Hi Everyone!
Well it has been a very busy week with no time even for a P day. More about that below. All of the Austrian children have now returned to school and that means that our streetcars run even more frequently and generally the pace picks up. Everyone has returned from vacation which seemed to be a really big thing around here for August. Many of the small businesses would just close their doors for 2-3 weeks while they took it easy or disappeared to the far reaches of the land. But all of that is over now and things are picking up.
In the Center we have noticed that things are much busier. We've gone from 8 missionaries showing up for perhaps 2 language lessons when others didn't come to having as many as 8-12 people now showing up for courses. We had a whole family of 8 come in this past week who all wanted to learn English with husbands and wives, uncles and even 2 kids about 5 and 7 years old who were not so happy to be there but we were amazed at how well the 5 year old could pronounce any word he was given. Ah the wonders of youth! Summer Institute was supposed to be over this month but I guess there have been several things going on with YSA's in Hungary and the Czech Republic and other countries nearby that they want to celebrate the opening of the Institute year in a big way so it's all being delayed until the third week of October. So in the meantime, the attendance at our Wednesday night courses continues to grow. We had about 25 there this week which is the biggest since the closure last June of the regular year.
For Home Evening on Mondays we have been sometimes getting 9 or 10, at least half of whom were missionaries with occasional investigators but last night we had 14 with no missionaries besides us and our one investigator from Kazakhstan who's just waiting for the university to start but is definitely committed to being baptized when she gets home at the end of the year. She's regularly taking lessons now, mostly review and always is very good to help Sister Parker with cooking, preparing, cutting veggies for the salad or whatever. She's mixing in better with the sisters. Last night instead of taking 30-40 minutes for a lesson as we've been doing we just had a spiritual thought and then had fun playing games. I found one in the back of the Home Evening manual that was a good mixer for everyone trying to find out whose name started with the same letter as yours, whose birthday was in the same month, who was a grandmother or grandfather (we got to sign everyone's paper on that one!), who had the same favorite song, etc. etc. In our last 15 minutes we had a spirited game of "Do You Love Your Neighbor" which they had never heard of but really enjoyed.
Today we had Zone Training and then had to run to get to the Center for the first language class. We had a total of 9 different classes today! including 2 Gospel discussions with 11 elders and sisters, many doing more than one lesson each and even Elder Parker got to sit in and help with one investigator from Hungary who didn't know much German or English but wanted to improve his English so we did it mostly with the help of the computer and the Google Translator.
We've been on the road again as well this week having now inspected all of the apartments for which we have responsibility. 2 of those were an hour away by train in Wiener Neustadt and we went there on Sunday for Fast Day as it allowed us to attend that ward as well as inspect the apartments. It was a huge amount of walking but we've now born testimony in 3 of the 7 wards or branches of the stake, July, August and September. (Still in jet lag back in June for that Fast Day).
Last Friday and Saturday, instead of having Waffle Night on Friday as usual, we helped with a Missionary Preparation Seminar that went Friday night from 7:30 to 9:30 PM and then all day Saturday from 8 until 4. The invited guest was a very excellent brother who was at one time the President of the Berlin Mission, long after the wall went down but he's a native German and works for CES (Church Education System) and just knew how to engage the young pre-missionaries in attendance. He knows President Uchtdorf personally and I rate him as a prime candidate for becoming a future general authority (along with Warren!) He gave three different workshops over the two days, our Institute/Seminary director did three, the Zone Leaders were invited to talk about the Book of Mormon and Grammy and I got to teach our first class on the Christlike attributes and their importance in missionary work. I think they tolerated our poor German pretty well and everyone was quite gracious. By the time we were through and cleaned up everything (everyone really pitched in to help) it was pretty late in the day and our P day was pretty much non-existent.
With a busy Monday finishing up our last apartment inspection and getting ready for Family Home Evening, this is the first we've had to really crank out our weekly report. I'm actually running on the edge right now of mission rules, Senior Couples being given a few exemptions, because Grammy ran off with our three sisters and one investigator to the special Women's Meeting being broadcast to Europe right now as I write, by Elders Ballard and Bednar, both of whom are visiting in Europe this week. Two YSA sessions are being held this week with Elder Ballard in Berlin and Elder Bednar in Frankfurt but neither one of those is being broadcast so Sister Parker will have to give us her report from the Sister's meeting.when she gets back.
