THE DAY AFTER AFTER

Today in most homes the tree looks bare without the anticipation of gifts.  They have all been opened and shared.  The mess of wrapping paper is put away,  Christmas music has stopped, and it's on with the usual life.  Hopefully, precious memories have been made.

We are enjoying this day, the 26th of Dec.  It is still an official holiday in Austria with all the stores and shops closed.  It's a day to remember friends.  Our Christmas here has been a wonderful teaching moment for us.  The Austrians celebrate Christmas Eve in a huge way with a big dinner, exchanging of gifts, and the "official" lighting of the Christmas tree and with it, singing Silent Night.  This year for what ever reason, the members were not interested in inviting the missionaries  (our two sisters and two elders ) over for Christmas Day.  We were invited for Christmas Eve and that seemed to be the most important time.  At first, we were all a bit hurt and even a bit angry that the missionaries had been forgotten on Christmas Day.  But we decided to make a dinner at church and invite many of those new members and investigators that would also have no place to go for Christmas Day.  We let go of our hurt and looked outward to what WE could do.   Our missionaries in Linz work very hard and try to be an example to others in kindness and love.
We all realized that Christmas had to be in our hearts most importantly.

Actually, serving a mission is a great gift for us because Christmas is in our hearts each day of the year.  We have the marvelous opportunity to devote all our time to preaching, testifying, and sharing the love of Christ.  We are not caught up in the minutiae and drudgery of everyday life as all must to survive.  Our sensitivity to Christ is not just felt at Christmas time.  We learn and teach each day that without Christ, there can be no fullness of joy.  Without His birth and His Atonement, we would have no Intercessor, no Advocate with the Father, and no Mediator who makes it possible for us to return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father and live together as eternal families.  No, Christmas is not over for us....any of us really.  Our challenge as followers of Jesus Christ is to keep that special spirit of love, understanding, sacrifice and awe the day after and all the days after.

With this in mind, I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!  We hope with you that this will be a stellar year of giving more, sharing more, loving more, listening more, and reflecting through deep study of the Scriptures our ultimate goal to be more like our wonderful Savior.

We send all our love to our family and friends,
Elder and Sister Didenhover

P.S. At the last minute, a family did invite us over for Christmas breakfast since they were leaving for a vacation at noon. They felt embarrassed that no one in the ward cared enough to make sure the missionaries were taken care of Christmas Day. This family actually lives in the next town over (Wels).  They would normally be attending the Wels Ward, but for whatever reason, unknown to us have permission to attend the Linz Ward.

We love  our little tree with  Christmas cards, chocolate Santas,  and odds and ends we could find. 
We feel so blessed!

YOUNG SINGLE ADULT ACTIVITY

On September 30 we enjoyed the YSA Institute Stake Activity at the home of Brother and Sister Roth. The house is full of touches of family antiques and memorabilia.  Wonderful atmosphere!  Great hosts!

The Roth's generously opened their home for this event. Traudi is the stake CES director.  She and her husband are fabulous people.  

They bought this 300 year old farm house and had it remodeled to a new glory. 

I love all the antique touches like the old hats on a rusty metal rack up on the landing of the loft.  Traudi's father and grandfather were hat makers and this diplays tools, old felt hats in various stages of finishing and the old sign to the store. 

John and Elder Mower are enjoying the view.  As well as Sister Smith and Sister Mower.
Traudi is giving an explanation of how far the property runs.

 The Roth's remodeled this house, only to be called as mission president in Bulgaria for three years.  They rented it out till they came back 2 years ago. 

The upstairs to the farmhouse designed by an architect.
 The large picture of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge
 is actually a sliding door to the master bedroom.

This is all the original stonework without mortar of a 300 year old farmhouse.

  The upstairs was completely remodeled and is the home of Traudi and Gerhard Roth of Salzburg.

We expected many more to attend, but the weather was horrendous and discouraged many from driving from long distances.  But those that did come had a great time. 

A VISIT WITH FAMILY!

Happy days... this summer we had a gathering with our oldest daughter Christina and her husband Scott, and their youngest child Clair, and our youngest daughter Brea and her husband Mike.

