Summer in the City

Dear Family in Christ,

We are blessed this summer to have 3 sets of co-laborers! Any and all service offered is such a blessing as it expands our capabilities to impact both the church body and the communities around us here in Edmonton.

Returning Labourers
At the end of June a family that had visited us last July returned for a week of blessed reunion, fellowship, prayer, ministry and good plain fun. We were so thankful for the heart of this couple who so willingly invested their time and resources to coming to support us and the church here. The Lord permitted us to team up and minister to people in ways we could not have done just with the two of us. Christ was preached, His Word was received, people were encouraged, challenged, and one made a commitment to follow Jesus and receive His salvation! This was an incredible gift to have this family return and we all felt the boost spiritually, mentally and even physically, despite long days and late nights.

Team 1
At the end of this month we will have two teams visiting us. The first group is coming up for a weekend of outreach from our own backyard at Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel in Calgary. Several brothers are offering themselves to go out on the streets and do one-on-one evangelism with Dejan. They also plan to stay the night and join us for Sunday service, which is always an encouragement to the body.

Team 2
The second team is coming from our home church in Pocatello. They will be in the city for about 6 days, with a multi-faceted outreach. The first weekend of August in Alberta every year is a 3-day weekend with a special festival called Heritage Fest. It is the largest festival hosted by the city, when all of the countries represented in the city showcase their culture; over 80 nations converging on one of the largest parks. This festival is typically attended by more than 300,000 people over the three days, and it is an excellent opportunity to "go into all the world" without travelling around the globe! The team will be there for evangelism throughout the bulk of the festival.  Additionally, we will be having a baptism and the team will participate in the Sunday service. We are always blessed by the group that comes up from Idaho, and we are greatly anticipating what the Lord is going to do this summer.

Prayer Requests
Please keep us and the church in prayer. Many are coming and going with the warm weather. Many are absent due to work and travel. There are hurting hearts and needs, just like in any church, and our desire is that our part of the body of Christ here in Edmonton will have each member doing its share, ministering to and building each other up, just as Jesus desires. We are not able to meet everyone's needs, though we very much love each person in this group of believers.

Please, of course, pray for the teams who will be joining us, July 23-24th and July 28th-August 2nd; for their safety in travel, for God to use them, speak through them, grant them boldness and times of sweet fellowship with Him.

Lord willing, we will be able to post some updates and photos of the summer in the coming weeks. Until then, we are so blessed and encouraged by all of the prayers offered on our behalf for these things. We couldn't be here without God's call and His vision, but He is using you to supply in so many practical ways, especially in prayer.

In the love of Jesus,
Dejan and Julie

Harvest Prayers and Answers

Jesus gave us clear instructions on what to do when we need help in ministry. Primarily, we are to pray. Sometimes fast. But, always, the instruction includes prayer.

He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."  ~Luke 10:2

So what have we done for many, many months? We have prayed. And God has answered!

We have had many teams come to visit us this year, and each group has been a blessing.

1st Laborers
In late winter/early spring, a group from Calvary Chapel of the Flathead Valley came and blessed us with their fellowship, their willingness to pass out gospel tracts and to help in children's church. We even got to sneak in a nice visit with a couple of close family members who were on the team. :)

Team from CCFV

Edmonton hosted an event for an emerging sport known as ice cross; a sort of mix between roller derby (on ice), hockey, downhill slalom and ice skating. The international Crashed Ice competition drew around 70,000 spectators. This group went out that weekend to help spread the word with Dejan and another man from our fellowship. In church Sunday, Pastor David Mercer shared the message, the children's church got a puppet show on Zacchaeus, and Julie got some help from our oldest nephew during class time.

2nd Laborers
In early June, a team of 14 people from our home church of Calvary Chapel Pocatello drove up for 10 days. There were six children, in addition to the adults, our pastor and his wife. Our girls were so blessed and excited to have other (Christian) children around. It was an amazing gift for them. Our pastor did the baby dedication for our newest addition, which was a great blessing, as he shared in our other girls' dedications when they were infants.

baby dedication

let the little children come!

