Czech Up

Greetings from Prague!

2012-01-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

Jon and I will soon be nearing 18 years here in the Czech Republic. There have been many challenges and many blessings over those years. This past month we enjoyed one of the greatest blessings we have received, when we agreed to move our church into a new building.

We have recently finished enough work in the building that it is now ready for visitors.

Even before the signs were up and before the ad was in the yearly Hostvice paper, our Sunday was a wonderful taste of what can be done with hard work and lots of prayer. Because of a few tracts that were distributed, we saw new folk come, listen and enjoy the services.

A number of churches and many individuals have told us they pray for the work here. We do believe this is why we received this blessing. At this special time of the year, we are thankful for all of you.

Psalms 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

Please Pray For Us In 2012

2012-01-03T09:12:00.000-08:00

As we enter the year 2012, we have much to be thankful for. The Lord blessed us in so many ways this past year. Souls have been saved, lives changed, and a new church location that fits our needs as a growing congregation has been a huge blessing. Just last month you may have heard of the death of our former Czech President and play writer, Vaclav Havel. Havel died after a long illness. It was a very sad time for the Czech Republic as people placed candles, flags and flowers all over Prague in his memory.

Vaclav Havel was greatly used 22 years ago in leading his people through what is known as, The Velvet Revolution. It was this revolution that brought freedom to the Czech and Slovak countries and opened the door for us to be able to minister in Prague today. We came to Prague 18 years ago and the open door is still open and wider than ever.

We are grateful to be serving our Lord in this needy country. We covet your prayers.

Our New Sanctuary!

2011-11-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

We are now ready for services in our new place! Much work has been done and we are so thankful for what the Lord has provided. Pray for us as we press on for the Lord!

Moving Day in Prague!

2011-11-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

Revelation 3:8 “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door…”

It was a long day! But an exciting one with moving from a very old building in the center of Prague to a new building on the edge of the Prague. Hostivice has the feel of a smaller town and yet borders Prague 6 region which is one of the biggest 14 areas of Prague. This is a big change for us. We have prayed for 2 years for the Lord to open up a new place for us. This was shown to us the week after we had an all night prayer meeting with all the members in attendance. The building was priced too high for us but when we offered less, the Landlords agreed. These 2 Polish landlords have built us a wall for diving the room for the children and the adults at no extra cost.

Many boxes of literature were brought to the new place along with most of our furniture. We now have 8 days to be ready to be completely moved in ready for services.

Hostivice distributes a monthly magazine which is distributed freely to all residents and we have already reserved space for our advertisement.

One of our families have lived in this area for 4 years and just found a house in the neighborhood of the new church.

The Day we received a new key to the building we found a lovely apartment across the street from the new church which is smaller and less expensive for us to move into December.

Our prayer is to reach families who are in this area. The new facilities are perfectly set up for this unlike our church building in the city center.

We are so grateful for the Lord’s provision for us and how He has provided just what our growing congregation needs. Next time we will share our new home with you!

Pray for us as we press on for our wonderful Lord and Saviour.

Hello From Prague!

2011-10-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

A Prague Hello!

September and October are the prettiest months of the year in Prague! The weather this month has been just perfect.

We have been preparing for our last days in our little church building in the heart of Prague.

We are so looking forward to having more space for our growing congregation.

Prague Prayer Update

2011-09-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

After two years of praying and looking for a new building for our church to meet in, the Lord has dropped this building into our laps! We want to be certain this is His will for our growing group of believers. It is in the section of Hostivice, outside of Prague 5. It has no stairs which our present location does have. It includes much more space for us, has a kitchen, two toilets, parking and a place for a sign or billboard.

The price is fair. Would you pray with us as we seek the Lord’s will in this new location?

Home Again in Prague!

2011-09-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

Mark 5:19b says..."Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee."

We returned back to Prague after a long, 3 1/2 month furlough. What a blessing to see some of the members of our congregation waiting to greet us at the gate, in the Prague airport when we arrived!

We returned to our home for a meal that was already made for us! We were able to spend a little bit of time getting to know Simon, the new baby in the church, and Pavel's little Janicka, who has learned to walk already! It's amazing how much you can miss in just 3 months!

Sunday service I was greeted with a hug by Masha, our Belarusian, medical student, who has been coming to our services for over a year now.

Our young boys, Matous and Pavlik, prepared a special in song that morning with the help of Pavlik's momma, Jana.

Our Sunday night service is held in Pribram, a city one hour away. This is where I met the new convert, Jana. She was saved while we were in the states on furlough. I have so enjoyed spending time reconnecting with our newly baptized Zdenka.

Indeed...it is good to "be home"!

Update From the Road…

2011-08-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

Our 1997 Honda Odyssey is holding up well as we spend the summer visiting churches on the furlough trail. When finished , our travels will have taken us 12,000 miles through 20 states. We are preaching and presenting our work in the Czech Republic in over 30 churches. It really has been a wonderful summer!

Two of the places we enjoyed stopping at on the way to different churches were both Czech towns; Cedar Rapids, Iowa and the Czech Capital of the USA, Wilber, Nebraska.

God has allowed us the blessing of reacquainting ourselves with pastors and friends along the way. We have enjoyed being a part of different church activities, helping plan a new missions apartment, weeding a church garden, passing our VBS flyers and being the recipients of two yard sales! We have so enjoyed home cooking and the hospitality of pastors and their wives.

One family of eight traveled two hours on a Sunday morning just to be with us in an Iowa church.

The mid summer break at our home church’s annual Family Camp was a wonderfully relaxing week!

The music, preaching, fellowship and food was great! It was a perfect balance of time which fulfilled our spiritual and physical needs.

Back in Prague, the Paines are standing in the gap for us until we return.

Look at the sweet faces of the ladies after a Sunday night service. Zdenka, in the white coat is a real blessing. Jana, in the red shirt has been recently saved.

The Lord has given His protection in our travels and we are looking forward to our return in August, to the field the Lord has called us to.

News from the Furlough Trail…

2011-07-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

Greetings from hot and humid Texas! While the North Dakota folks are fighting the flooding, we are here melting from the heat. But wherever we may be, we can always thank the Lord for something in each of our lives. Thank you for reading our travel adventures. I am very thankful for the safe travel the Lord has given us over the past weeks. We have been very encouraged by churches and folks in those churches who, some for years, have faithfully given to this ministry and have been a part of reaching the Czech people for Christ.

One of the nicest things about this year’s travel has been being able to see many different people that we have known over the years and meeting new people in the churches all over the United States. I enjoy this part of furlough very much. The last month has brought us through five different states and in three churches each week.

Once we left the Cincinnati area, it was time to go south. Our first church to visit was in Knoxville, Tennessee. This church was a blessing because the pastor and his wife pastored the church in Illinois, where we were members over 25 years ago!

We had not seen them since then. Can you imagine that one of the families in the church actually has 18 children all faithfully serving along with their parents. That was an experience meeting them for sure.

We had just one day between churches to scoot up to Salisbury, NC, to visit my sister, Sheila, and her husband whom we very seldom see. They own a large bookstore in the town and we enjoyed an evening with them in their home.

On our way up to Memphis, TN, we passed through Tuscaloosa, Alabama. What a horrible sight to see one month after the tornado hit. Many lost their homes. What a sad scene.

There were three churches Jon preached in, in the Dallas area, plus we were able to visit a number of other preachers, pastors and missionaries. One of those churches had a new building in Garland. I very much enjoyed their Wednesday evening service and the spirit and the interest of the people. That night was extra special for us because our son, David, joined us that evening as he had business in the Dallas area for the week.

We enjoyed going to one new church in Arlington, TX. The pastor’s wife, Melanie, her mom, her daughter, her brother and husband, concert pianist Lonnie Shipman, were in Prague in 2008 and were a part of our services there. Now we were able to be a part of their services here. Unfortunately, tragedy struck their church that weekend and they were very busy with a grieving church.

Our daughter-in- law, Chrissy, flew in to Texas for the weekend and together with our son David, joined us there in our Sunday evening church service.

Those of you in our home church will remember Bro. Chris Austin, and his wife Tammy, from Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lawton, Oklahoma. He was our Family Camp speaker a few years back. Here is a picture of their family. They have a lovely church and lovely people. We were treated so well by them.

We have enjoyed many enjoyable experiences with people and in doing some sightseeing along the way in our travels. The Lord has been good and provided safety for which we are grateful!

News From Prague

Proverbs 25:25 “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.”

Spiritual birth and physical birth was the news we received from Prague.

