Kugelmugeling

To Our Beloved and Widespread (though at the moment perhaps not so widespread!) Family:

     It appears the summer heat has really begun. According to the weather report Vienna hasn't had weather this hot since 2003. We've been up over 90 for a few days now and that's no fun wearing suits and ties. Yesterday we traveled to Wiener Neustadt where we learned that the locals had made the rule that suit jackets were not required and most were in short-sleeved white shirts. Unfortunately, no such rule has come forth from our mission! We've learned that sweat and perspiration are all translated into the same word, "Schweiss" and we are all witnesses thereto.

So school is over, the kids are all out and about and even the streetcars run on a different schedule during vacation time than during the regular school year. The schedule will run as it now is until September 5, essentially giving us only two more months of regular schedules until our mission concludes. We haven't been certain exactly what will happen in our Center although we experienced it all last summer as we were just getting our feet on the ground. We do seem to remember that all of the activities were pretty light as a lot of the YSA's return home and the summer is kind of catch as catch can. Sister Parker has been preparing full meals for home evenings on Monday and we have had so much left over that we have invariably fed our district on Tuesday with the leftovers. They, of course love it but perhaps we'll figure out how to tone things down a bit.

     The language courses are running about like they always do so no big changes there.  With the BYU group still in town, we have agreed to keep teaching an English class for Institute for a few more weeks but so far they've always had other activities they've been involved in. This week we had our three regulars there and one BYU student but this coming week, the engaged girl is visiting her fiance', the other is leaving today for 13 months to be a nanny in New Jersey and that leaves us with a sweet BYU sister who has received a mission call to Hungary and will be in the MTC in October as well as one of our YSA leaders who returned from his mission about 8 month ago but has wanted to attend the English class. We're pretty much preparing a lesson week by week and will see how long we can keep it up.

     Last year the 4th occurred on a Friday, consistent with our Waffle Night and you may remember that Sister Parker prepared a special cupcake tray decked out in the stars and stripes. The Saturday celebration this year was our P-day and so we enjoyed it vicariously with all of you. Though it wasn't much fun running around in the heat we decided to catch a few sight-seeing spots that are all within a half mile of where we live. Several of you might have received an email that morning of our visit to the Kooglemoogle, spelled Kugelmugel. In keeping with the spirit of independence, it is the remnant of a ball-shaped home that was built by a man who declared himself independent of the Republic of Austria back in the 1980's and declared he didn't feel obligated to pay taxes. No doubt he didn't feel like he had adequate representation.  His efforts fell on deaf ears and he was actually imprisoned for a while until pardoned by the Prime Minister with the understanding that he would henceforth lead an exemplary life.  

His home is now located pretty close to the giant Ferris Wheel of local fame and is pretty buried within the trees.  We also decided to visit the site where a beautiful Jewish synagogue once existed.  It served as an architectural model for several other synagogues in cities around Europe but was destroyed by the Nazis on the infamous Crystal Night when the "barbarian hordes" stormed through the city burning and looting anything of Jewish ownership.  Interestingly, that occurred on November 10, 1938 when Great Grandpa Parker was just celebrating his 16th birthday. (I remember while living at Camp Pendleton that November 10 is also the anniversary of the United States Marine Corps!)  

The synagogue was completely burned to the ground and at the time was a refuge for many Jews who had come together seeking shelter from the persecution that was raging around them.  It has now become a shrine with many names noted on the fence around it who were deported to various concentration camps and there murdered during the Holocaust.  It was Saturday and we were interested to see the many Jewish families there, a new synagogue having been built next to the original site.

  

  The three white pillars represent the memorial. Note the families in both pictures. 

Sunday, of course, was Fast and Testimony Meeting and we decided to travel to Wiener Neustadt as noted above to attend church. They have had two missionary apartments there for as long as we have been here. Originally one housed a team of three sisters who divided their time between WN and Vienna proper. But they were eventually moved to Vienna exclusively, much to the dismay of the members and were replaced by a second team of elders. With the continuing decline in our numbers, the President decided to close the second apartment in the ward leaving only the two remaining elders to cover an area that extends over about a hundred square miles. They had departed about 10 days previously with instructions to clean out the apartment of all perishables, wash the bedding and leave it folded in the closets, etc. The mission will continue to pay rent on the apartment for a while pending the eventual increase in numbers and we think this represents perhaps 10-15 apartments throughout the mission that are now vacant. We thought we would see how well they'd done and visit the apartment after the services.

      The Relief Society discussed the importance of faith in the basic principles of the gospel and priesthood meeting discussed the importance of family home evenings.  Interestingly, only about three of twenty raised their hands to admit they were holding regular home evenings of whom Elder Parker was one but it was a good discussion about several of the options that help provide a wholesome time for the family.  In their defense, several of the brethren are in part-member families but I think they were encouraged that they too could promote some wholesome family togetherness time. Sunday School was especially wonderful as we usually attend the Gospel Principles class. It is taught by a truly wonderful brother with the Holy Ghost being the topic. He asked us how long we had been married and he teared up a bit as we told him 46 years. We're aware that his wife divorced him last year and we're sure it has been a difficult time for him but has not diminished the wonderful Spirit he exhibited as he talked about the Holy Ghost. Later in Testimony Meeting he was one of several who bore their testimony and again mentioned us and our long marriage as good examples all should strive for. Everyone was aware of the recent passing of President Packer and along with the vacancy created by Elder Perry's death, many expressed that they were fasting for President Monson as two new apostles will be named. Elder Parker bore his testimony on, among other things, his memories of meeting with Elders Nelson and Oaks many years ago, now the seniors in the Quorum of the Twelve, and discussing the topic of church doctrine on stillborn babies. Elder Parker has long commented that if Elder Nelson ever becomes the President of the church, now looking like more of a probability, he's going to revisit the possibility of the Lord giving us further revelation on exactly when the spirit enters the body.

