The End of the Year

As the end of the year is drawing closer and closer, I can't help but reflect back on this previous year and our time here in Austria. (It also helps that we do a yearly report). There have been many highs and lows throughout the year but overall I have really enjoyed it. It is exciting to think of how much we have learned in this past year. However this evening I have been thinking been thinking much more about what our next year will look like. As relationships have developed in this past year, I have begun meeting more and more with various youth girls. I have had the privilege this week to meet one-on-one with 3 different wonderful girls from the youth group. After every meeting I have come away thinking about a few different things. 1. How blessed I was growing up having Christian friends not only at my church but at my school as well that were able to build me up and support me. Just about every youth I know here, is unaware of any other believers that goes to their school. Just today I was meeting with a youth girl and she was talking about how lonely she feels at school. That she is exhausted always standing up for what she believes and constantly experiencing teachers and "friends" that are trying to tear her down or make fun of what she believes. Sure that is something that I experienced going through High school, but only a couple times, definitely not something that would often happen. I often forget what a blessing that was. 2. How doing things with your hands, pretty much always will get girls talking. Baking cookies, making supper, doing a puzzle, making crafts...it doesn't really matter what. It is awesome how God can use such simple things to bring up conversations about Him. 3. That these girls long to be heard. They want someone to listen to the things that are going on in their life. Not someone that will give advice right away or scold or praise them for their behavior but someone that will simply listen. 4. These girls long to better understand God and the Bible. This is exciting for me to see and hear. They do not settle for reading something and completely misunderstanding. They search for the truth and ways to better explain what they believe or what the Bible says to their friends. 5. I love my job. I absolutely love that it is work to bake cookies and talk about Jesus, that it is work to read through a Bible passage and discuss it, it is work to be there and support these wonderful girls that I care about so much. In essence, my job is to be me. :) In this coming year, I am so excited to see how God will continue to use me in this area. I know lots of things will change with us adding a member into our family but it doesn't change the fact that God will continue to use me, especially in the lives of the youth here in Austria.

Holidays

This last Thursday we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving along with all of the rest of you. :) We were able to get together with a group of Americans and their spouses that are currently living in the Innsbruck area. Even though it was not the same as spending the holiday with family, we still had a great time. Seth got to play in a Thanksgiving skit for the kids as a little pilgram boy...don't let the apron confuse you, they ran out of costumes. We were able to enjoy all the traditional Thanksgiving foods although apparently the Turkey was hard to come by but they managed.

After Thanksgiving (and a little before) our holiday focus began to switch to Christmas. This being potential our only Christmas in Austria we didn't want to spend much money getting all the decorations so we decided to make most everything (although we didn't try making a tree). This last weekend I also did a Christmas crafting in the afternoon with 8 youth girls at our house! It was so much fun to share about what our families normally do for Christmas. It is surprising to hear how different some of their traditions are...like putting up the Christmas Tree on the 24th. They also don't have the tradition of stockings here so as they saw me making our stockings, it took the girls a while to understand but then they all wanted to make one. :) They enjoyed it so much that they asked me to bring all the supplies to the Lighthouse this Friday so that they could make more things. It was a very exciting and enjoyable time for me :)It's beautiful to walk around the city now, the whole old city is decorated with Christmas Lights, Christmas Markets, and the biggest real life Christmas Tree I have ever seen. I'll have to take some pictures and post them later.

Also this week I started the women's connection group through our organization. They pair you up with a woman that has a lot of experience with being in ministry oversees. The plan is to skype once a month and have it be kind of a mentoring relationship. A time for me to talk about whatever is going on in life, ask advice (or not), and then be prayed over. Even though we have only met once, it was a great experience and I am very excited for this relationship to continue and develop. 

Please be praying for the coming weeks as we have no idea when this little one will be deciding to join us. We are wanting to continue being busy up until the baby comes to help us not get impatient but it is difficult to commit to things and then have a back up plan just in case the baby comes and we are not able to follow through. So far though I am really glad that we have been keeping busy, it helps the days pass by a lot quicker. Also be praying for Seth as he has a cold right now, that he will be all healed up for when the baby comes. We appreciate all your love and support!

Alyssa

Feeling Encouraged :)

This week as flown by! Being gone for half of last week in Vienna meant we had things to catch up with when we got back and had packed days until our day off on Monday. This week has been days full of meeting with people, catching up on our Ministering in a Muslim context class (still are), youth group, graduation ceremony, a surprise baby shower through skype (which was awesome!), skyping with the family for their early Thanksgiving celebration, doctor's appointment, hospital tour, reports, as well as other things. I have genuinely enjoyed this week and am currently very excited for the various ministries we are a part of and people that we are getting to know. I went through a time of being homesick and even though I still don't like being so far away from family, I have not been struggling with homesickness. What a blessing! It is amazing the support groups that we have both in the states and here :)

We still have a little more than four weeks until our due date, but at our doctor's appointment this week, she said there were signs that a lot of time mean the baby will be coming early. Honestly I think this is just what we needed to hear so that we would kick planning and preparing into high gear. God knows so much better than we do. We'll see though if this little one comes early. I wouldn't mind being able to snuggle together as a family for Christmas. Overall with preparations for the baby things have been going very well and we have been very blessed. We are not overly nervous which could only be from God. Today though we took a tour of the hospital that is our back up plan if it doesn't work out with the birthing center. It was a great tour and was nice to see the place so we know what it will at least look like. However, it made us a little nervous with our German. Granted it was a large group taking the tour which is the hardest setting for us (we do much better with one-on-one). It would be amazing though if you all would be in prayer for the language barrier and that wherever we are at when we have the baby, we are able to effectively communicate and are willing and bold to ask questions when we don't completely understand or are uncomfortable with something.

