Nov. 18-23, 2019 The Christmas Markets are Open!

We had a quick walk through the large Christmas Market at the Rathaus on our way home Thursday night.  It is truly magical.  We are hoping to go back when we can spend some time and enjoy it.  We are like little kids in a candy store as we walked past the different shops.  There is a local snow globe company here in Vienna that we will go back and look at.  There is an ice skating rink that is huge with a large rink and then trails that go all through the park.  Unfortunately, we are not allowed to ice skate - but it is fun to watch.

We continued apartment inspections this week in addition to our other responsibilities.  The days seem to be running into each other.  Monday we had a large group for Family Home Evening and it was good to have the YSA participating.  I am getting pretty good a waffle making and adding new toppings to make them different each week.  I added fried potatoes to go with the waffles and fried apples for toppings.  Russ got in a few rounds of pool and then we did lots of dishes.  We miss the dishwasher we had at the Freiburg Institute!

 We had interviews with Pres. Brown on Wednesday and that is always a good day.  We had District Council and lunch and then he spoke to us for a few minutes about the new Missionary Hand Book that just came out.  Elder Cooper (Victor)  had a birthday, so I made some owl cupcakes to celebrate.  The Oreo's are not the same here, but I got them to work.  It was at least fun.  I also made Rice Krispie treats and that was the bigger challenge.  You cannot get KARO Syrup here, so you improvise and you also cannot get butterscotch chips.  So I invented a new recipe and I made homemade caramel sauce and added it to the melted chocolate and

 frosted the rice krispie treats with that and it turned out so good.  Probably will not use butterscotch chips again. 

Wednesday we had the largest group for Institute this semester at 56.  We have been averaging about 30 each week.  That's a lot more people to feed.  Our director had planned for 30 with stuffed peppers and so we just cut them all in half and had enough for everyone to get some.  It is amazing how we can make food stretch when we need to.  I had about 20 in my class and that was also one of the largest groups.  It was nice to have more to participate.  We are continuing to learn about Jesus Christ and we talked about what it means to be a Disciple of Christ.  A disciple is one who follows the Savior and who is obedient to His teachings.  Jesus invites ALL to Come Unto Him and if we do, we can return to live with Heavenly Father.  We talked about as disciples of Jesus Christ, as stated in Matthew 5:44, we need to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us.  To do this takes faith, strength, and most of all, Christian courage.  Elder Robert D. Hales said, "As true disciples seek guidance from the Spirit, they receive inspiration tailored to each encounter.  And in every encounter, true disciples respond in ways that invite the Spirit of the Lord....our primary concern must be others welfare, not personal vindication.  Our aim should be to help them understand the truth, not defend our egos or score points in a theological debate.  Our heartfelt testimonies are the most powerful answer we can give our accusers."
It is not just in going to church 1 day a week, but what we do on the other 6 days for others that makes us a true disciple of Christ.

It is interesting that this was the lesson this week and then we received an email from our Mission President about an article that was written this past week in Switzerland for Migros Magazine about our Missionaries because in two weeks the Broadway Musical, The Book of Mormon opens in Zurich. We were so excited to see these two missionaries, Elder Luke and Elder Falkena.  We have served with both of them and we love them.  We served in Freiburg with Elder Falkena and he is like a son to us.  They interviewed them and our Mission President and did a really nice story. The reporter spent the day with them as they did their finding on the street.  They shared the story of these two missionaries as compared with the story in the musical.  The Church has learned to use this musical that makes light of the purpose of missionaries and the use of The Book of Mormon, to further the work with the exposure it gives us.  They are using that Christian Courage that I talked about earlier.

On Thursday we had a special treat and got to see Elder Robertson for a few minutes.  He is the new Assistant to the President and was here to visit and train with our Zone Leaders.  We served with him in Freiburg as well.  So, we consider him one of our "Son's" as well.  He is a remarkable young man.  All of the missionaries in the Zone met in the City Center for an Auhstellung (street finding activity).  Elder Robertson is a legend in the mission for his Finding Abilities.  One of the missionaries shared his experience of the day with us on Thursday evening.  He said, I had heard about "The Legend" and wondered what that really meant.  I thought, what can he do that makes it so successful and different.  He said he got to spend 30 minutes with Elder Robertson on the street and he could not believe how easy it was to talk to people.  He said it was the best 30 minutes he had ever spent on his mission finding.  He was so excited to see that it does work if you know how to approach people and are genuine with them.  He said he was actually excited to go finding again.
We have had a program in our Church for many years called Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching - now it is Ministering.  I have been in various leadership positions over the years and have said many times that the program would be much more successful if the leaders would go out with the Home Teacher or Visiting Teacher the first time to introduce them to the families or individuals they are assigned to Minister to and visit.  Many do not even attempt their assignment because they do not know the people and are afraid to contact them.  This experience with this Elder who has been on his mission for over a year and then gets to be trained and tutored by someone who really "gets it" made all the difference.  He will have a much better experience as a missionary for the remaining few months of his mission because of that 30 minutes.  I am so grateful for the lessons I continue to learn from these wonderful young missionaries.

