2023 is here…
And we are so nervous excited! This past month of settling is has be a huge blessing. We have found our favourite supermarkets. Both of the girls have places in school. We sorted out employment registration, social security and health insurance, and all the other admin bits and pieces. We have been blessed with 3 sets of friends visiting, and even had a day trip out of the city to the beautiful Hallstatt. Looking forward, we are so excited for what this year ahead will bring.
We are both nervous, but excited, about our roles with OM in Austria.
My (John) focus for this year will be to understand how Church Partnership and Mobilisation fits into OM’s work and purpose in Austria, with a particular emphasis on connecting with local churches, pastors and Christian ministries and asking ‘How can OM and I serve you?’. Dané will be focusing on connecting with the OM missionaries working in and sent out from Austria , and understanding what the people care needs are and how they can be best provided for.
In addition to our work with OM, we believe that God has many other places for us to serve and shine His light. The opportunities that we are going to focus on this year are:
- Serving in our local church. We are very excited to be part of the Linz Baptistengemeinde and we are looking forward to serving in the areas of musical worship, home groups and maybe even some preaching.
- Hospitality ministry. We are incredibly lucky to have a spare room in our apartment, which is less than 200m from the Donau River. We want to open this room, along with the people care skills that we have – active listening, personal debriefing, coaching, and good food and company – for those that need it. Please take some time to read more about The Spare (r)Oom.
Now that we are here in Austria, we want to make sure that we can stay and fulfil all that God is leading us to do. We love having you on this journey with us and we’d be so grateful if you took a moment to consider partnering with us… and then reach out via WhatsApp or email so that we can connect and chat.
Let’s make 2023 a year of more faithfully following Jesus, and being courageous to invite others to follow Him too.
In His light and love,
Zippy, Dané, Cori and Lily
P.S. I (John) have start putting together a list of resources to help Jesus followers in their journey. It is small, but will grow this year and will have things to help with both the inward and outward realities of following Jesus. Please take a look and feel free to share with others who might be interested.
The Benns 