I like to look for rainbows, whenever there is rain.

Hey everyone,
What a good week. Šarūnas was baptized on Saturday and then confirmed on Sunday. It was so good and he was so happy. I can't tell you how big his smile was after he got the Gift of the Holy Ghost. That spirit is just so wonderful. It made me so happy to see Šarūnas make this step in his life. It took me 6 months in this area with 3 different companions but we finally found somebody who had an open heart and received the answers they were looking for.These kind of things keep you going. Read the primary song i wrote in the subject heading. It is just beautifully written about baptism.
We find out about transfers tomorrow. I hope my district stays the same. I really get along with everyone. It is going to be really hard to see Sister Hall leave after next transfer. She is just so amazing, we really get along. She has already planned a trip to Teton Valley to see her relatives around my homecoming so she can be there for it. Elder Cox also goes home next transfer which is just no fun. After them there is only one more group before I will be making the journey back over the water. We still got time to make a lot happen before that though. Also, Leslie reminded me that I am going to be talking to all of you soon. I had totally forgot about that. I guess this will be the last time. I am not sure about times and everything. How would you feel about the same time as last time? Let me know next week what your thinking and I will have more information by that time.
I am excited for today. We are reorganizing and cleaning the teaching center in the center of Vilnius. That is where we teach most of our lessons. We contact people in the main street in Vilnius and then walk with them to our teaching center to give them the good word. Anyway, it has turned into kind of a dump so my companion and I have been doing some remodeling. It would be right up mom's alley. I actually got to do some wood-work which I was just ecstatic about. I haven't even seen a jigsaw for a year and a half so it was nice to get to use one. Well because of that I must depart. Remember that the church is true and that I love you all.


Elder Jasper

remaining faithful at all times in all places.

Hey fam greetings from Vilnius,

Well, one more week come and gone. Things are still going wonderfuly here. It is starting to warm up and so are people's hearts. Last week was a lot of mourning for the Polish President. There was a little bit of a scare. We had a ton of people telling us on the street that Russia had had something to do with the tragedy. We know now that that isn't true. The Lithuanians had there flags out all week in respect for Poland. Darius, one of our investigators, said he called his friend in Poland who said that nobody really believed it had happened. It was all kind of a dream to them. Sad deal.

Then Sunday we ran into a lot of foreigners who were all stuck in Lithuania because of the volcano ash. It has been a little hazy but if I hadn't heard about the volcano I would have just assumed it was pollution. We didn't get hit too bad. The planes were all still grounded until this morning. I think everything is back to normal now. Seemed like a big mess though. As for the wonderful work of God, Šarūnas is getting baptised on Saturday. He is the man. He is feeling great about everything. Depak is still doing well. We might have to move his date back because he didn't come to church because he was sick but he is still feeling good.

Elder Whicker is still doing very well. HE is the man. We started contacting seperatly a lot. It's only his 5th week! I can't believe that this is already the last week of the transfer. Time doesn't make any sense to me anymore. I am still feeling good. I am almost back up to weight where I was before I lost it all. I am at 155 right now. My goal is 1 pound a week. In 4 months I should be at my goal for my mission of 170. Pray for me haha.

I spoke in church yesterday. Everybody said it was a "hot" talk. I talked about remaining faithful at all times in all places. I made reference to Elder Hollands talk about the Book of Mormon which he gave in Oct 09. It was kind of spured by a dear friend of mine out here leaving the church. Kind of tore me up but its all good now. We can't lose our ground. We all have our days when our footing is loose. We need to just stop being afraid and just believe. Our pourpse has never been to fear. It has always been to believe. Always.

Thanks fam for your love and support. Love you all

Elder Kukas

Wonderful Week

-2009 photo

Hey guys!

Well, this was just an absolutly increadible week. Elder Whicker and I hit the pavement hard and saw a great increase of blessings. We saw so clearly how much the Lord blesses us when we just put our faith on the line and get out and work with everything we have. I found that the harder I worked, the more I was supported by the Lords strength and in turn I had more energy and felt better. And the most important thing is that the Lords work moved forward.


-Vilnius, Lithuania

Šarunas is feeling alot better about things. He talked to his family about the church and they started to cause some major doubts to arise. The feelings he had made him feel terrible. That is a direct sign of the true source. When we have good feelings we can know they are coming from God. Bad feelings can also point us in the direction of another source. The fact remains that things that bring us to do good and make correct changes in our lives are FROM GOD. Šarunas's date might be moved back a little bit just because we want to make sure he feels truely ready.I still have a lot of confidence in him. On the other hand you will love this next story. A few weeks ago my companion and I were harvesting and weren't seeing much luck. We felt inspired to go get on a bus. Not even knowing where we were going to go we just went and got on. A few seconds after sitting down a man turned and asked us from the aisle over and asked us if we spoke English. I could tell right off the bat that he was from India so I asked him and he said he was. He said he had been looking for some religious men to talk to. Well, we started meeting with him and this last week he accepted a commitment to be baptised next month. We Got him a Hindi Book of Mormon and he has started to process towards that wonderful covenant. It amazes me how merciful and loving our Father in Heaven is to his chirldren. We just need to do our part and God will shower down his blessings. I love all of you so much. Thank you for all your guidance and support.

Have a good week,

Elder Cooke

Where is your tent door facing?

Baltic Mission serving in Vilnius, Lithuania

Hey Fam,
I hope you all enjoyed conference. We were planning to start our viewing of it starting tommorow but they had some glitches and we will have to wait a little longer. I am very grateful for this wonderful opportunity we have to hear from the Prophets. We need to make sure we listen with our spiritual ears and here what they are truly saying on a deeper level. Turn your tent door to the temple and listen to their words with a humble heart.
This week went well. I have still had trouble getting rid of this sickness. It might be because i don't like staying inside for too long. My companion used to be a nurse so he sometimes makes me come in early. It helps but I still don't like it. My voice is all but gone right now. Just really deep and raspy. I think I sound more Lithuanian. Regardless, Elder Whicker and I are excited to get a busy week in. I am way stoked to get out there and teach like crazy this week. My body can't keep my will down these days. I love it. Thank you for your prayers. Physical health can come and go. But I never want to lose my will and desire to serve. If I loose that then it doesn't matter how healthy I am, I won't accomplish my purpose. Don't worry though, Elder Whicker is good at taking care of me.
Šarunas called with some concerns yesterday so we are wanting to meet with him as soon as possible. He has had some doubts come up recently and it has me worried. I knew that Satan wasn't going to sit this one out but I was hoping he had himself preoccupied with all of his other projects he has going these days. We are going to work very carefully with him this week. We don't want to rush anything. He is such a good kid.
Well fam, that is all I have this week. It sounds like you all had fun last week. Keep the good times rolling. I will see you all soon enough.

Love you all
Elder Kukas