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.
00:13:06.05\00:13:07.98
We tracked bill commissioners
00:13:17.16\00:13:18.59
this is where
Arunas used to pastor
00:13:18.63\00:13:20.16
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?
00:13:27.37\00:13:30.27
Sakotis.
00:13:30.31\00:13:31.34
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.
00:13:42.82\00:13:45.62
Well, this cake is
a really unusual one.
00:13:45.65\00:13:48.02
And I think it'll be
very interesting to see
00:13:48.06\00:13:49.59
how it's made, dangerous.
00:13:49.62\00:13:51.63
To make the cake in
the dungeon basement.
00:13:56.70\00:13:59.07
What kind of tools?
00:14:04.14\00:14:05.24
One kilo of sugar,
this time one kilo of sugar.
00:14:08.01\00:14:12.95
This is not
healthy for me by the way.
00:14:12.98\00:14:14.95
Sixty eggs think
about that, sixty eggs.
00:14:23.16\00:14:26.49
This is the cake that kills.
00:14:28.40\00:14:29.90
They're saying that even though
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this cake is made from
cream and eggs and sugar
00:14:55.76\00:14:59.76
and that stuff that
this cake is more healthy
00:14:59.79\00:15:01.96
than the other ones
you buy in the stores
00:15:02.00\00:15:03.73
because they add all kinds
of chemicals and preservatives.
00:15:03.77\00:15:06.47
These eggs and these cream are
all natural from the villages
00:15:06.50\00:15:09.30
so it's real more healthy.
00:15:09.34\00:15:11.64
The one lady was saying that
00:15:19.88\00:15:21.12
these cakes
originated in Germany
00:15:21.15\00:15:22.78
years and years ago
but they came to Lithuania
00:15:22.82\00:15:25.92
and became part of the
Lithuanian culture here.
00:15:25.95\00:15:29.49
I don't remember
ever seen cakes like this
00:15:29.52\00:15:31.03
in Germany today.
00:15:31.06\00:15:32.09
So I don't know if
they're still making them there,
00:15:32.13\00:15:34.20
this is definitely a
really big cultural thing
00:15:34.20\00:15:37.07
for the country of Lithuania.
00:15:37.10\00:15:38.70
Put around
here. Put around here.
00:16:52.11\00:16:53.44
The next day we
celebrated Sabbath
00:17:40.92\00:17:42.52
at a home church
in the countryside.
00:17:42.56\00:17:44.69
Arunas and Dalia were our
host and it was Dalia's birthday
00:17:44.73\00:17:48.30
so we gave her the
Sakotis cake as a gift.
00:17:48.33\00:17:51.53
We spend the
morning singing hymns
00:17:51.57\00:17:53.23
and having Bible
studies later we had a chance
00:17:53.27\00:17:55.70
to speak with Arunas
about Nerijus and Dalia
00:17:55.74\00:17:58.01
and how they came
to join the church.
00:17:58.04\00:18:00.61
This is my
friends Nerijus and Dalia.
00:18:00.64\00:18:02.61
I want to
introduce to everybody.
00:18:02.64\00:18:05.48
So their story begins
more than twenty years ago.
00:18:05.51\00:18:09.58
Dalia was after a Bible seminar
00:18:09.62\00:18:12.75
was baptized in the
capital city Vilnius.
00:18:12.79\00:18:15.99
And after that she
just left her church
00:18:16.02\00:18:18.09
because no body
connected her and so
00:18:18.13\00:18:22.43
and the years passed by and by
00:18:22.46\00:18:24.67
and one man from
the Adventist church
00:18:24.70\00:18:26.50
he just met her and Dalia
00:18:26.53\00:18:28.57
and gave for the
book Great Controversy.
00:18:28.60\00:18:32.67
And she just kept her book
00:18:32.71\00:18:34.11
and both them
were in Norway, yeah?
00:18:34.14\00:18:37.25
Norway. Yeah.