Praises

These past two weeks have been days full of praises. It has been a time of being able to connect back with some people that we haven't seen in a while as well as a time of new learning and developing. A few of these blessing consist of being able to spend time with some of those from our German classes again, starting to plan our baby shower, making some set rules for the lernhilfe (after school tutoring program) so that it is consistent throughout the week with all of the different leaders, and starting our Ministering in a Muslim context online class (which has been awesome for the small things as well as the big things for all of those that we know that come from a Muslim culture).

Another big blessing was going to kind of like a flea market for only kids items but it is organized by a church or school. You can bring things to sell or just buy. We decided a while ago to go with cloth diapers for our child and since they are rather expensive so we decided to go to this flea market to see if they had any. We were able to find a box of barely used cloth diapers, some were even new for 30 Euros when normally they would cost altogether over 200 Euros. God really blessed us. We still only have about half of what we need but we are trusting that God will provide!

The last few days we took half a week of vacation and took a little trip to Vienna. It was our first time going and we were able to see some friends while we were there. It was really nice to have a little break and just be able to be tourists and enjoy our time together. It really is a beautiful city!

We went to the zoo with our friend Adam. In this room there were bats flying all around us. Really cool, kind of scary considering they would run into us frequently...however in this picture you can't see any bats. Unfortunate.

Also a few things to pray for is the situation with Seth's friend that is in prison. We are learning more things and realizing that Seth is able to help a little bit. Be praying for the situation, it is planned to have a court case in early December but we are hoping that it doesn't come to that. Also today I am meeting with the other female leaders of the youth group to discuss what we want to do with the girls small group considering the 20 girls that are coming is not small. Please give us wisdom on how to split things up. Thank you all for your prayers!

Small Group, Birthing Center, Viki!

We have had a full week since I last wrote. First off I had asked for prayer with the girls small group. It is crazy to see how God organized this all perfectly. He provided a youth girl that was interested in helping lead and prepare for the group with me (which we ideally would like to do more of). I had decided to do as much as I could in German and then she was willing to help translate when I needed the help. I was really nervous leading into it but trusting that God would provide. It didn't help that 21 girls showed up this week for small group. However God really helped to calm me and be able to communicate what I needed to before we split up into smaller groups for discussion time. There were even minimal times that translation was needed which was a huge blessing that could have only come from God. Looking back there are a few things that we would have changed but that also makes me excited to lead again sometime. Please continue to pray for the girls small group. Seeing as it isn't very small we are needing to decide how we should divide it up to help foster more discussion and openness. There are many different ways that we could go about doing this so please help pray for guidance.

This week we made progress on our plan for where we will have our baby and it changed from last week. This system is very different here than in the states and it has been a challenge at times to understand the process. However we have been very blessed with the people in our lives, especially Cathrin, giving wisdom based on her experiences as well as those of friends as well as blessed with a doctor and midwife that are very honest and helpful. We ideally want to have the baby at a birthing center here in town, however if the baby comes before December 17th, it will not be an option so for a back up plan we have the hospital here in Innsbruck (the last step is to visit and register at the Hospital). We really like the birthing center the best and pray that God will provide so that we can have the baby there. One things for sure, every day we are getting more excited to meet this little kick boxer inside my belly and ultimately pray that we are blessed with a healthy baby.

Viki came to visit this week and is flying back to England as I type. She is the youth girl that moved a few months back but I have had the privilege of staying in contact with since she has been gone. God really provided a lot of opportunity for me to spend time with here this week which was a big blessing to both of us. She was also there for the small group and brought a friend as well. Please pray for this relationship and that there will be a way to connect her friend to some of those in the youth group so we can then be seeing her more often.

Some more things to be praying about in the next coming weeks. Considering we are going to be experiencing our first Christmas here in Austria, we have absolutely no Christmas decorations. I am not very exciting about spending a lot of money but I do love having a lot of decorations. So we have decided to make most all of our decorations. This is challenging me to be creative but it also a way that I have decided to include some of the youth girls. I have decided to do weekly get togethers where we all make decorations together. This has not yet started and also requires a lot of planning and preparation on my part. Please help pray for me in getting ready since I would like to start in the next couple weeks and then also pray for a blessing on the time with the girls. Pray also for our baby shower which is now starting to be planned. For wisdom on who to invite and what it should look like, considering it is not really a part of the culture here. Also pray for Seth and I as we started an online class about Ministering in a Muslim Context. Please pray for that as well and that God would really help us to learn a lot and be able to practically apply things in our daily life.

