Today we journey back
to the country of Lithuania
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one of Laymen Ministries
oldest mission projects.
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About the size of the
state of West Virginia,
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Lithuania is
located in Northern Europe.
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It's one of the
three Baltic countries
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having a very expansive history
over the last millennium.
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Originally,
Lithuania was inhabited
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by various Baltic
tribes but in 1230
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Mindaugas united
Lithuanian people
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and lands into an official state
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which foretime was the
largest in all of Europe.
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Lithuania has also been
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one of the most
occupied countries in Europe
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most notably by
Russia after World War I
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and then Nazi
Germany during World War II.
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At that time it is estimated
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Lithuanian Jews
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were killed by the Nazi regime.
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After World War II
the country was again
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reoccupied by Russia until 1991.
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Although the country is still
recovering from occupation,
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26% of its young people
ages 18 to 25 remain unemployed
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and this contributes to
the problems of alcoholism.
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In fact, Lithuania
has a highest suicide
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and alcohol abuse
rate in all of Europe.
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This also
contributes to why there are
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so many orphan
children in this country.
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The people of
this small Baltic land
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have a nationalistic pride
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which is reflected
in Lithuania's flag
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which is comprised of three eco
bands of yellow, green and red.
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The yellow
represents the golden fields,
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sun and goodness,
green is the color of forest
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and countryside as
well as freedom and hope
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and red symbolizes courage
with the spilling of blood
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in defense of their homeland.
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This is Lithuania.
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Laymen Ministry has had
a presence in Lithuania's
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since the spring of 1993.
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Today, by your support
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we sponsor Bible workers
and pastors, church camps,
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published
literature and help orphanages.
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We also started
recently publishing
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an outreach paper
entitled "The Source of Hope."
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Arunas wife
Neringa does all the layout
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and design of our paper using
her computer in their home.
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We arrived in Lithuania
just in time join Pastor Arunas
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as he went to pickup our latest
printing of the Source of Hope.
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This paper we're
picking it up in Kaunas all we--
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Yeah, Kaunas.
How far away is that?
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Just for one hour of drive.
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When we started
printing the paper
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how many copies did we print?
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1,500.
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And that was when
I was here last time
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it was three years ago.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, some time.
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So how many we're
printing now? 15,000.
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15,000 papers? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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And you go get 15,000
papers in this car ever day.
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No, I will go thrice.
You have to go three trips?
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Yeah, yeah. And you store.
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One trip I'm storing in
Kaunas and one I'm going here.
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Also you're storing some here.
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Yeah, Kaunas about
here and back to Kaunas.
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Okay.
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So wow that's a
lot of papers. Yeah.
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Our papers have become
extremely popular in Lithuania
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with both church members
and non-church members alike.
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Church members
like to pass them out
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to friends, family or
even people on the street.
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Due to how many
papers we're now printing
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Arunas has to make two trips
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when he picks up a new printing.
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I was a bit
skeptical that this little car
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could take all of this weight.
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The first batch will go
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to the Adventist Mission
headquarters to be distributed
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among its members
and various churches.
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Here at the mission house
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and we're gonna
unload all these papers.
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Right now this car is
like just really overloaded
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but we've been working
with the church and the printing
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and distribution of these papers
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it's a Laymen Ministries project
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but it's been so successful
that everybody is pretty much
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onboard want to
help distribute them.
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Now starts the hard part.
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Yeah, get those with
your ease. We kind of get out.
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After unloading the first load
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it was back to the
printers to pickup the rest.
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These would be
stored at the Arunas's house
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for our Bible
workers to handout.
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One of the advantages of
owning a ground level flat
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is that the papers
can be passed from the car
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directly into the home
through an open window.
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Every time I come to
Lithuania I'm shocked and amazed
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at the fact that
Lithuania is about
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the size of state of
West Virginia in America
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but it's estimated
between a 165,000 to a 190,000
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Lithuanian Jews were killed
here during the holocaust.
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In fact, that this
area here in the forest
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just outside of
the city of Ukmerge
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is this monument
that says 10,000 Jews
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were murdered right here
in this part of the forest.
