Message from Maureen

God Breaks My Heart with Checkers and Kerplunk

They sat at a table together--father, mother and two boys, 9 and 12 years old. The father and older son bantered back and forth as they played a version of Checkers. While I could not understand their verbal language, the body language was a joy to watch--on several occasions, the young boy gestured happily as he took one of his father's checkers. The mother and younger son played Kerplunk, each tentatively removing a straw from beneath the pile of marbles. When the mother removed a straw and the marbles came crashing down to the base of the game, the son whooped and laughed. I sat with them, only able to converse a bit with the father, but that night God allowed me to see them in a deep and meaningful way. In a way that I cannot quite find words for, they moved into my heart and became "my" refugee family.

I was so happy to see them the following week. I had thought about them and prayed for them often. The father had told me that they were from Albania; they were members of an ethnic minority, with only nine villages in the whole country. They were not welcome in Albania and wanted a new and safer life for their boys. The older boy indicated that I was to sit in his seat and play Checkers with his father, an indication to me of acceptance. We all laughed when I lost. Then the father told me that they were leaving to go to another camp the next morning. They had come to say "thank you" to the Oasis. He told me they would be in the new camp for 20 days, but was unable to say where they would go after that. Would they be allowed to stay in Austria or would they be deported to Albania or another country?

All of a sudden, my heart was in my mouth. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. I had known this family only one week, but I felt like I was being robbed. I wanted to know more of their story, I wanted to do "something" to make their life different. But it was not to be. God had brought them into my life for just this short time, and I had to release them to His care. I got each of the boys a VBS t-shirt from FBCG and walked outside with them. I shook hands with the father and boys and when I turned to the mother, she hugged me tightly. They turned to walk the few blocks back to the camp and I watched, tears flowing as I said a silent prayer for them.

But God has planted them in my heart, where they will stay. Their picture is on my desk and in my Bible. And I realized that I can do "something"--I can pray for this family. I can sit in my comfortable home and lift up this family who have no home to the God who sees them, the God who cares for them. God used an evening of Checkers and Kerplunk to break my heart over the plight of this family; I pray that it is a break that will never heal.

I think what it would be like to see them again. That is not likely to happen in this life, but what about in the next? Seeds were sown at The Oasis; I pray that others will come along to water them and perhaps one day there will be a fruitful harvest. Will you pray with me not just for this family, but for the thousands of refugees in just this one camp who need to know His love?

Maureen Hughes-Phillips

Message from Jeni

As the one who did all the writing for the last 2 weeks you would think I would be the last one that would have a hard time expressing myself about my experiences and lessons learned in the last 2 weeks... so much easier said then done :-)

As most of you know I started my journey out on the mission field because when my dad was little he was in an Austrian refugee camp himself and he can recall the American missionaries that would come to visit. Thanks to those missionaries his family was able to make it to America and years later I would be born. So serving God in this way was my way of thanking him for the blessing of what he provided for my dad, but after my first trip to Brazil my view of serving on the mission field changed because I wasn't thanking God as much as he was using me to help reach others and that was an awesome feeling!! It is so indescribable to feel the call to serve and know that God has something planned for me to do...

since my first trip to Brazil I have gone back their twice and one time to the Dominican Republic but each time I always prayed God would call me to the Austria trip, but he didn't. So I waited patiently and when he called me to go this year I "thought" it was my time to serve in the same country that saved my dad and his family. It was finally my time to thank God for what he had done so many years ago, but again I was wrong... instead of me being able to thank God or for me to be able to serve the missionaries God used this time to help me grow...



One day when I was looking in the eyes of one of the boys I saw my dad's face in a picture that I have of him and his family with the boat they traveled on to get to the United States. At that moment I realized what my dad had gone through... this young man had a black eye because of a fight that happened in the camp - and in his sad face I could understand the pain my dad went through and why even now he is hesitant to share stories with us. I grew up being frustrated not knowing much of my dad's history, but after the lessons I learned this week I know now it is probably too painful for him to talk about. Plus he has always stressed to us to appreciate the goodness we have now and don't look back at how we got here. My heart goes out to the kids and I pray that they have the chance to be happy... to be able to smile... to be able to laugh... a time to be a real child that doesn't have to worry where their next meal will come, where will they sleep or will they have clothes to wear. I pray all their fears are lifted up to God and that they can see His light and have hope in the future.

