Don’t worry – your eyes are not deceiving you. It truly is another note from me, and so close on the heels of our last communication. Crazy!
But, there are a few things happening around here that I knew if I waited to tell you until later, they might never be told. It seems I draft more notes in my head to you than ever get written, so I thought I’d just take the bull by the horns and write while I was thinking about it.
So, let’s begin, shall we?
All Base Training time
I know I already told you that we had the privilege as a community to have a couple who have been in YWAM for 34 years, Jim and Judy, as well as a church prayer and teaching team from Tacoma come and be with us for two weeks. That time is over now, but when I look back, I see such richness and life that came from all they poured in – it was perfect timing to hear again some of the teachings that were brought
Because of the nature of YWAM, we have many people who join us and move on in a short amount of time. Of the 75 staff we now have, only about 15 had been with us when we had our last Staff Training time, so these sessions served to bring us together as a community as teachings were brought on fundamental issues like repentance, integrity, what it means to disciple, self-leadership and responsibility, mentoring, the fruit of our lives, along with many other topics. (Picture: Herrnhut Staff and Students in front of the Castle)
When the idea came for us to have another time of Staff Training, I knew that the desire was that our root system, the core of who we are as individuals and as a Base, be cleaned out and strengthened so that we could grow more solidly and produce life giving things to the world around us. While there will always be things to correct and adjust, I felt that this time was very successful in strengthening me personally and as well as our whole team. Now let’s just see if we can walk out all we’ve been taught so that the world can see more of Jesus in us. 
To say that soccer (or football, as it’s known everywhere in the world other than in North America) causes some strong feelings in its fans would be putting it mildly. J Fans are a’buzzin with news of games, and in a nation where they rarely fly their national colors, the German flag is almost ubiquitous – on a car here, hanging from a window there, and just yesterday, I saw people wearing leis in the colors of the German flag!The EuroCup is upon us, and Vienna, Austria (the nation just to the south,
southeast of us) is playing host. So on Monday, about 50 of us from this community are heading down to join several organizations in a massive outreach to the fans of soccer. These kinds of events offer such opportunities to reach out to people from all kinds of nations and walks of life, and one of the things that is most cool for me is that it’s not YWAM that’s the main organizer – we just get to join with other ministries in support of the message that matters: Jesus is real, He is as passionate about you as you are about soccer, and He wants relationship for a lifetime.
I don’t know all that we’ll get to do, but there will be kids’ events, coffee tents, bands on the street, dramas, and even more. I look forward to being stretched personally in how I reach out to people in a real and impacting way, and I anticipate a time of getting to know not only our staff and students better, but people of other nations. (Picture to the left: A Cathedral in Vieanna)
And, if I’m really lucky, I’ll even get to have a free moment for a coffee at Starbuck’s. :)
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