Getting Out

We've really had a great fall taking international students out into the outdoors. They are so curious and exciting to explore all the Hill Country has to offer-which is a lot more than I had expected. Coming from Montana and growing up skiing and hiking around the northwest I didn't expect much from Texas. BUT, I have been very pleasantly surprised. I just love how the outdoors provide such great opportunities to talk with students about real life and spirituality.

Updated Family Pic

here is what our family looks like now. This was taken yesterday in our backyard. It amazes me that there are now five of us. We are having so much fun. Our kids are growing through so many fun phases. Brennan does the spider crawl and casts webs on passers-by that he sees, and Madison is all into her new friends at preschool.

Baby Macy is HERE!!

AFter 38 weeks of waiting, she is finally here!!! We are so excited. Maddie and Boo are really enjoying her as well. Maddie started preschool last week so there are lots of changes and events (Hurricane IKE for one) around here.

I'm running for president of the United States

Not sure if you've heard, but I've decided to go for it. I will run for the presidency in 2008. I hope I have your support. Check out the mania that is surrounding me right now below...

http://www.inews3.com/topstory.php?id=4d696b657c4b72696567

you may need to copy the above link and paste it into your browser...once elected, I'll have a secretary...of course, who can help me with my blog. I hope by then to make more frequent entries.

A Great Church in Germany

If you ever find yourself in Datteln, Germany. you must attend Wendepunkt!!! Stefan Arhelger is the head pastor and a dear friend of mine. Years ago he was trading Japanese futures contracts in the stockmarket in Frankfurt and God called him to go to seminary. Stefan went to Spain on an internship with TEAM international. This is where we met. We were teammates. Together we went through the villages of southern Spain preaching the gospel with a man called Leif Erickson. yeah, seriously. That was his real name. It was an amazing summer and one that radically changed my life. Over the years Stefan and I managed to get back together in Spain, Germany, Prague, Russia, and the U.S. It's amazing how much our lives have changed over the years. Here is a link to Stefan's church.. go check it out!!.

www.wendepunkt-datteln.de


God has used him in great ways. Who knows, maybe one day you'll get a chance to meet him.

Busy Few Days

It's so beautiful right now in Austin. Man I just love this town! We have a busy weekend ahead of us. The Annual Krieg Family Reunion is going down in Taylor, Texas on sunday. Watch out Taylor, here come boat loads of Kriegers!!! Then we're having 3 Iraqi students over for dinner. In the meantime I'm trying to figure out how we burned through almost 30,000 gallons of water in June. I'm nervous we might have a water leak.

Iraqi Student Leaders Visit UT

The UT is one of a few schools selected to host up and coming student leaders from Iraq. There will be 16 visitors here from July 10 through August 14th. We have made the request to be a host family during the time and have yet to here back. They will be immersed in programs studying public policy, political science and government among other things. Kristen and I are so excited to see if we can host a student. We'll let you know!

Lindsay Brown on reaching students

Lindsay Brown, Director of IFES gives a fresh perspective on the strategic value of reaching students. I love what he says here about reaching men and women in their 20's at the end of the piece. It's exciting to think about a 20 year old being reached and giving 50 years of leadership to their church in their home country. Multiply that over and you have GLOBAL IMPACT!!!

Ah yes, its the small victories that count!!!

I replaced a sprinkler head successfully today. I feel a deep sense of pride. I know, it seems like a small thing, but not for me, and not today! But really, i was nervous going into that challenge....wondering if I would wimp out and have to call on a pro. I simply had no idea how to do it. I never did it before. But I put my game face on and went after it with tenacity! Kristen was right there the whole time so I was able to demonstrate my skill to another person! I was also happy about getting a chance to use my folding "UTE TRAIL" knife. Thomas Ufer would be proud of me. Why do such things make us feel so good. These little victories in life can feel so great!

