What God Has Done

Greetings from Edmonton! We want first of all to wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed season of celebrating our Savior's birth. Secondly, we want to thank you for keeping track of us throughout 2014 and for the support you have offered to us by prayer, giving and encouragement! Much of what you will read here is ultimately connected to your involvement in the mission here in both large and small ways.

As this is our ministry Christmas letter, we will try to briefly re-cap the highest of highlights from this year as we have continued the church-plant here in Edmonton.

What has the Lord done for us in 2014? According to His character, He has done great things!

The Church
We are the church, the body of Christ, and we have seen growth in our fellowship over this past year in many ways! At the turn of the year we numbered 7 adults and 4 children in regular attendance, including ourselves. At the close of the year, though we have temporarily lost a brother due to visa issues, we number 14 adults in regular attendance and 4 children. And everyone is involved in the ministry serving in some way, including most of the children, so this is very exciting to see and be part of! People have found us in various ways, and we have had many come-and-goers, as well as visitors, but we are blessed to see this growth in our fellowship.

Some of the men went to a men's retreat in Calgary at the Calvary Chapel there, our ladies fellowship grew from 2 to 4-5 over the year, the children's church sang for the church for Easter and Christmas, and we all had a blessed gathering quarterly for food and fellowship, often with additional guests who attend irregularly but whom we have been getting acquainted with as a result of these times.

Reaching Out, Sharing the Gospel
This year we had some new opportunities to minister to people in different circles than in our first year.

Mormon Missionaries
There is subtle but definite presence of the Mormon church in Edmonton, and we (finally) had some missionaries knock on our door this spring. Throughout the summer and fall, Julie had the privilege of nearly weekly visits from two young ladies who were serving their LDS mission in our neighbourhood. We also had some occasional guests from their local church ward, and Dejan got to get some good conversation in as well at times.

With a Mormon "sister" from Wyoming

with our other "sister" from Utah

This was a wonderful experience in evangelism and defending the faith, and we pray that these ladies will be forever changed as a result of their time in our home. We gave them each a book when they were transferred elsewhere, so we pray the Lord will use these gifts to enlighten their understanding of the true meaning of the Gospel.



Tract and Treating
Our girls have been planning since last October what we were going to do this year to redeem Halloween. So, clad in the costumes of a ladybug, queen bee, and Sparky the firefly (from AWANA), they hit the West Edmonton Mall armed with buckets of treat bags, Gospel tracts, candies, and a pumpkin Gospel song the day before Halloween. They giggled at the thought of surprising people with "Tract and treat!!" and the giving of candy to store clerks with a Gospel tract, instead of seeking to get. So many workers were caught off guard and everyone received from these little bugs the message and gift of light and the Gospel. They also hit the mall's amusement park and randomly gave away treat bags with Gospel coins, candy and creation tracts to as many children as they could find. It was very fulfilling.

T
Teams and Visitors

Team from Calvary Chapel Meridian at the Alberta Legislature

Twice we had the blessing of visitors who came to pray for Edmonton and help us in the work here. A team from Meridian, Idaho was touring Alberta and stayed with us for a day and night. We were grateful for their time here and for their investment in the spread of the Gospel in Alberta, including Edmonton.

We were so encouraged by this family!

Not too long after this, a family also came to visit the province and spent a couple of days with us in fellowship as they are praying about moving to Alberta for ministry. These two occasions encouraged us greatly.





Christmas Letters and Cookies
We got the church involved just before Christmas in reaching out to the homeless in downtown Edmonton by ministering the Gospel through Christmas letters and homemade cookies. Some baked, some wrote letters, and still others took them out into the streets. Though it was a bit more challenging to find this year (they truly had to "seek the lost"), the group's persistence paid off and were glad to be able to bless the poor. (Below is a photo of the group that went out).

We hope that this new year is one of great fruitfulness for the Lord in our lives and yours and in His church! Have a BLESSED 2015!!

Dejan and Julie <><