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Its 6:30 in the morning
right now on a Sunday morning
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we're heading to
the city of Plunge
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this is a small town
that we actually started
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the very first
Adventist church there
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years ago with violet,
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guideless
probably around year 2000.
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We're gonna go there
today we'll handout the paper
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that we've been publishing.
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And it's raining out.
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Well, Robertas is one
of our newest Bible workers
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he started
working with the ministry
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about a year and a half ago
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and he works with
the lot of young people.
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During the summer
time not only is he giving
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Bible studies all year around
but, you know, several times
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he has young
people coming to his place
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and stay in the weekend
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and then during the
summer like in June, July August
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he has summer camps for
they seeing with the kids,
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they go out and
hand literature out,
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they have Bible
studies and then they have
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a lot of activities like
to see what's going on here.
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He got his whole
backyard made into kind of like
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what they do call
youth challenge type think
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what they have in America
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and they have kind so
of activities pretty nice.
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Youth come from all
kinds of cities and villages
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to attend these youth camps.
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Not only do
they have a good time
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but they are also
active in Bible studies
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and community outreach.
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This group look like
they were having a lot of fun
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and they were more than happy
to share some of it with me.
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Now the question is am I ready?
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You're ready. Wow.
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Robertas used to be in
the special police forces
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and his youth camps
reflect the structure
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and discipline he
learned while serving.
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The youth respond
well to the structure
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and discipline he offers.
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This was a
pathfinder youth weekend
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and Robertas has
planned an outreach project like
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passing out the Source of Hope
of paper in the nearby city.
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The pathfinders
were extremely excited
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as they teamed up and
took stacks to hand out.
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The caravan from
the country to the city
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and with some final
directions from Robertas
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they were off to paper the town.
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People generally
really appreciate his paper
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and the youth make sure
to get them into the hands
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of as many people as
possible including those leaving
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a Catholic church
after church services.
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We are in Catholic church,
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we came and we gave
some newspapers to people
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but I saw that
priest is not very happy.
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He is little angry
so we need to be polite.
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And you need to
just watch around
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and then we all went out.
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So we'll go
into the street here.
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Robertas just explained me that
the purpose of sharing paper
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is not just to share
more and more just quantity
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but we want that the
children would love ministry
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and just giving not so many,
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but to advance the
people this is good.
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Robertas is one of
our newest Bible workers.
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He's worked with
Laymen Ministries
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now for couple of years.
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He has a really
interesting background
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because he was
always been an athletic guy.
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He finally decided
that he wanted to join
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the allied Special
Forces here to be able to fight
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some of the worst
criminals inside Lithuania.
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And it was at that
time he started wondering
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what would happened if I die.
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And this haunted
him because he knew that
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in the kind of
work he was doing that
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that's a high possibility.
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When they ran into
some evangelical Christians
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and they basically shared
some literature with him that
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told him that if we just calls
on the Jesus he'll be saved.
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One day he prayed he said, Lord,
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he said show me
that You really do exist.
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And then a couple of days
later they were called out
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the Special Forces were
called out to try to arrest
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one of the most dangerous
serial murderers in Lithuania.
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He put his bulletproof vest
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but he
accidentally put it on wrong
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and as they bushed into the room
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and there was a hail of
bullets flying and shooting,
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he was shot in the leg
and he was shot numerous times
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and they finally
they killed this man
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and he was taken to the hospital
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and he realized that he had put
his bulletproof vest on wrong
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and it bullet hits places
where vest shouldn't have been
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and he said Lord, thank you now
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that's your sign to me
that You really do exist.
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And because he
had a bullet wound
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he started spending
time in the hospital
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for the next two
months studying the Bible.
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Eventually he was baptized.
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He stayed in the Special
Forces for another 15 years
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and then after that he just
completely walked away from it.
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Now he is a
fulltime Bible worker
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with Laymen Ministries.
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He's running these youth camps
trying to make a difference
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with these young people
in their lives and he said,
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not only do I want to
give them good activities
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but I want to be able to
lead them to Jesus Christ
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because Jesus
Christ saved my life.
