Dear family,
Another interesting week to report on. Our new mission president and his family have arrived (picture included below) and they've been making the rounds through our very geographically large mission to at least interview everyone once.
President and Sister Kohler and family
Our whole zone which includes Vienna, Wiener Neustadt, Graz and Linz had the opportunity to travel to Salzburg for a get-to-know-you zone conference and that was a whole new experience. I have been to Salzburg twice as a tourist, once with Rusty, but both many years ago so this was a very quick trip indeed. We were up at the crack of dawn with tickets purchased the day before and met about 20 elders at the train station for a 7:30 AM departure, getting us to the main train station in Salzburg by about 10:15. From there we had to take a half hour bus trip to the chapel where the conference was being held. This poor little lady waiting at the bus stop was surrounded by all these young men in suits and ties and I told her how special she was to be included in the group. The bus went through the center of town, giving us a glimpse of the Hohensalzburger Schloss or castle noteworthy from "The Sound of Music" but that was about as close as we got to anything familiar.
The chapel was way out on the edge of town in a fairly isolated little suburb and while we were enroute, the President and his family were interviewing the missionaries from the Salzburg Zone who didn't have as far to travel. As we all arrived, we went into the meeting portion of the conference with President Kohler and his wife both speaking along with their 16 year old senior high school son and their 13 year old junior high school daughter also participating. They have an older daughter already serving a mission in Japan who will join them briefly after her release before she returns to BYU. There son will likely leave on a mission from here in a little over a year when he turns 18. He plays the trumpet and offered a little musical interlude playing the "Trumpeter's Lullaby". Their daughter has a lovely voice, apparently being asked to sing the National Anthem at one of the baseball games at BYU and the whole family sang a song where she was featured prominently.
Sister Kohler offered her testimony in German and did a nice job, having had one semester of German 101 at BYU where President Kohler has been employed at the MTC for many years. He was on the ground floor for the making of the District videos and was also involved in the whole evolution of Preach My Gospel. Quite accomplished for a reasonably young man. He gave us some excellent advice on how to be more effective missionaries that we thought was quite impressive, especially spiritually. He mentioned that the church is seriously considering having each missionary purchase a mini-I-Pad at the beginning of their mission to use as an effective proselyting tool and that this is anticipated to be started by the end of this year. We'll wait for further announcements but senior couples can do that already as you are aware from those of you who have already face-timed with us.
The trip back to Vienna took the rest of the day and we missed the first train we were scheduled to leave on because we were the next to last couple to be interviewed. We had both met President Kohler while we were at the MTC but the seniors were last on the list and one of the other senior couples who live in Salzburg and have a car graciously gave us a lift to the train station so we could catch up with all the elders who had left earlier on the bus. We got back to Vienna by around 7:30 PM and felt it was still an opportunity to be uplifted as well as see the Austrian countryside as we traveled back and forth.
The rest of the week was reasonably routine, teaching the Institute class on Wednesday to about 8 BYU students and one Mexican young man who prefers English over German. This has been a wonderful opportunity to go in depth into a few gospel subjects for an hour each week. Grammy is getting really good at tickling the palates of the Young Adults with her Monday night meals prior to Family Home Evening where this week, I was on to lead a discussion about eternal marriage and our one little investigator from Kazakhstan has really come on strong loving to cook waffles with us on Friday's. She's now committed to be baptized but wants to do it at home with her family. She knows there's a branch of the church in her home town and we went on line to see if we could figure out which mission she would be in. Turns out it's the Russian Novosibirsk Mission and the whole country is blessed with 240 total members. We've been telling her what a pioneer she's going to be. We were all tickled during one of her discussions this week when she realized that if Jesus is the Son of God, and she's a daughter of God then they must be Geschwister (brother and sister)!:)
Yesterday we went on our second of 8 great walks around Vienna, the book written by the BYU professor about 7 years ago. We found (or didn't find) only one of the spots he recommended which has apparently been renovated but now know where the ancient Roman ruins of Vindebona were located, the forerunner to modern Vienna and near the great St. Stephens church we visited last week. Not too far away we stumbled on quite an impressive church in a very small little plaza, modeled on St. Peter's in Rome, with the same name and quite lovely inside (though we are cautioned by 1 Nephi 13:8) which contains some interesting skeletal remains of early martyred saints who were uncovered in the catacombs of Rome and transported to the church for appropriate deification.
St. Peter's Church and below one of the martyred saints from the catacombs of Rome.
We also found the oldest church in Vienna and found that we pass it on the streetcar at least twice a day though it's quite a ways up on a hill. It overlooks the site of the old headquarters of the Gestapo during the Third Reich where there is now a memorial to the many Jews who were killed there or transported to concentration camps where many were eventually killed.
Quite nearby is a present day synagogue near the old Jewish ghetto where many Jews were exterminated by the Austrians back in the 1400's as well as in the second World War. There is now a memorial there placed over the site of the original synagogue with a tribute to the estimated 65,000 Jews who were killed under Hitler, an original Austrian. There is a very contrite and sincere apology there inscribed from the Catholic church and the Austrian government for the horrible events that transpired during these two episodes. We get the impression from "The Sound of Music" that the Austrians were not happy about the German Anschluss though the vote was 99.27% in favor of it. However it must be noted that there were many who were not allowed to vote either by being imprisoned, or as with the Von Trapp family, leaving Austria if the opportunity presented itself. But enough of all these political statements. Grammy had some tender moments this week as she helped teach with the sisters.
(This is a picture of the memorial near the site of the old Gestapo headquarters. It might be worth it to get someone who understands German to translate it. If you push us we can do it for you. :))
(Sister Parker) -We were teaching a young lady who is quite sophisticated and has been through some difficult times in her life. She was quite touched by the teachings in the 2nd Lesson or the Plan of Salvation. She was so moved by the teachings of the Savior and His taking upon him our sins so that we could begin again with a new start, that she had to leave the room to bring her emotions under control. It was sweet to bear witness of these things and to know that she felt the spirit so strongly. After the lesson, she and a friend stayed for the institute class that began later that evening. Here the teacher talked about bringing our will to the Father's and that a loving Heavenly Father had a mission or individual plan for everyone. Again she felt overcome with emotion and had to leave the room for awhile. She gave me two big hugs before she left.
Also, our young friend the sisters are teaching had a sweet moment of revelation as she discovered her relationship to the Savior. She has had no real understanding of religious things outside of traditions passed down from generation to generation. So the sisters were delighted when she said, wait a minute, Jesus is the son of God, right? And I am a daughter of God, right? So that makes us brother and sister doesn't it. They all felt joy in the moment of discovery. All in all it is great being a part of the missionary work and having so many of the elders bringing their investigators to the center to teach them. We get to talk with them and to feel the sweet spirit that is present. This keeps us going through rain storms, carrying groceries through Subways, checking apartments, buying new washers, etc, for the elders, hanging out our clothes in the apartment to dry, and trying to find Austrian substitutes for items in my recipes.
All our love,
Mom and Dad, Grampa and Grammy, Elder and Sister Parker
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