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How did the weekend go? Well....I'm gonna tell you.

Hey everyone,

We hope you all had a great weekend.

Wow…God is good! We left on Friday morning at 2:30 to head down to LAX for our flight to Iowa. Everything went well, except my name must be on some TSA list because on both legs of our trip (coming and going) I had to check in with a ticket representative who had to verify my ID and birthday…interesting, to say the least.

We arrived safely and made it to the hotel in great time. It only took about 20 minutes from the time our plane touched down to the time we walked into our hotel room. Fortunately, we were able to have some down time on Friday afternoon; we took a taxi to a local mall (something out of a lame 80’s movie…) and had some lunch. After, we were able to catch a nap and watch some of the Olympics before ordering some dinner and then getting to sleep.

We spent the day on Saturday with Sharesa (the VSC recruiter) and Kristi-Anna (another prospective teacher – secondary music) at a Panera restaurant in the outskirts of Des Moines. It was great to be able to connect with someone who will soon be a colleague and friend. Rebecca and Kristi-Anna hit it off immediately; it will be great to have a familiar face those first days after arriving in Vienna, come August.

Sharesa went through a mini seminar on support raising and orientation to life in Vienna and working at VCS. It was so great to start to carve some detail out of the generalities that we’ve been working with for the last month and a half. She was able to clearly express some of the challenges of raising support while laying out the Biblical foundation to mission support and how to best work through this process.

She also gave some great information regarding life in Vienna; she talked a lot about what it was like living in Vienna and some of the cultural intricacies of living the Viennese life. She gave us so much information that we are definitely still processing what it all means for us as we continue to move down this path.

So, down to the next steps (and please, pray for these things specifically in the coming days)…
1. While we have officially committed to serve at VCS starting August 1, 2010, we have not decided exactly how long this commitment will be. Both Rebecca and I are prayerfully considering committing to the school for a minimum of four (4) years. Please pray that we will find wisdom and comfort in whatever decision we make.
2. We will be registering with our sending agency, Resourcing Christian Education (RCE) in the coming week. We will hopefully have our account set up with them by the end of the week.
3. We will be preparing to send out letters to all of you. We will be looking to meet with as many of you as possible in order to share our passion and calling with you, in addition to the specific needs that we will have in order to follow this call. If you are interested in receiving a letter from us but aren’t sure if we have your letter, send us an email at mdjohnstone@gmail.com with your contact info.

Well, this update has been a bit longer than usual, but there was a lot that happened. I hope that you will all continue to support us in prayer. Thanks!

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