00:13:06.15\00:13:08.03
We tracked bill commissioners
00:13:17.25\00:13:18.67
this is where
Arunas used to pastor
00:13:18.70\00:13:20.24
and everybody is
excited to see us here
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because they all
know all of us pretty well
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and today they are
gonna be making a cake.
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And Arunas, what do
they call this cake?
00:13:27.49\00:13:30.38
Sakotis.
00:13:30.41\00:13:31.44
Sakotis. Sakotis.
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And this is little
bit different type of cake
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it's a real traditional
cake here in Lithuania
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and you know in America
we have the typical like
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wedding cake and birthday cakes
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thick frosting is in the
wider chocolate kind of cake.
00:13:42.90\00:13:45.72
Well, this cake is
a really unusual one.
00:13:45.75\00:13:48.11
And I think it'll be
very interesting to see
00:13:48.14\00:13:49.68
how it's made, dangerous.
00:13:49.71\00:13:51.66
To make the cake in
the dungeon basement.
00:13:56.82\00:13:59.13
What kind of tools?
00:14:04.25\00:14:05.29
One kilo of sugar,
this time one kilo of sugar.
00:14:08.12\00:14:13.05
This is not
healthy for me by the way.
00:14:13.08\00:14:14.98
Sixty eggs think
about that, sixty eggs.
00:14:23.24\00:14:26.53
This is the cake that kills.
00:14:28.50\00:14:29.96
They're saying that even though
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this cake is made from
cream and eggs and sugar
00:14:55.84\00:14:59.84
and that stuff that
this cake is more healthy
00:14:59.87\00:15:02.08
than the other ones
you buy in the stores
00:15:02.11\00:15:03.85
because they add all kinds
of chemicals and preservatives.
00:15:03.88\00:15:06.60
These eggs and these cream are
all natural from the villages
00:15:06.63\00:15:09.42
so it's real more healthy.
00:15:09.45\00:15:11.68
The one lady was saying that
00:15:19.98\00:15:21.22
these cakes
originated in Germany
00:15:21.25\00:15:22.88
years and years ago
but they came to Lithuania
00:15:22.91\00:15:26.03
and became part of the
Lithuanian culture here.
00:15:26.06\00:15:29.58
I don't remember
ever seen cakes like this
00:15:29.61\00:15:31.11
in Germany today.
00:15:31.14\00:15:32.19
So I don't know if
they're still making them there,
00:15:32.22\00:15:34.30
this is definitely a
really big cultural thing
00:15:34.33\00:15:37.19
for the country of Lithuania.
00:15:37.22\00:15:38.74
Put around
here. Put around here.
00:16:52.23\00:16:53.49
The next day we
celebrated Sabbath
00:17:41.02\00:17:42.62
at a home church
in the countryside.
00:17:42.65\00:17:44.77
Arunas and Dalia were our
host and it was Dalia's birthday
00:17:44.80\00:17:48.42
so we gave her the
Sakotis cake as a gift.
00:17:48.45\00:17:51.64
We spend the
morning singing hymns
00:17:51.67\00:17:53.36
and having Bible
studies later we had a chance
00:17:53.39\00:17:55.81
to speak with Arunas
about Nerijus and Dalia
00:17:55.84\00:17:58.12
and how they came
to join the church.
00:17:58.15\00:18:00.72
This is my
friends Nerijus and Dalia.
00:18:00.75\00:18:02.72
I want to
introduce to everybody.
00:18:02.75\00:18:05.57
So their story begins
more than twenty years ago.
00:18:05.60\00:18:09.68
Dalia was after a Bible seminar
00:18:09.71\00:18:12.86
was baptized in the
capital city Vilnius.
00:18:12.89\00:18:16.10
And after that she
just left her church
00:18:16.13\00:18:18.17
because no body
connected her and so
00:18:18.20\00:18:22.55
and the years passed by and by
00:18:22.58\00:18:24.80
and one man from
the Adventist church
00:18:24.83\00:18:26.63
he just met her and Dalia
00:18:26.66\00:18:28.70
and gave for the
book Great Controversy.
