Weinachten (Christmas!)

Alas, I fear I have spent too much time at the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas markets!) and not enough blogging! It's truly been magical here, and I've been drinking it up! See what I mean?....






Other than enjoying the festive Christmas season, I've also really been enjoying CHRIST. Wow, what a difference He makes. These have been an intense last few months for me-- God has really been purifying the way I relate to and love people. Living in community sure does expose a lot! It's been hard, uncomfortable, painful, but today in our Church Planting class, I realized that this is God's plan for discipleship! Praise God that He is discipling me, growing me and conforming me more to the image of Christ. Some things I've been learning...

Is it more important to be RIGHT or to LOVE?

The only way to not be anxious: "I must carry all the care and trouble and the circumstances to the living God, and then wait upon Him until I get sight of my God undertaking and taking complete charge." --Andrew Murray

Assumptions are no good, and when you're interacting with people very different than you, it's important to over-communicate!

May God give us all broken and contrite hearts. May we continue to surrender our entire lives into His hands that we might truly live. May He direct our hearts into His love, that we may truly live for what He intended us for.

Love to you all!

Kaiser Smarren

I got to try a new Austrian dish today! It's called, "Kaiser Smarren." It's very similar to pancakes, but cut into pieces and oh so tasty!

This is my friend Christine who made me this delightful dish!

I've had the privilege of going to her house every Thursday for lunch and I practice my German with her and she practices her English. It's so fun! She also teaches me to cook, so when I come home, I'll have a whole heap of Austrian recipes for you to try! :)

She's a great cook :)

Pray for me as I meet with her weekly, not only that I can grow in German and in gaining a better understanding of the Austrian culture, but also that Christine would experience the real and relevant love of God through me.

*Much love!

Schönbrunn

An Austrian palace to explore with my best friend!

Jeffrey :)

Fall is so beautiful!

The colors, the crisp air, holiday's just around the corner...

Please pray for Jeff and I as we continue to walk in God's ways here in Austria, and also as we consider what the future may have in store... :)

I like this boy a whole lot.

Ich freue mich auf das Treffen!

I had a wonderful time yesterday meeting with my friend from the pool, Christine! It works so good because she wants to learn English and I want to learn German. We went to a shopping center and looked at different items and learned their words in the others language. As Christmas (Weihnachten in German) time is coming, I got to learn about some of their Christmas traditions and the things they celebrate. In Austria, the big day for them is Christmas Eve- that's when they get all of their presents and have family dinners and such. They also have several other folklore tradions throughout December that originate from the ancient culture in Europe.

One of them is celebrated on December 5th, called Krampus. This is a German word meaning, "claw" and is represented by a demon who accompanies Saint Nicholas. Instead of giving gifts to good children, the Krampus gives warnings and punishments to the bad children. Kind of scary! But hey, so is Halloween (which actually has only been celebrated in Austria for the past 6 years).


On that happy note, after learning about Christmas traditions from the decorations we saw in the stores, Christine took me to her house for lunch. We had a great time, talking in English and German about all sorts of things. She said next time we'll exchange family recipes and she'll teach me to cook an Austrian cake. :) She told me that she was so happy when she met me at the pool, and thought that my eyes were so shiny and bright and full of light. Pray that she discovers that this comes from Jesus and that she finds a living knowledge of Him!

I think we will meet together every Thursday, and she's excited to teach me to knit and sew and things like that too. Praise God! Such an answer to prayer for an Austrian friend. :)

Stift Klosterneuburg

On Tuesday, our team had an awesome opportunity to experience what we've been learning in class (We've been taking a "Local Area Religions and Christianity" class from a missionary who has been here over 40 years!):

we got to visit Stift Klosterneuburg, a very old and large Roman Catholic monastery located just outside of Vienna.
Even though its huge, it's only 1/4 as large as Leopold III intended it to be! This is a drawing of the original plan:

Beautiful grounds!
An amazing painted ceiling.


