We were gone for three weeks since the last newsletter—we enjoyed a lovely holiday in New Mexico and attended to a number of errands and medical appointments in California. We thank God (and you for your prayers!) for we were able to accomplish all our main goals.
Since many of you ask re: Stan’s health—his balance system isn’t expected (apart from a miracle) to actually heal. However, we’ve seen definite, incremental improvement in his ability to *manage* his getting around over the past year. Soli Deo Gloria!
Please pray for us to not grow weary and to continue running the race before us, to finish strong to the praise and glory of His Name.
Peter Stonelake (Stan’s co-elder) faithfully and ably led the church and its services in our absence. Praise God for this!
Since our return, Stan has continued in his series with Jeremiah, having recently covered Ch. 14 with the judgement of drought, a severe punishment indeed. We’ve had a glimpse of drought because with the lack of rain this summer, Nikšić has had water rationing for the past month which can be rather challenging. Oh, may we and others who long for water, long even more for God who is Living Water.
Please pray for Stan as he studies and prepares to preach and teach God's Word.
Please pray for Stan, Peter, and others who are serving the church, to be wise in leadership and to be sustained with joyful perseverance.
Please pray for God to raise up the next generation of leaders from Montenegrins, for men and women with noteworthy moral character, but particularly men able to faithfully preach the Word and lead the flock. (How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?)
A very blessed September Ladies' Brunch (locals and visiting team)
Bits and Pieces:
- Summer is over and we are returning to more normal routines with the restart of school, bible studies, Ladies' Brunch, teen meetings, and more. Please pray for a robust start, good health, and faithful commitment and attendance. And pray for God to open the hearts of those not yet joined to Christ and His people.
- There is a tentative cooperative Teen Meeting (with young believers from Podgorica) scheduled for Oct. 17th. Please pray for all the details to come together as this is a relatively new endeavor. Pray for the young people to be strong in the Lord and to see how they might grow into serving God and His Church.
In closing, we want to say once again how truly blessed we are to be co-laborers with you all in seeing God establish His church here in Nikšić. We truly could not be doing what we are doing without you.
We appreciate your earnest prayers, your sacrificial support, your quick notes and cards, and the blessing of working together for God to be exalted here in Montenegro.
One with you in Christ,
Stan and Vicki Surbatovich
Vicki's Snapshot: 'Talking' Appliances?
As you’ve read, we were in the States last month and there are always those little ‘Ooh! this is new!’ moments—new to us, even if not a recent, recent development in the US.
This time around we stayed in an AirBnB with newish appliances—and things have changed.
I first noticed this when I set the timer on the stove to let me know when 5 minutes was up so I could tend to whatever I was cooking. Well, that dish got overcooked because while I had set the timer for 5 minutes, I needed to *also* push another button on the stove to start the countdown. Oops!
The next night, I put our dinner to bake in the oven, set the timer, *started* the timer, and headed to the attached living room to relax over a crossword puzzle.
Sometime later (20 minutes, to be exact), I heard a weird electronic tune—like a famous phrase from a Beethoven piece but a bit off, just enough to be really annoying—and I went to hunt down the source. It was….. the oven?
Since when do timers no longer just go ‘BUZZZZ’ or ‘BEEP’? (Our oven timer here in Nikšić does a quick beep every 10 seconds for about a minute—just enough of a helpful reminder before turning off automatically). But ‘off-tune Beethoven’ which only lasted maybe 10 seconds? If I’d been a little bit further away or running water, I’m not sure I would have heard it. I noticed the same thing with the dishwasher—no beeps or buzzes—just a tinkly mini-tune to signify that it was done.
But the real surprise came a few days later when I wanted to wash clothes since we had traveled light. I pushed the ‘on’ button and, lo and behold, this greeted me:
And I found myself answering it back: Hello! Wow! Never did I think the day would come when I would be talking to a washing machine. :-)
