Labas Visiems!!

Wow, that's crazy that you got to see Elder Cooke, that's way awesome. I can't believe that he's not in Lithuania anymore, to paraphrase a wonderful movie, "What will Lithuania be like, without Elder Cooke?"

Transfer news- I am still in Klaipeda, so the address is the same. I am serving with Elder Sanford, who was in the MTC with me, should be pretty sweet. My language will probably improve since we're about equal and that usually equals improvement. Elder Whicker is in Vilnius, Elder Manning is still here and one of the new elders, Elder Nelson, from Bakersfield, CA is here as well. Should be a sweet district.

So, there are four cities in Lithuania that currently have missionaries- Vilnius, Klaipeda, Kaunas, and Šiauliai (maybe if we were in France, it would be spelled Chalet, haha). There are 6 companionships in Vilnius, 3 Russian and 3 Lithuanian, both with 2 of elders and 1 of sisters, 2 companionships in Klaipeda, 1 in Šiauliai, and 3 in Kaunas, 2 of elders and 1 of sisters.

I am incredibly dissappointed that there were no homemade rolls, but I guess since, I wasn't there to enjoy them, then it might not have been worth the work to make them.

Oh, on the Christmas call question from a few weeks ago, it's supposed to be between 7-10 at night here, which is 10-1 for you in ID. It's suggested to be a max of 40 min and you'll call our cell phone, at a designated time. Elder Sanford and I will figure out when we want to each talk and then let you know.

So, on Monday we met with Reda, who has been investigating for about 5 yrs, Bro Snow, my teacher in the MTC taught her, which is kinda crazy, but anyway. We just wanted to find out why she had not been baptized yet, so we asked. She said she doesn't believe in prophets or that we are the only church with authority, but she does believe that the BoM is true. Next time, we are just going to cover authority and explain as much as we can why we would have it and only our church. Hopefully it goes well.

Tuesday was Elder Whicker's birthday, so I made him some pancakes in the morning to make it a bit like a birthday. One of our English students gave him a fruit cake, and a kiss on the cheek, which was absolutely hilarious.

Wednesday, before Elder Whicker left, we had lunch with Kristina, a polish woman from our English class, and had a lesson with her about what she believes and what we believe, was quite good.

Thanksgiving was mostly spent traveling to and from Kaunas and then helping the other Elders move stuff into their apartment. We ate as a district at CanCan, a pizza place here, to have some semblance and a nice meal. It wasn't anything like Thanksgiving at home, but it was better than just eating by ourselves.

It snowed and dropped drastically in temperature. It is quite cold now. I will probably be in various states of frozen until April, haha. It's supposed to get super cold this week though and a snow storm is coming down from Estonia, so should be fun.

Elder Sanford and I taught four new lessons in two days, which is absolutely incredible. It's just fabulous to be able to teach, even just in short tiny amounts. One of the lessons was with a couple who are very Catholic, but were some of the most Christian people I've ever met. They answered the door and told us they knew everything about God, which is quite a common response, but still shocks me. Then they invited us in and gave us clementines, which were delicious. We talked for a bit and testified throughout the conversation and ended with a scripture and prayer. It was so good to see some geniunely caring and nice people, even if they didn't really want to listen or change.

We met with Lucy, Maggie, Gintare and Galina, some active branch members. Lucy and Maggie are Chinese. I met with them one of my first days in Klaipeda. Anyway, it was a crazy jumble of languages as always, Chinese, English, Russian and LIthuanian. It was a good meeting, got some good suggestions for how to strengthen the branch.

While we were harvesting, we had a couple interesting experiences. One with a Russian crazy woman, who wanted us to come in her house. We repeatedly told her we didn't speak Russian and then after a few minutes just left. She was trying for like 5 solid minutes to get us to come in, crazy. Then with a drunk guy, who came out and at first thought we were LIthuanian, whihc is usually a compliment, but not really when it's from someone who can't even stand straight, they're so drunk. He asked us a couple questions, but then started to call his friend and then ran inside his house telling us to wait. As much as I would have liked to continue the wonderful profanity filled conversation we were having, we decided to leave. Alcohol really is a terrible awful, thing. It just ruins people's thinking and ability to act normal. So, don't drink.

Well, that's about it for this week. Lithuania is still incredible, I mean if you can describe a place, by saying it's like middle-earth (as Elder Cooke would do), then it must be awesome, right? Speaking of which, how is The Hobbit movie coming along? Even though it may sound like everyone is drunk or crazy, people in general are still awesome. I pray for all of you and appreciate your prayers. Good luck this coming week in whatever you have to do. Hope it's awesome.

Love,

Vyrenysis Kanoris Hiltonas

Labas Visiems!

32 Lits is about $13, the exchange rate now is about 2.5, it was up to like 3 when I got here, but has pretty steadily declined, but maintained at 2.5 for the past few months.

Tonight, we'll probably eat kebabs, not like shishkebabs, just kebabs. They have them all over Europe, I think, at least in Germany for sure. It's some grilled meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and then some sorts of sauce, wrapped in a tortilla type shell. Way delicious. They are a Turkish food actually.

