A Big Step Forward

Last Sunday, Nate took a big step forward in his language accomplishments and role at the church. He served as the "moderator" of the Sunday morning worship service, i.e. the point person who provides introductions and transitions. He welcomed everybody, facilitated times of prayer, read announcements, and most importantly, gave a 5-minute devotional. This was a HUGE accomplishment for him in regards to his progress in German. Although he spent a lot of time preparing his remarks, it also included quite a bit of extemporaneous speaking, and he did a great job. To be able to speak in front of a crowd that much is a great milestone to reach and demonstrates his comfort in and grasp of the language. I really enjoyed seeing him up there and was proud of him for being able to fill this important role at church, after only being here for less than 2 years.

His devotional thoughts were also good, though I thought I would share them with you. Here is a rough translation of the devotional he shared with the congregation:

"I have just begun reading a book* about failure. Normally, we think that we should try to avoid failure at all costs, but this author sees it the other way around. She suggests that it is only through failure that we truly learn. When we accomplish things successfully, the list of things that we do is relatively short and we are not given the chance to grow.

The more I think about this idea, the more it seems true to me. When one thinks about the how he learns something, it is always through trying and failing. This makes me think about our daughter, Ellie, and how many things she needs to learn and find out on her own. But no one believes that failure is pleasant. No one wakes up and thinks, "today, I'm going to try to make mistakes as much as I can!" Of course not!

Last week, I was in the States to attend a conference and this idea was constantly on my mind. The head of our organization posed a question during one of our sessions about failure. He said that the gospel gives us a model for how we should understand failure. And this indeed depends on our beliefs about the idea, that our relationship with God is broken and that we could never pleasure God through our own strength and ability. We need to accept failure, in order to truly understand the gospel and to accept the grace of God. We must be honest with ourselves and God about our weaknesses. We are saved through grace and not through our own striving. "

*Book credit: The Upside of Down by Megan McArdle

2014 Church Retreat

We just returned from a 4-day retreat with our church at a hostel an hour outside of Vienna. It was a great weekend of worship, quality time, game playing, eating, chatting and listening to a great guest speaker.

What was most encouraging for Nate and I was thinking back on the same retreat last year and how different our experience was this time around. Last year, we were exhausted from speaking German for 4 days straight (and I was exhausted from being early in my pregnancy!). We didn't know very many people, so it was a lot of introductory conversations. We could barely follow along with what the speaker was sharing, and we took naps during all of the breaks!

This year, however, was totally different. Ellie was with us, so I ended up being a bit distracted by caring for her. But aside from that, we got so much more out of the content that the speaker shared. Speaking German for 4 days was basically a non-event for us both - it's not longer very exhausting or taxing to communicate in our new language. Nate helped lead worship by playing guitar for half of the group sessions. We were able to deepen relationships with people we already know, as well as meet some new people. Many people enjoyed seeing Ellie and we also took her for her first swim in a swimming pool. Nate was introduced to the church as the new intern, and he got up and spoke for 5 minutes about his background and his goals and hopes for his time serving in the church! (A year ago, this would have been a huge challenge.) It was an all-around great weekend, and we're so thankful we could attend.

Here are some photo highlights from our time:

Worship time and hearing our speaker

Nate's discussion group, with Ellie as a participant

Nate helping to lead worship

Ellie's first time in a swimming pool

Enjoying the water

Nate running from a cow on our group hike

Ellie's Dedication

This morning, we dedicated  Ellie during the church service. It was a very moving ceremony for us to experience, bringing her before our church community here and asking for their and God's help in raising her and modeling Christ to her. We prayed that she would one day come to know Jesus personally and then share his message with the World. We acknowledged that we are very imperfect parents who will (and already have) make a lot of mistakes. We thanked God for the gift of Ellie and the gift of His grace that we depend on.

Here are a few photos from this morning:

Being prayed for by Dieter, representing the church body.

We planned the dedication for when Nate's parents were here visiting. It was so special for them to participate!

Ellie was worn out afterwards and took a nap.

