A Postcard from Russia

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Well, well. Autumn is here and we put on winter tires just in time; we’ve just seen the first snow of the season. Many of the leaves have now fallen. It’s been a glorious Autumn.

After a tremendous amount of travel (Central Europe, Germany, Montenegro, Estonia, Finland and Norway), we are now at least settled in the same general area. I’m in Estonia for a few days taking care of some business (like putting on winter tires) and head to Russia tomorrow.

On Friday we had a board meeting of Sunbeam, the center for children with disabilities in Estonia. That program is doing very well (but is in need of financing, as is often the case). The director, Ursula, is a very good leader, and more children are joining the program. In addition to the wonderful paid staff, we also have two interns from the USA serving for several months. The leadership team is pictured below.

One VERY good outcome of the meeting is our intention to open a Christian kindergarten in one wing of the building. I hope to have more news about that in the coming months. This was Artur’s idea, and we all agree that it will be a wonderful thing to have a Christian school there, starting with a kindergarten. Continue reading →

Valerie on the Pi-a-ner

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Valerie is taking piano lessons:

This is the piano that Valerie’s great-grandfather Orest learned on over 80 years ago. Valerie’s teacher, Olga, is very good and, even though she’s just beginning, it’s been quite fun to watch Valerie, learning to read, write and play music. She’s recently been asking to play my mandolin, too.

Olga’s Borsch Recipe

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Preparation time: 3 – 4 hours

  • 3-4 medium sized beets
  • 3 medium potatoes
  • Half of a small green cabbage
  • 1-2 chicken fillet breasts or the equivalent of beef or turkey (the meat can also be on the bone)
  • 2 medium onions
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 3-4 bay leaves
  • 3-4 pepper corns (or ground pepper)
  • 2-3 bullion cubes (optional, I usually add it if I use chicken, but you don’t have to do it. Beef and other meats are flavorful enough by themselves)
  • 1-2 Tsp white vinegar
  • Salt to flavor
  • Parsley to flavor
  • Dill to flavor

Boil the beets beforehand. Don’t cut them, don’t peal them, just wash and cook them with a lot of water. You check their readiness the same way you check potatoes. (It will take about 3 hours to cook the beets.)

Shred Cabbage and set aside for later.

Rinse the meat, put in a large pot and fill with water leaving 2-3 inches on top. Add one onion and bay leaf. Bring to boil, continually skim off the foam on top before the water starts boiling.

(The time for preparing the soup depends on the time it takes the meat to cook. For chicken it takes 1 hour, for beef, turkey or pork – about 2 hours.)

When the water starts boiling reduce the heat, add salt and pepper corn (or ground pepper) and shredded cabbage.

Peal potatoes and cut in bite-size chunks. Add them to soup 20 minutes before it is done (if the potatoes cook too long, they will be too soft).

Chop the second onion and grate the carrots. In a skillet sauté the onion until golden then add carrots and keep sautéing for a few more minutes. Add to the soup 5 minutes before it’s done.

Right after that take out the meat, cut into bite size chunks and put back into the soup.

Add bullion cubes. Remove the whole onion and throw away (unless you like boiled onion, which I don’t).

Peal beets, grate them and add to the soup 1 minute before it’s done. Immediately after that, add vinegar. Start with 1 Tsp and taste the soup. You have to be careful with vinegar because if you put too much, it will make the soup bitter. Add more if you need it. Vinegar will keep the color in. Add parsley and dill. Taste, and adjust the seasonings.

You are done. Serve it with sour cream, freshly chopped parsley and dill (and dark rye bread!).

Driving in Norway

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From time to time I post videos of places I’ve driven. While in Norway, Yura made some pretty long videos of our drive. I’ve trimmed a few down so you can see what it’s like up there. These were all made as we drove from Lakselv to Vadsø, across Finnmark.

Driving Across the Tundra —

 On a fjord (the fjord appears at 1:07) —

 

 A rainbow appeared —

Pic Dump

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Here are a few pictures that didn’t find their way into other posts —

Here is a screen grab from a Skype call we made a while ago. Valerie likes to send me messages while we talk. When I’m traveling, at least we have Skype —

I took this as we crossed from Finland (left bank) into Norway (right bank). This is the Anarjohka River, the border also between Lapland and Finnmark.

I saw this truck as I was driving from Murmansk to St. Petersburg — it’s for a building supply company named Obama.

Here are a couple of pictures from Valerie’s birthday(s) in July — (she celebrated in Estonia and then in Russia) —

A Postcard from Norway

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Since my last postcard I’ve covered some ground. After leaving Estonia, I took the ferry to Helsinki and spent two nights at Koppero. From there, I drove to Rovaniemi, Finland (on the Arctic Circle) to attend a men’s conference with Yura Belonozhkin. He brought a team of 16 men from Russia to the conference, and I was very glad to meet them and also meet brothers from Norway and Finland.

From there, Yura and I drove up into the Finnmark region of Norway. We visited several ministry partners as Yura planned for future ministry. For instance, he is planning a men’s conference/camp in Lakselv, Norway to be held in May, which I hope to attend. From Lakselv we drove to Vadso on the Varanger peninsula (past several fjords, above) and met other ministry leaders. Then, we drove into Russia, to Murmansk, and from there I drove south to home! It was very good to have time with Yura as we drove those long, beautiful distances. It’s ALWAYS good to have personal time with brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’m now safely, happily at home. Valerie has started her ballet and piano lessons; Olga spent the last few days juicing and canning apples from dacha; and I’m getting caught up on emails and updates. I just bought tickets to travel to the USA for a Stoneworks board meeting. (I used frequent flyer miles, so the flight is only costing $153!) I’ll be in the States for about 2 weeks, mostly in the Athens, GA area, in early November. (This seems to be a season of travel for me. . . .)

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. – Luke 6:36

Pictures from Norway

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I recently attended a men’s conference in Rovaniemi, Finland. After that, Yura Belonozhkin and I drove up into Finnmark, Norway to visit some ministry partners. Yura is expanding his mens’ ministry into northern Norway, and he wanted to meet with some pastors to arrange future conferences and camps. (There will be a great camp in late May, if any men are interested. . . .)

We took quite a few pictures and some video as we were driving around the fjords and across the tundra. Most of these pictures were taken on Laksefjord and in that region — on the Arctic Sea, far above the Arctic Circle. (And a day later I drove through snow.) Continue reading →