Milenkovic family news – January 2013

prva zajednicka

Our dear friends,

Warm greetings from the Milenkovic family.

After a longer period of time we are writing to you with the news on what is happening with us. Sara and I have been back home since a few days ago. We are thankful to God that the family is reunited after a log time, together with the new member, Sofija Lena. The two months of our life in America passed, and how was it? It was good and hard and sad and joyful. There were many situations in which we could only pray to God to give us strength to endure, while thanking Him for bringing us to a place like St. Jude hospital. Sara had great care there, and other life conditions, and a possibility to keep enjoying the things that make a child’s life. We are thankful to our brothers and sisters there who made an effort, visited us and cared about us, making us feel at home as much as it was possible.

Because of the side effects Sara would sometimes feel very weak and exhausted, eating poorly, losing weight, but what she’d never lose was her cheerful spirit and courage to cope with everything. In these few months she has become a more mature person. It even seems that she took the hair loss easier than we did. Other than all of that, we tried to life lives as normally as possible. We would go to church regularly and meet many wonderful people. Sara enjoyed her Sunday school classes. We would go to the Zoo, shopping, watching cartoons and skyping with our family back home every day. We are staying home four weeks altogether, that is, until February 3, where Sara’s chemotherapy will start, which would last about 5 months. Sara is in a category of high-risk patients, which is why she was taking high dosages of radiation, and it is going to be the same with the chemotherapy.

Our battle with the cancer has only started. We believe God that He could end it today, but we trust that same God that He knows all our days and our future. We know that sometimes sufferings which seem so painful to us bring a purpose which is so much higher and more wonderful. How did God see His own Son’s pain and death? Could He have saved Him from the cross and death? Who can listen to a child’s cry and not respond to it, or watch His own child’s death, being able to stop it, and still not do it? It is God, because He knew that precisely this death would bring blessings to mankind through the millennia.

We pray every day that God would give us strength to trust Him even though we are sometimes overwhelmed by the feeling of helplessness and a desire for an instant solution. We will do everything that we can to provide the best care possible for Sara, but we know that it’s all in God’s authority and His hands

Today is Sara’s 9th birthday. We rejoice that God gave us Sara to have her through all these years and that she is with us. Sara bought a bracelet to her mother, on which it is engraved that every day is a gift from God. This is true for both her and me and all of us. If there are a few more days ahead of us to live, it is a gift from God, and if not, again, it is all from Him.

We would like to have Jaroslava, Jana and Lena join us in America at the end of February or the beginning of March. There are many things to arrange about visas, traveling, accommodation there. Please pray for all this to be possible so that we can all be together during this long and probably more difficult period for Sara.

Things at HUB are going great. Last semester finished and 5 students finished their one year long education at the school. The rest are continuing their education and in a few days only, a couple of other students will join them. A youth camp at HUB finished yesterday, where we were able to be their hosts. What a privilege it is to serve others! Thanks so much that you keep praying and supporting the ministry of HUB and the Bible school.

Thank you for praying faithfully for us as a family and for asking us about the news. Thanks to all those of you who sent us emails, letters, presents, greeting cards etc. So much care and love, from those we never even met. We usually were not able to respond and personally thank you for it, but we do thank you now wholeheartedly.

May God help us all in this New Year to have Him closer and more dear to us than ever.

Yours,

Sladjan and Jaroslava, with Sara, Jana and Lena

Milenković

Vesti od Milenkovica – januar 2013.

 

 

13.1.2013.

prva zajednicka fotografija

Dragi naši prijatelji,

Veliki pozdrav od porodice Milenković.

Posle duže vremena javljamo vam se sa vestima o tome šta se dešava kod nas. Sara i ja smo se vratili kući pre nekoliko dana. Bogu smo zahvlani što smo posle duže vremena porodično na okupu, zajedno sa našim novim članom Sofijom Lenom.

Prošla su naša 2 meseca boravka u Americi. I kako je bilo? Bilo je i dobro i teško i  tužno i srećno. Prolazili smo kroz mnogo situacija u kojima smo samo mogli moliti Boga da nam da snage da izdržimo, dok smo u isto vreme zahvaljivali Bogu što nas je doveo na mesto kakvo je St Jude bolnica.  Sara je tamo imala odličnu negu, uslove za život, mogućnost da i dalje uživa u onim stvarima koje čine detetov život. Zahvalni smo braću i sestrama tamo koji su se trudili, posećivali i brinuli oko nas i učinili da se tamo što više osećamo kao kod kuće.

Zbog sporednih efekata zračenja Sara je nekada bila jako slaba i iscrpljena, slabo je jela, gubila na težini, ali ono što nije uopšte izgubila je njen vedar duh i hrabrost da se sa svime nosi. Za ovih nekoliko meseci postala je tako zrelija osoba. Čak i gubitak kose joj je, čini mi se, lakše pao njoj nego nama. Pored svega trudili smo se da vodimo živote što je moguće normalno. Redovno smo išli u crkvu, upoznali mnoge divne ljude, Sara je uživala na časovima u nedeljnoj školi, išli bi u zoo vrt, kupovinu, gledali crtaće i svaki dan skajpovali sa našima kod kuće.

