Challenge

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Here is another encouraging post from Liz Hulley, a Stoneworks missionary in St. Petersburg —

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Looking back at previous blog posts, I noticed that I often post something from Oswald Chambers in October. I wonder why that is. Perhaps the autumn brings about a kind of desperation that makes me reach for something uplifting.

“The challenge to the missionary does not come on the line that people are difficult to get saved, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, that there is a wedge of callous indifference; but along the line of his own personal relationship to Jesus Christ.

‘Believe ye that I am able to do this?’ Our Lord puts that question steadily, it faces us in every individual case we meet.

The one great challenge is – Do I know my Risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit?”*

I don’t have a problem asking myself “What would Jesus do?” I think it is a good idea to follow Christ’s example.

However, we can get into a pattern of striving to make ourselves like Christ, by our own means.

Maybe it’s better to ask ourselves, “Do I trust God in this situation? Have I surrendered this to Him, or am I still trying to do it all myself?”

*Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest -reading for Oct. 27th

A Postcard from Russia — Valeria’s Baptism

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Many of you will remember Oksana, the orphan who lived with us several years ago. She now has a two year old daughter named Valeria.

Oksana wanted for Valeria to be baptized, and she asked us to be the godparents and participate in the baptism, which was in an Orthodox church (hence the headcoverings). Valeria was one of several children baptized that day.

Valeria is a cutey, very full of life and enjoys laughing and playing with the cat.

Oksana, though, is not doing very well. She was quite distant from us (disappeared) for a while, but we’ve been reconnecting with her.

The father of Valeria is no longer around. Oksana lived with another man for over a year; he died as a result of drug addiction. She is now living with another man who is also a drug addict. Her relationships tend to be abusive.

She’s 23 years old. And, very sadly, she recently tested positive for HIV and Hepatitis C.

We keep praying for Oksana and have faith that God is going to redeem her life. God keeps giving us assurance that He is at work.

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It is not the healthy that need a doctor.

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A friend recently sent this to me.  Her marriage just about fell apart, but at the last minute she and her husband agreed to reconcile:

I had been thinking recently about the past two years and all the pain I have been through.  I started feeling sorry for myself and a little angry at the circumstances.  The deepest hurts came from lies and broken relationships, regarding my husband’s choices.

So, naturally I was praying about restoration and new understandng as I look at my husband.  God clearly spoke to me and said….you fell in love with a sinner, an outcast….that’s exactly what you are supposed to do!

My devotional the next morning led me to Matthew 9:11-13.   It talks about God sitting with tax collectors and sinners as everyone questioned Him about His motive.

His answer was simple….”It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick. I want kindess more than I want sacrifices.”

At that moment, it dawned on me…..sitting with and loving the ‘broken’ is what God wants from me. It’s what He did!

Testimony from Street Cry

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Here is another great testimony from the work Street Cry is doing in Estonia:

We continue to have meetings in a women’s prison every Friday night, preaching the Gospel to the unsaved and equipping the new believers by teaching on the basics of Christian life, praise and worship, prayer, and personal relationship with Jesus.

As a result, the girls who are the most serious about the Lord started getting together every day 2 hours before dinner for a time of worship, prayer for each other’s needs and reading the Bible together. They invite whosever will come! N. who got saved during one of the meetings, is now sharing the full version of her testimony:

“I was born into and grew up in a good, I would even say practically an ideal family. My parents were both doctors, very intelligent, with high morals and they did their best to instill positive things into my wonderful sister and I.

Nevertheless, I remember growing up with a strange feeling that there must be more to life than what I had. I have always been looking for something… Something I could not even define, but I knew I would recognize it when I found it..

At 18, I graduated from high school with honors and then entered medical college to be a paramedic. After graduation, my parents helped me to get a good job and gave me an apartment. Soon I got married to a nice caring man and over the years, we had 5 sons. Life was going good, except for the feeling, ‘there must be something more…’

Then I met another man… we had an affair, later he introduced me to methamphetamine… It all definitely felt very thrilling…at first. But before I knew it, I had turned into an addict and a drug dealer and everything else that goes with this way of life… Continue reading →

A Postcard from Russia — Apples, Mushrooms and Berries

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The end of the summer is upon us, and now is the time of harvest and of looking forward. The apples, mushrooms and berries (and carrots, peas, cucumbers and potatoes) are plentiful.

Last week we were at dacha again for Olga’s grandmother’s birthday; she is 77 years old this year.  On that day, August 28, eight years ago I proposed to Olga in the garden there. Each year since we’ve been at dacha to celebrate the birthday. It’s a blessing that we can have time with family. Olga’s grandfather, Orest, is doing fairly well, in his 90th year.

God continues to bring new opportunities. We look forward to telling you over the coming months about a few things that are on the horizon. MIR is doing well, Stoneworks is growing, our ministries in Belarus and Montenegro are increasing, new workers are being called to work along side us, and key relationships are growing deeper. We are thankful for the fruitfulness that God brings.

