Rev. Dean Rothchild, Assistant To The District President

In November, I had the privilege of traveling with a group of 18 people from St. John Lutheran Church in Hubbard to work on the new church building in Palanga, Lithuania. We left on November 12^th and returned on November 19^th.

[See the pictures below.]

The first task was to clean up some of the residual building materials throughout this massive facility. Many buckets of dirt and blocks were gathered and hauled out in a wheelbarrow. After that, several wooden floors were installed in what will be storage areas in the new facility. Some dry wall was hung. Hanging the 4 x 8 foot sheets was rather simple. Installing the metal framing which must be attached to the block walls was quite time consuming. The crew from Hubbard was hard working and dedicated to help get some of the interior work completed.

To date, over $414,000 has been gathered from throughout Iowa District East and other parts of the Synod to help with the construction of the project. Original estimates were in the range of $650,000. With the rise in cost of both labor and materials the project is going to cost closer to $950,000 to get it to the point where it can pass government approval so it can be used.

Pastor Darius Petkunas writes: “We have closed work because we are out of money. The exterior is complete except that some work still needs to be done on the tower. If we receive funds, we can resume in March and hopefully we can have the dedication in the summer time. We would need an additional $170,000 to pay for supplies and labor to meet government approval.”

When I returned I began the process of arranging work crews to donate their time and money to go to Palanga to do further work on the project. That is temporarily on hold due to Laws in Lithuania: Rev. Petkunas writes: “I have just made aware that the laws in Lithuania since the last year have been tightened up. The government now says that tourists cannot work even as volunteers except in emergency situations (natural disasters, etc.). If something was to happen at the site and the government became involved, it could be a problem. If individuals were covered by their own insurance or if there was a blanket policy to cover the group this might work.” He has since written the government officials in Vilnius to get an official ruling about this. That is a Fourth Commandment issue and we must obey the law.

Hopefully this is only a challenge and roadblock which God will help us overcome. As mentioned earlier this is a massive facility which will not only serve the needs of the congregation at Palanga but will be a blessing to the entire Lithuanian Lutheran Church body. I hope that it works out to send other groups on servant events to Palanga. LCMS Human Care and Iowa District East continue to partner in this project and both are committed to seeing it successfully completed.

On a personal note, I was humbled and honored to preach three times on November 18^th. The first two were in unheated churches where you could see your breath. The Lord’s Supper was celebrated at the parish in Priekula. What a privilege it was to kneel beside brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus who have endured much persecution for the Lutheran faith which they confess. Please remember your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus in Lithuania in your prayers and consider giving a special gift to help bring this project to a God-glorifying completion. You can contact the District Office at 319-373-2112 or email me at deanrothchild@lcmside.org