For over a year now, Stoneworks has been partnering with several people in the US and Estonia to help establish a day center for children with disabilities. There are over 100 children with disabilities in that area and they have no access to services; they are at home, quite isolated from the world. They need help, and we are called to help them.

An American donor is giving a significant amount to help start the program, and in the process we’ve opened an Estonian charity named Päikesekiiir (Sunbeam) to run the program. But we didn’t have a building. Until yesterday.

The city of Jõhvi has given us use of a great building in the city center. And here it is:

We have it for 30 years at no cost! We have the keys and will start renovation soon.The building is in better shape than it may appear. It has a new roof and new high efficiency windows, it has a new security system and recently had firewalls and fire doors installed.

Pastor Artur Põld, architect Andres Toome and myself are the founding board members of the Estonian charity Sunbeam. Stoneworks represents the US side of the project, and also involved are Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, Germans and Brits.

In addition to housing the center for children with disabilities, the building is large enough to house many more activities. It has a great assembly hall, conference rooms, we’ll build housing for mission teams, and host other events there. It’s in a great location, right in the middle of town.

Currently a youth center and kindergarten use a few of the rooms. They will pay rent to help offset operating expenses. There is much more room for expansion. And there is a smaller building on the lot that we hope to turn into a wood-working shop.

There is much to be done to prepare the building for the ministry. Though some parts of the building are in good shape, we need to renovate several rooms, build two wheelchair accessible bathrooms, reconfigure and rebuild the entrance (ramps, roof, doors) and offices, upgrade the heating system, renovate the kitchen, build a fence, and much more. Here are the initial designs for the first floor, where Sunbeam will be housed.

So, now that we have the building, much more is needed: mission teams to do construction, funds for equipment and operations, people to help train volunteers, and on and on.

We hope to open Sunbeam on June 1 — International Childrens’ Day.The next four months will be quite full and quite fun! And I’ll be posting more news as we move along.

You can read more and see more pictures and videos here.

Donations to support the center can be made here.

Soli Deo Gloria — To God alone be the glory. He has put this in our hearts, and He is bringing all the resources needed to help these children. We thank Him for guiding us.

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God is not far off. He is Emmanuel — God With Us.

Blessings to you all, from Mike, Olga and Valerie

This made us smile:

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In Iraq this year I asked an Iraqi military officer doing joint training at an American base what was the big thing he’d come to believe about Americans in the years they’d been there. He thought. “You are a better people than your movies say.” He had judged us by our exports. He had seen the low slag heap of our culture and assumed it was a true expression of who we are.

This has been my experience in various countries. The USA exports a lot of filth (by movies, music, popular culture, etc.), and others have judged Americans by it. We need to keep this in mind when the US is criticized by other cultures. In many cases the USA is not very attractive when judged by our cultural exports.

This is also one more good reason for mission trips: people in other countries can experience a different kind of American, an American who follows God and acts in love. In this way we may, in small part, act as peacemakers between cultures.

The best thing we can do is love the Lord deeply and be the people He wants us to be. Sometimes He may then send us to other cultures be a witness of His loving-kindness. He always wants us to be a witness in our home culture.

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We celebrated Thanksgiving on Sunday. Since thanksgiving is not a Russian holiday, it’s a bit easier to have the meal on Sunday.

In addition to several friends, Olga’s mother and grandparents joined us. Olga’s grandfather, Orest Maxmilianovich Grotten is 92 years old, and we were very glad he could be with us. Above is Olga with her mom and grandparents. Valerie is not in the picture because she was busy having her face painted by Natasha Pavlova.

We had turkey and dressing (my mom’s recipe), gravy, mashed potatoes, and a variety of non-American dishes including Korean carrot salad and Russian mushrooms with onions. At times like this, I look back in wonder at the life God has given me. We are so very thankful for His love and guidance.

