Remembering

  This update is a bit overdue. There has been alot going on in our hearts and it has been a challenge to put feelings into words. We have had alot of logistics to take care of, such as health coverage and home insurance and snow removal for our house in Alberta which is still for sale. We also faced some health challenges for Julie that began just after the retreat she attended last month and which lingered through our time in California and on into our return. Praise the LORD it seems like everything is stable now with her health, and we thank you for your prayers for our family while we were traveling. It was a blessed time, and the LORD brought us back safely.

Did any doors open for us while we were there? Not in those areas, but any door that is not open is still direction from the LORD of where we are not to be. So we are still waiting and seeking. We are also still waiting for our house to sell. There were two offers that came in, but neither culminated in a sale. Patience and prayer is the path forward.

We were able to connect with many friends in California and Nevada, most of whom we served in missions with in Eastern Europe through the Bible College in Hungary. We also went to several different churches and worshiped with diverse congregations, meeting with several of the pastors as well. Some of our friends we were able to see multiple days. It was a blessing to see how God is moving in all these places and we are greatly encouraged by the times of fellowship.

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 "I will remember the works of the LORD..." (Ps. 77:11)

"Remember His marvellous works which He has done..." (Ps. 105:5)

Today is the 10th anniversary of the church in Edmonton. Our first ever service was November 11, 2012, with 3 people in the living room of the house of a couple who had moved recently from Calgary. Dejan started right in with teaching in the Gospel of John. Julie had children's church with 6 children, three of our own and the three of the couple, an age spread of newborn to 12 years old. 

All of our things were in boxes in their garage. We didn't even have a place to live yet. But since we came to plant a church, the husband of the family asked if we couldn't just start then, so we did. The following week one of our current church elders and his wife joined us, and the week after that we met the family who our missionary friends in Mexico and whom the church supports to this day.

our second service

Fast forward just one year to 2013 and we were  a small group meeting in the little chapel at St. Timothy's Anglican Church. And for several years the church has met in the fellowship hall downstairs where it has only grown over the last 5 years, even in spite of the difficult situations of 2020 and 21.

God has done great things.

There is a song by Phil Wickham with a similar title. One verse says, 

                "You've been faithful through every storm, You'll be faithful forever more; 

                You have done great things. 

                And I know that You'll do it again, for Your promise is 'Yes' and 'Amen'; 

                You will do great things. God You do great things."

This is a true testimony in our experience, and it forms the base of our hope in this season. God is faithful. 

We were reminiscing last night on how our current situation mirrors, in many respects, our situation ten years ago, on a purely logistical level. We are again staying at someone else's house, looking for a place of our own to live, at the start of winter. The cost of rent where we are now is 3x what we were paying for housing where we came from, identical to our move from Idaho to Edmonton ten years ago. Our money is worth less and everything costs more now, just as then (though for different reasons). And God, who gave us the ability to make that move and start to minister in the midst of a set of improbabilities, has not changed. He is the same. He is able to cover us again, even though the circumstances are filled with what seem like improbabilities, even impossibilities. 

We are missing the people and places we came to know so well during the last ten years of our journey in a more acute way this week. But we are thankful for the body of Christ and the fellowship of the Spirit, who can transcend borders and time.  

Thanks for keeping us in prayer. We will update soon.

By grace,

Dejan and Julie <><