00:18:37.28\00:18:38.61
They were in
Norway and just one moment
00:18:38.65\00:18:41.15
just she decided to read
the book the Great Controversy.
00:18:41.18\00:18:46.02
And we were reading and
reading and we decided that
00:18:46.05\00:18:48.79
we need to
study the Bible, yeah.
00:18:48.82\00:18:51.16
So I was just giving
Bible studies by emails
00:18:51.19\00:18:54.56
and I was
writing emails to Dalia
00:18:54.56\00:18:57.33
because she first
started the conversation
00:18:57.37\00:18:59.37
but Nerijus, what you
were reading in these studies.
00:18:59.40\00:19:03.27
I was reading these
emails also, together with Dalia
00:19:03.30\00:19:08.48
and after reading the emails,
00:19:08.51\00:19:14.25
we both think that,
00:19:14.28\00:19:18.19
we want to back
home to Lithuania.
00:19:18.22\00:19:22.36
And we didn't
know what do after that
00:19:22.39\00:19:26.13
because we had read
the Great Controversy
00:19:26.16\00:19:31.23
after that we decided
that we needed to be baptized
00:19:31.27\00:19:35.80
and we need to make
to became wife and man.
00:19:35.84\00:19:43.58
So I went to their home
00:19:43.61\00:19:45.11
and we were talking
just ask many questions.
00:19:45.15\00:19:49.08
And one of the
questions was, are you married?
00:19:49.12\00:19:51.52
And they said not
yet. Not yet, yeah.
00:19:51.55\00:19:55.19
So we were talking and said
00:19:55.22\00:19:58.29
we should do
something with that,
00:19:58.33\00:20:00.10
about getting
married before this baptism.
00:20:00.13\00:20:05.30
And actually it
was interesting that
00:20:05.33\00:20:09.00
on Friday they just married
00:20:09.04\00:20:11.64
and on Sabbath we
had baptism service.
00:20:11.67\00:20:14.21
So it was interesting
story and because of one book
00:20:14.24\00:20:18.41
it helped to come to the Bible
it was The Great Controversy
00:20:18.45\00:20:21.92
that Bible and
after Bible studies
00:20:21.95\00:20:23.79
they became our
new church members
00:20:23.82\00:20:25.89
and now they are
devoted church members
00:20:25.92\00:20:28.16
because Dalia piano
and we singing songs
00:20:28.19\00:20:30.99
and we're very happy together
in our Adventist family.
00:20:31.03\00:20:34.83
Oh, yeah.
00:20:34.86\00:20:38.10
It's hard to believe
that over 20 years ago
00:20:38.13\00:20:40.60
that there was no Adventist
churches in this country.
00:20:40.64\00:20:43.44
And now many people are
eager to study the Word of God
00:20:43.47\00:20:46.68
and to learn of His great love.
00:20:46.71\00:20:51.38
Julius has been a Bible worker
00:20:51.41\00:20:52.75
with Laymen
Ministries for over 15 years.
00:20:52.78\00:20:55.48
He spends most of his
days meeting with contacts
00:20:55.52\00:20:57.89
and giving Bible studies.
00:20:57.92\00:20:59.52
He also was a lay
pastor of a church in his area
00:20:59.55\00:21:02.26
and was happy to show us a
new room they started renting
00:21:02.29\00:21:05.39
to start another
church plant in a nearby city.
00:21:05.43\00:21:09.56
This is a
little room in Kupiskis
00:21:09.60\00:21:11.40
if I've said that
name of the city right.
00:21:11.43\00:21:13.44
That Julius started
renting about two months ago
00:21:13.47\00:21:15.54
and he starting a church here.
00:21:15.57\00:21:16.87
He's got about six,
seven, sometimes eight people
00:21:16.91\00:21:19.37
that come on Sabbath here.
00:21:19.41\00:21:20.88
It's a beginning.
00:21:20.91\00:21:24.15
After taking a look
at this small church room
00:21:24.18\00:21:26.15
we went to visit an orphanage
00:21:26.18\00:21:27.68
and buy the
children some new cloths.
