Participants: Jeff Reich
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000138S
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00:50 Today we journey back to the country of Lithuania
00:53 one of Laymen Ministries oldest mission projects. 00:56 About the size of the state of West Virginia, 00:59 Lithuania is located in Northern Europe. 01:02 It's one of the three Baltic countries 01:03 having a very expansive history over the last millennium. 01:07 Originally, Lithuania was inhabited 01:09 by various Baltic tribes but in 1230 01:13 Mindaugas united Lithuanian people 01:15 and lands into an official state 01:17 which foretime was the largest in all of Europe. 01:22 Lithuania has also been 01:23 one of the most occupied countries in Europe 01:26 most notably by Russia after World War I 01:29 and then Nazi Germany during World War II. 01:32 At that time it is estimated 01:34 Lithuanian Jews 01:37 were killed by the Nazi regime. 01:40 After World War II the country was again 01:43 reoccupied by Russia until 1991. 01:47 Although the country is still recovering from occupation, 01:51 26% of its young people ages 18 to 25 remain unemployed 01:57 and this contributes to the problems of alcoholism. 02:01 In fact, Lithuania has a highest suicide 02:03 and alcohol abuse rate in all of Europe. 02:06 This also contributes to why there are 02:09 so many orphan children in this country. 02:12 The people of this small Baltic land 02:14 have a nationalistic pride 02:16 which is reflected in Lithuania's flag 02:18 which is comprised of three eco bands of yellow, green and red. 02:23 The yellow represents the golden fields, 02:26 sun and goodness, green is the color of forest 02:30 and countryside as well as freedom and hope 02:33 and red symbolizes courage with the spilling of blood 02:37 in defense of their homeland. 02:40 This is Lithuania. 02:43 Laymen Ministry has had a presence in Lithuania's 02:45 since the spring of 1993. 02:48 Today, by your support 02:50 we sponsor Bible workers and pastors, church camps, 02:54 published literature and help orphanages. 02:57 We also started recently publishing 02:59 an outreach paper entitled "The Source of Hope." 03:03 Arunas wife Neringa does all the layout 03:05 and design of our paper using her computer in their home. 03:08 We arrived in Lithuania just in time join Pastor Arunas 03:12 as he went to pickup our latest printing of the Source of Hope. 03:15 This paper we're picking it up in Kaunas all we-- 03:17 Yeah, Kaunas. How far away is that? 03:19 Just for one hour of drive. 03:21 When we started printing the paper 03:23 how many copies did we print? 03:25 1,500. 03:27 And that was when I was here last time 03:29 it was three years ago. 03:30 Yeah, yeah, yeah, some time. 03:31 So how many we're printing now? 15,000. 03:35 15,000 papers? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 03:37 And you go get 15,000 papers in this car ever day. 03:40 No, I will go thrice. You have to go three trips? 03:43 Yeah, yeah. And you store. 03:44 One trip I'm storing in Kaunas and one I'm going here. 03:48 Also you're storing some here. 03:49 Yeah, Kaunas about here and back to Kaunas. 03:52 Okay. 03:54 So wow that's a lot of papers. Yeah. 04:21 Our papers have become extremely popular in Lithuania 04:24 with both church members and non-church members alike. 04:28 Church members like to pass them out 04:29 to friends, family or even people on the street. 04:33 Due to how many papers we're now printing 04:35 Arunas has to make two trips 04:37 when he picks up a new printing. 04:40 I was a bit skeptical that this little car 04:42 could take all of this weight. 04:44 The first batch will go 04:45 to the Adventist Mission headquarters to be distributed 04:48 among its members and various churches. 04:50 Here at the mission house 04:51 and we're gonna unload all these papers. 04:53 Right now this car is like just really overloaded 04:56 but we've been working with the church and the printing 04:58 and distribution of these papers 05:00 it's a Laymen Ministries project 05:01 but it's been so successful that everybody is pretty much 05:04 onboard want to help distribute them. 05:13 Now starts the hard part. 05:25 Yeah, get those with your ease. We kind of get out. 05:34 After unloading the first load 05:35 it was back to the printers to pickup the rest. 05:38 These would be stored at the Arunas's house 05:40 for our Bible workers to handout. 05:56 One of the advantages of owning a ground level flat 05:59 is that the papers can be passed from the car 06:01 directly into the home through an open window. 06:18 Every time I come to Lithuania I'm shocked and amazed 06:21 at the fact that Lithuania is about 06:23 the size of state of West Virginia in America 06:25 but it's estimated between a 165,000 to a 190,000 06:30 Lithuanian Jews were killed here during the holocaust. 06:32 In fact, that this area here in the forest 06:35 just outside of the city of Ukmerge 06:37 is this monument that says 10,000 Jews 06:40 were murdered right here in this part of the forest. 