Thank you for the prayers

Well, It was a fun week with an even better ending. I had to go on an exchange with Elder Gearhart in Vilnius so I was able to to go by some old friends there. It was great. Afterwords I went on an exchange to Šiauliai where I was able to go by Inga and her family and Valentinas and his family. The next day I went to district conference with the whole branch. Way fun to see everybody again. My heart was so unbelievably full. I was so happy. Then we got to Kaunas where the conference is held and all my friends from all of Lithuania were there. All the people I have come to love so much. It went well. All the speakers were very good and President with Sister Dance were awesome as always. It was very bittersweet to see/say goodbye to everybody as it was the last time i would be seeing most of them. They are all just such good people. Later that night we taught Dainus. He is so solid. We taught him about tithing and when he learned anything he just accepted it wholeheartedly. The branch is working a lot better with the missionaries now. Our mission leader is softening up a bit. Thank you for the prayers on that one. Other than all that life is about the same. Just trying to get some odds and ends tied up before I leave but I think that missionary work should stay about the same until the end. We dont have much going on this week. I need to get the visa work done for three new missionaries this week at immigration. Hopefuly that all goes well. There always seems to be some problems that come out. This will finish up a procces of about 6 months for each individual missionary to get there allowence to live in Lithuania. After I get taken care of them i will need to re-register myself in preparation to leave the country. Fun stuff right? It is!
I hope all is well for all of you.

I love you all.

Elder Cooke

Dear Fam

How are you all doing. I am just livid with jealous rage after seeing that Alaska trip picture. That looked way fun. 

 

We had a busy week this week. Elder Gearhart and I went to Klaipeda on an exchange. We took the train so i just slept to the whole way and read Jesus The Christ. I also had an exchange in Kaunas witch was way interesting. I have never served in Kaunas so it was fun to get to know the city. There will not be sacrament meeting next week because we will have the Kiev temple dedication. I am way excited for that. It is so wonderful to see a temple going up in the former Soviet Union. That is something of great value to the members here. Lithuania had 4 baptisms last week which was just wonderful. The mission is up to 14 this month and we are trying very hard for 19. pray for that if you could. It would be the most in a very very long time. Thank you for all your support. We are working hard and staying focused. I love you all.

 

 

 

Elder Cooke

Tired, But Happy

Well everyone,

   It was another fun week. I had to go to Šiauliai two times this week so we could run a baptisimal interview with a great family there. A family of three is all set to go this weekend. We are way excited. But two trips to Šiauliai just takes it out of you. A train takes about three hours and a bus back takes four hours so in two days I got to read Jesus the Christ for about fourteen hours on the bus. This week we have to go to Klaipėda so I can interview a father of a family who was recently baptised. He is a way great guy. I met him once and he will be great addition to the branch there. It will be more train rides however. Also this week I will get to go on an exchange to Kaunas wich will be fun because I have never served there before and it will be a fresh new city for me. I have been in Vilnius for almost seven transfers now. That about ten months. It's quite a city. I love it.

   We had Zone conference on monday. Thats why i didn't write. It was way fun. It was a little sad seeing how the next one in November will be the last one. President rent his shirt and made a title of liberty. It was sweet bacause he ripped of his shirt and buttons went everywhere but he had another shirt and tie underneath the one he ripped off. It was way cool. He got us all excited. Well. Thats all that is going on in my world. 

   I hear times are tough. Imagine that.

Keep the faith.

   I love you all tonz,

Elder Cooke   

Back in Vilnius

Hey everybody,                                                                    Monday August 9, 2010

   It is nice to be home after being gone to Riga for so long. It has been a little bit cooler which is very nice. We didn't have a very succesful week last week which was a little discouraging. Despite out efforts and due to a lot of meetings Elder Gearhart and I reported 1 lesson for the week. I am not excited about that but I know that we still fufilled our pourpose. The zone here is doing well. We have 6 baptismal dates set for this month which is just unreal. Elder Gearhart and I need to go to Šiauliai to do an interview for a family of 3 getting baptised the weekend after next. I am excited for that. I am grateful to see fruits as a mission even if it is not in my area. I know I am working hard even though things seem a little dry sometimes. It is hard to stay focused but I know it is betted to just get to work. I love it here and an excited for this week. It should be a lot of fun. Thank you for everything you do as my family and friends to support me. I love you all.