Birthday celebration

Thanks to all of you who prayed for Seth's birthday! The day before Seth had a bunch of guys that got together and played various sports including American Football. He was very excited to keep up the tradition of playing for his birthday even when he is in a group where only one other person had any idea what the rules were for the game. We had a great day and were blessed with a day spent with many friends. I didn't officially count but we must have had 50 people in our home throughout the day. At one point we had over 25 in our living room which was a little much but then as more people came we moved half of the party outside to play games. It was great fun. The one thing that was a little difficult is that we had church at 5pm. Many of the people that were there normally go to the same church as us so they came along but then there were some that normally don't come but since everyone else was going them came too. This included two guys that we had met through German class. I believe it was both of their first times in a church. I got the opportunity to talk with one afterwards and he had lots of questions about what we believe and what the difference is between us and the catholic church. We had a really good discussion. Please pray that God provides more opportunities! After church about 15 people came over and we played card games together. A guy that Seth had met through basketball ended up coming even though we hadn't seen him since before the summer. He played for a while and then sat and talked with two other guys for two hours about God. Both of the guys got to share their testimonies. One thing is for sure, God had bigger plans for Seth's birthday than I did. I am excited to see how God continues to use us and those around us.

In the Lernhilfe (tutoring program) we had two more students register this week and last week we had a new helper volunteer. We really have been blessed but please continue to pray that more kids come! On Friday the middle school youth group had a city game that began at the Lighthouse and they invited all of the kids from the Lernhilfe as well to join. Four kids ended up joining and had a great time. It was counselor hunt in the old city. So there were lots of leaders dressed up running around the old city that the kids were supposed to find. Seth dressed up but I went with a group of the younger kids so nobody would get lost. We had a great time and my team even won!

Thanks also for the prayers for Dave he is feeling much better and has been back to his normal activities this week! Some prayer requests: Continued guidance on where we would want to have the baby. We have a tentative plan and are touring the place next week. With this place we would also need to find a different doctor because ours will not come here and deliver (or we could just take whoever is on call), so pray for wisdom with that. Also this Saturday evening we have small groups and since the main female leader is gone for the youth group, I will be leading. I am going to do it as a team with a youth and we are going to try to lead all in German. So please pray for wisdom and that God will really bless us especially me with understanding and being able to communicate in German. Also this next week a youth girl that moved away a couple months ago will be here visiting for the week. I have been meeting with her weekly for a few months now and since she moved it has been over skype. She is wanting to spend a lot of time together since all her friends will be in school during the day so please pray for the time that I will have with her! Thank you all for your prayers and keeping up to date!

Alyssa

Frauenfreizeit and Seth's birthday!

This last weekend I was gone again but this time for a women's retreat (I'm pretty excited to finally be home for this weekend). It was for Christian women within our state, Tirol. There were 65 women there! It was really cool to meet so many women pursuing God. Many were from Innsbruck but there were only three that were from our church. It was great meeting women that are attending the other churches in Innsbruck as well as many of the mom's of our youth kids. We had a speaker from Germany that was speaking on how to hear God's voice. I really enjoyed what she shared and a lot of it was challenging and very practical for growing closer to God so we can better distinguish when He is calling us to do something. I was sharing a room with Cathrin (our team leader's wife) and had a really good time getting to know her better and getting the opportunity to talk through my thoughts about our baby's birth and what facility we would want to go to. She had a lot of great input and shared different possibilities that I hadn't heard of yet. Since then Seth and I talked it over and we now have a plan and will be taking tours and meeting with those that we will need to over the next couple weeks. So if everything goes according to plan and we like this idea as much as we think we do, we will have an official plan about 7 weeks before the baby is due :)

Tomorrow is Seth's birthday! Normally in the states we would celebrate together and then normally have a meal with each of our families to celebrate (not always on our birthday). Knowing that we wouldn't get that chance to celebrate with our families (at least not for the next couple months), we planned a party, inviting just about everyone we know here. You can pray that it will be an encouraging time and lots of people will come to help celebrate! Seth is also organizing a football game as well. He would normally try to do this each year around his birthday in the states. It was always something that he really enjoyed and there weren't too many injuries. Here though very few people actually care about football or even know the rules. There are a few guys that said they would be coming and lots that said they would maybe come. Please pray that enough people will come for them to play football (although if they didn't have enough they would play basketball and Seth is fond of that too) and that it functions well with so few people knowing how to play.

Please also continue to pray for our team. Dave is still sick, which is 2 weeks now! He has a conference that he needs to attend at the start of November. The plane tickets are already bought, please pray that he is healthy enough to go.

Thank you all for your prayers!

Alyssa

Geminde Wochenende

This last weekend we had our church retreat. We drove about 2 hours away and were up in the mountains with almost 50 people from our church. Going into it I was a little nervous for all the German that would be spoken through the weekend but for the most part it went very well. There were a few situations where we struggled to understand which can be frustrating because that is generally the things that we want to understand the most. However God really used this time for us to grow closer and get to know those in our church better. We had a speaker from Germany that was there which is a blessing because people from Germany are generally a lot easier to understand than those from Austria, they speak in less dialect. I was really challenged by the things the speaker shared as well as with the small groups that we would have after each talk. We talked about the role of the church as well as what we are called to as believers. We talked about prayer and the importance of praying together and for one another as well as being intentional with those we are living around to share Christ's love. We also took a good look at ourselves and the areas that we are not willing to give control over to God. There were four great messages as well as great times of fellowship together. Most of the weekend it was raining and cloudy but the last day it cleared up and we were able to see how truly beautiful this area is. We were also able to go on walks through the mountains. 

