January Light

"If there were no light in the universe, we should never know it was dark" - C.S. Lewis

The sky was a faded blue and the clouds were red and yellow when I left the main building after my last class of the day. It was after five pm and I was walking back to our apartment and I was thinking about how the sky was still lit. I stood there in the late-day sun, soaking up the light that had so quietly stretched itself into the evening after it had been disappearing in the early afternoon for so long now. Things around here seem to have a way of doing that.

Every friday morning starts the same. The alarm goes off early, much to Becky's chagrin, and the only true success in the alarm clock's week happens when I get out of bed on the first attempt. I make my way around the inside of our place with a special kind of slowness for two reasons. One- having my senses dulled due to staying awake too late the night prior to get up at that time, and two- because our place is rearranged in such a way that our tables, being stretched out and slid together, take up most of the walking space in our apartment. I turn on the little light above the stove and once my slow eyes adjust I begin to make breakfast. My grandma's recipes seem to be everyone's favorites ever since I first made her famous Christmas Egg Bake a couple of months ago. By the time people start to show up just before 7:30am Becky has usually made her way out of our bed and her stooper, and we are ready for them with some coffee and fruit. Sometimes only the latter due to an overflow from the shoddy coffee maker.

There is a need in Christian communities to gather frequently and talk about what has been happening in our lives and in the life of the community. For us, we do it over a meal every friday morning. It breathes fresh life into all of us involved. We ask questions and listen to the responses. We share our lives and experience what it is to be in a community.

This morning continued a pattern that has been occurring as of late: the increased inclusion of students in our stories of thanksgiving.

It may seem like a small change, but thats only when taken out of context of this place. Much like the small increase of light might seem from someone who experiences only subtle seasonal shifts. But here, on these sable mornings, we huddle around these stories like candles. Every time we hear of students seeking for the Light and realizing that there is truth in the world that one can hold on to, trust in, and rest on, we are full of thanks.

December in Review

I often spend time crafting specific blog entries in my head while walking to and fro in my life over here in Lithuania. I have to admit that those thought-provoking blog entries rarely make it to a posting status here on johnstrandband. It is very similar to my habit of carrying out conversations with friends from back home in my head, complete with all of my latest personal updates and all the wonderings I have about their life's happenings as of late. More and more, I think I truly understand the meaning of being with someone 'in spirit.' Thank you for the many times you friends and readers send emails with answers to my unspoken, and even unwritten, questions. I appreciate the connection that can continue to happen across the distance.

The last month in 2009 had some of the fullest days of the school year so far, as well as some of the quietest and most peaceful moments for us Johnson's here at LCC in Lithuania. It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and so I am going to give a report on some of the main events of the last month through photos. Never short on words, I'll insert a few of my own explanations, descriptions or whatever else I deem necessary. Here goes!


This year LCC's annual Christmas Program was a modern-telling of the events of the Christmas story from the Gospels; a sort of parallel to what the story could have looked like if the Messiah had been born in our town today in the year 2009. Who would some of the key characters involved have been? Leading up to the program, I assisted the student actors (who represented the shepherds visited by the angel chorus) to prepare for their scene that takes place in a university residence hall as students are studying for final exams. It was probably my most enthusiastic group of students that I have worked with thus far and I appreciated the enthusiasm and the spice they added to my usual meetings. Erik stole the show in his role as Hector, one of the 3 amigos (who were of course casted to fill the roles of wisemen arriving from the east) that see a star during a card game where they are trying to find the fourth king (get it? the fourth king is where the star leads them). The 3 amigos were toting guitars and a mandolin and would break into song as they travelled. Everyone else was amazed at the energy and character Erik brought to his role. I, though unsurprised by his expert performance, was a proud wife in the stands. The program even included The Hallelujah Chorus sung by a brave group of faculty and staff and Silent Night sung in a number of languages by various student groups formed to represent their country in song. The evening concluded with a Christmas cookie reception in the lobby...what a great start to the season.

