Instead of telling you about the computer work I did in Scotland, let me tell you about the adventure I had at Dunnottar Castle. It began when Jessica Heaton, an old friend from Belton, offered to take me on a Castle tour. She purchased a car the day before and this was her first day to drive on the backward Scottish roads.

Instead of driving up to the castle we drove to Stonehaven where we could see the castle in the distance. At the top of a massive hill we saw a small stone building with pillars all about. We decided to visit the the building of pillars first. As we left the car we saw a path above us on a high hill and a bridge before us that appeared to lead up to this path.

The bridge was a foul deception and led to the bottom of a steep cliff upon which was no trail made by the hand of men. The only way up lay in a long journey back through Stonehaven to the true source of the path. Undaunted by the high of the hill, I suggested we ascend it, rather than retrace our steeps which I was fain to do for we were in want of time.

At first Jessica hesitated and bid me scale the hill and bring tidings as to whether the accent may be attained by the gentler sex. As I climbed the hill I found the way fair and summoned Jessica to join me. Upon reaching the crest of the hill we were greeted by a a sign with dark tidings.

The sign forbade the climbing of the cliffs and issued a curse on all who attempted the perilous path. Leave it to the Scots to put such a sign a the TOP of a cliff and not the bottom.

At the top of the hill a fair air and a crisp breeze greeted us. As we looked upon the ocean we could not tell when the waters ended and the sky began. All was but a sea of blue above and and the sea of blue below.

Upon reaching the pillared mound we saw that it was a memorial to great warriors who had fallen in ancient war. We marked that the placed seemed used more frequently for weddings than for mourning. The ping of grief had faded into shadow in the memories of the people.

We continued on as we could see Dunnottar Castle in the distance. It looked as if it floated over an ocean of sky and not of water.

Upon reaching the castle we found the gate locked and the wall high. A gloom came over me for the great iron eagle was to summon me to the far away land of California on the marrow and my only chance to see the castle lay dashed before my eyes.

Un deterred I attempted to scale the wall. Though covered in chain fencing the way was to hard for me for my feet were to big to hold to the fence.

Then we happened upon a hole in the cliff that led away to a different place. I was sucked in by a yearning to scale the castle if only I could find a way.

The cave led us to the far side of the castle beyond which was a bay filled with seagulls. When I gazed upon the castle I saw that it stood above high cliffs.  I saw that the cliffs could be scaled.

I set in my heart to gain entrance. Jessica the wise knew not to dissuade me for the nagging feminine voice of caution is never regarded and often encourages fool hearty actions. She resorted to filming my ascent until she turned off the camera in fear that she might record my doom.

At first the way was easy. But as I climbed higher I was obliged to work my way across the cliff. Soon I hung above a high drop. Several times my hand holds gave way sending earth and stone echoing down into the rocky foam below. But I refused to turn back and be denied entrance to this ancient citadel.

At last I crested the final wall. There at the top of the cliff stood a sign forbidding anyone to climb these slopes. Crazy Scots.

Before me lay Dunnottar Castle in all its glory. As I started to explore the castle I turned a corner and hear a mans voice.

“Hello?”

“Hi” I replied

There sat two men. One with a weed eater and another with clippers. They looked at me with wide eyes. Was this a castle ghost?

“How did you get in?” The man with the clippers asked.

“I climbed.” They both stared at me not saying a word. “Does that happen often?” I asked.

“No.” The man said. He was still surprised but this ghost had an American accent so he must not be so bad.

“My plane leaves for America tomorrow and I wanted to see a castle before I left. Would it be ok if I looked around a bit? The men looked at each other and then shrugged.

“Come get me when you want to get out.” The man said. “I’ll let you go out the door.”

“Thank you!” My heart swelled with gratitude for these kindly Scots.

Photos could not capture the majesty of the place. So I prepared this video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When it was time to leave the man picked up a massive key from a shed and let me out the main door.

Jessica before the cliffs.

As we left the castle the clouds parted and a clear sun caused the sea to shine with green life.

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Natasha Thomas & Olga Cantrell playing with weird camera poses.

• Russian is one of the hardest languages to learn in the world.
• Never under any circumstances walk in a Russian home with your shoes on. Even if they say you can don’t.
• Russian homes are warmer than my house in Belton. All that talk about how cold it is here is hype.
• Russian buildings are heated by warm water that flows through radiators in each room. The closer you are to a hot water station the warmer your house is. There is no thermostat or central air but the temperature always seems to be just right or to warm.
• Unlike in the movies, most Russians don’t speak English. But they do have fun accents like in the movies.
• More Russians speak Spanish than you might think.
• Russian have fun accents in Spanish too.
• The answer to icy roads in Russia is dirt. They cover the roads with dirt. Dirt + melted snow + car oil = slime. Slime is covers everything during the winter.
• Walking around St. Petersburg is a blast.
• Walking around St. Petersburg in new shoes = pain + blast.
• Playing tag with orphans while wearing new shoes is proof that you can have fun and hurt at the same time.
• Serving God sometimes means doing menial tasks that no one notices that are often criticized.
• Some of the coolest Christians work way behind the scenes.
• When a Russian asks you if you would like tea what he is she is really asking is would you like to talk. Tea is holds you to the table for the conversation. Tea is a Russian social lubricant.

