Welcome

Thanks for coming to read our blog. As you read the story of our journey, our hope is that above all else you will see God's faithfulness. As our short-term mission team stepped out in obedience to follow the Holy Spirit's prompting to go to Austria for 10 days, He rewarded us with an incredible experience which has changed our lives and opened our eyes in a new way to see God at work around us.

"Now to Him to his able to do immeasusrably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Ephesians 3:20-21

This blog is set up with the last entries at the top. If you want to read the story in order, start at the bottom.
Click on our pictures on the left & right sides to read the individual stories of how God led us to serve in this way.
Click "Home" at any time to return to the main stories.

Share and Prayer Night

You are invited to join us on Wed. July 22nd at 7:00 p.m. in West Portal Church, as we share about our experiences this past May. Come to hear stories, see pictures, and pray together for the work of Richard and Hazel in Austria.

Home

We are home, safe and sound - back in beautiful Saskatoon!

What an absolutely fantastic, incredible experience we had in Austria! We are so glad that we took this opportunity to go, and to pray for Richard and Hazel and friends. It was such a privilege to spend time with them, bless and encourage them. What a joy to meet the Austrian people. We were blessed way beyond anything we could ever have imagined!

We felt the prayers of everyone back home... thank you so much for praying! God answered in so many ways, and through this experience He taught us to rely fully on Him, as individuals and as a group.

We praise God for great connections with the Austrian people and for all of our new friends; for a strengthening of our relationship with Richard and Hazel; for safety, health, unity, wisdom, great weather, and daily strength. We know that prayer makes a difference!

Special moments include:

- special sharing and prayer times -

- getting to know wonderful Austrian people -

- learning about the history and culture from Richard and Hazel and from new Austrian friends -

- enjoying beautiful scenery -

- singing and praising God together with believers on the other side of the world -

- enjoying new, delicious Austrian foods -

- laughing all the way along, and as we traveled together in a 9 passenger van -

-many God-moments where we knew it was His mercy and grace at work -

The result of this trip is that we have fallen in love with Austria and the wonderful people there. They will always have a special place in our hearts, and we don't ever want to forget them.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, encouragement and support.

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Gmunden Sunday

What a fantastic day - we were so encouraged and blessed as we served in the service this morning, and ate lunch with the people of the church. Tim did a great job with his sermon, and we had fun singing again. We're going to start a travelling singing group (ha,ha). We all shared testimonies of how our lives have been changed because of both the preparation for this trip and our time in Austria. Their hearts were touched as we shared our stories.
It was very hard to say good-bye to this group of brothers and sisters in Austria who are now our friends. Everyone connected, and were excited that our home church had supported us in coming to pray and encourage them. Many said how amazed they were that we had spent our vacation time coming this far to serve in this way.
Tschus / Auf Wiedersehen / Good-bye - - - for now!!

Work Day

Saturday was a work day. We went to Gmunden, where Richard and Hazel began their ministry 21 years ago. We cleaned windows and flowerbeds at the church building, and did landscaping, yard work, and other projects for a family from the Gmunden church. Everyone had a great time, and we had lots of fun with more new Austrian friends.
- Team Austria -

Missionary Journeys

We have been blessed immensely during the last few days as we drove through the Austrian countryside. We felt like Paul on one of his missionary journeys, "visiting all the believers, encouraging them and helping them to grow in the Lord" (Acts 18:23b). We prayed with the church leaders and got to know them and their families. We visited 4 churches during the last 3 days...in Wels, Linz, Steyr, and travelled all the way to Vienna, sharing one another's burdens and celebrating the Lord's blessings together with them. What a privilege. Their hospitality was beyond anything we could have imagined... we have fallen in love with the Austrian people!
- Team Austria -

...Wels

...Linz
...Steyr


...Vienna

Prayer Car Rally

On Monday we drove through the countryside around Salzburg, stopping at significant historical and religious sites to pray...

* "Silent Night Chapel", where in 1818 Silent Night was first performed
* Wals plain where Napoleon forces defeated the Austrian army
* We stopped at the largest evangelical church in Salzburg where approxminately 400 people worship.

We ended the car rally with a "disciplinary" session - - ask us later.

