April 2014

Dear Friends,

WOW !WOW !WOW !WOW ! ---- R E A L L Y ?R E A L L Y ?R E A L L Y ?R E A L L Y ? ---- G R E A T ! G R E A T ! G R E A T ! G R E A T ! Let me just begin this letter by saying a big THANK YOU! We recently put forth a plea for additional support to help us with moving and our required return to the U.S., and the response was very encouraging! Thanks to your generous support, we were able to move to our new house in Hostasovice for our ministry change and to return to Iowa for our 6 month support-raising furlough. This return trip home was predicated first and foremost by an agreement between the U.S. and the Czech Republic that Americans must return for 6 months before reaching 5 years in Czech, after which they are free to return for another 5 years. So, with our first 5 years ending in March, we have returned and embarked on raising additional support for our next adventure in Czech! So, again, a big heart-felt thanks to all who gave extra in the last few months to make this possible! So why the move, and what is this ministry change I mentioned? Well, the move came as a result of the change and the change came as a surprising: WOW!-REALLY?-GREAT! The WOW! came because, while we knew our seconded agreement with Sion High School was only for two years and would end this summer, we really expected/hoped to return to teach next fall. While we were surprised to learn that Sion didn’t want to renew the seconded agreement, we also knew that YFC prefers “secondments” to be for only two years. So even though not returning to teach became a mutual agreement, it still was a bit of a disappointing WOW! for us. The REALLY? came because at the exact same time we learned we weren’t returning to the school, we received an exciting letter of invitation from the new MpK (YFC) Czech National Director, Radek Palacky. I first connected with Radek about 5 years ago. He had witnessed YFC in action while in Slovakia and was expressing an interest in seeing YFC come to the Czech Republic. So I and others encouraged him to step out in faith and be the one to bring it to Czech! So he formed a group of like-minded volunteers who then received “Pioneer Nation” status with YFC International and began forming MpK Rock Solid Clubs and hosting MpK retreats and camps. From the beginning I was invited to speak and serve at many of these events, but volunteering was all I was allowed to do. Americans are prohibited from serving directly with pioneering nations, as it can inhibit their development as a nationally run program. You may remember that in a newsletter last fall, we shared how we were really excited about having volunteered as a family in last summers’ MpK Teen Camp. Then we were invited again in November to serve in an MpK retreat and we were amazed by the great group of volunteers leading these events and by the growth that had taken place in MpK Czech under Radek’s leadership. And that’s what made us so excited when we received this letter from Radek and the MpK Czech Board of Directors! Here are some excerpts from their letter (with a few English corrections): We are really glad that you cooperated [served] with us at the Teen Camps. I like your approach and a determination. I think you can [teach] the Word in a really interesting way. You like sport activities and it is great. Roma [Gypsy] children reacted to you very well and much of them still remember you. We like your attitude [towards] our people and in my opinion, it is appropriate for you [to be serving] in Czech and you [have become] acclimatized really great despite a different culture. Therefore, we appreciate your fervor and enthusiasm that you [have] received from Jesus for Czech people. If you [are praying about your] future, we would be very happy [for] you to live [with] us in the East! In Valašské Meziříčí [we are opening] the Centre of YFC [Czech YFC National Office] and [the beginnings] of a new church we are [planting.] We need an English [teacher] and sport leader, and dynamic preachers of the Gospel like you and your family...our young [YFC] team needs mentoring as well. And if you have any contacts for people who would be interested in supporting our work, we will [also] be glad. So the REALLY? came from receiving this letter of invite completely “out of the blue”, at exactly the right time. But the GREAT! came when we were told by our U.S. director that because YFC Czech is now a fully chartered nation, we were finally free to work directly with their team! All-caps and exclamation points can’t come close to expressing how great it was to receive this

YFC strives for financial integrity and meets the standards of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. By providing a check, you authorize YFC to convert it to an electronic item.

