Dear Family,
It's hard to believe that we've now been on our mission for a full year, at least dating from our entry into the MTC in Provo on May the 12th of 2014. As anniversaries go, it was nothing spectacular as we spent the day teaching German to our Hungarian member and his mother. But otherwise, Vienna has really decked itself out for one big celebration this week, the theme of which is "Building Bridges." As near as we can figure out from all the advertising, which we don't pay a lot of attention to, the city is really caught up in the spirit of helping others. We get a monthly newsletter from the city district in which we live and this month's was dedicated to how much the city is involved in helping the sick and the needy all over the world. They mentioned helping out with the Nepal earthquakes and many of the mid-east refugees who are truly suffering as a result of the political unrest going on in their home countries. As we've mentioned before, the city is really a melting pot of many people coming here from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. but one of the specific emphases they are focusing on apparently are people suffering from AIDS or HPV infections. But not to leave anyone out, they are bending over backwards to show how tolerant they are to the LGBT community.
Because our center is only two blocks away from the Rathaus or the Vienna City Hall, that seems to be a big focus location for many of their city celebrations and this week apparently launched their "Festival Week" which included a huge song contest attended by literally a hundred thousand people. The crowds naturally spill over quite a bit though we're fortunately located behind the building with most of the action taking place on the big plaza in front. But we noted that all of the pedestrian traffic lights around the building had been changed to include not one figure standing or walking as red changed to green but now 2 figures holding hands with a heart between them. Naturally it was either two female figures or 2 male figures. No further comment.
Because our center is only two blocks away from the Rathaus or the Vienna City Hall, that seems to be a big focus location for many of their city celebrations and this week apparently launched their "Festival Week" which included a huge song contest attended by literally a hundred thousand people. The crowds naturally spill over quite a bit though we're fortunately located behind the building with most of the action taking place on the big plaza in front. But we noted that all of the pedestrian traffic lights around the building had been changed to include not one figure standing or walking as red changed to green but now 2 figures holding hands with a heart between them. Naturally it was either two female figures or 2 male figures. No further comment.
On the positive side of this week was a huge celebration that centered on the palace grounds of the old Emperor's summer palace at Schoenbrunn. The focus there was the opening concert of the Vienna Philharmonic which all of our BYU music students tell us is the best symphony orchestra they've ever heard. And the special item was that the concert was free to anyone who wanted to attend! The palace gardens, if anyone remembers pictures from last summer, are huge and we are sure there must have been a quarter of a million people thronging about. The program featured Scandinavian or "north-European" composers like Grieg or Sibelius and virtually all of the pieces were very familiar like the Peer Gynt Suite or Finlandia but it had wonderful camera work with big screens as well and great sound and light effects, even concluding with a light show and fireworks. The only rub was finding a place to take it all in and we found out that any decent viewing area prohibited sitting down. This all took place on the holiday which celebrates Christ's Ascension to Heaven or Christi Himmelfahrt, 40 days after His resurrection on Easter. No one showed up for any language classes earlier in the afternoon so we got away by about 5 PM and arrived with 2 1/2 hours to wait for the concert to begin. We did manage to locate ourselves right next to a border fence erected to keep the crowds off the gardens where we could lean and get some support so it wasn't really as bad as it might sound but we truly loved the concert, the orchestra and the director who was the famous Zubin Mehta. They had a piano soloist, Rudolph Buchbinder, who was fantastic and they kept playing encores which was also special.
Here's a shot of Sister Parker shortly after our arrival and before the crowds really started forming in front of us though you can see them clearly in the background.
And here's a shot taken during the concert looking toward the semi-circular orchestra dome beneath the green lights during the conclusion of Finlandia with the Gloriette way off in the distance on top of a big hill which you really can't appreciate in the picture but which was filled with people who were allowed to sit on the grass way up there. They just couldn't hear or see much from that vantage point.
Here's a shot of Sister Parker shortly after our arrival and before the crowds really started forming in front of us though you can see them clearly in the background.
And here's a shot taken during the concert looking toward the semi-circular orchestra dome beneath the green lights during the conclusion of Finlandia with the Gloriette way off in the distance on top of a big hill which you really can't appreciate in the picture but which was filled with people who were allowed to sit on the grass way up there. They just couldn't hear or see much from that vantage point.
