To our Dear Family!
It's been another exciting week especially with Rusty, Mom, Grammy, Sister Parker having one of those milestone birthdays. You all know that this begins the 2 2/3 months when I must bow to her superior wisdom and insight because she's older than me, especially now that she's officially a Seventy! Some people will do anything to gain a little authority, even if it means getting older. She appreciates all the comments, well-wishes, Skypes, Face-times, gifts, cards and other special remembrances that we have received from so many of you. It has brightened up our apartment again since we took all of the Christmas decorations down. We asked one of the members where she thought the best restaurant in town was and she thought we should dry the Danube Tower with a rotating restaurant high above the city very near the Vienna United Nations complex. We thought it sounded like a great idea and decided we'd make reservations for just before sundown so we could have a chance for a great sunset. Unfortunately, when I called for reservatons I was informed that they're closed for renovations until February 8th! So I guess we'll leave that for another time and instead we went to our old favorite, the 12 Apostles Cellar where we've been with Steve Lyde, Tom and Laurel and Markus Wiese and his family. It was a wonderful evening.
This past week, Elder Parker had the chance to be a third companion to a couple of elders who planned to visit one of the sisters in their ward who is over 90 years old. She is pretty independent and still very sharp, living in a seniors home but with her own small kitchen and a small little conversation area adjacent to her bedroom. She really has complete privacy and was very sweet as we came in and sat down. We waited briefly while she prepared us a nice small lunch and they had planned on reviewing the first missionary discussion with her after a little socializing but I happened to ask her when she had first met the missionaries and that turned into about a half hour of a sweet story of her conversion. She told us she had been raised a Catholic and had prayed to all the saints numerous times, went regularly to confession and read the Bible regularly. She felt she had literally memorized the Bible, she knew it so well but was concerned that it contained many things she didn't see in her church. So she began to investigate other churches but still didn't feel satisfied in what they taught. Then, she said, one day two men appeared on my doorstep and told me about the church and the Book of Mormon. She received a copy and began to read it and said she just couldn't put it down. She read late into the night with a burning in her heart that told her what she was reading was true. Again this took a long time to give us the full story but there was a great spirit there as she talked to us. Her life has not been easy with her husband and two sons never joining the church but she has been a real stalwart and told us how much joy had come into her life as she served actively in the church since her baptism in 1966. I thought, boy, that's when I and Mom were both serving our first missions. At Fast and Testimony meeting this past Sunday we attended a different ward than this sisters and I was motivated to bear testimony about what she had told us.
Sister Parker and I have been reading a chapter a day in the Book of Mormon since we came on our mission, out loud and in German and Saturday we read Moroni, Chapter 10! The missionaries have all been asked to reread it starting the first of the year and we will finish it by the end of June so for a while we were reading our own chapter and then the chapter assigned to us by the mission. Elder Parker has received an assignment to teach our district tomorrow about something that impressed us during this past week of study. They do occasionally run a couple of chapters together and some days they'll spend two days on one chapter so the assignment ended up covering potentially 2 Nephi chapters 9-20. I spent Sunday afternoon going over those 12 chapters, several of which are quoting Isaiah and all of which I'd already had the opportunity of teaching in my Institute class. It was kind of fun to realize that just in these chapters alone the plan of salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ are laid out in considerable detail and especially chapter 9 is a key chapter for the second and third lessons in Preach My Gospel. For the inquisitive and studious, I'll attach my handout for tomorrow's lesson. It's two pages, the first on all twelve chapters and the second page just on the teaching in Chapter 9. Especially you young folks still preparing for a mission, see if you can skip around as I've indicated and get a picture of what the Book of Mormon can teach us.
So tomorrow, including our district meeting, we also have the opportunity of meeting with President Kohler in personal interviews. A week from Thursday we travel to Munich again, just for one day to be taught by President Kaeron of the First Quorum of the Seventy and a counselor in the European Area Presidency. Lots of things to look forward to.
Family Home Evening was interesting this week because it was Groundhog Day, a totally meaningless event to the Austrians who had never even heard of the movie. But we had a little fun with it. This coming Wednesday, because we're in between semesters, they're not having any Institute classes and instead everyone is going to go down to the City Hall, which always has something going on and they've replaced the big Christmas market with an intricate ice skating rink that winds around through their walking paths and covers the big plaza in front. They've even got a big tower with a rotating viewer (but no restaurant) that they've installed nearby for a great view.
Here's a couple of pictures:
and one more:
And the last one shows Mom with a cute souvenir apron they gave her on her birthday at the Institute.
(Sister Parker) As you can see we still manage to stay busy and even have a moment to celebrate for birthdays. Thanks for all the sweet, little remembrances. I did learn one thing this past week in Relief Society about growing older. A sister shared what her young single adult daughter shared when she complained about aging. She said, mom, you are only old once in your life time. It struck me as awesome because it's not that we are only young once. No, we will spend eternity that way, relatively speaking. It is that only once in Eternity will we have the opportunity to be old, so enjoy it, experience it, not everyone does have that opportunity. It made me think of old age in a different way. So, maybe I should celebrate that I've made another mile stone. Anyway take time to enjoy whatever stage you are at and don't try to hurry past it. God's blessings are many at all times. Love all the pictures and the stories about the children.
Take care and think happy.
Love and Hugs,
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker
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