Ermione, from Albania, my student co-leader for the first-year seminar class.

Giedre and I at the First Year seminar lunch, laughing because we can't seem to take even one good picture!

Sunday was first communion for some in my neighborhood! I passed this group on my way to church at Miestos Baznycia ("City Church"), the Lithuanian/English church I'll attend here. 

Some LCCers playing Dutch Blitz. L to R - Jolanta Kaun, librarian; Oxana, student financial services; Lisa Friesen (my German "buddy"), VP of Marketing; Marina, registrar. 

Janis, resident goofy Latvian friend, at the Friday community potluck holding a kitten born to one of the staff families.

New friends! L to R: Pisey Sok, Anna Detrich, Rebecca Sok, Casey Stafford, Jared Penner. 

The intrepid explorers navigate Palanga... 

A series of unfortunate events

I have been debating the past couple of days about whether I wanted to post anything about a significant family event that has been occupying my thoughts. That said, it would be omitting a large part of my emotional state to NOT write about it, and so I will, with the hope that you all will be in prayer for it.

On Sunday night, my aunt Carol and uncle Larry were taking a bike ride in their beautiful little town of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. ( Carol and Larry are like second parents to me, and their home has been one of welcome and hospitality for as long as I have been alive. Carol has been a reference librarian at Bethel for years, and I enjoyed being a surrogate daughter to her during my years at school.) As they reached their driveway, Carol had trouble stopping the bike and took a tumble, head over heels, down the hill and into a tree. Thankfully, she was wearing a helmet, but that did not stop her from doing some serious damage. At this point in time, we know that she broke several vertebrea in her neck, as well as some lower in her back.

When I heard about this from my mom via email Tuesday, I was a wreck. I imagined the worst of all possible scenarios - that Carol, as we have known her, was no more. It turns out that she was not knocked unconcious in the fall, and has been awake in the hospital the past few days. Nevertheless, it is a very serious injury, and we don't yet know the extent of the damage to her spinal cord. She has had some sensation in her legs and has been able to move parts of her arms - but there is no movement in her hands or lower body. I have been taking this as a good sign - that things can improve from here. My mom's email, today, however, indicates that the Dr. has said this is the best it will get.

The simple thing I am feeling now is that I don't believe this to be true. I don't want to be naievely hopeful, but I also know that seemingly miraculous things happen with spinal injuries all the time. I have seen miracles with my own eyes, and I believe that God desires to show His glory in all our circumstances. I am asking for your prayers. I am also asking for prayer for my family and extended family that, regardless the outcome for Carol, God will show His glory in these circumstances. It seems trite to say that God can use this tragedy and pain - we've all heard these platitudes before. But I know in my gut and my core that we serve a God of stregnth and power, one that my family has worshipped and devoted our lives to over the generations. We wait to see His glory and His tender love for us.

Some quotes for today

"The natural geniuses that have arisen in America with such talents, have uniformly quitted that country for Europe where they can be more suitably rewarded."
- Benjamin Franklin

"Souls can't move that quickly, and are left behind, and must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage."
- William Gibson

"Resolved: to live with all my might, while I do live."
- Jonathon Edwards

For more information, please click here

I was going to give a little update and some pictures of my weekend, but then realized that both Anna and Jared - fellow LCCers and blog site-hosters - have both posted already. I was able to spend quite a bit of time with many of the LCC newbies this weekend. We had a great time playing cards and, though Jared doesn't mention that I was with the group too, at the beach at Palanga! So, if you want to know what I was up to this weekend, check out the links to Anna Detrich and Jared Penner's sites. :)

A word of caution/apology

I was recently made aware (thanks Mom) that some of the language used in an earlier post might not have been as delicate as one might expect from someone on a "missionary endeavor." Lest anyone think I used certain words lightly and without thought (e.g. d**n, and fr**gn), I did pause to consider those things all writers must - who are my readers and what do they need to know? Okay, so maybe I didn't think about those questions exactly, but I did consider whether I should use strong language in a posting read not only by my close friends, but also by parents and grandparents and family friends.

So, this is an apology if any were offended by the strong tone of my post below. I was really trying to convey the frustration and absurd agony of international travel, and felt that some mild expletives captured my feelings on the day! The words I used are not part of my everyday vocabulary, but are things that pop out when I'm under stress! I would hope that no one has the impression that those of us who are in "full-time Christian service" are somehow immune from the stresses and frustrations of "real people" - and more importantly, I would hope that no one would view what I am doing here in Lithuania as somehow elevated and superior to the work one might be doing for the Kingdom in your part of the world. Personally, I no longer believe there should be any distinction between one's mission at home or on the other side of the world. It's all mission. We are all kingdom-workers. All the time. Everywhere.