News about Valerie: we’ve submitted documents to the court regarding the removal of parental rights from Valerie’s birth mother, Oksana. We were expecting a court date this month, but the judge is on holiday and won’t set a date until she’s back on late January. So, we wait. We continue to be in touch with Oksana, helping her and encouraging her. Olga has visited her in prison several times, and we stay in touch by mail. Olga is homeschooling Valerie using some basic kindergarten material, and that’s yielding good results; Valerie is speaking better and learning her numbers pretty well. It’s fun to watch her learn and improve.

I go to the US this week; I will attend a Stoneworks board meeting in Chattanooga on December 7. Olga and Valerie will join me a little later. We plan to spend Christmas with my family in Georgia and Tennessee and then make a trip to Texas in January.

Ministry continues. We’re planning several mission trips to Russia, Estonia and Montenegro next summer. One team will be 40 teenagers! That should be fun. I’ll be in Montenegro in May with a team, in Russia with a team in June and in Estonia with a team in early July, then back to Montenegro with a team in late July (if all goes as planned). I’ve recently made several trips to Estonia and things there are going very well. I’ll have news about that soon.

I recently wrote a friend in the US something that’s been on my mind for a while: More and more, I’m feeling grounded in the knowledge that the flow of love is God’s most important action among men. The greatest commandment is to love God; the second greatest commandment is to love others; people will know we are followers of Jesus by our love for one another; God is love; He loved us enough to save us. All of these scriptures prove the primacy of real, heart-felt, selfless love.

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Today we celebrate our 10th anniversary. As a special treat on our anniversary today we both woke up sick with head colds. The start of a great day!

The picture at left was taken on the day we met. I (Mike) was hosting a dinner for Russian interpreters who had been working with mission teams.

This happened at the same time we were staffing up MIR, the Russian charity we were starting, so I invited Olga to attend since she had been recommended as a secretary/interpreter for MIR. Olga’s ‘interview’ was conducted as she and one of our board members prepared chicken in the kitchen. She fit right in from the start.

These 10 years have seen many good times and many challenges. We are so very thankful for where the Lord has led us, for the life He has given us. This gives us faith and trust that the road ahead, however challenging it may be, will certainly lead to green pastures if we’ll abide with Christ along the way. He is a good shepherd.

Here is the moment I proposed, in the garden at dacha:

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Last month Olga Gonchrenko, our director in Belarus, posted this as part of her update:

We were given 2 wheelchairs that were a great blessing to 2 women who were in great need for the chairs. Valentina, the first woman, got into a car accident 2.5 years ago. She can’t move her lower part of the body, she lives all by herself and she is praying for a computer, so that she can keep in contact with the outside world as well as work part time on the computer.

One of our supporters, Erin, was touched and gave money to purchase a computer for Valentina. Erin’s Bible study class gave money to pay for the first year of internet service (which is very considerate).

To me, this is an excellent example of how the Lord uses living stones (1 Peter 2:5), the body of Christ, to express His love to those in need.

Several people in the Stoneworks family fulfilled their roles; Mary Jean Preece, the Stoneworks Administrator, handled the transaction well, Olga Goncharenko guided the ministry, others posted news on the website and in the newsletter, and Valentina’s prayers have been answered.

And perhaps best of all, Valentina and Erin (with the help of Google Translate) are now in direct communication.

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Katya and I want to thank you for your friendship, prayers and care for us. God has been so good to us to bring us through many difficult times. In the fire we have come face to face with Him Who is really what it is all about.

Recently, two very dear friends learned that I had preached at an old one room church located in Wears Valley, TN that they had looked at on their recent trip to visit us.

They then found and purchased a burnt engraved picture of that old church and gave it to us for our office. The church building is now a Historical Site and no longer is filled with the sounds of singing, praying and preaching that it did that Sunday on March 22, 1969.

Forty two years ago I drove my little VW Beetle to that one room church hidden in the Wears Valley. God showed up and we saw nearly every person in the church at the altar. It was a one room church where they pulled curtains together to make Sunday School rooms.

