Fall Break

This past Tuesday marked the end of the first quarter at VCS. We cannot believe first quarter is already over. Time has really flown. Wednesday was a teacher work day for us all to get our grading done and our grades turned into the office. Then Thursday and Friday we had no school!!

Although we did not have enough money to travel anywhere, we had saved enough to do a few fun things over break. Wednesday after a day at work, we went out to eat with some friends at a new restaurant here in Vienna, which was like a Chipotle. It was super exciting for us to have some tex-mex here in Vienna as there are only a few Mexican restaurants here, and they are pricey and not very good. But this burrito joint was very yummy and very reasonbly priced! After that a smaller group of us went to go see a movie at the English cinema. This was a "splurge" for us as we normally don't have money to waste on a movie.

On Thursday I (Steph) went to Sopron, Hungary which is only 45 minutes away from Vienna, if we don't get lost. We did miss our exit so it took us a bit longer to get there, but it was fun. In Sopron there is a really cool and cheap pottery shop. The other girls I went with really got some good deals. We then went to Tesco which is kind of like a Wal-Mart, in which I got a bag of marshmallows and 2 things of body wash for super cheap! I know, really exciting purchases! In the meantime, Matt got to have a day of playing PlayStation, which was fun for him. Thursday night we had some friends over, and I fixed chicken and dumplings.

Friday was a national holiday here in Vienna, so the national museums were open with free admission. We couldn't miss out on a free activity, so we went to a few museums. The first museum we went to was the Military History Museum, which was really awesome. It went through the military history of Austria, which included stories, uniforms, weapons, and all kinds of cool stuff. The highlight of this museum was definitely the car Franz Ferdinand was assasinated in. Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian throne, and his assasination was a main trigger to the start of World War I. We then went to the Parliament building in which we had to wait in a long line for, but it was really cool and worth it.

Saturday Matt had soccer practice and I hung out at home. Then we went to a friends house to play Balderdash, which was a lot of fun. Today (Sunday) we have had a really lazy day at home, but was still able to accomplish some stuff. We got all of our articles typed for our next newsletter coming out in November, which was a huge accomplishment. We also had a lot of time to discuss the big decision we are in the process of making (making another commitment to VCS or returning to the States). We are still undecided, but feel like we had good discussion about it and that God is leading us in the right direction.

Blog Cuteness...

We decided our blog header and layout were quite boring, and that they needed some help! So we are having a super cute header and layout designed for us! We came across this designer's blog through a friend of ours, so you should check it out! She has several examples of really cute blogs she has already done, and the best part is, her prices are amazing! So to make your blog cute....go to http://www.fabulouskblogdesigns.blogspot.com/

You will never guess....

Saturday morning we were awakened to.......SNOW....in OCTOBER!!!! It was a light snow that didn't amount to anything and eventually turned into rain, but the point is, it snowed! Yes, this means it was in the lower 30's Saturday morning as well. It has gotten rather chilly here. The high temperature this next week is in the 40's, which I (Stephanie) am thrilled about (the snow too) but Matt is NOT excited about. I love cold weather and especially snow, but Matt hates the cold weather and snow, and would much rather live on a tropical island.

Fall Festival

This past Friday night was Fall Festival, put on by our Parent Teacher Conference. This is a night much like any fall festival in the States. There are a lot of free games provided by the PTF, high school classes are able to do a game for a fundraiser, and the basement is taken over by the science department in which each science class chooses an activity to demonstrate what they have been learning in class. All in all, it is some crazy fun chaos! At the end of the evening, there was a program in which the 4th and 5th grade, middle school and high school choir performed. It also provides an opportunity for us to meet parents of the amazing students we teach!
These pictures are of the "Chocolate Mess" game in which Matt and I were in charge of for part of the game time. Two students would dip a marshmallow in chocolate syrup and then with their eyes closed, feed it to the other person. Needless to say, this got messy!

Our senior class chose to do a maze with a jungle theme. We were pretty curious to see how it all worked out, but they had a plan, and it ended up being a huge hit! They made the maze out of butcher paper, used desks for obstacles, had lots of fun lighting (black light and strobe light...), as well as interactive parts where in the first part you met maze fairies and in the other room, maze pirates!

Senior Class Fall "Bonfire"

This past weekend was also our class party for the fall season. We had a "bonfire" at one of the other teacher's house who has a really nice yard. Sadly, all we had was a tiny fire pit that created a small fire, but hey, it worked! The weather was even the perfect-nice and chilly! It was a lot of fun to "roast" hot dogs, and introduce some of the students to the wonderful world of SMORES! Yum! I definitely think the smores were a huge hit! We had a lot of fun hanging out and had the opportunity to get to know more of the seniors better. Again, we were reminded of our purpose in being here, and were tremendously encouraged by the hearts of these students.