00:21:27.72\00:21:30.39
Since the year
2000 we have helped
00:21:30.42\00:21:32.62
14 different
orphanages across the country.
00:21:32.65\00:21:35.56
Many of these
children come from homes
00:22:49.70\00:22:51.53
that were broken by alcoholism,
divorce or low income.
00:22:51.57\00:22:55.74
Most of the children
will stay in the orphanage
00:22:55.77\00:22:57.64
until they're
finished with high school.
00:22:57.67\00:22:59.84
If it wasn't for these
dedicated orphanage workers
00:22:59.87\00:23:02.78
most of these children
would end up on the streets.
00:23:02.81\00:23:05.71
I like to show you
how we have accountability
00:23:24.83\00:23:26.84
here in Lithuania in the way
that our finances are handled.
00:23:26.87\00:23:30.01
All the projects
of Laymen Ministries
00:23:30.04\00:23:31.34
are to have really
strict accounting practices.
00:23:31.37\00:23:34.14
And here Pastor Arunas has
for instances they're actually
00:23:34.18\00:23:38.65
like records for every
one of the Bible workers
00:23:38.68\00:23:40.82
and it shows what days
the Bible workers are working,
00:23:40.85\00:23:43.89
what things they're doing,
00:23:43.92\00:23:44.95
how many Bible
studies they give,
00:23:44.99\00:23:46.19
how many churches they visit,
00:23:46.22\00:23:47.69
how much
literature they hand out.
00:23:47.72\00:23:49.42
And even though our
ministry operates like a family
00:23:49.46\00:23:52.03
this is a really good way
to monitor the Bible workers
00:23:52.06\00:23:54.36
to see if they're struggling,
if they're having problems
00:23:54.40\00:23:56.97
and also to see kind of
00:23:57.00\00:23:58.57
kind of a performance
review of what they doing.
00:23:58.60\00:24:00.97
Also when we go to orphanages
it's pretty interesting
00:24:01.00\00:24:04.17
when we have all
these different paperwork
00:24:04.21\00:24:06.98
from the orphanages
how much money was spent.
00:24:07.01\00:24:09.51
And for instance
this year it shows
00:24:09.54\00:24:12.08
orphanage project
in Kedainiai in 2012
00:24:12.11\00:24:15.02
we have a letter of receipt
from the actual president
00:24:15.05\00:24:19.02
or the director of the orphanage
00:24:19.05\00:24:20.82
and we keep copies
of every single penny
00:24:20.86\00:24:23.09
that was spent its taped
to the back our forms here
00:24:23.12\00:24:27.03
and it shows all the money
that was spent so that we have
00:24:27.03\00:24:29.73
strict
accountability for every penny
00:24:29.76\00:24:31.57
that was used buy clothes.
00:24:31.60\00:24:33.17
We are also really careful that
00:24:33.20\00:24:34.40
when we give
cloths to the orphanage
00:24:34.44\00:24:36.60
or literature
anything like that we knowthat
00:24:36.64\00:24:38.67
the things go
directly to the children
00:24:38.71\00:24:40.24
and none of the
employees are taking
00:24:40.28\00:24:41.88
any of these
things home to their kids.
00:24:41.91\00:24:43.98
So I'm really proud of Arunas,
00:24:44.01\00:24:45.55
he's got really tight financial
structure here in the way
00:24:45.58\00:24:48.38
that he handles all the finances
00:24:48.42\00:24:50.32
and he keeps it really
close account of all the money
00:24:50.35\00:24:53.42
that sent over for the
projects here in Lithuania.
00:24:53.46\00:24:55.92
I would like to explain
the project of lending library
00:25:01.53\00:25:05.70
and this project to
continue in Lithuania
00:25:05.73\00:25:08.04
we need many books
because we're meeting people
00:25:08.07\00:25:10.51
and we changing books
00:25:10.54\00:25:11.57
and Laymen Ministries
helps us to buy more books
00:25:11.61\00:25:14.34
and we just going
door to door finding people
00:25:14.38\00:25:17.31
who likes to read
to books and after that
00:25:17.35\00:25:19.81
they just giving
the book to read.
