I went to Nebraska almost two weeks ago to visit my friends Paul and Johanna. In their basement they have a jukebox with a variety of tunes. Seeing it reminded me of the days I’d go to Pizza Hut with my family and get a personal pan pizza. Those are good memories!

While we were picking out our favorite tunes by artists like The Beatles, Otis Redding, Simon & Garfunkel, Paul told us how he had saved and collected 45s to put in a jukebox someday. Now that time saving and waiting has turned into a great addition to their basement.

If I could package memories from this missions journey in something, I think I’d want it to be in the form of a jukebox. Now that’s not practical as far as shipping one to Austria, but I like the idea of pressing three numbers to retrieve a song/memory. Jukeboxes usually have a variety of songs to choose from and I have to say that this journey has led me to a variety of opportunities, people and lessons.

I’ve had the “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” experiences the “Knock Three Times” ones and even the “I Love You More Today than Yesterday” moments. The thing about this journey is that I have to learn and move forward. I wish sometimes I could go back and take a different approach or have prepared more for what I need now, whether that’s in learning German, making connections or even in a financial sense. But I guess the same is true in life, we can’t go back and start over, we have to keep moving forward and “Let it Be.” I have to trust that God has me right where He wants me. He will continue to mold and prepare me and if I was more ready then maybe I wouldn’t have to trust Him so much.

support update
God is on the move and I’m excited to say I’m fast approaching 30 percent of support. Go God! I want you to know that as I calculate where I am in monthly support I’ve taken into consideration the dropping dollar. Please pray that the dollar will get stronger!

Also, I have two church meetings in the next couple weeks. Pray that these churches would be willing to journey with me on a monthly basis.

My last two weeks have been filled with appointments, brainstorming and ideas and I’ve been quite excited about what God is up to. I hope to have some support-raising events in the works soon. Pray that God would provide what I need to put on an event, like volunteers and a venues.

tandem living- coffee style

Finally, if you’re reading this and needing a cup of coffee, let me tell you where you can get one. It won’t quite look like this, because this is in Austria. But the coffee I can offer you is good!
Now you can support reaching youth in Austria by purchasing something you love. 963 Coffee is a specialty Arabica coffee that is organic and Fair Wage. Fair Wage allows 963’s farmers to afford necessities like food, education for their kids and health care.

For each $10 bag of coffee (ground or whole bean) sold through my link, 40% of that money will go to my account at Greater Europe Mission. This is something you can pass on to your friends and family who drink coffee and are already purchasing pounds of coffee each month. I have postcards with this information if you are interested in something tangible to hand out to friends. Just let me know and I’ll mail you some.
Here’s the link:
http://www.963coffee.com/c-1-963-coffee.aspx?affiliateID=10131

rearview-mirror moments
Here are some pictures from my trip to Nebraska:

A beautiful Nebraska sunset as we head toward Lincoln.

Johanna and Suzanne eating fried green beans. I’ve never heard of frying green beans?!

Paul and Johanna’s daughter Anne. She was sooo much fun!

This is a practical joke I found in my shoe (boot) on Monday morning as I got ready for work. This deodorant is something that got passed around the house and the office when I lived with three other girls on Old Ranch Road. It’s a joke I started, and it comes back to haunt me every now and then. I found out today that it actually got put in Suzanne’s bag before we left Johanna’s house, but then she put it in my boot. I have stealthy friends.

Subscribe in a reader