It’s Monday afternoon - clothing room day at the Oasis. Today is for children. It has been three weeks since the last children’s clothing day. Many who come today will be new; others have been coming for months.

The doors open at 1pm. On a normal day people have been lined up for a while. Today, that is not the case. The camp has a control today. What this basically means is that everyone has to be in their rooms for a head count. If they aren’t in their rooms for the control, they get in trouble. About a month ago, a family was in Vienna when the control happened. They weren’t able to get back in time and couldn’t stay at the camp that night. We were able to house them at the Oasis on a cold January night.

A control makes clothing room more manageable at the start. There isn’t such a rush, but more of a steady flow of people. The first group comes into the clothing room at 1:30. It’s starting to get a little warmer in Austria. All of the snow melted last week, but there are still cold spells. There are many needs for the children. Some children don’t have warm coats. Some have shoes that are worn out or too small. Others only have the clothes that are on their backs. We try to meet their needs as best we can. They are thankful for the opportunity to pick out three or four items.

My job for the day is to give out toys to the kids after they finish in the clothing room. For many kids, this is the highlight of clothing room. The kid’s let their parents worry about the clothes. They are concerned about the toys. No matter what language or culture, all kids like toys. Most of the boys want cars. Most of the girls want dolls. Many of the small children pick a stuffed animal. All of the toys are donated, so we only give out what we have. On this day there was a good variety, even an Alf stuffed animal.

It’s hard to communicate with them to take only one toy. There are many children on a day like today, and we want to make them last. As I’m helping the kids, I can’t help imagine what they have gone through in their short lives. They’ve been through wars and seen people treated very poorly. They don’t know the issues, they just know what they’ve experienced. I’m thankful for the opportunity to see a smile on their face, even if it’s just for an instance.

Many of the people who flee are looking for a better life. For some, they will be refugees most of their lifetime. It’s the children’s generation that may start seeing that better life. They’re getting away from the wars and persecution at a very young age. They have the opportunity to learn German at a young age and get used to the Austrian culture. As they come through, I can’t help but pray for them. I pray that they will find a better life. It’s my prayer that through even these difficult times, they will come to know Jesus.
On this day, about 50 mothers came through looking for clothes for about 200 children. Many children were there and got to find a toy to take home. In the last group that came through, there was a little Afghan girl no more than seven or eight years old. She was so happy and excited to finally be in the clothing room. I found a princess purse in a box that had been in the storage room and gave it to her as she was waiting for her mother to find some clothes. Seeing the smile on her face when she got the purse made the whole day worth it. Towards the end of the day, we are all tired and ready to finish. This girl made me realize that while we do little things at the Oasis, they can bring a glimmer of hope and joy to these people.

Please remember the children today who come through the Oasis.

Dan

A Visa Update
We are still in the process of waiting to find out about our visa. There’s additional paperwork that the visa office needs and we are working on getting everything they are asking for. We ask that you continue to pray for the process and for our patience as it is difficult not knowing what will happen with it.

Love,
Dan, Regan, and Caleb