My trip to Vienna, and why I went.

Hello,

Sorry I wasn't able to blog in Austria. I only went to the internet cafe once while I was there for about 15 minutes. I would like to tell you all about in person, which would be much better, but I'll do my best to give a good account of what happened.

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First, I would like to tell you why we went, and more specifically why I went. The main purpose of our trip was to tell people about Jesus Christ. Let me explain why I think it is necessary to do so. When I was 17 or 18, I was in pretty rough shape. I was alone and bitter and full of hatred. I hated people for very little reason and was very judgmental. Looking back, I'm pretty ashamed of what I was, because I was a "Christian" at that point in my life, and so I'm pretty sure that's what people I knew then thought of Christians-- judgmental and hateful. I hit a low point sometime in September or October of my senior year of high school and one night in room before I went to bed I prayed to God and told Him I needed Him and that I was giving my life to Him. He responded in a way I had never experienced before. In the next few days and weeks I stopped hating people. My bitterness was gone because I saw the love of Jesus Christ, who I realized for the first time is alive and loves me. I learned to not be so judgmental and learned to love them instead. That it what being a Christian is. Loving people. I think people who know me best can see the difference in my life after that point. Some things about me are completely different now than how I was before Jesus Christ changed my life. This in no way means I haven't screwed up. I have done terrible things and messed up time and time again since then. I have hurt people I love, but He loves me no matter what I do (which is how I strive to love all of you, no matter what). This is why I wanted to go to Austria to tell people about Him. There is so much hatred and bitterness in the world, and I am convinced the answer to it all is love. The love Jesus Christ has for us, and showed us by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, is the only way to turn us from our sin to lives of love, joy, mercy, forgiveness, and hope. Of this I am convinced.

Telling people about Jesus is not about being right either, by the way. Nor is it about proving others wrong. It is simply that I want to share what I have experienced for myself because it so wonderfully changed me. Having a relationship with Jesus Christ is wonderful, absolutely wonderful, and that is why I want others to have one too, not because I think I have all the answers to all of lives problems (which is certainly not true). I can't empirically prove to you that God exists (and I have little interest in trying to do so), but I can tell you how He has worked in my life, so that is what I've done. In short, God is love. If any of you reading this have any questions, please contact me. My email is chuck.anderas@gmail.com.

Because of all this, my career is going to be to love people. Sound good?

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So about the trip. We played two games while we were there against two lower division Austrian professional clubs. The first was in the six division (I think), and we won 6-1 (and I scored the fourth of fifth goal of the game in the second half). The club was in a really cool setting. We don't have anything like it in the states. They have a building with locker rooms and also a cantina with a bar for the fans, players, and coaches to hang out in after the game. They have a little grill shack outside too, where they gave our whole team free schnitzel and Austrian beer after the game (it was really good!). We watched the (heartbreaking) Sweden-Spain game afterwards in the cantina with the players, coaches, and fans from the club. At half time, Grant, who used to play for the Surge but know plays for the club we played against explained why we were there (and lives in Vienna as a soccer missionary) and shared the gospel with everyone there in German. Us being there opened the door for Grant to tell his team openly about Jesus Christ, and only time will tell how it turns out. Afterwards, I talked with the president of our club about the possibility of me doing the same sort of ministry as a professional player in Sweden or Peru, and it is a legitimate possibility! We played another club in the third division who were much better, and we tied 1-1. Again, after the game, we were able to share the gospel with them, and they were surprisingly accepting of what we had to say. Good news!

We also played a lot of cage soccer, which is my absolute favorite way to play soccer. They have five-a-side or six-a-side cages with walls and ceilings there that are where the immigrant communities of Turks and Croatians typically play. Again, our being there opened the door for the people already doing ministry there to share the gospel with the people we played with and against. 

We also went to the Fan Mile in Vienna where people without tickets to the games (...us!) congregate to watch the games together. For the Germany-Austria game there were 75,000 people there! We walked around and talked to people and handed out little pieces of paper that had the basic message of Jesus written on them in German. Sometimes people were interested, sometimes they laughed at us, or looked a bit disgusted, but we had some really good conversations with people about all kinds of things, and we'll probably never know what sort of impact our presence there will have on people, but we can hope and pray that some day the people we met there will come to know Christ.

We also did a bit of sightseeing around Vienna while we were there, and it is a beautiful city! We saw Schoenbrun Palace and St. Stephan's Cathedral and the Danube River among other things, and it is one of the best cities I've been too. Very beautiful, and I hope to go back some day. I will put some pictures on Facebook if you have an account, or if you want to see some pictures, let me know and I'll email you some or something. We'll work it out. 

Well, if any of you are still reading after all this, I hope it was an encouragement to you. Again, if you have any questions about my trip, my life, or about Jesus Christ, let me know. I wish I could be with all of you right now, and hopefully we will be together again soon!

Love,

Chuck

Here are some pictures from the trip. Click on the slideshow to see the pictures in a bigger window: