Sveiki Visiems!

First, a quick question- we heard from the new elder that there are trailers for Pirates of the Carribean 4. Does it look any good?

Now to answer your inquiries. Everything is holding up great. I do rotate my shoes and keep them polished. Pretty sure I won't buy any boots, but I am going to look for some Lithuanian pointy dress shoes for Christmas. Thanks for the 180's again, they are fantastic and definitely keep my ears nice and warm. It hasn't been too bad cold wise, except for my hands, which are just cold all the time, but they warm up pretty quickly so, it's not a big deal.

That's crazy that Whitney is already home, I swear she just left, but I can't believe I've been out for 8 months either- crazy.

Hopefully Weston can just get right back out, sports in the MTC definitely mess people up. That's awesome that Ray is getting his call and Dusty is putting his papers in.

Alright, some basics for Alistair, I guess. Well, schedule wise, I think I've already shared but can do it again.

6.30- wake up, exercise (30 min), prepare for the day

7.30- eat breakfast

8- personal study (scriptures, missionary library, Preach my Gospel)

9- companion study

10- Language study (for 30-60 min) or Start working

9- Return Home, daily planning (30 min)

10.30 - Lights out

You also have two hours for a break to be used sometime in between 10 and 9. Your mission president can change your schedule as well. Right now we are actually supposed to be home at 8 or 8.30 if we have a lesson scheduled and we have half of our language study at night, since it is dark at about 4.

Prep wise- I would say that reading through Preach My Gospel and doing role plays as missionaries and investigators was one of the best things that helped me. Daily scripture reading habits are also fantastic. Knowing scriptures, not necessarily having the verse memorized, but the reference and knowing what verses say.

What do we do? Well, when it is nice outside we generally contact, talk to people on the street, in parks, etc. At night we would usually harvest, going to domes (the soviet apartment buildings) and knocking on doors. In the winter we harvest basically all day. We try to set up meetings with investigators and less actives for later in the evening, or whenever they can meet. If you can think of more specific questions, I might be able to better answer them.

This week we taught quite a bit. We met with Reda again, talking about authority, she admitted that Joseph Smith must have been a prophet to write the Book of Mormon, but still doesn't really want to believe in authority and be baptized. She knows that she needs to, but for whatever reason, it just hasn't clicked yet.

Met with Violeta, who is in the other elder's area. Also talked to her about authority, because she thinks all churches can have authority and will not be baptized because she already was and promised to not change her faith. She also likes praying to Mary and all the saints, so when we told her she couldn't do that, she didn't really understand and it provided another reason for her to not change. A little frustrating meeting with people who seem so close, but just miss that last, rather large, step.

Also met with a few less actives- Alfredas, Mykolas, and Oleg. Alfredas believes some interesting things and isn't willling to commit fully to the gospel, so is missing out on some of the blessings. Mykolas still works on Sunday and knows that he needs to come to church, but again, something just hasn't fully clicked, so he doesn't come and says he will again when he's retired and doesn't need to work. Oleg, comes to sacrament meeting almost every week, but then leaves shortly after. He's way nice and hospitable to us. He also said that to help strengthen the branch, he would do whatever we asked him, which is sweet. Now we just need to think of something for him to help us with.

Elder Sanford and I taught the youth Sunday school class, by having them teach us as if we were investigators. It was quite entertaining and hopefully helpful for them.

Well, winter is definitely here. It's been snowing like non stop for the past three or so days. For anyone who thought that no one wore fur coats anymore, they just need to take a little tour of Eastern Europe. I have never seen so much fur in my entire life. Everyone just looks like they're wearing a bear or a bunch of racoons. They also have huge furry Russian hats, the men wear more boxy ones and the women have some like roundy kinda procupineish looking things. Way different style than in the States, but interesting.

I think that's about it this week. The snow just looks so beautiful, Christmas just makes everything bright and happy. As always, I just can't express how much I love Lithuania and the people. I pray for you and appreciate your prayers. Hearing from you is also always a nice little treat. Well, all the best to you, with your various tests, projects, thesies (not really sure how to spell that in plural) and whatever other endeavors you may be striving to accomplish. I love all of you.

Su Šventomis Kalėdomis (Merry Christmas),

Vyresnysis Kanoris Hiltonas