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 <><

Update and answered prayers

 Hello friends,

We have been in a season of waiting and a simultaneous flurry of activity these past couple of months. It has been a challenge, but we are thankful that we can lift all our needs to the Lord, and we are grateful for those of you who pray alongside us. Though we are unaware of who is praying and when, we know that without prayer support, our situation would be more difficult and our hearts more burdened. If you have been praying for us, thank you!

Visas

We are about half-way through the application waiting period for our visa renewals. We were able to apply  at the end of February, and the processing time is 130-140 days. Lord willing, we will receive a decision by mid-June, and we are praying it will be as before, that we are granted renewal. We applied for a three-year stay, but the final length of time we may be given could be less, though we hope for the full term. Please pray for God's favor, but also His will to be done regarding our visas.

Logitics

Accountant:    Praise the Lord we were able to find an accountant locally in Edmonton who could help us to file our taxes for Canada this year! We wrote that our previous accountant here stopped doing personal taxes and had to "let us go", so we were kind of left high and dry in a complex cross-border tax situation for many weeks. Our new accountant is very kind, and she even gave us a discount on her normal fee, to match our previous accountant's fee, for this year. We ended up owing a fair amount of tax in Canada due to a withholding oversight, but praise God for providing for that with our U.S. return this year! Praise God all our taxes in both countries were filed on time!

Extensions:    Since our visas are in process, we were thankfully able to extend our basic health coverage here in Canada for 90 days past our visa expiration. This will hopefully cover us through until we receive our new documents. We are grateful this process involved just a simple phone call. However, Julie had to renew her driver's license by Easter, and it wasn't so simple. She was told that without a valid, current visa, she would not be able to get a new license. It seemed the future included taking the bus or making Dejan the sole driver for a couple months, but by God's grace we got it resolved. Through some emailing and phone calls to both the federal and provincial government, we were able to obtain her "proof of status report" which was accepted at the licensing facility. We are thankful that both of us can continue to drive and for continued health care coverage!

In the Church

Congregation:    Like most (all?) churches, we have experienced a lot of staggered attendance and slow return of some people to worship in person due to the global health situation. We have a definite core group that come very consistently, but also many newer people, and some with work schedule conflicts. As a small congregation, these fluctuations have been challenging as we have sought to minister to people who are present one week and not the next, and some only months between. Pray for the members of our congregation to exercise wisdom but also not to fear and to not forsake in-person gathering as it is so critical to personal spiritual and church body health. We were so blessed to have a sizeable turnout for our Easter Sunrise service and breakfast potluck the other week!

With some of the ladies in the kitchen at Easter

Men's and Ladies' Groups:    Both the men's and ladies' Bible studies have been fairly consistent, and we have even met new people through these ministries. Dejan is taking the men through the book of Romans in a discussion format twice a month as he is training the men to articulate their faith and to raise them up. Julie is covering women in Genesis in a teaching format once per month. Both groups are able to meet at the church building which is a huge blessing, as it is central and people feel comfortable coming to this space. It may not be permanently available, as previously, the building was used Fridays by another non-church group. Please pray for open doors to continue meeting at the church building for men's and ladies' ministries.

A/V Ministry:    Over the past month or so, the Lord touched the heart of one of the men to learn how to run the A/V and manage the sound booth, livestream, and recording of the services. This was a huge blessing to Dejan and to the other A/V person who had been serving solo every service for several years. When that person was away sick for two weeks and Dejan had to both preach and run everything by himself, he was at home participating online. The next Friday at men's study, he presented himself to Dejan to help out, and he has been training ever since. Praise God for raising up someone to serve in this important ministry!

Children's Church:    By the end of 2019, we lost all of our children's church helpers and many children, due mostly to people moving away. Since re-opening last summer, we have had several new children start coming, and also one other adult to help. This is a great blessing, as we seek to always have two adults present for church accountability and also classroom management. Neither of our other two remaining children's church helpers have continued. We recently tried to incorporate others from the congregation but it wasn't a good fit for them. Please pray for the Lord to raise up another person or two who has both gifting and calling to serve in the children's church. This will enable us to have a small team so that people can rotate and sit in service at times, as the two of us currently serving are full-time with the children. 

Dejan's mom

We are blessed to report that Dejan's mom has been able to start walking using a walker! She was bedridden for many months and not even able to sit up for almost a year, which left her muscles weak and furthered the problem. Initially (about 30 months ago), she was diagnosed with having a stroke, then after extensive testing and x-rays in Serbia it was thought she had a brain tumour. This led her to getting into the neurological nursing home facility she has been at for the past two years where she has gotten physiotherapy that has been the game-changer for her situation. At first it was once a week, but the neurologist who owns the home does evaluate the residents, and he prescribed physio several times per week for Dejan's mom, which helped her turn the corner. She gained strength and made progress in sitting up, and then standing and now walking. The only thing preventing her from returning home at this point is that she is as yet unable to go from a seated position to standing with the walker by herself. The neurologist thinks her health situation is related to the re-surfacing of a work injury she had in her late 50s that drove her to early retirement.

