Johnstein!

Hey everyone…the last couple of entries have detailed some of the frustrations that Rebecca and I have been experiencing. We know and trust that God will be faithful in providing for this call. We know that what God demands, he provides…BUT, we are still lame, and we get caught up in the details and the “now”, rather than strive towards the end goal. We forget that God’s timing is perfect… One of the administrators at AAE (where Rebecca and I are currently working) sent the following devotional to Rebecca and I yesterday…I’d like to share it with you; God will not fulfill your dream immediately  By: Rick Warren " But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!" Habakkuk 2:3 (LB) "We all have to go through these waiting periods. Even Jesus waited fo...

We've had a couple of great opportunities to share over the last week. On Tuesday, we got to share with some families of kids that I have taught and coached at AAE. It was a very encouraging (as all these presentations have been). Last night, we presented to about 25 or so college students in the AVBC college age bible study. It was nice because it was very different from our other presentations. I basically just spoke to them about the path that Rebecca and I have been on, including all our "testimonial" stories...very fun to break away from the "standard" presentation. I was bummed that we couldn't stay for the whole bible study, but with Justin needing to get to sleep...too many late nights have definitely been taking their toll. If you could, please keep all of us in your prayers as we are all battling some nasty cold symptoms...I have been feeling bad (stuffy head, fever, body aches, soar throat) this whole week, Rebecca just went to the urgent care...

We had the opportunity to present our calling at our home church, Apple Valley Baptist Church. It was a very long, but encouraging day. We showed a shorter version of our video, and I spoke a bit. We spent some time speaking to the bible study classes and answering questions. We are praying that God will use the members of our home church to partner with us on our support team. While we were walking around we were asked if we had any specific requests and needs that needed to be met. We told the group that we needed to rent out our house. This was the only time we mentioned this during the morning. There just happened to be a lady in the room who will be in need of renting a house! She seemed very interested in renting our home, the size and location of our house is perfect for her. Please keep her family in your prayers as they decide if this is something they need/can do. We still have about 80% of our monthly support to go...please pray that God will give us patience in this pro...

So the plan is to update this blog a lot more regularly than once a week...but things get busy. We have been very busy...We spent a very wonderful mother's day weekend in Orange County; we went to the Anatolian Food and Cultures Festival, spent time with our moms, and I was able to go to a movie with my dad, Justin, and my nephew Nathan. Very fun. I took the day off on Tuesday to take care of some paperwork hoops in that are necessary for our visa application. I ended up driving most of the day: driving from Apple Valley to Downtown LA, Downtown LA to Santa Ana, Santa Ana back to Downtown LA, and then back to Apple Valley. At the end of the day, I ended up with 3 documents with an Apostille, but also with the realization that I would have to do it all over again with another doc...oh, well. Yesterday, we went to the Air 1 Appreciation Tour. It was Justin's first "show" and he was loving every minute of it. He and his buddy Ray, and Ray's sister Jenna, were f...

So...lots to write about today This weekend was a very interesting weekend... We started the weekend off with officially putting in our letters of resignation at the Academy for Academic Excellence. This is a huge step. Obviously. But it means that no matter what happens with our support raising...we won't be coming back here. Saturday was a very busy day. I attended a men's event at Apple Valley Baptist Church which was chock full of amazing and encouraging Bible teaching...and a fantastic breakfast burrito. While I was at the church, Rebecca was taking care of our garage sale, selling all our stuff. We were able to get rid of quite a bit of stuff. It has been a very freeing experience to begin to empty our home...My mom and dad came up to help us with the sale which was a HUGE help to Rebecca. My dad took Justin to his game while mom stayed with Rebecca, and I went to the Men's event. I must say that all these events were extremely encouraging...it was nice to spe...

Ok...so its official. We decided today to go ahead with the purchase of our plane tickets for the flight to Vienna. We will be leaving LAX at 5:35 on Saturday July 31st. After a short layover in London, we will arrive in Vienna at 6:10 on Sunday August 1st. This is a major step in solidifying our call to Vienna. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we continue through the support raising process. Again, we would love to be able to share our calling with you. If you have a bible study group or other group, we be honored if we can share with you.