Elder Cooke

A week full of wisdom

	Well,    It was a fun day today.  Elder Gearhart and I got all of our district leaders togeather yesterday after church and we all took a bus up to Riga where we will spend the greater part of a week. We are doing new training put out by the church for missionaries headed by Elder Holland and Elder Perry. It is really good stuff. I am excited for the coming days. Everybody is receiving new companions for the week. My 'temporary" companion is one of the AP's Elder Johnson from Rupert. I will be with him for just this week though. Elder Gearhart and I are doing fine. We are getting a lot of work done. I am feeling good and excited. However, my Lithuanian will be totaly useless to me here so i will have to resort to my broken Russian and Latvian. This last transfer I learned a little Polish contact because there are a lot of Polish people in Vilnius. Tell your friend's son, Elder Justice, who served in Poland "Vytam" for me. This mission is the greatest in the world. I just love it. It's a dream come true. I still have a lot I need to improve. I keep thinking a day will come when i wont need to say that but it doesn't seem like it will be anytime soon. I am just grateful for the chance to serve. I love you all and it seems like you are all having a good time. Thank you for all the love for my birthday. Saturday was a celebration "Rumsiskes." It was way fun. All the members go to the country and all the missionaries go and we just have a big party. I had to juggle for it which is unfortunately one of the only times i have used juggling on my mission. Oh well, I know i am doing what i should be doing so no worries. I love you all. Thank you for everything. Elder Kuks   <--Latvian

Hey everyone,

  Sending this one pict of the some hardcore rain we have been having, it has flooded a lot of streets here.

   Well, transfers are here!  I got transfered back out of my area and am now back with Elder Gearhart still in Vilnius. The crazy news is for the first time Lithuania has been made one zone. The four cities are now one "zone" and Elder Gearhart and I are the Zone Leaders. We are going to be making a "Lithuanian Tour" for exchanges this transfer by going to all the cities over the next several weeks. I am in Riga right now for a zone leader council and I will be back next week for 3 days for some new "Preach My Gospel" training. It should be way interesting. I am way excited. There is so much work to do and every day there is less time to do it. Just need to get out there and hit it hard every day. As always when I am in Riga, I don't have much time to write so I will talk to you more next week. I probably wont do much for my birthday if anything. I might go and have some delicious LIthuanian food at a resturant of something but we will be really busy. Probably nothing with the members like last time. Vilnius is a little different than Siauliai unfortunatly. I love it there though. Thank you everybody for everything. You all just gave me tonz of fire. I love you all.

 

 

Elder Cooke

Short of Words But Full of Thoughts

Me with my Russian tag that i use up in Riga. They don't give them out anymore but i got one when they did

Hey Fam,
I have been pondering many things lately. The work has kind of hit a slower pace right now which is tearing me up becasue I feel a stronger desire than ever to teach people the restored gospel of Christ. I have turned for peace to "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage. His insights help explain so many things of Christ's ministry and him as our Brother, Lord, and Redeemer. I have had to turn to Christ as we have combated many opposers on the streets and within my own mind. It is interesting how you pointed out how hard it is let things go because that seems to be my problem these days. Things seem to come out of no where and it seems way to easy to let them affect me sometimes. One of the more humorous examples was when I was contacting with my companion and I rememberd the times I went over on my texting in high school and Mom and Dad took the bill. I feel terrible about that and countless other examples of when I was immature, irresponsible and inconsiderate of others. I am trying however to learn how to just let things go and look forward and upward. God doesn't look at us for who we were but who we are and who we can become. It is a truth that is hard to see all the time. I know that its true though and am trying to further inact it in my life. As for the work, we are working hard and putting a lot of miles on our shoes. Transfers are this week and not much will change because we only have one new missionary coming in and he is Russian speaking. So Lithuania should get through the trasfer easily.

Our jimmy rigged "air conditioning" because of the insain heat we have had. we are wet from humididty all day. IT consists of ice- chipped from our freezer wall in a bag in front of a small fan. it actually works...kinda

  

 

- a sweet old street in old town

 

So, I wanted to just throw in a couple of the stories that happened this week as it will give you a little idea of the funny things that happen here on a daily basis.