Hector's performance was so well received that Erik was sought out by the university's president, Kyle, for a follow-up appearance of Hector (turned into a Mexican singing Santa) in an appearance at Kyle's own Christmas party for the VPs and department Chairs at LCC. Kyle reworked the lyrics to the John Lennon song Imagine and Erik and I (supposedly dressed as some sort of elf assistant to Hector) showed up after dinner to sing the LCC version of the song and pass out gifts to all from Santa's sack. We turned quite a few Lithuanian heads as we traveled to and from the party on Klaipeda's local buses dressed in all our get-up.

Each department on campus has their own Christmas parties to plan, including ResLife. The 3 of us Resident Directors planned an off-campus gathering at our supervisor's home for our student RAs, complete with a white elephant gift exchange, of course. Here is Steve Hanson, my co-worker, with Vasile and Artsiom, a couple of guys from his staff, showing off their ugly Christmas sweaters purchased at the local thrift store for just the occasion. I am finding that white elephant gifts and ugly Christmas sweater parties appear to be practiced worldwide.


I was given the chance to present a leadership seminar on Friday, Dec 11, the last day of classes, on whatever leadership topic I wished. All students are invited, but the usual participants are those students who are enrolled in LCC's Leadership Development program. I could have been better prepared, but still, I surprised myself with how much fun I had during it. I discovered that I really enjoy teaching and the process of trying to involve students in a new concept or idea. I chose the topic of Assertive Communication and then briefly introduced 3 main points: active listening, using "I" statements as a leader, and the process of giving and receiving feedback. I explained at the beginning that all of these concepts appear to be very Western in their approach because of their direction communication style. It made for lots of great dialogue and at least opened students up to the practice of these communciation techniques. Who says I am not using my Communication degree? By the way, this picture has nothing at all to do with the seminar I gave.

I had my own Christmas dinner celebration with my RAs too. Erik and I hosted them for a lasagna dinner in our apartment and we all shared about our family holiday traditions. Before allowing them to sit down and eat our meal, I sent them on a wild goose chase together following clues posted all over Neumann hall to find their stockings. Not being an eastern European tradition, this was the first stocking all of them had ever received. Here they are, looking only slightly enthused to discover the contents inside their stocking.


Of course, the end of the semester brought its usual craziness and extra tasks. Erik completed his first semester as a full-time student at LCC with seven finals! My RAs and I had our hands full getting ready for and carrying out winter break inspections before every student left their room. This year a youth conference that the school was helping to host over Christmas vacation added a few extra steps to our usual winter break preparations.

We hosted our Christmas Celebration Breakfast early on the last Friday morning of the semester. Erik has been organizing and cooking for these weekly breakfasts that we host for staff and faculty every Friday morning since fall break. We gather to eat good food, talk about the week, and give thanks together for the ways we see God working in our lives and the greater LCC community. This was an especially great Celebration breakfast as it was identical to Grandma Johnson's Christmas brunch menu back home - egg bakes & porridge!

And last, but certainly not least, the other important news of December is that Erik switched his focus of studies from working towards a degree in Business Administration to a bachelor of arts in Theology! I am confident that Theology will be a perfect fit for Erik's gifts and interests. He is super stocked about the change and has already begun reading his textbooks for the upcoming semester classes. I am pretty sure I can't say that I was ever that motivated while I was in school. Conveniently, this change allows him to be on track to complete his undergraduate program by the end of spring semester 2011, as he plans to be enrolled in courses over the next couple of summers.