I also wanted to mention that God not only blessed me by giving me a small look into my dad's past, but he also blessed me by letting me work with some amazing people. Actually I would say I met my match in sarcastic people (i.e. David, John and Marie), but beyond our quick wit lies people who are so passionate about the work we do that we don't mind making mistakes (or even a fool of ourselves). It was encouraging (and fun) to serve with three people that understand it is OK to be passionate in serving God.
To the opportunities to learn more about trusting my faith (i.e. Maureen, Dan L, Carol)... the three rocks of the team - that no matter what occurred they never once questioned it was all in God's hands.
Then on to wonderful spirits (i.e. Tom, Dan and Regan, Rose, Petra and Kathy) they showed me that the refugees are more then just people, they are people with histories, people with questions, people who just want to NOT be judged.
Trying to express the relationships that formed and the friendships that developed between the 13 of us is nearly impossible, but looking back now I can see how God had his hands all over us and is smiling down on us now. When I left Austria I truly did not leave completely because my heart will forever be there and I pray that the connections, relationships and friendships made will forever last.

To everyone that has been reading our blog, thank you for your prayers... with you praying for our team, for the Oasis missionaries and their ministries and the refugees, you were instrumental in helping us plant several seeds of hope and in building relationships.

Please continue to pray for (Oasis Missionaries) Carol, Tom and Joanne, David, Dan and Marie, Dan and Regan, Christian and Barbara and all their ministries.
Please also continue to pray for Petra as she continues going to school and she finds her path.
And finally please continue to pray for the refugees and the countries they left.

Thank you and God Bless,
Jeni Simmons

Message from Kathy

Dear Family and Friends,

It is Sunday morning and we are home following a Saturday spent traveling back from Austria. It is now 4am, and although I should still be in bed sleeping, my body is telling me I am still in Austria. What a perfect time to reflect on our Mission Trip, and how we saw God at work in us, through us and all around us.

As I left on my first mission trip, I promised myself that my expectation for this trip was to not have any expectations or any concern that I might have a problem not knowing German or any one of the number of languages that were spoken along the way. It was so amazing to see how a smile, a handshake, a gentle touch or offering a simple cup of coffee or tea spoke volumes and gave hope to a people that were now away from their homelands, lost and longing for comfort and a helping hand.

God has Blessed The Oasis and the wonderful Ministry and Missionaries that are working there. From providing a clothing room, and helping to distribute clothing to the refugees and seeing how genuinely thankful each was for these items; participating in bible study night and how husbands, wives, children, men and women could come together in one room and hear the Gospel and read from bibles written in thier language; how refugees would eagerly move to another room to view the Jesus Film in their own language; how the children learned gospel stories acted out with costumes, song and dance and how they lit up the room with their enthusiasm and joy; viewing their beautiful works of art pressed on walls that were completely covered, and how they beamed with pride to have them displayed; to the coffee bar, where The Oasis doors were opened up for all to come in, partake in games, drink coffee, tea and have fun times laughing and moving about the room, sharing their storie as we attentively listened; and there was ladies night, a night devoted just to the women, filled with singing, dancing, pampering, as we would make sure each of these special women, were allowed to feel special.

The list goes on and on.....I am so thankful that God blessed me with the opportunity to make this journey and to come to know the Missionary Staff at the Oasis and their passion for spreading the Gospel: Tom and Joanne, Carol, Dan and Marie, Dan and Reagan, David, Christian and Barbara and all those that were there helping during our time spent there.

And to my fantastic teammates: John, Jeni, Maureen and Rose. I will never forget one moment spent with the four of you as we worked, laughed and shed tears together. I have so appreciated getting to know each one of you. May God continue to Bless you and your families.