This week we were able to have our first team meeting since before the summer that we were all together. It was great to have everyone there but I also have some prayer requests for each of us.

Carrie - Her sister had her baby yesterday, it was an emergency c-section and there were a lot of complications considering she has diabetes and after they found out she was pregnant they discovered a tumor that was growing on her uterus that was the size of a softball (which they have not yet been able to remove). Her sister experienced a lot of blood loss and the baby had problems breathing but almost 24 hours after the birth they were able to be united together. Please be praying for their health as well as Carrie's heart as she is here and unable to be there with her sister while she is going through this tough time.

Dave - He has struggled with bronchitis for the last 6 years or so, sometimes being so bad that he was sick at home for almost a whole winter a few years back. It has been something he has struggled with for a while but last winter was able to stay healthy pretty much the whole winter. However he has been sick with bronchitis for pretty much this whole week so far. Please pray that his health returns and that he stays free from sickness for the rest of the fall and winter.

Cathrin & I - Tomorrow we are driving a couple hours away and will be attending, for the weekend, a Tirol wide (that's our state) Christian women's conference. We are excited to be able to get to know some of the other believing women in Tirol. We ask for prayers of safety while driving as well as for our time there.

Seth - This weekend with Dave sick and Cathrin and I gone, Seth will be at the Lighthouse as the only scheduled leader for the Friday hangout time. Please pray for guidance for him as well as that God will bring other leaders there to just spend the evening as well as many youth!

Also be in prayer as Seth's birthday is coming up in only 10 days. It will be strange not being around our family during this time. Please pray that Seth will have a very special day here and be able to celebrate it with many friends. 

We also have a big praise! We have been in need of a couch since we moved into this apartment and have been looking around a lot but been discouraged with how expensive couches are. If we knew we were staying here longer term then we may have been more willing to spend more but for only a year and two months more it seemed silly to spend the money. However a couple days ago Carrie (our team mate) was having coffee at a friends house and one of this first things they said was do you know anyone looking for a couch? We just can't seem to get rid of ours and we no longer have the space for it. Through the connection, next week we will be getting for free, a sleeper couch. God has really blessed us in so many ways with providing things that we are needing!

German

Learning another language is not always so easy. God has blessed us so many ways in our language learning process. We have been bold in this new language and learning relatively quickly. Something that I have noticed though is it is especially hard to be yourself in a different language, to feel that comfort or make jokes. Our german teacher told me once that for every language you can speak you have a different personality. I didn't really believe it but thinking back on the last 8 months, it's true. We are not generally as talkative and it takes a lot more motivation to initiate conversation at times. However I have been seeing this slowly change, which is really exciting. We have been talking more and more in German and depending less on our English, even with many of our friends and the youth kids. Recently I spent a few hours with a friend on a walk and I really felt like I had been myself, even though it was all in German. I definitely think part of it is because I feel very comfortable around her but also I'm getting more comfortable with the language. Also this week I have been the coordinator for the tutoring program that we run and even though I was really nervous to talk with parents and the other helpers, God has given me the courage and allowed me to communicate all that I needed to. Praise God!

Yesterday was a big moment for me to see how far Seth had come in German. We had our English Camp church service. So all the families from everyone at camp was invited to all come together. Our team here organized the service and there were probably 250 (I'm bad at guessing) but it was definitely way more than normal. We each had our tasks that we were in charge of and Seth's was to interview some campers and leaders up front so everyone could hear about some of their experiences. It was all going to be in German and he had prepared all of the questions in advance. I expected him to simply read the questions but man was I surprised. He was himself, almost just as much as he would be in English. He was telling jokes and responding well to their answers. It was really cool to see everyone laughing. It probably sounds small but recently German has been really encouraging and helping us to feel more like we belong here.

But also, just about every time we are feeling encouraged about how much of the language we are understanding, we are then in a situation where we realize how much more we have yet to learn. Last night was one of those nights where we were spending the evening with six or so college students. They were mostly all speaking in dialect and we understood very little. I think it is good though to have those moments, not to get too confident and to be continually in the learning mode. You can definitely be continuing to pray for us in this process because it will definitely continue to be a barrier that we are needing to overcome.

Thanks for all your prayers with the Lernhilfe. It has been going great so far and we have been having more kids signing up all the time. It has been a challenge at times as I have been talking with parents as well as the various volunteers but God has been providing! Be praying though for more kids to come!

Lighthouse

This week we had a Lighthouse team meeting so we had various people there representing the different groups that meet there, many of which we are a part of: Youth group, Friday Night hang outs, Lernhilfe, counseling program and various prayer groups. It was so exciting for me to be there, not only because it was in German and I understood most everything, but also to see how God is working. A lot of times I take things as they come and don't necessarily realize the big picture. It is amazing though to see God's hand in every program we have at the Lighthouse and to see all the different ways new people are getting connected and people are hearing about Christ. It is really a blessing to see how Christ works.