I wrote a note in my journal that they gave me $22.99 offering and ask me to come back in two weeks for the rest of my pay. I did so even though the trip was many hours of driving. They then gave me two chickens. May I add; two live chickens. You should have seen me driving on those dirt roads through the mountains with two live chickens in the back seat. Before I got back to campus, I believe that I would have given them back the $22.99 if they would have kept the two chickens. Just kidding.

While looking back in my old journal to find the date I had preached there I realized that I had been preaching since the spring of 1961. If I am figuring right that is 50 years. 50 years of telling folks about our wonderful Lord. You know I wouldn’t change a day of it. Even the heartaches or disappointments was really about Him. I have to say that, “The Longer I Serve Him, The Sweeter He Grows”.

I just wanted to share with you this special time for me and the realization that 50 years ago I said yes to the Lord and it has been an amazing journey that has lead us though out many countries and witnessed tens of thousands of folks come to know our precious Lord.

Please pray for us that we may continue to pursue serving Him until the Day He returns for His Church. Thank you for being a part of this journey.

Yours by His Wonderful Grace,

Dennis

www.openlightministries.org

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Valerie is doing very well. She has a few developmental delays, and we’ve been addressing them over the past several months. We especially thank Beth Shanklin, a friend and neuro-developmentalist, who assessed Valerie and wrote a personalized program for her.

A Russian speech therapist came to visit us said we are doing great. We don’t need to hire her for other than occasional visits and giving recommendations. Olga’s doing a great job helping Valerie and being a good mom.

We’re still waiting to hear from the court if they have set a date to consider terminating Valerie’s mother’s parental rights. We hope this will happen soon but it’s out of our hands now.

We’re at the very first stages of homeschooling. We’ve set up a little desk for Valerie and are looking for a full curriculum.

A walk in the park:

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Hello Dear Friends!

I would like to thank everyone for the prayer and for the support! God is doing miracles! I would like to share our testimony here and to thank everyone!

In September we got a onetime allowance from the government for fostered children. We were able to pay for the rent for September and October and to buy what we needed for school and other necessities. I have tried to manage the situation in order to be able to pay the rent for November, but we had unforeseen expenses, I was ill and had to buy some medicine, and besides that the onetime allowance we got from the government was less we had thought it would be.

The time to pay the rent came closer and I was praying and sent the request to my friends. There was no sum of money to pay the rent for November. I got more and more anxious and discouraged, but I was praying and trusted God.

Usually we pay the rent on the 6th it was Sunday that is why we put it off until Monday the 7th. On the 7th there was no money either and I decided to talk to the landlady and put it off until the 8th (in our agreement the dates to pay the rent are from the 4th to 8th of every month). So I had one day to spare.

Also at the beginning of each month I need to do some other payments like to pay for additional classes for Nastya and Danik (it is about $35 – $50 for each of them) and we didn’t have them either. I decided that kids should get the investment first , besides there was not enough money to pay the flat anyway. So I went to pay the communal bill that we have to pay in addition for the rent and I paid for classes.

In the evening on the 7th there was still no money and on the way home I called Anya and shared with here my frustrations. When I came home Nastya was just returned from dance classes and was going to watch cartoons and I joined her taking the phone with me, thinking I have to call my friend and ask to lend me the money.

When I took the phone I saw an sms massage that said that somebody had offered the money for us. With this sum of money we were able to add to the rent and to pay for Danok’s classes we even had a little left to buy some food. On the 8th of November I was able to pay the rent! Praise God!

I thank Him for His continued faithfulness! I am very thankful to those people who send the offering to us! I even do not know who it was but I am thankful! May God blesses you. Thank you very much to everyone who prayed for us and encouraged us, without you support and Prayers we wouldn’t make it!

Yours Alina, Danik and Anastasia

To support Alina and the children, click here and choose MIR:Foster Family from the drop down menu.

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