06:47 Its 6:30 in the morning right now on a Sunday morning 06:50 we're heading to the city of Plunge 06:53 this is a small town that we actually started 06:56 the very first Adventist church there 06:58 years ago with violet, 06:59 guideless probably around year 2000. 07:02 We're gonna go there today we'll handout the paper 07:04 that we've been publishing. 07:07 And it's raining out. 07:32 Well, Robertas is one of our newest Bible workers 07:34 he started working with the ministry 07:35 about a year and a half ago 07:37 and he works with the lot of young people. 07:38 During the summer time not only is he giving 07:40 Bible studies all year around but, you know, several times 07:42 he has young people coming to his place 07:44 and stay in the weekend 07:45 and then during the summer like in June, July August 07:49 he has summer camps for they seeing with the kids, 07:52 they go out and hand literature out, 07:54 they have Bible studies and then they have 07:56 a lot of activities like to see what's going on here. 07:58 He got his whole backyard made into kind of like 08:02 what they do call youth challenge type think 08:04 what they have in America 08:05 and they have kind so of activities pretty nice. 08:14 Youth come from all kinds of cities and villages 08:17 to attend these youth camps. 08:19 Not only do they have a good time 08:20 but they are also active in Bible studies 08:23 and community outreach. 08:24 This group look like they were having a lot of fun 08:27 and they were more than happy to share some of it with me. 08:30 Now the question is am I ready? 08:32 You're ready. Wow. 08:40 Robertas used to be in the special police forces 08:43 and his youth camps reflect the structure 08:45 and discipline he learned while serving. 08:47 The youth respond well to the structure 08:49 and discipline he offers. 08:57 This was a pathfinder youth weekend 08:59 and Robertas has planned an outreach project like 09:01 passing out the Source of Hope of paper in the nearby city. 09:05 The pathfinders were extremely excited 09:06 as they teamed up and took stacks to hand out. 09:27 The caravan from the country to the city 09:29 and with some final directions from Robertas 09:31 they were off to paper the town. 10:02 People generally really appreciate his paper 10:05 and the youth make sure to get them into the hands 10:08 of as many people as possible including those leaving 10:11 a Catholic church after church services. 10:26 We are in Catholic church, 10:28 we came and we gave some newspapers to people 10:31 but I saw that priest is not very happy. 10:34 He is little angry so we need to be polite. 10:37 And you need to just watch around 10:39 and then we all went out. 10:40 So we'll go into the street here. 11:03 Robertas just explained me that the purpose of sharing paper 11:07 is not just to share more and more just quantity 11:11 but we want that the children would love ministry 11:14 and just giving not so many, 11:16 but to advance the people this is good. 11:21 Robertas is one of our newest Bible workers. 11:23 He's worked with Laymen Ministries 11:24 now for couple of years. 11:26 He has a really interesting background 11:27 because he was always been an athletic guy. 11:30 He finally decided that he wanted to join 11:32 the allied Special Forces here to be able to fight 11:35 some of the worst criminals inside Lithuania. 11:38 And it was at that time he started wondering 11:40 what would happened if I die. 11:41 And this haunted him because he knew that 11:44 in the kind of work he was doing that 11:45 that's a high possibility. 11:47 When they ran into some evangelical Christians 11:49 and they basically shared some literature with him that 11:52 told him that if we just calls on the Jesus he'll be saved. 11:55 One day he prayed he said, Lord, 11:57 he said show me that You really do exist. 12:01 And then a couple of days later they were called out 12:04 the Special Forces were called out to try to arrest 12:07 one of the most dangerous serial murderers in Lithuania. 12:11 He put his bulletproof vest 12:13 but he accidentally put it on wrong 12:15 and as they bushed into the room 12:16 and there was a hail of bullets flying and shooting, 12:20 he was shot in the leg and he was shot numerous times 12:23 and they finally they killed this man 12:25 and he was taken to the hospital 12:27 and he realized that he had put his bulletproof vest on wrong 12:31 and it bullet hits places where vest shouldn't have been 12:34 and he said Lord, thank you now 12:35 that's your sign to me that You really do exist. 12:39 And because he had a bullet wound 12:40 he started spending time in the hospital 12:42 for the next two months studying the Bible. 12:44 Eventually he was baptized. 12:45 He stayed in the Special Forces for another 15 years 12:49 and then after that he just completely walked away from it. 12:52 Now he is a fulltime Bible worker 12:53 with Laymen Ministries. 12:55 He's running these youth camps trying to make a difference 12:57 with these young people in their lives and he said, 13:00 not only do I want to give them good activities 13:02 but I want to be able to lead them to Jesus Christ 13:06 because Jesus Christ saved my life. 13:17 We tracked bill commissioners 13:18 this is where Arunas used to pastor 13:20 and everybody is excited to see us here 13:22 because they all know all of us pretty well 13:24 and today they are gonna be making a cake. 13:27 And Arunas, what do they call this cake? 13:30 Sakotis. 13:31 Sakotis. Sakotis. 13:33 And this is little bit different type of cake 13:36 it's a real traditional cake here in Lithuania 13:38 and you know in America we have the typical like 13:41 wedding cake and birthday cakes 13:42 thick frosting is in the wider chocolate kind of cake. 13:45 Well, this cake is a really unusual one. 13:48 And I think it'll be very interesting to see 13:49 how it's made, dangerous. 13:56 To make the cake in the dungeon basement. 14:04 What kind of tools? 14:08 One kilo of sugar, this time one kilo of sugar. 14:12 This is not healthy for me by the way. 14:23 Sixty eggs think about that, sixty eggs. 14:28 This is the cake that kills. 14:54 They're saying that even though 14:55 this cake is made from cream and eggs and sugar 14:59 and that stuff that this cake is more healthy 15:02 than the other ones you buy in the stores 15:03 because they add all kinds of chemicals and preservatives. 15:06 These eggs and these cream are all natural from the villages 15:09 so it's real more healthy. 15:19 The one lady was saying that 15:21 these cakes originated in Germany 15:22 years and years ago but they came to Lithuania 15:25 and became part of the Lithuanian culture here. 15:29 I don't remember ever seen cakes like this 15:31 in Germany today. 15:32 So I don't know if they're still making them there, 15:34 this is definitely a really big cultural thing 15:37 for the country of Lithuania. 16:52 Put around here. Put around here. 17:40 The next day we celebrated Sabbath 17:42 at a home church in the countryside. 17:44 Arunas and Dalia were our host and it was Dalia's birthday 17:48 so we gave her the Sakotis cake as a gift. 17:51 We spend the morning singing hymns 17:53 and having Bible studies later we had a chance 17:55 to speak with Arunas about Nerijus and Dalia 17:58 and how they came to join the church. 18:00 This is my friends Nerijus and Dalia. 18:02 I want to introduce to everybody. 18:05 So their story begins more than twenty years ago. 18:09 Dalia was after a Bible seminar 18:12 was baptized in the capital city Vilnius. 18:16 And after that she just left her church 18:18 because no body connected her and so 18:22 and the years passed by and by 18:24 and one man from the Adventist church 18:26 he just met her and Dalia 18:28 and gave for the book Great Controversy. 18:32 And she just kept her book 18:34 and both them were in Norway, yeah? 18:37 Norway. Yeah. 18:38 They were in Norway and just one moment 18:41 just she decided to read the book the Great Controversy. 18:46 And we were reading and reading and we decided that 18:48 we need to study the Bible, yeah. 18:51 So I was just giving Bible studies by emails 18:54 and I was writing emails to Dalia 18:57 because she first started the conversation 18:59 but Nerijus, what you were reading in these studies. 19:03 I was reading these emails also, together with Dalia 19:08 and after reading the emails, 19:14 we both think that, 19:18 we want to back home to Lithuania. 19:22 And we didn't know what do after that 19:26 because we had read the Great Controversy 19:31 after that we decided that we needed to be baptized 19:35 and we need to make to became wife and man. 19:43 So I went to their home 19:45 and we were talking just ask many questions. 19:49 And one of the questions was, are you married? 19:51 And they said not yet. Not yet, yeah. 19:55 So we were talking and said 19:58 we should do something with that, 20:00 about getting married before this baptism. 20:05 And actually it was interesting that 20:09 on Friday they just married 20:11 and on Sabbath we had baptism service. 20:14 So it was interesting story and because of one book 20:18 it helped to come to the Bible it was The Great Controversy 20:21 that Bible and after Bible studies 20:23 they became our new church members 20:25 and now they are devoted church members 20:28 because Dalia piano and we singing songs 20:31 and we're very happy together in our Adventist family. 20:34 Oh, yeah. 20:38 It's hard to believe that over 20 years ago 20:40 that there was no Adventist churches in this country. 20:43 And now many people are eager to study the Word of God 20:46 and to learn of His great love. 20:51 Julius has been a Bible worker 20:52 with Laymen Ministries for over 15 years. 20:55 He spends most of his days meeting with contacts 20:57 and giving Bible studies. 20:59 He also was a lay pastor of a church in his area 21:02 and was happy to show us a new room they started renting 21:05 to start another church plant in a nearby city. 21:09 This is a little room in Kupiskis 21:11 if I've said that name of the city right. 21:13 That Julius started renting about two months ago 21:15 and he starting a church here. 21:16 He's got about six, seven, sometimes eight people 21:19 that come on Sabbath here. 21:20 It's a beginning. 21:24 After taking a look at this small church room 21:26 we went to visit an orphanage 21:27 and buy the children some new cloths. 21:30 Since the year 2000 we have helped 21:32 14 different orphanages across the country. 22:49 Many of these children come from homes 22:51 that were broken by alcoholism, divorce or low income. 22:55 Most of the children will stay in the orphanage 22:57 until they're finished with high school. 22:59 If it wasn't for these dedicated orphanage workers 23:02 most of these children would end up on the streets. 23:24 I like to show you how we have accountability 23:26 here in Lithuania in the way that our finances are handled. 23:30 All the projects of Laymen Ministries 23:31 are to have really strict accounting practices. 23:34 And here Pastor Arunas has for instances they're actually 23:38 like records for every one of the Bible workers 23:40 and it shows what days the Bible workers are working, 23:43 what things they're doing, 23:44 how many Bible studies they give, 23:46 how many churches they visit, 23:47 how much literature they hand out. 23:49 And even though our ministry operates like a family 23:52 this is a really good way to monitor the Bible workers 23:54 to see if they're struggling, if they're having problems 23:57 and also to see kind of 23:58 kind of a performance review of what they doing. 24:01 Also when we go to orphanages it's pretty interesting 24:04 when we have all these different paperwork 24:07 from the orphanages how much money was spent. 24:09 And for instance this year it shows 24:12 orphanage project in Kedainiai in 2012 24:15 we have a letter of receipt from the actual president 24:19 or the director of the orphanage 24:20 and we keep copies of every single penny 24:23 that was spent its taped to the back our forms here 24:27 and it shows all the money that was spent so that we have 24:29 strict accountability for every penny 24:31 that was used buy clothes. 24:33 We are also really careful that 24:34 when we give cloths to the orphanage 24:36 or literature anything like that we knowthat 24:38 the things go directly to the children 24:40 and none of the employees are taking 24:41 any of these things home to their kids. 24:44 So I'm really proud of Arunas, 24:45 he's got really tight financial structure here in the way 24:48 that he handles all the finances 24:50 and he keeps it really close account of all the money 24:53 that sent over for the projects here in Lithuania. 25:01 I would like to explain the project of lending library 25:05 and this project to continue in Lithuania 25:08 we need many books because we're meeting people 25:10 and we changing books 25:11 and Laymen Ministries helps us to buy more books 25:14 and we just going door to door finding people 25:17 who likes to read to books and after that 25:19 they just giving the book to read. 25:22 And after two or three weeks we're coming back 25:24 and we're just asking many questions 25:26 like did you really understand the book? 25:27 How did they enjoy? 25:29 And we're reading books and after I just usually 25:34 becoming a Bible studies and this is easy way 25:37 to lead people to Jesus and to baptism so its great pleasure. 25:46 Towards the end of our stay at Lithuania 25:48 we held a Bible workers meeting. 25:50 It was great to reunite with of old friends 25:52 as many have worked with us for years. 25:55 After some words of encouragement, 25:57 study and planning 25:59 we had opportunity to share a meal together. 26:02 Thomas is one of our newer Bible workers 26:04 and also the youngest. 26:06 He often speaks to church and gives Bible studies. 26:09 It's very exciting to see the next generation on fire 26:12 and willing to take the torch. 26:14 It's a huge advantage to have such a broad 26:16 and diverse group of people eager to share the word of God. 26:20 Each Bible worker has their own unique way 26:23 of reaching people and together 26:24 they are working to increase God's kingdom 26:27 and prepare people for the soon return of Jesus Christ. 26:45 Every time I come here to Lithuania 26:47 it reminds me of the fact that Bible workers work 26:51 and that's why Laymen Ministries supports them. 26:53 When I was 17-18 years old there was a Bible worker 26:56 that touched my life that opened up the scriptures 26:58 and showed me what the Bible says about different subjects, 27:01 and that's one of the reasons Laymen Ministries supports 27:03 Bible workers today is because they do work. 27:06 And when I come to Lithuania here I realize 27:08 that these Bible workers are not people 27:11 who have gone to some university 27:12 and they got some kind of degree. 27:14 They're just common regular people who have studied 27:16 their Bibles and have a burden to try to share 27:18 what they've learned with other people. 27:20 That's the heartbeat of Laymen Ministries. 27:22 It's about empowering the common people in the church 27:24 to be ministers for Christ. 27:26 If they can do it, you can do it. 27:28 And I just want to encourage you 27:29 as you watch our programs that you would realize 27:32 that you too can have an active part in ministering for Christ 27:35 that you can be a missionary where you are. |
Revised 2023-02-06