In March we went for a week on a mission in Pischelsdorf, a little town in the province of Steiermark. The local parish had asked the academy to bring some new inspiration to the parish life. Together with Austrian and German members of the Emmanuel community we tried to do that. The parish mission was our most intensive activity. From early in the morning till late in the evening we were active. In the morning we started with school class visits. We played sketches and sang songs with the small children. That was really a great thing to do. I got amazed by these Austrian kids. One time I had to open the hour and I said 'Good Morning'. To my amazement these kids all stood up and then said 'good morning' back! Such a thing is unthinkable in The Netherlands. With the older kids we had discussions and we also gave testimony about the experience we had with God.
In the evening there were two days when we visited the homes of people. These people had invited us to talk with them about faith. For this evening they had also invited family member or friends into their houses. On other evenings there were discussion evenings in local bars or wine houses. The idea is: If the people don't come to the church, the church will come to the people. These evenings were very well attended. All places were totally packed.
On thursday evening there was a youth event in the local youth club. There was a band playing and we played a sketch. The most important evening however was on friday. There was an evening of compassion in the church. People were invited at that evening to renew their faith in God. They could literally make a step towards God. They could get a blessing from a priest, there was an opportunity for confession that evening, but they could also write down a prayer or something else on a note and drop it into a box in front of the altar.
For me it was the end of the mission on friday evening. I had gotten very sick that evening. It had been very cold in Pischelsdorf that whole week and the cold really got on my lungs. On friday evening I got a high fever, so I had to stay in bed on saturday and sunday. My guest family really took good care of me fortunately. For that week I stayed with the Wachmann family. They own a wellness farm near Pischelsdorf so it was sort of the right place to get sick.
Pischelsdorf main
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