     Following the meeting we began a long hot trek over to the recently vacated missionary's apartment and we thought, wouldn't it be nice if someone offered us a ride. No sooner had we expressed the thought than one of the members and his mother, here from Hungary, offered to drive us over in their nice air-conditioned car!  (D&C 58:4 recently quoted to Sister Bonnie Jepson, also briefly without air conditioning)  Dropping us off right at the door we walked up three flights of stairs to the apartment which also didn't have air conditioning but did have a fan we immediately turned on.  The other two elders had been there the day before and warned us that the place was still a huge mess and they were right. Lots of perishables still in the refrigerator which hadn't been cleaned or turned off according to instructions and numerous bags of trash lying around.  We worked for a couple of hours to straighten things up and then received a call from the other two elders who had finished their appointments for the day and asked if they could come and further help. We decided the ox was in the mire and welcomed their assistance. We figure it took about 8  man hours (and about 4 woman-hours) to get it all fixed up. There was wet laundry still in the washer that clearly needed re-washing. We divvied up the residual food between them and us, leaving some non-perishables available for the ward mission leader who will come by to dispose of the various trash bags in the appropriate, Austrian environmentally-friendly, trash receptacles including glass, paper and wet garbage!  We got on a fast train home and even though it wasn't air conditioned, the windows were all open and we had a wonderful wind (breeze is not a strong enough word) blowing through the car to keep us reasonably comfortable.

    My mind this week, especially, Friday and Saturday was on the 4th of July. Even some of the members here wished us a Happy Independence Day, which I thought was great since not everyone here loves America. But I do and I'm glad to let anyone who wants to know that America's "Declaration of Independence" has blessed in one way or another every nation of the world. We believe in Liberty and Freedom and I'm grateful to all those who have fought for those rights from the beginning of our county to those who have willingly fought to allow those rights to other nations throughout history. On Saturday, since we couldn't find a Balloon Fest, we went out for the traditional breakfast at the best American place we could find "McDonald's." We also listened to as many of the patriotic Tab Choir renditions as we could find.  The words touched my heart. "Oh, beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years"  May God truly bless America through her difficult times and may we ever be part of those patriots who stand up for her.

HUGS AND PRAYERS 

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker 

2nd Institute Graduation

Hi Guys!  

How are all of you doing this week?

     It's hard to believe that we're starting into our second true summer here. The Viennese are finishing up school in this next week, all the university students are cramming for final exams that take place this week and we have just completed our second institute graduation ceremonies. Last year there was quite a Saturday celebration as we were all treated to a wonderful hike along a gorgeous mountain side series of waterfalls. We then ended the Saturday by watching the finals of the World Soccer Cup back at our center.  None of that kind of stuff this year. The Institute Council decided it would be a good time to watch the YSA Devotional that was originally given in early May with Elder Robbins from the Presidency of the Seventy as the featured speaker. None of our YSA's had yet seen it and it was easily downloaded in German. We had already seen it in English and thought it was one of the better firesides that have been offered. We were hoping for a better crowd but did have about 20 people show up. Scheduled to start at 4 PM, the responsible young man for projecting the devotional showed up about 4:10 along with about 2/3 of the group that attended (I don't mean to put him down because he really is quite a fine young man) but it showed that no one was particularly concerned about a time schedule on a Saturday afternoon. We finally really got going about 4:30 and although we had opened with our own prayer and song everyone still followed along with the same as it was conducted at the fireside. After the closing prayer, we still had our own prayer on the food that was served afterwards and overall, we thought it was a fine event.  I was surprised when one of the young adult sisters who is very active stated that she thought the remarks were a bit insensitive as they compared our sacred beliefs with the beliefs of others but we decided we just had to take that in stride as many of the Austrians really think President Obama is much better than President Bush ever was. Just the European mentality I guess.

     At any rate, we had a wonderful singles ward activity today which started right on time and had the best attendance we've seen in the entire year.  We had over 60 people in attendance and that didn't include many who were present last year from two or three of the outlying wards in the stake but were not present today. Our wonderful sister who prepares meals every Wednesday night had a full meal of Wiener Schnitzels, potato salad and luscious strawberry cakes for dessert to feed the entire crowd. Sister Parker heroically helped her out and other than the Sacrament, missed the rest of the classes and meeting. It was really all quite lovely. Along with the graduation certificates, they presented all of the teachers and the kitchen staff with lovely presents. Sister Parker received a lovely dish towel with Austria (in English) on it and covered with the flowers of the Alps including edelweiss. Elder Parker received a lovely souvenir plate of the Vienna Opera and the heading "City of Music" (in German!) Both will be treasured keepsakes.

      The rest of the week was typical up to a point.  We had a very scanty attendance at Home Evening, and as was the case last summer, the YSA's are no longer assigning anyone for the spiritual thought so it falls to us. It gives us a chance to get them properly indoctrinated! Tuesday was our last district meeting before transfers and we got our typical shot of the group prior to two of them leaving.  We lost Sister Anjaloudis from Australia and Elder Faux from Utah along with one of our Zone Leaders. That all took place on Thursday with the extra sister teaming up with us for the day until her companion came in that afternoon.

