Together with residents of the surrounding villages, we attended an outdoor Holy Mass celebrated by our priests—to commemorate the deaths of 70 Home Army soldiers who fell here in 1944 fighting the Nazis. The ceremony was described by “Kurier Wileński” the very next day.In the Ponary Forests near Vilnius, we lit candles beneath the memorial to the many thousands of Poles murdered by the Nazis between 1941 and 1944. Jews were also murdered in these forests. The bodies were burned in pits, in alternating layers with wood, and the ashes were scattered throughout the forest. For many years after the war, the stench of corpses still rose from the direction of the forest.While travelling around the Vilnius Region, we visited the village of Turgiele, where we met a group of children preparing for their First Holy Communion, to whom we gave religious books and hymnals. Our next stop was the village of Taboryszki, where, besides the old church, we visited a very charming Polish painter, Mrs Anna Krepsztul, who had been confined to a wheelchair for 17 years. Her paintings and embroidery captivated us with their beauty. Our route also took us to Miedniki Królewskie, with the remains of a defensive castle and a tower in which Jan Długosz taught the royal children, including Casimir, the patron saint of Lithuania, as well as the old historic Franciscan church. We also reached Stara Wieś, where the folk lyricist Władysław Syrokomla worked and where his historic manor house stands today (now a museum and library). We returned to Poland through picturesque Trakai, the first capital of Lithuania, where the church contains the crowned image of Our Lady of Trakai, crowned in 1710 (still before the Gate of Dawn), and then through Kaunas, Lithuania’s second capital. There we visited the beautiful cathedral. We also encountered traces of Mickiewicz’s life. In the Neman, we soaked our truly tired feet. We concluded our pilgrimage in Lithuania with a visit to the convent of the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth. Among the sisters on missions at this convent is Sister Edmunda, the former director of the Children’s Home in Bolesławiec and the biological sister of Father Marian Podolski of Parowa. The sisters, five in all, four of them Polish, run a nursing home.Our pilgrimage was not limited to sightseeing. We met many people and learned about their living conditions. We taught each other songs and exchanged addresses. We were greatly pleased to meet the walking pilgrimages to the Gate of Dawn, the Polish-Warmian and the Polish-Lithuanian ones. The present pilgrimage was organized by the Society of Friends of Lviv and the Eastern Borderlands (to Lithuania for the first time). All the previous ones—there were several—had been organized to Ukraine. Besides their pilgrimage character, such trips are intended to provide assistance to Poles and others, as well as to churches and parishes. This time, the assistance was financial, in the form of dollars, and material (clothing, food and books).We helped and supported: 1) the church in Odelsk—for renovations and construction of the area around the church, as well as residents (a wheelchair, clothing); the person caring for Eliza Orzeszkowa’s grave in Grodno; the Sisters of Nazareth in Grodno; the Piarist church—for church renovations, as well as Catholic books and periodicals in Szczuczyn; the leaders of retreats and a Catholic youth community (Polish Redemptorist Fathers)—financial assistance and clothing; the church in Navahrudak—for renovations; the convent of the Sisters of Nazareth in Navahrudak—for construction; the children in Turgiele—books; Mrs Anna Krepsztul—financial assistance and food; the convent of the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth—financial assistance; the residents of Rudomino—financial assistance and food.On the way back, already in Poland, we “stopped by” to visit the grave of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko in Warsaw.We concluded our pilgrimage, “From Her Who Shines at the Gate of Dawn,” “With Her Who Protects at Jasna Góra in Częstochowa.” Despite a bus breakdown, we arrived by 12 noon and joined the 10th jubilee walking pilgrimage from Wadowice, so that together with our priests we could thank the Blessed Mother for everything we had experienced.We welcomed Bolesławiec with songs on our lips, making plans for our next pilgrimage (still this year) through Lviv, Lutsk and Rivne to Kyiv, and next year through Baranavichy, Pinsk, Minsk and Smolensk to Katyn.