00:18:28.73\00:18:32.79
And she just kept her book
00:18:32.82\00:18:34.23
and both them
were in Norway, yeah?
00:18:34.26\00:18:37.34
Norway. Yeah.
00:18:37.37\00:18:38.73
They were in
Norway and just one moment
00:18:38.76\00:18:41.25
just she decided to read
the book the Great Controversy.
00:18:41.28\00:18:46.13
And we were reading and
reading and we decided that
00:18:46.16\00:18:48.87
we need to
study the Bible, yeah.
00:18:48.90\00:18:51.25
So I was just giving
Bible studies by emails
00:18:51.28\00:18:54.64
and I was
writing emails to Dalia
00:18:54.67\00:18:57.44
because she first
started the conversation
00:18:57.47\00:18:59.50
but Nerijus, what you
were reading in these studies.
00:18:59.53\00:19:03.38
I was reading these
emails also, together with Dalia
00:19:03.41\00:19:08.58
and after reading the emails,
00:19:08.61\00:19:14.34
we both think that,
00:19:14.37\00:19:18.27
we want to back
home to Lithuania.
00:19:18.30\00:19:22.44
And we didn't
know what do after that
00:19:22.47\00:19:26.22
because we had read
the Great Controversy
00:19:26.25\00:19:31.34
after that we decided
that we needed to be baptized
00:19:31.37\00:19:35.92
and we need to make
to became wife and man.
00:19:35.95\00:19:43.69
So I went to their home
00:19:43.72\00:19:45.22
and we were talking
just ask many questions.
00:19:45.25\00:19:49.20
And one of the
questions was, are you married?
00:19:49.23\00:19:51.63
And they said not
yet. Not yet, yeah.
00:19:51.66\00:19:55.29
So we were talking and said
00:19:55.32\00:19:58.37
we should do
something with that,
00:19:58.40\00:20:00.20
about getting
married before this baptism.
00:20:00.23\00:20:05.41
And actually it
was interesting that
00:20:05.44\00:20:09.13
on Friday they just married
00:20:09.16\00:20:11.74
and on Sabbath we
had baptism service.
00:20:11.77\00:20:14.33
So it was interesting
story and because of one book
00:20:14.36\00:20:18.53
it helped to come to the Bible
it was The Great Controversy
00:20:18.56\00:20:22.02
that Bible and
after Bible studies
00:20:22.05\00:20:23.90
they became our
new church members
00:20:23.93\00:20:25.99
and now they are
devoted church members
00:20:26.02\00:20:28.26
because Dalia piano
and we singing songs
00:20:28.29\00:20:31.09
and we're very happy together
in our Adventist family.
00:20:31.12\00:20:34.94
Oh, yeah.
00:20:34.97\00:20:38.22
It's hard to believe
that over 20 years ago
00:20:38.25\00:20:40.73
that there was no Adventist
churches in this country.
00:20:40.76\00:20:43.55
And now many people are
eager to study the Word of God
00:20:43.58\00:20:46.77
and to learn of His great love.
00:20:46.80\00:20:51.49
Julius has been a Bible worker
00:20:51.52\00:20:52.84
with Laymen
Ministries for over 15 years.
00:20:52.87\00:20:55.58
He spends most of his
days meeting with contacts
00:20:55.61\00:20:58.00
and giving Bible studies.
00:20:58.03\00:20:59.62
He also was a lay
pastor of a church in his area
00:20:59.65\00:21:02.35
and was happy to show us a
new room they started renting
00:21:02.38\00:21:05.47
to start another
church plant in a nearby city.
00:21:05.50\00:21:09.68
This is a
little room in Kupiskis
00:21:09.71\00:21:11.53
if I've said that
name of the city right.
00:21:11.56\00:21:13.56
That Julius started
renting about two months ago
00:21:13.59\00:21:15.64
and he starting a church here.
00:21:15.67\00:21:17.00
He's got about six,
seven, sometimes eight people
00:21:17.03\00:21:19.48
that come on Sabbath here.
