Pavel & Klara Steiger's Prayer Letter

He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my high tower; I shall not be moved. With God is my salvation and my glory: The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times, ye people; Pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. (Psalms 62:6-8)

We are greeting all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is our third newsletter this year. We are overwhelmed with how fast the year is heading toward its second half!

Writing the newsletter is one of Klara's favorite tasks; however, this time we feel that we said it all in the last newsletter. At least we will have some space to add a picture.

During our Home ministry our hearts have been heavy with the many challenges and concerns that we have to face. But we came out of it feeling blessed. We know well that our life and our ministry is really His ministry. As long as He has some "agenda" among Czech people to complete through us in this country, we are immortal, unsinkable, unbeatable. … Do not think that we are boasting or lost our mind. It is wonderful to rely on His sovereignty and guidance. We know too well that without Him our "agenda" is meaningless-zilch! When He has accomplished through us His goal we are in His hands to check out. As members of the "gray-hair generation" we realize more than ever that our days are numbered. Our kids are not kids anymore, they are grown-up adults with responsibility. We praise Him that they carry the Christian baton for their generation. We thank our Lord that He consigned them to us for awhile. They belong to Him and we will make room for the next generation when the time comes. We just pray that He will give us at least five more years of full-time ministry.

SPECIAL THANKS
We want to give special thanks to at least 28 people who made our home ministry assignment so enjoyable. Being on the road for weeks or months is not necessarily the most comfortable time. It's not vacation, but because of special people it's a time of joy. Our housing was once again flawless. The time of being "at home away from home" as part of the hosting family, is precious. The Carls in Phoenix, Marie Taylor in Tucson, Gerdona Wilson in Oceanside and the Hawthornes in Fallbrook made our stay not only comfortable, but very special. During those six weeks we slept in only five different beds. Since we were used to some of them from before, there wasn't much of tossing and turning! Special mealtimes, reunions with old friends and heart-to-heart fellowship were a real blessing. Klara loves to cook, and she did.

Next to lodging, the another precious gift during home ministry assignment was having an available car. We are so grateful to the Cunninghams of Mesa. Their little Toyota Tercel was a blessing to us. It even had stick shift-what more could Pavel ask for! He does not like automatic transmission. This help is identical to a $2,000 gift. Special thanks goes to New Covenant Bible Fellowship of Mesa which took care of our gasoline bills.

A SMALL TRIP TO ECONOMICS
First of all, we are no economists, but we have some insight. We did not think much in the following terms earlier. However this makes sense. Exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Czech currency has been endangering our budget for the past year or so.

For example: while in Arizona and California we saw how real estate prices are going up. People told us that homes in some parts of Phoenix have appreciated up to 40 percent in a year! The situation was much the same in California. Is it really appreciation? We do not think so. It is all related to the dollar exchange rate.

Since we live in Czech Republic we feel first-hand the effects of the plummeting dollar. We have to exchange it to live and run our ministry here. To pay for the same salaries or to buy the same gallon of gas, we have to have and exchange more dollars. It was one of the major reasons why we came for Home ministry assignment. Don't you think that real estate or gold appreciates – to buy the same house one has to come with more dollars. Put Czech spectacles on and calculate:

In 2001 gold was $271 per ounce and $1 bought 38 Czech korunas. Now gold is about $425 an ounce and $1 buys 22 Czech korunas. Thus, $271 x 38 = 10,298 CZK; and $425 x 22 = 9,350 CZK. If your income has been in korunas, you would lose almost 10 percent on actual gold value in past four years, while in U.S. dollars your virtual "gain" is 56 percent! You can make the same calculation for a barrel of oil and be surprised. With lover dollar value we all have to pay more for the same. Therefore, we were not surprised by real estate prices or cost of gas at all. This is only adjustment based on real purchasing power in the world economy. This is the cost for creating Eurounion and making it compatible with US economy as well. The drop in the dollar against the euro has to be simply rectified, and we here in Czech Republic are caught up in the middle and feel it especially in ministry budget basis.

SPECIAL PRAISE
We praise the Lord that on the way back home from Arizona we could spend Easter time with our kids and grandkids in Manchester, N.H. The first news at the airport was that a little girl is on the way. They will name her Emily or Emma in Czech-named after Lenka's grandma. She is due in mid-August. What else could we ask for?