Out to lunch afterwards to celebrate.

Church Announcement (Hear us speak German!)

At the end of every church service at our church here, there is a time where people get up and share prayer requests, praises or thoughts on what God is teaching them. So on the 14th of July, we got up in front of the church and shared our exciting news about being pregnant. It was the first time for both of us speaking German in front of such a large group (probably about 75 people), so we were a bit nervous and our German wasn't perfect. But it was a great accomplishment and it was fun to share the news with our church community.

Here is the video of our announcement, with English subtitles. Enjoy!

A Typical Sunday

As I was sitting in church this morning, I felt so thankful for our community here in Vienna where we now feel comfortable and welcomed. And I also realized that our experience on a Sunday morning is a bit different that what church used to look like for us in the States. So I thought I would share those things!

Here are some things about our church in Vienna that are a bit different that our U.S. church experience...

1. Relaxed pace. Sunday services are usually somewhere between 1.5 - 2 hours long and the length is determined by what needs to happen on a typical Sunday. If there is more going on, then the service goes longer. This has been a refreshing change for me. Because we're a small church and have only one service each Sunday, there's no need to worry about how long the service goes. It ends when it ends!

2. Group prayer. After a few songs at the beginning of the service, we always have an open group prayer time. It's an open-ended time where anyone can pray aloud. Since the room isn't very big, it's easy to hear everyone share. The purpose of this time is not designed to lift up specific prayer requests, but to praise God for who he is and what He's done for us.

3. Birthdays.  Every week, the people who have birthdays that week are announced and a special verse is chosen for the group to encourage and bless them.

4. Sharing time. At the end of the service, there is an open mic and anyone is welcome to come up and share. People often share prayer requests with everyone or updates on previous requests. This is also a time to share what God's been teaching someone or some specific thoughts based on that day's sermon.

5. Lots of music. I'm pretty sure we sing at least 6 songs each week, which is more than I remember singing in most churches in the States. They are scattered throughout the service time.

6. Simultaneous translation in two languages. We have two unique groups of people in our church who benefit from translation. Up at the front right side of the room, there is a group of hearing impaired church attenders and a translator who translated the entire service for them into sign language. It's so fun to watch! We also have several Romanian families in the church and there is usually a young person in the church (fluent in German and Romanian) who translated the service into a microphone. The Romanians who need translation listen to the Romanian version with headphones.

7. Social time. Austria is a very relational and social culture. They love spending time chatting and are laid back about how long this time lasts. After the service, most people stay for at least an hour or more to chat and socialize with other people in the church community.

8. Pot-luck lunches. Periodically (about once a quarter), we have a big lunch after church where everyone brings something to share. And of course, there is always tons of food and desserts to go around. This lasts at least 2, maybe 3 hours. In my experience, Austrian culture is a bit less schedule-oriented than the U.S., especially when it comes to social time, so these lunches can last for as long as people will stay!

I've really grown to love these aspects of our church experience here and as we become more and more comfortable with the language, I feel able to worship more and more on Sunday morning. This is a huge blessing and a feeling I had looked forward to for awhile. God truly blessed us when he led us to this church!

Church Retreat

May 30 - June 2, we traveled south to attend our church's annual retreat. It is a longstanding tradition in many of the evangelical churches here to have an annual retreat where the whole church is invited. It's a wonderful opportunity to go deeper in relationships, build community, and be challenged together by a speaker. It was a wonderful four days, filled with sermons, worship, game playing, meal times together, hiking, and lots of rest in between!

It was our longest experience in German to date and, therefore, quite exhausting for us. But a huge blessing, as well! It helped us to feel more a part of the church community and to meet many new people. And of course, it was a wonderful opportunity to practice German. We look forward to continuing these relationships throughout the year!

Breakfast time with new friends

Mealtime discussions

Worship time

Our speaker, Tom Hoppel, was also a talented musician!

As soon as the rain stopped, we ventured out for a hike!

Chatting in the coffee area of the hostel

Hiking

Scenic overlook

This photo is hilarious. We were obviously not ready to be photographed!