Frustrations

I managed to get one picture on this blogspot but I can't get it to work again. Funny how new inventions can quickly become essential in our lives and we get really frustrated when they don't work- like microwaves, vacuum cleaners, computers, cell phones, and on and on. I wonder what the little old man sweeping the street with the besom would think of the leaf blower/vac I coveted so badly and now have sitting in our storage place in Utah?
We visited the KGB museum here and found it rather sobering. Susanne hasn't been there yet and says she doesn't think she'll ever go. Russ and I have also visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. I can't say that I would ever want to go there again. I wonder if places like that can effectively influence people enough to cause in them such an abhorrence of hatred, prejudice, tyranny, and inhumanity that, as individuals, they actually change their natures? We look at the evidence of the horrors that occurred: photographs of mass graves, personal belongings thrown in large piles, bloodstains on walls and floors. Yet some people would attempt to deny such things ever happened. Is that because they find it so impossible to believe that any human being could be so cruel? In the KGB museum there were 2 particularly brutal pictures, one of a young man whose head had been totally bashed in and one of a young woman whose eyes had been gouged out before she was killed. I find myself wondering why those pictures were taken and who took them. Were they taken by the kind of person who would do such deeds as evidence to show someone that they accomplished a task? Or were they taken later by someone who wanted to ensure that the world would have irrefutable evidence that such abuses occurred? Russ and I didn't take our camera to the museum. I wouldn't have been able to take pictures anyway. I have in my mind pictures I can never erase. It makes me shudder to even think about getting angry or talking hatefully about any group of people as if having a certain religion, genetic lineage, gender or any general aspect would make them worthy of destruction.
To anyone who might read this and not yet know there is a God, I would urge you to look inside your heart. It is not God who "allows" such horrors to be, it is mankind who chooses it. God is painfully aware, just as we are aware when our independent children make a choice we know is going to result in pain and heartache. My hope, as is our Father's, is that we can see the greater wisdom in treating others with love, understanding, respect, and compassion. I would not want to be the cause of such pain as recalled in those museums to a person or nation and am grateful for those who have gone before me and suffered and sacrificed to enable to me to live in relative peace, freedom, and comfort. I am grateful to God for offering a better choice.

We went to the open house for the new Helsinki, Finland temple. Before this, everyone in this area of the world had to travel to Frankfort, Germany to go to the temple. Before LDS temples are dedicated, anyone can enter. People are very respectful of the sacredness of the building. After the open house, which generally lasts several days, the temple is cleaned (after thousands of visitors walking through, despite eveyone wearing shoe covers, it needs it) then there is a dedication which is basically a meeting with a special prayer said to bless the grounds and the building and let the Lord know we want all the work done in the temple to be according to His will.
As I attended church on Sunday, I thought about the missionary who was translating. Actually, the several missionaries, male and female, serving here take turns translating for English speakers, or whoever they need to translate for if they know the language. I am so grateful for these young people, and some who are not necessarily so young, that devote 1 1/2-2 years of their life to learn a language (some quite difficult and sometimes they don't need to learn a language) and travel far from home and things that are familiar. Sometimes "Mormons" are accused of being cliquish- staying to themselves too much. I have to question, who in the world, as a general group, works harder to reach out to the world at large? I suppose critics would say,"Yeah, sure, but that's just so you can get more people converted." And for what purpose would that be? We not only don't profit ourselves in any way, those who serve do so at their own cost. Other than the quality of materials and furnishings in the temples, our buildings are generally much plainer than most churches. Most of our leaders and all of our ward positions are volunteer. So who is to profit from having more members? The fanciest clothing any of our leaders wear is a suit, white or otherwise depending on the occasion. And the LDS church gives generously through our welfare system all over the world, whether the people in need are members of the church or not. I wish the media would report more of what good the LDS church does. Anyway, I'm glad for the opportunity to attend this tiny Lithuanian speaking branch of the church. Their primary consists of 4 children. My grandchildren don't go to primary because they don't speak Lithuanian. A couple of the missionaries give of their time and efforts to teach my grandchildren. I am eternally grateful.

