Crying Over Kindergarten

I loved this piece on the topic of raising third culture kids (children growing up in a country other than their passport country) by Richelle Wright. She writes, "What if some of what I consider so traumatic and so difficult and so worthy of tears I perceive that way primarily because I have preconceived ideas based on my own childhood and growing up of how things should be and how I would have reacted? " She adds, “Maybe what I expect to be their struggles are just normal (for them)…perhaps those circumstances I believe they’ll breeze right through are the ones that will be the greatest challenges.” I totally related to these feelings, and appreciated these insights, especially remembering the experience of putting Naomi into preschool in Vienna…

So here we were, Day One. Me, in my third trimester of pregnancy, sitting in a wheeled office chair in the back of the room, trying to go unnoticed, but occassionally having to say “hi” to the curious preschooler who would come over to stare at or show something to the very pregnant stranger in the room. Naomi, exploring all of the wonderful toys and craft stations in the room and attempting to understand what was going on and make friends. Quite overwhelming! For her, and maybe moreso for me. Naomi would try to participate but get frustrated that she didn’t understand what the teacher was saying in German. After saying a few loud and insistent “NO’s!” in English, she would come running to me in tears saying that she wanted to go home, not understanding why she had to endure this torture.

I didn’t know what to say! I felt like all I could do was helplessly watch her struggle. I couldn’t change the circumstances for her. I had no power to somehow make her instantly learn German. I couldn’t make her 2 1/2-year-old mind understand that all of this was for her ultimate good, the ability to speak German and to make friends. I counseled her the only way I knew how. “Sweetie, I’m sorry it’s hard and you don’t understand. It will get easier. Watch the other kids and do what they are doing.” Of course, I meant what the obedient kids were doing…I was just hoping that would be the majority!

It was a heart-wrenching experience for me, as I unconsciously also super-imposed all of my insecurities and fears from years of life experience onto what I was seeing happen. MY life experience. The kicker was when I saw Naomi, after several failed attempts to communicate with the kids in English or play with someone, bravely walk up to a girl working a puzzle alone, and ask in English, “Hi, my name is Naomi, will you play with me?” In that moment, I was so proud of her and heartbroken all at the same time. Tears started streaming down my face. I couldn’t keep them in anymore.

Fast forward 6 weeks, and I’m riding the bus from home to the kindergarten to pick up Naomi after lunch. Expecting her standard answer of, “I cried”, to my question of how her morning was, she responded with, “I had fun!” Praise God! Fast forward 5 months, and I’m the one sad to say goodbye to Naomi’s class for a time as we prepare for our 8-month stay in the States. Missing the teachers that were such an encouragement to me as a mom during a rough transition for our family. Naomi thinks of and talks about her class from time to time, and I hope that she will be able to join in with the same class when we return. It may be like “coming home” for her, or it may be quite a re-entry struggle, but either way, trusting God every step of the way is our only hope. May He continue to give us wisdom as parents, helping our children navigate well the waters of living in a different culture, all the while striving to do so ourselves in a way that honors Him.

#blog #fa

by Liz Eck

A big trip

You may have heard that we are coming to America for the next six months starting this May, but you might still be wondering why. Well there are several reasons for this. First, due to the type of visa that we hold we are not allowed to stay in Austria for longer than five years at a time. In order to be eligible to stay for another five years we have to leave for six months. Not only does that mean that we've been here for almost five years already, it means that every five years we will have to do this, unless we can change the type of visa that we get. Now that the church is recognized this might be changing in the future, but for now we are trying to stick to the regulations.
Second, we are due for a home service or what is commonly referred to as furlough. We will be spending some time resting, but this will be no six month vacation! No our main purpose in a home service assignment is renew our ties with our sending church by spending time serving in ministry there as well as reconnect with our current supporters, which leads me to our final reason for coming home...
Support. We've never quite been fully funded during our time here, and that fact has really been felt over the last year. We are really hoping to get our numbers back where they need to be and it's going to take a good chunk of time to get that task accomplished. Also, considering that we may be doing more traveling during our next term it would be good to have a healthy ministry budget. So please pray for us that the Lord will supply all of our needs during this trip. We are trusting that He will.