  We were asked to go pick up a part the Branch president of  Siauliai had ordered for the church's air conditioning this week so my companion and I went to buisness. As we walked in the manager told us they didn't have anything. I, assuming they were talking about our specific part, was about to ask when they would get it. Before I could talk he repeated, "No! We don't have anything for you!" He then put his hands up in an "X" and told us to leave. I now understood. People put the "X" up to us on the street to tell us to now talk to them. I simply stated to the man, "We are here for our friend _______" He went white as he realized we were here to pick up the ordered part he had on his table with a paid reciept. He apologized, I said we understood and we left. As we went to the bus stop a bus pulled up and a bum got kicked off. He came up to my companion and I and tried to throw his bag at us. He missed for 2 feet away by about 5 feet. He stumbled around looking for a light and then came up to me and started yelling at me. He had his hand in a fist which I was aware of but my encounters with bums has been so frequent that I was less than apathetic to the situation. He wound up and swung at me but instead of hitting me he just gave me a "fig" about half an inch from my face. A fig is made by putting your thumb in between your index and middle finger. It isn't quite like flipping somebody off but it is a watered down equvilent. I just looked at him and said, "Thank you" He stumbled away and then ran across traffic and passed out in the median. It is not uncommon to walk into a grocery store and have people mutter, "mormons" at us under thier breath. I have found solice in the comment, "they know not what they do." I don't see people waking up and saying, "Well today i think i am going to go persecute some diciples of Christ." People have no idea who we are and why we are here. Even if they "know" they don't understand. It's a good lesson of patience and long-suffering that I was and am in need of learning. As our area 70 stated in a zone conference, "We don't have the right to get offended." As representitives of Christ we need to represent him in all of our actions. Of course I wanted to get mad at that guy in the store but what would that have accomplished. Self vidication is no excuse for un-Christ-like behavior. Live your faith and love those around you. Things are a little hard for me right now. I wont try to act stronger than I am. But you have no need to worry. All that means is I have more to learn. 

 

 

Keep the prayers coming. They help a lot. Christ is with you and with me. I love you all so much.

 

Elder Cooke

 

 

 Me in Riga next to a pancake stand, or in Latvian (pan-kukas) which is my name in Lithunian

 

 

 

 -some sweet old cars driving down Gedimino the main street of Vilnius

Hey Fam!

Sounds like you all had fun over the 4th of July. This is actualy the 3rd one I have spent outside of the U.S. I had one while Stacy and I were in India. There is an odd feeling when you know everybody is celebrating something somewhere else but where you are is just another normal day. You kind of feel like you didn't get invited to a party that everybody is talking about the next day. However, the difference is I can say, "Sorry I wasn't at the party fellas, I was busy preaching truth in a foreign land." This is a win win win situation.

  In actuality things had kind of a sad spirit here. A former President of Lithuania died this last week so everybody had thier flags out so it still had a patriotic feel. However they were half mast and had a mourning black ribbon on them. I included some pictures.
   As far as the work goes things are going well. Elder Hilton and I are still trying hard to build up our pool of investigators. We have found some good people including a boy named Petras who just had a ton of good questions and was willing to learn. We are going to be meeting with him again today. About half-way through the week I just got really tired. After 4 weeks of 5+ straight hours of contacting days it gets hard to still have a passionate spirit about everything. Elder Hilton does a great job of keeping the faith. He helps me out a lot. After we had some good spiritual lessons and had some good discussions about Christ I was back to normal. It keeps me going knowing that I need to be an example to others and that I myself need to fufill my calling. It makes being obedient not an issue.
  In other news i once again came home from Riga to find my power had been turned off.  We had our landlord come fix it that night.
Let's hope my luck gets better when I go to Riga because I have to go again this Friday with Elder Gearhart for an exchange. Better get my Russian and Latvian "contacts" brushed up.
Love you guys.

Elder Cooke

labdien, seit Elders Kuks nuo Rigas

Hey family,

That was a little Latvian to throw you all off. I am e-mailing from Riga today. We are up here for another leadership conference. The trip here was definatly led by God. We were running way late this morning and were definately NOT going to make it on time to the bus. We ran to the road and just needing to go about a mile down the road to the bus stop but we only had a minute to get there. I don't even think leslie could make that time. We didn't know what to do. At 6:30am there arn't any buses or taxis really to get you anywhere. So, after standing there for 10 sec with a prayer in our heart, Romas, a man who drives us to Kaunas every transfer for zone conference, pulls up and tells us to get in. He asked where we were heading and got there in less than a minute. We made the bus and went on our way. We hit the border and like the Elder you all know and love, I had forgotten my passport. The man had me get off the bus and step into an office where I appologised and told the officer I had just forgotten my passport. He looked at me and said, "ok." He let me get back on the bus and go to Riga. This is lucky becasue most of the time they take you to the plice station for a good 4 hours in a holding cell. So I am very grateful for the Lord and his tender mercys for his servents who run late for busses and forget thier passports.

