Here are a few videos related to my last post.
Here’s the activity as we waited in line to cross the border from Russia to Latvia:
Here’s part of our drive through Latvia:
Driving in Poland: Continue reading
From Russia to Montenegro
Last week we made the drive from Russia to Montenegro. We traveled in two cars with our friends Sergei and Christina and their twin girls. Here is a photo record of the trip. (You can see a slideshow/video of a previous trip here).
We started early in the morning from dacha in Russia. Sergei said his goodbyes to Olga’s grandfather, Orest Grotten.
Olga posed for a portrait with her grandparents, Orest and Ludmilla
Orest said goodbye from the kitchen window
We packed up our cars and headed out!
The sun came up as we headed South, past Pskov to the Latvian border. Continue reading
The Wounds of War
Recently we were at dacha, Olga’s grandparents’ house in a small village named Dolgovka. The house is well over 200 years old. It was clearly built by a wealthier family; the house is one of the largest and was built with high-quality materials and workmanship. Now, it’s run-down and needs a lot of TLC.
One interesting part of the history of the house is how it weathered WWII. In October 1941, the German army moved through the village. In early 1944, the German army retreated along the same route. The Germans used the house as a headquarters. It’s interesting to think of German soldiers sitting in the chairs we still use.
There were battles in the village, and the house still has shrapnel damage from bombs and shells that fell nearby. One lady who was living in the house at the time died from shrapnel wounds. I took some pictures of the damage that remains:
This is an upstairs bedroom door. You can see two places where shrapnel pierced through.
Here are two scars in the eaves of the house:
This is a hole in an interior wall. A few years ago I dug this piece of shrapnel out of the log wall opposite.
This scar is on the door of a wardrobe.
And this is the upstairs gable. The elongated holes are gaps between siding boards, but all of the round holes show how shrapnel peppered the building. One was not safe in a wooden building during a battle.
I Had a Proposal to Make
Ten years ago today I proposed to Olga in the garden at dacha. We’re at dacha again, just like 10 years ago, to celebrate her grandmother’s birthday today.
Earlier that morning Olga and I both felt God’s clear call for us to be married (she had a dream and I had a miraculous revelation as I was praying), so we both knew that I’d ask her to marry me that day.
Before I proposed to Olga, I asked Olga’s mother to bless our marriage. She had to sit down when she realized what I was about to do! After she gave her blessing, I gave her a camera and asked her to take a picture when I proposed. She was crying and it was hard for her to focus on us as she stood on the porch overlooking the garden.
It was a film camera and by the time we developed the film I’d forgotten that she took the picture. It turned out pretty well:
By the way, this was the first time I told Olga that I love her. We were both guarding our hearts and following counsel from Elisabeth Elliot in her book Passion and Purity: only say ‘I Love You’ when the next sentance is ‘Will You Marry Me’. It’s good advice.
Grand Rapids LipDub
What’s that, you say? It’s the city of Grand Rapids setting a world record. Watch to the end, it’s pretty good.
It brought a smile to my face:
You can learn more about it here.
A Snapshot from Russia
St. Petersburg — Valerie by the Neva River, with a view of the English Embankment, St. Issac’s Cathedral and the Admiralty.
A Postcard from Estonia
I (Mike) have just seen the fulfillment of a dream. For the past two years we’ve thought that it would be great to send children from Russia to a Christian camp in Estonia. Well, it’s come to pass: MIR, in partnership with Love Russia UK, have sent 43 foster children and 6 Estonian orphans to Camp Gideon, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. A team of about 30 from the UK met the children and have been running a two-week camp. Interpreters from Russia are also serving there. The foster parents also went to camp, and it’s been a GREAT help to them to have a holiday in Estonia.
Russians have a saying — the first pancake is always a mess. So, while things have not been as smooth as we would have liked, the Brits have already committed to doing the camp again next year.
The Russian government changed laws making it more difficult for MIR to send children from orphanages out of the country, and this is one reason we had to stop the hosting program to the US. However, we are able to work with orphans in foster families. This looks to be a fruitful part of MIR’s work from here on.
MIR has several new things coming up and yet is going through a tight time financially. We’ve been in the situation before: hard times that are accompanied by new growth.
Please keep us in prayer as we discern what God has next for MIR and the ministry in Russia.
Snapshots from Finland
Mary Walsh and her daughter Sarah arrived yesterday. I met them in Helsinki and then we drove up to Koppero. It’s good to have them here. We return to Russia tomorrow and then go on to Estonia on Sunday.
We went looking for mushrooms and ended up with berries:
Valerie enjoys the lake:
And as always the sunsets are beautiful over Pühajärve:
A Drive in Finland
We are in Finland for a few days. It’s lovely here. Two friends from the US (Mary and Sarah Walsh) will arrive in Finland on Monday and spend a couple of days with us before we all drive back into Russia. Yesterday I made a video of my drive through the country. (The Finnish voice at the beginning of the video is a radio station.)
Snapshots from Russia
Yesterday we attended the wedding of two dear friends — Andrei Sukhovsky and Liz Hulley. The ceremony was held in an old Finnish Lutheran church in St. Petersburg. It was great to witness this wedding and also to have time with old friends.