Salzburg History Tour / Prayer Walk

We made our way on foot from Richard & Hazel's to downtown Salzburg and received historical facts and stopped at different places to pray. This included prayer that many people in Austria following religions like scientology, New Age, meditation, etc. would recognize that Jesus is the "only" way. Remember them in your prayers - that they would change the direction they are going and start a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Mother's Day in Salzburg Church

Our Sunday service in the Salzburg Church was definitely not like West Portal. But it felt like home right away as we were warmly welcomed, encouraged and inspired. We mingled among the people and were able to get to know some of them. They are wonderful people! It didn't take long to make connections and encourage others; as we did, we were also encouraged by them. We were so impressed with Richard as he gave the message in German. Even though we understood very little, we felt the presence and blessing of God.

Team Austria was able to participate in the service. Richard & Hazel and us sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" in English, and "Gott ist die Liebe" in German, and it sounded great! Then Sandy & Hazel sang "Fairest Lord Jesus" in German. All songs were accompanied by Betty on piano and Amanda on flute - - how appropriate as we are in Mozart's city of Salzburg.

Since it was Mother's Day, each of us shared the blessing of having had a praying mother, and about being mothers. The people responded to our stories. There are many people here who are burdened for their children; some have left the faith and gone their own way. They feel they don't need God because they have everything... wealth, affluence and education. Please pray for them.

Arrived

We arrived on schedule, safe and sound, and healthy.

It was already a full day+! After a 14-hour travel time through Toronto and then to Munich, we arrived early at 9:40 this morning. All of our baggage made it the whole way, which was a real answer to prayer! But we arrived tired, as none of us got much sleep on the plane. Richard and Hazel got us settled in - - some at their place, and the others at a bed and breakfast a 5-minute walk down the street and around the corner. We stayed awake all day to help us change to the new time zone. We went for walks and enjoyed the +24 sunny day exploring a few blocks' radius of this area of the city. I'm not sure our plan worked, because we woke up after only a couple of hours of sleep and we are feeling too awake. However, it could also be that I remembered I hadn't updated the blog, so here we are at 1:30 a.m. - - "sleepless in Salzburg" - - updating the blog. Perhaps if that's off my mind, I will be able to fall asleep. You can pray about that. Some of the team were feeling a bit sick this evening because of lack of sleep. If we can't get the sleep we need, how can we do effectively what we came out here to do.

We already met some of the wonderful Salzburg church congregation as we practiced singing a couple of songs for the Sunday morning service.

So now that we know you know we arrived safely, we should get to sleep...
Sandy and Leo

Prayer Send-off at West Portal

We were blessed by our West Portal Church family sending us off with a prayer time in our morning worship services. The support and prayers that we have felt from this congregation has been totally overwhelming and much appreciated. Because of the multitude of people behind us we are able to serve in this way.

- the Team -

Click on our photos for our stories

Absolute Faith

Our trip is coming up very fast. Way back it seemed like we had lots of time, but now we are counting the days! God has been working in all of us and teaching us so many things. Something very interesting has happened to me in the past month or so which I will share with you.

It's 2009, but I for one was 'scared' of the computer age and I really didn't want one. For one thing, I didn't feel like learning how to use it! It seemed beyond me. But anyways, between my own children and grandchildren they finally talked me into it - I succumbed. Well, with their help I have actually learned to do the very basics. Emailing is my favorite, and even preparing for our missions trip we have done a lot of planning and saved a lot of time using it.

About a month ago I noticed that when I was getting emails I would get multiples of the same one. I didn't understand why it was doing this and I called my personal computer tech (my son). He couldn't really help me over the phone. I called Shaw and my computer company and they could not help me either. This went on for a couple of weeks. My emails were piling up and when I would try to delete them, they would come back "a hundred fold." With the deleted items and the Inbox, there were probably about 1,200 or more emails. Frustration City!!!

Then one morning, I was putting a load of laundry in my washer and my washer was acting up big time. Now what!! All I could see was that I would have to spend money on fixing my washing machine as well as my computer... money that was going for my trip!! When I walked out of my laundry room, it hit me... 'Satanic attack.' I believe God impressed that on my mind. So I prayed against Satan to get out of my house and leave my possessions alone, my washing machine, etc. And then I thought of my computer, that maybe he was messing with that too. After all, he does not want us to go to Austria and see what God is doing, so he wants to trip us up any way he can. So I went to my computer room and prayed over my computer. (I know you probably think by now that I am off the deep end, but this is what happened.) I renounced Satan in no uncertain terms and gave my computer to God to be used for His purposes and His Glory!!

So I went about my day and later on I decided I would try to finish the load of laundry that was still in my washer. It worked. Just like it was supposed to. Nothing wrong with it. So I dared to go to my computer and deleted about 20 emails. Half and hour later they had not returned! So I praised God and started deleting and deleting and deleting old emails. It worked!