More importantly, God is really blessing us right now in this neighborhood. It's amazing. In a short period of time we've met about 6 houses of people around us, with kids and without. None know Christ as far as we can tell. God has given us a great group of people to get to know. Totally Cool! Just today we met a couple who live 4 houses up from us and the wife, Yulia is from Moscow, went to Moscow State University (the Harvard of Russia). We spoke Russian right here in our neighborhood park. Amazing how God works and orchestrates events in our lives!!

Our Aim in Austin

Not too long ago here in Austin I was sitting across the table from a multimillionare who made most of his money in commercial real estate. He said something that really stuck with me. "People shouldn't be looking for a job, or a role to fill when they think about their vocational choices, instead, they should look for an opportunity. Mike, look for an opportunity!" And this is exactly what we've found here in Austin-An opportunity. Let me explain: 5000 international students study at the University of Texas. These men and women who are the future leaders of their countries. Some will stay here in the U.S., but most will return to their countries to lead in the area of business, education, and government. Many of them are also from countries that westerners have extremely restricted access to. Iran would be a good example of this. We have about 60 Iranian students here at UT. They are all here for a short period of time. Then they will return to their countries. What will be their message when they go back? Who will influence them while they are here? What could be the potential impact of one leader sent back to Iran, Oman, or Saudi Arabia who will live out the rest of his days for Jesus Christ? Sound like an opportunity? I think so!!

Fred Peirce is the man!!!

Great job Fred! You are truly a man i can aspire to emulate. When others had their doubts, you persevered! What a feat! Awesome!!!

For those who want to know what I'm talking about. Check this out!!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5845157.html

The Nomads Find a Home

It's been almost two years since the Krieg family returned from Russia, and only now are we putting stakes into the ground and calling one place home for awhile. That place is Austin, Texas! I was born here in 1972 but grew up in Montana. Kristen, being from Houston is so happy about being close to family and friends. I also have family down here. It's sooo nice to know that we can unpack for awhile. We'll be working with international students at the University of Texas. I'm not sure what to do with my blog. I may put this thing out of its misery. if anyone has any objections, by all means please let me know, but I think Kristen is doing a spectacular job keeping you all informed about our family on KRIEGSKIDDOS.BLOGSPOT.Com...

Ok, gotta go read stories to the little ones...

At home in TEJAS!!

WE arrived in Texas about a week ago. Kristen and the kids flew to Houston, while Charlie and I drove the minivan down. It was probably the best road trip I've ever had. (Although, it can't rival the danger of the Samara-Moscow road trip of summer of 2004). We saw some spectacular sights along the way: Mt Shasta, Mt. McLoughlin, California wine country, the Pacific ocean from Carlsbad, CA., and the harsh landscape from central California through El Paso. Wow! All very exotic and beautiful. It was also great to see family in Fullerton, CA. Van Horn, Texas was a treat as well. Interesting to note that along I-10 through Texas they are stopping traffic and doing vehicle searches for illegal immigrants...Portland felt like a long ways away from the views of Ciudad Juarez from I-10 through El Paso. Great time with the bro! Now we are in Texas. Feels good to be home with family, to have the sun everyday, and the prospect of exciting times of ministry ahead...

Rain Vent

Oh, so tired of the rain. Rain, rain, rain. Everything is wet. So so tired of the grey, cold, wet, rain. Wet streets, grey skies...UGH!!! Sometime soon I'm going to read about how the rain affects people here in Portland. On balance, it can't be good. There is probably some scientific data or a study somewhere that shows some ill affects. There are nice people in Portland. There are good people too. (btw, I don't think the two are necessarily the same...do you?) So, the effect of months of rain isn't something that JUMPS OUT at a person. I think its definitely a negative influence on the culture, just in a subtle kind of way. People do seem a bit more melancholy in comparison to people in say like southern California. I'm going to find a study. I really don't like this much rain. My soul is wet. Why did I post such nonsense? I have no idea!

The Unwasted Life

Another great charge by General Piper...

Brennan sings

Please go over to Kristen's blog and check out Brennan. He is learning to sing and its so fun!

www.kriegkiddos.blogspot.com

Also, I'd like to give a little shout-out to my brother today. Charlie has been working in China as the manager of operations at a golf course in Shanghai since last April. Quite an adventurous journey he's been on lately!! Happy Birthday BRO and welcome back to the U.S.!!

Valentines at the Kennedy School

Ok, if you're ever in the Portland area, you simply MUST go to the Kennedy School Theatre. It's an old school that they converted into a hotel/museum/theatre.

http://www.kennedyschool.com/index.php?loc=57

It's a great place especially for parents b/c you can do a movie and a meal at the same time. Kristen and I celebrated Valentines Day there on Friday. (strategically delayed it to avoid the crowds) They showed "Enchanted" which had both of us on the floor busting a gut. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. Maybe its just us, but "Enchanted" is truly funny...Happy Valentines Day friends!!

Back from Spain Conference

I'm still jet-lagged and groggy eyed from our Spain conference. Good time there. it was great to see the teams from around the Area of Affairs get encouraged and refreshed after months on the battlefield. I was encouraged to hear a lot of stories of young men and women coming to Christ in the heart of Old Europe. Many of us in the west have given up on Europe. But God is doing a new work there. Even in France there were encouraging stories of students coming to Christ and spiritually interested. Praise God! Nerja is a nice little place on the mediterranean sea. I had a haircut there by a man named Luis. I saw him several times throughout the week as I would walk back and forth from the hotel to the internet cafe where I would call Kristen. I really wish there could have been more time to chase down guys like Luis and the cab driver I rode in with. I forget the cab drivers name but he played on the national soccer team for Uruguay against Pele some 30-35 years ago. Very interesting man. I left him a gospel track as we departed into the hotel. I'm praying he will read it...So we're back in Portland and getting into the groove...

Mission Connexion Portland 2008

Rolling Hills Community Church is hosting a massive missions conference here in Portland. Campus Crusade For Christ is one of about 75 other mission agencies here with tables. Luis Palau and Heather Mercer are a couple of the featured speakers. Across from our booth at the vendor fair is a ministry called Radio Voice Of Christ. They are broadcasting Christian Radio into Iran in the Farsi Language. Interested Iranians can link to the website for more information. I spoke with them for awhile about what they're seeing. It's truly amazing what God is doing through this ministry!!I was so encouraged to see so many people boldly going after the hard places. I was very convicted as well. Heather Mercer's message tonight was a challenge to reject the soft religion of self-preservation, and live sold out to Christ. Kristen and I both sense we have some things to talk through as the Holy Spirit is speaking to us this weekend. I sure hope they put the messages online. Heather Mercer currently lives in Iraq and was absolutely dynamite to listen to.

Happy New Year!!

The Kriegs are now at home and recovering from the Winter Conference. What an encouraging time it was! God moved in many great ways and it would be too difficult to go into all the details here, but I'll share a couple ways how we witnessed God move. One way in which I saw God move was seeing God put a burden on the hearts of many students and staff to go to the mission field. I was so encouraged. I led a seminar for recruiting to Russia-Moscow in particular. We decided a couple of months ago to begin challenging the students and staff in our region to go to this city and join the effort to help reach the 1.2 million students there for Jesus Christ. At the time we weren't sure if there would be a team or not. We'll, at the conference I met three staff from Idaho: Josh, Kayla, and Laura who were determined to go and lead a team to Moscow this summer. During the breakout time when I asked the students how many would commit to go, 8 raised their hands. BOOM! Just like that we have laborers. It was just another reminder of the eagerness of students to help change their world for Christ. I haven't heard the final report yet, but there are MANY who are saying yes to overseas projects and missions opportunities! VERY VERY EXCITING!! I loved seeing students move closer in relationship to Christ. Right before our eyes lives were changing for all eternity!!! One girl came and accepted Christ into her life on Saturday. Sunday she was out on the streets of Portland and sharing her faith with others. Many others moved from passivity to a determination to grow and live by faith and even take their faith to others. Eternity is being impacted as these students grapple with Christ and offer themselves unreserved to HIM! We are physically drained right now yet joyful in the privelage to play a small part in what God is doing!!