Hello, Everyone:
It has been another exciting week on the borders of eastern Europe as we have dealt with people from India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Amsterdam, Spain and even Germany and Austria! We've had some chances to teach the Gospel to a few of these with quite a bit of help from some of the others. Last Sunday, for the first time since we've been here we decided to take the train out to a city to the west of Vienna known as St. Polton. It's actually a branch but on the verge of becoming a ward and the missionaries who serve there are our district leaders. They come all the way into Vienna every Tuesday for our district meetings which are always excellent and spiritual highlights of the week. We didn't warn them we were coming and actually got just a little bit lost as we were finding our way to the church house which meets up on the second floor of a very nice building where the entire floor is fitted out as a very nice meeting place with a chapel, several class rooms, a foyer and the Bishop's office. We found a very sweet spirit there and talks were given by the Elders Quorum President, the Branch President and his First Counselor. Increasingly we're finding out that we understand more and more of what is being said from the pulpit in these meetings so I guess our language is coming along.
When we first arrived the windows were open on the first floor and we could hear some singing going on. We were quite certain we were there on time even though we had to ask some directions from a woman who knew exactly how we should go but the door downstairs appeared to be locked. Because the windows were open,we waited for a pause in the singing, having decided that the branch choir was actually practicing. Although I thought I called pretty loudly, no response was given. When we looked at the door a little more closely, it said "Push the door firmly" which we did and it let us right in. As we ascended the stairs we surprised the two elders who were also practicing with the choir so we joined right in. They had a very talented director and we congratulated her afterwards on what a good job she was doing. We have not heard another choir in any of the other wards as we have visited them so we thought it was a very good sign of their spiritual maturity. Overall, the meetings were quite wonderful and we took the opportunity while we were there of inspecting the elder's apartment which is one of our responsibilities. After we mailed the inspection report in I received an email informing us that we are also responsible for inspecting the two apartments in the other far flung ward down to the southwest in Wiener Neustadt so I guess we'll have to make that trek again sometime in the near future. Before we left St. Polton, the branch president cornered me and gave me his phone number and email address, indicating that when we came again next time, he wanted us both to speak! Mom's not so sure she wants to go back again:)
For the last month we've been having trouble with our water heating system. There is no hot water tank as such in the apartment and the water is heated as it is needed very quickly from a heater that is gas powered. Initially we found that the heater would shut off through a kind of circuit breaker when we first turned it on and we simply had to go turn it back on and everything was fine. But it got worse and worse and frequently it took five or ten times before it would stay on. I reported this to our stake physical facility man who gave me the number of the responsible firm that has helped in the past and is willing to bill the church for their services but they informed us that they were leaving the next day on vacation and wouldn't be able to help us. They gave us a couple of numbers to the company that makes the water heater but we couldn't get them to answer. We went back immediately to the first firm to tell them the number didn't go through and they gave us a different number but that didn't work either. We decided maybe we'd just wait it out until they got back from vacation but naturally things got worse and worse and it started taking 15 then 20 then 30 pushes on our little circuit breaker before we could get enough hot water to take a shower. So by the next week when we called again, there was no answer at all from the firm on vacation and for about three days we actually had to heat water on the stove and basically take a sponge bath and wash our hair over the sink. Mom then had the brilliant idea that we should simply try to contact the manufacturing company of our faulty device on the Internet. Amazingly enough, that worked immediately. I finally contacted them while we were at the center and even though I thought I was speaking very clearly and distinctly, she couldn't make our our address clearly. After three attempts at saying Loewengasse very slowly, which means Lion Lane, I finally gave the phone over to our native German speaking sister missionary to see if they could understand her more clearly. No luck. She had to say, "You know, Lion like the fierce animal" Ahh, they finally got the message. They said they'd call us right back with an appointment time and that turned out to be the next day between 10 and 3. We had to be at the center by 3 so this became one of those times when one can exercise the right of Senior Couples not to have to absolutely be with your companion at all times. Mom took off to get some supplies for refreshments which we became responsible for on a Wednesday night because there was a special YSA conference in Hamburg that whole week and they decided to not hold Institute classes as usual on Wednesday nor supply the usual dinner. So we decided we'd just play games and have a good social evening. Our repairman showed up at 2:00 and was finished by 2:30, refilling up a pressurized tank which had dwindled down and getting us going again with wonderful hot water. I was out of there in time to get to the center by a little after three and Mom had everything ready to go for an enjoyable evening by all.
Tom and Laurel at the beautiful gardens at Schoenbrunn Schloss
The next day we were able to meet Tom and Laurel at a very convenient place we travel past usually twice a day as we go the center and come back. It was our slowest day of the week at the center and we were able to close it without problems as the elders scheduled around it without a problem. We had a wonderful time together looking at the Schoenbrunn Schloss or Beautiful Fountain Castle with its magnificent gardens and fountains after they'd had a bus tour around the Vienna highlights earlier in the day.
Laurel and Rusty behind the waters of the Neptune Fountain seen in the previous picture.
We finished with enough time to take them up to our favorite viewing spot in the city high above the Danube River valley, sort of like going to Ensign Peak to look at downtown Salt Lake City. We'd found our way there spontaneously one time on the recommendation of our preceding couple and also took Steve Lyde there when he visited us. The timing was perfect as we finished that in time to return to our favorite restaurant, the 12 Apostles Cellar, where we'd also gone with Markus Wiese and his family a couple of weeks earlier. The violinist and accordionist are getting to know us well and played a beautiful rendition of "The Blue Danube Waltz" as well as our request to try a little "Love Me Tender" from Elvis Presley. They threw in a rousing chorus of the Radetzky March which is a common symphony favorite in Vienna where everyone claps along on the chorus and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as always. Then it was a casual walk through the heart of Vienna over to a concert hall where we had a delightful presentation of Mozart and Strauss melodies with a small chamber orchestra, some dancers and a truly wonderful soprano soloist to round out the evening. They even took us through our second rendition of the Radetzky March for the evening. We stopped for some wonderful gelato ice cream cones on the way back to the subway and then escorted them to their ship which was just pulling up its red carpet as we arrived with about 15 minutes to spare! It was wonderful to enjoy family close up again even for a few hours.
Friday was back to the old routine where I continue to try and teach a "Free Christian" woman about the merits of Mormonism over freshly made waffles. Today we took the risk of a predicted rain storm to seek out the local Ikea furniture store in a final hunt for a refrigerator and managed to turn up a couple of nice pillows and a kitchen clock for ourselves, arriving home literally seconds before the heavens opened up and drenched the streets with us safely inside.
Well, I guess that's it for our report. We're still enjoying all the letters from the family reunion, opening one a day. Thus far (in alphabetical order) we've enjoyed letters from Alex, Amelia, Amy, Andy, Bryson, Dominick, Heidi, Holly, Ian, Joshua, Kaylee, Kelli, Kenna, Kyle, Matt, Naomi, Noah, Ruslana, and Sean. Each has been posted on our bulletin board for a couple of weeks and we've still got about 10 to go! Got lots of pictures from several of you on vacations but still waiting for all the photos from the reunion. We know they're still in the works.
Love, Mom and Dad,
Grampa and Grammy,
Elder and Sister Parker
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