My Journal is not working properly, thus it is difficult for me to make new entries....I am working on it and hope to have it fixed soon.

Workin Overtime

What a day today has been!   I met with our accountant's lawyer today to go and change the directorship on our business bank account.  I couldn't believe it, when I asked for the balance, they told me it was in the negative!  I was like what?  They didn't leave us a dime.  Pretty sad, if you ask me.

After that I met with Inga for lunch.  We haven't been able to meet up with her, so I stopped by her work and we went for lunch.  It was awful food.  I ate this pancake thing that had some sort of raw looking meat in it.  Inga bought lunch though, so I felt obligated to eat it.  However, I did NOT finish my potatoes...the way my stomach was rejecting that pancake, I just didn't want to take a chance.  But our meeting went good, and she is still open to us.  After I left there I went and bought a coke in hopes that if there was anything bad in my stomach the coke would kill it! 

I called Artur and asked him if he wanted to meet up today, he said that was fine.  So he picked me up at 5pm and we went to McDonalds.  His kids were with him and I was glad to finally meet them.  They are good kids named Artur, and Evald. 

We are planning to go next Sunday together to an old castle.  He also talked about going sky-diving together!  That would be so much fun!  He said he has been once using an old soviet style parachute with no controls.  I don't think I would want to do it that way, but if they have normal chutes...well I will seriously consider it!

Now that I am finally home, I am truly exhausted.  I am looking forward to getting into bed!

Surprise

Tuomo is a really nice man from Finland.  Niki asked the Lord to help us find an accounting service for the business we purchased and God directed her to Tuomo, who we can call Tom.  He speaks English, and so far has been the nicest person we have met, volunteering a whole lot of information about running business in Lithuania.  As of this morning, I currently work as the managing director.  This means Scott shouldn't have to pay taxes which I am quite happy about. 
After that we went to a nice pizza place by the river.  The breeze coming off the water was quite nice...and the day was simply beautiful.  Kameron played on the cool playground they had there, and had a good time!  It's so nice to have him here, to help open the hearts of those around us.  Cause he sure does JUST that.  Everyone loves him, and red hair is such a rare thing, that people just look at him when he gets on the bus. 
Well, anyway after that I came home and took care of some more business for our residence permits.  It seems like this stuff will never end.  It is really a part time job...excluding all the travel time to and from meetings.   
We met the kids at 6pm as planned, but when we got there...the kids went and got all these drinks, cakes, cookies, candy, and watermelon!  It was really cool!  I couldn't beleive it.  I don't know how to act about stuff like that.  They fed me soo much icecream on top of that.  There were quite a few more kids there today, than anytime previously.  We ended up with 6 on 6 in our frisbee football game with several new guys!  God is really opening tons of doors for us.  On Saturday, we will again have a Sunday School class.  When I mentioned it, this one guy who is kinda standoffish, just said, "i want to help!"  I'm tellin ya, God is just doing cool stuff! 

Rained Out

So then yesterday, I went over to the Carpenter's house for a time of prayer together.  We listened to the message Bro. Johns preached this past Sunday about vital signs of hope, then we prayed. 

We had planned to meet the kids again from down the street, this time with the suggestion from Mark that we start Sunday School.  Well, I didn't know how in the world we were going to do that, but we prayed that "Father" would help us to do it His way. 

I told Scott that I needed to go home for a bit and for him to go on ahead, and that I would just be a little bit late.  I wasn't feeling well, and I thought I needed to eat.  Scott also prayed for me, and when he layed his hand on my back I honestly felt the Spirit of God just go all over me.  Even as I was leaving their house, I was already feeling much better! 

