city hopping: welcome to the desert

last week was not stressful at all. so thats why I have had so much time to keep you updated on everything going on, respond to so many emails, etc. 

(sarcasm obvi)

after countless hours of internet research, visits to the Vienna magistrat and the US consulate, phone conversations with the various consulates and departments of foreign ministry in Vienna, plane ticket searching, and so forth...I boarded a plane to Chicago. 

To give you the lowdown:

When you are a US citizen, you are allowed to travel to the Schengen land (pretty much all of Europe...not Great Britain or Ireland) as a visitor/tourist without a visa for 90 days within 180 days...that means that in a time period of 6 months you can be in this area for 3 months time that is not necessarily consecutive. Understanding this before I left, I turned in all the paperwork in Chicago that was necessary for my application for a residence permit (a permit that would allow me to reside in Austria for 12 months) and with these positive words from the woman in the Austrian Consulate, "Ok, you have everything turned in that you need and your application is complete, now you just have to wait to hear word that your residence permit has been granted and is waiting for you to pick up in the Magistrat in Vienna," I booked my flight to go to Austria and use these 90 days to wait for the granting of my residence permit. 

Almost a week before my 90 days were up, I paid a visit to the Magistrat in Vienna because I hadn't heard one word from them concerning the progress of my residence permit application. If I stay longer than my 90 visa-free days in Austria, a tourist faces serious consequences when they are caught at the boarder of the Schengen land, trying to leave. It doesn't matter how long you stay over your 90 days...if you are over that time at all, you have been living in the Schengen land illegally and you can be fined and banned from the Schengen land for a period of months to a period of years! (not a punishment I was interested in receiving). Upon meeting with the man at the Magistrat, I received news that completely contradicted the words of the woman in the Consulate in Chicago before I left. This man informed me that, "It is good that you are here today because you filled out the wrong application in Chicago, and you are also missing several documents, and another couple of documents are not valid in Austria in the way you have turned them in. So you need to fix all these problems before we can finish the decision making process as to whether to give you a residence permit or not." 

Now, if I had learned this a month before, there would have been no problem...I could get the necessary papers sent from America, complete my application, and all would be smooth sailing. But, with a week left in my legal time in Austria, all the work I needed to do as well as the time the Magistrat may take to approve or deny my residence permit would take more than a week...and I would have to leave Austria, go back to America and gather all the documents I was missing, send them to Austria, and await the decision about my permit. If it is the case that my permit is granted, I would have to come back to Austria to pick it up...but if I have already exhausted my 90 days within this 6 month period...I cannot just enter Austria to pick it up...I would have to apply for another visa, only after receiving word about my residence permit, which could then take another 3 months to process (potentially), and with that visa be able to enter Austria just to pick up my permit that validates my residence there for a year. COMPLICATED. 

THANK GOD...in the middle of all this stress and disappointment, Hana had her "thinking cap" on and figured out that since the 90 days don't have to be consecutive, the sooner I leave Austria, the more days I have left in the 90 days and with those days left, after receiving word that I have a residence permit waiting for me in Austria to pick up, I can use those extra days to re-enter Austria just to pick up the permit. 

So...Saturday, 2 days before my three month mark, I flew from Vienna to London, then from London to Chicago (with an amazing, SUPRISE upgrade to business class...complete with a chair that becomes a bed, champagne as soon as you board the plane, noise cancelling headphones, a menu from which to order your meal, a private tv to name just a few of the complementary amenities), and landed in Chicago just in time to catch the drunken leftovers of a Chicago St. Patrick's day. IM HOME. 

1st hop: Chicago

I am staying with Sadie--dearest cousin and bestie that agreed to share her bed with her homeless missionary cousin. 

I am busy on the phone with Wisconsin State departments, Austrian Consulates, etc. trying to get all the paperwork done to complete my application for my residence permit correctly this time (even though I thought it was complete three months ago...thank you Austria). 

I will be here for a week or so...as long as it takes me to complete everything. 

And then I will bid the midwest "aufwiedersehen" 

and catch a flight to Brooklyn.

2nd hop: Brooklyn

I will await the decision of the Austrian Magistrat regarding my residence permit while living and working in the Heart's Home in Brooklyn. 

I am hoping it wont be more than a month that I have to wait. I have a flight already booked back to Austria on April 20th just in time for Easter celebrations. 

3rd hop: Vienna (cross your fingers and pray hard)

Ok, yes I know that my residence permit could be denied...but all I can do (and I ask you to do) is pray that God makes possible all that He wants for me. And if that be living in Vienna and continuing my mission there...I will be heading back to Vienna with two days left in my 90 days to sweet talk the boarder control guards, convincing them not to be suspicious that I am trying to enter Austria as a tourist with only two days left to be there legally, and then to go straight to the Magistrat to pick up my residence permit and legally reside in Austria for 12 months. 

So thats the deal.

What is pretty cool is that when I booked my ticket I just randomly picked April 20th as my return date...and Expedia calculated it and told me that the time I would be spending in the US would be 40 nights. 

Im going into the desert with Jesus. 

Last night in St. Michael's Catholic Church in Old Town Chicago (my new fav in the city!), the priest gave an amazing homily and I wanted to share the golden points with you:

Welcome to the Desert

Christ, filled with, lead by, driven by the Holy Spirit

entered the desert 

not to eat or drink for 40 days and nights

and then in the end 

to be tempted by the Devil in three ways. 

Isaiah says that we must go into the desert because it is there that the Lord will speak to the heart...but not without the temptations of the Devil to not listen to what God is trying to say to us. 

Christ went into the desert after His baptism to be intimately with the Father and the Holy Spirit and to figure out who He is, what He is doing and what His future and mission is. For these reasons, searching for the answers to these questions He fasted. To purify Himself. To empty Himself in order to listen and discover. 

3 questions are integral in this self-discovery--which is really a discovery that comes solely from opening yourself up to the Lord speaking to your heart. 

1.What will satisfy this hunger I experience?

2. Does God love me?

3. If I seek control and power in my daily life and in my goals and dreams, why am I seeking this control and power? What will I do with this control and power?

After the 40 days of fasting, Christ was then tempted by the Devil in three ways, all grounded in the statement: "If you are the Son of God", all grounded in the answer to the question-Who am I? The three temptations correspond to the three questions integral to the self-discovery...integral to Christ answering the questions tied up in living the human experience of discovering who He really is. 

1. "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." 

(what will satisfy this hunger? something material that I can provide for myself, something that I have to worry about and strive in any way I can in order to obtain? or the Word of God (commandments, truth, etc)?)

2. "If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you and with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

(Does God love me? Can He prove it? Where is He right now? Will He help me in this?)

3. "All these I shall give to you (all the kingdoms of the world), if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." 

(How much do I want control and power? Do I want it to serve myself or to serve God?)

GO TO THE DESERT:

we are faced with these questions (all as parts of the one question of who we really are) in the beginning of this time in the desert in order to have confidence, despite our weakness, throughout. 

We must go into the desert to let God speak to our hearts and to figure out who we really are. 

Then in response to these questions that we are asking in these 40 days we must look at our answers...for those answers will either be our success or demise when facing the very real temptations that await us. 

Simply, the answers to these questions that you find in your time in the desert answer the fundamental question: WHAT MOTIVATES YOUR LIFE IN EVERY LITTLE THING YOU DO?

we all need time to step back. to ask who we are. what we are doing. 

to reevaluate a little bit. to take accounts. 

to be intimate with the Holy Spirit and to be purified and re-organize our life and our focus a little better.