Gutenstein, Austria

A couple days ago I returned from Gutenstein, Austria where I worked with a team from Bartow, Florida on Vienna Christian Center's retreat center. The retreat center was a guest house which is now being used for weekend spiritual encounters and summer camps. It is a wonderful facility located in a beautiful mountain area about an hour outside of Vienna. It is actually located at the top of a mountain in a community named Mariahilfenberg, which means "Mary helps mountain". There is also a Catholic church and monastery about 50 yards from the retreat center. It is great that in this area known for the Catholic church and Mary "worship", that now the name of Jesus is being glorified and lives are truly being changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah! Our task for the week was truly a large one. The building has a third floor that was basically unfinished. Our job was to build walls, hang and finish sheetrock on walls and ceilings, plaster walls, install two toilets and three showers, tile all the bathrooms, install doors, put down flooring, and paint all the rooms. A very large job for only 5 work days. We didn't get everything finished, but with God's help and much hard work, we were able to finish the hardest parts of the job. It will be much easier now for a few people to finish. This third floor needs to be finished soon because Vienna Christian Center is having three camps for children/youth this summer and needs the room so more kids can come and have a life changing encounter with Jesus. We want to make sure there is room for all the kids who want to come! It looks like I will go back to Gutenstein for a few more days and try to get some more work finished before my next team.
The team from Florida was a blessing and a joy to work with. They all worked very hard and you could see the heart of a servant in all of them. They are welcome back anytime! (as are all of our teams).

On the way home from Gutenstein, I had to stop in Breclav, Czech to meet with the pastor and youth pastor of the church there. We have a team coming in September and I needed to meet with them to see what the team will be doing and gather information. We had a great meeting. I am truly humbled by the people that I continue to meet. All the national pastors, the church people, the missionaries, the team members, everyone- are just incredible people. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to work with all of them. The project in Breclav is a beautiful building in a great location. They bought the building around two years ago and have been working on it since then with the help of two teams from the U.S. I am already looking forward to going there in September.

Lenee' and the kids are doing well. All week long when I am gone she has to take Nathan to school with the other kids on the public transportation morning and afternoon. She is with the kids 24 hours a day. She has to take them to church on public transportation as well. This takes a large part of her day just riding buses and trains. Everyone here thinks she is like super-woman. I think they are right. I always tell everyone that her job is a lot tougher than mine. I know sometimes she wishes she could do more things but there is no more important job than being a mother and taking care of the children. Even though she probably thinks she is going crazy sometimes!
Thanks again for your partnership in reaching Central Europe.