Miracles in Lithuania

Hey fam.
So, VALENTINAS GOT BAPTIZED! It was just awesome. Right before the baptism things got kinda rough. This family is very familiar with attacks from the adversary. As no surprise he made himself very apparent in their lives. Valentinas found out that they were not going to be able to make their payments and could be getting kicked out of their house. Amongst other things they had nothing to eat. Me and me companion probably ate less than they did this weekend because we gave them most of our food. It was awesome. They recognized that things get worse before they get better and Irina (his wife) was actually surprised that Satan hadn't tried to step in a little sooner.
Aside from all the opposition however Valentinas was baptized by Ramunas, a member here. The service was just awesome. Elder Anderson, Elder Porter, and I all sang "Be Still My Soul" in Russian. It was nice for him because that is his family’s native language. It really had an effect on Larisa because she doesn't speak Lithuanian really well. It was kind of funny how we pulled it off. Elder Anderson and Elder Porter had a Russian speaker tell them how you say the words and then they wrote it down in English letters and they just sang that. I had kind of neat experience with it. I more or less taught myself how to read Russian with the few resources I have. I wrote down in a little book what sound each character makes and then, while harvesting in the Russian communist buildings I would read words written in Russian on power and post boxes. And then any graffiti or adz I see in town I read them. I don’t know what they mean most of the time but Russian has a lot of cognates so I can get the idea. So I actually sang the song strait from the Russian text. It was hard while we were practicing but when we sang at the baptism everything came so easy I found myself not even having to think about the words at all. It was way cool. The spirit was so strong there everybody felt it, specially a young boy who is friends with Valentines’ son Vlad. He came to the baptism and then he came to church the next day for the confirmation. You ready for the cool part. Valentinas wanted to meet with that boy and his son and Larisa’s son (Maxim) who is 14. So it was a big "man meeting" they called it. In the meeting Valentinas testified of how getting baptized has helped him and his family. Then Edvinas (the friend) accepted a commitment to be baptized himself! We are so excited for him. To do this he is going to need a lot of work with the word of wisdom but Vald and Maxim (both members) have committed to quit smoking with him. And there is another friend who might join with them to. The Lord's hand is so apparent here it is impossible to deny. I could never write all the miracles I have seen here in this place. I love it here. Transfers are next week already and I don't want to leave. I and my companion have such a strong unity right now its no wonder so much work is getting done. I still haven’t stayed with a companion other than my trainer for more than one transfer so maybe it's about time!

I love you all with all my heart. Thank you for your constant love and support and PRAYERS. They help me so much.


Su meile,
Vyresnysis Kukas


LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!