Skiing report 2008
F rom 3-9 March we had our fifth Skiing Retreat with about fifty
Participants from ten different nations mainly from the former
communist countries. As before we gathered underneath the
Dachstein, a peak around 3,000 meters above sea level. Each morning we had Bible studies and talks covering the topics A Soldier and a Christian, Being a Christian in the Barracks, A Christian Commander, How to Cope with Fear. In the afternoons we went skiing, ski walking and walking with snowshoes. Our skiing instructors did a marvellous job. However, we unfortunately had some ski accidents with seriously hurt knees. But as always with our skiing retreats the weather was better than the forecast had told us. We enjoyed the support that came from many people all over the world praying for us. Many thanks for that! We had the great privilege that the commander of our Austrian military-academy, Major General Norbert Sinn, spoke to us. This year we enjoyed some differences compared with previous Skiing Retreats. Firstly, we took Roman Catholic speakers on board, Major General Norbert Sinn and the young and very gifted chaplain Stephan Gugerel. The reasons for this were that Austria is mainly a Roman Catholic country, and we have to cooperate with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ in opening doors in the Austrian army for Christ and also some of our participants especially from Poland and Lithuania, are Roman Catholics. The second difference this year was that many of our younger participants espec i a l l y from the former communist countries were spi r i tual l y very interested and active. It was a great experience to recognise that and everyday many of the young participants joined our morning prayer time at 6:30am. When Rainer asked, who wanted to pray for the countries they came from, our young participants did it. Radu from Romania wrote: “Yes, I participated to the skiing retreat but only because I have convinced one of my friends to join me. He is an Orthodox Christian and had never been to a meeting of this kind. He was very sceptical at the beginning and he followed all the Bible quotations and confirmed them with his own Bible, and in one moment he exclaimed very surprised: "But it is the same! Then, what is it with all those fights?" “I never really skied before, and the schedule was quite full. So when I had a short break I tried to "heal my wounds". I must admit in the first days I fell like a kamikaze pilot, but the snow was quite soft. My impact on the programme was not an important one, but I was able to be near my friend all the time. I have met also Eduard Rosca [Moldova MCF President] and he had some good advice for us, and in our own language.”
Skiing report 2007
Our fourth skiing retreat took place on 5-11 March and as in
previous years was hosted by the Austrian Protestant Military
Chaplaincy in co-operation with Accts MMI. It was great to have
the opportunity to be back in the Austrian Army Mountain
Training area at Obertraun on the Dachstein- Massif. This year
the participants were from Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Poland, Slovakia and UK. Each morning we had Bible studies
and talks considering the fifth commandment, examples of
soldiers and officers in the Bible and also practical contemporary
aspects of being a Christian in the Armed Forces. In the afternoons we had our skiing adventure with beginners and advanced groups as in previous years. The instructors and leaders of the skiing groups were of top quality. In the evenings we had our special meetings where each national team had the opportunity to present their country and military Christian fellowships. One special evening was organized as a “Huettenabend”, full of family games, national songs and dances and ending with night skiing.
The specially joyful part of every meeting was singing and praying led by wonderful worship team (Hanka and Juraj Hub from the Czech Republic). During this week we experienced God’s presence, unity in Spirit, important teaching from His word and God’s grace in changing attitudes in many of us.