And finally, for the lives of the refugees and The Oasis Ministry and Missionaries that we have now become connected to, may God continue to Bless you and keep you.

Auf Wiedersehen for now,
Kathy

Final Blog Entry before we left Austria

The Oasis Team Rock's
As our team landed in Austria our mission goal was to lend our hands to the missionaries of the Oasis and plant seeds of hope, love and joy in the hearts of as many refugees as we could. Little did we know that it would be our own lives that would be forever changed and that God would have different plans for us.

Some of our team members where personally changed by the stories the refugees shared with them, some of the team members where changed by the smiles and joy the children expressed, but all of the team will forever be changed in how we serve because of what we experienced and saw in the hearts of the Oasis Team. Their humbleness, compassion and love for the people that attend their various ministries are priceless.

When an individual enters the doors at the Oasis; be it for clothing room, coffee bar, kids time, ladies night or their Wednesday night program, the team always makes sure that every person will feel like he or she is at home. The team accomplishes this sense of comfort by planning, preparing and praying for every ministry they offer. Each individual on the team fully dedicates their time and mind for what ever ministry is at hand by making sure every detail is taken care of before the people show up so the team can be fully focused on their guests.

In our own church we have all experienced a number of times that final rush to get everything done for a program and by the time our guests show up the staff are too exhausted from the setting up of the program to give ourselves 100% to the people we invited. That kind of feeling was not here at the Oasis and will not be because of the way they run their programs.

The other lesson we learned from the Oasis team reminded us of the passage:
1 Corinthians 12:12
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

Within the Oasis every team member has their own spiritual gifts and it was amazing to see how each team member was able to use their individual gifts to enhance the ministries they offer. For example it was the gifts of Marie’s beautiful voice, Dan L’s incredible ability to choose the words to connect with the refugees and David’s gift of connecting with every personality, that made the Wednesday night program so successful. That is just the gifts used in one program… we could go on and on about the rest of the team and how each ministry is blessed and flourishing because they are able to use all their gifts in order to teach God's love.

On behalf of our team, we would like to thank Carol, Tom, David, Dan and Marie, Dan and Regan, Christian and Barbara, not only for the work they do everyday at the Oasis, but for being amazing role models for us. As we go back to Geneva, IL our way of serving will forever be changed and we can hopefully now go back and be good role models there.

Thank you for making us better!
God Bless
Jeni, John, Maureen, Rose and Kathy

Time to Come home

Well it is time for us to come back home, but before the tears where shed, the hugs were given, we want to reflect one more time on 2 ministries that we participated in yesterday. First we had another round of Kid's club... this time we did the story of Joshua and Jericho. We were blessed to bring all of the leftover FBCG VBS shirts with us and all the kids in the room wore their new shirts as if they were their costumes... plus they all each received their very own camouflage bandanna (so they could look as if they were in the army) and everyone had kazoos to blow. I am not sure who had more fun making all that noise, the kids or the adults! The kids loved their new shirts sooooo much that we were able to give every child a second shirt.

In the evening we had another round of coffee bar... the room was packed! Not a seat was empty and 100 cups of coffee where handed out and 80 cups of tea were given too. Not only was the team on their toes making sure everyone had a cup of coffee or team, but we all had different opportunities to play games. Maureen spent the night talking to a family that was leaving the next morning and they came to just give their thanks to the Oasis. Rose played an intense game of chess, while John was challenged to several games of connect four with one guy who seeked him out!!! As for Kathy and I, well not only did we man the coffee bar but we also had the chance to talk to a man who has many many many questions about who God is and what had He made.

The night not only started early but ended late because no one wanted it to end - especially our team. It was hard to say good bye to the people we have become friends with. Of course they asked if we would all come back again and I personally hope God does call us back again. As you can imagine several tears where shed, but they were joyous tears.