Arrival of Advent

Advent is my favorite season of the church calendar. I enjoy all of the ways that preparing for Christ's birth on earth is emphasized through the traditions of opening Advent calendar tabs, lighting Advent candles & spending time reading the prophecies of an Emmanuel promised to the Israelites told in the stories of the Old Testament. Our gathering in church this last Sunday night highlighted the way that God emptied himself by coming to earth in human flesh as a baby. It's odd that those of us in the West are used to celebrating Christmas by piling more on ourselves - more parties, more commitments, more lists, & more material things. Is this our symbolic way of preparing to celebrate God's arrival on earth? I don't know if it will be any different over here in Lithuania. Although there were no signs of Black Friday happening down at the nearby mall, I have already seen the hints of materialism and its control here during some of my experiences thus far. While my disapproval of materialism lasts longer than just the Advent season, I am hoping to hold on to the Christmas traditions that seem to be more about preparing my heart and soul and mind to be involved in the ways of God here on earth instead of making sure I have my gifts and social calendar perfectly arranged. I know that I don't have to wait until December comes around each year to try this way of life, but that is why I am thankful for the changing seasons of the church that remind me and guide me to prepare myself to be involved in God's work on earth.

I start with a thankful heart. I look around and count the blessings. I look back at this last week of Thanksgiving and see the real things and experiences that have been given to me in my part of the world. I am encouraged by the stories I hear of how God is showing up in the lives of others around the world. I would like to share a few thanks that come to mind.

I am thankful for Skype and the ability to stay connected around the world.

I am thankful that pickled pumpkin tastes almost just as good as Thanksgiving pumpkin pie back home.

I am thankful for my staff of student leaders that is willing to celebrate Thanksgiving by humoring me and eating this thing we call pumpkin pie.

Most importantly of all, I am thankful for the support of Steve & Laura Hanson, our fellow Minnesotans across the hall...as well as the use of their kitchen appliances...and don't forget about all of our late night games of 500. Thank you, God, for friends.

Thanksgiving in Lithuania - 2009

shipping overseas 411

The months of October & November brought the arrival of our first packages since living abroad. Thank you AmySue! Thank you mom! Thank you Trish & Pat! Thank you Karen! I have always loved receiving mail, but I believe that moving to a different country is definitely the way to make mail of all shapes and sizes the best thing ever. All of the North Americans working at LCC appear to have similar feelings about getting mail in Lithuania, demonstrated by the large smiles pasted on faces when you see someone walking around with a highly coveted package. A Lithuanian student asked me one day, "What do you get in those packages? I can't understand what is so exciting about the stuff you get in those packages that you couldn't possible get here (Lithuania)." I had to laugh as I tried to explain that people are excited about the contents of their mail because it often includes food items or baking ingredients that we use a lot back home, but doesn't seem to exist in the stores over here. I listed off the things that first came to mind, "Well, of course there's peanut butter, baking powder, chocolate chips, brown sugar, American candy...I know there are others too," but I couldn't seem to come up with a very impressive list of our needs that aren't getting met here in Lithuania. Although my answer may not have satisfied this girl, it made me realize that the best thing about getting mail in a foreign country is that it helps me feel remembered. My absence is noticed and I am being thoughtfully and physically considered by the people I left behind.

The following is in no way intended to be a desperate plea for packages, but a mere mention of some simple, yet helpful information for sending packages overseas to your loved ones. Please keep this in mind. Declare the value of the package to be less than $50 for customs purposes. If the stated value of the package is greater than $50, it requires a lot of money for the person picking it up (us!) from the post office on the other end. Believe me, we found this out the hard way. You are already spending an arm and a leg to mail something in the first place, so keep this in mind to help prevent the pain of another leg on the other side. It will make the arrival of your package an experience of pure bliss and anticipation. And guarantees that your recipient will thank you.

another reason to give thanks

It's Thanksgiving Eve here in Lithuania, even though Lithuania doesn't acknowledge the fact. Still, I am thankful tonight. Erik had a bunch of music practices this evening and I had a lot of work to still do, so I decided to do my sit myself down in the lobby and be a part of the student activities. One of the student activities happening tonight is a photo scavenger hunt competition. I remember doing a photo scavenger hunt during my college days that took us all over the Roseville, MN vicinity. I remember that I had a blast...trying to get strangers to do ridiculous things and than taking a picture to verify the ridiculous things we had done. It looks and sounds like these student are having a blast tonight as well. The event is confined to the residence hall and there are 4 teams of students running around trying to take the most pictures and see who can get the most points.

