Jack O' Lanterns and Farewell Talks

To All of our Beloved Family!

    If we ever thought we might have a little free time now and then, that image disappeared quickly this week. It seems we have been busy every day from morning until evening with one thing or another. We got informed that the Senior Couple  for whom we had initially picked out an apartment were now again being rescheduled to come here in November instead of waiting until January. There was an apartment vacated in Munich by a couple who had been released and the mission office decided they would take all of the furnishings in this apartment and bring them to Vienna sometime during the week. 

We had some assignments for district meeting on Tuesday and all the normal preparations for a special Home Evening on Monday that kept us pretty busy for the first day of the week and followed through with a good meeting with the missionaries, feeding them after we were done with some of the extra food left over from the night before. Then we were notified that the loading truck would be here by Thursday afternoon which meant we had to make all of the purchases for bedroom furniture which were the only things not included in the other furnishings. We have become real aces at getting around IKEA without getting lost in the 45-60 minutes it usually takes and made all of the decisions of what we felt we'd need.  The president had given us an advance of what we might need and we felt pretty good  that we still had a reserve of about 300 Euros when we'd made all of our decisions.  Then we got informed that the double bed we'd chosen was felt to be inadequate for a senior couple (even though that's what we've been sleeping on for the past 17 months) and we should upgrade to a queen size bed. 

In the meantime Institute on Wednesday night went off really well with our best attendance since last summer of over 50 people in attendance. We even had about 10 people in the English class which was a new high and it included a young woman from some kind of religious study group who wanted to find out more about the LDS church and its teachings. So Thursday morning we were off early and bought the bigger bed and all the stuff that goes on it, under it and around it with our advance money coming within 8 Euros. We thought we were going to make it until they informed us there would be a 140 Euro delivery charge so we coughed up the extra money not sure how the mission was going to reimburse us without paying some high fees for a bank transfer from Munich to Highland. At the end it was all set up for delivery in a week. Then Elder Parker received a call that the van was coming into Wien so, he left his companion at the language courses while he met the office van. We were able to recruit the Zone Leaders and eventually they were joined by the elders who had finished the language courses, to offload a few thousand pounds of furniture and get it all up to a fifth floor apartment. That same day, we had arranged for the teacher of the young mothers group on Thursday morning to get a key so we wouldn't have to be there and to have Sister Parker stay around to support the Young Marrieds who now meet on Thursday nights while Elder Parker joined the moving group of elders.

As we got everything moved in pretty well, it was announced that we would have the van available to us all day Friday if necessary and we thought we might be able to save the 140 Euro delivery charge if we could pick it all up instead.  So the two senior elders made a run up to IKEA to rearrange all the financing after a phone call seemed to indicate we could pick it up if we arrived prior to their closing at 9 PM.  Everybody still with us?  

Back to IKEA where there was a bit of a line we had to wait in and by the time we had it all rearranged, we were informed that the 15 items purchased would not be ready until about noon the next day. To make a long story shorter, Sister Parker and I reunited that evening and still made it to pre-arranged apartment inspections Friday morning. Then it was off to IKEA again with the van where we loaded in the bedroom stuff. We decided we could squeeze in a quick trip to a different store to pick up a new dryer and then it was back to the apartment where the elders helped us again to bring another several hundred pounds of stuff up to the fifth floor. All done and out of there in time to only be a half hour late to the center to set up for Waffle Night!

The YSA's had decided it would be fun to do a little pre-Halloween stuff, a holiday which is steadily creeping (literally--it's sometimes a little too creepy) into Europe and so we had a Jack O' Lantern contest, forming two teams and seeing who could come up with the best rendition.  Here are the results, you decide who won:

Saturday, we had to finish our farewell talks which were given today in the ward where we first started  17 months ago. It includes many of the people we've worked closely with at the YSA Center including a couple where the husband, an ex-stake president, and his wife were called to the presidency of the Freiberg Temple. They have now been temporarily released while it's closed until next July but we're secretly hoping they'll be recalled again which might give us the opportunity to get an inside track. We'll have to talk to Heidi's parents to see how they pulled it off. At any rate, our talks seemed to be well received and gave us an opportunity to put our thoughts in order for about a month from now. We guess a farewell talk here can pretty much approximate a homecoming talk there.

    We decided yesterday that there might still be an opportunity to get to one of Sister Parker's desired but yet to be visited sightseeing spots, the Vienna Butterfly Museum.

It was pretty and very interesting and you are literally right in the middle of it all but one step inside and one becomes immediately aware that the temperature is 115 degrees with a humidity of only 99%. Within about 15 minutes we decided that this was a supreme example of Mosiah 3:27.  

Our clothing was becoming damp, our glasses were fogged up to the extreme and we wondered how butterflies ever survive in Utah. We made it through all the bridges, tunnels and intricate pathways with butterflies all over the place with strict instructions not to touch any of them, even if they're dead and certainly not to take anything out with you! We couldn't make it much longer than it took to get around everywhere and were glad to make a hasty retreat and enjoy a lovely film about the life cycle of butterflies in a wonderfully air-conditioned room!

    Refugees continue to pack into Austria on their way to wherever.  Despite next week being Fast Sunday, the Vienna Stake decided today would be a special fast day in behalf of the many refugees.  Contributions were encouraged in behalf of the humanitarian funds of the church and we felt the members were encouraged that they really could help in a significant way not only monetarily but also through their fasting and prayers.

