Travel update

 And we are off! Like a herd of turtles, as the saying goes. Not too fast, but our caravan of 2 cars and moving truck towing a trailer left Edmonton last evening around 6 p.m. Rainy weather and the late hour brought us to southern Alberta before we had to stop for the night. Our aim is to finish the journey today. 

Here are our immediate prayer points:

1. Safety on the road - yesterday we had two near misses, one due to visibility for one of our cars plus a passing driver and the other when an impatient driver swerved around to pass on the right as we were moving over to let them pass on the left. Praise God for His hand of protection!

2. The border - we will be stopping at the Canadian border office to give notice of our voluntary departure before entering the line for U.S. Customs. We have several importation steps to go through for our vehicles, cat, and household effects which we hope will be straightforward. Patience, for the little ones especially, is needed.

3. Strength - the past several days have been physically demanding and taxing. We will need to make it all the way to our destination, as well as unload all that was loaded Friday and Saturday. Pray for a good crew of helpers at unloading. (It is a bit overwhelming to consider that at some point we will need to re-load in future when we know where the Lord is ultimately leading us, but that’s for a future time and in the Lord’s hands).

4. The church - SO many people came out to help Friday and Saturday, doing everything from carrying boxes to wrapping large furniture, loading the truck and trailer, cleaning, yard work, bringing food, taking our children to the park, giving encouragement, the works. We know they are likely very tired and somewhat spent emotionally and physically as we are. As they gather today in our absence, our hearts desire is for the congregation to know the presence of the Lord, to worship Him, and to maintain and grow close bonds with one another in His love.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We are upheld by His grace and have been experiencing His transcending peace because of the prayers of many.

More soon,

Dejan and Julie <><

Mission Impossible Update

 “With God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 18). “For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)

We are staring down an impossible week here, finding comfort that though we are unable, our God is able! To those who are following this journey and praying along with us, we want to give a fresh update and some specific prayer points.

Church

Today, Sunday, is our final in-person Sunday at CC Edmonton. Please pray for grace and strength for us and the church. Dejan will be laying hands on the elders to commend them to overseeing the ministry. Our children are going to be leaving their children’s church as well, which is all most of them have ever known. Pray for their hearts’ comfort.

Legal and financial

We have many calls and appointments this week, while we continue packing. Please pray that we will get things set up with our lawyer (for the house and our personal affairs; the paralegal has been on vacation the past two weeks), the realtor (we are binding our contract for the listing of our house), the insurance company (and our house sitter to check on it while it is vacant) and our bank. We will continue to pay our mortgage until the house sells of course, so we also pray for things to go quickly.

Move-out

We need to leave the house in move-in ready condition and need to do all the cleaning and touching up that comes with a usual house move. Please pray for a small army of volunteers to help with this. 

Parting

Last, please pray for all of us as we start truly saying “good-bye for now” to people. Until now it has been processing things together and we have spent time packing or meeting but we have still had the opportunity to meet once or twice more. At some point it will be the last time, and we need God’s help with that. Especially our children, the youngest of whom can’t really understand, and the older ones who know what’s coming but are struggling to leave their close and dear friends.

Thanks for holding us up before the Father in these matters. We will update again later in the week, Lord willing, with some logistics details on crossing the border and landing back in the U.S.

Until then, by grace,

Dejan and Julie <><

Prayer points for this week: move-out and church transition

Dear praying friends,

Last week we spent a number of days hammering out some things and trying to project our logistical needs. We also started packing. Several of us in the house were sick so it was slow going, but most of us are recovered now, or mostly so, which makes it easier to tackle this monumental project. As with any move, everything has to leave the house, be it by packing, donation or trash. It's just such a tight time frame, as we now have a move-out date of August 27, about 2 weeks from now. 

Please pray for us!

For the move-out:

• no injuries as we are lifting and moving heavy items like boxes and furniture; safety for our kids as their house comes apart piece by piece
• strength, energy and focus to get things done quickly and efficiently
• wisdom on what to part with
• provision for all the logistics and expenses of cross-border moving (import fees, permits)

and

• the legal paperwork for everything with the house, bank accounts, etc.

Praise God for:

•  friends who offered to take our daughter's rabbits
• compliance letters for both our vehicles so we can import them into the U.S. 
• offers to buy at least some of our food pantry items which are not easily imported into the U.S. without lots of paperwork

The Church

Dejan has met a couple of times with the elders of the church to go over things and so far everything is looking good. He has also met often with those who are taking on the website and various accounts of the church (Facebook, YouTube, etc) and though the meetings have been long, they have been productive.

Pray for the church!

• next week's funeral for one of our members
• provision of an interim pastor (this is a huge need and is looking very hard to fill)
• provision of children's ministry leader and worship leader (both short and long-term)
• that the church stays together and people remain in the congregation through the transition (this is hard on everyone, since it is so sudden)

Pray for our hearts!

• especially for our children; they have varying degrees of sadness, loss and also hope and excitement
• grace: things are happening too fast to process emotionally for us as adults right now

Thanks if you took the time to read this, and double thanks if you are praying. 

More soon,

Dejan and Julie <><

Update on visas

After over 5 months of waiting and praying, we finally received an answer to our visa renewal applications over the weekend. We were refused. Each of us received a letter briefly explaining the reasons the border officer was issuing this decision, and since our current visas have already expired, we must leave Canada "immediately". This generally means within 30 days or we will be deported through legal action. 

Of course this came as a great shock, since nothing has changed on our end and our other renewals were always granted. We have spoken several times this week to an immigration consultant referred to us to see if there is any recourse. In considering the various options he gave and the current border restrictions, as well as many other factors, it seems tenuous at best to pursue any of them. 

This week we have been in touch with our overseeing pastors, our supporting pastors, our sending pastor, our missions organization pastor and others, and in this counsel we have concluded that our season here is coming to a close. 

We are filled with a flurry of emotions, but we have made the difficult decision to leave Canada permanently.

This doesn't mean the church will end; Calvary Chapel Edmonton is a successfully planted church! Dejan is working with our church elders to transition to this new season and will be involved throughout that process.

In the coming days and weeks we will post more, but for now, we wanted to announce this turn of events and ask for prayer. We need wisdom, strength, guidance and clarity as we move quickly to enact all the various logistical factors. We need grace to process along with the church this sudden news. We will need provision and favour in our financial obligations for moving. And we need encouragement from the Lord as we are stepping into an entirely new situation.

We are grateful for all of you who stay up on our news and who support and pray for us.

More soon,

Dejan and Julie <><