Last night we had the opportunity to share our call with the missions committee from Apple Valley Baptist Church (the church where we are members). It was a very encouraging experience to be able to share with members of our home church. Hopefully, we will soon be able to share with the entire church family. We also had the opportunity to meet another family who will be serving God abroad. Jay and Jackie will be heading to North Africa in June, and it was very encouraging to have a chance to speak with a couple who is a bit farther on the path of support raising. It was also amazing to see how God prepares individuals; through specific life experiences, gifts, and talents, to perform a specific role. This was not only encouraging to me as we learned about their calling into the mission field, but it was reassuring that our calling did not need to conform to what other people are doing. God is calling US to Vienna; He has given us a passion for the people and mission of VCS, He has ...

Hey everyone...we just got finished skyping with Ken Norman, the director at VCS. There is a pretty interesting update regarding visas for employees at VCS. The Austrian government is redefining which visa we will need to apply for. Now, employees of VCS must apply for a "key employee" visa... Some of the implications of this: - VCS must convince the government that my presence (based on my beliefs, experience, credentials, etc.) at the school is necessary for VCS to fulfill its purpose within the context of the Austrian education system. - This is a "better" visa, and it will include Justin. - It is more complicated as far as the application process goes, and also requires evidence of specific salary level PER EMPLOYEE...So, unless we want to double our support raising efforts; - This means that Rebecca will be officially classified as a volunteer. Doesn't change her status according to VCS, but it does for the Austrian government. The other issue wi...

We'll be doing a fundraiser at the Applebees in Apple Valley on Sunday, June 13. The cost is $10.00 and includes all you care to eat scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, flapjacks, and unlimited refills of your choice of juice, soda, or coffee. You can come at any time between 8 and 10 AM. This will be a great opportunity for us to not only raise some much needed cash :) but also to connect with many of our supporters in the high desert area. We'd love to see you there!

Hey everyone... I trust that everyone had a wonderful Easter. Easter Sunday for us was the culmination of a wonderful two weeks off from school. We kept busy, though... The process of raising support for our entrance into the mission field has officially started. We spent much of the last 2 weeks meeting with friends and family interested in supporting our call financially. After 2 weeks and 14 appointments, we are at $495 of committed monthly financial support! This represents 8 supporters and .09% of our total support! We are still awaiting final word from 7 others who we have met with but not received a final answer, so we hope and pray that our support numbers will continue to increase. God has been so faithful in the last 2 weeks by providing many opportunities to share with friends, family, and strangers... We are now officially a one car family! We sold our car to the local Chevy dealer...and although we had to pay a little to get rid of it ($900), but now our insurance co...

Hey everybody! The support raising process has officially started...whooooboy. It's as difficult as it sounds...but God is in control. We had our first support raising appointment on Sunday and since then we have already had a handful of people who have faithfully committed to supporting us with a monthly pledge! If you haven't received a letter yet, or, you are interested in supporting us, please send me an email. Today, we had the opportunity to visit St. Paul's Lutheran School in Garden Grove. I went here 1st-8th grade, and Justin attended for K and 1st grade. I spoke in their chapel service. It was really cool to be able to go back and share to kids sitting in the same pews that I sat in. God placed it on my heart to encourage them to listen and obey God's calling in their lives and that he is working, even at their young age, to prepare them for something great. Please pray for us in the next couple of days as we connect and share with Orange County friends a...

So we will be sending out our first set of support info letters today...if there are any of you who would like to get yourselves on our mailing list, please send me an email with your mailing address. We have just begun the process in establishing our account with RCE, our sending agency, and have already received our account number (there will be another post soon detailing RCE). I had the opportunity to skype with Dan Wendell, the missions pastor at Sea Coast Grace...Amazing how God makes connections as Doyle Surratt, the main pastor, has a real heart for missions to Europe. We will be communicating in the next couple weeks to talk about how we can partner within the context of our calling to Vienna. Please continue to pray for us as we decide whether to commit for 2 years or a longer term...

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...