Things to be praying for:
- The youth group starts this Saturday night, we are doing a little bit of a different format this year and will be presenting it to the kids. Pray for hearts that are wanting to learn more about Him!
- These next two weeks the tutoring (Lernhilfe) program coordinator will be on vacation, so I will be in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly, I am a little nervous mostly for the idea of talking on the phone with people in German. But I know God will provide and it will be a great learning experience for me.
- I am working on connecting with a birthing center, not only for the birth of our child but also for the many classes they offer that would help me connect with other pregnant women now and then other moms of young children in a few months. I am really nervous about this because I have no idea if anyone there can speak any English. This is a big step for me with my German, since I have almost always been in an environment where there is someone that could translate near by or the person I was speaking with could understand at least some English as well. I am trusting God though that He will help us to communicate and understand regardless of which language is used.
- Mine and the baby's health. We are now entering the third (and last) trimester. Also be praying for a quick and healthy delivery.

Lernhilfe

I have been trying to get in a habit of updating once a week and I picked my day to be Thursday. Since we have arrived home from our summer travels, I have been doing well at each Thursday morning, posting about the previous week (and I hope this continues). Today however was a little bit different, this morning, I completely forgot (even though I have an alarm on my phone). As I was getting ready to eat lunch before heading to the Lighthouse (I was covering the open office hours from 12-2) I all of a sudden remembered. I was thinking then about how that was probably a blessing because office hours tend to be rather slow and I could do it then. However, I forgot again. It ended up getting pushed back until now 9:40pm and I must say God made that happen for a reason. And I am excited to share with you a little bit about my day.

This week was the start of our after school tutoring program at the Lighthouse (it's called the Lernhilfe). School started this last Monday, and so we opened as well even though students won't have homework the first week. Because we do not actually need to help with homework, it is more of a hang out week. So far we haven't had a lot of students sign up, but that is mostly because there is not a need yet (I pray that we will have more next week). However we are very excited about the 3 new students we had sign up who have committed to come for the whole year, every day (most sign up for a semester first and only a couple days a week). We are very excited for those relationships to grow. 

Today, a mother came in with her daughter. She had received one of our fliers outside her daughters school that we were handing out a couple days this week. She had lots of questions and just wanted to observe how it worked before she committed to registering her daughter, understandable. With this week being different and just a time to hang out, I was a little nervous but her daughter jumped right in with different games and things that was going on and seemed to be having a great time. I could overhear Roman (our Lernhilfe coordinator) talking with the mom and she seemed to be very pleased with the environment and what she was hearing. Then one of the kids wanted to go downstairs so naturally she asked what was down there. He began to explain how it is a prayer room that a group of people use and have meetings at a few days a week. It is first and foremost a place to pray so if it is in use the students can not go down there but if its empty then they are allowed to go down and play the various instruments and use the space. The mother all of a sudden got very defensive, saying she did not want those kinds of influences on her daughter. Roman was assuring her that we do not preach to the students who come but they all know that we are Christians and that if they have an questions or problems we are always there to help. Some have taken us up on that. 

Right away I was bummed thinking we wouldn't get to see this girl again but at the same time happy that her mom knew right from the start and not later and be upset with us. I ended up going down to the prayer room with the kids that were there and we played instruments and talked and had a great time. I proceeded to play games with the kids throughout the afternoon, always being aware that the mother was talking the whole time with a couple of the other leaders (I think it was for almost 2 and a half hours). At the end of the day, I wasn't sure where she stood, I just knew her daughter had a great time and really connected with the other kids. After they were all gone I went to ask my boss if they would ever come back again. And he said definitely and shared about how the mother went from being skeptical to accepting to asking questions. They had a long talk about God and what they believe. In the end when we would be closing she asked if she (the mother) would be able to come back again and talk some more. I was blown away and am so amazed to see what God can do, even in just an afternoon. My first thought after hearing a little what the mother had to say after hearing about the prayer room was to accept defeat. God had different plans in store and I am so grateful for that. It says in the bible to ask and it will be given to you, I didn't even ask and even if I would have, it would have been that her daughter would be able to come back again. I wouldn't have even imagined asking that someone would be able to talk with her for hours about God. I am still blown away. I would love it if you all could pray along with us for the whole family and that God will continue to draw them in towards Him and that we as leaders at the Lighthouse would be ready and willing to be used by Him. Also be praying that God will bring in more students this next week and that He will use the Lighthouse to reach many more people.

Hiking

This last Friday we went hiking with some people from various German classes that we have had. It was a lot of fun to all be together. It was very excited and encouraging to see how much we could communicate. Four of us had been in the very first class together when we knew almost no German. Communicating at the beginning was pretty minimal. It is amazing to see how far we have come and how conversation was pretty much constantly flowing last Friday. I am so grateful to see how God has developed our German skills since coming. It is crazy for me to think about knowing that our classes were only ever in German. On Friday I got the opportunity to speak individually with our teacher which I really enjoy. She was praising our German, saying that normally when people go through just 5 months of her German class, they are not as advanced as Seth and I are. It was a big encouragement to hear and all I could do was praise God for blessing us so much. Please be praying for our relationship with our teacher as I have had the opportunity to talk about some pretty personal and spiritual things with her. She will be moving at the end of the month to Italy. She just finished law school and has to do her internship in Italy because she had studied in Italian. (She grew up in a bilingual home). She will be only about an hour by train away from us so we do plan to visit her still but be praying that God will give more opportunities for us to share about Him.

