Day 24 - Remember the Sabbath

The Jesu Christi Kirche of Latter Day Saints

After all the running around of the last few days I needed to rest.  I did very little sight seeing today but I did go to church.  Two of my classmates, Leslie and Emily, allowed he to join them at the Jesu Christi Kirche of Latter Day Saints.  That's right - the Mormons.

This morning glory greeted me
at the bus stop.

This is the view from the bus stop.
It was just a pretty morning

Having attended a few services at the LDS church at home, I was curious how different it would be here.  The truth is it was both very different and not different at all.  The format for the service was exactly the same as I expected, although there were some very nervous speakers today.  For those of you who are not aware, the LDS church is a lay ministry.  What that means is that there are no priests or clergy.  Instead the members of the congregation are occasionally called to speak or give testament.  The first woman to speak today had only recently joined the church.  She said she had been baptized in the faith only a few weeks ago.  She was from Nepal and her English, while better than my German, was still a work in progress.

Incidentally, the different stakes are not organized geographically here but by language.  At least that is what I was able to glean from conversations.  If my information is incorrect and someone else knows better, please let me know.

Another very nervous member of the congregation was the bishop.  He had only been called to service recently and this was in fact his first meeting as bishop.  He made a few jokes about it to try and cover his nervousness.

My classmates getting their feet wet in the Danube

I enjoyed the service but what struck me as unusual was the ethnic diversity within the congregation.  Vienna is a largely white population with some middle eastern thrown in for good measure.  The congregation, however, was far more ethnically diverse than the city, and in fact probably the most ethnically diverse population of any church I've seen anywhere.  It was really cool to see all of these people, skin tones from light peach to dark brown, finding support together.  It was a great way to start the day.

I gotta find out what this is

Looking down the Danube

After church I pretty much wasted the day.  Most of Vienna is closed on Sunday anyway.  I rested, napped, read, strolled and eventually ended up having dinner with some of my colleagues.  We ate at a Greek restaurant on the Danube.  It was a little over priced, and I forgot to take a picture, but the conversation was pretty good.  The bad news - I didn't have any Torte today.  I guess I'll have to have two slices tomorrow.