Letters from the Price Family

Saturday, January 15, 2000

Dear friends,

We wanted to bring you up to date on Christopher and some other things in our lives.

The latest test result (skin biopsy) showed negative (in addition to some other tests) for Gaucher disease. We had been hopeful because we knew there was a treatment that would have been beneficial to Christopher. On the other hand the doctor has been encouraging us that whatever we find may be less progressive.

Where are we now with Christopher? We aren't necessarily starting all over again because we have covered a lot of ground already and there is much that has been ruled out (for which we are thankful). But we are starting again in a sense that we have run into a dead end. Christopher and I (Steve) are going to the states for a week in May to to start some more blood tests. Up to this point our doctors have been a great encouragement to live our lives here. But over the last 7 months we have experienced how difficult and expensive it is to try and pursue a diagnosis from here. 

This continuing work with Christopher in addition to some other factors is leading us to a change.

This June our office in Budapest will close as we pass the work on to our Hungarian staff. (Some of whom will be in the states including Georgia and in Oregon at Montavilla and Sherwood the first weekend in February, please see them if you can). That, in conjunction with continuing pursuits of Christopher's medical work and a great opportunity with another faith mission in Colorado Springs has led us to decide to move from Hungary and return to the states this summer. This new position will allow me to write full time as well as oversee the production of other family-based material.

This has been an agonizing decision but we feel like it is the best thing at this point in time. We feel like God has gone before us and prepared us for this move before we knew it would be necessary. This is a gift from Him.

There are many unanswered questions concerning timetable, etc but we would ask you to pray with us as we move forward. 

Thank you for your prayers and concern.

Steve

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Older Letters:

OCTOBER 6, 1998

Dear friends,

Fall seems to be here with some rainy days and chilly nights. We're busy getting back into the school swing and are becoming very involved in our church here in Budapest.

We were scheduled to leave Thursday morning for our first youth workers training conference in Yugoslavia (Serbia). As of right now we will not be going. You are probably aware of the growing tensions between the Serbian leader and the UN. There has apparently been failures to comply with reasonable demands regarding the continuing conflicts in Kosovo.

Last Friday (Oct 2) the State Department issued an advisory asking all Americans to leave Serbia and they are also evacuating all non-essential embassy personnel and families.

The concern is for safety, but above that is the concern that in retaliation Americans in the country could be kidnapped and held or killed in retalitation for any action taken. The Serbian leader has already promised full retaliation for any action taken against his country.

Most ministries including Campus Crusade for Christ have asked all of their families to leave the country for the time being. Right now we have to wait and see what develops.

What does all of this mean for our conference? We have over 80 people registered from all over the country and we had been greatly anticipating our time there. We have some Hungarian and Slovak friends who we have trained who had already planned to go to the conference. Because the threat is not directed towards these countries, these young men and women
may go ahead and do the conference on our behalf.

Please pray 1) for the country of Yugoslavia 2) for the safety and protection of the people 3) for the peaceful resolution of this explosive issue 4) for wisdom regarding the conference.

Thank you for your support and prayers. We will keep you updated if things change dramatically.

God bless,

Steve

Just to let our friends at Calvary know, we have a house in Budapest for sure. We hope to sign a contract on April 1st and move on June 1st. The house is very nice and has room for a guest bedroom (hint, hint). Please continue to pray for the details as we plan the move, etc.

Our main prayer concern about the house is that the owner needs 4 months rent (3200.00) up front when we sign the contract because he has to pay for some building supplies he has already purchased. The good news is that we would then not pay rent for June, July and August (the 4th month being our last month on deposit). We have asked some friends in Georgia about helping us meet this need but haven't heard anything yet. We have our Slovak National Youth Workers Conference beginning tomorrow.

We expect about 250 Slovaks to be in attendance and there are a lot of creative and exciting things planned. We have one staff member from GA who will be presenting a seminar on Women in Ministry as well as a number of Slovaks doing the teaching and seminars. The conference will last until Sunday noon. Concurrently Joann will be attending the Czecho-Slovak Baptist Women's conference with some friends from church. Please pray for her safety as she travels and for a good conference for them.