HS Boys Bible Study

At the start of the year, two of the senior boys, David and Oscar, both felt God leading them to start a Bible study to reach out to the high school students. They started off with just the two of them, then it grew to 4, and now they have had up to 17 students attend. They meet every Friday night, have a time of food and fellowship, then David or Oscar will share from God's word.

This past Friday night, Oscar's parents were out of town, and they told Oscar in order for them to have the study at their house, they would need a chaperone. Well, Oscar and David decided to ask Matt and I, so we went. It was an amazing thing for us to witness. Of course it was fun to sit around and hang out with students, students from all different "clicks" from the schol. But it was so powerful to watch David lead a study and discussion about the body of Christ. To listen to them pray for their fellow students, and life struggles. To hear them talk about the need to witness to those in their school, to reach out and pursue one new person each week to bring to the study. To hear them talk about how hard it will be, how they may be made fun of, but how they need to continue to press on and take on the leadership role God has called them to.

What a tremendous blessing for us to be there and to watch this happen. It is just what we needed to witness. The reminder we needed of why we followed God's call away from our home, our family and friends, to serve in Vienna, Austria at Vienna Christian School. This is why we are here, to help students in anyway possible to reach this point of maturity and leadership in their faith, even if we're just the chaperones.

Please join us in praying for this Bible study and all the students involved, as more students step up and want to share and help lead in the study. We truly believe great things will happen through this study and the leadership of these young men.

Spiritual Emphasis Week

This past week has been Spiritual Emphasis Week for the middle and high schools. This is a week where we focus on the spiritual side of life. We bring in speakers and have chapel everyday of the week. This year we had three speakers come, all from the great state of Texas: Duke Underwood from Lubbock, TX was the main speaker, a partner, Joel from Sulfer Springs, TX, and Duke's big sister, Mary Anne Kent from Austin, TX. It was really interesting to see how the three worked together, and they each brought a different dyanamic, a different perspective on life, and a different but just as powerful testimony. I think they did an amazing job, and I know many of the students were touched, challenged, and encouraged by their words.

At the end of the week, we have activities where the students can hang out with the SEW speakers in a fun atmosphere. This year they planned a Fear Factor event for the middle schoolers. We attended, but neither of us participated as they had absolutely DISGUSTING things for the kids to do.....eating marshmallows dipped in mustard....m & m's with ketchup.... carrying sardines from one side of the room to the other... drinking coke with a dirty sock around the can...and searching for clothespins in a bucket of slime with their feet. All stuff I find utterly repulsive, but of course, middle schoolers loved.

HS Boys Soccer

The high school boys soccer team in which Matt helps coach, is in the middle of their season. Unfortunately, they have had several games cancelled, which is really disappointing. However, to try and make up for their lack of games, they decided to have a staff versus student game. There was a lot of smack talk going around about the game and who would win. It was a really good game, but the students came out on top, winning by two goals. It was a really fun game for those playing, and just as fun for those of us who were watching! I don't think the staff will ever be okay with losing, so I am sure there will be plenty of rematches in the future!
On Saturday the boys played a local club team from here in Vienna. It was a bit chilly and windy, and some key players were out sick or with injuries, but we still managed to pull off a win. The final score was 4-2.

Chapel

Last week in our middle school chapel we had a prayer time at the end of chapel where the kids drew their prayer requests on huge pieces of butcher paper. There were some really neat drawings, and some that brought tears to my eyes. These students have real problems and real life issues going on in their lives right now, and it really breaks my heart. I wanted to share a some of the pictures I took of what the students drew. I pray they touch your heart as they did mine, and you will join us in prayer for these requests.

Medieval Festival

Last Saturday we travelled with some other folks from VCS to Eggenburg, Austria, about an hour drive from Vienna. Eggenburg is a really cool little town that has part of a medieval city wall still in place. The whole town is transformed for this festival. They had all kinds of entertainment (jousting, sword fighting, tight rope walking, hangings, racks, music...) and lots of yummy medieval food and drink. It only costs 3 euros to get in, but if you dressed up in a medieval costume, it only cost 1 euro. So most everyone there (except us Americans of course) were decked out in midieval attire. It really added to the atmosphere. It was a pretty cool thing to see. Anyways, there's a few pictures below.