Awesome August!

 This is Sissy from Madagascar and is working as a nanny about 2 hours away from Graz. She is a member of the Church and was here for a weekend visiting friends when she saw the missionaries on the train. We helped her get to where she needed to be and then she came with the Sisters to church on Sunday.

 The girl on the left is Harmony who was here for a few weeks from the US but is now in Wien where she will work as a nanny. Elder Tew is goofing off while playing games at FHE and the next one is Sister Threlkeld our newest Sister that got transferred in. Next to her is Phillip Suppan who is getting married next month to Lilly who is working in Munich. Phillip and Lilly are a great couple and we are so happy for them.

 We were downtown last week and took this street pic. Notice the outdoor resturant seating for the cafes.

 We met Bro. Hanselmayer for lunch.

 I like to snap pics of buildings while Elder Tew is driving. For some reason this was one of them.

 Birthdays for this part of the month were: Bro, Mühlberger...

 both Edith and Horst Pail...

 ...and Justin, our son-in-law. Love skype!  Don't know what we would do whithout it! We have more birthdays coming up, in fact today is our granddaughter Katie's 8th birthday and her Baptism is tomorrow.  Our grandson Jaren turns 11 on the 26th. Hopefully we can get pics.

 Games during the birthday celebration for the Pails.

 Very rarely do we get to eat out at a resturant but so far this month Bro. Hanselmayer has treated us twice. His wife Eva is very nice also.

 I thought I would show you want we ate. Yummm... Special styrish baked chicken called Backhendl.

 Oh wow!  And this my friends, is Dessert!!!  "Salzburger Knocherln"  

 Turns out it is mostly baked flavored egg whites which we all enjoyed especially you know who!!

Here's the live action play by play desserting!

It's a wrap for July!

New Friends

This is Ketty (from Peru) and her husband Hannas (Austrian) who we are getting to be good friends with. They invited Elder Tew and I and also the Sisters for a Peruvian dinner. She is a great cook and they are so cute. She is a less-active member and he is not a member but supportive of her. Elder Tew and Hannas hit it off well and had a good Gospel discussion together.  The Sisters also had a spiritual message that they presented. They came to church today, enjoyed it, and want to have us over more.

 This is the first time we met Ketty when we helped her make a cake for an upcoming party. She loves to cook but not to do any baking. Turned out great with the fruit on top.

 This is Erika that we found from our Birthday list. She hasn't been to church for many years but was impressed that we rang her bell on her birthday and had chocolate and a church video for her. She called us later for us to come visit her and give her a spiritual message. This was at that visit. She is great, nice & spiritual! We are visiting her on a regular basis, and hope to help her back into the fold soon, to bless her life.

 This young friend  has been here for this past month, from California, performing opera with a group of students from all over the US.  We attended one of Andrew's performances and were quite impressed. He served in this mission just over a year ago and showed up at the church one Monday. He has been coming to FHE, Institute, and church when he is not performing.

 This is Bro. Walter, with his daughter Melanie, who was baptized this month.  We loved that he wore his Lederhosen (leather pants), which people do some Sundays and on special occasions. 

 We got in more culture by attending a couple more concerts. This one was with the same AIMS group that Andrew sings with but he didn't perform here. Check out the fabulous cathedral- Herz Jesu Kirche ( heart of Jesus Church) that it was held in.

 This other concert was free of charge and featured many youth musicians who had been at a performing camp all week. This was their final concert and we came to support three of our ward young people who were part of this elite group.

 We enjoyed this concert so much. Fabulous talent and beautiful music. Look at this room. I kept thinking how blessed they are to be able to perform in such a classic and wonderful setting

Valentina is only 9 years old and plays the cello. She is the one in the middle. 

                               

                              A small sample of the sounds and sights of the concert!

 Ok, I thought I would show you a few of the cool houses that we either walk or drive by most every day.

 I couldn't help but catch a biker in this pic. There are alot of cars but so many folks just ride their bikes everywhere, even very old people, older than us! 

 This house is just down the street from where we live and for some reason, we really like walking by it. Probably the color.

 This is our street. Faunastrasse, in the Wetzeldorf area.

 Oh look, our house! Our small apartment on the 2nd floor.

 Of interest, I thought I would show you what we paid for gasoline here at our last fill up. Keep in mind that a liter is just a bit more than a quart and the price is in Euros, 1 euro = $1.35. So roughly $7.00 per gallon.

 Most people live in apartments here in Graz. I thought I would show you a few of the more interesting apartments buildings. Notice that each building is a different color and different in design, even though they are all hooked together.

 It has been raining parts of most everyday here the last couple weeks. Sometimes we just sit in the car to wait it out because it eventually passes. This makes the humidity extremely high, but it has been much cooler!

 Elder Tew found a clear day to mow Val's grass while she was on vacation. She is our neighbor in the apartment in the back of our house.

After the yard work, we had  another Saturday morning of sports. I told everyone to act goofy, but evidently Elder Tew was the only one to get the message!

 Elder Tew and I helped Sister Luschin celebrate her 89th birthday.

Putting our own toppings on the frozen pizzas we bought for lunch after our District Meeting. Turned out rather delicious!!

Transfer day at the Bahnof (train station)! Sister Smith (with the red skirt) is going home, Elder Smith going to Stuttgart, Germany as a Zone Leader, and Sister Smith (with the red hair) will go home next transfer- we are losing all our Smiths!