This team was primed to evangelize (even the little ones!), and they hit the streets enthusiastically and often during their stay in Edmonton! Their outreach was timed to coincide with the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer event, of which Edmonton was a host city. The team also did alot of ministry around the University of Alberta and surrounding area. Truly they were able to do more work during their 10 days than we could do alone in 10 months or more. It was such a help! They also used their van to help pick up a horse trough we purchased to use for a baptismal, and led worship for our first church baptism.

baptism

Gospel goes FIFA

3rd Laborers
Last fall, you may recall that we had a group of men from Calvary Chapel Meridian, Idaho visit us, as several of them were praying about coming to Alberta for ministry. They stayed at our place overnight, did a quick tour, and prayed over our adopted city before their next scheduled stop.

Among that group, God touched the heart of one man to come back to Edmonton with his entire family for a portion of the summer. We were both amazed and humbled when he shared this with Dejan. But then, it actually happened. For the entire month of July, this precious family of six camped out in a small hotel room and served our family and the church with joy and love. We had help in worship, children's church, men's and ladies' fellowship, evangelism, prayer; it was amazing.

new friends

with our month-long team members!

worship & prayer for the city

Since their departure, we have clearly seen the benefits of having another couple or family join us full-time. However, we are thankful that the Lord was so gracious to grant us those weeks of ministry.

4th Laborers
In early September, a team from Calvary Chapel Whitefish came up for a weekend, and totally blessed us. They joined in our church prayer meeting, ran our children's church, and Pastor David Halan preached on Sunday. They came up to see the city, serve the church and to encourage our family. Mission accomplished! Their hope is to send "weekend" teams periodically to help out, and we are excited at this possibility.

So as you can see, though we didn't get any permanent team members yet, the Lord was faithful to send out laborers to Edmonton. We pray that more will come and have been so encouraged by every person who gave of their time, resources, gifts and energy to serve alongside us. And we are thankful also to all those who were involved in supporting those who came in all the many ways necessary to send them to us.

Thank-full,
Dejan and Julie <><

Pocatello Outreach Team and Events

Yesterday evening, after a longer than expected journey, a team of 14 people from our home church arrived here in Edmonton! We were so blessed to see these weary travellers and welcome them to our city and into our home for a time of food and fellowship.

 It is SO GOOD to see people from back home! The body of Christ transcends location, and these brothers and sisters are so dear to us; we bless God for their willingness to come be with us and serve. "The team", as they are affectionately called, will be with us for the next 9 days.

Edmonton is one of the principal Canadian host cities for the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer event, and we are hoping to get the team to the stadium area for some evangelism before the games that are happening while they are here. The opening ceremony and match had 52,000 people in attendance, so the aim is to get the gospel into the hands and ears of many.

The team will also join in the life of the church during their stay. We are very excited to be holding our first baptism this coming Sunday, and three people are planning to get baptized! Two are new believers in the last 6 months or so and the third had just never been baptized. Since we're renting space in a building with only a standing baptismal font, we had to get creative. (Stay tuned for photos in another post!)

We're also planning a church potluck and baby dedication. Our sweet little baby is also going to be dedicated by our pastor, just like all her sisters before her. It is such a blessing to have Pastor Jeff and his wife Christina here with the team, and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to involve them in this event in her life.

If you pray for us, please take some time to lift up this outreach team in your prayers. They have experienced some opposition just to get to us, and we trust that God has great plans for them or there wouldn't be such a stand against them. THANK YOU for keeping up with us and the ministry here.

By grace always,
Dejan and Julie

PRAYER REQUESTS - Personal & Ministry

Here is a list of the current needs we have as we are living and serving here in Edmonton. We are blessed and thankful to those of you who are serving with us by carrying us in prayer.

Personal/Family

These are in addition to the general requests for our spiritual growth, our marriage, our safety and for God to use us here.

• Our Visa Renewal: We were granted visas for 2 years when we moved here in November 2012, and we have submitted our applications for extension/renewal of our visas. We are hoping for a favorable and timely response.