Sis. Fromme and Sis. Hepworth

  At the Apartment Inspection with these two cute Sisters we saw this cute Advent Calendar that Sis. Hepworth's mother had sent her.  It was really cute on their wall and makes a great Christmas tree for them.  I thought I would show it off it was such a cute pattern.  There are so many possibilities of things to fill the pockets with.  It can be a simple treat, a scripture verse telling the Christmas Story, or a service idea for every day in December like from the Light the World initiative that The Church of Jesus Christ has throughout the World.  The Light the World: One by One effort officially kicks off December 1. Online resources are already available at LighttheWorld.org, including sharable images and videos.

A new inspirational video called “The Christ Child” will be available to watch, download and share beginning November 24 on LighttheWorld.org.
The 18-minute video is a “compelling, personal and engaging” version of the Nativity story that helps you experience and share the events of the Savior’s birth through the eyes of firsthand witnesses, Pratt said. “This was a real event that happened to real people.”


We are helping with a Regional YSA Forum this weekend.  I was asked to do the lunch for Saturday.  I made 3 pans of enchiladas, salsa and 150 cookies on Friday.  It should have only taken me an hour to put together the enchiladas, but I had to make homemade enchilada sauce, cream of mushroom and cream of chicken from scratch (no canned soup here) and 4 stores visited with no tortillas to be found.  I finally went to a middle eastern store and found wraps that they use for kebaps.  So, it was an all day affair from 8:00 AM until we had to leave for the Institute at 4.  It will be another week without P-Day, and it is starting to take a toll on both of us.  Hopefully we can get some rest after Church on Sunday.  After all of the cooking I have done this week and Thanksgiving next week and expecting about 30 for dinner, I am not going to have any missionaries for dinner on Sunday.  We need a rest. 

 Our Saturday Lunch turned out OK.  We ended up with 26 YSA attending and we had plenty of food.  We have a lot of vegetarians and they requested food be available for them.  We only have 3 at our Institute, but there ended up being about 10 who requested the vegetarian menu.  I made Black Bean Butternut Squash Enchilada casserole and it was so good.  It is funny how the meat loving people would not even try the vegetable dish because it was vegetarian and they did not think it would taste good.  If you want to try a great Fall Dish - better hurry, Winter is almost here - I am including the recipe for the Black Bean Dish.

Black Bean Butternut Squash Casserole
5 cups Butternut Squash peeled, cubed and roasted:
Preheat oven to 375*.  Line pan with foil.  Use 1 Tbl. Olive Oil on pan.
Toss cubed squash with 2 Tbl. oil.  Sprinkle with salt. 
Roast 30 min, turning half way through

1/2 Onion
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
8 oz. can corn
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup Salsa
12 corn tortillas
1 1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Enchilada Sauce
1 3/4 cup Mozzarrella Cheese

Heat 1 Tbl. olive oil in skillet.
Add chopped onions, red and green peppers and seasonings.
Add Corn and cook until roasted
Add rinsed and drained Black Beans
Add Roasted butternut squash
Mix all together

Put 1 cup Salsa in bottom of 11 x 9 x 3 pan
Layer 4 tortillas, overlapping
Layer:  1/3 of vegetable mixture
1/2 cup sour cream - spoon dollops over all
1/3 cup enchilada sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
REPEAT two more times
Top with extra cheese
Cover with foil and Bake at 375* for 25 min.  Remove foil and bake 10 min.

We hope you enjoy the coming week and the start of a wonderful Holiday Season.  We are looking forward to all the the Season brings - can't wait to get our Christmas tree up this next week and make our apartment all things Christmas.

With our move this year to Vienna, we have a new address for those who would like it.
Elder and Sister Grimmett
Hohlweggasse 25/29
1030 Wien
Austria

Viel Liebe,
The Grimmett's