Guten Tag!!
First full week in Vienna is finished, and I’m not sure Billy Joel has it right – Vienna waits for no man, especially not the public transportation. But, the craziness of getting around Vienna with my companion who has also never been here before has led to two incredible miracles this week!
The first one was Saturday afternoon. We were headed to the Stake Center about 40 minutes away to watch the morning session of conference at 6pm. On the way we needed to get dinner, and my comp vaguely remembered a cheap Italian restaurant near the SC that another missionary had pointed out. So, we got off the tram a stop early in hopes she would recognize it when we walked past. After lots of wandering in the snow and finding Italian restaurants outside our budget, we decided we would just go to a supermarket. On our way to one nearby, we changed our minds again to a different market and headed a different direction where we quickly came upon a cheap Italian restaurant! It had the menu on the outside, and although it was dark, we watched someone walk in so we knew it was open. We went in and ordered, getting our pizzas back in record time. We noticed the owner (who was the man who walked in and took our orders) didn’t really speak German so we asked where he was from. This prompted a great conversation where he shared things he said he had never told anyone and we were able to share a lot about what we do. It ended with giving a Book of Mormon and exchanging contact information, we are very excited about this!! Then we finished the walk to the Stake Center, eventually passing by the actual cheap Italian restaurant we had meant to go to.
The second one was Monday evening on the way home from Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults in our Stake. It was late, and we didn’t really know how to get home – relying solely on Google maps. But we walked to a tram stop and the one we were supposed to get on, drove right past! So now we had to wait 10 minutes in the cold for the next one. We finally got on and rode to the end of the line. During this ride, we met a man with his young son from Ukraine and we were able to give him our contact information (which he stayed on the tram 2 stops past the one he was meant to get off for since we were struggling to find cards with our number, so he must have thought it was important). We are really hoping he messages us. But then we stayed on the train until our stop, Nußdorf, which we quickly realized was NOT Nußdorfer Straße, the stop we often use. We went about 30 minutes in the wrong direction and had to get right back on the same tram and go back to practically where we got on. We pretty much doubled our time getting home, but that was literally where Google Maps had led us.
So, I was definitely able to see the hand of God helping us to find and talk to these two people and I am super excited to keep going forward, hopefully with them!
Liebe Grüße! Sister Tripp
Liesing, Vienna
Cathedral (Dom) Museum
Empress Elizabeth of Austria (museum)
Sister Halterman
tacos
gelato
amusement park
pizza at the church
snowing
train station