• Our Physical Health: It is rare for all of us to be ill or unwell, but we currently all are either run down/exhausted or ill, some more than others. We need restful sleep and healing.

• Our Parenting: We are always in need of wisdom and guidance, but we feel a more keen need for it at the present, as our children are growing and the dynamics of our parenting must change and grow with them.

Church-Plant/Ministry

We are blessed to be serving alongside many of the people who attend the church weekly (more than half of them are involved in some way besides attendance). They help set up and clean up and participate in the service in a variety of ways. 

However, Jesus sent out His disciples by twos, and though we are a pair as a married couple, in our ministry duties we operate singly due to the nature of what we do, particularly on Sundays but also during the week. Our desire is for at least two other people to join us in the following capacities:

Partner/Worship Leader

• Partner: Dejan is somewhat limited as to what situations he can minister by himself in preaching the Gospel because he goes out alone. Some scenarios are unsafe/unwise for him to approach alone and even just having a witness seems important, if the person didn't feel confident or comfortable in evangelism. Of course the need for on-the-spot prayer is always acute, and there are other practical things that need doing through the week.

• Worship Leader: Julie is currently splitting her time during the service between leading worship and running the children's church. This takes someone from the church away from part of the worship time to care for the children and Dejan takes them the remainder, which prevents him from being in with everyone. 

*It would be ideal if another person could assume the music ministry and also be the partner for Dejan during the week.

Assistant in Children's Church/Home

• Assistant in Children's Church: For accountability and practicality, we would be blessed to have a permanent helper in the children's church. On the accountability side, this means that no accusations can be brought against the church in regards to how we care for children who come through our doors. On the practicality side, this means that someone can take little ones to the bathroom without stopping the entire class, be an extra pair of helping hands during the art/response time, be able to help those who need extra attention or presence, etc.

• Home Help: When we lived and served at the Bible College, there was an area of student ministry to the pastor's families which included several hours per week of in-house help for the pastor's wives. Most of it was practical home help which enabled the wives to devote more of their time to ministry, either to their children or to others, rather than feeling pressed by the ever-present needs of housekeeping with multiple young children. They also supplied the need for a sitter in certain cases. 

These needs are coverable by singles just as easily as by another married couple. Even if someone would only be able to come on a visitor visa for a short-term commitment of 6 months we would be greatly helped. We are managing without outside help and have been, but we are seeking God for these things and believe He has a plan that extends beyond our family for this church-plant. 

Thanks for taking the time to include us in your prayers over the coming weeks!

By grace always,

Dejan and Julie

Major Update, Part 2: Ministry

We're posting our update in two parts, personal and ministry. To see part 1, click here.

Visibility
Last September we moved our little fellowship group outside our home and into a nearby church building. Our aim in this was to provide a third space for people, since not everyone feels comfortable going to someone's home. Since our move we have seen many new faces, usually one at a time, as people have come to check out what we're doing, but most of them have either been visiting Edmonton from another city with a Calvary Chapel or got a "referral" of sorts from someone who does.

Over the last several months we have become much more visible as a group in the following ways:

• creating a website for the church plant
• starting a Facebook page
• making a blog to post happenings
• placing an "ad" in our local community league's quarterly newsletter
• purchasing a small ad space in the local Shepherd's Guide for 2014

and last, but not least, we've become locally visible by

• getting two sidewalk/sandwich board signs to put outside the church building indicating our presence (these are out on Sundays from an hour before service until we pack up to leave)

We're particularly excited about the sidewalk signs because last week we met a couple who had found our website but weren't confident about our location until they saw our signs out Easter Sunday (which was the first Sunday we had them)!

Prayer Need 1: Our prayer is that God would use these media to assist people seeking a solid, Bible-teaching church and to lend some greater permanence to the work He has begun.

Outside the Box
We are blessed to have a stable small group of people who gather on Sundays and for the other fellowship opportunities we have in the month. However, we know that the church grows by the Lord adding to it those who are being saved. This happens as all believers are equipped by their leaders for the work of the ministry in their circles of influence, but as church planters, it happens by our doing the work of evangelists.

