NEWS from the HUB ministry – please read and pray

HUB Prayer Bulletin – November 2015

Zrenjaninski put bb, 11213 Belgrade, Serbia, www.hub.org.rs;

www.facebook.com/hub.serbia

THE NEW, 20th generation of students are here !

The year 1996 sounds so long ago now, the year when two young people, Andy and Faye Mayo came to Serbia and started the Bible school, back then located in the North of Serbia, in Bački Petrovac. How much effort, courage and faith was needed to start something like this in this region!  Who could have even thought what the future would bring, what further steps the School would take and where God would lead us.

God is amazing! We have been witnesses of His guidance, grace and care throughout all of these years. We give thanks to Him for having been so faithful to prosper and develop the Bible school ministry, and for making it a blessing to nations across the Balkans. So far, there have been altogether 350 students of the Bible school, and today we can see them as leaders, servants, and initiators of many things in churches, organizations and mission fields across the region. Amazing!

Many of you who are reading this have been a part of all this. You have been praying and supporting this ministry all these years. God has blessed many people through you. Thank you for your faithfulness and endurance over the years.

Here we are now, with our 20th generation of students. We have 22 students here, who go forth through what God calls them: to study the Scripture, to grow spiritually, and to become equipped to take the gospel all over the world.

This is the vision of the school and our prayer for them – we want churches strong, the Gospel proclaimed, and God glorified!

igor

“The HUB Bible school is a place of an immense importance for my spiritual growth and knowing God. I would recommend it not only to those Christians who are preparing for ministry, but also to every believer.Igor Mudri, student, Serbia

Magdalena biltenThe most blessed time of my life is precisely this year that I’m spending at HUB. I’ve experienced  a real spiritual refreshment, a true peace and joy in many areas of my life. I am blessed through the growth in knowing God and His word, through the improvement in communication and fellowship with the students, and knowing myself, my gifts and my new visions for ministry better. Magdalena Nikolova, student, Macedonia

HUB Kamp nade

HUB ministry through summer camps !

For the first time at HUB, we organized family camps for parents with disabled children and children treated for cancer.

11900000_989238021126873_5788022543152046539_nWhat a privilege to serve them and be a part of something like this! From volunteers to each family and child, we were all so blessed that it’s hard to express with words. After much work and many preparations we expected it to be good, but it even exceeded our expectations. We would like to go on with this and have such and similar camps in HUB next year too. Please pray for this, join us in this, encourage others to pray, support us either by volunteering or helping a family financially, so that they can be here. We trust it will be a blessing for you.

We believe that serving these families and children who are going through the most difficult life experiences is precisely what Jesus would do.

Here is an impression of some families after the camp:

„It was only at your camp that we felt like people. Only at your camp did we feel that someone really cared. Only at your kamp sa invalid.camp did the emotions become overwhelming. You and your volunteers treated our children like people, and the amount of faith, hope and love that you gave to us parents had to bring about all those tears, and then a feeling of huge gratitude. You did it all with measure, sincerely, without condescension and connivance. Only people pure and persistent in their faith can do that.“

At this link, please, take a look at the video with a song that marked our summer camps.

SaraSara

Thank you so much for praying for Sara and our family. God stays faithful and we are happy that she’s recovering well. There are no signs of disease, which is fantastic. Even though many things we are now facing and those that are coming are not easy, we are convinced that God gives us strength and guides us step by step. We want to be and stay faithful to Him for Sara’s and our future. Please keep praying for Sara, for us, for wisdom, for patience in our further steps and plans in every day and every challenge that we face. Thank you wholeheartedly.

Thank you for standing with us and HUB and Bible school ministry all these years. God is faithful and meets all our needs according to the riches of His glory (Philippians 4:19).

In the end we want to pray for you with the words of Apostle Paul: ’…be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…’ (Colossians 1:11).

Your sincerely,

Sladjan and Jaroslava Milenković, with HUB team and students

Nove vesti od Milenkovica – jun 2013.

Image

Dragi prijatelji,

Veliki pozdrav iz Memfisa od svih nas Milenkovića. Radujemo se što možemo da vam se opet javimo sa vestima, a takođe i da vam zahvalimo za vaše molitve i svu podršku koju nam pružate.

Najveća stvar za nas je da je Sara završila hemoterapijama. Slava Bogu!

