We have experienced a pretty remarkable weekend. It started on Saturday with our 25-
year jubilee celibration of the church being in Lithuania. We participated in a variety of
ways. We hosted a class room spotlighting service projects in Lithuania over the past 4
years. These were all projects that we have been involved in over the past two missions
including quilts for orphans, walkers and blankets for an old-folks home, painting murals
on the walls of orphanages, making tag quilts, floor quilts, and quiet books for
handicapped children and our current service with our special needs friends. Karen also
made a lot of cookies, eclairs and cream puffs for the celebration. Then we had the
opportunity to participate with our branch members from Klaipeda in their song and
dance routine for the main celebration. We were honored that they wanted us to
participate with them.
Saturday evening we attended a baptism for a single lady, Barbara (don't know her last
name) and her five children. This was a special event for all of us and the story that goes
with this event is quite remarkable. About three years ago when we were here on our
first mission there was a girl from America here with some others who were teaching
English to some school children in Vilnius. Her name is Rachel Robison. We had her
over to our apartment on occasion and she helped us with painting and quilting projects.
Her host family was good friends with Barbara. When Barbara heard that there was a
Mormon girl living with her friends, she was kind of negative and warned her that it was
not a good idea. Aparently in her mind the Mormons were a shady bunch at best. But the
friend had gotten to know Rachel and felt just the opposite. So, the opportunity came for
Rachel to meet Barbara and tell her a little about the church. That piqued her interest. In
due time the director over the english program, who is LDS and lived here in Vilnius at
the time, was able to refer Barbara to the missionaries and they started to teach her. It has
been a really long process for Barbara, over 18 months, and during that time her husband
died, making life that much more difficult. But they were baptized last evening and they
all are excited about the new path they are walking on. Interesting side note. Rachel
Robison's sister is currently serving a mission here in Lithuania. She told me that after
Rachel went home she started struggling with being active in the church. Part of it
stemmed from pressure she felt for not having served a mission. Anyway, Sister Robison
told her sister Rachel, a couple of months ago, that Barbara and her family was getting
baptized. It helped her turn things around in her life and she is now back into activity in
the church and feeling good about herself. And her family has also started coming back
into activity. We get a couple of great lessons out of this. One is that we never know how
our good example may help someone who is struggling, such as Rachel helped Barbara,
and then Barbara in turn helped Rachel and her faimly. The other is that families are
blessed by the Lord when a missionary serves. Sister Robison will testify to that one.
This evening (Sunday) there was another baptism in the same branch. It was a young boy
aged 10. He and his brother live with their mother and they are originally from the
Ukraine. She is a faithful member, but her 10 year old son was not baptized at 8 because
they could not obtain permission from the father. Apparently that changed and he was
preparing for a baptism in July or August. But after witnessing the baptism of Barbara's
family and watching a couple of the boys get baptized, who are his good friends, he
wanted to move the date up. Our mission president has been here all weekend and the
boy's family told him that he wanted to be baptized. When they asked him when it could
happen, he said, "How about tomorrow?" Well, that's today now and he was baptized. He
was one really happy boy. He already has a goal to become a missionary.
As I said, this was a remarkable weekend. Seven baptisms in one branch in a 24 hour
time period is likely a first for the Baltic Mission. If not, it is at least very unique. Many
other things could be written about, but this letter is already longer than planned. Hope
you all have a great week!
Love Elder and Sister Suisse
(See pictures in draft)
spiritual healing Sydney
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