We don't hesitate to say that with one full-time worker  (Dejan) and one full-time at heart but part-time at best (Julie) this has been a matter for much thought and prayer over the months we've been here. We've tried many things, with the following observations:

• When the weather is cold, it's harder to get with people. They retreat and withdraw as the winter deepens and making primary contact has been more challenging. 
• When the weather is nicer in the balance of the year, it is much, much easier. Everyone seems hungry for getting outside and getting around people in a way other than the daily commute to work or doing their weekly shopping.

Prayer Need 2: Creativity in evangelism is acute in our situation. We believe the Lord has the best ideas, and we are seeking Him for what exactly to do* during the spring and summer months. Your prayers for these matters would be more than a blessing. 

*One avenue of contact is just meeting with and grilling out with some of our neighbors with whom we are more well-acquainted. Another is that we have a plot in our local community garden. We are also prayerfully considering running a recreational men's soccer night at our local park.

Consistency
Our little core group has changed over the months since last spring but remains pretty stable overall. One couple moved far away, another person drives quite a distance and needed something closer to home. Still another has new job constraints that preclude regular Sundays off. It is important for us to be patient, as all these situations happen regularly in congregations larger in size. It's just way more noticeable when the size is small.

We have firm trust that Jesus is building His church, so these things don't concern or worry us. What is bothersome is the trend that seems to exist of a low priority of fellowship. It seems that many people in general put a higher priority over other, less permanent activities or pursuits. It's kind of baffling, but we have heard that this is kind of an issue in this area from more than one source, so it's a matter we definitely need to bring to the Lord. Perhaps it stems from the general lack of substantial Bible teaching in the church at large, we don't know, but it's something we'd like to see change in the city.

Prayer Need 3: Our heart's desire for our fellowship is that it will reflect the statement about the church at Ephesus in Acts 19:20, "So the Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed." It's not about numbers, but we know that health often means growth in both depth and breadth.

Outreach
We are eagerly anticipating another team from our home church this summer! Last August we had an amazing time of fellowship, preaching and ministry with the group that came, and we are expecting God to do great things again. Now that we are meeting outside our home, we are excited to be able to direct people there (whereas last summer we were unable to give our home address to relative strangers).

That's just one week out of the whole summer, however, SO... we are longing for other individuals, couples or teams from ours or other churches to also come and invest some time and energy to the work here. Whether it's a weekend, a week, a few weeks, a month, we are in need of more beautiful feet to go out and share the gospel, more hearts and hands to labor together with us, to fellowship, pray and serve!

Prayer Need 4: "Pray to the Lord of the harvest, to send out workers into His harvest field." ~Jesus (Matt. 9:38)

We are so blessed to be here and witness the work that God is doing! Jesus is true to His word, and we are dependent on Him to fulfill His promise that He will build His church, not just in a general sense, but here in our midst as well. Thanks for taking the time to consider all that's going on here. May the Lord bless and guide you in your present work, calling and ministry in His name.

By His grace,
Dejan and Julie <><

Christmastime Outreach

We are so blessed by God to have children who love to share in what we are doing! They enjoy serving alongside us, especially when it is to help others or help them to hear about Jesus. Our oldest in particular is full of ideas. Earlier this year she suggested, "Can we go Christmas carolling at the mall?" (As in, the huge West Edmonton Mall, aka WEM). It seemed like a feasible idea, so it was approved tentatively. Then we added an idea that came to us late last year (as in, too late to use it then) of passing out candy canes and a small message at the mall as an outreach to the shop-workers.

As usual, God took our slim small idea and multiplied it to something better and greater. It all ended up coming together like this:

We went to a book launch for one of my recent students at the end of November. A week or so later, we were at home reading a couple of Christmas books and *ta da!* inspiration came on our oldest to write a book for her own "book launch". And as she dreams the big dreams of childhood, she wanted this event to take place at the mall. So........ we got all the text out of her in about 15 minutes and over the next couple of days she worked on the illustrations. After scanning and arranging the pages, we printed out 20 copies, bought a box of candy canes and got ready to hit the WEM.

