Meridian Magazine :: Articles :Baltic Mission is Meeting Challenges of Growth

RIGA, LATVIA -- Imagine a youth conference where four translations are going on simultaneously.

Imagine a Young Single Adult conference where participants must obtain government visas before they can attend, then travel long distances by train or plane for the event.

Imagine a Primary president walking a mile and a half to church each Sunday because she doesn't have the 20-cent bus fare.

Such is reality in the Baltic Mission, comprised of the countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on northern Europe's Baltic Sea and next door to the northwest corner of Russia. Besides the native languages of each country, many Church members speak Russian.

The multiplicity of languages is a challenge for English-speaking President Peter Barr and his wife, Genivive, who have been serving in the Baltic Mission since July 2002. "You've got this buzz going on as you're speaking," says Sister Barr, noting that she has to prepare only 15 minutes of material for a 30-minute talk, to allow time for the translations.

Although the mission headquarters is in the historic city of Riga, Latvia, the Barrs travel extensively through the three Baltic countries. Each country makes up a separate district (the equivalent of a stake in areas with larger LDS populations), comprised of small branches.

The Church has been growing steadily since the Baltic nations joined others in eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R. in peacefully defeating Soviet rule in the early 1990s. Travel between the three countries – new members of the European Union this year – no longer requires a visa, although going to or from neighboring Russia still does.

The Barrs tell of the five-mission conference in Moscow earlier this year, where 900 young single adults attended and built bonds with other young Latter-day Saints. A few engagements even resulted, with plans for weddings in the Stockholm Temple, which is the nearest to the Baltics.

"They come home from these youth conferences wide-eyed and say, `I didn't know there were so many other LDS youth!'" said President Barr. The two-day mission youth conference, held in mid-
August, drew nearly 100 young people.

Indeed, Church members here number relatively few, with just 2,200 spread among the three countries. Around 110 missionaries serve in the Baltic Mission. Baptisms numbered around 150 in 2003, despite the challenges caused by problems in Iraq and the resulting animosity toward Americans. Missionaries had to remove their badges for a couple of months at a time for security reasons. However, "The missionaries are excited and working hard, and we're shooting for more than 265 baptisms this year," said President Barr.

President Barr was born in Lithuania but raised in Newcastle, Australia, where he and his German-born wife met as teenagers. (Their parents had fled Nazi Europe.) Genivive and Peter were introduced to the Church by an Elder Andersen, who served in Australia from 1960-62. Even though they were quickly converted, their parents were not, and it was a while before either Genivive or Peter was baptized. She finally joined the Church in 1963, with him following in 1965. They were sealed in the New Zealand Temple the same day they were married in a civil ceremony in 1967.

They lost track of the elder who had introduced them to the gospel, and they and wondered about his whereabouts for more than four decades as they raised four children. As an adult, Peter had changed his Lithuanian surname to Barr, which made it even more difficult for Elder Andersen to locate him.

Interestingly, a phone call 42 years later to the Barrs' son – and a subsequent telephone reunion between Australia and Alaska – led to John and Peggy Andersen's call to serve under President Barr on a 23-month mission as C.E.S. (Church Education System) missionaries.

Serving Youth

In early August this year, the Andersens were busy putting final touches on arrangements for a mission youth conference at a horticultural college outside Riga. Members and investigators ages 14-18 would have to make their own way to bus pickup points in each country for the two-day conference. Because of low income in the Baltics, the mission covered the expenses for transportation, dormitories and food.

Elder Andersen was looking forward to mixing with the youth. "These are bright young people," he said. "They speak three or four languages."

Elder and Sister Ken Tischer of St. George, Utah, serving in the Baltic Mission, are on their way to a birthday celebration dinner with young American elders in historic Riga, Latvia. (Photo by Laurie Williams Sowby)

A case in point is Svetlana Tretiaki, 23, a convert of seven years. She, along with her nonmember mother and a handful of friends, were on their way to Tallinn, Estonia, when they stopped at the Andersens’ apartment in Riga to pick up her mission call. She speaks English, Latvian and Russian and was called to the Russia Yekaterinburg Mission. Another in the group, Aleksandrs Nakaluzhni, 23, had received his call earlier and would be leaving for the London South Mission in September.

Language is a challenge for the Andersens, who have had to translate emails about the youth conference activities into four different languages. However, says Elder Andersen, "Everyone speaks love."

Strength in Youth

Sister Andersen believes it is the youth who will help the small Church branches survive, so she and her husband push Seminary and Institute despite the fact there are no C.E.S. materials in Latvian. Only The Book of Mormon is available in the language of Latvia. In Lithuania, 90 percent of the members speak only Lithuanian and very little English.

Nevertheless, "We have a lot of success stories with youth being called on missions," said Sister Andersen. She noted ten members from one small branch on the coast 200 miles south of Riga who are either serving, have just returned, or are in the process of receiving mission calls.

Like the Barrs, the Andersens also travel through all three countries, training teachers for the once-a-week classes and holding Super Saturdays to involve youth. "We see wonderful things happening," said Elder Andersen, "but we know we'd see more if we had the materials in their own languages." Added Sister Andersen, "The best thing is to develop in them the habit of reading the scriptures."

Responding to an observation that the C.E.S. couple looks as though they're keeping busy, Sister Andersen said, "One thing we didn't come here to do is sit around!"

Overcoming Challenges

Introducing the gospel is one thing, but seeing people embrace it is quite another in these counties where tradition reigns. "The people here have such an ingrained heritage," said President Barr. In addition, "They are reluctant to be open because of their past experience with Communism. Trust is hard to gain, but once it's there, they're wonderful."

Sister Barr also mentioned the strong ties of tradition. "It's very hard to break tradition, even though people are disenchanted with their own religion," she explained. President Barr added that nationality also poses challenges in integrating and accepting each other. "A Latvian doesn't appreciate that a prayer or talk is given in Russian," despite the fact that half the country's population is Russian. "It's a challenge to be cohesive," he said, "but in two years we've seen barriers breaking down. We work with it, we teach love and acceptance. We're seeing change little by little."

Next: Meet some members of the Church in the Baltics