithuanian, so that was pleasant. Another younger guy, told us the same thing later, and then most surprising of all a group of teenagers contacted us probably with the intention of making fun of us, but when they found out we could speak lithuanian, they were shocked and complimented us as well, we had a nice little chat with them and they all were quite friendly and shook our hands afterwards.

THen a man on a bike swerved over right next to us and stuck out his elbow so he could hit me, but luckily I dodged it. We also saw a man on a motorcycle slide along the rode bouncing and bumping around, for probably close to 100 yards. He was fine, and got up and picked up his bike and rolled it to the side of the road.

A group of ten year old boys harassed us for a bit, asking if they could have any number of things that they could see us holding, like Elder Whicker's glasses, watches, etc. We've run into them a few other times and always say hello, but try to keep our time together short.

Met with Ainas, an investigator who has a baptismal date for the 24th of September. He's 17 and looks kinda like he should be in an Asian cartoon, he has a very round face, with blonde hair that sticks up in a unique way on the top of his head and blue eyes. He's very solid and has fantastic questions and desires to learn. We taught him with the branch president, President Donatas Blinderuk, who speaks Lithuanian, Russian, and English and served a mission in Wisconsin, I think. Most of the lesson was President and Ainas talking about how he got converted and adjusted to the life of a Church member, which was very good, adn something that Elder WHicker and I can't really talk much about, experience wise at least.

Friday we went to Vilnius in hopes of getting my leidimas gyventi (permission to live) card, for the evidence that I am legal to live here. It was in and we called to make sure the place would be open when we got there, which they said they would. We drove for four hours, get there at about 3.30, they said they closed at 4. It was closed, they closed at 3.15. We were going to spend the night and get it the next morning, so it wasn't a total waste of a day, but being a government building they don't work on Saturdays, so we headed back to Klaipeda, getting home just in time to go to our apartment. Although I did see some people successfully hitchhike, which was a bit exciting.

Saturday we saw a couple old men start brawling with each other. At first it was kinda humourous since they were missing, but then they got way intense and were kicking slamming into fences and the ground, just awful. The horrors of alcohol ladies and gentlement, making sixty + year old men act like teenagers.

Later a man called us over to him and we started talking to him about God and the Restoration. He then called us stupid and rapidly got angry, yelling at us to disappear or he would beat us up. He then started to count to five, his friend said in English, Get outta here, but in a kinda panicked, helpful, I don't want you to get hurt way, so we walked briskly away.

Lithuania got third in the world basketball championship, which lead to some very excited people here, honking their horns like all night after it happened.

Sunday I spoke in Church, which was fun, a lot better than the first Sunday speaking in Vilnius. A member of the district presidency was also there, who is from Vilnius, Kestutis. He spoke after I did, and while he was speaking mentioned what I had said, which was way exciting. He also went a little over and one of the members in Klaipeda hates it when the meeting goes over, so while Kestutis was speaking he walked up to the podium puts down a note and then walks back to his seat. I was shocked. Mostly because I can't imagine that ever happening in America, but it was quite funny.

Monday and Tuesday we had training in Kaunas, Elder Whicker and I got to be companions with Elder Cooke, for some proselyting in the city, since he's serving there now. That was sweet, since both of us were trained by him, it was just way awesome to be back with him.

Tuesday the training ended at about 1, so we hurried and caught a bus to Vlinius, to get my liedimas gyventi for reals and hopefully make it back to Klaipeda that night, so we could have a full preparation day. We were successful and I now have my liedimas gyventi, proof of my legality. Hoorah!!

Oh, here's a bit about where we live. We live in the attic area of a member's home, who are currently serving a mission in the Helsinki FInland Temple, so they are renting out their house, to help pay for their mission, actually. Beneath us, lives some doctors, who work nights, so they sleep during the day, so I haven't ever seen them. I feel like I should be planning some big heist in our apartment though. It has a large open room, with wood floors and a table, some couches, and just the two of us living there. Anyway, just picture that and that's the feel that this place has, which is exciting.

Thanks so much for writing and your support. I love serving and know that this Gospel is true and blesses lives. I appreciate your prayers and pray for you. I love Lithuania, and am glad you all get to experience it a little with me, but hope you all have the opportunity to someday come here, it's probably the coolest, most amazing place ever. Enjoy school, while your there, just soak in the opportunity to learn because that's something I miss. I mean I'm still learning obviously, but studying Lithuanian and the Gospel all day, does leave some thirst still for other learning, which I''ll just have to keep in mind and fulfill when I return.

Love,

Vyrenysis Conor Hilton

Labas Visiems!

Well, I finally got my approval to stay in Lithuania, so no worries there, I'm now legal.

Happy Birthday (Belated) to Isabel, and Happy Birthday to Henry!

Oh, we usually check email about 11 am Lithuania time.

I have been tranferred to Klaipeda, with Elder Whicker. He's very enthusiastic and loves being here. He's from Kaysville, UT. He is planning on majoring in Opera and English Literature. He also loves Harry Potter, which has lead to some fun discussions, along with his love for books in general. It should be sweet to serve together. Klaipeda is a lot smaller than Vilnius, which is fine, just different. It's also next to the ocean, ish. Occasionally I've been able to smell a bit of that wonderful ocean breeze, which makes me realize how much I want to live on the coast somewhere.

Here's my new address:

Elder Conor Hilton

A/D 408

94 198 Klaipeda 10

Lithuania

You can send the package here, assuming it gets sent relatively soon, and if you could include some mapeline as well that would be beautiful. Elder Whicker is a strong believer in eating real breakfasts, so we have pancakes, etc for breakfast almost every morning, but can't make syrup without mapeline, which we have been unable to find here.

In Vilnius Elder Dellinger and I had the opportunity to see some formula 1 racing and drifting. A driver was there, part of the Red Bull racing team or something. That was pretty cool.

We also met with Evaldas, which was again a grreat meeting. We talked more about repentance and the need for us to forgive ourselves, which is something he struggles with. We're starting to think that he has some deep dark secret in his past, which it seems like everyone taught in Vilnius does, like the murdered somebody or something, but who knows. Hopefully he continues to read and meet and come closer to Christ, ultimately leading to baptism.

In Klaipeda Elder Whicker and I taught two young members about using their talents. It was a crazy lesson because of the number of languages going on. One of the daughters and her mom, are CHinese, so they speak Chinese to each other, the other girl is Russian, so she and her mom speak Russian. The Chinese mom, LUcy, doesn't speak Lithuanian, but speaks English, so we talk to her in English. The girls both speak Lithuanian, so we taught them in LIthuanian. It was just crazy all the cross talking and the whirlwind of languages.

We also met with another member Oleg, who is a sailor and Speaks Russian and English. He feeds us and loves to visit, but when he was taught, he didn't really know what was going on, so he doesn't know the gospel super well, which is why we meet with him.

We ran into a kid who told us to 'stay cool. and peace out'which was pretty entertaining.

In Church I was asked to play the closing hymn, which I did, kinda. It was pretty slow and I used the left hand sparingly, but it works I guess. That's why you should practice and learn the hymns, so when you are in some random place, like Klaipeda, Lithuania, you can play the piano, and not embarass yourself.

I had some jam with my pancakes this week, and also tried powdered sugar with lemon juice, which was actually incredibly delicious. I also drank some fruitish tea, which was quite good as well.

Hope everything is well with you. Enjoy today as your day off from school and then get right back into it, haha. Enjoy your learning experience, just look for the good in everything, that's something I've definitely noticed is a great blessing for any time in your life while being here in Lithuania. I appreciate your prayers and pray for you.

Love,

Vyresnysis Conor Hilton