Permits Approved
We are very excited to share that we have received that news that our residence permit applications have been approved! This means that the time to move to Austria is coming very soon. On Tuesday we have an appointment for the D visa we require to enter Austria and collect our residence permits, flights have been booked for 22 November, packing of bags has started, a school has been confirmed for Cori to attend and we are spending some last quality time for a while with family.
This time of waiting has really been challenging. But it has drawn us together as a family, drawn us closer to God, and drawn us deeper into our desire to see followers of Jesus in Austria more passionate and better equipped to introduce others to Him. Please give thanks with us for His goodness and faithfulness!
Steps of faith
All of our journeys following Jesus are one step of faith after another, trusting God for those spiritual, emotional, or physical things we need to move forward. For us, the biggest things we are trusting God for in the coming months are:
Confidence in making new connections – while we will be fulfilling specific ministry roles with OM, we firmly believe that following Jesus encompasses all of life. Please pray with us for the connections we will make with neighbours, at church, in the office, at the girl’s school, at the park and all the other places in between. Please also pray for the language and cultural learning needed to build on these new connections well.
Further Financial Partnership – we currently have enough support saved in order to move to Austria and start the next chapter. However, we still need to progress towards and meet our monthly financial of €4500 by April next year, at the latest, in order to remain in Austria. Please pray with us for wisdom in approaching potential partners and that new partners would join us at the right time. Please also consider praying about whether God wants you to partner with us in the work of caring for, coaching and encouraging Jesus followers in Austria.
If you’ve recently started receiving our updates or want to read more of our journey up until now you can find all of our updates from the past year and a half HERE. This specific update covers some of the what and how and why of us serving in Austria. Once we are settled we will be sending out another video update with more details about the season ahead.
We really are so grateful to have you journeying with us. We would love to pray for you too, so please let us know if there are specific things we can bring to God on your behalf.
In His light and love,
Zippy, Dané, Cori and Lily
The Benns 