For the ministry of:

Tracy & Karna Steel Account: 24358 Ministering with Youth for Christ in Czech Republic

�Please apply this to my pledge.

�This is a new pledge per month of: __300___200___150__100__50___other_____ �This is a special gift for the ministry. �I would like to give via credit card. Electronic Fund Transfer information

is on the back. To donate online: www.yfc.net/give/steeltracykarna

New Address while in the U.S. 3806 Whittier Rd, Central City, Iowa

Tracy's cell:319-423-5196 Karna's cell: 319-538-6588

Ministering in Czech Republic

Skype: tracy.steel1 steeltracy@gmail.com karnasteel@gmail.com Blog: thesteels.yfc.net

00 24358 00 00 00

Tracy & Karna Steel

MpK Czech National Director Radek Palacky, and his wife Jana.

Continued on page 2.

Gift by Electronic Fund Transfer I authorize an automatic Electronic Fund Transfer from my bank account each month. This authorization shall remain in effect until I notify Youth for Christ to end this agreement, which I may do at any time. Enclosed is my gift by check for the first month made payable to Youth for Christ. Please choose the date you prefer your gift to be transferred: � 5th of each month or � 20th of each month

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month or the � 20th of each month

Please charge my gift of $______ to my �Visa �MC

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amazing and surprising answer to prayer. Seeing YFC ministry come to Czech has been on our hearts since our first service project to Czech in 1999, and we are convinced and thrilled that the Lord is sending us to help it grow. The vast majority of teens in this country of 81% Atheists have absolutely no way to learn of God’s love for them and I believe there is no better mission than Youth for Christ to bring them this Good News! This young MpK team is already reaching teens for Christ and we think it’s GREAT! that God is sending us to help them establish a solid and lasting foundation. So next September we hope to return to Czech and begin doing all Radek has requested and more! We will draw from our 20+ years of YFC experience to mentor Radek and his team in all areas of YFC ministry. Our 5 years of experience teaching English will help us bring him and his staff to fluency so that they can understand and participate in all the training provided by YFC International. We will also use teaching English as a way to build relationships by volunteering in schools and providing English Clubs. You may have noticed I keep saying “we”, and not “I”. More than ever this new season of ministry will involve all seven members of Team Steel as we all will serve as English teachers, club members, sports trainers, camp volunteers and much more. And because of their fluency in speaking Czech, our kids will be directly involved in sharing their faith in club meetings and outreaches, as well as one-on-one with their new Czech friends. In addition to teaching English, Karna will finally be able to lead an afterschool drop-in “Tea Room” ministry, something that has been on her heart for a long time. She will also focus on something very close to all our hearts by spearheading ministry to orphans at the many orphanages in our region. Karna will also help with mentoring and counseling, focusing especially on the young female staff and volunteers. So yes, all this sounds GREAT! But there is a catch! We cannot return to Czech for this new ministry focus without fully raising the budget YFC has set for us. At this point we are $1000 a month short of our support goal, so we are looking for new partners and/or increased monthly pledges to send us out on this new and exciting ministry path. As a family we support missionaries both because the Bible says we ought to and because we want to be co-workers with those teaching God’s Truth in places we cannot go. (3 John 1:7&8) And so we are hoping you will want to partner with us, for these very same reasons. And while we are in America we are looking to catch up with and even visit as many of you as possible! So please use the new address and phone numbers listed at the top of this letter to say hello and/or let us know if we can connect with you while we are back. (Or you can as always send us a note by email or on Facebook!) So thanks again for all your prayers and support and we really look forward to hearing from you soon!

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Steel's hosting an MpK Open Gym in Valašské Meziříčí (Val Mez) in January 2014.

Left: Staff and volunteers for MpK Czech. Above: MpK Czech's first staff member, Hanka Ledvonova: Bookeeper and Val Mez Rock Solid Team Leader. Above right: Hanka and

some Val Mez Rock Solid girls!