Bearing gifts to Cardinal Schoborn

Happy Palm Sunday everyone! I just returned from a beautiful Mass at our local parish St. Othmar on this wonderfully sunny day. Did you know that they do not use palm branches here but pussy willows instead? Quite an interesting cultural difference. I guess they have as hard of a time finding palm branches in Austria as they do in Kansas.

I would like to share about the day I had yesterday. Can I tell you about it? First, my household sister Polly came to visit from Gaming and we had such a great time. She is a faithful, joyful sister. Then, my 2 new friends who are actually from Nicaragua (17 and 20 yrs. old) came over to spend the night. These girls have had a difficult life and yet their faith is just soooo strong. God is good. Then, I went to Stephendom (famous Church in Vienna) for a youth Mass. To my surprise, the Mass was not going to start until after we had Praise and worship and a 2 hour-long procession through the streets of Vienna with a Cross and lots of singing. It was amazing (oh...and this procession was led by Cardinal Schoborn!). We even endured persecution during this walk...no surprise in the secular society. To top it all off, I was honored and unworthy to carry the water and wine during the offertory and place it in the lap of the Cardinal while receiving a blessing. I thought I was bowing before our Holy Father John Paul II. What a day! God never ceases to surprise me with His unconditional love in Austria.

GXP (God Experience)

I spent this past weekend getting to know a group of teens from a small village in Smolenice, Slovakia. This was a weekend appointed by God for sure. About 4 months ago, I went to Slovakia to put on a GXP retreat for a group of teens and it was the hardest retreat I had ever been to. Talking about God was unfamiliar to the teens, they were not used to having people care about them, and I don't think most of them knew what the words 'morality' or 'respect' stood for. Needless to say, the teens with the hard knocks had truly experienced God and now have a youth group in their village since GXP. Now, after four months of recovering from the 1st GXP, I was very curious to see what God would do this past weekend.

After praying for this particular group from Smolenice and the next village over, we sensed that God wanted to bring healing to these teens and that these kids were really special to Him. GXP is a retreat very similar to TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) weekend that is run in diocese around the U.S. There are a serious of 8 talks, small group discussions, group building activities, praise and worship, prayer stations, and....a lot of fun on GXP! To my surprise, the retreat center we stayed in was a perfect accomodation that wasn't desperately cold like many, there was a room that we could change into a sacred space, and there were two wonderful women who cooked for us all weekend...this made for few distractions and plenty of time to focus our attention on our new friends. The teens were just awesome and even asked if we could go to Mass on Friday night..."SURE"!!!!! This is the group we have been waiting for to start GXP on a regular basis in Slovakia. We needed to see some hope that teens could help to put on this retreat for their peers with little assistance. I honestly think this is the group. Praise you God. Thank you for the parents of these God loving teens and for all the people in their lives who give them space and freedom to have a relationship with You!

The HOPE for Slovakia rests in these faces.
GXP Smolenice, Slovakia

Saturday evening we had a chance to lay our lives at the feet of Jesus. We symbolized this act by lighting a candle and placing it before a Crucifix.
GXP Smolenice, Slovakia

A time of reflection on 'The Way of the Cross' Saturday afternoon. We spent some time thinking about areas in our lives that God wants to bring healing and freedom, then had a chance to contemplate the suffering Jesus went through to give us freedom. Thank you Jesus for breaking our chains and helping us to carry our crosses!
GXP Smolenice, Slovakia

This is at the end of our Talent Show. These girls have AMAZING voices!
GXP Smolenice, Slovakia

The 'Magnificent 7' small group...(they were having a 'little' fun).
GXP Smolenice, Slovakia

How about having THIS as your backyard playhouse? This castle is one of the most well preserved castles in Slovakia and was a 10 minute walk from our retreat center.
GXP Smolenice, Slovakia

This is Andy (Andrej) who is such a sweet guy and TOTALLY reminded me of my little 'Big' brother Andy (Andrew). I miss you Andrew!
GXP Smolenice, Slovakia

Healing in Zagreb

One of our teams outreaches is to Zagreb, Croatia every month. Zagreb is about a 5-hour drive from our mission base in Austria. In Croatia we are working with a Charismatic community called 'Dobri Pastir' or 'Good Shepherd'. We are putting on a seminar with them called Following Jesus, an intensive discipleship training program which consists of 8 week ends over a 10-month period of time. There is a different theme for each weekend and this past weekend was the HOLY SPIRIT! There are usually 6 talks throughout the weekend, small group discussions, fellowship, praise and worship, Mass, and prayer ministry.