Seeing as February is almost at a close, I figured a summary blog post of the month was in order. Street Buddies has been running well and we have been experiencing such awesome dedication and passion from all our group members. Even with the late nights, snow, and bone chilling winds they have still been willing to come out and walk the streets with us. Last night was very quiet overall because the rain never let up. I'm pretty sure we looked like a group of soggy smurfs but the calm gave us a great opportunity to pray blessings over Linz. We walked around the nearby hospitals and government buildings and prayed for Jesus' love and peace to be experienced there. Something that was challenging for me was a couple of interactions we had with some homeless folks in the city. There was a man that flagged us down while we were walking and he indicated that a friend of his needed help. He brought us to an older woman in a wheel chair who appeared to be conscious but was not speaking or responding. It appeared that she and the man with her were perhaps quite drunk. They were requesting that we call emergency services to come and help her. The hitch was that they had already called for an ambulance and the paramedics had said there was nothing they could do for her seeing that nothing was overtly wrong other than her being cold. They had recommended that she be taken to a hospital lobby or the train station so that she could warm up inside somewhere. The group kept asking us to call the emergency services for them again but we were pretty sure that wouldn't change the situation because a suggestion had already been given and the woman's status was still the same. In the end all we could do was hand out some water bottles and reinforce the ideas the paramedics had given. One of the other fellows who was a Street Buddy last night also chatted with a homeless young man who we found sleeping on the ground. They grabbed a bite to eat and talked together. Again it seemed like a challenging scenario because the local homeless outreach group in the city had offered him a place to live, clothing, and assistance with job searching but he said he simply didn't like the offer and had turned it down. The thing that is hard for me in these cases is not knowing how to be like Jesus and not knowing how to best show love. I often feel like I have nothing to give and cannot improve anything. Maybe just praying and listening are best. If any of you have your own personal experiences I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to send me a message on Facebook with your ideas or things that God has shown you :)
There have also been really fun times in the Altstadt of Linz. On several occasions we've had groups of young people recognize us from Salzburg and it is such a blast to reconnect with them. One night we were getting close to wrapping it up and heading home when two guys who were chilling on a curb called Micah over to sit and talk. They chit chatted for a while and at the end of the conversation one of them suggested that we all dance the Macarena. So all of us Buddies and several young folks joined in and had our own makeshift flash mob dance party. It was great. It feels good to be connecting to this new city and being welcomed into neat relationships with the people there.
Much to my delight I also got to help with another calf birth this month. This one was a little more tense at moments than the first one. The mamma cow was very restless and wasn't so keen on having us check on her. She also didn't want to hunker down and start pushing. Also the position of the calf wasn't optimal in the beginning. After some corralling and some amazing maneuvering done by our farmer friend the heifer laid down and we got the ropes secured so we could pull the baby out. Once again it was a healthy boy. Now Micah has a cow named after him :)
February has also been filled with amazing Gospel choir practices, English lessons, and a small valentines getaway in Vienna for Jonathan and I. I'm looking forward to seeing what March brings!
Hugs and love!
-Rachael