Guten Tag!

It is the end of our first full day in Austria. We arrived last night and headed over to the church, where I tried to give the team an idea of what is going to go on. We then split up to go to our host homes. I am staying with Ruth (the director of the camp) and her family. After dinner last night, Carol and I excused ourselves to get some rest. Even though I slept on most of BOTH plane rides, I was exhausted.

We woke up this morning at about 5:30, thinking we had overslept. I forgot how early the sun comes up over here! After finally getting up, we walked to church, where it was so good to see many familiar faces!! During the worship, I was reminded of how big God is. I just LOVE to hear people praising him other languages. I know it brings joy to His heart as well.

It was fitting that the sermon today was on the Holy Spirit, (at least that is what our translator said). After the sermon, I prayed and reflected a bit. I realized how much I had been trying to do all this on my own. I was doing all the planning. I was doing the organizing. I was going after MY vision. And I wondered why I was stressing out? So I took some serious time and gave it all to the Lord. I prayed that He would be the only one to get glory for English camp, not us. I quickly realized that it is ONLY through Him and with Him that English camp will be a success.

We finished the day out with a nice bike ride to a local natural swimming hole before riding back for dinner. Now it's off to bed to be ready for the FIRST DAY OF CAMP!

And a little side note. At lunch today, they lit a firecracker and put it in the cookies. We sang the Star Spangled Banner and had our little 4th of July moment. It was cute.

Ways to be praying:
Jet lag- some of us are still a little weary from the travel and time difference.
FIRST DAY OF CAMP TOMORROW!- It will be chaotic, but hopefully some sort of controlled chaos. We have quite a few returning campers, which will be nice.
Weather - There may be some unexpected rain showers, which will really thwart camp plans. The cooler weather would be nice, but a little inconvenient
Parents - As parents drop their kids off tomorrow, pray that they will truly feel the Spirit at camp. That they will see that their is a noticeable difference about what we are doing.