In other news. Elder Hilton is still doing well. We had a slower week this week. We went to Siauliai so I could have and exchange with the district leader there. It was so nice to go back to Siauliai. I miss that place a lot. I wish I could go back and serve there again. It was a tough place to serve but I learned so much and I just love the people there. However, I am not called to serve there and I need to stand in the place that I am. It's a hard thing to pull off but it is better for everyone when we dont stick our head through the fence to get the better grass. We need to serve where we are called. Thank you all for all your support in keeping me focused. It is the best support you can give me, or anybody at any time for that matter. I love you all and wish you all the best in whatever you are doing. Happy birthdays and fathers days all around. I do my best to make mention of birthdays and whatnot but you understand if I dont remember all those dates. I love you all!

Elders Kuks

(Kukas, my name in Lithuanian, means "cakes" in Latvian so people get a kick out of my nametag here)

A Letter From The Field

Hey fam,
How are you?
we will see how this letter goes seeing that it is one the only things I have written in english this week. I looked over at my trainee this week and told him I wasn't going to talk to him in English anymore. I kind of wanted to just see what he would say. He was way for it. He said that it was a good way for him to just be thrown in the "Lithuanian ocean". I stoped speaking english for a few days and was planning on going the rest of my mission but after having to take calls from President and sister dance, having to go on exchanges with other missionaries and speaking to the office and missionaries who don't speak Lithuanian, it was just to difficult to keep it up. We still speak our language a lot but until i am in a different situation it looks like my dream of a full Lithuanian transfer isn't going to happen. I have been working a lot with the newer missionaries lately. I want to make sure I can pass on as much information I have learned as possible. I was so grateful for the missionaries who did that for me in their later transfers and I want to attempt to do the same. One of the best ways to teach however is to just do it. We spend a lot of time talking in life and we should spend more of it working. There is no substitute for work. This is why the habit of "philosifizing" and "deep thinking" is so dangerous. My companion and I have seemed to run into so many people who just want to think but they dont want to learn, grow, change, and in essance WORK. I remember in High school when I thought I was smart because I could take some principle and poke as many holes as I could in it. Going deeper and more abstract and "chilling out" seemed like a good time. The problem was, I never found any answers to anything! I was always so confused. I had the thought, "Well, I guess it's so complicated nobody truely knows and nobody can know so why try and find out through any other means." Why was that so fun for me to do? Because sin is enticing. Sin is something that draws us away from God and halts our progression. ALL sin is enticing. It doesn't matter how pointless it is. Smoking KILLS PEOPLE. But for some reason it still enticing to so many people to do it. Deep thingking has its own enticing characteristics. Satan uses thoughts such as, "Why try? Its to hard; Everything is correct; There is no "real" truth." These thoughts are to make us STOP our progression forward. We can just sit back and relax because there are no rules and if there is nobody realy understands them. We need to get to work. All of us. Being smart doesn't mean you can find holes in things. Being smart means you can recognise "light". (D&C 93:36 - The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. ) Find light and find truth. You find these things through dilligent work. Dont stop till you've had enough (artist-song? you got this one stacy?) But here is my imput. NEVER HAVE ENOUGH. If one thing bugs me more than anything it is when people say, "man užtenka" or "it's enough for me." Get off your keister and find more. And in the end of things if you find light you will purge the darkness from your life. (next verse in the section- (37) Light and truth forsake that evil one.) I love the light that Christ has brought into my life. I have never wanted to work so bad in my life. I wont lie, i feel tired. However, I can feel the support of your prayers. I really can. I don't know sometimes how I get out the door but it always happens. I love you all so much. Thank you for all your support. I love you all with all my heart.

God bless the work,

Vyresnysis Kukas

*(to have this talk translated into Lithuanian go knock on the door of Elder Cooke and Elder Hilton at Minties 26-32 Vilnius Lithuania) :)

Guess What?

Hey Fam,
So here is what happened. I got transferred out of my area.


These pictures used to be the view outside my apartment.
It was beautiful but I get moved out to a new apartment.
Lucky me.



I am still the zone leader but I just got called to once again be a trainer. I have to say i was really not expecting that. However, I just do what I'm told. The area I moved into is Sister Hall's old area. This makes my 5th "white wash" which is always interesting but fun. I now live on the east side of the city. It is amazing that I have lived here for 7 months now and I have no idea how to get around that side of town. When I trained Elder Whicker I had a thriving area and I knew it like the back of my hand. Now we have 0 investigators, 0 potentials and I have no idea what member we work with. Needless to say, when my new companion, Elder Hilton, come in I was thinking about how I was going to make this a good experience. I remember when I got whitwashed in my training it was so hard because we went a full week without ever teaching a lesson. I was determined to have a different experience with Elder Hilton. Elder Hilton is a great Elder and was willing to get strait to work. We found 6 new investigators in 3 days. It was great. Our first night was fun when a man came out and tried to get us some drugs. Elder Hilton was definitely baptised by fire in Lithuania.



