So what are the needs?

We've been asked in the past questions about why Austria needs missionaries, as well as what types of gifts or skills might be best utilized here. The answer is: many!

To give you a better sense of the spiritual and ministry needs in Austria and how perhaps YOU could be a part of meeting these needs, we worked with a WorldVenture summer media team to produce the following video. We hope it gives you a sense of how varied and vast the needs are here in Vienna.

If you want to talk more about joining us team, please contact us!

The Need in Austria

Living as a missionary has its good days and bad days. On a tough day, we can feel homesick, discouraged or uncertain about what the future holds. We can try to accomplish things out of our own strength and feel inferior or ill-equipped. On a good day, however, we feel encouraged and confident about why God brought us here and how He is using us. We look forward to seeing what God has in store and the people He will draw to Himself in Vienna.

On tough days, it's important for us to go back to the reason why we are here. Recently, we put together a video for a missions conference that is an overview of the needs here in Austria and our ministry focus. Watching this video helps to remind us, as well as our friends, family and supporters, why we are here! It's so important for us to always go back to the basics - the need here in Austria and the Supplier of all our needs.

We hope you will take a look at the video, as well as pray for the work God is doing here in our city.

Why We Are Here

This month, I've found myself going back to the core reasons of why God brought us here. Sometimes when I'm mired in the details of everyday life, it helps me to step back and look at the big picture. I need to remind myself of God's plan and how we fit into it, because otherwise, I can lose sight of it and get distracted by the tyranny of the urgent matters in life.

So why are we here? We shared a lot about the need in Austria when we were preparing to come and raising support. But I was recently reminded of some important facts that I want to share with you. These come from the blog of our friends, Bobby and Danielle, who are preparing to come serve in Austria in church planting and hope to arrive in the next year.

• In America, there is one evangelical church for approximately every 1,500 people. But in Austria, there is one evangelical church for every 60,000 people. In some states, that number is 1 for every 100,000.
• Austria is an immigration center - it's centrally located and is home to one of the major UN offices. By planting church here, we have the opportunity to impact the world through those who move here from different countries.
• Less than 0.5% of the population claims to be evangelical, but more than 4% claim to be Muslim and that number is rapidly growing.
• Adherence to formalized religion is on the rapid decline. Many Austrians, however, claim to be "spiritual". This means they pick and choose from many different philosophical and theological ideas, putting together their own conglomeration of beliefs.
• Austria is a rich country...which means many people have "all that they need" and do not see a need for God. They do not recognize their own spiritual need or sin.
• There is high rate of suicide.
• Prostitution is legal and there are upwards of 6,000 prostitutes in Austria. (They actually are registered with the government, because they are required to get regular AIDS blood tests.)
• Austria is a common destination for human trafficking, especially for the sex trade.

Revisiting these reasons fuels the flame for us and reminds us of the task ahead. To be honest, many days, it seems overwhelming. How can God possibly use us in such a dark place? But God is bigger than all of this and our job is to be obedient to how He leads us, even if it only impacts a handful of people. Even one soul is worth it.

An Invitation

Yesterday a letter arrived at our colleagues'  house in Austria. It was something that we have been waiting for and planning for for a very long time. A very official letter from the government of Austria. At the top in big bold black letters it said:

"Einladung"

which means "invitation." It said that we were invited to pick up our visas on Valentine's day in Vienna!

To be honest we were shocked! We were very hopeful that this day would come, but we were expecting this to happen in May, or even June. Not February. Our minds have been spinning for the last 24 hours as we have contacted family and team members. We have tried to figure out what this will means for our time here in the UK.

In short, we aren't sure yet. We have some tentative plans in place and we'll tell you more as things come together, but for now

Rejoice!

Your prayers have been answered by a great, powerful, and good God. One who loves to give us good gifts. A God that does not deal with us as our sin would demand, but delights to bring us into communion with himself!

What we do know, is this means is that the road is clear for us to live in Austria and continue our language learning. It also means we get to attend our spring team retreat in Grundelsee (we attended this retreat as appointees on a vision trip in 2011, we get to go back as full fledged team members!). And it means that we are one step closer to an apartment and a bit of stability. It means more stability than just guest bedrooms and vacation rental apartments anyway.

We are so blessed to see God move in this way and so thankful for all of your prayers and support.

Photo credit: dieraecherin from morguefile.com

Photo Journal

Today after class, I went on a walking tour in the main part of Vienna with our German teacher. She is very knowledgeable and pointed out a lot of information about the areas we went to. We saw Judenplatz, Maria am Gestade, Schottenkirche, and quite a few other places along the way. Some were streets that I had walked before and never knew the history of and other places I had walked near but never seen. Maria am Gestade is a church that used to be on the bank of the Danube. During the Napoleonic wars, it was used as a horse stable and armory by the government.  Here are some photos from the adventure.

Schottenkirche was pretty stunning inside

The ceiling of  Schottenkirche

A Holocaust memorial in Judenplatz

Judenplatz facing the other way

Maria am Gestade (a church that used to be on the bank of the Danube)

This is a bust of a saint that is venerated in Maria am Gestade

We've arrived!

Here are a few photos from day 1 of our Vision Trip to Austria...

Nate going into the "Opera Toilet". It plays music while you do your business!

A statue of Mozart in downtown Vienna, with a floral treble clef.

Hit the 'Read More' link to see the rest of our pictures!