A Short Side-Quest
Tauernhof Spring Bible School '26
Hello friends and family,
I'm writing to you as my time at Tauernhof Bible School comes to an end. Time seems to have flown by these past eight weeks, but what a blessing it has been! It has been a time full of new experiences and lots of learning, all while making many close friends.
Chapel Night
Outdoor Worship
Planning for Serbia Mission Trip
Decorating Cookies
Daily Life
For our lectures, we have had a variety of speakers to wrap it up, including some from other Torchbearer schools, and a few from a missions organization in Germany. I have definitely learned a lot in lectures, and it has been a blessing to be challenged by what all of them had to share from scripture as well as their own lives.
During our last week, instead of lectures, we did various activities including some time for personal reflection and some prayer & fasting. There were definitely some sad times, as we all started to think about this wonderful time coming to an end, as many of us reflected and shared about this time at Bible School.
Some More Hiking...
Outside of school time, I have been on a few more hikes in the mountains, including my favorite one so far, climbing the Steirische Kalkspitze. It was above the tree-line, about 8,500 ft above sea level, and we had some pretty amazing views of the Austrian Alps.
Work Day
One day, a small group of us had the unique opportunity to go out and help some local farmers clear brush for grazing land. This turned out to be a really fun experience, as we were way up high in the mountains, and they even took us to a mountain restaurant after where we had charcuterie boards. They really appreciated the help and we were glad to be apart of it!
Some Fun
On one of our sports days, I also had the opportunity to do some pretty awesome downhill mountain biking. A group and I went up and down about four times, and they were definitely some of the coolest trails I've done before. Didn't crash, which was a plus, but came close a few times :).
As a whole group, we also went downhill mountain go-karting, which I've never done before, and was really fun also! Felt like Mario-Kart in real life.
Side-Quest to Edinburgh
As you know, I am currently in Austria for Bible School. I am here on a visitor visa, and so I can only be in Europe (the Schengen Area) for 90 days. However, I didn't realize before hand (and this is partly because I hadn't decided yet) that in order to go to YWAM in Norway, which is part of the Schengen area like Austria, I need to get a religious work visa. This is because I don't have enough time being out of Europe before I would re-enter in September. So, I have had to go through the process of getting a visa.
I was pretty frustrated at first, because as you know, I was deliberating between going to YWAM in Maui also, but had just made my decision to go to Norway. I felt like Norway was where the Lord was directing me, but then this visa issue arose and I seriously doubted whether I could still go, or even if I should still go.
After looking into all the details of what it would take to get a visa, I learned that I could apply online (costing $700), but would still need to go for an in-person appointment in my home country. And this is the first time I have experienced the benefit of having two passports. Because I have a British passport (thanks Mom:)), I could fly to the U.K., on my U.S. passport, and have my appointment – in which they would take my U.K. passport to process and mail it back to me (had to be a U.K. address I found out so sent it to my grandparents). So that's what I did.
I got a 4.5 hr train to Vienna, hopped on a RyanAir flight, and flew to Edinburgh (they didn't have any appointments available in London). The appointment went smoothly and my visa is now getting processed, hopefully in time for when I head to Norway in less than 3 months. Because I had some extra time there, I even got to see the sights of Edinburgh, which was an added bonus! And finally, I was able to stay overnight with Peter Wilson and his wife, staff members from my time at my school RVA in Kenya back in the day.
I definitely learned a lot about the Lord's provision throughout the whole process, as I watched things fall into place, even when I doubted they could.
Family Group
Roomates
Graduation
For our graduation from Bible School, we dressed up on the last day and had a really nice meal in which the staff served us, followed by a ceremony of completion, and finally, a disco party. This was a great way to end our time, and I'm definitely gonna miss this place!
Prayer Requests
Praise that we made it to Serbia, where, for the next two weeks, I am on a mission trip, doing kids ministry with a small team from here at Bible School. Thankfully my International Driver's license arrived, so I was able to share the driving for the 2-day drive.
I would appreciate prayer for safety on this trip, as well as that our time would be useful and that we would be able to share the love of Christ effectively with the Serbian kids. Prayer that their hearts would be opened to what we have to say (even through the language barrier) and that the Lord would work in and through us to share our faith.
Praise that I am almost to my financial goal already. Thank you so much to those of you have supported me on this journey! I really appreciate you all!
Continued prayer for my visa approval for Norway that is in process currently. It could take up to the whole three months to get approved, but hopefully it gets processed a little sooner. This also added around an extra $1000 worth of expenses to my trip which I didn't account for at the start, and so continued prayer for the Lord to provide funding for these unforeseen challenges.
Thank you for your interest and support!