Sister Hall's parents are so nice. I was able to talk to her dad a bit when i translated for him in priesthood meeting. Her mom gave me a hug from you which REALLY threw me off. Sister Hall's face was priceless when she did it. She was petrified. Say hi to Sister Hall when you meet her. Tell her how much respect her and her service here.
Thank you all so much for everything. I hope you all have fun this weekend. Live it up @ Lake Powell.


This pict with this stick is some service we were able to do where Elder Gearhart and I cut a lawn with a sythe.


Here Elder Gearhart and I are in the city of Vilnius 2010.

Love you,
Elder Cooke

Labas Šeimėle

Hey Fam,

Well, I am sorry to hear that it is raining so hard. It sounds like you are all still getting things done outside. I actually miss Dad waking me and my friends up on Saturday mornings to go build some random contraption.

SO we are getting transfer calls tommorrow morning. It should be interesting to find out what is going to happen. I am just wishing for a little stability in my life. In the past 10 days I have slept in the same bed for 2 nights in a row only on 2 different occasions. It's fun and interesting but I would just like to get back into the rhythm of things. Who knows though, I could get transfered tomorrow. The work is going well. Dispite distractions, Elder Gearhart and I are trying hard. I am sorry this letter is going to be short and again, with no pictures but know that I am thinking of you and that I love you all. I do want to say one thing however. I have had it on my mind lately and it has just been bugging me but if I have ever been less than I should have been when i was with anybody who is reading this, I am sincerly sorry. I hope you all know that I am doing my best to be better. Thank you everybody for all you do.

Laikykites,

Elder Cooke

Greetings from Riga Latvia!

Hey Fam,

Don't worry, I didn't get transfered. Elder Gearhart Elder Hatch and I are up here in Riga for a Zone Leader council. We got up way early this morning and went and hopped on a bus. We are going to spend most of our day in meetings but they gave us a chance to go and write our families then we will spend the night and head back to Lithuania tomorrow. It's fun to travel but I would like less distractions from missionary work. With all the distractions Elder Gearhart and I have had this transfer it is a miricle how much work had still been getting done. We still somehow have time to find and teach tons of people every week. I have definately felt God's support this transfer. I got sick this last week which was no fun because we had so much to do. Thank you for your prayers because I found the best remedy for being sick is just working harder (contrary to everybody's advice) Sometimes I feel I should back off a little bit when I am sick so I can heal faster but when you have things to do it doesn't really matter, you just get it done. One of the things we got done is we found an apartment! It is beautiful and right in center of new town Vilnius. We are right in with the skyscraper skylight. The best thing is that this apartment wont have the same distractions the other one had. People will take care of things for us so missionaries don't have to so they can just do good ol' missionary work. If I leave this area have accomplished anything, I want it to be easier for missionaries to focus and get work done. Transfers will be next week and it should be a doozie. A lot needs to happen and some younger missionaries are going to have to step up and get things done. We have 3 new missionaries coming in wich is exciting. All the new missionaries have all been so good. I don't know for sure if I am staying or leaving. I really hope i stay but i will go where I need to. Sorry I don't have more time to write. Know that I love you all and I miss you, just not enough to leave the work.

Su meile,

Vyresnysis Kukas

Letter to the Family

Hey team,
How are all of you? Its to bad it is cold there still. WE are frying here. President Dance still hasn't given us the call to say we can take off our suit coats and I don't think it will come this year. It gets hot but we really do look much more professional with suits instead of just white shirts. We don't mess around in the Baltic Mission. I love it. It is funny, I used to defy authority much more often back home but the longer I have served the more satisfaction I have gotten from just doing what I am told. Sorry it took so long. :)
Elder Gearhart and I are doing very well. We had district conference yesterday in Kaunas and Elder Paul from the 70 spoke. It was a great experience. I received a lot of answers to questions. The bus ride with the members is always some of the funnest times as a missionary.
As the work goes, an old English student of mine in Šiauliai felt she received an answer to be baptized at district conference and now has a date. That was exciting to hear. She's the sweetest woman ever. Elder Anderson and I worked with their family a lot in Šiauliai if you remember. It was so nice to see the Šiauliai members at the conference. They all said I looked stressed out and said I need to eat more. That's Lithuanian bluntness for you. I just love it.
We are still looking for an apartment. We are trying so hard to not let it interfeer with any of our missionary work. Elder Gearhart and I just get frustrated when we lose time to do our missionary work. It's too bad finding apartments is one of OUR responsabilities. Its hard because we also need to have the model are in the zone. It's a challenge but really fun.
So you guessed it. I need to run. I need a hair cut. I love you all so much. I will have pictures next week. I love you all so much.


