Letter from Austria

Dear Friends,



Have you ever thought about how Europeans communicate with each other? In English! So why not offer English lessons in Austria in a camp setting? For several yeas now, in cooperation with a few Christian organizations from American and Austria this is being done. I was able to be the Bible teacher at one of the English Camps this summer, along with my brother Brent. Can you believe it! Most of the kids that come are unbelievers. We spend the day with them in an "English-speaking" world with American games, food, activities, and language lessons; each evenings we do a chapel service with them. By the second evening I was able to invite kids to make a decision to follow Christ. Fifteen campers prayed to trust Christ as their Savior. By the last night, another five took that decision. At the end of camp we informed them about the location of local youth groups they can join. :lease pray for each of these kids.



Lost Friends

While in Austria, I had the chance to visit a couple of my friends. First there is Mario. Just days before travelling to E-camp, I was informed that his 24 year-old son, Christian, had killed himself by jumping in front of a train. HE had painted on a rock in his room, "The world is black." Mario asked me, "Where does it say in the Bible that Jesus is the light?" I was able to share the entire Gospel with him again, and with tears in his eyes he clutched onto my hands and we prayed. I am not sure that Mario has personally accepted Christ at this point. When I ask him he doesn't say anything. I think he is under great pressure in the village because his son Christian had told people that I am a cult leader and warned his dad about meeting with me. Another great opportunity opened up when my old soccer coach from 25 years ago contacted me and was wondering where I live and what I do. I gave him the full story, and told him that by "chance" I will be in his neighborhood near Munich in the next few weeks. We made out a time to meet, and I was able to share the Gospel with him clearly. Please pray for Mario and my old soccer coach, Peter.



Skater Event in Spittal

As you may know, it is difficult in Austria to organize events as an evangelical community because we are not a part of the official state church. We are so excited about the fact that God allowed Mathias and Marco, graduated of our discipleship school, to arrange a huge skater event in their home of Spittal. The were able to invite a professional skater, Josh Harmoney, (find him on youtube) from California to be with hundreds of skater kids over the weekend from Sept. 11-13th. Even the local mayor got excited about this youth event and made it an offical part of city events. They received lots of recognition and sponsorships, and were able to share the gospel with hundreds of kids. The mayor spoke to the skaters about the dangers of doing drugs, and two of the youth from church gave their testimonies about how they were able to become drug-free through the help of their relationship to Jesus Christ. Please pray for the kids who heard the Gospel, for those who made decisions to follow Christ, and for the church in Spittal to continue to be a light in their city.



The Biggest Evangelical Church in Austria
The first church we worked with in Graz has grown from 130 to around 280 people. The have been able to buy up three properties bordering their own in the middle of Graz. Now their plans are to build an auditorium that seats 450 people and is expandable to 600. This Fall, I will be bringing a group from the USA to help them with some of the construction. Can you help contribute for our travel expenses? The work has already begun, the nationals are excited, but they need reinforcements.

Born to Burn--Youth Convention
Please remember to pray for the annual nationwide youth convention coming up in May of 2010. I have been asked to be the main speaker for this. There will be young people from all over Austria challenged with the topic: Born to Burn! The committee is already working on all the preliminary planning, but they need our prayers.

Jen and I want to thank you personally for your prayers and your support. On September 11th, Jen turned 40! My college soccer coach on facebook wrote that "it is another token of God's grace that he has given a beautiful wife to such an an ordinary looking guy!" (Nice choice of words coach.)

With love and prayers, Bobby, Jen, and kids Parschauer