Getting ready to hit the stores

A couple years ago, I purchased an angel costume set at the dollar store for "future use". The Author chose this as her attire and her sidekick, (we'll call her Curly), chose reindeer antlers. Baby V wore the Christmas tree hat. With over 800 stores and very few parking spaces to choose from, we prayed and sought out stores where there were no other shoppers or where there was a worker obviously not helping someone.

Mostly we ended up in formal dress shops, but almost without exception the scenario was as follows:

Walk into store. Sensor beeps. Worker greets.
Author and Curly approach worker. "Merry Christmas!"
Greeting returned.
Author: "I have a Christmas gift for you."
Worker: "For me?"
Author: "It's a candy cane and a book I wrote all by myself."
Worker: "Really? Thank you! But I don't have anything for you!"
Author: "That's okay. This is for you. It's your Christmas gift."
Author and Curly (singing): We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!"
Hugs exchanged.
Worker: "Thank you again so much!" Smiles.
Author and Curly exiting: "Merry Christmas!"
Leave store.

At one of the last shops

Believe it or not, it took us a couple hours to get everything handed out, but little legs stayed strong through the whole upper floor of the WEM and it's hundreds of shops with nary a complaint of any kind and the little Christmas tree took a nap.

Just before leaving the mall, and on the way out of the parking lot, we talked about what we just did (knowing that any spiritual activity generates opposition) and prayed that God would use our little gifts in big ways in the hearts of their recipients. If you'd like, you can pray too, that these seeds would be fruitful.

"Santa praying to the baby Jesus"

In Their Own Words

The team left us last night after a blessed time of fellowship and prayer and talking over the events of the week. We were so boosted by their hard work this past week! Our words cannot adequately describe the varied experiences we shared as a group, so here is a summary of the outreach, in their own words.

"This week has been amazing! It was a great encouragement having friends sharing the Gospel along with us and showing us the way. When we were tired or feeling down the girls always managed to make us laugh. The trip was such a blessing and so much more than I ever expected!" ~Naomi

"This week has been a true blessing. We had trouble at first, but the Lord helped us through it. The Heritage Festival was great. I got to talk to the most people in my life. Even if we have trouble, the Lord will help us (Hebrew 13:6)." ~Spencer

"I grew a lot while on this trip. I had lots of love towards other people like strangers. I like to read about Moses in Exodus 4, how he thought he couldn't be used, but God really used us on this trip. Such a blessing to help Dejan and Julie plant a church." ~Nick

"It was a blessing to see every member of the team have a willing heart to be used by Jesus for the purpose of spreading His Gospel." ~Rick

 "Wonderful experience! Absolutely blessed to have been able to do the outreach at the festival! The Lord is going to do a mighty work!" ~Pastor Jeff

"How wonderful it was to serve alongside you. I had such a great time... May God bless your ministry. I will be praying for you." ~Greg

"I love your city - such beautiful cultural diversity - so rich! It was a joy to encounter so many different people in conversation! God will establish His work - His church! 'Be still and know that He is God--He will be exalted among the nations'!" ~Christina

"What a blessed trip! Around the world in three days, seeing firsthand what the Lord's heart truly is - to reach the lost. This trip produced growth in boldness, trust, and love for the nations in a new way. What an encouragement to see faithful hearts in our dear family in Edmonton. We pray for continued strength for them. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and love. Overall a beautiful trip blessed by the Lord." ~Christine

Continue in prayer for the seeds sown and watered in the city this week. We got a glimpse of what team mission here in Edmonton can do, and we are still praying for more laborers to join us!!

Teamwork, part 2

Dejan and the team labored long and hard at the Heritage Festival over the weekend and had many Gospel encounters with people of a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Thank you for your prayers for this huge event! You can read more details at their church blog.