   [Sister Parker] This really has been a busy week of running here and there and meeting all the mission needs besides taking care of the center and the young people who wish to linger longer. They really don't have another nice, homey, welcoming place to hang out and now I am more willing to stay longer with them as we all know the Parkers will be leaving soon. Some keep asking if we wouldn't like to stay longer, and of course we would on one hand for them, but on the other home is calling. Really, though they have brought us many blessings and some wonderful experiences. I pray for them as I do for my children. I pray that we may all hold on to one another and to our Savior as we go through life's ups and downs. I am also glad to have my talk over with, it was waking me up in the night thinking in German. Now I can concentrate on organizing our apartment for going home.

      Sending our HUGS and PRAYERS, 

and enjoying beautiful Autumn days and Halloween. 

Grammy and Grampa, Mom and Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

Genesis 49:1

To Our Beloved Family,

     Well, we have just finished our fourth conference in about six weeks.  The Senior Conference in Switzerland was followed by a Zone Conference in Salzburg a few days later, then the wonderful General Conference and finally, today, our last Stake Conference.  This one was something new as prior to this it has always been held in a very large rented hall where the entire stake could fit at one time. For today's conference, because they had no general authority visitor, it was decided to hold it in the stake center and beam it via the Internet to three other locations that are more distant. Two of the wards met in one other building and there were two yet more distant that had the conference transmitted to their respective buildings. One of the best speakers, however, was a brother who has been serving as the president of the Frankfurt Temple which was just closed for a couple of years for remodeling and expansion. His remarks focused on the revelations that each person can personally receive as one attends the temple to receive the needed guidance for daily living.  It was a wonderful opportunity to see many people for the last time as we just have three more Sundays to go prior to our release.

     Next week we will attend the northernmost ward where they have asked us to speak. We both think that our farewell talks to them will likely be very similar to our homecoming talks a few weeks later. Today in stake conference they asked us all to fast next week for all of the refugees who are flooding through the European Union and dedicate special offerings for that same purpose. Then the following week will be the regular fast and testimony Sunday. We're planning on attending the English speaking international ward that Sunday which is where they actually list us as full-time missionaries serving in their ward. Then the final Sunday we will be joined by our replacements, the Neugebauers. They will have joined us two days earlier and we will embark on a quick orientation as to their responsibilities and where all the ward chapels and missionary apartments are located which they will be visiting.

     It seems like we are moving through a bunch of lasts. This week instead of district meeting we had our last Zone Training which differs from a zone conference in that it just comprises the missionaries from our zone whereas the latter includes us and Salzburg zone together. The next one of those will be the Christmas Zone Conference which we expect to celebrate with all of you guys back in the states!

     Our mission president and his wife were at the Saturday night stake conference where they both bore their testimonies but we think it will be the last time we'll see them. In addition to settling our mission financial account with us they brought some wonderful little keepsakes, the mission lapel pin for Elder Parker and a similar necklace pin for Sister Parker. They already have us enrolled in the blog for former missionaries of the Alpine German Speaking Mission and it sounds like everything else from here on out may be somewhat anticlimactic. We are definitely committed, however, to not getting too trunky.

     We understand that today was the reorganization of our home stake presidency at their stake conference so we're excited to find out just who will be officially releasing us. So now, back to the other things that are keeping us busy. This week we met with a real estate agent and the landlord lady he represents (interestingly, she's a pharmacist) to sign for and receive the keys for a new apartment which will be used by a new family history couple coming in a couple of months. In the meantime it looks like we'll actually use the apartment for a few days when our replacements arrive instead of having to grab a hotel for five days. We can even store our extra luggage there while we inspect the delights of downtown Prague and Budapest prior to our actually climbing on the plane. We already have reservations in both places with the hotel in Prague coming as a freebie with some points we have saved up from our time shares.

     An interesting point regarding our visit to Budapest. Friday a week ago we were visited by the Area YSA supervisors who are headquartered in Frankfurt. They have been in the process of visiting all of the YSA senior couples in Eastern Europe and met with us on our Waffle Night. They had already been to Italy, Graz in Austria, Bratislava in Slovakia (the other half of old Czechoslovakia) and Sopron, Hungary but prior to visiting us they had also visited with the couple in Budapest, Hungary. They mentioned that they might be able to get us a reduced rate at a hotel near the church there which is available for church officials and gave us the name of the couple, which didn't ring any bells, and the hotel. Then just a few days ago we received their monthly message which they send out to everyone within their area of responsibility. That includes everyone from Scandinavia on the north and all of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and we think might even include France, Spain and England. But at any rate they had pictures of all of the recent visits they had made, including us. Lo and behold, the couple in Budapest are from Highland, Utah and we worked together in the bishopric of the Mount Mahogany Ward. So we're looking forward to having someone take us to church in Budapest. We'll be there from Saturday night until Tuesday before we leave.  Nice to have speakers of the language who are also good old friends!

     So there are still three more Institute classes to teach including one the night before our departure. We still have to inspect five more apartments before we leave and completely furnish the new apartment, especially if we expect to sleep in it for a few nights. We have to figure out how to get the gas and electricity turned on, prepare some assignments for the next district meeting and pack up a bunch of memorabilia, souvenirs, etc and get them shipped off in the next two weeks before our replacements commandeer our apartment. We understand the YSA's are going to throw a big farewell party on our last Home Evening. Should be a big farewell dinner Sister Parker gets to prepare but she should have plenty of help. She already knows what the recipe is.

    For our sightseeing adventure yesterday this is where we went: You are looking at "The House of the Sea" a huge 8 story aquarium complete with other animals like birds and monkeys that let you walk through their habitat. The building itself was an old World War II flak tower that was completed in May 1944 about a week before the D Day invasion began. It was used to spot and shoot down enemy planes but also as a type of bomb shelter which could protect as many as 45,000 people at the time of an air raid. The city decided to put it to good use after the war and the place was crowded on a Saturday afternoon with lots of families, especially many young children that really made Sister Parker homesick for her grandchildren. We don't have much left we plan to see except maybe the Butterfly House. We'll see if we can work it in.