Hey everyone... We made it! Our flights were smooth and delay free...although we did get to run through O'Hare in order to make our connecting flight. The hotel is near the airport so we were able to get settled within 20 minutes of landing at DSM. Fortunately, we get an afternoon to relax and prepare ourselves before meeting with Sharesa, the recruiter from VCS. Please keep us in your prayers as we venture out into Downtown Des Moines tonight for dinner... Specifically, pray for Sharesa as she shares with us all the information she needs to in order to prepare us for the next steps in this journey; and with us as we remain obedient to God's calling on our hearts and for faith as we step out on this journey. We'll update with the results of the meeting, tomorrow night...

God is good...Rebecca and I will be flying to Iowa on Friday morning to meet with the recruiter from Vienna Christian School. We will be back Saturday afternoon. I've realized that there are many of you reading this blog that might not know what it is exactly we are doing with this whole deal...so stay tuned for a more detailed update of what our roles will be at Vienna Christian School.

I trust that everyone had a fantastic weekend. Many amazing things happened this weekend... A dear friend and childhood mentor passed away yesterday morning. Clyde Elliott is now dancing and worshiping God in Heaven after a long struggle with cancer. Throughout the last few years, Clyde's strong faith has been an encouragement to all who have had the opportunity to interact with him. Despite the fact that cancer was absolutely ravaging his body, his faith and focus on God promise did not waver. I am honored to say that he was one of my mentors, and his mentorship will be missed; but more importantly, he was my friend. RIP Clyde, aka "CLOIDE ELITE"... Rebecca and I headed down to Orange County on Friday to help my dad as he welcomed a group of 8 seminary students from St. Louis for a mutli-cultural urban experience. We picked them up at LAX on Saturday morning, and after a short introduction to the area and program, we headed down to Little Saigon in Westminster to w...

We have been invited to speak at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Garden Grove. This is the church that Michael grew up and his dad, Doug, was a pastor at for many years. The service times are at 8:00 am and 11:00 am. Please come to hear more about Vienna and what our prayer and financial needs are. If you can't make it but would be interested in having us come speak to your church or small group, please let us know. Otherwise, please keep us in your prayers.

Ok everybody...so things are happening. I got an email this morning from the HR/recruiter for VCS and they want to extend the positions to Rebecca and I! The next step, now, is to go to Iowa to meet with the recruiter for a final interview/orientation that will last approximately 6 hours. They will pay $300 of our travel costs...which, based on some of the prices I found today, will put us about $400 short of what we need. They want us in Iowa as soon as possible (thinking next fri 2/26 - sat 2/27), because the recruiter is 6 weeks from her due date and we need to start the process of raising support as soon as possible. Obviously we will be speaking with many of you in the coming months about partnering with us to do God's work in Vienna by raising the necessary 20-25 thousand dollars for moving expenses and 60-70 thousand dollars/year to live in Austria...but RIGHT NOW we need strong prayer that God will provide $400 to get us started with the meeting in Iowa. Please pray for...

Just got off a skype call with the principal at Vienna Christian School. What an amazing opportunity! Today has definitely been a day where God has poured into our lives. We've been getting a bit discouraged, with the large scale of the changes and support that we will need to raise but we were able to have a couple of conversations that have been very helpful. We had a new membership meeting with pastor Chris at Apple Valley Baptist Church. He was very encouraging to us telling us that is was ok to be excited about the location that God is calling us to. Speaking with Nels (the principal at VCS) was extremely encouraging. I told him that I would indeed be interested in teaching AP Lit and Comp and basically told me at the end of the conversation that they would like to have Rebecca and I continue through the process with the expectation that we are going to start the school year in Vienna. He was also very encouraging as he shared some of his experience with support raising an...

We are continuing to chase after God's will in this decision... Michael had a great conversation with the secondary principal from Vienna Christian School. Some great things seem to be happening there; their greatest need is for an AP Lit and composition teacher. Obviously, this is not my area of greatest strength. Please pray for me as I try to understand if this is where God wants to use me. Rebecca had a very productive conversation with Carol, the recruiter at Ldi. Both Rebecca and I are simply waiting on one reference to complete their portion of the reference. We anticipate that these will be done by early this week. Once those are complete we will progress to the interview with the HR director and then hopefully to placement. Obviously, both of these options are proceeding with great speed and we continue to pray for wisdom and courage as God continues to open doors. Hope everyone had a great weekend!