The next couple of days we are shifting gears a bit, as the festival has ended. Please continue in prayer with us as we go out into the heart of the city to pray and preach the Good News!

Tuesday
We are going to two parts of the city, the grounds for both the city and provincial governments. So the team is headed downtown to walk the streets a bit, tour the city hall, pray and witness on the square. Then we will be off to the legislature grounds for more of the same.

Wednesday
Dejan and a couple of guys from the team plan to meet with a contact we have at the University of Alberta who heads the local Campus Crusade for Christ (called Power to Change here). Then the team will be off for more evangelism in the arts district of Strathcona, and possibly returning downtown.

Thursday
What is a visit to Edmonton without seeing one of its main destination attractions, West Edmonton Mall? The team will be there for the day with the throngs of shoppers. It will be more of a free day, but this team is unlikely to forgo sharing the Gospel there as well. We plan to end the day with dinner together, followed by worship and prayer for the week.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• boldness to speak the Gospel, wisdom in individual conversation
• open minds and hearts to receive the message
• physical strength and stamina with all the walking and talking
• safety for all

On Account of Weather

Spring is here in all it's greenery and blossom! All that green and color does come at the small cost of rainy days, but it is worth it. It is so beautiful to look outside and see the city all leafed-out (Edmonton has the largest area of urban park land in North America), and we get outside in it often. The mosquitoes haven't even been as bad as we've heard--not yet anyway--which has allowed us to be outside more easily with our children.

People are out and about as we are, and generally everyone is in the famed Canadian mood of easy-going. It makes for fairly easy conversation starting, and we have had the chance to talk more and longer with people than ever before.

For example, on Father's Day, we planned to go to an outdoor free event for dads and their children near to where we live. However, as we were dressing to leave, the sky darkened and the rain started falling. So we changed our plans and went to an indoor event instead. While there, our girls noticed two other girls their ages and started playing while in one of the common areas. 

Eventually we met the mother, who graciously stayed until we could take care of a 10-minute errand, so the girls could play longer. We then ended up in a Gospel-centered conversation for over half an hour and exchanged contacts at the end, before heading outside for the girls to play still more until we left. This would have never happened in the winter (due to darkness and cold), or if we had gone to the other location. On account of the weather, the Lord had us in the right place at the right time.

So no matter what the weather brings our way in the non-winter, please keep praying for us to be directed into just the places we need to be to meet those we can serve in the name of Jesus.

A Beachhead in the Lord's Army

Beachhead a temporary line created when a military unit reaches a beach by sea and begins to defend the area while other reinforcements help out until a unit large enough to begin advancing has arrived.

Today marks exactly six months since we crossed the border into Canada. Half a year. Wow. In some ways it seems like a long time, and in other ways it is of course, short. But so much has occurred in our lives, and our sense of time is a bit skewed.

We came here to plant a church, but looking back over these several months we see how we ourselves have been planted here. In that sense, part of our vision is accomplished; we have established a beachhead, spiritually speaking. We're here, and we're operational. It's truly amazing to us, when we pause to think about it. Six months ago we rolled into town, and now, six months later there's a weekly schedule of ministry happening.

None of this would be possible without all of the support we receive from our brothers and sisters who pray diligently for us and regularly support us. Without all of those parts of the body of Christ, we would absolutely not be able to be here. We would be without help. The mission would fail.

So, we gratefully thank God for all of you who are working hard at your jobs and fully involved in your own lives and ministries, that you take the time to pray and stay in touch and send in your support. You are being used by the LORD in all of the work of the ministry here by doing so.

We truly feel that we are just seeing the very beginning of the work that is in the heart of God for Edmonton with Calvary Chapel. We are excited for what He has in store in the coming weeks and months as we pray and serve and work during the warm months. And our heart's desire is to see more laborers being raised up and sent into the field here to join us in the work, so we can move from being a beachhead to a post, and one day, if God is gracious, a spiritual base from which other works can begin.

Gratefully,
Dejan and Julie <><

PRAYER REQUESTS

Winter lives on here in Edmonton, though we get glimpses of spring certain days. While we patiently await the milder weather, we are continuing in the things God has put before us. Here are some of the foremost needs to cover in prayer. Please join us in lifting up these things to our faithful Father.

