New friends!

After a few days of getting to know my new team and the area I'll be living and working in for the next several weeks, things are starting to pick up! A Nigerian girl about my age, whom I will call Jenny, who is a young believer invited me over to her "pension," a converted hotel the government is using to house the refugees. There I met her Austrian friend Katharina, who has been discipling her, along with Jenny's friend from Afghanistan. Let's call her Fatima. We talked about our families and languages and had a great time that ended with prayer. It's pretty cool to pray with a Muslim for the first time! She seems curious and open, so please pray for more opportunities to share Christ with her. I also went to a local church with Jenny and Katharina for the college-age youth group and tried out my German on some Austrians, who told me I speak with a Germany-German accent instead of the Viennese accent they prefer! Today I met several new refugees from Nigeria, Russia and Palestine at computer cafe. I'll write more later since I have to grab some lunch and get back to the computer cafe! Thanks for your prayers- I can see God working already and I can't wait to see what He has in store!

Training

I had an amazing week of training at the International Teams Ministry Center in Elgin, Illinois February 19-26. There were 6 other interns in training with me, along with several singles, couples and families going into long-term ministry. We started out every morning with worship and spent the day in classes learning about International Teams' core values and mission statement. You can get an idea of that here: http://www.iteams.org/static/about/index.html
We also had classes every afternoon on cross-cultural communication and had a workshop on presenting our testimonies, plus seminars on team dynamics, traveling tips, financial information, and so many more aspects of missions that I can't go into it all in detail right now.
We had wonderful times of fellowship in the evenings, hearing each others' stories about how God has brought us each to this place in our lives, encouraging and praying for one another. Even in just a week, we were able to build lasting relationships around our common calling to serve God by making Him known. It was such an blessing for me to spend time with other people my age who are at the same point in the process of finding their place in long-term ministry, as well as people further down the path.
We finished up the week with a trip to Chicago Saturday afternoon and a worship and commissioning service that night. I left Elgin feeling well prepared and excited for my internship, encouraged and challenged.
I would really appreciate prayer for the following things as I prepare to leave for Austria:
-That the final details would come together, particularly that my fund-raising will soon be complete.
-That God would continue to prepare me for the challenges I will face, and that I will be a willing vessel in serving the refugees at the Oasis.
-That God would lead me as I look for a job to start when I return from my internship.
Thank you all for your prayers and support!