And that means "missionaries," like Paul before us, might sometimes use strong language. That said, I know I still have much to learn about appropriateness and how to balance honest expression with God-honoring speech.

The Sky

I will just go ahead and warn everyone now - I will probably take about 6 million pictures of the sky here in Klaipeda. Seriously. Because we're so close to the sea, the clouds seem to hang quite low, and they move very fast with the offshore breezes. The last couple of days have been simply idyllic weather-wise, and the clouds have a very sheep-like look about them, like they've gotten lost from their herd.

Things school-wise, as you may imagine, are rushing along. Today we had day two of orientation, which included a basic Lithuania language lesson. I now have no excuse for not utilizing the mini-buses that are the major form of transport in town (known by the LCC expats as "pocket-rockets." Don't ask me why). Still, I have not yet mangaged to muster the courage to flag one down, probably because I'm not confident that my weakly muttered, "sustokite cha" (Stop here) will actually cause the bus to stop where I want it to!

Beyond the language and culture lessons, though, basic orientation to Klaipeda has included a lot of walking. This is good because I've resumed my addiction to European cappucinos. Tonight I enjoyed my cappucino in the company of four other staff & faculty members from LCC: two Lithuanians, one German, and one other American (who's been working in Canada). We five women went out to dinner at a very stylish place near the river. It is really wonderful to be part of a diverse community, but one that is centered around a common goal. We'll be learning more about LCC's mission and history, but today we got a mini-version of the school philosophy and it is so exciting to me. (See the link to the LCC website at the left for more info).

I am just beginning to get excited about the section of freshman seminar that I'll be teaching. I will have 12 incoming freshman and it is the goal of the class to create a tight-knit community amongst those students, as well as the more basic goal of orienting them to university life. It is highly encouraged that teachers spend time with the students outside of class, socializing and being a mentor to them. I am not sure if I'm up to the challenge, but that is really what I am here for - to invest deeply in students lives. Any and all prayers for these twelve, who I don't yet know, will be apprecitated greatly!

The sky over theatre square in Klaipeda. (For those who're curious, it's pronounced sort of like "Clay-peh-duh," with the accent on the first syllable. Sort of.) 

My LCC staff "buddy", Lisa, took this picture. She has been awesome about showing me around and making sure I'm properly caffeinated. 

Travel stories

Ta-da! I'm back on the blog again, and I only arrived yesterday! I feel like I should break out in a chorus of "yes, I love technology" a la Napoleon Dynamite (or maybe just, Thank You Joel for the laptop and its magical ethernet connection).

Okay, so that said... I'm sending this out from my new office, LCC#115, that I'll share with another instructor, Janneke VanHofwegen, who I haven't met yet. Most of the returning faculty don't arrive 'til the end of the week, and I was among some of the first new faculty to arrive yesterday. I'm really grateful to have today between the excruciatingly long travel day and tomorrow's orientation. This morning, I was able to unpack, laze around, and even finish knitting the scarf I've been working on! (Andrea & Kel, I'll have to send you a picture. It's lovely!)

To back up just a bit, I should probably chronicle the trip that began Sunday, as there were a couple frantic & harried moments. Things started off somewhat nerve-wrackingly at DIA when the ticket agent at the U.S. Airways counter mentioned that I'd need to go through customs in London. "Hmm," I thought, "I've never had to do that before if my bags are checked all the way through to my destination." So I asked her just that, and she seemed a bit put out that I was questioning her. My layover in London was quite short anyway - about an hour and a half - and I knew there was no way I could deplane, pick up luggage, go through customs and recheck it in that amount of time. I mentioned this to the agent, and she said, "well, I guess you probably don't need to recheck your luggage." At this point I was getting worried, what the heck was I exactly supposed to do in London? So I said, "I would appreciate a firm answer since I'm going away for a year and my entire life is in these two suitcases." This led to a 20-minute wait at the counter, line pileing up behind us, while the poor agent tried to call various airline offices to find out whether I did indeed need to go through customs in London. Guess what. I was right; you don't go through customs 'til getting to a final destination. I just shudder to think that I appear to be more familar with international travel procedures than the friggin' ticket agent at U.S. Airways.

The adventure continued when we touched down at my first layover in Philly, where I had an hour between flights. Now, normally that should be a decent amount of time, but in actuality, power-walking was required to get me from the domestic terminal to the interational departures area, which I arrived at just as they began calling out boarding instructions for the flight to London. Thanks for the $20 for food in the airport, Dad, but I didn't even have time to get dinner - I think I barely had time for a bathroom stop!

The actual transatlantic flight was fine, and I was able to sleep for about three hours before the pilot announced we were about to land. It was a beautiful morning over England, and we flew quite low over the countryside. He pointed out when we were over Brighton, a town on the southern coast (and which, thanks to Jane Austen, I can't think of without hearing Lydia Bennet's voice saying, "Oh how I long to go to Brighton!"). I think I actually saw some of those Austenian country manor houses hiding amongst all the hedgerows and fields.

