Wow.

Well the weekend is over. I am so overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the love I feel from our friends here in Austin. Overwhelmed that our time here is almost over. Overwhelmed by God's intense goodness to us during the past two years.

Last night was our going away party out at the lake, a huge thanks to the Jamails and the Scheibes for throwing it. Over 100 people came to share the evening with us. My favorite part of the night was when we all joined hands to pray for the meal. A HUGE circle formed, made up of some of our dearest friends here in Austin. The picture of those faces surrounding us will never be forgotten. It will stand in my heart as a testimony to God's faithfulness. Two years. Such a short time, and yet he has provided us with this ring of 100 people and countless others that have touched our lives in such deep ways. Wow. I am blown away.

Today was our official send-off from WBC, including a commissioning during the services this morning. Our families came in for the occasion- thanks for getting up on stage with us guys! Clay and I both shed some tears, but we were not the only ones, so it's ok. I actually saw Jamie Lamb wiping tears off her entire face and neck, so I that made me feel more comfortable crying on stage :) My favorite part of the morning was when Don asked our supporters out in the auditorium to stand up. So amazing. I scanned the room, looking at every face, so thankful for you, our faithful team, who has joined us as we begin this journey. How valuable you are to us!

Our families left that afternoon, taking with them my car and all of our winter clothes (we figured we wouldn't be needing our ski clothes any time soon). This means that move-out week has officially begun! I have been dreading this... I don't feel grown up enough to launch a full-scale move-out. What a big job.

We capped off the evening with our final LifeGroup meeting. I could feel my eyes wanting to cry all night, but they seemed to be dried out from the weepy day :) Thanks for a great night, ya'll. And for your support. You are a model LifeGroup and we couldn't feel more loved or blessed.

We had to run by the church for a few last minute things after LG. It was hard to walk out those doors, for is was not so long ago when we, college seniors, walked through those same doors, engagement ring on my finger, wondering if this was the place that God has prepared for us. I remember driving back to Aggieland that night feeling so overwhelmed by God's provision, and his CARE for us. Why does he bless us the way that he does? Why would he fit us into a church body so perfectly aligned with our desires and gifts? His love never ceases to dumbfound me. Into his hand I entrust the future. He has never done less than amaze me.

The bittersweetness of the moment was salved by hearing the VBS band practicing onstage for tomorrow. Indeed, is hard to not smile when you are walking out to Rob Moser singing "Jesus is my super hero" with full hand motions. You know what? Jesus IS my super hero :)

Goodnight, all. Love, Megan

More Change...

Yesterday marked another turning point for us.  June 20 was my (Clay) last day on staff with Westlake Bible Church.  It was pretty strange to clean out my office and walk away for the last time, but it feels good.  I spent the last few days finishing up some video projects and putting as much information as I could into instructions to hand over to others.  It's funny - with a job like this, I have a job, a hobby, and a service in ministry all rolled up into one, so to walk away from it means big change!  However, that also means that I have enjoyed the heck out of these last two years.  This was such a great place to be as a newly married couple.  I'm realizing more and more that WBC's style of working hard but not micro-managing time and work style is pretty rare.  We couldn't have asked for a better staff to join of people who instantly became dear friends. 

It's so amazing to look a few years back.  Two and a half years ago the thought of living in Austin had never occurred to us.  Now we look around at all the incredible friends God has given us who will, I'm certain, stay friends for a lifetime.  We couldn't be more thankful for God's directing us here to a new place to start our ministry and life together.  It's pretty cool to follow the doors that God opens and to see what he does with it!

Quick support update: we're at 80%!  We only need about $900 more per month to reach the full %100 of our monthly support budget!  Please pray with us for God's provision of this and that we could hit 100% before September.  If you would like to be a part if the support team, or know someone who would, contact us or visit our web site for more informaiton.

This is a big weekend: yesterday was the last day at work, tonight a going-away party, tomorrow an official commissioning and send-off from the church.  The families are on there way in, so we're off to run a few errands.