Lessons learned? Yes, for sure. I learned again, "Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world." Also, that we truly are in a spiritual battle here on this earth. This is real. I need to be alert! I need to put on my armour so I am protected (Ephesians 6). But, I NEVER NEED TO BE AFRAID. God is always with me and He has promised that He will never leave me or forsake me. No matter how big or small my problems are, He has the answers.

Please continue to pray for our team and also for our families.
Thank you so much, and God bless you lots.

- Dorothy -

Please pray:

We are thankful for the prayers of those around us...
- Pray for group unity in these final weeks of preparation. As we get to Austria, pray for immediate unity of the group with Richard and Hazel.
- Pray for protection and safety for us and our families, as well as safety while travelling.
- Pray for good health now and during our time away.
- Pray for an awareness of what God is doing around us, and of what the Holy Spirit is asking us to do.
- Pray for personal growth, training and preparation.
- Pray for guidance for Richard and Hazel in planning the final itinerary and communicating with lay pastors of the Austrian churches.
- Pray that we would listen to the Holy Spirit.
- Pray for receptive hearts of the Austrian people.
- Pray for wisdom for MBMSI in administering the trip.
Thank you for your prayers.

We haven't left yet

We are down to the last weeks of preparation. Emails are flying from Saskatoon to Salzburg and back as we communicate with Richard and Hazel. Tentative plans are becoming final plans. Excitement is mounting as we are looking forward to these 10 days of ministry together. There are already lessons learned and stories to tell. We have been (and still are) preparing spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally and socially.

We can feel the support of those around us. We know there are people praying for us, and we have received words of encouragement and support. Thank you! Our mentors are asking tough, yet practical and helpful questions, and are also part of our support network.

As the suitcases come out and things are set aside for packing, we are once again amazed at how God has brought us to this point. So far on the journey we have learned to rely on His strength, and trust Him more in every part of our lives. This adventure we have been anticipating for months is nearly here, yet we are realizing that it began many months ago!

Learning

Several months ago we received a helpful resource from MBMSI which emphasizes the importance of preparing for our whole trip... before we leave, during our assignment, and after we get home. We have read and discussed the 116-page book and found that it has provided excellent ideas as well as challenging goals. Above all, it has answered many of our questions and prompted good discussions!

This is one of the ways we have been preparing for our trip.

We are thankful for the support and resources we are receiving from this organization.

Surprise blessings

Our Life Group was invited to join Karla and Kendra's group for an evening of games. As we pulled up to Brad and Karla's house, we were anticipating the fun we would soon have with friends who have parents who are our age:-)! We got to know each other better as we spent time sharing, laughing and eating together.

We had heard special stories about this group which blesses others by giving generously of themselves and their time. This evening was no exception, and we found that we were also recipients of this generosity. As the evening drew to a close they surrounded us, laid hands on us, and prayed for us...
what a wonderful surprise blessing!
Thank you - Life Group 7A!

1 Thessalonians 3:12, "And may the Lord make your love grow and overflow to each other and to everyone else, just as our love overflows toward you."

Concert & Coffeehouse

We are thankful for everyone who came to the Concert & Coffeehouse Fundraiser on Sunday, February 22nd!

It was a great evening hosted by our friend, Steve!
We enjoyed awesome music by Janelle & Friends
(Josie, Matt, Tyler, Shane and Kevin)
ate delicious desserts -- apple strudel, trifle, fruit platz -- prepared and served by Marge and Abe,
sipped specialty coffees made by Clayton, Jeff and the gang,
and connected with many wonderful friends!

Another special part of the evening was hearing from
Richard & Hazel who woke up at 3 a.m. in Europe to visit us via Skype. They shared about their heart for Austria, their ministry, and their excitement of our visit in May.

It was a pleasure sharing the evening with many friends!

We thank each one for their encouragement and support in prayer and finances... $2,000 was raised for the mission trip.

Praise the Lord!

Please check the stories of how God has led us into this journey, and what He is doing in our lives. (Click on our photos.)

FUNDRAISER

Above and Beyond

God is so good, and our West Portal church family is so giving!

We are very thankful to everyone who joined us for the chili lunch fundraiser on Sunday and donated so generously towards this mission trip. We had a great time preparing and serving chili to about 175 guests.

Thank you to all of you; it was a joy to serve you.

Thanks to friends who pitched in to help set-up and clean-up.