Leadership Akademie Video

Here is a video from the Leadership Akademie team project that I mentioned in our last post. If you would like to see more pictures of our team at work check out our flickr page.

Celebrate: Our Week in Pictures (2.23.14-3.01.14)

The celebrations started when Naomi dressed up at school for Fasching or Austrian Mardi Gras


Then our team celebrated after we helped to pull off a weekend conference called Leadership Akademie.

And finally Naomi celebrated her 3rd birthday!

Jim and Brenda’s Visa

On Tuesday afternoon December 31st our team gathered to help Jim and Brenda fill out their visa application and pray for their visa process...

Shortly after we finished praying we got a call that people were already lining up at the visa office a full 38 hours before the office opened much earlier than the last time we had to stand in line with our team mates.

So because of the type of visa we must apply for we all took turns standing in line for Jim and Brenda until it was time for them to turn in their paperwork on January 2nd!

The Church in Austria: Our week in pictures 6/16-6/22/13

Austria is a country with unquestioned religious heritage….

…however churches are empty and tens of thousands leave yearly…

…that’s why when last weekend we had 5 people publically profess their faith by being baptized in the Danube, it is such an encouragement to all!

Blogger Labels: Church,Austria,heritage,churches,faith,Danube,encouragement

Central Europe Flood: Viennese Danube

There has been some major flooding around central Europe this week. The Danube was out of it’s banks and causing major damage in towns across Germany and Austria. Fortunately for us Vienna has really good flood-protection measures in place. None the less we are watching it pretty closely and ready to go if we need to.
Here is a video I took yesterday showing the swollen river and where it is in relation to our home.

Danube Flooding 2013

Here is a before and after shot. Keep in mind that usually the water is about three feet below that grassy area.

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Here are some other pictures of the river near our neighborhood.

		Danube Flood 2013 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Easter Monday: Our Week in Pictures (March 31-April 6th 2013)

We celebrated Easter last week which in Austria means colorful  Easter markets...

...there was a big celebration at church of course...

...and, like the Austrians, we took off the Monday after Easter (instead of  Good Friday) and took a quick trip to Salzburg with our friends. 

If you would like to see all of our pictures like our Facebook page (top right hand box), follow our twitter feed, or follow us on Instagram (texmeck).

Church Recognition

"Is that a cult?" It is a common question that we get here in Austria. The evangelical church is not a historically established entity and so many people don't trust it. It is part of the reason that we meet in Starbucks for our Bible study because many Austrians are leery about going to a church service at a Freikirche or "Free Church," so named because the church is not supported by tax revenue from the state. Not only are the Free Churches not accepted by society as a "real church" they are actually not even recognized as a real religion by the Austrian government. That means that most Free Churches are not technically churches, but religious organizations  That might not sound so bad but consider for example that Free Church weddings are not recognized unions, or Pastors are not considered clergy-they really can't even take the title of pastor. Recognition might even open up new avenues for missionaries that are working with registered churches here. Currently the only visa we can get is one that does not allow us to "enter the job market" here which puts limits on the amount of time that we can spend here.
It seems like it would be easy for the evangelical church to become recognized, after all you only need 0.02%  of the population to be adherents of your religion to apply. Buddhist  Muslim  even the Mormons are all recognized, why not the Free Church. Sadly there is no one evangelical denomination that has the required 17,000 members to apply for official recognition. That is a sad commentary on the state of belief here in Austria.  However, there is currently an effort for five denominations to come together so that the Free Church can finally be recognized here. For any of you who are interested in reading further about the developments on this here is an article on church recognition by the European Baptist Federation. Please be in prayer that this process opens up avenues for the Gospel to go out here in Austria.

