Nov. 10-17, 2019

We started and ended our week with our Zone - this wonderful group of Missionaries (and a few friends).  Today was our Stake Conference and we gathered to take this picture.  Transfers are in two weeks and this will be the last time this group will all be together. 

There are so many ways the Lord needs us to labor in.  Teaching people the gospel of Jesus Christ is one way to serve and supporting those who are teaching people is more what we have been called to do.  With 24 missionaries in our Zone, we keep very busy helping them and just being there when they need us.  This week was one big adventure.  It would appear that all we did was travel and have fun, but that is the reward after many long hours of preparation and work.

City of Mondsee

Last Sunday we drove to Salzburg to get ready for Zone Conference on Monday.  We stopped in a beautiful little city on the Mondsee to visit the Basilica Minor St. Michael.  This is the Church where the wedding scene was filled in the Sound of Music.  Get ready for a picture bomb!  Sorry for so many pictures, but a lot to tell this week.  It was an amazing experience to enter and to see the beauty through art the events in the life of Jesus Christ.

The Church was established in 739-748.  It was constructed in it's current Gothic style from 1470-1487 under Benedikt II. 

 This is the aisle and the pulpit in the wedding scene.  Every sculpture is made of wood and then covered in gold leaf or painted.  The dark wood was majestic and the large art pieces stunning. 

Christ as infant

Prophecies of Isaih

Christ presented at Temple

Organ

2013 gift of Black Madonna

Closer view of High Alter

The Last Supper

We returned on Monday to take our friends, Elder and Sister Bretzing, to see the beautiful chapel.  Monday was the celebration of Saint Martin.  We arrived just in time to see the celebration with the children in the Church. They all had made lanterns and were carrying them down the aisle out into the town square singing being led by the Priest and a guitar player. This is the celebration of the Funeral day of Saint Martin of Tours (France).  He was a Roman soldier who was baptised as an adult and became a bishop in a French town.  The most famous legend is that he had once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm to save him from the cold.  That night, he had a dream of Jesus, who was wearing the half cloak and saying to the angels, "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is now baptised; he has clothed me."  He died on November 8, 397 and was buried on Nov. 11, 397.
He was known as friend of the children and patron of the poor.  It celebrates the end of the agrarian year and the end of the harvest.  "Martinigansl" (roasted goose) is the traditional dish of the season.  For three weeks in Germany and Austria at many of the restaurants, you can order roasted goose.

We were invited to go to dinner with some friends and this is how the roasted goose was served.  It was absolutely delicious.  It was also served with a large bowl of red cabbage.
Back to the tradition:  The goose became a symbol of St Martin of Tours because of a legend that when he was trying to avoid being ordained bishop he had hidden in a goose pen, where he was betrayed by the cackling of the geese.  The feast day fall in November when geese are ready for killing.  Not everyone good afford to eat goose, so many ate duck or hen instead.  On the agricultural calendar it also marks the end of autumn and the beginning of winter.  In some countries, martinmas celebrations begin at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Interesting the connection to the end of World War I.  There was a gift shop at the exit of the Church and I found an Austrian Nativity that I could not pass up.  It is hard to just look when you find one that just speaks to your heart.

Russ opted for the Beef Goulash - he has never been very keen on wild meat.  He was very content and enjoyed his meal.

 We stayed in an AirBnB and had the whole house.  It was just perfect.  It had a large kitchen that I was able to finish food preparations and 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  It was so nice to just sit and visit with our friends and to have it so homey. 

Back of the house

Russ in the Living Room

Claw foot tub

IKEA light fixture with added decor

view across the street

 We are hoping to stay in the same house when we return in December.  It was a great location and with a wonderful farm house kitchen.  I will be doing the Christmas dinner for the Zone Conference and it will be a nice place to stay. 
We served White Chicken Chili with salad, bread and cookies.  It was perfect for the cold, rainy day.



We had a wonderful Conference.  It is always uplifting and inspiring to be with the other missionaries and Pres. and Sister Brown.  We learn so much from them and appreciate the "family" we have become as a Mission.  One of the highlights is to see missionaries that we have served with that have moved on to other areas.  We were so busy we did not get pictures this time, but it was wonderful to visit and share with each other our experiences.  We also had our flu shot and our last TwinRix shot.  I have seen way too many needles this past month!  I hope that is the last for a long time.

Tuesday we returned to Hallstadt to show the Bretzings that quaint little city on the lake.  It was cold and rainy, but beautiful none the less.  We could not see the mountains, but the fog gave it a unique look.

The Bretzing's

  We took a picture of this building in the spring before it had come in leaf.  This is the Fall picture and it was beautiful.

The pictures below are of the historic city on the lake.  It dates back to Roman times.  The Church on the hill was built in 1510-1520. 

Protestant Church

These two alter pieces are from the Gothic

Alter piece from 1510

 period.  The doors are normally closed but were open for a special Holiday.  It is a very small chapel but very beautiful with these unique pieces.  There were wood paintings all along the walls of the twelve apostles and Saints.

We toured some Roman Ruins in the basement of a shop and they had a small Nativity display.  This was one of the Nativities on display.  They were all very unique from local artists.








We returned home Tuesday evening in a Snow Storm and rain.  It gets dark at 4:00 and so we were in the dark the whole way home.  It snowed for the first hour and it was through the mountains and very tense.  Luckily there was not much traffic and with the few cars and trucks we were able to stay together and follow the lights in front of us.   We were so glad to arrive home safely about 8:00.

