Kindel's birthday is a week from today and in light of that we decided to have a few friends over to her home. She and I had planned to have a friends over, but she didn't realize that I intended for us to celebrate her birthday, too.

It's tradition in my family to decorate with streamers and baloons during the week of someone's birthday. Kindel was quite surprised to see the decorations when she returned from Bloomington...

I had also made dessert - homemade ice cream and shortcake, which were well received by the whole group. We also sang "Happy Birthday" and had Kindel blow out a candel on her cake. Afterward, we played a rousing game of Balderdash. If you haven't played this before, its a game that makes use of your creative abilities to make up definitions for weird words, plots for unknown movie titles, the significance of an unknown historical figure, and much more. I highly recommend Balderdash.

Some other random stuff from the past few weeks:

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My advisor has since gotten back to me with my second draft. He and I were well pleased with the first and the revisal processes has been smooth and quick. I'll defend it before my comittee on May 1.

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Ben, my old roommate, came with me to Kindel's on Saturday. He and I had fried up some brats and did some fishing. While I basically got skunked, he caught a very nice bass. I've posted some pictures of ben and the fish in my Photobucket.

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Last Friday Michael and Anthony hosted a "cheap beer tasting party." It was similar in form to a wine tasting party, with the exception that all of the beverages tasted pretty bad. I thought that the event was a good idea, because "what if there was a cheap beer out there that really tasted good?" As Michael put it, there are times when you don't want to "spend $9 for a six pack of beer with a name I can't pronounce, from a country I've never heard of." The intention was to have a sip or two the 13 cheap beers that we all brought and rate them on aroma and flavor. Busch original came in first, but all in all, I really disliked everything I tried. So, I've decided to stick to my guns with the more expensive drink - Goose Island Honkers Ale. I can't really think of a situation where the only available refreshment, including water, would be cheap beer. But if for some reason I was in a situation like that, I'd go with the Miller Lite.

I took a common personality test for pre-marrital counseling. Kindel and I have discussed the validity of the outcome, and I feel as though their assessment was a healthy one. There are limits, however. See what you think:

Portrait of an ESTP

Thursday morning I turned the first draft of my thesis over to my advisor. I should have it back in a week or so to complete the editing and add/delete content. Until then, I'm riding the wave of low responsibilities. Kindel also has a few days off from student teaching, so we're trying to make the most of our 'free' time... for her that has involved doing some side jobs and working on wedding stuff. Not much of a break, eh? I have gotten to spend more time in God's Word and at the gym. This morning Matt L. from church was kickin' some tail in cut-throat on the raquetball court. (For those that don't know cut-throat is a 3 person version of raquetball). I'd be interested in playing him one-on-one.

On another note, I received my official rejection email from Johns Hopkins University. Not that I was holding out or anything, but I was curious what happened with that.

Supa Wien

Just over a week ago I return from a short mission trip to Austria, of which I was prayerfully and monetarily supported by many of you. Thank you for having faith that God had called me to go, and thank you for any prayers that were said. God was clearly at work.



Our week consisted of working with three different groups of students. Monday and Tuesday a number of the Americans came along side the OSM (Austrian IV) students at the agricultural university (BoKU) in a book table outreach. Tuesday was more eventful for those at BoKU, being that there were more people to talk with and much more time spent in prayer. Monday evening we also attend the city-wide OSM large group, not too dissimilar to an IV large group. We sang and worshiped through Scripture together. It was a wonderful blessing to share in worship with our Austrian Christian family, and I think they felt the same about us. One of the guys that attended the meeting said that he had never heard singing at the venue any louder than it had been that night. Yes, we were very loud!



Alan and I spent Tuesday afternoon in Lintz, a neighboring town, with Ewald, the Vienna OSM staff member. We handed out flyers to publicize an talk that was held Thursday evening on the validity of the resurrection. The flyers were witty, our spirits were high, and Ewald’s passion for students kept us looking for places and people to solicit. Thursday evening most of the whole group spent the evening in Lintz praying with the Christian students and staff in preparation for the lecture. Andrew, the itinerant evangelist, spoke well of God’s making clear that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The room was full, yes with a number of Christians, but that is who God called to hear that evening’s message. I’m hopeful that the message from that evening will spread.

I’ll revert back to Wednesday, now, when we visited Slovakia, just to the South of Austria. Austrian towns and countryside are quite colorful, eclectic, and a little spunky. Bratislava was a nice contrast to the hills ‘alive with the sound of music,’ because it gave us a little hint of what it was like to live under communism. Let me tell you, the Christians we met in this town are passionate for living in relationship with God. They have big dreams for their friends and country and hearts ready to do what it takes to see God work his wonders. We were blessed with coming along side them for an evening outreach in the dorms of their university. After splitting up in pairs, we administered surveys door-to-door to get an idea of what the people want and need in their lives. They also provided information on a Jesus-type movie they were to show the next evening. Working along side the Slovakians was precious. We felt an intimate connection with them, and as Joe noted, this is precisely because we shared closely in the joy and pain of their labors.



Friday evening we attended the OSM international student meeting. It’s a “coffee shop” type thing in the basement of one of the local evangelical churches. A good number of non-Christian international students were in attendance. God blessed your prayers that evening as Tara and I shared our testimonies.

Overall, we came to understand that the we had similar struggles when it came to faith: we all desire close, genuine Christian fellowship; we want to hear God speaking to us and to be more prayerful; we want to reach out to those around us, families including; and we want to know where God is calling us in life. Pray for the Austrian and Slovakian students in these ways.

Lastly, though, there are some unique prayer requests: The ministries and churches are in need of deep, Christ-centered books and materials translated into German or Slavik. Ewald really, really wants John Stott’s book on The Cross in German. Please pray for that. And finally, please pray for the four young men that took Alan and I in for the week. They blessed us more than we could have ever imagined, and we hope that they would encounter God through Jesus Christ in a very acute, personal way.

Thank you so much for sending me and the whole team. We hope and pray that you would receive the “reward in heaven” that Jesus said comes to those who fast, pray, and give faithfully.

Amen.