Pavel has been preaching regularly in our Pribram services and does a tremendous job. He and his wife, Jana, and faithful Tomas go every week to minister to the small group there. Last week Pavel reported… “But the evening was not over yet....Jana spoke to the lady, Jana, who was coming for studies and she was concerned about salvation. We were just about to leave (it was 7:30 already) and she wanted to pray...So we went to study the Bible, to understand what is Salvation and what is the purpose for our salvation. We stayed together (2 more hours) with my wife and Zdenka and taught about sin, repentance, faith in HIM. She was clear on everything and ready so we prayed for salvation and I do believe she is really saved. First person with whom I prayed for salvation..I am so glad Zdenka was there as well. She was crying with joy after we finished and we sang songs...”

Praise the Lord for the second lady in Pribram to be saved and for faithful Zdenka, who is a “Lydia” in that city.

Congratulations to Monika and Roman Kratky on the birth of their son, Simon (She mon) on June 23rd. Simon weighed in at 4kg, 51cm (8 lbs. 13 oz. and 21 inches) . We praise the Lord for another added blessing to the church in Prague.

Rettig Furlough Update

2011-06-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

Just before we left Prague for our summer furlough, we were thankful to baptize our first convert from the new outreach in Pribrim.

This is Zdenka and she is 57 years old and a newborn child of God!

For all who have prayed and supported us, she is fruit to your account!

On the Road Again

Philippians 4:10 "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again;"

Being back on furlough reminds me of the our deputation eighteen years ago. Only this time we are going with one college age daughter and not three small children. We are traveling in a mini-van, not a 29 foot travel trailer. Our 7500 mile route will take us to 12 different states over the next three months. This is the longest period away from the work in Prague since 2002. The men in the Prague work are preaching and teaching in 2 different works now and that is a real blessing for us and that they are handling the work without us.

The first stop we take is at our home church in North Dakota for rest and relaxation and a few days to get over jet lag. We very much enjoy staying in the warm NTBC mission apartment . One of the highlights of our furlough is visiting in the home of our pastor and his wife. The great home cooking of Mrs. Shaffer surpasses any of the restaurants we will be eating in this summer! It’s always so nice to have a chance to get to know and be in the home of other church members, too. Our church is planning their yearly family camp in which we will be able to participate.

Stop #2 led us to pick up Amy in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, who was just finishing her first semester in college. Amy has helped make our travels more enjoyable and has been serving along with us in every church. We have already been able to relieve ladies from the nursery work so they can hear Jon preach.

Pastor and Mrs. Stan Gustafson with Amy, Jon and I.

Both Jon and I enjoy visiting with pastors and their wives in their homes and in their churches. Many pastors and their wives are wonderful examples of self sacrificing, hard working servants of God. There hasn’t been one couple we have spent time with that hasn’t had their share of burdens and yet faithfully serve the Lord in their local churches. It seems as though the trials never stop for them, and yet so many of them continue to press on for the cause of Christ and for His work. One church recently lost their pastor and 2 other men in the church all at the same time. How sad. And yet the new pastor and his wife are fervently serving even though their hearts are broken. Pastors and their wives are to be admired and certainly heros in this day and age.

I especially enjoy the time of meeting new friends and fellowshipping with God’s people in the churches we visit, especially when they support us and have supported us for a long time. These people are the ones who give so that we can go. This is our chance to be able to thank these good folks. Many times I am humbled when someone tells me that they pray for us every morning. Or that they pray for our children and/or the Czech people by name. This is a real blessing for us to hear. There are many who have our prayer cards or magnets on their refrigerator, so they are reminded not to forget to pray for us.

Thirty years ago, Jon and I were members of a church in Illinois. In that church is one particular faithful outgoing friend, named Mary. We saw Mary again just two weeks ago. I always admired her zeal in praying for her lost husband. She is still praying for him. I was just so glad to see her again. We have seen each other just once every 5-8 years or so. She is just one example of the many people we see in the churches, who are still serving faithfully year after year.

The preaching has been a great encouragement. In between meetings on Sundays and Wednesdays (and some Thursdays) there has been time to visit other special services and be challenged by the preaching of other men of God.

Pastor Ron Pittman and wife Wendy

It is such a financial savings to be able to stay in a church mission’s apartment. After all the meals we eat out, it’s a nice change to eat in and I can actually cook a meal. Not to mention being able to stay longer than one day. What a savings for anyone traveling a long distance. Added blessings are when they have a washer and dyer. :)

Some of things I personally enjoy while on the road are:

Time with family (this trip we will meet up with our son David, and his wife, Chrissy, Jon’s nephew and family, Jon’s older brother and sister, and my sister).

Meeting other missionaries and old friends as we travel.

Having to stop at Starbucks to use the internet :)

New churches, new names, new faces.

Yard sales and thrift stores! Little shops and little towns off the beaten path.

Speaking in ladies‘ groups.

Sharing our call and burden to the Czech people.

Can traveling 7500 miles really be without any negative? Can it really be all that pleasant? No, there are many things we "love“ but there are also many things we "loathe“. The roar of the road noise, sitting for hours in a day, traffic jams, construction, road blocks, accidents, dead batteries, a bottomless gas tank (although the prices are half of the price of gas in Prague), dirty gas station bathrooms, too many greasy $1.00 hamburgers, packing and unpacking, etc. The 2 million dotted lines on the road that we will have to look at can make anyone crazy after a while.

This trip we are determined to be both a blessing and an example. I prayed that the Lord would allow many opportunities to be able to share our testimonies with someone who is lost. In our first church on the road, the Lord allowed just that. A 17 year old girl, a pastor’s granddaughter, opened her heart enough for me to share my testimony of salvation. The pastor and the church are praying for her salvation. I promised the Lord, too, to pray for her every day on this furlough.

Thank you for your prayers...

Just Praising the Lord in Prague!

2011-05-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Psalm 89:5 “And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.”

What a blessing it is to see the fruit of our labor (the saints in Prague), witnessing to visitors who attend our services. On a recent Wednesday evening, after the hour and a half Bible study was finished, Vladimir took the time to share the Scriptures with David, a young man who is studying the Bible with my husband Jon and Pavel.

David has been studying for five weeks now.

Here you see Jana, Vladimir and Tomas all sitting with a visitor and sharing the Bible with them.

II Timothy 2:1-2 “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

A Busy Month in the Czech Republic

2011-04-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

March was an exciting month with visitors from the states. First Brother Ken Brooks, from Redding, Conn. came to Prague to play a concert for us using spiritual songs and hymns. We had all the songs translated into czech language so the people could read what he was playing on an overhead DVD. We had a lovely room in a nice music hall in the center of Prague. The main purpose of the concert was to invite people to come that had attended our past activities, so that we could make contact with them again. 46 czech people were in attendance.

2 days later, Evangelist and gospel singer Chris Stansell and a member from his church, Brother Jason Brockman, from Springfield,TN, spent a week in Prague and Brother Chris preached a powerful one night sermon in a nearby hotel. He also sang and was accompianed on piano by Ken Brooks. We were excited to have 29 people come and hear this message. Most of the people had already been to an activity before. We were able to have some quality time witnessing after the message and renew contact with these folk.

Thank you for praying for university student Masha from Belarus. She and her boyfriend Dimitri are in our services every week and the Lord is truely working in their hearts.

Update on Pribram!

2011-03-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

In January, we held our first meeting in Pribram, a city about an hour’s drive from Prague, on Sunday evening. Since then we have found a more permanent room for our services and have begun to invite more people to come.

In our new room for the first time is Monika and Jana waiting to greet the people.

Last night 9 Czechs were in attendance and Pavel preached a very convicting salvation message.

Jana and I are standing with Zdenka (in white) who was saved 2 weeks ago. Please pray for the work and open doors in this area where there is no Baptist church anywhere near these folks.

Pribrim Work Continues....

2011-03-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is the room we are using in the city of Pribrim for our Sunday night Bible studies. We are seeing continued interest in knowing what the Bible says about salvation and eternity.

We covet your continued prayers for the people of the Czech Republic.

Our Great God is at work!

God’s Power Continues to Reach Lost Souls in Prague

2011-02-14T20:35:00.000-08:00

Ivana….

On her way home from work, in early February, Ivana Z, stopped by our church and in a half hour read the whole chick tract, “The Choice”, (Vyber) which is hanging in our church display window.

She cried…and said, “this is just what I have been searching for!” Sunday morning Ivana came to church, cried through the sermon and after the services she prayed openly and with true repentance with Jana and me for her salvation. Here is Ivana on her spiritual birthday, February 6th. She is standing with Monika on the day of her spiritual birthday 6 years ago. (Which was also the date of our arrival in Prague 17 years ago!) Ivana has started to study with us the ABC’s of Christian Growth…please pray for her! She is such a joy to have coming to church. Ivana just shines with new life in Christ!