God is amazing! This trip is all about Him, and we are grateful to Him for all that He is doing. It was about a year ago that He planted the seed in our group regarding doing something like this. We are so glad we didn't squelch the idea. Look at the blessings we'd be missing.

"I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart;

I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.

I will be filled with joy because of you.

I will sing praises to your name, O Most High."

Psalm 9:1-2

Prayer Walk

Part of our mission trip in May will be with intercessory prayer walks. In Nov '08 MBMSI team mobilizers, Lloyd and Carol, led our church in an evening of prayer, part of which included prayer walks in our community around West Portal. Most of our group participated, and it was a great learning and growing experience for us.

We have a desire to become more familiar with prayer walks in preparation for our ministry; therefore, when we heard about Blades Faith Night in our community, we felt we should ask YFC if our team could have access to the arena before the game to pray for this event. They willingly agreed and encouraged us in this ministry.

As we walked around the building we spent time in intercession, listening to the Holy Spirit, worshiping the Lord, and making a stand in the authority of Jesus Christ. It was a great experience to spend time in prayer for this event in our community. We believe in the power of prayer. We know that God can do an amazing, awesome work and change peoples' lives when we join together and take a stand for God in our community!

And so, the journey begins...

What started out as a small seemingly insignificant idea is transforming into an exciting reality! Part of our small group that meets regularly for Bible study, prayer, and support is going to Salzburg, Austria on a 10 day missional opportunity.

Our purpose will be to serve and work alongside long-term missionary couple, Richard and Hazel Funk, with intercessory prayer walks and acts of service. It is our hope that we will be able to encourage and bless them in their work, connect with their churches, as well as grow in our own faith as we relate with the Funks and the Austrian people in their own culture.

Each of our team members bring unique gifts which God has given to us to use for Him. This is an opportunity to see God at work in a different culture, join Him in what He's doing, and hopefully return with a new view of God's work around the world.

You can be part of this adventure!
Journey with us.
Check our blog as we prepare.
'Travel' with us as we go.
Walk along with us as we return home.
Feel free to encourage us through
your prayers, or support us financially.

And so, the journey begins...

INTRODUCTION...

STAY TUNED

for lots of information, testimonies and fundraising opportunities and other exciting information about our adventure to AUSTRIA!

Come back again soon!

LeRoy & Phyllis: As "Team Austria" prepares and travels to Austria in May, we will remain at home to be much in prayer that God helps each one of the team as they ready themselves physically as well as spiritually for this exciting time spent with Richard and Hazel. We will be in prayer for safety of travel and God's blessing on each and every one as they see what God will do in their own hearts and also the hearts of those they will meet in Austria.

We know from His Word that prayer changes things and with God all things are possible. We will be faithful prayer warriors for the rest of the members of our Life Group as they join with Richard and Hazel, and will be looking forward also to their safe return.

Leo & Sandy: We are excited to be part of Team Austria. Over the years we've been interested in mission work... with involvement in summer camps, support of missionaries and travelling overseas with missions.

When Leo was younger, he went to Holland on a one-year assignment with MCC. At the same time, Sandy went to Austria with a team from Bible School on an 8-week summer mission trip with Greater Europe Mission. Last year we visited Sandy's sister and husband who are missionaries in a third world country. It was an incredible experience to meet the nationals in their churches and see their love for Jesus Christ even in the midst of poverty. Our eyes were opened and our hearts blessed as we saw how God is at work in other countries.

A year ago when the idea to go on a mission trip as a Life Group started, we needed to decide if we would be involved. It was not a difficult decision at all. Because of our previous experiences, Europe already has a special place in our hearts. It is especially significant because back in 1976 when Leo returned from Holland and Sandy from Austria, we met for the first time in the West Portal College and Career group. Our mutual interest in Europe is what drew us together at the start of our relationship. So now it is an understatement to say how excited we are to go on another mission trip to Europe... back to Austria... together!!

As we talked with Richard and Hazel and felt their excitement of our group going there, it was confirmed in our hearts that this was something beyond us. It's about God. We haven't even left yet, and God has already been working... answering our prayers, working in our hearts, and teaching us to walk more closely with Him and trust Him completely in every circumstance!

We are going because we want to encourage, support and bless Richard and Hazel in their Austrian community. We want to pray for them, connect with the people in their churches, intercede for their "community" in Austria, and grow - both in our relationship with the Lord and with the Funks.

Please pray for:
-hearts in tune with the Lord as we prepare, go and return
-hearts ready to hear from the Holy Spirit; and
-a willingness to do whatever God asks of us.