  It really does seem strange to be doing all these things as a last time and to be hugging some people good-bye for the last time. Its one of those bitter sweet moments that stay suspended in time and which you, for ever more hold dear. But there is still quite a bit left to take care of so we can't dwell on it and will be rather busy until we leave. There is still plenty of time left to share the gospel, support our missionaries and YSA's and have some fun. Try to keep the autumn weather good until we get back. I'm still looking forward to a walk in crunchy leaves.

Thinking about you all, 

with HUGS AND PRAYERS,  

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker  

Time is Short--Visit the Clock Museum!

To All of the Beloved Reasons Why We're Looking Forward to Coming Home,

I guess it's pretty hard to come up with a week as good as the last one was but even so, it went pretty well. Other than Monday night when we had about 19, every other night was pushing 25-30 people in attendance. Even our language courses were reasonably well attended.

Special events were Wednesday as we really started the new Institute Year. No one had signed up to take the English speaking class so Elder Parker prepared without knowing if he'd have anyone to teach. But it turned out that with the help of a co-teacher the stake called, thinking we might not have a replacement for a month or so, and one of his assignments being to enthuse the slackers in the International Ward to start attending again. We actually had three students with the two teachers dividing up 1 1/2 apiece. But we knew all three well and so it was a good introductory lesson to the next semester. We continue to get a hard driving response from our new stake representative, the 4th year medical student who is teaching the German class on the same subject. She's going to get 49-50 people signed up for Institute by this next week or know the reason why! We get about 3-4 emails a day from her as she is expressing her efforts in a great way. Her parents were also in town this week, living in Anchorage, Alaska but here for a visit, but the mother originating here in Linz, Austria. Interestingly, one of our elders who just happened to be there was from their ward. They'd known him since he was in primary.

It was a good week for parents as our special young lady from Italy was visited by her father, a non-member, who came by on Friday night to play games and enjoy the evening with his daughter's friends. We think he was favorably impressed with the wholesome nature of her companions. While at the temple a couple of weeks ago we picked up a 500 piece  jig saw puzzle depicting the children of the world visiting with the Savior in a painting by Greg Olson. We thought it was pretty cute and actually started putting it together last Monday night. But it got a little too late to finish so Elder Parker finished it up on Tuesday. He then decided to take the whole thing apart and see if anyone might be interested to try again on Friday. Result: We had a cute young returned missionary sister from Hungary who apparently has a passion for jig saw puzzles and she couldn't stop until we were done. It was almost midnight before we got out of there!

We naturally slept in a little on our P day but decided it was definitely the time to finally see the Vienna Clock Museum. To hear them tell it, Vienna was the clock making capital of the world back in the 1700's, though they had the actual clock mechanisms of clocks that went back a couple of hundred years earlier. They even had the original works of the clock in the tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral, the focus of the heart of Vienna, which hasn't had a clock since the early 1900's.This was Elder Parker's favorite 

You're looking at a pocket sun dial, the absolute ultimate for the traveling man!    

And then of course there's the ultimate cuckoo clock.  The picture doesn't do it justice as it was about three feet across and four feet high!

   Sunday was, of course, Fast and Testimony Meeting and we had a lovely meeting at the ward we'd picked out to be one of our last such opportunities to bear our testimony of the truthfulness of what we are engaged in. That evening we had a Visitor's Evening at the center, pretty well attended at which all of the Vienna missionaries were present along with a good selection of people from around the stake and even a couple of investigators.

  

   So here are the details about our return. We will arrive on United Airlines flight 5483 at 6:58 PM on the 18th of November at Salt Lake City International Airport. We have a two hour layover in Denver following up from a two hour layover in Frankfurt. All are invited to the house for Thanksgiving dinner on the 26th with the homecoming addresses scheduled for the 29th. We'll figure out a way to put up any out of towners that want to come.

    [Sister Parker] I can't believe we are thinking on Thanksgiving and Homecoming, but whatever, it is true that we are visiting our wards here in Vienna for the last time. Even though we haven't gotten to know very many members closely, there are always a few that we have personally connected with. This ward has a sweet, friendly spirit and it is hard to say good-bye. I think our young adults are also thinking on our leaving and seem to be hanging out longer and longer in the evenings. But here again it is a joy to be with them, and it tugs at my heart. I find myself trying to cook their favorites. I think my favorite thing this week was attending the couples institute class on Thursday, as there was only one person and Ester asked if I would join. The lessons are on Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel. It is interesting that being on a mission helps you see so clearly the purpose of life and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to change peoples lives for the better. Cherish your testimonies and continually nurture them.

    Looking forward to coming home next month, but trying not to think on it too much and to finish up what we would like to complete here. Its also getting colder and time to put on those heavy winter coats. Temperatures the next couple of days are from 47 degrees down to 32 degrees 

HUGS AND BLESSINGS,

Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

Can a Week Get Any Better?

To Our Beloved Family!

We don't know how a week can get any better than this one! Just getting back from the Senior Conference in Switzerland, having spent last Sunday in Salzburg, we fell right into a tremendous home evening night on Monday with investigators almost equaling the number of YSA's present. We had not anticipated that anyone was going to show up with a Spiritual thought so thought we'd just pull it together earlier that day. But Sister Parker got heavily involved in fixing the meal for the evening and Elder Parker was needed to joint teach with the Sisters as they were teaching a young man . Just before all that started, a young man walked in indicating he frequently walked by the building and today felt motivated that he should come in to get some questions answered. Turned out he was an ex-member who had been baptized as a teenager and been more or less active for a few years before completely dropping out and eventually having his name removed from the records of the church. Now he was engaged and felt oppressed with a heavy weight over him, seeking the answers to the questions of life. A couple of elders and Elder Parker were talking with him when all of us had to break for our scheduled appointments. But he elected to hang around, talked with Sister Parker in the interim until we all returned and by then many of the YSA's had started showing up. In short, there was no time to prepare a Spiritual thought, so we decided it was time to let the Spirit do the preparing. Elder Parker was impressed to start talking about covenants and everyone participated just wonderfully as we talked about the nature of contracts, then baptism, then the Sacrament, then the difference between a civil marriage being two way and an eternal marriage being a three-way covenant. Our ex-member was an active participant in the discussion and admitted his interest in the marriage covenant now that he was engaged.
  

