DEAR FRIENDS AND PARTNERS, OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST,

RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN
Looking back at our June vacation in England it was beginning of rainy summer. What else could we expect? This year's Wimbledon was called Swimbledon. However, it was nothing in comparison with floods that hit in July flatlands of Poland, vast part of the Czech Republic, some parts of Slovakia, Austria and Eastern Germany. Another month of persistent rain and most people would start believing in Noah flood again. As far as memory goes, the Czech Republic was spared of any major natural disaster. This new experience caused some people to ask: 'Is God's wrath upon us?' For many the flooding was the turning point to discover that there is more to life than building a material world. Many are showing a great spirit of compassion and solidarity as well as hideous character of man. There are helpers and looters. Thousands of people were evacuated. Tens of lives were lost and many people injured. Neighbors could encourage each other, show their love, care and charity as never before during the communist era. Some experienced the first time what it means loving your neighbor. Perhaps some will seek God's ways and the spiritual clean up will follow. People lost their homes, crops and businesses. Six hundred miles of roads were destroyed, four hundred bridges must be rebuilt, portions of railroad tracks were washed out. The damage is estimated to be three billion USD - a lot for a ten-million nation. The record-setting intensity of the flood was magnified by shabby environmental planning. Indiscriminate urban growth, deforestation and senseless river management have increased the havoc. Some dams and man-made riverbanks gave way and water returned to its former riverbeds. Ecological mismanagement is greatly blamed for recent catastrophe.

On the other hand the flood diverted attention from the political, economical, financial, social and health care crisis. While people lost their homes, the politicians held tight onto their chairs. People start realizing that governmental programs cannot solve all needs. As the rescue work continues, fund raising is going on and humanitarian aid is organized. When natural disaster strikes, we realize how small and densely populated Czech Republic is.

THE 4th OF JULY
This day is unforgettably engraved into our minds for a different reason than celebrating the Independence Day. We were finishing the summer issue of our magazine to mail it on time to the printer before our trip to Bratislava (Slovakia). During the final saving of fully formatted magazine onto hard disk, which takes about a half of a second, a literal lightning struck. The power dropped for a moment and the monitor blinked. This shortest episode was long enough to wipe out the whole work except for the first three pages. Pavel hit the save command exactly at the lightning. He 'selected' for this short disk writing the least suitable split of a second out of entire 24 hours of the 4th of July. At that time we were too exhausted to start again and there was no time left anyway.

As we were coming back from Bratislava, it rained all day. Twenty hours later some road portions we drove on were washed away. On Monday we recovered the unformatted and unedited text, completed the magazine the second time, and mailed it to the printer in Ostrava. In the evening we could see on TV how bad the floods hit the whole Moravian region including the city of Ostrava. We saw the damaged factories and supplies of printing paper being ruined. For days we didn't know if our materials were delivered or when the printing will be resumed. Fortunately the magazine was printed with a small defect which we gladly accepted and the expedition was delayed only by few days.

At moments like this we realize how much we depend on the Lord. We can schedule, we can plan, we can rush, we can build, we can go, but we must remember that without HIS CARE we can do nothing!

VACATION
It's a small world, isn't it? With those words we greeted each other at the same breakfast table in the Foreign Mission Guest House in London. We met a couple of missionaries we hosted in our home in Luhacovice about four years ago. At that time we described to you their musical abilities as music almost from heaven. In the meantime they moved from England to Florida. They were visiting London for a couple of days with another pastor and his wife from the US.

SH-0-0-0-0-0-PING
Among our first stops in London was a visit to the Metropolitan Tabernacle bookstore. It is also the Church where Charles Spurgeon preached. We were so exited that Pavel left his backpack at the counter as we walked out with purchased books. We talked to pastor Dr. Peter Masters at his office furnished with the original Spurgeon's furniture. When we left the office Pavel remembered the backpack. At that moment we thought this was the end of our vacation. In the backpack we had not only our passports, air tickets, but also our cash. Since the bookstore was already closed, one of the custodians searched the bookstore and other rooms. Finally he found the backpack in a storage room next to the pastor's office. Praise the Lord!
We also shopped at HARROD'S and saved lots of money, since we bought nothing. It is not easy to find a gift for someone special. However, this time I knew exactly what I was looking for. We searched three floors and many different departments. Harrod's did not have a "kangaroo pouch" for carrying babies. Most exotic gifts we discovered in the pet's department. We could admire fashion attire like dog rain coats, bomber jacket or fall leaves sweater. Also different bedroom arrangements for man's best friend. Where else, but Harrod's, can you see a bed in shape of a telephone booth for informal dogs and for the royal pets the canopy bed with ostrich feather was just splendid...

London is truly a cosmopolitan city and to observe people is a great fun. Trafalgar Square is the place to see the most exotic individuals as well as groups. It is not unusual to see four veiled wives of one man with a number of children. As our search for the gift continued, we stopped at the place called Mothercare. With amazement we observed the shoppers. We saw only Asian and veiled customers loading armfuls of the most beautiful children clothes and goods. Speaking of population growth - in Czech Republic we have .96 children per family. A colloquial Czech word for "cautious" is "bach". Thus, a new billboard all over the country advertises a Czech pun: "Don't be bach (cautious) follow Bach". He fathered about twenty children, so the billboard portraits the famous composer with about twenty little Bach's clones...