I ate something, and then left for the park.  Everyone was waiting on me when I got there.  I decided to sit out the first game just to make sure that I was ok.  Which by this time, I am not feeling sick at all, just a bit tired.  So Scott formed teams and began to play.  In the next few minutes, these huge storm clouds rolled in but the sun was still shining.  I looked up, and there was this big storm cloud right over us....nobody else!  It started pouring!  I mean it was like somebody was shooting rain at us.  For the next ten minutes it rained soooo hard.  Everybody was soaked!  All we could do was stand there.  We were in a park, there was no shelter.  No where to run!  It was actually all quite humorous.  After it stopped, we were already wet, so lets just play anyway.  It was a blast!  We were kinda finished with our game, and I was like, "Everybody come here!"  I told them that me and Scott were Bible teachers and that on Saturday we were going to teach the Bible at three o'clock then play frisbee football again.  I told them they needed to at least tell their parents what we were doing and that their parents were more than welcome to come.  To my surprise, everyone seemed excited!  Later Nicole, Scott's wife, told me that she was wondering how we were going to ask about the Sunday School.  And when I got up and told them that thats whatwe were going to do.  She thought it was interesting that all the kids just listened to me.  She pointed out the fact that they already act like our youth group!  It was hilarious because they do!  There were about fifteen young people there again.  It was really cool!  Scott started teaching Karate lessons after that and we ended up staying around for another couple hours.  I might mention also that the sun never ceased to shine in all that, even in the midst of the rain.  There was this huge rainbow too! 

When we left, we went to StatOil, a nearby gas station to get a hotdog.  A drunk guy started talking to us.  Showing like 5 bullet scars he had from the army!  It was crazy.  He couldn't believe that Americans were sitting on the curb, in cruddy muddy clothes eating hotdogs and riding the bus!  It was funny to watch his perception of America change in that moment.  We told him we were in Lithuania to teach the Bible.  He kept offering us a beer, but reminded himself that we didn't drink because," oh, you love God."  So he had Scott act like HE was giving the beer away.  It was really funny!  Anyway, we finally left there and came home.  The Carpenters came to my house for showers.  They haven't had hot water for several days.  Anyway!  now I'm just ramblin....

Things are speeding up

Life has definitely got much faster over the past two days.  Wednesday, I'm sorry I forgot to write, the Carpenter's and I went to sign the papers on a business we purchased so we can apply for our residence permits.  It was quite an adventure and I must admit, I am still trusting in God's instincts in this more than my own.  It appeared to be the open door that God has given us, so we have walked through it.  While we were there, they needed to prepare some protocol papers for us, so we went to lunch, and true to Mark's advice we took the lawyer's helping us with us to St. Valentino's.  A great little Italian joint!  I think it really helped our relationship open up a bit.  I don't know if lawyers here are used to that.  We were able to be ourselves and have a good time talking about why we were in Vilnius!  Since these lawyer's are going to be working with us to apply for our residence permits, its important that we have a more friendly relationship, than the cold professional way its been.  Smiles are rare....let me tell you.  I think now that we had lunch together, they have opened up a bit. 

So later that day, I was supposed to meet a lady for a Bible Study.  (This story is crazy.) Well, I missed the bus I needed to take, so I had to wait for the next one.  This made me late by about 4 minutes.  I thought "four minutes, surely she will still be there."  But she wasn't, she sent me a text message that said,"Hi John, I looked for you but you weren't there so I went home."  I couldn't believe it!  She didn't even wait FIVE minutes!  So, I called the Carpenters and told them what happened.  Then I just stood there and asked "Father" what I should do now.  I told the Devil I was going to go find someone else to teach right then! 

So I walked over to a small park where some kids were skateboarding and sat down on a bench, waiting for something...I didn't know what.  Finally, this guy sits down next to me with big dreadlocks.  I asked him what his name was, he told me it was "George."  We talked and exchanged phone numbers, then left the park.  I was walking toward the bus, debating whether or not I should eat at Mcdonalds or at home.  I decided to eat "now" at McDonalds.  Which, is almost always the better idea. On the way there I got message from the lady.  She said she was sorry that she left so soon, and honestly thought that I would not show up.  I told her "I forgive you and lets meet."  Ironically, I was back in McDonalds, the place we originally planned to meet.  It was really cool how things worked out.  I talked with her for several hours about the Bible, about what God has done for me, and what He wants to do for her.  We plan to meet again!  I give God all the glory for everything!