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Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Matthew 6:19-21)

May 2000

Dearest Friends and Prayer Partners,

Finally we can report nice weather that brings a spirit of rejoicing. Klara went this morning to take some spring pictures of the Prague castle from one of the hidden parks. They are beautiful, taken by a digital camera. If you send us your e-mail address we will attach a picture. Prague is really a neat town when the weather is not gloomy. Prague is full of elbow-to-elbow tourists, and incoming buses full of western tourists form endless lines. What a nice time to spend Spring break here.

We had simply marvelous Easter week. Spring is a powerful reminder of Resurrection. New life is a reality.

Sabbath Time

We want to express our thanks to PARAKILESIS for a wonderful week of rest, learning and fellowship. Jim and Judy de Vries and Sid and Gladys Draayer are the founders of this wonderful ministry dedicated solely to support people in ministry to strengthen pastors, missionaries and their families. The personal renewal in ministry was all and more than promised. The focus was on personal health, spiritual vitality, physical wellness, emotional maturity and harmonious relationship. We represented eight different countries and nineteen different nations and missionary agencies. Fellowship was sweet and lighthearted.

We are so enthusiastic about this ministry that we volunteered to help organize the next one. So far the retreats have been held internationally in twelve different countries. We will try to reserve one for 2001 in Prague. Comparing this retreat to the one held four years ago in Hungary when most of attending missionaries were new arrivals serving in Eastern Europe, we remember how heavy burdened we all were at that time.

If you know missionaries serving in Eastern Europe who need encouragement, send us their name and contact address. They will experience an unforgettable week. Thanks.

Strasbourg encounter and Southern France

Our dear friends who played a major role in our Christian growth and decision to go into mission work full time came to Europe and added an extra week to their busy schedule. We met in Strasbourg. It was quite an adventure. We left written messages in several. hotels. To find the right one is not exactly easy in a town where the roads are narrow, twisted and often one way. Finally we found each other. From Strasbourg we traveled south together, enjoyed beautiful, spectacular scenery and historical places on the way. We were basically following Napoleon's road. At that time, moving thousands of people on the road, was amazing undertaking.

We spent six wonderful days together, talking, planning, playing double domino, having theological discussions... enjoying Riviera sightseeing and spring flowers. We visited Avignon-the medieval city where seven exiled popes resided between 1309 and 1377 after fleeing from the corruption of Rome. There they carried on their political aspirations and stored up their treasures. The Czech king and Roman emperor, Charles the 4th, whom we today thank for the beauty of Prague, was among the many guests. At those days traveling from Prague to Avignon had to take quite a time. It was an achievement to travel distance of 1000 miles with whole entourage. It is amazing how the colossal palace of popes was built during their stay in Avignon. It remains as a reminder that the church can lose its Christ-centered vision and become obsessed with a lavish power game. After we said good-bye to Woodwards we continued farther west.

While we were at the Paraklesis retreat, we visited Aigues-Mortes, another French historical site, and saw the tower where many Protestant Huguenot women were imprisoned. There were 25 names written on the wall, six of them were named Maria. One of them spent 38 years in the tower. There was still the original inscription in the stone: "Resister"

Hospitality

An almost constant flow of visitors comes and goes. Often we fill our refrigerator full and in a few days we can see the back wall again. Klara does a lot of cooking and freezing to be ready. The people the Lord sends our way or we meet are often a great surprise. Last December we were at the Prague airport, sending Christmas gifts to our grown-up kids with a couple of friends who fly to Denver several times a year. At the airport we bumped into Vasiliy and his wife Svetla from Kiev who were just changing planes in Prague on their way to the U.S. Thus we had an unplanned business meeting. Right there we scheduled our meeting for February to prepare the road for the dramatization of the New Testament in the Czech Language. The actual process of negotiating was a real challenge. For the "best" chess players (Ukrainians) and the "smartest" people in the world (Czechs) to come to a working agreement is not easy. We contacted a number of people, started to translate a script for actors from Russian to Czech, listened to professionals who were skeptical about the whole project who would like to do it their Czech way, negotiating with studio managers, searching for actors (about 25 voices needed). After one week of intensive negotiations, no agreement was reached. Pavel was exhausted and the "Sabbath" which followed afterwards came just at the right time. It is a challenging project. We pray that all will be done for His glory. We admire Hosanna ministries and friends from Kiev for multinational organizational skills and vision to bring the gospel in this form.