(not the best picture and we were missing one person as well. But we were all very tired as we had reached as high as we were going on the hike, where there was a little restaurant and we were able to get something to eat :)

Overall since coming God has really blessed us in not being homesick. Of course we miss our family and friends and being with them but God has really sustained us. Skype has also been great with connecting with friends and family. However this week has been a little more difficult. As silly as it seems, it was caused by football season starting. This is a time of year where we normally spend a lot of time watching games together with others. With football not being popular here as well as with most games playing in the middle of the night, it is definitely not the same. However, we did enjoy through skype watching the Nebraska game this weekend with some of my family. That was really good for me to do, even if we couldn't always tell what was going on in the game :)

This week has also been a great opportunity in connecting with youth! Seth and I were both able to connect with multiple new students in a one-on-one setting. It was awesome to see as those we met with opened up and really began to share their hearts with us. It is awesome to see what God is doing right now! Please be praying as school starts on Monday that we will continue to be able to connect with these kids even though there schedules are getting a lot busier. Also please be praying for one specific girl that I met with this week. She is a regular part of our youth group and church. Her father is not a believer and she was sharing some of the struggles that go along with that. We talked for hours and she really shared how her heart longs for her father to believe and to be the spiritual leader of the family. How she desires to read the bible together as a family and spending time in prayer together. When I left that time, all I was thinking about was how blessed I was to grow up in a family where both of my parents are believers. Something I don't appreciate enough. Please pray along with us for the salvation of her father.

God is working

Last Friday I found myself at the airport with a group of about 20 as we said goodbye to Viki, since her and her family are moving to London. Viki is one of our youth students that I have been meeting with on a weekly basis for a while now. It is awesome to see how God has been molding her. It is such a blessing to witness the processes of God working on her heart and her slowly surrendering different aspects of her life over to Him. As with us all though, God is not finished working in her life. Please pray along with me that God will build up a Christian community there in London around this family and that they will continue to open to where and how God is calling them. Also that I will have wisdom on my ongoing roll in this family's life.

This week, our German has been put to the test more than ever before. It is clear that our German is developed enough that people we are around noticed and the majority of the time everyone now speaks German with us. As I look back on the calendar, I realize that we had just about 4 full days in a row where we had pretty much no English interaction except for with each other. Part of that is because we took a road trip with my good friend Maria (who doesn't speak very good English) and went to Ost tirol for a couple days. It was a very good and fun trip but it was also very difficult. We do well with German when we are talking one on one with people or with a small group but once you add in a few more people (and a new dialect) it can be very exhausting. By the end of the trip, I was pretty well spent. We did overall have a great time. We were in a smaller town than Innsbruck, everything was within close walking distance but it was still in the mountains so we were also able to do some hiking, which was not as easy for me as it once was but it still was a beautiful sight to see.

This week I have also gotten the opportunity to spend some time with a few of the girls from the youth group and it has been amazing to watch as conversations change to German. Honestly I really prefer that because it helps me better learn and its in an environment where I can ask questions. However these are all girls that have all expressed to me that they wanted to speak more in English because they want the practice. In fact a couple of them I had hardly ever heard them speak in German before this week. It is cool to see how God is creating more opportunities to get better in German but I also don't want to lose out on the ways He can use us because we speak English. 

Also this week Rebecca (a youth girl) and I were able to go through all the baby things that have been given to us so far and see exactly where we are at and what we would still need. I just want to say how incredibly blessed we are (particularly by the Green family). Our list of needed things is very short (about 10-15 things) and we have not yet had a baby shower. It is awesome to see how God provides.

Summer Life

For the next two weeks, it is still summer break here in Austria. (But don't be jealous because their summer starts at the start of July). During the summer, life is very different for us. We don't have the majority of our regularly scheduled events (including: Youth Group, bible studies, Thursday night soccer, and daily afternoon tutoring) and many of the youth kids are off on vacation with their families. The only regular weekly activity we have is Friday night hang out at the Lighthouse. This is such a huge change for us. Before we left for camp, we had German class every morning, followed by the after school Tutoring (most days), and then activities the majority of the evenings during the week. We were busy, really we were a bit too busy. God has really switched our daily life around. Now we are planning and scheduling our daily events. We are doing more sports outreach, more meeting one-on-one with youth, studying German, spending more time with God, pursuing more in depth relationships with those from German class and we are even taking an online class (through the EFCA) on Ministering in a Roman Catholic Context. It is exciting to see how different our life looks right now but also to see how much God is using us! It can be stressful at times and requires a lot more effort on our part to be planning out each day but God is developing that skill. It will be nice to have school start again and be back into a routine (although we most likely won't have any more German classes). Now with our extra time from not having German classes, we will be able to implement more of these things we are doing now into our daily life. You can definitely be praying for us as we will be going through the transition back to school being in session here in a couple weeks but also for the time now that God will really use us in unexpected ways. 

Seth and Nur went hiking (we live even closer to the mountains in our new apartment). They almost made it to the top but decided to turn around. Maybe next time :)

Me and Jen, she has been on our team here for the last 3 months but is now back in the states in hopes of coming back next summer and then staying for a year!

Talia, Viki, and I. These are two girls that have been a part of the middle school youth group and this year, Talia will now have moved up and becoming to the High school youth group, which we help with. Viki is also now old enough but she will be moving with her family to London tomorrow. Definitely be praying for her transition through the move as well as our relationship, so far we had been meeting on a weekly basis and she would like to continue that, through Skype.

David and Jonas in the Lighthouse preparing supper for us all for Friday Night...with their chef hats on. It has become tradition now that a couple people will cook and everyone will chip in a little for groceries. It is a great way to get healthier and cheaper food rather than everyone going out to Burger King for supper and then bringing it back.

Our new apartment is much smaller than our last but that hasn't stopped us from still inviting people over! It did not take long for this apartment to feel like home : )

6 Months

It is hard to believe that it has already been over 6 months that we have been living here in Austria. In so many ways it still feels like we are still adapting and adjusting to a new culture, job and environment. But at the same time it feels like we have been here for a long time already. Part of that I think is because we believe that this is where God has called us to be and through that we find peace and rest in him, even in the adjustments. So it is not so much about the changes that we experience or how much we like the language or anything like that. It’s being excited for where God has us. It is us going through the learning curve for where we are at so that we can better know how and where God wants to use us.

In the past few months we have seen various people come to serve here in Austria for a short term. This has ranged from a 3-month term to 3 weeks. It has been encouraging to see the enthusiasm and energy that people have when they come. To hear how God has worked in their lives during their time here and even what they believe God is calling them to do in response.  Seeing God work in many of these people’s lives as well as many of our youth and kids at English camp has made me reflect a lot on our life and where God is leading us.

I cannot say that God revealed everything to me about our future or even how he is working in our life now but it has caused me to think and pray a lot more especially of things yet to come. A big part of that is thinking about if God is calling us to come back to Austria after our 2 year commitment is completed, back to the states (and if so, where) or even to somewhere else entirely. Some days we can really see how God is using us here in Innsbruck and really feel as though we want to stay here longer but there are also other days where we feel discouraged. At this point we still have a year before we would need to make a commitment to pursue longer term through ReachGlobal (although that does not mean we would be accepted, there would still be an application process). At this point we have no idea but we also want to be using this time wisely and praying about where God is calling us. I hope also that you all will be praying for us concerning this as well.

That is all on a larger scale but also we are continually wanting to be in prayer over the day to day activities that we have hear. There is a lot of flexibility with what we do here and many different opportunities that we could chose to be a part of that would be glorifying God. It is hard to always know what God is calling us to which we do need to be praying more about. There are a few things that are very clear that God is calling us to be a part of including sports ministry (mostly Seth), me meeting with youth girls, and continuing to develop relationships with those that we have met through German class. Even knowing that we still need to lean so much on the guiding of the Holy Spirit. Guiding in how to do these things as well as who specifically to pursue relationships with.

I think there will always be many questions that we have. Please be in prayer with us that we will constantly be looking to God to guide us in the various ministries that we are involved with and not just simply get in a routine and potentially miss opportunities that God is prompting us to. Pray also that we are always willing to be flexible and to meet people where they are.

Camp!

Sorry for the long time with no update. We have been kept busy the last month with camps, moving and then now we are currently at the Reach Global Europe Conference in Slovenia. Camps were full of excitement! We started out with training with our staff that came over from the states. Our staff was from Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Only two of the 9 that came over knew each other before arriving in Austria but over the weeks they meshed very well together! I was nervous going into it since I was in charge of training for English Lessons and I had never done that before but it went very well. Carrie (our team member) did a great job preparing me for it. The first week with the leaders was good as we alternated between training, team building and a little bit of sightseeing. Many of you were praying as I was going to be one of the drivers of the vans. In the past they had always been stick shift and would cost more for automatic so I spent a day learning. Then when we went to go pick up the vans we discovered that we received automatic vans because that was all they had. It was a big blessing.

It seemed like almost right away camp began and the kids were there. It was hard to be organized for that first week considering I had never been apart of the English Camps here in Austria before. But everything went smoothly. The first week we had 35, 12-14 year olds as well as a SWAT team (a leadership camp where they sleep outside in tents). It was interesting for Seth and I experiencing being on Program staff and not being actual cabin leaders but it was very good for us. We still had a great time getting to know many of the kids. It was also great experiencing things through the Cabin Leaders and being able to pray with, encourage and rejoice with them.

