Sveiki Visiems!!!!

Alright, first- Happy Birthday Mom and Dad!!!!

Second, some random things. We heard from an investigator about an iMac touchscreen, is that for reals? It sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie, but possible. Alistair, some more music you can check out- it's actually Elder Leishman's cousin, but it sounds like it would be a We Shot the Moon ish sound. His group is called I am Echo, or Raven's Watch. There's also a music video for a song astrocars, the drummer in the video is Elder Leishman.
Now some miracles.

The first is more light-hearted, but I would say a miracle nonetheless. We had met with the Motiejunas family, who as far as we know have not been visited by missionaries for a long time. Probably because they are so solid in the church, but regardless Elder Leishman and I had both had thoughts that we should visit them, so visit we did. The lesson was fantastic and afterward they gave us a cake of sorts to take home. We were traveling home, when we were approached by a drunk youth, who looked like he wanted to bother us. He asks what we were offering and since he wasn't in a condition to feel the Spirit, I offered the other item we had- the cake. He was shocked and confused. He began to back away quickly, profusely apologizing. Thanks to the cake, we were able to avoid what could have been an otherwise frustrating experience.

Second, Du Wei, who we were unable to meet with this week due to an increase in his work schedule and other conflicts, still came to Church. The second week in a row!

Third, is Vygantas. I personally have been meeting with him almost weekly for about 5 months. Up to Sunday, he had not attended Church for 6 years. We met with him on Saturday and talked about the path to eternal life, using 2 Nephi 31:15-21 as our scriptural basis. We drew it out talking about how he is on the path, but needs to continue to keep all of God's commandments to gain eternal life. He often works on Sundays, but this Sunday he wasn't working. He did say he might go to a party, where he would stay the night, making it impossible to come to Church. We strongly and boldly testified that Church was more important than anything else he could do that night or the next day and that it was a necessary step if he wanted to move forward towards Eternal life. He listened and came to Church, being warmly greeted by almost the entire branch.

Fourth, is a media referral we received this week. Ieva is her name. We met with her on Thursday and had a great lesson. She brought a friend, Motiejus, because she was a little scared of meeting with us and we had Valdas there. Her friend and Valdas had a little bit of a heated discussion at the beginning and throughout the lesson, but we managed to take control, get a prayer said and then the lesson flowed together incredibly well. At the end, Motiejus said he understood, but wouldn't take the Book of Mormon because it wouldn't have been with true intent, but Ieva said she would need to read it and see what it teaches. She also said she would come to Church, which she did. Afterward, with no prompting from us, she asked when we could meet so that she could learn more. We set up another lesson and will meet again this Tuesday. Fantastic.

We also met with Stefanija and Loreta, two older women in the branch who don't have any family in the Church and are rather lonely. They were both thrilled that we were coming over and really enjoyed our company and the spiritual thought we shared.

We met with a young guy, about our age, named Juozas, or Joseph. He's Catholic and his family is pretty high in the Catholic Church, priests, archbishops, etc. He speaks English incredibly well and was super friendly. He learned from watching Cartoon Network as a kid. I have observed that the best English speakers here learned from cartoons and that they are some of the friendliest most polite, and personable people I've met. Random little aside. Anyway, we explained what we believe and taught the Restoration. He's met with missionaries before and said that wherever he's at they keep finding him, which to me was a sign that he is prepared and needs to accept the Gospel. He's very spiritual and has a lot of faith, it just needs to be focused in the best way it can. He lives in the other elders' area, so hopefully they have luck with him.

We also met with a woman in the other elders' area, we were in a threesome covering both areas for the first part of the week, Aldona. She is old and rather hard to keep focused, but after many remainders we finally got her focused. We taught about the Apostasy and Restoration. Elder Leishman and Elder Nelson explained it, she didn't quite get it to click so I reviewed it. I made a visual aid of a napkin. The napkin was the Church and as Christ and the Apostles died the Church fell and broke, I ripped the napkin into pieces. Then I talked about the Apostasy and no one having the whole truth or the whole napkin. Which brought us to the Restoration, bringing the napkin back together again, into one whole. It was pretty cool.

This week was just full of things to do, which was fantastic. We also didn't have any hot water, which was not quite so fantastic, but helped to wake us up in the morning. Today should have been our last day, so hopefully, we get our hot water back. It helped me realize how blessed we are to have hot water, something I just kind of took for granted.

Well, as always, I love serving and love Lithuania. I pray for you and appreciate your prayers. Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Vyresnysis Kanoris Hiltonas