Bilo je teško, ali je gotovo. Njeno telo je mnogo oslabljeno posle svega, nije uzimala hranu skoro četiri meseca i sada to ide veoma polako. Pred nama je sada njen oporavak i nadamo se da će to ići dobro. Molimo se da što pre počne koliko toliko normalno da jede.

Ono što nas je mnogo obradovalo i ohrabrilo je to da su njeni zadnji nalazi skenera od prošle nedelje jako dobri. Uopšte nema znakova tumora i to je odlično. Hvala Bogu! Doktori su veoma zadovoljni kako je sve išlo. Molimo se da tako i ostane.

Još uvek neznamo kada idemo kući, to zavisi od Sarinog oporavka, ali očekujemo da to bude do kraja jula. Nekako nam je teško verovati da ćemo ići uskoro kući.

Naša Jana je završila sa školom, a naš najmlađi član porodice, Sofija Lena, raste i svi uživamo sa njom.

Bog je zaista pokazao i pokazivao svoje milosrđe u sred svih bura kroz koje smo prolazili. Kroz mnošto ljudi i okolnosti mogli smo videti kako je On, naš nebeski Otac nad svime. I ne samo to, nego nas je učio i uči kako još više i bolje da mu verujemo. Bog nam je obećao večni život kroz veru u Njegovog Sina Isusa Hrista, ali On nam nije obećao i da će naš zemaljski život biti bez boli. Elizabet Eliot je rekla: „Patnja nikada nije uzalud. Ona je tu da bi ti i ja mogli da se saobrazimo sa likom Hrista.”

Hvala vam dragi prijatelji što ste uz nas na ovom „putovanju“ i hvala za istrajnosti u vašim molitvama. Molimo vas da nastavite da se molite za Saru i za sve nas.

Iskreno vaši,

Slađan, Jaroslava, Sara, Jana i Lena

The latest news from Milenkovic family – June 2013.

Image

Dear friends,

Greetings from Memphis from the Milenkovic family. We are happy to be able to write to you with the latest news again, and we’d also like to thank you for your prayers and all the support you are giving us.

The most important thing for us is that Sara’s chemotherapies are over. Praise God!

It was hard, but it’s over. Her body is very week after everything, she hasn’t been in-taking food properly for the past four months and now the recovery process is going very slowly. Her recovery is what is now ahead of us, and we hope it will be going good. We are praying for her to start eating normally as soon as possible again.

What made us really happy and encouraged was that her latest scan results from last week are very good. There are no signs of tumor at all which is great. Thank God! The doctors are very satisfied with how it all went. We are praying for things to stay that way.

We still don’t know when we are going back home, it all depends on Sara’s recovery, but we expect it to happen at the end of July. Somehow it is hard to believe that we are going home soon.

Our Jana has finished school, and our youngest family member, Sofija Lena, is growing and we are all enjoying her.

God has been really showing us his mercy in the midst of all the storms we’ve been going through. Through many people and circumstances we were able to see that He, our heavenly Father, is above all. Not only that, but he has also been teaching us to trust him ever more. God has promised us the eternal life through the faith in His son Jesus Christ, but He never promised us that our earthly life would be with no pain. Elisabeth Elliot said, “Suffering is never for nothing. It is that you and I might be conformed to the image of Christ”.

Thank you, our dear friends for having been with us on this “journey”, and thank you for the persistence in your prayers. Please keep praying for Sara and all of us.

Sincerely yours,

Sladjan, Jaroslava, Sara, Jana and Lena

Vesti i pozdravi iz Memfisa 11. feb. 2013.

Image

Memfis 11.2.2013.

Dragi prijatelji,

Veliki pozdrav iz Memfisa. Ponovo smo Sara i ja ovde posle skoro mesec dana boravka kod kuće. Bilo je lepo što smo posle dva meseca bili zajedno na okupu.

Odlične vesti!

Novi rezultati magnetne rezonance su pokazali da nema nikakvih novih znakova bolesti nigde u telu i da sve izgleda mnogo bolje nego na prethodnom snimku pre zračne terapije. Čak i mali metastatički spot koji je zabrinjavao i koji su joj pronašli sada je daleko manji nego što je bio. Doktori su baš veoma zadovoljni i ohrabreni. Zahvaljujemo Bogu za ovo. Jako ohrabrujuće za nas.