The second week came and we were much more organized and prepared. I was the cook but also was making sure that the program staff responsibilities were being taken care of. It was a lot of fun but it was a little disappointing not being able to be a part of staff meetings and things and not really knowing what was going on in the life of the campers. It was cool though to see how God would provide opportunities for me to talk with some of the cabin leaders when they were frustrated, needed a break or just someone to share with. They always knew I was in the kitchen and it was safe for them to come and talk with me which was a big blessing. Those few weeks just flew by and before we knew it we were back in Innsbruck doing debriefing with the staff and then taking them to the airport. We were blessed and 2 kids made first time decisions for Christ during our weeks a camp and many more rededicated their lives. Please continue to be in prayer for these kids since at this camp (we have two locations) probably half the kids that come are not believers. We had experiences with many kids that wanted nothing to do with God and only came for the English lessons. It was amazing to see God beginning to soften the hearts of many unwilling youth. There was lots of plowing and seed planting that went on in these weeks and many of the youth were really opening up to God by the end however they did not make a decision for Christ before they left. Please be in prayer that God will continue to work in their hearts and they will get involved with churches and youth groups where they live. That our cabin leaders will be able to stay in contact with them and follow up with them and that they will accept Jesus as their savior.

The morning that the staff was flying back to the states, Seth and I with a few other's help were moving into our new apartment. It is bittersweet considering our first apartment was very nice and large since we were renting it from a family of 6 that was gone for 6 months. It was such a blessing and we were able to host many people in our time there. There was a beautiful view of the mountains as well...we were pretty spoiled. Now we will be living in a much smaller place. It is nice and really is all that we need. It is on the 2nd floor which I am really excited to no longer be walking up 5 flights of stairs every time I want to go home. It is also within an apartment building that is full of believers. We are very excited about the fellowship and community that we will experience while living there. However I don't think there will be any quick trips to the grocery store. If you don't run into people walking through the building, you sure will on the way. But then again it's not really possible in Seward, Nebraska either.

We broke in our apartment those couple days that we were home seing how we can make it work having quite a few people over for a meal or games. It was a lot of fun. I also got the pleasure to spend most of the day with one of the youth girls who came over and helped us organize and rearrange the place just how we wanted it. It was a blessing since the people before us left us pretty much all of their furniture so we don't really need to buy much of anything and with the help of Viki rearranging with me, we are pretty well set. I'm excited to get home and be able to enjoy our apartment some more :) However that won't be happening for a little over a week.

After a couple days we made our way on an overnight train to Slovenia for the Reach Global conference. It has been a great time being poured into by many people who have been on the field much longer than we have. We have been blessed and encouraged in so many ways. We are actually right on the beach as well which has been a lot of fun in the time we have to get outside. We only have a few days left of conference and then Seth and I will be on our way to Croatia for a week of vacation. It will be nice to just relax and spend some time together after the crazy time we have had the last month. We are very excited and appreciate any and all prayers for safe travels.

English Camp Prep

This past week has been fun but very busy. It is our last full week before we leave early next Tuesday morning for English Camps. It has been a week full of making plans, spending time with youth we won’t see again for over a month, saying goodbye to friends that will have moved by time we are back in Innsbruck, learning to drive stick shift, signing documents, packing, end of the school year parties, and preparing to move.

It is hard to realize that we will be leaving for so long. Both of us feel as though we are really connecting with various people and it seems crazy to stop all that and be gone for over a month. It is hard to leave but I know that right when we arrive at the airport picking up all of the Americans that are coming to help with English Camps we will be glad to be there. We are very much looking forward to being at camp once more.

I am sure that Camp will fly by and before we know it we will be back in Innsbruck for those two days and be moving into our new apartment (I am looking forward to no longer walking up the stairs to the 5^th floor every day). It is such a blessing that we are able to move in during those couple days even though the apartment is not officially ours for another week. Praise God.

Then we will head out for Slovenia for the EFCA Europe Conference. Followed by a week of us on vacation in Croatia. It will be fun visiting places that we have never been before.

I am not entirely sure when the next time I will be able to update our blog so here are a few things that you can be in prayer for us over.

-The drive to Munich to pick up the American team. They mostly only have stick shift vehicles here in Austria and that includes the 9 passenger vans we will be renting for camp. Seth and I have very little experience learning how to drive stick but they were in need of one of us driving (an empty van) to the airport to pick up the team and then someone else can take over. I am the one that is going to be driving because later at camp I will be a cook and need to take the van to get groceries and insurance wise we can only have two people on the van.  I had a driving lesson for a couple hours yesterday and that went well but it is very difficult considering most of the time you are driving either uphill or downhill. But overall I understand. However I was learning in a smaller town without much traffic but we will need to pick up the vans in Innsbruck on Monday. There will definitely be traffic but I will also get part of that day to practice as well but then early Tuesday morning we will head out for Munich, which is about a 2-hour drive. I’m not concerned about driving on the Autobahn since we won’t really ever be stopping. But the time in Innsbruck and Munich will definitely be challenging so please pray that everything goes well and that I am able to stay calm.

-The move. We are working on packing most everything that we own so that it is ready to be moved right away when we return. Just pray that everything goes smoothly and that we are able to communicate well in German.

-Pray for our last few days before we leave for camp that it will be a time that we are able to relax so that we are able to head to camp with full energy

-That Seth and I don’t get overwhelmed at camp and are still able to make time for each other.