Eva …

Eva Strachova has been in the hospital for a while now. She is a lady who has been coming to services off and on for about 3 years now. She was in an English class of mine 3 years ago. We met a few times for Bible study last year. Our faithful Jana has taken upon herself to visit Eva in the hospital and to continue studying salvation. This month, Jana led Eva in prayer for her salvation in which now Eva says she has complete assurance!

Pribram…

Since the Bible evening in the small town of Pribram in January, we have been holding services every Sunday evening there. A group of anywhere between 6 and 12 Czechs have been attending. We covet your prayers for these folks and the work here, as we follow the Lord’s leading in reaching them!

We are once again in a harvest time in the Czech Republic. It’s beginning to rain once again!

Večer Bible - Evening of the Bible #2

2011-02-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

We are continuing our outreaches and including other smaller cities around Prague. In January our small church group drove about thirty five miles south of Prague, to the city of Příbram. This town of 50,000 has a notorious past. Under the old regime, it was the site of uranium mines to which political prisoners were sent to work. Many of them died. Many high ranking Communist leaders lived in this area. Today, the families and relatives of both the former communist leaders and those who suffered and died in the mines, live side by side in Přibram. It is in this unique environment, that we held another Evening of the Bible. The location was in the beautiful Antonin Dvořak divadlo, a theatre for stage plays named after the famous Czech composer.

The program was identical to the one we did in Prague in September. The evening consisted of a DVD featuring the personal salvation testimonies of the members of Baptistické shromáždění, which you can see on the February Beautiful for Thee Home page and also at www.bspraha.cz, and concluded with the preaching of God’s Word.

After the program each attendee received a beautiful Králická Bible provided by the Baptist Couriers of Christ.

60 Czechs from Příbram went home with a lovely new Bible. A good number of them stayed after the program and discussed what they have been "searching for!"

There were a number of very encouraging reports after the program. Our follow up Bible study begins right away.

Titus 2:11 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”

Bible Study Night Results

2011-02-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

Last night, Sunday, Jan. 30, we held our first Bible study in Pribram. Six men and two women came. We were really encouraged by them and their openness to learn. Next week we will come earlier so that we can spend one on one time with some of the group who have questions.

Other than a charismatic man preaching his "gospel" after the Bible study, the night went very well. Jon handled him well and in the nice calming way that he has about him, showed to others the stark contrast between himself and his message, and the hot headed man who wanted to leave his influence behind.

Keep praying for the Czech people. God is at work!

God Is At Work In Prague!

2010-12-21T12:45:00.001-08:00

Masha, a medical student in Prague, is from Belarus, Russia. She has been coming faithfully since the Couriers for Christ campaign in September. She said she normally doesn’t take flyers that are handed out, but at the time when she got the flyer about the special campaign service, it was as if her hand, on its own, just went out to take it. When she looked at it and saw the Bible, she knew God wanted her to have it. She came to the campaign service and has been coming ever since. Her parents in Minsk, formerly Russian Orthodox, have now told her they recently got saved in a Baptist Church! Now they are telling her she needs to get saved! Praise the Lord! He is clearly at work in Masha’s life. She went home yesterday to Minsk for Christmas. Her parents are getting baptized.

Masha expressed concerns the other day before she flew back about the political situation in Belarus and the elections this weekend. Her fears were not ungrounded as you can see from the following article from CNN today. (Click here to view the article.) Please pray for Masha – her salvation, safety, and also the future situation in Belarus especially as it relates to her and her now saved, baptized parents.

Reality of why we are here in Prague really hit us this week when, during Friday prayer meeting night a phone call came about a friend who is about 33 years old, and pregnant. She had just died. A blood vessel burst and filled her lungs... killing her instantly. Verka attended both of the weddings for our young couples and has been to church services and to our home. It was a shock for all of our congregation. Once again, we came face to face with the brevity of life and the need to reach the lost, for the night cometh when no man can work.

Other ladies who are attending either Wednesday or Sunday services are: Marta whose husband has Parkinsons disease. She is Catholic but searching. Helena, a divorced lady who is lonely and likes our group and fellowship. Zdenka, a retired doctor who is faithful every Sunday since the Prague campaign, came to our Christmas dinner and brought her son. Eva, a middle aged women who was in one of my english classes years ago. Then there is Kamila and her 3 year old daughter, a friend of Jana’s who comes when she can. Jana and Lada and Eva, a lady who came to one of our services at least 9 years ago. There are so many that we have contact with right now. We covet your prayers to reach them through this wide open door in Prague.

"Call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.“ Jeremiah 33:3

Thanksgiving Holiday in Germany

2010-12-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a few days away over the Thanksgiving holiday. We were able to visit a supporting church while we were there. Our family enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Stuttgart Market Place in beautiful Germany! It was a nice respite.

For all of our church family in North Dakota....

We have snow in Prague too!

What You Prayed For

2010-11-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

September and most of October have been busy and spiritually rewarding months for our work here in Prague. We have enjoyed an abundance of company (visitors to Prague) and their helping hands and willing spirits have been a personal blessing to Jon and I. We have enjoyed it all immensely! Amy has enjoyed many fun times with new friends as well as time spent with her classmates and friends from our home church.

The results of the Prague Golden City Campaign are in! Almost 800 cards were turned back in and have been organized.

Some of the cards were blank.

338 indicated they would like to be informed about another activity
162 wrote a name, or name and address but didn’t fill out any other information
129 indicated no interest in being contacted
65 men indicated that they would like to meet with someone and talk about God
37 women indicated that they would like to meet with someone and talk about God

Since then 102 people have been personally written to by letter or email. At least 20 of them have responded by email. One man sent a written thank you with photos he took that evening. 6 have asked for a personal study.

At the special evening, we recognized 10 people that we knew from past encounters through our sixteen years on the field here. According to the cards, 20 of the people who attended had sometime in the past attended our Sunday or Wednesday services.

One lady came 10 years ago to a service (no wonder we didn’t recognize her!) Another was an English student of mine from 8 years ago. 8 people attended one of our films on creation that we showed in the last 2 years. 25 people are from Barrandov, the area in which we live. A couple of doctors and a famous pianist attended.

A number of the people come from way out by the airport in the small villages that we did one day with Bro and Mrs Ingalls‘ team Many people came from Chodov, Andel, Smichov, Dejvicka, Kobylisy, Studolky, Haje, Repy and many other areas of Prague. Many came from the areas where the post office got into the mailbox... Cerny Most, Stare mesto, Nusle, etc. A real surprise was how many out of towners that came...Ceske Budjovice (2 ½ hours), Tabor ( 1 ½ hours), Teplice (2 hours) Pribram, Beroun, and Hradec Kralove (3 hours)

The folks who have attended Sunday services since the campaign are: Marie (Marsha- 20 years old), Zdenka, an older woman who lives nearby, a family of three from the Ukraine, Radana (about 30 years old) Will Turner from Canada, 2 old men from the charismatic group. Wednesday night services at the Narodni Dum had attendences of 27, 28 and 27.

We are still so excited about the evening. After all these years 800 heard the gospel loud and clear and were able to take the Word of God home with them!!!

THANK YOU!!!

After the Campaigns…..

2010-10-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

Things are getting back to a normal pace for us now in Prague. We are in the process of recording all of the statistics and results of our month long outreach. Our home church group left a week ago to return back to North Dakota. We were able to enjoy our Pastor and his wife for a few more days, before they returned five days later. We enjoyed some one on one time with them over good coffee and conversation.

They surprised us on Thursday with a night out in Prague.

First they took us out to eat at a lovely little restaurant near Old Town Square. After a leisurely meal we walked the cobblestone streets of the city to go attend the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

This magnificent music hall is seen in the background behind our Pastor and his wife.

What a lovely evening it was for all of us. Our goodbyes came the very next morning, God is good to give us friends that support and encourage us!

Another Wednesday Bible Study

2010-10-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight's Bible study brought 28 visitors and several serious seekers. Pastor Rettig's message was straightforward and spoke of God's judgment to come on Christ rejecting sinners. It was received by the seekers and scoffed at by those who do not believe there is a God or a Heaven or Hell.

The young man on the right (in the white jacket) came to the big meeting when 800 people came and he has attended every single one of the Wednesday night Bible studies. Tonight he asked for one on one Bible Study with Pastor Rettig. Pray for Jan (John). He is a true seeker of the truth.

This lady has come 3 times and she spent time tonight talking with Jana. She is into rubbing stones for special powers, tarot cards and everything that goes with it. Jana was able to tell her that that is what she came out of when she found the Lord. She was forthright in telling this lady that the powers she is seeking, are of the devil! The lady was open and willing to have conversation about the truth.