Thank you so much for your encouragement, prayers and support!

Philippians 2:13,15b - "For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him... let your lives shine brightly..."

Ben: Well, here we are - close to leaving for Austria. I always wanted to do a mission trip of some sort after our kids would often go. Then one day my wife said, "When is it our turn to go instead of always our kids?" Somehow our care group picked up on this and said, "Why not?!"

So here we are in the middle of planning and preparations. We are going under MBMSI. Wow! I am excited to go help Richard and Hazel in whatever way I can. We sent them out to do church planting many years ago and they have been faithful workers resulting in many churches they look after and encourage. I hope to make an impact on the lives of people I meet and work with in Austria. This is with God's help and support from people praying for me back home.

Linda: Never would I have thought that I would be able to go on a mission trip at this stage of my life. As a child I dreamed of going to a far off country to be a missionary and read many books and stories about missionaries. I lived that dream through our four girls who all went on at least two mission trips each throughout the years. Our youngest daughter is in Africa right now volunteering in an orphanage. I am so thankful to God for this opportunity. I look forward to seeing what God has in store for me as we work with Richard and Hazel and the people of Austria. May God be seen shining through me and the group as we serve there.

Dorothy: When I was a young girl, our church would have missionaries coming from foreign lands and talking to us about their work. It always interested me as maybe it does a lot of young kids - - thinking of the adventure. I don't know that I was ever "called" to be a missionary and the life choices I made during my younger years did not put God as #1 in my life.

As time went on and I got older I saw many older couples go out on short term mission projects and it interested me again. But then seven years ago when my husband and I split up I remember thinking I would never be able to do that. Since then I have connected with an awesome care group and a year ago the idea of going on a mission trip was brought up in our group... kind of jokingly. But the Holy Spirit moved us all and we got serious. Looking back, the Lord has definitely led us to this point and I truly believe this is God's plan for us.

I am very excited and believe God is doing great things. The scripture that comes to mind in all this is Ephesians 3:20,21 - "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen."

Tim: I grew up in a Christian home, and went to church every time the doors were open. I was exposed to missionaries and missions at a very young age. I always wondered what it would be like to be a missionary and hoped that someday I would have the opportunity. But life, work, commitments and other things got in the way, and I thought that going on a mission trip had passed me by. It all changed when my father-in-law passed away on September 12, 2007. This caused me to evaluate things and realize that only what is done for Christ will last. Since I want to live my life with purpose and for His glory, He has given me a new perspective. This has started me on an adventurous new path. He gave me and my wife the opportunity to help start an outdoor summer church at Christopher Lake last summer and has now led me to go on this mission trip to Austria. Even though I have never gone on missions before and am a bit apprehensive, I just want to be available to God - "Here am I, send me."

Diane: I guess I'm a lot like my dad - quiet and reserved - one who's supportive of mission/missionaries by pulling out the cheque book when asked upon. Things changed after he passed away in September 2007. His legacy is now changing me to things beyond that.

Tim and I have been involved with starting "Campfire Church by the Lake" at the Quest Bible Camp on Christopher Lake last summer. Also numerous youth (including many nieces and nephews) had gone/are going on Missions trips and it moved us to contemplate this in our own lives. Many times we give God excuses like time, responsibilities, inadequacies, etc. I know my gifts aren't to get up and speak in front of people, but I do know I've got a heart for lost souls. That's where I'm like my mom and become very emotional. She's the prayer warrior!

Our family has seen prayer work. Many of you know that my nephew, Tarrell, was one of the boys injured in the Osler accident which involved the basketball team from Borden on Dec. 13, 2007 (just 3 months after my dad died). Tarrell was in a coma (along with other injuries) for several days. The doctors gave little hope on what his outcome would be - but he came out of his coma with no serious problems and was released on Christmas Eve. He went on to finish his Grade 12, graduated with his class and is now attending CBC in Abbotsford. PTL!

How does God want to use me (also, quiet and reserved) - - not sure!? All I know is that He asks each of us to be available to heed His call when prompted. Therefore, all I can do is totally rely on Him for what I need. He will provide. This year and a half has been hard and I've had to work out a lot of things in my life. Right now, He's teaching me patience as I'm waiting on Him to find a job. In September, I lost my job after 15 1/2 years working as an accounting clerk. Needless to say, it was a shock. God's still working on me.

Philippians 4:13,19 - "I can do all things through Christ which stengtheneth me. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."