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Vilnius, Lithuania

Safety

  • It is a very safe country.

Safety in Vilnius, Lithuania
What do other Racers need to know in order to be safe? Current safety protocols/precautions in place? Any relevant issues/concerns? Any precautionary suggestions?

People’s Opinions

  1. Comment

Ministry Summary

  • First time working with Pastor Steponas and helped with yard work, cleaning and painting around his home, interviewing locals, prayer walks, visiting churches, going to schools, visiting prisons and prison hospitals.
  • A great experience. Highly recommended for future teams going to Lithuania, a 4.

Ministry Summary in Vilnius, Lithuania
Breakthroughs? Suggestions? Concerns? On a scale of 1-4 (1 being not at all, 4 being absolutely) how strongly would you recommend another World Race team go to this ministry location & why?

People’s Opinions

  1. We did Unsung Heroes here in Vilnius. Here are a few ministry comments:*Team Leaders: If for whatever reason your formal ministry in Vilnius is slow (aka not very many hours per day) here are some ideas of what you can do to use the team’s time in a fruitful and fun way:*Mark Hamilton-he runs YoungLife in Lithuania and Belarus. The ministry in Lithuania is still very small, so he may not be able to fully host a team yet. However, if someone on your team is passionate about YoungLIfe or just enjoys reaching teens, reach out to Mark and see if you can join in on any of the events during the month. He is Australian and married to an American woman and they have five kids. He is a ton of fun to talk to and has a HUGE heart for this part of the world. If you wanted to, you could also offer to babysit to give them a night out, this is a couple that seems to work hard for the Gospel, so could be a fun way to bless missionaries in this part of the world. Phone: 37067486726 E-mail: Mark@young-life.lt*Charity Canteen: Homeless feeding program, you could contact them to volunteer one morning but the language barrier with the folks who run it is HUGE so just know that.

Lodging

  • Stayed with Pastor Steponas in his house church; they had a guest floor with 7 beds, toilets, shower, kitchen, fridge, stove, microwave, electricity, washing machine.
  • Cost: $3 USD pppn.

Lodging in Vilnius, Lithuania
Where did you stay? What were the accommodations (sleeping arrangements, toilets, showers, etc.)? Cost (per person per night in USD), Contact info.

People’s Opinions

  1. We did Unsung during our time in Vilnius and here is what we found!*Bible Way Pentecostal Christian Church (www.biblija.org)-While in Mozambique, we were searching for somewhere to live within the $5 a night per person budget and we were not having much luck. A girl on our team e-mailed churches here in town asking them if they had advice. Pastor Anatoly from this church answered back that we were welcome to stay with them for a few days. They are located about a 30 minute bus ride outside of the city center and have a church with a shower, kitchen, and matresses on the floor of a classroom. We trusted God and went site unseen to this place and it worked out super great! After staying a few days, they offered to let us stay all month. We ended up staying 1.5 weeks for free. Their ministry, however, is not necessarily hosting anyone who wants a room, so if you do contact to see about staying, don’t have the expectation this is for sure. Also at times was inconvenient staying there with all the other stuff going on at the church. Pastor does not really speak English but others in the church do. Love on this church, it started as a secret church during Soviet times and now is a budding church in this country and full of people chasing after Jesus. Was a treasure of a find.*AirBnB: Our team AirBnB’d a place from Vaida Pleskacevska in the city center. It was over the $5 budget, but due to our money savings from staying for free at the church above, we were able to swing it. AWESOME place at the Pamenkalnio Street 21 apartment with two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, and sitting area. It is right in the center of town and was a BLESSSSINGGGG to stay in!! It slept six in beds and one in a sleeping pad.*Hostels: If you are coming in a summer month, don’t drag your feet booking as they do fill up. Here are some names of ones that you can look at.-Hostel Do Re Mi (good central location)-Fabrika Hostel (good central location)-Downtown Forest Hostel (looked awesommmeee online but they were booked while we were there so never got to see it)

Food / Meals

  • Ate a lot of food that was similar to America;  ate out at local restaurants (Cili Pica was a favorite (pizza), Coffee Inn, Caif Café for coffee) and buy food from Maxima, Rimi and Iki (the local grocery stores).
  • Cost: $5 USD pppd.

