The Glorious Gift of Wood Stoves

When I emerged from my room this morning, I found a fire burning in the stove. I'd been working on some sound editing in my room but since I have this handy-dandy invention of a laptop, I decided to move my work to the dining room area next to the stove. It is cozy here today. Simply nice. The house has a calm atmosphere today. Something we've been missing for a while. I am working, but it isn't too difficult nor strenuous today. The files I am editing are only voice files and I'm producing the various translations from the last Ministry School. The worst part is waiting for Garage Band to convert the final edits into mp3 coding. As I said, it's not so bad. I suppose it gives me an excuse to blog while I'm between the edit and conversion.

There's a burning, stirring feeling in me today. It's a compelling feeling. It's that "something is going to happen" feeling that brings you aware of the need for focus and intercession. I'll see what I can finish of these files in the next 30 minutes or so and then spend time pressing in.

Talking to Teresa last night made me aware of something else. She asked me what the church looks like here, how the ministry actually functions, what my purposes have been, what am I doing here, are there pictures, etc. Her questions boiled down to a simple phrase she responded with, "it's good to actually know where you are." I wish it were easy to keep you better informed about all these things. I guess, the basis for the complication of explaining is that, well, I am living life here. I'm working and studying, simultaneous to doing ministry full time. Should sound similar to what you are doing there. At least, the latter facet of the sentence should resemble the similarity. Being the friend she is, I know what she was really asking about and I know the questions you are all wondering have no fault to them. In no simple means can I answer all your questions within a public blog, so I will do my best to describe Exousia to you today.

Exousia is a small fellowship- roughly 70 people in attendance. We meet on Saturday evenings for our regular worship service. It is a free church in Austria- meaning it is not Catholic and it is not the State's church. It is an apostolic, prophetic, warring, worshiping family. They generally push for the "unreachable" in order to bring to Earth that which is in Heaven. They are unlike any other church I've been a part of or visited. They are raw, real, and burning. They are, of course, imperfect but they are striving and growing in great ways. They are teaching me many things while I, in turn, am offering them as much as I can.

Feel free to leave comments or send me emails with the details you're still curious about. I don't bite...most of the time.

Jingle bells...Batman smells...

Did you know that the titled lyrics are international?  Totally. The explanation: Our class is completely international- ranging from China, Iraq, and Kosovo, to Romania, Greece, and America (me!).  And I've left out a few other countries. Being from so many different countries, the only link we all have is the bit of German we've already learned together. Sitting in class, hardly paying attention, someone mentions Christmas songs- in German. To better explain what this expression meant, someone began humming "Jingle Bells." My friend from Romania proceeds to sing, "Jingle bells...Batman smells...Robin laid an egg." I laughed so hard and asked, "THAT'S INTERNATIONAL?!???!!!!" She just smiled and firmly replied, "Yes, of course."

two more weeks

Winter break is coming!  YEA!  It's not the end of the semester here, though.  How strange is that?  We go until the end of January and then have the month of February as a break.

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  Last I wrote, I mentioned the schools and meetings and so-on.  We just finished hosting two Ministry schools here and Franz went to Albania to do another this weekend.  I still have some follow-up work to do from this past week, but I am glad the bulk of it is finished.  It's a lot of work at one time.  And, in this case, it also happened to fall at a very busy semester time.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE doing this work!  I love working for Franz.  I loving putting myself into this ministry.  I love working with Sula!  I love it!  But, I'm tired. 

Plans for this weekend include- 

Friday - working in the morning, putting together Julia's birthday gift, sleep-over at BLAST Hill with the Croatians.

Saturday- doing laundry, church, and playing with Sula (I'm really looking forward to this).

Sunday- Celebrating Julia's birthday.

Monday (it's a holiday; apparently, a very important Catholic holiday)- resting, doing homework, ironing, and who knows what else.

Hope all's well on your end.  I miss you guys......

finally worth reading

Many of you have been asking about things and I realize that my updates as of late have been scarce and really only about the logistics of my staying here. Sorry for that. I finally have some time this afternoon before church so I will see what I can do to provide a worth while update.

By category--

Work:
Teaching in Eggersdorf is going well. We had some bumps along the way with my availability. As these things have settled, my time at the school has become more enjoyable. The students are from 11-14 years old. We have a great time together. In some cases, I will teach an entire class about American culture or geography. Some lessons, I will rotate small groups thrughout the class duration and we will practice reading and speaking. Other lessons still, I meet with a small group for the entire class time and we only practice speaking. I want to teach the students to love language and to enjoy using English. I remember my first years of learning Spanish were terrible for me. I saw no real purpose and therefore, did not want to learn. I don't want that for these kids. I know that language learning is not easy, and for some, it is right-out difficult. These are the kids I like working with the most. How do I teach them to enjoy English? We talk about fun things! Yeah, sure they love learning about American sports, food, school systems, etc. but I am willing to talk with them about anything they enjoy. If the students in a small group only want to talk about their plans for the weekend, that is okay with me, so long as they use English. The kids have become pretty warm toward me and really even take good care of me. They also help me with my German in some small, fun, and important ways. All in all, we have a great time together. I am at the school for a total of 7 lessons (periods) each week.

Uni:
Learning German is not easy but is is becoming more and more fun for me. I am now able to understand very well and my speech is improving week by week. I look forward to the day I can communicate with out translation!

BLAST:
things with BLAST slowed down for the last month but they are picking up speed (QUICKLY) again. We have three schools coming up the last week of November into the first week of December. We also have a BLAST Team meeting next weekend, so Sula and I have been busy organizing and trying to keep up. All of this work is even more difficult to manage now that we both are full swing into the semester and we neither of us has a consistent way to travel to the office.

OTHER CATEGORIES--
Crossways:
Sparing you the details, as of about three weeks ago, I was adopted as the bass player for Crossways, Julia's band. Sadly, we've only had one rehearsal since I joined. We have our next performance/contest on December 12. I'm looking forward to it, though I still have a lot of practicing to do.

Culture:
I am attending my first Austrian Matura Ball next weekend. It's along the lines of a prom but a bit different. The purpose is to celebrate the graduating class. "Matura" is the name of the final exams that Austrian students have to pass. I'd explain it to you in more detail, but I'm not really sure how it is, yet.

Ministry:
Housegroup has been AWESOME these last weeks. We've been really growing as a family and learning to love each other as such. Steve Espamer, from Pennsylvania, has been with us for the last few weeks. Steve comes to Austria a few times a year for missions. This trip, he brought a friend named Ron. These two guys are great. It has been a real treasure of a blessing to have them joining our house group for these weeks. Last night, I went with them to a town called Wolfsberg to do some teens ministry. There was first a service combing the youth groups from the churches of Wolfsberg. Some people from 2 hours away even came for this service. There were for sure 8 first time salvations!! Many teens were touched in great ways, though- some healed, some encouraged, some just learning more about this God who loves them. After the service, we went back into town to do some bar ministry. We had some awesome conversations with people! All in all, it was an astonishing trip!

Now:
I am going to take my laundry out of the washing machine so it can dry. I think I might take a nap or watching something that doesn't require any thinking until it is time to leave for church.

I'll include some pictures of Graz in the fall, my drive to work, and Wolfsberg.