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.