Vladimir spent time talking to this man who is a doctor. This doctor came to the service tonight for the first time because he had a patient in his hospital this week who was dying of cancer. This patient told the doctor, "You NEED to go to the Bible study meeting at Noradni Dum (the place we were having the study) to hear the Bible." He came and Vladimir was able to open his Bible and share more of the Word of God with this man after the service.

After all our guests left, it was time for our people to tell the Shaffers good-bye. We all had a tear in our eye in this time of good-byes.

It is never an easy thing to say good-bye to brothers and sisters we love. Won't Heaven be wonderful?!

Final Services in Prague...

2010-10-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Today was the final services with our home church group that has been here for two weeks. What a wonderfully enriching time it has been for all of us!

There was good music, great preaching by Pastor Shaffer in the AM and Bro. Coe in the PM.

Sunday morning’s message was a powerful message and the Lord brought conviction to our hearts. Our own, Matt Sutton saw himself as a true Judas Iscariot and in humility came to a place of genuine repentance and faith in Christ. NOW he has a strong testimony of salvation. What a morning it was!

Please pray for our group as they fly home tomorrow, Monday, Oct. 11.

Saying good-bye is never easy....but good-bye for now. We will see you again...either here, there or in the air!

Our Sunday Services in Prague

2010-10-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

Our NTBC group.

The Girl’s Accapella Qt. sang "Nobody Fills My Heart Like Jesus"

Violin/piano duet by Becky & Shelbie

Between services we enjoyed fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We love these precious people!

Matt enjoyed Pavel and Jana’s new baby girl, Janicka.

Pastor preached in the morning service.

Bro. Coe preached in the PM service.

Today’s services brought 5 visitors besides our group. Four of them were new ones to the Sunday services. All of them had been at the big meeting when over 800 people attended. One college student has attended every service since she first came to the big meeting. She walked in and the first thing she said was, "I’ve been reading the Bible...and I have one question. Who is God? I have many questions."

How many American Christians come to church hungry to have their questions answered?

Two Days of Outreach Finished!

2010-10-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

The fields are white unto harvest....

Here our Assistant Pastor, Dylan Coe is looking on the field of lost souls.

Willing workers went door to door giving out the gospel.

See Show & Tell for more update.

Serious Seekers First Bible Study Night in Prague!

2010-09-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

This evening was bathed in prayer in anticipation of what God could do in bringing seeking hearts to our first Bible study night.

Twenty eight people, hungry to hear the Bible, came back from last week's service.

The group from our home church in Larimore, ND were a great help and so excited to see what God would do!

It was a great first Bible study evening with many promising to return for next week's study time!

Pray for us....God is working in Prague!

Prague Blessings!

2010-09-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

After much prayer and work distributing gospel literature and invitations to a special preaching service, God has blessed us abundantly!

We would like to thank our friends and supporting churches for praying. God has answered beyond what we even expected!

We had a FANTASTIC night on Wednesday night, September 22.

The meeting hall that we rented for the night.
There was 800 in attendance!!

Only God could do this miracle in an atheistic country!

We prayed, practiced music and my husband Jon preached to a full house.

The Bibles arrived IN TIME and everyone went home with a copy of the Word of God in their language.

Our thanks to the Couriers for Christ and each member of the team who came to help with the distribution campaign. This massive work could not have been done by our church folks alone. Next week, a group of 12, including our pastor and his wife from our home church in North Dakota, will be arriving to continue with what has been started. Please pray for fruit from the sowing of the Word of God in this city.

II Corinthians “Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.”

After the evening service was over, 100 people checked their card that they wanted to talk to someone about God and the Bible. Pray for these lost souls that we can reach them for Christ!

Another of our NTBC missionaries in Prague!

2010-09-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Larry & Cheryl Ingalls, representatives of Couriers for Christ, are helping the literature effort in Prague. Amy is enjoying their fellowship too!

We are praying for you all at NTBC in North Dakota!

The First Team Has Arrived!!

2010-09-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Couriers for Christ team of 35 people has arrived in Prague! The Rettigs and a group from the church in Prague met them at the airport in the Czech folklore dress and kolache.

Pray fervently for this major seed sowing, literature distribution campaign.

Golden City Campaign

2010-09-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Baptisticke shromazdeni Praha is getting ready for the Golden City Campaign with the Couriers of Christ group beginning on Sept 11.

The 4 vans are secured, 250,000 John/Romans have been printed, stapled and sent (from supporting churches in the USA), BSPraha tracts are being printed, invitations are being prepared, music is being prepared, address cards are being printed, invitations are being sent, the Narodni Dum (National House) is booked, filming for the testimonies of salvation DVD is almost finished, and the Bibles are on the way....and on Sept. 11th the group leaves Chicago for Prague.

2 ½ weeks after the CFC group leaves, our home church, New Testament Baptist, sends out their group for the follow up. A group of 10 graduates, our pastor and wife, assistant pastor and a man from our church will come and help with distributing more of the literature, as well as being a part of the services with music, preaching and encouragement.

There is 1.2 million people in Prague. There is one Independent Baptist Church. There are very few truly born again people in this athiestic city. Please pray with us for the results of this campaign. Without prayer, nothing can be accomplished in this city for His glory. Jer 33:3

Missionary William Carey drew two striking thoughts from Isaiah 54:2,3 — "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.“

A Special and Blessed Event

2010-08-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 18:22 “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.”

We would like to share some pictures of the wedding of our son, David, and his new wife, Chrissy.

David and Chrissy started their life together on May 31, 2010 at Bible Baptist Temple in St. Joseph, Missouri, Pastor Bill Marshall. This is where Chrissy and her family spent most of their lives. The former pastor, Pastor Gary Williams, (Chrissy's grandfather) officiated the ceremony.

The wedding was a great testimony of God’s blessings to both David and Chrissy.

David and Chrissy live in Londonderry, NH, 2 miles from the Victory Baptist Church, Pastor Jeff Messer, where David has been the songleader for the past 4 years. David works for Fidelity Investments in Boston.

God has blessed us with a wonderful daughter-in-law and we love her very much!

God's Word Goes Out

2010-07-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Our short furlough in the states has been productive and enjoyable. Besides our son’s wedding and our daughter, Amy’s graduation in May, one of the highlights of our trip home from the field was this trip to Branson, Missouri, where we were able to help load the container with John/Romans provided for us through Couriers for Christ. This was a very moving time for us as we shared in process of shipping Bible literature to the Czech Republic with brethren who also share our burden for the Czech people. Many of these pastors we had never met before and it blessed our hearts to see their concern and burden about getting the gospel into
the hands of the people in the Czech Republic.

The Czech literature - 250,000 John/Romans will be passed out during our Golden City campaign this coming September, 2010. The text pages and covers are printed at Bearing Precious Seed, in Milford, Ohio.

Then the literature goes to be assembled at "seedline" churches.

Seedline churches are volunteer churches that have set up stapling, and folding equipment in order to assemble the John/Romans. These churches pay for the number of John/Romans they agree to assemble (this includes printing costs). These are returned to a base church which, for this project was in Branson, Missouri.
After all the John/Romans have been returned, a container is brought to this location and loaded.

The shipping of the container to Prague is paid for by Couriers for Christ, Oshkosh, WI.

These pictures show the sending of the Czech literature on May 25th and the people at the Talking Rock Road Baptist Church in Branson, Missouri. It was a blessed prayer time as we asked the Lord to bless the distributing of His Word to the lost in the Czech Republic.

This church paid for and assembled over 115,000 John/Romans for the project.

We are grateful for this help and ask that you pray for this outreach and literature distribution campaign in the month of September. Along with our home church, another group of over thirty folks are flying to Prague to help pass out the Word of God in the Czech language. Thank you Couriers for Christ for sharing in our burden. We have worked and prayed fervently for fruit to abound. Please pray for us in this endeavor.
.
1 Corinthians 3:9 “For we are labourers together with God…”

A Missionary’s Special Moments…

2010-06-04T05:13:00.000-07:00

Missionaries Jon and Emilie Rettig took time out to gather in Larimore, with their family at daughter Amy’s graduation from High School. It was a real blessing for them to have Emilie’s parents, sisters and future daughter-in-law all together for this special moment and time.

Son David and his bride to be, Chrissy helping with graduation food.

A moment with Mom! A missionary’s time with family is limited and each moment is a lasting memory.

Please don’t fail to pray for our missionaries all around the world.

Special Times

2010-06-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Eleven years ago when Scott Kuzel, missionary in South Africa, came to visit us, he wanted a picture of himself with two of the little neighborhood girls who lived next door.