Through this journey Dejan has been able to have more frequent conversations with his mom, as well as visiting her personally in early 2020 before all the lockdowns. This has been a big trial in her life, but she is not yet a believer in Christ. However, she has seemed more open to spiritual input lately, and she talks about God a bit here and there. We pray daily for her salvation. Her goal is to go back home; our goal is that she will go to heaven, and that she may be able to return to her home in Serbia renewed and regenerated in Christ. Please pray for her salvation.

Time-Sensitive: Dejan

Last Friday at men's study Dejan broke a tooth during their fellowship meal. It is in a molar that had an extensive filling put in it years ago in Serbia before we even met. Part of the filling and part of the tooth came off. He is not experiencing pain, but the dentin is exposed, and we don't want it to become painful before getting it addressed. We have contacted two dentists for assessment and are seeking an appointment in the near term. As it is a mercury-based filling, there can be health implications. Please pray for wisdom and resolution to Dejan's dental issue in a timely manner and without complications. 

Thank you for reading our update and for praying for any or all of these issues! May the Lord make you fruitful in the areas you are serving Him, and may He continue to show His love and grace to you and you walk in faith.

Dejan and Julie <><

The season of renewal

 Wow, winter has officially ended, but you wouldn't know it by looking out our windows! A fresh blanket of snow, atop the dwindling but stubborn snow pack, greeted us this morning as a reminder of how far north we actually live.

Spring is the time of renewal; nature reveals how much the rest provided by winter has made it possible for new life to start bursting forth. Our tulips have just braved the surface of our front planter as a sign of hope. But like all the years we have lived here, we wait. We will wait for weeks, usually well beyond Easter, for true spring. The effects of the equinox and lengthening days have an influence, but it just seems to take SO LONG for the winter's cold to finally yield to the changing season.

Our family is in another season of renewal: visa renewal. And there is waiting, and there are implications to it, too. Yesterday, our visas expired. We are now again in a period of "implied status" here, kind of like bureaucratic limbo. We have submitted our applications over a month ago, but, like the lingering winter that is slow to respond to the coming spring, we have a lingering hold while our applications are processed; approximately a 130-day wait.

Please join us in prayer that the Lord would be gracious and grant us our documents, so that we can continue to serve the church plant here. Until a decision is reached we are permitted to stay, but it is always a strange time that feels unsettled.

While we're waiting we have a few other needs. Some logistical, some personal. All for prayer.

First, a new tax accountant

Our Canadian accountant let us know that he is no longer doing personal taxes for any clients who don't also have a business. As our international tax situation is complicated, we have relied on him for years to help us navigate the complexities of our U.S.-Canada taxes, in partnership with our U.S.-based accountant. We are in need of a new accountant here a.s.a.p. and appreciate prayer for God's guidance to the right person or firm. Last year, due to our short visa status in 2020, we had no clergy tax credit and ended up paying a hefty sum to the Canadian government and will likely do so again because of the same reason. If our visa renews, it will be Lord willing, for three years, and we can avoid these heavy taxes for next year.

Second, health coverage

Every time our visas expire before we get new ones, we have to apply for a health care coverage extension. The extension is 90 days. Please pray that we will get the extension easily and for no health emergencies (both overall and in the meantime). Praise God our recent health issues (eye checks, new glasses, a broken finger and injured toe, all on different people) don't need any further care and our other  care is separate and self-pay.

Third, safety

We have had a string of physical ailments or injuries over the course of fall and winter. Many are from trips and falls; some are adult, some children. Nothing too serious, but it has just seemed like alot. 

Julie has had an autoimmune disorder for years and now one of the girls does as well. Also, Julie's has re-surfaced after decades of dormancy (but this seemed to be connected pretty directly to a tetanus shot she got at the end of 2020 summer). 

Dejan had a toe injury that got re-injured recently at church when something got dropped on it. The podiatrist said it's not going to get infected, but most of the nail bed will not recover from the trauma. He also either displaced or (likely) broke a rib in October moving straw bales in our back yard. Thankfully he has recovered, but it took several months. 

Three of the girls have had minor bone breaks; one a big toe, another a small toe, the third a pinky. Thankfully our little guy has stayed clear of injuries, but we would really appreciate prayer for safety!

Last, harmony

Please pray for our children. They love each other, but they live together pretty much 24/7, and being in ministry, with Dejan pastoring and counseling people we get our fair share of spiritual warfare in the home, which often shows up as discord of some kind. This can happen between them and also between them and us as parents. Wednesdays and Saturdays seem particularly challenging due to Dejan's prep for services. We are so blessed to be able to serve the Lord as a family, and we treasure all the time we get together, as well as the multiple opportunities to pour into our children spiritually, but some days are just hard. Your prayers and ours combined are a powerful force against the enemy who wants to drag them and us down, and a vital lifeline to access God's grace in our times of need.

We hope this update finds you blessed in the love of Christ. He is the Rock that never fails!

In Him,

Dejan and Julie <><