The Ziska Family

To download a PDF version of this letter, including photos, click here.

Dear Praying Family & Friends,

In Austria Santa Claus doesn´t come on Thanksgiving day with the Macy´s Thanksgiving day parade and he doesn´t come on Christmas Eve either. St. Nicolaus (a man with a white beard and dressed like a bishop) comes to Austria on December 6th. The children leave out their shoes at night, and he fills them with nuts, fruit and chocolate candy. If the children have been naughty, they´ll find a lump of coal. The devil figure behind St. Nicolaus is called “Krampus”. Sometimes families have parties at this time of year to which both Krampus and St. Nicholas are invited. Officially Krampus comes on December 5th, rattling his chains and whipping people with his birch switches. In the villages they have parades where groups of Krampusses come into town. This internet site shows St. Nicolaus, angels and several Krampusses coming to a Nickolo party held in a hotel in Austria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjPBkrRybqU&feature=related.

To download a PDF of this letter with photos clink here.

Dear Praying Family & Friends,

Thanksgiving is the time of year where we think back on how much God has done for us. We have a lot for which to praise Him even in the last two months!

We had around 180 women come to the Klosterneuburg Women´s Breakfast in the middle of October. Praise God! Thank you for praying in particular for the special testimony given by Raphaela, who is the fiancée of Jonathan, our new part-time worker in the Klosterneuburg fellowship.

We wrote to you in September 2007 about the explosion of a boiler in a cabin in Austrian Alps on August 10, 2007. Three out of the 7 young Christians were killed. The young people were on an outing sponsored by the Austrian branch of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Sepp was one of the young men killed. He had just started studying at the Evangelical Academy (EVAK). Rüdiger was the other young man who died. He had worked for JAM (Jesus a Movement, an all-city youth program for Vienna). His brother, Norbert, was critically injured. After the accident he was kept in an artificial coma, but he ended up dying months later.

Please pray for the two-day seminar Joe will be teaching on December 4th & 5th. He will be covering Jewish holidays and customs, the role of Jews in the future, and how to witness to Jewish people. Part of the afternoon on Dec. 5th will include a visit to a large Jewish museum in downtown Vienna.

On December 11th five of us from our Klosterneuburg church will have a birthday/Christmas party for one of the children at a children´s home. One of our ladies will give a short devotional for Christmas. Pray that the children will begin to understand what Christmas is really about.

On Sunday December 19th we´ll be having an Advent concert in Klosterneuburg. Please pray that this will be a good outreach to our friends and contacts.