Greetings from Lithuania!

It has been a good week here at LCC.  The students and staff
have returned from the Reading Break full of stories of Prague
and Bohemia.  The weather has been pretty nice for most of
the week.  Not warm yet, but clear and sunny.

Our staffer went home Friday.  Klaipeda had too many unpleasant
memories.  Her church back home will take of her, and we had
a moving sendoff for her on Wednesday.  She was going to fly
out of Kaunas on FinnAir to Helsinki and New York.  Julia's
mother had volunteered to fly across country to New York to
meet her and then escort her the rest of the way home.  
FinnAir had been super about taking care of her and keeping
someone with her in Helsinki.  But there was more.

When she checked in at Kaunas, the person in front of her
turned around and greeted her.  It was a Mennonite missionary 
couple from Kaunas flying back because of a death in the 
family.  Our staffer had spent Thanksgiving with them this
past year.  They were flying to Helsinki and then on to New
York on the same flights.  So God took care of her even
on the flight legs where our plans couldn't.

Classes have gone pretty smoothly this week.  I have discovered
though that I really do not like handing back grades.
The Intro class's first spreadsheet assignment appears to be
too easy or too short, since I am already getting files turned
in for an assignment due next Friday.  I guess I'll cover more
stuff in class and make sure they know the parts of the spreadsheet
window.  I gave the Business class their database project assignment
this week too.  They will have two weeks to create a small database,
enter data, create forms, queries, and reports, and import a query
into a Word file.  Should be fun for them.  

On the down side, one of my best friend's grandmother passed
away this week after a long illness.  It is frustrating being
so far away and unable to be physically there to help.  Yet I
know that this is part of God's plan, too, and that there
are others closer to her who can help more than I can.

I still have a nagging leftover from my last round of the cold.
Hopefully it will go away soon.  I don't want a repeat of
last year's two-month Sinusitis-a-Rama.

I have less than two months to go now.  Funny how it doesn't
seem like long enough to get everything done.  Please pray
that I finish this race strongly.

Saturday night, I had a wonderful dinner courtesy of Gordon
and Catherine Nielson.  Chicken, rice, carrots and green peppers,
green beans, rolls, finished with chocolate cake and ice cream.
They fixed everything but the rolls.  It was a dinner party
with Len and Audrey Loeppky, and Leigh Pittenger.  We talked
about the Nielson's trip to Prague, and the future plans
for the new buildings of LCC.  Len was concerned about
the future staff, because in the future the choice will
be living in the Karklu dorm, a 25 minute walk away, or
living in an apartment by yourself.  Could be a little
scary for the singles.  I am glad I came when I did.  Some
of the apartments can get interesting.

Jane invited me to her apartment Tuesday to try and fix
her computer.  She was having difficulty keeping a connection
to the local Internet Service Provider.  The problem wasn't
her modem, but her unbelievably bad phone service.  She told
me that her phone doesn't ring when people call, and conversations
can be interrupted by third parties or sudden disconnects.  Not
intentionally, just at random.  Her apartment was nice, but she
lives on the fifth floor, no elevator, and the stairwell was
unlit from the fourth floor on down, and inky black as I tried
to feel my way down to the ground floor to leave.  Amazing.
Ali Baba and all forty thieves could have been lurking on the
landing and I wouldn't have known.  I almost couldn't figure
out how to get the door latch open.

This Sunday afternoon, I went to the Catholic church here
to catch a concert and got there in time for the last part
of the mass.  It was strange being in a modern cathedral,
a little bit bigger than the First Baptist Church in Auburn.
It was built under Kruschev (sp.) in the 50s but wasn't
used until the 80s.  The Catholic church here missed out
on Vatican II.  Pride of place behind the altar was given
to a large mural of the Virgin Mary and Child.  The part
of the service I caught was mostly in Latin.  I actually
understood part of it.

Agnus Dei, 
Qui tollis peccata mundi,
Miserere nobis.

Lamb of God,
Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

In Christ, 
David