Ispred nas

Čim smo stigli počeli su dugi dani sa puno pregleda, ispitivanja i procedura za terapiju koju će Sara početi da prima.  Dalja terapija se sastoji u uzimanju njenih matičnih ćelija pre prvog ciklusa hemoterapije i njihovim vraćanjem u krv posle hemoterapije. Ova procedura se radi zbog toga što se Sara nalazi u grupi viskoko rizičnih pacijenata i zbog toga što će primati visoke doze hemoterapije.

Prvi ciklus hemoterapije počinje 16. februara. Molite se da Sara sve ovo podnese i da sporedni efekti ove terapije budu minimalni. Razgovori sa lekarima i stručnjacima i literatura koju sam dobio da čitam vezi s ovim što predstoji često nam, pored korisnih informacija, donose strah. Znate, upravo borba između onog što teološki znate i potreba da se to praktično primeni jeste ono što predstavlja izazov dok prolazimo kroz osećanja bola i tuge kao i zahvalnosti i radosti, nesigurnosti i straha i pored pouzdanja u Božiju providnost i suverenost.

Hvala !

Ali ono što želimo reći je veliko HVALA vama koji ste sa nama u ovome, koji se molite za nas, ohrabrujete druge da to čine i svesrdno nam pomažete na razne načine. To je velika stvar za nas da znamo da u ovome nismo sami i da nam je Bog dao jedne drugima. Hvala mnogo vama koji ste nam i praktično pomogli da Jaroslava i deca mogu doći da bismo svi zajedno bili ovde. Zaista smo dirnuti načinom na koji se Bog brine. Zar nije istina da je nama i sva kosa na glavi izbrojana? Zar se Bog neće pobrinuti za svoju decu, mnogo bolje nego što bi se mi brinuli za našu? 

Spisak zahvalnosti je dugačak da bih ga ovde pisao, ali ostaje ono što nas drži u svemu – Bog je veran i On je dobar.

Refren ove poznate pesme inspiriše nas da verujemo onome kome vredi verovati, koji se ne menja, koji je isti juče, danas i zauvek.

„Slaviću te u ovoj oluji

Podići ću ruke

Jer ti si Onaj koji jeste

Bez obzira gde sam ja.

Svaku suzu koju sam pustio

Ti držiš u ruci

Nikada me nisi ostavio

I iako mi se srce kida

Slaviću Te u ovoj oluji.“

 Iskreno vaši,

Slađan i Sara sa porodicom

Greetings and news from Memphis – 11. feb. 2013.

Image

Memphis 2/11/2013

Dear friends,

Greetings from Memphis. Sara and I are back here after almost one month of our time spent home. It was good to spend time together after two months.

Great news!

The new MRI results showed that there are no new signs of the disease in her body and that everything seems much better than on a previous scan before the radiation therapy. Even a little metastatic spot that they found that was worrying us, is now far smaller than it was. The doctors were very satisfied and encouraged. Thank God for this. It is very encouraging for us.

In front of us

As soon as we arrived, the long days of many examinations and procedures for Sara’s next therapies began. The further therapy will consist of taking her stem cells, before the first cycle of the chemotherapy and putting them back into her blood after the chemotherapy. This procedure is performed because Sara is in a group of high-risk patients and because she will be taking high dosages of chemotherapy.

The first cycle of chemotherapy starts on February 16. Please pray that Sara is able to bear it and that the side effects of the therapy would be minimal. The conversations that I’ve had with the doctors and the specialized literature that I got to read other than useful information bring also fear. You know, the real challenge for us is the conflict between theological knowledge and practical application as we go through the feelings of pain and sadness, as well as thankfulness and joy, insecurity and fear even though we trust God’s providence and sovereignty.

Thank you!

But what we would like to say is a big THANKS to those of you who are with us in this, praying for us and encouraging other people to do it, helping us wholeheartedly in many ways. It is a huge thing for us to know that we are not by ourselves in this and that God gave us each other. Thanks so much to those of you who helped us practically so that Jaroslava and the children can come, so that we can all be here together. We are really touched by the way that God is providing. Isn’t it true that every hair on our heads is numbered? Won’t God then take care of his children much better than we are for our own? 

The list of those we are thankful to is too long to write it here, but here’s what sustains us in everything – God is faithful and good.

The chorus of this well-known song inspires us to trust the one who is worthy of our trust, who never changes and who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

„And I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm.“

 Sincerely yours,

 Sladjan and Sara, with the family