Labas from Klaipeda!

Hey Fam
Well I got transferred to Klaipeda (Kl [eye] peh-duh). It’s a little city on the coast of the Baltic Sea. I am way excited to start work here. It was hard to leave Vilnius (I got kissed by a drunken man on my last day) but I just hope that I accomplished my purposes there. My new companion in Elder Cox of Hooper Utah! He is a way solid missionary and I am excited to start learning from him. In Klaipeda we have 3 Elders who speak Lithuanian 1 Elder who speaks Russian and 2 sisters (both Lithuanian) It is a lot smaller here than Vilnius. I am excited, however to run on the beach in the mornings. It is getting way hot here. It sounds like you are under 10 feet of snow. That’s awesome. Here we are just waiting for President Dance to tell us we can take off out jackets. But when we do I won’t have any short sleeved shirts. I need some money in my account so I can buy some. Other than that everything is just dandy. Our apartment is a lot nicer than the one I had in Vilnius. I am way excited to meet all the members in this branch.
We got to watch general conference this week! It was so amazing wasn’t it?! I loved Elder Holland’s talk on the Atonement. And I think President Eyring had me in mind personally when he wrote his talk for Priesthood meeting. Ingrida came to 2 sessions! They really helped her. I am going to miss teaching her but she is in good hands still with Elder Young.
Well fam I hope all is well. Thank you all so much for all you do. Love ya!


Vyresnysis Kukas

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

Hey Team

How are all of you? ok obviously you cant really tell me how you are right now and even if you wrote it down and sent it I wouldn't get it for a while but just know that the correct answer is, "I am doing FAN-tas-tic!" and if that isn't your answer then I say that is silly and you should change that.
Well, sorry again about last week. The computers in this cafe are a bit old and unreliable so hope I get this one sent.
Ok well I want to start this week off with an awesome scripture. It is so hard to see progression here sometimes. I am trying my best to learn this language and I feel like I am just getting worse. And people here don't hesitate to tell you that you speak terribly. So I was thinking to myself how terrible I am at just about everything when I came about ALMA 26:12 in my scripture study. I love this verse. I don't have English scriptures on me but I will translate it from my Lithuanian ones.
It says:Wherefore I know that I am nothing, As for my power I am weak; Therefore I will not boast in myself, but I will boast in my God, Because in his strength I am able to do everything; Behold many miracles we have done on this earth, because of that we will glory in his name through eternity. AMEN!
It is not by our power that we do the Lords word. It is by the power of God. That power is given to us through FAITH. We must be humble enough to give up the "power" that is of US so that we can have room for the power of the LORD. This Language will come in time. Like Dad said it is by the Lord's time. If you feel you are inadequate take a look at Alma 29: 1-3 and get a nice dose of humble pie. "Oh if I were an angel...and could speak with the trump of God...", "...But behold I am a man and do sin in my wish for I aught to be content with the things the Lord has given me." I love it.
Ok fam enough preaching. Time for more goodies from Lithuania. First off, they have SO MANY HOLIDAYS HERE. I swear (stacy:"don't swear") They look for any excuse to get off work and get plastered at 8 in the morning. The other day was "pancake day" and I don't know how many Independance days I have seen already. It's rediculous because you go outside and its like a ghost town. You try to knock doors and nobody is home. And when they do answer they can barely stand. And talking to drunk people is always interesting. Sometimes I hear them just say nonsence and I don't know whether I misunderstood compleatly or they really just said Cristopher Columbus was the devil.
That brings up a whole new topic...RUSSIAN. Here in Vilnius is quite a bit of Russian influence. You can still feel the scars of communisim seeing how Lithuania only got rid of them in '93. Everybody here speaks Russian but not openly. They aren't that friendly to Russians obviously. But it is very frustrating knock on 5 doors in a row that only speak Russian. Sometimes I don't know when it's Russian and when I just didn't understand. I have learned a very Simple door and street approach in Russian to get referals for the Russian Elders. They understand me for the most part but I want to get a little more to say.
ok really quick: I want Kyle's cobbler reciepe. We have tried some baltic style and Its good but I wanna try Kyle's too. Also are you still making Family calanders. That would be nice to have also.
Well to wrap up I just want to express the immence humility I have right now for the work of the Lord. I see each day so many things I need to improve on and often times I dont see how it's possible. I feel nobody here wants to listen. My first contact Edvanas doesn't want to meet anymore and we have to push Vytenys's babtism back again. He doesnt want to let go of the Catholic church. This place is stuck in its traditions. Vilnius has the highest consentration of churches per capita in the world. To give you an Idea of the thought process here. We asked Vytenys if God or Jesus Christ THEMselves came down and told him he needs to get babtised what would he say. He said, "I dont know i guess i would need to think about it." It has become more than a belief here. It gets hard to accept somtimes. But let us press on is so great a cause. It doesn't matter. We are here to give all the opportunity to come unto Crist through his church. We get laughed at alot on busses and on the street. But we are put through advirsery so we can understand true joy. In english we began our spiritual thought after the lesson and I noticed a new woman in class. Me and Elder young tought of looking to Christ as an example. Elder young explained he had taught himself to juggle by reading books. He thought he knew how to juggle but he didn't know why it was so hard to progress. Often we read of Crist and feel that is enough. We know how to live and we are ok. But why is life still so hard we ask. Because we have a LIVING Crist and we need to seek for him in our day. We need that living example.
Elder Young explained how he came to me and I taught him how to "actualy" juggle. And within a week he had progressed to a level he hadn't ever thought of. (of course we juggled for them) So must we go to Christ for help and guidance. It is not enough to just read about him. We must seek him in our lives in our day. I began to testify of humibliy and how we must be humble to take upon us Christ. As I pointed to my left I said we must know he lives and that through him we can have more, that we can BE more. The new woman began to cry which I haven't seen very often here. I almost did but I held back. I felt Christ up there with me. He took my broken Lithuanian and he began to speak to thier soul. After everybody left I collapsed into the chairs. I hadn't felt the spirit that strong in a very very long time. I actualy can't remember when I have. I was trembling. Christ lives. And I will not cease to work until I find those I was called to find and proclaim that truth to them. Thank you everybody for all your prayers. We need them here. We need them everywhere. I sincerly love and miss all of you, just not enough to leave the work.

as' jums myliu
Vyresnysis Kukas

p.s. That rocks about Jake is he spanish speaking or english, let me know. Either way it still rocks, he rocks.

Missionary Humor

I thought I'd post a couple cartoons that made me laugh! Just to shake things up a bit!

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