Here’s a nice video of Montenegro, with the National Anthem —
Montenegro — Camp 2008
Here are a few short and simple videos of our youth camp in the mountains of Montenegro in July 2008. A team from St. James United Methodist Church went for two weeks to help the local church run a youth camp. We’ll return in July 2009 and continue serving.
A Few Dacha Videos
Can you tell that I’m learning how to post videos? Here are four short videos from our visits to Olga’s grandparents’ house.
The Russian summer or country house is called the dacha (rhymes with gotcha). In usage we say things like, ‘I am going to dacha’ or, ‘how was dacha?’.
These videos are pretty poor quality and quite short. I promise I’ll do better in the future. But they will give you a flavor of life at dacha.
Without Commentary
Well, it says ‘without commentary’, and none is needed.
Катюша (Katyusha)
Here is a favorite Russian tune, in a great setting —
Katyusha is a tender diminutive from the female name Ekaterina (Catherine): Katya is the nickname and Katyusha, a tender diminutive.
This is a Russian Soviet wartime song about a girl longing for her beloved, who is away on military service. The music was composed in 1938 by Matvei Blanter and the lyrics were written by Mikhail Isakovsky. It was first performed by the celebrated Russian folk singer, Lidiya Ruslanova.
Proposal
Today, as I was gathering photos for the site, I ran across this picture.
I proposed to Olga in the garden at dacha. It was her grandmother’s birthday, August 28, and we were there to celebrate with her.
Earlier that morning Olga and I both felt God’s clear call for us to be married (that story will be told in a future post), so I 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 we’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 remembered counsel from an Elisabeth Elliot book: only say I Love You when the next sentance is Will You Marry Me. It’s good advice.
A Quick Guide to Russian Family and Friends
At the risk of offending some people by leaving them off, I’ll make a stab at giving a Russian ‘cast of characters’ to help minimize confusion —
Mike Cantrell: uhmmmm, me
Olga Cantrell: my wife, we married in 2001. She is the BEST!
Tanya Yaskevich: Olga’s mother
Alla Pavetic: Olga’s twin sister who now lives in Montenegro (see this post for the Montenegrin guide)
Orest and Ludmilla Groten (Grootten): Olga’s grandparents, Tanya’s parents, in the summers they live at ‘dacha’, an old log home in a village south of St. Petersburg. Continue reading
Purity
I have been thinking about purity of heart and a few scriptures have come to my mind.
Matthew 5:8 — “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Psalm 24:3,4 — “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.”
Psalm 51:10 — “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
I believe that purity is related to holiness. Hebrews 12:14 says “. . . without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
Someone who is pure in heart is a person whose thoughts and motives are blameless, someone who does not just do right things but who is also far from anything that defiles.
I also think of a pure diamond: when it is clean and pure, it can reflect light and cast around all kinds of color. When we are pure, then the light of God, when it shines on us, will be reflected in us and shine forth and all will see it and glorify the Lord.
Shashleek
I’ve found some funny Russian pictures on the internet over the years. I thought I’d start posting some of them. You can see an eye-full on my earlier post about herring.
In Russia, cooking shashleek (what Americans call shish-ka-bob) over an open fire in the forest is an important part of the culture; it is a special and highly-valued event. Russians love to go on cookouts, just as Americans love to cook bar-b-que on a grill.
Here is a classic example of cooking shashleek at one of our cookouts at Elama last year. Notice the marinated meat on the skewers over the hot coals. Very tasty.
But, sometimes the weather doesn’t allow for cook-outs. It’s Russia after all, and it can get cold outside. So what is an enterprising Russian to do?
A Quick Guide to Montenegrin Family and Friends
I realize that it may be confusing to keep up with all the people you see in pictures from Montenegro. So, here is a quick guide to folks we know in Montenegro:
Alla Pavetic: Olga’s outgoing and fun twin sister; married to
Zhelyan Pavetic: an engaging, strapping Montenegrin. Zhelyan and Alla have a son:
Andrej Pavetic: born in January 2010, he is a sweet, quiet child, surrounded by adults who love him gobs. His aunt, Zhelyans’ sister is
Violetta Pavetic: a bright, sharp young lady; whose mother is
Slavitsa Pavetic: a strong and faithful mother to Violetta and Zhelyan.
Vladimir Cizmanski: Vladimir is the pastor and founder of the Brethren assembly, attended by the Pavetic family, the church we serve when we’re there. Vladimir is a good pastor and administrator; he has a big heart.
Marijana (pronounced mary-ahna) Cizmanski: Vladimir’s wife, a gifted evangelist and servant. Vladimir and Marijana have become very good friends.
You’ll also see —
Tanya Yaskevich: Olga and Alla’s mother
Svyeta Kouzyakova: Alla’s maid of honor and good friend to us all
Mike and Olga Cantrell 