December 2015

  December was an exciting month--it began with 4 wonderful Christmas Zone Conferences throughout the Mission.  Our first one was held in Zürich.  

 The musical numbers from the missionaries were beautiful.

 The Bern, St. Gallen & half of Zürich Zones were together for this meeting.

 At lunch time the missionaries had a fun time doing a gift exchange.

 And the Relief Society provided a wonderful lunch for us!

 Our next Zone Conference was in Stuttgart.

 The Stuttgart and other half of the Zürich zones were gathered together on this day.

 Gift Exchange...

 

and more beautiful music from our talented missionaries.

 Our 3rd meeting was in Munich with the Munich Zone.

 Gift Exchange and Lunch

 President Kohler shared a wonderful Christmas Message and we enjoyed watching the new Silent Night movie together.

Our 4th meeting was in Austria.

This meeting was for the Salzburg and Wien Zones.

 We were especially happy to have Erika with us for this meeting!

 And of course the missionaries love to eat and visit.

  

 We sure do appreciate the wonderful members who provide us with delicious lunches!

A great missionary choir!

 On Sunday we were able to visit the Neuötting Branch.

 Then it was time for the December transfer--here are our 19 new Goldens!

 At the airport, loading their luggage into the mission van.

 Sisters Gildner and Fischer-Laudenbach served our outgoing missionaries a wonderful meal!

 We said goodbye to 16 great missionaries.

 We will miss you!

 Goodbye Elder & Sister McCormack!

 The next week we welcomed the Gardners into the mission--they will be serving in Singen.

 And the Lees are ready to go home--what a wonderful job they have done!

  

 On Christmas Day around the mission our missionaries got to Skype their families at home.  We also got to Skype with our missionary!  It was so great to be all together again--Tosha in Provo, the three of us in Munich and Tanner in Moldova.

 The next Sunday we enjoyed being in the Linz Ward--the missionaries had many wonderful investigators at church that day!

 Our Linz Missionaries (missing from the picture are Elder & Sister Graham)

Finally, to finish out the year we got to deliver supplies to some of our missionaries in Wien.  

We love all of our missionaries and look forward to 2016!

November 2015

 November started out with a great Mission Leadership Council.

 Our Sister Training Leaders...

 and our Zone Leaders...

 had chances to practice teaching.

 This was not only great preparation for their own work, but also to go back and train the missionaries in their zones.

 We are grateful for all the work these leaders put into the mission.

 What a blessing to receive Elder & Sister Neugebauer into the mission!

The Ellwangen, Göppingen & Stuttgart Districts

 Also in November were interviews.  President Kohler travelled the mission to meet with each missionary individually.  He also trained the districts as they gathered.  I got to accompany him on one trip down to Switzerland--as we also attended Stake Conference there.

 Here are some of the missionaries from the Bern Zone after stake conference.

 Two of our wonderful elders who helped get us to the church building nearby for more interviews after stake conference.

 And the Solothurn District.

 We were sad to say goodbye to Elder & Sister McOmber--they served so faithfully with us!

 But it was exciting on the same day to welcome Sister Strihavka into the mission!

 I loved the chance to teach with the München 2 Sisters.

 And it was great to see the St. Gallen Zone at Stake Conference.

 Here are some of the missionaries that we could round up after the meeting!

 Our wonderful Sister Zaugg helped sort, label and organize the Christmas packages that came into the mission office.  This pile was just for one of our seven zones!

 Sister Gildner helped count out lots of pass-along cards for the Christmas Zone Conferences as we prepared to take them around to all of the missionaries.

 At our Christmas Zone Conferences we gave each missionary an Alpenländische Mission Temple Recommend holder.

 How wonderful to get Elder Gibbs back with us!

We had another great Coordinating Council Meeting with the stake presidents from our mission and our area 70, Elder Leimer.

And here is a picture of our own Elder Kohler, doing well in Moldova!

October 2015

 One afternoon at the Mission Home the Assistants helped President Kohler rescue a hedgehog who got all tangled up in our badminton net.

 Success!

 We were happy to welcome Elder & Sister Green to the Mission!

 Working hard at October MLC

 October Missionary Leadership Council

München Zone Training for October

 A visit to Ebnat, Switzerland--Elders Bensing and Guzzwell.

 The Ebnat Building--we learned that it as the first one built in Switzerland.

 While in Wien for Stake Conference, we stopped at the JTA Center and got to see these fine elders--Monson & Bowers--as they finished up a teaching appointment!  

Sister Parker was preparing for Waffle Night.

 The Office Elders taught us a great lesson on Member Missionary Work and invited us to help with one of their investigators.

 Goodbye to Elder McLean--we will miss you!

 And farewell Elder Surtees--we love you!

 In Innsbruck, Austria, we got to attend a wonderful exhibit and musical evening honoring this member/architect who worked on many Church Buildings.

 Here are the Sisters who helped with the evening...

 and the Elders.

 The music was great!

 Elder & Sister Hasler did a wonderful job organizing the evening.

 Our October transfer--11 wonderful new Goldens arrived in the mission!

 Dinner & Testimonies at the Mission Home that night--as well as finding out who their trainers would be and where they would serve.

 The next morning they were ready to go!

 That evening we enjoyed dinner with our outgoing group--ten Elders and one Sister.

 We hate to lose these missionaries, but we are excited for what lies ahead!

And how excited we were to receive this picture of our son Tanner who arrived in his mission this week as well.  Here he is with President and Sister Ivory in Romania.  The next day he flew to his first area in Moldova.  We love you, Tanner!