  For the first time since we've been here, they completely closed one of the apartments we inspect as we continue to lose more missionaries than are being replaced. Wednesday at Institute we expected a big crowd like last week as BYU adds to our numbers but this week they all had the opportunity to go to the opera and so the Book of Mormon class was down to just 4. One was from BYU and the other three all graduated from Institute today so Elder Parker felt rewarded. Friday we were warned that the BYU guys would not be there for waffle night as they were all going on a big bike ride but as it turned out they got home in plenty of time to show up so we had quite a rousing night after all. We hadn't planned on cooking lots of waffles but we had plenty of food left over from Institute on Wednesday which really filled the bill. The Lord doth provide.

      We got a phone call on Wednesday afternoon that the apartment we had cleaned out last week was all repaired and ready to move back in. That was very fast compared to what we had expected and we went by Friday morning to give it our approval. It really looked very nice and we helped a crew of elders move back in and reassemble all their dismantled furniture on Saturday morning prior to the start of the Institute closing activities. So it was an active week after all. We're not sure what to expect for the next two to three months but if it's typical to last summer, things will be pretty slow.  We spent some time today hanging around the center after everyone had left getting some lists up of 20 or so YSA's in every ward that no one knows where they are. We'll send the elders out to see if they can round any of them up and that should help fill up our idle time.

[Sister Parker] Things go along pretty routinely for us now even with transfer week and taking care of apartments. I'm sure I'm more concerned with the apartments, its contents and supplies than the mission is but the missionaries need to have kitchens, with usable supplies, beds with comfortable mattresses, and have chairs, desks and other things needed for study and rest. Things get worn out after being used by so many missionaries, and most adapt to whatever is available. I like to be their advocate for getting the things they need, even when it is just mixing bowls and dusters. Missionary budgets are limited, but the mission does supply most of the apartment needs. The elders just need to request or point them out when we come to inspect. 

       This week it was hard to see Sister Angeloudis move on to another adventure, but I enjoyed having Sister Kramer as a companion for a few hours. I was also thinking as I was working in the kitchen today, just how much I enjoyed working with these sweet women here, one the super cook and organizer of Institute meals for their activities (as opposed to ours which if taking care of all the JAE Center activities and meals) and the other the Stake Leader over Institute. I am going to miss them when we leave. So all I can say today is to take time to enjoy each other and the people around you. Heavenly Father put them in your path for a reason.

       HUGS AND PRAYERS FOR EVERYONE,

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker

iPads, Morality, Beethoven, Strauss, Homecoming, Farewell, Movers and Shakers (Whew)!

To the Most Wonderful Family on the Face of the Earth!

If we say that this has been a busy week, that would be understating it significantly.  We started out by traveling for four hours to a brand new city, Neumarkt/Wallersee, with all the elders and sisters in our zone to finally receive the long awaited I Pads promised by Elder Bednar back in March.  Although we didn't literally receive them, having had Mom's for the duration of our mission, we decided to travel along and participate in the excitement. 

All of us had memorized the principles of appropriately using digital technology in the mission field including what to do if one was feeling in any way vulnerable to anything that might detract from the Spirit of the work. Our district leader, Elder Albrecht is on the far left of the picture and President Kohler only has his left arm and leg in the picture on the right.  He first administered a quiz to reinforce the principles everyone had learned and then led another good discussion expanding on the information we had all been given in our booklets on properly using the devices. We found out that we were meeting in this chapel, handily just across the street from the local train station because it had one of the best Wi-Fi systems in the mission. Over the course of the next three hours everyone had a chance to download all of the appropriate apps to get started with promises that over the next couple of months, more would be added to our skills including how to administer our Area Books which contain the records of all of the investigators now being worked with or having been worked with in the past.  Everyone was very appropriately impressed with what a great addition to the work these will be and even Elder and Sister Parker downloaded a few things we hadn't had in the past. 

Another four hour ride home still made the three hour meeting seem very worthwhile.

     Wednesday night proved to be another great Institute night with not only the BYU group turning out in force but also four or five students who were finishing up a study abroad tour from Utah State.  They had all first appeared on Monday night for Home Evening when the BYU guys have their own get-together and as they first came in and introduced themselves we cracked a few jokes that we could tell immediately they weren't from BYU. Our scheduled spiritual thought for the evening had a conflict with school and so Sister Parker led out by suggesting that everyone name their favorite hymn and tell why it was their favorite. Then we would sing one verse and move to the next person.  One of our returned sister missionaries, also a visitor for a few weeks, volunteered the hymn "God Is Love" #87 and talked about the time she was assigned to open up a brand new area having only been out in the field for one transfer (6 weeks) and was given a Golden (greenie) as her companion.  Neither one could speak much German, decided the only thing they knew to do was go dooring where they were turned away quite routinely but found her favorite hymn gave them both considerable comfort.  

So back to Wednesday night. Normally the English class on the Book of Mormon is the smallest in attendance but with all the visitors there, the main class on the D&C had 11, the Parables of Jesus had 13 and we came in with 12!  Yea! The class was on the instructions Alma gave to his three sons Helaman, Shiblon and Corianton.  We quoted Elder Ringwood's talk from General Conference who mentioned that his favorite person from the Book of Mormon was Shiblon but spent the majority of the class talking about the church's teachings on morality and chastity. There was great participation and it was one of the best classes we've had all year. We discussed pornography and noted that the three quotes in the student manual on the subject by Elder Oaks, President Benson and President Hinckley had all been given in 1974, 1986 and 1993.  It was evident to everyone in the room that the problem had become greatly exacerbated in the 22 subsequent years.  It provided an excellent opportunity to quote the material we had discussed the day before as the elders received their I-Pads.  Alma 39:9  "Go no more after the lusts of your eyes."

