Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Ricany, January 1997

Dear friends and partners, our brothers and sisters in Christ,

the Holiday days are speeding toward the end of the year. The gift-time started in our house as soon as Pavel arrived from America. He carried a birthday gift box from Filip to his girlfriend. He brought some pecan nuts for the holidays, knowing how I love pecan pie. We will enjoy them soon with our friends. From the Santa Rosa Bible Church came a beautiful quilt and two pillows, plus a triple woven afghan to warm my feet. Thanks a lot. From Pavel's aunt I have got two jars of facial cream to minimize my wrinkles. Also a small plant survived the transport. The rest of Pavel's cargo were boxes of audio cassettes, computer CD programs and parts, and other time consuming gadgets which I do not appreciate at all, since I do not know what they do. Every time we travel together he always blames me that I am a collector. This time, without me, the number of his cases was the same as with me, but the mass was fit only for a heavy weight lifter.

(Pavel's inserts - To defend myself, the computer hardware in the States is about 40% to 50% less than here. Besides, / want to build a little peer-to-peer network to connect our four computers, so / don't have to be running around with diskettes, be able backup more centrally, and above all, / like playing with computers.)

To all of you who presented us with your gifts of friendship and open heart hospitality we express our sincere THANKS. Christmas mail is pouring in and our memories are wandering around the world.

Our telephone again

Pavel is right now under the desk, trying to untangle the electronic wire maze. Last year in January he started to use E-mail and Internet but we have so many difficulties with telephone lines and connections that we are more often off line than on line. Just a few weeks ago our telephone wiring was changed to underground cable but we have the same switchboard (not yet digital). Instead of radio signal in our receiver we have now a lot of static electricity. We do apologize to all of you who tried to connect with us through FAX or E-mail - the bad connection was not our fault. Only the phone bills are higher every month for those "unconnected connections". The Telephone monopoly keeps us in dark ages. Our computer link to Slovakia is not functioning yet, so we are back to a complicated system of personal messengers. It is true, our magazine is on Internet, but the question remains, how many people here have as noisy telephone lines as we have.

Seven years missionaries!

When we look back we can see many blessings the Lord provided during these past years. In January 1997 we will commence another, already our eighth mission year. Hard to believe, seven years ago we left Indonesia. The very first year in 1990 we served in Ecuador. The next ten months, the most part of 1991, we were raising the ministry funds mainly in Arizona. Since April 1992, which will be soon five years, we minister here in Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Radio Ministry

The last year of 1996 was probably the most eventful of all. In January we started weekly broadcasting on FM State Radio. In November we met again with the radio listeners in Pilsen. More than five hundred people came to the event. Every Saturday morning we listen to a 90-minute program we create together with Trans World Radio. It feels like the whole year had only 52 days.

Each month we usually prepare twelve programs. Two months in a year have, however, five Saturdays, so we have to prepare fifteen programs for those months. It really keeps us busy. The number of listeners and readers of our magazine in both countries grew again. We added number of Czech and Slovak readers from around the world. As of January 1997 we will experience another postage hike. The postage will be then about twice as expensive as the print cost. Our readers are faithful and we had another year financially positive. We praise our Lord for this blessing, since we can see the first hand all financial hardships people must face in this country.

At the end of the year I feel like a worn out squeaking wheel. Only when we sit down for a moment, and look back, then we realize how much we are giving, and how many battles we must face. We now start realizing how wise the HCJB mission policy is, since it suggests its missionaries to come back to the United States for home assignment and recovery.

Our prayer is that in the fall of this year of 1997 we will be able to spend at least six months in America to recharge our batteries and be spiritually fed. Spiritual hunger is our prevalent malady.

Praises:

• Jindra, our correspondence assistant, is a blessing not only to our ministry but to all who benefit under her tender loving care. She loves the ministry and her Christian maturity is a real asset She is fully supported by a Czech Christian businessman. She said, that even if her support ended, she would continue working for HCJB - ZOD, she likes her ministry that much.
• Do you remember our summer report from Poland? We have a good news! The Polish Christians received a broadcasting license which will be located in Poland, just about ten miles from the Czech border. It will reach an area in Czech Republic, which has about a million potential listeners. Please pray that we will be able to share our programs in the area of northern Moravia through this station.

