Johnstein!

Hey everyone...we will be heading to the airport pretty soon. Our flight leaves at 5:35 tonight. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel. We should be landing in Vienna around 6:00 tomorrow night (local time). I will be updating the blog as soon as I can when we get there. The next stage of the adventure begins!!!

Hey everyone! As many of you know, we are moving to Vienna, Austria to serve at the International Christian School of Vienna. We are scheduled to leave on Saturday July 31st. We will be serving as missionaries at the school, and as such, will not be paid a salary from the school and must raise our support. For those of you who may not be familiar with this, it means that we must raise a team of supporters who commit and pledge to faithfully give financially to help support us in this mission. Currently we have 53 people who have committed to support us, all at levels ranging from $10-$250/month. The vast majority of our support is found in the lower ranges. We are dependent on this support for a couple of reasons; obviously, we will have bills to pay, but the level of support is also necessary for the requirements of our work visa in Vienna. Ultimately, we are asking you to prayerfully consider joining our financial support team. We are so blessed by all of you who feel led to su

Thursday was our final full day of PFO...our final sessions were good, looking at assessment in an international classroom (could have used more "case studies"). Also had an interesting "International School Panel" with some of the participants and staff who shared info about their particular schools and talked about some of the challenges and blessings specific to their school. In the afternoon session, Dr Egeler presented a short video that juxtaposed the stories of the Lost Boys of Sudan, with the Lost Children of Rockford County...It was amazing to see the reactions within the context of losing part of your childhood and the role that their faith and dependence on God played in some unthinkable situations. The afternoon session was short in order to give us time to pack up and get ready to leave, and also so we could get ready for the international banquet... It was so hot that even the fire alarm system in our dorm building thought it was on fire and went

I can't believe that tomorrow will be our last day of sessions...it's amazing to reflect on everything that we have done over the course of our time here. Today was no different, of course. We had the opportunity to learn about meeting the needs of English Language Learners...unfortunately, this is such a vital part of the credentialing process, most of us teachers have been saturated with this knowledge. I must admit, I had some moments where my eyelids decided to drop...it was a very long two hours to say the least. The session after that was one that I have been dreading the entire two weeks. This session was focused on the topic of "Moral Purity"; essentially the tactics and temptations of a sexual nature that Satan uses to drive missionaries (and others) off the field. The reality of this is very scary; understanding the ramifications of falling prey to this, and the way it could absolutely destroy family, ministry, and self confidence really drives us to prote

Another good day...I feel like a broken record. It's just that we continually seem to be met by God in our need. Today we had a couple of very helpful sessions, one on the need for focused mentoring of our students and one on some of the steps that must be taken in order to protect the children in our care from falling victim to predators (peer or adult). Both very applicable and useful sessions. Again, I feel as though we are on overload now; I think that I am approaching the point of saturation where I just can't handle any more information. I am waiting for the point in this week when the presenters will start a session that I have already sat through in a previous conference or something that doesn't apply to me...but I have a sneaking suspicion that this moment will not happen. We had another breakout session led by the Dyers, the couple from Australia, focused on balancing a multi-cultural classroom. It is amazing how different this is going to be from even teachi

After a couple of nice, low key days, we started off the morning with a simulation...I knew it was gonna be tough when they took us into the simulation and told us to leave everything in the lecture hall and go to the bathroom. Essentially we were locked in a room with 20 other participants and given the scenario... We were to imagine that we were serving in a country experiencing chaotic political turmoil. Bullets were flying and the neighboring countryside was becoming more and more chaotic. Over the course of the next two hours, we were given varying tasks with increasing stress and intensity. We were told we had limited food and supplies and had to organize in order to prepare for a long term period of isolation, as we couldn't be assured as to when it would be over. As the exercise continued we found ourselves beginning to chip away at the trust of the person who was giving us information. My group had a young man who volunteered to escape as a "spy" but was quic

Hey, friends and family... We had a very nice, relaxing day today...we had a great church service today with our fellow PFO participants. We all met in the concert recital hall at the school and worshiped, singing the songs we have been learning throughout the last week. These songs are all written by Evan Evans (I know, awesome) and are all written in a male/female choral format. These songs sound amazing and the melodies stay in your head all day...our friend, Dan Basnett, has recorded some of these songs throughout the week...he keeps promising to upload them...when he finally gets around to it, I link to it (so get going, Dan!). For now, you can still check out his blog . Also, while you're at it, check out the Overby's Blog as well Evan Evans not only led the worship time (along with his wife and daughters), but he shared the message with us. He spoke about our prayer lives as we serve, reminding us of the amazing power that prayer, in the name of Jesus can hold. This

We got to sleep in today!! Instead of having to be at breakfast at 7:15, we could show up at 7:45....nothing like a lazy Saturday morning to recharge the ol' batteries. Seriously though, today was a nice change to the "normal" pace of the last week. We only had morning sessions and after lunch had 1 45 minute advising session. For the morning sessions, we were divided into our specific tracks...I joined the other teachers in a couple of sessions focused on what it means to serve in a Christian school setting. The first have of the morning was spent looking at the organizational structure that Association of Christian Schools, International (ACSI) seeks to instill in its member organizations. The second half was presented by a husband and wife team from Australia, who shared a sample lesson of what it means to teach in a "Christianly" manner. It was exciting for me because it really helped me to visualize what my classroom will look like. Fortunately, she walke

Hey Everyone...another long day under our belts...although we definitely had some downtime, and a chance to connect with friends, see the beauty of some of the local sights, and have some good fellowship with a new friend. We continued our sessions focused on our transition and the process of entering a new culture...we have been learning a lot about "becoming they"; strengthening our skills of observation in order to adapt and share in the culture that we will be serving in. Here are some pictures of us in "class"... Lately we've been sitting up high, in the back of the lecture hall...makes it a little bit easier to get to the restroom :) Our row-mates...Amanda (Vienna), Channon and Joe Overby (Vienna), and Dan (Taiwan)... Justin with a table-full of his new friends, enjoying their lunch in the cafeteria  Later, after a "picnic" BBQ dinner out on the quad, we had the opportunity to visit Letchworth State Park (apparently known as the &quo

This is Rebecca checking her email Here are the kids on the staircase coming down from thier sessions Dalton and Dan (Dan is aloofly checking his iphancy iphone) Dan and Dalton having a heartwarming father son convo...