     So we were expecting another great crowd on Friday night for waffles to follow up from the previous week and were greatly surprised when we had only 2 YSA's show up. One of those is a sweet young lady, a member a little over a year, here studying who hails from Italy. She brought her visiting mother along who speaks a very little English, no German and is still a staunch Catholic. She was very sweet and we ended up playing a rousing game of Spot It which translates into all languages as long as you're willing to acknowledge the Italian words for ice cube, dragon, ladybug, etc. We all had a good time and everyone got to take a few waffles home for breakfast the next morning.

     Transfers come up next week and while a few of the elders were packing we arranged for one of the apartments to completely get a new floor as their wood floor is deteriorating pretty well. They have four elders and it goes back to when it was in the Austrian Mission many years ago and we thought they could use a little help as we had to completely clean out two bedrooms from beds, desks, bookcases, tables and sofas.  Naturally the apartment is on the fourth floor, there is no elevator and they weren't sure what part of the cellar was theirs.  Nonetheless, over three hours, the two rooms were completely emptied, swept, vacuumed with everything being moved either into the cellar, or moved into the kitchen and bathroom. The floor man comes tomorrow and hopefully he can finish it all within a week. In the meantime, the four elders are being temporarily moved into two other apartments that used to house four elders each but are both down to just two. Our numbers are steadily dwindling and one of our assigned apartments is actually being vacated at the next transfer for who knows how long. At any rate, we felt pretty bushed by the time we were done. Sister Parker managed to repair two curtains that needed new sliders to give them a little better privacy when they all move back in but still had enough energy to treat her husband to a night out for dinner for Father's Day.  First he suggested we go look at an apartment where Beethoven had composed the 4th, 5th and 7th symphonies and the Fidelio opera.  Then he suggested that we go look at a building in which Johann Strauss had composed "The Blue Danube."  When we got there, lo and behold, there was a lovely restaurant on the ground floor of the building, appropriately named "3/4 Beat."  

No one had ever told us about it but it turned out to be a wonderful little place with a nice no smoking section as well. That's Beethoven's house and then Strauss's.

   

You can see the signs and flags on the building which announce the location as the origin of the great waltz.  By the time we got home it had been a long day and we felt we were lots more than 3/4 beat!

     

So, not lost on us at all was the fact that early on our Thursday morning, about 5 AM was about the time that Jeremy was arriving at the airport as he ended his mission Wednesday night. We've seen a few pictures of his grand arrival and are sorry to be missing his homecoming report which we understand will be next week. Interestingly, we somewhat spontaneously decided to attend a ward today we hadn't been to in a while which includes one of the counselors in our mission. His wife teaches the Young Adult Sunday School class which we always attend and they have a son who is serving in the Budapest Hungary mission for another 5-6 months. They have a 20 year old daughter who has also been called to serve in the Ireland-Scotland mission who it turned out, because the Stake President was out of town this week, had already been set apart and is leaving for the Manchester England MTC on Thursday. We didn't get to hear a homecoming talk but did enjoy a great farewell address as she spoke about how the Lord had motivated her to go on a mission after jumping over several hurdles. It was, as was stated at the beginning of this report, a very busy week.

    [Sister Parker] HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE, its hard to believe here we are again on the longest day of the year. It's the best thing about summer, light early in the morning and light long into the night. The sun rises here at 4:53 am. and sets at 8:58 pm. I was concerned that the hot temperatures of last week were the beginning of a summer full of extreme heat. But temperatures have been a bit cooler this week with some very heavy rain storms, much to our delight. I guess that is one of the great things about Austria; you never know when a few days of rain will randomly just show up. June is quickly passing and before we know it will be the 4th of July and time for Kaylee's baptism on the 11th. Then the summer will be halfway over and next thing you know it will be time for school and Autumn will be here. Thanksgiving just a little while after that and then we will be back with you all. We need to step back and enjoy it all.

    As today is Father's Day I've been thinking back on the father and grandfathers I knew while growing up. Let us all take time this week to think on our fathers and forefathers and remember loving kind moments with them. I still remember when I was about 5 yrs. old and I had gone to a Stake Conference mtg. with my father. The other family members were not with us. It was just my father and I. I loved being with him and we had not driven the 4 or so blocks to the Stake building but had walked together. As we started on our way home I remember asking my father if he would carry me because I was tired. His response was that I was a big girl now and could walk, and I knew that was true, but I asked again. This time he picked me up and carried me all the way home without complaining. I have never forgotten that feeling of being loved and my father's willingness to, so to speak, sacrifice for my welfare. He was a dear, sweet man full of kindness and tenderness and I felt Heavenly Father must be just like him. May you fathers and children create many such memories. 

     We also, appreciated talking with all of you today for Father's Day. Its always a joy to see all of you.

Hugs and Prayers,

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker

Austrian Father's Day!

Hello to all You Wonderful People (and even any Policemen in the midst!)

     Well, the week started off a little slow at Home Evening with no missionaries other than the two of us, one investigator who's pretty professional and mainly comes by for socializing and the food, and four or five YSA's a couple of whom came to eat but had to leave for school conflicts.  The sister assigned for the spiritual thought couldn't make it so Elder Parker had to wing it a bit but he had a few good thoughts running in his head from his preparation for Institute a couple of days later and so we discussed the importance of faith as a mechanism for encouraging our repentance (see Alma 34:15-17 where it's mentioned in each verse.)  That left us with loads of food and we were able to feed our entire district the next day prior to district meeting with the leftovers and even stretched it out for a few snacks as late as Thursday!