This week we had some training on planning, which totally shocked the system so to speak. Since there are generally very few investigators and the majority of every day, and all days in general, is spent finding, planning has been somewhat of a joke. Now, Elder WHicker and I at least, are striving to take planning seriously and use our Area Book better to have more meaningful activities throughout the day. We also created a vision for our area to guide us in our efforts, due to a quote in the training, which was originally given to mission presidents, that said "where there is no vision- the people perish". I thought that was a pretty strong statement, so we decided to follow that. Thankfully in StudGov, mostly due to Dylan, we often talked about vision, so it was something I have been prepared to do, which most people haven't. The vision we developed was to strengthen the Klaipeda Branch, through strengthening members and finding new people that will become strong members.

This week, we taught a couple of teenagers who had some questions for us. It was a very interesting conversation, ranging from if we really believed that there were gold plates to where black people came from if Adam and Eve were white. We had the opportunity to testify and left them with a larger idea of what we believe, which is always a good feeling.

Had a lesson latter that day about prayer mostly, to help them believe in Christ. He believed in God, but not Christ, so we taught about how through prayer we can receive revelation. It was a good lesson.

We met with a few members this week in various stages of activity, to see what they thought they could do to strengthen the branch. Most mentioned that previously the branch was like a family and they gathered together and had activities all the time, which is not the case now. So, we having been trying to think of how to develop that tight relationship that used to exist.

Saturday was my birthday. I had received my package Friday, thanks it was wonderful, but waited until Saturday morning to open it. Elder Whicker made birthday pancakes that spelled out my name and a 20, as well as some mickey mouse heads. We did make syrup with brown sugar which was absolutely delicious. All the winter stuff was perfect, I tried on all the thermals and they should be quite cozy. Still haven't quite figured out the Rubik's cube, but working on it. Silly Putty of course, is always appreciated. Thanks so much. I can't believe I'm twenty though. I just feel so old. I remember looking at people who had gone on missions and just thinking that they were ancient, but I definitely don't feel that way...haha. He sang every rendition of Happy Birthday he knew, in a variety of different voices. He made a chocolate cake, which was delicious, not quite as good as yours mom, but very good nonetheless.

Sunday, a member of our english class came to Church, so we met with him and taught him a lesson. He's very interested in spiritual things and wants to grow spiritually. He was open to the message and wanted us to speak Lithuanian so he would understand, but he wanted to speak English to practice, which was fine with us. He was willing to be baptized if he feels it is true and will help him, which is sweet.

Later that night we were on our way to an appointment, but arrived a little early so were knocking on some of the doors nearby and were invited in by a woman, who seemed normal at first. We soon realized she was a little crazy after she asked if we wanted tea for about the tenth time. She was also basically blind, told Elder Whicker that Whicker is not his name, showed us a picture of her son after giving it a fatty kiss. Elder WHicker ate a moth that flew into his mouth. Then we shared a verse and prayed to leave. She asked if we had holy water and could bless her house, we said no the holy water, but that we could bless her house in a prayer, so we prayed again asking specifically to bless her home. Then we ended and she crossed herself. She pprayed. Then she asked if we could pray for her dead mother, even though she doesn't believe in an after life, which we did. We then left. Our appointment wasn't home, but we had a lesson. Crazy.

Hope all continues to be well with all of you. Enjoy Harry Potter on Friday. The new Narnia comes out soon too, doesn't it? They have posters up here, along with Christmas decorations everywhere. I can't express how much I love being here, it's wonderful. I pray for you and appreciate all your prayers and letters.

Love,

Vyresnysis Conor Hilton

PS TOmorrow we have zone conference with Elder Schwitzer, the President of the Europe East Area, which should be fantastic.

Labas!

I use my debit card oftenish. I was actually wondering how much it costs each time I take money off, or if I should just try and swipe it whenever possible.

We do use cell phones, each companionship has one. I'm not quite sure how the Christmas calls work, but I can try and find out.

Sacrament Meeting is first here.

I run in place every other day and definitely miss running. There is another missionary in Lithuania, who likes to run, so if we ever are companions, we'll probably run in the morning. I am not gaining weight and don't think I ever will, haha.

I haven't had much just plain chocolate bars, but the little I have had was delicious. Snickers bars here are much better than in America because the chocolate is much creamier. I need to try a brand of chocolate, Pergale, which is LIthuanian for victory, so it should be fantastic.

I probably won't do anything to exciting for my birthday, but I'll let ou know next week. The missionaries used to eat lunch as a district for birthdays, but that is against current President Dance policy, so it doesn't happen anymore.

Last preparation day we went to the beach, which was wonderful. I just love being on the coast and seeing the ocean, or sea in my case. I put my hand in the water, so I can now way that I have been in the Baltic Sea, kinda...haha. That evening, since it was All Saint's Day, which is a huge holiday here, everything was shut down and the city was practically empty, we went to a graveyard to see the graves with all the candles. It was beautiful. People seem to have gigantic headstones here, most with huge crosses on them. It's like an entire graveyard of all the like richest people headstones that you usually see in America. I was just hit with a wave of sadness for all these people who died without knowing the truth. I guess it's a sign of love for the people, but it was sad nonetheless. A tiny bit of insight into how Heavenly Father feels for all His children.

