There's a Stirring

Once again, I must apologize for my belated post, but I find it hard to get on the computer while I am in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Since my last post I have been to Mauthausen Concentration Camp and Graz, Austria. Both places were utterly inspiring, and I will tell you a little bit about each of them. I will start with my experience at Mauthausen.

Mauthausen Concentration Camp was nestled in the beautiful countryside of Austria, and it is hard to believe that so many awful things happened there. We admired the countryside and then were allowed to enter one of the buildings. We began our tour by watching a short documentary about the camp; the film was relatively emotionless until about the last ten or fifteen minutes. It then showed amateur videos filmed by the American soldiers who liberated the camp; the videos were gruesome and horrific. When the film ended, the whole room was in silence. I looked around to the faces of my classmates, and each of them exhibited the same expression as mine: a look of shock and sadness. After the film we were led to a corner of grass where we were asked to sit down; our tour guide began by telling us a short history of the camp, and then he asked us to follow him to the quarry. The quarry was where many of the prisoners worked; they were forced to carry huge rocks up and down a steep hill (now there are steep stairs that are pictured above). Many of the workers died of exhaustion, and those who did not die from the work were pushed off a steep cliff by their fellow workers. They stood in a line and those in front were pushed off the cliff by those behind them; this continued until the workers on the cliff for that day were all gone. Those who were unlucky enough to survive the fall drowned in the water beneath the jagged cliff. We stood looking up at the cliff as our tour guide told us this, and I could not imagine such horrors happening in this seemingly peaceful place. After our tour of the quarry we entered the actual camp; the camp was surrounded by stone and barbed wire. We toured the tiny barracks of the prisoners, and then we saw the gas chamber and crematoriums. It was eerily silent as we walked through these various rooms. Mauthausen was one of the few concentration camps with a gas chamber (gas chambers were usually reserved for the extermination camps). There was also a dissection table on display; this table was used for the removal of tattoos and gold teeth. The dissection room made me queasy, so I did not spend much time in there. Besides the gruesome parts of the camp, there were also many beautiful memorials. It is comforting to know that the victims of the Holocaust will be remembered forever. It is important to remember the Holocaust so that we can ensure that something similar will never happen. As for the victims...I will honor them always. Ich vergesse nicht.

The past two weekends I have been lucky enough to travel to Graz, Austria. The first weekend, a group of 6 of us travelled the 2 1/2 hours to Graz in a train compartment that reminded us of the Hogwarts Express. We spent some of the ride quoting the Harry Potter movies in horrible British accents and the rest of the ride attempting to sleep. When we arrived at the train station in Graz we spent several frightening moments trying to locate the preacher of the church in Graz. He had promised to pick us up and take us to where we would be staying. After a few moments of us looking around in confusion, we finally found Thomas and jumped on a streetcar. We arrived at the church building (which was actually an apartment building), threw our stuff down and took off for a tour of Graz. Thomas showed us all over the city of Graz, bought us an amazing lunch and then took us back to the church building. We were absolutely exhausted. When then spent several hours meeting some of the church members and practiced singing some German worship songs. After singing practice we ate dinner that had been prepared by one of the Nigerian brothers at the church. We spent the rest of the night fellowshipping and bonding with several of the members. The next day we spent hours singing, and then that night we attended the "Lange Nacht der Museum." That night all the museums stayed open until one in the morning. We visited the armory museum, the modern art museum and the photo archives; that night was such an amazing night. The next morning we attended church and performed some of our songs. The church is made up of mostly Austrians and Nigerians. The service was spoken in German and English, and the Nigerian brothers sang several songs in their own language. The service was so inspiring, and afterwards we ate a delicious meal prepared by Thomas' wife, Petra. After lunch we got momentarily lost (which may have been my fault), and then made our way home. It was an incredible weekend.

