A Little More Like Falling in Love
As my Swedish friend, Mattias, would say, "I LOVE MY LIFE!"
I have been back in Europe for almost 2 months already. After the difficulties of my first year, I was apprehesive about returning, but as mentioned in my last post, I also kept sensing God saying to me, "It's gonna be different this time. It's gonna be different." And My WORD, it really has been! Europe welcomed me "home" with open arms.
It's been quite the busy, beautiful spring. Below I broke up the main goings-on for you by category and gave you a small synopsis of each. One day soon, I would love to share the stories with you in more detail. =D Enjoy!
DER DEUTSCHKURS!
A lot of my time this past month went into learning the local language: Austrian German. I completed the first level of an intensive, accelerated course designed to teach foreigners the language within 4-6 months. Often more than half my work day was just spent studying German. We learned both by classical methods and also by immersion- almost everything the teacher said to us was in German. It's a tricky way to learn, but because of it, I can understand a lot of what I hear after just one month, and that is very exciting!
I had prayed that my German course would not just be about the language, but would be a chance to share Christ as well. My classmates found out very early on that I'm here because I work in Christian ministry, and it opened the door to several amazing conversations where they asked of a lot questions about my faith. =D
FINALLY: NORWAY!
I knocked two goals off the list when I took a short 12-day trip to Norway at end of April. First I met up with a like-minded, awaken-Europe YWAM ministry called Mission:Europe that I've been trying to meet with for ages. We share the same heart for Europe, and every time I spoke to members of that team last year, I got this electric feeling inside, and knew that somehow we were connected. I spent an amazing 5 days with them, seeing what they do and how they live, praying and talking with them about how we might be connected, and analyzing the state of Europe. I also had the opportunity to visit my old friends and "family" at my primary YWAM campus in Norway- Grimerud- for 5 days, while at the same time, finally paying YWAM Norway back all the money I owed them from the previous year. I am officially Debt Free!
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
There has been some big stuff going down here in Austria. First, we had 8 days of intense, 24/7 prayer and outreach during the week of an all-Europe song contest called Eurovision (reminds me of American Idol) for which people from every country packed into Vienna to watch. I got to be a part of lots of prayer and two amazing evenings of evangelism that reminded me just how much I actually love it. I had a really cool, very organic conversation in particular with a young man from Western Austria who was full of questions about faith and why I do what I do.
JESUS MARCH #2- LINZ, AUSTRIA!
Last September, my life in Vienna began with a massive event called "The Jesus March". !2,000 people gathered in the center of Vienna to be bold, united, and celebratory about their faith. Round two came just recently. 7,000 believers in Austria gathered in a much smaller city called Linz for another Jesus March and spent the whole rest of the day worshipping and praying in the city center. I was delighted to get to be part of the march and worship, and to get to do a little advertising for YWAM Austria and our upcoming DTS at our booth.
FALLING IN LOVE WITH AUSTRIA
I prayed when I was returning here 2 months ago that God would give me personal reasons to stay. To leave home and live here, I need more than just a calling. Faithful that he is, I have really begun falling in love with this country, this beautiful city. By far, the best non-work-related thing about my life is the friends I've made since coming back. I am part of a very welcoming, fun, and mentally-challenging Bible study, and a few of my roommates have become my close friends. Beyond that, Vienna in the springtime is utterly Romantic! I feel like I live in a Disney movie surrounded by the baroque-era architecture, green parks, and charictaristic classical music. How could God spoil me so much?
About a month ago, I joined half the city in a mass-exodus to a classical concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Which was held on the grounds of a palace. During the last song, a third of the audience spontaneously began dancing the Waltz- which of course they all know because it was invented here- and then fireworks went off. What??! <3
This place is magical to me. The beauty and glamour veils a people deeply lonely and lost, but it is a beautiful people just the same, and now I can say they are most definitely winning my heart!
