Milestones

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The past two days have seen very significant milestones in our lives, and the transitions have been smooth and joyful as we move from one phase to the next. Now is a time of rejoicing and looking to the future.

We thank the Lord for His guidance and love as we turn the page on two significant parts of our lives:

First, we are VERY happy to announce that our adoption is final. Valerie is now officially a Cantrell! We received the final court order today.

Exactly two years ago, on December 28, we picked up Valerie from the orphanage.

When she came to live with us, she was three and a half years old and spoke just three words. For the past two years, Valerie has been under our guardianship but still a ward of the state.

No longer! She is now Valerie Evelyn Cantrell, a member of her forever family.

We are so very thankful for the many prayers and other support that people have given us over the years as we’ve dealt with lost pregnancies and infertility. It’s great to be a part of the body of Christ and receive blessings from God through His people.

Also, there are changes at MIR. Twelve years ago I moved to Russia as part of a team to open a Russian charity named MIR. Through this work I met my wife and have been blessed with abundant life.

For the past twelve years I’ve been the president and director of MIR. About four years ago I stepped down from the day-to-day leadership of MIR when I became the executive director of Stoneworks International, and a couple of years ago MIR started a transition toward having fully Russian leadership.

Last night we had a MIR board meeting and finished that transition. I have resigned my position at MIR and no longer have any official tie to the organization.

Sergei & Kristina Tovstopyat

The new chairman and director is my good friend Sergei Tovstopyat. Sergei has been on staff with MIR for a few years, and he’s been the Executive Director since September. You can read about Sergei here.

We’ve agree that I’ll be the ‘grand-dad’ and continue to advise and help as much as is needed, but Sergei now is the leader and carries the responsibility for the direction of MIR. I happily hand over this role to Sergei. He’s a good man who loves the Lord and is laying his life down for the gospel.

Many people deserve thanks for their years of service to MIR: Mark Browne was the visionary who started the process, and founding board members were Alexander Kotenkov, Maria Mikhaylova, Dimitry Rozet, Mikhail Moshkov, David Hulley and Dan Wilson. Other board members have included Lyle Thomas, Zhenya Koltakoff, Larry Heller and Arkady Bizyanov.

In my role at Stoneworks, I’ll continue to support MIR in every way I can.

I’m very glad that MIR will continue beyond me as Olga and I look forward to the next chapter in our lives.

Ice and Fun

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Here are a few quick pictures from our life —

First, this is the view out my window today. The weather has been hovering around freezing, so HUGE icicles are forming from the roofs. These are well over 6 feet long (2 meters).

One has to be very careful when walking on sidewalks. These icicles will kill you when they fall, and many people are injured by falling ice at this time of year and in the Spring.

Here are some pictures of me and Valerie playing around with the webcam. (Val grabbed a couple of hammers from my dulcimer, so that what she has in her hands.)

To The Court!

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Good news on the adoption: tomorrow Olga will take all of our documents and make our initial petition to the court.

Our local Family Services officers, who have been helping us prepare the packet (which took a few months to complete), said that our documents are perfect. So, we’re hopeful that a court date will be set soon.

There will be two court appearances before the decision is made. We’re VERY happy to be taking this next step.

Sunbeam Has Been Aproved for a Grant!

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We are VERY happy to announce that Sunbeam has received a grant for €40,000 ($52,000). In addition, donors from American recently gave $12,000 (€9,250) for the completion of renovations on one group room. Based upon these funds, we hope to have children in the program on Dec 1.

There is still a lot of work to do on the building (2nd group room, offices, kitchen, guest flat, outside work, etc), but this will allow us to open the first group room and staff up.

This grant is from the Estonian National Foundation of Civil Society (NFCS). It is for the development and launch of Sunbeam’s program of providing day care service for children with disabilities. Sunbeam applied for the grant in cooperation with the Estonian Council of Churches.

Here is some more information about the grant: Continue reading →

A Postcard from Belarus

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This Fall has been quite busy. After traveling to the Arctic last month, I’ve just returned from Minsk, Belarus where I visited Stoneworks partner Spring of Revival (SOR). I visited the Minsk Family Homes, boys’ and girls’ homes for graduate orphans, helping teenage orphans make the transition from life in the orphanage to life on their own.

Olga Goncharenko, the Director of SOR, is doing very good work.  In addition to the Family Homes, SOR serves several shelters, orphanages and foster families. You can see where they serve by visiting the Stoneworks Ministry Map and read news about SOR here.

Sergei Tovstopyat (the new Executive Director of MIR) traveled with me, and it was very nice to have time with him. One result is that some of the girls will serve as counselors at our Camp Elama this summer. Also, Alla Shestak (above, at left), the director of the girls’ home, will come to Russia to learn from Sergei how to lead Eco programs in orphanages and shelters. It’s gratifying to see various Stoneworks ministries working together.