THREE CONTINENTS REUNION
Our son Vit arrived to London from Denver. While at the airport, he and Pavel bumped into the Bradshaw family arriving from Dallas. Next day we met the third family, the Woodwards, arriving from Jakarta. Six adults and six 'children' aged 14 to 29. We met together for a dinner to be reunited with another couple from Jakarta. Together we updated our experiences and shared some special life events like birthdays, graduations, changes in careers, empty nests, retirement, etc. Sunday morning we were picked up by the driver of an 18 seat passenger bus and left London. Our vacation started. The first day we spent in Cambridge and enjoyed a beautiful day. It was a bit unusual to see the way how the students celebrated the end of the school year and graduation. The gentlemen had their upper half of bodies clothed formally, while the bottom half was very informal. Street beer and vine drinking somehow belongs to the student's life style. While rabbit hopping around the river, those brave hearts dropped their shorts showing off their private parts.

The next day we made a surprise visit to one of the former Jakarta students now at boarding school in England. Together we had a nice tea time and admired another beautiful campus. From there on we followed well prepared tour.

We motored through England, Scotland and Wales. During long hours on the bus, we tried to figure out of the book of Exodus where the Jews really wandered for forty years.

The drive around the famous Loch Ness was rainy, windy and cold. At the picture taking spot we said freeze instead of cheese and ran back to our bus. We were amazed at the number of cow and sheep we saw. Actually we saw them at the most unusual places, including Cambridge campus, as far as rare herd of hairy cow directly in front of Balmoral castle where Her Majesty the Queen, and royalty, spends their vacation. The reports of Mad Cow disease made it sound like there is no beef or cow left in England. Not true. They do very well and look great.

Rural Scotland and Wales are very green and beautiful. Celtic culture and traditions are well presented. We could admire variety of well kept homes, flowers, charming towns, lakes, castles, stone walls, Stonehenge, islands, kings burial places... The thistle, state flower of Scotland, is seen everywhere.

FAMILY EVENTS
Last three days of Vit's European vacation we were all together including Klara's mother and her brother. We arrived from England with Vit just in time to attend the wedding of our niece - Pavel brother's daughter. The fairy tale event took place at Prague castle's oldest basilica. It was a sad day for our son Filip. Slowly his life is adjusting again. He likes his new job and makes new friends but at this time the wedding is called off.

THE LORD NEEDS YOU HERE - these were the words said by our visitors, the Myers missionaries from Kiev, Ukraine, while we said good by to each other. They became one of many tourists inconvenienced by the pickpockets. A nice man with a briefcase and rain coat over his arm offered a help with directions in the Underground... At the railroad stations the Myers noticed that the passport with three-year visa was gone! We try to warn everyone but the pickpockets are getting more and more sophisticated. The article in the Harold Tribune, July 12, 1997 named the top three cities to watch for pickpockets: Prague, Budapest and Warsaw.

CHANGES
In Quito, Ecuador, a new airport is planned for the valley that is home to HCJB World Radio international transmitter site. This means changes taking place in years to come - moving antenna installation and reevaluating broadcasting strategy.

Broadcasting schedule on the state public radio in Pilsen will change in September. Instead of 90-minute Saturday morning program the HCJB-TWR partnership will prepare a Saturday 60-minute morning and a 60-minute evening program. We are quite excited about this new development.

Publishing - we are considering to change the frequency of the magazine from bimonthly to quarterly publication. We plan to expand from 32 pages to 48 or 64 pages. Thus we can save postage for two mailings per year. The postage is now higher than printing cost. In the last five years we absorbed increase of 900%.

HCJB European Conference in Germany was a great time of sharing, ministering and information about new development and possibilities in broadcasting. Next year in June, Lord willing, we will host the HCJB European Conference in Ricany. It is again a great privilege for us.

Summer program - some camps were canceled or evacuated due to floods. Our plans changed as well. We spent three days in mountains with our Church from Ricany. An Evangelical Free Church from California has been in partnership with this Church for six years. We met again with pastor Hunter and his wife from Rescue, California. Together we had a great time of fellowship, sharing, teaching, fun and crafts, in spite of very wet grounds.

Home ministry - at this time we postponed our trip to the US for at least six month, maybe for a whole year. We are a little concerned about proposed new long-term visa regulations. Each annual extension should be processed in the country of origin and procedure could take up to several months. Change of visa policy looks like bad news for missionaries and business people, but the prayers can overcome unreasonable demands. For this reason we would like to coordinate our home ministry and HCJB International conference 1998 in Colorado Springs.

Our days are filled with regular work and many visitors. We try to visit some individuals and ministries. Recently we sorted our accumulated mail. Please do understand, even when we don't reply to all of you personally, we are grateful and we thank our Lord daily for all of you.

We are amazed how close we are to so many people around the world. Your love and prayers come from Japan, Hawaii, Indonesia, Canada, USA, South Africa, ... we hear from people searching Internet, meeting and receiving friends of our friends. We make new contacts all the time. Our last words are THANKS to all of you.

In HIS LOVE and Service,

Return to Prayer Letters Home Page.