Lucka and Karolina were only too glad to have their picture taken with the American staying in the house with their friend right next door. That was the last time we saw these 2 girls...until last weekend. These now grown up girls, Lucka and Karolina, came to Amy’s PRE-graduation celebration in Prague. They brought their mom and showed up with gifts, flowers and many tears. Amy and Karolina attended 2nd grade together.

Last week in the Czech mission we pre-graduated Amy for finishing her 12th grade homeschooling.

In the American custom we decorated, planned an evening of song, and served great finger food yummies, and invited old friends. Amy sang, played piano and flute and gave an interesting speech in Czech titled, "Kde Domov Muj?" which is the Czech national anthem, "Where is my Home?"

We showed a DVD presentation of Amy’s life in the Czech Republic. Along with our regulars, 4 young ladies and 4 women attended from each of the 4 different homes we lived at in the past. The night was a blessing for Amy and a great outreach not to mention for mom...the end of homeschooling after many years!!

Her„real“ graduation will be at our home church on May 28th.

A Special Call

2010-05-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Our home church recently celebrated their 30th Anniversary as a church. It was a real blessing for our Czech members to participate in a Skype video call with NTBC. It was during the Sunday School hour on the closing day of the five day meeting commemorating the 30 years since the founding of our church.

Our Czech folks waited with Jon to connect with Pastor Shaffer and Dylan Coe on the other end in North Dakota.

It was a bit disappointing that the video didn't work on the NTBC end so that they could see the church family at NTBC as well.

After the call, we all enjoyed a Mexican dinner together.

Happy 30th NTBC!

NOTE: From NTBC:

From our side of the Skype call, it was very moving for us. Bro. Jon encouraged all of us with his words, but when he turned his computer around and we could see the faces of the precious brethren in Prague, there was an audible breath intake and tears came to all of us.

It touched our hearts to see these precious people struggling with their English in order to say "hello" to our congregation in North Dakota. We laughed, smiled and wept over what God has done. What a blessing to have had a part in this ministry in Prague.

It is for people like those in the Czech Republic, that we must stay faithful to the mission God has given us here at NTBC.

Summer Plans for the Rettig family

2010-04-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

Jon, Emile and Amy are so looking forward to the 2010 High school graduation of 7 students from our home church, including homeschooler, Amy Rettig. The date is May 28th, a Friday evening. We are looking forward to a bit of a reunion there, as we will be with most of our family and some friends.

Amy has lived in the Czech Republic since 1994 (when she was 2 years old) and has faithfully served in our Czech mission work most of her life. She speaks flawless Czech and is a great help to us here.

Three days after Amy's graduation, our son David, and his sweet, future wife, Chrissy Babuschak, will be married at Bible Baptist Temple, in St Joseph, MO.

David and Chrissy met through friends of ours when Jon and I visited the Bible Baptist Temple last summer. Since the fall, he has done a lot of traveling back and forth from Dave's home in Boston, to Chrissy's home in St Joseph.

Chrissy is the daughter of Don and Cynthia Babuschak, who serve at Bible Baptist Temple. Very interesting is that her grandparents, on her dad's side, have a Czech/Polish heritage, as you can tell by their name. Chrissy's grandparents on her mother's side, Gary and Glenda Williams, founded and started the Bible Baptist Temple over 35 years ago and pastored there until 2 years ago, when they retired and Pastor Bill Marshall, was voted in as pastor. Chrissy attended the Heartland Baptist College in Oklahoma for 4 years and currently works as secretary in the church.

We rejoice that the Lord has brought David and Chrissy together. They will make their home in Londonderry, NH, near the church where David has been songleader for 4 years. David works for Fidelity services in Boston. Psalm 118:23 This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Matthew 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

We are hoping to visit some of our new churches this summer, but also realize the importance of being in Prague, to prepare for both the Prague Campaign and also a huge shipment that is coming this summer. We are going to enjoy being very busy with two groups coming in September. The first one with the Couriers for Christ. They are bringing a group of 36 people and coming to pass out literature.
The second will be the 2010 graduating class from our home church, along with our pastor, his wife and a few others.

Many exciting events ahead and we will keep you updated!

The Angels In Heaven Are Rejoicing!

2010-03-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Praise the Lord for another salvation in Prague. This is Andre and we've been working with him recently. He came to know the Lord as his own personal Saviour from sin last Monday. He will be moving to the USA in two weeks and we are sad to see him go and will miss him. We are so thankful we were here...for such a time as this! God makes no mistakes.

The Power and Perseverance of Prayer…

2010-03-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

Luke 6:12 "And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."

For the third time in the Prague mission work, the men in the church left Prague and found a quiet place to go to pray all night long.

Praise the Lord for these special times that bond the men together. They have used a summer cottage and penzions (hotels) outside of the city.

This time a few ladies went too, and shared a room about 40 kilometers outside of Prague in an old penzion near the Sternburk castle.

The prayer meeting starts at 9:00 p.m. with Bible reading out loud through one book of the Bible. The first chapter is read, and then one of the men prays. The pattern is repeated with each section broken up with a 5 or 10 minute break for tea and water. The pattern is repeated until 5:00 a.m. when the men sleep until morning and then have breakfast. The prayer meetings are also a time of fasting.

The men pray for our church Baptisticke shromazdeni Praha, this country, the Czech people, family and friends, our pastor and NTBC, missionaries and pastors, and for God to send revival….

Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

(The look of laboring in prayer in an all night prayer meeting!)

OUR NEW BLESSING!

2010-02-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

About 2 1/2 years ago, we decided that since the American dollar had dropped so drastically, that we would sell our car and "foot it" for a while.

Prague has a lot of mass transit (buses, subways, trams) all around us so this was not hard to do, just more time consuming. It has been a bit of a sacrifice but not as bad as it might seem. However, for the sake of the ministry here, we realized once again, the value of having a vehicle of our own.

We began praying about this need and through a couple of our supporting churches and a few individuals, the Lord provided enough to buy our bright yellow, Czech made "Skoda". It may look like a little lemon, but it is actually quite nice!

Isn't the Lord just so good!

Preparing For What God Can Do

2010-01-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

This past week, we enjoyed a visit with 3 men from the Couriers for Christ group out of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Bro. Larry Ingalls, (who is supported by our own home church), Bro. Ken Stertz and Bro. Don Stertz, spent 3 days running around Prague looking at meeting halls that would be big enough and nice enough for a special meeting that we will be hosting in September.

Just take a look at this beautiful building, called the Narodni Dum or National House, here in the center of Prague. The room we are renting is called the Lighthouse hall.

We are thrilled to be able to rent it for this special meeting. Every visitor for this evening will receive a new Bible. We are planning to have 1,000 nice Bibles printed before the meeting. It seems so very unreal…that such a small congregation of people (10 members to be exact) can be used for such a large job here in this large city of 1.2 million people. SURELY…little is MUCH when GOD is in it!!!

Genesis 18:14 "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Our men are praying fervently every Friday night for revival among their people in the Czech Republic. Will you pray with us for revival in Prague?

More snow in Prague!

2010-01-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

Snow certainly is not unusual in Larimore---but in Prague, it really is!! This year we managed to accumulate over 12 inches of the white stuff. This is most unusual and the most we have ever seen in all our years here.

But as you can see by the pictures, the snow did not keep our faithful members from being in their church on Sunday morning.

As you can see, there is little plowing done here, which makes the streets very hard to drive on.

Job 37:6 "For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth..."

Winter Happens Even in Prague!

2010-01-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

You are not alone in North Dakota! Even WE got snow in Prague!

Look Who is in Prague Right Now?

2010-01-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

Our own missionary, Larry Ingalls and the men of Couriers for Christ. They are doing preparation work for the Prague Campaign in September.

Special Guests

2010-01-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Pastor Bruce and Billie Miller, Foothills Baptist Church in Loveland, Colorado, have been faithfully supporting the Rettig family for years. What a blessing for them to write to us and say they would "be in the area" to visit before Christmas time.

We were so pleased to have Pastor Miller as the special speaker for our yearly Christmas banquet.

We enjoyed a lovely evening for our banquet, which was held in a lovely private room in a restaurant with a fireplace, wonderful salmon meal, and privacy for us to sing and have a devotional time.

All of the members were able to invite someone special as their guests, and so a number of first time visitors were present for the Christmas celebration and the Word of God.

Encouraging Times

2009-12-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Every year, Pastor and Mrs. Thornsley and the Victory Baptist Church of Stuttgart, Germany, host a wonderful turkey dinner and fellowship time for missionaries and pastors from all over Europe. This year, this military church welcomed ten missionary families for this refreshing time of food and fellowship. The next day we spent a little bit of time in the Christmas marketplace.

Moments like this are treasured times for missionaries and we enjoyed this brief time away from the work in Prague.

