Drinking Out of a Fire Hose
Wellity well. It has been... a long time since I have posted. Naughty Katie. =P I didn't dissapear, and neither has the adventure in Europe. In fact a lot has gone down, so let me get you up to speed.
A few weeks after my last post, I went home to Minnesota, where I got to be a part of two weddings for three very old and dear friends (in the 2nd wedding, two of my besties married each other. Beautiful and utterly impossible not to cry). Another amazing part of the summer home for me was that two of my YWAM Austria teammates, Harry and Ani, came to the midwest, so we went on a little roadtrip to IHOP Kansas City and then I got to bring them home for a few days and merge my Europe life and MInnesota life by having people meet each other- something I'd wanted to do for ages.
Over the fall I was raising support, working and saving, and investing time in friends and family, as well as processing some of the harder experiences from my first year in Europe. It meant that I left much later than originally planned- I returned to Austria January 1st- but the time home was invaluable in getting me financially and emotionally ready to co-lead a discipleship school and give it my all.
This last time leaving home was by far the hardest. I honestly began dreaming and planning of moving back, while at the same time feeling like my work in Europe is still not done. Now I feel like I am seeing how living in Austria long-term is something I could actually really do.
Now, here I am. Straight in the middle of a hundred prayers answered. I've been back in Vienna, Austria for almost two months. My friendships are going deep. We run a school of six students from four different nations, a perfect size for a staff team of 4 in our first-ever DTS. In a couple weeks, we take the students on 2.5 months of outreach to eastern Europe, and I am supposed to lead the outreach.
Leading a DTS is like drinking out of a fire hose. For one thing, leadership is a fast teacher. Beyond that, its never just the students who are ministered to by the teachings- staff are in class, too, and involved in ministry work, and we lead by example. So when it comes time to bare your soul and be vulnerable, it may be that I or a colleague goes first, to show that authenticity is safe. When its time to go do homeless ministry, one of us goes with them. We live with them, eat with them, are a family. And perhaps a little like parents with a new child (except that in our case, the "child" is a peer) - the students absolutely steal your heart. I think I fell in love with them pretty immediately. They become the center of your life.
And that's the story you've been missing. More to come. ;-)