Embassy life

The milk here tastes different. It makes me think of when we used to get milk directly from the farm. We could taste the difference when the cows were moved from the barn where they just ate hay to the pasture where they ate fresh grass. Maybe that's why the milk, yogurt,cheese, and dairy stuff taste different- the cows eat something different here. We buy a liter of 1% for about 1.29litas (about $.45) in plastic pouches like the ones we were first introduced to in Canada many years ago.
I entitled this post "Embassy life" because that's what I wanted to write about. Last night we attended a Halloween themed birthday party for a girl in Jarom's class at school. The party was held in a large house rented by the US State dept. for a foreign service officer (like James)on the outskirts of the city. The house was about the size of James's house but a different layout and a larger yard. The family there has a large yellow lab dog. The families in attendance at the party all had kids at the American School of Vilnius. That title is somewhat misleading because the school is actually run by the Lithuania government but the majority of the funding is from the United States and everything is taught in English. James was appointed to represent the American embassy on the school board. Unlike the schools our grandkids have attended in other countries, about half of the students here are Lithuanian. Their parents pay for them to attend this school because they feel it's better. At the birthday party were a family, who happen to live next door to James, from Sweden. The dad works for a Swedish communications company and they moved a little before James's family, from Lebanon. Another family there was from Germany. The dad works in the German embassy. Most of the other families connected to the school are somehow related to the embassy, a Marine officer, other foreign service officers, and then some Lithuanians. I have noticed, not surprisingly, that many couples connected to the embassy consist of individuals from different countries. As a result, most of the kids are at least bilingual then they pick up smatterings of languages from the countries where they live.
In general, the social life of embassy-related people is like it is everywhere: it revolves around the kids' school and activities, co-workers, and church. This evening James has been asked to speak at the wedding of a couple of members of the Lithuanian speaking Vilnius branch (they were recently separated from the Russian speaking branch just to make things more manageable). He will be speaking Lithuanian as he does when he conducts at church. He is a counselor in the branch presidency; the president is a native Lithuanian. There are LDS churches all over the world. Branches are congregations which are smaller than wards. James also teaches institute which is a class on Tuesday evenings for college-aged students. (In Amman, Jordan, James was the branch president.) James generally speaks more Lithuanian than anyone else in the family. Susanne knows enough to drive and do necessary shopping and communicate whatever is necessary.
On Tuesday we will go to the embassy where the kids, who have been driven from school in the embassy van, will trick or treat going from office to office. Halloween is not celebrated in Lithuanian. Thanksgiving is also not celebrated here(obviously) so James and Susanne are planning a celebration similar to what they did last year. They will invite all of the missionaries serving here (about 10) for dinner. It will be fun!

Interesting snippets

Dumpster diving- this appears to be a popular activity here. Those who participate are generally fairly well dressed and sometimes carry briefcases as well as bags. Maybe it's generalizing too much but I think this may be a carryover from the Soviet days when consumer goods were scarce and truly one man's trash was another man's treasure. ( I have no idea what the unemployment rate is but you could find it in an almanac or on the internet I'm sure.) James and Susanne have developed the habit of carefully laying usable items on the top of the dumpster or on the ground next to it and they're gone within an hour. There isn't individual garbage pickup. It's done the same way they do it in the rural south. There are locations of several relatively small dumpsters and people just carry their garbage from their homes and put it in the dumpsters which are emptied twice a week.
Besom- a broom made by tying a bunch of twigs to a handle. I learned the definition when I taught early morning seminary long ago but I thought it was a primitive tool. Every day we see people here using them to sweep the sidewalks. It's a clean city. There was a little old man with very wrinkled skin who swept the sidewalk in front of a couple of nearby university buildings every day. We haven't seen him in a few days. We're worried about him. Funny how you can become attached to someone you don't even know just because they become a part of your daily routine somehow- like elevator operators or cashiers....
Laughter- as I mentioned before, people here rarely look you in the eye and more rarely smile. Occasionally I will hear a couple of people laughing and it sounds so good! It's a gentle, sincere laugh- not like the forced exaggerated laugh on a sitcom soundtrack. I have heard it from people walking in the park where we walk every day and I heard it from the people sitting in the Helsinki temple. President Hinckley (How does a 96-year old man do what he does?!) was his usual sweet self at the dedication. The laughs were not just responses to his humor but also messages of our love of him.