After the formal discussion ended he got into further discussions with one of the members who is a returned missionary and ended up asking if he could receive a blessing. When asked if he wanted just a blessing or whether we should administer to him, he wondered if non-members could be administered to. We assured him they could and the two of us provided a blessing which ended up with everyone in tears. The Spirit was definitely present. Elder Parker even got the chance to use his new vial for consecrated oil purchased at the Swiss Temple a few days earlier, having lost his original at the outset of the mission when his briefcase containing the original was stolen. 

   
We'll see where all of this goes but it was a great start to a week that moved on to our latest Zone Conference back in Salzburg. This time we were able to make the trek back on the train, plenty of refugees still around but not really a problem as long as we weren't planning on trying to leave Austria. The conference was supposed to begin at 10 AM and end at 4 PM but it turned out the extra hour in the morning was to allow all the missionaries to receive their flu shots. Seniors were given the option and we decided to bypass the honor if it wasn't required. But then the conference went until 5, we missed our originally scheduled train and the one that followed by about 4 minutes so ended up not getting home until after 9:30. But the day was another spiritual feast with President and Sister Kohler in their prime. They had us all prepped to give 7-10 minute talks on three different subjects and then asked a Golden (remember that's the mission name for a Greenie) to give one of the talks with the other two also being excellent.

Friday for Waffle Night we had prepared for our usual 14-16 attendees and were pleased to get a total of 23, six of whom again were investigators. Everyone was having a good time and we ended up staying way too late with a couple of our favorite YSA's who helped us start putting together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle of a painting by Greg Olson on the Children of the World being taught by the Savior. This we had purchased in Switzerland. Luckily we got home before the streetcars stopped running but slept in on Saturday. When we finally got up it was a good opportunity to do a thorough clean of the apartment which had been neglected a little in the previous weeks.

The major event of the weekend was obviously General Conference but the rebroadcast of the Women's Session from the previous week didn't start until 4 PM and the live Saturday morning session didn't start for us until 6 PM. Sister Parker decided she would watch the Women's Session Sunday morning while Elder Parker went to the taped session of General Priesthood meeting so that gave us a little bit of time on Saturday to walk around a few blocks in the immediate neighborhood of the center which we had never done thus far in a year of being here. Within two blocks of where we mostly hang out we found the oldest preserved baking oven in Vienna, now a restaurant, a palace which had been, temporarily, the home of the Vienna Choir Boys, the church where Beethoven had laid after his death prior to his burial and wonder of wonders, the Peoples Museum which just happened to have free admission that day because it was the "Long Night of Museums" in the city.

Earlier we had been guided into a hidden-away courtyard showing how the poorer people had lived during the middle ages and then found out that the People's Museum contained many artifacts from about the same time, probably the 1600-1700's.

This was a particularly fascinating find hanging on a wall behind some table tapestries which indicated that "The  most beautiful thing the world around is a home that's built on firm ground" (Better rhyme in German but it's close). But we found the all-seeing eye and the clasped hands below it to be of extreme interest.

     That led us directly into General Conference. We were able to see three sessions live, Saturday and Sunday morning sessions and by staying up until midnight Sunday,also the closing session. The Women's, Priesthood and Saturday afternoon sessions we got on tape delay although we did stay up late Saturday night long enough to witness and participate live in the sustaining of Elders Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund, all of whose testimonies we witnessed when they were given Sunday morning. No question that this was a superlative conference. We loved the talk from Elder Anderson, and especially moving were the talks from Elder Holland and President Nelson on the divine nature of motherhood and womanhood.

       [Sister Parker] It seems our missionary life is packed full of many wonderful experiences. At first the days were kind of slow but now they come and go so quickly that I have to pause a moment to enjoy what we are engaged in. Everything and everyone has become so dear that even now some of our young adults are emotional about our leaving even though it is a month away.  It is too bad that at the beginning we do not feel as competent as we do now in accomplishing our purpose as senior missionaries. I hope we have or will have accomplished all the Lord has sent us here to do and touched the lives of those people with whom we were suppose to connect. Fortunately or not there are also many challenges that fit into the scheme of things and hopefully we have grown and gained new insights in ourselves, our church family, and the gospel.

       I came to conference looking for a respite from the evils of the world we pass through every day and found the "Fount of many Blessings," and so sweet was the spirit. It was a joy to be with all the missionaries, members and investigators and to drink from the fountain and to drink again and again, and to be filled. I wish it would last forever, but I guess we have to wait for that in Heaven. I came away feeling that we all needed to evaluate how the gospel is really working in our lives, to seek for greater companionship of the Holy Ghost and to strengthen our families. Then in doing this, we can show others the way to a better life through our Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, how I love the Savior. I hope you were also strengthened and your little ones with you. May the Spirit always guide us through our daily cares.

With great love for you all,
HUGS AND PRAYERS,
Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

Our Third and Final Senior Conference and a Primary Sacrament Meeting

To All of Our Distant Family (But We Seem to Be Getting Closer Every Week)

     What another incredible week we have had. Five of the seven days were spent getting to, enjoying and then returning from the conference held in the stake center next to the Swiss Temple in Zollikofen.

     A brand new couple, the Kinghorns, have been assigned to work in Graz which is two + hours away by train but is included in the Vienna Stake. We had, as we reported earlier, the opportunity to go and inspect three apartments that are now their responsibility but gave us a chance to see where they work and enjoy more of the beauties of Austria. Because of the continuing huge influx of refugees from the middle East coming into Austria and looking for asylum in the European Union, especially Germany, the borders between Austria and Germany are backed up for hours. Trains were not even running between the two countries so it was recommended that we travel a more southerly route instead of our usual passage through Salzburg. That meant getting off the major autobahn and traveling more directly through the Alps toward an entrance directly into Switzerland. It couldn't have been lovelier as we passed through Innsbruck where the Olympic Winter Games were held many years ago, and over passes that already had 4-5 inches of snow. But it was a long, long drive. 

We got up at 4:15 in the morning in order to catch a train that would get us to where they were going to pick us up by 8 AM.  From there it was supposed to be about a 9 1/2 hour drive to Bern where our hotel was located if we didn't have any traffic problems an didn't stop for gas or food. Although we had all packed a lunch which was helpful, and eaten breakfast before we left, obviously more stops were required. Because we had not anticipated the need to drive, we missed the opportunity which is present only for the first six months of entering Austria to get a valid driver's license with just a simple exchange. After that it takes a full course, training, and passing  a written and practical examination which we didn't feel was profitable. Hence, Elder Kinghorn got the responsibility of driving the entire distance. Elder Parker had the responsibility to be the navigator and although we had maps and a GPS, it was still an interesting experience. More than once we probably lost 30-45 minutes wandering around trying to get back on track and we finally pulled into a spot fenced off and across the freeway from where our hotel was located. It only took us another 45 minutes to figure out how to get to it and we eventually pulled in about 9 PM, only 13 hours from the time we had headed off together!

     On the positive side of all of this, however, was the wonderful opportunity to get to know them well. They have presided over the Albanian Mission many years ago, Elder Kinghorn served a mission as a young elder in Frankfurt along with two other senior elders now serving in our mission and he has also served as a patriarch, Vice President of Ricks College before it became BYU-Idaho, and hence has had close associations with several general authorities. As we compared notes it was fascinating to find out that they have 10 children, only 9 of whom are living as they also lost a daughter when she was only a year and a half old in a drowning accident while Sister Kinghorn was in the hospital delivering another baby. So of course, we bonded quite well together and had a long opportunity to share life experiences. Elder Kinghorn and Elder Parker conversed actively in the front seat while the sisters were carrying on in the back seat. They had been given the opportunity to purchase a new car which was slightly larger than the one we had driven in when we visited two of the elders during the apartment inspections and those elders were happy to get their car back which they had assumed they would lose. But consequently the Kinghorns hadn't had much time to really get adjusted having only arrived a week earlier and then spent a day driving up to the suburbs of Vienna to pick up the new car literally the day before we all departed.

     The conference proper started with a temple devotional and session on Thursday afternoon, giving us Thursday morning to do a little sightseeing. Several of us piled into the mission van driven by the couple who were with us in the MTC who had previously served in Salzburg, then Vienna (living in our apartment), before deciding to return. They had originally served this time in Stuttgart but were then assigned to work in the office after deciding to extend for six more months. So about 8 of us decided to drive up to Interlaken, a beautiful little town situated between two lovely lakes. Here is Grammy and Sister Kinghorn.

The name means "Between the Lakes" and it is simply a beautiful alpine retreat filled with hillside farms high up on the sides of the valleys and cows and sheep grazing in the meadows. It seems that many of the cows wear bells and Sister Parker had the opportunity to purchase a cute little carved wooden cow complete with the bell as our primary souvenir from the trip.

     We got back in time to change into our temple clothes and enjoy a wonderful meeting with President Psota, the temple president and his wife. It was wonderful to attend a session in the temple after nine months and when that was completed we held a meeting of introductions and listened to President and Sister Kohler speak. Each couple was only given a minute or less to tell where they came from and where they were serving but it was great to get oriented to the many new couples who had arrived since our last conference six months ago which had been held in Salzburg. The couple in charge of the conference are both Swiss citizens and hence allowed to serve in Switzerland, even though both live in the USA. Their mission ends this coming week so they really had the responsibilities piled on their heads before being able to focus on their departure. After short introductions, there was really a lot of time to spend talking with everyone at the meals that were prepared by local members. Our hotel was a Best Western and they had a large informal dining area where they provided a good breakfast as part of the stay as well as cakes and goodies in the evening where we tended to gather and talk. We have always felt these seniors to be special as they have all devoted their time and extensive service in the church to further carry on the work. Several times we have likened it to the closest thing we can imagine to being in the celestial kingdom.

     Friday morning was another time devoted to seeing the city of Bern, a world heritage site, never destroyed by the wars that plagued the rest of Europe. We had the privilege of being guided by a couple who live in Bern who had previously served with us in the mission. We spent three hours walking around the city center with lovely buildings, decorative statues at many intersections, and enjoyed the Swiss Parliament building, the ancient clock tower and a very interesting church known as Der Munster with a large sculpted entrance depicting the last judgment. 

Here one sees Christ at the top with Mary to his right and John the Baptist to his left with the twelve apostles lined up below, six to either side. In the arch above are many prophets from the Old Testament and to either side of the flower shaped window are depictions of the just and the unjust. To the Savior's right, our left, you might be able to see the gate leading into heaven with the righteous all clothed in white lined up to enter. On His left are those enduring the suffering of their sins with very interesting depictions of those guilty of murder, unchastity, stealing, pride, being unforgiving, and even one we thought might be guilty of poor parenting. I had a fun time asking the people in our group if they saw the members of the church depicted there. At either side of the door not visible in the picture were the wise virgins to the right and the unwise virgins to the left. Just visible at the bottom in the center is Michael fighting off Satan depicted as a serpent trying to coil around him.

