We arrived Thursday morning in Vienna - safe and sound with all our luggage! The flight was superb, but we unfortunately had little sleep. Our first day we went to our hotel - which was wonderful, brand new, and 2 short blocks from an avenue of shopping. Put a bunch of Americans in Austria, set them down in the middle of a bunch of stores and what do you have? Some happy Americans! No one actually bought anything other than food, but it was fun to stroll around H&M, even if everyone was speaking German!
Later that day, we took a bus tour around Vienna, which if you ever have a chance to visit is an amazingly beautiful city. The architecture is amazing, palaces that will wow you and parks everywhere. We had a beautiful, hot day and other than having difficulty staying awake we really enjoyed our tour. We also toured the palace where Marie Antionette was born and raised - it was just incredible! That evening, a few of our brave souls attended a sampling of the arts in Vienna while the rest of us went to bed!
Yesterday, we traveled about an hour outside Vienna to the city of Sopron. Our hotel is just outside the city in the woods. It's peaceful, quite, lush and today it's pouring rain! We had a short time to get situated here and then right to work. We have a small group of children until tomorrow when the rest of the conference starts. Our team has already fallen in love with the children who are here and I'm guessing when the rest of the kids arrive, they will be equally in love with them as well! Pray for strength and wisdom as we work through some kinks and learn how to work with the other team that we are serving with.
As a side note, I'd ask for prayer for myself and lb. We are taking care of the infants up to age two room. Fortunately, we have only 7 children at most, but nobody adequately prepared for this group/age. We've been given the center room of a suite - it's about the size of a small bedroom - and we have NO TOYS! At the moment, we have only two toddlers and last night, for only 3 three hours, we were quite challenged. When we can go outside, we should be OK, except that once we actually 7 children, I'm not sure how we will manage all of them between the three of us with outings. Your prayers would be very welcomed!!
Other requests: we have one team member who has lost her voice, fortunately not her desire to serve. She's been a trooper! Also, please pray for us and our working relationship with the other team we met here. It's been a little rocky, as one might expect, and we are seeking wisdom and grace so we can work together and provide something these kids will remember for the rest of their lives. Last night, the team was amazing! I'm so proud of all of them and very encouraged for the rest of our week.
Praises: we arrived, we have all our bags, nothing appears to be broken (craft supplies) and so far everyone has had plenty to eat, beds and as of yet, no stomach ailments. We've been severely blessed!:-)
2 comments:
It sounds beautiful there!
About having no toys...steal some of T's socks and get a marker and make some puppets...and take a sheet from the hotel...you can play tent...or parachute. Take some make-up and draw on their faces...or if you have washable markers, they wipe off of mirrors if you have one in the room.
Have fun you guys! Praying for your team!
Yippee! You guys made it! I've been thinking about you guys and praying for you. I'll be praying the rest of trip is beyond all expectations and when there is 7 in the room, they will find each other entertaining.
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