An American Thanksgiving in Prague

2009-12-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Thanksgiving is not a holiday in the Czech Republic, but for the fourth year in a row, we have celebrated being thankful in our home and have invited a few people from our church family to join us. This year Roman and Petr did the work in the kitchen.

The folks look forward to eating some, as they say, “unusual foods”…like pecan and pumpkin pies, stuffing and sweet potatoes…

At the same time....some of our men went into the city to see the repeat of the historical march in the Prague streets that brought about the Velvet Revolution. They retraced the steps before freedom came to this country of Czechoslovakia, on November 17, 1989 - 20 years ago. Another reason for us to be thankful! God threw open a wide door for us to get the gospel in to this atheistic country. By faith, we have stepped through that open door. God has done the rest. We are thankful!

The Velvet Revolution

2009-11-02T14:44:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 17th, will be the 20th anniversary for freedom in the Czech and Slovak republics. 20 years ago this month, the Czechoslovak citizens protested against the Communist regime, removing them from power. The Velvet Revolution had occurred over a six week period in 1989. Hundreds of Czechs, and many of them students, crowded a number of places in Prague, protesting against an oppressive government.

The protest began as a legal rally, but soon turned into a demonstration at Narodni Trida, and almost 170 students were injured. On November 26th there was a huge demonstration of 750,000 people at Letna Park, followed by a strike on November 27th. These two acts were devastating to the Communist regime. The Czechoslovak government was totally unprepared for the public support for the students' cause, and within 6 weeks, stepped down. The people came back night after night to Wensalas' Square, Letna Park and Narodni Trida to gingle their keys, wave their flags and shout, "Uz je to tady!" which sinply means - "It's here!" Freedom had come to the Czechoslovak people.

Last week I made a stop to Narodni Trida, to one of my favorite department stores . Since I had not been there since the spring months, I was totally unprepared for what changes had been made to the store. The whole first floor had nothing but expensive perfumes and jewelry. All the other floors had all the lastest fashions with prices that I could not even consider. What happened to this store? Prague has changed so much since we made our first trip to visit the country in 1992. The Prague of the old days is gone and all of its culture with it.

I can remember years ago clearly enjoying hopping from one little shop to another, just to be able to stumble through my lousy Czech language to express what I wanted to buy. It was a real challenge (and confusion!) and certainly a great way to meet people and wait for them to ask me where I was from and why we were in their country. Every shop was unique in its own way...the bakery (pekarna), the flowershop (kvetinarstvi), and the coffee shops were wonderful (kavarna) and inexpensive. But now, this side of the world has changed so much since then. There is such a demand to be "like the west." It is a completely different city than it was back then.

As much as there is a desire for "change" in this country, there is also the desire NOT to change. Just this last week I had a second Bible study with a sweet young university student. She believes, like so many others, that there simply is no God, no Jesus, no law, no God's Word, and creation is only a fairytale. Yet, for some reason, she has been willing to come to Bible study and listen. Maybe it's a desire for "change" in her life, as so many here desire, but we're thankful that she will come and listen. Our dear Czech members in the mission work here, have been so faithful to PRAY and seek HIS face for revival in their country.

I long for the day when the doors of heaven open and we are able to shout, "Uz je to tady!" which simply means - "It's here!" Freedom is why we are here. John 8:32 says..."And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." REAL freedom is what the Czech Republic needs. Freedom from sin and the bondage to sin.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2.

THANK YOU for your prayers and support - for the FREEDOM for the Czech people.

Our Fall Retreat

2009-10-08T19:36:00.000-07:00

The group of members in the Prague mission work took our yearly two-day church retreat. This was the first year that all our members were able to attend together.

We drove to the small town of Mala Skala, near the border of Poland.

This little town’s name means little rock. The theme of our retreat was I Timothy 3:16 “…the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

What a beautiful area this was for us to spend two days in quality time of prayer, Bible study and singing.

Our accommodations were two small houses, side by side, each complete with bedrooms, fireplace, bath, kitchen and a nice patio and yard.

What a refreshing time it was in spending time with our Great God and His wonderful people.

Shopping in the Czech Republic…

2009-10-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

Shopping in the Czech Republic has changed a lot since we first came to this country. On November 17, 2009, it will have been twenty years since the Revolution began. By the end of that year, Vaclav Havel, the dissident who led the revolution, was president. Many things have changed in the Czech Republic besides the name itself.

Years ago, the groceries stores here were called “potraviny.” Today there are still a few potraviny stores who are just barely keeping their heads above water. These shops are small, sometimes dusty and the aisles were wide enough for only one person at a time and only using a very small grocery cart. There was no packaged meat, only one kind of tea (black), one brand of toothpaste, one kind of toilet paper (borderline sandpaper!) no egg cartons (just eggs in a bag) and fruits and vegetables that were not very fresh looking. Most Czechs went to shop Monday through Friday for fresh food. On Saturday and Sundays, the shops were always closed.

Seventeen years ago, Jack and Kim Hammond came with my husband, Jon, and I on our first survey trip, to what was then called, Czechoslovakia. During that week, Kim and I tried a number of different small shops for buying our food. It was a bit difficult back then because only a few people spoke English, and we spoke almost NO Czech at all! We didn't know how we would get our Czech Koruna (currency or crowns), how to talk to anyone, how to get around or even how to buy food. Some canned goods that looked like tuna fish, ended up being something we weren't even interested in trying. One shop Kim and I went into had a painted line on the inside of the front of the door. We never even guessed that it meant that we should wait behind the line for our turn to shop. Kim entered first and began to gather food and cans into her arms. The cashiers began to yell at her! Since we couldn't understand them and didn’t know what we were doing wrong, she just continued shopping. A few years later I found out that only five ladies at a time were allowed in the shop and that all other shoppers had to wait their turn behind the painted line until a lady finished her shopping and would hand her the basket.

How things have changed!

Today the stores are just like the convenient ones we have in the US. Fresh breads and fresh meats, fruits and vegetables are put out every day. The stores are open 7 days a week and have friendly cashiers and wide aisles. There are now many kinds and brands of everything imaginable. Toilet paper is soft and the assortment of tea is fantastic. Eggs are now in egg cartons, and meat is packaged and ready to throw into your cart. An interesting fact about shopping here is that many people walk their dog to the store and tie them up outside while they go shopping. We have seen the nearest store to us have as many as 10 dogs outside of it doors waiting for their masters.

Just to exchange food prices, this week I paid… $.58 for 1 liter (1.5 quarts) of milk, $.76 for 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) of sugar, $1.75 for 1 kilogram of peaches, $5.30 for 1 kilogram of boneless chicken and $6.41 for 1 liter of olive oil.

We may not have everything we could buy in the U.S. and the quality of fresh produce may not always be available, but we have much more than we used to have available to us. Now the problem is the instability of the exchange rate. Continue to pray about that for us.

Our little Czech babies are growing fast!!

2009-09-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Baptist Assembly in Prague, are enjoying the little boys born to Roman and Monika and Pavel and Jana.

Matous and Pavlik and their beautiful mommies! They are faithful women raising the next generation to know and serve the Lord in the Czech Republic.

Pray for them.

Prophecy Month

2009-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

September will be prophecy month in the Baptist Assembly in Prague. Every Wednesday evening we will be having prophecy messages. The overall theme is The Future of Planet Earth, which consists of four messages on the Rapture, the Antichrist, Armageddon, and Millennium.

Jana and Amy decorated the windows of our building with signs advertising the meetings. People stopped by our building, read the signs and were curious. This is exactly what we wanted. Please pray that someone will take their curiosity one step further and come through the door this coming month.

John 4:35 “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”

Passing Booklets

2009-08-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Even though it has been very hot, we have made a special effort
every day to get out and pass out Proverbs in Prague. This is
the time of the year many people leave the panalak building
doors open and we are able to get in them, when normally they
are closed tight and people are not so willing to let us in.
We have a large map of Prague in the church where we color in
red the sections of the city we have covered. The Proverbs
booklet has a gospel tract inside of it, information about our
church services and the Chick tract, "This Was Your Life".

Two Cute Little Czech Boys

2009-08-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

For the past 15 years, the Czech work has had only adults. Now, a new dimension has been added to our group, with these two, "too cute" little Czech boys, Pavlik (Paja) and Matous (Maty). These little fellows are keeping us hopping in our services and keep our new nursery very busy. Even the men in the church take turns watching the boys. The biggest blessing of all this is that these boys are related and will grow up together in the same family - and in the same church!

A Visit With Our Son

2009-08-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our son David was able to fly to North Dakota to visit with us before we returned to the Czech Republic. We had a wonderful visit!