00:21:19.51\00:21:20.98
It's a beginning.
00:21:21.01\00:21:24.24
After taking a look
at this small church room
00:21:24.27\00:21:26.26
we went to visit an orphanage
00:21:26.29\00:21:27.79
and buy the
children some new cloths.
00:21:27.82\00:21:30.47
Since the year
2000 we have helped
00:21:30.50\00:21:32.73
14 different
orphanages across the country.
00:21:32.76\00:21:35.59
Many of these
children come from homes
00:22:49.82\00:22:51.65
that were broken by alcoholism,
divorce or low income.
00:22:51.68\00:22:55.86
Most of the children
will stay in the orphanage
00:22:55.89\00:22:57.75
until they're
finished with high school.
00:22:57.78\00:22:59.94
If it wasn't for these
dedicated orphanage workers
00:22:59.97\00:23:02.89
most of these children
would end up on the streets.
00:23:02.92\00:23:05.76
I like to show you
how we have accountability
00:23:24.96\00:23:26.95
here in Lithuania in the way
that our finances are handled.
00:23:26.98\00:23:30.11
All the projects
of Laymen Ministries
00:23:30.14\00:23:31.45
are to have really
strict accounting practices.
00:23:31.48\00:23:34.26
And here Pastor Arunas has
for instances they're actually
00:23:34.29\00:23:38.74
like records for every
one of the Bible workers
00:23:38.77\00:23:40.91
and it shows what days
the Bible workers are working,
00:23:40.94\00:23:44.00
what things they're doing,
00:23:44.03\00:23:45.06
how many Bible
studies they give,
00:23:45.09\00:23:46.28
how many churches they visit,
00:23:46.31\00:23:47.77
how much
literature they hand out.
00:23:47.80\00:23:49.51
And even though our
ministry operates like a family
00:23:49.54\00:23:52.12
this is a really good way
to monitor the Bible workers
00:23:52.15\00:23:54.50
to see if they're struggling,
if they're having problems
00:23:54.53\00:23:57.08
and also to see kind of
00:23:57.11\00:23:58.69
kind of a performance
review of what they doing.
00:23:58.72\00:24:01.09
Also when we go to orphanages
it's pretty interesting
00:24:01.12\00:24:04.27
when we have all
these different paperwork
00:24:04.30\00:24:07.08
from the orphanages
how much money was spent.
00:24:07.11\00:24:09.63
And for instance
this year it shows
00:24:09.66\00:24:12.20
orphanage project
in Kedainiai in 2012
00:24:12.23\00:24:15.12
we have a letter of receipt
from the actual president
00:24:15.15\00:24:19.12
or the director of the orphanage
00:24:19.15\00:24:20.93
and we keep copies
of every single penny
00:24:20.96\00:24:23.18
that was spent its taped
to the back our forms here
00:24:23.21\00:24:27.12
and it shows all the money
that was spent so that we have
00:24:27.15\00:24:29.86
strict
accountability for every penny
00:24:29.89\00:24:31.69
that was used buy clothes.
00:24:31.72\00:24:33.29
We are also really careful that
00:24:33.32\00:24:34.52
when we give
cloths to the orphanage
00:24:34.55\00:24:36.72
or literature
anything like that we knowthat
00:24:36.75\00:24:38.80
the things go
directly to the children
00:24:38.83\00:24:40.36
and none of the
employees are taking
00:24:40.39\00:24:42.00
any of these
things home to their kids.
00:24:42.03\00:24:44.08
So I'm really proud of Arunas,
00:24:44.11\00:24:45.65
he's got really tight financial
structure here in the way
00:24:45.68\00:24:48.49
that he handles all the finances
00:24:48.52\00:24:50.42
and he keeps it really
close account of all the money
00:24:50.45\00:24:53.53
that sent over for the
projects here in Lithuania.
