November 29, 2004

Dear Family and Friends,

When I wrote you last July, Joyce and I were about to leave for the United States on our interpretation assignment. During that time of visiting and telling about our work, in August and September, we were able to greet and speak with many of you. For that, we are grateful. And, for those of you we did not see, we regret that such a meeting was not possible this time.

We visited congregations primarily in Ohio and Pennsylvania. It was nice to see old friends and to meet new ones. We appreciated the warm welcome we received everywhere. With our summer living arrangements in several locations, and with our various travels, it was sometimes a little unsettling. Yet Joyce remarked that it was nice to have so many places to call home—and, so it was.

Since then we have had occasion to travel to the United States for conferences. First, in Ohio, we met with a group that plans to visit France and the Czech Republic next year. In May 2005 the group will embark on a mission and study tour led by Glen and Beverly Schmidt and Stan Webster. Since we will be assisting the group with its plans, and at the time of its travel, it was good to meet these folks and to see Glen and Beverly again.

We also attended a meeting of the Czech Working Group in Louisville, Kentucky. If you’d like to receive their semi-annual newsletter, contact Mark McCabe. The purpose of the meeting was quite significant, formative, you might say. Although the CWG formerly existed as a small group of people interested in fostering ties and cooperation between our own PC(USA) and our church partner, the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, this meeting was for the purpose of transforming the working group into a mission network.

A mission network consists of Presbyterian congregations, presbyteries, and other entities that have a concern for mission in a particular place. (There are a number of PC(USA) networks gathered around mission work with church partners in different countries in Africa and Central America, for example.)

Mission networks enable people to share information and experiences and can help to coordinate mission efforts of various parts of the church. More people can share their expertise and insights, and make connections in an intentional way.

It was nice to see old friends in Louisville, and we left with a new understanding of our part in helping to make connections between the PC(USA) and its Czech partner. And, we left with a new name, the Czech Mission Network. If you would like to know more about the Czech Mission Network, please contact me.

The last conference we attended was the Lilly Foundation Conference on Human Rights, which took place at Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama. Joyce had been asked to present a paper on the writings of Bozena Komarkova. You may remember that this is the Czech Protestant philosopher who wrote on human rights and who lived through both the fascist period of Nazi occupation and the communist era. As you might imagine, writing about human rights during such times was not easy. Komarkova was persecuted by both groups and spent time in a concentration camp. Joyce, of course, was able to present such a paper because she has translated some of Komarkova’s writings from Czech to English.

We enjoyed the human rights conference, though we would have appreciated the opportunity to explore some of the topics in more depth. It was nice to be in an academic setting again, to hear papers presented, and to talk with people about them. And, after worshiping with a Presbyterian congregation in Birmingham on Sunday, Joyce and I left with a new appreciation for a part of the country we had not visited before.

After all this, Joyce and I returned to the Czech Republic. We arrived just after the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia. November 17, 1989, was the day of the student demonstrations that were the key event contributing to that collapse. One evening while riding the tram, we went past a memorial to that event. From the window, we could see a multitude of candles illuminating a bronze plaque with a hand making the “V” sign.

Finally, I should ask if those of you who have sent in money to the PC(USA) for our support are aware that, several months ago, the address for sending those donations shifted to a bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What has Pittsburgh to do with Louisville? Well, the bank provides a “lock box service,” meaning that it receives donations, credits the right account, and makes a report to the responsible financial people in Louisville. This helpful service is, unfortunately, not currently offered by any bank in Louisville. (I thought you might be curious about the change.)

Well, there is always more to tell (like the 85th anniversary of our partner church’s theological seminary) but we’ll save that for another time. Hopefully, this letter will reach you before Christmas. So, we want to take this opportunity to convey our warm Christmas greetings to each of you. May your Advent be a blessed time of waiting in hope. And may your Christmas be blessed with the love of our Savior.

With gratitude,

John & Joyce Michael

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 337