     But after a somewhat slow start, things picked up as the week went on. Our BYU group that we mentioned a couple of weeks ago finally got back from assorted trips around Europe including Italy, Switzerland and interestingly even Hallstatt on the same day we were there with Mindy, Benj, and Brenda though we didn't recognize any of them in the crowds. We have at least two in the group who are returned missionaries from our mission though we didn't know any of them prior to their departure.  But one of the elders in our district had one of them as his trainer at the very beginning of his mission so there were lots of hugs and handshakes going around.  About five of the eighteen that are in the group speak no German and several of the others are pretty basic though their leader describes them as speaking fluent German. Be that as it may,the usual class of 2-4 taking the Book of Mormon in English swelled up to 9 and there was a wonderful interaction that went on throughout the evening with the locals and the visitors who all got along extremely well. Friday was the same at Waffle Night as we had a full complement of 18 BYU people there such that Sister Parker had to make an unusual third double batch to handle the delightful multitude. What was even more extraordinary was how well everyone pitched in to help. The elders always turn out well for Waffle Night and they helped cook, people volunteered to help with the dishes and everyone helped to put all the tables and chairs away when we were done. All things considered it was quite a unique week.

     Elder Parker spent most of our P day on Saturday getting his restored phone back up to speed.  Mindy prior to leaving put all the pictures from her, Brenda's and his cell phones on Sister Parker's laptop and so several hours were spent getting everything into a semblance of order. But there was still a little time left over to run out after the sweltering humid heat of the day had dissipated a bit to wander through the city a little, including passing the theater where the German version of Mary Poppins performed live has been extended until January of 2016.  Let's hear it for wholesome entertainment!

     But without question, the high point of the week was today when we decided to travel out to St. Poelton to attend church.  It's a small branch presided over by a president who actually lives in Vienna proper but he and his wife are a real asset to a small group of people who are extremely strong in their faith and activity. They have the only regularly organized choir in the entire stake and we got there just a little after 8:30 in time to participate in choir practice. Apparently every second Sunday there is a special musical number in Sacrament Meeting and today was the choir's turn.  So not only did we get to rehearse with them but were invited to sing during their performance as well.  One of the sisters is an excellent soprano soloist and she and her husband also both play the violin so it was quite a beautiful presentation.

     We sang two hymns by Franzl and Woelfl. For you uninitiated, those are the loving names given to the locally bred composers, Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. All right, we will admit that Mozart was bred in Salzburg but after he had a falling out with the city fathers, moved to Vienna and both cities are more than pleased to claim him as their own. There were perhaps only 30 people in attendance and at least 20 were in the choir but it was an appreciative audience.

The branch president's wife is the choir director as well as the Gospel Doctrine class teacher.  Today's lesson was #22 on the 10 virgins and the parable of the talents. She invited Sister Parker to come to the front of the class where she had a small empty container and another small flask filled with olive oil. She then took suggestions from the class as to how one might make sure that ones lamp is filled when the bridegroom finally arrives and goes into the marriage feast. With each suggestion Sister Parker would pour a little oil into the container until it was well filled which she then presented to us as a gift. We had actually commented this week that we didn't have a source for consecrated oil in our apartment although we have one at the center so that need was providentially taken care of! Elder Parker was asked to give the closing prayer.

     In Sacrament Meeting, Elder Parker was again asked to say the opening prayer and once the choir number was finished, the Branch President was the concluding speaker. He was the first one to mention that today was Father's Day. We know it's not until next week in the states but they're a week early here. We hadn't seen any signs or special announcements anywhere in contradistinction to a major fuss made over Mother's Day last month but that's probably OK all things considered. At any rate, once he was finished with his talk he turned the time over to the Primary to make special presentations to all the men in the room. Considering the small group there were still more than a dozen or so that were rewarded with a small present. Their primary consisted of two, a young six year old boy and a four year old girl. 

With a little direction they were able to pass around specially decorated little hinged wooden boxes with goodies inside much to all the "father's" delight.  Sister Parker thought it was much better than getting a small plant from the mall!  (It is still growing and flowering)Sister Parker had a chance to talk for a while with the young man after the meeting whose primary language is Spanish but he spoke pretty good German. She had a fun time while we were waiting for the elders to finish a lesson with an investigator going over the English names of various animals that she brought up on her I phone by Googling "pictures of animals."  All in all it was a great end to a pretty good week.

   

     Things will get interesting again this week as we go to a completely new location on Tuesday for Zone Conference, Neumarkt am Wallersee, somewhere north of Salzburg. Promised this time is the actual receipt of the new I-Pads. In order to get one we have to have the 4 safeguards memorized in the booklet Safeguards for Using Technology as well as the three safeguards if one is feeling vulnerable or susceptible. We're prepared with everything learned although we probably won't get another I-Pad as Sister Parker has had hers our whole mission. Let's hear it for Senior Mission!

       It is good that this week started out a little slow as we needed to regroup from the week before. Then, also, we  had to get used to the 80 to 90 degree heat, which is also extreme for this early in the summer. But a great time for our wonderful Vienna Gelato. We are pleased to have the BYU students back as they are bubbling over with energy and a desire for new experiences.

      Not too many serious thoughts except, maybe, over the last chapters of the Book of Mormon where thousands and thousands of people die in battles between the Lamanites and the Nephites until there are no more Nephites and the Relief S. lesson on Following the Prophet. It is so clear that following the living prophet, will make all the difference in surviving the trials of our days. So the admonition for this week is to find out or remember what the prophet said during last conference, and the apostles, and do it. 

