Matt's Birthday

Matt celebrated his 22nd birthday on July 29th. We continued our tradition of going out to eat on his special day. This year we tried a new German restaurant in town. Matt was born in Germany so we thought this would fit the evening well. The food was very good and brought back many memories. The chef was eager to tell us about his cooking skills :) He is from Germany and has been perfecting his skills by living in many places around the world. He even lived in Texas to learn about steaks! Now he says his steaks are better than any other! (Bob will try that next time.)

Last night Bette Sue tried the homemade sausages and Bob had veal schnitzel. They were both delicious! The cook, Tomas, happily informed us that he makes the sausages fresh every day and sells them too. We can place an order for any kind of meat from Germany and fresh sausages at any time and Tomas will be happy to sell us what we want. So, we may try it out some time.

The evening was perfect for being outside. As you can see, many other people thought so too! The cafes were filled and people were strolling around everywhere. These are the things that draw people to our city and all over Europe.

100th Post!

Here is the Lithuanian national bird...a STORK!!!!!!!!

They are teaching their babies how to live now and we see them out in the fields while we travel.

This nest is near the campgrounds. We often wonder if it is the same storks that we see every year!

Convoy of Hope Shipment

Thanks to Convoy of Hope in America we received 16 1/2 tons of products to distribute to orphanages, Teen Challenge, Children's Centers, and give out 500 bags of items to families at our outreach in the city of Jonava in August.

We have been working hard with many others to get the products sorted. We have thousands of diapers to give to a baby orphanage and beans, beans, beans! The best part is that these beans came from Michigan!!!!!! You can see Bob standing with a 100 lb. bag of beans. (He wasn't carrying them. The Teen Challenge guys were great helpers with the big items!) There were a couple bags that got damaged and so we found some loose beans as well.

This is a privilege to share these items with others. Convoy of Hope is making it possible for us to bless others in Lithuania. We thank the Lord for this opportunity!

Weekend in Mazeikiai

We had a wonderful time with the church in Mazeikiai. Bob taught two sessions on leadership training. Bette Sue taught a group of women how to make Apple Squares and then they talked about following God's recipe for life. Bob preached on Sunday about stepping into your miracle. It was a great weekend!

We made many new friends and enjoyed spending time with the pastor and his family. They have been in this city for 18 years.

On Saturday our day ended with a beautiful rainbow waiting for us to see! Another reminder of God's faithfulness to keep his promises.

Sunday in Siauliai

Andrius and Silvija went along with us to interpret for the seminar and at church. We were on the walking street in the Old Town area Saturday evening and there were very few people around. It was definitely a quieter city than Vilnius.

The church meets in a Day Care Center for children. The center is open Monday through Friday and reaches out to many children and families.

More in Siauliai

The Crisis Center where we stayed for the weekend has the plan to raise goats and open a cheese factory. We drank goat's milk and ate goat's cheese all weekend.

They offered to let us milk a goat and Bette Sue gave it a try. She didn't get as much milk out as the machine but now she can say she did it! That is something for a city girl to do!

It was fun to watch the goats line up to get fed. They were all eager to have their turn since they got to eat while they were being milked. These are Checkoslovakian goats that are high-standard and produce excellent milk.

As you can see, the "baby" goats thought the better green food was up in the trees.