Dear Family,
Boy, these weekends do roll around fast! In addition to our routine doings we have been trying to catch up on apartment inspections prior to the next transfer in a few weeks. We found one apartment that despite frequent urging to report missing alarms, (and despite our having visited and inspected the apartment once before) still was missing a smoke alarm. Apparently there were a couple of elders in Taiwan who were killed from carbon monoxide poisoning so there has been some real emphasis on all of us to make sure all of our alarms are in place.
Besides that, it apparently was the month for microwave failures. We had three (3!) microwaves all go out in just one week. Two failed completely and the other just wasn't functioning according to the input instructions. Now all are replaced and everyone is enjoying rapid warming or cooking of their food once again. Seems to be a biggie in the lives of those not blessed with a nice woman's influence in the kitchen.
So in addition to buying and replacing microwaves, we decided it was time to do something about our ancient method of drying our laundry.
Behold the old method:Notice the fan back there in the corner of the second photo. That was an essential method for our previous system and even though smiled upon by the Savior, (notice the picture on the wall) even the mission president said we were entitled to modernize.
And so Voila!:Welcome to the 21st Century, even in Austria where real dryers do exist, even if they have to be placed in your bedroom because there's no room anywhere else.
But we can still get around the bed and into the closet without too much difficulty. We have yet to try it out as it was just delivered and we're not sure how much noise and humidity it's going to create. There's still no way to vent it to the outside and so the water is stored in a small container on the left front and once we're done with a load, we simply dump it into the sink in the bathroom and we're ready for the next load. What could be simpler! We decided we'd temporarily decorate it with a lovely book we got from the Wiese family when they visited us showing the beauties of Sachsen (Saxony) as well as a cute little book Sister Parker chose on the various beauties of Austria as drawn for children complete with little puzzles like Where's Waldo (only in this case it's Lieber Augustine) and can you find the five animals who escaped from the Schoenbrunn Zoo and are running around the grounds. (Took Elder Parker a long time to find the fifth one!!) Oh and there're also some envelopes from the family reunion letters that we're still enjoying from all of you.
Otherwise the week was remarkable for a great District meeting on Tuesday where it was agreed that we would all meet at the Schnitzelwirt, our favorite missionary restaurant here in Vienna. 12 of us descended on it at 2 PM so we could be finished in time to get back to the Stake Center and the sisters could enjoy the General Women's meeting that was aired for us at 4 PM. Then we were all able to enjoy live the Saturday morning session of conference which aired our time at 6 PM. Tomorrow at 11 we get a tape delay of General Priesthood meeting at 11 PM and a tape delay of Saturday afternoon which will air at 2 PM. Then we get the Sunday morning broadcast of the Tab Choir live at 5:30 PM followed by the morning session at 6. For the real diehards where six hours isn't enough, we can stay until 10 PM and watch the closing session but we think we'll probably catch that on the internet the next day.
We have an interesting investigator who shows up at the center periodically on her own time schedule and has been coming for the last 3 months or so at least once a week. She likes to talk but doesn't follow through on many of the commitments we've given her. Elder Christopherson's talk will be added to her list of things she doesn't read as soon as it's translated because he really hit her particular situation right on the head.
Since we wrote that last sentence, it's now Sunday evening for us and we've caught all the sessions of conference except Sunday afternoon which starts in about an hour. The stake shut everything down so I guess if we catch it it'll have to be on the Internet. We really got a lot out of conference this session and we think it helps when you're really paying attention and taking notes. Loved President Uchtdorf and his dandelion analogy and it just seemed like there were so many talks that would apply to so many of our investigators. Elder Parker, however, took careful note about President Uchtdorf's penetrating question as the various apostles asked at the Last Supper, "Is it I?" It's a question I guess we should all ask ourselves about our level of commitment. At any rate we feel really charged up again to go out and do the work!
It was fun to be with all the missionaries in our zone as we attended conference. We had three room options to listen in German, English or Spanish. Most of us opted for English though a few of the elders went for German. It was interesting to see how many of the Austrians understand English well enough that they wanted to hear it in the original language and sat in with us. Very interesting to hear that it came across in Catalan and Spanish as well. We were amused because we got the English translation verbally anyway instead of the subtitles and frequently the translator got well ahead of the speaker and really had to slow down.
So speaking of the multiplicity of tongues, our language classes are really booming with three to four classes going on simultaneously and as many as 10-12 people attending. Our Zoroastrian family keeps coming bringing a variety of family members and they got a good dose of genealogy this week as part of their English instruction in talking about fathers and mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. We're still keeping the younger set entertained while the classes are going on with drawing, paper airplane flying and this week it was even a little bit of soccer in the main hall with the two year old who fortunately couldn't do the windows any damage with any very hard kicks.
Coming home tonight, our district leader informed us we're canceling the Zone training scheduled for Tuesday because we're all heading for Salzburg on Saturday for Zone Conference anyway. When we get back we'll be in the middle of the Opening of Institute for Saturday evening with a Singles Ward at our center the next day which will also be our Fast day. Elder Parker got asked tonight to give the Sunday School lesson for the second hour in German so that should be a real challenge. There will be a real purpose in his fasting that day to see if he can hold out for 45 minutes in German. The next day, Andrew, Ruslana and Benj should be arriving with David and Alex for a 12 day excursion through the heights and depths of Austria. An exciting agenda seems planned but we'll see how next week's letter goes in the midst of getting set up for their pending arrival, the Sunday School Class, and our leaving in 3 days after their arrival for a three day stint in Munich for a Senior Missionary conference. Never a dull moment around here.
Lately it does seem something is going on every minute or maybe its just that there are so many things to take care of in relationship to the missionaries, their language people, investigators, apartments and appliances etc. It would be a lot simpler if there wasn't so much travel time but its just part of the missionary experience. Its kind of fun to meet the other missionaries just randomly as we are traveling around. Its always a joyous greeting.
(Sister Parker) Dad or Grampa has really covered about everything we have been busy with this week. There was a lot of rejoicing as the dryer was delivered. Now if we can only figure out exactly how it runs through its drying sequences. It takes a lot longer as the water is pulled from the clothes into a container, instead of being blown into the air. But it is a joy to have something soft next to you.
Conference has been wonderful and I finally got to see and hear the women's conference. The Korean children's choir was of course the outstanding highlight. As I have listened to conference and heard all the things we should be working on, I thought of all our little family units. Each one is doing the best they can to teach and train their children in the way they should go in following our Savior. I think you all do a wonderful job and that our Heavenly Father is also pleased. What a great blessing it is to know about our Heavenly Father's plan and why we are here on this earth. Its great to be a missionary and to share that message with other good people.
Love and Miss you All,
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sis.Parker
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