A fun brother-sister moment…

Our Time in the United States

2009-07-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

Our time in the USA is quickly coming to a close. We just enjoyed a wonderful, soul stirring week of Family Camp with our home church in North Dakota. God met with us in so many incredible ways. We are full to overflowing with the richness of His blessings. Our family is better equipped for the work that God has called us to in Prague. We will be returning to our field of service on Monday, July 27.

Singing at camp!

Fellowship with dear Christian friends…

There are babies to love everywhere!

Sowing the Seed

2009-07-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

We have started passing out the new Proverbs booklets with several eager helpers.

Tomas

Vladimir

One little helper joined the team. Isn't Pavlik adorable?

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." Isaiah 9:2

A Fun Surprise!

2009-07-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Upon our arrival back in North Dakota, our church family took an offering and came up with money to buy Jon four new suits, five shirts, four ties, a new belt, new shoes and also new eye glasses! How blessed we were and humbled by their kindness to us.

We had lots of good help in making good choices too!

We topped our fun day off with a wonderful Italian dinner at Johnny Corino's. A perfect ending to a fantastic day!

English Lessons

2009-07-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, Amy and I started to teach 12 ladies English lessons. We did this at our church building as an outreach in the area where our church is located.

Our last lesson for the year was this week. The ladies were so kind and brought us gifts. We had such a nice a time together.

Almost all of the ladies have taken home some of our literature. Two of the ladies came to church services and two of the ladies attended our music and film night activities.

Psalm 126:5 "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy."

More Blessings to Share!

2009-06-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Another blessing has come our way!

A family in Prague is moving back to the states and gave us these four items to be used in our church nursery. And they were all FREE to us! Isn't the Lord good!

Precious Cargo Has Arrived in Prague!

2009-06-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we got word that our shipment of 55,000 Proverbs, 10,000 John/Romans, a tract Jon wrote called True Freedom and 40,000 “This Was Your Life”, Chick tracts, all in the Czech language, was at the dock in Germany. Everything we had prayed for concerning the arrival of the shipment, God answered and provided.

All went very smoothly for which we are very grateful. Other missionaries have tried for 5 months to get a container cleared through customs that was sent by Couriers for Christ. We are humbly grateful for God’s help and provision in this precious cargo.

After we paid customs on Wednesday morning, the truck was at our church on Ladova Street by 7:45 am Thursday! Tomas planned and led the unloading of all the boxes.

Tomas even hired his lost brother and his mother to help us carry in the printed gospel.

The idea for the Proverbs booklet printing began when Bro. Tom Furse was here in January of 2008. He was excited about the idea and wanted to take on the project. They raised money and did the printing and packing. Couriers for Christ took on the project to provide shipping and added the 40,000 Chick tracts. When they learned that we would be paying over $700.00 customs tax for the import, they also provided for that.

God has so miraculously paved the way for us to get this shipment and we cannot praise Him enough!

Praise the Lord! We have a lot of work to do for Him!

Hawaii Comes to Prague...

2009-06-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

Today was a lovely day in the house of the Lord. Good singing and great preaching. After the service we headed to our house for an Hawaiian Luau (thanks to decorations I was able to get from the Dollar Store in the USA!).

We enjoyed great food and fellowship with these dear Czech brethren.

Several ladies who are now attending one on one Bible study were also there.

Marie, the lady in purple comes to my English class and is very open. She is shown here with Mirka.

Mirka, has been attending church since November and has been doing one on one Bible study since February.

They all enjoyed being with our group for this fun dinner. This is Dana, the one holding baby Matous.

She is blind. She too, has been studying the Bible with us since February.

After our meal, Pavel showed his slides of his trip to America.

It was enjoyable to hear him share his own "missions trip" and how he was able to serve in the Victory Baptist Church in Londonderry, NH, while visiting the USA.

Hope you are reaching out to church members and lost ones there in your mission field too. Enjoy the people God places in your life right now. So many things can change in a moment of time...

It's Summer Time in Prague!

2009-05-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Petr Vanek, has been saved for five years and is a faithful church member here in Prague. He loves gardening, cooking and his farm. He enjoys singing specials in our church and is in charge of our church kitchen. He willingly serves coffee, tea and cookies after the Sunday service. Pretty incredible for a man isn't it? He came on Saturday to help me plant a bush and some flowers in our yard. Petr's servants heart is a blessing.

Our Trip To Boston, MA

2009-05-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

We have arrived home in Prague, Czech Republic after a wonderful trip to Boston, Ma. for my parents' anniversary celebration. Pavel and Jana were such a blessing to my family as well as to the Victory Baptist Church in Londonderry, New Hampshire. They were able to share their testimonies of salvation in Christ and Pastor Messer asked Pavel to preach. What a blessing these dear young Christians were!

Sightseeing in Rockport, Ma.

Dave Rettig, Pavel, Jana and Amy Rettig

Preparing to go whale watching in the Atlantic ocean! A first for these Czechs.

What a blessing to have my father come to church to hear Pavel give his testimony.

Here, from left to right: My Dad, Pavel, my son David.

Faithful Men

2009-05-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Our dear Bro. Tomas continues to faithfully keep up our Czech website. It has been six months since Pastor and Mrs. Shaffer have been here with us. Pastor Shaffer's messages on marriage relationships have continued to have an impact on a number of people here. Tomas records the messages and makes them available on the front page of our Czech web site. They are also on CD's for our people to share with the lost. Most all of our members have given them to friends.

Vladimir has also had a number of opportunities to share these messages with a co-worker, whom he was able to talk with about the "crazy cycle" (which he learned from the marriage seminar) and then used it as an opportunity to witness. These faithful men are such a blessing. Their burden for their own people never wavers. They just believe that God can do in other's lives, just what He has done in theirs. Amen!

Pray For Our Trip!

2009-05-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

At this posting, Amy and I have flown to the U.S. for an anniversary celebration for my (Emilie) parents in Boston. The tickets were a gift from my parents. Pavel, his wife Jana and little Pavlik have also flown to Boston with a desire to meet my family and be a testimony to them. My folks and my sisters are really looking forward to meeting them.

I believe that having my parents and sisters meet one couple for whom we've given our lives to reach, will confirm for them, why we are doing - what we are doing in Prague, Czech Republic. Please pray for all of my family. I will be seeing sisters that I have not seen in as many as 12 years. I am looking forward to seeing them all again.

My parents want to take Pavel and Jana to the ocean to see the harbor and to eat seafood. Pavel and Jana have strong testimonies for the Lord and they are more excited about showing Christ to my family than doing the sightseeing!

I will share a few pictures of our quick trip back to the states, in a few days.
Pray for our safety and witness opportunities.

A Very Special Service

2009-04-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

Under the authority of New Testament Baptist Church, our sending church, the Baptist Assembly in Prague was able to observe their very first Lord's Supper service. It was a special experience for the baptized believers here.

Our Easter Program

2009-04-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

Our presentation of the crucifixion story at the orphanage, went well on Easter. Along with the children who were there, we were able to share the gospel in drama and song to 11 adults. Thank you to all who prayed for this outreach.

Our Easter Outreach Is Coming Up…

2009-04-07T07:03:00.001-07:00

On Easter Sunday, the members of the Baptisticske Shromazdeni Praha (the Baptist Assembly in Prague) will be giving a live performance of the Crucifixion and Resurrection story for an orphanage with about 50 children and 10 adult workers.

The story begins with narration from Roman Kratky, who sets the story according to the gospels.

The first scene is the Triumphant entry of Jesus with the people shouting, "Hosanna, Hosanna....and zde je nas Kral!" (Here is our King!) and then singing "Hosanna" and On Je Pan" ("He is Lord").

The part of Judas Iscariot, is played very well by Tomas Merunka, (who happens to have a beard right now). He looks quite sinister with his black hat and when he uses a deep voice. The group sings "Mam srdce z kamene" ("Have I a Heart of Stone.") after the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

Pavel Stetina plays the part of Peter. He is accused 3 times by the servants and guards (Amy, Jana and Petr) of being with Jesus and he angrily denies this only to later repent of his sin, fall on his knees and cry out for forgiveness in a solo "Muj hrich je stale tu prede mnou" ("My Sin is Ever Before me").

The angry crowd cries out Ukřižujte Ho!“ Ukřižujte Ho!“ ("Crucify Him, crucify Him!") Our ladies sing “Jezis pred Pilatem” (“What Will You do With Jesus?”)

The narration then continues to explain the death on the cross. Petr Vanek is very convincing with a small but important part as the Roman Centurion, who stands by the cross and cries out, "Truly this was the Son of God!" The men's quartet sings "Byl jsi tam?" ("Were You There?")

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalena, (Monika Kratka) and other ladies (Jana Stetinova and Amy Rettig) go to the tomb in the morning only to find the tomb empty. An angel (played by Vladimir Zdimal) speaks to them.