We had a great time with the grandkids. The game of "pregnant grandpa" continued, but was expanded with an ultrasound examination! Little boys are fun to be around. We got a great laugh during the Easter egg hunt. Little Nathan slipped on the snow bank with his basket full of eggs and carrots. Well, do you see the sin nature in us? Why should we laugh? With tears in our eyes we helped pick him up.

BACK IN THE GOSPEL MINE
There are also joyful praises and sad news to report. One of the first things we learned after we came back was a letter from a daughter of Pavel's closest friend and college mate. The sad news was that he died while we were away. Her letter was a powerful testimony about Lord's great mercy. She wrote:

Dear Steigers,
Greetings and thanks for all the prayers and love you showed to my dad during his life. I feel that the Lord wants me to write to you. My dad died on March 2, 2005, after a hard time of recovery with the bypass surgery that he had over a year ago. Shortly after the surgery he came down with lung cancer. Praise the Lord that during that trial he could trust in the Lord. Our God is mighty beyond our imagination, and He is merciful.
The last words my dad was able to say were: "God knows why He allows this, I think it's for good. …." The last days of his life he prayed, and he was sharing this with me. I am very happy that I could live in the same house during his last months and we could talk about God much more.
My mom and grandma are not believers. Both of them are having a really hard time now. I hope that the Lord will be merciful toward both of them and enable them to accept Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and will save them as well. I have been hoping.
Once again, thank you for all, and especially for January issue of your magazine. He spoke to me about you. I wish the peace and joy for the days ahead of you and God bless in all what you do
Pavla H. Ostrava

Ladik and Pavel were good friends during their college years even though Pavel was four years older. Ladik came from a communist family and his parents held high positions. On the other hand Pavel's parents, namely his mom, were very anti-Communist and their family was expelled from Prague during early days of communist reign. Since that time Pavel's father worked in coal mine. Pavel and Ladik were like an odd couple and at that time both were atheists. They used to argue about politics in smoky pubs over beer. However, there was something in him. Ladik was genuinely seeking truth. His cure for all problems rested in man and socialism. After college Ladik became a bigwig at Mining University. Without being a communist member, he couldn't have held such a post. Later he became mayor of a section of the third-largest city in Czechoslovakia that was the industrial heart-therefore backed up by the party. Those were the old days and times.

When we returned as missionaries in 1992, Pavel and Ladik met quite a few times. Nothing changed. He was still a heavy smoker. Pavel asked him to show his pocket. He had the same habits 23 years later: (1) cigarettes, (2) matches, (3) an eraser and (4) short sticks of wooden pencils. These four tools were pegged to him. It couldn't be otherwise. Like in old days they started arguing about politics and – is there a God or not? Since Ladik's world collapsed in late 1989 he was ready to listen. We now believe that we will meet Ladik in heaven. Our Lord can do anything. Through the collapse of Ladik's beliefs, the collapse of his health and a yearlong dying experience at 60 we may believe that our Lord in His mercy made a great miracle – He gave Ladik a new heart and an eternal life. How we wish that all of us, with so many unsaved friends and family members, could share such a testimony like his doughter. Only victory in Jesus counts. The rest is vanity.

PRAISES
We are happy that we could enjoy time with both of our sons and even celebrate their birthday individually but in reverse. We had a blessed family time.

We praise the Lord for the traveling mercies, good health and loving encounters during our home ministry assignment.

During six weeks we counted at least 59 church events or meetings with pastors, mission committees or individuals. It was joyful reunion with all and new special bonds were formed.

For several weeks we experienced some technical problems with our computer hardware, network, internet and access to our web pages. It works again.

Everyone made our stay in Arizona, California and New Hampshire a memorable event.

PRAYER CONSIDERATION
Please pray for positive results and outcome of our presentations during home ministry assignment and our follow up.

Our major undertaking ahead of us is hosting HCJB World Radio's European conference and meeting of the Board of Trustees. We have made hotel reservation for about 60 people. Please pray that we will have no cancellations or unexpected events that could hinder the conference. Last time we organized something like this we had to cancel because of 9/11.