COMING SOON...

PICTURES FROM MY SUMMER IN AUSTRIA

Oh, good grief

"Y'all are just giving me a paragraph with a lot of words."

- A student who was having trouble with a word as we were reading in my class today.

NO KIDDING?!

oh, wow...

that's all.

Evacuation Nightmare...

I walked up the long and narrow sidewalk to the covered awning that stretched between the two buildings of the church like a suspension bridge, hovering to shelter the small army of volunteers which traveled between its doors. A kind-hearted gentleman met me and Hannah, the girl I'd met a mere 10 minutes earlier as we rushed from our volunteer stations at Central Baptist Church to answer a call for help just up the road at Hillcrest Baptist Church.

"God bless you," the words spilled difficultly from his lips.

What was the big deal? I thought to myself. We'd supposedly been sent to help load people back onto buses, just another disappointing and probably frightening failure in their quest for a shelter from the pains of leaving behind their homes, friends and in some cases, parts of their families to run from a storm that could send their entire life into chaos. The whole thing was horrible, of course, but we had been turning away families in droves from Central for the past 5 hours of my stay there. All the shelters in College Station were filled, most beyond capacity, and we had been sending people to Waco, until receiving word that they too were pushed beyond their limits. Our alternative for these road weary warriors was Austin - a destination another potential four to five hours beyond here on the snail trails we once called highways. For some, like the woman, her husband and four children who had already been on the road for 36 hours, this was hard to fathom. For us, too. How could we turn them away? How could we stomach the sickening arrows flying from their eye; arrows of weariness, fear and pleading that pierced our hearts?

But we had no choice.

So what was the big deal? I said to myself. We could get these people loaded and sent on their way in a few minutes and return to the normalcy (if you can call it such) of the evacuee village now living between the walls of Central.

"There are about eighty five folks here," he began, "sixty two of them are severely disabled, mentally retarded, or wheel-chair bound.
"Severely," he said again, continuing, "it was horrible. They got here about an hour ago, having been in the cars, vans and trucks that brought them from their home outside of Houston, for twelve hours. They were exhausted, hungry, and desperately in need of a place to stop. While we couldn't offer them shelter, we did offer them a place to eat, to rest and to clean up.

"It was horrible." The words came again, hitting the strings of my heart like a sledgehammer.

As I heard him explain about the woman who ran around screaming for thirty minutes after getting out of her cramped "vehicle of salvation," the inhumane degradation of the soiled clothing, extreme hunger, and cramped conditions of their journey, unavoidable in the bumper-to-bumper and inexitable roads, a chill ran up my spine. How can this be happening, I thought to myself. We live in America...people shouldn't be forced to face such things. As I shook my head in disbelief, I proceeded through the glass facade and almost lost my composure as I surveyed the pitiful people that stretched out before me.

He was right - this was horrible.

About eight workers were madly working to help feed and comfort those who could not do it themselves. One sweet middle-aged woman, seemingly mentally retarded, came up and shook our hands - "Do you like me?" she asked. "Of course I do," I replied. In a sea of confusion, frustration and sheer exhaustion, this one woman managed to have a magnificently positive outlook. But her moment of joy was met with dozens of others with a completely opposing view.

A mixture of ill-prepared food, medicines, body fluids, and soiled clothing - the smell was nauseating and inhuman. The revolving bathroom doors seemed to never stop as the white garbage bags of clean clothes entered with a patient and a worker and exited without. Patients in wheelchairs where wheeling other wheelchair-bound patients to and fro, a strange dance that was touching to witness, while workers hauled Wal-Mart bags of medicines, leftover food and personal belongings back to their cars. Mary, a gentle older woman, sat in her wheelchair, wringing her hands in puzzlement and suddenly began screaming. She, like the others who approached me simply to say “I tired” was exhausted beyond words. She should have been safe in her bed, resting, instead she was in a strange place, surrounded by strange people and probably still only halfway to a place where she could actually stay.

Mary finally calmed down, and we did get all of the people back out to and subsequently loaded into their vehicles. Seven in the small car, eighteen or nineteen in the van, once again crammed into their evacuation prison.

I sat at home last night having had an extremely long and crazy day at school, bored (as has been typical lately with my lack of in-town friends) and reading an e-mail sent to the membership of Central about volunteering at the church for hurricane evacuees. I left the comfort of my home to see what I could do to help, not realizing that I would return fourteen hours later with an entirely new and different outlook on life. God often uses situations and circumstances to teach and shape us. Last night was one of these defining moments. I am exhausted physically, yes, but perhaps even more I am exhausted mentally and emotionally. May I never forget the people whose fatigued and terrified faces I saw, and may God continue to use me to help my fellow man and show them His love. Last night impacted me on so many levels. I have been changed.

Rita...

I'm back...14 hours later. I'm taking a much needed nap. You people better be praying, just for all of these folks who've had to up and leave all that they know - I've seen firsthand just how HORRIFIC and SADDENING it is. Good night, and thank you for your prayers. I'll write more when I'm not so completely and totally mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted.

that's all.

The end of my Austria trip (a month late...)

Now that I have been back for a little over a month, started my student teaching and begun working again with OPAS at A&M, I finally realized that I left all of you hanging with me still in Italy. I thought that you might like to hear about my last couple of weeks in Steyr and the incredible ways that God used me in Austria up until the morning I left to come home (sorry this one is so long - a lot happened!).

