Austria Recap and My Next Steps

I’ve been back in the States for over a week now and wanted to share what happened the past month in Austria.

English Camp

I found out about this opportunity from my friend Kitty. She was going to Austria to work at the camp as a counselor and said they still needed people. I had been back from team leading with the World Race, but still had the desire “to go” and help where there was need. So I applied, interviewed, and got on the plane to head to Europe.

In my mind, Europe is a place that most people in the church would label as “reached”. They have heard the gospel or they easily have access to the gospel. It’s a place though that is living in an age of secularism and believes they have no need for God or a higher power. It’s the last place I thought I would’ve gone for a mission’s trip, but alas “man makes his plans but the LORD directs his steps.” Once I was there, I recognized the need.

After finishing up our first week of joint training with the Salzburg team (two camps operate at the same time in different locations), we prepped the house for the arrival of the kids. My team was tasked with presenting the rules in a creative way. We decided the most efficient way to do this was to make a video. It was awesome being able to use my background in film and editing to make this come together so quickly. We literally ran from room to room filming whatever idea the team had because we had such little time. I’m proud of how it turned out and the students thoroughly enjoyed it. (I will share it once it’s uploaded.)

This was my first time doing English camp so I went in with no expectations, just a willingness to serve how they needed me. Once they found out I could play guitar and sing, I was thrown into the role of leading worship every night for two weeks. The days were long and tiring, but the smiles were big and the Holy Spirit was moving.

Some kids could converse in English very well and sometimes we had to use a translator on our phone to converse. One of my girls showed me before and after picture of her city in the Ukraine. It had been bombed into oblivion. The second week of camp we had two translators from Ukraine come to help us with camp (Hope and Yulya are the best!) On their way there, “stray” rockets hit their city in civilian areas. Thank God their friends and family were okay.

Camp was definitely a reprieve for everyone. It brought together the kids into new community with one another. Even many of the Austrian kids don’t live near believers their age and it’s lonely living life in their village with nothing to keep them connected except social media and I think the whole world has learned after going through the pandemic together that, even though social media applications have their uses, it was (and still is) a poor substitute for true community. 

Normally with English Camp in Austria, you are just trying to build one bridge: English to German, but because half of our camp or more were Ukrainians, we were not only trying to build bridges between us and them, but between the campers as well. It was a huge task one that could not be accomplished without the aid of prayer. Thank you for your prayers! My constant prayer was Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”

Most of the time I felt like I was walking by faith. I had no idea what I was doing. I needed to lean on Jesus for his wisdom. I did the best I could and I know Jesus can work with my five loaves and two fish because in my weakness he is strong.

Favorite Memories

Sitting on the floor in our room and reading the Bible together out loud in German, Ukrainian/Russian, and English.

Singing “Majesty” in English, German, and Russian.

Coordinating morning showers with fellow counselor Suzy and listening to “Heartbreak Warfare”.

Playing volleyball almost every day.

Timing Adrian on my stopwatch to see how long it would take him to retrieve the volleyball from the side of the mountain (when it inevitably went over the fence).

Learning about Ukraine from my kids and all that they went through to get to Austria.

Making fun of Cody.

Hitting kids and leaders with dodgeballs.

Eating chocolate. It’s true about the chocolate. It really is the best.

Speaking encouragement to one another in staff meetings and recognizing the gifts and awesomeness in this group of believers.

How You Can Support Me

If you want to help offset the cost of this missions trip, I still have $1,370 to give back to the organization.

You can give in the following ways:

Venmo: @Heidi-Gray-3

Paypal: @HeidiAlmighty 

CashApp: $HeidiGray

Thank you so much!

What’s Next?

I want to pursue a long term missions opportunity (at least a year long) and continue helping where there is need. Because how will they know unless someone goes and tells them about Jesus? (Romans 10:14-15) That brings up the argument, “Well, there’s need everywhere including America, why not stay here…” but I feel the call to Europe.

Which is weird. If you know me, you know I’ve been trying to get back to Asia since 2018, but every time I try to go there, I’m redirected to Romania or Albania or Austria. It almost feels parallel with Paul’s experience of being prevented by the Spirit of Jesus to go to Asia and then he had the vision of the man from Macedonia crying out for him to come to them. (Acts 16:6-10) There is a cry coming up from Europe. People need to know, not only the name of Jesus, but why his name is important.

I had a phone call interview with some people last week at Wide Open Missions. They were going to connect me to some missionaries, but this time of year many of them are on vacation so I haven’t heard anything yet. I don’t have a lot of information to share right now, but I do ask for your prayers.

Prayer Requests

– Coming back from Austria, I was really excited to started lifting weights again and I lifted too much too soon at the gym and hurt my lower back. I think the pain is temporary, but please pray for a full recovery so I can stop hobbling like an old lady and continue doing what I love.

– The kids in Austria. That they would know how much Jesus loves them and their hearts would be soft to his voice.

– That I would go where He sends me even if it doesn’t make sense.