Next week is pack and move week.  Pray for us that as our life goes into a slightly controlled spin, Megan and I stay connected to the Lord and to each other.  Sometimes that stuff breaks down when things get crazy.  Should be a good week though.  Lot's of chance to spend time with frineds, so it should be fun!

It begins

Today marks the first ending point for our time here in Austin. It's the last day of SonShine School, where I have worked for the past 2 years as Administrative Asst. Whenever I get the knot of sadness and nostalgia in my stomach, I just keep repeating in my head,"This is an adventure, this is an adventure..." So far it has worked; we'll see if I can keep it up for a month. Yesterday, May 20th, marked one month left until Clay's last day at WBC. Sigh. God's plan is perfect. He laid the path for us to come to Austin, and will continuing leading the way to our next destination. As hard as it will be to leave, it would be far worse to stay and be stepping out of God's plan. Pray for us during this season of transition!

A Landmark...

We just hit our first major support-raising landmark: 60%, the level required by UWM before signing up for training!

We're really excited. Yesterday we officially registered with the Center for Intercultural Training, otherwise know as CIT. In early September we'll fit what we can in the 4Runner and make the trek from Tomball, Texas to Union Mills, North Carolina, where we'll be for 11 weeks. From what we've heard, CIT should be great. We'll have the opportunity to go through training with some UWM folks as well as teams from other organizations. We'll be taking six classes during our time there:
-Equipping for Cross-Cultural Life and Ministry
-Language Acquisition (this is learning how to learn a language, not actually learning one - that comes later)
-Effective Teams and Team Leaders
-Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills
-Spiritual Formation
-Facilitating Church Planting Movements

We've also heard that it's an encouraging time to be with lot's of others before they hit the field. It should be cool to see so many different individuals, couples, and families on their way overseas, all likely to have very different gifts, abilities, and interests. It's always exciting to see how God is using the unique qualities in others to make strides for the Kingdom.

And while lot's of exciting things are on the horizon, we're still surprised at how quickly our time here in Austin is coming to a close. We're just a little more than a month away from making our first of 4 upcoming moves (1. Austin to Tomball; 2. Tomball to NC; 3. NC to Tomball; 4. Tomball to BELGIUM!) It's going to be so tough to leave our friends and our church, but we have every intention of keeping in touch with both and we know that God has given us some incredible friendships that will last a lifetime.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of our support team along the way. We truly can't do this without the team.

Please pray for us during this next month of big transition. We'll need peace, patience, and a lot of physical and emotional energy.

Until next time...

The Best Part of Wakin' Up

I'm not sure what the "best part of wakin' up" is, but it wasn't in our apartment this morning...

It actually started last night.  We had an awesome night in Tomball at a support raising meeting and didn't make it back home until about 1:30 am.  We were totally beat when we came in, but to make it even better, we noticed a funny smell in the kitchen.  We started digging around and found that a bag of chicken broth we'd put in the freezer the day before had spilled before freezing and was all over in the freezer, only now in a frozen state.  Wonderful.  It was about 3 hours past our bed time but we knew it wouldn't clean it self up, so we proceeded to unload the freezer, rinse off everything, take apart the insides of the freezer and clean all the frozen chicken broth out of the nether-regions. It seemed as if we'd fixed the problem.

Not so.  When we walked into the kitchen this morning we were hit with the all too familiar smell, only this time much stronger.  We finally figured out that the chicken broth had dripped down the condensation overflow tube and into the holding pan under the fridge, which was impossible to remove due to all the hefty components mounted on top of it.  Finally the source of the smell.  Not only had this collection of broth not frozen, but it was conveniently located next to the fan and cooling unit, which first warmed the broth, then blew it throughout the kitchen.  For the next two hours we crammed our hands in between all the fans and tubes and, with the assistance of about 2 rolls of paper towels and some bleach, cleaned the overflow tray. 

All of this, of course, on just a few hours of sleep, and all before breakfast and coffee.  What a way to start the day.

Fortunately, though, we laughed our heads off the whole way through.