We ask that you pray for us today for safe travel for tomorrow. We also ask that you pray for Rose who has already left us and went to Hungary to be with her family for a few days. We also ask that you pray for the Oasis team; Carol, Tom, David, Dan and Regan, Dan and Marie, and Christian and Barbara. We also ask that you pray for our friend Petra as she also head back home too.

On behalf of the team, thank you so much for your continuous prayers!

This will be our last entry before we arrive back in the states - we all hope to see everyone on Sunday at church.

God Bless,
Jeni, John, Maureen, Kathy and Rose.

Getting closer to the end

Well it is Thursday here already in Austria... we are not sure where the time has gone, but there is one thing I know I do not want to leave yet!

Tuesday morning our team led the weekly prayer time for the Oasis and our team, but during our discussion time it hit our team that we were coming close to the end of our time being here. We asked every one to share "what would they miss"... for our team it was what would we miss about Austria and for the Oasis it was what do they miss from the home they left behind. Everyone from the Oasis mentioned of course the food they miss the most, but they also miss their families too... as for our team we are going to miss the Oasis team the most. I cannot express the cohesiveness, humbleness and spirit this team has not only for the refugees and the ministries they have, but for each other too. I personally am humbled by the lessons I have learned from them.

We then asked everyone to talk about their "God sightings"... how have they seen God in the last week. As I spoke about my own father's journey as a refugee and the experience I have had with the refugee kids, I was overwhelming taken back by making the connection that the kids I was playing with, singing with, doing crafts with are just like the kid my father was when missionaries came to his camp when he was little. His only wish for me was to hand out gum to the kids because that was his fondest memory of the missionaries he met as a kid. It is amazing to know that God had it already planned that this little child would raise a child that would return to Austria and hopefully plant seeds of hope in another refugee child's heart.

As for Wednesday we painted and painted and painted... but it always amazes me how a small project can make sure a huge impact - not on the looks of the place, but on the people that are doing the job. The Oasis has 2 new missionaries - Christian and Barbara... Kathy and I got to spend the morning with Christian and what a blast we have. See he can only speak German and he tried his English on us and for the words he didn't know I was surprisingly able to understand. John was able to bless the Oasis with fixing their dishwasher - this is huge thing for them because during their ministries they serve a lot (A LOT) of coffee and the cups are constantly being washed so the dishwasher helps them to get out of the kitchen and to be back in the room to talk to the refugees!

Last night John delivered another sermon, this time it was about Jonah... he did a great job! The night went to well that no one wanted to leave. At one point the room broke up in to so many mini groups that were in deep discussion about God. Standing in the back of the room watching it all happened was priceless!!! Close your eyes right now and imagine 10+ different small groups, made up of different countries, all talking, debating and discussing God. That is awesome!!!

On behalf of the team we ask that you keep us in your prayers as we prepare for our last night at the Oasis. We have kids club this afternoon where the walls of Jericho will be falling and we will also have coffee bar tonight.

Thank you for your continued commitment for praying for us.

God Bless,
Jeni, John, Kathy, Maureen and Rose

God's continue to keep provide

Monday was clothing day at the Oasis - Mens clothing day that is!
We thought the men would come in and pick items out quickly and leave, but that is not what happened... we had over 140 men come to the Oasis to pick out 2 pieces of clothing. At first the clothing room did not look like it would have enough pants and shirts for that many men, but God kept providing and providing - we never ran out!! What a blessing!!

Another blessing is that the men were patient and did not get frustrated while waiting for so long... we opened the doors at 1:30 and didn't end until 6 pm... for the men who had the highest numbers that meant they had to wait for hours and hours for 2 pieces of clothing. We did have a couple of men who tried to take more then what was allowed, but over all the crowd of men were very thankful for what they received.

As for today, Tuesday, we are spending the day helping the Oasis team on several mini work projects to help spruce up their place and give them a helping hand in projects they are just too busy to do. After a long day yesterday, it is nice to have a low key day cleaning house... and it also gives us a chance to prepare for the next 3 days that will be very busy here at the Oasis.

Our prayer requests for today is to give thanks to God for all the clothes he blessed us with yesterday and give thanks to Him for all the love, support and encouragement he has given our team.

