The Ziska Family

Dear Friends,

We want to wish you a joyful and blessed Christmas as well a wonderful new year!!

After a being sick much of November (bronchitis & 10 days of laryngitis – tough while doing “deputation”) I´m doing well again. My voice is back and the energy levels are back. On Dec. 7 I had my last chemotherapy in Seattle. Once again, I am having only mild side effects. PTL!!

From Dec. 10- 19 we were in western Illinois visiting churches and friends. On Sunday I delivered my last sermon for these 6 months in the USA, and we made a bunch of visits. (Brenda was still struggling a bit with bronchitis.) Then in the evening it was time to pack the suitcases again.

Yesterday we flew to Atlanta. I have two sisters who live north of the city with their families – i.e. 5 grown children with five grandchildren. We´ll be visiting these families until Friday. Then we fly onto Delaware, where my brother and his wife live. His 4 sons (including 3 wives and one granddaughter) will be gathering there. We´ll spend the Christmas holiday with all of them.

Dear Friends,

We are coming to the close of our time in the Pacific NW. Daniel got back to Vienna already yesterday. On Dec. 7 I get my final chemotherapy here in Seattle. (Presumably the chemo series will be continued in Vienna after the start of the new year.)

Next week Brenda and I fly to Illinois to visit three of our supporting churches in the western part of the state. Then we spend Dec. 19-29 with family members on the East Coast. By Dec. 30 we should be back in Vienna.

As you remember from our presentations in the past months Vienna is both a spiritually needy and humanly attractive place. The latter has once more been documented by a major international agency: 

Vienna: For the 3rd time in a row, the world's Most Livable City

Praise God that the oncologist in Seattle has said that the chemotherapy is working very well after only three treatments (2 in Cleveland & 1 in Seattle). Joe has just had his 4th chemotherapy and his PSA has already gone down. Thank you, Jesus. He will be having one last treatment in America on Dec. 7th before we leave Seattle to visit 3 Illinois supporting churches.

Daniel will be flying back to Austria on December 1st. Please pray that he will be able to find a job. David´s job has gone from temporary work to a permanent contract. The boss of the company has said David may be transferred to the IT department in January. Thank you, God.

Our time with our churches in Canada and Washington has been very encouraging. Pray for the time we will be spending with our 3 supporting churches in Illinois from Dec. 10th to 19th. Because Joe began chemotherapy in September, we had to postpone going to Illinois. We´re thankful to be able to visit our friends in this area before we head back to Austria.

Thank you for praying about the 2nd chemotherapy in Ohio. Joe again had no nausea and we were able to finish our meetings and visits plus pack for our next area of ministry in the Northwest. Joe said that he feels as strong as he did a year ago. Thank you for supporting us with your prayers while we were with you at Parkside. It was fun to be there with you and share in your lives for a while.

We arrived in Washington on October 6th. Joe held three workshop seminars at the Missions Fest in Seattle and taught an Adult class at Crossroads Bible Church in Bellevue on the weekend we arrived. Everything went very well. We´re praising the Lord for His abundant provision for us in the Northwest.

We have a very nice place to live with Brian & Susan Keys in Bellevue. We´re staying in their basement which is set up like two apartments and also has a pool table and ping pong table for us to use!! At this point we even have two cars available to use while we´re here in Washington and British Columbia. Isn´t God´s provision amazing!

Here are our praise & prayer requests:

Thank you for praying.  Joe had his chemotherapy on Mon., Sept. 12th. I had asked people to pray that “the nausea is kept to a minimum…. “ One of the ladies that talked with me at the Mission´s Table at Parkside told me the following, “I´m going to pray that he has no nausea.”! Wow! That´s just what happened. He never threw up! He had hardly any reaction to the therapy. I could hardly believe it. He even had the opportunity to minister in 4 meetings that week and enjoyed every minute of it. One was on the day he had his treatment. What an amazing answer to pray. Thank you God!!!

Pray that Joe will handle the second chemotherapy treatment on Sept. 30 as well as he did the first one. We will be moving to Washington on Oct. 6th. Immediately after we arrive Joe will be holding 3 seminars on Oct. 8th at the Missions Fest Seattle. He will also be leading an adult class on Oct. 9th.

Download the PDF of this letter which includes photos here.

Dear Family & Friends,

Since we´ve arrived in Ohio on June 8th, there has hardly been a dull moment. We have enjoyed being with family and friends and ministering in three of our supporting churches here in Ohio.

Thank you for praying for the radiation (gamma knife) treatment Joe had at the end of July. Praise God that it had good results - the numbness in his feet and legs has virtually disappeared. Because the treatment was successful, we were able to go ahead with our vacation plans to see my niece in California and to take a trip to Nevada to see my sister and brother-in-law, who I haven´t seen for 20 years. Bob, Audrey Mae, Joe & I had fun being together again. We also visited our mission headquarters for a 5-day retreat in Colorado. It was a nice break.

Joe has some further tests on August 31. Then the doctors will review all the tests and talk with us about what the right ongoing therapy should be, e.g. the choice of chemotherapy. Pray that the doctors and we will have God´s wisdom about the next steps. 

We´ve had to postpone visiting our three supporting churches in Illinois because of Joe´s further treatment. However, we´re hoping to catch our Illinois friends in the beginning weeks of December as we head east to visit Joe´s family for Christmas. We´ll land in Vienna on December 30th at 5.55 p.m. and celebrate New Year´s Eve in Austria!

Dear Friends,

As I mentioned previously for the past weeks Brenda and I have typically had 2-3 visits at the Clinic per week. Everyone at the Cleveland Clinic has been extremely helpful in expediting my case. It´s pretty amazing considering the scope of examinations & tests that needed to be squeezed into the schedules of busy people.

I had the SBRT therapy (gamma rays shot at my spinal tumors; 8 highly precise shots lasting a couple of minutes each) already last Thursday afternoon. After a bit of a rugged time on Friday (aching in the legs and general lethargy), I´m feeling much better now.

Dear Friends,

We want to again give an update of the events in our lives from the recent weeks.

We got off to a reasonably good start in Cleveland with meetings, and we made a number of personal contacts. However within those first weeks here, I got bronchitis (a 2-week struggle), and shortly thereafter Brenda got couple of infections. All that slowed us a bit, and then we started a rather comprehensive series of doctor´s visits. Recently we´ve had doctor´s (or dentist) appointments ca. 3 times a week. My times at the Cleveland Clinic have often lasted 3-6 hours per day.

The bottom line regarding my cancer is that the tumors have grown significantly, and they are now putting pressure on my spine. This accounts both for the discomfort in my lower back and for the weakness/numbness in my legs.

Please be praying for our housing arrangements in Illinois and Washington starting in the middle of September when we leave the Cleveland area thru to the middle of December. We will also be needing a car to use in both areas.

Pray for the time we´ll be in Ohio, that we´ll be able to share effectively with our prayer and financial supporters the exciting things God is doing in Austria and thank them for being a part of the ministry. Praise God for Daniel´s continued opportunity to work with Godly men on the custodial staff.

Pray that David will be able to find a job in Austria.

Continue to pray for the leadership team of the Klosterneuburg fellowship. Pray for the special outreaches they will be doing this summer in the parks.