Category: Family

Posts regarding our family

Proposal

Leave a comment

Today, as I was gathering photos for the site, I ran across this picture.

I proposed to Olga in the garden at dacha.  It was her grandmother’s birthday, August 28, and we were there to celebrate with her.

Earlier that morning Olga and I both felt God’s clear call for us to be married (that story will be told in a future post), so I knew that I’d ask her to marry me that day.

Before I proposed to Olga, I asked Olga’s mother to bless our marriage.  She had to sit down when she realized what I was about to do!  After she gave her blessing, I gave her a camera and asked her to take a picture when I proposed.  She was crying and it was hard for her to focus on us as she stood on the porch overlooking the garden.

It was a film camera and by the time we developed the film we’d forgotten that she took the picture.  It turned out pretty well:

By the way, this was the first time I told Olga that I love her.  We were both guarding our hearts and remembered counsel from an Elisabeth Elliot book: only say I Love You when the next sentance is Will You Marry Me.  It’s good advice.

A Quick Guide to Russian Family and Friends

Leave a comment

At the risk of offending some people by leaving them off, I’ll make a stab at giving a Russian ‘cast of characters’ to help minimize confusion —

Mike Cantrell: uhmmmm, me

Olga Cantrell: my wife, we married in 2001. She is the BEST!

Tanya Yaskevich: Olga’s mother

Alla Pavetic: Olga’s twin sister who now lives in Montenegro (see this post for the Montenegrin guide)

Orest and Ludmilla Groten (Grootten): Olga’s grandparents, Tanya’s parents, in the summers they live at ‘dacha’, an old log home in a village south of St. Petersburg. Continue reading →

A Quick Guide to Montenegrin Family and Friends

Leave a comment

I realize that it may be confusing to keep up with all the people you see in pictures from Montenegro. So, here is a quick guide to folks we know in Montenegro:

Alla Pavetic:  Olga’s outgoing and fun twin sister; married to

Zhelyan Pavetic: an engaging,  strapping Montenegrin. Zhelyan and Alla have a son:

Andrej Pavetic: born in January 2010, he is a sweet, quiet child, surrounded by adults who love him gobs. His aunt, Zhelyans’ sister is

Violetta Pavetic:  a bright, sharp young lady; whose mother is

Slavitsa Pavetic: a strong and faithful mother to Violetta and Zhelyan.

Vladimir Cizmanski:  Vladimir is the pastor and founder of the Brethren assembly, attended by the Pavetic family, the church we serve when we’re there. Vladimir is a good pastor and administrator; he has a big heart.

Marijana (pronounced mary-ahna) Cizmanski:  Vladimir’s wife, a gifted evangelist and servant. Vladimir and Marijana have become very good friends.

You’ll also see —

Tanya Yaskevich: Olga and Alla’s mother

Svyeta Kouzyakova: Alla’s maid of honor and good friend to us all

New Faces, New Places

Leave a comment

I (Mike) am going through a transition as I take over the role of Executive Director of Stoneworks.  Here’s a note we sent to people connected with Stonework, MIR and ourselves.

———————-

A note from Dave Hulley —

It is hard to believe that in December Stoneworks International will celebrate its fifth birthday! During these years God has enabled us to minister in many fruitful ways, including working in camps and orphanages and maintaining relationships with a
group of children as they moved into adulthood. We have had several short term and longer term workers, in a variety of programs. You can read more about the programs on our website, www.stoneworksint.org/.

I am happy to announce we have been blessed with some personnel changes which will aid us in our future ministry. Michael Cantrell, Director of MIR in Russia, and a Stoneworks Board member, has agreed to take over my responsibilities as Executive Director. Mike is quite experienced and he needs almost no new training to move effectively into his new role.

We are also welcoming Mary Jean Preece as  Administrator. She will take over many of the behind the scenes functions I have performed. Mary Jean is capable and experienced, but most importantly, she feels a calling to serve the Lord by serving orphans and children in Russia and elsewhere. Welcome Mike and Mary Jean!