It was so great! A priest named Daniel gave us a special tour and he was great- definitely seemed like a Jesus-loving believer. :) He was very honest and had an awesome perspective about Christianity and really knew the heart behind all of the symbols and traditions of his faith. It was so cool to see firsthand what we've been learning in class.


The picture below is a treasure to the monastery: the Verdun Alter, an amazing etched story board depicting the Types and Ante-Types of the Bible. Daniel did an amazing job of going through each one and describing the stories it depicted.

They even had some multi-colored priestly garments on sale for only 245,000 euro!

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. The monastery is only 30 minutes away, so we're looking forward to keeping in touch with the priests there and learning from all they have to offer. It was some great fellowship with them as well, and really interesting to hear of the different ways people love Jesus.

First graphics project!

Whew, it was a busy weekend! Jeff and I got to help out my church by making a "Geschenkkatalog" (gift catalog) for their new building project. It was 79 pages of different items people could tear out and donate money towards. It was quite a project, but thanks to Jeff's stellar Adobe skills it turned out quite nice! It was a challenge because it was all in German but I learned so much about the new programs and am excited for future endeavors. :) Here is the cover:

I didn't do the background (got it from an awesome free Christian graphics site: http://www.creativemyk.com/) but I hope to learn to make things like it. :) Thanks again to all who helped get this wonderful mac for me! It's been a great help and tool!

God is as faithful as the Seasons are to change!

Herbst ist heir (Fall is here)!

It's getting quite chilly, but I'm enjoying the turning leaves and the fall festivities of Austria! It's harvest season so there's much talk of grape picking and all the restaurants are filled with "Sturm"- half-fermented grape juice and "Kurbis-suppe" (pumpkin soup). My favorite sight so far was when I passed a big group of people outside, sitting at a big table placed right by their field, enjoying good food and Sturm in the early evening.

Another favorite time last week was "Lange Nacht Der Museen"- the Long Night of the Museum. All the museum's in Austria were open until 1 am and you could visit as many as you wanted with the purchase of only one ticket! Me and a few teammates had a great time.

The armor display was my personal favorite. :)

God has been so good! This has also been a great time of connecting with more Austrians and God has provided for new friends! Below is a picture of some of them. I have been hanging out with my friend Lia (on the far left) often at our favorite cafe in Stockerau. It's so great because she speaks excellent English and is a believer, so we're able to relate in a really meaningful way. It's also great because she always asks how my German is going then we speak in German for quite a while and she helps me with different questions I have or with pronunciation. She is so patient!

The girl on my right is name Corrina, and I have become friends with her and her family through the Stockerau church. I went to their house for lunch after church and it was awesome getting to practice German and also be able to answer their questions about what I'm passionate about and how I'm interested in being involved in their church. They hooked me up with some graphics projects to start working on and said they'd be thinking how else I can help. They also invited Jeff and I to join their family skiing after Christmas!

Another fun thing for me is pilates! Last night quite a few teammates joined me and we had a great time!

I think the boys especially had fun. :)

Water Aeorobics, Kristallnacht... and much more :)

I have recently undertaken the glorious endeavor of... swimming! We have an awesome "Wellnessoasis" right up the street from our apartment so I've started to swim laps and such for exercise.

In case you were wondering, scenes like this:

also occur in Austria! :)

I beheld such a sight as I swam laps nearby, and as I was treading water the lady teaching the class invited me to join them (all in German) next time: "Die erste mal ist gratis!" (the first time is free :). She soon realized that I wasn't a native speaker and then got really excited about me teaching her English and her teaching me German! And so, this Thursday I'm going to go have coffee with her! Her name is Christine and she also lives in Stockerau.

Haha, so there is a somewhat comical example of how God is continuing to be faithful and connect me with people here! Since returning from a lot of travel, things have been somewhat slow in jumping back in here, but God is definitely leading. Today I spent most of the day at Mercy House of Prayer, participating in the prayer watch then helping Vicki (the leader of MHOP) with some cleaning. We've been praying a lot for the Jewish people, especially as the Feast of Booths is going on right now! Today Vicki also took Emily, Jadah and I (we will all be working part time with MHOP) to see the Jewish district of town, and the synagogues that were destroyed during Kristallnacht. It's sobering to think of what happened just about 70 years ago, and then to see that there are so many policemen and cameras in that area to protect the Jews. Antisemitism is still a very real thing, and many Jews still live in Vienna.

I would appreciate your prayers as I seek to build relationships here and also start getting involved in the youth group at the Stockerau Gemeinde (church). I will be meeting with the leaders of my church on Monday, so please pray that God leads me into the good works He has prepared in advance for me to do!

*Grace and Peace

A Weekend in Hungary

I never dreamed I'd find my name on a flier in a small Hungarian town! But this past weekend, not only my name was there but I was as well (with my 3 teammates too)!

Haha, we do look a little lost. :)

We were asked to return to our beloved town of Litér to do a weekend English/Bible outreach hosted by the local school. It's only a 2 1/2 hour drive (and a beautiful one at that) and we were more than happy to make the trip and see the kids and friends that we'd made from the summer.

They were so excited to see us!


Jeff became a human jungle gym as usual. :)


On Saturday we each had a class of kids for 2 hours in the morning. I was with the 9-12 year old's along with the English teacher of the school and the local pastor. We took them through the story of the Good Samaritan in different ways, using both English and Hungarian. Then we put together a modern skit to present to the parents that afternoon!

Instead of "robbers," we had gangsters. :)

After presenting the skits, we had a sort of "family fun day" and played all sorts of relay race games among other things with the kids and their families. Quite a few turned out and it was so fun! At the end we roasted this traditional Hungarian bread coated with sugar on an open fire and Lindy gave her testimony. It was a good evening of connecting with the people.

I really enjoyed talking throughout the day to the English teacher who I worked with. She's in her 20's and is not a Christian. She said the kids have been talking about us ever since school started! They told her that I was very kind so she said she was excited to meet me. She had lots of questions and really wanted to meet again in the future. We're friends on facebook so be praying as I continue to connect with her! She's a neat lady. :)

On Sunday, I got to share my testimony in church. A lot of the town came because they heard the Americans were there. :) I got really nervous during church and felt out of practice in public speaking, and part way through my testimony I went blank! The translator was so kind and calm and I was able to pick back up and I think it turned out quite well. I'm glad the Hungarians got to see that I'm quite human too. :) A lot of them came up after wards and thanked me for sharing- I'm thankful for the opportunity!

After church, we were invited to one of our favorite family's houses (the Halmy family) for a huge feast! Many other families were there and we had a grand time of delicious Hungarian food and drinks and deserts and lots of great fellowship. Many of them speak good English, but for the others that don't we both get to practice our German (with lots of laughs!). They taught us a Hungarian song then they eagerly learned an English one as well. They are such incredible hosts and we love them so much!

Here's the Halmy family, waving to us goodbye. "Christmas?! New Years?!" They asked? :) We'll see when it is, but I do hope and think we'll get to see them again before we head back to the states. I'm so thankful God has given us a taste of truly connecting with a community and being so well received there! Pray for the town of Litér! God is awakening their hearts and has established a beautiful community there. I have learned so much from them!

Team Retreat in Croatia

I am now half-way through my internship! Our team took a week-long retreat to the shores of Croatia to debrief our first half and to prepare for the next half. Paul and Teresa Hartford, the Director of Global Internship and his wife, flew out to be with us.


We stayed at a cute pension, called "Tinka's," seen below:














In the mornings, we had some great times of devotions and worship and then had some classes concerning interpersonal relationships. We talked about living in community, conflict resolution, expectations and things of the like. It was so helpful! It was great to have our experiences articulated and to learn how to do things better in the future.

