A Tale of Two Cities

I gave you pictures, but no details on my trip to Vienna. I'm in the midst of a crazy week, but in what little time I have, I'll try and give you a quick runthrough. Also, let me please apologize....I have gotten so many kind Facebook messages from friends at home in the past week, and I just haven't replied to any of them...life has been a whirlwhind since returning this weekend. If you have not gotten a reply, I promise you aren't the only one!

Vienna was amazing. This was the one free weekend for the interns, so we were allowed to travel on our own, using our own resources. Five of us chose to go to Vienna and stay with some other World Harvest missionaries, the Hunter family. Brad, Stacy and their wonderful children graciously let us all stay in their beautiful apartment, and served as our tour guides for the whole trip. Brad led us around Vienna as we prayed for different parts of the city, and it was amazing to see the passion he and his wife have for reaching this city.

My favorite time of prayer was an individual one, inside St. Stephan's Cathedral (Stephansdom). You can see this incredible building on my previous picture- it absolutely took my breath away, inside and out. It was magnificently ornate, enormous, full of stunning architecture and sculpture.....and somewhere in all that beauty, my heart was pierced. The glory of God was reflected in this place in a way that touched me deeply. In the midst of crowds of tourists, I wondered into a quiet prayer room inside the cathedral, filled with people on their knees in between stately wooden pews, bowing torwards the alter and the crucifix, crossing themselves after dipping their hands in water as they came in and out. I joined them on my knees for a few moments, soaking in the stillness and the beauty. I looked across the faces bathed in colored light as the sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows, wondering how many of them truly knew the love of the God reflected in the icons and the ceremonial ritual. My heart broke for the city, the way it has for Prague, knowing that these people have a deep thirst for love and transcendence that can only be satisfied with the living water of Jesus Christ.

Vienna is remarkably different from Prague, in ways that I'm not sure how to articulate. It seems a little more modern, more Western, more glamarous and wealthy, far more international, and much larger. Prague has a very Eastern European feel, heavily rooted in tradition and nationalistic Czech pride. It was good to see the differences, to take a step back from my time here, even if it was just for a weekend. It helped me to reflect on my time here and my thoughts about Prague, and to see some of the ways I've grown personally since arriving. Arriving in a new city, I felt excited to explore and find my way around, confident in navigating a metro system in yet anther language I don't speak....then I remembered the way I felt when I first set foot in Prague, helpless and confused, fearful and discouraged by my own incompetance. A mere month has transformed the way I look at myself and the world in so many small ways. I was excited to be walking in a new boldness, to feel independant and not helpless, to feel my fear replaced by a simple peace. God has shown Himself to be infinitely strong in my most crippling weaknesses.

The most striking thing I felt when I arrived in Vienna was the fact that I was not home. I was in another foreign culture, but I didn't know how the transportation system worked, I struggled to convert the currency in my head, I didn't know where to walk to down a street to find the best coffee shop or the closest grocery store, I couldn't even say basic phrases like "Excuse me" when I bumped into someone or "Thank you" to a server. I do know those things in Prague. Admittedly, pride in my level of city knowledge is like a child learning the alphabet and believing she has mastered Shakespeare......but it's something, no matter how small. I knew, with a sense of deep joy, that Prague was indeed my city. As our bus pulled back into Prague at the end of the weekend, my heart lept up as we zoomed past the familiar terra cotta rooftops.....I was back home. I walked into church that afternoon, out of the rain and the cold, warmed by the sight of people who have grown to feel like family. The benediction spoken out at the end of that service, adapted from Jeremiah 29, is still ringing in my ears:

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, to those He has called into Prague: Build yourselves houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Marry and have sons and daughters, increase in number there and do not decrease. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."

Amen.