      Have Happy summer Days,

Hugs and Prayers, 

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker  

Castleing and We're Not Talking Chess

 To Our Wonderful Family,

Wow!  What a week we've had!  One of the great blessings given to senior missionaries is the ability to take care of family when they come to visit. We really didn't miss too much with one of the elders taking over the Institute class and otherwise only having to cancel one of our Waffle Night adventures. We had planned on having that a week ago but when we found out that our visitors, Brenda, Mindy and Benj were going to stay until this past Saturday instead of Friday, we decided to have them participate the night before their departure instead. Although Benji brought Dad a working cell phone back again, it having been replaced after the old one had truly bitten the dust, we didn't really take the time to get it all synced up yet. Several pictures were taken with the new camera and they certainly seem like they're available but we haven't got it all truly worked up yet so some of the pictures aren't coming up for this letter.

     Right after church on Sunday a week ago we boarded a train that would take us to the castles of good old King Ludwig. We had to transfer trains in Munich and didn't arrive in Fuessen, near the castles until about 10 PM that night. Sister Parker and I had the opportunity of reading a couple of chapters of the Book of Mormon in German while we were traveling but we're still about five chapters behind our schedule. By the end of the week though, we'll have read the whole Book of Mormon twice "auf Deutsch"! We're proud of our accomplishment. By the way, you learn all kinds of interesting things when reading in a different language. 3 Nephi 2:12 talks about freedom and liberty, both of which are translated into German as "Freiheit." So the German translation used "inner and outer" freedom. Inner freedom is the right inherently given to all men whereas outer freedom discusses those things granted us by our governments. Gave us an opportunity to ponder those principles a bit. 

So anyway, we stayed in a wonderful hotel very near the train station and visited both of the castles lived in by King Ludwig and his family. The first was the castle he was raised in as a boy and we could see the telescope he used gazing up from there at the construction of his future castle, Neuschwanstein. 

Again, I'm not getting them all in here but we'll show them all to you later. Here's a shot of the gang coming up one of the back alleys toward the model for all the Disney castles:

Brenda had a little neat device on her wrist that counted her steps every day.  We generally averaged at least 10,000 paces a day! but this day set the record with over 20,000 paces and 76 flights of stairs!  She figured before the week was out that we'd walked around 36 miles.

      We left the castles behind us that afternoon and traveled to Salzburg where all enjoyed recapitulating the scenes from the Sound of Music movie, seeing the big fortress on the hill which goes back many centuries and finished off the day with a wonderful dinner concert at a music hall which itself claimed to date back at least in its foundations to 803 AD.  They performed pieces from Mozart's operas Don Giovanni (Don Juan), the Marriage of Figaro, and the Magic Flute which were just wonderful.

     Then, having been educated by Ruslana, we left the next morning for the wonderful little Alpine village of Hallstatt.  

Lining up to go into the mines, looking ready for work.

We had planned on spending just the afternoon there seeing the village and going through the Salt Mines which date back to 600-800 BC. (Editors note: Dad has a truly fabulous picture of him going down the slide in the salt mines on this excursion. Ask him to show it to you one day. Although, mom was still the fastest going down the slides without even trying! She wanted to go slower!) 

We were going to leave the next day around 10:00 but discovered that the holiday celebrated that day and which we were aware of, known at Fronleichnam or Corpus Christi, was a big annual event in Hallstatt.  We're still not sure of exactly where it originates and we even asked our seminary and institute director who wasn't sure either but thought it was originally a pagan holiday which they had incorporated into Christianity somewhere along the way.  At any rate, our hotel was right on the main town plaza and when we emerged that morning we found that the large stone pillar which is surrounded by a small wall directly in front of the door had been prepared to celebrate what looked like a Catholic Mass.

Austrian flags were flying everywhere and right at the hour we had planned to depart, into the plaza marched the town band followed by a bevy of municipal leaders and the priest carrying a gold altarpiece.  

Flowers were strewn everywhere and the whole village primary class got involved with several kids repeating into a microphone which the priest held to them one at a time, "The Lord is our God"

After the ceremony, the whole entourage moved to the city dock where everyone who owned a boat had decorated it with branches and leaves.  A huge parade followed out on the lake where further celebrations were held that we could hear on the shoreline and then they all came back in and the band led the whole procession back through the plaza and on up to the church which dominates the village skyline. We thought it was all very impressive and delayed our departure for a couple of hours to take it all in. 

Then it was back to Vienna. Brenda had heard of a good restaurant owned by a famous Austrian actor but it turned out it was closed for a month for vacation time. Instead we found a restaurant we had passed several times on our way to the 12 Apostles Cellar mentioned last week. Apparently it was owned by the same actor and we decided to try it. It turned out to be quite wonderful and the waitress really bent over backwards to provide us good service. We decided to order the special Sachertorte, a kind of a chocolate cake and fruit concoction that is famous here but which we'd never tried. But it was on the menu and she brought us an extra portion even though we were going to share two of them with the five of us.We truly enjoyed our experience there. 

We spent the next day and a half seeing some of the remaining sights, the family getting souvenirs and ending up the week at good old Waffle Night with about 10 other missionaries and a couple of YSA's.  

While Sister Parker and Brenda were preparing the Waffles, 

Elder Parker went with the family out for purchases of "chalices from the palaces", tricky music boxes that play like real violins and the true, genuine Mozart chocolate ball delicacies. While he waited outside one of the stores, the proprietress came out to ask if we were Mormons, having seen the badge and so there was at least a brief missionary moment as she was told about the Book of Mormon as a second witness for Jesus verifying the Bible.

