May First YSA Event

In May we had our first ever Young Single Adult activity.  YSA, as the name implies

,is for singles and includes firesides, Institute, FHE and activities.  In Innsbruck these activities have been grouped together with both singles and Marrieds.  We love both the married and single students, but can see that both groups need room to grow.   So we are working on creating a YSA program that is only for singles.  The first thing we did was to create a Singles Sunday School Class that dad teaches.  We have between two and six YSAs, a small group, but a great class.  I still love to hear Dad teach.  He has the ability to teach to the “one” whether their are 2 or 20 people in the class.  We have had one fireside with what was suppose to be a small meal.  But as you know YSA are notorious with the amount they can eat.  It doesn’t matter how much food I prepare, they eat it all.  I prepare food for 15, only 8 come and miraculously it is all gone.    Actually it is pretty fun to see.

Institute can be interesting.  We have two  institute students who bring children.  It makes for a lively class.  Erika, Laura Jäche and Danny.  Everybody loves the babies.

First singles breakfast.  Six came, but you can see that more than six are in the picture marrieds showed up and joined us. 

Easter with the Jäche Familie April

 We love working with the elders and sisters.  it is easy to fall in love with them and then they send them off to other places and we are always sad to see them go.  Top row Elder Gomez-Torio, Elder Ringer, Elder Maurik, Elder Aurich, Elder Badders, Sister Metzig, Sister Hasler, Elder and Sister Jaursch

We were invited to Jäche family for Easter.  Victor Duarte is the main cook, with help from Vanessa Mendez, Karin Duarte, Amanda Jäche, and Rodrigo.

Karin Duarte making things beautiful!

Elder Hasler with Klaus Jäche.  We are always grateful for the help from the young people with our electronics. 

Papa and Mama Jäche, Samuel and Erika Bernandi and Karin.  The family is from San Paulo Brazil who have all moved to Austria.  They are wonderful members of the church and have been so good to us. 

A typical Brazilian Easter meal is fish.  This was amazing food.  I don't know how they do it but it is sehr gut!

 Last meal at Vapiano's

Finlandia's Baptism

Finlandia is one of the reasons we are here.  She lives in Brixen, Italy, is from Venezuela and speaks only Spanish.  Lucky for us we have wonderful Elder Gomez-Tor
io and Elder Badders who taught her in Spanish.  She has a wonderful spirit and truly connected with dad.

Women's Conference

I traveled to Newmarkt about two and a half hours away to our  Stake Women’s Conference. As I entered the hall, I saw a sweet Austrian woman with her dirndl carrying flowers.  She looked so cute I asked if I could take a picture.  Little did I know that the flowers she was carrying was for a class on healthy eating.  We ate ALL those flowers and a great deal of edible weeds in a smoothie, several different salads and a soup.  I could see that these sweet women really believed in what they were doing.  However for me I would just as soon go to the grocery store.

We also had a class on Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.  It was very good, but my friend does not speak any German.  So as unlikely as you can imaging, I translated the talk for her.  I was really surprised that I could do it.  Because of the dialect or speed of the speaker, so many times in Sacrament meeting I have not understood.  It doesn’t take much to  throw me off.  But that day all the stars lined up, the spirit was there and I could translate. 

You can see that LDS Women's Conferences are the same world wide, full of color and wonderful things to learn.  The woman in the middle is Finlandia, a recent convert from Brixon.

March Lange Nacht

The joy of being a senior missionary couple is that you are invited to do so many different things.  We say that there is an adventure every day.  For instance, Brother Egger is the Interfaith Representative and often asks Dad to accompany him to events. I think the most unusual event was when, in the name of religious tolerance Brother Egger was asked to dedicate a new wall of a Catholic graveyard.  Dad was asked to go with him and he even made it into the group picture for the local paper.  

“Lange Nacht" is a night set aside every year, through the whole country for the public to visit all the churches in town.  Churches are invited to present their beliefs, followed by a question and answer session.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was grouped with the Catholics, Muslims, Lutherans, and Buddhists.  It is called Long night because it goes from 7PM to 12PM, with lots of breaks to eat, drink and engage in conversations with other religions.  We were asked to visit with as many people as we could and tell them about the gospel.    Dad did beautifully and talked to several people, some friendly and some not. Because my German was not that good, I was scared to death someone would talk to ME!  However, the Lord provided the  perfect person to talk to, a 15 year old muslim girl.  We had a wonderful conversation, and I felt the spirit guiding me. We found that we had a great deal in common.  After each section she would look for me to continue our conversation.  It was a great night.

Spring in Innsbruck

I am not sure what happened. May came and went and now June is almost over.  I better get this written before July is here. 

Winter is over Hurray!  We thought winter was beautiful, and it was, but spring is a whole new adventure.   Every thing is green, very green and we love it. 

  We are loving it here.  There are lots of opportunities to serve.  It seems that everyday is an adventure.  We never know what is really going to happen.  We will get a call to give a nonmember a blessing or teach a priesthood class at the last moment. Whatever it is we look at each other and say, "What a great opportunity!"

Here is Elder Hasler teaching his first Institute class.  He is in true form teaching the plan of salvation using a string.  They loved it and made great comments.  My first Institute dinner is over.  We are off to a good start.  Elder Hasler, Klaus Jäsche, Erika Bernardi and Karin Jäsche.

Game night at Family Home Evening,  with a great game of dominoes.  Elder Ringer, Erika, Victor Duarte, Simron, Rodrigo.