Blessings to you all,
Steven and Joann Price

Dear friends,

We have been in Budapest nearly two months now. We moved on June 2nd and we are grateful to God for a hassle free moving experience. I crossed the border in the truck with all of our things and had no problems at all. We had thought we might have to pay some duty fees at the border but there was nothing. We had left at 4 a.m. so as to get to the border early and not have to wait in a long line.

Joann and the kids arrived later in the day (after the truck was completely unloaded). The landlord had some things to finish up and we didn't sleep here the first couple of nights. Now, we are pretty much all moved in and there are just a few things that don't have a place.

Upon arriving we began our resident paper process. This is not especially complicated but it has taken a good bit of our time since arriving. The first few days we spent visiting offices and getting things translated and tests taken (blood work). We have been to the foreign police twice....we had to return because we needed new passports (ours expired before our
hoped for residency length would have been up). We have a third appointment on the 30th. Please pray that we will receive our papers at this meeting. We are grateful for those of you who have been praying for us and those of you who have sent along a little “something extra” during this time. Thus far, excluding the rent we paid up front ($3200.00) this moving and new residence process has cost $1646.00. God has faithfully supplied through all of this.

What is Budapest like? How is it different from Bratislava? Budapest has approximately 3 million people, Bratislava, 500,000. Obviously there are more cars, more people, more everything....we have done pretty well getting around but we never leave home without our already worn map. Budapest has always had a foot in the Western world.....things seem much more up todate. We have two large (LARGE) supermarket/clothing/home stores not far
from us. There is pretty much everything you could need here.

Budapest is pretty city...it has a number of bridges that span the Danube and is beautifully lit at night. We would be happy to show you around (as much as we know!) when you visit!

We have been attending church at Danube International Church....an English language church that is primarily comprised of American and Canadian families. Campus Crusade has their regional office here and many of the people we have met are on staff with Crusade. The kids have been making new friends...we are glad for that...this week they have the chance to attend a Vacation Bible School sponsored by another church.

We returned to Slovakia recently to participate in an evangelistic English language camp. It was a great experience with about 65 Slovak young people attending...probably 70% non Christian. We know of 10 young people who made a decision for Christ during the week. A very exciting time. I have been busy here formatting two more books in Hungarian. I am trying to get them ready to go to the printer soon.

We have a new addition to our family....a kitten...Anna has wanted a kitten for a long time and our friend just happened to have one available...so Belle is now a part of our family. She is a feisty 3 month old who loves to play when we all want to go to sleep!

Please write us with your questions....we would love to hear from you.

God bless,
Steve for the Price family

What have we been able to do this last year in Slovakia? In what kinds of ministry activities have we been able to participate? We have been able to be involved with our Slovak church, retreats and conferences and I have been busy with my ongoing responsibilities in curriculum.

Our church is a Slovak Baptist church. It is located about five miles from our house in the city limits of Bratislava. The church began fifty years ago as an outreach to Hungarian Catholics who lived in this area (this was all the Austro-Hungarian Empire at one point). Under Communism our church became affiliated with the Baptist church in Bratislava. Our church was referred to as a "mission station" because it did not have a full-time pastor. On Sunday mornings there are about eighty people who attend church there. We now have a full-time pastor who has a desire to reach out to the people in the community.

Part of the ongoing work of Reach Out Ministries has been to have training conferences in the principles of effective youth ministry. Additionally our county leaders in Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine have identified a core group of leaders with whom they are investing time so that they can "hand over" the ministry to them. I have been able to assist in some of these conferences in each of these places. It has been great to meet some of these key leaders in the areas of youth ministry. These men and women have a vision to change their generation for Christ.

My particular responsibilities are in the area of curriculum. I have been editing some material that will be used in helping to implement youth ministry training in each of the countries we are currently working in. Additionally I am responsible for the books we are printing here (and have printed). Knowing how many there are and where they are is part of what I do. In Slovakia we are producing a monthly packet for youth workers containing Bible studies, leadership articles and prayer and game ideas. Beginning in March I will try to assemble an English copy of these packets so that we can make them available to be translated for use in our other countries.

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