And as an update, the meeting in Tomball was awesome.  So awesome, in fact, that we now have 100% of our outgoing funds raised!  How exiting!  Anything that continues to come in as a special gift will help offset some of our monthly costs in the years to come.  We are so thankful to see the Lord provide in such great ways!

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Meanwhile...

Well, we have been back in Austin for a month now, and nothing exciting enough to blog about has happened so we will spare you :) However I would like to ask you to be praying as we continue our supportraising efforts. We are at about 50% of our monthy support which is so exciting!! We are continuously honored and humbled by peoples' decision to join our team. What blessings the Lord is showering on us- such good friends and family that want to join us in our work overseas.

 

Thank you! And be praying!

 

 

We made it home!!

Hello all! Well, we are back in Austin!! After a LOOONG flight to Houston (11 hours), we had dinner with the fams and then headed back to Austin this morning. Neil sent Clay a text message at the beginning of his 12:30 class this morning that said,"So, going all over Europe is a lot better than class." We had so much fun! It was wonderful meeting new people, learning about their awesome ministries, and checking out more  of this world too. Thank you for all of your prayers, support, and interest in our journey.

Here are the pics from our day in Budapest:

We ate at this cool fair in the middle of the city.

We crossed the Danube to get to the side with all the old buildings- what a beautiful city!

After getting lost we were excited to find an ice cream shop. Neil was a little taken aback by the portion sizes.

I always try to get Clay to take more candid style pictures with me. As you can see, it has not really worked out.

Dinner that night was at a Cuban pizza place. I will never forget the waitress's face when Neil asked her for some Ranch to dip his pizza in. Oh how we laughed.

The view from our hotel.

Our life is not nearly as interesting as it is when we are in Europe, so the blogging may slow a bit :) Stay tuned for more on the Sandozes as life unfolds.

Love, Megan

Hungary: Day 2

I am currently listening to Clay film John Henderson as he talks about his ministry here in Hungary with Campus Crusade. It is awesome. It shouldn't be so surprising to me how different all of these people's ministries are, but as we meet each one, I am always astounded and inspired in a different way. One's a hand, one's a foot- the body of Christ spreading over the globe. Are you fired up? I am. People talk about traveling and how it "expands your mind" or whatever. As much as I dislike clichés, I have to agree with them on this. This 

world is HUGE. And different styles of minitry are relevant and effective in each and every region. Something I am noticing as either an undertone or a main point in each of our discussions with the 3 different teams we have vistited is the increasing importance for Americans to begin to pass off to nationals (those that are actually FROM the country where the ministry is taking place) the leadership of that ministry. There is an increasing shift, atleast in these areas we have visited recently, of American missionaries taking over more "supporting" or "behind the scenes" roles while the nationals are beginning to step out in leadership in ministries that are geared toward calling their own. It is truly a beautiful thing. 

One of the stories we heard today was a couple who have been on Campus Crusade staff since 1995. They are from Romania and are stationed there. They told of March 15, 1997 when all of the American missionaries who were in leadership and working in Romania had to evacuate due to a civil uprising and increasing danger. The Romanian team was left without its leaders and they had a decision to make: Do we step up and continue this ministry to our own people? Their answer was 'yes.' Now the Romanian CCC team is completely led by nationals, and it is thriving. They are also working on sending out Romanian nationals to be missionaries in other countries- countries that Americans aren't even allowed to enter. That is awesome. And that is what is happening all over the world.
I think I have always had a prideful view of Americans in missions. That we are the main ones responsible for any missional activities or success worldwide. My eyes are being increasingly more opened to the fact that we are just a mere piece of God's gigantic plan for this world. How much more wonderful is this?! Being a part of something. In community with believers that we can't even understand because of language gaps, but that we are deeply bound to due to our common communion with Jesus our Lord. Wow. 