Rodrigo, Elder and Sister Hasler and Elder Ringer at FHE.  Rodrigo is not a member, but he and his wife attended all last year after moving here from Brazil.  Rodrigo and Vanesse invited us to lunch at their home.  They are gracious people and know a great deal about the church.  They would make wonderful members, but just can't commit.  Elder Hasler has spent many hours teaching and speaking with Rodrigo about making that commitment.  We continue to pray for them, but as yet they have not been moved by the spirit.  They are such great people.  It is hard for us to understand. 

Diana is a wonder.  She is a convert, a return missionary and the spark plug for the branch.  She is full of love and service.  She is always bringing someone new to Institute. She offered to help me make dinner that night.  We made mini pizza's on semmels.   Next month, Diana will leave us to marry Brian Fielder in the Salt Lake Temple.  In  YSA vocabulary that is called graduation.   But oh how she will be missed! 

This was an interesting night.  The missionaries, old and young were invited to an Indian feast at the church by a member who had been married to an Indian man.  The food was delicious and it was such an honor to be invited.  The adventure continues

This is a Krippa.  They are found at Christmas time in public buildings, outside, in churches and in homes.  A neighbor invited us over for "tea" and showed us their Krippa.  They are quite elaborate with painted backgrounds and many pieces.

Das Goldene Dachl of course is world famous and was one of the first sights that we visited.  It is in the Old Stadt with lots of charming old establishments. 

Here Elder Hasler is in Telfs and we have come to inspect the missionaries apartment.  Everywhere there are mountains and we are still stunned by them.

This is the last night of Family Home Evening for the Mowers whom we are replacing.  The Mowers have worked very hard and are loved by all.  They stayed an extra five days to help us get situated.  They are also very generous and have filled the pantry with food, left a cook book of what the JAEs like to eat, got us registered in the town, set us up on the computer and so much more.  They were awesome!  

This is outside of our apartment in Axams.  It is cold, but beautiful.  We just couldn't get enough of the view of the mountains.  They are everywhere in every direction, sheer and gorgeous.  Even with all the snow we bundled up and walked in the mornings.

We arrived in Munich on December 31, 2014 and were met by President Kohler and his family in a huge snow storm.  No marshmallows were needed here for a snowball fight.  We slept all through the day and night, and  missed New Years Eve.  Jan 1, 2015 was my birthday and I received the best present ever.  After a 2 hour train ride we arrived in Innsbruck and traveled to our new home Baderbühelweg 7a, where we would live for the next 18 months.  After all the prayers and delays, we were finally here.  What could be a better birthday present. 

Tanner and  Erika Kohler sending us off.  What great kids they are.  Tanner is a senior in high school and Erika is a freshman.  They have made great sacrifices for the Lord to accompany their parents to Munich, Germany during their high school years. 

President and Sister Kohler at the Mission Home on Jan 1st just before sending us out.  We have a great Mission President's family.  We loved them the minute we met them.  

Although our mission call was December 1, 2014,  President Kohler asked us to delay our arrival to January 1, 2015.  After the MTC,  the church allowed us to spend Christmas with our children, the Rachael and Marshall McCauley family in Portland.  Above is a fake snowball fight with extra large marshmallows between the McCauley kids and the Nakos cousins.  It was a great memory so I included it.  It is in contrast to the huge snow storm we flew into in Munich just a few days later.  Below is the Mccauley family.  They were so good to us. Finally on December 29 we said our final goodbye and it was off to Munich, Germany.

Elder and Sister Hasler, we are ready to serve.

Whatever our assignment, this is our purpose.

There were so many quality people, but these were special friends we met at the MTC. The Harts are going to the Frankfurt, Germany Mission. 

December 1-14,  2014

It is Christmas and they are away from home, headed out to who knows where.  However, look how happy they are.

This is our district in the MTC, where we learned how to "Preach My Gospel." 

Here we are eager to serve. Below are the families we leave behind who will pray for us daily. 

Family reunion August 2014-Sarah and Jarin Thayn family, Rachael and Marshall McCally family, Elizabeth and Michael Christensen family and April and Glenn White family

Josh and Whitney Hasler Family

Bil and Katie Hasler family

These are the people we left behind and the people who pray for us daily.

It is July and I gave haircuts to the missionaries.  In return they set up a blog for me.  What a great trade.  Even though it is 7months in the mission I will enter journal entries and letters to catch up to July.  So here goes.

December 10, 2014
We are so excited to serve a mission.  We traveled to Utah for Thanksgiving to say goodbye to our children Josh and Whit, April and Glenn and Bil and Katie.  April sent us off to the MTC on Dec first.   What an exciting day that was.

The group of seniors was small, about 60 of us, but the spirit of the MTC was magnificent.  We met so many wonderful people with stories similar to ours.  Many had experienced the drama of cancer.  One man had experienced a stroke which left him somewhat paralyzed on his right side.  This was their second mission.  One couple were on there fifth mission.  They had served all over the world, but he had a heart attack last year so they were keeping them stateside this time.  Elder Hasler found a mission companion from his first mission, Robert Williams (South German Mission 1966-1968).  What a joy the reunion was.  He too had significant health issues.  They were serving a second mission in New York and they have a handicapped daughter they take with them.   I guess what I learned is that there are valiant saints serving with significant health issues and other complications.  I was inspired by their stories.