If only the Gatwick airport were as lovely and pleasant as the land we flew over. Rather, it's like some sort of concrete labryinth designed by masochistic scientists recently fired from communist regimes. I asked one of the flight attendants before we landed where I needed to go to get a boarding pass for my Lithuanian airlines flight since my connection was, again, fairly tight. She said, "oh, no problem, you have plenty of time and there'll be a gate agent who can issue it for you. You should be able to go straight to your gate."

Given my previous encounter with the agent at DIA, it should come as no surprise that this was not exactly the case once we landed. Getting off the plane, all passengers are launched into this twisting, angular, maze-like passageway, at the end of which there is no gate attendant, or even anything resembling an information desk. The only option is to keep following the yellow signs to baggage claim and connection flights. So we walked, and walked, and walked, until we approached a sign for customs - which I knew I didn't want to go through. There was one lone girl in a yellow smock directing traffic and I asked her if she knew where the check-in desk for Lithuanian airlines might be. She directed me back along the hallway I'd just come from. Turns out, I needed to take bus to the North terminal and check in there. Fortunately, I found that bus, and it deposited me (after a circus-like route around buildings and over runways, with messages to "Nigel" and "Steve" bouncing back and forth on the bus radio) at a building with three check in lines, none of which listed Lithuanian airlines anywhere on their signs. Once again, there was no information desk, no U.S. airways folks, just one guy guarding the door to the security line who didn't appear to work for any airline. Feeling desperate, I asked him which desk I should be at, and he directed me toward one of the three. Approaching that desk, I noticed that there actually was an agent sitting there - she was slouching back in her chair, staring off into the ceiling, and when I told her what flight I needed to check in for, she said, "You'd better hurry, they're closing soon."

Resisting the urge to strangle her, I got my boarding pass and had to go through security again. Yes, this would be a time not to get stopped for screening, but obviously that would be expecting too much from the day! Once again the bloody Brits seemed to think that my teeny, tiny cuticle clippers pose a threat to national security and I was forced to surrender them. Damm those Brits - they got 'em from me last time too. You'd think I'd know better.

So, I made my flight to Lithuania by the skin of my teeth. Once at the gate, we had to take another bus over the runway and through the woods (okay, not the woods) to the plane, out onto the tarmac, and walk up those roll-away steps to the plane. There were about 10 of us left to board, so the others were already packed in waiting for us. A lady was sitting in my seat. I didn't think it worth the trouble of asking her to move, so I got to spend the whole flight conked out, with my head lolling around into the aisle, mouth gaping open for the whole plane to see. Oh well, at least I got some more sleep!

Given all these short connections and mishaps, I was pretty worried about my luggage actually making it to Lithuania with me. Fortunately, I thought I caught a glimpse of one of my suitcases on the top of a pile being driven out to the plane just ahead of our bus on the tarmac in London. That gave me a bit of hope that at least it, if not the other one, would make it. I am happy to say that, in the area of luggage at least, my expectations of the airline were proven false and my bags arrived when I did.

Landing in Vilnius there was a driver from the school awaiting me, plus another couple coming to work at LCC had arrived a couple hours prior to me. They found me and, after a five-minute restroom stop, we piled everything into a van and drove another three hours to Klaipeda. I wish I could remember more of that drive because the countryside is beautiful - lots of pine forests and farmland. At one point on the road I felt like I was driving I-35 in northern Minnesota - a wide road lined with tall pines. Apparently it rained in spurts throughout our trip, but I was pretty wiped out again, and spent most of the trip sleeping.

Once we arrived in Klaipeda, the driver took us directly to my new place where we waited for my "buddy" to bring the keys. LCC pairs up the new faculty members with buddies, who are there to help us get oriented and to answer questions. While waiting, we were able to take a look at the staff directory and determine that I don't have a direct roommate, but I do have two other LCC couples living next door to me in my building. My "buddy" Lisa arrived with the keys and she and another faculty member, Simona, helped me bring things upstairs. I'm on the fourth floor of a fifth floor building. The old communist design plan was that buildings over five floors could have an elevator, while those under five would not. Yay for me, my own stairmaster program!

Lisa was so kind and helped me make a trip to the grocery store, which is a short walk away, and after I took a shower, she took me out to the downtown area for pizza.

Stay tuned for more on the first days in Klaipeda!...

Here you go Dad, the Klaipeda train station.  

The town square at night (though it's about 9:30 p.m. and you can see it's still fairly light out. Being so far north, it stays light quite late in the summer). 

