Better is the End

Today in my (Nate) Bible reading I finished up Ecclesiastes. Solomon's words rang true in my heart as I read, "Better is the end of a thing than its beginning." Today we closed the first chapter of our interns' summer here with us in Austria. This afternoon they got on a train with one of our former interns and her sister and headed to the Salzburg area to start the second half of their ministry.

These times are always bittersweet. We know that God has been working in their hearts. It is fun to see their understanding of the culture grow and to see how their questions change as they learn and experience more and more. We are blessed and honored to be able to build into these gals and serve them through their time here. 

As we sent them off, we prayed for the students that were going to be in their cabins, that they would continue to seek them out, that they would work hard to build relationships with their campers despite low language confidence and busy schedules. We prayed that they would have energy and push through when times are challenging. 

We are excited to go and visit them after their first full week of camp. We know that this will be a great debrief time to process with them the things they are learning.

Will you pray with us and for them in this season of ministry? Thanks for lifting them up!

Our Summer Internship is in Full Swing!

The interns having lunch with our colleagues, Peter and Celeste

 Our summer interns, Dani and Kyla, arrived on June 1st, and they've been going non-stop ever since! We are truly blessed to have them join us this summer, and we really have enjoyed watching them learn and process their experiences as they are experience missions in Austria for the first time.

Visiting the Oasis Refugee Center

Our overall goal for the internship is to expose our interns to a variety of different ministries and needs in Austria, as well as give them a "taste" of missionary life. They are taking German classes, navigating public transportation in a foreign city and handling their own grocery shopping, among other things.  Their weekly schedule also includes the following ministry opportunities:

• Volunteering weekly at a refugee center, helping with a women and kids' group
• Prayer walking around the local refugee camp and in the neighborhood where we will be church planting
• Visiting a local anti-sex trafficking/trade ministry and helping them with organizing clothing donations and childcare during an African womens' bible study
• Attending German class and looking for opportunities to talk about their faith with their classmates
• Meeting with Bethany for weekly discipleship & discussion time
• Meeting up with other missionaries in Vienna to learn about how God led them here and what they do

With other volunteers at the Oasis

Their schedule has been full! In between activities, they manage their own time, deciding how to prioritize rest, German study and reaching out to people they've met to meet up. In just 2 weeks, they hop on a train and head west to the Salzburg area to serve as counselors as a Christian English camp ministry, returning to Vienna afterwards to debrief on their time here this summer. 

This is our second year having summer interns and we are so thankful and blessing that God has led Kyla and Dani to serve here with us. We are learning many new things, too, as we walk with them through this significant cross-cultural and ministry experience. God is shaping us into better leaders and disciplers through this experience, and we know God will use this journey to better equip us for our new role as Team Austria field leaders. Praise God for how He is working!

Calling All College Students!

We have an important announcement! As of today, there are still 4 spots available for our summer intern team here in Austria. Our summer internship program is an excellent way for students and young adults to serve here in Vienna, as well as get exposed to the spiritual needs in Europe and discern if God has a future place for them in cross-cultural ministry.

The summer intern includes:

• 5 Weeks in Vienna

• German classes with other foreigners and the opportunity to reach out to these students in English via relational evangelism
• A tour and prayer walk of a local refugee center
• A weekly English cafe ministry, where relationships are developed in English through a local church ministry
• The opportunity to attend Austrian churches and interact with Austrian believers
• The chance to meet a variety of missionaries serving in Vienna to learn more about the unique needs of this huge metropolitan city
• Other ministry opportunities, as they arise!

3 Weeks in southern Austria in English Camp Ministry

• 1 week of training to serve as a English camp counselor, a program where students are reached with the gospel message, as well as given the opportunity to improve their English language skills
• 1 week of middle school English Camp and 1 week of high school English Camp
• Teaching English courses
• Developing relationships with the kids in your cabin
• Helping with music or cooking, as giftings allow
• Sharing testimonies 
• Working alongside Austrian counselors and students 

• Several days of debriefing in Vienna to conclude the internship

The internship runs from approximately June 1 - July 31 and total funds to be raised is between $4,000 - 5,000. Our English Camp ministry here in Austria is especially in need of counselors for this summer. Please spread the word! You can express interest emailing Bethany at bethanyjohnson83@gmail.com OR using the contact form here on the WorldVenture website.

If you would like to contact one of our previous interns from last summer to get firsthand input on their experience in Austria, email Bethany and she will put you in touch.

Do you know a college student looking for a summer internship or ministry experience? Do you know a young adult considering missions but not sure where or how God is leading them? Are you, yourself, looking to serve and make an impact this summer? Contact us or pass along this post to the right person!

Processing and Reflecting

a view up in the Alps

16th century castle ruin near the camp

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Reutte and go see our interns. Reutte is in Tirol, which is in the bone part of the "chicken wing" of Austria. It is also in the Alps. It was an trip filled with extreme beauty as I took the long bus ride through the small villages and town. It is also the kind of place where you take a picture, look down and realize that it just doesn't capture what you are seeing. 

As much as I did get to see a few things, my primary focus was not to ride through the mountains. My main focus while there was to check in with our interns on the second leg of their journey in Austria. The first half of their time here is encapsulated by this post here.

view from the ruins

So I set off to spend the weekend there and connect with our interns. It was a great time of encouragement and seeing the work that God is doing among the students at camp. I got to do both a large group debrief with all of our interns at once as well as one-on-one times to check in with each individual intern. Through all these conversations a few key themes rose to the top. As I have processed through these ideas, I realize how important they are, not just for short term camp ministry, but also as general life principles. In my next few posts, I hope to discuss some of these ideas and draw out some of these connections.

There is a climbing section
in the grocery store

As I talked to our interns, one topic that came up over and over again was expectations. The more time I spend in cross-cultural ministry, the more I see how our expectations of a situation shape how we experience it. In our missions training, we talked often about how difficulty can be compounded based on our expectations of a given situation. When we walk into a situation expecting it to be different, expecting it to be challenging, expecting a curve ball, we often are not surprised when things don't go smoothly. But if we expect things to flow smoothly, it hurts all the more when we have to adapt and change. In this way, it is like a rubber band around our waist. The farther apart our expectations and reality are, the more the "snap" hurts.

One of the major challenges to this is it is often a backwards looking thing. We don't often get to know or understand that our expectations for a situation are violated until after we feel the snap. *So often that emotional difficulty is a signal to us that our beliefs or expectations have been violated. But if we just focus on the the experiential side of it (what happened and how does that make us feel) - we can miss the chance to explore our beliefs and expectations. We miss the chance to see what is usually unconscious and learn more about ourselves.

This applied in so many ways to the interns. They were navigating cross-cultural relationships with campers, staffers, and even with co-counselors from different regions of the US. They had so many opportunities to evaluate their expectations of relationships and situations. Everyone that has worked at camp knows how intense it is working together closely with people from all different backgrounds. If we had given our interns a pad of paper and a pen before they left for camp, they probably would not have been able to list the expectations that they are now processing through. 

In my next few blog posts, I'll explore other factors and topics from our debrief time with the interns and how they shape cross-cultural experiences.
*I first heard this taught at a college group at Friendship Church in 2006 or so. I have tried to track down a book or teacher to attribute this to, but to no avail. If this sounds familiar, I'd love to know what book this comes from.