The Gospel is for believer and non-believer alike. It alone is the power of God for salvation and for keeping us in the truth. Please pray for the Word of God to work effectively in us and through us!!

• Effective preparation time for Bible study: Dejan is ministering Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays in the Word.  
• Personal growth in the Lord: We need daily filling of His Spirit, fresh grace and encouragement.
• Strengthened family relationships: Though we're "busy" about our daily things we want to have quality interactions and stay close, to be pleasing to the Lord whether anyone else is around or not, and so when we do go out or people come in we will be a blessing.
• Peace in our home: We are under constant spiritual attack as we seek to live and serve.  We need physical rest and safety, to be godly in our marriage and parenting, and we desire sensitivity in our children's hearts.
• Outreach in the city: Divine appointments and boldness to share the gospel thoughtfully as we go on prayer walks, meet people on the street and public transport and while handing out tracts.

And last but not least...

• We would like to include a request here for laborers to join in the work. We are about at the maximum that we are able to do with just the two of us. Our fervent desire and hope is for the Lord to bring at least one other couple or family to share in the work of the ministry to the believers here as well as (and largely) the work of evangelism. This has been weighing greatly on our hearts in the past six weeks or so. As Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, to send forth laborers into His harvest." (Matthew 9:37-38)

By grace,

Dejan and Julie <><

Ways to Pray

We are beginning our fifth month here in Canada. It is amazing to us how simple availability to the LORD can become ministry for the LORD. And what a blessing to watch Him open doors for us to begin serving others here in Edmonton. 

Please pray for these things we are engaged in weekly:

• Summerwood Village - Dejan is teaching a weekly Bible study in the gospel of Mark at this retirement community
• Serbian Center - while our oldest has a language class, Dejan is engaging people in witnessing conversation
• Home Bible Study - The adults are in John 13 and the children are still working through the parables of Jesus. There are two married couples and a single dad who come regularly. Last week another couple and a single brother came for the first time. So including us and our children there are 6-10 adults and 4 children meeting each week. We share communion the first service of each month.

Since the start of 2013 we have been mixing with the crowds at the city's festivals (we posted about it here). Edmonton is known as Canada's festival city, so we figure it's good to get to know the festivals by utilizing them as opportunity to witness the gospel. With such little ones and no partners, we must admit it is a challenge, but it is an enjoyable one.

Dejan is also on the street a day or two per week (well, really he's in the shops, but it's for the same purpose: evangelism). Please pray for open hearts and divine appointments in all our comings and goings (including festival outreach) and for fellow workers.

Please also pray for us as a family for rest, adjustment, safety, strength and growing love. These are our greatest needs at present.

If there is anything else that you are drawn to pray for us, please do! We are grateful for all the prayers on our behalf.

Alberta is currently known economically as the place to find work in Canada, but we also see a spiritual parallel, as Jesus said, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest" (Matt. 9:37-38).

By His grace,

Dejan and Julie <><

PRAYER REQUESTS

As we have emerged from our settling in period and the holidays, and as we wrote to you of our initial steps in doing outreach, we have faced some delays. Four of the five of us have gone through a virus which kept us nearly housebound with fever, aches, coughing and the like. Dejan remained well, by God's grace, but the pace was definitely slower around here these last 10 days or so.

 We are so thankful for and dependent on the prayers of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Here are the current specifics that we are asking the Lord for.

We would like to go to pass out tracts this weekend at the next winter festival (for the curious, it's called Ice on Whyte, an ice sculpting-based event).

• Health and strength, full recovery for all the girls with no relapses so we can all go
• Boldness to share the Gospel, how to approach people
• Prepared/open hearts of those we meet

We finally made it to the Serbian Cultural Center when they were open! (They were closed several consecutive Fridays due to the holidays here in Canada and then Orthodox holidays in January.)

