Trip to Edmonton!

It's been over a month since we've been back from Canada!! Our experience in Edmonton and visiting the church in Calgary was very encouraging, productive and confirming.

There was a list of things we were hoping to accomplish, and with the exception of looking into local Kindermusik studios, the Lord made it possible for us to do them all. Thank you for your prayers! We truly noticed that God's hand was upon us, guiding our decisions, plans, and even our detours!

A great answer to prayer that made our 5 1/2 days more productive and smooth than they would've been otherwise was the rental of a car, which the Lord graced us with through a brother in Christ. Edmonton is HUGE, and it was cold, so without a car, we would've been much slower on public transport and less able to see as much of the city as freely as we did--and we only saw maybe 30% of it at that!

A second blessing, which we didn't even pray about, was a GPS. We thought we'd use our little tourist map to get around, but our host offered us her GPS to use during our stay, and that helped us get pretty much everywhere with no troubles. Especially when we went to Calgary, we would never have found the church after a 3-hour drive and been on time for the service without it!

We met with the contact given to us by the assistant pastor in Calgary, a man named Scott and his wife Lindsey. They are a young couple who have been praying for a Calvary Chapel type of church to be planted in Edmonton for the last 2 years. Scott used to live in Calgary and went to the Calvary Chapel there; their church in Edmonton "self-destructed", according to Scott's own words, and many couples were left church-less and disillusioned. They were encouraged and surprised to learn that we are hoping to come to Edmonton during 2010.

One of our great desires was to get in touch with the Serbian community on our visit, and the Lord used the rental car and the GPS to make that happen! We needed groceries and the GPS led us to the closest supermarket. Inside Julie noticed a worker with the name tag "Dejan", so she waited to meet him and later called in our Dejan. The young Dejan told us about the Serbian culture center, when to go, etc. We spent Friday evening there getting acquainted - they have weekly Serbian language lessons for young children and a folk dance club to teach traditional dances to the youth, as well as basketball in fall/winter and soccer in spring/summer for the men. The parents mill about and the children not in class play freely. Sara enjoyed watching the dancing and being led around by several of the little girls.


On Sunday, we visited Calvary - a long 3-hour drive (each way) to go to church but well worth the time! We enjoyed the service and were welcomed by many of the people in the fellowship. After service, the assistant pastor and his wife took us to lunch, and we enjoyed getting acquainted with them a bit and hearing their insight into Canadians, as well as their church-planting and pastoring experience.

Overall, we were very encouraged by the Lord and felt quite comfortable being in Edmonton, even though it is a very large metropolis. We are praying in more knowlageable ways now for the city and are seeking the Lord for His continued guidance in our preparation and His timing for our move. Thanks again for all your prayers and for your interest in what God is doing up north!

Blessings to you in His Name!!