Bosnia

On Thursday evening my team departed Vienna on a bus for a 14 hour trip to Bosnia. The reasons we went to Bosnia were;

• We needed to leave the EU to renew our next 90 day tourist visa term.
• To check out the OM team there and see what their ministry looked like.
• To explore and discover all of the rich history and current on-goings in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

It was really delightful to be in a culture that was so much warmer in comparison to Austria. Everyone, for the most part, that we came in contact with was so friendly and open. We immediately made friends on the bus and it was so encouraging to see people chatting with one another without having known them before. This is a stark contrast to Vienna where the underground subway and trains are always very silent. We arrived in Bosnia exhausted and sleepless, but ready to see what God had for us there.
Some highlights were:

• Some of us went to an evangelistic outreach where we BBQed and chatted with folks on the street. I've never in my life seen so much meat!
• Going to a "Tunel Museum" to learn more about the war that only 13 years ago ended without any closure at all. We witnessed the tunnels that the Bosnian troops and civilians went through to find refuge and retrieve supplys.
• Shopping around in the "old city" part of Sarajevo. The American dollar is better than their "Mark" and the Euro even twice as good. It was nice to find such neat hand made things for very cheap.
• Attending a Bosnian church service. The worship moved me immensely as these people truly came before their Savior and King. All of the pastors of the evangelical churches in Bosnia have been a Christian for under 10 years!

Another 14 hour bus ride and we found ourselves back in Austria. This weekend was so timely for all of us on the team. We enjoyed our time in Bosnia and each of us fell in love with the people and the country. Please pray for the people of this country as many do not know Jesus. There is still a lot of conflict going on and many believe the war could start again at any moment. There isn't peace, there's just a lack of violence. Here are some pictures from my time there.

For freedom?

These are some lyrics from a favorite song of mine by Lauryn Hill. It's called "Freedom Time"

It's freedom, said it's freedom time

Yo, there's a war in the mind, over territory
For the dominion
Who will dominate the opinion
Skisms and isms, keepin' us in forms of religion
Conformin' our vision
To the world churches decision
Trapped in a section
Submitted to commiting election
Moral infection
Epedemic lies and deception
Insurrection
Of the highest possible order
Destortin' our tape recorders
From here and like under water
Beyond the borders
Fond of sin and disorder
Bound by the strategy
It's systematic deprivaty
Heavy as gravity
Head first in the cavity
Without a bottom
A faith, worse than Saddam
Once got him
Drunk of the spirits
Truth comes, we can't hear it
When you've been, programmed to fear it
I had a vision
I was fallin' in indescision
Apollin', callin' religion
Some program on television
How can, dime and the wisdom
Be recognized in the system
Of Anti-Christ, the majority rules
Intelligent fools
PhD's in illusion
Masters of massconfusion
Bacholors in past illusion
Now who are you choosin'
The head or the tail
The bloodshed of the male
Or confidence in the veil
Conference is in Yale
Discussin' docctrines of Baal
Causin' people to fail
Keepin' the third in jail
His word has nailed
Everything to the tree
Severing all of me from all that I used to be
Formless and void
Totally paranoid
Enjoy darkness as the Lord
Keepin' me from the sword
Blocked from mercy
Bitter than Cerce
Hungry and thirsty
For good meat we would eat
And still, dined at the table of deceit
How incomplete
From confrontation to retreat
We prolong the true enemies defeat
Destitute a necessity
Causin' desperation to get the best of me
Punishment 'til there was nothing left of me
Realizin' the unescapable death of me
No options in the valley of decision
The only doctrine, supernatural circumcision
Inwardly, only water can purge the heart
From words, the fiery darts,
Thrown by the workers of the arts
Iniquity, shapen in
There'e no escapin' when
You're whole philosophy is paper thin
In vanity
The wide road is insanity
Could it be all of humanity?
Picture that
Scripture that
The origin of a man's heart is black
How can we show up for
An invisible war
Preoccupied with a shadow, makin' love with a whore
Achin' in sores
Babylon, the great mystery
Mother of human history
System of social sorcery
Our present condition
Needs serious recognition
Where there's no repentance there can be no remission
And that sentence, more serious than Vietnam
The atom bomb and Saddam and Minister Farakkhan
What's goin' on, what's the priority to you
What authority do we do
the majority hasn't a clue
We majored in curses
Search the chapters, check the verses
Recapture the land
Remove the mark from off of our hands
So we can stand
In agreement with his command
Everything else is damned
Let them with ears understand
Everything else is damned, let them with ears understand

It's freedom, said it's freedom time now

Who

I've been meaning to write about an experience I had about a month ago and have never gotten around to it. So, for this post, I will update you on one of my favorite moments I've had since getting to Austria.

