Pray for us!!

For more info on how you can pray for us this week......check out Peter and Jen's blog
www.teamhibbs.blogspot.com/

A Heart for this Place

During this last week we have been learning and developing a heart for this culture as we have innterracted with it and the people. Today we walked around two universities and in pairs we prayed for different things that came to mind. Most of us have had the college experience so it was cool to pray for students we feel detached from due to the different culture but connected on similar experiences.
We prayed for the hearts of the Lithuanian men, that they could rise up as leaders in the nation and hopefully take over in years to come as Agape leaders as well. We also prayed for the teachers, that they would come to know the truth about God and pass it along to their students, who tend to hold fast to the opinions and wisdom of their professors. We asked God for revival among the upcoming generation, that He would bring the country back to Him.
We have found that although we don't just automatically have a heart for the people.... it develops as you begin to pray and think upon and plan as if you did have one. We are thankful for what Christ has done in our lives and we know that he wants the same sort of new life for those in Lithuania. Thank God that He uses us despite our disconnection to the culture.
It's really neat to have the Gospel at the forefront of our minds because it begins to really transform the way you interact with those around you. One thing that is always present as we walk around is the influence of Communist and even Nazi control.
Just across the river from where we are staying is one of nine forts the Lithuanians built to protect the city/country. It is now a memorial because 50,000 Lithuanians (and others brought in by the Nazis) were killed here. It was very sobering to stand just a few feet from the wall where they were lined up week after week and shot. Many were tortured severely before they died. There is a spirit of evil that was and in some cases, still is, here. There is a long history of pagan worship and many of the university buildings have statues of pagan gods as their symbols. They just use it as a clever symbol from their past, but the enemy loves to use things like that to keep a foothold. All that to say there needs to be a strong recognition by Lithuanian Christians of this influence and a confessions the sins of the past. There needs to be a unity of the remnant of believers that are here from all denominations and then a united prayer effort to break the bonds of the enemy. Please pray for the Christians here to unite and join in reaching out.

One more thing...

One more thing...you can check out our pictures at: http://gallery.mac.com/peter.hibbs#100026

We are here!!!

We arrived without incident! No missed flights, no lost team members and no lost luggage! We have been training and familiarizing ourselves with the Lithuanian culture/language and people. The team here has done a great job of preparing a schedule and taking care of our needs. Jason arranged our lodging and we were a bit apprehensive about being housed in a dorm at Kaunas Tech. University, but we discovered it is a dorm for visiting parents and friends of the university and has recently been remodeled and is quite nice. Today we competed in a scavenger hunt (the guys against the girls) - guys won because we bribed the judges with flowers - ask to see the slide shows when we get back. It was designed to help us familiarize ourselves with the people and the city. After the scavenger hunt we came back to Matt and Sharon's for dinner with the team and some high school students from their church. We enjoyed sashlik (kebabs), a traditional Lithuanian dish and had a chance to get to know some of their church friends. We've all been very blessed by the team. We've been able to visit all of their apartments and enjoy their company. We can definitely see the hand of God on this team. He is building an amazing ministry in the country of Lithuania! Tomorrow we will be doing activities that will prepare us for sharing our faith and learning how to use the public transportation. This prep will be used for the following week where our team will be interacting with many students and we will actually be planning most of the events that we will be inviting the students to. The week is really going to start picking up, thankfully it is after the jet lag wears off a little bit. Although we have only been here for a few days our love for the country and people has taken root and begun to grow. We are anticipating how the Lord will do His work in and through us, and are excited to do His will. Please continue to pray for us, that we would have open ears to His plan. On a less personal note, it seems that we have brought the typical Portland weather with us. We love it.

The Team has Arrived

In a SKYPE message today from Tiana we learned that the team has arrived safely in Kaunas. "We are very happy to have the team here...thanks for sending them" says Tiana.

Thanks for praying!!!

By now most of the short term teams have left and some have even returned with stories of how the Lord used them to share His life and hope with people around the world. However, for those of us going to Lithuania, we are still preparing and training. We are leaving later this summer because our objective is to meet college students as they return to school in Kaunas which is the second largest city in the country and a major ‘college town’.

Lithuania has a long and rich history dating back to the 1100’s, but is less known to most Americans than its close national relative Poland. For 400 years Lithuania and Poland were united as a monarchy and were a very significant military and cultural force in Europe. Lithuania was separated from Poland after the Russian Empire invaded in the 1800’s and remained under Russian Czarist rule until 1919 when WWI caused the collapse of the Russian stronghold. Freedom was short lived however as war continued with Poland and eventually Russia and Germany again during WWII. After the war Lithuania was ‘annexed’ into the Soviet Union. Finally, in 1991 the Soviets left Lithuania and independence was gained.

But freedom from tyranny hasn’t led to freedom of the heart and soul. Hopelessness is common as evidenced by Lithuania having the highest suicide rate in Europe. The religious tradition of Catholicism has done little to help and the people desperately need a relationship with the living God. Their churches are beautiful but empty just like their hearts.

This need led a team of seven people from Good Shepherd and Coram Deo to go to Kaunas for two years beginning in the late summer of 2006 to partner with Agape International working with the college students there. Their hope is to develop a core of Christian students who can begin bringing hope to their part of the world.

That brings us to our short term team and the reason you’re getting this letter.

There are six of us leaving on August 25th to spend two weeks meeting and sharing with college students in Kaunas. This will help the team that is already there make some significant contacts and relationships. It’s a pretty simple strategy but we need your prayer and financial support.

We need prayer more than anything because we’re only there for a short time and need to make the most of it with joy, enthusiasm, strength and wisdom. Please pray for the hearts and minds of the students we’ll be meeting as the Spirit prepares them even today and in the days to come for our meetings.

Each of us needs $2900 to make the trip and spend the two weeks ‘in country’. If you can help financially please do so. We will do our best to use it wisely.

If you are interested in supporting the team financially, please contact the church office @ 503.663.5050

Bob & Anita Bailey
Lithuania Team Leaders