Last sunday I gave my talk about why I believe in the church. It was an interesting experience because I had to have the second counselor translate every sentence I said in to Lithuanian This made my talk much longer. In the end it was a success! Te very nice mad that was translating my talk tolled me after the meeting that I almost made him cry a couple times. He went on to say that he had a feeling to ask one of us "American girls" to talk butilkl xy he didn't know why, until the meeting. He said that the missionaries had found anamerican man that wanted to learn more about church, and that it was perfect that I gave that talk. I would have like to talk to him longer but I was interrupted with little girls jumping on me and pulling me in a contradicting direction. The little girls are so precious.
Children here are very crazy sometimes. Parents give kids alcohol sometimes lol, they just get really moody when they are drunk. Today, we were on a bus and we saw one of the kids we teach standing at a bus stop waiting for a bus all by him self! He just stood there with a cute little smile waving at us as we drove by. He must not even be 8! I see so many young children on their own or with younger siblings out and about with no adult. They are just left to figure things out on their own because their parents work all day. All the children I meet speak so many languages, it is crazy sometimes.
A kid, that I had previous problems with, was an angel for a while! I think I we are making progress with him :D. One day in class we made rain clouds, and the children loved the water gun rain that I used to describe rain.
My roommates and I went to the Gates Of Dawn last week. Inside the wall is a beautiful church that is the home to what is know as the Mona Lisa of the Baltics. In the shadow of the wall is a cute street that is littered with small cute shops.
A couple days ago I had one of my best days here in Lithuanian. It started out with eating a delicious banana and chocolate pancake at a cute place in old town, then a look inside the beautiful Presidential Palace. After the palace, I saw, the more than amazing movie, The Avengers! in English! (my roommates and I were the only ones laughing at the funny parts, because we were the only ones that understood the English references lol). Next, we ate a yummy Russian dinner with a very nice family. During which, a sweet little girl I teach showed me all her toys and did my hair as we watch an episode of leap frog. Finally, I ended the day listening to very beautiful Russian songs, shown to me by one of the nicest people I know. I am starting to fall in love with this culture.
I am taking Russian classes while my stay here. I felt like I had a break through last class I had but it is a lot harder than I thought. I am going to need to study a lot.
My roommates and I went to a music festival int the city. It was so cool seeing all the street artists around every corner. I brought my guitar and my roommate brought her Uke and we jammed for a while in a nice park we found. It made me feel so great that I got that out of my system.
Dreadlocks are so popular in Europe, so are mullets. Yet the most common hair style it dreadlock mullets lol.
Flash back to this morning:
I ran in 40 degree weather.... I felt like it should have been snowing... Yet to make it better I had a good playlist that made me break out in dance in the middle of my run lol. I felt so hard core I even started punch dancing ;)
Today was another wonderful day at church. My roommates and I, AKA "the girls from America", sang a song for stake conference here in Lithuania. The song we sang was I Need Thee Every Hour. It went very well and everyone loved it. It was nice seeing the happy faces of the people of the church.

 "you all laugh because I'm different, I laugh because you are all the same" ~Jacob.

Old Town Vilnius, Lithuania. 

This was a cool wood worker shop we found. 

One of the last standing Jewish churches from WWII in Vilnius, Lithuania.

When the sidewalk ends, dance in the street. 

We were dawn to this little music shop by some old jazz coming from inside the doors. This was the coolest little music shop, in an old bunker of some kind. The room smelt of damp stone and history as I shuffled through the records of our past. 

This is not the best pic, yet I think it is super funny that one can find a McD anywhere in the world. This particular McD was so nice one needed a code to enter the bathroom. 

We wandered around the city of Vilnius and found this quiet little corner that was hidden from the busy city by ivy covered walls. Beautiful piano music flowed out the open window as we rested in the shade of a stone wall. I never want to forget that relaxing feeling.

End.

Okay, so I feel as if I should keep up in my blog with some "words", not just photographs, about how and what I am doing lol. So here is goes.

At the current moment I am here in Vilnius, Lithuania teaching English to young children as a volunteer. This is my home for four months and I plan to do some traveling while I am here.

This Blog it mostly made up of photographs I have taken (except Nicaragua, and the pics I'm in) of my adventures in the past couple years. I hope you enjoy them :).

In the past couple weeks a lot has happened, from wondering around the city of Vilnius to getting sick lol. As of this moment I am safe and well. Yesterday, the day I got over my sickness, I ate a feast because I was finally able to taste and swallow food. My first week here the four of us girls had to sleep in a small room, so our sleeping arrangement ended up being very close, laying side by side. In turn,  the sickness leaped from one person to the next until it got to me. For a could days I could not teach and I had to stay in the room, I felt like I may have gone a little crazy lol. I was lucky that one of the girls stayed home with me for a day due to her sickness as well lol. She introduced me to some very interesting movies that I enjoyed very much :).   

Today at church I learned how to sing in Lithuanian, because my fellow teachers and I have been asked to sing at a church conference. It is really hard to sing in Lithuanian because of the way the language is spoken. In turn, there end up being a lot of people with an inability to distinguish differences in pitch lol. Yet the best part about the ward is that no matter what the people will still sing their heart out, and that is what I love. They seem to be under the impression that all american's can sing well lol.

Everyone at the Vilnius, Lithuanian church is very nice and humble, I feel very comfortable here. I know that I am short to begin with, but the people here make me feel even shorter due to their naturally tall build. The children here are unnecessarily cute, its almost enough to make me want to marry a Lithuanian man. ;) lol.

Another thing that has been brought to my attention by some young girls at church, is that I look like Lady Gaga.... lol aaand now every time the kids at church see me they will sing a Gaga song lol. 

Church was very good and I was especially moved by the testimony of this particular young chap, about the age of 7, that only spoke Polish. His father stood next to the boy as he translated his testimony to Lithuanian and then a missionary translated it to English for me. The boy's testimony was not long and there was no story or parable that went with it, yet his testimony was amazing because of how well he understood the love of our Heavenly Father. A child's testimony is truly the strongest and most touching. One can always feel the spirit in their testimonies, never forget the importance of a young child's words and feelings.

The weather today stayed nice just long enough for my fellow teachers and I to get home from church. As of right now the sun has been covered by clouds, rain, wind, and thunder. It is pretty to see the trees bow in the wind and the rain rush from the sky, it reminds me home home in Washington.

Well time to break the fast Sunday and eat some yummy food, thanks to my awesome roommates! So I will leave you with some things to be grateful for.
Be grateful for:
Napkins
Light bulbs
Toilet paper
A working toilet

I hope you will enjoy my future updates :)

Experience is the most effective way to learn, and example is the most effective way to teach.

Old Town Vilnius, Lithuania. 

The two little girls were making a run for it across the court yard as their dad was running after them. The girls almost seemed super determined to get to the cathedral on the other side of the court yard. 

End.

Vilnius Cathedral, Lithuania. 

The Crypt under the chapel. 

 An Old painting of Jesus placed in the crypt, so the people that have passed would see this and go to heaven.

End.

Washington Skiing.

End.

San Francisco, California. 

End.