Elder and Sister Didenhover, Scott & Christina Kemeny and Claire), Brea & Mike Squires

The view in Hallstatt

Precious moments with our granddaughter Claire.

With Christina and Brea in Linz

By the church building in Linz

Subway in Vienna

Vienna, Schonbrun Palace and Gardens
(summer palace of the Hapsburgs during the Austrian Hungarian Empire)

Lovers bridge in Salzburg If you write your names on a lock and fasten it onto the fence your love will remain forever...they say.
Fortunately, this is a pedestrian bridge over the Salzach River.

Who doesn't want a "forever" love? One pleasure of missionary service is to
explain how Heavenly Father has provided a way.

Pastries in Salzburg

WATER YOUR GRASS

Here is a portion of a weekly email from President Kohler, our  current mission president:

"As we were in graduate school living in student housing, we lived in a complex of tightly packed 3 bedroom apartments that formed a rectangular area with grass in the middle where many young children of the families played. Because of the constant use and abuse of the children, the grass was very worn and bare.
In a bottom corner apartment lived a family from a very far and foreign place. At one point, this couple had their parents come and stay with them for an extended period during the summer.

Each morning all summer as I would sit on my balcony studying, unknown to him, I would watch this older gentleman come out and pour bowl after bowl of water directly on the grass in front of their apartment.  At first, I didn't know what he was doing, but his action intrigued me and I thought " why is he doing that? Is he really trying to help the grass grow? Doesn't he know there are automated sprinklers? That the kids will just trample the grass down? That it is impossible to pour water everywhere? Why there? Won't he be leaving soon? Isn't that the job of someone else? Doesn't he realize how hot and dry it is?"

However, as I continued to observe this event day after day, I began to notice something. I noticed that indeed his corner of the grass was getting greener.  His corner was growing and looking healthy and good. He seemed happy and pleased even if nobody else noticed. Through the constant persistence of his effort, he was seeing results. This simple experience changed my outlook and my very life. I think of this man often and have realized some very important lessons that I try to implement in my life.

This man had seen a need and decided to do something about it. He did not wait for someone to invite him to act, he took control of the situation and acted independently as an anxiously engaged steward (D&C 58:26). It did not matter if he was from a distant part of the world and he soon would be leaving. It did not matter that he could not water all the grass himself. He felt that it was his responsibility to take care of the portion he could do something  about, that part of the vineyard in which he labored. It was not a difficult task he was performing, but he had to first notice the need, make a decision and plan to do something, be persistent, and not care if nobody else was doing it.  It was within his control to make a difference and he had the ability to cause a change.

 He felt that it was his responsibility to take care of
the portion he could do something  about,
that part of the vineyard in which he labored. 

It dawned on me that I was not watering my grass and neither were any of my neighbors.  Yes, we had noticed it looked bad and even complained about it from time to time asking why someone wouldn't do something about it. What if we all were to water the little part where we lived? Then the whole area would be better and greener , and more enjoyable for all."

Pres. Kohler then shared how this analogy parallels a mission.  We can even use this analogy in the context as members of the church in our daily stewardships and callings. You are invited to WATER YOUR GRASS!

We continue to love our service.  Each day we notice more people that can benefit from our love, diligence, and service.  What a joy that is!  We keep busy and happy!

We send our love and regards to family and friends,
Elder and Sister Didenhover
Mom and Dad,
Gramma and Grampa D.

COMING AND GOING

We had a wonderful conference getting to know our new mission president and his family.

President Kohler is a younger man with his wife and two teenage kids along.  Each bore their testimony and shared what a challenge it is to make such a huge transition for the next three years.  Sister Kohler explained that they had known for a year that her husband was on a short list to be called to a German speaking mission. 

President D. Brian Kohler and his wife, Cheri C. Kohler

He has made a career with the church as a director of the Provo MTC curriculum.  He majored in German, having originally served in the Frankfurt Mission.  The family was told to keep it a secret from extended family and friends.   So while their sixteen year old son was looking forward to his senior year in high school, he knew that would not happen.  He had to listen to his friends making plans and saying nothing.  Their daughter would have started high school this Fall.  Sister Kohler decided it would be prudent for her to take German 101 at BYU. They are such a talented and spiritual family.