Letters

One of you wrote to us: We need to know who is being reached for Christ and if they are growing. We really want to hear the testimonies of the new believers. In our next News Release we will share more letters:

# 1516: Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I would like to greet you and thank you for joy I got after receiving your book. I want you to know that my daughter has been getting your magazine for several years. At the time you started mailing the magazine to her, I was an absolute atheist. I was very suspicious of what kind of literature she was receiving. I was a self-sufficient independent woman who could solve her problems and knew it all. Then I read the book you mailed to me. I was shocked, because I thought, what if all that is true, what would happen to me?

Till that time I knew nothing about God, never read the Bible and never went to any church. I knew only that some people believed in His existence. My concern did not last for long. I thought that I was an intelligent person with common sense. Well, after reading your book all changed. I realized how lost I am but the Lord in His mercy saved me.

He gave me His love, and I lived through a great joy of realizing that God really exists. I recognized, that The Lord Jesus sacrificed Himself even for me. I realized that immense misery for all those years without Him when I lived according to my own ideas. Now I see where I was heading. I bow before Him with unbounded gratefulness. God spoke to me in many ways. I believe, that He spoke to me even through your work.

My daughter still receives your magazine. I read it with a great joy. I often use it for evangelization. I benefit from it greatly. I am very grateful to the Lord and you. My daughter has not become a believer yet, but don't delete her name from your database. I do pray for her and trust the Lord. - A. M., Brno -

In each following Newsletter we will share with you a testimony like this one.

Ministry report

Our new office is being used not only for ministry work but as a prayer place as well. In September we started the Saturday's Biblical gathering at a Prague's Museum - for people from Prague and the near proximity. Attendance has been between 25 to 40 people. The rental fee we have to pay for the room is rather high for such a small group, but the meetings are a blessing for those who attend. Pavel and Peter are a good team as a teacher and evangelist. An artist offered us to use the art gallery. We will explore this option. Perhaps it is another Lord's direction and answer to the prayer what to do next.

Ministry of education

Klara was nominated by the Parental Rights organization to be a board member, and together with another person to be a representative to the government Department of Education. While Pavel was in America, Klara attended RADIO GRAND PRIX in Bohemia. One of the segments of radio work was dedicated to the topic of "Children and drugs". It is sad to see how professional people and legislation avoid moral answers as to the cause of the problem. I had number of opportunities to explain that a spiritually dead person will not respond to counseling, education, warning or punishment. It was amazing how well some people understood what it is to be spiritually dead while SIN is today an obsolete word for the world. The pressure from the Planned Parenthood is growing. I was quite excited about the program ACET - AIDS CARE, EDUCATION & TRAINING, branch of the London's ministry. About 60,000 students in Czech Republic attended presentation.

Young people are sinking deeper and deeper in prostitution, drugs and gambling while authorities are avoiding the issue. According to some estimates, Prague has about a thousand young male prostitutes. Hard core pornography, child prostitution and drugs are not an uncommon scene. The situation in Prague is quite serious.

Famous Czechs

• Madeline Albright. I am sure, no one missed the nomination of this Czech born lady as the U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
• President Havel is seriously ill and many prayers are spoken on his behalf Part of his lung was removed for cancerous growth. Now he Is battling pneumonia. He was a chain smoker...

Future events

• Our calendar is already filling. We have some activities and visitors booked now through the summer of 1997
• At the end of January our son Filip will arrive. The wadding date has not yet been set but Filip was talking to us about a diamond. We have high hopes and we pray that he will find a good job and have patience to make a temporary or permanent (?) transition. Filip has a good level of endurance, but as parents we feel in a way responsible for his decision. He will be like many American kids starting new life here. We are glad that young people are more upbeat. His survival skills in business world with rubber laws will be tested.

THANKS FOR ALL THE PRAYERS, LETTERS, GREETINGS, WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT, UNEXPECTED SPECIAL GIFTS, BOOKS, VIDEO CASSETTES, AND REMBERING OUR BIRTHDAYS ANNAVERSARIES.

WE MARVEL HOW FAITHFUL AND PATIENT PARTNERS WE HAVE ALL OVER.

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