Thursday, May 22, 2008









Justin has now successfully arrived in Lithuania! He is in the city of Kaunas, and is serving with Elder Kolby from South Weber.
It just so happens (really - a complete coincidence) that on Wednesday the 14th of May, me (his dad) was travelling to New York on business. I had a departure of 10:05 at gate D10. It turns out that Justin had a departure of 9:50 at gate D6. So as I came down the hallway toward my gate, lo and behold, there he was with all his compadres. So we did get to visit for just a minute before he and I both had to board planes and head out.

He tells of his mission starting in earnest as he boarded the plane for Atlanta - here it is in his own words (edited with a little spelling, grammar and punctuation):

"So we got on the plane and I sat next to an amazing lady. And like you all know I am a little shy so the Lord gave me a little push. Two seconds after I sat down she said "Oh you look so nice what is your name badge for." I was like oh that is the perfect IN to talk about the gospel. so YES I did. I asked her what she knew about the church and all she had heard about it
was the name, so I had about 5 hours next to her to give her the whole story, history and message of the gospel. She listened very intently and of course, because I am an Eagle Scout, I was prepared with an extra Book of Mormon from the MTC Bookstore. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and she promised me she would pray and read. And I was really suprised because she actually said she had been looking for something more for a couple weeks and Yea this was IT! So I gave her the Book of Mormon and she read 13 chapters on the plane. So then she would stop and we would talk and she really wanted to learn more about the gospel so I gave her a pass-a-long card and she also promised me that she would look up the missionaries ASAP when she went back to her home in Oregon. So yes I started my wonderful real missionary work right out of the gate, which was awesome because it really got me excited to teach people about the gospel."

I don't know much about the pictures I have posted here, they came in his first e-mail at 2:00 AM our time Wednesday morning - he didn't send much detail, but they have been taken since he arrived, so they are likely: (in order from the top): The city he is in - the mission president and wife - his apartment (sure nicer than the ones I had) - his companion and then, I really don't know who that may be with the missionaries.
Thanks for everyones letters and support while he was in the MTC, he has indicated that his local address for letters is:
Elder Justin Martin
A/D 286
44004 Kaunas
Lithuania

He can also be reached by e-mail at: Justindm@myldsmail.net
Thanks again for your support and interest, he sounds great and seems to be loving what he is doing!

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