  

     Saturday, our usual P day was spent doing about five or six hours of laundry, putting away all the extra beds and bedding and preparing for a great Fast Sunday the next day.  Interestingly, in our full year here, we had never witnessed a baby blessing as we move from one ward to the other each Sunday.  So yesterday we were blessed with two babies who were blessed.  The grandfather in one case, and the father in the second case, both stood behind the pulpit holding the baby with the other brethren reaching in to place their hands on the baby as well as they could reach.  I guess they haven't considered the ease of a portable microphone but it worked out just fine and was truly a lovely meeting with many extended family members filling up the cultural hall all the way to the rear. That evening we had the opportunity of our Visitor's evening, held once a transfer in the center.  The topic this time was the Godhead and how we define them in the scriptures.  There was a better than average turnout with several investigators who asked good questions.  It was a great end to a wonderful couple of weeks. It seems we're finally ready to get back to the real work now in earnest as the new week begins.

    [Sister Parker] It was a wonderful week and a half, with slumber parties every night, lots of sharing time together, and getting to know Austria even better. It truly is a beautiful country, with green meadows covered with wild flowers, mountains covered with trees, and beautiful lakes. 

One could really spend a lot of time sight seeing but there are many missionary opportunities too. Our elders and sisters even missed us. We love it all and are glad to be back to our missionary tasks, even when it includes cooking. 

    Lately, we have been reading in the Book of Mormon about the Savior coming to the Nephites and Lamanites, especially the verses about them receiving the sacrament. I have been pondering them a little more and thinking on them as we partake of the Sacrament. What a wonderful experience to have had the Lord break and bless the bread and water.  Also as we sing in the German songbook I have to focus more in order to understand the words and they have such precious messages about our Savior's love. Take time this week to think more on the words of these songs as you prepare to take the sacrament.

  We miss you all and love seeing the pictures of what you are doing in each of your families.  

LOVE AND HUGS,    

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker

Always Something Left to See

To Our Dear and Beloved Family,

Another exciting week has passed, the most significant event being the safe arrival of Brenda, Mindy and Benj on Thursday afternoon. We went through the usual motions the first part of the week though it was a holiday weekend here for Pentecost, just like it was for the rest of the family for Memorial Day.  We loved the pictures we received and we admit one of our favorites was the typical decorating of Ed and Barbara's grave with pine cones. Here in Europe they know how to holiday well with a three day holiday very insufficient. Pentecost started on Friday and although most of the stores opened on Tuesday, the school kids were still out until Wednesday. At any rate the center was closed so we didn't put on the usual Monday night meal for home evening but Institute on Wednesday was well attended for the English class though demonstrated a very poor attendance for the other classes.  We suppose people were still recovering from the long holiday but it has become a concern as many of the young adults that we used to always see seldom come around.  In justification for a few of them, weddings are pending and we suspect they have plenty to keep them busy.

     With our extra time we hauled up the extra beds from our basement cellar and pulled down the mattresses and bedding that we have stashed above our clothes closet. We were all ready for a total population of five in our little two room apartment and it has really gone quite well with the exception of one major factor. Their plane landed at about 3 PM and we have learned from all previous arrivals including our own that it takes a good hour to get pick up your luggage and get through customs.  No sign of anyone until 4:10 PM when they all walked through the gate and informed us that Benj's checked luggage hadn't made the trip.  Thus far there have been a total of 7 phone calls with Delta being the most helpful and documenting that all the luggage made it safely to Paris. From that point on we still don't know where his suitcase is with one report even indicating it may have been shipped to Atlanta. Air France has been less than efficient as they were responsible for the last leg of the trip. Anyone who has occasion to give them a bad rep has our approval. So far it has been 72 hours with no knowledge of where his stuff is. He's missing some Sunday clothes, his scriptures and a variety of other sundries but fortunately Elder Parker received his new cell phone safely (packed in Benj's carry on) and it even works! We have loaned Benj some shaving equipment etc. and we're laundering more frequently than planned.

     It has otherwise been a wonderful two and a half days thus far.  We've visited some of our favorite spots like the heights of Kahlenberg with a wonderful view of the city and the Danube, Schoenbrunn Castle (after the third trip we think we're actually starting to get all of the details down about it's inhabitants, the last of the Habsburgs), and St Stephen's cathedral.  But what was new this time was our first opportunity to see the famous Spanish Riding School with the Lippizaner Stallions and a wonderful concert in one of the original halls where Johann Strauss actually performed.  We found out that photos were forbidden in any of the places that charged money so they can encourage you to buy the book with all of the photos in it but it was possible to grab a few shots of the locations after the show was over!

Directly in front of us at the concert were about 50 Asian tourists who couldn't accept the fact that pictures were not allowed and they were waving their cameras all over in front of us until eventually threatened with ultimate bodily harm by the authorities.  

We got a kick our of a woman directly in front of us who kept tapping the man in front of her every time he elevated his camera.  But otherwise it really was a wonderful program with lots of familiar classics from Strauss, Mozart and others. We have eaten in two different restaurants with live musicians performing the old classics and are preparing today to embark right after church on the first leg of our trip to Germany to see the Neuschwanstein Castle, Salzburg and redo our visit to Hallstatt which we did last year with Andy and Ruslana and their family. 

Our other new experience yesterday was a trip to a wonderful main library room now kept strictly as a museum. It was stacked with thousands of books on multiple levels plus was featuring a wonderful exhibit on the renovation of historical Vienna when the old protective walls were torn down and replaced with the wonderful Ringstrasse which encircles the old city and has been developed with lots of impressive buildings, government and otherwise with lots of classy hotels.

