Snapshots from Russia

1 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

3 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

Leave 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

1 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!

Kunda Mill

Leave a comment

Last week in Estonia we did some exploring between meetings. Estonia has many old manor houses, and we went snooping around for  them. You can see ALL of them at this website. Estonia has some beautiful places.

One great thing we found was an old water mill. Water mills are always in great locations, near flowing water often with beautiful trees, down in a low spot of land so that the place is remote. I often look for watermills in the various countries we visit. I’ve found them in Russia, Finland, Estonia, Montenegro and of course the US.

In addition to a great location, this mill has some wonderful old buildings. They are in disrepair (but the roofs and foundations are good) and it was fun to imagine how they could be brought back to life and used as a ministry center. (Anyone want to chip in a few hundred thousand dollars?)

First a video and then some pictures:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A Snapshot from Estonia

Leave a comment

I was in Tallinn today for a few reasons. I had a very good visit with my friend Heikki, I picked up my new Russian visa (!), and I met Beth Shanklin at the airport. Beth is a neuro-developmentalist who will be helping us establish Sunbeam; she’ll have a series of meetings with the leadership over the next few days, before we head to Russia on Sunday afternoon.

Oh, the picture is a view the Gothic town hall (c. 1403).

Merry Chr. . .uhhm. . . Happy Easter

Leave a comment

This was the view from my bedroom window on Easter morning in Jõhvi, Estonia.  One would think we’re still at Christmastime:

I’m in Estonia getting a new Russian visa and having a great time with friends and ministry partners. The work at Sunbeam continues to go well. You can read the latest news here. Soon, we also plan to purchase a house and land to start a women’s rehab center. I’ll tell more about that later.

Olga and Valerie are in Russia and were going to join me in Estonia tomorrow, but Olga’s grandmother had to go to the hospital and so Olga’s grandfather moved to our flat to stay with Olga. Olga’s grandmother is improving, and we may yet work out a way for Olga and Valerie to come to me. I can enter Russia in a week, so it’s not too long before we can be reunited.

Easter is the proof that Christ is who He claimed to be. The Resurrection of Christ is the turning point of human history; the evidence of the defeat of death and the victory of love. Through faith in Christ, we can now be at peace with God and share in His divine nature. He is risen indeed.

A Postcard from Russia – Loss

Leave a comment

I am so very thankful for my family. Olga and Valerie are wonderful people, and I’m humbled that the Lord has called us together as a family.

We have some sad news to share. We lost a baby last week. Olga was about 8 weeks pregnant when we found out. She recently returned from the hospital and is doing well as she recovers. I was due to be in Murmansk right now, but it’s clearly the priority to be with Olga and Valerie as we recover.

Today at dinner Valerie started crying because the baby isn’t coming to us. She said we need to pray to Jesus and ask Him to send us one. I often say that we want to live in such a way that our lives are full of miracles, made up of relationships and events that are clearly not of our own doing. So, we await God’s miracle in this area.

A New Opportunity

Leave a comment

It seems that opportunities always open up when I’m in Estonia. Today I visited a country house near Sillamae, Estonia. Pastor Artur Pold and others want to open a women’s drug rehab center in that area, so we went to look at a house that is being sold by a member of a local church:

A lady named Galina is directing a ministry in Sillamae that started about 5 years ago. They have a soup kitchen, children’s ministry and safe house there. It’s very good work that is growing and bearing good fruit. They want to open a women’s rehab center, and they already have three women who want to lead it and several women who would live there.

The land has a small house, a sauna building, and a few out buildings. It’s in a great location, not too far from town and only 400 yards (meters) from the Gulf of Finland.

Artur and Galina like the place very much and want to buy it and start a rehab center there. The owner is selling it below market value; he’s asking 20,000 euros and may be willing to work out a payment plan. Artur and Galina are confident that they can find the money for renovations and operating expenses if they can purchase it.

Artur said that there is not a women’s rehab center in that area, and there is a great need.

As you can see, it is a very simple place. That’s one thing I like about it. I’d like to help them get it, and some donors in the US have given some money that could be a start.

Here’s a short video I made:

Contact me if you’d like to know more or want to help with this project.

 

Tearing It Up

Leave a comment

Here’s an updated I just posted on the Stoneworks site:

We are in Estonia for a few days, catching up on the work at Sunbeam. We’ve had some great fellowship time with people; it feels good to be here.

Yesterday we had a meeting of the board members and hired a bookkeeper. Workers continue the renovation of the rooms and offices. The local church is quite involved, and it’s great to see the sense of community among all involved.

We expect to pour the floor next week. Today we purchased the tubing for the in-floor hydronic heating system.  Andres is doing a great job overseeing the work. It’s great that he’s here to manage the project.

Here are a few pictures, with some ‘before’ pictures for reference:

The kitchen before:

6 8 In Goes the Floor

And today!

IMG 1306 1024x576 In Goes the Floor

One of the main rooms before:

15 room 1 In Goes the Floor

And today:

IMG 1300 300x168 In Goes the Floor

The old floor was pulled out, sand and new plumbing have been laid down (see above), next comes a vapor barrier and insulation (see below). After that, they’ll put in rebar and the heating system and pour concrete on top of all that. It will be very nice when it’s all done.

Offices are also being renovated, and we’re talking with other ministries that are interested in renting rooms. I think we’ll work out a deal with the Salvation Army; they want to use a few rooms for their meetings and ministry. We hope that rental income will cover the cost keeping the building.

As Sunbeam grows, we hope to use the entire building, but for now we have some free space on the second floor (we don’t have an elevator yet anyway, so we can’t use the second floor for helping the disabled children).

You can also see that Artur was interviewed for a TV show today: Continue reading →