This Thursday is transfer day again. We plan on meeting at the train station to say good bye to all those departing our Zone again and welcoming the new arrivals. Our threesome of sisters are finally being brought back to two with one of the sisters leaving for Germany. The other two instead of dividing up their time between Wiener Neustadt and Vienna will now be staying exclusively in Vienna. We'll be getting a new district leader, one who is already here in the district, but our old one will actually be serving here in Vienna instead of out a ways in one of the outlying cities. We expect to see him a lot more than just at district meetings now that he'll be here in the city and coming more often to the Center. Included as pictures today are our old district prior to the transfer (just found out I don't have it but Mindy said it's on Facebook and she'll post it on the blog) and all of the sisters in our zone earlier today at the Zone Training. Can you tell how the Spirit just shines through their eyes? The young lady third from the right in the green dress has been one of our sister zone trainers and will be leaving for home this week. I don't know if it's just the red hair but she reminds me so much of Sister Parker 47 years ago that I had to ask her if she was writing to anyone. She replied that all of her options were gone. She lives in Logan and I told her I was sure she was great wife material! Probably too far away to attempt a line-up with Benj!
Speaking of whom, we're excited that Andy, Ruslana and Benj are coming to Vienna next month. We have received their itinerary and their flight in is exactly the same one we took when we flew in, coming through Paris and ending up here on an afternoon. We're looking forward to having them stay with us for a few days!
We have now opened up all of the letters that were sent from the family reunion. The remaining, in alphabetical order were Amelia, Chloe, Dominick, Emily, Erik, Hollly, Kathy, Kelli, Makenzel, Meaghan, Mikey, Mindy, Myles, Noah, and last but not least, Trish. We have loved each and every one and each one has been posted on our bulletin board for a full day. Now we can go back and read them to our heart's content for the entire rest of our mission! We truly do love all of you and sense your support and your prayers as we in turn pray for each one of you.
As Grampa said things have become busier as we have moved into September, but we have also had a lot of times when we have small groups and it has been great getting to know the young singles and the investigators that come through more personally. They are always so happy to see you and interact with you. It is great to be in the kitchen area where the singles come and offer to help. We share talking in German and English and have many good laughs. They all become dear friends and I hate to see the short term ones leave. Alan from Mexico, studying in England had his last time with us on Wednesday. It feels like I'm sending off one of my children or grandchildren. I feel some need to offer them comfort and a little break from the world. This week when the family group of 8 came in unexpectedly I was able to jump in and teach them a little English. The assigned elders hadn't come to the center yet and I couldn't let them stand around, so we formed a classroom and began giving them things to say in English. It was so fun to hear them and to watch their faces. I couldn't help but love them all. They seem like such good people and I'm hoping some will also accept the gospel. Teaching languages is a means to investigators.
Well, I am enjoying everything more and more. Even though we still don't have a dryer. (I'm working on it.) The cooking is becoming easier as I have learned the Austrian stores and food supply system. What works and what doesn't. The investigators and singles are great. I enjoy visiting all the gemeindes or wards and sharing some special connections with some of the Austrian sisters. I like the wards with children and noise the best. And our missionaries are some of the best. I love going to district and zone training. They do a great job and somehow always need our computer for a training video. It is a good thing one of our computers made it here. The spirit is powerful and it feels good to be part of the missionary force around the world along with Jeremy, Rachel and Jacob. We have the most important message in the world, that Christ has restored his church and the priesthood power. We need to share it with all good people. It is emphasized here that the Lord has prepared people for us to find. We just need to go out and find them among family, friends and strangers.
Love you ALL very much and enjoy every contact we have with each of you.
Mit liebe, Tschuß! (Can zou tell this was tzped on a German kezboard?
The Z's and Y's are reversed but at least zou can tzpe ö ä ü and ß!
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker
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