Walking tour

One of the activities that filled most of a day recently was a guided walking tour of the city of Vilnius. Our guide spend 2 hours+ walking us around the "Old Town" part of the city- that is the section that was built more than a couple of centuries ago. Lithuania was the last country in this area of the world to "be baptized" so, in an attempt to catch up, they built lots of churches. From nearly every intersection of the narrow little cobblestone streets you can see a minimum of one church. (Streets and sidewalks throughout the city, even new construction or repair, is either stones or cement paving blocks set in sand. Out in the countryside there are a few very major paved roads and little dirt roads leading directly off the paved road to take you into the villages.) Most of the churches are really ornate but many of them have been neglected. They are working at restoring them as quickly as finances permit. During the Soviet regime, many churches were simply used as warehouses. The damage done to them was not purposeful destruction, just abuse and neglect. As I looked at faded frescoes and chips out of pillars and worn floors and dirty walls and statues, I felt sad at the misuse of this architectural beauty. It also made me wonder how it happens. I mean, I understand the concern of totalitarian or opppressive governments that people would be more loyal to their religion than to the government. But why destroy historical art? It also made me wonder about people in every day life who show lack of respect for things that are precious to others. I was impressed with our little grandchildren as we visited churches and cathedrals on our trip up to Helsinki. They were very quiet and solemn in the churches, even though they knew they were not their churches.

My first blog attempt

The internet here has been very unreliable but I'm hoping this will work. I can't imagine how people in a different era managed without being able to communicate with loved ones like we can now!
This morning we went with Susanne and Richard and Judy James to visit the embassy. (The Jameses have now left for a couple days in Paris before returning to Utah.) It's hard for us to not feel very proud of our relatively "young" son who has a sign on his office door announcing to the world that he is a the consul for this embassy and is in charge of all the other staff in the office complex of this building! Everywhere we go here we are reminded that this feisty little country was recently under the heavy thumb of the former USSR. The American embassy here is in the process of expanding. The buildings they are expanding into are being updated but are the same buildings that were used for the benefit of elite communists only decades ago. It's interesting to consider that communists are so adamant about everyone being "comrades" but there are certainly some that are more equal than others. We feel quite safe here- even in the relatively large capital city of Vilnius. It seems that most of the crime is fairly petty. Most people that have nice cars and park them regularly on the street will eventually "lose" hubcaps or other parts. James and Susanne live in what would here be called a mansion. The doorway is right on the sidewalk and they have only a small backyard so, from the outside, Americans would not recognize it as a "mansion". However, inside it is very nice with huge rooms and very high ceilings. We haven't had the opportunity to go into many other private buildings but from what James tells us (experiences of home teaching and other church-related visits rather than diplomatic related), although most of the apartment and single home buildings are fairly drab if not downright decrepit on the outside, the apartments or rooms inside can be quite pleasant and modern.

Welcome to Cyberworld!

Alright Mary, I've gotten you started. It should be simple for you to keep it going. If you're looking at this right now, then that's at least a start! I will send you a long e-mail showing you how to post and navigate around in here, and we'll go into great detail next time you visit, but I'm sure James and Susanne can give you some help too. This blog is a slightly different system than the one I started mine on, much easier to navigate around, and easy to alter the way it looks and update things. I hope it works out for you, and I look forward to reading lots of posts in the future! Good luck!