Wednesday was another busy day as we needed to shop for the Institute dinner and finish preparations for the Institute class.  I had a follow-up Dental visit and everything looks good.  I decided to just serve the same menu as Monday with White Bean Chicken Chili.  They really enjoyed it.  I change the recipe a little and I serve it over rice.  It really adds to it and also stretches the soup to go further.  I made bread and a delicious apple crisp.  We did not leave the Institute until after 10:00 pm and so it was another long day but always rewarding being with the YSA and some of the missionaries.
Thursday was more apartment inspections and then I baked cookies to take as treats on Friday to more inspections.  One of the Wards asked our missionaries to bake cookies for a Primary activity and so they came to the Institute Thursday evening and I helped them bake 80 cookies for their assignment.  We made snickerdoodles and they turned out great. 

 We did three inspections on Friday.  We drove to Graz, a city Russ served in back in 1970.  He loved it there and it was nice to go and spend some time seeing the city. 
Parking is always an adventure and Russ is at the machine trying to figure out the payment. 

We visited the Schlossberg Galleries.  In 1943, the first Schlossberg galleries were dug to serve as a shelter in case of bombing.  About 20 entrances lead to 5 km and 17,000m2 of shelter for nearly 50,000 people. 

 The main through axis has a 16% gradient and is 175 m long.  We walked the whole tunnel and it is very steep.  I was grateful for the handrail on the way back out as it was a deep climb.  It was very interesting seeing all of the entrances and the preservation that continues today. 
This tunnel was a place of refuge from aerial attacks for 40,000 people.  By 1937, the first tunnel to the mountain had been dynamited.  The construction of the air raid tunnels began in the summer of 1943, just before the first air raids on the "Ostmark" by the Allies.  In more than one million hours of work, members of the armed forces, local construction workers and foreign forced labor, as well as prisoners of war had completed a a wide-ranging tunnel system by 1945 that was 6.3 km long with 20 entrances.  The first air rain on Graz took place on Feb. 25, 1944.  In total,

Air Raid Tunnel

55 air raids, 1,980 people wre killed and 2,000 were injured.  More than 7,800 buildings and about 20,000 residences were destroyed.
It was very humbling to be there and to walk and read about what took place in these tunnels.

 We went into the tunnel to be able to visit The Clock Tower.  Inside the tunnel you ride an elevator for a small fee to the top of the mountain to the historic clock tower.  There was a movie filmed about two Sister Missionaries called, The Errand of Angels that was filmed in Graz.
This landmark is one of the city's oldest buildings.  The tower on the highest spot of the town wall is mentioned as early as 1265.  After 1560, the characteristic wooden gallery was added to the tower, as well as a clock with clockworks dating from 1712.  The roof houses three bells - the "Armensunderglocke" (1450)  and teh large hour bell (1382). The Belfry, which is turned southward, houses the firealarm bell cast in 1645. 

 This is a view of the city below.  It is a large city with a University and a Medical school.  It was so very Austrian with the red roofs and the many churches.

 We arrived at dusk and the lights came on

City view

 as we were walking around.  It was so
beautiful and a wonderful evening.  The view is much nicer at the top looking down than to be driving through the city - the view just was not the same.
The Cerrini Castle is located just behind the clock tower.  In 1809, Karl Freiherr von Carrini (1777-1840) heroically defended the exposed Citizen's Bastion against the attacking French troops.

 In 1830, he was given the right to build a house in the breach made by the French at the corner of the bastion after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty.

Russ enjoying the memorie

The house was totally restored by Graz council between 1995-97 and is now a workplace and shelter for artists threatened in their home countries.

 A fun little story of the mountain in Graz.

walk toward castle

We found a nice local gasthaus on our last visit to Graz and so we returned for Dinner.  It was so nice and wonderful food.  There was a birthday party and this is a picture of the cake with candles.  It was so fun to watch and very festive.

We spent the night in one of the vacant apartments that a Senior Missionary couple lived in.  It was nice to be able to have a good nights sleep before we had to drive back home on Saturday.  I was in bed by 9:00 and got a much needed rest.

 We stopped in a little city called Bruck an der Mur (located on the Mur River)  It was very small but nice to walk around the city center.  We have a church congregation that meets in this city.

beautiful sky

Sis. Moen and Sis. Pendleton

 We enjoyed getting to know

Graz Missionaries

the Sister's and Elder's in Graz.














We returned just in time to attend the Saturday Session of Stake Conference.  We were invited to go to dinner - story above with Goose Dinner.
Sunday was a great day with Conference and then we had 4 Elders over for dinner.  A great way to end a very busy week.

Sunday Dinner

 We had a local favorite -
Donner - A Middle Eastern chicken on a spit sliced and served in pita bread with all of the trimmings.  I think they enjoyed it.  We especially enjoyed having them in our home and getting to know them better.  They serve in cities outside of Vienna and come to town for the conference.  We thought it would be nice to give them lunch before they rode the train back home. 

Now to get ready for another busy week.  We are so grateful for this opportunity to serve.  We are most grateful that our family is being watched over and blessed, especially during their challenges of life.  Two have recently purchased homes and are in the process of moving, one has started a new job and our son-in-law Santa is gearing up for the Christmas season.  In all of this, our prayers are with them and we continue to see the blessings in their lives.

Another dear friend, Julia Ann Wilson Creel,  passed away this past week.  Her funeral was on Saturday.  She was like a mother to me and a special friend.  I am grateful to her for her influence in my life and making life better for everyone she knew.  She is now with her beloved, Compton.  Grateful to know she is an eternal, forever friend.

Neal A. Maxwell said, "To touch deeply is better than to remember shallowly." 

Grateful for those who have touch deeply my life.

Viel Liebe,
The Grimmett's