On behalf of the team... thank you for praying.

God Bless,
Jeni, John, Rose, Kathy and Maureen

2 Church Services and a day to reflect

Today we were blessed to be able to attend 2 different church services again. The first one was with Carol, our missionary friend from the Oasis and the other one was at Rose's friend Nana's church.

At Carol's church we were able to be filled up with the Holy Spirit's energy and reminded of how awesome and amazing God is! At Nana's church we (the team) were asked to participate in the service by providing music and sermon. Once again we taught them 2 songs from Jubilation Station... Joy Joy Joy and Every move I make. Besides laughing at our funny american dancing moves, I also talked them about when you have God in your life you will have joy, love and light... and most of all in every thing you do you should always have God lead you (in every breath, move and step you take... God should be in the driver seat).

John then preached about being still to be closer to God. Nana loved John's choice of sermon and how he expressed the importance of being still and silent. John talked about how the quieter we get the louder God becomes in our lives and he arms us with spiritual weapons that will help us in our everyday lives. John did an amazing job and at the end Nana asked one of the refugee to say an ending prayer and he referred to several points John made in his sermon so we know they HEARD every word John said and many seeds were planted in all their hearts.

After the service we all stayed to celebrate Sita's (Nana's wife) birthday... Sita was overjoyed with her celebration, but she asked us each to keep her friend in our prayers... the night before Sita learned that one of her bible study ladies had lost her child to a swimming accident. The 15 month old child walked away from the other kids and the mom and fell in to a small back yard swimming pool and drowned. So would you join our team in praying for that family.

At the end of the day we returned back to our pension to chill for a while and reflect on the week. We all pulled our cameras out and went through all the pictures we have taken and that was a great way to talk about the different experiences we have had in the week.

We also went out for dinner and talked about what our expectations were for the rest of the week... we ask that you keep us in your prayers for this afternoon. It is men's clothing room at the Oasis and the last time there were over 175 men that showed up and many of the men had to wait hours and hours for just a couple pieces of clothing. The wait for the men is very frustrating and they can get aggrevated so we ask for prayers of patience for the men and prayers that there will be plenty of clothes to go around to evey man.

On behalf of the team we want to thank you again for praying for us, but we ask you to take time now and pray for the refugees, pray for Austria as they provide safety for them, pray for the countries that the refugees came from and pray for the Oasis' ministries.

Thank you and God Bless,
Jeni, John, Maureen, Kathy and Rose

Ahh Vienna... very beautiful!

As a team we had the day off and we all decided to head to Vienna to see the sites and do some shopping. Rose's friend Mo came with us to show us the town (and naviagate the trains) and he did a great job. By the time we got home ALL of our feet were sore!



We were blessed to run in to a festival in the park... it was a farmer market fair with lots of food to eat and music to listen to. We also rode a very large and a very high ferris wheel!! We even left our name on the wall in the car we rode on.

This day was a nice way for the team to relax but also spend a lot of quality time together, sharing stories of our trip and our families. Plus we got to see Maureen try to pass her Ferris Wheel pass off to the police as it was her train ticket and Rose answering a phone that John was calling her from the seat next to her. In other words it was also a great to have fun!! and be silly.

On behalf of the team we want to thank everyone for your prayers - we are all healthy and going strong! Thank you.

God Bless,
Jeni, John, Kathy, Maureen and Rose

Ladies Night Out

Today was another jam pack day with the team doing projects for the Oasis team... John and Kathy challenged each other to see who could get the least amount of paint on them as they painted the very high high high hallway at the Oasis (John won, but Kathy has very stylish white painted hands now). As for the rest of us, Maureen, Rose and I did mini jobs around the Oasis and we started to prepare the men's clothing room which will be on Monday.

In the evening we sent John off for a well deserved (and needed) guys night out with David. They went out for a dinner and a movie - David asked if that was a guy's thing to do??? As I write this entry I have not seen John yet to see how things went last night because he got in after we did so I will have to post how his night went later.

