The Ziska Family

Download the Ziska June Praise & Prayer letter with photos here.

Dear Praying Family & Friends,

We´re praising God for the many things He has done in the last few months. We´re sure you´ll feel the same way after you read our update for May and June.

The medical treatment and medicine that Joe has been taking have been very expensive. It has made us very thankful for the insurance that we are privileged to have through Greater Europe Mission. We received a very big surprise when God led us to change Joe´s treatment at the end of April. It should have been very expensive, but it´s costing us and the insurance company nothing! Joe´s receiving the medicine, plus he regularly gets free blood tests, MRIs, or body scans. I would have never thought of praying that we pay nothing for Joe´s cancer treatment!

Dear friends & family!

I haven´t been writing because since mid-April I´ve been struggling both with illness and some pain issues. As you may know I was supposed to join a research project with a new cancer medication. Because of increasing pain I got a new med which apparently threw something off on in my liver. Since then the oncologist has been experimenting with different meds.

Praise the Lord for the music and teaching tour of Don & Susie Newby throughout Austria that Joe Ziska organized in April. The worship workshop and Sunday worship and concert had very good response in Linz/Urfahr. At the concerts in Kagran/Vienna and Tulln there were several meaningful conversations afterwards. The leadership at Tulln would like Don & Susie to come back and give a workshop weekend.

Don gave his worship workshop at the Evangelical Academy (EVAK) and then they went off to Mondsee in the province of Salzburg to BAO´s (Biblical Education on Location) “Training for Trainers” weekend conference where church leaders from all over Austria came together. Pray that those who attended the concerts will consider commiting their lives to Christ. Pray also that those who attended the workshops and training seminar will put into practice some of the new ideas presented by Don.

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for praying for my appointment with the oncologist on April 2nd. My current cancer medicine seems to be losing its effectiveness. I´ve been invited to join ca. 1000 people in a test of a new medication, Cabozantinib (XL184-307). It may have a good new effect in slowing the growth of the cancer. In any case it should be milder than chemotherapy. Furthermore all associated costs (including comprehensive tests every 3 weeks) will be borne by the pharmaceutical company. After some information gathering and tests, I should begin taking the new medicine starting on Apr. 22 or 23.

Download the Ziska April 2013 Prayer Letter with photos here.

Dear Praying Friends,

Joe & I are excited about the evangelistic concerts we´re sponsoring in several cities in Austria. Don & Susie Newby will be performing music that would be described as “Pop/Rock/Folk” with Country elements. You can hear some “Sound clips” of their “New Country-Music” at www.newby.de.

Download a PDF of the Ziska February/March prayer letter with photos here.

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

We hope you are as excited as we are about the official start of the Evangelical Church of Klosterneuburg. We´ve included many pictures, so you could be a part of the events leading up to our celebration on February 17th.

On February 17th we had an official worship service introducing ourselves to the community of Klosterneuburg and formally starting an evangelical church in Klosterneuburg. We have been having weekly worship services since the start of January. On Jan. 23 we had our first church business meeting where we approved the new church statutes. We also approved the 4 provisional leaders (Joe, Jonathan, Fritz and Bill) to become the official church leaders. The service of celebration of the birth of our church included official greetings from evangelical churches in the area, the mayor, special music and a sermon by Joe. Praise the Lord and join with us in celebrating the birth of the Evangelical Church of Klosterneuburg.

Feb.1-2 Greater Europe Mission Field Retreat

Please pray for our Greater Europe Mission Field Retreat on Feb. 1-2 as we plan for our ministry in Austria together with our fellow missionaries. Pray for our newest couple and their three children, the Easlers. David & our field director spent the night on the sidewalk in front of the visa office on Jan. 1st to the 2nd . They were joined in line by Lindsey and their 3 children at 5:00 a.m. hoping to get 5 of the few visas available for 2013. They will be staying in Austria through the first week of February waiting for their visas to be granted and attending a month of language school and our Field Retreat. The whole family came to Vienna and applied last year, but they didn´t get their visas, so they had to fly back to America and wait until this year. Pray that they receive their visas and can move to Austria to begin their ministry.

Download the PDF of this letter with photos here.

We´re very happy to announce the beginning of weekly church services starting on January 6th, 2013 in Klosterneuburg.  In December Joe and Fritz met with the district head where our fellowship meets in Klosterneuburg to tell him we will officially become a church in 2013 with services every Sunday evening at 5.00 p.m. He´s responsible for renting us the Community Center where we have our services twice a month. He was positive about our new development. We´ll be having the official public presentation of our fellowship as a “church” in February and will be inviting guests from the community and various churches in Vienna. Praise the Lord for this wonderful development.

Here are our prayer requests for December:

We can no longer use the meeting place at which we´ve held our Ladies´ Breakfasts for the past 20 years in Klosterneuburg. An Austrian Christian businessman has let us use the facilities for free. Please be praying as we search for a new place to hold our meeting. It has to be able to seat ca. 175 people. We also have to be able to keep the price down, although we now will be paying for the meeting place.