“Where am I going?” you may ask. I plan to remain very involved in the work of Stoneworks as Chairman of the Board of Directors. For the near future I will also remain as special liaison to the work in Belarus. This will allow Mike to focus on some other aspects of transition while be builds relationships with workers of Spring of Revival in Belarus.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have prayed for and encouraged us, and to those who have made donations over the years.The fields do remain white unto harvest. Let us all continue to do our best in all things as unto the Lord, and to serve and love Him with all our heart, soul and strength. Continue reading →

An Important Update

Leave a comment

As promised, here is an update on the changes that are coming for Olga and myself. For the past couple of years, we’ve felt that there was a change coming, and we feel that God has confirmed this in several ways. I’ll start with an overview of things —

Eight years ago I moved to Russia to help establish a Russian charity named MIR. I did not do this on my own but rather as part of a team and in submission to the MIR board of directors. We started our work in January of 2001, and since then it’s been gratifying to see MIR grow and have such good fruit. We now have a good staff and are involved in a wide variety of programs. I am very thankful for the good advice and prayers that have been offered by many of you over the years. It’s amazing to me how the Lord has led us and provided for our needs.

A few years ago Dave Hulley and I founded Stoneworks International, a US charity, to support the work of MIR and to do other work in Russia. Dave is the Executive Director of Stoneworks. He and his wife Anne adopted two Russian teenagers and they have made many trips to Russia. Their daughter Liz has been living in Russia for a few years and working with MIR. It’s been a pleasure to partner with Dave.  Stoneworks also has grown and is now involved in ministry in other countries besides Russia. More about Stoneworks in a second. . . . Continue reading →

My Guitar

Leave a comment

Many of you know that I love to give away guitars when I come here. So, on almost every trip I’ve made I brought a guitar to be given to some person or group who needs one. I’ve given one to an orphan named Vanya, I gave one to an orphanage for street kids, and the last one was given to my church, Street Cry. They have a great music ministry (doing concerts on the streets), and they needed a nice acoustic guitar. I was going to sell mine to them (they offered to buy it), but just as we came to the time to “talk money,” I felt the Spirit tell me to give it to them.

A friend once told me, “The Kingdom of God is not about buying and selling, it’s about giving and receiving.” When I gave the guitar to John Russell at Street Cry, he said “God is gonna bless you.” I thought, “well, OK, whatever” and didn’t really want to presume about what the Lord was going to do. After all, we don’t give to get.

The place I buy my guitars is a classic store in Austin run by a classic-looking old feller named Ray Hennig. He’s been in the guitar business for 40 years, and he’s known as a tough, crusty businessman. When I bought my first guitar from him last year, I told him what I was doing: working as a Christian in Russia, planning to give the guitar to an orphan. He said, “you have touched my heart. I love kids, and I love the Lord.” I was dumbfounded, but super happy. After giving away the first guitar, I was able to give him a picture of Vanya playing the guitar he sold me. Since then, Ray and I have shared our faith with each other when we’ve met. One time when I was in Austin, I felt that I should have a good, concert quality guitar here in Russia. I don’t want to be carrying my good guitar back and forth to America. So, this time I came looking for a very good guitar. Of course, this meant that the guitars I would want to buy would cost more than I had to spend! But I looked anyway.

I felt that I should ask my church in Austin, Red River Church, if they would take up an offering for a guitar. I was hoping to raise a few hundred dollars to offset the difference between a pretty good guitar and a very nice guitar. At the end of the service on Sunday, Keith Atkinson explained the situation to the congregation and asked to take up an offering for “Mike’s Guitar Fund.” We set out a little basket. In just a few minutes the church had donated over $1200!!!! Amazing. Thank you, Lord. Wow.

The next day, I went and met with Ray. I told him that I had enough money to buy a nice guitar and told him how much had been given at church. He said, “are you Catholic? Only Catholics can raise that kind of money that quick.” But no, we’re just a small Protestant church. So (this has turned into a long story), I bought a very nice Martin cutaway jumbo with on-board electronics (for you guitar players) that has a sweet, full, even sound. It’s a joy to play, and I am blessed. I will be playing it for orphans and widows.