Fall in our Neighborhood

View from our balcony on the national holiday: flags flying from the second largest government housing building in Vienna, with 1467 apartments, located on Friederich Engels Platz

Naomi at our favorite park down by the river walk

The park has a certain old-fashioned charm

Yes, Mommy wears her cowgirl boots in Vienna!

Naomi investigating a pedal on the merry-go-round contraption. Regular trains and subway trains use the bridge in the background.

Naomi walking and running around and around the merry-go-round

This stationary boat houses a school!

African Believers

One of Matt’s Nigerian students has had some trouble lately with his residency. He is an asylum seeker and had received a negative judgment on his case. The judge wants him to go back to Nigeria, but his lawyer says that he still has a chance to stay. If you think about it please be in prayer for ND. African immigrants are not very welcome here and there are many negative stereotypes about them, but there are many who come here who are evangelical Christians. Sunday mornings, without fail, we see Africans on the subway, dressed up with Bibles in their hands. God just may bring the gospel back to Europe, through Africans who received the gospel initially from European missionaries generations before. Pray that, if it is God’s will, good men like ND would be allowed to stay here and help spread God’s word.

Shopping: Bring Your A-Game

Grocery Shopping is a contact sport here in Austria. It takes precise planning and execution and a fair amount of aggression. First,you must always go in with a plan. Not only so that you don't break the bank, but because unless you have a car, you must carry everything home with you. This either means you need to shop every day or you have to have the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because Europe is frantically green, you will have to either bring your shopping bags with you or be ready to pay for them at the counter. Aside from your reusable bag and your sparse shopping list you will need to make sure that you have either a one euro or fifty eurocent coin with you. This is so that you can have a deposit for a shopping cart because heaven forbid those would be open for everyone to use. Now you are ready to walk the few blocks down to your local grocery store. Hopefully the weather is not inclement,which would necessitate weather gear and more planning. Once you have made the hike to the store the fun really begins. First you must get your cart. If this is a busy time, which is likely, you will need to watch out for the people both getting and returning carts. Especially take care not to disturb the people returning them, they just went through the ringer and only want to collect their deposit and get out of there. Carefully you put your coin in the slot and with luck your cart will release from the chain of others. Once you are away from the chaos of the front door you can relax for a moment and look t the fresh bread and rolls around you. This is a mine field,however, if you are like me and trying to stay away from carbs. Austrians do not abide day-old bread so there is never a lack of rolls and pastries assaulting your senses. You resist the urge to pick up that cream filled cloche and push on towards the produce. The produce section is the first of many logjams and for good reason. By the price of your item, which never actually corresponds to its exact location, is a number that you must memorize. This is because all of your produce need to weighed and the number tells the scale which item you have.After this you now hit the narrow aisles and now the elbowing dance to find the rest of the items on your list begins. This is further complicated by the store employees who have chosen this moment to stock the store, since no one can seem to arrive at the store early or work late to do this. You scour the aisles realizing either that peanut butter is longer available at that store or that you forgot that this store doesn’t carry the brand of cereal that you like, but for the most part you have what you came for. Don’t get too cocky because the worst is yet to come. Now you make a beeline for the registers. Usually at this point there is only one register open and a line backed up well into the aisles. You shrug off your need for personal space as you know that if you do not aggressively hold your place in line some overly zealous shopper will find a way to cut in front of you. Then you hear the phrase that turns a relatively orderly line into utter chaos, “Zweite Kasse, bitte!” The call to open up a second register has been sounded and now the entire line is bristling with potential energy. We all know that at any given moment one of the employees will come up from their smoke break and then all semblance of civility is lost. During one recent episode of this Liz and I were both in the store, without shopping bags so we were carrying what we had in our arms. I was fortunate to see the clerk come up and was able to stay ahead of the throng. Liz however was caught in the scrum of oncoming shoppers and in a moment of desperation tossed me her loaf of bread as if to say, “Don’t mind me, save yourself!” Once you get to the register you are almost done. You hand them your discount card and pray that you weighed your produce correctly…they will send you back if you didn’t! The cashier runs your items through the scanner at lightning speed. You bag all of the items yourself (your really didn’t think they were going to have baggers did you?) trying to keep up with the cascade of groceries without crushing any of the items you just bought. Somehow you keep up with the pace and pay the cashier when they finish handing you the last item...or face the scowls of the cashier and the people in line behind you. Finally you drearily push your cart back to the pick-up line and look at the line in-coming shoppers. Poor chumps.