We almost had alesson with a kid, but he spoke practically no Lithuanian, so we tried for a bit to communicate in slow Lithuanian, while he spoke Russian, but to no avail.

Met with three less actives this week, one Elder Whicker has been trying to meet with almost since he came to Klaipeda, about six months ago. He believes the Book of Mormon is true, but not that there is just one true Church. Not really sure, how he came to that conclusion, but hopefully we can help him resolve it.

A man came up to us, very grateful, telling us he had just returned from England. He loved the Church because he lived there, and they paid for his bills, food, and cigarrettes. He wished us good luck and then as we walked away, called back to us asking for a cigarrette, which is a fairly common occurance actually. We decided after that, that he was probably a bit confused about which Church we represent.

Also contacted a satanist, who hissed at us. We talked with an Estonian sailor for awhile in broken English about communism, the God, and true. It was an interesting and entertaining conversation.

Yesterday was the Lithuanian District conference, for all the members in Lithuania. It was very good. It's fantastic to be able to see growth and more understanding in the language. It was also good to be able to see members and the other missionaries. President Dance spoke about member missionary work, which is great adn I hope helps the members to reach out and help us find prepared people. His last line was stinging though, "there are far too many empty seats here today". President Dance isn't one to mess around. He just lays it down.

Lithuania is, as always, wonderful. I lvoe the language, people, culture, everything. I appreciate your prayers and pray for you. Thanks for the birthday wishes, I also cannot believe that I am turning twenty. Blows my mind. Elder Whicker and I have come to the conclusion that time doesn't really exist, since it doesn't seem to follow any set pattern, but just fades away into nothingness.

Love,

Vyresnysis Conor Hilton

PS I'm pretty sure Trey is home, since he left in October, and I think Devin left in February. So crazy. Dylan's already been gone more than a year. That just rocks anything that I thought was reality.

Labas,

Halloween is not really celebrated here. But today, November First, is a huge holiday, All Saint's Day, I believe. People go to graves and put candles on them, it's much more of a somber, honoring the dead feel, than Halloween. We did have an activity that we planned at the church, with the members, for halloween. We bought some pumpkins, really small ones, that would fit in your palm, and they were mostly yellow. Pumpkins here are much different than in America. Anyway, we carved pumpkins and ate tacos, because they don't get tacos, and the missionaries have often made them for activities, so it's kinda a tradition.

This week was incredibly uneventful, except for a couple things. First on Sunday, we had the opportunity to teach four college students about the Church, answering questions. They just walked into Sacrament meeting, from the Lithuanian Christian College, which is here in Klaipeda. Students from there have come a few times, since they have some requirement to attend different Christian services. It was a wonderful opportunity to teach, since we hadn't had any new lessons the entire week. It was definitely a blessing.

The second thing is much more comical and not quite as uplifting, but most assuredly humorous. We had been contacting all day, earlier in the morning we had contacted two drunk people and gave them both Restoration pamphlets and then helped one read his prescription to help him stop smoking, since it was in English. Then that night a man approached us, who we almost just walked past, because he looked kinda like a bum, his shirt was unbuttoned fairly low and was two short so his gut hung out the bottom. His hair was kinda messed up and he had John Lennon glasses. But he greeted us in clear English, "I never thought I would see Mormons here", so we stopped and asked if he was a member, he's not, he's a Lutheran, but he's from Canada, Montreal and worked in the States. He then asked if we were from Utah, which Elder Whicker is, so he said yes, I said no, since I'm not. After our response he began to explain a problem with Utah's government throwing away 500 Million POUNDS OF CARP!! Isn't that just ridiculous? I would like to know if that's true actually, but anyway. We said that we had nothing to do with that and neither did the Church, but he offered to take us to a cafe and buy us drinks and talk about the problem and religion. We explained a little about the Word of Wisdom, since he offered to buy us coffee. Then we wandered with him looking for a cafe to sit, hoping to be able to teach him. We finally found one, after he had stopped in a park to pee on a tree, and went in. He bought us our drinks and got a black coffee and a shot of vodka. He asked if we had a problem with him drinking and we said we would prefer he didn't in front of us, so he actually refrained from drinking the whole time we were there. During our wandering's we discovered he works for the UN on some deal to help women, or maybe stop drugs. He's also the head of research and Development for something. His best friend is the head of Food Science at Cornell, Joe Richardson, I believe. He also has some connection to a rich Italian family in New Jersey, who may be a part of the Mafia. His previous best friend was a Canadian Mountie, but got shot to death in the winter wilderness of Canada, trying to stop some drug deal. He also has connections to the NY Times, and was going to stop a story they were going to run about this carp deal blaming the Mormons, since he felt that was unfair after talking to us. He previously has worked on stopping drug trafficking in Brazil. Myles, is his name. Oh, and the night before he had been beat up by some skinheads while walking out of a jewish cemetery here in Klaipeda, for his friend Joe, a Jew. That's why he got the vodka, for the pain. He also speaks 8 langueages.

Anyway a crazy experience.

Love you all,

Vyresnysis Hilton