I say all this to encourage you to walk with God. He has built the world to function much better when we give selflessly, when we consider others first. I have received many blessings from wonderful people who bless in wonderful ways. And their blessings to me overflow into blessings for people here in Russia. It’s the way God works in the world. I am a walking testimony to His goodness and mercy. As I play this guitar I praise God and remember His provision and love. It is a testimony of His kindness.

How I Got to Russia

1 Comment

Here’s a quick recap of what got me started on this path:  For several years I was the administrator of South Shore Church (now Red River Church) in Austin, Texas.

I loved my job and thought I’d be there for a long time to come.

Mark Browne, then executive director of Mission Global Outreach (MGO) spoke at church in the fall of 1999, and some friends felt in their hearts that I should go to Russia and get to know Mark better. So, my friends surprised me by paying for my trip to Russia with MGO in January of 2000. I thought, ‘well, this will be great, a free trip to Russia. Should be interesting.” This was the beginning of an unexpected change in my life.

Well, after the trip I felt, through prayer, that I should return to Russia but I wasn’t sure in what capacity. While in Russia on that first trip, I had felt a call to “see the seasons change in St. Petersburg.”

The elders at church had been praying about my situation, and we all agreed that it was time for me to step off staff and move on to new things–that was a scary step of faith. But God has been teaching me that it’s quite alright to trust Him in difficult or confusing situations. Let me give a little background on that:

As I was praying in the summer of 1999, I sensed that the Lord wanted me to go on a fast–I hadn’t been planning to fast at all. (I was quite overweight, and that was an indicator of a lack of discipline which spilled over into other areas of my life.)

So, I prayed “how long should this fast be?” I felt that it should be 40 days. Then I asked “what kind of fast should it be?” I was thinking maybe one meal a day, or no TV/movies/radio/newspapers, something like that. The fast I felt prompted to do, however, was the following: no solid food, and nothing that had any flavor. Well, that kinda left me with water.

So, I started the fast in early July 1999. It was a long 40 days. As a matter of fact, at the time I said it should be called a “slow.” It was very difficult, but the benefits far outweighed (pardon the pun) the cost. I’ll tell you, if the Lord calls you to something, He will give you the strength to complete it, and the result will be very good. If you’d like to know more about the lessons I learned in the fast, please feel free to write me.

I will give God the glory, because I certainly didn’t have it in me to do something like that. This was a very big lesson in learning to discern the will of the Lord, and trust Him to guide my steps as He gave me strength.

So, back to Russia: Originally I thought I would probably return to Russia as a member of a team from Austin. As I was stepping off staff at the church, Mark Browne asked me to work as a staff member with MGO in the summer of 2000, serving the teams that work in the summer camps.

I spent three months living in a camp and an orphanage, serving kids and helping coordinate the various teams that came from the States. In the fall of 2000 I was elected to the board of MGO and was commissioned to go to Russia and start a Russian charity (now named MIR).

In less than twelve months I went from my first visit to Russia to living in Russia. It was quite a ride! And the ride continues . . . .

My readings in the Bible took me back to Psalm 23, and I know that the Lord is a good shepherd; He will lead us beside still waters, He will make us lie down in green pastures, and He will be with us in the valley of the shadow of death. His rod and staff (discipline, leadership, salvation) are comforting. So, we have nothing to be anxious about as we walk with Him.

I encourage you, whatever your situation, to seek after the righteousness of God and trust that everything you need will be provided. Put your faith in Christ. Very few will be in the situation in which I find myself, but we are all called to love God with all our being, and to love others as we love ourselves.

God is a loving Father, He is worthy of our praise; Jesus sets the perfect example for us all to be selfless servants, speaking the truth in love, walking by faith, and looking out for the needs of others; the Holy Spirit gives us the life of God as a river of living water, of blessing and truth and mercy, to flow through us to the people in our lives who God loves more than we can imagine.