While we were in France, the Covenant Church had their international mission meeting week in Prague. Sunday, before everyone left for home, we had lunch with two missionaries from Ecuador and one American from Moscow. His ministry path is incredible. It was exciting to meet someone who is an instrumental person behind the satellite broadcasting we read about in our HCJB World Radio news. It is amazing how the Lord arranges opportunities and contacts. Now our short-term goal is to pursue Internet broadcasting, and a long-term vision is the possibility of satellite broadcasting.

We praise the Lord for sending His people our way. Pavel has been approached by missionaries from MTW who would like him to write a book on God's sovereignty. They want to finance the project. There is never shortage of activities. We have learned to take one step at a time. Our occasional "Sabbath time" is important. Often we hear: You have such an exciting time. Yes, we do and we PRAISE our LORD for all He is doing in our lives.

Nest building

We have moved and settled rather quickly many times before, but this time it is different. As you know, we are constantly on the go or doing something. This lengthy experience is giving us more than one lesson. The most important one is - Do not rush! Literally, it pays off. Do what needs to be done in His time.

Just a day before we left for the U.S. in January, Klara was in town and noticed a sale sign in a custom kitchen showplace. She bought the display kitchen for 60% off and appliances for 30% off - the same ones for which we paid full price in our apartment last year. Now the office can serve our visitors as an independent home base away from home. We still have a few minor jobs to do in the office - like selecting proper light fixtures, window treatments, entry hall built-ins and finally hanging the pictures on the wall. Situation in our apartment, it is another story. So far we have not purchased any furniture and the walls remain bare. Right now our building is going through the repair of wall cracks. Apparently the builder used material that was not properly aged and the bricks somehow shrank. In our place we have about 200 yards of visible cracks in the plaster, and we are sure when the crew looks really close, they will discover another 100 yards. Now, as you can see, being busy elsewhere was actually good. We do not have to move furniture away from the walls.

Our apartment and office is scheduled to be done last week of May. There will be a lot of furniture moving, dust, and fun...

More people are coming:

First two weeks in May we will have with us an American medical student of Czech origin (we have known John since he was a little boy). He will take some practical training in the Hospital that is about 1.5 miles from our home. His cousin Richard will arrive a week later - one day ,after our son Vit comes to visit us "under the condition" that we will take some exotic trip together. We will report next time. If you are planning your trip to Prague, let us know early. It is sad to miss anyone.

We proudly present to you several of our key helpers:

Jindra
Jindra is with us already for 4 years. She is the only full time employee. She is responsible for correspondence and administrative part of ministry.

Julie
Julie is responsible for translation of Creation moments for web page ministry. She works as a volunteer and has full time job elsewhere.

Marek
Marek is medical doctor and he translates Christian news for the web page ministry.

Prayer need

In May 21st, we will present our ministry in the International Church of Prague. We would like to ask for the assistance to add full time person for our office. We are looking for committed Christian, someone with good knowledge of English, theologically well versed, computer expert, good team worker... and enthusiastic person willing to learn new things.

Coming events

HCJB World Radio European conference 'in Switzerland is scheduled for first weekend in June. We are looking forward to this short trip. Vladimir, our web master will travel with us. He is now looking into Internet broadcasting. Together with Pavel they are constantly planning, upgrading, improving and creating new services. Like a father and son. Vladimir was with us in the U.S. in February.

Pavel is preaching about every other Sunday in different churches. When we are in our home church, Klara has opportunity from time to time to translate the Sunday message into English. In our home church we have a number of English speaking missionaries and visitors every Sunday, so translating is needed on a regular basis. It is much more difficult than to translate from English to Czech (but she loves it).

In July we are invited to Tosanovice summer camp. In August Pavel speaks at the conference in Presov, Slovakia. In September we should attend the HCJB World Radio International conference in Quito (once every five years). Do you see our very fine triple zero year passing by? We sure do.

... He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

(Hebrews 9:15)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT

In His Sovereign Grace Pavel and Klara

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