     Friday afternoon was spent in various classes instructing us on the finer points of apartment inspecting, we had the lead with the group talking about supporting the YSA's and working with elder's quorum and relief society presidencies, what kinds of activities we had had success with, how to prepare simple meals and a good discussion on how to reach those who are less or inactive. After dinner we had another wonderful presentation from President and Sister Psota, truly inspiring leaders. 

That evening we had the chance to walk around the temple grounds a bit.  When Elder Parker was last here in 1965 it was fairly isolated. Now it's surrounded by lots of new homes and apartment complexes. They added the statue of the Angel Moroni and did renovate the interior to make 4 endowment rooms instead of just the one they originally started with. Built in 1955 it was just the 9th temple of the church, one of only seven then operating not counting Kirtland and Nauvoo. They were requested not to alter the exterior by the government because it has been named a cultural heritage site and the church complied with the request. Notice the Swiss flag flying at half staff to commemorate the death of Elder Scott just a day or so earlier.

     The conference ended on an extremely high note with a testimony meeting. They had allotted two hours but it ended up going 2 and 1/2 with all of the departing missionaries in the next six months given first priority to bear their testimonies. We joined in with the others in heartfelt expressions of the joys of serving the Lord full-time. We packed up and were on the road by about 1:30 choosing to drive only to Salzburg by that night, there being no problem going from Germany into Austria as there was coming the other direction. Sunday morning we attended the Salzburg Ward where we several times have met for Zone Conferences but never for a worship service. We were delighted to find out that it was the Sunday where the Primary presented the meeting. They have a big but very young Primary with only two or three 11 year olds but a lot between 6 and 9. We'd never had the opportunity previously to witness that and so it was a true delight to see the children sing and give their talks.

     After the meeting where we had a wonderful time talking with the members and a former sister missionary who had worked in Vienna, it was on the road again. This time they dropped us off at the train station halfway home to Vienna and then they drove on home to Graz. We both arrived about two hours later having spent a great five days together. We unpacked and then felt we'd better go over to the center to thaw a few of the meats for our Sloppy Joe's at home evening and while we were there six young adults showed up along with one investigator to finish off some of the food that had been left over from the Institute Opening and Singles Ward which had taken place there on Saturday and Sunday while we were gone. It gave us a great opportunity to find out who had been there and bring the rolls up to date but got us home a little later than we had planned. The summer is gone, fall is here and in just a few more days we can say that we'll be home next month!

      [Sister Parker] It truly was a wonderful week, as Grampa has described. We loved going through the southern Austrian Alps again and then through some of the Swiss Alps. It was impressively beautiful, and awesome how high the houses were on the mountains.

​In the higher alps some of the trees had even started changing color and looked a little more like autumn. We also had the opportunity to see our first snow as we drove higher up on the mountain, where the rain turned to snow. I loved it. Interlaken was also beautiful and much more open with flat areas and meadows.. Everything was so well kept and manicured, even the fields with cows or so it seemed. I was also fascinated with the groups of cows that were all wearing bells, maybe like putting little jingle bells on babies shoes so you will know where they are going. It would be nice to spend a little more time here and enjoy the peacefulness.

      Senior conference and meeting with other couple was also wonderful, enjoyable and inspiring. It is incredible to think of all that these senior couples give and sacrifice in serving the Lord, which of course is the desires of their hearts. Another tender mercy on our way home was to finally hear a Primary sacrament meeting. It was so sweet and tender and made me think on all our wonderful grandchildren. Nothing could touch your hearts more than hearing little children sing, "I Know My Father Lives," (the spirit whispers this to me and tells me it is true.) I hope to hear my grandchildren sing this when we return home.

Enjoy the cool, crisp autumn days and walk through some crispy leaves for me.

HUGS AND PRAYERS, 

Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

60 Years of Recognition and the Vienna Boys' Choir!

Greetings to Our Everlasting Dominion Who Without Compulsory Means are Flowing Unto Us Forever and Ever!

     It's been another great week as we approach an exciting coming month.  We keep track of the numbers of people who attend the various activities that are held in our center each week.  The numbers are always a little down during the summer as our young adults are away on vacations or back home while school is out but this past week was our best attendance since June with a total of 98 coming for the week. Our low for the summer was in the 50's but we've been in the 90's about three or four times. This next week will be the last summer institute session prior to the big event that marks the start of the new Institute year. That all occurs on Friday-Sunday and of course, we'll be out of town for the entire event as the mission scheduled its every six months Senior Conference during the same weekend. We'll give you that full report next week and it promises to be full of new experiences and uplifting interactions.

     For this week we're making some progress with one of our members who hails from Nepal, speaks rudimentary English but enough that he's understandable, and he's been fairly regular in his attendance for the past month. It's always interesting to discover how he became a member of the church as our initial questions to him revealed that he didn't know anything about Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon. He does now, of course. We have another young man who's been very active as an investigator who hails from Nigeria and who claims his first names are Michael Jackson.  He's been present almost every day, speaks reasonable English and is learning some German as the elders and sisters are teaching him. He  has been at most of our activities this week and in fact decided it was too early to attend the English speaking ward this morning so he showed up for the German speaking ward which meets in the same building in the afternoon. That gave Elder Parker the assignment to translate for him in Priesthood meeting, Sunday School and Sacrament Meeting. That appears to be a great way to really pay attention to what is being said if one has to translate it as well. Not sure how well we did as he fell asleep for the last five minutes of Sacrament meeting but Elder Parker has been known to do that a few times himself!

     Last night was very interesting as the stake was celebrating the official 60th year anniversary of the church's recognition in Austria. It apparently actually took place on September 19, 1955 just a few weeks after the reestablishment of the country as an independent and free nation having been occupied for ten years by the allies since the end of the war. Austria considers itself quite fortunate that they weren't included in the occupation by the Soviet Union that took place in the rest of Eastern Europe. So it was a glorious and grand event with lots of pictures and also presentations on the creation of the Vienna Stake that occurred a few years later. Vienna has had five different Stake Presidents, all of whom are still alive and all of whom we know quite well.  Four of them were present with the fifth attending a family function in Norway. He and his wife have been called to the Freiberg Temple Presidency when it reopens next July and there is still an outside chance we may get to repeat the experience of the Thornocks and serve there on our next mission if we can hold it together for that long. Our dear Sister Eva who always does the cooking for Institute on Wednesday evenings baked a special cake that was big enough for the whole stake including the children if they wanted a piece. 

We even got shot of the Stake President cutting the cake for the entire stake surrounded by a few of his young fans. 

Pictures were shown of then Elder Ezra Taft Benson who was present at the time of the original recognition when he was responsible for the Europe Area and also of Elder L. Tom Perry who had the same assignment when the stake was created. We still have a quote from Elder Perry mounted prominently in the center's dining area which a few of you have seen who have visited us here.

Speaking of refugees, one of the outlying cities on the southwestern edge of Vienna proper is a small community known as Traisenkirche. They have become extremely well known for providing help and assistance to the many who have been seeking asylum as they escape the middle east. Much of this happened prior to the huge influx of refugees that have inundated the European Union and its neighbors in the past few weeks. More on that below. But out of gratitude for their help, their was an official musical recognition conducted yesterday afternoon by the government prior to the stake beginning their own recognition ceremonies later in the evening. We happened to read about it in a newspaper that is occasionally delivered free at our door and noted that the Vienna Choir Boys were one of those featured on the program. We have wanted to hear them for the entire time we've been here but their performances are either always on Sunday mornings when we're in church, or on Friday evenings when we're involved with our Waffle Night. So this looked like a heaven-sent opportunity as they were scheduled for a Saturday at 1:30 PM. The only secret was to find out exactly where Traisenkirche was and how we could best get there. It was only two weeks ago that we had finally made a trip to a famous mall the elders like to visit because it contains a department store where suits are extremely inexpensive. It is most easily reached on a commercial cross between a streetcar and a train but is located outside of our usual travel zone for which we have a purchased year's card.  It seemed to us that we had noted Traisenkirche as one of the stops on this line but about 15 miles further down the line from the shopping center. So we checked it out, arrived at the proper stop and walked about three blocks to the big plaza where it was all taking place, arriving at 1:20 and even finding a place to sit down and enjoy the show. 

We even got a few short recordings which we'll share sometime when we get home.  So the Lord has blessed us with getting to hear the Vienna Choir Boys and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra which we got to hear at the beginning of the summer, both completely free of charge!

     Even though we don't spend a lot of time keeping up with current events, it's been hard not to become aware of the thousands of refugees streaming out of the middle east. It seems like Austria is surrounded by many of the countries where people come. Initially they seek asylum in Hungary or Slovenia but most are really trying to get to Germany and although Hungary and Slovenia, Greece and Turkey initially tried to slow them down or stop them, they eventually decided it was easier to just let them head through. The result was a huge influx that hit Austria all at once. 1200 extra policemen were put on duty to regulate them and all seemed essentially headed for the train stations.  The EU is still trying to figure out an equitable way to divide them up between the various member nations but in the meantime it has really created problems for those of us contemplating leaving Austria, as we are when we head to Switzerland the middle of next week. We have the great opportunity of driving with a new couple who were just assigned to Graz where we did apartment inspections a couple of weeks ago. But the word is there may be a 2-4 hour delay if we travel through Salzburg, our initial route. Our transferred elders this week found out they couldn't even get a train from Austria to Germany as they all stop in Salzburg. The mission had to send out a van to pick them up and deliver them on the other side of the border with long waiting times. So we're currently working on a southern route that would take us through Innsbruck on the south and then directly through a brief route in Italy and on into Switzerland which isn't accepting any of the refugees, not being a member of the EU. We think it will still take us longer but the scenery ought to be really beautiful as we head into the Fall colors. Stay tuned for a full report next week.

     [Sister Parker] Every week seems to hold its own adventures and concerns. I was very pleased that we found the little city where the Vienna Boys Choir were singing. It's been on the top of my Vienna list for quite awhile. This was really quite a spur of the moment decision to go out and find it and we were blessed. This week was also Transfer Day and we sent off some long time sweet missionaries and welcomed in some brand new ones. Going to West Bahnhof also took us passed some of the Syrian refugees and my heart goes out to them. There was a family kind of crowded around their bags and belongings, including Grandma, Grampa, the parents and a few children and they all looked so disheartened. Its not like they wanted to be up rooted from their life but here they are as a result of violence and civil war. You just can't help but want to rescue them, but the only way is through the government here. So we pray for them and donate what we can, believing that the Lord has brought them out of their countries for a reason. We are so blessed to already have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. Let us truly live its principles in our families and share them with others, that they my see the inner peace and joy we have.