For the rest of us it was Ladies Night at the Oasis, with some singing, a little bit of dancing and a lot of laughing. We pampered the women by waiting on them, getting tea and coffee... offering really yummy deserts. Rose brought each of them a beautiful scarf, they each made their own bracelets and as they left they all received flowers. We wanted to make them feel special tonight and loved - the smiles on their face as they left said it all... We All Had Fun!

Prayer requests... on Sunday John will be preaching at Nana's church, I will be doing music and the rest of the team will be preparing for Sita's birthday party. Please pray as we prepare for Sunday.

On behalf of the team, thank you again for all your prayers - you have been so faithfully praying for us already for a whole week and we truly appreciate your committement and dedication to our team.

God Bless,
Jeni, John, Maureen, Kathy and Rose

Thursday... from kids to adults we served them all

Today was our most jammed pack day yet - we had Kid's club this afternoon and Coffee Bar this evening. Before we did any of that we treated ourselves to a trip to Baden (which is only a couple towns over), but we got to take a long walk around town and enjoy the sights for an hour.

At kids club today we learned we have an actor in the group - John was Jonah for the skit today while Maureen was the Big Fish! Not only did we have a blast, but the kids enjoyed the skit, the music and the crafts. Personally I am enjoying the time we get to collaborate with the missionaries and working together. Last night our team talked about how much the missionaries have impacted and changed our lives!! We thought we were coming to help them and they are helping us grow... I love how God works!

At the coffee bar tonight, the refugees are invited to come for tea and coffee, time for games and reading, listen to a refugee boy play the piano beautifully and an opportunity to talk to us about God or watch the Jesus Film. Tonight Kathy and I worked the coffee bar and poured the coffee and tea, but it gave us a great opportunity to say hi and smile at every refugee that came in. Such a small role, but for some of the refugees it meant a lot to them. We have one man who comes every Wednesday and Thursday night and in his words "I don't come for the coffee I come for the people who run this ministries and their smiles".

So many people and so much doubt... one man Kathy and I talked to said there is NO WAY anyone is in Heaven because you have to be PERFECT to get there. Though he admits he sins, he believes in Jesus and declares everyone should live a life with Jesus he still believes he can't go to heaven. He says he is about 70% good and that he has to be 100% good to see God - boy does he have a surprise coming when he dies. He just can't understand that we all still make mistakes, but the God LOVES us that much that he forgives us instantly.

So our prayer request for tonight is for this gentleman - to protect him I will not be able to state his name on this blog.
Please continue to pray for strength and good health for the team - we are all doing well, but we have 3 long days in a row and we know we will be exhausted by Saturday.

On behalf of the team, thank you again and again and again for praying for us. We can feel those prayers showering us with strength, confidence and encouragement.

God Bless
Jeni, John, Maureen, Kathy and Rose

Wednesday at the Oasis

Today we split up in to mini teams... Maureen and Jeni went to the Oasis for work projects, John went to David's flat to paint his bathroom and Rose and Kathy went to Nana and Sita's for an afternoon of visiting. Each team had a great time not only in serving in their own ways, but everyone had downtime to be able to get to know each other better too. Which is a praise because though we all know each other, none of have really spent much time with each other on a personal level before we became a team.

Our team wanted to thank you for your prayers for Doug, we received word yesterday that he is feeling better, but he will not be able to join us in Austria after all. So as a team it was so important that we had time to learn more about each other because the roles we thought we would hold when we came to Austria are out the window at this point... what is that saying?? "God laughs when people make plans" Well OUR plans are changing, but we know we are on God's timeline and following his plan.

Last night we were blessed to be a part of the Oasis Wednesday night program which some refugees refer to as church. The women of the FBCG team sang 3 songs for the crowd, then David from Australia played a game with the crowd using John and me. John and I both had to list 5 things that the crowd had to guess who it was... it was a lot of fun! Except for the point where John was teased because he used to play football and I used to play soccer. Of course here there is only one football and that is SOCCER. So I was a crowd favorite, but John was a the women's favorite because David talked about how he cooked for all of us!!!