00:24:53.56\00:24:55.96
I would like to explain
the project of lending library
00:25:01.65\00:25:05.81
and this project to
continue in Lithuania
00:25:05.84\00:25:08.14
we need many books
because we're meeting people
00:25:08.17\00:25:10.63
and we changing books
00:25:10.66\00:25:11.80
and Laymen Ministries
helps us to buy more books
00:25:11.83\00:25:14.46
and we just going
door to door finding people
00:25:14.49\00:25:17.41
who likes to read
to books and after that
00:25:17.44\00:25:19.91
they just giving
the book to read.
00:25:19.94\00:25:22.09
And after two or three
weeks we're coming back
00:25:22.12\00:25:24.42
and we're just
asking many questions
00:25:24.45\00:25:26.18
like did you really
understand the book?
00:25:26.21\00:25:27.84
How did they enjoy?
00:25:27.87\00:25:29.87
And we're reading books
and after I just usually
00:25:29.90\00:25:34.55
becoming a Bible
studies and this is easy way
00:25:34.58\00:25:37.46
to lead people to Jesus and to
baptism so its great pleasure.
00:25:37.49\00:25:41.05
Towards the end of
our stay at Lithuania
00:25:46.84\00:25:48.75
we held a Bible workers meeting.
00:25:48.78\00:25:50.87
It was great to
reunite with of old friends
00:25:50.90\00:25:52.90
as many have
worked with us for years.
00:25:52.93\00:25:55.52
After some words
of encouragement,
00:25:55.55\00:25:57.27
study and planning
00:25:57.30\00:25:59.25
we had opportunity to
share a meal together.
00:25:59.28\00:26:02.18
Thomas is one of
our newer Bible workers
00:26:02.21\00:26:04.79
and also the youngest.
00:26:04.82\00:26:06.42
He often speaks to
church and gives Bible studies.
00:26:06.45\00:26:09.52
It's very exciting to see
the next generation on fire
00:26:09.55\00:26:12.60
and willing to take the torch.
00:26:12.63\00:26:14.47
It's a huge
advantage to have such a broad
00:26:14.50\00:26:16.87
and diverse group of people
eager to share the word of God.
00:26:16.90\00:26:20.86
Each Bible worker
has their own unique way
00:26:20.89\00:26:23.10
of reaching people and together
00:26:23.13\00:26:25.00
they are working to
increase God's kingdom
00:26:25.03\00:26:27.43
and prepare people for the
soon return of Jesus Christ.
00:26:27.46\00:26:31.92
Every time I
come here to Lithuania
00:26:46.04\00:26:48.04
it reminds me of the
fact that Bible workers work
00:26:48.07\00:26:51.51
and that's why Laymen
Ministries supports them.
00:26:51.54\00:26:53.97
When I was 17-18 years
old there was a Bible worker
00:26:54.00\00:26:56.50
that touched my life
that opened up the scriptures
00:26:56.53\00:26:58.63
and showed me what the Bible
says about different subjects,
00:26:58.66\00:27:01.76
and that's one of the reasons
Laymen Ministries supports
00:27:01.79\00:27:03.91
Bible workers today
is because they do work.
00:27:03.94\00:27:06.93
And when I come to
Lithuania here I realize
00:27:06.96\00:27:08.90
that these Bible
workers are not people
00:27:08.93\00:27:11.35
who have gone to some university
00:27:11.38\00:27:12.70
and they got
some kind of degree.
00:27:12.73\00:27:14.23
They're just common
regular people who have studied
00:27:14.26\00:27:16.52
their Bibles and have
a burden to try to share
00:27:16.55\00:27:18.99
what they've
learned with other people.
00:27:19.02\00:27:20.81
That's the heartbeat
of Laymen Ministries.
00:27:20.84\00:27:22.57
It's about empowering the
common people in the church
00:27:22.60\00:27:24.96
to be ministers for Christ.
00:27:24.99\00:27:26.68
If they can do
it, you can do it.
00:27:26.71\00:27:28.52
And I just want to encourage you
00:27:28.55\00:27:29.77
as you watch our
programs that you would realize
00:27:29.80\00:27:32.26
that you too can have an active
part in ministering for Christ
00:27:32.29\00:27:35.24
that you can be a
missionary where you are.
00:27:35.27\00:27:37.89