• Getting to know people (we are sort of an exception since we have a "mixed" marriage of Serbian and American and therefore don't speak Serbian at home. Doesn't the Bible call us a "peculiar people"?)
• Wisdom in sharing with them

We are slowly getting to know some people in our neighborhood. Our handyman is a Jehovah's Witness pastor. The Jewish Community Centre is located here. Our immediate neighbors are--so far--hard to come by. 

• Open doors to our community, in the Lord's timing of course, to connect with people
• Open hearts to the Gospel

Thanks!!

Winter Warm-Up

Edmonton's population is about 1 million, and thousands upon thousands of them are apart from Christ. So, the big question we've been tossing around our house is, How do we find all these people and start talking to them...in January? We can't go out street witnessing, in the traditional sense of the term. It's just plain too cold to stop even to chat (-15˚C today with heavy frost), much less have a conversation of any length outside. 

While we have been trying to put our fingers on the winter pulse of the city, here's where things have gotten so far.

• Edmonton has 3 winter events in January-February, two of which are free. They are designed to get people out and about together in the city during winter to rub elbows with each other in a relaxed setting. 
• Our aim: go to these festivals with tracts and hand them out as we pass through and see what happens. Since they have warm-up spots, the kiddos can avoid frost-bite and stay interested while we do the work of evangelism. 

• Edmonton is divided into over 200 neighborhoods. 
• Our aim: go to 1-3 neighborhoods several times per week to walk them and pray, starting with those closest to us and fanning outward.

We began this part last week in a sense, as we went to a park looking towards downtown to pray for the city in general and the government, for the Lord to open doors to the city. It was a major blessing.

Of course, when Julie takes the girls out sledding on nice days (anywhere around freezing feels downright warm) we are trying to meet people from our area. So far, we've been the only ones at the park except for a resident hare, but we will be joining our community league in order to be involved in what happens in our corner of the city. We have also begun what will be weekly visits to the Serbian culture center, where they offer enrolled Serbian language lessons for children, during which time we hope to get to know others there.

Pray for us concerning these things. We have that promise from the Bible that "those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution", and spiritual warfare is very obvious when we are getting ready to do anything related to any of the reasons we are here. (Funny, getting groceries or going to the bank is relatively easy but getting out the door to go pray is another story.)

Bottom line: we're blessed to be here and have our hearts and eyes wide open to opportunities around us, to shine the light of Jesus in this dark world right where the Lord has called us. As our preschooler put it so well, "When we came to Canada we're like the foot in the body of Christ because we came to tell other people about Jesus." Well said. 

Till next time...

 

Occasion for Praise

This month has been filled with blessed gifts from the Lord from beginning to end! We'd like to share them with you so you can rejoice with us!

• Of course, Dejan's citizenship on the first was a highlight for our family and a relief.

• Then, the second and third weekends in March Dejan was in Northwest Montana at one of our supporting churches to share our vision for Edmonton with the fellowship there. In between those two weekends he applied for his U.S. passport and got his Social Security card status updated.

• This past week we got some encouraging news from another missionary in Canada on a clergy/religious worker visa, Dejan was given an invitation to speak at another church that will be supporting us on the East Coast, and he had the opportunity to be very involved in some local evangelism for three days at our city's spring expo. (Even our oldest daughter was joyfully passing out Gospel coins and invitations to the Easter/Resurrection service next weekend. Her first voluntary service to the Lord--an awesome blessing to us as parents!)

• We also celebrated Dejan's birthday this week. We enjoyed the celebrations with our own family, but Dejan also got a very nice gift from the U.S. government: his passport! The official issue date is his literal birthday, and we received it today, the last day of March, about 3 weeks earlier than we were told it should arrive. (Yeah, we know--praise the Lord!)

So, we are rejoicing in God's kindness and goodness. We do have prayer needs, of course, but we'll put that in another post. For now, we'd just like to glory in the Lord and all He is doing on our behalf, for what He is allowing us to do with Him, and for how He is working in us.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me; bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."

~Psalm 103:1-2

Blessing Him,

Dejan and Julie <><