Vienna Day Trip

February 20, 2012

Well this weekend was quite the adventure!  Saturday morning, we woke up at 4:30 am, caught the 5:20 bus, went to the train station, and asked for the cheapest round trip train tickets for a group of seven.  We didn’t know where we’d be going, so we all brought backpacks and food with us.  At first the guy was joking with us, and told us we could go 5 kilometers for 1 euro, 90 cents, and then he told us they had a deal for a group ticket to Vienna.  We each paid 10 euro each way, only 20 euro total, and onto the train we went!  On the way there, we sat in coach seats, in a little room with two benches. We passed through beautiful mountains on the way there, and watched the sun rise. Our group was: me, Stina, and Shelby (the three Americans), Tugba, Bendri, and Ozlam (the three Turks), and Toni (the lone Albanian).

When we got there, we found a map, and just started wandering around. The first place we went was to a palace. I can’t imagine living in a place like that! To imagine an actual family walking in the huge garden, and living in the massive palace, absolutely blew my mind. 

Then, we went to the city center, and stumbled upon all kinds of cool things! We went into a few different cathedrals. They were absolutely beautiful. I don’t really like the strong smell of inscents inside all of the Cathedrals, but it gives them a unifying smell. The details on the murals of the walls and the high ceilings were amazing. Our friends from Turkey are Muslims, and had a few questions about Christianity while we were in the cathedrals.  I got to talk to Tugba a lot about Christianity, and even had the opportunity to share the Gospel with her and share my testimony with her while we were eating lunch! It was such a blessing.

When we were walking out of the cathedral, she asked me if I had a Bible. I had mine in my backpack, so I went to pull it out and show her. She looked so confused when I went to hand it to her! “Can I touch it?” she asked. I was so confused by her question, “Of course you can touch it!” and I handed it to her.  She explained to me that with the Qur’an, there are specific rules about touching the Holy Book. You have to wash your hands, arms, hair, face, neck, ears, and feet, and be clean before you can touch it. Also, you have to hold it close to your heart. It isn’t allowed to go below your waist, so if you’re reading it you must prop it up on something to hold it above your waist. She was used to these rules, so when I just pulled my Bible out of my backpack and went to hand it to her, she couldn’t believe it! It looks worn, with a few pages folded over, verses underlined, and writing in the margins. Definitely different than what she was used to!  It was a funny scene though  J

She explained to me a lot of the Muslim beliefs, and answered a lot of my questions. It is definitely hard to communicate about “deep” topics and spiritual discussions with the language barrier between us. It is hard to explain words like redeem, savior, and grace, and is very hard to explain concepts such as the Trinity.  On the train ride home, she asked to read my Bible again, and we were talking about the similarities between the Bible and the Qur’an. We were both surprised to discover how many Old Testament stories are the same in the Qur’an. Sometimes, Tugba wouldn’t know what the English word meant, but she would know the story because it is the same in the Qur’an. For example, she didn’t know what the word “rib” meant in English just by hearing it, but because the story of woman being made from the rib of a man is the same in the Qur’an, she pointed to her rib, and asked if that was what the word meant. It was pretty neat.

I was listening to my iPod, and she asked me what kind of music I liked. I played the song for her that I happened to be listening to, which was “Everlasting God,” by Seventh Day Slumber, and she said she really liked it.  It was very encouraging!

During the afternoon in Vienna, we ate lunch outside a cathedral, looked at the government buildings, and amazing architecture. There were many shops and cute restaurants and cafes. There were horse drawn carriage rides throughout the city, and the city looked so old with horses and ancient castles in the distance! We also saw a statue of Mozart, and a music note created in the grass.  There was also a little area that had ancient Roman ruins inside it. There were pieces of brick buildings, that have been preserved and were built thousands of years ago. Pretty crazy.

We came home and went to bed, exhausted from the day’s adventures!  Sunday afternoon, we watched a Christian church service online. It was the second week that we have done this, and we had several other people join us in watching it, which was very encouraging! The pastor is a guy named Andy Stanley, with a church in Atlanta, and it was very good. He talked about the “Comparison Trap,” and the way that we compare ourselves to other people or to a certain standard in everything we do. He also talked about the way that a perfect parent would never compare their child to other children around them, they love that child with a love that isn’t based on their performance against the other kids. This is the way God loves us- He would never compare us to others, and size us up against other people, to see how we are doing. I found a lot of comfort in that!

Tugba couldn’t believe the guitars and drums and contemporary worship music during the church service. In Islam, they aren’t allowed to use instruments, and don’t sing together as a part of their service. She kept saying that it was like a festival! We were explaining that the lyrics of the songs sing praise to God, but they were still a little bit confused by the concept I think. Idre, our friend from Albania, was also very confused by the singing! They kept asking about it.

A man was baptized during the service, and this took a long time to try to explain! It was a great opportunity to share the Gospel with them though, why the man wanted to express to the public that He has understood the love of Jesus Christ and has committed His life to following Him. The process of being dunked under the water in front of hundreds of people was definitely hard to explain though, especially with the language barrier! 

We talked about the sermon together afterward, and Bendri told me that it was very similar to Muslim talks, besides the emphasis on Jesus. They do believe in Jesus though, but that He was a prophet, not the Son of God. He told me that watching the Christian church service strengthened his Muslim beliefs. I’m not sure exactly, but I love hearing about what they think! I went to dinner with my three Turkish friends last night, and we had a great time. They are seriously hilarious! On the walk home, it started to lightly rain/snow, and Tugba put her head scarf (hijab) on. She hadn’t worn it in front of me before, and she looked so different when she had it on for some reason. She is a beautiful girl! I put my hood on, and asked how I looked with it pulled close to my face, asked if I could pull off the look… it was pretty funny, we were both cracking up.  I am so thankful to have met so many people from so many places, and that I have the opportunity to understand more of what it is like to live in cultures so different from mine.  I am praying that God continues to use me in the lives of the people here!