When they spoke to us, they had been here just 10 days and reeling from all the changes.  As I listened to her describe her efforts at shopping, getting lost, and weeping a lot I remembered back to our first week.  There is a saying in German "Aller Anfang ist schwer ". Which means all beginnings are hard.  But as those who have a firm foundation in the Gospel, you rely on Heavenly Father, gird up your loins, and even with tears in your eyes persevere forward.

It was sad to see the Miles leave.  It is sad to see favorite missionaries leave ( I know, we are not supposed to have favorites) and know that you will most likely never see them again. Your heart goes out to their bittersweet feelings of leaving behind the best experience of their lives so far.

We made contact with the Millers (Spokane Stake) serving in Slovakia on a humanitarian mission.  It's fun to reach out to other members of our stake serving.  We have different challenges, but the commitment and love for the Lord is the same.  There is a  shared understanding  of our purpose and concerns.  We are very fortunate to have three other couples serving in our zone.

We have a couple in Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Klagenfurt.  We love seeing each other at zone conference and at our weekly Zoom meetings with our Institute director.  Yeah for technology!

We continue to enjoy amazing teaching experiences, success with the YSA group, and making contacts that endure.  There are currently five investigators in the Linz ward that are making wonderful progress.  I have been working with a YSA young lady  on a quilt.  It's wonderful to get into a creative mode as a service.  The big challenge is that there are very few selections of quilting fabric.  Wow!  Had I had a crystal ball, I could have brought the dresser full of fabrics I left at home.

Last week we taught Mohammed (we used another young Iranian investigator who speaks perfect English to translate) the  Word of Wisdom.  After listening, he pulled out his cigarette pack and lighter and handed them to the sister missionaries.  He has not smoked since, after 15 years of smoking.  His faith is enormous and totally sincere!  We love this humble man!

Bis später...
Elder and Sister Didenhover

ps: 

After our monthly zone meeting in which we had to prepare a 30 minute discussion, we celebrated by eating at favorite restaurant in Salzburg.  We shared a meal for 2 which served us four. We splurged with dessert as you can see.  My huge bowl in the picture is mostly fresh berries and fruit with some ice cream at the bottom and whipped cream on top.  Very Fancy decorations!  John opted for the decadent chocolate delight, of course.

Great day!

GREAT EXPERIENCES AND HAPPY NEWS

We keep having great experiences on our mission. 

Every day we thank Heavenly Father for our mission.  It is truly a growing experience.  We have had to learn more patience (didn't we learn that raising kids?),  better self discipline,  and trust in the Lord's timing.

Just this Sunday a wonderful thing happened.  A long time ago I shared about a young girl named Maria.  Her mother is Muslim and we were helping the sisters teach her.  I had given Maria a Book of Mormon and befriended her.  She reminded me of myself so much in that she is painfully shy and  unsure of herself and especially sensitive.  Her mother withdrew from the missionaries.  I was so disappointed.  But that does happen a lot. 

Recently, I had suggested that we contact the mother again.  She was glad to see us, but distraught that her life was in such upheaval.  Since she had divorced her husband she had been in the hospital several times with severe depression and was panicking because she was only getting 300 Euro a month from the government.  She speaks broken German and had allowed her papers to expire, not knowing she was given a warning to come in to renew.  Now they are punishing her---the government people.  Maria and her little brother suffer because they have to live in a group home.  Maria gets bullied and teased a lot.  Now I have gone on and on about their situation.

The best part is that Maria and Daniel came to church last Sunday with their mother.  We have been fellowshipping the mother and through other members of the ward trying to sort out her financial situation.  Maria didn't want to go to the class with the other kids her age, so we spent two hours talking.  She shared that she had been reading in the Book of Mormon and had made a few new friends.   We read from the Book of Mormon together.  It was so wonderful connecting with her again.  I immediately invited her and her mother and brother to our apartment for dinner and FHE ( it was a holiday and so no FHE with the single adults).  We invited the Elders, too.  I had no idea if I even had enough food, but we have learned to be very flexible.  We had a great time.  She and her brother loved the game we played.  Hopefully, now we can see her every other week at church when she can leave the group home (which is far away in another town).