In His love,

Mike and Olga Cantrell

Undiscovered Russia — 1912

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I recently ran across a book published in 1912 entitled ‘Undiscovered Russia’, by Stephen Graham, an English traveler.  The quotes by Merezhkovsky are particularly noteworthy.  It’s very interesting to read in light of the tidal wave of revolution that was to break upon Russia just after this was written —

PREFACE

Russian life is not known in England. The Slavonian land is not so far away but that the picture might have been visible had it not been for the dust raised between us in these years.

Russia is not a land of bomb-throwers ; is not a land of intolerable tyranny and unhappiness, of a languishing and decaying peasantry, of a corrupt and ugly Church that at least may be said right away in the forefront of this book.

The Russians are an agricultural nation, bred to the soil, illiterate as the savages, and having as yet no ambition to live in the towns. They are strong as giants, simple as children, mystically superstitious by reason of their unexplained mystery. They live as Ruskin wished the English to live, some of them, as he tried to persuade the English to live by his “Fors Clavigera.”

They are obediently religious, seriously respectful to their elders, true to the soil they plough, content with the old implements of culture, not using machinery or machine-made things, but able themselves to fashion out of the pine all that they need.

But they have all the while been doing this, and have never fallen away as the English have. There is no ” back to the land ” problem in Russia, nor will there be for a hundred years.

The Liberal press and the revolutionaries would like to educate the peasantry to give them a vote. They would at the same time place no restraints on Russian manufacture and the freedom of town life, and so once more betray the country to the town and rush into all the errors of Western Europe. Continue reading →

Trotsky

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Here is a series of videos with Christopher Hitchens and Robert Service discussing Trotsky, whose actions 100 years ago continue to affect millions (if not billions) of people around the world.  I hesitate to put Hitchens on our site, yet there is value in hearing other points of view. I’ve read quite a few of Service’s books and have enjoyed them.

It’s in five parts —

Estonia

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Estonia continues to be on our hearts. This fall two of our ministry partners are planning to make trips there to minister to ethnic Russian orphans. We hope the Lord will make a way for us to spend much more time there, but for this fall we are called to spend time in Russia and the US. So, from afar we encourage ministries in Estonia and look for ways to help foreigners serve Estonians.

Here’s a nice video about Estonia —

More Good News from Street Cry

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streetcry-sm-logo

Our church, StreetCry, continues to do great work in St. Petersburg. Here is a portion of the most recent update. Please visit the church site to learn more about the ministry.

Our School of Ministry graduates Natasha Bakshaeva and Kirill Borodichuk (you may read their testimonies in the March 2009 and December 2008 issues of our newsletter) have a burning desire to bring the Gospel to young people lost in homosexuality just like they were before encountering the transforming power of Jesus.  So they go witnessing to the places where such kids hang out in St. Petersburg.

Recently they met a girl named Nastya who came from Moscow to St. Petersburg University to study. Nastya was touched by their testimonies and genuine interest in her life. She came to our evangelism coffee-house, then to a mid-week service and repented of her sins and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. God is changing her day by day. Now she often joins us in witnessing during our street concerts.

It has become more ‘exciting and challenging’ this year to conduct street evangelism concerts – as the official permission from the government (which has been required for several years) has been declined numerous times, and when the odd time occurs that we do get permission, the authorities have come to the concerts trying to find fault in our permits.

But with a lot of prayer, faith and perseverance the band and personal evangelism teams continue to go out preaching the gospel. As a result hundreds continue to hear the message of the Kingdom and many are responding and getting saved.

After one concert our worship leader Nastya Bosonogova (in the photo on the right) spent 3 hours talking to a girl visiting from Murmansk named Yulia. Yulia is a vocalist, too and sings in her college band.

Here is some of her story: Continue reading →

A Postcard from Russia — Home Sweet Home

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The other day I came home to a pleasant sight: Olga making jam from gooseberries she and babushka picked at dacha. We’ve done a lot of traveling this summer, and it’s nice to be back in Russia for a bit. We’ve recently spent time at Elama, been at dacha, and visited with teams from the USA. August is holiday time in Russia, so things are slowing down a little.

For the past several months we’ve had three young ladies from church living with us — Zhenya, Anya, and Natasha. We’ll tell you more about them soon. They are all very strong believers, good friends and have become members of our family; the people at church now call them Kantrelli. Our home is full of life. We truly have a sweet home.

Natasha visited dacha with us and learned how to mow grass. I think we’re the only people in the village with a lawn mower; we always have interested neighbors stopping to look at how the machine works, many have probably only see one in the movies.

Many of you know that I am the executive director of Stoneworks International. We are seeing much growth. Also, this fall Stoneworks and Spring of Revival are opening a Family Home in Minsk: a residential program for graduate orphans. If you’d like to be on the update email list for Stoneworks with reports on our work in Russia, Belarus and Montenegro, please visit here to sign up.

We give God the credit for all the good He does in and through us. We hope you, too, will see these good things and give praise to our Father in heaven. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him.