A box of Russian Tracts. Many of these tracts are testemonies of the people who go to Street Cry.

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Here I am in front of a 3000 year old Sphinx. This statue sits on the site of a road and gets frosty in the winter. Those Egyptians knew how to build things to last!

Lucy, Philly, Ana and Olga admire a wall painting at the Winter Palace.

Here is a great example of the majestic beauty of St. Petersburg. The lady standing at the base of the right statue lived with us in the States for several months. Those are her daughters with her.

Gosha and Natasha put up signs advertising for an evangelistic concert Street Cry is putting on. There were several people at church the next Sunday who had come to Christ at the concert.

Here I am eating dinner at a Russian family home. Think of it as a micro orphanage. It only has 4 boys and 4 girls. Like a foster home it is much better for children than a traditional orphanage. The kids loved my beat boxing.

Thomas, Anna and Jenya at St. Isaacs. Natasha likes taking off center photos like this.

Sasha, Thomas, Natasha, Jenya and Philly. I'm the only American in the photo. Everyone else is Russian except Philly (far right) who is English. The children are orphans from the family home.

This is a Russian Datcha (summer home). It's not much of a place to live in the winter but it is pretty none the less.

As cool as this hat may be my Russian friends tell me only old men wear them. Oh well.

Books in a Russian Christian bookstore.

This is a battlefield from the Winter War between Finland and Russia. The Winter War kicked off WWII for Russia.

I named this statue the people's statue because its just a base. Anyone can pose to be immortalized on film.

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Two Russian orphans.

The biggest question I have received about my trip to Russia is “What is MIR?” No one has heard of it. To help answer that question I have put together the following video.

While in Russia I helped:

• Setup a several new computers
• Setup a new secure email system
• Demoed the XO Laptop to orphanage directors (yes yes a post on XO Laptops is coming)
• Secure the network.
• Increase the network speed.
• Setup auto backup.
• Trouble shot numerous computer related issues
• Setup StoneworksInternational.com
• Setup Mir’s new website  (still a work in progress)
• Tech training on how to process email more efficiently.
• Training on how to use a Mac
• Shot video footage for the Mir Video.
• Setup a website for Street Cry (still a work in progress)
• Edited the Mir Video.
• Passed out tracts with the folks from StreetCry

I also drank a lot of tea at the Cantrell’s with my Russian Family and explored a winter war battlefield.

Here I am filming an orphanage director. Her orphanage is interested in joining the XO-Laptop program. They are also involved in MIR's hosting program.

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I would like to introduce you to my Russian family they are some of the friends I have made here. The first five live with me in My Russian Home.

This is Mike Cantrell. He is my host and the man of the house. He directs Mir  and Stoneworks International. He is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. He is on international Skype calls late into the night and back at work early in the morning. He is a great guitarist and has two CDs of his music available for sale.

This is Olga Cantrell. She is Russian and fully bilingual. In fact she help translate Passion and Purityl by Elisabeth Elliot into Russian. The cat she is holding is Mikey an amazing cat who can ignore just as well in Russian as in English.

This is Natasha. She works at a children home. She is there for 48 hours and here for 48 hours. She has an amazing heart for the Lord and loves children. Here we are having Chi which is when everyone sits around the table and chats sometimes for hours. Sometimes its just a sea of Russian but other times someone translates for me or they practice their English. Sometimes I read through a Russian phrase book and say random phrases. We have great fun.

This Zhenya. She works as a school teacher in St. Petersburg and is holding an XO-Laptop (more on this in a later post). She takes care of us, keeps food on the table and keeps everythign very clean. She also prays like no one I have ever met.  I started calling her “Mama Doma” which means House Mom and the nickname seems to have stuck.

This is Anna (on right). She is playing with my camera. When I arrived she did not speak any English. Then one day while we were all having tea (a nightly occurrence) she said “I have decided to speak English.” She has been speaking English ever since. I wish learning Russian were that easy.

Natasha (on left) is using an old Russian folk remedy to sore and clogged sinuses.  She is holding a hot boiled egg which helps clear everything up without the need for medicine.

Here we all are except Mama Doma walking the streets of St. Petersburg.

This is Serge and his wife Christina. Serge used to be a hardcore drug addict. Then Jesus captured his heart. He is HIV positive.  Street Cry, our church, has a rule against an HIV positive person marrying non HIV positive person. God has healed some people in our church  from AIDS but not Serge. Instead God brought him Christina who is also HIV positive and they are now happily married. They still pray for healing. They committed their lives to the Lord and turned their house into a rehab center to help Russian girls find freedom from drug addiction. He and his wife are

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This is the elevator that goes up to our flat. It can hold up to three people or two people and a backpack. Its great for building community.

This is the entry way of our flat. Every time you enter a house you take off your coat and shoes and put on house slippers. Each Russian home providers house slippers for guests. This practice keeps the floors very clean a stark contrast to the streets which are covered in slimy black slush.

