A Quick Guide to Russian Family and Friends

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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

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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

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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

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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

A Postcard from Russia — Blessed Meal

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streetcry_dinner-11.jpg

Each year our church in St. Petersburg, StreetCry, hosts a Christmas dinner for drug rehabilitation centers and homeless people. Orthodox Christmas in Russia is on January 7th. Here’s a report from Olga about the dinner:streetcry_dinner-8.jpg

There were more than 300 people at the dinner from about ten rehab centers. One rehab center came all the way from Belorussia for this dinner/worship fellowship. One of the guys shared his testimony, and he said that in the place of each person present was supposed to be a grave. If it were not for the grace of God, all of the guys and girls from the rehab centers would have been dead by now.

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One of the pictures is all the dirty serving dishes we used! We took a bunch of them home with us, and Anya washed them in the bath tub yesterday.

It was such a blessing to be a part of it. I had a lot of fun cutting things in our flat for the salads. One guy came to use our kitchen processor to chop onions, and Olga Ryazhskihh came the streetcry_dinner.jpgsame day to talk and ask for advice and pray. My mom was there  and lots of other people.

I was so blessed to help and be involved. It was so full of life! People in and out, phone calls, cooking and cutting!!! And great time together as a body!

The Love of the Lord

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The book of Revelations starts with messages to seven churches.   And the very first message really touched my heart.   It was to the church of Ephesus.

It said, “I know your deeds, your hard work and perseverance.   I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.  Yet I hold this against you:  You have forsaken your first love.  Remember the height from which you have fallen!  Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Rev. 2:2-5a)

As I was reading this I could almost see the Lord saying these things.  And I imagine how lovingly He said it.  The Lord says:  I know everything.   I see your tears and your sufferings.  I see your efforts.  I know life is not easy for you.   I know the things you have to go through to still go on.  I know it all, and I suffer with you and feel all the pain that you have.  But let Me help you. Remember the way you loved Me when you first met Me?  Remember the time of your first love to Me, when everything was so simple, when there was nothing you would not do for Me?   Remember the joy we have shared?  Please, don’t walk away from it.

To me it seems that the Lord is more concerned for our love to Him.   He knows everything we face, and He knows how hard our lives are.  And He is there to help us through, to lead us and encourage us.

But then He looks us right into the eyes and says:  Please, could you just love Me the way you did it first?   Could you again do the things you did first?  I love you.

This life is not easy for us; we do have to endure many things.  And it would seem funny that the Lord asks us not to forsake our first love.  I don’t really know how to say it; the Lord does not rebuke us for doing all those things, He encourages us to go on.  But He knows the right way to go on.  And this is the way of love.  Love should tell us what to do.  If we don’t have love, everything else is not important.  The Lord gently tells us:  Come back to your first love, this is the only way to continue.

Disclaimer

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New Faces, New Places

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I (Mike) am going through a transition as I take over the role of Executive Director of Stoneworks.  Here’s a note we sent to people connected with Stonework, MIR and ourselves.

———————-

A note from Dave Hulley —

It is hard to believe that in December Stoneworks International will celebrate its fifth birthday! During these years God has enabled us to minister in many fruitful ways, including working in camps and orphanages and maintaining relationships with a
group of children as they moved into adulthood. We have had several short term and longer term workers, in a variety of programs. You can read more about the programs on our website, www.stoneworksint.org/.

I am happy to announce we have been blessed with some personnel changes which will aid us in our future ministry. Michael Cantrell, Director of MIR in Russia, and a Stoneworks Board member, has agreed to take over my responsibilities as Executive Director. Mike is quite experienced and he needs almost no new training to move effectively into his new role.

We are also welcoming Mary Jean Preece as  Administrator. She will take over many of the behind the scenes functions I have performed. Mary Jean is capable and experienced, but most importantly, she feels a calling to serve the Lord by serving orphans and children in Russia and elsewhere. Welcome Mike and Mary Jean!

“Where am I going?” you may ask. I plan to remain very involved in the work of Stoneworks as Chairman of the Board of Directors. For the near future I will also remain as special liaison to the work in Belarus. This will allow Mike to focus on some other aspects of transition while be builds relationships with workers of Spring of Revival in Belarus.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have prayed for and encouraged us, and to those who have made donations over the years.The fields do remain white unto harvest. Let us all continue to do our best in all things as unto the Lord, and to serve and love Him with all our heart, soul and strength. Continue reading →

A Postcard from Russia — Natasha

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This is an example of how God uses short-term mission trips to bring extended blessings to many people, Natasha in particular. A year ago a mission team from Wenatchee, Washington came for a short-term trip and served in Orphanage #61, a small orphanage for children with disabilities. Many of the children at #61 have conditions that can be addressed by surgery.

One of the team members offered financial help for surgeries. We discovered that the state will provide funds for most surgeries but the state does not supply money for aftercare. The orphanage had been hesitant Continue reading →

An Important Update

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As promised, here is an update on the changes that are coming for Olga and myself. For the past couple of years, we’ve felt that there was a change coming, and we feel that God has confirmed this in several ways. I’ll start with an overview of things —

Eight years ago I moved to Russia to help establish a Russian charity named MIR. I did not do this on my own but rather as part of a team and in submission to the MIR board of directors. We started our work in January of 2001, and since then it’s been gratifying to see MIR grow and have such good fruit. We now have a good staff and are involved in a wide variety of programs. I am very thankful for the good advice and prayers that have been offered by many of you over the years. It’s amazing to me how the Lord has led us and provided for our needs.

A few years ago Dave Hulley and I founded Stoneworks International, a US charity, to support the work of MIR and to do other work in Russia. Dave is the Executive Director of Stoneworks. He and his wife Anne adopted two Russian teenagers and they have made many trips to Russia. Their daughter Liz has been living in Russia for a few years and working with MIR. It’s been a pleasure to partner with Dave.  Stoneworks also has grown and is now involved in ministry in other countries besides Russia. More about Stoneworks in a second. . . . Continue reading →