Valerie is doing great. The picture at left was taken at Camp Gideon in Estonia this summer. She sure doesn’t look like a 5 year old in that picture, but she looks more like herself in the picture below. Her English is coming along, and she’s learning her numbers and letters (two alphabets!) quite well.

The adoption process continues, however slowly. We’ve completed all of the documents we need from the US and are waiting for the final apostilles before they can be sent to Russia. We are also finalizing documents in Russia, most of which are medical checks (which take a LONG time to complete). Hopefully we can submit documents to the court this month. My FBI background check is taking the longest time; last spring we were told by social workers here that we didn’t need it. If we’d known we could have gotten it months ago. The process is full of frustrations, but we trust the Lord’s timing and are content.

I had to return from Belarus a day early because Oksana, Valerie’s birth mother, was released from prison on Friday. Oksana has been in prison for two and a half years. Olga visited Oksana many times and we’ve exchanged letters and phone calls with her as well.

We met Oksana at the prison when she was released. I cooked her favorite food (my version of potatoes au gratin) and we had a nice visit with her. She hugged us and called us Mama and Papa. It was an emotional day for her, as you can imagine.

Oksana is now in a Christian rehab center. She wants to make a new life and not fall back into her old way of living, but she’s torn about what to do next. In the rehab center she is surrounded by loving believers and has a good structure for her life. She is HIV positive and has Hepatitis C, so her health is not good. Please keep her in prayer. Her life is in the balance right now, and we pray that she’ll live by faith and abide in the Lord.

Teacher’s Day in Russia

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 Another good article by pastor Andrei Furmanov —

Ever since the importance of teachers has been recognized by UNESCO, World Teacher’s Day is celebrated across the world on October 5. This includes celebrations to honor the teachers in a particular field or community in general. In most cases the way and reason of celebration vary amongst countries. Different countries celebrate the day on different dates attaching their own values to it.

In Russia, Teachers’ Day was celebrated on the first Sunday of October, between 1965 and 1994. And since 1994, the day is observed on October 5th, coinciding with World Teacher’s Day. More than one million high school teachers and 350,000 university teachers throughout Russia are honored on that October day. According to tradition, on Teacher’s Day Russia names the winner of the Teacher of the Year competition, who is usually awarded with the Crystal Pelican, the symbol of self-dedication.

TEACHER’S DAY ACTIVITIES IN RUSSIA

Celebration of Teachers day to honor the teachers for their immense role towards the society comprises lots of activities that add a fun note to the celebration. Some activities include dance, drama, games, competitions; thanks giving etc are organized by the students to make the occasion a grand affair for their teachers. They also perform mimicry of their mentors, instructors and tutors that involves a lot of excitement. This provides an opportunity for the students to show their respect and love to their teachers. The celebration is enjoyed by both students and those in whose honor it’s done with great zeal and enthusiasm. Some schools also reward the teachers for their priceless efforts towards the student’s betterment.

TEACHER’S SITUATION IN RUSSIA

While extending our congratulations to all teachers on this occasion, we would also like to use this opportunity to remind our readers of some of the problems facing those who have dedicated their lives to the art of teaching in Russia.

In his formal annual letter to teachers, Russia’s Education Minister usually points out the importance of the profession of a teacher and expresses gratitude to teachers for their devotion to their work and kindness. At the same time it was announced by the Ministry of Education and Science not so long ago that the number of teachers could possibly be reduced. It was emphasized that the ministry can only recommend that schools do so but cannot say how many teachers should be laid off or when. “In determining the optimal number of teachers, we can look not only at Russian experience but also international practice,” he explained. “In Europe on average there is one teacher per 13-15 students. Today there is one teacher per 9-10 pupils. Russia there are approximately 13 million pupils in Russia, and unfortunately due to demographic problems this number will not increase significantly in the near future. Growth won’t be seen earlier than 2015-2016. In order to be at the level we were at a decade ago, we need 1 million teachers. But right now we have 1.2 million, so there is potential for the reduction of 200,000.”

Statistics tell us that Russia spends a miserly 3.5% of its GDP on education, while the average in European countries is around 7-8%, in the US – 11%, in Finland – 16%, and in South Korea an incredible 23% of that country’s GDP.

Public school teachers along with public medical doctors are the two most underpaid and underappreciated professions in our country. Most public schools are terribly underfunded depending on free donations from parents, who are often forcefully encouraged to give towards school needs. It must sound strange for people from outside of Russia but this is the reality of our life.

The academic year has just begun and parent-teacher meetings are in full swing. Traditional topic of such meetings has always been the collection of money to meet school needs. However, this year parents are also worriedly discussing impending educational reforms, which nobody can seem to understand.

TEACHING THE TRUTH IN RUSSIAN CONTEXT

We cannot avoid anything that happens in this country, yet, we are committed to be mentors and instructors of our own kids both academically and spiritually. We continue investigating homeschooling possibilities in Russia context to be more effective in raising the new generation of believers on godly principles. We are devoted to teaching the truth not only to our children but to our congregation and people who have not seen the Truth yet. What joy! What privilege! What an honor!