Food / Meals in Vilnius, Lithuania
What did you eat? Where did you get the food? Cost (per person per day in USD)? Contact info (if applicable).

People’s Opinions

  1. Eko Tako (see comment below)
    taco
  2. Okay so I don’t want to be food girl, but I do love a good restaurant, so here are some more:*Can Can Pizza-can eat in budget there as they have cheap pizzas and is a great environment at the restaurant!*Cilipica-This place is everywhere and is cheap American food too*Boom Burger-Boom Burger is FABULOUS and about 7 Euro for a burger and fries and a great environment*Forest-cool environment and good foodGrocery Stores*Maxima
  3. Check out Eko Tako near Historic Vilnius clock tower and Catholic Church. It is the closest to Chipotle that I have found on the Race! About $7 for a soda, burrito, and chips

Transportation

Transportation in Vilnius, Lithuania
What transportation did you use to enter the country? Where were you coming from? What transportation was used to move throughout the country? Be sure to include the cost per person in USD and contact info if applicable.

People’s Opinions

  1. While staying in Vilnius for the month, we purchased city bus passes. Some people on the team still had valid student ID’s and so we got them passes for 5 Euro for the month. Others did not have student ID’s and we didn’t want to be dishonest, so we paid 30 Euro for a month pass for those folks. Sure glad we did it that way because the busses are often boarded by monitors who scan your pass and if you have a Student one, they ask for the corresponding ID. Also, be sure right after you buy your pass, you scan it once at the front of the bus in order to activate it. You only have to activate it once a month. This bus will take you pretty much anywhere within the city. If staying with Pastor Anatoly, bus 3G will be your best friend.To go outside of Vilnius, you can take the public bus to the railway or bus station which are located right next to each other. Take public bus number 1G or 2G to the stations. From here you can get busses to anywhere in the Baltic states and we had team members go to Kaunas from here.To bus to Latvia or anywhere else around, we have used LuxExpress which was super nice and saw Simple Express which looked nice also. We paid 11 euro per person for the LuxExpress.

Medical

Medical in Vilnius, Lithuania
Information on local hospitals / doctors / pharmacies. Where would someone go in a medical emergency? (addresses and contact info).

People’s Opinions

  1. After Leaving Malawi and arriving in Vilnius, Lithuania, the patient became ill on 03/01/14. Symptoms: high fever, hot and cold flashes, headache or migraine, nausea, fatigue, weakness, light headedness, joint pain, and loss of appetite. Illness continues to last more than two days with no sign of improvement. On 03/03/14 I took patient to the Baltic American Clinic. They met with her and thought she may have Malaria. The facility was not adequately prepared to treat that type of disease so they sent us to the Infectious Disease and Tuberculosis Hospital. There they conducted a blood test to confirm and diagnose the patient as contracting Malaria. Later that night they begin anti-malaria treatment.

Communication

  •  WIFI was easily accessible. 

Communication in Vilnius, Lithuania
Did you have cell reception / Internet service? Where? Carrier / Provider, where did you get phones / SIM cards, cost? Country code?

People’s Opinions

  1. Buy SIM cards for the team phone at Maxima and they are super cheap for about 2 Euro a SIM card. I also bought one for my iPhone for 1GB for 3 Euro. Not super necessary to have one though as WiFi is everywhere. We had been in Africa before this with no WiFi, so a teammate did suggest we enjoy it, but we also picked a screen fast night to ensure that we were building into the team too, so I would suggest discussing that before arriving in Lithuania.

Financial

Financial in Vilnius, Lithuania
Location of banks or ATMs, notes about transaction fees, best places to exchange money, and other money related advice.

