Familie SCHRA

May 2016

Proclaiming Christ among the nations through international Christian education

Goodbyes are an all too common part of life in a community like the International Christian School of Vienna. Each year 20-25% of the ICSV student body turns over as embassy staff are posted to new assignments, UN contracts come to an end and new jobs take parents to new locations. Each of the five school years that we have finished at ICSV has included at least one family member saying goodbye to a good friend. Somehow the goodbyes don’t get easier.

This year we are part of the 20-25% who will be leaving Vienna, and we’ve been doing a lot of talking and thinking about how we want to say goodbye. Recently we had a chance to spend a weekend with some dear friends in one of our favorite places in Austria. Lisa, Willem and our friend Duco ran a half-marathon around the beautiful mountain lake in the region. We explored the old, narrow streets of the lakeside village. We lingered over breakfast. While the kids all enjoyed the warm pool on a chilly afternoon after the race, the adults walked along the lakeshore. We shared stories of other adventures with our two families, and

we stopped and prayed together, thanking God for the beautiful gift of our friendship. And then we said goodbye.

As I write these words we have just marked Ascension Day (which is a public holiday here in Austria—we’re

going to miss that!), and I’m wondering about what it was like for Jesus and the disciples to say goodbye before Jesus ascended to heaven. The gospels don’t give a lot of detail. Only Luke gives a specific record of the ascension and says that after Jesus was taken up into heaven, the disciples “worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” It is somehow comforting to me to know that Jesus, fully God yet fully human, also knows what it is

like to say goodbye to dear friends.

Right now, our life is a bit of a whirlwind. Both Lisa and I are pushing hard to finish our work at ICSV and hand off all the things we do. The kids have year-end exams and projects, and I am also working to complete my final thesis for my master’s program by June 30. At the same time we are preparing for our move and beginning the search for employment in West Michigan. Especially because life is so full right now, we are very thankful for the time

with our friends on the shore of the Hallstaetter See a few weeks ago and the example of how to say goodbye well. Please join us in praying for good, healthy goodbyes for each member of our family in the weeks ahead.

Reflections on Saying Goodbye

Updates from ICSV

Jeffrey has begun to train his suc-cessor at ICSV. Natasha Madu is a local person who has had kids at ICSV for many years and who has worked with Jeffrey for the past two years as ICSV’s accountant. This is a great situation for the school (and for Jeffrey!).

Lisa’s hand off is a bit trickier as her work will be divided between two new staff members (HS principal and guidance counselor) as part of a revised structure. These are both strong hires, but since neither will overlap with Lisa she is working hard to document all of the new things she has put in place for the IB program at ICSV.

The school received the final ap-proval from the Viennese educa-tion authorities for the IB program. This wasn’t a surprise, but it took a long time for this decision to be processed in the rather bureau-cratic ministry of education. Praise God that this is now complete!

ICSV’s enrollment projection and financial position for the future both look strong. Even as we wrap up our work at the school, we are excited to think about what God has in store for ICSV’s future.

Jeffrey, Lisa, Willem and Xander Schra Serving at the International Christian School of Vienna

jeffrey.schra@gmail.com ▪ lisa.schra@gmail.com

Czerningasse 4/3/806 ▪ 1020 Vienna ▪ Austria - Europe www.icsv.at

Some of you have asked about how you can help us as we return. Thank you so much for this very practical way of showing your care for us! Here are a couple of items where we could use help:

Our great group of tenants at 556 Glenwood will move out from our house around July 10. We are confident

they will leave the house clean and in good condition, but we would be grateful if some Grand Rapids friends could set up our beds (stored in our attic) and lend us some bed linens and towels so we could sleep at our house when we arrive late the night of July 13.

We also still need to sort our transportation from O’Hare airport on

that date. Any chance you might be in the Chicago area on July 13 and willing to give us a ride back to GR? Pickup time would be around 7pm local time after we land and clear customs. We will not have a lot of luggage.

If you are interested in helping in any of these ways, please let us know by email. Thank you in advance!

Planning for our return

We give God thanks for:

Special opportunities for Willem —a role in the high school play and participating in the ACSI Honor Choir for Europe. He has really en-joyed his final semester at ICSV.

A new missionary family coming to serve in Vienna this summer who will buy essentially all of our furni-ture and household stuff. This is a huge blessing for us!

A very powerful testimony shared at high school chapel this week by a student who graduated from ICSV three years ago.

Please join us in praying for:

Strength and stamina for all of us. May is always a really busy month in our work, and this May we have all the additional pieces of planning for our move. Candidly, we’re tired, and we need God’s strength to fin-ish well.

Good closure—in our work here, but especially in our relationships.

Jobs. We have begun to explore some possibilities in West Michi-gan, but the timing is tricky. Most organizations that are posting posi-tions now are looking to fill them before we will be back. We trust that God has a plan for us, but it can be stressful to plan this move without knowing yet what we will do for work when we return.

There’s not enough space for a detailed

caption of each photo, but these images

represent some of the many relationships for

which we are grateful in our families, church

communities, ICSV and other areas of our lives.