It takes a team: update

Adam and Kasey with Liz at a BBQ two years ago

For those of you who remember our team braved the cold for several hours at the beginning of the year to ensure a place in the visa line for our newest team members Adam and Kasey. This month Adam has gotten confirmation that he has been approved for his visa. Kasey‘s visa situation is still a bit in limbo. She had forgotten to sign her application which means she will need to come and resign it in person. Fortunately, though it sounds like she will still get it! The plan is that they will come with the Student Ministry team from Denton Bible Church and stay. Pray for them to get the rest of their support raised, and that all the details works out for Kasey’s visa when she gets here

Luke 10:1-2 and Outreach in Austria

A new spin on an old tradition

Viennese Melange served on a traditional sliver platter

Coffee is a big part of Viennese Culture.  Legend has it that the first coffee houses sprung up in Vienna sometime after 1683 when the hastily retreating Turkish army left large amounts of coffee in their wake.  Since then it has been a cultural tradition to sit for hours in a coffee shop, playing cards, talking politics, and especially reading the paper. It’s no surprise then, that Christians would take advantage of the Vienna coffee culture to gather study and discuss the scriptures.  A few years ago, in fact, some friends of mine started a Bible study group in one of the Vienna Starbucks locations. In the next four years they have expanded to all but three of the eleven Vienna locations. What’s most exciting is that because of the open nature of the groups it has become a non-threatening venue for all types of people to explore the message and claims of the Bible. From time to time the SBUXfellowship has asked me to help out with teaching some of their leaders and before we had to leave Vienna for our visa purposes, Liz and I were looking at helping out with this group in some way. Just recently we had one of the leaders over at our new apartment and he mentioned that one of the three locations that they didn’t have a study was only a block from our place. I said,” That’s funny, I’ve been praying about starting a bible study.”  So since then we have been praying about starting a study at the Starbucks in Millennium City mall. I’m really looking forward to see what God will do with this. Please be praying that people who might not normally feel comfortable going to a church might come and hear what God has to say to them through His word.

International Apartment Hunting 101 Part IV: Moving

Moving options

I could probably say more about apartments and finding them here in Vienna, but this series has gone on long enough and so as promised I will share a little insight about how to (or how not to) going about getting moved here in Vienna.

When we first moved here we pretty much just brought as many bags with us as we could and then made a big IKEA run and that was it. Now that we’ve been here a couple of years we accumulated more furniture and stuff than we could manage on our own so we looked into a moving company. Though we could have rented a truck and had some friends come over and help us over a weekend, we were under a time restraint and so really didn’t have to time to find a rental truck and a weekend where everyone we knew could help. There are a good amount of companies around and they have some decent prices (most charge by the hour) but I would suggest the following to save you some money. First, have all of your furniture broken down to move. The rental company will be glad to break your furniture down for you (and put it back together) but that takes time and time is money…tick tock. Second, make sure that all of your small things are in boxes. Again for the most part we did this but we were running out of time and boxes so I started coming up with theses “ingenious” ways of packing things like throwing them in bags and taping things together. This ended up costing us space on the truck and time because it’s harder to pack and carry irregularly shaped items. Finally, I would suggest asking the company to come and give you a consultation before you move. This was a huge mistake on my part. If they have to give you an estimate then you can agree on a certain price. This keeps them from “milking” the job and taking longer than they need…which I kind of suspect happed in our case. Though, to be honest, I was glad not to have to carry all of that furniture down four floors of stairs on the hottest day in the summer!

