As our team landed in Austria our mission goal was to lend our hands to the missionaries of the Oasis and plant seeds of hope, love and joy in the hearts of as many refugees as we could. Little did we know that it would be our own lives that would be forever changed and that God would have different plans for us.
Some of our team members where personally changed by the stories the refugees shared with them, some of the team members where changed by the smiles and joy the children expressed, but all of the team will forever be changed in how we serve because of what we experienced and saw in the hearts of the Oasis Team. Their humbleness, compassion and love for the people that attend their various ministries are priceless.
When an individual enters the doors at the Oasis; be it for clothing room, coffee bar, kids time, ladies night or their Wednesday night program, the team always makes sure that every person will feel like he or she is at home. The team accomplishes this sense of comfort by planning, preparing and praying for every ministry they offer. Each individual on the team fully dedicates their time and mind for whatever ministry is at hand by making sure every detail is taken care of before the people show up so the team can be fully focused on their guests.
In our own church we have all experienced a number of times that final rush to get everything done for a program and by the time our guests show up the staff are too exhausted from the setting up of the program to give ourselves 100% to the people we invited. That kind of feeling was not here at the Oasis and will not be because of the way they run their programs.
The other lesson we learned from the Oasis team reminded us of the passage 1 Corinthians 12:12
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
Within the Oasis every team member has their own spiritual gifts and it was amazing to see how each team member was able to use their individual gifts to enhance the ministries they offer. For example it was the gifts of Marie’s beautiful voice, Dan L’s incredible ability to choose the words to connect with the refugees and David’s gift of connecting with every personality, that made the Wednesday night program so successful. That is just the gifts used in one program… we could go on and on about the rest of the team and how each ministry is blessed and flourishing because they are able to use all their gifts in order to teach God's love.
On behalf of our team, we would like to thank Carol, Tom, David, Dan and Marie, Dan and Regan, Christian and Barbara, not only for the work they do everyday at the Oasis, but for being amazing role models for us. As we go back to Geneva, IL our way of serving will forever be changed and we can hopefully now go back and be good role models there.
Thank you for making us better!
God Bless
Jeni, John, Maureen, Rose and Kathy
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