Innsbruck

Hi everyone!

Well, I had an amazing weekend. An Austrian friend I met at church, Hanna, invited me to a retreat with the University Student Mission group. They call it a 'house party.' 6 of us went from Salzburg, and we met about 20 people from the Innsbruck group. We took a train from Innsbruck to Mutters, a small town above Innsbruck, and stayed at a retreat center. I met so many awesome people, and everyone was so kind. Some of the students had studied in the US before, so I found friends who were very willing to speak English. But it was also very helpful to be surrounded by German. We had a few guys leading worship and a speaker. Hanna translated for me. The first night we played a game where you either draw, describe, or act out a word, so my team did both German and English, and we won!

I have to say that I think all Austrians were born climbing mountains. Instead of having sport games in the afternoon on Saturday, we climbed a mountain. For like 7 hours. I was exhausted.
Here we are stopping for lunch. We basically climed up a ski slope until we got to a trail.

The view of the valley was incredible. Here I am with Ruth and Kathleen.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to go on this retreat. I was so blessed by the Christian fellowship and had such a unique day of hiking. I learned some German vocab like Hoffnung (hope) and Himmel (heaven) and worshipped the Lord with like-minded believers from a different culture. Yesterday I got a quick tour of Innsbruck. This is Hanna with me on a bridge over the Inn River.

Also, I had a short conversation with my roommate when I got home, so I thank God for answering prayers of having a better relationship with her. We have a national holiday on Thursday, so Kathleen and I are travelling to France to the Route de Vin. I'm excited!

Be blessed,
Liz