Grüß Gott
Rough Translation: God is greeting you
This is the typical formal greeting in Austria
Pronounced: Gruss Gott
Blumer’s news March 2016. Serving God with the local church in Vienna, Austria.
The new semester started in February. Compared
with the last school semester we have more
students - both adult and children. We have
managed to increase class sizes without increasing
the hours that we work, which is a great blessing.
At Easter we spoke to most of our
adults about how they celebrate
Easter. We used an Austrian
newspaper article about something
that is typical of central European
cultures that is about Jesus. It is the
Easter lamb cake, or Osterlamm.
Although we should not have been
surprised, we were when many of
them didn’t know the background to
this tradition— John the Baptist
described Jesus as the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the
An “Osterlamm” is a traditional treat at Easter
world. At Easter time, when we
remember the gift that Jesus gave us in substituting himself in our place so that we can be
reconciled with God, this symbol of a sacrificial lamb is a great tradition to have, especially
when its meaning is understood.
Please pray for the opportunities that we have in speaking with our students, that God
would convict them of their need for Jesus and that they would be interested in finding out
more about who God really is.
If anyone is interested in volunteering at the
English centre for between 1 and 3 months with
Short term opportunity
either teaching or office work, please contact us.
It is a ministry, so you need to be a Christian and
be flexible with how you communicate with people.
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Grüß Gott
What’s new with the kids?
Aiden has just had a new scan to check the size of the tumours. We had an interview with
the doctors this week and there is essentially no change with most tumours; there is one
which may have grown very slightly. They will do another scan next week to check it again.
There is also a slight, uncharacteristic clouding in one of his eyes. Please pray that the
tumours would disappear, that his eyes will be OK and that he would be healed. We
appreciate your prayers for Aiden and us in this regard.
Ashleigh played in the basketball team this year and picked it up quite quickly. She still
buries herself away on the weekends reading avidly.
Josiah now loves an English cartoon series called “Ben and Holly’s little kingdom”. It’s
beginning to wear us down, though. His hearing is a lot better and the doctor hopes we
can get by without an operation — Praise God!
English camp For our ministry highlight we are again running our English Camp in the Summer
holidays. This year, for the first time we are running two groups—10-14 years and 14 –17 years.
Please pray for a good number of registrations and our clear presentation of the gospel.
We are thankful for a team of helpers from Canada this year.
Refugees:
Refugees Many of you would have read about the large number of refugees coming through
Europe at the moment. There is much talk in the media and plenty of fear from the locals. We
have got a group of 80 refugee men living in our
street and our neighbourhood is scared. With
another Christian friend, we are trying to organise a
“meet-and-greet” activity to help our neighbourhood
meet, and feel better about our new neighbours. Our
church is also helping out once a week at another
shelter that houses about 150 refugees, many of
which are families.
The home for 80 refugees in our street
PERSONAL DETAILS
Address: Polgarstraße 13/E/29
Wien 1220
AUSTRIA
NEW!!!Email: [email protected]
Skype : andrew.and.michelle.blumer
Pioneers of Australia
Suite 1, 39 Railway Rd.
Blackburn VIC 3130
Phone (03)8814 4444, 1800 78 78 89
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