People’s Opinions

  1. There are tons of ATM’s around that you can draw money out of. We succeeded at being on budget without much trouble, a lot of that, though, is because God stepped in and blessed us with free housing for awhile and church members who drove us a few times places, so also pray for moments like that while here.

Translators

Translators in Vilnius, Lithuania
List any local translators – name and contact information, languages spoken

People’s Opinions

  1. So a lot of people either don’t speak English or are very hesitant to use it. While in the city center, you will find plenty of English speakers, but as you stretch further out, you may not. I was surprised at the factor that language barrier played while here.One woman we met named Kristina Vrub is a believer here in the city who has invited WR teams over for dinner and is super nice. She has done translation work for YoungLife and a Polish ministry and her English is great. We didn’t use her as a translator, but a team could certainly reach out and see her availability for the month if they needed to! vrubliauskaitekristina@gmail.com

Off Days / Fun Activities

  • Trakai Castle
  • Old Town in Vilnius
  • Walked along the river, festivals occur most weekends (European Days, music), museums.

Off Days / Fun Activities in Vilnius, LithuaniaWhat activities did your team experience? Recommendations? List locations/contact info. Any locations to be avoided? Any extra safety tips for off days?

People’s Opinions

  1. This at the Hill of crosses a very known place here in Lithuania. It is in a city called šiauliai that is 2 hours outside of Vilnius. There were many healings known to happen here so it became a holy place. People place crosses here to thank God or to ask for blessings. There are now over 200,000 crosses.
  2. The castle at Trakai!
    Hill of crosses
  3. The castle at Trakai!
    The castle at Trakai
  4. Photo of boats at Trakai
    Photo of boats at Trakai
  5. *Trakai Castle: This is a MUST do! If it is a nice day, pack a picnic, go to the bus station and buy a ticket to Trakai. Once there, you can rent a row boat for 6 euro an hour and row around the lake a picnic. If warm, bring a swim suit and we saw people swimming. Such a cute town to walk around in and the castle was beautiful. Don’t go to Vilnius and not see this.*The Hill of Three Crosses: By the cathedral and clock tower, climb up here to see the whole down.*Gediminas Street: The center of town, there is a TON of shopping and restaurants all around here and at the end of the street is the cathedral, clock tower, castle, and beautiful park. This will be the central place to be!We looked at doing weekend trips, Riga in Latvia would be doable as would Kleipida. We looked at going to Minsk in Belarus, but the Visa is SUPER expensive so diidn’t get far in that.

Other Important Contacts

Other Important Contacts in Vilnius, Lithuania
Additional ministry opportunities, local pastors, etc. Relationship & follow up suggestions

People’s Opinions

  1. Check out XFM Radio and our contact Tadas Daujotas who hosted us for two hours on the air talking about the World Race. I bet they would love to have other teams come talk about stuff too. Also, once a month (I think) they stuff 5,000 Christian childrens magazines for distribution and have a ton of volunteers come help with that, so if things are slow, this is something else you could volunteer for.
  2. Check out XFM Radio and our contact Tadas Daujotas who hosted us for two hours on the air talking about the World Race. I bet they would love to have other teams come talk about stuff too. Also, once a month (I think) they stuff 5,000 Christian childrens magazines for distribution and have a ton of volunteers come help with that, so if things are slow, this is something else you could volunteer for.

Tips

People’s Opinions

  1. Lithuania has a very small Protestant Christian population and everyone seems to know each other. We were here doing UH for the month and once we contacted one person, word very quickly spread and we realized it is a small, tight knit community where everyone knows each other. If you are here and ministry seems slow with your assigned contact, always be willing to ask them to reach out to friends to see if there are things you can do.

Additional Info

Additional Info in Vilnius, Lithuania
Anything we’ve left out? Any additional suggestions to make travel easier for others?

People’s Opinions

  1. Comment