Welcome

Thanks for coming to read our blog. As you read the story of our journey, our hope is that above all else you will see God's faithfulness. As our short-term mission team stepped out in obedience to follow the Holy Spirit's prompting to go to Austria for 10 days, He rewarded us with an incredible experience which has changed our lives and opened our eyes in a new way to see God at work around us.

"Now to Him to his able to do immeasusrably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Ephesians 3:20-21

This blog is set up with the last entries at the top. If you want to read the story in order, start at the bottom.
Click on our pictures on the left & right sides to read the individual stories of how God led us to serve in this way.
Click "Home" at any time to return to the main stories.

Share and Prayer Night

You are invited to join us on Wed. July 22nd at 7:00 p.m. in West Portal Church, as we share about our experiences this past May. Come to hear stories, see pictures, and pray together for the work of Richard and Hazel in Austria.

Home

We are home, safe and sound - back in beautiful Saskatoon!

What an absolutely fantastic, incredible experience we had in Austria! We are so glad that we took this opportunity to go, and to pray for Richard and Hazel and friends. It was such a privilege to spend time with them, bless and encourage them. What a joy to meet the Austrian people. We were blessed way beyond anything we could ever have imagined!

We felt the prayers of everyone back home... thank you so much for praying! God answered in so many ways, and through this experience He taught us to rely fully on Him, as individuals and as a group.

We praise God for great connections with the Austrian people and for all of our new friends; for a strengthening of our relationship with Richard and Hazel; for safety, health, unity, wisdom, great weather, and daily strength. We know that prayer makes a difference!

Special moments include:

- special sharing and prayer times -

- getting to know wonderful Austrian people -

- learning about the history and culture from Richard and Hazel and from new Austrian friends -

- enjoying beautiful scenery -

- singing and praising God together with believers on the other side of the world -

- enjoying new, delicious Austrian foods -

- laughing all the way along, and as we traveled together in a 9 passenger van -

-many God-moments where we knew it was His mercy and grace at work -

The result of this trip is that we have fallen in love with Austria and the wonderful people there. They will always have a special place in our hearts, and we don't ever want to forget them.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, encouragement and support.

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Gmunden Sunday

What a fantastic day - we were so encouraged and blessed as we served in the service this morning, and ate lunch with the people of the church. Tim did a great job with his sermon, and we had fun singing again. We're going to start a travelling singing group (ha,ha). We all shared testimonies of how our lives have been changed because of both the preparation for this trip and our time in Austria. Their hearts were touched as we shared our stories.
It was very hard to say good-bye to this group of brothers and sisters in Austria who are now our friends. Everyone connected, and were excited that our home church had supported us in coming to pray and encourage them. Many said how amazed they were that we had spent our vacation time coming this far to serve in this way.
Tschus / Auf Wiedersehen / Good-bye - - - for now!!

Work Day

Saturday was a work day. We went to Gmunden, where Richard and Hazel began their ministry 21 years ago. We cleaned windows and flowerbeds at the church building, and did landscaping, yard work, and other projects for a family from the Gmunden church. Everyone had a great time, and we had lots of fun with more new Austrian friends.
- Team Austria -

Missionary Journeys

We have been blessed immensely during the last few days as we drove through the Austrian countryside. We felt like Paul on one of his missionary journeys, "visiting all the believers, encouraging them and helping them to grow in the Lord" (Acts 18:23b). We prayed with the church leaders and got to know them and their families. We visited 4 churches during the last 3 days...in Wels, Linz, Steyr, and travelled all the way to Vienna, sharing one another's burdens and celebrating the Lord's blessings together with them. What a privilege. Their hospitality was beyond anything we could have imagined... we have fallen in love with the Austrian people!
- Team Austria -

...Wels

...Linz
...Steyr


...Vienna

Prayer Car Rally

On Monday we drove through the countryside around Salzburg, stopping at significant historical and religious sites to pray...

* "Silent Night Chapel", where in 1818 Silent Night was first performed
* Wals plain where Napoleon forces defeated the Austrian army
* We stopped at the largest evangelical church in Salzburg where approxminately 400 people worship.

We ended the car rally with a "disciplinary" session - - ask us later.