su meile,
Kukas

Good to hear your voices

Hey family

It was awesome to talk to all of you. It is really wierd to think that our call last night was the last call we will get to make from overseas. You all sound wonderful. I was really happy for the opportunity. I don't have any time to write today. I have to write more extensive letters to President Dance now to let him know how everybody is doing. Also Elder Gearheardt and I are searching for a new apartment to move into. We have had a lot of problems with ours and President Dance has told us to get a new one. It is to bad our mission office cannot look for us because only the missionaries speak Lithuanian. Oh well, we will just need to stay focused and still get work done. I just love it. It is like dad said (i almost wrote Elder Dad) I am starting to find a "thrill" in all of it. It is a challange and it is way fun. Thank you for all you do family. I love you all.

ELDER COOKE

Another Day, Another Companion

Hey family,

This was an interesting week. I recieved yet another new companion. Well, in fact I have already been with him but it was in the MTC. Elder Gearheart and I are now serving togeather here in Vilnius. It was a much awaited reunion. I am so happy to be able to serve with him. We have never even been in the same zone before. We have already gotten to work. First of all I will point out how wierd it is to be writing in english because we dont ever speak english with one another. I am grateful to be with another expirianced missionary because we can speak only Lithuanian 24/7. It's going to be a fun transfer. This last week Elder Gearheart and I had to go to Riga, Latvija for a meeting with President Dance and some other missionaries from around the mission. We have to go back to Riga for a couple of days to work with the Assistance to the President after zone conference. It should be a good learning expieriance. We wont speak any of the languages up there in Latvija but I guess we will make it work.

Funny story. My companion and I got stuck in an elevator for 40 minutes. We had to call people and just hang out for somebody to came but we got out eventualy. I never thought I would have to say ,"Hello I am stuck in an elevator" in any language much less Lithuanian. It was fun.

The work is going well. Deepak is still progressing. We have alot of investigators but not alot of time so i guess i will just talk to you on sunday. Until then.

Love you all,

Elder Cooke

Labas visiems!

How are you all? Good?Good! So yea another wonderful week . This may be my last letter from Vilvius. Transfers are next week! I can't believe it. It went so fast, sventaiji Moze!(holy Moses) SO I might get sent to a different city. I dont know though. President Dance does some interesting transfers here. But wherever I go I know it will be where I need to go so im not worried. But that also means next week Preparation day will be on Thursday, so dont freak out if you dont get a letter right away.
Today we went to Trakai. It is a Lithuanian castle on an island outside of Vilnius. Way way neat. This week had some interesting experiences. Elder Young had to go to the dentist this week! We were way nervous becasue the dentistry here is kind of shady. But Sister Dance had a magical book that had a respectable place in it and he made out ok. He had part of his far back molar fall off and so they put a cap and filling on. And it only cost 220 liets! (about 100 dollars) No paperwork or nothing just walk in they do their thing and we payed cash. It was beautiful. He said that they wern't the MOST experienced but for that price how could we complain.
It is starting to get way hot here. The crowded buses are starting to smell very interesting with this humid heat going around. We can't take off our suit coats until we get word from the president so we are waiting anxiously for the call. You always have crazy experiences on the buses. I had a drunk man come ask me what I thought of the girls on the bus. He said that the Lituanian girls were just voted the most beautiful in the world- and he wanted to know my opinion. I said I didnt know and he responded with a nice big thumbs-up. Yea kinda random but thats how it usually is.
So this week I received my "permission to live" so its official now. I get to stay in Lithuania. Valio!
So I hope you all enjoyed conference. I have only seen one session so far. We watched it this morning. we are going to watch the rest every morning this week. Then it will be shown to the branch this weekend after it gets translated. We have one investigator (Ingrida) we feel it will really help. She needs help keeping the word of wisdom. We got her to stop drinking coffee but now she told she has picked up smoking! We are really working hard with her in any way we can.
Well fam i have to go for now. We will see where the Lord takes me this week. I'll talk to you next Thursday!