We also have been assisting teaching a young man from Iran.  We have a member of the ward that speaks the same Persian language at the discussions to translate.  He has questions every time that he writes down.  He shared that he had a dream.  In this dream, he was standing at the edge of a sea and around the shores were large groups of people.  Someone approached him and tried to hand him a staff.  He refused at first, but then accepted.  After he had accepted this staff, all the people standing on the shore came to him and he realized they were his family.

They were very happy and he woke up with a warm, peaceful feeling.  He said he had no idea what that dream meant, just that it was so powerfully emotional for him.

Yesterday, he said he wanted to be baptized 100% and wanted to get closer to the Savior.
He said he wanted to talk with his wife and family back in Iran about it.  It would impact them in that him becoming a Christian would be a black mark on the family and they could possibly experience persecution.
He has to wait till he gets his official residency papers in Austria to be baptized anyway.  But he is reading in the Book of Mormon, praying, and attending church.  I told him it was an honor for us to share the gospel with him and that I felt how much The Lord loved him.  He was in tears.

This kind of experience makes any sacrifice worth it to serve a mission.

Well, that's all for now.  We are happy.  We are grateful to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.  We love Linz and Austria!

HAPPY NEWS:
We had a great time with Brea and Mike and Christina and Scott and Claire.  What a joy to have family visit!!! We thought we would have many more visitors, but we are thrilled with this last visit!   Brea found out she is having a boy!

A NEW DAY!

Hi All,

How are you doing?  What's new in your world?

We keep plugging along, always trying to do better and learn more.  We both decided that this mission of  ours suits us in that we have a variety of ways to serve, we love the Linz Ward, and we meet the most interesting people. 

We talked about what it would be like to work in a mission office and both decided that would be a big headache. Even the couples that have the same calling to work with the YSA have unique situations in their areas.  We have the added joy of being able to teach Institute because of our German skills.  Many of the members of the ward have said that us being able to speak German has motivated them to invite us over for dinner more often.  The older members can't always speak English. So we do have lots of dinner appointments. 

We have one sister that has us come over every Thursday.  She loves doing genealogy  and often has questions for us.  The hard part for me is that we are not allowed to hold babies or interact with the children.  There are about 40 primary aged children in the Linz ward.  They are a busy bunch!

We have an appointment today teaching with the sisters.  This is a man from Ghana.  The missionaries have a hard time finding Austrians that will listen to them.  So, they teach Romanians, Africans, Middle Eastern people (men mostly) and occasionally an American.

Last Friday we had a dinner put on by the Afghani, Iranian, and Iraq members and investigators.It was inspired by the talk that was given last conference about the Lord guiding people out of their oppressed countries and into Europe. The members here are very leery of these people because they have sometimes shown up to see what they can get out of the church.  Our mission president has made it a rule that the missionaries are not allowed to baptize anyone until they have their official resident papers, which can take up to a year. Joining a Christian church becomes an advantage in getting these papers.  Anyway, we had a delightful evening together and broke down some barriers.  The biggest challenge is that they have such poor German language skills and communication is so difficult.  They gave us a slide show about Iran, mostly Teheran and a wonderful meal of lamb with lentils and potatoes.  Success!

Retaining members is always an issue.  So, much time is spent visiting the less active new members.  It is discouraging to see them slip away so quickly and easily.  Did you know that of the 15 million members we have on the records, about 4 million are lost and cannot be found?

When Pres. Monson uses his phrase "to the rescue"  he is thinking about all these lost sheep. There are not enough hours, days, weeks to ever find them all and bring them "home".  We just have to start with the one.  It is interesting to us that the Savior healed one person at a time.  He never stretched out His hands over a crowd to heal them all.  That is inspiring!

We have a very fun trip to Vienna tomorrow.  Elder Dykes, a member of the Seventy, is coming to speak to all the missionaries there.  All the Austrian missionaries will be there. The next day he will be in Munchen (Munich) and the day after meet with the missionaries in Switzerland.  We will be driving to the stake center in downtown Vienna.  There is no parking lot attached to the building, so we will have to find a place on the street and feed the meter at intervals.

In front of the baptismal font in the Vienna Stake building for a special conference
 for all the Austrian missionaries with Elder Dykes speaking. We love Austria!

We love you all so very much!  You are in our prayers and thoughts on a daily basis.  Keep well and safe.   

Tchuess, MOM and DAD

LIFE IN AUSTRIA

Some of our friends ask us about everyday life here in Austria...these are a few of my unofficial observations.

FIRST:  DRIVING

There are no free right turns allowed on red lights ever.

Stop means stop. No free rights. That would be going.

The traffic lights are green, then go to blinking green, then to yellow and then to red. From red, they go to both red and yellow, and then green.

Simple, right?

Also speed limits are difficult to get used to and remember all the time. Some speed limit signs are posted, but not all the time. City residential limits are usually 30 kpm or 18 mph. Regular city streets are 50 or 60 kph or 31-38 mph. Between cities either 70 or 100 kph or 45-62. The freeway is 100 kph in town and 130 kph out of town or 62-81 mph. The mission speed limit is 120 kph or 75 mph.

German border crossing sign showing 50 km/h (31 mph) limit in built-up areas,
100 km/h (62 mph) in rural areas,
 but only an advisory 130 km/h (81 mph) limit for the Autobahn 
(From Wikipedia)

The confusing part is when it is not posted and you just need to know what it is. You can also get a speeding ticket and not know about it until the police send it to you. 

Surprise...

Which has happened to us.  Of course it could have been when the Elders borrowed our car for a day.  They do not just pull you over and give you your ticket. 


SECOND:  SHOPPING

Grocery stores do not provide free bags, you can buy one or bring yours from home, as most people do, no one ever bags your groceries and there is always a line of people behind you that seem to be in a hurry.

"Did you bring a bag? If not we will be happy to sell you one."

Grocery shopping is always an adventure.  There are 8-10 different kinds of flour and all in little 1 Kilo (about 2 lbs) bags.


Some things come in tubes:

From left to right:  tomato paste, barbeque mustard ,  mayonnaise , mustard

You buy eggs in quantities of 6 or 10 or 15, no dozen eggs. 

The grocery stores sell other products besides groceries and they seem randomly displayed. You have a row of frozen foods next to a row of luggage or clothes or other unrelated items and then another  row of normal grocery items and the pattern repeats itself throughout the stores for the most part. It seems to change every time you go to any store.  Interesting, but inconvenient for us grocery only shoppers. 

THIRD:  MOVIES

The price of a movie ticket is based on how long the movie is. 

"Can we see a movie??"
"Well, let's just check and see how long it is."

Up to 109 minutes is the starting point, and then it goes up depending on the length of the movie. For example to see The Hobbit in 3D, a very long movie, would have cost 19 euros or about $25 each. We did not go!


FOURTH: LANGUAGE

We do get frustrated that certain words are different in Germany than Austria. 

The first time we went shopping and looking for yeast.  In Germany it is  "Hefe".  We did not find it. Then someone told us to look for "Germ", which is yeast.  

Then there is some confusion about just plain hot dogs.  In Germany they are called "Wieners" and in Austria they are called "Frankfurters".

We must be in Austria...

The list is never ending and we continually learn new Austrian wording.


Well, that's all for now,
      Elder Didenhover


ps:

These are just a few selections of the best chocolate ever.  They come in all sizes as you
can see.  We had heard that the post office will not allow you to mail chocolate because
it is considered grocery supplies.  Please!  This is not common groceries!  What craziness
is this?!

So now, our family and friends can understand why we aren't mailing chocolate back home!
It is against the law...

SENIOR MISSIONARY CONFERENCE: Switzerland March 2014

We had a wonderful experience attending out first senior conference. 

We traveled by train to Innsbruck and then drove with the Mowers the rest of the way to Switzerland.







We left a few days earlier so we could enjoy some of the sights.  Our first stop was Interlaken.  This is a beautiful town in the setting of the Swiss Alps. 