.......
10pm
We had such a fun day. John Henderson is truly one of the most encouraging and inspiring people we have ever met. We finished up filming and headed to lunch where we had some GOOD mashed potatoes, among other things. I was very content :) We talked about missions, and living for the Lord. It was great. He really encouraged me to think about some things.
He then dropped us off at our hotel and gave us directions to the top of this hill we could see from our hotel. It took us about an hour to get to the top but it was worth it, as you will see in the photos. There was a little church and some shallow caves that were fun to play in for awhile. When we got back to the hotel, we crashed for what may have been hours- all this travel may be catching up with us. When we woke up we went to dinner- at the same place we had lunch at with John. The main reason I liked it, besides the fact that the food is good, was that the menus were also in English. I am telling you, these Slavic languages are so ridiculously hard to guess at. There is absolutely no base that we know of to compare it to. It is a little frustrati

ng to us since we are so used to traveling in Spanish-speaking countries, or atleast French where you can make a good guess. It is giving me a new understanding of how people must feel when they are in the US and in that situation. Have compassion, people!

The plans for tomorrow are to head to Budapest around 10am via taxi and then just chill the whole day. We have reservations at the Marriott on the Danube river which we are really excited about. It is kind of a celebration of the awesome trip that we have had. We are all kind of sad that it is almost over, but I think that we all also look forward to re-entering our lives and trying live in light of what we have learned. Pray for us to that end.

We fly out of Budapest around 6am on Monday morning and arrive in Houston around 3pm. A nice 11 hour stint from Frankfurt to Houston awaits- looking forward to THAT.
So, now we are safe 

and warm in our precious hotel, looking forward to another EXCELLENT breakfast tomorrow morning. I think we may play some Super Farmer before bed :)

Love to you all!

Pics and video from the day:

Hungary

March 14, Budaörs, Hungary

Well, we made it. The last leg of our journey: Hungary. Though I am excited to spend time with John Henderson tomorrow and learn about his ministry, I am still missing the Mitts family that we left in Poland! What a wonderful family. We had a lot of fun last night just spending time with them. They taught us a new game: Super Farmer. It is a Polish game created during the communist years. Something that I find funny is that we (the Sandoz travelers) LOVE any reference to the "communist days." It doesn't matter what the Mitts' say, we instantly get excited about any trace of communism. I even took pictures of the light switches in an old commie barrack... but I digress.

Anyways, we love Super Farmer. So much that the Mitts' gave me their travel version of the game. Thank you, Mitts family! Oh, and P.S., Lisa also did some laundry for us while we were there- can we say again how much we love them?

This morning we had a nice leisurely morning with the family, and then headed to the airport for another go on Polish Airlines. We got to Budapest a little while ago, caught a shuttle, and rode to our hotel. At one point the rode narrowed and our huge van came face to face with another car. Both drivers start motioning for the other one to move. "Uh-oh," I am thinking. I thought we were about to see a true Hungarian show down. I found out later that Neil actually transferred some of his money out of his wallet and into his jacket pocket just in case the guy in the car in front of us was staged and he got out and robbed us :) These boys are seriously dreaming of the day that they get to protect themselves against evildoers. So the conversation between the drivers stops, and I am holding my breath to see what happens. Our driver starts backing up slowly. Eventually the rode widens enough for the other man to pass. And as he passes, they both wave to eachother! So what we interpreted as approaching danger was in fact a kindly Hungarian exchange. This world is so ripe with culture- it is amazing. The more I see, the more I want to see.

Clay and Neil went out a while ago and found a pizza place, and they just came in with a piece for me. So I shall eat and then go to bed. We meet John tomorrow at 8am to begin our day with him. It is fun to arrive somewhere new at night. Waking up in a new country is so fun- you get to look out the window and see where you are and what it is like for the first time in daylight. I am looking forward to that tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day, America. We'll we waiting for you here, 6 hours in the future.

Megan

Hey everybody, Clay writing here. We're about to fly out, but wanted to give a quick update.

For those of you who are Mitch Hedberg fans, look what we saw! Neil and I thought this guy looked just like Mitch!













Megan mentioned something earlier about the "commie condos". Here's a little about them and a few shots:



Here's a quick look at the mall Megan wrote about and a funny restaurant:


Check out our last round of pictures from Poland:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2476711&l=70f8f&id=8329930

The train video from a few days ago didn't look too great, so here it is again: