It is official- as of this morning, I will be staying in Austria for a MINIMUM of two years. Well, at least, I will be maintaining my phone contract until then. Julia and I were very busy this morning making arrangements for me. We signed a phone and internet contract. I am officially reachable via Handy! Except, I don't think that I will ever again call it a 'Handy'.... I will send an email with the new number momentarily.
Other things Austrian-
We went to Parschlug Wednesday morning to play with Joy (notice her in the bottom left corner of my title-photo). and to eat lunch with Karina, Julia's mom. It was a great morning. Joy warmed up to me quickly again- I think she remembers me as her ignorant American friend who does not know how to give dog commands in German. ;-) Lunch time was simply enjoyable. Let's just say that Karina is FAR better at "hello" than she is at "goodbye." I love my family here. Taking Joy for a walk was a given for the afternoon. Karina and I enjoyed that time alone together. She gave me a few German books. Mostly elementary school grammar workbooks. I took some time to read "Mr Messy" (in German of course) to Julia and Karina. They enjoyed the story though I didn't understand the majority of what I read.
Last night, we went to House Group. It was my first time seeing a few familiar faces. It was a night of prayer and worship for seeking vision for the HG this new year. We are helping provide a service for the teens of Graz this Friday night. There are great and exciting things beginning with this generation world wide- I look forward to seeing what that looks like here. Pray for the youth- worldwide, this generation is on fire! Expect more.
The Kirsch's arrive early tomorrow morning!!! We are going to have a lot of fun together! Uschi, Julia, and I already figured out some good plans for this weekend. We have church at Exousia Saturday night. It should be an adventure of a service just before the SOW. Speaking of, the School of the Word (SOW) is this Monday-Friday. Mmm....so much meat and such great worship.
