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Pavel and Julia Raus’
Family News Letter
January - April 2004
On the May 1st the
Czech Republic
joined together with other countries the European Union. Many people have mixed
feelings about that change. The bureaucratic European system, loss of
sovereignty and national identity and especially expected increase of prices
makes many afraid. On the other hand there is an expectation of the improvement
in many spheres of the society like justice and government. New easiness to
travel and new opportunities seem attractive to many. Christians are somewhat
afraid of highly liberal politics of many west European countries. I am
personally unhappy about the driving force behind the unification which is
economics. I believe that until things go economically well, the EU will work.
When there appear to be economic problems national differences and the old
unresolved history of conflicts will get to the surface and tensions will grow.
I am also afraid of the unrealistic foreign politics which in past led to the
two world wars. I do not believe that the politics changed significantly and
that
Europe
really learned the lesson.
Anyway, we are part of the
Europe
and changes in everyday life will not be many for average person. So the life
goes on. We continue to work as we did before.
I was told an
interesting story. In January I spoke at the conference about the Christian view
of sexuality. There were about 120 young people at the conference. The response
was very good. One young man told me lately that some statements from the
conference became slogans among his friends. That was a pleasant surprise for me
because I never realized the impact of the conference. The most encouraging
story was one which I herd several weeks ago. There was a young lady at the
conference. Her mother was a non-believer. She was divorced with quite confused
life. When her daughter arrived home she went through all the material from
Sexuality conference with her. Her mother was so touched that she gave that
night her life to Christ. They both are going now regularly to the local church
in their home town.
That was a very non-traditional method of evangelism. And also it
was a clear sign that God can use any part of his truth to reveal himself to the
hearts of people. During communist totalitarian regime any free expression of sexuality
was officially highly restricted. There was no pornography available, officially
no prostitution, etc. People at the end of communism lived very promiscuous
lives, divorce rate rapidly increased and morals declined. That was followed by
the period after the revolution when there were no restrictions. Anything was
possible and there was a feeling of absolute freedom as a response to the lack
of freedom in the previous regime. The dominating view of professional community
is a biological view on sexuality. At the same time there is a lot of pain. Men
and women who believe that sex is a game with no rules hurt themselves and
others. It is important that in such a situation Christians have their voice.
We continue in all our
programs, counseling and seminars.
Julia has been very
encouraged with the teenage girls group she started with another lady. Some, and
actually, all the girls have changed significantly. After almost two years of
hard work there is the fruit now. That is a good example of how things work
here. The ministry requires hard work and a lot of patience and it takes time to
see any fruit. But God is working in his time and in his way. It is basically an
evangelism, building relationships with the girls and loving them. Some of the
girls are from dysfunctional families. Julka started to go out with some of the
girls and it is interesting what a positive impact that has had. The girls are
now more stable and take their leaders seriously.
There is, actually, another lady who joined Julia and her friend in
leading the group. Julia and the friend had serious doubts about her. She was a
new Christian and unclear in her commitment. Often Julka and her friend were
frustrated and confused with her views and values. She has changed greatly
during last months. She is now committed and growing. They make a good team and
minister to the girls. The battle is not yet over but God is affirming his work.
The church situation
I finally decided not to run for an elder in our church. Many people
thought that I should but I think that I can be of better use when I would
support others who will be elders.
Family
We are worried for Jana. She was sick every month since September. We see
that as the result of the stress at her Czech schol. She is not giving up.
We wish to help her as much as we can.
Kristyna is busy at her school and a mission organization she has been
involved with.
Thank you for your
prayers and support!
Yours in Christ
Pavel and Julia
For financial support you can send
tax deductible contributions to:
Bridge
to Life Ministries,
POBox
5024,
Muskegon
,
MI
49445
Would you, please, make the
check out to Bridge to Life and designate the gift for CCMCR (Christian
Counseling Ministry in the
Czech Republic
). Thank you!
Parakletos News Letter November
2004
As we were very exhausted before the summer, we tried to get as much physical
rest in the following months as we could. That helped us to begin the new school
year physically in much better condition. We also had to make some changes to
our schedule and limit some of the activities which we had been involved in.
With our funding really stretched we found that we have to be careful in how
much we do to prevent extending ourselves overly. But God has been giving us
strength and we were able to continue with our ministry.
Apart from the physical exhaustion we found two other things difficult to
deal with. One was that the funds for the assistant pledged by one Czech
Christian businessman have never been given and the other was that after the
fundraising trip to the US there was no financial donation generated by the
trip. But God again helped us to survive and we are so thankful that we can turn
to Him in difficult times.
US Trip
In September Pavel was in the States to visit individuals and present
Parakletos at several meetings. It was good to meet many friends. We though also
realized that perhaps we should consider a different strategy for fundraising
for us. It seems that what we do is a pioneering ministry and even though the
need is obvious here in the Czech Republic and the whole Eastern Europe (and
probably around the globe), much more seems to have to be done to present that
new need in the States. As result we realized that we need to be much more
patient and we need to give a lot of attention to showing the urgency of the
need and the opportunities it represents for the church here.
New Assistant
We have an assistant Petra. She has been involved with us since September and
she is a very good person. She, actually, left a very top specialized place in
the country as physiotherapist just to work with us part time. She brought a lot
of excitement and new fresh ideas. It has been a joy to have her in the team.
New School Year
We continue to develop the lay counseling team in one church. The team
consists of 12 people and all of them are interested to be involved in helping
to the people in the church. We plan to continue to build the team, to do more
training and find creative ways how people can be ministered to by the team.
Just lately several people from the team expressed gratitude and shared how
meaningful the team meetings have been for them.
We continue also with other activities as in the last year. One person's
comment lately was that without Parakletos she would have been dead or
completely gave up on any hope. She is still struggling but she learned where
her enemy is and how to trust to God. Julia's church teenage girls ministry is
growing and the girls love it. Even though many of them go through difficulties
because they come from troubled families, some of them seek honestly God and
several of them committed themselves to God. Also Julia's women's ministry
continues even though in a very limited extent. There are several ladies who are
very grateful for every meeting with Julia and one lady expressed with tears in
her eyes that Julia's involvement in her life has been so meaningful to her.
New Need for An Office
Because in the Spring we will have to leave the office space we are using we
have a great need for a new office space. We can only rely on God for the
special provision because that is beyond our possibilities.
Family
The girls, Kristyna and Jana, have been working really hard for their school.
Even through the summer they had study and projects to accomplish. Kristyna
works on her IB this year and that keeps her very busy. The rest of the time the
girls spend with the mission group she has been involved with for last two years
and with their friends. I was speaking at one of their meetings about
discipleship in the Fall.
Just in this advent time we wish you peace and joy of the Lord and Merry
Christmas!
Thank you for standing with us! God's blessings!
Pavel and Julia
For financial support you can send tax deductible contributions to:
Bridge to Life Ministries, POBox 5024, Muskegon, MI 49445
Would you, please, make the check out to Bridge to Life and designate the
gift for CCMCR (Christian Counseling Ministry in the Czech Republic). Thank you!
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