October began with a late night at Schloss Eggenberg which they open every so often to the public for free admittance to the grounds. You have to pay for a tour inside with candles. Kind of spooky and a good start for the Halloween month.
October was a month of conferences. We loved being able to see most of the General Conference Sessions. We had a different schedule because of being 8 hours ahead of Salt Lake but we were so grateful for the opportunity to come together to view it at the church. We are in the English room, the German translation was held in the chapel. We had a couple of investigators here with us and they loved conference.
We had a nice potluck lunch for our YSAs and missionaries in between the sessions.
We took a P-day to drive to Klagenfurt where our friends the Wades are serving. They gave us a little tour of their city. It was great to be with them.
This interesting sculpture is in the town square. It is the famous Lindworm or dragon. Notice the dragon slayer about to kill him. Such a nice fountain don't you think? Dates back centuries. Live action below!
We thought this was an interesting fountain also. Here it is in real life:
This is their fortress "Burg Hochosterwitz" that could never be conquered. It was impossible for enemies to get inside, due to 14 protected gates, with draw bridges, etc. We loved going there.
Great pic of Elder Tew manning the cannon to protect us all!
I wanted to buy one of these metal knights on the top shelf but they were so heavy that I worried about the weight flying home so I took this pic instead.
Klagenfurt- Wörther See (lake) with live action below with the Wades:
This statue is in the courtyard of the Albert Schweitzer Klinik. Looks just like him.
We came to the Klinik to visit our dear friend Bro. Peter Hanselmayer who was having therapy for his Parkinsons disease. He is a faithful 50 year member of our church, who will be 80 soon.
In front of our apartment building, with those gorgeous red fall leaves on our vine that is on our fence, and climbing! I love this time of year.
Going to Salzburg to Zone Conference. Austria is the land of tunnels.
We went The evening before to attend the 3 stake Jubilee Ball in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Salzburg Stake. There are five Senor Missionary Couples including President and Sister Kohler at the end of the table.
It was a wonderful Friday evening. See the nice decorations and cute face below:
They asked us to do a little floorshow at the break, so we brushed up on our BYU social dance moves, dressed up, and put on our masks to conceal our identity. How do you think we did? (j/k)
Zone Conference was great! Pres. Kohler now combines 2 Zones so he doesn't have to travel so much in his busy schedule. That means we will no longer go to Vienna but drive the 3 hours to Salzburg. We don't mind, though, because all the scenery is so beautiful.
President's presentations were so inspiring.
We have the best District. We love these missionaries!!
As we were about to leave, we noticed that one of the missionaries had put this rose on our car. Ahhhhh!
Graz pic (dead giveaway with the Schlossberg clock tower in the background on right).
We walked past these street Opera performers. They were fabulous as you will hear:
Another Conference. This one is our Senior Missionary Conference in Munich, Germany that we have been looking so forward to on Oct 16-18th. Loved it all.
All attending including the Kohler kids, (Tanner and Erika) and the two APs for the first day. We had a nice testimony meeting in the evening for a couple hours, and we were able to share also.
We got to hear Elder and Sister Fox play their Alphorns again.
A walking tour around the town square was great.
Climbing up all 300 plus stairs in the tower of the oldest church in Munich was interesting.
It was a great view though even if the day had some fog and rain showers.
This guy has an interesting story. Apparently he was a goldsmith who was paid to make a gold chain for the King. When it was finished, he laid it on a the table, locked up the shop, just leaving the window upstairs open, and left for a few minutes for lunch. When he returned, the chain was gone. He told the king what happened, but the king accused him of selling or not making it and had him beheaded. Twelve years later the shop burned down and up in the rafters they found a birds nest with all kinds of sparkling objects in it. There was the gold chain! Magpies are attracted by shiny things, so one flew in and took the King's chain! Since nothing could be done to give the man's life back, the King had this monument built to pay tribute and honor him.
The tomb of King Ludwig II, builder of many famous castles in Germany.
President Kohler spoke to us and then Sister Kohler told us about the Mission Home and gave us all a tour. The home was built by the church about 57 years ago, and a journal is kept by all the Mission Presidents, telling of special experiences with visiting authorities, even President Monson!
We also walked from the Mission Home to the Mission offices where we made our sack lunch to take with us on the drive home.
Like I said before, I love this time of year.
Some of our FHE peeps. Ben (with his coat on his head) is meeting with the Elders and hopefully will be ready for baptism soon.
Lunch after District Meeting. Sister Threlkeld showed her skills at frying chicken. Yumm.
We attended a concert of the Haydn group of the Vienna Boys Choir. This is their new concert hall in Vienna. MuTh stands for Music/Theater.
Our tickets and CD we bought. It was also our Stake Conference this weekend but I got sick and could not attend so we had to return to Graz. Bummer!
Transfers!! Sister Threlkeld was transfered out and we received our new Golden Sister Bishop. She and Sister Pentz will make a great team. We are excited to get to know her better. She is fresh from the MTC. Both sisters are from Colorado Springs, CO and live in the same stake!
Our four great Graz Missionaries. Elder Mitchell, Sister Pentz, Sister Bishop, and Elder Plumb.
A few Halloween things adorn the front of the store but it is not celebrated too widely here. Happy Halloween everyone!!
Cousins%2Bon%2Bchair%2Bin%2BOctober.jpg)
I will leave you with this monthly update pic we received of our two newest grandbabies in "the picture chair". Jack David Sauter and Elliott Adam Tew. They are such good buddies already, just one month apart in age and 5 minutes drive in location. Soooo cute.
And two more little faces we see when we skype with Lindsey's two little girls, Myah and Reagan. Myah is saying good night Gramma and Grampa because it is always our bedtime and their afternoon when we talk.
1 comment:
Myah loved all the videos! "can I see that one again? Oh! Can I see that 'nother video?!" Looks like some fun outings! It's fun to see some pictures and know that I've been there! Love you.
Post a Comment