Experiencing Coronavirus in Austria

Eating homemade sushi

Like many people around the world, we are staying at home right now due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  Before Corona became a big issue in the U.S., Europe because the outbreak's epicenter when the disease spread rapidly in Italy. Since we border Italy to the north, it wasn't long before Corona was also here and the government in Austria began rapidly ramping up measures to try and slow the disease's spread. One day, the government banned gatherings of 100 or more. A day or two later, they closed the university. Then they closed the schools and soon after, they told everyone to stay home and only gather in groups of 5 or less, and they closed the playgrounds and sports fields. Every day, the intense of the measures ramped up and quicker than we expected, we were all in a "lockdown" state. 

So here we are, having been home for 8 days so far. The time has had its ups and downs, but overall,

Craft Time!

we have found the time at home as a family restful and relaxing. We have had to get creative about how to fill the time, but the kids have adjusted well to new routines and to playing with each other and not going out (except for walks around the neighborhood). We have both continued working on some projects, and Nate has been leading daily prayer times with our church to keep people connected and encouraged.  We are blessed to be in an easy phase with the kids, who aren't in school yet and don't have any requirements of what they have to learn during this time. We have been filling the time with crafts, podcasts, kids yoga, games, food adventures, experiments, and some screen time. For me, I am feeling much less stressed in some ways than I was a few weeks ago, as many of my big projects have been cancelled.

Introducing Battleship

There is, of course, some underlying anxiety about how long this phase will last and what the coming months will hold. Will all of our plans for the summer be cancelled? How can we reach out to people during this time of need, when we can't meet or communicate very easily? Will we get sick and if so, when? We are praying for peace and for the safety of our family and others, while also acknowledging that much of this situation is out of our control and many of us will, eventually, get sick with the virus. Our small town already has several cases and who knows if we touched the same grocery carts as those people. It's requiring patience, trust, and also creativity in how we can stay connected and stay strong in our faith. 

It's a lot to process, as I'm sure it is for all of you reading this. Our prayer is that during this time of uncertainty, many people are confronted with the most difficult questions of life and about what they believe. What happens when we die? What do I believe about the world and about God? Is the foundation upon which I built my life strong enough to carry me through this time? God can certainly use a crisis like this to work in people's hearts and our prayer is that many people who come to know Jesus for the first time. Please pray with us that the gospel would spread!

Bonfire in the backyard

Family worship time on Sunday morning

Teaching Ellie how to play Mario Brothers

Do I Really Need to Learn this Lesson Again?

Patience. It's something that I definitely lack, and I don't think I'm alone in this. I've always been a do-er and a task-oriented person that likes to complete things. This has it's advantages: I get things done quickly and efficiently most of the time. But it's disadvantages are also numerous: sometimes I do tasks too quickly (and not carefully), and I don't like waiting for things to be done. When something is moving more slowly than I'd like, it's tough for me to be patient.

Since August, our patience has been greatly tested with two things in our life: our car and our basement. Even as I write this, these things sound mundane and minor, but I've been surprised how much stress they've caused me and how much I am struggling to be patient with these two things.

First, the car. We purchased the car in early August and it has had persistent problems ever since. It has broken down on the road once and returned to the mechanic at least 5 times for more repairs. We've spent much more money on repairs than we planned, and there have been many days we have not had the car available to use, because it was being fixed. The car story just seems to drag on and on. What's more, driving the car has been stressing Nate out, because he has been worried about it breaking down again. The day he picked Maya and me up from the hospital to come home, the car was sputtering, and he was praying, "God, please just let me get my wife and newborn baby home safely".

Then there's the basement. We had flooding in our basement the night we moved into our house. This was on September 10th, and the basement drying process isn't done yet. A professional company was hired by our landlords to get all of the moisture out of the basement, especially the standing water under the tile floor. Each time a deadline is set to remove the equipment from the basement so we can use the space again, something goes wrong: an appointment is missed, the drying is not yet complete, the devices need to be re-set...you name it. Having these professional drying devices in the basement means that it's approximately 95 degrees F down there, and Nate can't work in his office space. It means our basement guest room can't be used, and we have our first guest coming this Friday. It means the whole basement is a mess, and this drives me crazy. This also means we've been dealing with our renter's insurance company and our landlord's insurance company, which is stressful (especially in a foreign language). We're still not sure who is going to fit the bill for this professional drying process.

I've been asking God a few questions through all of this...first of all, why does all of this stress me out so much? And why do all of these challenging things seem to hit at once, while we're dealing with a move, a new baby and a new ministry? But more importantly, why haven't I learned to be more patient already? Why do I still struggle with waiting and trusting? God, can you help me keep these small things in perspective?

There is something about living cross-culturally that adds a level of difficulty and stress to all of the normal stressors of life. It magnifies small struggles and makes them bigger. This is why we need God's patience and peace to pervade our attitudes and reactions even more. Please pray for us during the times when our patience is tested, that we would display Christ-like attitudes and not our own!

Anticipating Transition

Change is hard. Even if you are transitioning into something wonderful and exciting, change can be tough on everyone. Nate and I both seem to struggle with patience when a big transition is approaching...the closer it gets, the more we have trouble waiting for the transition to be here and finally happen.

