Our Vision Trip to Austria

During the week of August 22-31, we had the opportunity to travel to Traiskirchen, Austria to spend a week being a part of the Oasis ministry. This trip gave us an opportunity to see firsthand what this ministry is all about. While we were at the Oasis, we had an opportunity to participate in three of the larger weekly ministries, which are a coffee night, the clothing room and the Wednesday night meeting. We also had the opportunity to get to know many of the refugees.

Coffee night is a chance for the refugees to come for a social time of coffee and tea. For some, this is their first contact with the Oasis ministry and a good time for the Oasis missionaries to spend time talking with people and giving them some information about the Oasis. As the night progresses the Oasis staff offers a viewing of the Jesus Film in the refugee’s native tongue as well as any Christian literature in which the refugee might be interested.

The clothing room happens every Monday afternoon and is on a three week rotation, one week for men, then women, then children. We were able to experience the children’s clothing room. It works like this: when a mother or father brings their child to the clothing room, they are given a number and go into the main meeting room where there are chairs to sit down and to socialize, coloring and toys for the kids, and coffee and tea for the adults. As the afternoon goes on, their number is called and they take their kids into the clothing room to pick out four articles of clothing. The Oasis team has this very well organized and spends much of the waiting time talking with the families and playing with the children.

The Wednesday night meeting is a time for refugees to come for singing and a message, followed by coffee, tea and pastries. Everyone sits with their language group and then individuals from the Oasis team and volunteers from the community come and translate the message into the various languages. It is an incredible experience to sit in a room where the Bible is read aloud in English, German, Russian, Albanian, Farsi, and Turkish. Then to hear the message translated into each of these languages simultaneously is very powerful. For many of the refugees who attend this meeting, this is one of their first experiences with the Gospel of Christ. Of the main nationalities represented by the refugees in Traiskirchen, 80-90% of them come from Muslim countries and some have a mistrust of Christians, so it is very exciting to see them participate in the ministries of the Oasis.

These were the main ministries we were a part of during our week in Austria, but we were able to help in many other practical ways during our time there. We did some cleaning and Dan helped them out with a few computer issues. We were able to spend time building relationships with our future teammates, and also meeting and hearing the stories of some of the refugees. This trip was a great experience for us. We feel much more informed about the details of what we will be doing when we get to Austria, and have a better grasp on the areas we need to do further research and learning.