In the afternoons we enjoyed talking and hanging out at the beach and we spent a day exploring the town of Zadar, home to the awesome Sea Organs of Zadar! There's not much unusual about it to the eye, but under the strand by the water, there are organs below and as the waves crash against them they make the most marvelous sounds! I enjoyed sitting by them. :) We also had a great hike in the mountains!

Jeff and I got some time with just Paul and Teresa and it was good to share with them how our experience has been together and get their input and encouragement for our relationship. We're so thankful that we haven't had any big problems and that God has made a way for us to be together on this internship and to be in unity with one another and the team. We'd appreciate your prayers as we continue to grow in our relationship.

We had some fun with the team, taking pictures with the sunset. :)

I think we all left Croatia encouraged and ready to press in for these next 7 months. This is a fun time! We've worked hard to get established here in Austria and now that we are better connected here and to one another, I think we're set up to enjoy the rhythm God has prepared. Though I know challenges will come, I think we're better equipped to face them.

Traveling the Land... Almost over

What a wonderful two weeks of vacation I had with my parents and Jeff and his mom!

It was so refreshing and delightful to get some quality time with my parents and we enjoyed traveling throughout Vienna, Austria, France and Prague, Czech Republic. If you'd like to check out an album of pictures of our journey, go here.

We got to meet up with a past foreign exchange student, Emmanuelle and stay with her parents in a quaint town North of Paris. We got a true taste of French life, especially as Emmanuelle's mom was the president of tourism in the area!
Did you know that there is a piece of American land in France? I didn't! There's a monument remembering the American troops who came to help out France. Jeff and I were happy to be "home," if only for a moment. :)

I'm so thankful for the time to catch up with my parents. I was quite sad to see them go, though. It was a great break, though my feet are sure tired from all the walking!

Today is the first day of our 3rd term! Time has flown by, especially with such a busy summer. We were supposed to have a week of class, however our teacher had a bike accident so is in the hospital. So I'll be spending some time at Mercy House of Prayer this week and gearing up for our team retreat in Croatia. The Director of Global Internship and his wife will be flying out to debrief our first half of internship with us.

Then... we're going back to Hungary for a weekend! The pastor from the first camp we went to requested us back for a weekend camp. What an awesome opportunity! So right after Croatia, Jake, Lindy, Jeff and I will drive over to help out with that. Then, Lord willing, we'll be in Austria! I'm looking forward to classes, time at MHOP, teaching English for some kids in Stockerau and helping out with the youth group at my local church... and many more God- appointments.

*love!

Last Two Weeks in Hungary

This is called the Bus for Life

It's a traveling library and evangelism tool that we parked in a town square of a town called Kishkunmasja. We helped a pastor named Attila with a big outreach to the community.


We got our faces painted and passed out fliers to invite the community to a kids program and to the services in the evenings.

These are my fellow clown friends :)

In the evenings we also got to do some drama presentations.



Then we got to eat an awesome Hungarian dinner that they provided.

And as a group we painted a backdrop for the stage!


Then we went to a famous lake called Balaton. There was a huge Christian conference there and we helped out a fairly famous Hungarian (famous in Christian circles :) named Danny Kish (he's one of 14 kids who are all following Jesus and making a big difference in Hungary!) with a beach outreach in the afternoons.

We pulled up the bus on the beach and unloaded games galore!


Cool parachute

slip n' slide!

And much more. :) Although it was challenging to talk to people because of the language, the kids who joined us had a lot of fun and thankfully there were also many Hungarian helpers who got to speak with the people.

We also got to see some of our friends from our first camp in Liter!

And now our time in Hungary is over.

I would say it was a time of inward transformation amidst a flexible frenzy of outreaches. :)

Lots of love given and received.

Lots of new perspectives.

Lots of love and peace in my heart as I return to Austria.

Lots of excitement in my heart as I wait to see my parents tomorrow!

Two week break, here I come. :)