There were 16 countries represented last night and 3 translators - it was amazing to here the sermon translated in 3 different languages. At the end of the program we served coffee, cake and spent time talking with the refugees. Our goal last night was to be able to just plant seeds in the heart of the refugees and by the questions they had and their smiles on their faces I know God was in many of their hearts last night.

Today will be a long day for us - we have a children's program and the coffee bar where we will be talking again to the refugees and showing the Jesus Film in several languages. Please pray for the team to have strength in our bodies and mind today, plus clarity in our words. Please pray that God is able to freely talk through us and reach his refugee children.

On behalf of the team, thank you for your prayers and your emails.

God Bless,
Jeni, John, Rose, Maureen and Kathy

Tuesday at The Oasis

Dear Austria Team Supporters,

We awoke to another beautiful day. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. We took a short 15 minute walk from the pension to the train station, then a 5 minute ride into Traiskirchen. The Oasis is just across the tracks. We began the day by joining the Oasis team in a time of worship, sharing and prayer. After the busyness of yesterday, today is a slower pace. We are spending time today planning for the rest of our week--more orientation with David, preparation for the Kids Club and work projects. Tonight, "Chef" John will prepare dinner for the rest of the team and the Oasis staff.

We would like to introduce you to the dedicated ppeople who work here. Carol is the director and has been a joy to work with. David is from Australia and helps to keep things running smoothly on clothing days. Dan L. picked us up at the airport and his wife Marie was a great help to us in the clothing room. They have two young children--Zach and Anya. Dan P. has also played chauffer and given us some of our orientation. He is married to Regan and they have a darling little redhead, Caleb. We have also been joined by Petra, who works in the Czech.

We are so grateful for your prayers as we work with the staff and the refugees. I think I can speak for the team when I say that we are blessed to be here. We are all looking forward to how the Lord will lead us over the next days.

For the Austria team,
Maureen

Hello from Austria

Hellllloooo family and friends!

We have safely made it to Austria - we actually arrived on Saturday afternoon, but with a few glitches already... Doug was unable to come with us! He came to the church on Friday to let us know he has a kidney stone and the doctor has advised him not to fly until is passes. Please keep him in your prayers - as of now we have still not heard from him and we are not sure if he will be able to join us at a later date.

We were blessed to be able to attend 2 different church services yesterday - 1 with our Oasis missionary friends and the 2nd one with Nana. After Nana's service John headed to the airport to pick up Kathy from the airport - we were blessed that he was able to navigate his way on buses and trains to get to the airport and get back. Rose, Maureen and I got to spend the rest of the day with Nana and his beautiful family.

As for today - the 5 of us spent the day at the Oasis to set up, prepare and work the clothing room. Today was woman's day so Maureen and Kathy helped women find clothes, while Maureen, John and I served coffee and tea and entertained the children. It was a long day and we are all now exhausted - plus we are 7 hours ahead of US time so right now it is 11 pm for us... we are still getting adjusted to the time change ;-)

We have a couple of prayer requests:
1. For Doug, please help him heal quickly so he can still join us
2. For the whole team - please prayer for strength and health.
3. Please pray that the whole team is not only obedient to what God has planned for us, but that we also are open to sharing God's word. There is so many different languages that it can be overwhelming for us and we aren't sure what to say. We are praying that God just speaks through us and helps us plant seeds of God's love in everyone we meet.

On behalf of the Austrian team, Thank you for your prayers!

God Bless,
Jeni, John, Rose, Maureen and Kathy

3 days left

We can't believe it either, but we are all packed and ready to go! Please keep our team in your prayers this Friday... we will be leaving from the East Campus at 1:15 so if you want to come see us off and pray with us we would love to have you!

As a team we wanted to thank everyone that has been faithfully been praying for us already, we can feel your prayers covering us and helping us get ready for the work God has planned for us for the next 2 weeks.

God bless,
Jeni, Doug, Rose, Kathy, Maureen and John