Mary and Simona run away to tell the other disciples that the stone has been moved away, but Mary remains at the tomb and as she is weeping, Pastor and Emilie sing, “Proc, places?”
(“Weep No More”).

The drama is finished with the narration about the resurrected Saviour and everyone sings “Zije Pan” (“Hallelujah, Christ Arose”).

After the program is finished, we will sing a number of songs with the children.

Special Guest in Prague

2009-04-04T17:21:00.001-07:00

President Obama is in Prague! We were able to stop by the street that his motorcade was coming through on from the airport. There were people lined up as though a parade was coming, so we stopped, parked and joined them.

President Obama will be warmly received here. He is speaking at 10:00 AM on Sunday morning. We get to hear a great speaker tomorrow too.....at the Baptist Church in Prague.

Mirka

2009-04-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a lovely picture of Mirka.

She has been coming faithfully to church since November. Now she has been doing the one on one Bible study with me since January. She sometimes brings her daughter, Katcinka and her friend Inka (Regina), who is also very open. This lady is very sweet. She loves our church and says the people are humble. She had heard all of our testimonies and she is seeking to have the Lord as her own Savior. There have been, of course, many obstacles thrown in the way....please pray for her!

She sees a real difference in the lives of the people in the church here, especially Vladimir. She is one of the very reasons why we are here, doing what we are doing for Jesus sake.

We’ve been blessed!

2009-03-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today’s service was bathed in prayer. Our men prayed Friday night until midnight, asking God for souls....

This morning we had 18 people in the services. 5 of them were visitors. One man (looking for money) 2 old ladies from Texas, and Mirka, who has been faithfully attending since Nov. brought her daughter and her friend, Inka. The special in song by the quartet was "Ask and It Shall be Given" translated by Pavel and Jana. Jon preached on the changed life of Mary Magdalena.

The saved and baptized members of the Baptist Assembly in Prague.

Roman's Birthday

2009-03-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

Roman had a birthday last week and we were able to go out to dinner with Monika and him. It was a beautiful evening with this dear Christian brother and sister in the Lord.

Now that's a dessert!

Moving Day!

2009-03-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

Moving Day!

All moved in...

The Office

The Bedroom

The Bathroom

Entrance/Hallway

Kitchen

This is our new and very modern tram stop "Poliklinika”, which is located less than 5 minutes from our new apartment. The Lord is so good.

Special Prayer Request

2009-02-07T16:44:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 7 we are making an emergency flight to America. Jon’s mother passed away this week. We have lost both Jon’s father and mother, this year.

Please pray for us during this time that we can be a witness. We will only be in America one week. The day we return, Thursday, February 12, we move into our new apartment.

Answered Prayer

2009-02-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

We are going to move our home to a better location. The Lord has answered prayer for us in this move. It will save us $450.00 a month and bring us closer to the church people and to church itself. We have found the perfect apartment for us.

There are more people living in Prague 5 than anywhere else in Prague. The buildings very often have their mailboxes on the outside, which is a great blessing for those who are passing tracts and can't get into the tall buildings. Many of the buildings are 12-15 stories high. This is where we found this nice apartment. We thank the Lord for answered prayer.

This is Barrandov...

This is the back terrace for our flat. There are 2 and they have grass, bushes and room for BBQ's!

Here is a look at our new neighborhood.

We prayed for many things that we will have in this apartment...open space, closets, terrace, 1st floor, grocery store nearby (the grocery store is actually right under us!!!),and to be nearer to some of the members of the church. We also wanted to be closer to the tram stop which is just 5 minutes away!

We are thrilled with what God has done!

Update on Film Night

2009-02-01T12:14:00.001-08:00

Dear church family,

Thank you for praying for our film night. Last night 11 visitors came to see the film, The Privileged Planet at a nearby hotel in the Suchdol, Praha 6 area . Our church members were excited to have the opportunity to have new people to witness to and invite to services. A couple of the visitors stayed for quite a while afterwards and almost all of them took our literature home with them.

Special Outreach

2009-01-26T08:46:00.000-08:00

We are showing the film, "The Privileged Planet“ this Friday as an outreach in Suchdol – in Prague 6. Please pray for new contacts, especially university students through this outreach. The Agricultural University is here in Suchdol. Tomas did a good job on designing the flyer.

Dedicating The Next Generation

2009-01-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

A first in the Czech Republic! On January 18, 2009, in our Sunday services, two of our couples publically dedicated their first born child back to God.

Pastor Rettig preached about the prayer of Hannah and her willingness to give back to God, the gift He gave to her, in her son Samuel.

What a blessing to begin the nurturing of a second generation in the Baptist Assembly in Prague. God is good!

God's Provision

2009-01-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

The Baptist Assembly in the Czech Republic, has created more useable space in the basement area of the small building we rent in Prague. We have space for an office, a classroom for Bible studies and a nursery for the two new little ones born in our church family. God is good to provide just what we need, when we need it.

Faithful Men

2009-01-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

This is the group of faithful men who come EVERY Friday evening after work to pray for 2 hours. They drink tea and take prayer requests, then they go to the living room and stay on their faces in prayer. It is such a privilege to know such men! They do this out of great care and concern for their people and their country.

The Next Generation in Baptisticke shromazdeni Praha

2009-01-05T15:29:00.001-08:00

On Sunday, January 4th, 2009, the Baptisticke shromazdeni Praha enjoyed having 2 new visitors in their services. Pavel Stetina (3 weeks) and Matous Kratky (6 weeks) joined their moms, dads and other members in the Prague services. What a blessing for all of us to have these two little boy cousins following in the steps of mom, dad, aunt and uncle. Matous and Pavel represent a new generation in the church of young people who need to be reached for Christ.

Matthew 6:33
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness;
and all these things shall be added unto you."

(Jana's favorite verse)

Sweet Baby Pavel

2008-12-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

Baby #2 in Prague is born!

2008-12-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

On December 19, 2008 at 1:40PM Pavel Stetina and Jana Stetinova welcomed their first little boy into the world. Little Pavel (Pavlik), named after his father and his grandfather, weighs 7.5 lbs and 20 inches long. He has grey-blue eyes, fairly dark hair and is very alert. His mommy is very content and very happy. :-)

Special Message from Roman, Monika, and Matous

2008-12-13T07:45:00.001-08:00

Dear friends,

Some of you already know that our son Matous (Matthew) was born last Sunday, Nov 30 at 11.30 am. Here we are sending a first moments of his life.

Thank you for your prayers. Our Lord gave to Monika a piece and strength to deliver this sweet baby that we love so much. It was unexpected delivery as the due date was Dec 21. Thanks to God baby and Monika were in perfect condition and health. It is a miracle that only God can do.

We praise our God for his mercy and love towards us. We have heard it so many times but now we truly understand what it means when the Bible says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". We want to cry and have no words......

We love you all,

Roman, Monika and Matous

New Birth in Prague

2008-12-01T12:02:00.001-08:00

Baby # 1 is born in Prague.

Roman and Monika Kratky are the blessed parents of their first born son, Matous (Matthew) Kratky.

He was born 3 weeks early and in great health. He was 2.85 kilo (about 5 1/2-6 lbs) with brown hair and blue eyes.

Isn't the Lord just so good!

Winter in Prague

2008-11-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

Prague is looking more like North Dakota ought to look. We hear you are basking in early Oct. temperatures and no snow! We will enjoy our snow for you.

Our Holy Land Trip - Continued

2008-11-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

When you know your Bible, viewing these real places, is breath taking. It's like looking at the Bible in living color.

John 5:2 "Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches."

More From Our Holy Land Trip

2008-11-20T13:13:00.001-08:00

Being there brings the scriptures to life!

The Kidron Valley and Absalom's Pillar

2 Samuel 15:23 "And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness."

2 Samuel 18:18 "Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place."

Our Trip to Israel

2008-11-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

The Rettig family has returned from our family trip to Israel. What a wonderful time we had! Jon picked up a "bug" from water or food and has been very ill since we returned. He is recovering and doing better by the day.

The pictures below were taken in the small village of Ein Kerem located in the Judean hills west of Jerusalem. This is where John the Baptist was born, and the place to which Mary came to visit Elizabeth.

These pictures tell the story of our Great Saviour. Here is Calvary, Golgotha and the tomb.

Mark 15:22 "And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull."

John 19:17 "And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:"

John 20:3-7 "Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself."

Certificate

2008-11-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

Jana finished her thorough studies in the ABC's of Christian Growth and was the first member in the Baptist Assembly to receive her certificate.

What a blessing to see a former atheist studying the Word of God so thoroughly.