00:25:19.85\00:25:21.98
And after two or three
weeks we're coming back
00:25:22.02\00:25:24.32
and we're just
asking many questions
00:25:24.35\00:25:26.09
like did you really
understand the book?
00:25:26.12\00:25:27.76
How did they enjoy?
00:25:27.79\00:25:29.79
And we're reading books
and after I just usually
00:25:29.82\00:25:34.46
becoming a Bible
studies and this is easy way
00:25:34.46\00:25:37.33
to lead people to Jesus and to
baptism so its great pleasure.
00:25:37.37\00:25:41.00
Towards the end of
our stay at Lithuania
00:25:46.74\00:25:48.64
we held a Bible workers meeting.
00:25:48.68\00:25:50.78
It was great to
reunite with of old friends
00:25:50.81\00:25:52.78
as many have
worked with us for years.
00:25:52.81\00:25:55.42
After some words
of encouragement,
00:25:55.45\00:25:57.19
study and planning
00:25:57.22\00:25:59.15
we had opportunity to
share a meal together.
00:25:59.19\00:26:02.09
Thomas is one of
our newer Bible workers
00:26:02.12\00:26:04.69
and also the youngest.
00:26:04.73\00:26:06.33
He often speaks to
church and gives Bible studies.
00:26:06.36\00:26:09.40
It's very exciting to see
the next generation on fire
00:26:09.43\00:26:12.47
and willing to take the torch.
00:26:12.50\00:26:14.37
It's a huge
advantage to have such a broad
00:26:14.40\00:26:16.77
and diverse group of people
eager to share the word of God.
00:26:16.81\00:26:20.74
Each Bible worker
has their own unique way
00:26:20.78\00:26:22.98
of reaching people and together
00:26:23.01\00:26:24.88
they are working to
increase God's kingdom
00:26:24.91\00:26:27.32
and prepare people for the
soon return of Jesus Christ.
00:26:27.35\00:26:31.89
Every time I
come here to Lithuania
00:26:45.93\00:26:47.94
it reminds me of the
fact that Bible workers work
00:26:47.97\00:26:51.41
and that's why Laymen
Ministries supports them.
00:26:51.44\00:26:53.88
When I was 17-18 years
old there was a Bible worker
00:26:53.91\00:26:56.38
that touched my life
that opened up the scriptures
00:26:56.41\00:26:58.51
and showed me what the Bible
says about different subjects,
00:26:58.55\00:27:01.65
and that's one of the reasons
Laymen Ministries supports
00:27:01.68\00:27:03.82
Bible workers today
is because they do work.
00:27:03.85\00:27:06.82
And when I come to
Lithuania here I realize
00:27:06.86\00:27:08.79
that these Bible
workers are not people
00:27:08.82\00:27:11.26
who have gone to some university
00:27:11.29\00:27:12.59
and they got
some kind of degree.
00:27:12.63\00:27:14.10
They're just common
regular people who have studied
00:27:14.13\00:27:16.40
their Bibles and have
a burden to try to share
00:27:16.43\00:27:18.87
what they've
learned with other people.
00:27:18.90\00:27:20.70
That's the heartbeat
of Laymen Ministries.
00:27:20.74\00:27:22.47
It's about empowering the
common people in the church
00:27:22.50\00:27:24.84
to be ministers for Christ.
00:27:24.87\00:27:26.57
If they can do
it, you can do it.
00:27:26.61\00:27:28.41
And I just want to encourage you
00:27:28.44\00:27:29.68
as you watch our
programs that you would realize
00:27:29.71\00:27:32.15
that you too can have an active
part in ministering for Christ
00:27:32.18\00:27:35.15
that you can be a
missionary where you are.
00:27:35.18\00:27:37.85