The International Herald Tribune tells the story on Dec. 12, of three German brothers who succeeded as entrepreneurs. The article quotes Professor Ann-Kristin Achleitner of the Technical University of Munich: "Germans are risk-averse, and there really is a stigma attached to being entrepreneurial" (p.11-12).

From my own experience, this is even more true in Austria -and even the Germans will say this is. I face this same reality as I think about how to help refugees take hold of what God has brought them to on the refugee highway. Working with refugees in Europe is entrepreneurial. It is pioneer.

Whether it is for a refugee to meet Christ, and be transformed by the Gospel or whether it is to have a vision for building God's Church in Europe, Our refugee work is a huge opportunity, full of risk, adventure, sadness, disappointment and opportunity.

What makes our work often the hardest is when the church around does not embrace what God may be doing through this person or the other. How do we move forward with ministry plans and dreams when the body around you is unwilling and uncertain? The Samwer brothers exercised what they called, "aggressive curiosity" in order to figure out what would work best in a German environment.

A lot of my work is figuring out what will work best in order to help God's people walk into the future.

Tonsils and homeschooling

Tessa went into the hospital yesterday to have her tonsil taken out. Everything went fine. they will keep her for a week to watch her. The best part about it for her is the free ice-cream. However, she was sorry to find out that they only had strawberry.

She took a bag full of homeschooling books. She called though to say she was too weak to concentrate, and asked if I would by her a donald duck comic book instead.

Regarding the homeschooling. We are waiting now for the officials to give us the material that she needs to know for this year. (topics and chapters). As usual, they have been promising it for nearly two months. This makes reinhild all very nervous.

the extra pressure of having to work with the officials and pass the austrian tests have added a lot of stress to her life. It's been real discouraging, and as she says, "This is not what I imagined we would do in homeschooling."

Please pray for her cause she finds herself at times getting really down and depressed by it all, which is also alarming to her.