I'll just pick up where I left off. I got to spend my last night in Lignano hanging out with Fredy and his family. They grilled out at their bungalow and invited me to join them. I began the evening making his sister one of my infamous balloon butterfly costumes. She was in heaven, flitting about the little garden at their place like a real Monarch. She tried so much to speak to me in English, but the few words that she knows didn't come too easily. I surprised her when I spoke back to her with a small amount of German! Whatever else she could not say, she could say my name, and said it often, with the delightful little roll that she added to the "r". I got to talk and pray with Fredy that night, and said a difficult goodbye. I awoke about 5:45 the next morning, showered, packed up my tent, and headed off to the bus station to begin the crazy journey back to Austria. I stopped by Venice for a day on the way back to Austria from Lignano. It was cool to see this famous city, but I have to say that I was a bit disappointed - it's really rather boring. But I can say that I've been! I finally returned to Steyr from Venice after another 14 or so hours in and/or waiting for a train. We even had to stop in a small town just outside of Austria for a medical emergency! I had the train compartment to myself a lot of the way, so I enjoyed taking pictures, reading and spending some "alone" time. I even paid about $7 for a Reader's Digest. I read it cover to cover.

My last couple of weeks in Steyr were spent hanging out, almost non-stop, with various and sundry of the youth. I got to know Lukas and Johnny, the two most faithful guys from the group really well. They were both very excited that I wanted to learn German, and were eager and thorough teachers. They couldn't stop talking about my "good pronunciation." Maybe those linguistics classes, where I spent hours contorting my mouth and face as I created sounds in different parts of my mouth, paid off after all! I have come to love these kiddos so much. I knew that it was going to be so hard for me to leave! Lukas stayed a night at the hostel with us and we even "camped out" at the Gemeinde a couple of times. The whole youth group stayed at his house one night. The view of the mountains out of their kitchen window still takes my breath away! We had fun grilling, playing games, and trying, failing miserably for about two hours, and then finally succeeding in building a camp fire. I think we finally passed out from exhaustion about 3 am!

We got a chance to address the whole gemeinde the last Sunday we were there. It was a wonderful time for me to be able to share my thanks and gratitude to each of them and to God for allowing me to take part in their lives this summer. I talked to them about my feelings when I first arrived at Munich: How I looked around at the crazy bustling world around me, looked at Adrienne, the missionary who had been there since December and still really hadn't found her place, and said to myself, "What am I doing here?" It was the first and only time that I doubted my decision to go. The doubt was short lived. I soon remembered the faces of the Austrian people, the children, the youth, the adults, that I had met during my Spring Break trip in 2004. I saw their willingness to open their homes to me, to share their lives with me, and to help me experience their culture while I allowed God to use me to minister to them. I reintroduced myself to the youth, met new ones and threw myself headfirst into working to learn German and appreciate and enjoy the culture around me. As I prepared for that speech, I ran across a scripture (Exodus 4:10-12) that really summed up a lot of my experiences in Austria:

"But Moses said to the Lord, Oh Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue." Then the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."


Moses was doubting his abilities to share God. God eventually gave the privilege to Aaron, Moses' brother. How glad I am, though, that I followed God's lead and allowed him to work through me. I arrived in Austria saying nothing more than hello, goodbye, please and thank you in German. I left being able to understand a majority of what was spoken, and speak a small amount. The gemeinde in Steyr prayed over us our first Sunday there, for the gift of tongues for understanding the language. I firmly believe that God answered those prayers. These verses made me particularly think about the night at the youth meeting that I was able to connect with Fredy. Until this time he had had trouble understanding me - even claiming that my "dialect" was different from everyone else's. He was right - it's mumble-filled and speedy (though I think that's much improved after the summer!) But God totally worked through me that night, and I was able to answer Fredy's questions about God - how we are all sinners, condemned to an eternity away from God, and how Jesus died on the cross in our place and then rose again three days later, conquering death and bridging the gap between us and God. He understood every word, and a week later made a profession of faith, and began his new life in Christ. It was, by far, the most amazing experience of the summer, and possibly of my entire life. God used me to reach him - Awesome!

Anita, president of the Austrian Baptist Convention, and one of the church members there in Steyr told me as she left Jesus Camp to head to England for the Baptist World Alliance conference: "It's been a joy and a privilege for me to work with you." But Anita, the pleasure was all mine - to see how God was and is working in the lives of people in Steyr, particularly among the youth, to get to know each of the church members, and to see that although an ocean separates our countries, we all serve the same God, is incredible. To see, too, how God was able to use the gifts He's given me - even small things like the ability to cook, tie balloon animals and sing silly children's songs, was awesome! Anita went on to say that "I can tell that God has given you a real love for the Austrian people." This is so true - I saw it in 2004 when I first visited and it was truly confirmed over this summer.

The day we left Steyr a couple of the youth came by the Hostel to send us off. Johnny, came to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I reciprocated and gave a squeeze. He grabbed me by the arms, looked me in the eyes and, with tears in his eyes, said in his limited English: "You have to come back."

I will Johnny.

Lukas, Thais, Iris, Sarah, Matthew, Fredy, and everyone else, I will come back. I have no idea how I will pay for it, nor how God will make it happen, but I feel certain that I will be back before all is said and done. I'm prayerfully considering and asking God to show me, in His time, how that can be. I can't wait. To all of Steyr, thank you for your love, your friendship, your hospitality. For opening your homes and families to me, for the wonderful food! And for showing me that I can be at home and comfortable with people and in a place that is thousands of miles and half a world away from my home because of the common love I share with you in Christ Jesus.

And to all of you here in the good ol' U.S. of A, THANK YOU for all of your support - prayers, gifts, thoughts and kind words. I miss Austria terribly. I look around me at all we, as Christians, have and take for granted on an almost minute-by-minute basis, and I get so frustrated. You see, at least we have someone here who can and will tell us about a relationship with God - this is not a universal privilege! I ask you all to continue to lift me up as I work through all of the "reverse culture shock" and the emotional roller coaster of being back. I ask also for you to pray about my return to Austria. I want to be certain that I am following God's lead, and not my own.

God bless you, thank you, I love you.

that's all.