I am laughing quietly to myself as I think about the reason this event is happening. It's all part of my creative, strategic, and of course calculated, attempts to create community in Neumann Hall. Part of my job as Resident Director entails coming up with consequences for students who violate policies. I have made it my goal to hand out consequences that are as related to the behavior as possible. Hosting drinking parties in the dorms is exclusive to others and is disrespectful because it requires students to hide their behavior from the rest of the community. I am always trying to consider the possible ways that students can give back to the community around them. Therefore, I have required students to plan and coordinate hall events that encourage appropriate behavior and invite others to join in the fun. Sounds easy enough, right? To tell you the truth, I am surprised at how intimidating this type of consequence is to students. Sometimes the process is painfully slow and discouraging. At other times, I am amazed at the result.

Tonight our photo scavenger hunt organizers were two female Lithuanian students in their 3rd year at LCC. These ladies usually avoid attending organized events or anything that looks too much like community, yet I can tell that they are natural leaders within their social group on campus. It took them awhile to own the event, but it was neat to watch them problem solve and work through the issues that our RAs commonly face when trying to plan activities. I have noticed that there are LCC students that attend almost every single event that happens on campus and then there are others that seem difficult to convince to attend any event at all. 99% of tonight's photo scavenger hunt participants were definitely from the latter group I described. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw which students were racing noisily around the residence hall trying to find the most photos before time ran out. I witnessed real enthusiasm and real laughter. I was even asked to be in some of the photos taken for the competition. It made my day. To top it all off, another group of ladies that I had given the same consequence to came back from hosting their event in Karklu, the other LCC residence hall. Their report was really positive. They said that the students had a good time, and they even admitted that each of them had a good time as well.

Today I am thankful for photo scavenger hunts. And the laughter that comes as a result. And the times when life works out even better than I expect.

our winter wonderland

I believe there are some things worth mentioning and some things worth celebrating. I don't know which one this is, but it's important to announce it anyway. Lithuania has SNOW! This photo is the morning view outside our window today. It's November 5th and winter has officially begun here. The first snow always brings a mysterious excitement with it for me. It is especially mysterious for me today as I have no idea what to expect from snow or winter in Lithuania. I can tell the wind is blowing fiercely, and yet the scene appears beautiful from my perspective inside our cozy apartment. I think I would rather stay inside today, but I have to admit there is something thrilling about bundling up as much as possible in all of my warmest layers and stepping out to brave the elements. I will probably have the chance to experience both today.

Our Baltic Tour

Erik and I got back last night from traveling the Baltic countries. We are SO glad that we left ourselves a cushion of 24 hours on either end of the 7-day trip so that we can slowly enter back into normal life today. We feel thankful for the chance we had to get away. Our spirits are refreshed and our interest in life at LCc has renewed energy. I propose that everyone should follow the schedule of a student. It is so helpful to occasionally switch up one's routine and pace of life in order to better focus on one's work. Ah, the seasons of life.

Speaking of seasons, the sun didn't rise until 7:42 this morning. As I write, the sun is on its way down, officially scheduled to set at 4:56 this afternoon. Sunshine is becoming an elusive memory around here, scarcely coming out of the clouds in between all the rain showers. I hope to take advantage of my time indoors this winter. Some of my aspirations include reading books, working on knitting projects, and continuing my study of the Lithuanian language. I am hoping to read books and watch documentaries that help me learn more about the history and culture in the Baltic countries. My attention was captured while exploring this last week and I realize I still have a lot more to learn.

