Oak Hall in Serbia

Dragi prijatelji,

Veliki pozdrav od porodice Milenković. Ovim želimo da vam zahvalimo za vaše molitve i podrške nama i da vas informišemo o tome kako idu stvari kod nas sada. Prošlo je skoro 5 meseci od našeg povratka kući iz Memfisa. Divno je to što se Sara dobro oporavlja i što se koliko toliko vratila u svoje svakodnevne rutine. Apetit joj se polako vraća, čak je i dobila 2 kg na težini. Vrlo je uporna, vredna i hrabra i ako se lako umori i telo joj je još slabo, ona gura napred. Ide u školu redovno u svoj razred i zaista je odlična sa svojim školskim obavezama. Bojali smo se kako će sve to ići, ali vidimo da ima ogromnu podršku svojih drugova iz razreda i učiteljice. Često vidimo kako različiti mališani nose Sarinu torbu do kuće na povratku iz škole. Zaista hvala Bogu za to! To je odgovor na molitve.

Za samo dve nedelje, 4. januara, putujemo na sledeću kontrolu u Memfis. Uvek će to biti izazov za nas i molimo vas da se posebno molite za  Saru i za to vreme tamo.

Jana je pošla u prvi razred i uživa u svojim obavezama, druženjima, itd. Nedostaje joj Memfis i drugari koje je tamo upoznala. Naša mala Lena nam je prošlog meseca napunila godinu dana i u ovom peridu nam stalno zadaje nevolje.

Nastavite da držite i dalje za Saru u vašim molitvama i ohrabrujete i druge takođe. Znamo da je nekada teško da se održi onaj srčan molitveni duh za jednu te istu stvar, ali ovo je ona borba koja dugo traje Bogu smo zahvalni za sve vas, jer u ovome nismo sami. Neko je rekao: „Istrajnost je težak posao koji radiš nakon što se umoriš radeći već težak posao.“ Ovo se upravo može odnositi i na molitvu.

Želimo da se čujemo sa vama, pištite nam, javite se, posetite nas.

Neka radost Hristovog rođenja vas prati i u novoj 2014. godini. Srećan Božić! Hristos se rodi!

Vaši Milenkovići

Slađan, Jaroslava, Sara, Jana & Lena

Dear friends,

Greetings from the Milenkovic family. With this, we’d like to thank you for your prayers and your support to us, and to inform you how things are going with us now. It’s been almost 5 months since our return from Memphis back home. It is great that Sara’s been recovering well and that she’s more or less back to her daily routine. She’s been regaining her appetite, she’s even gained about 4 pounds (2 kg). She’s very persistent, hardworking and brave. Although she gets easily tired and her body’s still week, she’s pushing forward. She’s been attending school regularly with her old class and she’s really doing great with her school obligations. We were afraid of how that would work, but we now see that she’s got a huge support of her class-mates and the teacher. We often see different children carrying Sara’s schoolbag on their way back home from school. Really, thank God for that! This is an answer to prayers. In only about two weeks, on January 4th, we are traveling to Sara’s next check up appointment to Memphis. This would always be a challenge for us, so please pray for Sara especially and her time back there.

Jana has started first grade and is enjoying her school, spending time with friends and other things. She misses Memphis and the friends she’s met there. Our little Lena has turned one year last month and  she’s a real trouble maker at this age.

Please keep carrying Sara in your prayers and encourage others to do it as well. We know that sometimes it is hard to keep the same wholehearted prayer spirit for the very same thing, but this is one of those battles that last long and we are thankful to God, because we are not alone in all this. Someone has said: “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” This can refer to prayers indeed.

We would like to hear from you, have you write to us, contact us, visit us.

May the joy of Christ’s birth be with you in the New Year 2014. Merry Christmas! Christ is born!

Yours,

Milenkovic family

Yesterday’s great Surprise

What a blessing for me as a pastor to see members of my church in Pacir faithfully serve yesterday at the first meeting of the 10-week evangelistic outreach, Alpha Course 2013.

I prayed for a long time that God would show me how to involve believers in ministry, and He showed me that I had to tell them to start praying for one person each, and show them love and kindness. They agreed, and the fruits were clearly seen yesterday.

Seventeen new people attended Alpha Course and, after having dinner together, they listened to the first teaching: Who is Jesus? This is a shocking number, considering the whole village has only 2,500 inhabitants. It was a joy for me to see the believers from Pacir serve eagerly, the sanctuary was full, and even more people are planning to come for the next occasion.
Please pray for us for wisdom in organization and that God would work in the hearts of the guests.

Dragi prijatelji, Nakon dužeg vremena, ponovo vam se javljamo sa kratkim informacijama i ohrabrenjima kako Bog radi i proslavlja se kroz živote studenata i službu Biblijske škole. Trenutno se nalazimo u osmoj nedelji. Neverovatno je kako vreme brzo prolazi! Naših šesnaestoro studenata je do sada imalo prilike da proučava mnoge biblijske knjige sa brojnim predavačima iz zemlje i inostranstva. Svi su se već navikli na način života u Biblijskoj školi: na predavanja, eseje, dnevne dužnosti, praktične dane, posete crkvama… Veliki je podstrek i za nas da gledamo kako se njihovi životi menjaju kroz sve to. Prethodne, sedme nedelje, studenti su slušali predavanja iz Knjige Isusa Navina, Knjige propovednikove i Poslanice Filipljanima. Na praktičan dan smo išli u selo Jabuka, gde smo posetili Dom za lica ometena u razvoju. U nedelju smo posetili i jednu novoosnovanu crkvu u Beogradu…

Pratite nas i u narednim nedeljama, molite se za studente i službu koja imamo sa njima.

Hvala puno.

Dear friends,

After a while, we are writing to you again with brief information and encouragements about how God is working and is being glorified in the lives of the students of the Bible school. Currently we’re in the 8th week of the 1st term. Time flies unbelievably fast! Our 16 students have had a chance to study many books of the Bible so far with many teachers from this country and abroad. All of them have already gotten used to the way things work in the Bible school: the lectures, the essays, daily chores, practical days, visits to churches etc. It is also a huge encouragement for us to see how their lives are being changed through all this. During the previous, 7th week, the students had lectures on the Book of Joshua, Ecclesiastes and Philippians. We spent the practical day in the town of Jabuka, where we visited a Home for people with developmental disabilities. On Sunday, we also visited a new founded church in Belgrade…

Follow us in the following weeks as well and please pray for the students and the ministry we have with them.

Thank you very much.