The rest of the week was pretty slow as far as center work goes. One of the regular institute teachers was occupied with family visitors and couldn't come so several opted to come into the English Book of Mormon class Elder Parker teaches which boosted the numbers to twice as many as usual. It's amazing how much more one learns from teaching a class as opposed to merely reading the material. Apparently it's a natural way to encourage pondering which is where the Spirit really speaks to you.
Saturday, our regular P day we spent wandering the mazes of IKEA to pick up a table and 4 chairs to better furnish a couple of our missionaries' apartments. It took much longer than we had anticipated but we had to help assemble the items and so got home right after dark. Two of the elders had been eating all their meals essentially on a coffee table so we think they'll enjoy having a proper place to serve breakfast and dinner!
At our last Institute Council meeting it was determined to show the Worldwide CES Devotional. So far this year there have been two and neither has ever been offered so they determined we would show the one from January with President Ridd now and the one from May at the end of the Institute year. We were assigned to provide refreshments after Sister Parker wisely declined preparing a full meal on the Sabbath day and suggested refreshments instead. Even so it was a nice spread of veggies and fruits with some yummy vegetable dip provided by the gracious mailings of you guys. Sister Parker also baked some delicious banana bread which was a big hit. At the meeting, we hadn't picked up specifically who was going to provide the equipment for the download so Elder Parker decided to bring a laptop just in case. In took about 45 minutes to figure out how to get it all set up in German and our laptop wasn't compatible with their projection system to get good sound and a projection capability but it turned out it was better than what was provided on a notebook from one of our YSA leaders who showed up about a half hour into the refreshment time (which was supposed to precede the devotional anyway.) We had attended a ward with a strong YSA contingent and emphasized the event for that evening and of the 11 people who showed up, they provided 4. 4 others came from the ward where two of our youth leaders on the council attend and we got three other stragglers. Three of the wards had no representatives at all, we suspect because of lack of adequate publicizing so we'll make some comments at the next council meeting about getting the water to the end of all the rows, good Utah irrigation philosophy!
8 baptisms occurred in our mission last week, everyone of them hailing from Africa. We thought it was interesting that in our proposed list of scheduled baptisms, numbering 50 at the moment, only 2 are listed as hailing from Austria. There are another 6 from Germany and 3 from Switzerland but that's still barely over a fifth of the total. We suspect the blood of Israel is running thin in Europe. The saints here are hoping for a temple in Austria some day but only about 15% of the investigators are coming from member referrals. We'll continue to see if we can't fire them up somehow.
Always lots going on here. But on a more spiritual note the Restoration of the Priesthood was commemorated Sunday and we were studying Pres. Benson's talks on flooding the earth with Books of Mormon, and how we should be reading and teaching our families everyday from it. One sister shared that in a class where they were asked to share a favorite scripture one elder gave from 1Nephi, "and my father dwelt in a tent." Everyone wondered about it, but he explained," it doesn't say my father dwelt in a very large house with lots of gold and silver. It says he had what he needed and was content." It helps us focus on what really is important, and not on material things.
Then for the first time in Sacrament Meeting we sang "Oh How Lovely was the Morning" and it took me back to the first time as a child I tuned into the words of the song. It was also a warm, spring day and the windows were filled with sunshine and the doors were open, as was usually the case with need for air circulation, and I could see the green grass, blue sky and birds. I thought about Joseph kneeling there and praying and the Holy Ghost bore witness to my young soul that the Father and Son appeared to him. I felt the power of that witness then and I still feel it today. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and was chosen to restore Christ's church. I never tire of hearing this story for it burns in my soul with truth. May you all receive or recall that witness, even the little grandchildren.
Have a great week.
LOVE AND HUGS,
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker
Then for the first time in Sacrament Meeting we sang "Oh How Lovely was the Morning" and it took me back to the first time as a child I tuned into the words of the song. It was also a warm, spring day and the windows were filled with sunshine and the doors were open, as was usually the case with need for air circulation, and I could see the green grass, blue sky and birds. I thought about Joseph kneeling there and praying and the Holy Ghost bore witness to my young soul that the Father and Son appeared to him. I felt the power of that witness then and I still feel it today. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and was chosen to restore Christ's church. I never tire of hearing this story for it burns in my soul with truth. May you all receive or recall that witness, even the little grandchildren.
Have a great week.
LOVE AND HUGS,
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker
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