                                       

The second weekend in Graz had several bumps, but it turned out alright. First, 6 new people were added to our trip and Thomas had to arrange for extra places for them to sleep. Second, it was extremely cold and rainy in Graz. One of our main purposes for being in Graz was to sing as a choir in the streets of Graz and invite people to the church. Despite the freezing rain, we went out in the streets and sang anyway. Our whole weekend revolved around singing in the streets. We sang German songs and English ones, and all the flyers were given out. We sang to people about the love of God, and hopefully some of them will respond to the invitation. Even though we were miserable in the cold rain, we were still all happy that we were helping do God's work. That Sunday, we all gathered together for a multicultural church service. We sang English, German and Nigerian songs. Lessons were also delivered by Nigerian, Ukrainian, Greek and Austrian members of the church. I was delighted to see that God's children are all different shapes, sizes, colors and nationalities. Thomas even explained that God built a church with many bricks. The bricks are large and small, multi-colored and different in every way, but God still loves his church. I was really inspired by that lesson. After church we all ate a meal composed of foods from Ukraine, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, America (we made chocolate chip cookies), Nigeria, Vietnam, Ghana and many other places. The meal was delicious! I ate too much while I was there. The multi-cultural church service was truly inspiring, and I could see God's love there. The singing in Graz was the first outreach the church had done since Thomas became preacher, and I'm glad I was able to participate in it. Even though no one invited from the streets showed up, I know we still made an impact. We made all of the Graz church members extremely happy and we helped them reach out to the community for the first time in over 20 years. They will always remember us and we will always remember them. And God's love will always stay with us.

Thank you once again for reading my blog, and I hope you enjoyed it. In a few days I will be traveling to Scandinavia, so I would appreciate many prayers for our safety. I hope to blog again soon. Bis spater!

Love,
Tessa

Sing and Be Happy

Before I begin weaving the wonderful story of my travels, I must apologize for my belated post. I have been meaning to post, yet I have been seduced by the sights and sounds of Europe. So now that you finally have me here typing, I shall tell you about what I have done these few weeks in Europe.

After an extremely long flight in which I watched movies, listened to music and cursed whoever designed a plane with minimal legroom, my group arrived in London. I was instantly in love with the city, and I wanted to see every sight that I could. After one day, I learned that trying to see as much as possible is extremely miserable. My feet were swollen, my eyes were drooping without my consent and my stomach was in knots. I was not the only one experiencing jet lag and sickness, though. Everyone was worn out, sick and grumpy as we spent every day sightseeing and exploring. In our hostile, eight girls shared one bathroom and several arguments ensued. Despite the fact that we felt miserable, we saw some pretty amazing sights in London. We saw Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Chinatown, the National Gallery, the British Library, the British Museum, the Tower of London, Abbey Road, Platform 9 3/4 and many more. I even tried fish and chips! It was surprisingly delicious. My favorite place was probably the British Museum because it had such amazing artifacts. My favorite part of London was seeing Les Miserables. It made me laugh, cry and sing along. I'm fairly sure that it is my new favorite musical. The biggest disappointment was Platform 9 3/4 because it was tiny and outside of the actual train station. The week we spent in London now seems like a blur because we did so many things in such a short time.

After the whirlwind week in London, we flew to Vienna in a plane that had even less legroom...

As we drove to our hotel in Vienna, I was hesitant about the city. But now I am in love with the city. London was so fast-paced and hectic, but everyone in Vienna stops to enjoy life around them. Anyway, we arrived at the hotel and started making ourselves at home. My room (shared with Jenny and Hannah) was affectionately named "The Three Broomsticks" because of good food and good company. We began our time in Vienna with classes everyday and sightseeing. So far we have seen the Botanical Gardens, Karlskirche, the Art History Museum, the Mozart Memorial, Schonbrunn Palace, Stephansdom, the Opera House, the Austrian Alps and many more places. We recently got back from the Alps, and I already miss the fresh air and lovely view; I do not, however, miss the demon bee that stung me on the finger as I was minding my own business.

Now that we are back from the retreat in the Alps, we are almost done with our German language and Austrian culture class, and I am quite thankful for that because we have been loaded with homework for several weeks, but I am not excited for the upcoming tests. Enough about homework...I'm in Vienna! Everyday I try to explore the area around the hotel and experience real life in Vienna. I walk to the bakery or the grocery store and attempt to say everything in German. I'm fairly good with the language, but sometimes I get an annoyed glance or frustrated sigh from a local Austrian. I would also like to mention that if you ever go to a bakery in Vienna be prepared to spend money. Everything looks delicious, and you'll be tempted to buy every pastry in sight; the same goes for gelatto. As my time in Vienna continues, I'm falling even more in love with the city. Tomorrow we are going to Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and I am preparing myself for a day filled with history and grief for what happened during the Holocaust. This weekend will also be my first free travel weekend; I will be doing mission work in Graz, Austria. I'm quite excited because I get to explore the city of Graz and teach the locals how to sing. Hopefully, I will be able to update this blog weekly and tell more about my various travels and experiences. Bis spater!

-Tessa