We had a work day at Elama on Saturday. It was cool and rainy, so we didn’t get as much work done as we’d hoped, but we had a great time of fellowship together. Elama will host quite a few people this summer.

I’m now in Montenegro, awaiting the arrival of a mission team. The busy part of the summer will quick be upon us.

Here are a few pictures of the day:

Masha, Katya, Yan, Olga, Sergei (Kristina was with the kids, I took the picture)

Ksusha (one of Sergei and Kristina’s daughters) by the summer kitchen

Sergei and Kristina

of course, we cooked shashleek

and you gotta have kvas!

Masha Oshkina

two years ago a mission team cut down a BIG tree; we finally got it cut up and moved; now we need to split it for firewood

Snapshots from Russia

May 11, 2012March 26, 20201 Comment

We were all at dacha for the May 9 Victory Day holidays earlier this week. I go to Montenegro tomorrow to meet a mission team, and it was nice to have this family time before my trip.

The little white flowers are called “Under the Snow” and are considered to be the first flowers of Springtime. The daffodils are also blooming now.

The buds are on the trees:

We organized and cleaned the summer kitchen. It looks worlds better than it did:

Of course, we have a meal together. We cooked shashleek the day before and had good leftovers as well as traditional Russian salads.

Great-granddad Orest came to visit our home a few weeks ago. I like this picture:

A Trip To Elama

May 4, 2012March 26, 20203 Comments

Yesterday Sergei and I went to Elama, our camp about an hour north of St. Pete. It’s time to start opening it up, and yesterday among other things we connected the primary part of the water system to be sure things are working. We also met with some workers who will clear some land and remove trash (see pictures below).

This summer the Elama calendar is booked solid. Next month we’ll host a team of 20 from the US who will run a camp for foster children. We’ll also host several church retreats.

You can see more at the Elama website. If you’re interested in helping, we need funds to help improve the bathing facilities. We’d also like to install flush toilets (we have outhouses now).

It was a great day, and I’m very glad we’re there for our 5th summer.

From Russia to Estonia

April 28, 2012Leave a comment

I drove to Estonia from Russia yesterday. The total driving time from St. Petersburg to Johvi, Estonia is about 4 hours, but the border crossing can take anywhere from an hour to 5 hours. Yesterday I made it across the border in 50 minutes. That was nice.

I’m working on Sunbeam, a day center for children with disabilities we are opening here in Estonia. You can read the latest news here. I’m helping set up some administrative items, and I’ve been building a simple website for Sunbeam.

I made a couple of videos of my drive in Russia. I’ll call them Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. First, the nice Dr. Jekyll:

And the rough Mr. Hyde. (It’s no wonder I need to get my car fixed pretty often.)

And another:

Just AFTER I made that last video, I saw a sign that said Rough Road Ahead. (!)

I’d like to point out that this is THE main federal highway from St. Petersburg into Europe.

Vids of Val

April 25, 20121 Comment

Here are a couple of recent videos of Valerie.

By the way, she’s doing great. Beth Shanklin, a good friend who is a neuro-developmentalist, visited recently from the US. Beth assessed Valerie about a year ago and wrote a program to address some developmental issues. Olga has been faithful to do the program over the months.

Beth checked Valerie last week and Valerie is almost at her age level developmentally, with just a few small issues. Remember, just over a year ago Valerie said about three words (at age 3). She’s really catching up, speaking more and more English, too.

We went to a park:

And today she did something really great. I’ve set out my small travel hammered dulcimer for her to plunk around on, hoping she’ll take interest. I showed her how to play the Alphabet Song (she doesn’t know it as Twinkle Twinkle yet). Today, after some rough starts, she did this:

That’s m’girl!

A Summer Picture

February 27, 2012March 26, 2020Leave a comment

I just had to share this —

Sergei Tovstapyat is a good friend and the Administrator of Camp Elama, our summer camp north of St. Petersburg. He just posted a picture from last summer of the lake at Elama. As you see, it can be breathtaking.

We’re now planning our summer at Elama. It’s booked solid, and we need some funds to prepare for the camps (improve the water system, add a shower, run electric lines). You can visit here if you’d like to help.

The Low Slag Heap

December 23, 2011Leave a comment

I just read a quote by Peggy Noonan:

In Iraq this year I asked an Iraqi military officer doing joint training at an American base what was the big thing he’d come to believe about Americans in the years they’d been there. He thought. “You are a better people than your movies say.” He had judged us by our exports. He had seen the low slag heap of our culture and assumed it was a true expression of who we are.

This has been my experience in various countries. The USA exports a lot of filth (by movies, music, popular culture, etc.), and others have judged Americans by it. We need to keep this in mind when the US is criticized by other cultures. In many cases the USA is not very attractive when judged by our cultural exports.

This is also one more good reason for mission trips: people in other countries can experience a different kind of American, an American who follows God and acts in love. In this way we may, in small part, act as peacemakers between cultures.

The best thing we can do is love the Lord deeply and be the people He wants us to be. Sometimes He may then send us to other cultures be a witness of His loving-kindness. He always wants us to be a witness in our home culture.

Thanksgiving in Russia

November 28, 2011March 27, 2020Leave a comment

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Sunday. Since thanksgiving is not a Russian holiday, it’s a bit easier to have the meal on Sunday.

In addition to several friends, Olga’s mother and grandparents joined us. Olga’s grandfather, Orest Maxmilianovich Grotten is 92 years old, and we were very glad he could be with us. Above is Olga with her mom and grandparents. Valerie is not in the picture because she was busy having her face painted by Natasha Pavlova.

We had turkey and dressing (my mom’s recipe), gravy, mashed potatoes, and a variety of non-American dishes including Korean carrot salad and Russian mushrooms with onions. At times like this, I look back in wonder at the life God has given me. We are so very thankful for His love and guidance.

News about Valerie: we’ve submitted documents to the court regarding the removal of parental rights from Valerie’s birth mother, Oksana. We were expecting a court date this month, but the judge is on holiday and won’t set a date until she’s back on late January. So, we wait. We continue to be in touch with Oksana, helping her and encouraging her. Olga has visited her in prison several times, and we stay in touch by mail. Olga is homeschooling Valerie using some basic kindergarten material, and that’s yielding good results; Valerie is speaking better and learning her numbers pretty well. It’s fun to watch her learn and improve.

I go to the US this week; I will attend a Stoneworks board meeting in Chattanooga on December 7. Olga and Valerie will join me a little later. We plan to spend Christmas with my family in Georgia and Tennessee and then make a trip to Texas in January.

Ministry continues. We’re planning several mission trips to Russia, Estonia and Montenegro next summer. One team will be 40 teenagers! That should be fun. I’ll be in Montenegro in May with a team, in Russia with a team in June and in Estonia with a team in early July, then back to Montenegro with a team in late July (if all goes as planned). I’ve recently made several trips to Estonia and things there are going very well. I’ll have news about that soon.

I recently wrote a friend in the US something that’s been on my mind for a while: More and more, I’m feeling grounded in the knowledge that the flow of love is God’s most important action among men. The greatest commandment is to love God; the second greatest commandment is to love others; people will know we are followers of Jesus by our love for one another; God is love; He loved us enough to save us. All of these scriptures prove the primacy of real, heart-felt, selfless love.

10 Years

November 24, 2011March 27, 2020Leave a comment

Today is Thanksgiving in the USA. While it’s not a holiday here in Russia, it is certainly a day of celebration for me and Olga.

Today we celebrate our 10th anniversary. As a special treat on our anniversary today we both woke up sick with head colds. The start of a great day!

The picture at left was taken on the day we met. I (Mike) was hosting a dinner for Russian interpreters who had been working with mission teams.

This happened at the same time we were staffing up MIR, the Russian charity we were starting, so I invited Olga to attend since she had been recommended as a secretary/interpreter for MIR. Olga’s ‘interview’ was conducted as she and one of our board members prepared chicken in the kitchen. She fit right in from the start.

These 10 years have seen many good times and many challenges. We are so very thankful for where the Lord has led us, for the life He has given us. This gives us faith and trust that the road ahead, however challenging it may be, will certainly lead to green pastures if we’ll abide with Christ along the way. He is a good shepherd.

Here is the moment I proposed, in the garden at dacha:

A Note from a Friend

November 14, 2011March 27, 2020Leave a comment

I recently received this from Dennis Ellis, a missionary I met in Russia several years ago.

Katya and I want to thank you for your friendship, prayers and care for us. God has been so good to us to bring us through many difficult times. In the fire we have come face to face with Him Who is really what it is all about.

Recently, two very dear friends learned that I had preached at an old one room church located in Wears Valley, TN that they had looked at on their recent trip to visit us.

They then found and purchased a burnt engraved picture of that old church and gave it to us for our office. The church building is now a Historical Site and no longer is filled with the sounds of singing, praying and preaching that it did that Sunday on March 22, 1969.

Forty two years ago I drove my little VW Beetle to that one room church hidden in the Wears Valley. God showed up and we saw nearly every person in the church at the altar. It was a one room church where they pulled curtains together to make Sunday School rooms.

I wrote a note in my journal that they gave me $22.99 offering and ask me to come back in two weeks for the rest of my pay. I did so even though the trip was many hours of driving. They then gave me two chickens. May I add; two live chickens. You should have seen me driving on those dirt roads through the mountains with two live chickens in the back seat. Before I got back to campus, I believe that I would have given them back the $22.99 if they would have kept the two chickens. Just kidding.

While looking back in my old journal to find the date I had preached there I realized that I had been preaching since the spring of 1961. If I am figuring right that is 50 years. 50 years of telling folks about our wonderful Lord. You know I wouldn’t change a day of it. Even the heartaches or disappointments was really about Him. I have to say that, “The Longer I Serve Him, The Sweeter He Grows”.

I just wanted to share with you this special time for me and the realization that 50 years ago I said yes to the Lord and it has been an amazing journey that has lead us though out many countries and witnessed tens of thousands of folks come to know our precious Lord.

Please pray for us that we may continue to pursue serving Him until the Day He returns for His Church. Thank you for being a part of this journey.

Yours by His Wonderful Grace,

Dennis

www.openlightministries.org

Mike and Olga Cantrell

Life and Ministry in Russia and Beyond

Category: Russia