September 24, 2008

Dear Friends, Supporters, Sisters and Brothers in faith,

Last week I went with other friends from LCC International University to Grazina Bielosova’s "commissioning" to the Methodist pastorate in Siauliai. A former M.Div. graduate from LCC, she's now and new pastor.

Warm greetings from Klaipeda, Lithuania, four weeks after my return to this land of rain and very green fields, this city of wind and clouds and blinding blue skies. On August 16, after two weeks of steady packing, giving away not enough of my accumulated stuff, watching the movers load the truck, cleaning and bidding friends in Berlin farewell, I flew back to the place I left in 2004. No, not exactly! Things here are different. I return somehow “different” as well, made so by the years of pastoring in Hohenbruch, of researching and interviewing for the dissertation, and of working through the loss of my father and some dear friends.

To start off, what has changed here in Klaipeda and at LCC International University is we now have over 600 students from 20 countries, a basketball team that has “recruits” from Senegal and Congo (not one, but two heads taller than I), students in my introduction to the Bible class whose English is practically perfect and whose bright minds are stirring me on to more preparation and prayer! The university has a new dorm, new computers, new copy machines, a new library system, many new faculty and staff members, and is in a year of transition as we wait for the new president to arrive next summer.

I am still excited about the dissertation to be written and finished (in spite of needing now to look for a new advisor), and I am working at it weekly. I have more reason to focus and key in on the basics. I am teaching one course this semester (to more than 60 students). As interim chair of the theology department, I am learning again how important cooperation and communication are, how much we have to learn from each other as well as from our students, and how very much I like being part of a team. The last 15 months have also taken a toll, for I come to this “place in my life” changed—when I began at LCC in 1997, both Mom and Dad were alive, and now they are gone. During the last four years, I called Dad with news and chatter, with hopes and frustrations, with my own questions and with a eager ear for his stories and thoughts as well. That chapter is closed. Last summer and fall, two friends—one in Germany and one in Colorado—also passed away. Each in their own way distinctly stamped and shaped my mission and service experience in the last 18 years. I continue to thank God for each of these loved ones who are still being grieved, not always but sometimes.

In spite of all the change, some things just don’t change! I awoke this morning to the smell of wood smoke wafting through the window;  some people in my neighborhood still must build a fire to get warm! As I went to the bus stop to ride to the market, I walked by a small group of local folks, mostly elderly, who sit all day, it seems every day,  in front of the corner grocery and sell flowers, onions, chives, beets,  plums, potatoes, or lettuce from their gardens, or mushrooms from the nearby forests of all size and shape, color and texture! Riding in the bus has usual moments, for often “someone” brings their own history with them, and today the man I sat behind had had more than one drink for breakfast. The busses themselves, however, are different, for it seems all of the old Hungarian buses are gone, and now we ride in recycled ones from Germany or France; they are both better ventilated and better heated! Riding along, one can't help but notice the streets and sidewalks in Klaipeda are very clean; at least half of the street sweeping ladies I see still use hand-made, switch brooms. The market is a kick in the pants. I love it, for you can get just about anything you need or want in the way of household goods, flowers, dairy products, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, and most of the several hundred sellers (each using a portion of a long table, either outside or in one of the “halls”) are local merchants or gardeners. I forgot to take a glass jar with me today;  if I had, I could have bought fresh sour cream, whipping cream, or raw milk from one of ladies in white who bring their wares in plastic liter coke bottles or big buckets! Since I am trying to lose weight, maybe I am better off having forgotten!

There’s much more to tell, but I'll close now, asking prayer for my continuing re-adjustment to the language, the customs, the journey. Nothing really new, but nonetheless a change. I am working on finding a new advisor, and prayers are appreciated. The days are flying by, and in spite of having a bit more air in my schedule, I can’t seem to get organized as I’d like! What I am encountering daily though, in time of prayer and reading, is confirmation of the call to service and teaching, to living out of and into the truth of the love of God in Jesus Christ here and now. Thank you for your support in this call!

Grace and peace,

Jane Holslag