View from the living room window 

My bedroom (wardrobe not in view). I'm sort of proud of the fact that I had room for my own duvet in the luggage! I got up Sunday morning and took a look at my already-packed suitcases and thought, "hmm, I can squeeze that thing in there!" 

Ah, the lovely communist-era living room. I swear, every apartment from here to Romania looks like this! 

Hallway from living room to kitchen. My bedroom is on the left and that door on the right is the bathroom. 

Kitchen (sorry its so dark, but it's just a generic kitchen) 

This is the view from the living room windows - my apartment building is identical to these. In fact, one of the other English faculty members lives in these - the window with the green shade, four floors up above the far left doorway is hers.  

This is the lovely view from my kitchen and bedroom windows. I can almost see some Dutchman with his easel trying to paint those clouds! 

The "icky" (ee-kee in Lithuanian) where I'll probably do most of my shopping. I was so happy to find they carry Gala apples! 

The path from my place to school (only about a five minute walk) 

The campus - classrooms are in the building to the left, the Michaelson center to the right houses an auditorium, gym and rec center 

LCC front entrance 

My office at LCC 

"With grace my feet, and faith my eyes"

This is the point in time where I think I'm supposed to be unable to sleep from excitement and anticipation. And, while it is 1 a.m., I can't quite muster the words, "I'm excited!" in anticipation of the next couple days. I'm wondering a bit what is wrong with me - shouldn't I be basking in the glow of international travel? Of new shoes and passports and glossy magazines to read on the plane?

Maybe it's that I've done this a few times and I know what it's really like, but recently this entire process of preparing and going to Lithuania has not been one of tremendous enthusiasm. I nearly lost it crying on two separate occasions this week - not because I'm leaving, but because I'd been disconnected 4 times by Sprint and twice by my credit card company while attempting to clean up some of the messes created by having had my purse stolen last week. Tears of frustration are not nearly so romantic as tears of good-bye.

So, it has been a hard and stressful process to get these three bags packed, one dictated less by the Spirit than by my to-do lists. This is the real side of obedience - the place where you spend hours on hold and begin to realize just how much you'll miss American coffee.

On our way home from a movie tonight, Kelli and I were talking about love and how true love messes up your schedule. Real love will upend your life and your plans, and you won't care. This is true in romance, and it should be true with the Lord. When we really love Him, it will indeed interfere with every aspect of our lives. He will upend them, and if we love Him, we won't care.

At the beginning of this adventure, going to Lithuania didn't feel like a burden or an act of obedience, but rather like a beautiful gift, one I could hardly imagine I was worthy to recieve. That's what it feels like to obey out of love - it doesn't feel like obedience at all. Now tonight and these past weeks, this gift, this adventure has not felt like the beautiful present that it did back in April. I'm over the honeymoon stage and I haven't even gotten on the plane yet! Nevertheless, I think this is the time where learning to love and obey God start to become more difficult, but, like all relationships, this is where the good stuff - the deep heart stuff - really begins.

"You have delivered my feet from stumbling"

I love the Lord for He heard my voice;
He heard my cry for mercy.
Because He turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came upon me;
I was overcome by trouble and sorrow,
Then I called on the name of the Lord,
'O Lord, save me!'

The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the simplehearted;
when I was in great need, He saved me.

Be at rest once more, O my soul,
For the Lord has been good to you.
For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

Psalm 116:1 - 11

First, let me say, I'm not David - no one named Saul is pursuing my life, and yet, this Psalm seems strangely apt considering some of the adventures of the past week (and I'm not even out the country yet!). In what will probably go down as one of the most ill-fated camping trips on record, my friend Mandy Nelson and I spent last Tuesday night in a tent, in a pouring rain that even put out our campfire, at The Narrows campground in the Poudre canyon. The following morning, we hiked Greyrock and got caught in a seriously scary thunderstorm, which at one point included a flash of light right over our heads and a clap of thunder we could feel in our sternums. I will spare you the hours of the running, crouching, sliding, and panting that followed, but we eventually made it to my car at the trailhead.... Only to discover that my car had been broken into and my wallet and cell phone stolen.

Now, I'm not usually one to over-spiritualize things, but given that all this happend at the WORST possible time - 10 days before I head to Lithuania, a day before my supposed-to-be-relaxing trip to Minnesota - I couldn't help but remember what I am about to undertake is something our Enemy opposes. There would have been no greater victory for him than for Mandy and I to have gotten lost on that hill, gotten struck by lightening or injured ourselves in the bailing down the ravine - but none of those things happened. The Psalmist is so right in capturing that cry of our hearts that day - "O Lord, save me!" He is good, and protects the simplehearted (and simpleheaded, who hadn't gotten themselves off the peak very early!).

This pic speaks for itself 

Can you see those clouds in the distance?