Dear Friends and Supporting Congregations,

"Reality is approximate…" or so said a recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times. The writer was describing the dilemma of counting and recounting, by machine, by hand, by default, by court ruling! His point is that when an election gets this close we may never know who really had the most votes. This particular writer quoted both Einstein (whose Theory of Relativity says measurement depends on the relative position of the measurer and changes accordingly) and Heisenberg (whose Uncertainty Principle says the act of taking measurement irrevocably changes the reality of that being measured). How do I begin to "measure" or "count" the days of the last six months of interpretation leave?

Interpretation leave began in July and continued through December, punctuated by

• Visits with Lithuania Christian College students working summer jobs in Colorado, where Viktorija was a hotel maid, in Wisconsin, and in New Jersey, where students worked at Six Flags amusement parks—as guards, as concession cashiers, and in the customer relations department.
• Attendance at the Presbyterian Women’s Gathering and the Missionary Sharing Conference, both in Louisville, Kentucky
• Knee replacement surgery and 16 weeks of recovery (which continues)
• Visiting congregations in California, Colorado, and New Jersey—preaching, speaking, sharing.

Thankfully, God provided kind friends each step of the way who housed, fed and cared for me, body and soul!

Since the "reality" of these months intersected with so few of you, I’d like to share with you the responses of some of the LCC students to questions posed to them in the making of my (still unfinished) video production.

Have your expectations of independence been met?
"We had dreams and hopes, but it’s been harder than we thought." "People care only about themselves. People don’t care about the country’s future." "Life in the villages is worse." (Lithuania is about 50% rural.)

What did independence give you personally?
"My dad lost his job, but now he can listen to the music he likes." (Before independence, it was forbidden to listen to foreign radio stations.) "We are free to travel, if we have the money." "We now have possibilities to choose where we study or go." "Pop culture is in our face, but we seem to be losing our national traditions."

What attracted you to LCC?
"The school is completely different. We live in a world that stresses the material, but here the other side of the world is stressed, and we’re made aware of it." "I came here because I couldn’t get in a university; my Lithuanian isn’t adequate enough." (From a student of Russian heritage) "I like the cultural mix here. People with different backgrounds and views."

What kind of an education do you need?
"We need an education that will lead us to further studies." "We need to learn to think critically, to see opportunities. We are just at the beginning of our country." "We can create our own future."

What challenges are facing young people today?
"Whether to emigrate after graduation or not." (Much more can be earned outside Lithuania than in the country.) "Finances, how to pay tuition ($800 a year) and eat at the same time."

How do you perceive yourself in the future in Lithuania?
"It’s hard to think of the future; it’s easier to think one day at a time." "I will be active and not passive." "We need a revolution here!" "I prefer not to have expectations. My experience tells me plans can fall through." "I think I’ll be a politician because I’m honest."

What kind of people will Lithuania need for a new future?
"Honest people with integrity." "Creative people." "People who are "nationalists" and who care about their country." "Honest and caring politicians who care not about themselves but about the people."

If Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle is right and the act of taking a measurement irrevocably changes the reality of that being measured, then the last six months is more and less than I anticipated. God has faithfully sustained me, taught me, and encouraged me—in ways far beyond my imagination. On the other hand, the "little" actions, the small conversations, the useless and seemingly pointless encounters, the hours of rest, sleep, and reading quietly are just as real and precious, in spite of my inability to measure their worth.

Isn’t life like that? Can we really gauge the worth of God becoming one of us, at least using our human value scale? Has God made clear to us the infinite worth of His love in Jesus Christ? Do we get it? What is the "value" of all the teaching and healing he did? Can we do more than become very still when we realize or even just begin to "inkle" the full "measure" of the gift given at Christmas or the sacrifice paid at Calvary? Thinking back to Einstein and Heisenberg, is it not rather the case that we are the ones irrevocably changed by that Reality who is above all realities, who indeed "measures" us and our worth, by seeking us and finding us, by loving us and by making us whole, by giving our days their purpose and value? In that belief I return to Lithuania and wish you all

Grace and peace,

Jane Holslag

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.88