How Ilse Met Jesus—and Brought Others to Him, Too
February 26, 2025
Standing at a bus stop in Vienna, Steffi, an Austrian believer in her 60s couldn’t help but notice the somber expression on another woman her age. She approached the stranger and learned her name was Ilse. Soon, she invited her to the small group she attended with her husband Franz through their church.
It turned out Ilse was a widow who struggled with health problems as well as personal and financial stress. Her brother Andreas, a recovering alcoholic, had recently moved in with her.
Attending small group opened up a whole new world for Ilse. Raised Catholic and from a well-established family in Vienna, she had only gone to church on special occasions, but now she read the Bible for the first time and began to understand that salvation came through faith in Jesus alone.
Ilse gave her life to Christ.
Becoming a Disciple from a Hospital Bed
Shortly afterward, Ilse’s health went drastically downhill. That’s when Steffi and Franz approached Greater Europe Mission worker Jim Hatcher to ask if he would visit Ilse in the hospital. Jim didn’t know Ilse; she had mostly attended the small group. He didn’t recall meeting her at church, though she may have sat in the back row and slipped out quickly.
Together with another person from the church, Jim visited the ailing woman and found her in good spirits. Plump and cheerful, with blondish-gray, wavy hair and friendly eyes, Ilse seemed eager to listen as Jim read to her from II Corinthians 4:16-17:
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Afterward, they shared communion together. Clearly, Ilse was a new believer with little Bible knowledge, but hungry to know more.
Sadly, Ilse died only a few days later.
Andreas, Ilse’s grizzled brother who was physically worn down from years of alcoholism, was left in his sister’s apartment to face the financial mess left behind. The bereaved brother had to borrow money to organize a memorial service for Ilse. He remembered hearing about Jim visiting his sister in the hospital, and asked, through Franz and Steffi, if he would officiate at Ilse’s funeral.
Jim happily agreed to do so.
In Death, a celebration of True Life
Two days before the planned memorial service, the funeral home refused to release Ilse’s ashes because Andreas couldn’t pay for them. For the same reason, the cemetery canceled the space reserved for the event.
With no hall and no urn containing ashes, and with a relatively large number of mourners expected, including some coming from a long distance, Andreas asked Jim if he was still willing to do some kind of service. There would be no representation from the Catholic church. Jim agreed to take sole responsibility for the service. He hastily printed out the words to a hymn on 30 pieces of paper and showed up at the cemetery with Bible in hand.
There, he found over 50 people waiting to honor Ilse, including local politicians connected with her late husband, old friends, distant relatives, and a small contingent from Ilse’s church and small group.
On that beautiful, sunny day, the group walked across the grounds of the cemetery to Ilse’s family plot, with Andreas moving haltingly, leaning on the crutch he depended on to keep him steady. There was no hole prepared and nothing to bury, but they all stood together under the shade of a large tree as Jim began to lead the impromptu service.
“If Ilse were here,” he said, “she would tell you about how she met Jesus.”
He told the story of her new-found faith, explained the gospel, and read Scripture. Afterward, Jim passed out the printed pages. Not known for his ability to carry a tune and with no instruments or recorded music to back him up, he sang out to start the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” hoping others would pick it up and make it sound melodious.
They did, singing all four verses.
Jim invited people to share their memories of Ilse before he closed the gathering in prayer. The makeshift memorial service had been extremely moving and a powerful testimony of Ilse’s late-in-life salvation.
That day, unable to afford the usual dinner that follows a funeral, Andreas invited Jim to a small gathering of friends in the apartment for dessert. There, Jim met and talked with people he would never ordinarily have the chance to meet. A range of guests, from a lawyer and her mother to people on social welfare, received the Gospels of John Jim passed out in honor of Ilse.
“This will help you remember Ilse and what she thought about Jesus,” he said.
Another invitation to share Christ’s love
One week later, the funeral home finally released the urn. Andreas borrowed money to pay for the official funeral, and although as a Catholic he would have had the right to have a priest officiate, he instead asked Jim to do so.
This time, a burial took place. However, only seven guests attended, all of whom had already been to the previous service. Once again, they gathered beneath the tree, and again, at Andreas’s invitation, Jim had the opportunity to go to the apartment and continue his conversations with some of the same people as before.
Jim listened to these people, many of whom were struggling in life. Andreas himself was soon to be homeless, as Ilse had left her property to someone else. He expressed anger about all the perceived injustices he had suffered over the years. Bitterness colored his entire outlook on life.
When Jim left that day, he thought he would probably never see Andreas again. But surprisingly, Andreas started coming to church.
“I want to start completely over in life,” he said. “I want to get away from my past.”
At the church, Andreas met people who cared about him and the condition of his soul. He attended regularly until the time came for him to re-enter a rehabilitation facility for ongoing problems with his leg
Jim has also met Andreas outside of church, and Steffi and Franz continue their relationship with him. Now released from rehab, Ilse’s brother lives in one small, rented room. His bitterness still gnaws at him. He has not yet put his faith in Jesus, but he continues to choose to associate with believers and to hear the gospel preached.
Ilse’s death brought the love of Christ into many lives that might otherwise never have been exposed to it.
Together with the others at Ilse’s memorial service, Andreas heard clearly about the reason for the hope and joy his sister experienced during the final days of her life.
Because one woman was willing to reach out at a bus stop, a small group welcomed a stranger into their midst, and a GEM worker planned an impromptu funeral for a woman he barely knew, the light of Christ has shined brightly in a dark corner of Vienna, Austria.
If you would like to know more about church planting and evangelism in Austria, contact [email protected].
About the Author: Jenny Garrity is a Storyteller with Greater Europe Mission. Jenny and her husband Kim joined GEM in 1984. They have served in Germany, Belgium, and most recently, Greece in response to the refugee crisis.