Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Idomu...

Idomu (E-doe-moo) is the Lithuanian word for interesting and one must stroke their chin in a pondering sort of way when it is said. Anyway, here is a story I was reflecting on the other day and found to be just that.... interesting.

The first day we did surveys at Kaunas Tech when the summer team was here was frustrating. This is because there were four of us who tried to get into one of the dormatories but the lady who is in charge of letting people in did not want us going into her dorm. It should be noted here that for the first time ever we had the proper documentation and official permission needed to get into the dorms. It should also be noted that the office of the administrator, who is in charge of all the dorms, was located across the hall from this lady and they had told us we could go in. So if there were ever a time that we should have been able to go into that dorm and talk to students, this should have been it. But she still refused to let us in even after talking to her boss who said it was ok.

The four of us in my group went to another dorm builiding on the other side of campus and we had no problems getting into that one, in fact the lady who lets people in was happy to have us. The four of us split up into two teams and started knocking on doors, handing out welcome back gift bags, and talking to students. It was a great day and we had some amazing conversations.

The next day we went back to finish that dorm. Sharon and Pat got to talk to a room full of Freshman guys. One of the guys seemed irritated by any questions about God and shared his frustration and doubts openly. They had a great conversation about life though and told the guys they needed to meet Jason. The guys came to the bowling and billiards event that night and they got to hear Jason's story of when he tried to commit suicide and found God in a miraculous way. They were all full of awe, doubt, and questions but that one student in particular found a friend in Jason. Since then he has come to every event we have had and Jason and myself have become good friends with him.

Looking back on that first day doing surveys and getting shut out of the one dorm and going to the other was quite Idomu don't you think? We might not have gone to that dorm if not.

God had other things planned. I love it when He does that!

Benji

Many of you know that last month we had some water issues in our apartment. (If you didn't know, go back to the Aug. 22 post). Well, when the initial flood happened we didn't know it, but it did a bit of a number to the hardwood floors in our living room. Luckily they weren't in stellar shape to begin with, but ever since that day some lumps have been growing in our family room due to the wood getting wet and expanding. One of them in particular has continued to grow to a height of almost 2 and a half inches. It has gotten so big that we decided to give him a name since he has proved himself a force to be reckoned with (quite a tripping hazard). So, one day during a meeting Jen called him Benji and it stuck. You see Benji has become a speed bump of sorts in the middle of our apartment and thus an honorary member of our team. Though quite an annoyance at first, we have come to love and marvel at Benji. And since I am a cup half full kinda guy, I figured that if we need a little extra money here and there we can just charge some skateboarders admission to our living room cause our floor is starting to look a bit like a skate park. Life is fun.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Kick off

Well, we successfully kicked off a new school year here in Kaunas with the help of the summer team from Portland OR. The team consisted of 6 people from 3 different churches in the Portland area (Good Shepherd, Coram Deo, and Imago Dei). We handed out welcome back gift bags and did a lot of surveys in the dorms at the 2 major universities in town and got into some great spiritual discussions with students. We also had events for the first four nights of school. The first event, which was a goofy field game night, got rained out so we met at a local university pub and played pool and watched basketball. Though it was not what we planned, it was what God planned because the 16 Freshman guys that showed up loved it. Just so you know guys rarley come to Agape events because most students aren't interested in spiritual things especially guys, so to have 16 show up was unbelievable for us. The next night was bowling. We found out 2 hours before students were arrinving that the bowling alley would not let us bowl because we advertised their name on a flyer. Anyway, we ended up playing pool and watching basketball again, which was good because 20 guys and 1 girl showed up. On Wedneday we did a photo scavenger hunt around the city and the students loved it. Thursday was the Agape party and 20 students, guys and girls, showed up and we had a good time hanging out. Though I think it might have been the first party some of the guys had been to where there was no alcohol, and yet they still had a great time. It was an amazing two weeks with the team from P-town here and I (Matt) can say that God is deffinitely up to something, I am excited to see what He has in store this semster.




Wednesday, September 05, 2007

summer team fun

A team of 6 from Portland OR arrived on 8/26 and has been helping us kickoff the new school year. Its been great to have friends here to show them what our lives and ministry look like in Lithuania. We have had a great time hanging out and doing ministry together. The last few days have been amazing as we have been in the dorms asking students questions to find out if they want to talk about spiritual things. We have also been inviting them to events we have planned each night this week. It has been amazing to see guys show up to the events. On Monday we had 18 guys come. On Tuesday 20 guys come and Tonight (Wednesday) we had 10 guys and girls show. Just so you know, this has never evenly remotely happened here in Kaunas. So,it has truly been an exciting week, one which I will write more about later. Thanks for your prayers.