First Days

Hello! We are excited to update you with info about the first days of school, and pictures of Caleb's classroom. 

The first official day of school was August 22nd. Caleb is teaching ELL Middle School (Beginner) & High School (Advanced). He has the middle school students for ELL Social Studies, Science, Language, and English. So far classes have been going great. He is getting to know his students and connecting with them. 

Britney has been working for the Elementary/Middle School principal. She has been organizing anything and everything, mostly involving Elementary. Next week she will be testing students for their Reading Level, and eventually she will help as an Elementary teacher's assistant wherever she is needed. She is enjoying the work and forming friendships with other teachers. 

Britney has already found a Bible study to attend with 4 other teachers. They are studying 2 Corinthians. Caleb is going to help lead worship at the staff morning devotions. 

We will update again soon, but for now enjoy these pictures of Caleb's classroom! 

Peace,

Caleb & Britney

Abba

God is maniacal in his love, at least according to human standards. He provides, blesses, and gives in amounts that seem ridiculous, in predicaments that seem inescapable.

We want to share a short story of how God reminded us, once again, of how caring he is.

It's not a very long story and it's not one that will make your eyes pop out of your head (we hope) but it has a lesson. We were at Euro-Spar (a grocery store here in Vienna) buying ourselves lunch. At the cash register we handed the woman a 10 euro bill to pay for our 8 euro lunch. It was only after we had walked nearly out of the store that Britney realized she had given us 5 euro in change! 

We turned around and headed back to create a few quick moments of chaos (reckoning the amount of money in a cash register involves many more steps than we had realized!) and finally made it to the office in the back of the store.

There, the woman and her manager counted up the money and came up with nothing. No 5 euro deficit; no money was missing. They counted again, with the same result, and eventually shoo-ed us out, likely thinking that we had miscalculated how much money we had handed her in the first place . . .

But we hadn't.

5 euro is not a lot of money, but every bit we get helps us continue ministry here and our Father knows that. However, there's more to it than just the practicality of getting 5 extra euro.

God taught us something through that experience: he can pull money out of thin air. By all means, he is going to be able to provide for us, even as we continue to need more support than we have now and as school starts, as we get busy and probably stressed.

Abba Father is near and he is purposing to accomplish great things through each of us for his glory. He will be ridiculous in his provision.

Peace,
Caleb & Britney

ps: We are about done setting up Caleb's classroom and we will be posting pictures very soon!! Be looking for another post this week!

Vienna - Take 1

Hello from Wien! Or for those of you who don't speak German, hello from Vienna! 

We arrived in Vienna late Tuesday night. The flight was pretty good, but our layover was eternal. 9 hours in an airport, no matter what airport you are in, is rough. But...there are so many things we could share with you about how God blessed us while traveling. For the sake of length, we will share just a few. 

1. Originally we thought we would have to pay extra for two of our suitcases, which would have been around $120. BUT, we weren't charged at all! We were able to check 4 large suitcases for free!

2. There was an amazing part of our layover in Heathrow. When we first arrived it was about 8 am, and we had been flying for about 8 hours. In the airport we saw signs for lounges, spas, bedrooms, and showers and that sounded awesome, so we decided to check it out. We were able to hangout in a lounge for 3 hours, take a shower, eat some food, and Britney took a small nap in the Snug room. 

3. At the O'hare airport we were told that we might not be let in to Austria because we only had a one-way ticket and no visas. This was pretty confusing and worrisome. However, we had NO problems at all! We were let in and no questions were asked! 

These are just a few of the ways we saw God while we were traveling. Our flat is incredible! We were not expecting such a nice/clean place. We were also blessed with all of the furniture in our flat. The school, ICSV, gave us every piece of furniture for a very small amount of money...such a blessing! 

We have had our ups and downs. Some days, like yesterday, are fun and exciting. On those days it seems like all of our sadness disappears. But then there are other days. We both miss our family and friends so much. It is hard to put into words how much they all mean to us. Today, Caleb was having a difficult time with this, so he opened his Bible and read this: "And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields - whatever, because of me, will get it all back a hundred times over." Matthew 19: 28-30 (The Message) 

This was extremely encouraging for both of us. We know that God is going to use us here in great ways, and we are so excited to see that. 

Here are some pictures of our flat! We are still working on decorations, such as hanging things on the walls and such. But this is what we have for now! 

Side note: Vienna is having a crazy heat wave right now. According to one of the Austrian newspapers, today was the hottest day in Vienna in the last 250 years. CRAZY! So that is why our bed only has a sheet on it. 

OUR BEDROOM:

OUR LIVING/DINING ROOM: 

OUR KITCHEN:

OUR OFFICE/SPARE BEDROOM: 

OUR CLOSET ROOM:

OUR BATHROOM:

OUR TOILET ROOM:

HALLWAY:

TINY APPLIANCES (HAHA):

We eventually want to get an extra bed for our spare bedroom, and also have the desk in there. But this is it for now! Thank you all so much for your prayers. This has been a challenging, but incredible journey so far. Tomorrow morning at 7, so around midnight for those of you in Illinois, we are going to apply for our visas. We would love to have your prayers for this! For some people, visas come in about 2 weeks, and for others in can take up to 3 months. Hope to get ours soon! 

Peace,

Caleb and Britney