Lithuanian treasures...

With American friends Chey, Naomi and Lara on a bus to the children's center this week in Lithuania



Tonight I can't sleep but it's my fault. After the Straight Up Beautiful conference, we went back to Lara and Austra's apartment where Agne joined us for dinner and I made the crazy mistake of drinking two cups of coffee.....But our conversations were rich, deep, spiritual.

Over 250 Lithuanian girls came to the conference! Amazing. But some stand out --- like diamonds. Agne is one of the Lithuanian treasures I've met here in Kaunas. I'll have to post a picture of her later because I haven't uploaded all my pics. She has a powerful story of how she ended up where she is today. At 21 years old, she's seen a lot. Both her parents were severe alcoholics growing up -- the kind you find laid out on the side of the road. She said she has memories of being 6 years old and trying to get her mom up from outside a bar across the street from her house. Now, she's dating a great guy in Lara's church, leads worship, works with youth and is just powerful. At 5 feet, she's a powerhouse! Today she was our translator and she did an incredible job. Such a different experience from my time in Romania. I'm starting to get the hang of this.


The conference was truly incredible and I have to brag on my friend Lara a little. She is amazing to me! This entire thing is her brainchild, but actually I'm convinced it's something in the heart of God and she has found a way to make it real. The whole purpose behind straight up beautiful is to help define beauty differently according to God's truth, talk about the power of a dream and encourage healthy relationships. It's fun, girly, inspiring, and grass roots. Lara's dream is to see local girls get involved with the development and production of the event.

Here in Lithuania a group of girls found their place and expressed themselves. Such creativity and it was fun to see! Lara also invited a team of "models" to model "Street Fashion", and she invited a team of young dancers from the modern school of dance in Lithuania to perform. There was also a girl band who came and sang a powerful song about God's love. There were topical messages, times for questions, gift giveaways.

Can you believe that one girl from the states organized her church in New York to buy 150 MAC lipglass and 50 Laura Mercer finishing powders? There were other lip gloss, fingernail polish and a ton of other things sent for the cause. Amazing. The girls were given such a treat and so excited about it. Before we gave out the gifts, it was fun for me to get up in this bigger venue and talk about the three mirrors that will soon be a chapter in Lara's book. The three mirrors include pop-culture, self-judgment and God's word. By the end of the day, some girls were really being touched. After one talk on God's heart toward them as a father, almost 20 girls came up to receive Christ. It was so amazing! There are new Lithuanian treasures here now....

Jenna is another treasure who has been here for awhile. She volunteers with Lara in an after school program that the church sponsors three times a week in one of the poorest neighborhoods. Lara was teling me some of the really sad stories. Jenna also helps Lara at the womens rehabilitation center. That will break your heart! But wow, we had a special time there too, praying for these women and watching God heal their hearts. Jenna called Lara the next day to say that in their counseling times with their counselors the next day, everyone was crying and something was different in the girls. These girls are tough. They've lived a hard life.

My final treat was running with Austra, the Olympian. We ran for over 3 miles together through a foresty area near her flat and she took me on part of a trail that was....hilly. I was dying. Austra is Lara's roommate, and the Olympic athlete I blogged about earlier in the summer when I asked you to root for her during the Olympics.

Austra also shared at the conference and was interviewed about pursuing her dream to be in the Olympics. One of the questions was about how she handles success and failures since in 2004 she won silver and in 2008 she didn't. She talked about how she spends time looking in the mirror of God's word to get her self-confidence. She knows she did her best and that's all she can go by is God's opinions of her.

This week has been incredible! It will forever be a treasure for me. Tomorrow Lara and I will rest and then we fly back together to Budapest where we will host a smaller, but hopefully just as impacting, conference. Thanks for praying for that!