It was a Friday and I was spending the day alone exploring Vienna. Trying to discover new places and get lost, I would randomly jump on "Strassenbahns" (street trolleys) that I didn't recognize and go with wherever they took me. It was getting to be later at night and I was unsure of what to do next when an elderly man came up to me and asked for directions. In my broken German I tried to help him but at the same time was unsure of where he was asking about. I decided after that to go to a homeless banquet that was being put on at a church I knew about in Vienna. They decorated their sanctuary as if they would be hosting diplomats and politicians. It was such a lovely idea. As I walked in, I looked around and, to my slight dismay, didn't see any members of the church that I recognized. Unsure of what to do next I sat down in a chair in the back of the sanctuary. The next thing I know, I hear a voice, in German, saying "My friend! I didn't know you were coming here!" and looked over to see the elderly gentlemen who I had previously given directions to. This started the beginning of a lovely evening.

He invited me to be his date that night and sit with him at the dinner table. His name is Preni, and he's 67 years old. He speaks 9 different languages and thoroughly enjoyed displaying all of the different words he knew in these languages. The one language he did NOT know, was English. The church members that were running this dinner didn't recognize me and treated me like the rest of the homeless people. It was so much fun to hang out with Preni, speak in broken German, and be surrounded by these lovely people. I made a lot of friends that night who I'm unsure if I'll ever see or talk to again, but I'm always looking for them. It was an awesome experience and opened my eyes to possibly what I may be doing for ministry during my time here.

Please pray for me as I explore what options there are to work with the homeless of Vienna.

Auf wiedersehen!

One month

It's been a month since I last wrote. I'm not sure what has come over me lately, but I'm having a really hard time keeping in touch/ verbalizing what is going on in my brain. Let's see what I can fill you in on...

Completed another month of language school. Now on to level 2A.
I went on a retreat with a church in Vienna.
Traveled to Germany for another retreat for one week.
Visited a concentration camp in Mauthausen, Austria.
Attended 2 dance parties.
Welcomed spring weather.
Witnessed the "Critical Mass" bike demonstration in Vienna.
Had about an hour of homework every night.
Added many more feathers to my collection.
Enjoyed a visit from a Canadian friend.
Found out we most likely will NOT be receiving a visa here in Austria.
Learned more about myself.
Walked to a castle.
Pulled over by Austrian police while riding my bike.
Got sick and had 2 ambulances come to help me.
Allowed God to drastically and dramatically gain my full attention.

I plan on doing a better job of posting on this. I'm thankful to those who read. Please feel free to respond in anyway.

Refreshment

God is teaching me a lot. I know blogs are usually more or less talking about the things that someone does, but I feel as if the happenings in my heart are a bit more pressing and important at the moment. So, I'm going to fill you in.

Lately I've been feeling extremely tired and depleted. It's as if all life has been drained out of me physically, emotionally, and spiritually. My mind was constantly buzzing with random thoughts and dreams and I could never seem to pin one down long enough to understand it. It was as if I was walking in a fog for days on end.
I couldn't seem to hear from God. My interactions with people were shallow and forced. My physical health was spiraling downwards. What is going on here?

Well, I do believe I'm finally able to put my finger on it.
Inside of everyone is an extremely strong desire to be known and to be loved. This desire, which we attempt to quench with friendships and relationships, is only completely and perfectly filled by our Heavenly Father. As this longing to be loved and valued became evident inside of me, I attempted to fill it with carnal things. Since these objects and false gods that I've erected in my heart can't fill that void, they have left me feeling lost, unloved, useless, and most of all, not myself. It's exhausting when you aren't acting like yourself for long periods of time. Eventually, you can't even remember what the real you looks like. Well, I've come to that point. It's ugly and self-centered. But, there is good news! God's love for me is completely and overwhelmingly deeper than any love I could encounter on earth. He is my Father and is absolutely delighted in me. As a daughter of the King, He asks me to be myself. To come to Him abandoned and unashamed. I have faith that He will finish the work that He started in me, and that as I hear his voice, I need only to follow Him.

God really spoke to me using the woman at the well as an example. This video speaks volumes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q49BbfgJbto

Die Freude am Herrn ist meine Kraft.

The joy of the Lord is my strength!

Surrender. That doesn't sound like the most appealing concept. At this stage of my life, that seems to be a reoccuring theme. Laying down myself, and taking on the way of Jesus. This seems to be happening in even the littlest of things. I feel as if I'm under construction right now. Every motivation, thought, action, desire, is being surveyed, and then brought infront of the "filter" of Jesus Christ. Does this look like Jesus? Smell like Jesus? Sound like Jesus? If not, I don't want it. This is a beautifully painful thing and I'm thankful that the construction worker is a kind and gracious God.

Today is my last day in the first level of our German course. Next week I will no longer be in 1A but 1B! How exciting! I'm getting the hang of it more and more, just one step at a time. We had a substitute that talked about how learning German is like eating an elephant and that we can't expect to get it all at once. It was fun hearing him say all of that in German!

I've been making a lot more Austrian friends lately. I am so thankful. My desire for relationships outside of my team is overwhelming at times. I'm so thankful that God is starting to place people in my life that I can build a friendship with.

Continue to pray for our Visa situation. It is starting to look more promising. Two of my teammates have already secured their spots for a visa. They're also no longer looking at money as an issue for whether or not we're allowed to stay. Praise the Lord! Your prayers have been heard.