Photographer to the Tsar

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It’s hard to believe these pictures are from 100 years ago —

“The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world–the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia’s diverse population.

In the early 1900s Prokudin-Gorskii formulated an ambitious plan for a photographic survey of the Russian Empire that won the support of Tsar Nicholas II. Between 1909-1912, and again in 1915, he completed surveys of eleven regions, traveling in a specially equipped railroad car provided by the Ministry of Transportation.”

We start with a self-portrait:

Continue reading →

A Toast at Dacha

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Nine years ago on August 28 I proposed to Olga. We were at dacha (a Russian country house) celebrating her grandmother’s birthday.

A couple of days ago, we had another birthday lunch under the apple trees at dacha. Russians love to give toasts at special occasions. Orest Grooten, Olga’s grandfather, gives a toast to his wife:

And here is Orest walking back into the house.

Kirppisi!

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As a service to ministries and folks in St. Petersburg, here is a map of flea markets in Finland. I will constantly update the map as we find more kirppisi (actually, kirppikset), so check back as often as you will. And let me know if I need to correct or remove any listings. (Accuracy isn’t 100% guaranteed, since things change! Please let me know if I need to correct, add or remove any entries.)

I’ve noted, as often as possible, which kirppis is run by Fida International, the Missions and Development Organisation of the Finnish Pentecostal churches.

A Postcard from Finland — Finlandia!

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Olga and I are now in Finland. We’re here with Olga’s mother, Tanya, our ‘sister’ Violeta from Montenegro, and our good friend Natasha from Russia. Once again we’re staying at the little cabin by the lake, which comes complete with beautiful sunsets. (Just so you know — it takes us about 5 hours to drive here from our home in St. Petersburg; it’s not too far at all.)

This is Natasha’s first time out of Russia, and it’s been great fun to see her experience a new culture for the first time. She said she never imagined how people could care for the land so much. Her understandings of stewardship, order and beauty are being broadened. It is a beautiful country, and this is a great time of year to visit.

We’ve had quite a busy summer. I’ve been in Montenegro, Estonia and Russia, and I recently returned from a very quick trip to the US. Jet lag is my familiar friend.  The ministry has been rewarding and full of life. Olga has stayed closer to home and has had good time with family. We’re both very thankful to be together and able to rest a little.

New opportunities seem to arise all the time. We look forward to telling you more about them in the coming months. It seems that Estonia continues to present itself as a land of opportunity, and we are starting on a big project in Russia.

For now, though, we are content and happy to be here at Koppero.

Team Arrival!

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A team from St. James United Methodist Church in Athens, GA arrived today. We drove over to Dubrovnik, Croatia to pick them up. We’ll be in Podgorica, Montenegro for a couple of days and then head up to the mountains to run a youth camp all next week.

They are a great group and we’re looking forward to some good times together. I’ll post more news as we have it . . . .

The Ferry at the Bay of Kotor

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I flew into Dubrovnik, Croatia a few days ago on my way to Montenegro. On the drive to Podgorica we passed the bay of Kotor. It’s always a beautiful drive.

Here’s the view from the middle of the Bay of Kotor, looking toward Perast.

Here are Christina and Violeta, they met me in Dubrovnik and drove me to Podgorica —

And here’s a video from the crossing —

Milanka’s Baptism

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Yesterday we went to the Adriatic coast for a baptism. Milanka has been a member of the church for a while and wanted to be baptized. Several of us went for the occasion and had a great time. Her story is below the picture and video–

Posted a year and a half ago, by Vladimir Cizmanski, the pastor who baptized Milanka —

Milanka is the mother of our brother Dejan who has been coming to our church for four years.

Milanka was very mad at Dejan when he accepted Jesus. She forced him to move out of their apartment, but Dejan was firm in Jesus. Now, she has decided to follow Jesus as her Savior.

She said that she feels like flying, and she was wondering why she delayed giving her life to the Lord. The enemy was very active around her during the past year, whenever she wanted to come to the meeting and publicly confess her decision to follow Jesus, three times something happened that kept her away.

Even now, after she made her decision, enemy was very furious. Right after few days he started to attack her very strongly through a bad relationship with her close relative. She just told me yesterday that she made everything right now and that her wings to fly came back.

It is so encouraging to see people as they are fighting and getting victory in the name of Jesus.