Waiting

 

Dear Friends and Partners in prayer,

Wow, we have officially been in the U.S. for one month as of today. We are more or less settled in to our temporary lodging, though we have taken a decent number of trips. Every weekend Dejan has shared or taught from the pulpit. He has also carried on with Wednesday Bible study and prayer, as well as the men’s study in Edmonton via Zoom.

We have enjoyed seeing family after three plus years apart, and our children have made some precious memories with grandparents and cousins. All of us are feeling more rested. God has been taking care of us in various, sometimes surprising, ways, and we are blessed by the various gifts of food, funds and other care in this time of transition. The body of Christ continues to shine beautifully, and we are humbly thankful for His care through our brothers and sisters.

So far in our search of what the Lord has for us in the future there has been little light. We are making contacts, praying and waiting, with many who are coming alongside to encourage as we wait.

This week we are headed to a couple of ministry events: Julie is signed up for a Calvary Chapel pastor’s wives retreat and Dejan was invited to attend a men’s retreat with a long time friend from Bible college. We are driving down to southern California with our crew for a few weeks, and we hope the Lord will not only refresh and speak to us, but that He will also give us some direction, if it pleases Him. We have tentative plans to visit some friends while we are there as well as to stop on the way back up to visit more friends and possibly a couple of pastors.

Our prayer requests for this trip are:

Safety in travel for the entire trip

Health/safety of our family

Refreshing times at the retreats

Blessed times with friends we served with and have known for years

Direction and leading of the Lord

Our house in the Edmonton area is still on the market, and we are praying eagerly for its timely sale. The home insurance policy we have expires in mid-November, at which time we were advised the underwriter would most likely not renew the policy because the property is vacant. Please pray for the soon sale of our home and for a fair sale price.

We are continuing to be involved in the ministry in Edmonton, and we are also hearing good reports of how the congregation is doing there. We praise the Lord for being the Head and being faithful in building the church at Calvary Chapel Edmonton. Please join us in continued prayers for the elders as they lead, for those who are stepping into new areas of ministry, as well as a pastor to faithfully lead in the next season.

Thanks for taking the time to read our update. And if you pick a request or two (or more!) to join us in seeking the Lord, we are greatly blessed.

In Him,

Dejan and Julie

A Time of Rest

 Well, we are officially temporarily "settled" for the time being here in Idaho. It is quiet here! Our biggest noise disturbances (outside of our own children) are the grasshoppers flapping, the occasional car driving on the dirt road and some small airplanes doing sightseeing tours and the like.

THANK YOU for your prayers as we left Canada! Those requests were almost all answered!

The two days of driving were super tiring and fairly long. Crossing the border was relatively simple, and we got everything processed in under an hour. One officer even told us "Welcome home!". It was thankfully received from our band of sojourners. We had one near out-of-gas, and the last stretch was tough to stay awake, but by the grace of God we had no accidents and arrived safely, though very late, in southern Idaho August 28.

We are grateful for the small armies that helped us on both ends. First, the amazing crew in Edmonton that showed up for two days to pack us up, clean our house and load the truck. They sweated it out the first day and then worked through the rain the next! So many people also looked after our children, feeding them and taking them to the park. We got what we prayed for! This group covered us in prayer as they sent us off with our two drivers, one for Canada and one for the U.S., both men of faith and encouragement we were so blessed to have alongside. 

On the receiving end, there was a welcoming crew in Pocatello who were incredibly patient and hard-working, as we had a triple unloading. They hauled things off the truck, down the stairs to one storage spot, and other things back onto the truck to go to the second storage spot, where there was more unloading, and then they re-loaded and unloaded the remainder to store in a room at the church building there. It was a hot day, and they were so cheerful and willing, though we were all exhausted at the end.

Julie's dad brought us up to his cabin that Tuesday, and we used the rest of that week to rest and take care of some immediate logistics. After the month of packing and then moving, our bodies took the opportunity of quiet and solitude to catch up on much needed sleep. It is such a blessing to have a place to stay without pressure of renting right now, esp. since the market here is so inflated and we are in transition.

We are feeling a bit more settled being here for now, although it still feels kind of like an extended vacation. Dejan continues to teach Wednesday nights and lead the men's study for CC Edmonton, and Julie is also still hosting the monthly ladies' fellowship, all of which are a great blessing. It encourages our hearts to see and fellowship with the church our hearts are so knit with during this huge time of change.

NEW REQUESTS

Our house in Canada was put on the market to sell the last day of August, though there is no buyer as yet. It is hard to be patient and wait, but it is completely in the Lord's hands. We ask for prayer that He would bring the right buyer in His time, and that before our home insurance expires at the start of November it would be sold for a fair price so that we can close our financial affairs in Canada.

Next weekend we are headed to visit family and for Dejan to speak at a Calvary Chapel in Montana.  He shared briefly last Sunday at our sending church in Idaho, and we also went to service here today. There will be alot of travel and sharing in the coming weeks so our prayer is for safety of travel and also that the Lord will show us where we are to be. It seems like such a far off thing right now, that we will ever know, or how we will know, but we are trusting that through prayer, He will reveal His will.

Last, please also keep our children in your prayers through this transition. They have started school this past week, so that is a familiar activity, but they struggle on and off with emotions and loss and questions, though they are being such troopers and are soldiering on, trusting God in their beautiful childlike faith.

Thank you so much for covering us and staying current with our situation. We are blessed to be in the body of Christ, and among friends who love and follow Him and share the love and care that we are receiving. 

in Him,

Dejan and Julie