Sabbath

Goodness, I love Sundays.  Especially the kind of Sunday I had yesterday.  I went to bed last night with a feeling of a day well spent and it was so refreshing.

I got up a bit before 9, and since it wasn't yet too hot, I ran a new route and loved it.  The perfect amount of incline, not too many cars, great distance.  I came back and cleaned up a bit and had lunch with my family before heading off to Vienna.

I wanted to try out a new church yesterday.  Last week, I tried one out that had been recommended to me by a fellow American.  I got there, sang the hymns, listened to the sermon, received communion with the congregation and chatted after the service.  I was grateful to have had some spiritual nourishment, but I wasn't sure this was the right place for me, so when I got home, I searched for more English speaking churches in Vienna (what on Earth did we do before Google???).

Sundays mean less frequent trains, so took an early afternoon train and arrived with an hour to kill.  As much as I hate to affirm the American stereotype when abroad, I made for McDonald's, ordered an iced chai (who knew McCafe was actually decent?) and settled down into a comfy chair to use their complimentary wifi.  I got some work done on my grad school research, comparing tuition prices (gag), locations, curriculums at each school.  It may not sound like a ton of fun to you, but it's really exciting for me these days.

I was so focused on my notes that I didn't leave with a very good spare time cushion.  I took the underground, got off at my stop and promptly got myself completely disoriented.  Thank goodness for all those years of German classes, right?  I asked an Austrian man for some help, got set straight and raced to number 12 Kagranerplatz.

Immediately I felt good about this place.  It felt familiar and as soon as we started singing, I was just happy.  There were people of all colors, ages, sizes--it just felt right.  The pastor got up and had my attention from the first sentence.  He's British, and I can't tell you how hard I was laughing inside as he mused about Jesus being a "jolly good chap" (no, I'm not kidding).  I think I had made up my mind there.  This was my new church.

After the service, I was introduced to a bunch of people around my age and they were all so nice and welcoming!  It came time that I needed to leave to make my train, though, so I travelled back to the train station with a new Romanian friend, Andrea.

On the underground ride, I found out she's also 23, she's half Hungarian, lived in Vienna for the last year and a half and will be here for quite a while longer.  She was just so sweet and has a very warm personality.  I'm excited to get to know her better and the others in the Young Adults Group this year.

Of course, the day ended with the USA losing the women's world cup to Japan, but it was still exciting to watch the game!

2 weeks down.  Here's to a fantastic 50 more!

Grace and peace,
Hilary