Meine Klein Welt

The Europe Cup

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Austria is co-hosting this year’s Europe Cup along with Switzerland. This means that my neighborhood is in complete chaos for the coming month. There are crazed soccer fans everywhere! Today I took a little break and walked around the Graben which is the main street in the city. I took pictures of several different store displays as well as a few fans. Everyone has soccer fever! You can see pictures here.

Look Out Austria!

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Well, the roads will never be the same. Yesterday I received my Austrian driver’s license in the mail. It’s kind of a fun thing to have. It makes me feel like I really live here. Plus, my picture turned out really cute. Now I kind of want to show it to everyone. 🙂


You can pray for us on Friday as it will be my first time driving a school van full of kids. We are headed to Budapest, Hungary for a basketball game. Fortunately, I’m not in charge of reading the map, but driving in Hungary will be a whole new experience!

Another Amazing Conference

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This is turning out to be a multiple post day!

I just had another amazing conference. I spoke with a mom who is a Christian, but her husband is not. Her son became a Christian when he was in first grade. She spoke with me about how much this school means to her and her son because her son is not allowed to attend church with her, but that Jesus has allowed him to be in this school. She shared with me about how excited her son is to have Chapel here each week because that is church for him.

She asked that we pray for her family, for her husband’s salvation, for God’s continued grace to allow her son to attend our school, and for her son to continue to love God with all his heart. I can’t wait to pray for them!

Wow!

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Today is parent/teacher conference day. I actually love this day because it’s the one time during the year that I get to really have a focused conversation with each of the parents. Today I was reminded, in the best possible way, of the impact we are having on our students.

One of the parents I met with today said that she wanted to thank me for doing something special for her daughter. They have been talking to their daughter about what she wants to do when she grows up. Her answer is that she wants to grow up and be a missionary teacher! Her parents are so excited.

Here’s the amazing part of the story, though. This family is from Vietnam. However, their daughter has never lived there. She was born in Holland, has Australian (yes, the one with kangaroos) citizenship, and lives in Austria. She is fluent in German and English and understands quite a bit of Vietnamese. She often talks about not being sure who she is or where she’s from. But – and this is the amazing part – she feels now like she has found Vietnam in her heart. She wants to be missionary teacher in Vietnam so she can tell the people about Jesus!

Her mom and I were crying and getting so excited. Please join us in praying for her that the Lord will continue to grow in her a love for Jesus and desire to share him with the world.

The Bridge at Andau

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The first year I was in Austria, my friend Jean came over for a visit. She had a meeting in Budapest and picked me up on the way. Admittedly, I am a terrible history student, so I really had no idea of Hungary’s past other than the fact that it used to be under communist rule. When we went into the city of Budapest, I remember telling Jean that it felt like there was a heaviness in the air. Kind of a feeling of oppression.

Today I finished reading the book The Bridge at Andau by James Michener. While it’s not a complete history of Hungary, it is the story of what happened to Hungary under Russian rule. The book tells the story of the Hungarian revolution/uprising in November 1956 and the subsequent exodus of a large number of Hungarian refugees into Austria. The story is told from the viewpoint of several composite characters. These are characters that Michener created from the dozens of interviews he did with Hungarian refugees who crossed the bridge at Andau.

I can’t wait to go back to Budapest now. I feel like I will see the city in an entirely different light. I have a better understanding of what the country and her people have gone through and an amazing respect for them because of it. I also want to go to Andau, Austria which is just an hour and a half away. They have rebuilt the bridge, created a monument to the refugees, and built an open air museum in the city.

If you are planning on traveling to Budapest, I highly recommend reading this book. Just a warning, though, it made me cry on the U-Bahn more than once. So if you’re going to read it in public, bring some tissue.