We took the time to ride a cog wheel train up the mountain to another village.  

The scenic views were absolutely breathtaking!

Our next stop was in Lucerne on the famous Vierwaldstattersee (four lakes that connect with each other). 

The wooden bridge of Lucerne, Switzerland

Lucerne is famous for an old wooden bridge with a long covered walkway. Strolling along the banks of the lakes is a favorite pastime for the Swiss.

The next day we drove to the old city of Bern.  This brought back many memories of  my time there as a missionary. It has definitely changed in the past  40 years...more traffic, more modern elements, very high prices.

A pint of strawberries being sold by a vendor was 7 Euro (about $10)

I took the time to sit in a small park overlooking the river and ancient steeples. My mind traveled to my missionary days...very fond memories.

Elder and Sister Fox playing a duet on the  Alpine Horns.

Our conference began on a Thursday.  We were given workshops, a morsel of entertainment, and spiritual nourishment. It was wonderful to just be able to compare notes and realize we all have unique situations, challenges, and joys. 

                                                                 

We were able to attend a session in the temple. 

I was overwhelmed by emotions remembering that the last time attending the Swiss temple was with my mother. Even though it has just been six months since we last attended our temple in Spokane, it seemed like much more time had passed.   We easily forget what a privilege it is to access the temple on a regular basis.








We enjoyed our dinner...we were fed authentic Swiss food like Raclette, an evening meal of potatoes cooked in their skins with various accompaniments like pearl onions, pickles, etc.  A special over melts cheese in separate small trays to put over the potatoes.  Yum.  The breads in Switzerland are especially flavorful with all the cheeses available.

Besides our workshops, we were given a few tours of our choice. 


We went to a Kaserei (cheese factory) where we were given a demonstration of how cheese was made hundreds of years ago. We were inside a small single room  building dated from 1765.  A gentleman in his traditional Swiss shirt explained the process in his Swiss dialect.   I love the Swiss dialect!  It was so good to hear it again!  

"We must all press on..."

We were invited to participate by stirring the immense copper cauldron that was swung over an open fire.  Then Sister Smith and I were able to take the curds and  being put into a large mold and press all the excess liquid out. Nothing is wasted. The pressed liquid as wells as excess curds are fed to the pigs on the farm.






In our mission, we have couples doing such a variety of tasks.  The couple in Vienna work at the YSA Center (a separate building for the many students in Vienna) and spend most every day there all day.  They prepare meals for 30-50 young single adults.  The Buchanens serve in Ravensburg (my home town) as leadership support to the small branch.  Another couple does genealogy research in one specific town in Germany.  We have office couples, we have couples like us that work with the YSA groups and serve in the wards according to the desire of the local leaders.  Some have large groups to work with, some very few. We have just a few in Linz right now, but with the help of the missionaries we are growing.

Senior couples from the Alpine German Speaking Mission at their annual conference in Bern, Switzerland.

Our mission president, Pres. and Sister Miles are almost at the end of their mission.  They have faithfully spent the last three years presiding over 299 missionaries in three countries.  Just the travel alone is staggering---each zone conference,  interviews,  stake conferences, mission business, etc.  Pres. and Sister Miles have been a source of inspiration, love, and counsel for many missionaries young and old.  We will miss them when they leave in June.

Mission life suits us.  We love the variety of our labors.  We love the missionaries and never cease to be amazed at their level of commitment and spirituality. 

We love the members that are so caring and demonstrative.  In Austria, if the members like you, you are always greeted with a hug.  If they are unsure of you, a handshake is the standard.  I don't think I have ever been hugged so much in my life!  Its simply a wonderful custom!  Elder Didenhover gets lots of hugs from the missionaries. They love his humor and the parental counsel and just knowing that they are loved.  It is warming to see him give complicated handshakes and a then a big bear hug to the elders. 

There is so much joy in the gospel!  We have had trying days, but for the most part we are amazed at how a deeper awareness of the gospel and of Jesus Christ brings so much joy and happiness.

We hope and pray for our family and friends each day that you will partake of this joy with us in spirit.