International Apartment Hunting 101 Part III: Private vs. Agent

It’s time to continue my blog series on Apartment hunting in Austria. I apologize for the long hiatus, but in the mean time we found an apartment and well; it’s quite the undertaking to get moved around here. I’ll talk about that in another post but let me talk about something that you should consider way before you move, when you first start looking into an apartment.

Here in Austria we you can use a real-estate agent to help you find a rental property. This may sound strange to many of you, but renting is so much more common here and what are the real-estate agents to do? Of course, agents don’t do it for nothing, and they can really add to the expense of finding an apartment. Most apartments here require a hefty deposit up front, usually at least 3 months Kaltmiete or flat rent (without utilities or building costs). Agents usually charge another 3 months flat rent in Provision (realtor’s fee) so going with an agent can cost you 7 months’ rent up-front! Most if not all of that you will never see again (landlords are notorious here for not getting your deposit back to you-we are still waiting on ours, in fact). It’s much cheaper, then, to find an apartment through a private individual. The downside is that private offerings are much more rare and since you are likely not dealing with someone who is a real-estate professional. This means that you are subject to their schedule when it comes to viewing the apartment and much of the time this means that they will book multiple showings at a time. This gives the potential landlord a huge psychological advantage when it comes to any negotiations because group showings tend to have an auction-like atmosphere. The first one we showed up to there were at least 4 other couples there and we were the only one with a small child. It starts getting really hard to be objective in your evaluation as you start hearing others in the group getting excited about certain features in the apartment. The place we finally settled on was a private place but the landlord owns a number of apartments and we were the only ones viewing the place at the time. It was a great experience and we have a really good relationship with our landlord.

Ministry Pictures from Fall 2011

Pictures from the refugee ministry

We are discouraged from taking pictures of the refugees because of the sensitive nature of there situation, however I was able to snap a few pictures of the staff of the "Oasis." These are some of the folks who make the ministry to the refugees possible.

International Apartment Hunting 101 Part II: Landlords

The Second Rule of Real Estate (when renting) is Landlord Landlord Landlord

Before I moved overseas I rented apartments all the time, and in the States you certainly want a good company running your apartment complex, but when renting directly from private landlords, which I have found is more common internationally, it is essential to find a landlord whom you can trust. I learned this lesson the hard way while living in Russia. One of my landlords there, in an effort to protect his son who was facing criminal charges, kept his family registered at the place where I was staying. It was not a happy morning when the police came by the house and did a thorough search through my stuff looking for stolen items. Can you say “not cool,” kiddos?

So here are a few things that I look for in landlord when renting from a private person.

1. Character- Are they abiding by the laws as far as you can tell. Do you have a rental contract or is everything just verbal agreement? Is he paying taxes on the place? How does he feel about you registering at the apartment? Sometimes this stuff is hard to find out unless you ask. So ask!

2. Flexibility- Of course you can’t expect to get away with murder, you need to make sure you stick to your contract and get your rent in on time, but are they at least open to negotiation on certain non-essential things like pets or allowing you to get rid of the furniture in the apartment that you don’t want.

3. Availability- This is important. You are going to have problems with the place and you need to be able to get a hold of the landlord sometimes. Again this one might be hard to gauge at first, sure in the beginning they’ll bend over backwards for you, they want their place rented! However, once the deposit is in will you be able to call them when you are having a problem with the stove that belongs to them or you need to find the gas meter so that the utilities guy can read it?

4. Likeability- Now your landlord probably won’t become your best buddy and let’s face it, if your landlord is going to be coming over to check in all the time that might not be such a good thing either, but if you can at least get along with them that can go a long way.

Bottom line, a rental agreement with a private person is not just a contract, it’s a relationship. That’s an important thing to remember. Of course, the relationship goes both ways so I need to make sure I’m a good renter (regardless weather I have a good landlord). After all, who knows what the Lord will do through your tenant-landlord relationship.