Three different Baltic countries

OK, a little research on the three countries this week.

Lithuania, it turns out, has a sizable Catholic population, where as Latvia has some Catholics and Estonia only a handful.  But whatever the Christian denomination, all are on the way up after suffering under Soviet rule.

I connect Lithuania with tie-dye; this isn't due to anything more than the fact that Donn Nelson coached their national basketball team and was a big Dead-head.  I know this because Wake Forest had a Lithuanian player from the national team, Darius Songaglia, who is still floating around the NBA.

But I digress.

Here's a much more meaningful story.  Remember that church in Alabama that was struck by a tornado on Palm Sunday, killing 20, including one of the pastor's children?  Well the pastor, her husband, and their two daughters went on to be missionaries in Lithuania.

Here's a profile of some Latvian missionaries on the Eastern European Missionaries Network.

But this is the best story of the bunch, a profile of Sisters of Charity working in Estonia.  It is really worth the read.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

This month we pray for three countries that show me my age.  I remember them not existing - they were part of the Soviet Union.  And yet they aren't new.  I look forward to learning more about them this week.