Quick Trip Summary - We took a bus from KLAIPEDA to RIGA, the capital of Latvia. From there we rode a bus to TARTU, a university town in the country of Estonia. We went by train from Tartu to the capitol city of Estonia, TALLINN. Yesterday we took a 9-hour bus ride back home to KLAIPEDA from Tallinn through Riga. I included the map so that you can get an idea of how accessible these places are to each other. My friends and I used to drive the 8-hours out to McLaughlin to spend the weekend in South Dakota in college. That is pretty much the same distance we traveled to get to our farthest destination this week. The part that stands out to me is how different everything is in between these 2 cities only 300 miles apart. These photos will give an idea of what Erik and I saw on our journey, starting with RIGA.

The city of Riga is situated next to the Daugava river and is filled with beautiful old buildings (in Art-Nouveau style for any art history buffs) and lots of statues and monuments. The Freedom Monument, erected in 1935, is one of my favorite statues of the week. It is a symbol of Latvian independence and continues to function as an unofficial location for political debates. When we there, we were able to witness the hourly changing of the guard. You can see the flowers that people bring to cover the base platform of the statue.

On a very important note, The Museum of Occupation in Latvia provided a detailed timeline with pictures of the Soviet and Nazi occupations between 1940 and 1991. Of the 3 Occupation museums we have visited, this presentation was the easiest one to follow, showing the progression of the events in history, as well as the dismantling of culture, education, and economy in Latvia as a result of these events. On a less important note, we also found a bakery similar to Hermann's Bakery in Cambridge that we visited twice for its very delicious Latvian pastries and lattes. Our next stop was TARTU, a university town in Estonia of 101,000 people and 11 institutions of higher education.

Erik and I noticed a difference about Estonia immediately upon our arrival. It was obvious that education and the arts are valued in Estonian culture. Research, philosophy, literature, and music were emphasized by the things we saw and read, as well as by our interactions with people. It was fun to be among students who were creative and idealistic. We didn't even realize how much we had missed the presence of this until we witnessed it again in Tartu.

We enjoyed our 24-hour stay here, which included walking through multiple parks, reading more descriptions of statues, touring old church structures, eating at delicious restaurants and cafes, and even a brief visit to Tartu University's Medicine Faculty building with its "Frankenstein-style exhibition of all kinds of body parts." Eek. Too many preserved body parts for me. Then again, I don't know how many preserved body parts I would actually enjoy seeing. Not my deal. And of course, Tartu wouldn't be a college town without a second hand store. We checked out Humana (the Baltic version of Savers) before grabbing a bite to eat and heading out of town on our way to the capital of Estonia, the coastal city of TALLINN.

Our hostel in Tallinn happened to be the 7th floor penthouse suite of one of the new commercial buildings near Old Town. I have no idea how we got so lucky. It seriously came up as the cheapest price as I was booking a place to stay for the last 3 nights of our trip. We have a funny story about our experience here, but I'll save that for another conversation. Ask me about our shady hostel host sometime.

Tallinn combines a unique mixture of building structures; medieval style, Soviet times style, Soviet-remodeled to modern style, and brand new modern style buildings form an architectural mosaic. We appreciated the variety. We continued our touring by strolling the windy streets of Old Town. We ate Estonian style pancakes and listened to live jazz. We visited the Museum of Occupations and watched video footage of the Soviet control in Estonia. We walked the promenade through Kadriorg Park down to the sea to the mermaid statue, passing a palace and 19th century villas along the way. A friend that we met on the train to Tallinn offered to show us around the city one day and took us to a modern art exhibit at Kumu (Art Museum of Estonia), which was given "The 2008 European Museum of the Year Award." She even brought us along to her professor's art show that night where we got a personal tour and explanation of the paintings from the artist himself.

Thanks for staying tuned to hear about our trip. We are back home and ready to stick around Klaipeda for a while. Please come and visit. We'll bring you with us on our next Baltic road trip!