Loving you always,

HUGS AND PRAYERS,

Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

A Baptism for the Entire Vienna Zone

To Our Dear Family,

What another incredible week it has been. It seems like we don't have enough time in the day to get everything done that's waiting for our attention. We had what everyone thought was a quick zone training meeting on Thursday which is when we had planned to travel down to Wiener Neustadt to do some apartment inspections. But because of the zone training they cancelled our district meeting on Tuesday so we decided that was our best day to travel instead. We have two apartments there that used to be about 25-30 minutes apart as the crow walks and he does as their public transportation system is pretty slow. But it must be that we're aging a bit as this time it took us a good 35-40 minutes to make the walk and that was just between the two apartments, not counting the walk to and from the train station before and after the inspections. That left us just one apartment to check out with the other two both undergoing serious repair work at the moment. So we got the last apartment on Wednesday morning and then were able to hit a couple of our favorite hardware and furniture stores and stock up on about 180 Euros of goodies that they all needed. We managed to pack it all up and deliver it to everyone at the zone meeting by Thursday! Boy did we feel like we were efficient. (Plus we have a huge credit on our mission statement with a promise that we'll eventually get it all back.) We think we're already due enough money that we won't need anymore for the next 4 months and that's twice as long as we still have left. It was kind of fun at zone meeting because we had visited the apartment of every single companionship there within the previous two weeks with the exception of the two undergoing repairs and we see those elders a lot anyway.

On the spiritual side of things, last week was our second best week of the entire summer as to how many people appeared at the center for this or that activity. Actually it was our third best but we're not counting one week where we had an extra 24 people for a Visitor's Evening on a Sunday night. We now have a good cadre of about 8-10 YSA's who are regular attenders at several of our activities along with the others who come just for institute. That by the way was really special also this week as the teacher was an ex-bishop, ex-stake president, ex-mission president, ex-member of a temple presidency (we think he may have even been an ex-area Seventy but not completely sure about that) who taught a wonderful lesson on living the gospel in spite of the realities of daily life that confront each of us. Then on Thursday, we made sure language courses ended by 6 PM because there was a very special baptism scheduled for 7 that evening. A sweet sister has been investigating the church for over 10 years and was known to every missionary in Vienna as she tended to fuss over them, giving presents such as ties and frequently goodies. The baptism was scheduled for an unusual Thursday because the Europe Area was holding a three-day mission presidents seminar which began on Tuesday and President Kohler thought it would be nice if he and Sister Kohler could attend the baptism while they were in town. So naturally this sweet sister who is invariably 20 minutes early to all meetings was about 30 minutes late! But she had called to assure the elders that she was still coming so everyone had a good time visiting and waiting. It seemed like every elder in the city was there. It turned out that a bit of her dress floated up during the first try and so she got to do it twice but she handled it well. The attendees (just from the mission):

​ 

Transfers are this coming Thursday and we're getting 4 new Goldens, 2 of whom will be in our district. We usually try and conduct the district meetings in German so that should be interesting.  One of our Zone Leaders is becoming an AP and we'll also be getting a new District Leader so life is never dull.

P day was special as the sisters had told us about a special chapel that had been built up in the Vienna Woods to commemorate the marriage of Franz Joseph II and his 16 year old bride, Elisabeth, commonly known as Sisi. We finally got it located and it looked like the closest approach was directly south of it so we went there to find that although it was closer, it was also straight uphill all the way! We kept wondering why everyone we passed was going the other way, i.e., downhill and came to find out the better way was to take a little bit of a longer walk from a different bus stop but at least make the walk through the forest on the much less strenuous approach. But the chapel was really pretty and actually quite small compared to the usual Catholic edifices. It was located very near a large "Life-Tree Circle" with about 26 different stations, each representing two weeks out of the year with typical astrological pointers indicating how great we were if we were born during that two weeks. Every station was represented by a tree. Elder Parker was a maple and Sister Parker was a cypress which we learned symbolically represents the resurrection! Appropriate pictures are stored for later. Above the Life Circle was a large meadow containing something laid out on a north-south east-west grid that sort of reminded us of Stonehenge. Great home movies awaiting but here are a few items we will use.

The Sisi chapel,  

the Life-Tree-Circle, 

and the kind of sunsets you get to see when you live in a big city surrounded by apartment houses.  

This last was actually pretty spectacular and the picture doesn't do it justice but this is the street right around the corner from our apartment which is to the right of the BIPA building about two doors down.

     Well, the new senior couple comes in on Thursday with whom we'll ride to Switzerland in a couple of weeks, we're still trying to finalize a new apartment for the genealogy records couple that come right after we get back and then two days later is another zone conference in Salzburg which takes place on Aaron's birthday. Never a dull moment around here.

      Times are busy, but good. It seems when you get down to the last couple of months of your mission you have achieved a competence of some sort in your missionary work and language, then time speeds up and you can't get everything done you would like too. We enjoy supporting the missionaries in their training meetings. They are very capable of training and supporting each other and bringing the Holy Spirit to lift them up and sustain them during hard times. This week the Zone Leaders challenged everyone to deep clean their apartments as a sign of recommitment to the work. I liked that part, clean apartments make missionaries feel good and well organized. Their emphasis was on showing the Lord that you were ready to change and be a better missionary. We also enjoy working with the young singles as they seek to prepare to find their place in the world and to remain faithful. Friday, "Waffle Nights" are a way of having fun and being supportive at the same time. Here missionaries and members interact and we enjoy the banter that goes on over who is going to help cook waffles and who can win at "Spot It".

       Also this week I was reminded by a sister missionary's talk that Sacrament meeting is a time to refill our cup after emptying it all week long. If we come prepared to the sacrament table, we can refill our cup spiritually, from the Savior, to take us through to the next week. Of course, we can put a little back in as we pray and have scripture study, but with our emphasis on "Sabbath Day Worship", what a great reason to look forward to Sunday.

        It's a sweet rainy day here, hope you're getting some Autumn weather too. We are going back up to 90 degrees in a couple days, just for a day or two, so I'm enjoying what I can for the minute. Have a great day.

HUGS AND PRAYERS,  

with love 

Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker