Well, this has become a common thought for us as we attempt to plan and coordinate things here. Jason shared about the bowling night and how we were blessed with more guys than the first night. I had a long talk with a Masters Student named Vytautas who had many questions. We talked for over an hour and I was able to share the 4 Laws with him and able to bring him back to Jesus as the true beginning of his understanding of life. Matt and Peter will be able to follow up with him and I think he really enjoys being able to talk about the deep questions of his heart.
Yesterday Sharon and I shared with a senior student in Philosophy. She was very upfront about not believing in God and started asking questions right away. She had many questions and we were able to spend almost 45 minutes with her. She was blunt about how she felt 'religion' was a crutch and an excuse for our weaknesses. I was able to tell her I was weak and I did have fears. She eventually brought up evolution and we were able to tell her how evolution was itself an escape by simply adding years to cover for unexplainable gaps. She was interested in that and in the end she was very pleased we had come and we were pleased that we were able to plant some seeds in her heart.
Last night we had the scavenger hunt and 10 students came and had a good time. We went to a pub afterward and watched the end of the Lith/Germany basketball game and it was a very energetic atmosphere. Some of our team had the chance for good conversations with students.
Please pray for tonight as we are having our final event which is a party at Kelly and Tiana's flat. We would like to have at least 20 students tonight.
More later. Bob
Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan. --John Bunyan
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Another Day
Jason shares on behalf of all our folks in Kaunas:
"Hello, God is deffinately working in Kaunas. We had plans to go bowling last night with students, we even had reservations, but an hour or two before the meeting time we were told we could not bowl by the manager of the bowling alley. Of course there is no way we could contact the 250 ish students we had invited and change plans so we prayed and waited. Turns out the bowling alley had an upstairs full of pool tables, and once again God provided 16 to 20 guys that came to hang out, it was great. So, so far none of our plans have worked out, but God continues to provide in amazing ways. Last night I met a young man named Jonas. He has had a very hard life and I ask that you would pray for him, that God would reveal Himself to Jonas and take away his burdens. Today we will go to the second largest university to do surveys and tonight we will try to do a scanvanger hunt. Please continue praying for God's work here. "
"Hello, God is deffinately working in Kaunas. We had plans to go bowling last night with students, we even had reservations, but an hour or two before the meeting time we were told we could not bowl by the manager of the bowling alley. Of course there is no way we could contact the 250 ish students we had invited and change plans so we prayed and waited. Turns out the bowling alley had an upstairs full of pool tables, and once again God provided 16 to 20 guys that came to hang out, it was great. So, so far none of our plans have worked out, but God continues to provide in amazing ways. Last night I met a young man named Jonas. He has had a very hard life and I ask that you would pray for him, that God would reveal Himself to Jonas and take away his burdens. Today we will go to the second largest university to do surveys and tonight we will try to do a scanvanger hunt. Please continue praying for God's work here. "
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
A Note From Jason
For this update we borrowed an update from Jason, who serves on the 2-year STINT team. He writes:
" So, yesterday (Monday) was our first day in the dorms. Many of us had difficult mornings, and most of us were full of anxiety. Our hope was to talk to about 150 students during the day and then invite them to an event that evening.
In the past this amount of advertisement would only attract a couple students (probably female), but this time was a little different. We went door to door in the dorms and handed out welcome bags, did surveys, and gave personal invitations to this weeks events.
I like the simple survey, it only has 4 questions: What do you study? and Why did you choose it?, What is the one thing you would like to do in your life?,. Have you ever experienced God?, and Rate your desire to know God personally considering that is possible?. We had amazing conversations with the opportunity to share personal testimonies and the Gospel. We invited everyone to an evening of silly games and hanging out, but it got rained out which turned out to be a blessing from God. Why? Well, the average group of students that have come to Agape events in the past were maybe 5 to 6 with all but maybe 1 being girls (not a bad thing), but the guys on the team really want to engage and challenge Lithuanian guys.
Last night we had 16 students come and all of them were guys, it was great. We hung out and played pool and extended our invitations to tonights event. Please continue to pray for the hearts of students in Kaunas and that God will bring revival to this small country. Also that God will provide lasting relationships with students both guys and girls through this weeks events and that either Bible Studies or Alfa courses could start up in the dorms. Thank you and Thank God for all He has done already. God Bless, Jason
" So, yesterday (Monday) was our first day in the dorms. Many of us had difficult mornings, and most of us were full of anxiety. Our hope was to talk to about 150 students during the day and then invite them to an event that evening.
In the past this amount of advertisement would only attract a couple students (probably female), but this time was a little different. We went door to door in the dorms and handed out welcome bags, did surveys, and gave personal invitations to this weeks events.
I like the simple survey, it only has 4 questions: What do you study? and Why did you choose it?, What is the one thing you would like to do in your life?,. Have you ever experienced God?, and Rate your desire to know God personally considering that is possible?. We had amazing conversations with the opportunity to share personal testimonies and the Gospel. We invited everyone to an evening of silly games and hanging out, but it got rained out which turned out to be a blessing from God. Why? Well, the average group of students that have come to Agape events in the past were maybe 5 to 6 with all but maybe 1 being girls (not a bad thing), but the guys on the team really want to engage and challenge Lithuanian guys.
Last night we had 16 students come and all of them were guys, it was great. We hung out and played pool and extended our invitations to tonights event. Please continue to pray for the hearts of students in Kaunas and that God will bring revival to this small country. Also that God will provide lasting relationships with students both guys and girls through this weeks events and that either Bible Studies or Alfa courses could start up in the dorms. Thank you and Thank God for all He has done already. God Bless, Jason
Friday, August 31, 2007
Pray for us!!
For more info on how you can pray for us this week......check out Peter and Jen's blogwww.teamhibbs.blogspot.com/
A Heart for this Place
During this last week we have been learning and developing a heart for this culture as we have innterracted with it and the people. Today we walked around two universities and in pairs we prayed for different things that came to mind. Most of us have had the college experience so it was cool to pray for students we feel detached from due to the different culture but connected on similar experiences.
We prayed for the hearts of the Lithuanian men, that they could rise up as leaders in the nation and hopefully take over in years to come as Agape leaders as well. We also prayed for the teachers, that they would come to know the truth about God and pass it along to their students, who tend to hold fast to the opinions and wisdom of their professors. We asked God for revival among the upcoming generation, that He would bring the country back to Him.
We have found that although we don't just automatically have a heart for the people.... it develops as you begin to pray and think upon and plan as if you did have one. We are thankful for what Christ has done in our lives and we know that he wants the same sort of new life for those in Lithuania. Thank God that He uses us despite our disconnection to the culture.
It's really neat to have the Gospel at the forefront of our minds because it begins to really transform the way you interact with those around you. One thing that is always present as we walk around is the influence of Communist and even Nazi control.
Just across the river from where we are staying is one of nine forts the Lithuanians built to protect the city/country. It is now a memorial because 50,000 Lithuanians (and others brought in by the Nazis) were killed here. It was very sobering to stand just a few feet from the wall where they were lined up week after week and shot. Many were tortured severely before they died. There is a spirit of evil that was and in some cases, still is, here. There is a long history of pagan worship and many of the university buildings have statues of pagan gods as their symbols. They just use it as a clever symbol from their past, but the enemy loves to use things like that to keep a foothold. All that to say there needs to be a strong recognition by Lithuanian Christians of this influence and a confessions the sins of the past. There needs to be a unity of the remnant of believers that are here from all denominations and then a united prayer effort to break the bonds of the enemy. Please pray for the Christians here to unite and join in reaching out.
We prayed for the hearts of the Lithuanian men, that they could rise up as leaders in the nation and hopefully take over in years to come as Agape leaders as well. We also prayed for the teachers, that they would come to know the truth about God and pass it along to their students, who tend to hold fast to the opinions and wisdom of their professors. We asked God for revival among the upcoming generation, that He would bring the country back to Him.
We have found that although we don't just automatically have a heart for the people.... it develops as you begin to pray and think upon and plan as if you did have one. We are thankful for what Christ has done in our lives and we know that he wants the same sort of new life for those in Lithuania. Thank God that He uses us despite our disconnection to the culture.
It's really neat to have the Gospel at the forefront of our minds because it begins to really transform the way you interact with those around you. One thing that is always present as we walk around is the influence of Communist and even Nazi control.
Just across the river from where we are staying is one of nine forts the Lithuanians built to protect the city/country. It is now a memorial because 50,000 Lithuanians (and others brought in by the Nazis) were killed here. It was very sobering to stand just a few feet from the wall where they were lined up week after week and shot. Many were tortured severely before they died. There is a spirit of evil that was and in some cases, still is, here. There is a long history of pagan worship and many of the university buildings have statues of pagan gods as their symbols. They just use it as a clever symbol from their past, but the enemy loves to use things like that to keep a foothold. All that to say there needs to be a strong recognition by Lithuanian Christians of this influence and a confessions the sins of the past. There needs to be a unity of the remnant of believers that are here from all denominations and then a united prayer effort to break the bonds of the enemy. Please pray for the Christians here to unite and join in reaching out.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
One more thing...
One more thing...you can check out our pictures at: http://gallery.mac.com/peter.hibbs#100026
We are here!!!
We arrived without incident! No missed flights, no lost team members and no lost luggage! We have been training and familiarizing ourselves with the Lithuanian culture/language and people. The team here has done a great job of preparing a schedule and taking care of our needs. Jason arranged our lodging and we were a bit apprehensive about being housed in a dorm at Kaunas Tech. University, but we discovered it is a dorm for visiting parents and friends of the university and has recently been remodeled and is quite nice. Today we competed in a scavenger hunt (the guys against the girls) - guys won because we bribed the judges with flowers - ask to see the slide shows when we get back. It was designed to help us familiarize ourselves with the people and the city. After the scavenger hunt we came back to Matt and Sharon's for dinner with the team and some high school students from their church. We enjoyed sashlik (kebabs), a traditional Lithuanian dish and had a chance to get to know some of their church friends. We've all been very blessed by the team. We've been able to visit all of their apartments and enjoy their company. We can definitely see the hand of God on this team. He is building an amazing ministry in the country of Lithuania! Tomorrow we will be doing activities that will prepare us for sharing our faith and learning how to use the public transportation. This prep will be used for the following week where our team will be interacting with many students and we will actually be planning most of the events that we will be inviting the students to. The week is really going to start picking up, thankfully it is after the jet lag wears off a little bit. Although we have only been here for a few days our love for the country and people has taken root and begun to grow. We are anticipating how the Lord will do His work in and through us, and are excited to do His will. Please continue to pray for us, that we would have open ears to His plan. On a less personal note, it seems that we have brought the typical Portland weather with us. We love it.
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LITHUANIA SUMMER TEAM - 2007
Patrick McBride, Noah Locke, Julie Norman and Erin Misenhimer
