by E S | Sep 22, 2016 | Director's Blog
If you haven’t been at the school lately, please stop by and take a peek at our newly-completed playground. Marc Preusse, our facilities manager, did a great job of supervising this extensive project. And now our elementary kids and PE students have numerous places to play, exercise, and enjoy the amazing bodies that God has created us with. If you stop by you’ll be sure to here shear excitement as the children scream with utter joy.
When I heard them, it reminded me of a video that I first watched several years ago. You can find it on YouTube at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjRTBQcf-uc. It is 23 minutes long, so if you only have time to watch a small segment of it, watch it starting at
16:00 minutes. The video shows the story of a missionary family, Mark and Gloria Zook, that dedicated their lives to translating the Gospel into the language of the Mouk tribe in Papua, New Guinea. After they faithfully shared God’s story starting with the Old Testament and then finally reaching the life of Christ, almost the entire Mouk tribe accepted their message as true.
So how do the kids’ exclamations of joy fit in with the video of the Mouk peoples? When the Mouk people realized that God gave His only Son, Jesus, to die in their place as a Sacrificial Lamb, they could not contain their joy. They began to share with everyone that they believed that He had died for their sins. As the excitement grew, they danced and laughed and sang for two and half hours! They shouted “Ee-Taow” which means “It is true! It is good! It is very true!”
Because of His Faithfulness,
Sharon Brobst, Ed.D.
Director
by E S | Sep 16, 2016 | Director's Blog
Last night my week made a major shift in direction. I developed an awful toothache that made the whole side of my face swell up. For me, that is the absolute worst thing that could happen, as I am extremely scared of dentists. Well, there I was now living in Vienna, not having a dentist, and trying to find someone that would take me without an appointment on a Friday.
As I write this, I am sitting with my face numb and swollen, not being able to feel that side of my mouth. Yes, God got me into a dentist this morning that was well known by the teachers here at school because someone “happened” to cancel their appointment. I don’t believe that was an accident. God had my day all planned out for me.
I don’t know why I get so worked up over something as small as a tooth. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 not to worry about our earthly needs, for God knows what we need and cares about each of us. In Luke 2 we are reminded again that even the very hairs of our head are numbered. God knew that I’d need to submit to the drill today, and he even chose the exact dentist that I’d wind up seeing. I didn’t even run after she said the dreaded words, “root canal!”
I pray that I will continue to grow in my faith through this experience. After all these years of seeing God’s faithfulness to me over and over, I still panic over a tooth. I am sure glad that God is patient with me and truly cares about my every need – even one tooth. Maybe you can learn something from my experience and continue to grow in how you trust Him with the day to day events that sometimes rock our world.
Because of His Faithfulness,
Sharon Brobst, Ed.D.
Director
by E S | Sep 9, 2016 | Director's Blog
ICSV’s website was due for an updated look, so we formed a committee to check out our options and to choose a new theme. Over the last few months, Greg Brobst has been working on the redesign, and we are so excited to announce that we have now gone live. We especially wanted to highlight some of the things that make ICSV unique, so we chose “international, quality, caring, and character-building” to organize the content on our elementary, middle school, high school, and IB pages. We plan to continue to add new information and to update pictures now that the site has been launched. Please go to www.icsv.at and enjoy the new experience.
You have done an amazing job of spreading the word about ICSV. So good, in fact, that we now have a waiting list in several grades. Having a waiting list is one of the best things that can happen to a school. Once the message gets out that ICSV is in great demand, more and more families will become interested in finding out about our school. Today we have 244 students enrolled in our programs.
As I write this, the students in grades six through twelve are out on class trips. On Wednesday morning, there was excitement all around as parents congregated to wave goodbye to their students and as the kids eagerly boarded their early-morning buses. How privileged we are to live in a country where class trips of this type are commonplace, so there are numerous locations that can accommodate and provide wonderful learning experiences for our students. We will be highlighting each of the trips when they return.
Thank you, all, for your prayers and support of ICSV. Our new playground area is still under construction, so continue to pray for a quick completion of this project. A1 has installed the conduit that is now ready to receive our new fiber optic cable. Please pray that we will continue to make progress toward increased internet capabilities here at school.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Because of His Faithfulness,
Sharon Brobst, Ed.D.
Director
by E S | Sep 2, 2016 | Director's Blog
When I arrived at ICSV last year, God immediately put it on my heart that we should become a leader among other Christian schools. We have been blessed with a long history of God’s faithfulness and a strong staff and faculty with both experience and a wealth of knowledge that would benefit others. This vision for ICSV’s place in the international community has become a reality.
As one of the first Christian schools to adopt the IB Diploma Programme, we have begun to be a resource to other Christian schools that are looking into IB as an option. As a member of the Schulamt, I have been invited to visit two small Christian schools in Austria that are in need of encouragement and consultation. Just last week Christine Sipos, our third grade teacher, and I were invited to speak at an educational conference sponsored by the Schulamt. I spoke about the philosophy of Christian school education and biblical integration. Christine shared about using Whole Brain Teaching and how it helps with classroom management. Teachers and administrators asked us for copies of our presentations and posed numerous questions about how they could make changes in their own schools and classrooms. Just this week I had the privilege of addressing the elementary staff at Mayflower Christian Academy here in Vienna. They have been a wonderful partner to us, helping us in our transition last year to receive recognition by the Stadtschulrat. We were able to give back by bringing words of support for their ministry, as we partner together to meet the needs of the international community here in Vienna.
Just as God is using ICSV to reach out to other Christian schools, so we desire to teach our students to use their experiences and giftings to serve those around them. Remember our theme this year: Godly Ambition – Glorify God; Serve Others. We have been given so much. I pray that we will share out of our abundance with others.
Because of His Faithfulness,
Sharon Brobst, Ed.D.
Director
