Category: Montenegro

Our life and work in Montenegro

Snapshots from Montenegro

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We’re staying with our friends Vladimir and Marijana Cizmanski, in Podgorica, Montenegro. Here is the view from their porch last night.

We visited our friends Sergei and Christina where they are staying, in a flat on the Bay of Kotor:

And here is a quick video of Olga and Valerie swimming in the Adriatic Sea, on the beach at Petrovac. Valerie is in the yellow floatie. It was her first experience with the sea, and she LOVED it.

The Lord has blessed us with wonderful family and friends here. We are very thankful for His kindness.

A Snapshot from Montenegro

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Here is the view looking over the Adriatic as we drove down the coast from the airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia to Zeta, Montenegro. What a wonderful world.

Olga’s brother-in-law Zhelyan and his mother, Slavitsa, met me at the airport and got me safely home. Alla (Olga’s sister) and her son Andrei were here to welcome me.  It’s great to be with family.

But I’ve been awake for about 30 hours, so it’s time to hit the hay.

Team Arrival!

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A team from St. James United Methodist Church in Athens, GA arrived today. We drove over to Dubrovnik, Croatia to pick them up. We’ll be in Podgorica, Montenegro for a couple of days and then head up to the mountains to run a youth camp all next week.

They are a great group and we’re looking forward to some good times together. I’ll post more news as we have it . . . .

The Ferry at the Bay of Kotor

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I flew into Dubrovnik, Croatia a few days ago on my way to Montenegro. On the drive to Podgorica we passed the bay of Kotor. It’s always a beautiful drive.

Here’s the view from the middle of the Bay of Kotor, looking toward Perast.

Here are Christina and Violeta, they met me in Dubrovnik and drove me to Podgorica —

And here’s a video from the crossing —

Milanka’s Baptism

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Yesterday we went to the Adriatic coast for a baptism. Milanka has been a member of the church for a while and wanted to be baptized. Several of us went for the occasion and had a great time. Her story is below the picture and video–

Posted a year and a half ago, by Vladimir Cizmanski, the pastor who baptized Milanka —

Milanka is the mother of our brother Dejan who has been coming to our church for four years.

Milanka was very mad at Dejan when he accepted Jesus. She forced him to move out of their apartment, but Dejan was firm in Jesus. Now, she has decided to follow Jesus as her Savior.

She said that she feels like flying, and she was wondering why she delayed giving her life to the Lord. The enemy was very active around her during the past year, whenever she wanted to come to the meeting and publicly confess her decision to follow Jesus, three times something happened that kept her away.

Even now, after she made her decision, enemy was very furious. Right after few days he started to attack her very strongly through a bad relationship with her close relative. She just told me yesterday that she made everything right now and that her wings to fly came back.

It is so encouraging to see people as they are fighting and getting victory in the name of Jesus.

A Postcard from Russia — Back Home

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We returned on Sunday to a beautiful St. Petersburg, Russia.  The weather has been perfect, and it has been great to start reconnecting with family and friends after such a long stay in the US.  Olga took the picture above, in the park across the street from our flat.

We are thankful for the many people who have expressed their love and support for us after the loss of our unborn children.  It’s been a very real blessing to receive so much encouragement in so many ways.  Thank you.

Even as we battle jet lag, we face a busy schedule.  Today I (Mike) was at Elama while Olga was with her sister Alla who is visiting from Montenegro.  Elama is looking very good — the buildings have been painted, interiors have been remodeled, the pavilions are ready for use, and bunk beds are being built.

While we’ve had quite a few people working at Elama, in three days our first camp begins.  We’ll have 30 children from Novodvinsk and 10 adults as counselors.

In a week I go to Montenegro where I’ll meet a mission team from Athens, Georgia; we’ll run a teen camp there. Then I go to Estonia to meet our first mission team to that country. That team will minister in a summer camp with Estonian orphans and will also do some fact-finding for future mission teams.

We are very thankful for the many blessings we continue to receive.