Prague End of Year 2011 Report, Jan 20, 2012

Prague End of Year 2011 Report, Jan 20, 2012 150 00 Stroupeznickeho 26, Praha 5 Czech Republic email: [email protected] Tatana: [email protected] (011 420) 257 323 056 or Cell (011 420) 777 630 724

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The last half of 2011 was very encouraging for Tatana and I, for the Christians residing in Prague and throughout Eastern Europe. Russ Bowman and Kenny Moorer did an excellent job presenting their assigned material and answering questions in the Q&A sessions during our lectureship. Both Eastern and Western Europe were well represented. This year we had Christians from Germany and Romania for the first time. David Hartsell and Scott Smelser are making plans to speak for us this year. From the good number already expressing an interest in attending this year, we may have a record number of attendees.

The church is Prague continues to be a peace, growth in love for the truth and one another is apparent. Our number is around twenty even with four being away visiting in the U.S. We enjoyed visits from Olen and Jane Britnell, a group from Texas traveling with Curtis Pope filled our assembly room up, Charlie and Marie Brackett and Bill Bynum. Bill and Charlie presented public lectures for us that were well attended.

Tatana and I were able to take several trips to encourage Christians in other places the past few months. Two young ladies attended our lectures from Bratislava for the first time, they came with Lucy who is always a regular at these meetings. We made three trips to study with them and others. We were also privileged to meet Lucy's parents and spend a day getting to know them. They are genuinely friendly folks, we enjoyed our day with them very much. Hopefully we will be able to speak with them someday soon about the existence of God. We attended worship services in Bratislava one Sunday, before the service by the urging of Lucy, the ladies had decided they would begin a ladies Bible class, Tatana was asked to lead this first study. We feel that Lucy will be able to conduct this study in a very fruitful manner each week. There was some concern when Lucy first began to attend this group that she would be led astray from sound doctrine by the leadership in the church, so far the reverse has been true, especially among the women.

The first weekend in November we traveled to Martin Slovakia to worship with the church there and spend some study time with some of the Christians. The church is made up of groups from two different cities, Martin and Banska Bystrica that are located about an hour apart in northern Slovakia. They alternate meeting places each Sunday that has been working out well for them. They had 15 in attendance the Sunday we visited. The congregation has three very strong, knowledgeable men to teach and preach. Another strong couple may be moving to Zlina (35 minutes to the north) this month from Bratislava, I expect them to join this group which will make it a necessity to meet each Lord's Day in Martin. Tatana and I left very optimistic and positive for growth of this small band of Christians soldiers. We have also been invited to visit the church in Kosice, in the far eastern region of Slovakia. We have met some of the members there and look forward to the trip in a month or so. The Gospel is alive and well in Slovakia.

Closer to home and back in the Czech Republic in the town of Litomysl there are 10 who assemble faithfully each week. We spent one weekend in October with them expecting to encounter a dispirited group. They have been hit hard in the past couple of years by a numbers crunch. Two families of 5 left and are members in other congregations now. They were left with one strong Christian man among them, the other two were not regularly active in helping with the work. They both have stepped up to the plate, helping with the teaching and preaching. We are excited for the cause of Christ in Litomysl.

At the beginning of this year one of our own put on Christ is baptism. Jana Novakova, in her early teenage years (14) decided that she did not want to miss eternity for the little pleasure that she could gain without living as a Christian. The wisdom she displayed in this decision is beyond her years. I know of many much older than her that have not made the choice to live in heaven throughout eternity. She is a part of a growing number of second-generation children that are fortunate to have Christian parents. A generation ago when I first came there were no married couples, not even Christians that I know about. It is so encouraging to see over the years the power of the Gospel take hold in a country that for forty years were told that there is no God, God is alive and well in the former Czechoslovakia. We have several more that need to be thinking of becoming Christians.

We hope that God will bless you all in this new year of 2012. We are so thankful for your continued financial support, prayers and encouraging words. It would be impossible to do the work we do without your help. We approach the New Year with excitement and enthusiasm. God is so good!

Blessings, mike