My messy room. This room doubles as my office, Mike’s office and storage for household linens.

Our WC. This is the only toilet in our flat. All six of us use it and it is available most of the time believe it or not. There is little intensive to spend long periods of time in the Water Closet.

Russian homes do not have thermostats like we do in the West. Instead they have these radiators in almost every room. The radiators are kept warm from hot water pumped in from a central heating station. The CHS set the temperature for several buildings or even a whole block.

The system is very soviet but it keeps the flats much warmer than my house in Belton. The downside is that in the Spring when it gets warmer the radiator might still be on and the house can become unbearably hot.

This bathroom doubles as a laundry room and has no toilet. We are blessed to have both a washer and a dryer. It is uncommon for Russian homes to have a washer and dryers are very rare.

Here we are having tea. This is a common Russian custom to have “Chi” after dinner. The Cantrell’s don’t have a TV and the fellowship is sweet and frequent. We have a fun game where everyone talks in Russian and Thomas reads random phrases out of  a Russian phrase book. Everyone laughs a lot when I do this. Not sure if its my pronunciation of Russian or what what.

This is our living room. As you can see it has a western “open design.” This is  uncommon and was actually added to the apartment by the previous owners who were American. It is great for prayer meetings.

I wish you could experience a Russian prayer meeting. Take Korean style prayer and multiply it by two hours. Two hours seems to be the norm for prayer meetings in our Russian church and they sometimes will have more than one prayer meeting a day. I met with a guy a few days ago who was hoping to start 24 hour prayer inside the Metro stations.

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I have now been in Russia for four days and I love it here so far.

Here are some photos from my trip to Russia here. I will try to post more photos and videos as often as possible. If you would like updates emailed to you sign up for my email newsletter.

My last meal in Texas. The food here is so good I don’t miss Texas Bar B Que… Yet.

This is Dr. Imad N. Shehadeh the Senior Professor of Theology at the Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary. JETS is the only Bible school in Jordan a Muslim country. He is doing research on the oldest Arabic translation of the New Testament(9th century). Arab scribes were the best in the world at that time and I can’t wait to read about his findings. He is an amazing man and I should have taken his picture before we spent 10 hours in the plane. After talking we found that we have a common friend. Small world.

The goodie bag British Airways gives its passengers. It has socks, toothbrush/paste, eye shades, headphones and more. The flight attendants are the most polite I have ever seen and they have such cool accents. If you ever have to fly long distance try to fly British Airways.

This is a famous statue of St. Peter. It is over 100 years old and the rock he is standing on is a single stone that was brought in from Finland. The tail helps support the statue for three point support.

Here is my first meal in St. Petersburg Russia with Mike and Olga Cantrell. Yes that is Borscht. It was amazing. Every borscht is different. Here they sometimes add mayonnaise which adds a lot of zip to the flavor.  I hope to do a post just on Russian food later.

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Last Weekend David Umstattd and I visit the American Christian Writers conference in Oklahoma City. At the conference we learned about how to write better and about the business of writing. This is an exciting to time to write because the web gives us greater access to our readers than ever before. But with that it is harder to get published than it has been in the past.

Here is a quick video with some of the cool people we met at the ACW conference .

I’m in St. Petersurg now and will post about that soon.

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Married people often tell me how they miss the freedom they had when they were single. Well I am single and I have done very little with this supposed freedom.

Well no more.

Russia

Antioch Belton is sending me to Russia from Feb 25 through March 25. I will be working with Mir a Russian charity that serves orphans. I will be shooting a documentary, building websites, fixing computers, teaching about technology, and sharing the Good News with everyone I can.

I am excited to see what God is going to do. The last time we went to Russia we went with few plans and then tried to hang on while God did amazing things. I expect He will do the same this time. This blog will be the best place to keep up with what is going on. I’ll be posting videos, photos and prayer requests as often as possible.

Scotland and California

After Russia I will visit Joe Ewen, the Mings and Jessica Heaton in Scotland. I will build their church a website and do some tech training. After leaving Scotland I will swing by Mount Hermon for a writers conference. This is the biggest Christian writers conference in the world and it is my last best chance to get a traditional publisher for my book . If they turn me down, I will publish Digital Cancer without them.

I will also be seeking the Lord about the next season of my life. When I get back I don’t know where I will live. Belton, New Zeland, Austin and California are all on the table. Maybe I’ll fall in love with Russia or Scotland and want to stay. I have no idea where God will call me to next.

God willing, I will be back in Austin April 8th.

Please Pray

• Boldness to share the Gospel.
• Grace and time to learn Russian.
• A heart submitted to His Lordship.
• Provision
• A publisher
• Ears to hear.

My budget for the missions part of this trip is $2600, including the flight across the pond, which is not bad for over a month over sees. Mount Hermon will cost another $1200.  If you would like to help send me to Russia you can make the check payable to:

Antioch Community Church
C/O Thomas Umstattd Jr.
P.O. Box 972
Belton, TX 76513

If you would like to get email updates from me please sign up for my email newsletter .

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