Kući ostajemo 4 nedelje, tj. do 3. februara, kada se vraćamo ponovo u St.Jude gde će Sara početi sa hemoterapijama, koje bi trebale trajati narednih 5 meseci. Sara spada u kategoriju visokorizičnih pacijenata zbog čega je primala visoke doze radijacija, a tako će biti i sa hemoterapijama.

Naša borba sa rakom je tek na početku. Verujemo Bogu da je On može već danas okončati, ali tom istom Bogu verujemo koji zna sve naše dane i naše sutra i znamo da nekada patnje koje nama izgledaju tako bolne, donose neku svrhu koja je mnogo veća i izvrsnija. Kako je Bog gledao na bol i patnju svog sopstvenog sina? Da li ga je mogao spasiti krsta i smrti? Ko može da sluša vapaj deteta i ne odgovori, gleda smrt svog deteta, a može da je spreči, a ipak to ne učini? To je bio Bog, jer je znao da će upravo ona doneti blagoslove čovečanstvu kroz milenijume.

Svaki dan se molimo da nam Bog daje snage da mu verujemo i ako smo nekada savladani osećanjem bespomoćnosti i željom za instant rešenjem. Mi ćemo činiti  sve što je u našoj moći da Sara ima najbolju negu, ali znamo da je sve u Božijoj vlasti i Njegovim rukama.

Danas je Sarin 9. rođendan. Radujemo se što nam je dao Saru da je imamo svih ovih godina i što je i dalje sa nama. Sara je mami kupila za Božić narukvicu na kojoj su urezane reči: „Svaki dan je poklon od Boga.“ Ovo je istina i za nju i za mene i za sve nas. Ako imamo još koji dan ispred nas da živimo, to je dar od Boga, a ako nemamo, opet, sve je od Njega.

Želeli bi da nam se Jaroslava sa Lenom i Janom, krajem februara ili početkom marta, pridruže. Puno stvari treba rešiti oko viza, putovanja, smeštaja tamo,… Molite se da ovo bude izvodljivo i da možemo biti svi zajedno tokom ovog dužeg i verovatno težeg perioda za Saru.

U HUB-u stvari idu odlično. Prošli semestar je završen i 5 studenata je završilo svoje jednogodišnje školovanje. Ostali nastavljaju već za nekoliko dana i njima se priključuju još nekolicina novih studenata. Juče je u HUB-u završen jedan omladinski kamp, gde smo mogli da budemo njihovi domaćini. Kakva privilegija da služimo drugima! Hvala mnogo što se i dalje molite i podržavate službu HUB-a i Biblijske škole.

Hvala što se verno molite za nas kao porodicu i što nas pitate za vesti. Hvala za sve vas koji ste slali mejlove, pisma, poklone, čestitke, itd. Toliko brige i pažnje, čak i od onih ljudi koje nikada nismo ni upoznali.  Uglavnom nismo uspeli da odgovorimo i lično zahvalimo na tome, ali iz celog srca vam sada zahvaljujemo.

Neka svima nama Gospod pomogne da nam u Novoj godini On bude bliži i draži više nego ikad.

Vaši,

Slađan i Jaroslava, sa Sarom, Janom i Lenom

Milenković

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bethlehem Night in Kraljevo

Dear friends, brothers and sisters,

I congratulate you all on Christmas and New Year, we wish you an abundance of joy, love and blessings from the Lord.
As you know in Central Serbia is mainly celebrated Orthodox Christmas (7.jan) and New Year (14.jan), so we are still in the old year!!!     🙂
Anyway, here is a short news about our ministry in the Lord at the time of the most joyous holidays throughout the year.    My family with the help of friends who were part of our group to study the Bible and many other friends have organized a full-evening program for children of all associations of disabled persons, it was wonderful.                                   Слика Слика

The program we started with the youngest members of the choir of music school, who sang beautiful Christmas carols and then we played a show on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, called “Night in Bethlehem.” The children were fascinated by, at most they liked the scene with the Emperor Herod, we managed to elicit joy and laughter on their faces, and most importantly, finally, the children had the opportunity to know what is Christmas and also to remind adults. If you like the video:http://youtu.be/0OM1hwGuNIk

СликаСликаСликаСлика

After the play, we present the gospel message and eventually split shoe boxes, over 100 New Testaments and 200 calendars with Bible verses, we hope and pray to give it all to good effect, that people began to read the Bible.СликаСликаСлика050120131248 The next thing on the horizon is a three-day children’s club in a Gypsy settlement, until then … a blessing!

Family Gecan

Christmas concert in Ruma

koncertOn this occasion, wish you a happy Christmas and New Year holidays.

As you know, in Serbia Christmas is celebrated on January 7. As an introduction to the Christmas atmosphere, we organized a Christmas concert in Ruma. The concert will be held today at 5 pm at the Cultural center in Ruma. Will Perform Baptist Church Choir from Sid and songwriter Mirko Mravik.

The most important thing tonight will be a brief message about Jesus and the importance of His birth for us.

Please pray for this event. For people to come and be touched by message about Jesus.

Thank you for support!

Drago and Jaroslava Pejic

bozicni koncert ruma 25 kom