Elder Cooke

Bad News

Labas

Hey everybody so I had some major visa problems and now i am getting kicked out the country. I have been "re-assigned" and I will be in Tennessee by tomorrow morning. April Fools! Or as it's called here "Lairs Day!" Just Kidding, everything is peachy. I did a ton of visa work this last week and everything is going to work out. You dont need to mail anything I got the same letter here. All that is left to do is to pick up my "permission to live" card next week. That will be good for about a year then I get to do it all over again. Other than that, everything is about the same here in Lithuania. One nice thing is that it is seeming a lot more like spring. We had daylight savings time on Sunday so now we have tons of sunlight. The winters here are way dark all the time but in the summer we have a ton of sun. And its not as gray here anymore. It is already starting to sprout up green grass. Things grow here like crazy. So thats a nice change.
So we had a few cool things happen I guess. First off last Thursday during English class Elder young needed to go on splits with another Elder to get some stuff the district leader forgot at his apartment. So I had to teach English class by myself. It was kinda crazy but it worked out. I finished up teaching English and still had some time. I asked if they had ever learned about America and they said no because of the cold war and all so I gave them a little history lesson. Which mostly consisted of me telling them about how awesome Idaho is. After that I started talking about what our purpose is here on Earth. I pointed out that to many people spend to much time watching their life go by. How we forget what is really important in this life because we are to wrapped up in ourselves and in life. I said that I know I am younger and not as experienced as them but they can't deny the things that I was saying, and they couldn't, they agreed with me. I told them that they need to start to change NOW. Not tomorrow or next year. They need to walk out that door tonight and tell themselves they are going to be better people now! I told them to go home and tell thier spouse they love them, and to spend time with their children because they might not know it. Sometimes we think it's obvious but it ISN'T all the time. I finished by telling them that it all starts with humility. Admitting we dont have it all figured out. Not telling missionary's on the street that they have enough in their life and then wondering why life is so hard. ALL of us right now need to admit we can be better, then ACT on it- make the decision to be better. That is how you find happiness. Then I testified of service to others and just being happy people. It was awesome. I defiantly spoke bold to them- but I felt I had the green light from the spirit. I was in a room with a lot of older Lithuanians telling them to humble themselves and there wasn't a single thread of me holding me back. It was way cool. After the lesson my companion still wasn't back, but a man came up to me and said he wanted to know more about Joseph Smith. I asked if had time to talk now and then I ran and got the first Elder i could find to teach with me(by the mouths of two witnesses shall my kingdom be established) It was Elder Gabler. He is a German who got here a transfer before me. We started teaching and I had to teach parts of the lesson My companion had always taught and I have never tried before. He would speak in Lithuanian and when he finished I looked to Elder Gabler like I look to my trainer thinking he would understand and he was there looking right back at me. So I just spoke. I went all the way through that lesson and it worked out great. We gave him the Book of Mormon and set up another meeting. It was quite the deal. Way fun. It turns out When Elder Young got to the district leaders apartment the bathroom was flooded and the neighbor downstairs was way mad. So he had his own adventures that night. It was a fun day.
Some side notes is Sister Free and Sister Squires are in fact teaching that lady in our English class and she is awesome. We taught her a 'one on one' lesson last week because she missed a class. She is doing awesome. She is so humble and so loving. I know she is going to get baptized, I knew it from that first time we taught the gospel in English class. She rocks.
Oh I got your package. Thank Sister Carole Green so much! I forgot how amazing real peanut butter tastes like. I dont know if you sent a memory card with it. The package was part open when it got here so if you did send one it probably fell out.
well fam I think I am going to go for the week. Thanks again for everything you do. I am truly blessed out here in Lithuania. I love you all. until next week...

Hola

that means hello in spanish :)

Hi everybody. Is it warm there? Its cold here. It's hard to type because my hands are still de-thawing. It was warming up last week then it just started getting very cold again. Its only about -5c but if there is any wind at all it gets nasty because of the humidity. To answer your question, no I havent gotten your package. sorry. Also I think I want alma 26:12 for my plaque. IT's agood'n.
ok so STORY TIME. So me and Elder young were harvesting(i dont know if i clearified that that means knocking doors) and we were in this dome. We went to knock on the door and this HUGE scary "BARK" came from behind the door so we decided not to knock that one. We went down the stairs to the next floor and started knocking. When we heard the door open and the dog starts freaking out at us. The owner has him on a leash and we figured he was just taking him for a walk. But we still wanted to get out of its way so we start booking it down the stairs. THe odd thing was is that the man starting running the dog after us. We got to the door and i couldnt get it open(we were freking out by this time) I get it open just as the dog gets on the bottom floor and we get out. The man then gets to the outside and lets this German sheapard off the leash. HE SICKED HIS DOG ON US. It jumped up to bite Elder young but he missed so he came after me. I knew not to run so I just kind of jumped out of the way while he tried to bite me. I was about to open up a can on him when he ran away. THe man ran after him and put him on the leash and took him inside while yelling in russian he was going to call the cops on us. It was way crazy. WE DIDNT EVEN KNOCK ON HIS DOOR. My heart was POUNDING. so yea there is a cliche' missionary dog story for you.
ok now a way cool story. Do you remember that woman that started crying in our english class while I was testifying.
The sisters had a lesson with her that next morning and they just expecting it to be a normal second lesson but she ended up accepting BABTISIM. I found out just after I e-mailed you. She is way awesome. We have a lesson with her and the sisters today. I knew there was something about her. The Lord truely reveals his prepared people. I am so stoked. Well everyone I wish you well, and I love you all

Vyresnysis Kukas

Howdy All!!

So good week this week. I will start off by saying thank you for your prayers for Ingrida. She finally set a date for her babtism! However, its a little ways away. She set it for June 27th because its her birthday. So we would like to get it closer but every time we meet she makes so much progress. It just shows that if we are humble and activly seeking knowledge, God will always help. This week she got really sick. She told us to bring medicine. I had some Dayquil from the MTC that i hadn't opened so we took that. When we got there she really started to open up to us. She talked about problems with her daughter she had been having and how her work had gotten mad becaue she was sick again. They called her weak and they might fire her. She was crying and I felt so helpless. I told her never to forget that there are always people out there who love us. We told her we loved her and asked if she wanted a blessing. She had never heard of that so we taught her about it. And then I gave my first anointing in Lithuanian. Elder Young gave an amazing blessing and she cried again. It was a wonderful meeting and I know she felt the spirit. I love blessings when you can just phisicaly FEEL the priesthood. Its an amazing thing. Thing are really hard for Ingrida and I know it is going to test her faith. We are always tried before blessings. God wants to make sure we are dedicated. And essentialy we are showing to ourselves whether or not we are dedicated. I hope Ingrida continues to show faith in the Lord that things will work out if she just keeps the commandments he has asked of all of us.
We are still working with Vtenys. We are really trying to get him to church this week. But he is reading more so that is way good.
I want to just say now a few things about this wonderful mission. This week I got a nice big hug from a drunk man. It really threw me off. It is really wierd to live in a city like this. I love it but I see things that I am not used to seeing. Like the fact that the trash we threw out this morning is almost definatly been picked apart and compleatly sorted through by dumpster divers. Or how people sell mouthwash here in little booths on the street. Why? Because it costs 3 liets and bums cant always afford to buy alchahol at 5 liets so they buy mouthwash and drink it instead. It is really sad but it happens all the time here. I wish I could just help people see the joy that they can find in Christ. It is so hard becasue everybody here says they believe in Christ. Sometimes I wish they had never heard of him before but they have all been brought up Catholic. And it is really hard to convince somebody that they need to still follow christ but just change religions. They say, "I have everything i need and i dont need any more." They say that with a cigarette in thier mouth a beer in thier hand and they look more miserable than somebody who was just dragged through a potato field. It makes NO SENCE. And then they wonder why they are so unhappy. And those are the ones who will talk to us. Most see the word mormon on our copies of the Book of Mormon and immidiatly associate the words cult, sect, and darkness with us. The churches here all preach to hate us essentialy. When Missionarys first got here they published in the papers (under a picture of them singing hymns) SPRING WELCOMES AMERICAN CULT (who practices polygamy)
It is very frustrating. But I know that each person still deserves thir chance to hear this message. It makes sence that the true chuch of Christ would take the most heat from the world. Should we expect anything less. We should start getting worried if Satan stops working on us to make us miserable. That means he isnt worried about us. We want him to be scared out of wits becasue of us! ok enough ranting
This week was transfers and I am still in Vilnius with Elder Young (i am excited becasue of this) But a couple things. I need to get my Visa. I have this transfer for the government to accept my papers or else i will get deported to Ireland to join with thier mission until i do get my papers. Ireland would be cool but my language is bad enough without me leaving the country. I want to stay here. So give me a shout out in your prayer ok :)
Speaking of language. This sunday was kinda neat because President and Sister Dance came to Vilnius on Sunday and in sunday school the sisters were translating for sister dance and then all of a sudden they had to leave. I was not sitting in a stratigic location so i got to scoot down and take a stab at it. It was cool that I got that chance to translate for the last little bit of class.
Ok real quick. Thank you for sending the package i will let you know when you get it. ok thats all for me this week. Thank you all for your intrest in this little country across the world. Keep your prayers coming, we need them. I will keep sending mine back at you. I love you all.

Jusu, (yours)
Vyresnysis Kukas