Merry Chr. . .uhhm. . . Happy Easter

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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

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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

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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

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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 →

A Summer Picture

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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.

Valerie In A Tunnel

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What more can be said? Mary Walsh watched Valerie last week, and they visited a playground. This GREAT picture resulted:

Olga and Valerie are in Russia now. I’ll attend a conference in the US this weekend and then head off to Russia.

Our apologies go to all who we didn’t get a chance to see on this trip. We had a lot going on and will report on that a bit later. It’s been a busy time.

The summer will be quite busy. We’ll host teams in May, June and July; I’ll be in Montenegro twice and in Estonia often; Sunbeam is moving ahead at a quick pace, and it will be nice to be there and participate in all that’s happening there; and of course there is a lot going on in Russia: I’ll visit Murmansk in March and work at Elama quite a bit as well.

Yesterday, Olga attended the preliminary court hearing for the removal of Valerie’s birth mother’s parental rights. The hearing went well. The final hearing will be on Monday afternoon. Once Oksana’s parental rights are removed, then we have a six month waiting period before we can apply for adoption. So, hopefully the adoption will be completed by the end of this year.

Onward!

Now THIS is fun!

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Over the past several months, I’ve often said that ‘I may have some good news about Estonia soon’. Well, today I have some good news about our work in Estonia.

For over a year now, Stoneworks has been partnering with several people in the US and Estonia to help establish a day center for children with disabilities. There are over 100 children with disabilities in that area and they have no access to services; they are at home, quite isolated from the world. They need help, and we are called to help them.

An American donor is giving a significant amount to help start the program, and in the process we’ve opened an Estonian charity named Päikesekiiir (Sunbeam) to run the program. But we didn’t have a building. Until yesterday.

The city of Jõhvi has given us use of a great building in the city center. And here it is:

sompa 5a spring 1 Sunbeam The Beginning

We have it for 30 years at no cost! We have the keys and will start renovation soon.The building is in better shape than it may appear. It has a new roof and new high efficiency windows, it has a new security system and recently had firewalls and fire doors installed.

Pastor Artur Põld, architect Andres Toome and myself are the founding board members of the Estonian charity Sunbeam. Stoneworks represents the US side of the project, and also involved are Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, Germans and Brits.

Sunbeam The BeginningIn addition to housing the center for children with disabilities, the building is large enough to house many more activities. It has a great assembly hall, conference rooms, we’ll build housing for mission teams, and host other events there. It’s in a great location, right in the middle of town.

Currently a youth center and kindergarten use a few of the rooms. They will pay rent to help offset operating expenses. There is much more room for expansion. And there is a smaller building on the lot that we hope to turn into a wood-working shop.

entrance Sunbeam The BeginningThere is much to be done to prepare the building for the ministry. Though some parts of the building are in good shape, we need to renovate several rooms, build two wheelchair accessible bathrooms, reconfigure and rebuild the entrance (ramps, roof, doors) and offices, upgrade the heating system, renovate the kitchen, build a fence, and much more. Here are the initial designs for the first floor, where Sunbeam will be housed.

So, now that we have the building, much more is needed: mission teams to do construction, funds for equipment and operations, people to help train volunteers, and on and on.

sompa 5a spring 6 Sunbeam The Beginning

We hope to open Sunbeam on June 1 — International Childrens’ Day.The next four months will be quite full and quite fun! And I’ll be posting more news as we move along.

You can read more and see more pictures and videos here.

Donations to support the center can be made here.

Soli Deo Gloria — To God alone be the glory. He has put this in our hearts, and He is bringing all the resources needed to help these children. We thank Him for guiding us.

The Low Slag Heap

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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.