There are many times in life where are are forced to be patient as we wait for a major transition. I was thinking back recently on the weeks before our wedding, the final weeks before moving to Austria, the last few weeks before Ellie was born, and so on... All of those times, it was so difficult at the end to live in the moment, rather than let impatience win out and lack contentment. Even when a difficult transition is approaching, I often just want to get the change over with and start figuring life out in my new reality, rather than continuing to wait.

This last week has been presenting a similar challenge. We are enjoying our time in CT, but as the flight back to Austria approaches, it feels as if time has slowed down, and it is hard to wait for this next big change to occur. After 7 months of life away from home, we are ready to begin settling back in to life in Vienna and that makes it hard to be content where we are at. We will surely miss many things about the U.S., especially time with friends and family (and easy, free babysitting!), but we forget to be thankful for the blessings of our current reality when we are too focused on the next step.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Jesus to go through life, anticipating the sacrifice he would need to make at the end? He didn't even begin his ministry until age 30 (talk about patience right there!) and all that time, he knew that he would need to suffer and die a gruesome death. If I were him, I would have just agonized over the waiting and wanted to get it over with. Naturally, Jesus is the ultimate example to us of patience in the face of waiting and transition. He depended on the Lord, even when he struggled with his emotions about the coming sacrifice and death. He regularly retreated to be alone. When he ministered to people, he was focused on them and living in the moment, rather than rushing through so he could move on to the next thing.

May we live our lives in the moment, as Jesus did, right where God has placed us now, being patient as we wait for each new stage and transition!

The Nuance of Language

Now that we have moved on into the upper levels of German, we are venturing into the territory of language nuance. In this world, learning becomes less about straight forward words and definitions and more about how, when and why particular words are used to communicate feelings, thoughts and subtleties. 

For example, there might be a verb you can use to communicate the idea "I did my homework". But there might also be several other verbs to replace the verb "did" that sound better and add variety to your vocabulary. Some of those verbs might imply that you completed all of your homework, while others might imply that you simply worked on it. Some may imply how quickly or with what attitude you did your homework.

Another example is two words that overlap in meaning by 80 or 90 percent. We may be tempted to call these two words "synonyms" but in reality, that 10 or 20% of difference puts these words in different categories. That percentage of difference is more important that the similarity between the words. Sometimes, the words may be used interchangeably, but at other times, one word would be inappropriate in place of the other. 

The difficulty comes when the difference in meaning between two words is difficult, or even impossible, to explain. Here come the nuances. Some words you just need to experience over and over again in context to learn how to use them and when they are appropriate or not. You can't simply write the difference in definition down on a flash card and memorize it - you need to experiment with the word and then ask if you used it correctly. You need to listen for the word and mentally note the situation in which it was used by a native speaker. This requires patience, endurance and attention in social/language situations. This is especially true when we have just one word for something in English, but there are multiple words used in the foreign language you are learning.

It's encouraging to be at the stage where we have moved beyond basic grammar and vocab. However, this nuanced stage of language learning brings it's own challenges. It can be more difficult to notice and celebrate progress when the steps we take and advances we make are are now smaller and subtler. It requires a different level of focus and a less concrete learning strategy. It's another step in the long journey towards fluency. 


Photo credit: jdurham from morguefile.com

Learning to Wait

Waiting is tough. When Nate and I first got married, we waited for a year until we felt it was wise to apply for missionary service, though we were eager to start. Then, we waited to get accepted. Then we spent 18 months raising support, waiting for the day when we would be ready to launch. Now that we are here in Austria, we are waiting to apply for our visas and, eventually, be able to stay here and find a place to live.  It is hard to wait.

No matter our life circumstance, we are always waiting for something. Whether it is the next stage of life, the next stage of ministry, our next competency level in German...we (especially I!) have a tendency to look forward and impatiently wait for the next phase to come. And we have many other people in our life right now that are waiting for important things - friends waiting and hoping to get pregnant, teammates waiting on important documents from the Austrian government, others waiting for acceptance letters...the list goes on. So lately, my thoughts have drifted to the idea of waiting...and what it means to wait well.

I struggle to wait, but I also believe that God does some special things in the hearts of His people when they wait. In times of waiting, we learn to trust in the Lord's timing. We learn to be patient. We are reminded that life is truly not in our control. I depend on God more when I wait then when everything "goes my way" and "according to plan".

Yesterday, we were studying Isaiah 42 in our WorldVenture team prayer time. For centuries, the Israelites were waiting for a savior to come and make things right between God and man. They heard prophesies and waited expectantly for them to be fulfilled. They also waited for the Promised Land, wandering for 40 years in the desert. How much harder must it have been for them to endure these long periods of waiting, sometimes for things that would not come to pass in their lifetime?

As I contemplate the arrival of Christ, the savior of the world, during this Christmas season, I hope I can continue to meditate on the work God is doing in my heart as I wait on Him. May I learn to trust in God's ultimate plan, rather than impatiently demanding my own. God is true to His promises and He sent His Son at just the perfect time. Our plans may not happen in my timing, but they will happen in His.

What are you waiting for? What is God doing in your heart while you wait?


 "Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
    he will bring forth justice to the nations.
² He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
³ a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
    he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴ He will not grow faint or be discouraged
    till he has established justice in the earth;
    and the coastlands wait for his law."

- Isaiah 42:1 - 4



Photo credit: paulabflat from morguefile.com