  

      We're leaving in about an hour to attend the International Ward and then will return just long enough to pick up our luggage and head for the train station and an 8 hour train ride.  It will give us a nice time to rest and talk.  We may even get caught up on our scripture reading which is a couple of days behind.

   [Sister Parker] Its great to have some family here and I really appreciate all the new supplies they brought in to fill my pantry. I won't need any extras for the remainder of our mission. I have enjoyed all the family pictures of visiting the graves and appreciate you all taking time to remember and honor our family who have gone on before us. Give each other big hugs from us, especially Amelia who is sharing her mother with us.

     LOVE AND HUGS. 

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker

BYU Returns!

To Our Dear Family,

Well here we sit on a quiet Sunday night, listening to the Orchestra on Temple Square play their concert entitled "A Night in Vienna."  We don't know how long ago it was performed, probably at least a couple of years ago.  I think we had actually seen it once but this was the first time we noticed it on the church website.  Anyway, it's a great background to letter writing and Igor Gruppman is trying hard to keep up with the Vienna Philharmonic that we heard last week.

It was our understanding that a group from BYU was supposed to arrive in town last Wednesday but we had heard nothing from them, even at our Institute Council meeting which was Thursday morning.  We'd been up at the crack of dawn that day to get to the train station by 6:30 to say goodbye to the 4 elders leaving the Vienna Zone and then had to hightail it to the council meeting by 7:30.  That went until 9:15 AM and then it was time to hustle up to one of the apartments that needs a new floor and meet a tradesman who was going to give us a second bid on the job at 10:00.  By the time he was done we'd spent a good morning already and it was time to get some lunch and get ready for our language lessons in the afternoon.  Still no news of anyone showing up from BYU and we hoped we might see someone on Friday night at Waffle Night but still no luck.  There was a good showing of missionaries including most of the newies who came in Thursday afternoon after the oldies had left but other than 3 YSA's and one "professional" investigator, that was it.

This weekend was featuring a Sports Outing at one of the wards way out to the west in a city called Graz that we've never been to and that no doubt explained the small number of attendees but it turned out to rain all day on Saturday. That being our P day we thought about making the trek out there but elected not to and spent the day deep cleaning the apartment in preparation for the arrival in a few days of Brenda, Mindy and Benj.

      So with no enthusiasm to go any walks of Vienna this weekend we decided we'd at least go out for dinner. In our travels the last few weeks we had noticed hidden away on a remote busy intersection that we almost never get to, lo and behold! a TGI Friday's. Elder Parker was pretty sure he remembered about where it was and we decided to take an unusual combination of streetcar and bus to get there.  But as luck would have it we got out one stop too early and had to walk an extra block.  But that was not all that bad as we lucked out and walked past Beethoven Platz which included a sign indicating where a school used to stand, long ago replaced but at one time attended by none other than.....Joseph Haydn.  We knew you'd think it was Beethoven and so did we but nonetheless, there on the Platz big as life was this:  Beethoven bigger than life even though a little tarnished!

 We did finally make it to TGIF's where we relished some excellent potato skins and Elder Parker ordered some yummy BBQ'd ribs while Sister Parker was happy with some equally luscious fish and chips. We don't think we can get away with that while visitors are here expecting to sample some schnitzel and gelato but it will hold us off for a while!

       So to get back to the original story line, we went to our Stake Center for church today but attended the 2nd ward which meets in the afternoon so next week we could attend the International Ward which meets in the afternoon.  Much to our delight, there were 8 of the 18 BYU group including their leader in attendance. Virtually all of them speak pretty good German and the others may have attended the English speaking ward that morning. These guys are not the musicians we had who left last September but are all artists or language students so it will be interesting to get to know them better. Our first contact was Zach Herzog who it turned out left our mission last August but had never made it to Vienna proper. We pulled out our old mission newsletters and found his picture departing us just as our new mission president arrived. We all attended the usual YSA Sunday School class but because all the regulars were in Graz today where they had a Singles Ward experience, no teacher showed up.  To her credit, one of our newlywed sisters who hails from the US, her husband being a Brit, picked up on the lesson with plenty of help from everyone there and we had a great lesson, interestingly most of it in English even though there were about five or six Austrians there but all of them speak excellent English. It was really a little bit of this and that going back and forth from which ever language people were most comfortable in but we felt quite edified.

     So this whole weekend is a major holiday again, centering on the day of Pentecost or Pfingsten.  That was what was going on the weekend we arrived in Vienna one year ago Tuesday!  We have to admit that these religious holidays are nice once you get used to them and as the Pentecost represented the day the apostles were blessed with the Holy Ghost, it was a natural topic for Sacrament Meeting today.

We understand it is also the Memorial Day weekend so everyone gets Monday off.  We may celebrate by visiting a few more graves tomorrow but we think we've been to most we're interested in.  Mostly we'll be gearing up for the family visitors by bringing up three more beds from the cellar.

Currently we've got tickets for the Lippizaner Stallions, a great Strauss/Mozart concert, both this coming Saturday in Vienna, and a wonderful Mozart opera dinner concert in Salzburg for a week from Tuesday.  I don't know if we can tolerate all this high level of classicism!

  [Sister Parker] Not much to add this week. It has actually been quite rainy and a bit cold, so I'm hoping for a little sunshine to come our way for our visitors. I think I have mostly spent this week bolstering young adults up and saying goodbye to our endearing elders. They all seem like my grandchildren and I enjoy getting to know them and their concerns. The hard part is remembering how they all fit in and where they come from, even the YSA's come from different cities and countries. It's a great time to be a missionary.

LOVE AND HUGS,
Grammy, Grampa,
Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker